For their time upon the island, Eirik had worked tirelessly to help his mistress improve the quality of life for her clan. They had plenty to work on such as the acquired manor they confiscated, training the individuals that were loyal to her and starting to make a name of themselves on the streets of Kurayo if only to make certain that the other families wouldn’t try anything. Whatever Aaryona asked of him, he followed it without question and made sure that she and hers were safe and protected. For the most part they didn’t have too many enemies to deal with, simply that of the lower ranked families and thugs alike.
 
The first few months had been hard but slowly they worked hard to improve the situation and it was getting better as far as he could see. At least he had a place in this world again, though he had to admit that it was strange to see the city’s shifters and how different they were from the those he was used to being around. The vampire families seemed too high strung for his taste; he allowed Aaryona to deal with them but kept close just in case. All others seemed intriguing to him since he hadn’t seen many of them before.
 
It was a long time before he overheard that one of the higher clans had seemed to have taken a keen interest in them. Though there was no physical confrontation between them, it did little to quell his feelings over this. Why would there be a particular group that sought information about the Draconis? It was odd but he brought it up to his mistress and let it be until more of the rumors came to their doorstep.
 
It irked him but it wouldn’t be very long after the weeks of questions that soon the rumors quieted down and nothing could be heard about this from the streets.This particular morning, or at least he assumed it was morning anyway, he decided to take a run around the nearby woods. A few moments into it, the black wolf ran into another lupine of a white color. This male seemed much different from any shifters he’d ever since before. The other smiled to had noticed him and gave what appeared to be a devilish grin before running deeper into the woods. There was something disturbing about him and Eirik quickly made his way back home and reverted to his human state. His face seemed much paler as something he had rarely felt crept up more and more onto him.
 
Fear.

It was something of a struggle sometimes for day to day life in Kurayo. The Draconis Queen knew that Nemesis was lurking somewhere close. She had been somewhat warned by her mother after Angela’s encounter with Celeste and Nemesis in Adeluna. After that moment the woman had been on her toes to make sure not to get on the bad side of the Volkovs. It would spell certain death for not only her but also everyone in her clan. She was worried about Eirik the most. It wouldn’t be his fault if something happened but he would die by her side if he could… He would die for her and that alone scared her just a bit more than it should have.

She was working in the study. There was new house plans, new plans for the clan, and more importantly little notes about her and Eirik. Her heart was still young and their love was just as young. They worked so well together and while he was bigger and more brutish compared to most Aaryona found him soft and warming. Perhaps she was the only one he was like that with and she was fine with that. He was her protector and she was his mistress… But in truth, they were so much more.

His scent hit her nose first. He had gone out for a run, something that was normally very common for him to do. That and along with hunting were two things that he normally did by himself since she herself could not shift. Aaryona stood up and straightened out her light dress as she moved from the study into the parlor. Once her amber eyes had spotted his face all the happiness and color drained from her as she studied him. “Eirik what’s wrong? You look like you spotted the worst thing in the entire world…”

She moved forward and wrapped her arms loosely around his waist the best she could. She was after all very lithe compared to him. Her red hair was braided and out of the way so it allowed her to study him to her fullest ability. “Did something happen when you were out?” She had the most concern she had ever had for him fill her voice as they spoke.

Eirik wasn’t sure what had gone on back there in the forest. He had seen shifters before and even those older than him but the white wolf was something very different and something lurked beneath that grin of his. There was something abnormal about him and it shook him straight to the core. Heavy breaths seeped in and out of his chest as he attempted to regain control of himself against the wall. Had he been aware of who he was? The way he was looked at suggested so, but how? They had only been around town for a bit and they were trying to keep a low profile while maintaining a footing in this society. Perhaps someone caught wind of their actions…
 
He couldn’t question it any further as Aaryona crept over to him. His eyes lifted upward and tried to keep a steady face, but his eyes couldn’t lie. “I…saw something during my run…” He wasn’t even sure how he was going to explain it to her. It would seem like an odd thing to say, but he mustered up the words to speak them to her, “There was another shifter out there, a wolf. But…this one was far different than the ones here.” He pushed himself up off the wall and was caught in her embrace. It was obvious that she was worried for him and Eirik knew that he had to try and remain strong for her. “His smell…it was not just of a wolf…there was more to it. He noticed me and yet nothing came of it other than a smile.” Even though nothing came of it, he could still sense that something was deeply wrong. “He also carried the same stench that many of the nobles here do as well. And I have the feeling that my encounter with him was no accident.”
 
It wasn’t hard to imagine that the wolf was still in the woods out there, or perhaps they were being watched by him. “I think whoever it was, he knows something about me, or perhaps us and this situation we are in.”

Amber eyes followed Eirik’s as she listened to his words. He was so scared and she thought she could feel him trembling from where she was standing. When he left the wall she caught him and held him there. She was his lover, she wanted to keep him safe the best she could even though he was her protector, this was the least she could do for him.

For a moment there was a twitch on her face as she listened. She was trying not to react but she left his arms or rather let him go from her own. “I was afraid he would take notice of us.” She had heard from her mother that he was here and she had been trying to keep her peace and distance.

“I know who it was,” she didn’t need anything other than what he had told her to know. A shiver went down her spine. “It’s Nemesis.” The name itself was awful and the taste on her tongue wouldn’t go away, it was like she was tasting blood. It took her a few minutes to realize she had bit her lip to the point of blood flow. “You don’t need to tell me anything more than a wolf smiling at you like that and I know exactly who it is.”

There was fear for a moment but she took a deep breath. “Mother told me he was here but I didn’t think he would go out of his way to make his presence known to us… At least I think he did… Maybe it was a coincidence that you ran into him but HE KNEW WHO YOU WERE.” The words left her lips a bit more terrified. “Which means he has known we were here.”

There was a heavy breath. “Nemesis was the one responsible for my brother’s demise the way it went down. He was the father of my sister and brother Nerezza and Lucian. You met Raeguel, the good part of Nemesis that separated when the void happened.” There was a pause as she began to calm down. “Nemesis is an evil man we must never get on the wrong side of Eirik. He will destroy everything that we are. He will do it without hesitation. The whole reason my siblings happened was my mother trying to spare me from that fate, a precaution. My siblings were an action but my mother had tried to forge a relationship with the man because of that. Now we’re here with him.”

She went into his arms and closed her eyes. “We can’t let ourselves get on the bad side of him or his family. We must keep a shorter leash on those in the mansion now. The last thing I want is Nemesis on my doorstep because someone did something to one of his. We’ll find out what his motives for showing himself like that were… That I can promise.”

It was a bitter pill to swallow; he was a prideful warrior and shifter and yet he cowered before another. He cowered before a vampire-werewolf fiend who did naught but smile his way. Why did he felt such fear from one mere creature? Aaryona seemed to know plenty about him it seemed, even knowing that he lurked about in this exact city that they were striving to make a name for her clan. This Nemesis…there was something unnatural about him, aside from his breed. Eirik moved a finger to wipe at the blood drawn from her lip. The reaction alone told him that she didn’t like the situation they were in now.

“I suppose that she trusted him enough for him to not disturb us, or better yet, she dealt with him in order to make sure it didn’t occur…” But then why did he smile, knowing who he was? He didn’t like the situation and it was clearly written across his face. “I remember from the trial… I couldn’t imagine what Raeguel’s evil side would be like, but if what you say is true, can we really trust him around these parts? He may clearly know more about the city than we do, and I suppose he has much more advantages than just that… “

He had briefly seen her twin siblings, and both Lucian and Nerezza didn’t even seem to him as being fathered by such a monster. The boy in practical was calm and focused during Nathaniel’s trial. “Your mother’s taste in men is…interesting”, he said for a lack of a better word for it. “Even with that though, who’s to say we are completely free from him?”

Eirk hated that he was so stressed out by this- he was her bodyguard yet Aaryona seemed to be protecting him more so than the other way around, the way it was suppose to be. His arms encircled her a few moments after she came over to him. “You are right. As long as we do not disturb him, he wouldn’t come after us unless he is truly that destructive and short sighted.” He still could shake the feeling that he might be up to something at least now that he knew they were here. But at least the feeling was starting to melt away from him as he held onto his mistress. The wolf felt a bit braver and not as worried over this. He would have to try and be strong for her, even if it meant dealing with Nemesis himself. “I won’t let him or another lay a finger on you…now that I can promise.”

Aaryona kissed his finger as he cleared the blood from her lip. “She can’t control him over here… He probably hasn’t done anything to us because we’re amusing to him. What the real answer is we won’t know until he either tells us or we ask. I don’t think I really want to know the answer anyway.”

The red head kept him close. “It might not matter… if he takes interest in us it will show. He isn’t the type of person to let his prey get away if he sets his eyes on them.” There was a slight fear to her tone but she sounded a bit more confident when she looked up at him. “Everything will be alright.”

There was a chuckle from her lips as she shook her head. “Mother was a completely different person in DaeLuin. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there was a darkness in her heart that rivaled his. She had actually slept with him to protect me and the twins were born on accident.” Tilting her head she thought about it. “I think as long as we are in Kurayo we won’t be free of him… However, we’re in no place to be able to pick up and move the clan at this moment.”

She felt his arms around her and put her face into his chest for a few long moments. “We need to be more careful,” there was a fear that echoed in her voice as she whispered it once last time. Blinking at his words she pulled back for a moment and pressed her lips to his cheek. “I know but here… There are going to be some fights I’m going to have to do by myself no matter how much that might bother us.” She put her hands on his and gave a smile. “I’ll keep getting stronger so you don’t have to worry so much.”

Looking around the parlor she noticed the uneasy stares hidden throughout the house. Nemesis was a name the old ones knew well and it looked like the newest of the clan knew of him as well. “Come on, let's go upstairs. You need to unwind a little.” She took his big hands in hers and pulled him up the stairs to their room. “We’ll deal with it as it comes, I’m not quite sure past being careful what we can do in a situation like this.” She closed the door as she brought him inside the room.

Over the months, years, however long they had been together and in this place, they had made this room their own. It was odd to see Aaryona and Eirik clash in such a way. Seeing their possessions it was almost like two different worlds. She pulled him to the bed and fell down on it so he could be over her. “There’s so much I need to tell you about that place… about myself… that I haven’t gotten a chance to yet.” There was hurt in her voice. “And I need to tell you about it all. It isn’t fair to keep you in the dark about it any longer…. Not that it was my plan but I dislike talking about myself.” But if it could hurt Eirik in any way she wanted to tell him.

She rolled onto the bed farther so he could lay with her. Her eyes seemed distant as she looked around the world they had built for themselves. This place was their safe haven from the rest of the world. “Before I knew about my bloodline, my father’s bloodline that is… I got captured by the elders of the Draconis clan. They knew what my father had done and sought to end it before it could begin. So they tortured me trying to get as much blood as possible.” She knew he saw her scars and at least now he could know what they were about. “Father came back the third time during that time. He brought Lilith with him and they saved me. I had never met Lilith before but my mother and father hadn’t been together for a while so it never crossed my mind that my mother was actually the other woman.” She chuckled a bit.

“He told me about everything. About how I inherited his abilities and Nathaniel inherited being able to create more Draconis. So after that, he gave me a choice what to do. So being my mother’s child I decided to take the mantle and we got revenge on the elders while finding the rest of the remnants. Having to find a new place to go I talked with my mother’s brother-in-law. He ran a guild practically right against the mountains. I knew he had caverns so… I decided to ask for that area to build in. But before that… I had met Vyse.”

Her brown eyes closed. “It would be a while before the caverns could be used anyways but… Vyse showed me the guild hall and we got into a lot of trouble. Gods Eirik I loved that man. Not from the moment, I met him but it grew on me. We got married in secret since he was part of a secret part of the guild, one with the shadows or so he always told me. We weren’t married long when he got sent out on this long mission… I had found out while he was gone that I was pregnant and my mother told me it was twins. I was so happy… I couldn’t wait for him to get home.”

She frowned a bit more as she thought about it. “He never came home. And I did my best to try and get information on it and all I heard was Vyse wasn’t coming back. I was in such shock I guess my body gave and I lost the twins. My mother was so upset, she wasn’t the all powerful goddess she is now. She was just a healer who couldn’t save her grandchildren. I went for a long while without eating or sleeping and it began to really affect me… At that time the city was done where the Draconis could live. Lilith couldn’t stand seeing me like that. Dad had disappeared again which wasn’t uncommon for him but… I wish he had been there to snap me out of it. I did the one thing I have regretted since I remembered I did it. I told my mother to make it all go away and she did. Vyse came back during the first grand ball of the Draconis House. It was to celebrate the completion of the city. Put us on the map. I made him so angry because I couldn’t remember him.”

She flinched a little and opened her eyes. “So… a few days ago he showed up here. Was it the first time we had talked in a decade? Two decades? Gods it gives me a headache thinking about it… He was so angry still. A Kitsune doesn’t forget and so I told him about everything. I’m not sure what he will do. I was scared to say anything. Scared what you would think.” She was holding her stomach for a few moments. “I get scared rather easily for someone who is supposed to rule some of the darkness in people’s hearts.” She scoffed at herself. “I get scared of loss so much easier than I used to. I was just afraid if you heard all of it, you would leave me too.”