Empathy Bites: Part 3

They all look like they were dressed for battle. All of them holding either a stake or dagger. Cain stood up and gently backed away in fear. 

Cassius heard the commotion and ran over. He could smell the fresh blood of the humans; it almost drove him mad. His eyes turned red, his mischievous smile would make anybody cower in fear. 

“Hunters! Must be my lucky day, stand back little brother, let me show you how it’s done!”

Cassius sprung into action and grabbed his first human. He bit into the man’s neck and ripped his throat out. Blood poured from his neck, he tried to cover it but as quickly as the blood spilled out; that’s as quickly as he died. Cassius snapped two others necks without hesitation. Cain couldn’t watch, he screamed for Cassius to stop but Cassius couldn’t hear anything besides the sound of his own maniacal laughter. 

Their mother and father rushed in and instantly joined Cassius in the fight. Cain just watched in horror as his family slaughtered all of the humans one by one. Once all of them were dead, they all looked at each other in agreement that they did what they had to. 

“Cain sweetheart, it’s okay”

“Stop babying him he should’ve helped or done it himself”

“He’s a punk”

Cain looked at them all in disgust. He couldn’t believe they did that, he expected that type of behavior from his brother and father but his mother; that shocked him. His mother reached out to hug him but he didn’t go for it he just stared in disbelief. 

“Sweetheart I’m sorry but they would’ve hurt you.”

Before Cain could answer, a sound broke the attention they all had on each other, it sounded like crying. 

It came from the nearby hall. They all walked over to see who was crying. 

To their surprise it was a human child who was brought along during the fight and witnessed everything that just happened. The child had to be no older than 7 or 8. Once Cassius saw the child he looked at his father and his father nodded.

Cain knew exactly what that meant so he stood in front of the child. 

“Cassius back off!”

“Oh please you can’t beat me”

“Please don’t make me hurt you!”

“You hurt me? That’s a laugh!”

Their mother looked concerned, she didn’t want to see her boys fight but their father seemed to accept the idea; finally getting Cain to act like a grown up.  The child backed into a corner in fear of everyone in the room. Cassius tried to go after the child and Cain punched him with enough force to knock him halfway across the room. 

“Is that all you got?”

Cain charged at Cassius causing both of them to knock into the nearby statue; smashing it to pieces. Cassius punched Cain in the face twice and threw him into a wall. Cain felt every ounce of pain because his brother was stronger than him, he didn’t want him to hurt the child but he didn’t think he could win either. Cassius started gloating about how great and strong he is which gave Cain enough time to figure out how to stop him. He looked at his father and mother who were just watching nearby. 

“At least try to beat up your brother Cain, be the man and vampire I taught you to be.” said his father

That was the last straw for Cain. His eyes turned red and his fangs pushed out and he locked his eyes on Cassius. All he could see was red. He was tired of not feeling good enough for his family. He was going to show them how sinister he could really be. 

Unaware that his brother was not listening to him gloat, Cassius didn’t see Cain charging directly at him. 

Cain in a fit of rage grabbed his brother by the neck and started to choke him , he looked at his father. 

“Is this your favorite son?”

Before his father could respond Cain looked Cassius deep into his eyes and said “I never liked you”.

Cassius punched Cain and tried to get free of his grip but couldn’t. Cassius' eyes watered as he knew it was the end. Cain snatched Cassius' throat out and watched his body drop to the floor. 

“Now you favorite son is dead”

His mother screamed. 

“What have you done!” She yelled

Cain didn’t respond, he just stared at his father waiting for his approval. His father stood there in shock as he watched Cassius’ body turn grey. 

His eyes teared up and his lip quivered. 

“What happened father I thought you wanted me to be like Cassius. Now I am Cassius, brutal and ruthless; are you happy now! Do you love me now!”

“Cain please…” begged his mother 

“Whatever I’m leaving”

“Where are you going?”

“As if you care… I thought you were better than these two but you’re just like them mom …monsters!”

“Cain!”

Cain didn’t respond to his mother’s pleading. He took whatever money that was in Cassius' pocket and walked over to the child. 

“Hey there”

The child covered his face. 

“No it’s okay I’m not going to hurt you”

The child just peeked through his fingers to see Cain’s bloody face and clothes.

“Look I’m sorry you had to see that but I won’t let them hurt you okay… and I’m not going to hurt you… ever, okay?”

The child looked into Cain’s eyes and trusted him. He reached his hand out and Cain picked him up and carried him towards the front door. Cain’s mother panicked and ran after him. 

“Where are you going with that… that… thing?”

Cain turned to her in disappointment.

“I knew you were just pretending to understand my feelings for humans. You don’t get it and you never will.”

“Cain! Stop! Stop right now! Please stay, we can forgive you for killing your brother.” 

She reached out her arms for a hug.

Cain turned away from her, uninterested in his toxic family he stepped on top of the fallen door and proceeded outside. The wind still roared and the child shivered, Cain used his jacket as a blanket while he carried the child along the path. No idea of how he was going to live in a world amongst humans by himself or take care of one but he felt different now and unphased by the challenges ahead.