Chapter 7
Oryx
Icarried my pet Vesper up to my den. My Lord gave me one of the many guest rooms and provided me with what I felt most comfortable with.
I took the one most damaged and in despair, despite him trying to give me one of the better rooms. I felt I did not deserve it, not a monster like me. Besides, at the time I was unpredictable, I did not want to ruin his nice things.
The room I had now was nicer than when I first received it. I took much time and care to make it the way I felt comfortable.
When I was created my mind was not right. I had so many parts of me that wanted to be free. I wanted to go in so many directions. I wanted to kill, drink, and dismantle everything in my path.
Yet my spirit would not allow it. The essence of me knew it was wrong.
Over time, I have learned to control most of my urges, but when my Lord gets into my head, I cannot fight him.
I stepped into the dimly lit hallway. The wax of the candles were low and needed to be replaced. That was my job and now that I had a human, I would need to have more light.
My human’s skin glowed. I fear it won’t shine as much where she will live now. The light does not shine often near the estate.
As I pondered these things, more crashes from down below sounded.
I grunted and hurried down the red carpeted hallway. The dark walls flew past me as I reached my den and I gently nudged the double doors with my shoulder and horns. The door creaked loudly, and I waited for Vesper to stir.
I swallowed heavily and wondered if I had truly hurt her too badly.
Should I have my Lord check on her?
Another crash and swear words poured from my Lord’s mouth. “Oryx! I know you are home! Where in the void of hell are you?”
My tail flicked back and forth with anticipation as I moved toward my bedding area.
The mattress sprawled across the floor was covered with thick, heavy blankets that cascaded over the edges.
I carefully laid her down, her body as limp as a lifeless carcass, and felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
Please be okay, my human pet. I promise to be more careful.
She groaned and rolled over and I sighed a breath of relief.
I couldn't let my pet slip away, not while I was amid handling business with my Lord. I glanced at the stone wall where the chain and shackles hung that used to keep me tied while I slept. Their metal gleamed dully in the dim light. With a swift motion, I grabbed them and crouched down to secure the cold, unyielding clasp around my pet’s ankle.
My pet couldn't be allowed to roam the estate freely, not without my supervision, especially since my Lord was unaware of their presence here.
He was in a foul mood.
“Oryx!” He bellowed and my tail thrashed wildly behind me.
I took off her shoes and laid them beside the bed as I took the blankets and covered her. My pet took in a deep breath and, on their own accord buried their face into the blankets.
My body jerked in surprise as I watched them rub their face against something that was mine.
It was my scent.
My pet liked my scent.
I wish I had lips. I wish I could smile, to move them like other people can, to show more emotion.
My ears twirled in happiness and then I heard another crash.
I quickly straightened myself and headed to the door. “I’ll be back soon, my pet Vesper. Do not wake until I return.”
My nightmares were now blessings. My pet would be safe and hidden here.
I entered the open doorway, my head bowed when I stepped through. My Lord pounded the desk with his fist, his forehead against the large table of papers. The mess splattered across the floor. Glass vials, potions, liquids I didn’t even know what of, were all over every surface.
As if he sensed my presence, my Lord’s head pulled up from the table and his long white hair twirled away from him.
“Oryx, I couldn’t reach you.” His voice, once rough, ragged when he called me, was only a whisper now. He took long strides toward me and pulled me into his embrace.
Startled, my body stiffened, but quickly I relaxed and relished the moment he wrapped me in his arms.
What he could, anyway, I was much larger than he.
“Where were you? It took you ages to return, my friend.” He cupped my jaw and rubbed at the dry blood with his thumb. “For a moment, I thought you succumbed to the humans,” he chuckled playfully. “But that would be impossible, right? You cannot die, not… not without me.”
I shook my head and clasped my hands together. My claws clinked and he stepped away to assess me.
“Let’s get you cleaned up. I want to know everything. Who they were, what spell they were casting. What were they trying to do?” My Lord fiddled with the cleaning supplies on another desk. He rang out a clean cloth and came toward me while I stayed silent.
“You blacked out on me, Oryx. You must have gone into a hungered rage with all those humans. Was it the blood? Their blood must taste better than any fae or goblin?” He smiled as he wiped down my petrified nose and under my jaw.
“My Lord, I can clean…”
“Nonsense, Oryx. I am here to help you. Speak, tell me what happened.”
I scratched the scruff on the back of my neck. How do I tell him these things without telling him about my pet? I knew my Lord’s mood, and this mood was most unpredictable.
“There were four humans?” My Lord raised his thin eyebrow and crossed his arms over his wide chest. It made his waist look that much narrower in his black lab coat.
“Is that a question? Or have you forgotten how to count?”
I cleared my throat. “As you said, I was blinded with rage. There were four that were conducting a spell to raise the dead. A dead human body that laid in the middle of a terribly written spell circle which would be five.” I held up my claws to show him the exact number.
He hummed and nodded for me to continue.
“And when one of them began speaking, I heard your voice to punish, and I did. Once I tasted their blood, I lost control of my body.” I bowed my head, a heavy sigh escaping my lips as I wrestled with my inner turmoil.
It took many moons to battle against my destructive instincts.
My hands trembled with the memory of past chaos, yet I yearned to earn my Lord's approval.
But the metallic scent of blood was what I wanted most. It made my stomach rumble with an almost uncontrollable desire.
I craved to taste it, to let the crimson warmth fill my belly and quench the thirst.
It requires an iron will to restrain myself. My Lord often resorts to potent spells to keep me contained. Animal blood may not stir the depths of my hunger, but the essence of fae, goblins, and now humans ignites an insatiable craving deep within me.
And pet Vesper.
My stomach yearned to lick up her dried wound like candy chips on her forehead.
I will not drink her dry. I won’t. I refuse.
My Lord stepped away and leaned up against the table. He crossed his arms again and assessed me. “Why could I not reach you after? Why could I not see what you were seeing? Even now I cannot see what you can see.”
I tilted my head and stuck my finger through one of my eye holes. “I do not understand? I cannot make you not see what I see.”
My Lord ran his sharp fingernails through his hair. “It’s so simple to see what you see. Are you sure they didn’t cast a spell on you? Something they said or did? Are they all truly dead?”
I nodded eagerly. “Yes, the spell casters are dead. I even took the spell book. It is upstairs.”
But not my pet. She did not cast a spell.
I snorted and hid my skull.
My Lord turned his body back toward me, fire in his eyes.
“This is not a joke, Oryx. I cannot see what you see. I cannot get inside your mind. What the hell is going on?” He stormed toward me and pulled my skull down by my horn.
“Did you stuff your skull with straw? Where have you been all these hours? You should have come straight back home. I’ve been worried fucking sick!
” He pushed me away and my skull slung away from him.
I rubbed my horn and slumped my shoulders.
I could not do anything right.
I tried to think of a lie that would not be caught. My Lord was very crafty and could find out if I was lying very easily. But, he could not get inside my head, a reason I would have to find out later…
“I stopped to smell the flowers.”
Which was true. I smelled my pet. She smelled like flowers.
“Since when do you like flowers, Oryx?” His shoes clicked against the hard floor as he returned to me.
“Since when do you not come home right away? You always come back when you are called, or when I have given you a time to return. There are reasons for this. There are reasons I put these rules in place for you.”
“But, my Lo—”
My Lord's face, once as pale as freshly fallen snow, now blazed with a furious crimson that seemed to burn with the intensity of a raging fire.
His hand shot out with the sudden, explosive force of a thunderclap cracking through a stormy sky.
Books, scrolls, and parchments erupted from the nearby bookshelf, tumbling down in a storm of paper.
They cascaded to the floor in a whirlwind of fluttering pages, thudding covers and scattered across the room.
“I have told you!” he roared, “to call me Veylor yet you still deny me! Why?” Black storm clouds sputtered around his head, strengthening larger and larger until they rose above us and covered the high vaulted room entirely.
I whimpered and shifted from hoof to hoof. “You are my maker, yet I cannot call you father.”
My Lord’s hardened face softened.
“You aren’t my master, because you never call me servant.
You won’t let me call you savior to which I am indebted to for giving me life.
You say I’m your friend, but when I reach for you, you turn me away.
You have this whole estate to yourself yet you leave me confined to the shadows like no one.
Which means, the only name I can call you is Lord.
Lord is the only word to best describe you. ”
My Lord's eyes glinted like shards of ice, their gaze unwavering and almost cruel.
On days like this, I knew he would keep his distance, leaving me in the solitude of my thoughts.
I could see the storm of hurt and pain swirling within those cold depths.
Today, that storm reached out to me, wrapping around my hearts tighter than ever before, and I felt the weight of it pressing down on my very soul.
I pressed my palm against my aching chest, feeling the rapid thud of my hearts beneath my ribs. A soft whimper escaped my maw as I took an unsteady step backward, desperate to put some distance between us.
While I am strong, he is stronger.
When I was first created, I hit him, but he only gave me patience. He’s never hit me.
I owe him much.
I call him Lord out of respect, though the word breaks him—and breaks me too. It feels like betrayal, for my hearts insists he is more than what he allows me to see. Yet even as he holds me at a distance.
My Lord bowed his head and rubbed his hand against his cheek. “Go then, Oryx. I am glad you are home. Rest now and join me for dinner.”
I bowed deeply, feeling the weight of my reverence in the gesture, and carefully backed away through the grand doorway.
As I retreated, I kept my gaze fixed on my Lord, who sat hunched in his lab chair, the dim light casting shadows across his furrowed brow.
His eyes were distant, lost in contemplation, while his fingers absentmindedly traced patterns on the armrest.