PROLOGUE

The cold air didn't stop her for one moment as she sped barefoot down the marble road way laced with snow. Her feet could wait. For now, she had an object of the utmost importance to deliver.

Stop to rest. Now! A voice echoed in her head as she hurried across the frozen hospital grounds. Your body will give out at this rate, Carmillia.

"Rest?" She replied between laboured breaths. "Can't do that sir. I have to get him to them safely."

Find somewhere to hide then before you kill yourself. The youthful yet raspy voice spat. The last thing we need is another one of us to be reborn into the cycle and get caught up in more funny business with those monstrous FOLLOWERS.

She released a strained chuckle, her feet beginning to ache as she pushed forward. She would be fine if she went fast enough. But they both knew her burst of energy would falter at anytime, and she would have to stop to rest.

"The hover is at the edge of the city." She huffed, holding the bundle close to her chest, "I have to get there before they-"

A shot rang out behind her and she darted to the side.

Shit. The voice hissed out. They found you! Find a place to hide, Carmillia! NOW!

She had a mile left to run. This wouldn't work. She bit her lip and released another burst of stored energy to the displeasure of her ghost. She couldn't hide now.

"A MARKED ONE." One of the men behind her bellowed out as another shot rang out. "GET HER NOW! DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!"

Carmillia darted once more to the other side, grunting as her legs began to burn.

Carmillia I said find a place to hide! The voice in her mind grew blurred to her ears, fuzzy. Your body will give out at this rate! LISTEN TO ME!

"I am listening to you!" She panted, pushing through her exhaustion and the pain growing in her limbs. The men behind her were gaining as she started to falter in step. "Hermes I have to do this! I can't hide!" She grimaced as her lungs struggled to provide enough air for the rest of her body. "I can't let them get him! We can't afford to lose any more-"

A sharp pain hit her thigh. With a high cry in both she and her ghost, Carmillia's speed faltered, and she soon collapsed to the ground. Blood ran down her leg, red meeting white as the liquids filtered into the snow. Her body shook as the blistering pain met with her exhaustion. Surely, for a non-cursed child this would have been enough to kill. Or at least produce a black out.

"SEIZE HER. THE MARKED ONE OF HERMES HAS FALLEN."

She panted, holding close to the newborn child and pulling herself forward. She couldn't run in this state. She couldn't get up.

Get up Carmillia! An invisible force tried to pull her up, the weak hands of her ghost trembling. Come on! Get up! Please!

She shivered and moaned in protest. She then made the mistake of looking back. Her heart lurched. Three men, bulky large men, came forward through the light frost on the floor. A the front, was a tall woman. Taller than the men. Hair on fire, skin almost as dark as night in a sense.

"A Marked one." The woman smiled. "Brutus made a lucky shot. Two for the price of a damaged leg."

"Pamella." Carmillia strained. "Augustus warned me about you."

"Oh? Did he?" She purred as she came down towards her, taking up a chunk of the younger one's hair. "It's nice to know ol' Gussie still care about his baby Pam." She chuckled loudly, bringing Carmillia up by the roots of her thick brown hair.

"He doesn't care about you." She snarled with whatever last bouts of energy she had, eyes clenched tightly shut at the pain in her scalp. "You betrayed us, Pamella. He doesn't care about Traitors like you."

Pamella only laughed louder. "He betrayed me, host of Hermes." She wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye. "How humorous that the poor baby still likes to mangle the story up to gain sympathy." She then, with a low grunt, threw the young host across the field of snow.

Carmillia hit the ground with a low thud, landing painfully onto her back. The child remained clutched tightly to her chest, his cries soon filling the air as her breathing slowed.

In fluid strides, Pamella stalked closer to the two, a crooked grin covering her face.

"I over did it, didn't I?" She sighed softly, looked down at the host's broken figure. "Sucks too. I would have enjoyed Torturing you and your ghost for a century or two. But, I guess I'll just have to settle with taking him."

She reached out, picking up the crying bundling in her arms. Carmillia's body was too tired to fight her off.

"Give him.. Back.." She strained out, hand rising painfully as though to take him back.

Pamella chuckled. "I think I'll keep him." She spoke, turning away from the cursed child. She glanced up at one of the large men before her. "Brutus. Make sure the hospital in Mercury is laced with followers. The next host of hermes will be born soon." She then turned back to the newborn, playing with the cloth as it wailed. "Now, Now. 'Ol Pam won't hurt you. Yet. But for now... Let's see who your ghost is..."

Carmillia released a low moan, shaking her head slowly. "No... Stop...!"

Pamella turned back to give the dying girl a swift kick to her stomach. "Shut up, you little disease. Go in peace and be reborn into the hands of the Titans."

Carmillia cried out once, before losing her breath all together. She was alive. But barely. Pamella chuckled.

"Now." She looked back down at the child, beginning to unwrap the cloth away from his body. "Let's see who you really-" Her voice faltered when the child's cloth fell from his body. He shrieked as the cold air stabbed at his fragile skin, body shaking with his ghastly cries. Pamella was in shock for a moment, before chuckling. "My, oh, my." She purred. The leader of the Titans would enjoy having this one. "Cato, inform Constance that we have found one of the three."

"No... You... You cant!"

Another kick.

"This child will be brought up to aid the men who worship the Titans." She smiled wide. "Stayed in the belly of a titan for the longest. And now he will return back to serve under them." Pamella held the child close. "The next time you try to steal a child of such worth, consider keeping your feet light."

And with that, Pamella turned and trudged off. The shadows of the snowy night bended towards her as her men followed in step behind.

Carmillia coughed weakly, reaching out for Pamella and the child held so important to her own group.

And with that the world went black and the only thing she could hear was her ghosts faint breaths and the distant calls of her friends echoing her name.