520.
The coyote woman had often contemplated this moment; she had wondered whether she could ever extend trust to Vitium again. She had cast him out as the Aquila, she had given him banishment over death—for betraying his family and his clan, Vitium had deserved that fate. Or so, she'd believed it in her rage. Certainly when comparing the attack on their blood that Andrezej had made, Vitium's crime was of less consequence and severity—still, with the things he had said back then, the hybrid woman could not have trusted him within Inferni. Recently she had worried over him; what if he was to return? She had wondered whether she would trust him enough to see him outside of Inferni, and now that question was answered. Vitium had returned and he was no different; there was something quite vile seething within the younger canine, lurking behind his dark eyes. It was starkly different from that light in Gabriel's eyes. Those questions had been answered for her; the stranger at their door was no more her son than the pile of bones beneath the shallow grave Rachias had dug for Andrezej.
Another approach caught the woman's attention; it was only appropriate that Halo would arrive here. Vitium was her father, and she was enshrouded in this mystery as he was, though the silver-furred Centurion did not question her loyalties. There was no reason to suspect Halo of so much as a fraction of the traitorousness that had gotten Vitium exiled from Inferni so long ago. The hybrid woman had been the one to enforce this ban, but Gabriel had also been present for Vitium's rejection of his clan and family. The memories were still Gabriel's, and there was no forgiveness in him. As Halo arrived the coyote twisted her head around to look at her granddaughter, golden-yellow eye and face revealing nothing. She had already lost her son many years ago, and as the cinnamon-furred coyote's metal sang through the air, whistling sharply as it sliced through nothing, the hybrid almost could not look; she averted her eyes to the floor. Panic rose in her, but she would not stand up for Vitium. To do so would be to commit the same atrocity he had committed so many years ago; it was certainly not in Kaena's best interest to throw herself in front of Vitium.
There was no accompanying scent of blood; Vitium had escaped injury. Halo's sword swung on nothing. The coyote woman did not feel relief at her son's escape; it would only mean more trouble for Inferni further down the road. This was something they could not afford. The silvery coyote did not miss Gabriel's pointed instruction, and there was a bitter smile on her face. "Should've been done years ago," she responded, certainly in agreement with his decree. For all her mother's love, Vitium did not deserve the life she had granted him. Her thoughts echoed Gabriel's; perhaps Haku would save the Lykoi family the trouble of exterminating the traitor Vitium. The coyote looked to Halo, sensing the younger hybrid's discomfort and rage at her father.