Time seemed to have slowed down as she watched the metal doors slowly rotating around their hinges, allowing her to take one last peek at the villager’s crazed grin before meeting midway to create a loud clattering noise. Her only source of light remained to be the rapidly burning hay and for the first time in her life, she wanted darkness to embrace them again.

“Why did you do it? Why did you not run away?”

Upon hearing his voice, her head whipped impulsively in his direction before she forced it back to let it hang low.

‘They would have impaled you otherwise.’

Instead of voicing out her thoughts he just pressed her lips together to stop any sound from escaping.

“Where are Gabriel and Henry?’

‘Gabriel is outside. He’ll give Henry his blood after Ruth and Cyrus are gone so that Henry doesn’t get himself killed in the quest of trying to save you.’

There were so many things that she wanted to say to him at that point yet she couldn’t as she was well aware of Ruth eavesdropping on their conversation. Her lips had remained tightly shut but on the other hand, her thoughts were running wild, swinging like a pendulum, rapidly moving from one memory to another.

She always wondered why they crossed paths, how she ended up in that mansion that night, those nightmares she suffered from, why he had been so cold to her in the first place and most importantly how she ended up here in this timeline but now everything had become clear.

Ruth was currently blinded by her need to save her only blood relative­ — her son and no matter how much Faith tried convincing her she wouldn’t listen. The urge to save her only child was too strong but soon she would realize the mistake she’d made but at that time there would be no way of bringing Ares back to life to deal with the chaos her son was causing except for wait for Faith to be born.

Faith, on the other hand, had thought of a way.

Gabriel.

Ruth had unknowingly told her that Vampires turned to stone could be rescued with the blood of the person they had last consumed and she was going to use it to their advantage.

Gabriel could only feed one vampire, Henricus in this case, but Faith had asked her to somehow sneak a little amount into Ares’ mouth so that his blood is the last Ares has before getting turned into stone. Gabriel would stay behind the castle and with Henricus’ help come back to bring Ares’ back to life after everything settles down.

“Faith.”

It was that voice again, the voice that had been hunting her in her dreams for the past several months, trying to drag her back into a reality she didn’t want to face.

Stuck in her inner turmoil, she was trying to figure out a way to continue dodging his questions when the silver doors started clattering once again, deviating her attention towards them. A moment after, the doors parted, this time to reveal a frowning Gabriel standing before them. His frown visibly deepened as he cast a quick glance around the burning room before hurriedly running inside to unchain her.

That’s when she noticed something unusual. Something or rather someone was preventing the fire from reaching the altar,

‘Ruth…’

“Gabriel, Where’s Henry?”

The similar question once again resounded through the room, directed at a different person yet it was met with the same answer. Silence.

“Gabriel, I am asking you where is Henricus?”

No movement.

“Do not leave him to burn. He is but a child!”

It almost looked like Gabriel was unable to hear or see Ares. He didn’t even flinch at the loud voice.

Clank

With a loud clanking sound the heavy chains fell to the ground, making Gabriel take a step back from her, giving her a chance to stare properly at his face; his face looked visibly pale.

‘He must’ve given his blood to Henry.’

Although Gabriel had clearly shown his apprehension against her action, he had reluctantly agreed to be a part of it. He was to keep an eye out in case the villagers got out of hand and decided on harming her which was unlikely considering they had been scared of her, following the countless deaths that had occurred in the past few months. After freeing Faith, he would hide with his daughter on the premises of the castle, just until Ruth and Cyrus disappeared. He was free to go anywhere after that but before leaving he had to do one last thing for her— bring Ares back to life.

The places where chains had been digging inside her flesh had turned red and sore, causing her to rub the damaged skin gently. She hadn’t moved from her spot, her eyes were glued to man sharing similar irises as her own. He had his eyes closed. Horizontal creases on his forehead were denoting his frustration clearly. He seemed to be in deep thought.

After a moment, he let out an agitated sigh before parting his lids once again to peer impassively behind her, his gaze fixated on his bound lord.

Slowly he started walking up the altar and just as he reached the half-conscious vampire, he dipped his thumb in the liquid lacing his palm and smeared it on the inner corner of the vampire’s bottom lip.

“There is no blood you shall be getting from me, vampire prince.”

Hearing him, the dazed vampire suddenly came to life as he let out a snarl full of contempt,

“Traitor!”

‘This is my way of loving the daughter of a traitor.’

Now she knew why he had called her the daughter of a traitor.

Gabriel had swiftly moved out of Ares’ way but even if he hadn’t Ares was unable to do any harm to him. If Gabriel died, Eve’s survival would become compromised and If Eve never lived to see the sun, Faith would never be born.

Another sacrifice the night had unjustly acquired from a pure soul.

“Traitor… Traitor…”

Faith’s eyes had remained trained on the shackled vampire; he was hanging his head low while he kept muttering the same word under his breath again and again.

She could see another shadow approaching her from her peripheral vision yet she made no efforts to move her gaze away from the vampire. Gingerly the shadow lifted his hand to give her head a small pat of affection, his touch so light she could’ve easily missed it if she hadn’t turned her head in that exact moment to look straight at him.

Her fingers reached forward to lightly graze his palm as he was pulling his hand away. His touch had never felt so warm, so close to that of a parent.

“Live well, my brave daughter.”

He had called her his daughter on several occasions but not once did she notice any trace of affection in it, except for that night. That night, stuck amid flames, her husband’s and his daughter’s lives at stake, she saw the man allowing himself to feel for the first time in a while.

“Father.”

Giving her a small smile the man turned his back on her started walking back towards the door without looking back.

“Tonight is the fourth full moon. Henry cannot survive without completing his transformation.”

Amongst the crackling sound of rapidly burning hay, her ears hadn’t missed hearing the words uttered by the vampire bound behind her.

‘Forgive me.’

She did his best to avoid his begging gaze as she walked up the altar, pulling one out of the two vials from the pocket of her kirtle. One filled to the brim with a black liquid was safely nestled inside her clothes while the other one half-filled with translucent contents was firmly grasped in her palm. Ruth had given her the second one to collect Ares’ blood. The translucent liquid in it was to prevent it from turning into powder.

“Faith.”

His voice had come out hoarse denoting how parch his throat had become. It was haunting her.

‘Don’t call my name.’

Trying her best to ignore his pleads, she grabbed his arm and pulled the skin apart from a wound, tilting it to allow blood to trickle into the vial she had been holding. He didn’t question her, not letting out any sound, not even a hiss of pain. He just silently watched her.

“Ruth is making you do it.”

She had forgotten how sharp his instincts had been.

‘I need to make it look believable.’

Unwillingly, she lifted up her steely irises to stare square into his eyes as she carefully uttered the sentence, putting emphasis on every word.

“No, she isn’t.”

“You are not to fool me with this act of yours.”

The vial had become full by now causing her to step back as she continued speaking stoically.

“This isn’t an act.”

She could see him narrowing his eyes a bit at her tone but other than that he remained mum, observing her with his partially green irises. She had hurt him. She could tell it by the way his eyes had started switching between shades of crimson and emerald.

“You are pretending.”

“Ha!”

She let out the best fake laugh she could manage without letting her voice crack.

“Do you still not realize Ares; you were never turned to stone in the future. I lied to you.”

“What?”

In that moment, she felt something crack inside him. The last string holding him intact at the bridge of insanity had come loose.

“I lied to you because fate had played a cruel joke on me. I, who had nothing to do with my ancestors, was forced to get punished for their crimes. Do you want to know the truth? The truth is you had no idea about this soulmate shit until I stumbled upon your castle one day, bleeding.”

His irises had turned blood red by now.

“It would’ve been fine if you had just let me go after saving me but no, you were greedy, hungry for more. You wanted us to play mates and all that glittery shit, you wanted me to turn into a leach like yourself!”

“I- I would never…”

“But you did, love. You did. You drove me insane to the point I was forced to take a witch’s help to trap you. I only traveled to past to because it was easier killing a twenty something year old vampire than a six hundred year old blood sucker.”

The little glimmer of hope that had left in his eyes was crushed the instant she forced that lie out of her mouth

“You have no idea how much I abhorred the idea of being in the presence of a killer let alone sharing a bed with him yet I had to do it to get myself rid of a pathetic excuse of a predator and now what? I’m stuck with not one but two abominations to deal with,”

Talking lowly about the blessing she had just discovered this evening hurt her on another level but there was no choice left behind. All her focus was concentrated on saving him. Gabriel could feed him his blood again with Henry’s help but there was no way for her to resuscitate him if he died in that timeline.

“But not anymore. My savior has yet again found me a way to get rid of both these problems at the same time.”

Tucking the vial filled with his blood safely into the pocket of her kirtle, her hand sneaked inside the soft material, emerging out again after a moment but this time with another bottle containing black liquid inside it.

“Is that…”

See could see his ruby irises narrowing slightly behind the bars of his luscious locks.

“Ares Alexandros King, this is the end of us.”

The glass vial almost slipped out of her sweaty palms as she heard a gut-wrenching plea tear out of the back of his throat,

“Do not do this, Faith. I beg of you!”

Unlike her dreams, in which his voice had appeared to be a loud rumble inside her skull, his voice had gradually turned into a small whisper, a barely audible plea.

“I may be a leech, unworthy of your love but what wrong has this innocent child done to you?”

That’s when she saw a red trail forming down his cheek, the only thing missing from her first memory of meeting him, a lone scarlet drop glistening against his awfully pale skin.

‘It’s time to say good-bye, my Ares.’

Slowly she started taking small steps in his direction. She needed to be close enough to pull the rose pendant from around his neck, but that was not the only reason. A sudden urge to kiss those bluing lips one last time had started taking over her. She wanted to tell him, tell him that it’ll all be over soon, but the fear of jeopardizing their plan in case of Ruth or worse Cyrus overhearing their conversation was keeping her from crossing any boundaries.

‘He reeks of blood.’

Unbeknownst to her, her fingers had already started caressing the exposed flesh of his torso, gently touching every wound with her warm fingers. His skin was ice cold.

She had never seen him look this weak. He was kneeling on the floor, his shoulder drooped after countless attempts of trying to rip the chains away from the pillars, so much had changed in just a night, so much he had lost in one night— his town, his people, his vassal, his child, her.

“You said I could trust you. I had started trusting you, then why?!”

‘Because I love you, always and forever.’

Not being able to say it out loud was killing her. She wished she had told him this more often.

‘The pendant…’

Just as her hand sneaked up to snatch the pendant from his neck, his mouth came down on hers out of nowhere. It was a quick peck, a subtle touch of his cold lips to hers yet it seemed more meaningful than any kiss they had ever shared. The shock of it had made her lose her balance, causing her to fall back on her behind, his tightly clasped pendant digging in the skin of her palm.

“Please.”

Her wide-eyed gaze was stuck to the floor as she remembered the last word he had uttered against her lips in a small child-like whisper. She could feel her resolve breaking. She couldn’t carry on the drama any longer. So without thinking anything else, she hurriedly brought the vial to her mouth, tipping her head back to wash the contents of the bottle down her throat.

The first thing she registered was its bitter taste. It could simply be described as the most pungent thing she had ever tasted but the taste soon became the least thing to worry about as it left a burning trail behind its path, engulfing her guts into a strong hold. It felt like her insides were melting, turning into a mush and then getting rearranged to their previous structure.

‘Hurts... It hurts.’

Applying Gabriel’s information to her modern knowledge, she knew that the potion was going to reshape her cells to their prior condition and after getting absorbed from her gut, it was going to reach her bloodstream and once it reached her womb through her blood, she wouldn’t be able to save their child. She had to act fast.

Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she fumbled with the rose pendant in the center of her palm, trying to unclasp it. She had scarcely managed to pry it open when cold fingers grabbed the back of her neck in a vice-like grip. She didn’t even have the time to let out a scream before something sharp dug into the side of her neck, tearing the flesh out in the process.

Sparks erupted from the tips of her fingers as she tried to push the predator latched onto her neck realizing in the meantime that it was none other than Ares himself. He was feeding on her.

“S-Stop.”

She had unknowingly crawled closer to him in her pain and he had taken advantage of that situation.

“Now you shall never be able to escape this curse.”

Suddenly a burst of energy pushed him away from her, tossing her to side as the room started ringing with his loud roars.

“What’s happening?’

Placing her hand on the ground beneath her to support her weight, she leaned her back against the pillar behind her. The pain from the potion had decreased remarkably, in its place only a dull ache was left on her neck. Putting a hand to her neck in a poor attempt to stop the bleeding, she turned her head to look at the side watching through her blurry eyes, the scene she had witnessed many a time.

On the raised altar was a statue of a kneeling man, his imposing figure looming over her despite his crouched position, bare chested with his clothes torn to rags. His neck was arching, a single tear drop rested right above his left cheek below which his lips were peeled back to expose his bloodied fangs to the sight.

‘Bloodied?’

“Oh, no. No, no, no!”

He was not supposed to drink her blood.

‘Gabriel wouldn’t be able to free him anymore.’

She knew she had to feed him, quick.

As she tried putting her weight on her legs, a strong wave of pain washed over her back, making her double over in pain.

‘My markings…’

“It appears like your time to go home has arrived.”

A black cloak appeared in her vision before the person occupying her sight crouched down to reveal a all too familiar face.

“R-Ruth…”

“As part of the deal, I shall take his blood from you.”

Out of nowhere, the circle of protection saving them from the fire disappeared, letting the hungry flames rush towards them like rein-less horses. The fire had crawled up towards the high ceilings of the castle, every straw that came into its path only managed to strengthen its core. It was sucking the life force out of everything, leaving behind a trail of nothing but death and ashes. It was the very scene Faith had witnessed endlessly in her visions yet it was the first time it was not hidden behind a glassy gaze but getting reflected into the depth of her own stormy irises.

‘I have to save Ares.’

Another attempt of wriggling towards her husband failed when a new wave of pain found its way to her core causing her to arch her back in agony.

“Ah!”

In her daze, she hadn’t even noticed Ruth’s hand going inside her pocket. She didn’t have the time to comprehend what was happening around her before the red vial was snatched out of her hold. She could only grasp Ruth’s wrist before she was able to draw it back,

“L-Let me s-save him.”

Her knuckles had turned white around Ruth’s wrist denoting how hard her hold had been yet with one tug, the witch was able to shake her hand off.

“Better worry about yourself. His venom is spreading inside you.”

“W-What?”

“Now you shall never be able to escape this curse.”

Ares’ voice was echoing inside her ears making her realize what he had meant by his last words to her. This seemed to be his only chance at saving his child and getting revenge from her, turning her into the same creature she had shunned him for being— a vampire.

His venom’s presence inside her combined with the pain from her fading markings was the main reason she found herself in much more pain than she had experienced before.

“L-Let me f-feed him, p-please.”

The pain was becoming too much to handle. Her body had become limp by now, barely sitting with the support provided by the pillar behind her.

“Forget about him. He has a punishment to endure.”

Hot tears started trickling down the corner of her eyes as her gaze once again found itself locked on the stone statue behind her. The thought of him remaining here, sealed for centuries, all alone was driving her insane. King’s messenger would come looking for him and instead find this castle on fire, an investigation would start but the case would be closed in 1453 after the King becomes mentally unstable. Henry would find him but he and Gabriel would no longer be able to help him. He was trapped. He’d be forgotten, erased from the pages of history and there was nothing she could do. Nothing.