Family Ties: I Want Love
#8 of Family Ties
I Want Love
A SideProject by Kyuuketsuki
Manya stood before the cheval mirror in Lokiera's bedroom. He combed his hair with a bejeweled bone comb that had belonged to his mother decades ago. The past two weeks with his father had added several crimson tattoos to his black tribal markings, the most notable were a pair of red lions on his chest.
"You look a lot like her, you know." Lokiera said, wrapping his arms around Manya's waist. "You and Nichelle really are the most beautiful things in the world."
"Were." Manya corrected with a sigh. "Mummy's gone, so now it's you and me." He put the comb down and stared at his reflection. "I started wearing my hair in pigtails because she did, you know." The younger shapeshifter said as he tied scraps of leather into his hair, forming his trademark long, lopsided pigtails.
Lokiera put a paw on Manya's to stop him. "That reminds me. I wanted to give you something." The king kissed Manya on the cheek before walking over to the dresser on the opposite side of the crimson lit room. Manya turned around as he returned to a small wooden box with the words 'For Nichelle" carved into its lid in Blacktongue. Lokiera opened the box. Inside were two ribbons made of amethyst silk, each with a small skull made of silver on either end.
Manya let out a little gasp of joy at the sight of the new accessories. The demon took one from the box and immediately noticed a strand of pale hair holding on for dear life. Nichelle Inkwell's hair was platinum blonde. "Mummy wore these..." Manya said, tying his hair up. He shook his long bangs out of his eyes and stared at his reflection. "I love them, Daddy. Thank you." He said, turning around to put his arms around Lokiera's neck.
"I knew you would." Lokiera replied, holding his boy close. "Now, you need to go home."
"What? Why?" Manya asked. The black ink on his face swirled into a question mark for a moment before becoming an exclamation point. The demon looked down and smirked. His father's demonhood was pressing against his stomach.
"Because if you don't go now, I'll keep you in my bed for another two weeks." Lokiera threatened as he bit at Manya's throat.
"I didn't realize... I'd been here that long." The prince said between gasps as Lokiera's fangs pierced him. "Neirid's probably worried. I haven't called him."
"Then let me send you home." Lokiera said. He gave Manya squeeze that would have broken a mortal's ribs and a kiss that could have sucked the breath from his body before releasing the younger shapeshifter. He took the prince's hand and began to merge with the castle's floor, bringing Manya along for the ride back to the throne room.
"Daddy, will you at least visit us in the mortal world?" Manya asked as they rose from the floor under the large, demon cranium throne, kneeling to grin at the black demon pelts they'd ruined together.
Lokiera sighed and shook his head. "I can't leave Otherworld, baby."
The prince turned around and pouted. "But, Daddy, there's so much to see in the mortal world. And it's not so hot all the time!"
King Lokiera just chuckled and shook his head at his son's childish pleading. "I am sorry. If Nichelle were still here, I could, but since we're the only remaining members of the main family, one of us must always be here. Otherwise someone else could take the throne."
"Daddy, why can't you just have someone else hold your place?"
The elder demon raised an eyebrow. "Think about who our people are."
Manya chuckled. Unfortunately, Lokiera was right. In the lesser Inkwell family, the most trustworthy of them all was his cousin, Faruza Inkwell. She was a born leader but given the opportunity, Faruza would command the guards to kill both of them on sight so that she could take the throne. Fortunately, Faruza was not of pure blood. Being part succubus, she could not rule any more than Lokiera allowed. The others only got worse, followed by those that the two families ruled over.
"Yes. I guess you're right." Manya replied, defeated. He retrieved Anthony's trench coat and threw it over his shoulder. "Alright, send me home."
Lokiera followed the demon and turned his head by his horns. "Just don't let another fifteen years pass before you come see me again, okay?" he said, kissing the prince's black lips. "Otherworld is dangerous, even for a king. You have to check on me, alright?"
"Alright, Daddy." Manya said, barely above a whisper.
The elder demon kissed his son again before turning away from him. He held his paw forward and traced various arcane sigils in the air before him, pale blue light trailing his fingers.
"Across time and across space, leave this world, leave this place. From this world where magic is strong, go you now to where you belong. "
Lokiera's words commanded Otherworld and the mortal world to reach out to one another as he traced a circle around the glowing symbols in the air. When the two worlds collided, to Manya's great relief, the cool November air from Hightown reached the throne room. Bright light from the portal completely overwhelmed the crimson moonlight and the energy it released blew out the torches. Blue lightning danced around the edges of the gateway, arcing across to touch in the center. Inside the portal was a dark blue sky. It was night time over Hightown; very high above Hightown.
"Mortals do not need to know about these doorways, son." Lokiera said, holding his paw out. The lightning reached out and wrapped lovingly around it, lingering on his fingertips. "Go now. Return to your family."
Manya reached out and took Lokiera's other paw. "You're my family." The prince said. "I'm going to miss you, Daddy."
Lokiera shook his head. "You'll be back to see me soon enough." He said. "You have to bring the boy to meet me, remember. I want him to know the truth. About what happened to his mother."
The prince nodded and Lokiera raised his paw to his lips. When Lokiera kissed the back of his paw, Manya felt the point thousands of needles followed by a warm feeling traveling up his arm beneath his skin. He looked at his father with a puzzled expression as the king grinned, licking the blood from his lips. The young shapeshifter looked to his chest where the warm feeling stopped, forming an intricate red heart there. Manya chuckled and hugged the demon once more. "I love you too, Daddy." He said before jumping through the portal.
Lokiera watched as his son fell through the clouds over Hightown before the portal closed, then turned and walked to the glassless windows to his left. He looked out over the lava pit that surrounded the mountain his castle stood on and put a paw on his head. "Faruza? Faruza, can you hear me?"
It took a few minutes for his call to reach her, but when it did, the girl's voice giggled in his mind. "Yes, Uncle Loki. What do you need?" she laughed. Faruza's voice was high pitched and irritating to listen to when she was happy.
"Faruza, come to the castle. I need to discuss something with you."
Anthony watched the moon from the living room of his new home in Hightown with a raw steak in his clawed hand. His father couldn't cook, but Anthony had discovered that he could sear meat in his mouth with the fire that burned in his chest. Even better, he'd developed the taste for blood that was common in demons. He heard Neirid's big paws approaching and turned to face forward on the smaller sofa to make room for the bigger demon. To his joy, his father had brought him a glass of the bourbon he'd finally convinced him to purchase for him.
To Anthony's chagrin, however, Neirid was sad. The demon didn't show it on his face, but Anthony could feel it. Neirid's posture was off, he was sighing a lot and spending a lot of time in Manya's bedroom. Manya had been gone for two weeks and neither of them had heard from the slender shapeshifter. Anthony offered Neirid a bite of his steak but the demon declined. He put his glass down on the table in the middle of the living room and his steak on a plate beside it before moving to sit closer to Neirid. He rested his head on the demon's shoulder and put his arm as far across his father as he could reach.
"He'll be back, Dad." Anthony said.
Neirid sighed (again). "I know, sweetheart, I know." He said. "It's just that usually he'd call if he were staying longer in Otherworld. It's not exactly a safe place; especially for Manya."
"What do you mean?" Anthony asked, lifting his head to meet the older demon's eyes.
The Nightsiren demon sat up and cleared his throat. "Well, you don't know this, but Manya is royalty where we're from. His father, 'Daddy' as we call him, is King Lokiera Methuselah Inkwell. Manya is actually Prince Manya Vishas Inkwell." He stopped when Anthony held up a hand.
"Hold on. Our Manya's a prince?"
Neirid shrugged. "Well, in Otherworld he is. He left it all to come here with me when I left." He explained, taking Anthony's hand and licking at the blood left on it from his raw steak. "His family is divided in two; the greater and lesser families of the Inkwell Clan. Unfortunately, the two are not always friendly."
When he said that, Anthony noticed Neirid's face become suddenly more grave. He could tell that the older demon was not letting on how serious the situation really was.
"The lesser family rules over all shapeshifter demons and the greater - which is just Manya and Daddy - rules over them, and they do not like it. Any old Tom, Dick and Lucifer in Otherworld might try to take the throne from them, but the lesser family is the most vicious about it whenever the topic is on their minds. At least, that's how they explained it to me."
Anthony swallowed a lump in his throat, understanding now why his father was so vexed by his mate's absence. "So you think he might get... assassinated or something?" When Neirid nodded, Anthony reached for his glass of bourbon.
"I'm sure, as your father, I should be stopping you, or something." Neirid said as he watched his teenage son drink like a man in his thirties. "Why do you drink?"
The half-demon shook his head. "You live with someone like Matthew Watkins for sixteen years and resist the urge to set him on fire and tell me you don't need a drink." He heard something. '...turned my son... alcoholic... Neirid chuckled at Anthony's humorless humor, but the boy heard it again. It was an echo of words Neirid hadn't spoken. Bastard turned my son into an alcoholic... It was so clear that Anthony thought the words were in fact spoken and answered. "Dad, I'm not an alcoholic."
"What?"
Anthony cocked an eyebrow at Neirid. "Didn't you just say I was -
Whoosh!
They both forgot what was going on to look out the window behind them. Anthony jumped back from the couch as it circled by the window again, a high pitched screech following it. His enhanced sight picked up on large black wings. "Dad, what the hell is that?!" the halfling asked, looking from the window to the calm demon on the couch as he hid behind the sofa on the other side of the living room. Part of him wondered how he'd gotten over there so quickly, but it was suppressed by the certain death circling the block just outside the window.
The screeching sound approached again and stopped at its highest point. Whatever this thing was, it was just outside the door. When the door slammed open against the wall, black smoke swirled just outside and obscured Anthony's vision. He wondered how Neirid could remain so calm. The bigger demon hadn't even turned from the window. Anthony saw a hoofed foot step into the living room from the smoke. Immediately sucked in a deep breath and let it ignite in his chest before blasting black flames from his throat at the door. Just as fast as the flames roared from his throat, however, Anthony found himself hacking up black feathers.
"Almost singed my hair again, mate."