The Mark of Cain ((50))

[qualapec]

Brachen had gone back to his apartment and slept for the better part of the day. He had dreams - horrible dreams. He was no stranger to blood and gore, but dreams took circumstances and emotions entirely out of his controll.

For the sake of habit, to feel slightly more normal, he'd wiped the curved blade clean and put the bleeding handkercheif with the rest of his collection - he'd been forced to leave some in the South, but the bloody souvenirs from a time when he hadn't cared so much about controlling himself meant something to him he couldn't quite name.

You own them, he told himself. You controlled their lives until the end, watched them breathe their last. No connection is more intimate.

And then he thought about Mac.

But there was a connection more intimate.

Running his paws over his face to catch on the three jagged cuts from brow to jawline, he sighed. He would ask Mac for help the next time he saw him...ask him if maybe they could be together again. Brachen knew that wouldn't be fair, though. He wasn't the same cat. Mac had cared about confident Brachen, the one who laughed and smiled in the face of peril and blood and never thought twice about it, who was spontaneous and unpredictable, but could control himself. It went too far against his grain to rely so completely on another cat, he realized, which was why he hadn't done it before then.

There had to be something he could do, though. He couldn't live like this.

[victoriousscarf]

Macavity's ears had gone completely back by the time he showed up at Brachen's doorstep, though he hoped the slightly wider brim of his hat would hide that fact. At least a little. God, he needed any shields he had at the moment if what he thought had happened had...

He paused for a long moment before finally pounding on the door, tail swishing behind him.

[qualapec]

Brachen heard a pounding at the door and for one terrifying moment, thought it was the police. He froze, tail bristling as he worked his way out of his thoughts. There was only one cat that knew where he lived.

He first considered not answering and pretending not to be home, because he knew Mac would see the scratch on his face and know that he'd slipped. Mac made him want to control himself...and he was letting him down.

But Mac was also the cat that Brachen couldn't run from. He rose and opened the door, faking a smile. "Jeez, Mac, do you have any idea how late it is?"

[victoriousscarf]

"You should know my sleep schedule," Macavity all but growled and froze completely as he got a good look at Brachen's face. "Jesus Christ..."

[qualapec]

Brachen froze, mouth open, torn between lying and silence in the hopes that Mac didn't know, because he couldn't know. "Mac..."

[victoriousscarf]

Macavity shoved Brachen back, not actually attempting violence but wanting to move him out of the space of the doorway, stepping inside once the space was free and slamming the door shut behind him. He was so furious he wasn't sure what to say.

[qualapec]

"Mac, I can explain..."

[victoriousscarf]

"You damn well had better," Macavity informed him shortly, fur standing on end.

[qualapec]

Brachen bristled at Mac's tone. "I didn't mean to, Mac."

[victoriousscarf]

"You didn't mean ta?" Macavity demanded. "That's what you have ta say? You..." he trailed off with a growl.

[qualapec]

"It wasn't like the others. She just...she got scared and started screaming. It happened so quickly."

[victoriousscarf]

Macavity stalked around the small apartment, too angry to settle, prowling like a caged beast. "Fast was it? When isn't life fast?" he asked, voice still clipped and harsh. "Damn it Brachen!"

[qualapec]

Brachen jolted, Mac had never been so angry with him before. The last time their tempers flared, he'd almost killed him, and he knew by all the dark gods he'd paid homage to that it wouldn't happen again. "I just wanted to get a look at her face!" He ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus, you have to believe me."

[victoriousscarf]

"I can believe you about that," Macavity replied. "But lookin' at somecat's face and killin' them are totally different things!"

[qualapec]

"She panicked and started screaming, and...I needed her to be quiet. It got out of hand." He thought of the queen's face, her age so much like what his sister would be...and he'd killed her. He felt bad enough, and he supposed it was only right that he suffer for it now.