A/N: My apologies for not submitting a new chapter sooner but I suddenly realised that this story was starting to go down a path that I was not satisfied with. Thus I've taken the whole thing apart from Chapter 5 onwards in the hope of reviving it with new found inspiration. Hopefully adding this will get me into action again.

Thanks for reading guys. Reviews are definitely appreciated ^_^

Chapter 5

Hecate

Our time had finally come. We were twelve years old and we were ready to begin the next process on our way to serving our masters directly. I'd had to wait another two months for all six of my friends to reach the age so that we could be trained together.

We stood in a line as we were shown our new sleeping quarters. According to Isis the Matriarch had been impressed with our progress so far, how true this was I did not know, but then again we were all here. I'd heard many stories of young girls before us who had died, fled or simply not been good enough to reach this level.

The new bed chamber had the benefit of pillows which came as a welcome relief after so long without them. My mother would've been much happier with this setting.

I had noticed for a while now that Selena was looking withdrawn but now her skin was sallow.

"Selena? Are you feeling alright?"

She turned her eyes up towards me; they were dark from lack of sleep; she did not answer me. I did not know the details, but about two weeks ago I had seen her running from Dumah's bed chamber, crying uncontrollably. I ran after her calling her name but she did not stop. I'd eventually found her hiding under a pile of dirty sheets unable to stop crying. After I had calmed her down I asked her if Dumah had beaten her, he was so large he could easily have broken her in half, but she denied this, she would not tell me what he had done to her... But she had not been able to hide the two puncture marks on her throat. I had seen them; the others had seen them too. I had confronted her about it but she refused to divulge her secrets, only insisting that her tears were a result of the pain. I could not deny that I burned with immense jealousy within as I looked at her bruised throat now. She had received a blessing. She had received the vampire's kiss before any of us.

Isis emerged from the corridor and looked over us.

"Congratulations for making it this far," she said "But the tasks ahead will not be any easier than before. The first thing we shall do is pair you each up with a fully trained concubine so that you can learn by watching our very best girls what you should strive to become."

I suddenly had a disturbing image of being paired with Dinah for four years, how she would despise that, she would undoubtedly want nothing more than to make me suffer and fail. But then again if I were paired with her it would take me closer to Raziel... I would have no option but to go with whomever was chosen for me and I could not decide if this would be the better of two evils or not.

"The Matriarch has decided who you shall be paired with based on the patterns of your thoughts," Selena's head shot up; the Matriarch must've known about what had happened to her. Despite everything I could not tell whether Selena's eyes screamed in protest or yearning. How did it feel to be chosen so young?

"Thea?" Isis asked, Thea stepped forward from our line and bowed her head, "You shall be paired with Dinah." I felt my heart snap and my legs gave way under the weight of the words, but Selena somehow managed to support me.

Thea would go with Dinah? But, she's so small. Dinah will destroy her within days. Thea would accompany Raziel's concubine? What could Thea have been thinking about? Were her thoughts of Raziel more intense than mine? Selena's hand pressed hard against my own.

"It's ok," she whispered. Selena was the only one I had revealed my infatuation for Raziel to. "Isn't it better that you are not with Dinah?" I had to agree but could not help my feeling of sorrow.

Other names were called but I did not care what their outcomes were.

"Ana? Are you listening?" I raised my head and saw Isis looking at me; in fact everyone was looking at me. My name must've been said earlier. I stepped from the line and bowed my head, "Ana, you have been given a great honour. You are to accompany Hecate."

Hecate?

I had never seen Hecate. None of us had, but she was extremely well known. She was the eldest and most respected of the concubines, her place in the hierarchy was surpassed only by Isis and the Matriarch, but she was only twenty-three years old.

Hecate was Kain's higher concubine.

This was so unexpected. To me Kain was still an invisible entity, someone I worshipped in faith. I had only seen him once and that was the day he had chosen me to join service.

My mind was still spinning as I heard that Selena would be paired with Turel's higher concubine.

We were each taken away one after the other. Isis explained that we needed to be 'examined'.

Examined? Why does that not sound as innocent as it should?

I fidgeted with my cherry red hair while I waited. I started to bite my tongue which made my mouth taste like copper.

"Anastasia, it's your turn now." Isis said as she came through the door.

I rose to my feet and adjusted my dress and smoothed down my hair. Lilly walked out of the door I was about to enter, she was shaking and pale.

"My Gods, Lilly, what happened?" She looked at me with despairing eyes.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Her answer confused me and I persisted that she tell me more but she refused.

I went through the door and entered a small room with an elderly woman who stood next to a stone slab. She pointed to it without saying a word, although she had definitely seen me.

The stone was cold and felt rough as I placed my hands against it and lifted myself onto the slab.

"Lie down." The old woman instructed and I did as she ordered. She walked to the end of the stone slab where my legs were. I felt awkward and anxious but I could not stand to have her know I felt that way so I looked up at the ceiling above me and I tried to make out patterns in the cracks. The old woman forced my legs open and I clenched my fists and thought of Raziel and how nice he's been to me that day I spoke to him.

Whatever the old woman was doing it hurt.

"Has a man been near you?" she asked harshly.

I winced at what she was doing with her hands.

"No. Only the vampires..." I bit my lip as a pinching sensation between my thighs began, "But none of them have been down there if that's what you're asking. What are you checking for?"

"I'm making sure that you are pure. The vampires will be most displeased if you have been spoiled." The pinching ceased and the old woman brought the skirt of my dress down over my knees "It would seem that you are untouched. I suggest for your sake that you remain that way until you are of age and have been given to one of them." I did not want to stay here any longer, I jumped off the slab and ran to the door, pushing it open so quickly that it slammed against the wall. I ran past Selena who was next in line after me, she only stared at me with her dull eyes. I realised that day that my best friend was no longer the same young girl I'd known all these years... She would never be the same...

Isis led me down the dark corridors towards Hecate's chamber, so important was her position that she had her own private chamber. Even Isis shared her chamber with other girls.

I had finally been given my first robe and I wore it with the hood up, excited to finally own the item of clothing that marked me differently from the slaves. The material was heavy and in fact much too long for me, I tripped on several occasions as Isis led me through the halls.

We reached her door which was open and within I saw the young woman herself, she was kneeling before a table, her head bowed in silent prayer to a small bronze statue. Although I could not see what the figure was I still had a good idea that it was the image of our Lord. As she rose up from her act of worship he turned to us, she was a work of art. She wore traditional robes which clung to her in all the right places, her black hair contrasted beautifully against her face with its white skin, full dark lips and blue eyes.

"Hecate, may I present your Follower to you?" Isis asked.

Hecate walked over to me and gently placed her fingers under my chin, making me look up at her, and then she pushed the hood of my robe back to look at me. She turned her head to Isis.

"Thank you Isis. You may leave us now." Isis took her leave and Hecate looked at me again, "Give your thanks to Kain" she instructed as she pointed to the bronze statue, I walked over to it and indeed it was the image of our Lord. He was a posing as if ready for battle, his mighty Soul Reaver serpentine blade held aloft in one hand and the other outstretched as if beckoning me forward. A small dagger stained in fresh blood lay on the table by the statue. I knelt in front of the idol and bowed before it, placing my face to the ground, when I arose I reached for the dagger still fresh with blood and I sliced my index finger enough to get several good drops of blood from it. The blood ran over Kain's bronze body and I watched in fascination as it did so. The blood gathered in a small puddle at the idols feet. I silently thanked the idol for the honour bestowed upon me and then I walked back to Hecate.

She had walked to the where a small table sat in the centre of her room. I noticed that the table had been set for two, Hecate sat on the chair at one end and gestured with her hand that I should join her. I sat on the other chair looking at the meal before me, after two years on a diet of bread and water the feast before me seemed impossible to consume. I was sure that I did not even know the names of some of the fruit.

"So you are Anastasia?" Hecate asked. I nodded my response, "You may speak freely girl. You are not a servant anymore. Do you know who I am?"

"You are Hecate," I whispered. She looked at me as if pressing me for more information, "You are Lord Kain's higher concubine and the most important person here besides Isis and the Matriarch." She laughed at the last part. My finger was beginning to throb painfully.

"My reputation obviously exceeds me, although I do not consider myself that important. I merely serve my Lord in the manner I have been taught. This is what is expected of me. It is simply because I serve Kain that my position is greater than that of the others." She began to eat the meal in front of her, placing small portions of food into her mouth. Her movements were amazing, she even made a simple thing like eating seem like an art form. I must've seemed like an awkwardly angled puppet in comparison.

"After we have eaten I will show you the bloodletting chamber. I must prepare my sacrifice for this evening"

I had not been allowed to view this chamber before, it was strictly forbidden for anyone under the grade of follower to enter there. This was an exciting development and one that I had not expected to happen so soon.

The Pit of Blood as it was known was circular like most of the other rooms, with dark red drapes and torches. There were ten large stone slabs against the wall, upon which three young women were already lying. An elderly woman sat with each of them.

Hecate sat on one of the slabs and rolled the sleeve of her robe up to her elbow. She offered me the silver goblet she had carried up to this point and asked me to hold it for her. I watched intently as she unwrapped the beautifully decorated dressings from her wrists and using a dagger which lay by the wall she proceeded to cut her wrists in front of me. She winced in pain as her blood flowed from her wounds into the goblet that I held.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"Every time, but the sacrifice is necessary."

We sat like this for some time while her blood was collected into the silver vessel.

She invited me to use my time to ask her any questions I had. So we talked for a while, she told me that the elderly women here were once blood letters themselves, but they were now either too old or their veins too damaged to allow for more. It was their job now to care for the younger girls who offered the sacrifice over the years. Some of these women possessed great healing powers and although they could not seal the flesh our veins could still be fixed by their magic if the cuts were done properly.

Hecate told me that the vampires regularly hunted for their blood, for they preferred the thrill of the chase. What we offered them was the option to not have to hunt which they would only do if necessary.

What they offered us in exchange for our loyalty was protection from the cruel world outside. Here we would be well fed, clothed and generally taken care of. This was a good existence if it was offered to you. Life outside these walls did not offer the luxuries that worship undoubtedly could.

Each vampire had five concubines and a higher concubine, each of them would be called upon one after the other, this ensured that no one person gave more than they could manage. When I reached the age of sixteen I would be given to one of the vampires and my higher concubine would be responsible for my wellbeing (so this was what Raziel had meant). It was well known though that the vampires could become over excited very easily and that was what often resulted in the mess I'd had to clean many a time as a servant. The life expectancy of a worshipper or concubine was not long; in fact many never saw their twenty-first birthday. Hecate was a rare exception to this rule. I wondered if this meant that Kain was more restrained than his sons.

I watched patiently as an elderly woman came over to us and proceeded to clean Hecate's wrists and then bandage up her wounds with the beautiful dressings. Then the old woman turned to me and handed me a small spoon before reaching for a small table beside us. Upon the table were a cup of water which I later found out had sugar in it and a jar of honey. The old woman fed Hecate a spoonful of honey and watched her drink the sweetened water. It turned out that this was used to regain energy after giving blood.

"You must keep the blood moving or else it will go bad." Hecate explained, she was deathly pale by now. I stirred the blood and held tight to the goblet as we moved from this place and made our way to the Sanctuary throne room.

Together we said a small prayer of thanks, both of us holding the silver goblet in our hands, "Mighty Gods. We thank you for our blessings. We thank you that you have chosen us for this purpose. May the sun be forever at dusk in your names. May the darkness surround us, as you would embrace us and drain us of life."

I could see the ruined remains of the Pillars of Nosgoth, grey, cracked, no longer reaching towards the Heavens as I had been told they did years ago. Kain's throne was placed at the base of the Pillar of Balance, where he, the Scion of Balance belonged.

I was instructed to stay at the back of the room, hidden in the shadows and to simply watch my teacher so I gathered the excess material of my robe and hid behind one of the columns. She took the goblet from me, placed her hood over her head and proceeded to walk towards the throne where Kain sat. Our King. My God. His presence was so intense that I was happy to be this far away from him lest my legs fall from under me. I watched as Hecate knelt in front of him and bowed her head, offering the silver goblet to our Lord. He took the goblet from her hands and drank from it. He spoke softly to the young girl before him, but I could not hear what he was saying. Then they did something that I'd hoped to see for years.

Hecate rose to her feet and Kain did the same and she turned her back to him and removed her hood. I saw her move the long black hair from her neck and tilt her head to the side. Kain took her in his muscular arms and without hesitation he bit down hard on her throat, she gasped as he did but then began to moan in pleasure as he drank from her.

I could not stop myself watching the deadly performance. This was a dangerous thing to do but Hecate seemed to enjoy the process. Kain forced his body against hers with such ferocity but she did not stop smiling.

Does the enjoyment come from the act itself or is she happy to be used by him this way?

It was magical to witness this closeness between them, it did not matter that it was a closeness only experienced by predator and prey. It was beautiful to look upon.

The embrace was ended eventually by Kain who relinquished his hold of Hecate's body, blood running down her throat. He sat back on his throne and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Hecate slowly walked towards me after she retrieved the silver goblet, now empty. I held her arm as she neared me and I slowly led her from the throne room.

Is that what Raziel does to Dinah that makes her moan like that? Now more than ever, I wanted Raziel to do these things to me.