Redemption or Demise

[ShadeZ]

So I have two characters who throughout my books dance about each other playing cat and mouse. One is a predatory species that can appear as human he is one of the mains he has been around for a few hundred years under all sorts of names, but his most notable feature is scarlet red cat's eyes as his species are humans evolved and mutated from the death of a dragon. The second one is Abner an immortal human who is the head of the Skörú families sworn to hunt these vicious predators and "gifted" with special blades to rip their cursed souls from their supernatural bodies. Or at least that's his perception on it. He has been hunting Raudúr (the blood thirsty one) for half a century and Raudúr has been hunting skoru families for around two centuries. They meet when Robin/Raudúr saves Anna Abners wife from some rougher men who corner her for being an elf. Abner and Robin befriend each other. Anna is eventually captured by a minor big bad who wants Abner to join the 2/3 of the skoru who betrayed Abner for the big bad. Abner goes to Raudúr tells him he is the heir to the head of the skoru and that he knows Robin is Raudúr. Robin smirks and asks what he is talking about. Abner pulls out a special knife that forces Robin to show his red eyes. Robin tells Abner if he know so much then he knows it is suicidal to provoke him. Abner begs Robin save his wife. (Abner believes Robin's species demidúr eat people) so he offers that Robin can kill him and the guards who protect his wife but to please save Anna. Robin calls him an idiot and goes with him to help Anna. On arriving, Robin tears apart every single guard and rips their hearts out (Raudúr is known for this). He gets Anna out and is last seen dragging her torturer off screaming.

The question is! Robin comes back a week later. Should the two go back to trying to kill one another or become friends? Robin tells Abner he did not save Anna for him be that he saved Anna because they are both from Solstic and their society promote forgiveness, kindness, and fierce protection of friends.

 

[David Williams]

Hi shadeZ. My 2 cents:
Your protagonists sounds like fairly cool people. You got Robin who is a hard-ass but all about forgiveness kindness etc, and you got Adner who, let's face it, owes him a solid (regardless of his reasons). On the face of it they should, it seems to me, at minimum agree to ignore each other. The downside is that peace & love do not make great bedfellows with drama and action, which I sense is what you´re really aiming for.

You might consider weaving another event into your story that is out of the control of the 2 characters, that forces them together in battle at the climax of the story. The relationship they have now is more complicated and interesting. Neither wants to kill the other and may harbor sympathies and even respect, but they are forced to for X Y or Z reasons, such as:
- manipulation by a higher power or event, a war or other device that underlies the rest of the story's context (careful deus ex machina)
- one of them is mistaken about the other and goes on a rampage (think of the mistimed news and revelations in Romeo & Juliet)
- Anna & Robin fall for each other.

This way, your characters resume their blood quests, but with a deeper level of emotional involvement than before Robin helps Abner out.

I hope this is of interest!

 

[ShadeZ]

You might consider weaving another event into your story that is out of the control of the 2 characters, that forces them together in battle at the climax of the story.

Oh there is. Every single one of Abner's skoru are slaughtered in a night. Their hearts ripped from their chests. This is less than a week from when Anna is saved. The body count includes children. Robin had access to a list of their family names. This is covered when Robin comes for Abner.

Robin did not kill the skoru. When he learned of it he came to check up on Abner and Anna. Abner is aware Raudúr does many things but he does not murder children, unless perhaps he is that far into bloodlust. This leads to a heated conversation needless to say.