Immortality Part III - Good Men (PG-13)

Somewhere between villages- Spring

Merle had been alone for a while now. A few years or so, not that he'd noticed until he spotted her. His sister had always been the baby of the family. His brother was always the heir to the family name and he... well he was the middle child. No title needed.

He sighed and leant against the nearest cottage as she laughed with a child. Hers no doubt. He'd heard she was pregnant. A sudden memory of wanting to drink her blood shot to the front of his mind, instantly making him hungry. It had been a while since he'd fed so he turned and ran to catch the nearest human that wouldn't draw attention.

*10 minutes later*

Merle returned and froze at the smell of blood. He'd fed, of course and the blood was still around his mouth but this blood was different. Sweeter almost. It wasn't until he approached the cottage from before that he spotted her. "Osythe!" He cried running to her side. It couldn't be! His back was turned for 10 minutes. How could he not have heard this.

Aethon had made it a point over the past five years to check in on his sister and parents from a distance, never making his presence known. Their father had passed away a couple years before, leaving their mother widowed, but still living her life to its fullest in his memory. Osythe had gotten married at eighteen - he seemed a nice man. She had a child, now.

From what he was able to discover, they all believed Aurmerle and himself to be dead. It had been the only way they could explain their disappearance.

He hadn't actually spoken to his brother, either, since they'd parted after the slaughter in the tavern. From time to time, Aethon tracked down Aurmerle's location and watched him a short while, or came across evidence that his brother may have been doing the same for him. Aurmerle was easier to find, he'd bet. Aurmerle tended to leave a trail of bloodshed in his wake.

The breeze shifted as Aethon approached the cottage where Osythe and her small family lived. Aethon froze, two scents in particular striking him at once: blood, and his brother. With superhuman speed, he closed the distance to the house, halting a stone's throw away, eyes wide with horror and disbelief. A strangled sound parted his lips.

"What... have you done?" Aethon demanded slowly, eyes darkening in rage. The next moment, he had his brother by the throat, having slammed him against the side of the cottage. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" he screamed, tone rife with fury and anguish.

He slowly stroked back Osythe's hair as he looked on in shock. He was in so much shock even tears wouldn't come. Merle had no idea how long he was sat there like that, with his dead sister in his arms. It didn't seem real. He was frozen in time whilst his little sister grew older and finally died. No one should out live their younger siblings. Just as a parent shouldn't out live their kids.

"I...Aethon..." He muttered before he was slammed into a cottage. "I didn't..." Words just seemed to fail him. His mind was frozen, still slightly drunk from the human blood. A mixture of feelings now flitted across his mind. Fear, confusion, heartbreak.

Aethon's grip on Aurmerle's neck tightened momentarily before he abruptly released him, turning to Osythe... to Osythe's body.

"No..." he murmured softly, gently caressing her face. There was bruising forming around her mouth; someone clamping their hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. Stab wounds; quick, precise to cause a quick death. And then...

Aethon's stomach turned. She had been raped. Murdered and raped in front of her own home - undoubtedly by someone who knew her husband wasn't be home. This was the same time he always went away, to sell to nearby villages.

His head snapped up, listening intently: a small quick heartbeat, the rapid respirations of a child, safe inside the house. Thank the gods... Turning back to look down at his sister, his dear, sweet baby sister, Aethon finally drew a breath in through his nose, catching her attacker's scent.

And then, he rose, eyes soulless black pits in his face. A split-second later, he was moving, following the trail. He couldn't have said how long it took to catch up to the scum - he wasn't long. Aethon grabbed the man so harshly by the arm and jerked him around so quickly, that his shoulder was pulled out of socket. He reeked of alcohol... and Osythe; of her blood, of...

"You sick bastard," Aethon snarled in the drunk's face. "Attacking an innocent, defenseless woman. She was my sister."

The man's pathetic whimpers turned to screams of agony and horror as Aethon shoved his hand into his stomach, grabbing hold of his bowels and ripping them out. He breathed deeply, scenting the man's fear, his blood... others he'd been drinking with.

Bringing his hand to his mouth, he licked the blood and gore from his palm before wiping the rest of it on the man's shirt. Releasing him, Aethon abandoned his sister's killer to his death.

Aethon continued onward. He had a pub to visit.

Aurmerle stayed stock still in his brothers grasp. His eyes had closed, he'd never seen his brother like this before so who knows what he was capable of. He was sure if he had killed their sister, Aethon wouldn't think twice before killing him. Osythe had always been his favourite.

He sighed in relief, rubbing at his throat as he was finally released. Now he had no idea what to do, all he could do was stand back and watch his brother grieve as an outsider. He never truly felt a part of the family anyway.

"A..." He looked at his brother then down to the body of their sister and frowned. Which one did he go to? Aethon was on a rampage, he wasn't in his right mind right now but he was alive for now.

He sighed and ran, using the blood he'd just used to speed him up. What he saw next shocked him enough to freeze him to the spot. His brother killing. Calm, collected Aethon, ripping the insides out of a human being.

"Aethon stop!" He yelled, guessing his next move. "This isn't you!" He growled running and coming to a stop in front of Aethon. "Stop!" He ordered pushing his brother back with a growl.

Aethon whirled savagely on his brother, lips curling back from his teeth. His fangs were extended. "Maybe it should be!" he snarled. "Isn't that what you wanted before? To make the mortals afraid? To make scum like that -" He brandished a clawed hand at the disemboweled man. "- fearful to set foot outside their doors?

"She still had her entire life ahead of her! And now her husband will come home to find her murdered; her child will grow up motherless - all because he decided to have a little drunken sport!

"I can rid the world of men like him!" Aethon declared furiously, too blinded by grief to really hear himself. "So you give me one good reason why I shouldn't!"

Merle was momentarily stunned at the sight of his brothers fangs. He definitely wasn't expecting him to turn on him again but that only turned his shock into anger. "Well stop trying to be me! Im a monster, you still have a chance to turn around so i wont let you destroy what little you have left of your soul." He said his own eyes darkening with his lack of control.

"Those people in their are innocent. Their only crime being that they live in the same village as that man! You willing to turn into what you're planning on killing all because you didn't think!?" He asked looking at the man on the floor and seeing only himself.

"I am that man Aethon! Blood is my whiskey. You have no idea how many families ive torn apart... destroyed all because im too selfish to think about their lives before i take them away. How many of those families no longer have mothers, father, daughters, sons because of me?! I don't know, i didn't take the time to find out. Im a ruthless killer! Are you going to kill me too?" He asked. "Because im worse than all of those people you want to kill put together." He snarled.

"Perhaps you have missed the memo," Aethon retorted condescendingly. "I sold my soul! For this! For the promise of something that turned out to be a lie! Hell, my own body isn't wholly mine, anymore. You're not the only one who's become a monster - I'm the reason you are, in the first place."

He sneered faintly. "When did you become my conscience? When did you even develop one?

"You honestly think I have no idea what you've done these past five years? Brother, you are either willfully ignorant or stupid, and I've known you too long to believe it's the latter. D'you really think Osythe and our parents are the only ones I've been keeping an eye on? Do you really think I haven't seen how I've destroyed you? What has become of you because of my mistake?"

Aethon let out a strangled laugh. It was humorless, broken, grieved. Though his features had returned to normal, his expression was that of anguish and anger... and pain.

"It was my job to look after the two of you," Aethon stated, tone edged with self-loathing and defeat, "but I have failed you both. There is nothing good left of me, Aurmerle. It has all been destroyed."

"That doesn't mean you no longer have one! You're alive arent you? That means you must have a soul!" He spat. "Stop taking responsibility for me! It was i that took the deal. You didn't make me! I decided my fate alone." He hated when people thought he wasn't capable of making his own decisions and looking after himself. He was 18! An adults now and forever more.

He growled, his teeth expanding. "Why didn't you stop me?! You just sat back and watched whilst i killed ruthlessly?" He said shaking his head. "You're unbelievable."

"Oh get over yourself. The world doesn't revolve around poor, hard done by Aethon. I make my own choices. Im like this because i made it so not because of something you did!"

"Alright fine. You pushed me to this." He said pushing past Aethon and walking back up the hill. "Since im obviously nothing in your perfectic life, i might as well kill myself off. Right after i take out mother cause shes no longer needed." He said running through the trees.

"'Stop taking responsibility for you'?" Aethon echoed. "Oh, that's rich. Eighteen years, you know what I heard? 'Look after your brother.' 'Keep an eye out for your sister.' 'Watch out for your siblings, Aethon.' Just because you are grown, now, doesn't mean it is something I can just shut off. And you can't deny that if it wasn't for me, Djinn would have never offered you the deal in the first place. You may have accepted it, but it was I who provided you the opportunity to do so!

Aethon snarled. "Of course I didn't watch you! That doesn't mean I didn't keep coming across the devastation you left in your wake - that I didn't clean up after you when you were too blood-drunk to do so properly yourself! For someone who keeps claiming he is grown and responsible and capable of taking care of himself, you certainly seem to expect me to keep picking up after you!"

Growling, he took after his brother, grabbing him by the arm and slamming him back against a tree. His hand tangled in the younger man's collar, pinning him there.

"Get over myself?" Aethon repeated. "Did you honestly tell me to 'get over myself'? You tell me one thing in my entire life that hasn't gone back to you or Osythe or our parents, and then you tell me to get over myself again! My existence has always revolved around you! You have the gall to declare that you are nothing in my life? You and Osythe are my life. Now, Osythe is dead and you...

"You want to know why I didn't confront you even once these past few years? Because you wouldn't have listened to me. You haven't listened to me since you were fifteen."

Aethon released him, letting out a rather manic laugh. He couldn't even fall apart without having to pause so he could stop his brother from doing something stupid. More laughter parted his lips. Broken, mangled laughter; slow, at first, but increasing until he could hardly breathe, like a man gone mad.

This was what he had traded his soul for: to see all that mattered to him come to ruin, until all that remained was himself and his own self-loathing.

"Well if you didn't always do as you were told then maybe you'd have a life! Rather than having to life it through us! We have had enough!" He shouted. His shouts were loud enough to be carried to all the nearby villagers but he didn't care. Let them come, it just meant more food for him.

"I don't care. Maybe it was fated for me to become a monster. Who knows maybe id have met the demon another time without you?" He suggested pushing his brother away from him. "Maybe i can't help myself! Im not strong enough to fight against the temptation the blood gives. I see a humans i have to take their lives. I do it without thinking." It was almost like someone else had control over him when he was close to a human. He had no choice but to sit back and watch as a passenger.

He growled and shoved his brother back. "Get of me!" He spat straightening his clothes. "You have no right to touch me! I don't need you telling me what to do, i got enough of that from father!" He scowled, his face scrunched up in disgust.

"Come on then brother, lets go do what we're made to." He called back, his eyes now glued to the tavern ahead. He could already hear all the people inside and it was only a matter of time before their heart beats came into hearing distance.

"Then get a life brother! You're 22 and you're still trying to live through me." He said grinding his teeth together. "Oh and i wonder who's fault that is! I was always in somebodies shadow. I used to look up to you, you know. I idolised you but i was never enough. Osythe always came first, just as you always came first to father. I was just the middle child. The stupid reckless one that wasn't suitable for the family business. But that was fine, cause i don't feel right?" He said pushing himself off the tree to head back into the village leaving his brothers broken laughs behind. He needed a drink and he didn't care what he had to do to get one.

Aethon gritted his teeth. And then he did something he hadn't done in a while. Since they were both well and truly teenagers, in fact.

He drew his wand at pointed it at his unsuspecting brother's departing back. "Claudicatis*," he murmured under his breath.



* Halt; The brothers' spoken language and the language they use to cast spells is the same

His shock at his hearing his brothers words were enough to keep him grounded long enough for the spell to hit. He dropped to the floor and lay still, not being able to move and of his limbs. "What... are you doing?" He muttered barely louder than a whisper as he tried to force his mouth to form the words.

"Re...release meee... now."

Aethon moved over to where his brother now lie in the leaves and dirt on the ground, crouching down beside him.

"I've decided you're right," he stated casually. "I should do something for me; something that I need to do. And what I need, right now, is to act out my grief without wondering just what you are getting up to!" His tone raised to a shout, before he stopped, taking a calming breath before he continued.

"That is not wholly fair, I realize. You also lost your sister, but as you've said, Osythe was my favorite. What do you matter?" He reached out and smacked his brother on cheek. "It's not like I thought out my every action for years because I knew you were watching and I wanted my brother to be proud." Aethon then smacked Aurmerle across the other cheek. "It's not like I took beatings for you when father was angry. Did just a bit more of the chores so that you would have time to wander off and just enjoy yourself. And I certainly never took the fault for any of your shortcomings."

With each statement, Aethon gave the younger man another smack. It was demeaning, and probably maddening, but he didn't care at the moment.

"Why would I?" he concluded, tone matter-of-fact though he clearly wasn't stating the truth. "It's not as if you ever mattered to me." His expression flinched a bit before evening out.

Aethon rose to his feet, again. "The spell will wear off soon enough, though, I suppose you will have more time to think that you are accustomed to. I will be gone, elsewhere. When you've regained your mobility, you may feel free to slaughter the tavern of people you so nobly preventing me from killing myself. Who knows? Maybe I be killing innocents myself, after all.

"Either way, I will be taking my lack of life elsewhere. Because, pathetic as you might think it, I am first and foremost your and Osythe's brother... and I don't have the strength to allow you to continue to see me like this."

He started to walk away, clearly in no hurry.

Merle could do nothing but lay there as his brother continued to humiliate him. All the while his anger boiled inside him, blocking out his brothers words. He was no longer interested, all he wanted now was to kill his brother. Make him suffer as he was suffering now before ending it all and moving to live his life with no living family. He could create his own family and all of them would worship him. No more living in the shadows.

"You're gonna leave me here unprotected?" He said more an accusation than a question. "You better run brother, cause once this has worn off im coming and i wont stop until i have your head on a stick." He said trying to move on those last words but getting nothing. "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR..." He cried out in frustration. His eyes pitch black and his fangs grown to their full length as he struggled with his anger. That tavern wasn't going to know what hit them once he was free. He was going to need to be at his strongest when it came to killing Aethon and that meant the whole tavern and more.

Aethon hadn't left his brother unprotected, of course. He set a couple layers of repelling wards as he departed to keep anything from wandering near the younger man.

The tavern-goers were good as dead, he was certain. He could not quite bring himself to care overly much. There was something of much greater importance on his mind.

So, it was that Aethon made his way to the old prison house. It had been abandoned due to lack of use, as well as certain superstitions that had risen around it following the mysterious death of a prisoner some twenty years before. It was the perfect place.

And the deaths of several innocents would buy him the time he needed.

He had no idea how long it was before he was able to move again. He just remembered the many ways he'd pictured the death of his brother in his mind.

He leapt to his feet and was off, running towards the tavern before he could stop himself. "Hello what can I get you handsome?" Asked the barmaid as he walked in. A polite smile crossed his face as he approached the bar. "I would love a pint or 4 of your blood." He said before pulling her forward to sink his fangs into her neck. Blood! Nothing could ever compare. Before they knew it he'd had everyone dead waiting for him to relieve them off their blood. Pitiful, he though once he'd drank more than he could.

"I'm coming brother!" he said his face twisting into a sadistic smile as he kicked a body out of his path. Now he could follow his brothers scent with ease.

*******
Sometime later

One side of merles face pulled up into a smirk. "nice hiding place brother!" He muttered to himself. "Very fitting." Now it was time for the fun part. He moved forwards towards the building.

"One, two Merlys coming for you." He sang loud enough for his brother to hear, but silent enough to pass as a ghost. "Three, four I'm knocking on your door." He said lightly tapping on the door. "Five, six better grab your crucifix. Seven, eight run but it'll be too late." He said taking a step back from the door. "Nine, ten never to wake again." He said kicking the door down.

"Ready or not! Here I come!" He smirked walking into the room. "Come out, come out where ever you are."

Aethon waited until his brother had broken into the room and walked inside before turning... and vanishing from the room. He hadn't been very good at magical travel before; he'd been practicing the last five years. Reappearing in the doorway, he grabbed the door and returned it to its casing.

"Inclaudo," he incanted to the door, a good dozen or so wards and magic-dampening spells springing to life. Then, he brandished his wand at his brother. "Ad me," he summoned the younger man's wand.

"Sorry, little brother," Aethon continued. "I'm afraid you've become a danger, not only to others, but also yourself. I know how you hate to be indoors, but I do have your best interests at heart. Nonetheless, I don't think the next several days are going to be pleasant for either of us."



*close; to me

The smiled immediately dropped from his face before it came back into place. "Nice try brother but i don't need a wand." He said walking over to the door and kicking it, but it didn't move. He tried again but nothing so much as moved. "NOOOO!" He roared looking around for a weak spot, that he could escape from.

"This isn't funny Aethon. Let me out." He said leaning up against the wall beside the door. "You always talk about being adults, let me out and we'll talk about it." He said calmly.

"Let you out?" Opposite the wall from his brother, Aethon also leaned against the stone, letting his head fall back until he was staring towards the ceiling. "You came here with the intention of tearing me to bits. You slaughtered a whole tavern of people so you could do so - I can smell them on you."

He laughed quietly. "That's the thing, though, isn't it? You're eighteen. Even though five years have passed, you're still eighteen. Have you noticed? We haven't aged, just as the devil promised. Now, I realize some consider eighteen to be adult, but you've never been all that mature, really. And talking most certainly has never been your strong suit.

"You're drunk, Aurmerle. Drunk with too much blood. I've watched how it affects you... it changes you." Aethon turned so he was facing the wall. "I can only imagine what the withdrawal is going to be like. I'll be here for you, Aurmerle, go through it with you, but I won't let you out. Not until I'm certain you're in your right mind, again."

"A moment of weakness." He said passing off the countless amount of dead bodies now burning in the tavern. He couldn't care less about those. They were just nameless faces that kept him fed. "But im fine now. You know what my tempers like." He said calmly, hoping his brother would fall for his lies. He always was good at twisting peoples emotions.

"Yes, yes i've noticed." He said, now realising the walls seem to be closing in. Was the room getting smaller or was it just his imagination? "Im listening now arent i? Just say what you have to and let me go." He said his voice showing the panic in his voice.

"Then i'll stop. I won't kill so many." He said, already knowing he could never do that. He couldn't stop himself. "You can't do this Aethon. I'll die! I've felt what its like without blood. I can't go back to that." He cried sliding down the wall into a sitting position.

"Kill me now. Or do you insist on watching me suffer?" He asked bringing his knees up to his chest and covering his face. He had to get out.

********************************************
A few days later.

"AETHON!" He shouted kicking the door before him. He was wasting energy now but that didn't cross his mind. He had to get out before he went insane. "You better kill me now brother cause as soon as you let me out of here everyone you've ever cared about is gonna die!" He growled giving the door another kick.

"Oh you know what? I can't die. You made sure of that. So be my guest, sit out there for the rest of our miserable lives but someone will stroll across eventually and let me out." He laughed. His laugh now sounding hysterical as he slowly started to go insane.

"I think ill start with mother first. I wanna see the love in her eyes turn sour as i rip out her heart." A smirke flit across his face as he pictured it. "That's if she's still alive. Then ill move onto Osythes kid. Might as well wipe out the entire family. Personally i think you are more than enough family for me." He said dropping his head back against the wall as he closed his eyes. The hunger was hitting him more than ever.

"Let me go now and i promise i wont tear the kid limb from limb. Do you think people will be able to hear her scream? Maybe it will gather us a nice little audience."

Aethon sat calmly against the wall across from the door. He looked up from the block of wood he was whittling away at, listening patiently to his brother's threats.

"You're lucky I am choosing to believe it's your bloodlust talking, and not yourself," he said mildly. "Considering you would scarcely do harm to an animal, let alone your own family, before, I'm thinking it is a pretty safe assumption."

Aethon set the carving aside. Rising to his feet, he stretched casually. "I am going to go find some sustenance for the two of us," he stated. "Don't worry, brother. This place is surrounded by so many repelling and protective wards, it would be impossible for someone to simply... wander in and release you.

"I'll be back, shortly."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Get back here Aethon!" He demanded banging his hand on the door. He didn't have the strength to stand anymore. He'd wasted a lot of power earlier trying to kick the door down and already he was beginning to look thinner.

He sighed, closed his eyes and began to slowly rock. "Just a room, it's just a room. Nothing bad about a room. You've lived in plenty of rooms. But not for this long. Shhh its just a room." He muttered to himself.

"Aurmerle!" He gasped and opened his eyes at the sound of his fathers voice. "You're a monster! A monster worse than that of the weres! You disgust me!" He spat.

"No, no i didn't... i can't stop..."

"Weak! You are nothing like you brother. You are weak and pathetic, look at Ethon. The son i've always wanted. Look at your sister, my little angel. Look at yourself. Pathetic! You were a mistake. Never worthy of my name." He said folding his arms.

"No, father, please." He begged but it was too late. His father was kicking him in every place he could reach. The pain soon became unbearable. "Stop, please." He begged but the torture continued. "I'm sorry."

He fell and his eyes snapped open, revealing himself alone in the cold room. It was just a dream, but the pain was real. Slowly, he dragged his hand across the floor so he could see it. He was nothing but flesh and bones and he couldn't even move to sit up. "A...aethon?" He croaked through a dry throat. Even that was more energy than he had, so much so that just keeping his eyes open and breathing was becoming impossible.

Aethon had returned as quickly as he could. He hadn't been gone long - he couldn't bring himself to be away long. Aurmerle hated enclosed spaces, always had. That, in itself, was probably just as hard on the younger man as the withdrawal. His brother's distress was certainly hard on Aethon, even if he did do his best to hide it.

"I'm here, little brother," Aethon said softly, crouching down and laying his hand against the door. "I know this isn't easy for you - and I'm sorry for that, Aurmerle, I am - but... I don't know what else to do. Osythe is gone. I don't wish to lose you, as well."

He opened the small trap door for passing through food near the floor. Taking one of the large bowls he had brought with him, he slid it through. It was full of blood - deer blood, to be exact.

"I don't imagine it'll taste quite the same as what we've grown accustomed to," Aethon stated. "In fact, it might not even work. It's just... an idea I had." It didn't even smell that nice, really - certainly less than appetizing. They had to eat something, though, and Aethon wouldn't eat until his brother did.

He slowly closed his eyes at the sound of his brothers voice. It made him feel better somehow. At least now he didn't have to die alone. It was weird. A few days ago he was all for tearing Aethon to shreds but now... well he knew he was just trying to help.

He took a deep breath at the mention of blood but immediately coughed. That wasn't blood, it smelt revolting. A cruel trick on his brothers part. Even if it was real blood, he didn't think he could move to get it anyway. He sighed and decided to go back to sleep. It would all be over soon.