[i]A feral smile, a gleam in the eye, a slight tensing of the muscles, and for a moment the illusion of respectability drops away before sliding expertly back into place.
[/i]Justice? A mere byproduct, my dear. No, I’ve spent my life fighting for whatever I could grasp, for it is only when one’s life is on the line that one truly feels alive. This is why I hunt the Vake - one day I will stand before it, leaving it no avenue of escape, nowhere to run or to hide from me, and I will meet its charge with my fists. And if I fall or if I rise, the world will know that for that one brief moment above all others, I was alive. It’s a feeling only those who have stared true death in the eye can understand, and once it’s found its way into your heart, all other passions pale.[i]
He reaches down absentmindedly and runs his fingers through the fur of the tigress that lounges at his feet.
[/i]