"We know your name, Hector; we have been guardians of your family for many generations." Chronos said, looking down at the man before him. He would turn to his human form, but he hadn't done such in years, and wasn't about to now. "I am Chronos, son of Kryos, the one who fought beside your grandsire and sire." He looked around the trees, hearing the lycans speaking through their minds about the old wars and tales. Many of the hidden ones here were among the elders who fought with this human family.
"The bards only knew us as the Demon Dogs of War. Merciless and cruel, don't leave your back barren, for if you risk it all, you'll be lifeless, staring. We were the monsters." Chronos said, his voice a slightly tainted growl. He hated bards, they never told the story straight.
As the man locked eyes with the Lycan, the wolf decided his answer then before he even truly heard the plea. He folded his arms over his chest, looking down with a slight smirk on his face and a faint light in his eyes. "Dracula took my father prisoner, the night that your father came home to you alone. My father shielded him, made the human run." He shook his muzzle, "We do not believe in light, in glory; we are blood letters and demons of the shadows and nightmares that haunt every man." He looked at the trees around, "Our future generations are ourselves, until we bear a blood child of our own. So neither do we care for that."
"But my father taught me well before he was lost to me." He looked back at Hector, eyes void but true. "Honor was the curse no lycan would bear before him. Now, we all would bear it willingly." He placed a pawed hand on Hector's shoulder, "We are demons and devils, haunting any who cross the innocent ones we are sworn to guard. Our claws have felt more flesh and our tongues tasted more blood than that sword you bear, old though it is. My father was their when it was foraged, he imbued it with Lycan magic that had thought to have been lost."
Chronos stepped back, looking at Hector with a emotionless grin. "We do not fight for the light. We do not fight for glory. We fight for honor. We fight for our Alpha, Kryos, who still lives under Dracula's whip. We are the Devil's Hounds, Hector, and you've called to us, reaching from the light into our dark domain. Those who do that, we would make a deal. Their first born child to become a Lycan." He paused, looking at Hector, "But you, Hector Vines, the third of the line, have called to us for a common enemy. By demon blood, demon soul, you have called..." He spread his arms to either side of him, "So we go." The wolves appeared on either side of him, surrounding the two as they had been the whole time. Some stood as he did, other stood on all fours, then some stood in suits of armor, as humans; as Hector's own Red Guards. "We have been bound to your family for more than three generations, Hector, farther back than you could ever fathom. Our fight with Dracula only strengthened the bond."
He rolled his neck, lowering his arms, "You have our alliance, Hector, same as your sires before you."
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Kryos, despite the cats disoreinted words, walked into Dracula's library and sat her in one of the chair, growling at the vampire. He had little choice; he was shamed that he could no longer fight the vampire as he once had, but he sat back against the wall, head bowed and arms crossed over his chest.
