Chapter 20: Past and Present
Isaac sat with Martha and worried. "He didn't take it well."
"He never takes things well. You should have told him before today," she scolded.
"I know, I know. I was afraid he'd do something cocky." He sighed and ran his fingers through his thinning hair.
"Well you'd better hope he doesn't go off and injure himself or someone. You know how he's prone to rages."
"I guess I'd better go find him." He reluctantly stood and went to find his son.
Cyrus, however, had not strayed far Isaac had taken no more than a few steps before the front door burst open and Cyrus stormed in.
His baleful expression showed he was in no mood for stalling or lying chitchat. "Why the HELL didn't you tell me this before now! You could've told me when I was fifteen! Hell you could've told me before I left for the monastery! At least then I would've had an EXCUSE to be miserable!" He could barely contain himself and pushed his father. The air hummed and brimmed with the power build up, one strong enough to cause some serious damage to the house if released. "And what else did you lie about? If you were really my father then why the hell didn't you help my mother? Why didn't you carry her to the hospital? Or steal a car to get there! Any REAL man would've done that!" He shoved Isaac again, unable to contain his anger anymore, his powers partially releasing at the same time, blasting Isaac across the room and sending him crashing down onto the wide kitchen table.
"Cyrus, no!" Martha shouted and started for him as Isaac struggled to free himself from the shattered table pieces.
He was already advancing on his father though, hands brimming with power and grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt, pushing him up against the wall. "Answer me! You murdered her didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!"
"I didn't kill your mother! They got to her before I could save her!" Isaac burst into tears. He was not ashamed to cry. His memories of that day were fresh on his mind as if it had just occurred. He remembered her psionic scream of terror and then the excruciating pain of her dying. They had injected her with a poison to kill her and their unborn son but Tera had always been strong. She had managed to give birth to Cyrus before dying. Her final gift to him. A true selfless act of love and one that had brought him pain every day.
Cyrus' anger skyrocketed a he heard these words. He slammed his father against the wall again, harder this time. "WHO? WHO KILLED HER?"
"Don't do this, my son! If you take revenge you will be just like them! I will not have blood on your hands!"
Martha fluttered about anxiously. Isaac shook his head frantically. He didn't want her injured if Cyrus completely lost it and let loose the full force of his powers.
Cyrus drove him harder against the wall, cracking the plaster. His muscles bulged and strained as he screamed at him. "God damnit tell me! Or I swear to the gods above I will beat the answer out of you!"
"That is enough!" Suddenly Martha's skin rippled and her hands and fingers turned into vines that whipped out and wrapped first around Cyrus's neck, choking him and then around his arms, effectively pulling him away from Isaac. The last set wrapped around his legs and jerked him off his feet sending him crashing to the floor.
As he hit the floor, struggling for breath, he dropped his restraint on his abilities. The resulting shockwave took Martha and Isaac off their feet. The force of the blast shattered crockery where it stood, cutlery was sent flying and embedded several inches into the walls.
Martha let out a hurt cry and lay unmoving where she had been thrown. Isaac surged to his feet, his whole body glowing. He held up one hand and a blast of energy slammed into Cyrus so hard it knocked the breath out of him, snapped his neck back and sent him into unconsciousness.
As darkness consumed him once more, the last thing Cyrus heard was the soft, deep laughter of the rage that had emerged within him. The demon on his shoulder was grinning; his target was progressing at superhuman rates. Soon justice would be served.
***
Katherine looked down at Cyrus and back up at the somber Isaac. She had felt rather than saw the battle and when her sapphire dragon, Julian, had told her Cyrus was in trouble she had run as fast as she could from the marsh but had been too late to stop it. So she had done what she could to help everyone. She had to give Martha a healing potion.
Cyrus was still unconscious. The demon was worming deeper in to his mind, its suggestions and words making more and more sense to Cyrus as he struggled toward wakefulness. His father had refused to tell him who had killed his mother. So obviously he was in on her murder. Well he would find out who had done it, and he would make them pay. They were all going to pay!
{Katherine, his thoughts are poison} Julian told her.
{He's just angry, J, we have to cut him some slack}
{No, my rider. You do not understand. The darkness is consuming him. I am amazed he even managed to find a dragon to tolerate his wild ways} Julian's tone was laced with disproval.
Katherine sighed. {Just keep monitoring. I'm almost done fixing the few injuries he sustained}
Isaac watched Katherine work and hoped it wouldn't be for nothing. Cyrus had never had this much rage before and he feared not only for his son's safety but for everyone living in the monastery with them. As much as he hated to do it, he was going to have to put Cyrus out.
Cyrus' eyes flickered open slowly, the light of room filling his vision and he groaned gently at the fading ache in his chest. The energy blast had packed a hard punch. Where the hell had his father gotten that from? He noticed Katherine by his side and wondered what she was doing. He cautiously sat up wincing a little and looked at his father and spoke coldly. "Tell me who killed my mother, father. Unlike you and everyone else in your fucking order, I am not a coward to the bone."
Katherine winced at his language and Isaac looked disturbed. "Do you think it will make you feel any better once they are dead?"
Cyrus' eyes gleamed with menace for a second and he smiled almost sweetly. "Who said anything about killing them? Where would be the pleasure of being the winner if the losers aren't alive to know they've lost..."
Isaac looked positively ill at his son's words. Katherine gasped in shock and stared at Cyrus in disbelief.
"Riders don't kill. It is not our way," she murmured in distress.
He turned to Katherine with a look of growing irritation. "As I said, who said anything about killing them?" He turned back to his father and slowly rose from the bed. "Now are you going to tell me or do I have to find out for myself? Trust me on this, the beliefs I have developed since you sent me to that god forsaken hell hole are severely different from the last time I was here."
Isaac closed his eyes. "You have to go three towns over to Lokmore. If you are bent on this course you must find the Blearney clan."
