I awaken to Cristen sleeping soundly next to me. I put my hand on her face and she smiles. I smile... I may have changed in terms of morales... but my heart and my love are still like the sun burning in the sky. She opens her eyes and smirks. "Do I get my reward..." She asks. "Reward?" I said. "Yeah, for grabbing the leader and allowing you to skewer him really easily and kill him?" She said. She had an impish expression on with that of joy. "Sooo... I'm thinking... you lay down... and I do ALL the work, sound good?" She asks. I lay on my back and face the ceiling. She gets over me and moves against my crotch. "Hmhm... you're so cute... oh... before we begin you probably should have some blood, you're probably hungry" Cristen said. She takes off her top and exposes her neck to me. "Go on, bon appetite my love" She smiled. I grab her and sink my fangs into her neck. "Ah! You're rougher than usual... all that fighting must still have you worked up... especially when I got hurt, huh?" She said. I hold her tighter and bite down harder. "AH! Gavan! Baby! Easy! I know you worry, I'm alright, my wound healed, it's alright" she wraps her arms around me and gently rubs my back. "It's okay... I will be beside you no matter what" She said. We then hear knocking on the door. I pull away from Cristen and clean up, we go downstairs and it's Edward, Gertilde, Logan and a few hunters, with chains and locks. "What's going on?" I said. "We've considered that... your recent comments and actions have brought rise to concerns about your mental state... thus we all have decided as a collective to hold you captive in jail and minimize any further incidents" Edward said. Suddenly WACK! I'm clubbed in the back of the head and I black out. I awake in a jail cell, it's comfortable at least, a warm chair, couch, bed, several other things to keep myself occupied and entertained... but I'm alone. A door opens and Edward walks in. "Finally turned on me huh, thought you wanted to honor my mother's wishes..." I said. Edward walks up to my cell and looks at me. "Your recent behavior has become savage and malicious, you've always been composed and calm, then your next thoughts were to butcher everything in sight with no survivors?" He said. "Like I said, they would've killed themselves to hide the truth, they were cultist scum" I said. I then glared at him. "Where are my wives at" I growl. "They're being questioned and then they'll be placed with you in this cell, that's why I made sure it was comfortable in the event that any of them bear your child" Edward said. "They can't bear a child" I said. He looks in shock for a moment. "Pardon?" He says. "They're succubi, they feed off my essence to sustain life, Lizzy and Lilith are eons older than Cristen though, but I still hold them dearly, my bloodline will end with me sadly..." I frown. Logan walks in with them and opens the cell. "Girls!" I said. They rush to me and wrap their arms around me. "You too huh Logan?" I said. He simply looks away and walks out of the room. "Damn it! Edward! Why! You've been like a father figure to me, you wanted to honor the wishes of my mother, but the moment our views no longer align, you wish to have no part in my life, is that it!" I yell. The girls are in tears and shaking. I look around for a minute and glare at him. "Where's Roscoe..." I ask. "Who?" He replies. "My dog... you idiot! Where is my dog you mangy mutt!" I shout. "He ran off when we tried to get him, we have no idea where he went" when he said this my heart dropped. "What" I said. "He's gone, he ran off before we could get him" when he says this I tear the cell door off and charge Edward. "You bastard!" We start throwing fists. It becomes a striking match, when suddenly. "Al Kazur" he sends me flying back and my body is unable to move. "You... traitor!" I yell. "No, I'm not a traitor, I once worshipped the outer gods but now I despise them as much as you, I'm what some may call an ex-cultist, shunned and cast out from my own, but that doesn't bother me one bit, I prefer this life I live now, it's peaceful and the humans in it are kind" suddenly a sword stabs me through the stomach. "You're a fool... just listen to what he tells you" Said a voice. I turn my head... it's... Sihlus... he throws me back into the cell and prevents the wound from being fatal and heals it right after. Sihlus repairs and reinforces the door. "Sihlus, I know this must be hard for you, but I need you to watch over him, if he attempts to escape, contain him at all costs, if he escape who knows how much harm he might cause" Edward said. Edward goes to leave. "Go on then mutt, run along, my parents would be disappointed in you" I said. He hangs his head and shuts the prison room door. Sihlus stands still like a statue with his sword at the ready. "Even you turned on me, my faithful servant, faithful no more" I said. "The dog has a part of me with him, I sent it to look for you old friend Taylor, he'll bail you out if he can afford to pay the bail, and Edward allows it, I'm faithful still, but you will be here for a few days... maybe a week even" Sihlus said. "Taylor... right... my old friend I used to go to school with, we parted ways long ago, I'm not sure he'll even remember me... why..." I sit on the couch and stare at the ground. The girls gather around me and try to comfort me. Tears begin to form around my eyes. "Why are we shunned for what we are..." I ask. "It's alright sweetie, listen, you still have us" Lizzy said. "Yeah! Who cares what those hunters think! We're not as bad as they're making us seem" Lilith said. Cristen stands up and walks up to the cell door. "What do you think... servant of my dearest Husband, do you believe what I told him has warped and twisted his mind?" Cristen said. Sihlus remains quiet for a moment. "No... no you're not in the wrong... might I share my story with you to explain why I think you're right?" He asks. "Please, do tell" Cristen said. "Over millions of years ago I was but a simple blacksmith, my wife was a demon, much like you girls, we had a daughter, but that was taken one day" He said. "One day our house was broken into by bandits.. my wife and child raped and murdered in front of my eyes... I was left to die among the burning ruins of my house, the next day the rain would fall and my house would be a site of tragedy" Lilith stands up and walks over. "That's until I visited him on that very day... a dying father, mourning his family, barely clinging to life, I said to him, if you relinquish to me your soul, then my blessing will allow you to manifest whatever power you desire, to take revenge on those who wronged you" She said. "My body morphed into the creature you see before you... I looked down at the charred corpses and screamed... later... that day, I tracked the bandits to a tavern, and murdered them in broad daylight, feasting on their flesh, making them witness the death of the other, until guards came by and Lilith hid me away in hell" Sihlus said. "Little did I know my blessing did nothing but curse him... he is denied the freedom of death, and cannot die, no matter what you do to him, death is not possible for him" Lilith said. "I don't hate you because of this though, my family watches me from Heaven, seeing all the things I do and watching over me as I protect my master, I have no regrets" Sihlus then steps forward and slashes the door. Edward comes down and draws his weapon. "What's the meaning of this?" Edward says. Sihlus walks right in front of him and stops dead in his tracks. "If you intend to fight me then know that I will not fight back, I cannot die but I will not allow you to harm my master, you cannot torment him this way... if his parents were here, what would they want... how would they feel if they saw you treating him in such a way" Sihlus said. Edward remains silent for a moment. He then stows his weapon. "You're right... this isn't the way to approach things... Gavan, forgive me, I was afraid you were losing touch with your humanity is all... maybe I'm losing my sense of reason" He said. I walk up to Edward and place my hand on his shoulder. "What matters is that you came to realize what's important" I said. Later we go back and the house is as it was last time we left it, albeit with less company, now it's just the girls and I. Sihlus, Axothul and Redrin still lurk about the area but Sihlus went out to catch up with Roscoe so he'll be gone for a bit. In the meantime I put on a white long sleeved shirt with frilled cuffs, black slacks and some brown shoes. "Sigh... I just hope Taylor remembers when we went to school together" I said. I stand in front of a mirror and look at myself before putting my glasses on. "Edward would say something corny like "You look like a right gentleman" or some silly joke" I said. The door to the bedroom opens and Lilith walks in. "Hey... you know Sihlus really does only suffer because of me right..." She said. She sat on the bed and hung her head. I go over and sit next to her. I put my arm over her and stroke her head. "He said he doesn't hate you for it though, and I share thoughts with him sometimes to learn more about the past, he really doesn't care about what you did, all that matters is his family's souls rest easy and his killers were killed, but now he has a new purpose, to protect his master for as long as he exists" I said. Lilith tears up and wipes them away. "But he never can be with them again because of me... doesn't that make me a cruel person?" She asks. "If he doesn't see it as cruel then no" I said. She stands up and smiles. "You're right, oh by the way, Cristen mentioned you killed a vampire recently, Valim was the name? Did you drink his blood?" She asks. I then get up and go over to my coat. I grab the red thing vial and hold it up. "Not yet, but now that you mention it, I probably should" I uncork the vial and down the contents. It's bitter and sour, unpleasant even. I then noticed a strange detail, my eyesight seemed sharper, I took off my glasses, I could see clear as day, I could even focus on fine details, like zooming in with a camera. I also noticed a heightened sense of smell. "I can see, not only that but I can focus on finer details, I can even smell much more too, like before I didn't notice, but I can smell you clearly now, you were touching yourself earlier, you have that smell to you" I said. "HUH!? YOU CAN SMELL THAT?!" Lilith yelled! "But I don't get it, it doesn't feel like anything happened with my physical talents, maybe I just haven't noticed it yet" I then walk over to Lilith. I grab her waist. "EEP!" She lets out a squeak as I casually lift her into the air. "Holy shit! Your strength went up like crazy, Gavan I weight about 235, and your casually holding me with no effort at all" Lilith said. I set her down and go outside and call out the others. They all look confused. "Why are we outside, it's kinda cold" Lizzy said. "Redrin, I want you to hold your hand out for a second" I asked. "Okay?" He holds out his hand. SLAM! I lifted him over my head and slammed him into the ground. He then stands up and shakes the dirt off him. "What the hell! I weigh over a few thousand pounds, you casually lifted me up and slammed me into the dirt, incredible" He said. "This is great, that blood must have altered your genetics and enhanced your physical attributes, what about your speed?" Lilith said. "We need someone fast to test that, who here is the fastest though?" I ask. I look around for a moment. "How about we test your reflex instead" Said a voice. Axothul steps out of a trees shadow with a bow and arrow. He draws the bow and ZING! I narrowly catch the arrow before it punctures my head. "Your fast, much faster, seems your speed has improved quite a bit" He said. "You did that without warning, that could've been a bit too dangerous" I said. It did provide a good test of speed and reflexes however. "Okay, I wonder what else is new or if anything else changed" I said. We test a few things like stamina and hearing. We all go back to relaxing shortly after but I can help shake the feeling that something more has to be changed or altered about me. I sit down on the chair and begin to read, Cristen walks up behind me and places her hands on my shoulders and gently rubs them. "You feel tense love, relax a little, we've triumphed over a nearby cultist fort and stomped out one leader... we should celebrate a little" She said. Lizzy and Lilith come downstairs in their succubus outfits but they have added large open sleeves, leggings, and heels to the designs. "I don't think he's really the type to wanna celebrate... he'd probably rather lie with us in bed and just cherish the warmth we give him, but our current bed is honestly a little small for us all to lounge in, we all have to sleep kinda close together to fit" Lilith said. "Sihlus did say he might not be back for a while... so he could take a week by chance... so unless we want to just wait around, we could help the townsfolk" Lizzy said. I close my book as she finished speaking. "No... they hate beings like us, we sacrifice much for them, time and time again, unless they have earned my respect... they deserve no such help from us" I said. The room fell silent for a moment and even Axothul looked over at me. "Well... you've certainly had a change of views... I wonder what influenced that" He said. Cristen grins and caress my face. "I only want what's best for our husband... Lilith, Lizzy and I are tired of being treated like vermin by humans, so they deserve no compassion from us, the only human who ever showed compassion to creatures like us... was my dad" I said.