Deimos and Chronos followed a set of suspicious footprints. Of course they were on duty again, given a day's rest then forced to make up for it by spending the day on duty while others slept and nursed their weak heads. All Chronos could think about was Jason and how he was doing, what he was doing. Was life being good to him? Was life being fair? Did he have a good, bright and happy future ahead of him? A chance of marriage, a good job, a healthy, steady income and a chance to make a family of his own were all things Chronos dreamt Jason had, everything he wanted, fine furniture with solid, beautiful and ornate marble walls carved by experience hands. Were these the gifts he was given because of his father, his sacrifice? Did his sacrifice mean a better life for those he left behind?

"Are you ok?" Deimos asked politely for once, probably a first for him but no doubt it would be followed by a remark of some sort, a snap or a spikey comment or a filthy look written on his face, stamped there for the world and his mother to see.

"I am fine" Chronos lied as they walked through long stretches of grass, his muscles crying with every step as he struggled to keep his balance. Deimos grabbed his arm as he fell forward suddenly. Chronos expected him to laugh or something but there was silence, not a word from him, not even the sound of him breathing, just... silence. The trees rustled in the wind as they stepped towards a river.

"At least we have the prettier place" Chronos joked but was again met with silence. Deimos held his sword in his hand, discreetly but still there if and when needed. He pointed Chronos towards a woman, small in stature with these small hands, pale hands that kept her balance for her. They could hear her tears as they got closer, Chronos wanted to approach but Deimos grabbed his chest.

"What the hell?" Chronos whispered.

"It could be a trap" Deimos warned.

"I doubt the enemy would employ women, they are worse than our king!" Chronos snapped.

"Your funeral, literally if you do not watch your back" Deimos warned as Chronos stepped towards the woman, gently, his arms out as he asked "are you ok, Madame?"

"I... I do not... know" she whispered tearfully, her voice so feint; it was so difficult to pick up. The winds picked up, blowing strongly as she fell forward, unaware of herself and completely out of control. Deimos reluctantly caught her, holding onto her as gently as he could, struggling to keep a decent grip on her. Chronos helped him and lay her down in a patch of grass.

"What do you think made her faint?" Chronos asked as he moved her blonde hair from her face.

"I do not know. What do you think I, do you think I am a medic or something?"

"I just asked" Chronos snapped rudely.

"Ok, I understand... just calm down... you are almost as fiery as me. Do you want me to help or do you want to play the hero while our enemy is out there, plotting to kill us?"

"We need to help her, this is our duty!" Chronos snapped as he sat her up.

"You know she will probably just scream and run away, right?"

"We have to try!"

Deimos turned away as Chronos let out a horrific gasp. Deimos turned back around, his face pale as he saw the state of the poor girl's neck, practically ripped out... bleeding still. Chances of her surviving were slim to none but it was the wound, not massive chunks ripped out of her skin, just holes in her neck, two of them in her neck deeply, exposing her veins. What or who did this to her? How could anything or anyone do this to her? Neither of them understood it, neither of them tried to pretend they did. What did they think happened to her? Neither of them knew or wanted to guess, she just looked so... pale, frighteningly pale as if she was close to death, at the door and hammering on it. Did she want her freedom, request it? Did she even know she was going to die? Did she know what hurt her, bit into her so hard; it could have killed her there and then. She must have travelled, there was no blood on the floor or around her so she must have travelled... not a drop on her clothes or around where she was sitting, waiting to die.

"What do we tell the rest of the king's army? Should we tell them about... about this? Chronos, this is serious stuff, I have never seen a man or a woman or child with marks like these... what if it is a... sickness or something?"

"Have you ever seen sickness cause this damage? I have never seen such damage... just look at her, she... she looks ill!"

"She looks ill? She looks like she has had a fight with a bear and a pack of wolves and has managed to crawl out of it"

"She can hear you!" Chronos snapped.

"She is probably about to die, I doubt she cares about much, what I think included in that"

"How do you know? Just because you are cold and heartless does not mean she does not care!"

She gasped a couple of times, Deimos and Chronos bent down, holding her hands. They felt the life leave her as she looked up in the sky, bleeding all over their armour and the floor. They could not save her but still it was a sad loss of what looked like a young life. It was Chronos who buried her in the forest, dug her grave, picked her flowers and placed them on her body. Even if they did not know her name, she was once someone to someone in her life, a woman like that was far too young and beautiful to be alone in the world.

"At least she is no longer suffering" Deimos commented, the comment made him sound almost human, almost of course... not usually much else.

"What do you think killed her?"

"I do not know, what I am, an expert?"

"You seemed to think it was a disease?"

"Does not mean I know it was. For goodness sake, Chronos, I do not know everything. In life I know how to lift a blade, how to use it to kill... nothing else matters. I do not deal with poisons or diseases, there's little to no point in dealing with something that takes too long to kill someone"

"Do you do that on purpose? Do you pretend not to care and when you let your guard down and show you do, you have to force it up again by pretending not to care? It shows you know, I can see it, I can see past your lies, I can see what you are hiding"

"You can, can you? I hide nothing, open book if I could read one. Do not try and make me into a god when I am not one. You want to make someone into a god? Make the old king one, this would never have happened if he were still alive and on that throne. That fat little man who sits on that throne has no right to. He murdered the king and his son in cold blood... we only got to bury the king, he sent his son to his death in the first major war of his reign, the boy never came back... body never found... poor boy"

"Anyone know why he had to die?"

"Of course, with him alive, there was always a way out of this mess, we could put him or his descendants on the throne instead of the imbecile. With a line, the imbecile has no claim, with him dead there is no one alive who can make a claim. Why do you ask?"

"I guess I am just interested" Chronos lied. He stopped by the lake later on and took off his shirt slowly. He washed himself in the water, hoping he was alone, not followed just in case. The mess on his shoulder was nothing more than a war wound but the brand on his back, the brand of a royal soldier gave him away, stuck out like a sore thumb. He wiped over it before quickly hiding it from view. His suspicious behaviour would make people believe he had something to hide but he just could not care less either way. What was the point in telling everyone the truth? That would break his world and the contract and his son would become like him, sent to war. Even his wife did not know why he was sent to war, what his desperate crimes entailed a long time ago. If only she knew it was only because of his blood, his father's father, the king.

He wanted to keep hidden, marry for love, not royalty, hoping the king's line would do a good job but the people grew poorer and poorer and more hungry hands begged the hungry others until there was nothing left but to beg, borrow and steal for a measly scrap of food. Beggars, homeless people and people without a pinch of hope left in the world all lined up outside the palace but the king, he merely ignored them all as he ate his lavish food and oversized banquets, not even pretending to be interested in the innocent cries of the innocent humans he had hurt or even put to death for being hungry. If he had ruled over them, treated them fairly like a king should, none of it would have happened but he refused to, he just let them starve slowly until they looked ill. How could he do it? How could his conscience allow it?

"I thought you were awake, no need to bathe in secret, we all stink here" Deimos joked.

"I prefer it" Chronos replied emotionlessly.

"Fair enough, I am not your judge nor I am I the grand jury"

"Was there something you needed?"

"Yes actually, I wanted to tell you something. Our commander said the girl we found was not the first he has found like that but she was the only one alive at the time. Something is hunting us or them or both even, we, you and I, need to track it and kill it or we get nothing to eat"

"So the usual threats then? How typical of them. I suppose we better track the creature if we want to eat but where do we begin looking? This is more your area, Deimos, not mine"

"Never been a hunter? I am surprised. I suggest we look for tracks, anything that could lead us to the animal"

"Why not begin where we found her? Surely she must have been close or it obviously close to her?"

"Exactly, well done just do not get me killed, will you? I do not fancy meeting my death or the gods just yet"

They walked back towards the cave, tracking the animal. To the pair's surprise, it was open, easy to get through. What was once blocked had been cleared and not by the army, they were in no fit state to clear piles and piles of rubble from the large cave. What was going on? What was happening? Who was doing this and the craziest question... why were they doing this?

"I have seen hungry animals but never something like this" Deimos whispered, his whisper echoed as they watched the walls drip red with fresh blood.

"What do you think father?" Lilith asked gently, her hair thrown around by the gentle winds in the cave as she listened to the pair of them.

"I think you have truly outdone yourself, my daughter. Listen to me; I want them, both of them. I think this could be my chance, my hope... the sign of forgiveness from the gods!"

"Father, they may not survive, the process is so strong for humans and you know of the witch's curse!" Lilith cried.

"I know but I must try. On this night, there is no moon that shines and no sun either. A total eclipse should stop those priests and their curse, give me time to give you not one brother but two"

"Father, you cannot be serious, I wanted a brother and maybe a sister but two together could be a nightmare!"

"I think you underestimate me, Lilith, remember who I am and what I am capable of before you say another word, my daughter. Bring both of them to me, I shall let them fill their lungs one last time before I finally, finally end their mortal lives"

Epimethieus hid in the shadows, his shape and clothes not visible to the naked eyes of humans as Deimos and Chronos, the man he was first interested in, made their journey down the winding path into the trap that would cost them their lives, forever taking them away from their human lives and giving them new ones if they were worthy of the blood. Would they manage to fight where others failed, live where others died? They had to; they had no choice but to. If they died, the bloodline would be lost forever... never would they ever manage to create others, this would be the last chance Epimethieus ever had before Lilith stopped him from completing his family, creating more of his family... those who deserved to be free. If it was not for the priests and priestesses who cursed them, they would still be free to make whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted. A bloodline, a large bloodline of those who wanted and deserved to be free, those who deserved their freedom from death... who deserved peace in their lives even as they seemed pitifully short, they would have tasted the power of the blood-cursed, the creatures who named themselves vampires.

"Help me, please!" Lilith begged with a gentle, teary look in her eyes. Chronos ran to her aid, trustingly, she could read his mind, those gentle thoughts... honourable gentleman, nothing more than that.

"How can I help you?" he asked gently as he touched her arm. She moved it away quickly, fearfully. "I... something... attacked us, it killed my... father... we were in the cave, seeking shelter, my father was so... very sick, now I fear he is dead! You have to help me!"

Deimos grabbed Chronos's shoulder; he glared cruelly then threw a glance at Lilith. He whispered "I do not trust her, come on, Chronos"

"We cannot just leave her; we took an oath, a promise to protect!"

"I will protect you before her; you are like a brother to me"

"Then I ask you as a brother, protect her"

Deimos walked with her reluctantly. If it had not been for Chronos, he would not have gone with her at all; he did not trust her or that sweet act. His instincts were sharp after being a thief for a long time and an assassin if he was paid enough and all his instincts told him was that he needed to beware because something was wrong, definitely wrong. Just looking at her, he could see something was wrong. Her eyes looked innocent but underneath they appeared cold, frosty. Her skin was pale, like the snow he saw on the mountains back when he had his freedom, his taste of freedom. Still he followed the pair, a steady hand on his blade as he walked slowly behind them. He just could not help but believe something was wrong, desperately wrong. She was beautiful and alluring and Deimos could not help but wonder if that was her job, to be a lure and lure the pair to the doors of death.

"Father?!" she yelled and yet Deimos was still not convinced.

"Why do I still not trust her?" Deimos muttered as he covered Chronos's back.

"Try to" Chronos snapped.

"I will remind you of that when I am looking for coins to pay the ferryman with!"

"Enough, brother, let us help her!"

"I shall, of course but I do not pretend to trust when I do not!"

Lilith hurried around the bend; they could hear her screaming then... darkness. The light from the night's sky and their torches was put out and soon they could see nothing, not even each other... nothing but a pair of dark, red eyes like blood staring at them. Chronos could not speak, not even whisper as he felt himself being dragged down through the cave, further, deeper into the cave. He was shocked at how light it was. The candle light and torch light inside was bright, gleaming with beauty, winking at the pair of them.

"Where are we?" Chronos asked as he shook Deimos to see if he was awake only to be met by a slap.

"I am awake, do not bloody shake me!"

"Calm down, I just wanted to see if you were ok. Do you reckon the soldiers know we are missing?"

"I hope so" Deimos admitted as he watched Lilith. Her eyes were fixed on his, like she was reading something. He could not understand how or why... what was going on, it was all a big mystery to him. "What do you want with us?"

"Who are we, what are we and what is it we want from the poor innocent human that is you? Always the same boring, stupid questions that humans ask, am I right, my daughter?"

"Yes, father, I brought them to you as you requested"

"Yes, I see, go and hunt, we shall feast tonight"

"Yes father" she replied obediently before she vanished. Neither of them saw where she was or who spoke but Deimos... he recognised it, the man's voice. "Where do I know you from?" Deimos asked, hoping the man could hear his voice.

"You do know me; do you remember your first job... the first knife in the back? I brought your services"

"You were a killer?!" Chronos yelled.

"Assassin" Deimos snapped.

"What are you going to do with us?" Chronos asked.

Epimethieus knelt down to Chronos, smiling a little. "Good question, boy, good question. I have a choice for you both... you can leave here with no memory about this meeting... you will believe what I want you to believe and not what I do not want you to believe or you can join me, I will give you my blood and it shall change you, make you like me... powerful, immortal. Age shall not touch you, it shall instead turn away from you and death shall never know you"

"What do we need to do?" Deimos asked.

"I will not lie, it shall be painful"

"How painful are we talking here?" Chronos asked.

"This will probably be the worst pain you have ever felt and the worst pain you will ever feel in your life. If you survive this, you will become like me... a blood-drinker, immortal with the craving for human blood that will never be sated, if you accept, you shall be named my sons, either or both of you and I shall take care of you both for all time. We shall have no secrets, live no lies and be as we are now to each other but we, the bloodline are the only ones who may know the secrets of our blood, who may know the secrets we carry for we shall know each other's secrets and no one outside our bloodline family shall know of them. Have I now made myself clear, my sons?"

They both nodded in fear and in sequence. Neither of them were hurt apart from a few bumps and bruises, a couple of cuts maybe but nothing serious, they had been taken care of very well... treated with great care by the man who wanted them to call him father, a man with hopes and promise to unite them as a family. Would the blood really unite them, change them and make them into the creature he promised they would be made into? Would they even survive the turning into whatever was promised or would it slowly kill them, breaking them down and killing them slowly as they faced their poetically agonising death, screaming by each other's sides, their lives flashing before their eyes.

The bite itself was nothing worse than a scratch, nothing they had not felt before in times of war, the blood... hot, lingering on their tongues burnt but only felt like hot food. They foolishly thought they were immune to the pain, if only they realised how wrong they were. Less than a minute later, the two rolled around on the floor in agony, trying to lie down in every position, every way possible to make the pain stop. Their whole body burnt, as if they were on fire, a fire that would not burn out nor cool down but seemed to intensify the longer the blood ran through them. Both of them must have yelled by neither of them seemed to be able to hear themselves or the other. Was this death, painful and cruel? Was this the end for the pair of them, life flashing before their eyes?

Their body twisted and turned cruelly, breaking and reforming. The pair of them must have definitely yelled out but it was as if they could not speak or be heard, their senses... every one of them shut off apart from pain, they could feel pain... agonising pain twisting them, remaking them but into what? What was it they were doomed to become? Vampires or something much, much worse, much worse than a vampire, death... were they going to meet death? Were they going to touch death's door first?

Deimos must have been first to rise from what felt like death. Chronos pulled himself up, at first feeling the weight of the world was on his shoulders but after a mere few seconds, he felt... free... his shoulder no longer hurt, there were no burn scars or brands covering his body... only one remained, one visible to Deimos, clearly had seen it judging by his look of shock, surprise only then replaced with a helping hand stretched out for Chronos. He gripped it with a deathly grip, surprised to find it had very little effect on him, as if he was tolerate to it.

"You might feel a little light-headed for a little while but it will pass" Deimos promised.

"How long have I been out?" Chronos asked, blushing a little at the idea of being out for longer than Deimos.

"Hours apart so do not worry. I had father save you something to drink... as soon as you drink you will feel better"

His choice of a strange combination of words managed to make Chronos feel slightly... uneasy, what did Deimos mean by that? What was he talking about? Why did he sound so uneasy? What was going on? "What do you mean?" Chronos asked as he struggled to think, his head spinning rapidly. What was going on? Why did he feel like that? Why did Deimos seem so... relaxed? He did not look sickly or look as if he had just taken a funny turn, he looked... normal.

"That is the hunger, just relax, you just need to drink"

"Drink, drink what? What is going on?" Chronos asked quickly as Deimos dragged a whimpering girl, he sat her in front of him, her eyes filled with tears as she just sat there, her mouth gagged but her hands not bound. "Just take a bite... just one bite"

"I... I cannot, are you insane? Look at her, she is a girl!" Chronos snapped as he pushed past Deimos.

"Come on, brother, I was reluctant too but trust me, believe me... you need to feed"

"Why do I need to? What do I get out of killing a girl?!"

"Because you have little choice so I suggest you do it or you will become sick, weak!"

Chronos turned to her, his mind screaming 'NO!' but his hunger... the stronger, crueller voice whispered in his ear. 'Just one little bit... she will not feel it if you just take one bite. The only way to stop temptation is to yield to it, just accept it, yield to it... feed' without a word, without warning he grabbed her. He picked her up, ignoring her begging blue eyes as he felt his hunger grow with every beat of her living heart. His teeth outstretched without warning, plunging themselves into her neck deeply. Just one bite, that was all it took before the wine ran, he could taste it, the fine, aging wine... a lake of golden purity. She rapidly tried to claw him, digging her nails in but he could barely feel it, as if he was immune or just healing so fast it was strange.

"Excellent, I see you have him drinking already. Has he been awake long, my son?" Epimethieus asked gently as he sat down in the filthy cave. He pushed a dead body away from him out of disgust. "Deimos, you must clean up after yourself sometime"

"I was watching Chronos, imagine if he came around before I was back?"

"Fair point, good point, I will let you off this time. Where is Lilith?"

"Lilith has gone to persuade the king, inform him of our deaths"

"Ah, excellent and I see at least one of you is already adjusting to your new life. Tell me, my son, is everything as you expected it to be or very different?"

"A bit of both, honestly... I did not know what to expect but the blood... I feel so powerful, it is unreal"

He turned to Chronos, his eyes glowing in the darkness as he asked "and how are you adjusting?"

"I still feel... emotions, they are difficult to overcome but I assure you, I will get there" Chronos promised. Epimethieus smiled rather gently, strange for him really, not a smile Chronos had seen before but it made him feel... relaxed, different. "Do not worry about it, my son, I do not feel any differently about you, after all we all feel those emotions but sometimes you must ignore them. The one trick I have learnt is to stop your mind thinking about it, it is too easy to think about it and let the mind talk you out of it but if you wish to survive, you must ignore it"

"He will, father, I will help him" Deimos promised quickly. Chronos merely looked outside, his father hid in the shadows as the sun rose over the cave, engulfing the lands in an embrace of light, beautiful colours of yellow, red, greens and the most beautiful orange, fresh like an orange split open. He had never seen such a bright and beautiful sunrise in his life, often staying up just to watch it, he struggled to remember what the others looked like... compared to the one he had just witnessed, they were dark and cold, this was light and vibrant, filled with all the colours of the world. "Beautiful to witness" Deimos commented.

"Yes but can we even go out in it?"

"None of us know, Lilith can but father... he cannot, the light is too strong. It might be pot luck or... our blood, its impurities"

"Impurities, what impurities? What are you talking about?" Chronos asked quickly.

"We are not yet fully like Epimethieus, as the years pass and victims pile, we shall be, so he hopes"

"I hope so too" Chronos lied as he walked outside into the light. Why would he want to give up his life in the sunlight? Why would he want to stop feeling the sun on his skin? Why did it have to end and break down, shatter into pieces with every corpse, every human he consumed? Deimos did not seem too bothered about it; he stayed out of the light, as if he thought it was poison, a poisonous pursuit with nothing to offer. Perhaps he felt like he needed to stay out of it, get used to being without it just in case he could not go out in the sun, be embraced by the light or in time, through endless feeding he found himself unable to. He took perhaps a step out into the light, a step without much warning before hiding again in the shadows. He did not burn, just stood there, lifeless like a zombie.

"Are you ok, my brother?" Chronos asked him politely.

"Fine, do not worry about me, I am just fine" Deimos replied almost rudely which wasn't a great shock, not coming from Deimos anyway. He watched him turn to their father, hiding away from the sun while no doubt wondering where Lilith was... what was going on with her. Was she jealous of the pair, angry or annoyed? Did she spend so long convincing people they were dead? Did she really care about whether they were alive or dead to the people? In the end they would have to leave anyway, they would have no chance or hope of staying in Greece.

Lilith returned hours later. She walked past the pair of them and straight to Epimethieus, whispering something in his ear. Even with his improved senses, Chronos could not understand what she was saying, what was being said and that frightened him a little bit. What was she saying to him? What did she mean? What was going to happen to them? Were they going to lose everything, all they held dear like he had lost Jason and his treacherous wife?

"Chronos, Deimos, I need to speak to you both... some very alarming news has been brought to my attention"

The pair of them hurried to their father's side like a dog follows its master, a loyal dog willing to obey every command.

"What is it, father?" Deimos asked.

"We must leave Greece, keep away from Chronos's family" Epimethieus replied.