Chapter Text
Adrian listened outside his father's door. He sounded so angry. Madder than Adrian had ever heard him be. And what the man had said... He'd send down his armies in a year? He was making people run away? Mother wouldn't have wanted that, Adrian knew it! She'd have taken father by the ear and yelled him into undoing it! Adrian looked at his hands. His small nails. He wasn't mother. Father was so tall that he couldn't even reach the man's chest. Adrian would have to convince him to lean down, somehow. The boy winced as the door creaked open under his hands. He peered inside.
"One year!" Father's magic made his mirror swirl around. "It will take me one year to summon an army from the guts of Hell itself!" Adrian swallowed. Mother wouldn't have wanted this. She wouldn't, but she wasn't here to tell father that. He'd have to do it for her.
"Father? You..." Adrian licked his lips. "You can't!"
"What do you mean, 'I can't?'" Father's voice was low. Scary. "That woman was the only reason on earth for me to tolerate human life!" Father turned to glare at him. His long hair hung over his face but Adrian could see how red his eyes were.
"Mom wouldn't want this! She wouldn't have wanted you to hurt innocent-"
"There are no innocents!" Father's shout made Adrian's shoulders hunch. "Not anymore!" Father clenched his fists and his long nails dug deeply into his own skin. Blood ran between his fingers. "Any one of them could have stood up and said, "No, we won't behave like animals anymore."
"No!" Adrian shook his head. "I... I won't let you!" Father took a ragged breath as his eyes blazed a bright red. Adrian shivered as the man slowly approached him. Be like mom, he told himself, be like mom!
"My son." The words were a deep hiss, loving yet furious. "If only even one of the humans had shown your courage. I love you," he whispered as he towered over the boy, "but you will not keep me from this." Father moved faster than Adrian could see and in the blink of an eye the boy's world went dark.