It was dark now, and the damp, sweet scent of the forest had been thoroughly tainted by the thick tangy musk of blood and ripped flesh. The stench reminded him of back then, when his entire camp had been smothered in a sea of crimson. The grass, stained with thick red lumpy blood… the doorways filled with humanoid and beast bodies… and the streets of his home littered with ripped limbs and torn fur. Numbly, Khyriel wobbled over to the dark mound of corpses in the middle of the clearing and added the freshly killed cat to his pile of prey.

He felt delirious, and part of him still longed for the taste of blood. But as a cool breeze swept through the clearing, relieving him momentarily of the meat stench, Khyriel relaxed his hind limbs and sat down. In front of him, the piled-up bodies of various creatures almost towered over his head, and as Khyriel blinked at the silhouette of a dead rabbit’s protruding ears, he felt a pang of remorse.

That’s too much.

Khyriel had spent most of his day hunting. He hadn’t needed to, but the activity had kept him occupied. It had made him feel as though the uncontrollable racing of his heart, the bristling arousal surging through his veins, and the spinning excitement in his skull were because of the hunt… and not because of that strange man.

Shaking his head vigorously as his thoughts tugged back towards Nafan, Khyriel huffed irritably to himself and lay down so he could wash his paws. The rough pads of his feet were sweet with blood, dirt, and grass juice, but as much as he enjoyed it, it wasn’t enough to hide his troublesome human worries.

So he really is a lycan doctor.

Admittedly, Nafan had told him that several times now, but Khyriel had still been skeptical. The lycan had their own shamans – they had their own extensive knowledge of herbs. But he’d never seen techniques as potent as what Nafan had used. With only a brief massage, the man had allowed his body to completely relax… completely relax, for the first time in over ten years. The pain and tension that he had grown so used to had been bleached away by pure, soothing warmth. It had been an ecstasy that even Khyriel hadn’t been able to resist.

He had already seen Nafan bring back the dead, and now this, too… if he wasn’t some kind of demon, then Khyriel didn’t know what he was.

Unnerved, Khyriel growled and finally managed to gnaw out a rock that had been jammed between his toes. Spitting it aside with a satisfied huff, he lapped at his sore paw pad a couple more times, then relaxed and gazed again at his pile of food.

I should bring some back to the village, he thought drowsily, resting his head in his paws. I can get another free night from Da Shan in exchange, probably. Maybe he’ll give Nafan a free night, too. I don’t know much money Nafan has left. He’s spent a lot already, from what I’ve seen.

Nafan, Nafan, Nafan… the sound of his own thoughts annoyed him, and Khyriel closed his eyes with a grimace. Shit, that man had been all he could think about today. There had been something about Nafan’s herb-infused scent – the sharp minty tang of pine, the bitter scent of dried herbs, and the musk of the pond lotus – that had set off a forbidden memory deep inside his skull.

Ten years ago… Khyriel had woken up from the darkness to find himself alive. Alive, and in a house smelling exactly like that man. If his instincts were true, then it meant that Nafan… had been the one to keep him from death.

The realization made him angry and bitter. Khyriel didn’t want to think about it, but some feelings he couldn’t hold back. As he glared at the dark silhouettes of the animal corpses, he found himself growling quietly in resentment. It would have been easier to die. It would’ve been a lot easier...

In a bad mood again, Khyriel rose to his feet and shook out the dust from his fur. His stomach growled – he hadn’t taken a single bite of anything that he’d killed yet. Padding forward, he clamped his jaws around the head of the rabbit and tugged it out of the pile. A couple bodies rolled down from the top, but Khyriel turned his back impassively and laid down a few feet away to continue his meal.

A single gaunt rabbit wasn’t enough to fill him up for the night, but despite the continuing pangs of his stomach, Khyriel didn’t feel the urge to eat more than that. The scent of flesh – usually something he found warm and delicious – now stank of death.

Remaining in the pile were two more rabbits, four rats, a shrew, and a stray cat. Or at least, he was pretty sure it had been a stray. He hadn’t meant to kill it. He hadn’t meant to kill the other animals either.

It would probably be easier to shift into human form, stuff the corpses into his garments, and carry them back that way. But Khyriel was reluctant to succumb to the annoying thoughts of his human self, so instead he grabbed one limb of each animal in his jaw and started lumbering clumsily back towards the village. He dropped a rat along the way, but after a brief hesitation Khyriel kept walking. If he tried to pick it up, he’d probably drop everything else in his mouth, too.

The scent of prey completely filled his nose – it was probably the reason why Khyriel didn’t smell the smoke until he was already close enough to see it.

At first, in the altered vision of his beast form, Khyriel had thought the villagers were setting off fireworks or playing with exploding lanterns. But once he got closer, he saw the unmistakable flicker of flames above the undergrowth.

A fire? Khyriel tilted his head and blinked uncomprehendingly at the hazy light frothing wildly against the dark horizon. He watched until he saw the dark silhouette of a pine tree explode into a sudden ball of flames – and only then did he realize, it wasn’t just a fire.

It was a inferno.

Dropping everything, Khyriel sprinted towards the village, morphing and skidding onto the streets with a terse gasp. A wave of heat rushed into his face, nearly blowing him off his feet. Stumbling back, he stared at the wall of flames that had already devoured half of the village in open-mouted awe.

Then he heard a blood-curdling shriek, and saw the roof of the house in front of him collapse. The scream was swallowed by the roaring flames, and with a pang of foreboding, Khyriel tore himself away and ran towards the direction of the inn.

Thankfully, the inn was further down, away from the flames and tucked in moist foliage. The townspeople had gathered there to shelter from the fire, and Khyriel could hear their fearful whimpers. He spotted Da Shan near the front of the crowd, arms crossed and brows deeply furrowed in concern as he spoke to a woman with wide hips. Nearby, his daughter was bent over in an attempt to comfort a young woman who was sobbing on the ground. Beside her, a young boy and girl were carrying one toddler each in their arms. Their faces were streaked with ash, and the girl looked particularly stricken.

Nafan wasn’t in sight.

Huffing with something between irritation and anxiety, Khyriel stomped over to Da Shan and saw the man’s head turn towards him.

 “Khyriel!” The innkeeper’s voice was heavy with relief. “I was wondering where you were. Haven’t seen you all day, didn’t think the fire would be a problem for you but…”

“Where’s Nafan?” Khyriel growled warily, almost not wanting to know the answer as he saw dismay flicker through Da Shan’s face. Don’t tell me he…?

It wasn’t like he was particularly worried about the man’s well-being, Khyriel tried to tell himself even as he stared the innkeeper down and bristling uneasily. But Nafan was paying him well, and he simply didn’t want to lose such an easy job…

“Well, I don’t know how to say this…” Da Shan said finally, crossing his arms with a heavy sigh. He hesitated one more time, and Khyriel felt his fingers curl into fists, but before he could grab the man’s thick neck and wring the words out of him, a nearby scream caught his attention.

The sobbing woman suddenly leapt to her feet and rushed forward with her arms outstretched. Following her unsteady steps with his gaze, Khyriel saw a tall silhouette jogging towards them. 

Tethys! His heart leapt up a little higher than he’d expected, and Khyriel blinked in surprise at his own relief. As Nafan came closer, he saw that the man was carrying a child on his back, and that he had pulled up his inner garment to cover the majority of his face.

The woman ran over and all but pulled the child off his back. Both of them were crying, and as Nafan stepped back he pulled down his mask to reveal a wry smile.

“He was already running out the front door when I found him. Smart kid,” Nafan said with an amazingly light-hearted chuckle.

“D-Did you see anyone else?” the woman asked hoarsely as she hugged the child’s head to her chest. “I have one more child. She should’ve also been in the house…”

At that, Nafan’s eyes lit up in alarm. “No, I didn’t enter the house – the fire was getting too close. I’ll go look –”

“Hey!” As he saw the man turn around again, Khyriel stepped forward and grabbed his arm. Nafan glanced over his shoulder, and for a moment Khyriel forgot where he was.

The man’s honey-coloured eye, the one that wasn’t covered by his bangs, glowed in the light of the fire. His light-coloured wavy hair looked like gold thread, and his contoured cheeks glistened with sweat. For an insane moment, Khyriel found himself thinking that Nafan… almost wasn’t ugly.

Then the man pulled away, and Khyriel blinked back to the present in a fluster.

“Where are you going?!”

“She said her child is still in there,” Nafan protested, lifting a hand to point at the flames.

“You’re fucking insane, the house is going to explode, you’re gonna die!” Khyriel snapped, reaching forward for the man’s arm again.

But this time, Nafan pulled away, his voice genuinely confused as he replied, “So?”

Dumbfounded, Khyriel stared at the man’s back as Nafan ran back towards the flames. Behind him, he heard the woman break down into sobs again.

Da Shan shook his head exasperatedly. “That man… he’s either a really saintly demon, or a really stupid human.”

... Fuck. Growling irritably to himself, Khyriel dug his fingers into the palms of his hands and ran after the man. You better pay me extra for this, Titties…!