Vinnie floated quietly at the edge of the tunnel as Amergin and Archibald turned to embrace their two wayward siblings with shouting and laughter.
He was... was he sad? This wasn't anger, and it wasn't the greasy satisfaction he'd felt at having tricked them into letting him do something truly horrible. Yeah, sure. Sadness. Me. That'll be the day. But it was... good. Good to see them back together, even if the rogue was still missing. Even if he could only watch this reunion from the outside, it felt right. For this one moment, after centuries of solitary study, Vinnie wished he could have that sort of companionship, that unmistakable sense of belonging.
He'd never realized that he missed it.
He didn't begrudge Whisper or James for taking the opportunity to leave; he'd pranked them pretty badly. Lithos, though... Lithos' unexpected flight had hurt him. It felt like a betrayal, and it didn't matter at all that Vinnie knew he'd betrayed the goblin first. The kid was supposed to stick with him. That was how he'd set it all up: they'd hate him, but they'd rely on him because they had to. They'd keep him around.
Yeah, but that was just for fun. Just to prove I could do it, make these would-be Good Guys help me, even knowing what I did to them, even knowing that I was looking for powerful souls to eat and that I absolutely will eat them. It wasn't supposed to affect him; he wasn't supposed to get attached to them.
And I ain't. I'm just usin' them to keep me out of sight. Which meant he couldn't blast Lithos on the spot; he didn't care if the kid had left, or if he came back. Nope, not at all. He'd just sit here, feeling all satisfied that his plan was working.
It still felt like sadness.
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