Greece, 1223BC

Pulling her hair into its normal style, she slid another pin into the blonde curls that adorned her head. A small smile twisted at her lips as she glanced across the cave towards the dark haired man, now twenty six summers old, his form having grown in both size and bulk. Her blue eyes drifted back to the heavy, fur lined, red and black cloak in front of her, folded up lovingly and placed in the corner above where her bed was like it was every day.

Lysandra reached over, her smile widening, as she gently lifted it up off the crevice in the cave wall, placing it around her shoulders with the utmost care before she fastened the clasp around her shoulders, securing it over her ocean blue dress that had once been her mothers. It had been tucked away for over a decade, and now, she finally fit into it perfectly. She remembered her mother wearing it as she moved about the house, the long blue skirt flowing gracefully as she moved.

Movement in the corner of her eyes alerted her to company. Arcadius held the fishing nets in his hands, his blue eyes watching her. "You ready to go and catch some food?" He asked and she nodded. "Yes," she murmured in response and he nodded, picking up his spear also as he made to walk out of the cave, Lysandra bending down on her way out to pick up the basket.

A cool winter breeze ruffled her loose curls as she walked with her brother. Arcadius glanced down at her. "Do you believe he'll come this year?" She asked and Arcadius hummed, readjusting his hold on both the nets and his spear. "Perhaps. You are a woman now, maybe he will," he answered, looking down at her, and Lysandra gave a wry smile. "Not quite, otherwise the beasts would have taken me last week," she pointed out.

His brow raised a bit and he hummed stiffly. "I know. I wonder if this is Hera's way of making sure you remain untouched and safe from evil?" He asked.

Lysandra gave her brother a warm smile as they approached the shoreline, frothy waves crashing just metres away from where they stood. "I suppose we'll just have to find out, won't we?" She teased with a warm, beaming smile before breaking out into a run towards the shoreline, a screaming laugh echoing from her lips as she entered the cold water.

Blue eyes rolled as he followed behind after her, a wry grin on his face as he took after his only remaining sibling, her melodious laughter reaching even the blonde haired man, who, unbeknownst to them both, was watching with red eyes from the cliff edge to the east five miles away, as he always was, every three hundred days.


Sand plastered up her legs, four hours later, and her skin felt blistering warm, even underneath the winter sun. Arcadius placed the basket beside her, it only containing around half a dozen fish, none too big. She gave a small smile. "You can take some of mine," she whispered and his jaw tightened. "No, Lysandra, we've had this conversation before. I can do without for a week or two, making do on what we find around the cave. You're already thin enough, you need to eat." He answered firmly.

Her blonde tresses shook as she shook the head they resided upon, turning to face him. "No, Cade. I will not watch while you go without food. You've done so for eleven years and I don't want to see it anymore," she pleaded. Her brother sighed. "No, Lysandra, it isn't happening. I'll hunt a boar tomorrow afternoon or some other forest creature, I promise."

She hummed, turning her blue eyed gaze back to the rolling waves. It was a calming sight, something that could rarely be said anymore about the land she'd called home all her life. The attacks on nearby villages were growing in frequency every time the full moon rose and shone high in the sky. There were hardly any villages left close now, the land for miles becoming known around the surrounding areas as wolf territory, otherwise known as dead-mans-land.

Arcadius's expression softened a bit as he glanced at her, his hand reaching out to grasp her own. He gave it a gentle squeeze, her blue eyes flickering to his. He shook his head. "I'll not let them hurt you," he promised gently, a sad smile coming to his face as he looked at her. A small smile covered hers as she squeezed back. "You shouldn't make promises you cannot keep, big brother," she reminded him gently, sliding her hand out of his before standing and readjusting the heavy cloak around her shoulders. She inclined towards the forest behind her. "Come on, big brother. Might as well do that hunt now."


The wild boar that laid at her feet didn't bother her anymore. She had to toughen up after the blonde immortal left. While he'd been with them, it'd created a false sense of security in the well-known fact that his kind could fight off most beings and that he'd be able to fight off the wolves in the days before and after they transformed beneath the full moon, not close to.

It didn't bother her anymore when Arcadius carved off the bits of meat they could eat to survive. She helped him, taking them from him and placing them into the lined basket, red dripping through the woven reed stems. It always did. It painted the forest floor, a stark contrast to the murky brown beneath her sandal covered feet.

Arcadius wiped at his brow as he sat back on her feet. "That should do it, leave the rest to the wild." He looked at her, her nod bobbing as she picked the basket up, her brother carrying the spear and sword he always had on hunts, the latter having been acquired during a ransack of a demolished village.

Such a sight was upon them now. Lysandra covered her mouth with a silent gasp as she surveyed the wreckage. It was a village they often passed close to but never through, and now, she was glad they hadn't. Her stomach curdled as she looked at the bodies that were carelessly strewn across the ground, discarded like dolls after a young child had grown bored with them.

A strong smell of rust hung in the air. Red painted damaged huts, dripping from the homes like open wounds. It was a horrific sight. She took a step forward and a crunch sounded underneath her foot. Blue eyes squeezed shut as she battled to keep her breakfast down, what little she'd had anyways. Her foot lifted and she stepped back, her eyes still squeezed shut, unwilling to look down and see what, or rather whom, she'd stepped on.

Arcadius made a noise beside her. "I'll have a look around, see what we can salvage from this." He murmured, glancing towards her, seeing her eyes screwed as shut as she could get them. She shuddered a breath in and out. Dead animals were one thing, but slaughtered women and their babes? That was in a whole other category.

The cool breeze rustled her fair blonde hair, blowing a few loose strands across her fair skinned face. She exhaled softly, turning around, her back against the carnage that laid behind her. Her eyes opened. The air was still thick with the stench of death. It clogged her throat and stung her eyes, a few sorrowful droplets leaking down her cheeks.

A cracking of underbrush alerted her to company, along with the pungent stench of bodily odour and dried blood. It made her skin crawl, and reminded her of the very beings that were behind the horrific destruction demonstrated behind her. The monster taunted her. "Worry not, little Lysandra," it drawled. "You will soon revel in their death alongside me."

She turned, coming face to face with the same man of the moon who had taunted her each and every year since they had helped Caius. Her top lip curled up. "Who said I was worrying?" She clipped. Severus grinned, blood staining his yellow teeth. It almost made her wretch. "You seem to be growing some ill-placed courage, Lysandra. Should I go and find Arcadius as he scavenges for you both?" He uttered through bared teeth.

Lysandra swallowed but remained stone-like, her expression neutral. He grinned wider, his eyes falling the aforementioned man as he came into view, a woven burlap sack carrying his acquisitions. Arcadius stopped. "Severus." He greeted rigidly. He looked to Lysandra as she remained still, silent, and then back to the repulsive man. "Is something wrong?"

Severus chuckled, the sound making the hairs on the back of her neck stand to full attention. He took a step forward, and she supressed the urge to move back. "Nothing at all, Arcadius," he hissed through his teeth, the noise akin to a snake. "I was just telling Lysandra how I'll be coming for her next summer, regardless if she has bled or not." He stated casually.

Her eyes bulged in response to his words. "I'll be useless to you." She argued. Arcadius placed a hand on her shoulder in warning. She ignored it and continued speaking -"what use am I if I cannot bear a child?" She snapped.

He laughed in response to her words. "You can have many other uses, my sweet girl. You'll soon find them out. I suggest, strongly, that you begin to prepare yourself. A full moon is such a wonderful time for the wolf and his significant other." His words almost made her lose what little she'd had for her breakfast.


Blue eyes stung as she wiped her mouth, her breakfast, or what remained of it, discarded on the sand of the beach behind her while Arcadius went and procured some fresh water for her to rinse her mouth out with. She gagged, the taste in her mouth anything but pleasant.

Time was running out. Her mind began whirling with all the possibilities of how the next three hundred days would play out. It was more than likely that Caius wouldn't return. What made this next three hundred days any different than the other ones? She always held out hope that she would see his familiar head of golden hair somewhere in the trees as she went past each and every one of them, and she'd held out that hope since she was twelve years old, and that hope had increased since she had been just shy of her seventeenth summer, when those longing feelings turned into something more, something more dangerous and forbidden.

Did he know what Severus had just threatened? Did he know she was in danger, both she and Arcadius? Probably not. He more than likely had no idea what had even happened, let alone what she looked like now. She longed for just a glimpse of him, just to know that her preteen feelings about what kind of man he had been hadn't been thought of in vain.

Arcadius came up beside her, a small coconut shell holding water clutched in his hands. She took it eagerly, gulping it down and breathing a sigh of relief as it washed the stale taste from her mouth. He looked at her solemnly. "I am sorry, little sister," he murmured, but she shook her head, turning around to face him. "I don't want apologies." She stated briskly and his brows furrowed. "What do you want then?" He asked quietly.

Her eyes tightened. "I want you to teach me how to fight."

His pale blue eyes, exact replicas of her own, widened as he looked down at her. "No, Lysandra. Women do not fight," he stated gently and her eyes narrowed. "Then do not look at me as though I am a woman!" She spat back, already her patience wearing thin. His brows furrowed further. "I will not be looked upon as weak. I will fight for my survival. I will not be controlled by a beast who seeks to turn me into nothing more than a broodmare for his own pleasure. I will not bow down to a man any longer," she retorted defiantly.

Arcadius was silent before he reached into the burlap sack that was on the beach behind them. He pulled out two sheathed blades, both wielding a blade of over three feet long. He held one out to her, unsheathing his own as she took it with careful, gentle hands. She gripped the hands, pulling the sheath off and gazing at the shined surface of the steeled metal.

He gave her a stern look. "You will not quit this when you begin." He stated sternly. Her eyes snapped to his. "You will fight for it, I will not go easy on you. You wish to not be looked at as a woman, I will train you like a man. When you ache from holding the blade, you will hold it for longer. When you cut yourself, you will remain standing and fight to regain control. Do you understand me, Lysandra?" He ground out though tightly clenched teeth.

Her blue eyes were firm when she met his as she gripped the handled blade even tighter, the weight already making her arm ache. She gave a firm nod of her head. "I understand you, and I will not disappoint you, brother."


Red eyes darkened with rage. His teeth bared as he sank beneath the waves once more. Time was against him. She would train and become stronger, but it still wouldn't be enough to fight off the scourge of the mutts that shared the island with them both. He had to get their new home ready faster, regardless of whether it would be temporary while they lived out their newborn periods. He dove beneath the waves, the golden sanded beach behind him vanishing as sounds of metal on metal resonated through his mind.


Authors note: Sorry for the long update time guys, but y'know, life does call. Next chapter is where it all kicks off. Hope you guys enjoy.