The oldest sin

[Richard Romain]

Richard's hands were trembling as he unbuttoned his shirt. He didn't want to get his shirt ruined, that's what his mother told him. He didn't want to have to give her extra work she told him. What he was about to do was important but at the same time not, both his mother and father told him that. He dropped his shirt to the ground, his numb fingers having worked well enough to free him from the material that suddenly seemed to constrict his breathing.

He turned to his family.

His father. Klaus.

His mother. Katilinia

His brothers. Wallice, the oldest. Caleb, the youngest. Victor and Yalter, the twins.

But not his sisters, not his little sisters.

Victoria was gone, as the oldest she'd left their family a long time ago. When Wallice turned ten.

Katherine and Galinsa were gone as well. They'd left the family when the twins had turned ten.

That left only Elizabeth and Hannah, the youngest of his sisters. Elizabeth was six and Hannah was five. They were so young and so innocent despite what the family life had subjected them to. But it was time for one of them to leave the family. Because today...

Richard had turned ten.

He looked to his family, each of them in turn.

His mother's eyes had that dead look about them that she always had when she found something to be unpleasant.

Caleb was watching with rapt and awful attention. The boy was seven years old and he couldn't take his eyes off of what was about to transpire even if he knew that he shouldn't watch.

The twins, Victor and Yalter, watched impassively. Their expressions were completely the same, despite the two of them being fraternal twins. They had schooled their features perfectly but to him they might as well have been open books. Both boys were thirteen now and their eyes already held the malicious glint that came from excessive use of the Dark Arts. They were trying not to show their enjoyment.

Wallice was his eldest brother, he was eighteen. He had dark rings under his eyes and his eyes might as well have been glowing from the malicious intent that was hidden behind his eyes. He made no attempt to pretend he was disinterested. His face was split by a wide, sickening, grin that made Richard shiver. It was a blood lust grin.

But his father, Klaus, was the worst.

He was looking at Richard, staring into the boy's eyes, with complete seriousness. Usually his eyes were clouded by the haze of the Dark Arts but his eyes were bright and sharp with cruelty today. And he was waiting expectantly, as they all were, for Richard to make a decision.

The decision was to take place right now, at the edge of the family's private lake.

The decision was which of his little sisters he was going to kill in order to complete his family's rite of passage and become a man.