Descendants of Gibbous
Chapter 35: Tamed beast

Chapter 35: Tamed beast

Something pointed and sharp scratched Damien’s arm. A claw was the first thing that came to his mind as he slightly opened his eyes, pushing the weight pressing on his body to the side when he flipped around.

Today was finally the day of enrollment at Gibforge, and even though his gut kept flipping excitedly throughout the night, the boy still felt it was too early for Ahara to wake him up.

And what did she use to prick at his skin? Her fangs?

A sound similar to flapping wings filled Damien’s ears after he sat up in bed, followed by a cold gust of wind escaping from whatever beast was performing the act. Then he felt the weight return on him again, his lap to be exact.

"The hell?" Damien mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

When they were able to see more clearly, he gasped at the sight before him.

It was a white bird similar to the parrot they used to live with back in the human world, except, this one was larger. Its legs were longer, bearing an uncanny resemblance to those of a secretary bird, and so was the crown resting on his head. The bird was rubbing his face on Damien’s blankets as if to wake him up, something Silky always did every time the boy let him out of his cage. He missed the parrot.

Although, why did this large bird look so much like him?

’There’s only one way to find out.’

Flicking his blankets aside, Damien ignored the flapping bird rushing after him as he dashed out of his room, towards Ahara’s. But when he knocked, she wasn’t inside. So he headed downstairs.

Sure enough, he heard her voice speaking somewhere down in the kitchen.

"Ahara," the boy mumbled in a groggy voice, walking slowly down the stairs.

"Are you still mad at me?" Damien stopped when he heard Kingston’s familiar voice, the sleep in his body immediately vanishing.

Like a creep, he stealthily descended the stairs, making sure to bend himself before they noticed him. After all, the entire kitchen and living room design was open.

"Yes. I can’t ignore what you said just because you apologized," Ahara shot back.

"Ahara—"

"We already talked about this Kingston. Don’t force me to forgive you, unless you want a fake response that is."

"I’m not forcing—"

Kingston wasn’t yet done speaking before the bird’s flapping sound disturbed him, revealing the snooping Damien to the fighting couple as it landed right on his head. Then it screeched and flapped its wings again, bringing its beak down to Damien’s head and wiping it there, as if to tell the fighting couple he had locked onto their unwanted target.

"Damien! What are you doing there?"

Without any way to refuse his sister’s blaming tone, Damien descended the last of the stairs easily, brushing the bird off his head and walking towards the sink to pour himself a glass of water.

"Snooping," he nonchalantly replied, shamelessly drinking his water. A blush threatened to appear on his face from the way his cheeks were heating up, but he managed to cool it down with the cold liquid.

"What, did the two of you fight?"

At his question, Ahara and Kingston glanced at each other knowingly, with Ahara scratching the back of her neck and avoiding her brother’s burning eyes. Damien already knew she was about to lie before she even opened her mouth.

"Never mind. I’m going to bathe now."

In an instant, Ahara removed her hand from her neck, but still couldn’t look Damien in the eyes.

"I’ll make breakfast," she said, evading Kingston as she headed to the kitchen.

Although they had enough staff to handle the chores for them, Ahara still preferred cooking for everyone herself. Damien figured that might be the reason why Charles liked her; she didn’t like dumping all the work on him or any of their attendants.

"Okay, I’ll be down in a—" Another loud flapping sound cut him off.

"Silky. Get out of the kitchen you bad bird!"

Damien immediately remembered why he had woken up in the first place.

"Wait, so the bird is Silky?"

Ahara raised her arm before her face, watching as the bird landed on it.

"Yeah. I had the old wizard in the market square remove the curse he had placed on him."

"Curse?" Damien raised his brows at Ahara.

"Hmm. To make him look like a parrot and suppress his aura."

Shocked beyond belief, Damien walked closer to the marble counter where his sister was standing on the other side, his arms flapping to the sides the moment he was near.

"Why? Just why would you do that to him? Isn’t that animal cruelty?"

Ahara blinked at him, stroking Silky’s large body resting on her hand, his claws tightly wrapped around her skin as if they were gripping a tree bark. They were stressing it. Then Ahara sighed.

"Sometimes I forget I’m talking to an amateur Gibbit."

Another sigh.

"Silky was father’s tamed pet...or should I say beast?"

"And?" Damien raised his brows at her, animatedly moving his hands around, still not getting where Ahara was going with her explanation.

"I’m pretty sure you’re going to learn about this in your first year at Gibforge, but when its master dies, a tamed beast dies along with him. That’s how it should have been with Silky, but when Uncle died, he didn’t. Rather he stayed alive as if he had already found a new master before his former one."

Damien slowly placed his hands on the counter, his face returning to its normal state. He glanced at the bird, surprised by what he just learned.

"I’m not sure how it works since I’ve never been able to tame a beast myself, but from what I learned, if his master was out there, he’d have left us already—"

"—which means his new master must be among you two," Kingston finished for Ahara, his eyes glistening with excitement. "Which one of you is it?"

"Not me. I don’t feel a connection to the bird at all," Ahara immediately replied before she and Kingston turned their heads to Damien.

He too immediately shook his head in denial. "I don’t feel anything when I’m with him either, so stop looking at me. He’s always been a clingy fella even when we were in the human world."

"Yeah. To you," Ahara retorted, pointing at Damien.

"Doesn’t mean anything when I can’t feel any connection does it?"

No one replied.

They just all stared at him as if he was the stupidest Gibbit in the world, and when Damien couldn’t take it anymore, he turned around and headed for the stairs, doing his best to ignore the stares he continued to feel even with his back facing them.

"I’m going to bathe now. Wouldn’t want to be late for my first enrollment at a school in this world where I’m the amateur would I?"

"Damien..." Ahara said weakly, a small smile on her lips.

The boy begrudgingly ignored her and made his way to his room just when Silky decided to flap his wings in Ahara’s face and left her with bits of feathers in her hair.

"See. He loves you a little too much for someone who doesn’t share a connection with him," Ahara shouted at the stairs.

When Damien felt the bird land on his shoulder he glanced at him. Ahara was right, the bird was clingy this morning. But still...

"He’s being like this because I’m the only one who remembers to feed him!" Damien shot back at Ahara, ignoring her claims and rushing to his room.

In an hour he was done bathing and changing, and was downstairs again, showing off his suit to Ahara. A burgundy custom-made she had sewed for him back in the human world. Ahara told him how handsome he looked in it, and even Kingston commended it too. Although Damien thought it was him trying to score points with his sister—typical werewolf seduction techniques.

However, unlike his regular advances, Damien was quick to note how Kingston’s tactic had changed in the last few days.

Ever since waking up in the hospital, the wolf hadn’t even appeared before him until the night before when he came to deliver the news that he had recommended Damien to Gibforge Academy.

Damien had been elated to know the wolf had done so.

Eden and Lord Clement had told him how recommendations from powerful people almost always guaranteed one a slot at the academy, and now, he not only had one from the Vampire King, but three—the third coming from the dragon, Song Kim whom Kingston said he had pleaded with to recommend the boy.

If he didn’t know any better, Damien would have thought Kingston was finally acknowledging his presence even with Ahara around the wolf. But he soon learned why he was being overly generous.

They had fought.

Damien had sensed the weird air between them last night. Yes, they never seemed to get along well on any given day, but last night had been something else. Unlike the usual banter that felt more like a lover’s quarrel than anything, last night’s fight was total animosity. Ahara didn’t want anything to do with Kingston. She didn’t even bother hiding her resentment for the wolf in Damien’s presence last night, something she never did unless she was too angry to care.

If it wasn’t for the young vampire asking his sister to allow Kingston to stay yesterday, the wolf would have been sent back wherever he came in the dead of the night.

"Let’s go. We have to arrive on time so you don’t feel too nervous," Ahara announced to her brother whilst standing from her stool, collecting everyone’s plates.

Kingston too. He rose from his stool, grabbing the lunch bags resting next to him from the counter.

"You’re coming too?" Damien asked him, glancing nervously at Ahara.

She didn’t look pleased at all, but she appeared to have resigned from trying to chase her admirer away.

"Yes, he’s coming. But only so you won’t feel lonely when you see other kids with their parents."

A fuzzy warmth bubbled in Damien’s chest, spreading to the tips of his fingers. He fought the urge to jump at his Ahara and hug her until she couldn’t breathe.

"Thanks, Sis."

"I’m not the one who came up with the idea though," Ahara blurted out, clearly annoyed by the thought. "He did." She pointed at Kingston.

Damien chuckled.

’Probably another tactic to be with Ahara,’ he thought to himself, thanking the shifter either way.

By the time he was done thanking Kingston, the three of them were standing outside, surrounded by five members of their staff, with Charles in the middle. The butler walked up to the young master, touched his shoulders and for the first time since Damien had known him, the man smiled at him—a very genuine smile.

"Wishing you all the best in your enrollment today, Damien sir."

"Thank you," the boy replied, surprised by the sudden chivalry.

The older vampire then backed away to allow them room for a portal, still smiling. Damien almost believed he was happy that he was finally leaving the house, but brushed the thought aside. When Ahara grabbed the pouch in her small bag full of dragon ash to open a portal, Kingston held her hands and stopped her.

"I’ll do it," he cooed, his index finger already producing a large nail that he used to tap on the large gem by his wrist.

It immediately glowed a bright blue, the color spreading to the small gemstones attached to his rings. Then as if by magic, a dagger appeared in his hand from thin air. It was the same shade of blue as his gem, oozing of a black substance that looked like smoke.

When he noticed Damien staring, the wolf brought the weapon closer to the boy’s face.

"This is a dimensional cutter. You’ll soon notice that most werewolves have it. This motherfucker can cut through air and open portals for us. Watch."

With a practiced flick of his weapon, Kingston jabbed in the air. Damien almost thought he was miming until he saw it—the air solidified where Kingston had jabbed. When he sliced down vertically, it ripped open, revealing a black portal like the one Damien had seen the first time he ever traveled in Gibbous.

"Wait. Is this going to lead us into the air where another giant spider is waiting to swallow us alive?" The boy immediately asked, debating weather to go back and wear a raincoat instead.

Kingston’s roar of laughter rumbled into the forest below, making Charles glance at him disapprovingly. Damien could already tell what was in the butler’s mind.

"No," Kingston replied. "It’s going to lead us exactly where we need to be, at Gibforge. So buckle yourself up and get ready to make the best first impression you’ve ever made in your entire life. You have only one shot at this."

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