There was a gentle ring as the door slid open.

  The cashier had his back to the register, far more preoccupied with his phone than the supposed customer.

  “Oi!” The cashier, the eldest grandson of the old man who ran this humble butcher shop, did not turn around, “We’re closed, get lost.”

  The customer did not move, instead, pressed something round and cold into the cashier’s large, muscular back.

  The cashier, or Kake, as most knew him, turned around, and came face to face with a burglar pointing a gun at his barreling chest.

  “Oh.”

  The burglar gestured the gun at the cash register.

  Kake raised an eyebrow, silent.

  “You...know this is a butcher shop, right?”

  The burglar gestured again.

  Kake sat down in front of the register.

  Through his ski mask, the burglar watched how, instead of opening the register, Kake just rested his bulky, tattooed shoulders on the counter and stared back up at him.

  Of the three brothers, Kake was certainly the scariest in both looks and personality. His hair was more like a lion’s mane, a fierce clash of red, yellow and orange that trailed down to his waist. His eyes were a deep amber rimmed with a bloodshot ruby that looked at everything with a certain hunger.

  Combined with his hooked nose, he at times looked more like a vulture then a person.

  His forearms, back, and the nape of his neck were covered in strange feather-like tattoos draped together like a second skin. Asking for the story behind them usually resulted in a snarl and punch to the face.

  While he and the middle grandson were taller than most of the townsfolk, his added muscle made him look more like a brute, not helped by the many fights that he got in since the brothers first moved in five years ago.

  Had it not been for his grandfather, everyone knew that Kake would do far worse than put someone in the hospital.

  “Don’t you see the gun?” The burglar growled, aiming the gun at Kake’s head.

  “Yeah.”

  “So get me the money.”

  Kake closed his eyes for a bit, and then smiled.

  “Nah.”

  The burglar thumbed over the safety.

  “We both know you won’t shoot me.”

  “We?”

  The burglar readied the gun again, but Kake leaned to the right, looking past the burglar and turning his attention to the door to the meat processing area.

  The second grandson, Herte, was watching the entire scene.

  Herte and Kake did not look, or act, much like brothers. Where Kake was muscular, Herte was on the leaner side, and his skin was several shades darker than Kake’s light russet. His hair was bleached white and cut up in an awful shoulder-length mullet with sharp bangs. Herte’s garnet colored eyes had an extreme tiredness to them due to his habitual night owl tendencies.

  Herte claimed that he had had a bad run in with the Fey when he was a kid, and his face had gotten messed up as a result, which was why he always wore a black cloth face mask. Even if he wasn’t a wunderworker, nor as aggressive as Kake, most townsfolk still kept their distance.

  Where Kake was a violent menace, Herte was a quiet mystery. Most did not know where Herte was when he wasn’t helping out his grandfather with cutting up the animals, and Herte himself would never respond to the nosy townsfolk. The only way to guarantee that Herte would show up would be to make sure his family is involved.

  So Herte was often seen as an omen of trouble.

  The burglar, seeing this as his chance to get what he came for, swapped targets.

  Herte didn’t move. His gloves and apron were still dripping with blood as he mindlessly tugged at them.

  “Come on bro,” Kake was still smiling as he spoke, “Shouldn’t you humor him a little?”

  Herte scoffed, “If you’re done goofing off, help me clean out the meat grinder.”

  Kake frowned, “Why can’t you wait until Aellic gets back?”

  “Because you’re here. He’d stick his tongue in it again.”

  The burglar might as well not exist. He aimed the gun at the ceiling.

  Bang Bang

  The brothers refocused on him.

  “This is a robbery! Open the register and give me the cash!”

  Neither of the two brothers spoke.

  Herte sighed, “Kake, just give Koery some money already before he makes more of a mess and get your butt over here.”

  The burglar shot at Herte’s arm, but missed and hit the wall next to him.

  Herte didn’t budge.

  “H-How?!” Koery kept the gun trained on him.

  “Only one guy in town reeks of cheap booze every day.” Kake whispered in Koery’s ear——

  —And then punched him square in the jaw.

  Crack

  Koery toppled over, dropping the gun as he felt his jaw shatter.

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  Herte stepped closer to Koery.

  “Why’d you do that for?”

  Kake stepped on the gun, shattering it to pieces.

  “Because, now we have an opportunity.” Koery felt Kake’s foot press into his back, “Don’t you want something other than animal blood from time to time?”

  Herte frowned, “We made an agreement with Gale to not eat humans.”

  “Gramps doesn’t need to know, we’ll just discard his shit, cut him up and mix him in with the rest of the meat.”

  “Aellic will know.”

  “We can get Aellic to be quiet. Come on, think about the last time you had fresh, warm blood.”

  Herte bit his lip, “What about the cops?”

  “We know the cops, they’ll be happy there’s one less loser to worry about and not even search properly.”

  “And Gale won’t figure it out?”

  “We’re older and smarter than him. We can outwit a human.”

  Herte looked down at Koery.

  His eyes had the same hunger as Kake’s.

  Before he could answer, the door opened again.

  “We’re back!”

  The youngest, and most angelic of the brothers, was Aellic.

  His skin was the same dark, warm tone as Herte and his hair was a gentle lavender fade, inspired by Kake’s bright hair colors. Being only a teenager, Aellic was far shorter than his brothers with only a slight amount of muscle being seen on his body. His eyes were a soft plum purple and his face was littered with freckles.

  He was bright with way more energy than most kids his age, and with an appetite of a dozen more. Instead of going to school, Aellic worked with his brothers at the butcher shop.

  He was the child most parent’s would dream about.

  Aellic tugged at his signature dark purple rubber gloves, that he wore outside even when it was scorching hot, as he walked into the room.

  “Grandpa let me buy a dvd we can watch—“ Aellic looked down to see Koery, “—what’s he doing here?”

  An old, aged cough echoed through the store.

  Not much was known about Gale. Until five years ago, he lived alone, and worked alone. He went on walks by himself, and most of the townsfolk would consider him a well meaning, if rude, old man.

  His skin was like an aged walnut tree, covered in wrinkles from worry and anguish over the years. Gale’s bushy white eyebrows seemed to weigh down on his face, making the man capable of few expressions besides disappointment. If he stood up straight, he could match Herte in height, but his back is long since past those days.

  He observed the scene with a silent look of exhaustion.

  “Which one of you is responsible for this?”

  “Kake wanted to eat him.” Herte sped back into the meat processing area.

  “Goddamn traitor!” Kake growled but his glare quickly lost its strength when he met Gale’s face, “Yadda yadda, we don’t eat humans while we’re here—I didn’t forget. Just wanted something other than 3 day old leftovers for once. Not like anyone would miss him.”

  “You and Herte are going to take the car and drop him off at the ER,” Gale limped around with his cane, frowning when he saw the bullet holes in the ceiling and wall, “Aellic and I will clean up here and wait for your two to get back. Make sure Koery doesn’t remember anything.”

  Kake stared him before kicking Koery in the stomach and hoisting him up.

  “I know you heard him,” he snarled, watching Herte poke his head out, “Lets go.”

  Herte started to trail after Kake, but stopped when he saw the blood on the floor.

  Gale snapped his fingers, pulling him out of the trance.

  “Sorry,” Herte muttered, before leaving the store.

  Gale walked behind the counter, “Aellic?”

  “Yeah Grandpa?”

  “Start unhooking the leftover meat and prepare for dinner. I’ll go find a mop.”

  “Why’d I gotta wait for them?”

  “...I make the rules here, Aellic.”

  Aellic’s eyes broke focus on the blood stain.

  “ ‘kay.”

  Kake and Herte returned about half an hour later.

  The store smelled of bleach, and besides the bullet hole near the entryway to the meat processing room, and the broken light fixture, didn’t show any trace of the failed burglary.

  Wordlessly, they trudged up the stairs, where the smell of bleach gradually became the smell of raw meat.

  The two began to walk a little faster.

  At the end of the cramped hallway was their prize.

  The dinning room table had been moved into the living room, just in between the run down couch and the wide screen television.

  On top of the table was rows and rows of different cooked meats. Various different cuts and types that their shop was all too used to selling. Next to each serving were also buckets full of bones and mason jars filled with nothing but blood.

  Aellic was sitting on the couch, practically vibrating back and forth with hunger and excitement.

  His gloves rested on the couch next to him.

  “We’re back.” Herte spoke up first, removing his mask and resting it on the nearby drawer.

  Aellic didn’t turn around, instead concentrating on opening the dvd case.

  Herte yawned as he sat down next to Aellic.

  His mouth opened far wider than a human’s would, and inside were rows open rows of small, sharp teeth.

  “You said you had a movie to show us?”

  If Aellic’s eyes could get any brighter, they would blind his brothers.

  “It’s called Feast for the Fainthearted! It’s about a cannibal cult that hunts people in their dreams and it got good reviews in the magazine I read so I dunno why it was in the discount bin—“ Aellic spoke a mile a minute, waving his hands around as he tried to recall every detail of the review for Herte.

  During his retelling, Aellic’s hand brushed against the couch, ripping a hole through it’s fabric.

  “—I think you’d like the main actress, she—oh shoot.”

  Aellic’s hands were covered in thick, purple scales that made them rough to the touch. And each fingertip featured sharp talons instead of nails, which were currently covered in couch stuffing.

  With his hands’ stiff movements, he struggled to try to pick the fluff off of them.

  Kake leaned over, “Give ‘em here.”

  Kake quietly helped Aellic remove the stuffing from his claws. Once he was done, he grabbed the dvd case and opened it in one smooth motion.

  “I see you two arrived before it got too late”

  Kake’s hair bristled at the sound of Gale’s voice.

  “I’m not going to give you another lecture just yet.” Gale continued, “Did you erase Koery’s memories?”

  “Herte said he was too hungry to inject the guy without ripping his throat out,” Kake muttered, so I had to get creative.”

  “Kake.”

  “I didn’t kill him. Bastard’s chilling in the ER right now getting his jaw fixed and his stomach pumped. Bought some beers and shoved it down his throat until he blacked out. Dude’s already an addict, even if he remembers, no one will believe him when they smell his breath.”

  Kake turned around, looking down at Gale.

  “Like I said, I didn’t forget the rules. We don’t kill anyone or use our maguc and we get to eat whatever you can’t sell.”

  “Then why did you try to kill Koery?”

  Kake shrugged, “When this shop of yours is doing well, we eat less. Maybe I’m just so hungry I couldn’t think straight. Sorry.” his voice dripped with insincerity, “If my mean mug can’t scare away customers, guess I gotta use my other assets.”

  Gale dark brown eyes stared back into Kake’s.

  Eventually, he broke contact.

  “Herte, from now on, you’re on cashier duty.”

  Herte shot a glare at Kake, who replied with a shrug.

  “I’m feeling a bit tired today, so you boys can watch the movie without me.” Gale began to shuffle to his room, “Remember to clean up after yourselves and get enough sleep.”

  Kake nodded, and placed the disc into the dvd player. After he was done, he himself over and onto the couch, landing next to Herte. As he rustled his hair, it became more apparent that his mane was actually made up of brightly colored feathers.

  Aellic grabbed a mutton leg, ripping it apart with frightening speed as he fiddled with the remote.

  Kake began stripping the meat off of the turkey, tossing them blindly onto the table as Aellic picked at his scraps. Once he was one, he took a big bite into the bone and munched happily while Herte ignored all of the meat and stuck his face into a mason jar filled with blood. A long proboscis slithered out of his throat and began lapping up the liquid.

  Gale watched the three get settled into dinner and movie before closing the door.

  His room was modest, very few knickknacks lying around the shelves, just a small bed with blue quilted sheets.

  The soft moonlight coming in from the window above the headboard.

  Gale hoisted himself onto the bed, letting his cane rest against his aged nightstand.

  Silently, he opened the second drawer, gently removing a single framed portrait.

  Within the picture frame was a Gale who was not fully claimed by the sands of time, a far younger man who shared his same dark eyes, a woman who smiled brightly at the camera and—

  —a boy, who almost looked just like Aellic, sharing that woman’s smile.