I Take What I Want

Adrian and Aras had been walking in the hedges of Castemeria for a while now. Adrian was having a crisis of conscience after the raids. His whole identity as an adult had been wrapped around getting back at the Empire in whatever ways he could. Whether he committed theft or murder to reach his goals of crippling his enemy hadn't mattered. He had fallen into a kind of comfortable numbness as a pirate. But these portal worlds were different. He'd seen it when they took their first captive in the solar raids. These people didn't work for the Empire.  Their pain didn't further any political agenda that Adrian cared about. What did that mean for him going forward?  Who was he now?

Aras was another pirate, and he was there. They happened to have met on this portal world, and Adrian needed someone to talk at.  Not to, really. Just at.

They had found the seedy underbelly of Castemeria. Gnarled vines with dangerous-looking flowers surrounded them. The sticky heat mixed with the overall darkness felt fitting for his mood, but it was uncomfortable.  Adrian removed his sweat-soaked shirt and tucked it under his arm.

"Do you have a reason for any of it, Aras? For the raids, the piracy? I feel lost without a purpose to fight for. I'm not accustomed to feeling lost."

Aras looked at the man walking beside him and said nothing. The vein on the side of his neck was pulsing, and he suddenly felt hungry.

"I mean, some people are in it for glory, right? Some just want riches. Some look for infamy - a legacy to be remembered by. I don't think I want any of those things, really. I was in the vengeance game. But here? What vengeance is to be had?"

Aras raised an eyebrow. He talked a lot, this one.

"You're a demon, right? Or something like that." Adrian stopped talking and looked at his walking companion for a moment.

Aras grunted in assent. "Something like that."

"So... how do you know what you want in all this?" Adrian lifted his arms slightly with a shrug. "And how do you get there?"

Aras looked at the man beside him. He was good-looking, but much too talkative. Perhaps here was a way to quiet him.

The vampire turned to his walking companion. "I take what I want, when I want it." And with that, he pushed Adrian against a nearby wall, wrapping him into an aggressive embrace.