The weeks slid by and Dainin had joined in on their merry band of misfits, taking over the small room that Vincent had been allotted. The cramped space, however, was exactly that, cramped, and she was getting sick of them all, heading out with her hood pulled high over her head to sit with the other Hunters in the dining hall.
They were nice enough when they weren't hunting anyone, and she found she rather enjoyed their banter, often shocking them when she turned, and they found a woman looking at them instead of the masked man they always expected.
She had laughed at one of them, his mask already a funny shape of a surprised golden face, and when he had jerked back from her smile, she had found it all the funnier and her voice ringing out had drawn attention.
Reaching out, he had tugged down the hood of her robes and she grinned at him, reaching out her own hand to lift his mask.
He was pale, like the rest of them, with big crimson eyes and a too big mouth filled with shark teeth, though he looked completely confused at seeing her there.
"Surprise," she said happily.
He nodded slowly, staring at her in mingled shock and fascination.
She had stopped trying to hide after that and instead simply enjoyed their company, the men at first acting proper around her, but that was quickly given over to their natural banter when she told Dainin to go fuck himself when he told her to go back to the room and be a good girl.
One of the men around her had caught her attention, tall and skinny like the rest of them, with a simple, dark grey mask with two concave black pools that were meant to be eyes but seemed to be entirely solid, nothing else. It was unusual for them to wear masks that fully covered the face, including his eyes. And it had her curious enough to slink over to him.
He had evidently been watching her because his head turned with her movements and he had partially turned to face her when she sat down beside him.
He was on his own, though that was not entirely uncommon. The introverted ones were easy enough to spot.
"Hello there," she said, unsure of where to look on his mask.
"Hello," he said warily, offering her a piece of some meat.
Taking it, she sniffed it and then popped it into her mouth, her lips turning down in a slight frown at the taste.
"Is that human? Where did you get human?" she asked, confused.
The Hunters didn't tend to eat human, regardless of how their teeth looked. They ate foods similar to the humans, though it was very heavy on the meats. She hadn't thought any of it was human, and the piece he offered her was fresh.
"I like human," he said slowly. She shrugged, licking a smear of red off her fingers. "You like human too?"
"I eat humans," she said gently.
He turned immediately, picking up the plate and offering it to her. Accepting it, she popped another chunk into her mouth and chewed, her eyes sliding shut at the gentle tickle of energy that trickled through her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Etani, a guest of Vincent, while things get dealt with back in Ayathian," she said, licking her lips. "What's your name?"
"Neah," he said.
The name was one she had never heard of before, and she frowned at him.
"Near? As in, come stand near me?"
"Neah, N-E-A-H with a little inflection on the 'h'," he explained.
Nodding, she stole another piece of meat with a wink at him that made him laugh quietly.
"I'm not sure where to look," she said, giving a slight motion towards his mask.
He pointed up to the two indentations that made up the eyes and she leant closer, squinting in the dull light to see that the eyes weren't solid at all, but covered in a dark black fabric.
"You have lovely eyes," he murmured.
"Thank you," she said, pleasantly surprised by the compliment. Usually men just called her beautiful, it wasn't often they simply said she had pretty eyes.
He was a nice man, and she leant back again, looking around as Vincent came into the room and searched for her.
"Etani, come on, we need to go," he said.
"It was nice meeting you, Neah," she said with a sigh, and automatically stroked his soft, short black hair.
"You too," he murmured, staring after her as she stood and headed up the handful of steps to Vincent.
"Movements?" she asked, following along beside him.
He shook his head, his jaw clenched.
Stepping into the room, she was stunned to see every man there thoroughly scrubbing the place clean.
"He knows!" Hunter exclaimed. "He's coming here, and you need to go!"
"Who knows?" she asked, confused.
"Daemon knows, he is demanding to come here, and I can't refuse him. No one here will speak of you, but you need to get out, now. Take Malik and go," he gasped.
Nodding once, she reached for Malik.
He grabbed her hand, and she waved to Dainin, who stared at her longingly as the world vanished from around them at a touch on her shoulder.
***
They were dropped off in a clearing and she looked around curiously, unsure of where they were and it appeared that Malik didn't know either, as he squinted and looked around in confusion.
"It doesn't matter, let's find the nearest village and see what we can find out," she said gently.
Taking his hand, they started off south, knowing Vincent would find them as soon as he was able, unless something went wrong.
Malik had spotted something, and he turned, frowning.
"Umm… Etani?" he asked.
Turning, she looked at him, unsure of what had his attention.
"Etani!" That scream had her stopping mid step, turning, and there she was, just standing there looking sad and alone. It was so completely unexpected that she found herself staring at her twin for several seconds before reason snapped back and she flicked her gaze around the area. A large clearing filled with trees, plenty of places for them to hide.
The odds of Letari being there by herself were minimal, and the fact that she was there was suspect.
As much as she doubted the situation, she wanted so badly to go to her twin and she stared longingly at Letari once more, taking her in greedily, and after a pause, she crept slightly closer as the urge to be with her sister grew painfully strong.
"Lee, what are you doing here?" she called out, anxious about the warning flags that were going up in her brain but wanting terribly to touch her twin again.
"This is weird…" Malik whispered, and she had to agree with him. There was something very off about the situation.
Stepping closer, she searched the field again, knowing the odds of the others being out there were high, but Letari… Letari was right there…
"I wanted to see you, I missed you," Letari said, and it very nearly broke her heart, hating herself for hurting her sister.
Slowly she crept closer, wary, and desperate in equal measures.
"How did you find me?"
"Dirdos told me." Letari's arms lifted, and she wanted to be there, in her sister's arms, and safe from the world.
That didn't answer the question though, at least not unless Letari had been keeping more powers secret.
Giving in to the urge, she let go of Malik and reached for her twin. She sighed as their hands touched. Letari pulled her close and Etani fell into her arms eagerly, revelling in the comforting feel of her twin.
She knew it was stupid, and that they were likely there waiting for her, but they had done their work well, knowing she wouldn't be able to resist her sister's touch.
Hugging her sister tightly, she felt her tension leaving her, and she smiled, looking up and finding her twin's face, tensed and unhappy.
"I'm sorry…" Letari whispered, and Etani's smile vanished, her eyes widening slightly as she pulled back.
Letari's arms clamped around her and she whimpered, trying to throw the restraining arms off her.
"Malik, run!" she cried, twisting to see the vampire hesitate for an instant before sprinting away.
"Go!" a male voice called out, and she saw them, all of them.
Every person she knew barring Alaric came bursting out of the trees and she snarled, writhing violently. She twisted around until her back was to Letari's front, and she threw her sister forward over her back.
Staggering forward, she swore as she broke into a run, sprinting full out for the trees in the same general direction as Malik without drawing too much attention to him.
"Kai!" Daemon roared, and she growled, pushing herself as hard as her body would go, but she knew, even so, she needed to take evasive measures with Kai on her tail. She couldn't outrun him.
Glancing back, her heart skipped a beat as she spotted Kai streaking after her. Calm and focused on the task at hand. He had his orders. It didn't matter what she wanted, he would catch her.
Boots were getting closer, and she whimpered, reaching back to grab the long length of her braid and tuck it into her shirt so it couldn't be grabbed again, not this time.
Breaking into the trees, she was only five paces in when she heard Kai right behind her, catching up to her.
"I'm not going back!" she cried, knowing it wouldn't matter what she said.
"Stop running, Etani!" Kai growled, only three paces behind her now.
"Please, Kai!" she gasped, but he didn't reply, almost on her.
Making a split-second decision, she dropped suddenly to her knees, robes taking the brunt of the damage from the ground and throwing herself back onto her feet.
Changing course, she made a beeline for the cliffs.
Kai staggered, turning sharply and following after her with a furious snarl that she had got the move off on him.
Surely, they would have known where she would be aiming for, she should expect traps, and yet as she ran she found no signs of any of them, but she wasn't going to be fooled.
Kai was five steps behind her, and she didn't think she was going to make it, but she still had to try.
Her mind raced on why there wouldn't be any traps, why they would leave it to Kai alone to be able to not only catch her, but to contain her. Kai had changed in the years she was dead, but he was still not anywhere near as strong as her, nor was he as skilled a fighter compared to her.
What was their plan? What could they possibly have prepared?
His fingers caught her arm, and she gasped, spinning back on him even as he dragged her to a stop and his free arm wrapped tightly around her middle.
The smell of him hit her like a slap, and she struggled with the urge to cling to him.
Thrashing violently, she snarled as she heard the whistle and knew they weren't far enough away for her to escape, not this time.
"Kai, let go!" she cried, desperation and fear flooding her system.
He ignored her, his arm clenching her painfully hard while his free hand gripped a fist full of her hair, and with a ruthlessness she had never seen from him, he forced her head to the side and sank his teeth into her throat.
Her voice rang out in a scream of pain, her body freezing in place as he pulled at her, drinking with greedy abandon while crushing her to his chest.
Suddenly letting her go, she fell at his feet, fear flooding through her as she looked up at him. He was trembling, staring down at her with crimson eyes and clenched fists, with her blood coating his face, his chest heaving and muscles tight enough to snap.
"Now you can't leave... never again…" he growled.
He had allowed himself to become addicted so she would be forced to stay near to him, and it was a more effective cage than any she knew the Gods could come up with. How could she run if he needed her blood?
She couldn't.
Licking his lips free of her blood, he let out a second short burst of a whistle that informed the others of his location and her eyes fell to the ground. She was bleeding heavily; he had aimed intentionally for her artery as to get the most blood in a short amount of time.
Watching the steady flow of crimson down her arm, she watched it slow while the sounds of boots from all around approached. They had planned for her possible escape, circling, and trapping her.
"Good job, Kai," Daemon said happily, crouching down at her side, cupping her face and turning her to look at him while Kai was dragged away to come down from the high.
Daemon stared at her for several seconds before he smiled in response to her angry turn of her head away from him.
Dirdos reached down and pulled her up by her arm, though she jerked herself free of him the instant she was on her feet. She didn't want him or any of them touching her. She wanted to be away from them, but she knew it would be impossible. Odds were she would never get a second to herself now that they had caught her.
"Nice plan," Hunter said, glancing around at the faces around them.