# Chapter 5: Blood and Covenant
The ritual circle drawn in Rex's blood looked almost black against the weathered floorboards, the Primordial runes forming patterns that would make the Church's Inquisitors burn this room to ash if they ever learned what happened here tonight. Rex had positioned four candles at cardinal points using System guidance_orth, south, east, west_heir flames casting dancing shadows that made the carved symbols seem to writhe with anticipation.
Silas stood in the circle's center wearing only a thin undergarment, her bindings removed to reveal the full extent of abuse her body had endured. Scars crisscrossed her malnourished frame in patterns Rex recognized from his Earth knowledge_ystematic torture designed to break rather than kill. She met his gaze without flinching, her hidden predator nature finally visible in eyes that reflected the candlelight like a cat's.
"The transformation will be agonizing," Rex said, filling a wooden bowl with blood from the deep cut across his palm. "Your body will rewrite itself at the cellular level as the Void taint awakens your dormant bloodline. Some subjects die from the shock."
"Then they were weak." Silas's voice was steady despite the tremor in her scarred hands. "Begin, Master."
Rex dipped two fingers in his blood and approached her. The System interface pulsed in his vision: [PACT OF SUBSERVIENCE: RITUAL PHASE INITIATED... SUBJECT CONSENT: VERIFIED... WARNING: PROCESS IRREVERSIBLE]
He pressed blood-slicked fingers to her left shoulder and began carving the first binding rune with the heated knife. The smell of burning flesh filled the small room as metal seared through skin, but Silas only gritted her teeth_o scream, no plea, just the same iron control she'd shown surviving Gaius's beatings.
"You'll hate me during this," Rex said conversationally, carving the second rune across her right shoulder blade. "The pain will convince you that dying under Gaius would have been mercy compared to what I'm doing to you right now."
"I've hated before." Blood trickled down Silas's back as Rex completed the third rune between her shoulder blades. "This time it serves a purpose."
Rex stepped back and examined his work_hree interconnected runes forming a triangle across her upper back, each carved deep enough to scar permanently. He retrieved the bowl and began speaking the binding phrase in a language the System provided, his child's voice taking on a resonant quality that didn't match his body's age.
"Sanguis ad sanguinem, umbra ad umbram, servus ad dominum in aeternum..."
The carved runes began glowing with black-violet light that pulsed in rhythm with his words. Rex pressed his bleeding palm to each mark in sequence, and Silas gasped as the Void taint entered her bloodstream through the contact points.
Then the screaming started.
Silas's spine arched violently as her body convulsed, bones cracking audibly beneath her skin. Rex watched with clinical detachment while maintaining physical contact, the Pact binding forming threads of dark energy between his palm and her marked flesh. The System tracked every stage:
[BLOODLINE AWAKENING: 15%... SKELETAL RESTRUCTURING INITIATED...]
[BLOODLINE AWAKENING: 32%... MUSCULAR ENHANCEMENT IN PROGRESS...]
[BLOODLINE AWAKENING: 47%... SENSORY ORGANS EVOLVING...]
Black fur with silver striping erupted across Silas's arms like wildfire spreading through dry grass. Her fingers elongated slightly as retractable claws emerged from her nail beds_atural weapons that could tear through human flesh with ease. Her breathing became labored, almost panting, as her entire respiratory system restructured for enhanced stamina.
"Master," she choked out between screams, "I can hear everything. The servants three rooms over, their heartbeats, their" Her words dissolved into another shriek as cat ears emerged from her skull while her human ears receded into vestigial nubs.
[BLOODLINE AWAKENING: 68%... PREDATOR INSTINCTS MANIFESTING...]
Rex felt her pain through their forming bond_ot as sensation but as data, confirmation that the transformation was progressing correctly. Her eyes shifted from human brown to vertical-slit pupils with enhanced night vision, and her canines lengthened into proper fangs as her jaw structure subtly altered. Every change served a purpose: superior hearing, enhanced smell, natural weapons, predator's reflexes.
The Void taint was rewriting what centuries of human breeding had suppressed in her Beastkin bloodline, restoring abilities the Church had spent generations trying to eliminate through persecution and forced assimilation.
[BLOODLINE AWAKENING: 94%... INTEGRATION COMPLETE... PACT BINDING FINALIZING...]
Ten minutes after the ritual began, Silas collapsed in the runic circle. The black-violet light faded from the carved runes, leaving only fresh scars and dried blood. The candles had burned halfway down, and Rex's legs ached from maintaining his position, but the System confirmed success:
[PACT OF SUBSERVIENCE ESTABLISHED]
[SUBJECT: Silas (Awakened Beastkin - Feline Variant)]
[LOYALTY: Absolute]
[ABILITIES UNLOCKED: Enhanced Strength (Rank C), Enhanced Speed (Rank C), Enhanced Senses (Rank B), Natural Weapons (Claws/Fangs), Night Vision (Perfect), Predator Instincts]
[BOND STATUS: Master-Servant Link Active... Emotional Sensing: Online... Location Tracking: Online]
Rex bandaged his bleeding palm while Silas regained consciousness, her new ears twitching at sounds he couldn't hear. She pushed herself upright with movements that were simultaneously more graceful and more predatory than any human could manage. Her vertical-slit pupils tracked him with absolute focus.
"I can hear the Duke's breathing in the main estate wing," she whispered, wonder and savage joy mixing in her voice. "I can smell Gaius's cologne from yesterday. I can see perfectly in this darkness." She extended her claws, watching them catch the candlelight. "I'm strong, Master. I can feel the power in my muscles."
"Test it," Rex said, gesturing to the wooden bedpost.
Silas gripped the post with one hand and squeezed. The wood cracked and splintered under her enhanced strength, chunks breaking away as she crushed it like rotten fruit. She stared at the destruction with predatory satisfaction.
"The stable master," she said softly. "Kedrik. When can I kill him?"
"After you learn control." Rex studied her through the System interface, noting the predator instincts threatening to overwhelm her human reasoning. "You're not a victim anymore, Silas. You're a weapon. Weapons don't act on emotion_hey execute strategic objectives."
The System pulsed with rewards:
[FEAR: +15 (Subject's Terror During Transformation)]
[SUBJUGATION: +35 (Successful Pact Binding)]
[FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE: +10 (Primordial Ritual Completion)]
[PROGRESSION: 75/100 LEVEL 2 ACHIEVED]
[NEW ABILITIES UNLOCKED: Sensory Link (Share Pact-Bound Senses), Enhanced Void's Veil (Increased Range)]
Rex felt his own power increase as the Level advancement settled into his body. The world seemed sharper, clearer, as if a veil he hadn't known existed had lifted slightly. Through their new bond, he could sense Silas's emotional state_atisfaction, loyalty, hunger for revenge, and underneath it all, genuine gratitude.
Silas approached him with her new predatory grace and knelt, pressing her forehead to his bloodstained hand. "Master, I am your claw in the darkness. My strength is yours. My loyalty is absolute." She looked up with those new vertical-slit eyes. "Command me."
Rex touched her new cat ears, feeling the soft fur and the muscle control underneath. The Pact bond hummed between them, and through it he could feel her devotion_ot forced by magic but chosen, strengthened by the transformation he'd given her.
"First lesson," he said. "In public, you remain the mute stable boy. The household cannot suspect what you've become." He gestured to the hooded cloak he'd prepared. "Practice suppressing your visible features. The ears and claws can retract with concentration."
Silas focused, and slowly her ears flattened against her skull until they were barely visible in her dark hair. Her claws retracted into her nail beds, leaving only slight points. But her eyes remained feline_ertical slits that would betray her with direct scrutiny.
"The hood stays up," Rex said. "No eye contact with nobles or senior servants. Maintain your broken slave persona." He studied her through the System interface, already planning her training regimen. "Tomorrow night, I begin teaching you how to kill without leaving evidence. How to make deaths look like accidents. How to be my shadow."
Silas's lips curved into a predator's smile, fangs briefly visible. "When do we begin hunting, Master?"
Rex looked at his reflection in the darkened window_ twelve-year-old boy covered in ritual blood, his first Pact-bound weapon kneeling beside him with absolute devotion. The mask of the reformed, apologetic son was perfect. The criminal network would be established within months. His father's manipulation had already begun.
This world, he thought, feeling Silas's loyalty through their bond, deserves everything I'm going to do to it.
"Soon," he told her, extinguishing the ritual candles one by one. "Very soon."
**