Leslie Bloodikar

Some people said that your surroundings determine who you are. Those argues about that very phrase. Half of them proved the eligibility of the phrase yet the other party assumed it as just an empty quote.

However, for Leslie Bloodikar, that quote had never sounded so true. He was the next head of the Bloodikar Clan, he was supposed to, yet just because of some family traditions, all of his hope shattered.

The wrath of the Goddess Erna befalls those who possess the touch of Hades...

                    He gritted his teeth angrily when he remembered those words. The words that the elders of his clan spouted, stating that it was divine, yet all of them were nonsense.

            He remembered very well how they all look when they saw his features; pale grey hair with a tinge of silver, in addition of possesing red eyes, similar to the red moon. They were all scared of him, for all he is a walking curse who also killed his mother after giving birth to him.

            Since then, his loving father turned apathetic towards him. Not loving, not also hating, but regret. Though, his resentment towards his very first child was so big his father reluctantly refused to see him. That pathetic cycle continued even after he got married with another woman, who he didn’t even love.

            Years came by, and that woman got pregnant. Leslie’s fear came true when his father said he will make the child inside that woman’s womb to be the next head of the clan.

            How pathetic my life is...

            Now, after 25 years of living while being treated like some kind of pest, he decided that it was time to end this all. Jaded by his family and all around him, he vowed to avenge them for all the stupidity of their small minds. If the regulation is what destroyed his dreams of having a lovely family, then he will bring them all down with him.

            “Huff...”

He heaved a deep sigh. Puffs of fog formed from his warm breath into the chilly autumn air.

He clenched his bloodied fist. Just a while ago, he managed to assault some team of werewolves and sent one unconscious. That incident might send news to the clan and they would be wary of him. But that was not enough, he needed more strength to fight against the whole reign of the werewolves. He need them to recognize who he is. Let them see what the child they deemed to be cursed had became.

Again, anger flooded inside his mind and his white fist trembled in rage.

Suddenly, he felt a presence nearby him. He turned to see a girl—maybe in her twenties—was staring at him while licking her ice cream.

His eyebrows creased.

What kind of person enjoyed ice cream in the middle of autumn?

“Hey.”

She greeted first. There is a slight fatigue in the tone of her voice, yet she didn’t seem to care. His nose twitched. Seemed like this girl just treated a werewolf judging from the scent from her clothes, but again, she didn’t seem to notice.

“You okay, mate?”

She kneeled down beside him and seemed to be inspecting his hand. Sometimes, she had to brush her dark blonde hair backwards when it slapped onto her face because of the autumn breeze.

She started to bite into the blue coral flavored ice cream, before nibbling like a hamster munching it’s foods. Leslie’s eyes twitched in horror. He couldn’t even imagine how cold it was if he were to bite into an ice cream like that.

That girl dunked the remaining stick inside the trash bin beside the bench, before pressing her cold hands on his. He flinched in surprise.

“What are you doing?!”

He slapped her hands away.

He thought she would get dejected, but she rolled her eyes in annoyance and again pressed her fingers onto his fist.

“Do you feel any pain?”

She interrogated.

Leslie didn’t notice this before, but she was bringing a big suitcase with her. It was placed on her side.

Was she a doctor?

“...I don’t need any treatment.”

He pulled his hand away gently from her this time.

“Why?”

She raised an eyebrow.

Because werewolves could heal themselves.

He thought, but there was no way he could tell a human like she.

She sighed, before pulling his hand back to her peripheral view.

“If you want to tell me something like you can heal yourself, then I can do that too.”

She opened his fist and checked his hands. It was filled with bruises.

“But this is called precaution, cause you might get an infection if these were left untreated.”

She scanned through his fingers first before proceeding until his forearm. Then, while mumbling something, she opened her suitcase and brought out a bottle filled with transparent liquid, and another bottle filled with plain water. She poured the water on his hand first, and he groaned from the sudden cold sensation touching his skin.

Then, drenching the cotton dabs with the translucent water, she dabbed the scars on his hand one by one. Her works were definitely fast, as soon after she dabbed his wounds, she pulled a long piece of band aid from a big roll of band aids in the suitcase and started swirling it around his hand. In a matter of a few seconds, one of his hands have neatly bandaged.

He lifted his bandaged hand and stared at it in awe.

Was a normal human had being always been this skillful?

How terrifying.

“Now, give me your other hand.”

She beckoned me to move my other hand closer to her.

Then, like earlier, she performed the similar actions, and in a matter of no time, he have two hands that have been neatly bandaged. He blinked his eyes in confusion, but at the same time, he felt a sense of comfort.

The girl heaved a satisfied sigh while she rested her hands on her hips.

“That settles it, I guess. Now I’m going back home.”

She packed her suitcase.

Leslie traced her actions, before mistakenly  blurting out something he never thought he would say.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

She sneered.

“Hah. You...”

She raised her index finger up and down in front of him, as if pointed him as whole.

“...If you are referring to a disheveled brat in front of me, then nope, not at all.”

She lunged her suitcase.

“Oh, right.”

She turned to Leslie, her body also swayed from the inertia of the suitcase.

“You better get back home and rest, kid. These days the nights have become quite dangerous. Well then.”

She waved a goodbye before walking away.

Leslie silently trailed her steps with his eyes. Shortly after that she disappeared from his sight. He leaned against the bench.

“If you are referring to a disheveled brat in front of me, then nope, not at all...”

This is still not enough, he thought to himself. He needed to gain more power and influence so people will fear him.

Though...

He glanced at his hands.

...He hoped that the girl didn’t fear him.