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CYRUS, YOU’RE A BAD BOY! A HORRIBLE CHILD! YOU’RE DISOBEDIENT!

“…I tried to be good, Daddy! I REALLY DID! I’M SORRY I brOKE YOUR VASE! I was tryna help Beth change the baby’s diaper. I swung my arm out too far, and knocked it off the dresser. I’M SORRY FOR NOT BEIN’ A GOOD HUNTER… I LET THE RABBIT GO BECAUSE HE LOOKED SAD! I’M SORRY DADDY!”

His mind was wild and whirling. Bible scriptures flooded his brain, fluttering and turning on their own.

The pages began to tear, and fly around the room like cream colored birds with black lettered tattoos.

The scriptures poured out of his mouth, and he spoke in tongues, choking on his own voice!

He started spinning around, praising God, thanking him for his daddy dying, and his mother being spared another night at the hands of a ghastly man used merely to bring him into the world.

The spirit became heavy and light, all at once.

Daddy, you had a hard life. I almost forgive you.

You didn’t want your sons to grow up and be scared of their own shadows.

Scared to go out and make a living. Scared to challenge rules that were unfair, and to handle people who’d done us wrong .

You told us to read our Bibles, stay away from drugs, keep clean, and work hard.

“ My Tina said I became my father, the very man I had hated, once I became a man. Now, I’ve had plenty of women since Tina.

I’ve loved many, but been in love only once.

That’s what my daughter told me about her dead lover…

about Kage’s daddy. Sarah’s mama, Dorothy, was a wife of mine, so long ago.

She lives far away now, and we don’t speak.

Nevertheless, she was what we called a handsome woman, back in my day.

I didn’t marry her for her beauty, so it wasn’t of any concern to me.

“I married her for her strength. I wanted to destroy that strength because it was beautiful, like her soul. Break her down. If she could take it, she passed the test, but like all the others, she failed. Because she wasn’t as strong as Tina.

I felt she only pretended to be. Dorothy produced a beautiful daughter– gave me my Sarah.

When Sarah was born, she was one of the prettiest babies this town had ever seen.

Sarah grew up a good child. Decent grades, polite, and mild-mannered.

She was obedient for the most part, but had a little bit of a witchy streak.

” He took a deep breath, and held his head high. Feeling better now.

“I’m not sure where she got it from—her mother was a devoted Christian.

Sarah at one point began reading up on evil things.

Drawn to the peculiar and mysterious things in life.

Black magic, the occult and such. She liked horror movies and horoscopes.

She was a bit of a strange child, but also so gorgeous and so sweet, it was overlooked.

Said she could see and feel things, too.

I didn’t like that, so I forbade her from talking about it, especially in mixed company.

Psychics don’t exist, and God says in His word that anyone claiming to predict the future is not to be trusted.

It’s demonic. I threw away strange cards she had in her room—with Egyptian and Roman symbols all over ’em.

I threw away her silk cloths she used for chanting and prayers.

I threw away her crystals and candles—all of that weird shit she’d bought with my money.

Shit that Tina liked, too… But no matter what I threw away, she never lost her composure with me about it.

It was a bizarre reaction, in retrospect.

“Like she knew something that I didn’t. The bottled herbs.

The dark rock and roll records. The dancing and clapping alone in her room.

Sarah loved music, the kind that vibrated through you.

She loved soul music, and rock the most. She played those records loud, stating it was a way for God and the dead to speak to folks.

I told her to stop saying that crazy shit.

Sarah was like some blonde-haired gypsy that had been adopted by strange spirits, but was passing herself off as my child.

The face of an angel, the heart of a sorcerer.

I clung to that child because some parts of her reminded me of my Tina.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was there.

Not in a romantic way, but the way she’d lean into different worlds, naturally.

She was uninhibited. Free. Like Tina. She didn’t care about the opinions of others. Like Tina.

“Then, she ran off and found an awful man to fall in love with.

Some believed it was to spite me. Some said that it was true love.

His name was Kane Austin. He was about six foot five, long dark brown hair, tattoos all over his body, and looked every bit how he behaved.

He was the leader of a motorcycle gang—an abomination.

Then, come to find out, he was an atheist. How could she?

Older than my Sarah, he got his hooks into my child and never let go.

The more I tried to break them apart, the more they came together—so much so, he got my daughter pregnant, out of wedlock.

I was furious. She was ecstatic. She and Kane produced a son. Her one and only child. Kage Wilde.

“Kage was born in the month of November. I remember that because the weather had turned suddenly cool on the day I went to the hospital to meet my grandson. It had been sweltering hot just twenty-four hours prior, but when he came into the world, it turned to winter, real fast. A chill that rushed in, and wasn’t quick to leave.

He was born with a head full of platinum blond hair.

It was practically white. When he opened his eyes, we discovered he had the same ice blue eyes as my own.

I saw a bit of myself in him, indeed. Kage lost his father before he’d even gotten a chance to know the man, so I took him under my wing.

“Things were fine for a long while… but Kage was a little… different. He would stare at people. Stare through people. He could draw, too. Not like children’s drawings.

This boy could take a regular ol’ number two pencil, look at a person one time, and sketch them down to the letter—every mole, freckle and imperfection.

He had this uncanny ability to look at people, places and things, and SEE right through them.

I knew then that Sarah had passed on her evil witch shit to that boy.

He was a seer… Problem was, he didn’t know it.

He had inner light and darkness. He had evil and love.

He grew to be even taller than his father, and he frightened people—because Kage was so damn tall, and he rarely smiled.

He had a natural scowl on his face, and he was observant.

So much so, he could tell people what they were thinking, and what they were about to do.

He was always one step ahead. Then I noticed, he’d been doing the same thing to me, too… ”

He was watching me, looking through my soul. I told him to stay in a child’s place. He would get quiet, but then come right back with a lot of questions. He’d say the strangest things that children wouldn’t say…

Grandpa, why did you treat that man like that? Is it because he looks like you?

Grandpa, why aren’t you married? You’ve had a lot of wives. Do you hate women?

Grandpa, why are you married again? Are you going to divorce this one, too?

Grandpa this, Grandpa that…

I initially thought he was getting these notions from Sarah, but she swore that he wasn’t. Sarah said he was just inquisitive, but no, it was more than that. He was hunting me. My grandson saw something in me, and was trying to kill it—only figuratively, I thought, but I was wrong.

It’s a real eerie feeling when you realize that you’re being preyed upon by your favorite grandchild. I didn’t know what Kage planned to do with all of these observations of his, but I knew that whatever he decided, it wouldn’t be good. It became imperative to find Kage’s weaknesses…

He didn’t have many, but he had a few. One of those fears could break him in two.

Kage was afraid he’d never find a suitable spouse.

His desire to be married was great. He is a wolf, and wolves mate for life.

His first marriage exploded, leaving a wound in him…

just like mine over Tina. I understand that kind of pain all too well.

Kage has fallen further into insanity. That isolation, strange upbringing around motorcycle gang members, mixed with his absentee father issues and disappointment with love, created a monster.

“I kept him in mental institutions to keep society as well as his own self safe. He’d bite.

He’d tear. He’d dislocate limbs, all with his bare hands.

All anyone could see was a tall, lanky kid with long, light blond hair, flailing and fighting, practically foaming at the mouth as he pummeled his enemy.

It would take two, three, sometimes even four adults to pry him off his prey.

And he was just a little boy… Only when he reached full adulthood could I no longer keep the same tabs on him, and I learned of the deep hatred he had for me, so significant I needed to try and harness it, and get him to direct it towards others—our mutual enemies.

I toyed with the idea of killing him on several occasions.

I didn’t because Sarah begged me not to, but more importantly, because he was useful.

“Kage is not the kind of person you waste. He’s not the least bit impulsive.

He is calculating. A careful plotter and planner.

He’s an excellent hunter. An excellent artist. An excellent killer.

He wants me dead, for the past, the present, and possible future.

Problem is, I am not that boy’s enemy—he only has convinced himself that I am.

Kage enjoys anarchy, but now, he’s gone too far.

He doesn’t just murder, he humiliates. Kills.

Destroys. As they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. ”

He put on his gold and diamond Richard Mille watch.

“I need Kage’s power and prowess, and I need control over him.

He refuses to comply. So now, I must tighten the screws.

The very thing he fears needs to rear its ugly head.

I will make sure that it does, and when it does, I will be certain that it bites him where it hurts. ”

Grabbing his black and red cowboy hat, he placed it tenderly over his long silver tresses, then winked at himself. “Now, time to head off to this wedding. What God joins together, let no man put asunder…”