Deimos stood quietly on the roof, his eyes scanning the people as they walked past, all stupidly oblivious to what was happening, if only they knew, bothered to open their eyes. If only they saw the hunter, searching for the prey he wanted to devour, feel the veins being pierced and the blood being sucked out until their veins were dry. He was used to their pathetic tears and begging, pathetic attempts to save their lives. What was the point? It did not work, it did not prolong their life, just their agonising terror written on their faces, stamped on their faces or perhaps burnt into their faces. What good was going to come out of being good when being good was good only for the soul but not much else, he was still a monster no matter how many times someone tried to dress him up, cannot paint over the cracks... not really.

He stalked the streets, hunting his prey. He wasn't interested in the abusive idiot or the tavern drunk; they were easy prey, much too easy to feed from, to kill. He wasn't fascinated by them, any of them, just too simple but the woman with flowing curls of brown, her olive eyes looking down at the pool of water and her dress still a brilliant white, she caught his attention... her radiant beauty caught his attention. She threw him a charmingly polite smile, acknowledging him as he walked past her. He tailed her, keeping his distance and keeping with the crowd of drunken rabble as she turned corners, probably foolishly thinking she was safe.

There she was, alone at last. The vision of beauty had stopped no doubt to visit or to go home but Deimos wasn't interested in stopping off for a friendly chat, she wasn't going to survive it. He jumped down off the roof, his feet barely making a sound as he tapped her shoulder and hid quickly. A childish joke that seemed to do the job of frightening her, she looked around suddenly, her heart racing as she pushed the door open. Deimos grabbed her, holding her roughly, keeping her in place as he pulled her dress strap off and bit into her shoulder. She gasped from shock or from pain as blood dribbled down her dress. He covered her mouth as people walked across the main street. There was for once no begging or pleading for life, just the monster doing what a monster did best, killing.

He threw her to the ground and entered her home. It was easy for him, no spells or curses preventing him from gaining entry, no hexes that blocked his path like a massive force field, blocking his entrance. He just stepped inside and slaughtered those he found there. Her husband and two children were history, long-forgotten history but no doubt their murders would be talk of Greece, their 'terrible' murders. If only they knew what lurked the streets and killed their families, if only they knew or understood the bloodlust, the want to kill, the need to kill.

He cleaned his mouth and his hands before spitting near the palace gates, his target growing closer and closer. Enough time had passed; he knew his allies and associates were gone, that his protection was dead and gone. He was going to struggle, know that Deimos was coming and no doubt try to hide like a rat but no amount of hiding was going to stop him from avenging the lost, the dead and gone. He felt the pain, the sadness and the hatred building. For years, his murder was all he could think about, plan in his head over and over, every little detail.

He cleaned himself off, cleaning off his clothes and checking himself. He didn't normally care about being caked in layers upon layers of blood but last thing he needed was the whole of Greece seeing a man covered in blood. As much as he and his brother butted heads, he loved him like a brother and making it difficult for him to feed was cruel, he was already finding it difficult... added pressure would stop him from killing.

He stopped outside the gate, a couple of guards blocked his entrance but there was nothing they could do. They struggled against Deimos's strength and will, not will to get inside, not yet but will to send a message, a very personal message. He sighed with annoyance as a spear cut his shirt. "If you wanted me to take my clothes off, you just had to ask me" he threw off his shirt in a rage, spears still slicing at him but not even marking the skin. "Now that is all over with, who wants to be first to die for the bastard on the throne?" he flashed his fangs and the two guards were history, joined a long line of men, women and children who died because of Deimos's uncontrollable lust for blood.

"Did you not have you fill already, brother?" Chronos asked as Deimos threw the corpses into the king's neat and tidy gardens, placed on display.

"Chronos, come to join me?" Deimos joked.

"You know father will not approve"

"You know then that I do not care. He might be my father but I am not about to be a loyal dog, I am and I will continue to follow my own path, wherever it may lead me"

"What about after your game of revenge, what will you do then? Will you scurry away like a rat?"

"How rude of you to suggest such a thing, if you really want to know, I will continue my path as an assassin, no doubt until my skills are rendered unnecessary, I could teach you if you like?"

"What and start a school, pretend to be normal and teach little humans how to be just like you?"

"What an interesting idea, I have to say although humans, no, they are dull and seriously boring... just look at them, most of them do not have a clue"

"You and I used to be human"

"Tell them that when they try a million different ways to kill you. Tell them how you were once human when they come for you, when they find out you are a vampire and come for your head. I guarantee it will not be a pretty sight or a nice, decent ending for you or them"

"What are you saying, suggesting? Do you really think I would join you on your hunt? You are talking about training killers, making and training killers!"

"Oh come on, what are we if not killers? We have to let go of it all, our humanity is merely a façade, a camouflage and a lie. Just look underneath it all, brother"

"I have and all I see is you becoming what I fear becoming. You were human but you seem to have abandoned all that for your own sickness, your own lust for blood. Look at you; you are no better than the king!"

"I will let that slide because you are my brother but do not ever compare us again!" Deimos warned sternly as he vanished, leaving Chronos there, running away from the scene of the crime before someone saw. Deimos was out of control but not his problem to deal with, their father would either punish or praise him and therefore it was up to him to teach Deimos, not up to Chronos, Chronos and Lilith merely had the task of listening to their father, the man who altered them, made them what they were. Chronos used it for survival but Deimos, he used it to avenge his family, his sick plot to murder the king was going to come to play shortly, as time moved on, he would not, not until he had his revenge, he would never rest without it. It was as if it fuelled him and drove him to insanity, the idea of killing the king. That was his one and only goal... the one thing left on his mind.

"What in the name of the gods were you thinking, Deimos?! A whole family was bad enough but two guards too?! The worst bit of it, the very worst is leaving them in public to be seen by anyone! Have you forgotten the rules?!"

"You are acting like I wrote 'killed by a vampire' on their foreheads and stuck them on the walls, I left them in the garden and the family was a mere clean up job, a way for us all to hide"

Chronos hurried in, cleaning the blood off his face. Lilith stopped him; she stared into his eyes before she moved. "He knows about it but was not part of it, father and before you start yelling at him, he was coming here to warn you of the dangers that my brother has put us all in"

Epimethieus turned to Chronos as Chronos lay down at the end of the large cave. It had become their home, their resting place, certainly. Epimethieus preferred to stay hidden from the sun, hidden from everything if it were possible. He rarely went out for blood and whenever he did, it seemed Deimos was there to mess up his dinner plans as much as possible, making Epimethieus annoyed and incredibly short-tempered.

"What to do with you, Deimos, my son? How on earth am I meant to teach you right from wrong?" Epimethieus asked as if Deimos were nothing but a small, arrogant child, a brat having a temper tantrum.

"FATHER, NO!" Lilith yelled. Chronos awoke, wakened by the smell of blood... vampire blood. Epimethieus had bitten Deimos, no... not bitten, cut, cut with some kind of blade. Deimos fell back onto the floor as Epimethieus stood over him. "It will not kill you; merely starve you so call it your lesson!"

"How could you?!" Lilith asked. Epimethieus did nothing, not a word or a whisper of a word. He merely walked away, no doubt to hunt. As he left, Chronos walked towards his brother. He picked up the strange dagger that Epimethieus wielded, instantly feeling like something was draining out of him. He dropped it and looked at Lilith; she already knew his question and had his answer. "It was forged to kill us, the only dagger made by Hecate, the only one that can cut a vampire and if the heart is pierced, stop one, kill one of us"

"How can he wield it?"

"He can for now; a lot of power is drained from him"

Chronos picked it up again, managing to use it just to cut himself. He held his wrist over Deimos's, feeling the blood drain from him. Live or die it did not matter, Deimos was his brother and that was all that mattered to him, all he really cared about.

"Cowardly move, I will get him back soon enough" Deimos promised as he sprang to life, no longer looking like a rotting corpse. Chronos lay back on the wet floor, holding his wrist tightly. "Are you ok?"

"I will be" Chronos promised. He glanced over at Deimos and asked "what about you?"

"Oh I am fine, vampire blood has quite the kick and the only thoughts are of you, my brother, our sister and where I would like to shove that dagger when father gets back"

"Be fair, brother, please!" Lilith begged.

"Why should I? To him we are no better than slaves he orders around, he sees it as fine to order us around, order us to die if he wishes and what are we meant to do? Are we meant to scream and shout about it? No, of course not because we should be grateful to him"

"Deimos is right" Chronos whispered. Deimos picked him up, helping him get onto his feet. "I know I am right, you just like to see the good in people but there is no good in father, not in that man" they walked outside together, Deimos took Chronos's weight as they walked down the path. "Come on, stay with me, brother, I am going to get us both something, just do not complain"

He took him into a small town and sat him nearby. He glanced around as Chronos's vision blurred, becoming uneasy and unstable. He tried to get up but lost the strength and the energy. It was as if it went along with the blood in his veins, perhaps Deimos genuinely did not know how much he took or perhaps he just did not care, either way he had promised to get him help so Chronos needed to trust him and trust that, believe in his brother, even if his brother was not always the most trustworthy of types.

He hurried back with what looked like a dead body but Chronos could hear him breathing. He did not have the energy to ask who it was or where Deimos had gotten him from, he was so hungry, he could eat a cow. The man had barely touched the ground before Chronos bit into him, feeding off him as quickly as possible, growing in strength as he swallowed the blood carefully.

"Take your time, I have already seen father, he is too busy"

"Did he see you?"

"I doubt it; last time I looked he was hypnotising beautiful women, the days before that was made possible must have been dull"

"Can we talk about that later?" Chronos asked as his wound healed slowly.

"Are you ok?"

"I feel like I have been thrown to lions"

Deimos rolled his eyes and pushed the body away. He picked it up and threw it into the water. "It is now just you and me, my brother. We need to stay here, we need to defy him or we will end up like Lilith, a pet for him to play with, a slave he owns and teaches but only teaches to hide the fact that we are all monsters. I am going to fight our creator, our father and you can join me, work against me or stay the hell out my way, either way I am taking my revenge on him too and unlike him, I will not stop you seeing your family"

"I will join you but I will not kill for you, I will kill our father but not the king, if I kill him, my son will be killed too and I will not have that, I cannot allow that"

Deimos turned away quickly. "I will not sacrifice him but I will go after the king, I will instead kill him, allow him to feel the pain I felt, even if it is only for a moment. After that, documents will be found, your son will be named king of Greece and you and I will be free to do as we wish and to be as we wish. There are no rules or terms, no bargains or petitions or anything I will come to you for if you do not wish me to come to you. I will always be your brother, just I refuse to be controlling like our father was to us. Look at Lilith, she is a prisoner and yet she cannot see it, she cannot see the chains that bind her, just the gratefulness to him for turning her"

Chronos took a deep breath. "We cannot force her to conform; it will only further imprison her"

"I know that but I also hope that our sister will come around, come to us if she wishes to"

"Why do you feel so strongly about this?"

"Because I have been a prisoner, I have felt what it is to be a prisoner and I know that once the mind sees the truth, she will want out" Chronos climbed up a small roof only to be joined by Deimos. Deimos knelt down, out of sight as his eye found Epimethieus for him. "There he is, guess it is dinner time already, again" they watched him carry the girl out, she screamed or at least tried to, a fighter, she tried her best to break free, struggling against his grip.

"How can he do this?" Chronos asked out of pure disgust, staring at Epimethieus.

"Quiet, if we can hear him, he might be able to hear us" Deimos snapped. He turned away from Epimethieus, turning his back.

"What is it? Do you feel sorry for her?"

"No, I told you before, I do not feel pity"

"But you do, do you deny it? Do you really hope you feel nothing at all? What kind of life have you led that has made you so cruel?"

"I will tell you, do not worry. I used to work as an assassin, you know that but when things got difficult, when I lost my way, they did not try to help me, they attempted to execute me. They came, one by one, trying to kill me, each one of them failing to. In the end there was no one left to send, no one left to do his dirty work. I was brought up, made an assassin and told to feel honour and no pain, told to obey their commands but I was a puppet, nothing more. They were no better than the monsters we spent our lives killing, training to kill. To them I have gone rogue, to me I have been given a chance, freedom and allowed to live with my eyes open, not shut while I am shut out and afraid of what I might see if I open the door and let the darkness in". He rose up and jumped down into a patch of grass, Chronos followed him carefully, still seeing him for what he was, the damaged and frightened little boy, scared of life itself. "Do not look at me like that, I hate that look"

"What look are you talking about?"

"The pitying look, the one I always got and have never stomached, I am not one for drama and attention. I just want to get on with my life, nothing more nor less, I just need to look after myself and my family, you included in that. I might keep an eye on Lilith but no more than that" he looked around, a hunter checking his surroundings before he politely asked "why do you hate that which you are?"

"I hate this because I am not like you; I still have my humanity, my human side. Surely you have or had some degree of humanity?"

"I control it, destroy it whenever possible"

"Then why do you have to keep destroying it? Surely once it is gone, it has gone for good?"

"You would think so but no, it keeps coming back unexpectedly. Humanity is the reason people struggle to kill women or children. Men are easy in a war, you see them as just another soldier but women are tougher and children, they are the toughest. As an assassin, I just saw them as another job, a target to take out... believe me, that is all they are and all father sees us as, targets for him to play around with but once he gets bored, he will destroy us both, trust me on that"

"What about you? You and I are different, chalk and cheese"

"I admit, you are an enigma to me but useful enough. I promise you now, if you help me and do not stab me in the back, I will keep you alive, no rules or strings just life... life at its best, however you want to live it. Even if you write letters, yelling about vampires I will not care less, it is your life and yours to do with as you please, as you see fit"

Chronos peered over at his old house. He knew what he wanted to do, who he wanted to see. He looked at the home with love in his eyes, nothing but love in those darkened eyes. He wanted to go to Jason, to see him. His letters reached home but he did not, not once had he been home, not once in more than three years. Burdened with the loss of his family, he was struck with love like a bolt of lightning to his heart, breaking it again. What was going to happen to him? Where was the pain going to end? Would it ever have an end? He could never experience love, never know peace or understand it, never know loss or understand it. He would be different, too different for them and too different to fit into their lives. How would he understand? How would Jason understand what his father had become, the monster that his father had become and the monsters he associated with, Deimos and Lilith, Epimethieus for a time.

"I have an idea" Deimos whispered as he pointed to a large temple.

"The temple of Hecate, you want us to go to Hecate?! Are you insane?!"

"I know it is not the best idea, probably one of my killer ones but what choice do we have? We need a way to kill Epimethieus or at least stop him from creating another, this way we can save others from harm"

"We can only try"

"Trying is all we have, all we can do. Just listen to me, he is going to kill us or if he does not now, he will make others who will kill us, it is like killing an assassin, you send a thief to catch a thief, you send a killer to kill a killer and you send a monster to capture and most likely kill another monster. Believe me; it is almost impossible to kill a man like him"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at what or rather who surrounds him. Lilith can read our minds; do you really think she cannot mess with them too? She will drive us insane before we get close, she will read our minds to read our intentions and then make us do whatever she wants or rather, whatever he wants because that, that is why she is kept so close, practically under lock and key. He does not want her to see life without him, outside of that leaky cave because if she does she will realise she is as much a prisoner as we were"

"So what do we do now? Do we sit and plan how we are going to get into a temple filled with Hecate's priests and priestesses, witches and probably worse? How the hell are we meant to come out of there alive? How the hell are we meant to survive that kind of attack? They will know spells that can torture us to beyond death!"

"Stop being a fearful child, we do not know how it will turn out and I admit, I dread to think but if you go in there as a scared little child, they will eat you alive. Face your fears, understand them and challenge them, do not run away screaming before we even go through the forest. We need to do what we need to do, end father's hold over us by ending his life, when we do that we shall be free to do whatever we please"

Chronos walked through the forest. All the time his thoughts were blocked, hitting one single part of his mind. What if there were no rules, nothing controlling them, any of them? What was going to happen to them? Were people going to insist they die? Were people going to kill them one by one? Were they going to find peace and truly know peace? He wanted to save himself and his family but how? There were always problems and choices to make and no matter what he did, there would be more in his life to make, more people getting hurt by his decisions, his choices. How could he let his son go for slaughter, a sacrifice for his life, the opposite of what he wanted and the very thing he was frightened of losing, the thing he fought to keep alive. What was he truly scared of, killing or losing himself to the kill? He did not want to live for the kill, for that to be his life forever. What honour was there in killing people, in slaughtering person after person especially when neither of them had to, not more than one a night?

"I do not want to kill, not more than I have to" Chronos warned.

Deimos rolled his eyes. He turned to Chronos and whispered "believe it or not, killing them is not on my mind. If I kill them, I doubt they would be willing to help us and Hecate might help Epimethieus kill us instead and I would rather not die. If I were stupid, I would tear them to pieces, if I were intelligent as I hope I am, I would try and reason with them all of them"

"What if they will not be reasonable?"

"Then I think of another plan, what makes you think they will not be reasonable?"

"Because they blocked Epimethieus's ability to turn and yet he managed to, remember?"

"I know but will they want to know they failed?"

"If anything, it stops him making more and that is something I want, even if it kills me" Deimos warned as he climbed up. He felt Chronos up gently, Chronos still attempting to hold on for dear life as he slipped. "You need to learn to walk, brother, you walk like a baby"

"I see you are still as charming as ever" Chronos snapped.

"Well I would be if I had a reason to be charming however I do not sense one so I do not care, next irrelevant comment"

They struggled up the path. Deimos looked at the sun rising, smiling to himself. Their father, their creator would struggle if he was not already home, giving them time to get into the temple and speak to the priest and priestesses of Hecate and hope they would be reasonable, if not... they would have to think of something and fast. They struggled to get close to the temple, feeling the powers of Hecate around it, blocked from entry as they attempted to grab the door.

"Well that has gotten rid of that plan" Chronos whispered as they struggled.

"Move aside" Deimos snapped as he ripped a large branch off a tree and hit the door. "If we cannot get in, I will annoy them until they come out"

"With a tree branch, are you serious?!"

"Have you got a better idea?!" Deimos asked as he smashed the tree into the door.

"Will that not just annoy them?"

"Probably but hopefully we can calm them down"

"How, by apologising for breaking into their temple... with a tree of all things, what are we meant to say to these people?"

Deimos cleared his throat. He hit Chronos in the chest and whispered "looks like we are about to find out"

An older woman, her skin almost grey with age opened the door. She peered at the pair, stood firmly behind the door. "What do you want, both of you? Hecate knows you, knows what you are"

"We require help, please" Chronos begged as he looked into the woman's eyes, a begging look he did not have to fake, it just came naturally.

She stopped for a moment, looking at the pair of them. "What you think you can receive here, you cannot so please, turn around and leave before we force you"

"Please, listen to him, we need your help and maybe we can be of some assistance to you" Deimos begged, first time he'd ever sounded so lost, so needy. The woman stared into their eyes before the power of the goddess stopped and allowed them access inside. Deimos stepped in, hiding his monstrous face as Chronos followed him.

"Why have you come here? If it is to seek a cure for your curse, you pair have been misinformed, those who Hecate has cursed, cannot and will not be cured of it" the woman warned as her long black cloak fell onto the floor revealing her golden hair underneath.

"We have not come seeking a cure; we have come to seek a way to end that which was first created. Epimethieus is out of control, he made us and he made our sister, we fear it will only be a matter of time before he makes more of us, those who would slaughter all of you"

"We have our goddess protecting us; tell me, why do you wish to end that which created you? You surely know the curse, the curse that affects all of you if he is killed by one of you?" the woman asked. She sat on her throne, shaking her head. "I think you are lying, I think you are both lying. Perhaps you came here seeking power but it is a power you shall not have. If your creator dies by your hands, you die too, both of you"

"What of his first creation? You blocked her from ever being able to create, both of them and yet he could, when the moon hid the sun, you were blinded and he made us! You need to stop him before it is too late!" Chronos begged. Deimos scoffed. "They are too weak to help us, too wrapped up in their own hatred. They hate our kind yet they refuse to help us, even though we risked everything to come here, they will turn us away. They could kill us if they wanted to and we could not do anything, not a thing to stop them in their tracks and yet they do not care, they just want to watch us suffer while watching the world being thrown into darkness as their creation makes more immortals and craves more power!"

"How dare you!" she screeched. She glanced at a large wolf-like creature, whispering "lock them away, we shall hand them over to Hecate"

The creature growled and dragged them away. Chronos just remained calm but Deimos was enraged, fighting back as he tried to break the monster's grip. They found themselves thrown into cages like animals, locked away with the moon shining and the sun soon threatening them, if they were like Epimethieus, they would soon be dead, burnt to a crisp in the bright sunlight until nothing more than ashes remained.