“Faster, Archie I want to get this crazy woman away from me.” 

There was a crack of the whip, a cry of the horses, and increase in tempo of the hoof beats on the dirt path. Zora could hear the guards outside clicking their tongues and kicking their horses to keep up with the carriage. It didn’t quite register, though. She sat in the cushioned chair in a simple white gown stained with blood. It stained her face and hands as well and wasn’t coming from any visible injury. She sported a few bruises and the dip in the back of her gown peeked out healed scars from whipping but nothing that bled actively. Her golden eyes stared into nothingness, looking at the empty space beside the man dressed in near royal attire sitting the seat opposite her. 

There was a sudden slow in pace and Zora jumped, her eyes flicking the curtains drawn over the carriage window. Where were they? She thought she heard him say he intended to dump her, though it seemed like he had a particular place in mind. 

Outside there was a dark obelisk and the carriage rocked slightly as the driver stepped off to touch it. The dark mist came and surrounded them. Zora’s heart jumped and pounded in her throat. What place of darkness was he dumping her? Then the mist thinner and was carried on a light breeze until it was gone. The path they now set on did not look unlike the one they had been on before. A sudden chill shook her body though, her skin prickling with the ominous sense that this was indeed somewhere different. 

The carriage lurched and continued forward down the path. Several howling cries broke the tree line in the night and caused Zora to quiver with fear. Certainly the carriage had guards but something in her told her that this was powerful, much more powerful than anything she had ever seen. The carriage seemed to roll on forever until it finally rolled to a stop. The door was opened by the driver and Zora could see a dark, looming mansion. There was a sharp pain on her arm as she was grabbed roughly and jerked from the safety of the carriage. The doors before her stood closed and intimidating. 

“Sir if we leave her here the Gods only know what will happen to her.” The ornately dresses man huffed and waived his hand, tossing her to her knees in front of the door.

“The devil take that woman, I tried!”

Soon enough he was back in the carriage and it was turned around and set off back down the path they came. Zora stared after them in the dark, quivering. She wondered if she should try to go back. There was another howl and it urged her to open the doors and step inside. She shut the doors behind her as quietly as possible. She looked around in awe at the lavish nature of the place and the beautiful art on the walls, wondering at who lived here in a place so dark and so beautiful and dangerous. 

The Obscure Bastion was a sacred place in its own right, depending on who was asked. To those that were devoted followers, it was a safe haven from the "pure hearts" that would discriminate against them and their ways. To his most trusted and beloved, it was home. For Nemesis, it was his territory to do as he saw fit and would see that it was given the utmost respect. The lord had indeed thought that any that dared to come here would follow such a will.

But apparently not from the moment he sensed a carriage roaring down the beaten path and headed directly towards his home. At this time of the hour, he wasn't in the mood to receive an audience as he peeked from the office window and watched it come to a grinding halt. He watched in silence, sitting up against the window as a person was forcefully pulled from the vehicle and tossed like a discarded fruit at his doorsteps before the party returned to the carriage and started to ride off in the other direction. His lips twisted unfavorably in response- this was a sanctuary, his sanctuary. It wasn't meant to get rid of the unwanted and it showed a lack of respect to both the Bastion and himself.

Taking a deep breath, he relaxed and called for the shadow wolves mentally that stalked the grounds. Their commands were simple and brief- "Kill them. Spare the horses." At least they would have more of the latter for his men.

The wolves replied with deathly, grim howls that reached the skies before the portal that those fools had thought to escape through closed up. Despite their pleas and belief for it to reappear, it would not. Instead, they would meet with their final moments as they were flanked by his beautiful creatures and despite their efforts, they would become a filling meal for them. Nemesis took so much notice in watching them get punished that he had neglected to worry about the woman that they had left until now. Getting up, he pondered what to do with her as he felt her presence in his home. Oddly, it felt the faintest familiar to him. Given recent times where he had run into more than a couple of old acquaintances, he wondered if fate was again testing him.

He slipped away from the window and exited the room in a hurry. He was clad in black and blue robes and boots that hit every step of the staircase heavily. His white hair, neatly trimmed and barely passing his ears and those eyes. That lovely shade of red that inspired fear and intrigue at the same time. They would soon find their way onto the new visitor and immediately his beating heart stopped the moment he recognized her. How cruel fate was being to not only himself but to her as well. A long tale of a torrential, chaotic relationship that they had weaved. His own mind was flung into memories where he had been less than ideal as both a leader and as a lover.

He held himself back after a few moments from rushing in and inspecting her- something seemed off, even for her. Perhaps this wasn't the Zora he knew but the equivalent of this world's one. Either way, he would have to approach with care.

"Do not fear, dear child. I have no idea why they left you here", he started as he noticed the blood, the bruising, and then brought his eyes to hers. "But you are safe here. Whether you believe me or not."

In the past that Zora could not recall, she had never been timid. Only proud and strong and fierce. Small but mighty. To those who knew her past, she would seem a shell of her former self, a frightened girl not unlike the human she had been when she found her way to Nemesis many years ago. Delicate fingertips grazed the surface of the nearest painting. There was something peculiar about the shade of red. Her eyes flitted around, taking in the grand appearance of the room. It was far grander than anything she had seen at even the noble’s house.

A deathly cold chill ran up her spine as the howl of unnatural creatures filled the air. She didn’t know how, but somehow her gut told her it wasn’t natural animals. Zora pressed her hand against the glass of a window. While she had always been able to see well in the dark, she didn’t see anything lingering around the house.

Her senses stretched out and slowly there came to her a smell. While her mind told her it was familiar, her memory could not serve her. Her head dipped, fingers coming to massage her forehead as another flash jolted through her mind. Soft ivory hair. Red eyes. Alabaster skin…

The sound of a boot on the stairs jerked her from her memory. Her head snapped up immediately, her heart pounding in her throat as she took in the magnificent creature before her. That’s what he had to be, for surely he was not a man. When he approached her and spoke, she lowered her head and dipped into a clumsy curtsey of respect.

“I think I killed someone. Another servant? I.. I don’t remember.” Surely he would think her mad and toss her out straight away. When she finally allowed her eyes up to meet his, she saw it. It was his face that was burned into her memory. It was his face that wouldn’t go away. Slowly she reached out a hand, her fingertips touching his cold cheek. “It’s you. I keep seeing you like some old memory. Only I don’t remember anything else. Why are you etched into my mind?”

Her brows knitted together in confusion, but it seemed no matter how hard she pressed, all her brain would give her is his image. “I just remember waking up in the grass in a forest. Lord Belman found me. He wanted me to be his Lady because he said I was pretty.” She shifted uncomfortably at the thought of those slimy, creeping hands. “I wouldn’t do what he wanted so he made me a servant. And he would punish me when I did something wrong.” She keenly knew the sound of a whip cracking open flesh. “And then I was just so hungry. And I think I attacked another servant. Everything went black and when I came to, he was shoving me in the carriage and I was covered in blood.”

Gods, he hadn't seen her in such a while but nonetheless, her disheveled look brought him back into familiar times. From seeking her out initially to bring her back into the brood, to constantly rescuing her whenever they parted due to their different views of their relationship. The last time had been very emotional and trying on her as she attempted to bake herself alive with the sun due to Nemesis' attention going elsewhere when their mistress returned. Despite it all, he still tried to save her from her self-destructive ways. Perhaps it had been guilt from everything he put her through. Maybe pity because she, as he had been, was a broken thing with nothing in this world other than what was given to her. It was possible it was a mixture of the two, but he listened well to her words after he initiated the conversation to a rather receptive Zora. 

It was hard to not picture her as that murderous, cutthroat of a vixen that had captured his attention in the beginning. Yet, here she was, attempting to make sense of her situation. He took another step forward when she acknowledged him as someone that she had known, at least at face value. Still, she wasn't fully aware of his identity nor of what he had contributed to her life, good and bad. 

It did feel like a fresh start to him, but the God was wise in knowing that it was possible that her memory could return at some point, someday. And that would make matters worse for them. "Allow me to explain. I am Nemesis and we've known each other from another world, as absurd as it sounds. We belonged to a vampire family and I was the head when I sought to bring you back. Our…relationship was much more than just broodmates though." He didn't wish to go into specific details on that matter. 

"But I have hurt you countless times, dear Zora. And then…I suppose the sundering had done the rest after that. I do not know why exactly you can't remember me completely or that of what happened when we had last saw each other." He shrugged a bit and then beckoned her with a finger and summoned a goblet filled with crimson liquid. "You attacked the servant out of instinct, I'd imagine. You did nothing, my child." 

Nemesis gently handed her the goblet and made sure that she didn't drop it before continuing, "I take it that this Lord Belman was in the carriage that tossed you out? Well, he won't hurt you anymore. My wolves out there had seen to that earlier."   

Some might would call it luck that Zora did not remember the broken creature she had been in another world. Still, having nothing in your past seemed to leave a person lost as to who they were and what their purpose was in this life.

She wished his name would have unlocked some gateway to her mind but it did not. All she knew was the raw emotions she felt upon hearing it. She felt safety and she felt a sense of closeness and comfort. It did not surprise her to hear her vampirism confirmed as she always suspected but never had the full on gumption to simply ambush someone for a meal. 

He referred to their time together as a relationship but failed to elaborate leaving her to wonder what exactly he meant. “You will forgive me Lord? Nemesis but you leave me to wonder what you could possibly have seen in a creature so feeble and timid as I.” Zora’s eyes drifted down in embarrassment, lingering there for a moment and then rising back up. 

He made her feel better about her loss of control, chalking it up to a mere predators instinct. It made sense. She was not sure when the last time was that she had fully satisfied herself by squelching her hunger for blood. To survive she had sometimes drank from animals. But it never quite fulfilled the hunger. Her shaky hands took the goblet and took a sip of the blood within. Once the taste hit her tongue, her eyes fluttered in delight at the treat. She turned the cup up ravenously and drank without stopping until it was empty. A flush of embarrassment hit her. “I’m sorry it just… tastes so different. It is so much more satisfying.” 

Her brows raised in surprise when he mentioned the Lord and his men were “seen to”. She assumed they had been killed. Zora knew death was meant to be a sad thing but found it difficult to care if the wretched man had been killed. 

Golden eyes caught on his robes and she seemed to become self-conscious of her own appearance. Here he was in regal robes and all his grace, while she was disheveled in a crumpled white dress with blood smeared everywhere. “Where do I go? You say we were family and we had a relationship. What do I do? I don’t know when or if I ever will have my memories return to me. I have nothing. No one.” 

An arm folded across her front as she grasped her opposite elbow. Zora felt her eyes grow misty so she dug her nails into her arm to try to regain composure. “I understand if you don’t want me to stay but.. might I bother you for clean clothes and a bath?” Deep in her mind she was begging him not to make her go. He was the first thing that felt familiar that felt safe. She had no idea what she would do if he sent her away. 

"Another life, another time, you were entirely a different person, Zora", he stated in a cool tone. "You were someone that strove to get what you wanted and damned any that stood in your way. You may not feel it, but you were a killer, poised, and beautiful. Your only flaw was loving me for I knew not how to do so the right way with you." By now, he felt as if he could speak to her about the situation without stirring her temper. Her destructive nature, show it eventually come out, could be ravenous at times; something that he had both loved and loathed, depending on the situation and time. To see her be this docile was something bizarre for him, even given the amount of time they had been apart. 

He let her feed upon the blood and saw some remnants of the old vampiress he knew. It was a bit amusing to see it through his face dropped slightly and took hold of the goblet again. "Don't fret about it. I can't imagine how long you have gone without feeding the urge. Given how your last meal went, it must have been long enough to be hard on your body." It was unfortunate that she had been separate from anyone that could have taught her the skills and knowledge required when she came into the company of her lord. He removed the chalice from sight and led her into the parlor room, but not before he hesitated slightly. He knew well of those words before- it was sprung from her lips quite a few times prior. He said nothing of it until they entered a new environment filled with more lavish furniture and a cabinet filled with different decanters of liquor. "I do not know either, Zora. You could never recover them for all we know, or at the least likely time, regain them." The lord's eyes fell upon her and shook his head, "Relax. You may stay for as long as you need. But I need you to understand that our relationship was a long time ago. I do this because you were my child, my twice sired. But things had changed." He glanced onto his wedding rings and then looked back to her. 

"Like you, I have changed greatly. No longer am I a mere vampire, but was blessed with that of wolf as well. My blood had changed me, inside and out. We may speak more about it after your bath." He called for a maid, another vampiress, to come to assist her and take Zora up the stairs and into the bathing room where she would set up the hot water into the tub, as well as the arrangement of oils and soaps. Another was instructed to fetch her a fresh set of clothes and the two were to dress her. Once that was taken care of, they were to escort her to a room properly prepared where he was waiting for her. A glass of bloodwine was in his grasp as he looked towards the full moon from the window.  

Zora felt simultaneously shocked and yet also not that she had once loved this creature. If for no other reason his beauty and grace and demeanor were hypnotizing. The longer she looked at him, the more charmed she became with him. She wished to touch his snowy hair, to feel the coldness of his skin just like her own, and to know what he tasted of. He called her beautiful and a killer. While she found this hard to believe, it still sent a shiver down her spine. Her spirits fell, though she tried to not show it, when he mentioned that he had never loved her the same. Though was she truly surprised? A beautiful creature deserved something that was not broken. 

She felt muscles, taught as cords since she arrived, loosen and relax as he told her she could stay, though it came with a warning. She nodded her head and looked down at her feet, suddenly embarrassed that she ever dared hope even for a split second that there was someone ready to embrace her lovingly. “Thank you, I won’t make you wait long,” she muttered as she hurried off, eager to be away from where he might sniff out the mixed jumble of emotions within her. 

The bath was ready and steam wafted up heavily from the water’s surface. As soon as she slipped her ruined dress off and her body sank, the water began turning red. The maid helped her bathe until not a single trail of red was left on her body or her face. When she got out she brushed her dampened hair and the maids laced up the corset of her dress. It was much nicer than anything she ever owned. It was red like his eyes with golden brocade on the corset and matching slippers. The silhouette was thin and a slight slit in the fabric came up to her knee.

She followed them out of the bathing room and into a well furnished room where he was sitting holding a glass of something whose scent smelled faintly of blood though muddled with the scent of wine. She smiled the best she could when she entered. At least this dress covered her scars.

She approached him and knelt down in front of him, taking his hand and pressing her cold lips to the top of it as one might do with any noble person. “Thank you for what you have done for me.” The taste of his skin lingered on her lips. She felt as though they were tingling.

As she rose she trailed her fingertips across her own lips, wondering at the strange sensation. Zora took a seat opposite him. “Perhaps if you tell me more I might remember?” 

He had to be careful as to not allure her into the very trap that caused such turmoil. Her love, her obsession she had over him…he was starting to witness signs that it hadn't gone completely dormant as he had once thought. There were subtle clues at first with how she carried herself almost as if she was comparing the two of them. In truth, she was a real beauty but her mind had been damaged time and time again, though much of it was his fault for the part he played into it. He hadn't been able to understand her back then, of why she was so taken by him that she would go against heaven and hell itself for just a taste, a craving of his attention. And deep down, the god had taken advantage over and over again much to the point where he had believed he loved her. 

Her words and actions before she had left only strengthened his assumptions and while he kept a smiling face as she left with the maid, he took a deep breath and quickly poured his drink. This was going to be a hell of a night the way things would go. He almost shuddered to think of what would come if and when she would regain her memories. As of right now, he could handle her as she was. But when the redhead would regain them…only time would tell. The fight she could summon from her could make a hellcat blush. 

He knew what room would be ready for her and headed up there and waited there for about an hour before she had arrived in the bedroom.  

One look and he could see what had captivated him that first night. Her new attire suited her much better than what she had come herein. He gestured for the two maids to leave them for now and they quietly took their exit. To his surprise, Zora came and kneeled before him. Just as he was about to speak against it, she took his hand and kissed in. Her cold lips pressed against his warm hand, it felt a bit odd to him for more than one reason. "You need not kneel, my child. It is the least I could do for you, given our history."

He conjured a bottle and sat down with her. A second glass appeared next to her and he refilled his before pouring some of the bloodwine into hers. "It's merely something to lavish over, dear. Not enough to sustain you", he advised her, before he fell silent for a moment or two. He owed her the truth, not some fabrication that he could twist to suit his own purpose. No, he had learned from long ago that he should have been up and front with her. Perhaps this was a second chance to do her right this time. "We were children of Azrail Blackbird, and when she fell from grace, she had selected me to carry on with the family. You were the first I found, and I took you in. From there…we became lovers from the first night though I admit that I wasn't the most devoted. You, on the other hand, were and wanted me completely. We fought sometimes, and yet time and time again, we would find one another and renew where we left off." His voice was sincere enough, and he truly felt for the girl that wanted the one thing she couldn't really get from him. "You had been so enthralled that I had to save you when you decided to give your life to the blazing sun. You cursed me and I fought back and dragged you back home forcefully. From there, I do not what happened to you afterward. I had thought you escaped and started anew, freed from the burden I placed onto you." 

"I never did say what I should have done so many moons ago. That I am truly sorry for putting you through hell and back." His eyes lowered in shame before he placed the glass down onto the table. "I can never fully make up the harm I did to your heart, but I won't abandon you again. Serve me once more, Zora. Even if you grow to despise or regain your memory, I do want to make sure you are a victim of the streets or brutish masters anymore. You will always have a home for as long as I draw breath."

Before long, he realized that he had missed one crucial detail. "You will be under the protection of the Lord of Shadows and Fear, the one that sits in front of you. Serve as my envoy and your god will protect you…but if you need some time to think, I can respect that." 

Zora took the glass of blood wine when it was set down beside her. Her keen scent could discern the blood over the smell of the wine. She picked it up and swirled it lightly before taking a sip. The tang of the blood was still euphoric and tantalized her with a satisfaction to her hunger that she had never known. He had told her that she need not kneel but she couldn’t help herself. She felt like she owed him so much, not to mention the feeling she had stirring that she did not understand.

She had leaned forward, her glass set down, with her elbow on her knee and her chin resting on her palm, listening intently. He explained her past and what they were to each other and what she had been willing to do for him. It explained some of the feelings she had in her gut. “I guess I didn’t escape. I don’t know what happened to me. I woke up in the grass in a forest with no memory.”

He was so generous to offer her a place to stay and some purpose in life no matter what had happened between them. When he mentioned that he was a God, she was a little taken aback but smiled. “That’s a terrifying title,” she remarked. “I knew you were something different just wasn’t quite sure what. Thank you for your generosity. I would be happy to serve in whatever capacity you need me in.” She bowed her head to him and took another sip of blood wine.

Suddenly she went rigidly still, the glass almost slipping from her hand. In her mind there was steam… steam from a bath. His form was atop hers. She could swear she could feel him, taste his lips. There was a symphony of pleased sounds. The memory faded into nothingness just as quickly as it came. “The bath,” she muttered. “It seems like it was always baths?” She didn’t know how accurate she was getting it. 

Zora wished she could taste that taste one more time. Just to see if what she remembered was even true. Her golden eyes lingered on his lips before moving back to his face framed by that snowy hair that had been wet and stringy in her memory. “Well,” she sighed. “That was one interesting memory.” Then something pricked her mind.

“I don’t want to seem vain… but if you’re a God could you do something for me? I don’t want to be reminded of this for the rest of my long life.” She stood up and turned, reaching around to unlace her corset. She dropped the dress down around her waist folding her arms around her front. The smooth alabaster skin of her back was marred with scars from the constant whippings. 

"Perhaps. Your story isn't too much unlike most that survived the crossover. I tossed further back into time than most were. I had nothing more than just myself and my raven. I started anew, as you have and during that long period of time, it gave me a chance to rethink of everything I did wrong with the family. You, especially." He leaned back into his seat and sighed, "I swore that I would never treat those aligned with me like playthings anymore and focus on the important things like survival and my goals. It has taken forever but I have stayed on that path ever since." He wouldn't simply throw Zora out into the wilderness, on her own. Nay, that would be the cruelest thing he could do to her and he did owe her a better life than the one he forced onto her. He would let her make that choice if to side with him and once she accepted it, he would make sure that she would stronger than this timid creature that she was portraying. No, he had big plans for his child. 

"It's not one that I excepted, but fate chose me for whatever reason. I simply shall not abuse it for I have seen what has happened to many that let the power overtake them, Zora. The fall is always the hardest thing a deity can go through and if should happen to me…I do not know if I would be able to survive." But such talk had no place for long here and instead, he felt the need to let out a slight chuckle. At first, he wasn't very sure about what her words had meant about baths but before long, a somewhat amused look came across him. "I see your memory has started to come back. I can't be too surprised in seeing my likeness was able to stir those memories." 

"The first time was the night I brought you back home. I was overseeing you as you bathed and we got caught up in a wicked game. You won, but not before we got too lost into it. " He seemed to recall that he had been her first male lover later on. From there, things became complicated as he took on others in the brood and her jealousy got the best of her. And then when their mistress returned, he was to terminate any inappropriate affairs or else she would kill the women in question in front of him. Of course, he had never told Zora that before and their last interaction had been less than ideal. He was satisfied to hear that she would remain here and serve him. "In time, I have a great purpose for you. But until then, I will teach you what you will need to know of this world as well as Revaliir. You have hidden talents, an affinity with magic if I recall correctly. As well as some talents I hadn't known before such as healing. I do not know if you have retained that knowledge but we can look further into this another time." 

Nemesis rose up to his feet and slowly descended upon her. Standing behind her, his fingers reached up and felt the scars. For as long as he knew her, she had such injuries that ruined her otherwise flawless skin, through countless beating from guards, ruffians, and the like. It was disgusting that even now that she suffered through such injustice. "And you shouldn't have to, either", he replied as his magic fell upon her. It was freezing cold to the touch yet she would only have to endure it for a brief time before every inch of her body was freed from such ugliness. He pointed towards a mirror for her to inspect herself, to see that the past no longer shackled her. "It's a new start for you, my precious child."