Astera licked her lips as she rose from the lifeless body of the pitiful human. She looked down at him in disdain, but she was secretly glad he'd been foolish enough to shoot at her - Apollo insisted she didn't drink on his property, and her veins had been burning for days.

She glanced around absent -mindedly at the forest. It seemed that someone had controlled the flames back at the house, but smoke still swirled around the trees like the gossamer strands of an intricate spiderweb. Astera wondered where Tether had taken the girl too.

Still standing by the body, her lip curled at the thought of her. If Astera had ever laid eyes on a human so dangerous, she couldn't recall it. With her huge, innocent looking eyes and alabaster skin, the girl looked like a vampire herself. If it weren't for the delicate pulse throbbing under her china skin, Astera might have mistaken her for one.

She turned now, wondering what she should do now. Look for Tether and his silly cargo? Go back to the house and help Apollo with the damage control? Part of her, the dark part, wanted to go around and suck the blood out of all the bodies while they were still fresh. However another part, the part her mother raised and fostered, felt ill at the thought.

As a familiar wave of sorrow and bitterness washed over her, another sensation grabbed her attention. Astera turned sharply toward it; it was the smell of fresh blood. And not just any blood - Lilah's blood.

Astera cursed as she ran. Tether was supposed to get her away, how was she supposed to survive that amount of blood loss? For that matter, how was the girl supposed to survive bleeding around her?

She found her in the space of fifteen seconds, and all she could do was stare. The girl was hanging limply from the limbs of a tree, her skin alarmingly pale and the skin around her shuttered eyes the colour of a bruise. She was bound and gagged, and blood coloured her shift like a painting, and dripped grotesquely down the silent trunk of the tree. It was clear to Astera what Tether had done here, but that wasn't why she stared at the absurdity of the situation.

Astera's whole body was on fire. She was aching to pluck Lilah out of that tree and drain her dry, but at the same time she felt the same panic she had felt all those centuries ago, watching her father kill her mother. This person was important and valuable in her weakness, and Astera knew her death would wreck Apollo like their mother's death should've all those years ago.

In one graceful movement, Astera gently pulled the girl down and was running back to Apollo's house in the woods.

---

He was reaching out to me.

I'd never felt so much terror in my life, looking at him now. He'd gotten worst in all that time since that dreaded last day I laid eyes on him; his skin was lumpy and green in decay, and his forever opened eyes were swollen and yellow as they stared unashamedly at me. Even his hair was different; the vivid red was now a dull rusty colour, and dry like a thicket if weeds.

His voice hadn't changed though. It echoed through the trees and whistled like the wind, but it was him alright; the monster was my father.

"I can still save you." He told me gently. "I've got a fool proof plan, darling!"

The familiar phrase repulsed me, and I tried to get away from him, but my feet had grown roots and I was stuck. I had turned into a tree, but Greg Winters was moving alarmingly closer to me without ever seeming to move his legs.

"Why won't you just stay dead?" I sobbed.

My dad ignored me, his mouth opening to reveal blackened teeth. "Don't you want the pain to end, darling?"

He gestured down, and I was suddenly aware if a gnawing pain in my side. I looked down, afraid of what I would see. Apollo looked coldly up at me, his mouth open in a leer to catch the blood pouring out of my wound.

The world shattered at my scream.

"Lilah! Lilah!"

I continued to writhe in terror, which only made the pain s thousand times worst.

A lovely voice cursed. "Astera, please! Hold her down, I need to get the bullet out before it penetrates her bloodstream."

The words confused me; what on earth was going on? I blinked my eyes open. Apollo wasn't looking at me; his eyes were focused intensely on my waist, and his perfect hands were covered with what could only be my blood, but my eyes immediately locked with Astera's. She had my upper arms pinned down to the bed in a grip like steel, and her face was completely expressionless.

She opened her perfect lips. "Good morning sunshine. Can you please stop thrashing around before I knock you out and make you?"

"Astera!"

"What? It worked, did it not?"

It had. I laid extremely still, my eyes still locked on hers. The events of the night had come rushing back to me; the fire, the gunshots, the excruciating pain, Tether taking my place and Ted Roscoe's maddeningly pleased face. That was the reality; my rotting father and Apollo's stony face were all a dream.

I gasped as Apollo's cold fingers probed my side.

"Sorry, love." Apollo said gently, "this is going to hurt."

I stifled another scream as his fingers went deeper, and Astera's hands tightened reflexively as I shuddered. The pain was dizzying; my vision blacked out for a couple seconds.

"All done!" Apollo sounded like a dentist after performing a root canal. He came closer to me and gently stroked my hair away from my sweaty face. "I just need to stitch this up, but the pain won't be as bad."

I nodded up at him, suddenly exhausted, but I was so confused. "I thought I lost a lot of blood." I rasped.

To my surprise, Astera rolled her eyes. Letting go of my arms, she tossed her hair back - even after the night's events, she still looked like a model.

"Lucky for you, Apollo keeps a remarkably fresh supply of blood here. He kindly gave up this months rations to save your life." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and what almost sounded like an accusation.

Apollo shrugged at her, his eyes still on his work. Something tugged at my skin, and I tried not to think of a needle and thread.

"If I'd told you about my blood supply, it would have been gone in one night, Astera." His voice was serious, but I thought I heard a hint of dry humor in it.

Astera threw him a haughty look. "I'm not going to deny that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish what rations you have left."

And with that, she stalked out of what I now realized was my room. The weak rays of dawn were making their way feebly under my curtain, and it would have been like any other morning had it not been for the unmistakable sound of smoke.

I decided to break the comfortable silence Apollo had lost himself in. "Is everyone else alright?"

He immediately knew what I meant. "For the most part, yes. Jannosh is nursing a broken arm and a few others are healing from other injuries, but we're largely unharmed."

"And the house?"

"It'll stand." There was a hint of a smile in his voice, so I knew it shouldn't be too bad.

It was quiet again.

"Has Tether come back?" I asked timidly, wincing at another tug in my side.

"No." Apollo's voice was light, but I knew he knew what Tether had done.

I contemplated this gloomily, Apollo snipped something off, and there was the sound of water. I turned to see him washing his hands in a basin beside him, the water already turning red. If that didn't make me sick, the bloody bullet in a tray beside it did.

He looked back at me when I shuddered. "Tether will be fine. He's had centuries to fend for himself, Roscoe's men won't stand a chance." He came and knelt beside the bed, so our faces were close. "That was an infinitely wise and selfless thing he did, and I will forever be in debt to him for doing it."

I nodded, not knowing what to say.

Apollo kissed my forehead. "Sleep now, Lilah. Everything will be well when you awaken."

His voice was so reassuring, that I immediately listened and let my exhaustion take me.

Comment, vote, fan! (:

Sorry if that was kind of awkward - it was more of a filler chapter, and the good stuff will come later. Also, I typed this whole thing up on my iPhone, so please forgive any mistakes!