Kindred: Short Story

Preface: So, uh, this is my first post to the boards! I've been a lurker for a while now, but the reveal of Kindred really inspired me to do a bit of writing. Critique is welcome, but keep it polite, and most of all, enjoy. Thanks for reading!

Edit: My new-ness is showing. Posted this in the wrong section, thanks rito for redirecting me :) ...

The pale man with dark hair looked, with downcast eyes, at his bloody hands.

Red. Red against white. He turned his palms over to look at his calloused knuckles, watched his fingers, with muscles so adept at wrapping themselves around frail necks, twitch with hunger.

“Vile creature!” someone cried behind him. He spun slowly to look, as if pulled by the gentle tug of a string. It was a dark man. Tears streaked down his face, and red clung to his eyes. The pale man glanced at his hands again. “Why would you take her?” the dark man demanded, more out of desperation than anger now.

The pale man glanced, for a moment, at the woman at his feet. She rested peacefully. They always did in the end.

“She asked me to,” the pale man said, his voice coming out in such a low rumble that it could nearly be mistaken as a growl. He could still see the mark where her soul was, begging for release, for mercy. “She didn't want to be alone anymore,” he whispered, softly, tenderly. Alone. The pale man was always alone; being called vile was the least of his concerns.

There was such fear in her eyes when he came for her. Blood pouring from the tear in her leather armor, eyes glazing over with shock, and she still managed to be afraid. But then her eyes softened. Her heartbeat slowed. Because she knew.

“I guess my time is up, huh?” she thought to the pale man, who gave a nervous smile.

“Are you ready?” he asked, kneeling down beside her.

“I suppose. I have a question for you, though.”

The pale man furrowed his brow. “I do not know what happens after humans die.”

She wrested with a painful smile. “Not that; I don't give a shit about that. Aren't you lonely?”

“It just seems like such a thankless job. Don't you ever feel like you need a friend?”

The pale man closed his eyes. “Are you ready?” he repeated. She, in turn, closed her eyes.

Good night. …

He thought it would be more painful to split himself down the middle. The axe was rusted and bloodstained, but the warrior's words echoed in his mind ceaselessly, creating a whirlwind in his mind that his heart could no longer stand. Aren't you lonely? Aren't you lonely? Aren't you lonely aren't you lonely aren't you lone..... But instead of pain, he felt free. They felt free. As though they had been trapped all along, just waiting to meet each other. Lamb looked at Wolf, blood dripping from his maw, and saw her kin. Wolf circled Lamb in strange, curious glee.

They weren't alone anymore.