Your Blood is Mine

For some reason, King Leron's eyes brightened at this. His sons, Zavier and Zander were excited at the declaration and they idolized their Uncle Sangfroid even more, while Queen Veridia's pretty face contorted from shock and horror.

"You.... You would cannibalize your own people if King Leron ask you to? The very people you swore to protect for all these years?" She put a hand over her mouth. 

She was once human too, after all. They all were, before receiving the Dark Gift, a black pearl that they ingested and turned them into these powerful immortals that must consume flesh. Before then, cannibalizing someone would have never crossed her mind, and she would be averse to even the thought of it, even if it was at the command of her most beloved person.

But Sangfroid, who outside of being the Red Riding Hood was not only faithful right-hand man to King Leron but also a faithful servant, philanthropist, and protector to the Ilvedians, now claims that he would eat his brethren with no hesitation.

Sangfroid calmly sat on a chair. "What is surprising about it, my Queen? I killed these people with my own hands and cooked them. How would it be difficult for me to eat them?"

"The moment I was asked to hunt them as a sacrifice to His Majesty, they are no longer people in my eyes. They are His Majesty's food. And what he sees is what I see. This is now just food for me too."

"Whoah~" The twins were starry-eyed at this declaration and they sat on both sides of him instead of their usual seat beside their mother. Zavier asked. "Will this be your first time to eat human meat, Uncle Sangfroid?"

"Yes, so pardon me if I am still unaware of the proper way to eat it." Sangfroid was completely unfazed by the situation, his scarred eye out in the open and giving him an even more sinister appearance.

Queen Veridia's mouth was open for so long that a fly almost flew inside it. 

She immediately closed it with a huff and stomped her foot. "Well, if this is just some egotistic display of bravado after all and you start to retch in front of my children, you would have to go out of this table at once---"

"Sit down, Veridia."

King Leron put down his spoon and fork on his plate with a clang, yet he remained calm and dignified, so it was unclear if it was intentional or not. He smiled at his queen. "The full moon is rising, and the Feast must begin at once. Sangfroid had made his decision to join us, and I know him very well to assure you that he is a man of his word."

He spoke about Sangfroid with high esteem. "Even if he gets sick and bails later, what's the harm in that? It's the thought that he is willing to try to partake the food with us that matters."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will do my best." Sangfroid was touched by King Leron's kind words and nobody noticed the tips of his ears turning red.

Queen Veridia had no choice but to sit down. She is possessive over her husband, but she fears his outwardly kind temperament as well. She would much prefer if the man simply yelled at her than give her that chilling smile. She looked down at her plate with her rattled nerves causing her hand to shake while she held the knife and fork.

"Good." King Leron nodded as she sat. "Now that we have all settled in our seats, let us now give thanks for the food at our table."

He closed his eyes and offered both hands to Zavier who was sitting at his right, and Queen Veridia who was sitting at his left. The others did the same and joined hands.....

"Wondrous Lord of the Dark Gifts, we thank you for the blessing that you have given us. Your pearl, your spirit, your soul. May the food we consume be consumed by you as well, you who are within us. May your beautiful mouth taste the richness of the flavors that we taste, and may your stomach be filled as ours would be. May your wild spirit reside in us, forever and ever, beyond the end of time."

And as he finished this short prayer, a bone-chilling coldness came to the dining hall and snuffed out the lights from the chandeliers and torches. The room was filled with total darkness beside the only sliver of the moon's silver light from the window.

That light shined upon King Leron, and cast dark shadows that began to extend.

Every part of him kept extending and..... his face, his hair, and his fingernails in particular. The buttons of his shirt popped out as his muscles enlarged and ripped his clothes to shreds. Dark green aura surrounded him and it slithered through their conjoined hands, wrapping around his son and his queen as well.

Soon, they became the same hairy and hideous creature as him, growling with their fanged teeth.

Sangfroid had already opened his eyes ever since the freezing gusts of wind came through, and he watched the whole transformation for the first time.

It was.... beautiful.

It felt like he had opened a box that he was not supposed to open. There was a sense of both wonder and amazement, yet at the same time, a sinking feeling in his stomach that this is wrong. Yet that's what makes it more intoxicating, so bewitching that he could not take his eyes off to miss any second of it.

King Leron and his family gave a strong gasp as the green aura enters inside their mouths, or more accurately, maws. He opened his eyes, and did the same gentle smile using the face of the devilish creature he had turned into, making it look like a snarl.

"Now, we shall begin. Let us eat our fill tonight." He gestured regally to the feast in front of them with his claws.

They were wolves. Big wolves that stood on two legs. But they were more disturbing and terrifying than actual wolves with red eyes and matted fur and uneven hair in their face. Sangfroid felt a little out of place being surrounded by these creatures that towered over him, even the twins who used to only reach by his knee are now almost as large as him.

"Where is the male virgin, Uncle Sangfroid?" Zavier asked, lifting up plates and examining them.

Zander did the same. "Yeah, where is the female one? Is she blonde? I like them blonde."

"Boys, don't be picky with your food." Queen Veridia, who's emerald headpiece now not able to fit on her forehead and now only wrapped around her sharp, canine ears reprimanded her sons even in wolf form. "What we eat today is a sacred sacrifice to the Lord of the Dark Gifts and must not be viewed as personal pleasure. Mind your manners in this divine feasts."

"But the Lord of Dark Gifts in my stomach prefers blondies, mother." Zander jested and his twin giggled.

"That's a good one, that's a good one!" Zavier clapped and snorted as he laughed, drooling on his plate.

"Look at these two....." She covered her forehead in frustration. 

"This is the female one, Your Highness. And this is the male one, Your Highness." Sangfroid brought the gold plates that have the twin princes' preference closer to them, serving them diligently.

Queen Veridia cleared her throat. "Ahem. Rider, it's not good ettiquette to stand and reach over at the table. Let them take their own food and sit down."

Sangfroid narrowed his eyes and sat down. 

"Mother is being a spoilsport again." Zander grumbled. "Don't mind her, Uncle Sangfroid. Thank you for passing the dishes to me."

"It is my pleasure, Your Highness." Sangfroid solemnly nodded.

"I'm not being a 'spoilsport', whatever that means. It's called proper manners. Whoever taught you that loathsome word?" Queen Veridia gobbled a whole woman's arm from anger.

Zavier butted in. "Uncle Sangfroid did, he has been teaching us slangs from the commoners. It means someone who spoils other people's fun. There's a whole bunch of words for it that the nobles never use, like killjoy, party pooper, wet blanket---"

"Hahahaha! Wet blanket! Poop!" Zander cackled loudly while holding his stomach.

"What undignified words you're teaching to my sons, Rider!" Queen Veridia was heavily displeased. "How could you teach them such a thing!?"

Sangfroid just took a small bite at his own minced human foot. If he disregard that this foot belonged to someon of the same species as him, he might even say that it was tasty.

"It's for them to be aware of the commoner's daily lives and language. Who knows when they would encounter one, and that commoner would keep on throwing insults at them while they could only ask dumbly what a spoilsport is." Sangfroid flatly defended himself.

Queen Veridia slammed her wineglass full of blood on the table. "Are you calling me dumb!?"

"I was merely giving an example, my queen. If you thought that I was referring to you, then apologies if it striked a nerve."

The livid queen finally snapped and aimed her knife at Sangfroid's emotionless face. "YOU!!! I will not allow you to speak to me that way! You're just a servant, a dirty little scoundrel----"

Up until this point, King Leron just observed this while delicately cutting a human liver with his knife and fork, slowly taking a bite as the tensions rise. 

But once his queen aimed that knife at his second-in-command, he intervened and flung that knife away, causing it to fly towards the wall.

"Veridia." He flashed those sharp fangs. "Remember that you are a queen. If you are this uncivil during a simple family dinner, how would I expect you to remain cilvilized during the toughest moments that our new kingdom may face? Even Sangfroid which you call a dirty little scoundrel has shown more tact than you."

"Leron....." Queen Veridia's red eyes widened as she cannot believe her husband had just hit her hand just like that. "..... You are siding with this Rider instead of your own queen?"

"I'm not siding with anyone, my dear. Do not be so dramatic. All I am saying is that if you remained troublesome like this..... then it is you who would have to go out and have your dinner outside."