I found him in a room in the southern wing with only one window. The giant stained glass structure stretched from floor to ceiling along a narrow wall opposite the door. The colors of the sunset were amplified in a dazzling display by the reds and oranges of the image depicted, a cityscape of the old world. It was obvious this was how the artist intended it to be viewed. As for the room's intended purpose, it was difficult to discern, especially with the state it was in. There were several shelves along one wall, their books had been scattered across the marble floor. Claw marks were scraped into the stone, along with chipped areas where what appeared to be the remains of chairs had been thrown. Near the epicenter of the destruction was the hunched white form of the lycan I was looking for.

"Cerberus?" I called.

A huff was his reply. I frowned, eyes scanning the wrecked room. With the magnification of his shadow, I could see the fur of his arms quiver. He was shaking.

"Reports have come in of some humans forming a rebellion," I started slowly, watching his back for a reaction. His ears flicked to face me, but he made no further movements to indicate he noticed my presence. I sighed. "At least it will take the lycans’ focus off random people."

It had been a struggle the past few days to keep the lycans from massacring the city, both from their hunger and want of revenge. Hopefully this collective effort would do them some good.

"A mute pack will be difficult to organize until they hone their instincts."

"Right." I was glad he was talking to me. However, his shaking still had me worried, and I spent over an hour looking for him. "Cerberus... Are you okay?"

He waited several heartbeats before he spoke. I held on each word with baited breath. "Take off your gloves."

My heart dropped. I hoped he wouldn't ask that. Even as I spoke I knew how this was going to end. "We talked about this. You've already gone through hell, I can't watch you suffer that again."

"Just do it."

"I can't."

The massive canine turned, pacing toward me before standing to his full bipedal height. His fur brushed against my chest as I craned my head back to meet his gaze. "Take off your gloves," he growled. Long claws closed around my arms.

I set my jaw. "No."

The lycan drove me backwards. I gasped as we collided with the wall, knocking the breath from my lungs. His snarling bark echoed in my ears.

"You don't understand!" His voice was laced with a desperate whine that rang in the back of his throat. "How much it itches. How much it burns. It's all I can do not to scratch myself open again. Take it away!"

I twisted out of his grasp, ducking under his arm. Cerberus was quicker. The lycan grabbed at my waist, causing me to lose my balance. I crashed into the cool floor. He landed on top of me, pinning me down. I was flipped onto my back. A padded hand wrapped around my mask, snapping the ribbon and ripping it from my face. I turned away. My fists pounded on his chest while my knees beat against his stomach. It was no use though, I was little match against the lycan, and I couldn't bring myself to use much force against his injuries.

The albino alpha stopped. I arched my back to better follow his gaze. His upper lip lifted as he growled at the human man standing in the doorway, a deep brown lycan a little ways behind him. "Don't interfere," Cerberus snarled.

Cyrus frowned. "And after all I did to make friends..." He scanned over us, then the room. "This place is even worse than the rest of the palace. What's going on here?"

My nose wrinkled as Cerberus's hot breath washed over my face. He placed a heavy paw on my chest, resting his claws on the underside of my jaw. "Just a little roughhousing," I muttered. Thick saliva rolled down my collarbone as his tongue slid up my jugular. I grimaced as bits of flesh still caught between his teeth dragged up my cheek. I guessed it was either steak or a servant, though I tried not to think about how it was most likely the latter. "Don't worry, he won't hurt me."

"I'm not," Cyrus shrugged, clearly more curious than concerned. "I wouldn't have let him out if I thought he would."

"What?" I squirmed as Cerberus's tongue flicked over the edge of my mouth. He had no concern that I may not want a piece of whatever he had eaten.

"The bear incident?" Cyrus crossed his arms. "Really? The talking lycan didn't tell you?"

Cyrus let Cerberus out? I hadn't given it much thought to it at the time, but Cerberus was in the holding stable, not the stalls for that fight, meaning he must have been chained. Even the giant alpha couldn't break solid steel.

Cerberus drew back, giving a slight nod as he let me up, confirming my theory. I rolled into a sitting position, then threw my arms around his neck, pulling myself up against him. My face buried in his coat.

"It's alright," I whispered in his ear. It flicked as my breath tickled the fur around it. "I do understand... I'm sorry."

He gave the smallest of whines in return.

"Listen, if you're done snuggling your dog, Claw and I found some things on the black market you might be interested in."

I let Cerberus go, pausing to wipe my face with my sleeve before retrieving my mask. Cyrus stepped back, as did the lycan behind him, to allow me to pass them into the hall. Once through, the man fell in step next to me.

"As I was saying, we were down at the black market-"

"Wait, why were you in the black market?" I pursed my lips. "How would you even know where to find it?"

Cyrus snorted. "Really? What, did you think, I habitually broke in the palace for kicks?"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"You're a thief then."

"Hey, hey." He held his hands up. "I was a thief. Haven't stolen a thing since I was fifteen. That was six years ago in case you were wondering. A particularly patriotic man with underground ties convinced me to the straight and narrow."

I rolled my eyes. "And Crimson Claw let you?" I glanced back to the lycans.

"Yeah, we've worked out a kind of understanding over the past few days. You see, this-" He lifted up his upper lip. Behind us Crimson Claw snarled, baring his teeth. "Yeah, that. That means 'don't do that.' Everything else I figure is fine."

I sighed. "Okay, whatever. What is it you found?"

He stopped. I turned back to face him. He was studying me while he bit his tongue. "Well, first I need to ask you something. It's been eating at the back of my brain."

"What?"

"What was that back there? I mean-" He huffed, balling his fists as he met my eyes. "Are you a child of the apocalypse?"

My gaze dropped to the floor. I turned on my heels, starting down the hallway again.

"I know what that means, Desire," he called out, stopping me in my tracks again. "To tell the truth, I suspected it since we met. But I've never heard of one living past puberty, and then you proved me wrong. So I don't understand, can you control it or something?"

His footsteps echoed down the hall as he trotted to my side. His hand rested on the leather sleeve of my jacket. "Is that how you killed Darrius?"

My lips trembled. I felt tears gather in my eyes. I thought I was getting over that, that the ice in my heart was melting. But apparently the gaping wound still hadn't healed.

"I didn't mean to..." I whispered. "I mean... I did mean to but not like that. I don't know if I was going to or not, but maybe I never really had a choice." I looked up at him. "Have... have you ever killed anyone before?"

His eyes held so much empathy I knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Yeah, I did, once."

He waited a few moments before asking, "So why am I not addicted... Or dead?"

I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to hold myself together. I felt like I was failing. "I thought I was cured... but it came back."

"I see."

"No, you don't." I gave a bitter laugh, wiping my eyes on the fabric cuff of my sleeve. "Anyway, what does this have to do with anything?"

His stormy blue eyes stared into mine. "Because I found another one."

***

She was five. At least she looked about five, with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes. Someone dressed her in a frilly pink dress with a matching ribbon in her hair. She was the image of cuteness, the most adorable little girl I had ever seen.

She also had saddest eyes I had ever seen on a child.

I slipped off my mask. I didn't want to scare her. She was already terrified, though it was difficult to tell if it was more from the lycans or the prospect being sold to a new master.

"They call her Alice. They told me her skin's a fast-pass ticket to wonderland," Cyrus explained. "They were also kind enough to warn me the trip isn't always a good one."

"Right..." The lycans cleared a path for me. I knelt in front of the little girl, staring into the sad sky like eyes. "Hey there, my friend tells me your name is Alice. Is that right?"

She nodded shyly. I gave her my kindest smile, though admittedly I hadn't practiced much. Even still, she seemed to be comforted a little.

"My name's Desire. My friend brought you here."

Her little hands clasped in front of her dress. She bit her lip as she looked up at me. "Are you going to be like Mr. Khom?"

I kept the smile plastered on my face, despite the twisting of my gut. "That depends. Was Mr. Khom nice to you?"

Alice shook her head. After a moment of fidgeting, she finally spoke. "He never let me out to play. Only the blood donors get to play. I'm too dangerous."

"Well then, we won't be like him at all." I reached out to her.

"No! Don't!” she cried, stumbling away. " You can't touch me! Bad things always happen when people touch me! But no one ever listens..." She tucked her little hands under her arms.

"It's okay. See, gloves." I showed her my leather clad hands. She reluctantly let me hold her little hands. "It's going to be okay. Bad things happen when people touch me, too. So we're not going to let them, alright?"

My heart lifted with her smile. Yet, I didn't miss her nervous glance around.

"Are you scared of the lycans?"

She nodded.

"You don't have to be. They're here to protect us, like big, scary guard dogs. And see?" I reached out to the nearest lycan, a small tannish male, and rubbed between his ears. "They have thick fur, so we can play with them without bad things happening. We just can't touch their nose, okay? You try it."

She bit her cheek, looking the lycan up and down. With a deep breath she stretched her hand out, burying her little fingers in his thick fur. The lycan dropped his head to allow her easier access. She smiled again, then giggled.

"He's soft."

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" I grasped around her waist, lifting her up into my arms. "So what do you say? Want to live here with me?"

"Yes!" she cheered, grabbing on my shoulders, "I like you, you're nice."

I ignored the little flip my stomach did. Shifting her so she was more securely on my hip, I walked over to Cyrus. I cupped my mouth, both to channel my whisper and create a barrier between my lips and his ear.

"You and Crimson Claw track down this Khom. I want you to bring me any more poisonous children he has."

The man nodded. Cerberus trotted behind me as I started down the hall. "Let's find you something yummy to eat. You look hungry."

The girl started to nod, then suddenly let go of me, clutching at her head. I gasped, throwing my other hand around her back to keep her from falling. Tears start streaming down her cheeks.

"Alice? Alice, what's wrong?"

"My head!" she wailed, then covered her mouth with her hands. "I know, I know! I'm trying to be quiet."

"No! It's okay to cry..." I hurriedly said, holding her close as she whimpered.

"It'll go away, then I'll be quiet again."

"Don't worry about that," I assured her, then twisted back to face Cerberus, "Organize a hunting party, bring me every doctor you can find."

He gave a short nod, then bounded back to the main hall.

"It's going to be okay. You can cry if you want. I'm going to get a doctor to take care of you. They're going to make the pain go away."