Greece, 1222BC

It was peaceful. Nothing but the sound of rolling water filled her ears as she peeled her eyes open. A starlight lit sky was hazy above her as she gazed upwards. The sand was wet against her back. She would feel water soaking her shoulders, sand sticking to her exposed skin. A strange numbness coated her legs. She tried to move them, her brows weakly furrowing as she found she couldn't move them. It was as though they didn't belong to her body.

A strange screaming could be heard from somewhere close by, but it came through muffled, like she was still under the water. A crunching noise was approaching her. Where was Caius? Had he pulled them from the waves? Or had both she and Arcadius washed up on the shore, and was that Severus coming to stake his claim over her? Where was Arcadius? Was he hurt?

Someone knelt beside her, and her eyes struggled to focus. It was a woman. Her long blonde tresses were draped on either side of her head. She smiled down at her, but it wasn't a kind smile. It was a smile that you gave to someone you didn't really like but your hands were tied as to their feelings. She picked Lysandra up off of the sand, her ruby eyes rolling irritably when she gave a sound of pain as all of her nerve endings upwards of her waist came alive, her bones on fire. She still couldn't move her legs and it frightened her. "Where is Arcadius?" She breathed wearily, her eyes drifting around. "Where is Caius?"

The woman gave a bitter scoff under her breath. The human was asking for him. "Arcadius is currently undergoing the transformation. Now you, on the other hand, I am going to advise him that he does not change you and allows you to die. Your brother has use, you, on the other hand, do not." The woman clipped.

Lysandra couldn't make sense of her words, the darkness beckoning her once more. She awoke as she was being lowered against a bed, the soft luxurious sheets gentle against her burning skin. The woman was stood beside the doorway, just visible through the tent curtains. The drapes were red and gold, and she could make out that the woman wasn't very happy she was here. Her hands were flying about all over the place, her eyes angrily drifting to her occasionally. She screamed something -the sound was muffled somewhat- and stormed off, her golden tresses flowing out behind her.

The drapes shifted. There he was. He was wearing the clothes she had seen nobles from far away lands wear, the red and black making him look king like. He walked over to her, his hands loose at his sides, and he sat beside her. Her brows furrowed as she looked at him through weary eyes. "Are you going to kill me? She said she was going to make it so." She whispered softly.

Caius was silent for a moment before he answered. Her throat constricted and she turned her head away, closing her eyes as she readied herself for the deadly blow that she was now almost certain he would deliver to her neck, ending her life. The woman had made it sound so certain, and now his silence... It was all too much to bear for her heart.

A cold finger on her left cheek turned her head back towards him, and she opened her eyes slowly, the ocean blue orbs glistening with unshed tears. He stroked the finger down her cheek. "Athenodora can be dramatic sometimes. She does not appreciate that I haven't taken her as my mate," he murmured.

A lone tear trickled down her cheek as she looked at him; he stared at it before he looked back to her. "Why haven't you?" She whispered softly. It hurt to even think of him loving someone else, let alone the mere possibility of it. What if he was going to kill her? He hadn't denied it.

He hummed, another tear of hers trickling down his finger. "I was going to, but then I met you," he began, his red eyes boring into hers. They were darkened to a deep crimson; she found herself getting lost in them. "You taught me not to find someone for convenience, but rather for someone I viewed as an equal and who in turn would never betray me. I waited for you not to appear on that beach every three hundred days, but there you were. You never betrayed me, Lysandra. You gave me hope that despite in this disgusting world we live in, plagued by all different kinds of filth, whether beast or man, you showed me that not all are to be tarnished with the same cloth."

Her tears trickled down her cheeks freely now as she listened to him speak. "I longed for you to appear, and when you did," she let out a shaky exhale. Her eyes brimmed with salty water. "It was like my heart was complete inside my chest. The thought of you not returning became like a nightmare over the years. I longed to be able to touch you again, to know you were real and that my kindness had caused someone to take another outlook on life. The mere thought of you forgetting me and loving another is too painful to even think of." She gasped out, giving a soft cry as fresh pain spiked through her upper spine. She lifted her head, the mere motion causing a thousand needles to rip through her skin. She looked to her legs, twisted and mangled by her impact into the waves, frowning as she tried to move them and found herself unable to do so. "Why can I not move?" She whispered, her head falling back as she looked to him. "Where is Arcadius?"

Caius was silent for a moment before he answered. "You damaged your spine upon your impact with the ocean. The beast was able to launch a spear through Arcadius's chest as he was falling into the ocean after you. I had to change him first otherwise he would not have survived until now. He has been changing for hours now. I had to remain by his side in order to make sure he survived the first dozen and a half. He nearly didn't."

A gasping breath of a sob rattled through her chest and she looked at him. "Am I going to die?" She whimpered and he hummed as he leant in. "A way of looking at the outcome, I suppose," he answered coolly as he leant in. Tears began to pour from her eyes. She could feel his cold breath on her throat; she shivered. Her eyes squeezed shut as she waited for him to end her. "Before you kill me," she whispered softly, her eyes relaxing as she just closed them, no longer squeezing them shut as she embraced death with both arms. "I want you to know I love you," she revealed.

He stilled, his pale stone lips pressing against her thrumming pulse gently. He pressed a little harder, kissing the clammy skin. "Good. There is something you should know before you die," he answered coldly, his lips moving against her thrumming pulse. It raced, but she kept her eyes lightly shut, death already beckoning her into its embrace.

Something sharp scraped against her skin, and before she could react, it sank through the thin membrane like it was not even there. Red hot fire seared her flesh, scalded her throat, spreading to her head and her limbs, her chest, her legs, before she could even think. It was like someone had set her on fire and was pouring more and more fuel onto it. It was like she had been dropped into the fiery depths of a mountain and left to burn into ashes.

Her eyes flew open; a sharp scream ripped from her lips. The sharpness that was imbedded in her flesh withdrew, and Caius sat back, red coating his lips as she choked on words. He merely stared, watching as she thrashed and screamed as the fire proceeded to scorch her flesh from her bones.

He then spoke, the blood coating his lips disappearing as he licked it off, his mouth curving at the sweet, sweet taste of her blood. "I lied," he drawled, her eyes squeezing shut as another scream ripped from her lips and pierced the night air.