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I woke up slowly with. . .no pain and. . . no restraints??
I very slowly moved my fingers as I took a shaky breath
I waited for the pain to come.
My body vividly remembered the sensation of her power crushing me. But no matter how long I waited for the pain and terror to arrive. .
They didn't.
A purple sky.
A dark forest. .
I was outside. . .
'I remember this place.' I thought. This was where Hera had taught me to hunt.
Winds whistled through the dark leaves.
The forest was still as eerily beautiful as ever..
"—Mason."
I turned.
It was Hera.
She said nothing, but her eyes told me that she understood everything.
'You brought me here? I thought . . .' I paused. My throat felt raw with thirst.
The dry ache was intense, consuming every other coherent thought, and the more I focused on it, the greater the burn seemed.
I reflexively cupped my throat with my hand, as if I could somehow douse the flames from the outside.
Hera gently took my free hand, tugging gently. "First things first, lets feed."
The allure of her voice and the call of blood temporarily stifled my agitation.
"Shall we?" She asked. She reached out and gently pried off the hand i had placed on my neck. Her satin fingers gently brushed the column of my throat. "I don't want to see you hurt anymore," She murmured softly— so softly that I barely registered the sound.
"I'm fine," I answered brusquely. "Lets go"
Hera studied my face briefly, then suddenly bounded forward —launching herself into a graceful sprint.
I followed after her— once more marveling at her grace and beauty.
It was almost funny that I had felt so weak in front of Rea when I could feel it now—the untamed, incalculable strength coarsing through my limbs.
I was certain that if I wanted to beat apart the ground beneath me, to snap and shatter all the trees in my path with my momentum alone, it wouldn't take much effort.
Everything around me—the rocks, the trees, the burrows … the hills—had all become is fragile as paper.
I let my ears search outward as I run, seeking the noise of my prey. There was an open space some 300 yards away —the tall stalks or grass bristled idly in the wind —and a small lake, with a stony shore. And there, near the splashing of salmon, was the bold beating of strong hearts— veins pumping thick, rich streams of blood. . . .
I locked onto the scent of my prey in the wind.
"Let's go."Hera beckoned.
The scent led us to a small herd of deer by the lake. We hunted together this time.
I brought down several large stags, making a mess of the scattered and terrified herd. I was dimly aware of Hera watching me as I fed, her frown deepening.
'What is it?' I asked while shoving a fresh carcass off my body.
'You were different before. ' She sighed. 'Ealier, even though they were mere beast, you were careful to cause them the least amount of pain while you fed.. . .but now . .' She had also fed, but not a single hair on her head was out of place, nor was there the tiniest speck of scarlet on her clothing.
As her words made their way over to me, I closed my eyes in pain and sat on a nearby elliptical rock.
After a deep sigh, I admitted.' Whenever I close my eyes I see their faces.
I see the horror and pain.
I see that child...'
"She lives," Hera interrupted.
I exhaled sharply, my hands trembling.
"Why?" I asked— now I was wary
But Hera only shrugged. "I can only guess.
Rea has never spared a life before— Perhaps it was to honor your efforts."
"But. . ." I rasped. "She said she would punish me."
"And perhaps she would havee," Hera answered gently. "If she had gotten the chance to see you again— but she didnt."
I frowned— surpised by how worried I was. "Why? What has happened? Is she alright?"
Hera's gaze shifted toward the north horizon— the direction of the Uttarian settlement.
"Because Orcus is in upheaval," she began. "That is just what happens when you slaughter houselords that have ruled for centuries, and their families like livestock. She has new leaders to appoint, and rebellious fires to quell."
I didn't interrupt her.
"There are several loyalist of the recently deceased house lords who have sworn to put Rea to the sword.—several more looking to sow chaos with this opportunity.
Rea has spent every moment since the assembly finding suitable replacements, and executing all those rebellious Vampires."
I considered Hera's words. "So she didn't have time to bother with me." I surmised.
Hera let out an amused laugh. "Mason, you are the echo of her every thought. Nothing could ever pull her attention from you."
She continued with her story. "In the midst of all this chaos, the dhampir we are at war with —Clan Serzar —proposed a ceasefire. They even went a far as to request an audience to discuss a truce"
I vaguely remembered Hera mentioning such a conflict to me.
"The cease fire was too well timed— to suspicios." Hera explained. "Rea thinks that they may be after you: The last Uttarian metahuman."
"So thats why she sent me away," I realised.
"Yes," Hera conceded. "I was asked to take you away from Orcus until the Serzar left."
I looked down at a nearby carcass I had drained. "How do you live with it?" I asked suddenly.
Hera studied me silently— immediately aware of what I meant.
But she didn't answer right away.
Hera sighed. "For those of us with a conscience, this life is accompanied by an unceasing depression and hatred of everything we are…
There was a time ...
When I was not so concerned with the lives I ended to sate my thirst— a time when I thought I had transcended my conscience and my mortality."
I briefly imagined it — Hera as she hunted. As beautiful as the light of dawn, but unstoppable also— lethal.
But as the years passed, I slowly began to see the monster in the mirror.
I could never face the guilt of so much human life taken, no matter how I justified it. And so I decided to live this way—:" She gestured to the forest around her.
She looked at her hands now.
"Even though. . ."
"Even though?" I pushed.
She met my eyes.
"Animal blood degrades our strength. The degradation is almost slow enough to be imperceptible. But it occurs," she said. "So I understand if you will not walk this path with me—"
I froze— almost laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of what her words implied:
That I could ever so no to a life of abstinence with her!?
'Hera I—' I tried to find the words ... but I was already smiling warmly... it gave me away.
She smiled back— her features shining radiantly.
Beautiful.... . I thought.
She shifted closer, not yet touching me —just close enough that her scent filled my nostrils— the perfect contour of her neckline revealing itself to me.
"Then let's remind eachother," She breathed. "Over every millenia: When the call to voilence and blood intensifies and we are tempted to stray."
The wind still chortled around us— fish splashed in the lake, rodents scurrying into their burrows.
And yet somehow, hers was the only presence I felt.
"…Alright," I answered softly.
Hera beamed warmly.
I hadn't noticed it yet; but the trauma of the great assembly was already beginning to fade.
The moment dragged on for a while. But before either one of us could say anything else, my nose picked up a strange scent in the wind.
It was a bloody, acrid scent that made my hair stand on end.
Then a much closer noise; the quick shuffling of supernatural feet — like mallets in the sand.
A bout of raucous laughter– someone chuckling with malice, racing towards us.
Hera reacted before me. She snarled and immediately grabbed my wrist.
'Lets go. Quickly. We cant stay here!'
She pulled me into the forest.
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We tore through the darkness. Moving so fast that I could feel the wind lashing my face.
Hera tugged me along, I didn't know how she was moving so fast, but she kept blitzing so quickly that her figure blurred even to my vampiric eyes.
Every time there was a loud sound from behind us, she would to turn to see if they were closing in.
'Where are we going?' I asked.
'The wastelands in the south.' Hera's voice
was tight; I could tell that she was trying very hard bot to frighten me.
'Its a place of death no sane person would ever trepass. . . They would never follow us in . . .'
'Then why are we—.'
'Please, Mason,' Rea begged. 'I need you to trust me.
You're in grave danger.'
She pulled onto a stony path on the left, and I got a glimpse of the figures chasing us – several dark humaniods tearing through the the thick underbrush of the forest.