Spirit Bound (Furry Story)

Chapter 61: The Marks

Nathanial was having dinner with his grandparents and family. Things were progressing reasonably well, though Garret was having trouble dealing with some issues with his parents. It started to boil over when Garret made a snide comment and was confronted by his mother.

Warning: There are some disturbing images later in the chapter following the line- "They thought he was already dead; he was hanging on the wall..." Please skip the next few sentences if you wish to avoid a graphic and unpleasant scenario.

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Nathanial tensed up as he looked at Garret and Wallace glaring at each other. Wallace's voice was quiet, "I haven't spoken to Gordon in over a week, Garret. What happened?"

Nathanial barely registered that the dishes began rattling on the table or that his pack was filtering into the house, "Poppy?" Micah whimpered at the sound of Nathanial's voice, even Garret froze and looked at Nathanial cautiously, "Am I to understand you're friends with Gordon Ahjee, the Investigator? You speak to him often?"

Wallace met Nathanial's eyes evenly, "Yes. I practically raised him, so it's small wonder we keep in contact. He's been a lot better about keeping in contact with his mentor than my son has."

A light bulb exploded in the hall, the sharp bang made Micah shriek and dive under the table, Nicholas curled his legs up against his chest and whimpered. "Indeed. I really hope you aren't aware of the trouble he's been giving us, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and I want to have a family, including extended family. Did he talk to you about coming over to check us for Taint?"

Wallace shook his head, "The only times he mentioned you was to say that a portal had opened on your property. I think he opened it to try to turn one or more of you into Demon Mages. That's something Garret should have done years ago, it was his duty as a member of the Cabal. Gordon knew I wasn't happy about Garret's... reluctance and probably wanted to surprise me with a Demon Mage grandson." Nathanial's breath hissed out between his teeth, his pack growled in the shadows around the dining room. "Keep them back, Nathanial. I don't want to fight you."

Several more light bulbs exploded across the house, "Don't!? You don't want...!?" Nathanial struggled to talk, "It's a bit late for that! Youput Nick through this! You! Do you know what we've been going through since that night!?"

Rosemary snorted, "Don't be stupid, pup. We did nothing, we didn't even know about until later. If Garret did his duty you would've been properly supervised and things would've been just fine. As it was Gordon did a great job. No one was hurt, only a few Imps made it through, the Succubus Tainted Nick and actually let him draw in some of her magic. She even let him go. It went extremely smoothly. Did you even wonder at how easy it was to handle those Demons?"

Garret roared, "My job!? Like hells! You think there was going to be a chance I'd let any of my boys go through what I went through!? Even Micah!? No! I wouldn't put anyone but that sick bastard through it! Why the fuck would you even think it? I have nothing to do with your twisted Cabal, the Society, or the Hidden World itself! And I have a damn good reason- you!"

Nathanial's eyes narrowed, "If you didn't want us to go through something, Dad, you should've been here. If you knew we've had trouble with Demons, Poppy, why didn't you come over to help us? Even just to let us know what Nick might go through? It's obvious you have nothing but contempt for Dad and you knew where we lived, so you should've been here to help us. Don't blame Dad for everything, you dropped the ball, too."