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The night that Zasha was turned, all she wanted to do was get away from her room, Linas made her sit down with him and
listen to his stories. He told her of his life, of his death, his rebirth, and his torture of the man he despised the most.
He told her of his life up to date, his love of blood and death. His great rapture for war and killing and hunting. That was
why he had chosen her. She had the same instinct for hunting and killing, if only she could learn to love it as he had.
His
story started with a little bit of background. His parents, both elves, were the lord and lady of a great manor. They owned
the land, the house, the help, and all of their servant's homes. His father, the general and commander of a huge army, offered
him and his twin brother ranks in the army. They were the two best officers in the entire army. He had a great love of killing
and collecting trophies, just like his father. General Stintas enjoyed collecting the crests of the armies he felled. For
each man, he collected one necklace. There was a whole room with necklaces and various crests covering the walls. Linas, though,
enjoyed taking the helmets of the men he killed. He had his own room, nearly twice as full as his father's room. His brother,
Mikael, was the best shot in the entire army. He could walk into the woods, blindfolded, armed with only throwing daggers,
against a dozen enemies armed with bows and arrows, and come out unscathed. But Mikael did not share in their love of killing,
he would rather injure a man and send him home limping rather than kill him and he never collected trophies from the dead.
Mikael would stand over the men he killed and cross himself, asking forgiveness that it was necessary to take this man's life.
The general was so proud of Linas and his lust for blood and killing, he was so upset with Mikael. He just couldn't understand
why Mikael did not want to kill, why he would not spill a man's life blood unless it was required. The boy had such a skill,
and it was vastly wasted in the man's eyes. And though Linas was Mikael's twin, he could no longer stand him. He was so jealous,
so resentful of Mikael's skill. He was so much better and yet Linas had more kills. How does that come about except on purpose?
Linas just didn't understand Mikael's distaste for killing.
One day, after a great battle, Linas' father stood over
a dead man, collecting his necklace when the man leapt up and bit the general. Mikael felled the vampire with a single arrow
through the heart, but not before it was too late. He spoke with Linas and Mikael, leaving the decision to them whether or
not he should go home. They all knew the possibilities, and Linas was content to leave the decision in Mikael's hands, as
he was the smartest and the oldest. Mikael granted that the man should be allowed to return home. It wasn't his fault, and
he was not a bad man. Mikael couldn't see why he would turn bad. Linas cornered his father one night when Mikael was out and
begged him to be bitten. He loved blood, and he would consider it a favor if his father would give him the same gift. Granting
his son the wish of his heart, the general bit deeply into Linas' neck and turned him as well. However, tasting the blood
of a human was too much for the general and his thirst deepened. He lost control and went after Mikael. Mikael killed the
general. Crossing himself after for ever allowing the man to turn. He rushed to home, hoping against hope that they lived.
He saw blood everywhere, heard the screams of Linas' mother. His own fiancee was there, lying in a pool of her own blood,
stripped bare of her clothes. He would kill Linas for this. Tears blinded him long enough for Linas to blind side him and
make off with their younger sister, Cora. Before he left, he knelt beside the bleeding Mikael and cursed him for ruining his
life. He would make Mikael pay for killing his father. And it had started with Mikael's fiancee. It would continue with guilt.
Mikael had caused his pain, and he would pay for it. He knew Mikael would never forgive himself for letting the general live,
and he relished the thought it would torture him.
Once cleared of Mikael's hunting, he hired numerous assassins to
go back and kill him. Telling his sister that Mikael killed everyone was a simple matter and soon all she saw was red. He
had turned her previous to her waking, so all he had to do was convince her that Mikael was a vampire. He took her out and
taught her to feed, letting the blood course through their veins with the same fiery delight he always took from killing.
Several years later, he separated with his sister, swearing that he was going to make Mikael pay.
Not long after this,
one night, he saw Mikael change into a lycan. Linas was well hidden in the trees and found it quite amusing that his brother
was now a blood thirsty savage as well. Watching from his less than perilous vantage point, he watched three hunters stalk
and surround Mikael, drawing back on their bowstrings. Mikael took three arrows before he lost it and ripped the hunters throats
out. Linas had been in this village for nearly a week and he knew Mikael would track him there. In the moonlight, Linas recognized
the three men. It was a father, his brother, and his son. At their home, he knew there was a little girl and a newborn waiting
for them, and they would never return. He smiled grimly, Mikael had finally learned to kill. His grin broadened viciously
as he saw the little girl come into the woods, crying as she saw her family. She lifted a stick and began to beat at Mikael.
Linas held back a laugh as he watched Mikael turn, his eyes glinting hungrily and stare at the little girl. She lifted her
stick to hit him again, and Mikael caught the small log, sinking his nails into it before ripping it loose. He considered
her a moment longer, before kneeling before her. Linas strained to hear his single word to the girl, frowning in disappointment
as Mikael let her run away. He turned and started in another direction. Linas jumped down then, hitting Mikael over the head
with a heavy brass club and knocking him unconscious before he went after the girl. He dragged her crying form into the woods,
brutally raping her and slitting her throat. He skinned her and mangled her body as a lycan would, before dragging Mikael
to her form. He soaked Mikael's hands in the girl's blood, grinning maliciously as he would destroy Mikael yet. He rubbed
blood all over the lycan, smearing it on his lips, teeth, over his chin, and dumping it into his mouth to make him believe
he had killed the child viciously. He dragged Mikael a few feet away and curled his body as though he had lain down contentedly
after a full meal. He would still be here when Mikael awoke and he would relish in Mikael's pain.
The next morning,
he watched as a bloody, naked, human Mikael woke to a scene of devastation and howled his pain and defiance at the fates for
forcing him to do this. Hearing a mob coming to search for the four missing people, he stood, staring at his blood soaked
hands before wandering deeper into the forest. He came upon a river, crying broadly as he sank into the icy waters, wishing
for death. Linas had followed and timed him. He was under the water for a full five minutes before he resurfaced, cleansed
of the blood, but not the memory. He curled against a tree and pulled a silver dagger from his special sheath, aiming it at
his heart and preparing to end his miserable existence. Linas put an arrow through Mikael's hand, forcing him to drop the
dagger. He cornered Mikael and taunted him. He blamed the girl's death and her family on Mikael. He told her of the infant
child who is now without a family because of the murders in the woods. Mikael attacked Linas, hollering how he couldn't control
himself, and how he didn't remember the events. He was stuck from behind by an arrow and brought to his knees. Linas quickly
tied his hands, binding him to a tree before laying a whip to Mikael's back. He laid stripes across the man's flesh, stripping
him until his back was nearly skinned. Flesh clung to his back in strips and blood oozed from his back, soaking into his clothes.
He dropped Mikael into the dirt, leaving the whip by his side. Leaving him for dead, he walked away, smiling.
Linas
had been on his way to another town, ready to set Mikael up once more. He knew if he put enough guilt and pain on the man's
soul, he would crumble. He was not surprised to find that Mikael was searching for him. Tracking him by destruction and blaming
himself for every life that Linas took. Linas was surprised, to come upon Zasha hunting. He knew, when he saw her bring down
a bear while wearing a dress, that he would have her. And so, he set out to court her, momentarily forgetting his rivalry
with Mikael.
At the end of his story, Linas grinned at her naked body and bloody neck. He rejoiced in the pain, and
disbelief in her eyes as he murmured to her, "You know what happened from there."
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