The demons in our blood

Alastor was so enamored with his grandchildren, but few more so than little Fever. She was a bubbly ball of energy that brought out a youthful life in the elder dire brute that only special puppies could. Seeing her play and learn was a true delight to the Mendacium wolf, and as she ran a circle around him, Alastor slowly got to his paws so he could continue to play with her. Fever sprinted for the den entrance so they could begin their little picnic outside, shouting for him to hurry up. "Okay, okay, I'm coming!" he called after her, plodding behind at his own pace back out into the lovely autumn sunshine with the basket of fruit clutched in his jaws.

Following his granddaughter down to the clearing down the way from the family's den, Al smiled around the basket handle in his mouth. But when he drew nearer to her, Alastor saw the little girl look off into space and wave her paw like she was beckoning to someone. That got a curious tilt of his head as he followed Fever's gaze out to nothingness. "What are you looking at, Fe?" he asked her while he set the basket down and began to unpack it for them, laying the fresh fruits out on a patchwork blanket that had been overing their treats.

"Moros says he's proud of you for how you got your revenge, Papa. He won't tell me what that means though."

Fever's words caused Alastor to freeze in place, his paw jerking back and knocking the basket over, spilling the fruits across the blanket. His eyes shrank to pinpricks, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end as a cold chill ran down his spine. His muscles quivered, tense like an electric shock had run through him. The signature grin on his face contorted, shifting into something deranged and unnatural as he looked up at his granddaughter, an almost feral panic in his dark eyes. "What did you say...?" he asked Fever in cold, carefully measured tones, his heart beginning to thud against his ribcage as flashes of a past stained in blood flashed in his mind. "Fever, where did you hear that name?"

"Alastor Mendacium"