Once Josiah felt safe and calm enough, she tried to pull off her backpack before realising it was gone. She had a vague memory of Tinsley removing it to make it easier to carry, but nothing particularly clear. With an exasperated sigh, she collapsed on the forest floor, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. She remembered about the emergency phone she had with her that she was meant to use to update Athena and Lucas back home and this made her slightly more annoyed about losing her bag, but she was too tired and upset to care.

When she woke up after a long but interrupted nap she wasn't hungry but she knew she had to eat. She had to regain her energy to continue her hunt for Mirena. With a grunt, she rose to her feet, and looked for a thick stick to sharpen into a dagger for hunting. Every stick she tried just snapped and crumbled beneath her hands. Exasperated, and very hungry, Josiah slumped back onto the floor and accepted her fate. It was better than trying to capture a vampire without her tranquiliser that she was now missing.

At her cottage, Mirena trimmed the grass border and sprinkled some more meat for Peeve. He was still missing and it had been two weeks. It was hard, but she didn't lose hope. Somewhere in her heart she knew he was okay. The sudden movement and thud of something in the distance caught her eye, and she sped over to find a delirious Josiah who was lying on the floor, covered in mud and dirt, and clearly hadn't eaten or drank anything in days. 

With a concerned sigh, she took hold of Josiah's cold hands and started to drag her back towards the cottage. She was sweating by the time she made it back and had to catch her breath before heaving her up the front steps of her quaint cottage. She propped Josiah up against the wall, and made a cup that was a mixture of water and sugar before holding it up to Josiah's lips and forcing them apart.

"What? No, get off..." an exhausted Josiah whined, trying to close her lips. Mirena shook her head firmly and forced some of the liquid into the parted lips, which made Josiah gag until she finally accepted it and swallowed. "It's poison..." She groaned, trying to scramble away. Mirena held her shoulders down, holding her firmly in place. When Josiah stopped moving, she gently moved her hands to her face, cupping her cheeks gently and speaking to her reassuringly.

"It's just sweet water. Medicine that my mother would make," she spoke. Her eyebrows raised slightly in concern as she felt the elevated heat of Josiah's cheeks. "I'm not going to poison you. Let me help."

It was a while before Josiah perked up, but once she had drank the entire cup she was strong enough to realise the danger she was in.

"Shit! Vampire!" she stood up and started to run, but tripped as she tried to use her legs and crashed to the floor. Mirena rushed over and helped her back to her feet, guiding her over to the light grey couch and setting her down on it's lumpy surface. Josiah gasped as she settled down nuzzling into it's fabric straight away and gazing at Mirena in awe. Her green eyes and dark clothed body were nothing like that of Doven. She looked as if she ate plenty and she wasn't nearly as malnourished as even Arran.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." Mirena whispered, reaching a slender hand forward to delicately feel for Josiah's temperature. Her eyes widened and a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. Almost too faint to be noticed but Mirena was a perceptive person. "Your temperature is still bad but you look cold. You need a jumper."

Before Josiah could protest, Mirena had already stripped off her black hoodie, revealing pale arms of the same complexion. Josiah gazed down at her arms for a little too long, noticing the ladder of scars that covered them, making Mirena draw back her arms insecurely. "Thank you." Josiah mumbled, slipping the warm hoodie over her head.

Mirena nodded and slid onto the seat beside Josiah. "What's your name?"

With a cough, she replied simply "Josiah," before adding in shortly after, "you?"

"Mirena."

Josiah rose again, this time making it a step further without her legs giving in. "You're Mirena?" she began to pace around the room. "I'm meant to capture you." She found herself confessing.

"I know." Mirena stood up, approaching Josiah who quickly stopped moving and turned to face her.

"But how can I even begin to think about capturing you when you've been this kind to me? You saved my life."

Mirena shrugged, and held out both of her hands for Josiah to take. Josiah's eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but into the kind eyes of Mirena. She noticed the vast amounts of green plants in all corners of the single room cottage, and the simple linen duvet that was lazily placed on the bed, half-made. a few book cases split the main area from what she assumed was a bathroom, and on it lay a few ornaments mixed in with the hundreds of books. "You want to go see my books?" Mirena asked, the gentleness of her tone still shocking Josiah.

"I'd love to." She whispered and let herself be led over to the shelves. 

"Are you feeling strong enough to stand for a few moments?" Mirena asked. She nodded a response and began to scan her eyes over the dusty books. She was almost finished her inspection when she noticed a rock. It was flat and circular, with a familiar swirl of 8 lines meeting in the centre. 

"You're Doven." Josiah gasped, starting to freak out once more. She remembered the screams of her father and the horrid, joyful roars of delight as Arran took the first bite of their traitor.

"Not anymore." Mirena confirmed, sounding slightly sad in a way that lit a pit of fire in the bottom of Josiah's stomach. She didn't know why. She assumed it was just the rage at the idea anybody could be sad to leave Doven, she was delighted to escape with her life and hated the guts out of every single one of them - more specifically Arran and Tinsley. "Come sit back down. Actually, please lie down. You can take my bed."

Josiah agreed sceptically and slid into the bed that was surprisingly comfier than the sofa, although anything could beat the forest ground she had been trying to sleep on. She let Mirena tuck the duvet around her, the warmth from the duvet merging with the warmth of Mirena leaning over her as she settled in, feeling quite content in the new place. 

"I left Doven a few years ago." Mirena started.

"You can leave that place? Why doesn't everyone?"

Her lips tightened. "Just stay quiet and hear me out. You think you know everything about vampires but you know nothing truthful." Josiah was silent.

"They are a lovely group. They only eat when they have to and they won't eat animals at any cost. They sacrifice one of their own before harming an animal," she smiled fondly, "that's a value I still hold but I don't have someone to sacrifice so I do very rarely eat animals. Hate myself when I do."

"Humans are different. You are a terrible, selfish species. You take from nature and you kill it in return. Nothing in this forest will accept any of you because you won't accept it. There are things to hunt but they'll stay hidden if you try. There are sticks to hunt with but they'll crumble if you try. Nature is not yours. It isn't on your side."

A hint of realisation dawned on Josiah's face. "This is why you came to me malnourished and sick." Mirena confirmed. "It led you here because it wanted me to feed." At Josiah's panic, Mirena smirked. "But I won't."

"I left Doven because I wanted something more. I had a friend, Tinsley, and we were going to leave together. We were going to leave the forest." The familiar name brought up a tinge of sympathy from Josiah. "Our dreams made me aspire for more, but they made her... insane. They took her from me and that made me even more determined. The second I turned 18 they sent me on my way with their love and support."

"You saw a bad side to them and you were scared. That is a human thing to do. It's not a total flaw, some things are just dangerous, but have you seen the damage you humans do to things different from yourselves? It's horrible."

Josiah nodded.

"Vampires are angry. We aren't malicious but we're angry and rightfully so. You humans keep trying to mass-extinct us. Even you're from a vampire hunting group. You are literally here to kill me, Josiah." There was no spite in Mirena's tone, but a surprising level of sympathy.

"I'm not going to." She whispered, not really believing it herself.

"We both know that's not true."

Josiah looked away, not being able to bear the weight of the gentle gaze of the vampire she was meant to hate, torture and kill.