Unknown island off the coast of Greece, 1222BC
Another dry sob ripped from her throat. This pain was unbearable. It was much worse than before. She was curled in on herself in the bed, and it was an unimaginable burning which had kept her awake for the last two nights. It didn't seem to be going away either. She had watched her skin change from a light pink to an almost creamy white. Her fingers were white. It was as though no blood ran through them no more. She had been able to move her legs again for only a short amount of time, and they too were curled in towards her chest as she screamed into her knees.
Caius came in once every half day. He came when it was light and when it was dark, but never twice in the same cycle. He had told her that Arcadius had awakened not long ago, and he was as bloodthirsty as had been predicted. He had all but decimated an entire village before he had been sated. It seemed he had taken his immortal life in stride, even the bloodlust, and yet he hadn't came to see her yet... She needed to know how to get through this. She didn't know if she could. The pain was horrific. She needed to know she was all intact and wasn't slowly burning up bottom to top.
Her eyes and teeth were clenched shut as she screamed, the sound akin to that of a snarling beast. She sounded like a wounded animal, her desperate sobs reaching on deaf ears. She could hear new things. She could hear the sound of the rolling ocean that was five hundred feet away from where she laid. She could also hear distant murmurings; Caius teaching her brother how to reign in his abilities. What abilities? Were you gifted special talents beside super strength and agility when you become an immortal?
She could also hear the woman -Athenodora- voicing her displeasure that they had two newborns to manage, and Caius's barely concealed angered response. Arcadius then voiced why he couldn't come and see her... She listened intently for the response, but it was so quietly murmured that she couldn't hear it, something she had no doubt was intentional. She let out another muffled scream as the heat centred in her chest, in her heart, burning it to a crisp.
It was when the night fell again that Caius came to see her. Her eyes pleaded with him to end the pain, but he didn't. She could hear her own pounding heart as it struggled against his venom as it seared through her veins. She knew he could too. He had been sat beside her an hour when its rhythm changed. It took off at a gallop, and a pleased smile crept across his lips. "Shan't be long now," he murmured, his finger tipping her chin back so he could gaze into her eyes. The blue was starting to turn a startling ruby red at the edges, just as Arcadius's had when he was near to completing his transformation.
If it was even possible, the fire burned hotter in the centre of her chest, wrapping and coiling itself around her already ailing heart. She shrieked, thrashing as she wept no tears, her body shaking as the red began to colour her eyes, the blue slowly vanishing from sight. Her lips lost their rosy hue, her cheeks too turning the palest white imaginable. Her honey blonde tresses lightened and curled over her shoulders as the venom repaired the years of damage to each strand. Her waist filled out after months of poor nutrition, her scars from her training with Arcadius healing before his eyes as he waited. If it was possible, she'd became even more beautiful, the venom healing all the small, individual flaws her figure had and magnifying them a thousand times better.
With a last defeated beat, the fire receded to her throat. She wrenched herself upwards, hands immediately going for her throat as she inhaled sharply, the fire like blades cutting the inside of her throat. She gasped, hands clenching her slender neck, cracks appearing under her slim fingers. He moved swiftly, his soft as silk skinned fingers gently placing themselves over her own. "Remove your hands before you pull your own head off," he ordered, a small smirk pulling at his pale lips in amusement. "You won't quell the thirst by holding your neck," he stated, amused.
Lysandra looked at him with wide eyes, her hand grabbing his as she marvelled in the feel of the soft skin against her own. "You don't feel cold anymore," she murmured, her voice sounding like an angel. He smirked, his hand moving to her neck. His thumb drifted over the bitemark on her neck. Her body thrummed with shivers as he moved his thumb over it, a strange reaction she didn't understand, but one he did, for his mouth curved into an even more darker, pleased smirk. He held a hand out as he stood. "Let us quell your thirst, Lysandra, and then we can begin exploring immortality together."
Arcadius stood beside a tree around a hundred feet from her as she exited the tent, and his mouth stretched into a wide grin as he saw her emerge from the red and gold drapes, Caius following close behind. Her eyes widened. "Cade," she whispered, rushing forward without knowing the limits of her own abilities. She crashed into him, her head burying in his chest. He tightened his arms around her, a crack appearing on the creamy skin of her arm before it healed. She nuzzled her head into his chest, breathing in his strange yet eerily familiar scent.
"Little sister, immortality becomes you, I believe," he stated warmly, rubbing his thumb gently over her cheekbone in a loving caress. She beamed up at him, her laughter like a tolling bell they had often heard from the villages and settlements in the distance. "Yes, I suppose it does," she mused, a gentle hand appearing on her lower back. Her bright red eyes glanced to her left, meeting equally red ones. Their owner grinned a malicious smile. "Shall we hunt? The prey was released half an hour ago. First lesson of immortality: Give into the hunt and your desires," he stated firmly.
Her brows furrowed a little as she frowned. "How do I do that?" She asked lightly and he smirked widely. "Inhale deeply. You can smell them running east of here. Inhale their scent deeply and allow the huntress inside you to take over." He murmured into her ear, her ruby red eyes meeting his shyly. She did as he said, inhaling deeply. The smell of the sea clouded her senses, the salty ocean air pleasing, but mixed with something more rich and meaty smelling. It awoke the beast inside her being.
The smell was wet and warm, and her eyes darkened as they snapped open, her body immediately rotating to face east. She could hear and smell them all; seven humans running east, their fear mixed in with the delicious warm stench of their blood. The mere thought of such warmth trickling down her throat caused a snarl to be ripped between clenched teeth. A heartbeat later and she was gone.
It didn't take her long to find them; there was no hesitation. A woman let out a shrieking scream as she sank her teeth into her arm. A delicious warmth that no words could describe flooded over her tongue, a blissful moan sinking from her parted lips as she tossed the now dry woman to the earthy floor, leaping onto a frozen man who didn't make a sound as she sank her teeth into his exposed throat, her hand pressing down to hard, his head jolting as a sickening crack echoed through the air. Blood trickled down her chin from where she drank hastily, eager to experience more of this sensational tasting warmth.
All seven laid at her feet when she finished, her chest heaving with heavy, unnecessary breaths. Blood stained her silk blue dress that she had been wearing since she fell from the cliff. It all seemed so cloudy, her human life. It was as though someone had thrown thick sludge in her eyes, masking her memories from her. She remembered snippets, but not enough to piece her whole life together.
A cracking of tree branches alerted her to company and a dull thud sounded before the blonde haired man appeared in front of her. His eyes flamed as his eyes trailed down her blood soaked attire in appreciation. "You were made for immortality," he murmured as he came closer, her eyes falling slightly as he moved to stand in front of her, his hand grasping her chin, blood coating his hand. Her eyes flamed in return, her body losing control as he snarled at her, her head hitting the tree as he sped them over to it, the force of the motion causing a large cracking sound to occur from within the great tree.
It was hard for her to describe. It was like her body thrummed deep inside for his touch, for him to exert his control over her. He was her sire, her creator, her master. It was like her body was submissive to him, something that confused her immensely. Her eyes widened as his eyes darkened a little, flaring wide as he let his own beast take over. His darkening eyes drifted down to her mouth, coated with the blood of the seven that laid around her, and they flickered back up to her own bright red eyes before back to her lips. He moved forward, and she found herself moving forwards too, her eyes drifting shut.
A crunching of underbrush broke through the spell. A glimpse of blonde hair past his own made her innermost thoughts turn to an uncontrollable rage. Caius went stiff in front of her and he clenched his teeth. "I thought I told you to watch her brother, make sure he didn't do anything foolish in his newborn urges," he hissed through tightly clenched teeth. He took a step back, rage evident in his eyes.
What could only be described as a sickly sweet smile appeared on Athenodora's face. "Caius, my love, you know how unpredictable they can be. One minute they can mean everything to you, and then," her ruby red irises met Lysandra's over the males shoulder, "tossed aside like a used toy the next. We both know what it takes to be cut out for this life. If you cannot eat properly and waste half a meal wearing it, then you simply have no hope for the next century, let alone a millennia." She jested lightly, scoffing playfully.
Shame flooded through her as she glanced down at her attire. There wasn't a blue spot left on the front of her dress, the silk completely soaked with the crimson red of blood. Her eyes looked at her clasped hands over her stomach, they too stained with blood. As much as she despised the woman, she had a point. How would she do in this life if she couldn't even hunt properly? Arcadius had looked clean when she saw him, not a single drop of blood staining his body. How could she be immortal, and yet, fail so miserably at it?
"I will leave you both to talk," she murmured, moving past Caius despite the warning look in his piercing red eyes to remain by his side. She bowed her head. Athenodora gave a sickly sweet smile towards her. "That's a good girl. Arcadius is waiting for you beside the encampment. I suggest you head there quickly." She dismissed, something Lysandra did with a heavy heart.
Those doubtful feelings reared their ugly heads, snarling and jeering at her as she used her immortal speed to reach her brother. He grinned widely as he saw her, something which soon vanished as he noticed her sombre, sullen expression. He took a gentle hold of her arm as she made to pass him back into the tent she had undergone her transformation in. His expression was gentle. "Sister?" He murmured, but she shook her head, slipping back through the drapes and not returning out.