Elias rose, his six tails swayed behind him like living whips, each one shimmering with faint silver light. The weakest members of the Murchison family fell to their knees. Everyone knew that when all six tails made an appearance, blood was spilled.
"Elias..." Bill started, desperately.
One tail whipped out, whipping him so hard across the chest that he fell back, landing on the floor. "You will address me by my title." Elias commanded. "This family has relied on the friendship with my grandfather to get away with so much, for too long." He turned his red eyes on Patience. "All you had to do was apologize and go away. Instead, you chose a moment when Sienna was on a livestream to cry and say things you should not have said. How was that too hard for you?"
"Envy can be poison." Liman muttered.
Patience trembled. "I was trying to help you, you are misunderstanding me."
CRACK! One of Elias' tails lashed out, slicing through a wooden tabled. The splinters flew up, raining down like confetti.
"Misunderstanding?" Elias' voice was smooth, almost amused. "You humiliate my wife and drag my family into your schemes. You father makes deals under the table after I reject them. Your brother steals from my coffers and you---" he pointed a clawed finger at the patriarch, Ren Murchison, "you sold the secrets of the fox vanguard to our enemies, the rain forest snakes. Tell me, which sin of your family should I misunderstand?"
Ren Murchison swallowed hard. "I--I--no, Elias it was not like that." he stammered. "I want to see your grandfather. I demand..."
Elias' tails whipped forward, striking two of the Murchison brothers across the room. They flew into chairs, collapsing in a heap. The fox vanguard surged forward, fists and claws pounding against Murchison guards who tried to resist.
Bill Murchison swung a whip--Elias caught it with a tail, yanked it free and tossed it aside. Patience tried to flee, only to be tackled by Liman who grinned and said, "Where do you think you are going? I brought a frying pan especially for you." She whipped it out, to get a taste of the unique flavor of Sienna's justice.
The house became a chaotic scene: tails cracking like thunder, vanguard beast men laughing as they subdued their foes, the Murchison's crying out in panic.
Patience screamed, her voice shrill. "Elias please! I love you. I did it all because I loved you."
Elias' tails curled around members of the Murchison family like serpents, one struck out and curled around Patience's neck. "Your love is toxic, I reject it."
One of Elias' men, a hulking bear beast that was part of the secret team dragged Patience's cousin into the living room. "This one tried to crawl out, when I caught him, he tried to bite me." he announced.
Elias raised a brow. "Did he succeed?"
The bear grinned. "No, but he chipped a tooth on on my arm."
Timothy chuckled at that. "Keep the tooth as a souvenir Ricky."
"What do we do with them, my Lord?" Ricky asked. "Do we execute now and report later?"
The Murchison's trembled and please fell from their lips. Bill, Patience and Ren knew that Elias was very capable of this. The beast king would not even punish him.
Elias's tails retreated. "Send them all to prison and ship the young ones off to a relative in a far away city. Have their memories wiped first and break their inner beasts. They can live like non beast men for the rest of their lives."
Ren fainted.
"Finished, we are finished." Bill muttered.
"Not my son, please spare my son." One of Patience's brothers cried. "All I did was steal some money. Patience was the one that schemed against you."
"Our families have been close for years, don't do this." Another cried out.
"The beast king will not forgive you." Someone threatened.
Elias would not hear it. Not one plea moved his heart and not one threat scared him. "That is my problem, not yours."
By the end of the night, the Murchison compound was in ruins. Broken furniture, shattered lanterns and groaning family members lined up in a single file. The four children were already gone, carried off in a flying ship.
"Take them all," Elias commanded, "Every last one. The ruined beast man prison will be their forever home."
The ruined prison was infamous--a place of no return. Once inside, no one ever came back. It was said that the walls themselves devoured hope, and the guards were beast men who had long since lost their humanity. It was isolated on an island, surrounded by a sea on one end and a dangerous forest on the other.
The Murchison's begged, pleaded, even tried to bribe Elias' men. But it was useless. The men were just as ruthless and their Lord.
"I will not do it again," Patience cried out, "Elias please! Spare me. Give me one last chance, I will live like Sienna's servant."
Elias stood stall, his now orange eyes gleaming. "You should have thought of that before pulling that stunt. Loyalty is not a game. Betrayal has only one ending in my books. You knew this and still made the wrong choice."
Patience looked down, tears falling from her eyes. "Elias, you are really cruel. I hope you live the rest of your life alone, rejected by everyone that once loved you. I hope you will die alone, in more agony that anyone has ever felt."
Elias' tails flicked, signalling the march. The Murchison family was dragged away onto a ship, their cries echoing into the night.
They were followed by servants that were equally guilty of crimes. Those who were innocent were allowed to leave however, because Elias was always fair.
As silence returned to the compound, Elias' men looked around the wreckage.
"My lord," Timothy asked, "should we burn the place down?"
Elias considered, then shook his head. "No. Let it stand. I want it to fall apart and become covered in weeds. When others look at it, they will remember the consequences of broken loyalty and think twice before walking the same path as the Murchison's."
Rick scratched his head. "My lord, I think the kitchen still has some wine. It would be a shame to waste it. Can I take it?"
Elias smirked. "Take whatever you want, it was all acquired on my stolen money anyway. As for me, I should head home now, I need to do some internal cleansing as well." It was time to deal with the servants in his home that had been serving as Patience's spies.