[RP] The Hunt (Rated R - updated with adult themes)

[Luthen's RP immediately follows] Whispers in the Dark


Reagan Luthen trudged through Gilneas’s murky marsh, eager to get home to the manor. A dim hue of green pierced the shroud of night, a grim lantern unrecognizable by most. However, as he trooped through the muck, he was forced to listen to his own thoughts.

The most pressing of them all, of course, being his new and increasingly serious relationship with his girlfriend, Luna Arboreal.

Scooping up a small toad as he walked, he ran his clammy hands through the creature’s bumpy hide. He redirected his gaze northward toward the mountainside, a narrow ledge the final separator between him and a nice rest at home.

Being an undead, however, he didn’t hold the traditional standard of rest. Instead of a state of unconsciousness, he incorporated it as a form of meditation, being fully aware of his surroundings, yet relaxing his mind from the trials of the day. While such a ritual was handy, it wasn’t entirely necessicary, giving him the edge during busy nights.

After all, the Criminal Underworld never truly slept, and if he took his eyes off his underlings for too long, he suspected he’d share a fate similar to the original founder of the organization, Francisco Ledger.

Tossing the frog he held into the sky, he swiftly unsheathed his obsidian claws and slit the beast’s belly, gently coating his face with cold blood. As he began making his way up the rocky ledge, he refocused his thoughts back on Luna.

Bluntly, he both adored and feared the Night Elf. While he could doubtlessly defeat her in combat, she held a certain, undeniable sway over him, one which was foreign to him since life. Being a crime Kingpin, he had been frequently attended to by hostesses in the past, and while they attempted to woo him, it was apparent that they only craved his power, and glaringly obvious that any relationship would only be thick as a gold coin.

But Luna was different. Whether she was more than any of the hostesses had been, or simply better at deceit, he didn’t know. He desperately WANTED to believe that there was a soul in the universe that loved him the way she did, but a nagging voice in the back of his head, the same voice that kept him on top of the food chain all these years, screamed at him to end her.

He hastened up the mountainside, attempting to outrun his own twisted thoughts. Rain fell from heaven as he inserted his thumbs between his index and middle fingers, breaking into a full-on sprint, desperate to shake off the voice as if it were a physical threat. Eventually, however, he slowed his pace unto a mere trot, not out of fatigue, but out of a morbid curiosity. After all, he’d forgotten what it felt like to be tired years ago.

Like venom, dark thoughts returned to poison his mind. She was a loose end. A gap in his armor. In his rare state of emotional vulnerability, he had told her everything that could bring him to ruin. His tragic origins. His macabre history, and rise to power.

Most importantly, he had told her his one ultimate weakness.

The manor was in view now, towering in majestic silence over the abysmal sky. Just as Reagan took his next step, he heard a rumbling atop the cliff. Keenly, he turned his head to witness a gigantic ettin descending the mountain, roaring as it brought a large, club-like tree trunk down atop his head.

((Play ))

Honed reflexes took control as the Black Bagger dived out of the way, before flicking his wrists to produce two Flintlock pistols. Firing fiendishly, Reagan backpedalled as lead pierced the giant’s flesh, the gargantuan monster’s bellows deafening. Undeterred, the ettin bent over with remarkable speed, swatting Reagan’s guns out of his hands.

‘’Cripes!’’ Reagan exclaimed.

Improvising, the Felblade elected to unsheathe his obsidian claws, darting between the creature’s legs to maim its tendons. Fresh, delicious blood smothered his black leather as the ettin attempted to recover, but the Bagger would have none of it.

Wolfishly, he scaled the creature’s back, deliberately ripping at the giant’s abundant flesh with each movement upward. With the ettin’s dominating roars swiftly devolving into gurgled cries, Reagan plunged his claws into the giant’s spine, metal meeting bone marrow.

However, to Reagan’s astonishment, the abominable creature wasn’t dead yet. Reaching behind his back, he snagged the Felblade, bringing him to his chest with a clenched fist. His deformed face now bloodied and salivating, the monster took a certain joy in watching Reagan squirm helplessly in his unstoppable grasp.

Luthen was many things, but he wasn’t much stronger than the average human. He screamed as the creature began crushing his ribcage in his iron grip.

Jagged teeth encroached as Reagan wiggled in the giant’s grasp. As the jaws neared to the point where Reagan could detect bits of what used to be a sheep, he grinned.

The ettin had played right into his hands.

The demonic hole in his fel bag gleaming, Luthen blew with gusto into the behemoth’s waiting jaws, causing bright green flames to cook the monster’s flesh inside out. It reared in agony, releasing Luthen as it clawed at its own face in a vain effort to escape the unbearable pain, before accidently stumbling off the ledge and into a certain rocky death below.

Reagan had won.

Rain began to wash some of the blood from Reagan’s armor off, although the sadistic bloodlust existing in all undead would not be so easily extinguished. The giant’s death had rekindled Luthen’s animalistic instinct, the nagging thoughts in his head transforming into thunderous commands. It demanded that he eradicate the next nearest threat to his overall security.

A threat named Luna Arboreal.

As silently as a specter, Reagan whisked through the manor. As warily as a burglar, he maneuvered up the steps, before taking a left into their bedroom.

((Play ))

And as viciously as a cornered animal, he unbuckled a needle from his belt, making his way toward the sleeping Night Elf.

Hungrily, he stared down at her.

‘’Slay her, Reagan.’’ The voice inside him whispered. ‘’Slay her, or she will end you. She will cast you from your throne, and you will be hunted like a dog until you are finally dead. And then where will you be?’’

Trembling, his hands quivered with the needle as he took another look at the sleeping girl. She was… ineffably gorgeous. And she was smiling.

She really did trust him.

‘’DO IT!’’ the voice demanded. ‘’DO IT NOW, BEFORE SHE WAKES!’’

With his affection and instinct at war, he darted outside into the pouring rain and hurled the needle as far as he could. The churning sea swallowed the syringe instantly, crashing indiscriminately against the jagged rocks.
He just… he COULDN’T kill Luna. If it were Aurein, or Venryus, or Gaelren, or anyone else who knew what she did, he’d do it in a heartbeat. But her?

Never.

He couldn’t kill Luna because one of his biggest fears had come to fruition.

He loved her.