Chapter 342 - The Moonshadow Trading Company Short Stories: 3 - The Expansion of Moonshadow (I) (1/2)

*Eldovian Era 1713, 7th Day of the 10th Month*

His world had changed so rapidly. First it had been all the usual colours, if a little blurred thanks to the newly returned Moonshadow Lord, but he'd come and left like the sea breeze. Pleasant to both the eyes and the mind, but blowing away before you could have the chance to truly enjoy it.

He'd left something behind as well. The beautiful woman he called sister but was apparently not of the same blood, just like Iah. Except unlike Iah, this Ebony was of the same blood, just not in a way Mathius had been able to understand.

Not until he'd tasted the nectar of the gods for himself.

Her blood was, in short, divine. It tasted so rich and decadent that he feared growing sick of it, but he hadn't been able to stop. Just like with all decadent desserts however, his body had begun to fight back against the very nature of the blood.

It's nature, it's very essence and reason for being was to devour. And devour it had, Mathius could sense no weariness in his old bones anymore. Now his muscles felt young again, his skin and bones harder than stone, and the fiery burning lines that had burned themselves into his waist, curling around from his spine to his belly button, they felt…like a manifestation of his soul.

Still, none of it compared to the hunger. It had ripped its way through his entire being without mercy or warning. He'd barely registered the man being shoved at him until his hands, fingertips ending in lethal looking claws, extended to catch the stranger with ease. Then the two needle-like teeth he'd felt form in his upper jaw had extended and plunged into the nearest exposed vein.

He'd drunk greedily as soon as blood had hit his tongue, unwilling to part with this newfound p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. He'd heard stories before of masses of people becoming addicted to a substance, but never had he thought that substance would be blood. It sung to him as he swallowed it, his body humming in melodic response.

Yes, this was all he would ever d.e.s.i.r.e. Nothing else could possibly matter.

”Enough, you are full”.

Or perhaps something did matter. The lines that felt like his very soul responded to the voice. It felt like an order. His fangs retreated as he looked up for the source, finding the sound familiar.

His eyes focused as they pinpointed Ebony Moonshadow.

She was dressed differently, no longer in the sheer gown and night-coat she'd worn when he'd entered the room. She looked far stronger now. Not like the sulking child he'd come to comfort, but like a young woman with a weight on her shoulders. A weight she bore beautifully as she stepped forward, pushing away from the wall.

Her signature skirt, without volume and with slits up either side of her legs, swayed when she walked, the dark brown corset covering a clean, white cotton top that scandalously exposed her clavicle and shoulders.

”I know you want to keep going, but the hunger will always tell you that. You need to learn to control it…” her lips moved and Mathius heard the words, the lines at his waist urging him to listen, but he was reluctant to leave the meal in his hands. He bent over to partake again.

”Enough”.

An order this time. One his lines responded to enough to cause a hot warning in his being. His eyes darted back up to her, assessing her not as a feeble woman anymore, but as a threat to his delicious meal. She did not look strong. She certainly hadn't last night, but something told him he shouldn't underestimate her because of how she looked.

”Why should I stop?” asked Mathius. His voice sounded different. He frowned at the sound, until he worked out why he sounded so different. He no longer sounded so submissive, so…tame.

”I'm sorry I did this to you, Mathius,” Ebony stated. And she did appear to have remorse somewhere hidden behind that serious look in her eyes, ”It is my mistake, and I can offer you no excuse that could possibly be worthy of forgiveness. But, seeing as it is my mistake, it is my responsibility to teach you. My first lesson is simple. Learn the difference between when you are satiated and when you are full, and, most importantly, learn to stop at full”.

Mathius' eyes narrowed. Stop at full? But why? Why shouldn't he indulge?

”Why?” asked Mathius.

Ebony raised an eyebrow, ”If you cannot control your hunger, you will not last long in this life. The Chaos within you with consume you with it”.

Mathius assumed so, and pushed the body off of his l.a.p. It was then he seemed to grasp that it was a body. The fearful, dead eyes of the man he could not name stared back at him, and Mathius felt reality slam into him with full force. He looked down at his hand, where claws retracted, and he felt his fangs do the same as he closed his mouth. He looked around, spotting a mirror to the side, and he hurried to it, so quickly he almost smashed into it. He'd never moved that quickly before.

As if making sure that it was possible, he looked back over at the bed where he'd been sitting, then came to the conclusion that it was not physically possible for him to cross here in an instant. He glanced at Ebony as if to confirm his thoughts, then turned to his reflection.

His clothes were soiled with blood, his skin paler than it had been before. Though, his eyes shone with a life that hadn't been there before. His features…where once they had been that of a man growing old, now they looked to be of a man in his prime. At the latter end of his prime perhaps, with crow's feet on the edges of his eyes and wrinkles around his mouth and forehead, but there was just a part of his appearance that seemed, younger.

”You…what happened?” asked Mathius, reaching up to touch his face.

Ebony sighed, ”Like I said, I don't expect to be forgiven…I was hungry, stupidly believing that I could handle it. When you came in and practically refused to leave, I couldn't help it. The instincts took over and I indulged. When I realised I'd drunk far more than I should have I…I panicked. Then I turned you”.

”Turned…you mean you made me like you? Like Mr Moonshadow?” asked Mathius, turning to face Ebony in disbelief.

Ebony nodded.

Mathius didn't know whether to feel angry or not. This certainly wasn't a life he expected for himself, but he felt incredible. Far better than his aging human body had been. Surely if he was like this he'd be able to help Moonshadow far more efficiently. In saying that, he knew barely anything about what he was.

”The bathroom is through that door. I retrieved some clothes for you that are on the bench in there. Wash up first, then I'll answer what I can,” said Ebony.

”And what you can't?” asked Mathius.

”Rassa is back,” said Ebony. It surprised Mathius. It had been less than a week, surely he hadn't gone to the mines and found land and properties as he'd set out to do in that time. Iah had mentioned him being back within a fortnight but Mathius had not believed it.

”He is?” asked Mathius.

Ebony nodded, ”He…He sensed it when I turned you. He is the First of us, the most powerful and most knowledgeable. I'm not fully done with my own training and have yet to fully awaken, so despite it being my responsibility as your Sire, I cannot teach you everything”.

”Sire?” asked Mathius.

”The one who turned you,” said Ebony, ”Rassa is mine and Aegin's Sire. I am your Sire, but because Rassa turned me-”

”He can sense who you turn as well,” Mathius concluded, his eyes thoughtful, ”When he said you were family, I sensed he meant it through blood, but didn't quite understand. I get it now. I can feel my bond with you. It pushes me to listen and obey”.

Ebony nodded, ”Yes, it will, but only if I will it too. Of course, you have your own free will”.

”And if that free will does not wish to listen?” asked Mathius, his eyes straying to the bodies around the bed.

Ebony's eyes narrowed, ”What if your next victim was Iah?”