Page 226 - TheRedSon_PrintInterior_430pp_5.5x8.5_9-22-2019_v1

His eyes made me unsure of my saviors—even in the grip of
such a monster, he was still a beast of many heads, each one
possessed of skills sharper than stilettos.
My father was finally released, and he fell to the floor,
gasping. I knew the sorest injury he’d suffered was to his
pride. He carefully returned to his feet, even taking time to
straighten his collar, unfazed by the monster at his back. He
looked beyond me, returning the heated glower of the strange
woman. “You just took your doom by the hand, woman.
I’ll die having at least that satisfaction.” My father’s words
shot across the room like spears, but they were immediately
deflected by the woman’s smile, which shone like darkest
night.
“What a shame,” she said. “Here stands your greatest
work, and you’ve grown all but dumb to the fact. Luckily, I
don’t share your foreshortened senses, artist. It seems to me
you’ve been the one holding your doom by the hand, and for
quite a few years, at that. It would only be in keeping with a
sort of cosmic propriety that your son be your doom—here,
in this gallery, tonight. There’s still art to be had in that, isn’t
there, artist?”
My father’s eyes didn’t so much as twitch. “That would
be an honor, of course. But don’t look so smug, woman. It’s
not like you’ve tapped into the unseen world by seeing him
for what he is. I’ve known this day would come. I’ve known
since the first time I saw myself reflected in those coal-black
eyes of his. And now you’ve seen them, too. You know, now.
Pray you last as long as I did.” I had no idea what my father
was talking about, but something secret seemed to shift
within me, somewhere deep in the pits of my stomach.
“Vincent, tonight you will become an artist,” the woman
said matter-of-factly, still locking eyes with my father. It
didn’t seem as if I would be given a choice. I simply smiled
up at her, my new mother.
The giant reached out with a single hand and broke
my father’s neck. Yet somehow, he still lived. My father
The Red Son | 229