Thanus 37

I had heard the comments about Mothman for years, at least forty. Kiromir had been called Mothman by the songbirds, horizons, and family members since the sixties.

“Garren! What’s the story about Mothman?” I asked, watching as Kiromir cringed. I could feel the aura of fear peaking. Whatever scared him that bad made me want to know even more. Crimson heat suffused his cheeks in a storm. Anything that had his cheeks aflame like that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Absolutely not!” Kiromir rounded on Garren and held a finger to him.

Garren grinned wide. “So, I have a swear on a feather to never retell this story to anyone, but Thanus, you’re his bondmate. You have every right to know!” He grinned, and Kiromir’s teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Little bits of the tale had been dropped in passing. Kiromir was Mothman, whether it was from his multicolored freckled wings or the gold glow his eyes got when his mana flared high. Whatever he did, he earned the name.

Kiromir lunged for Garren again.

I swept my arm out, grabbing Kiromir around his waist, my knee bent at the back of one of his legs, forcing his form to go down as I pressed him into the ground. Kiromir struggled, huffing as I got my elbow into his Ikris, knees on the back of his legs, and an arm to hold one of his wrists down. He swiped at me and lashed out with his cold fire, the same one that melded with mine—that no longer affected me other than for pleasure. So, I had him beat on strength alone now, as he snarled.

Garren laughed, joy bubbling through.

“Tell!”

“Okay, so…” Garren started, getting down to my level, low and conspiratorially, as Kiromir’s face went beet red. His shouting only attracted more attention, and he went limp in defeat.

In the 1960s, like 1966, I think it was; they were all just young wild lads. Kiromir, not even twenty, still not comfortable with his fire and facing the fact that his older brother would never step up to lead the flock, set out on an assignment. Lowak had negotiated through a source to take out some criminals, gangsters, mobsters, whatever they were at that time, who were hiding out in the woods of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

It was November, frost in the air, and Kiromir was seething angry. He was having problems with Rolyn and Lowak. They were pressuring him to find a bondmate, and Rolyn was starting on her breeding crusade. This was about the same time as the ‘lists’ came out. He hated the lists.

Kiromir had gone out on his own without a team. Only Lowak’s best men had any idea about the plan, but Kiromir was out to earn a name for himself to get kills and earn Lowak’s respect. Daddy dearest was laying it on thick.

He’d skulked the woods for two days, THREE whole days without sleep, bathing, or eating. He was delirious, eyes glowing with his anger, and he was toying with them. He picked them off, one by one. Then, from trees, he’d drop, smeared in blood, wings out and eyes aglow.

In the end, he was seen a few times and a shadowy picture of great wings and glowing eyes, covered in blood and wearing nothing but his underwear.

Having discovered his mishap of being photographed, he camped out in the woods for six weeks. He was afraid of the repercussions, hiding out until Lowak had to go get him. By that point, his aura of fear had terrorized an entire community to the point that they couldn’t shake it for years to come.

Afterward, until Lowak died, leaving Kiromir in charge, they routed through Point Pleasant for the migration and made specific detours to Mothman-themed roadside attractions. Kiromir had been traumatized.

I sat there, dumbfounded, and rolled off to let Kiromir scramble free of me. He wasn’t making eye contact. The story was simultaneously more and less awful than I ever could have imagined.

“I’m so totally going to go tell Niala,” I told him before I took off running.

Kiromir scrambled up and ran, hot on my heels, kicking up the turf as he closed in on my legs. Then, with a final leap, he grabbed around my ankles to bring me to a halt.

“No! Thanus! Absolutely not!” He grumbled at me as I managed to get a few stumbling steps before falling down.