Chapter 14: Heat Period

Rye no longer hesitated and turned around to run only for Krella to dash in front of the door and stop her.

"Nobody touches her!' Krella yelled her voice loud and authoritative as it echoed through the entire room. "I thought I raised you better, especially you Jurio. If you suck her dry, how can we ensure our continued supply of blood? Think of the possibilities!" Krella

"But mother! Her blood —"

"Shut up Jaius! I drank the same cup you did. If you bite her now how will you get such quality of blood over the years? If you make a fuss over this, even the other servants will find out and we'll no longer be able to keep her for ourselves," Krella said, doing her best to explain things to her dumber son.

"Mother's right! We acted too rashly. The possibilities are endless," Jario spoke, his red eyes still blazing in excitement even if his demeanor was just as calm as it previously was.

'What the hell's happening? I personally saw Misha mix the blood with hers' Rye thought her heart racing in her chest.

Even then as she watched them argue and agree amongst themselves she could still feel the desire they felt when they looked at her.

The implications were maddening. 'If they felt this way after tasting my blood mixed with Misha's own, what would they do if they took a version that wasn't mixed?' Rye asked herself, realizing that her continued existence was a danger to her.

"Rye! You'll continue to work here and provide me and my family with blood twice a week. You will be heavily compensated," Krella informed her. Rye instantly nodded, well aware that even if she had any objections, they could simply take it by force.

Misha will take care of you in case you need anything. I hope I don't have to tell you just how precious your blood is. Imagine what would happen if you had to share it with the entire village," Krella warned and Rye didn't have to pretend to tremble in fear.

The thought of it was enough to send fear to the very core of her being.

She and Misha were dismissed and after the cups and trays were taken care of, Rye silently followed Misha back to her room.

"You'll be staying with me until everything is ready for you to escape sometime this week. In the meantime, I'll teach you everything you need to know to continue pretending to be a Santor Halfling. The language and we'll also figure out a good name for you to use when you meet other Santors,"

"I'll try and teach you how to make your eyes look more slanted with black powder and a couple of things that would help you," Misha continued and Rye nodded vigorously her full attention on Misha whom she felt eternally grateful.

The horror of what would have happened to her if the blood hadn't been mixed was still fresh in Rye's mind.

"Thank You, Misha. I can't think of a way to thank you but if you need something from me all you have to do is ask," Rye said, as Misha passed her a full pair of bedsheets and a pillow she could use for the night.

She could see them growing to become friends and much more than that for her stay there, which was why she was a little surprised to hear Misha's response.

"It's fine! All I want you to do is leave!" Misha coldly responded as she walked back to her bed to sleep for the night.

Rye couldn't help but wonder at Misha's sudden coldness as she also laid down to sleep. But above all, she worried about her future.

The stories she heard about Reds rearing humans were real, and the more she thought about it the more she realized that being the only human in such a small village had its benefits.

'If Krella can keep a secret as long as they provide me with blood, they won't hurt me. Most importantly they can rear me with no other human or male species in sight," Rye thought, having looked around to understand that apart from Reds she had only seen female Santors.

Rye felt that with Misha's help, she would be fine and nothing absurd could go wrong but all that changed when she woke up the next morning having stained the white sheets she slept under.

When she least expected it and abhorred having it, Rye was horrified to get her period.

*********************

Klaton did a head count the moment he got back to their abandoned hideout to make sure that all his men were accounted for.

Right after, he gave his orders for them to go back to their daily lives until he sent out messages for them to meet again. The main reason was for them to continue to recruit more people into the rebellion.

Surprisingly, the farwells didn't take as much time as Klaton assumed it would as he watched all his men depart apart from Mino, his second in command.

"I already told you that I'm not leaving. I already applied to work under Hozah, Lieutenant 2 and my application had been accepted," Mino boasted with a hint of pride in his tone, considering that Klaton had promised to allow him stay if he could.

"Okay, but we need to leave now and meet up with them tomorrow. I think the King ordered him to search for the group that attacked the slave tower," Klaton said, walking out of the house and removing the cloth he had around his face.

The cloth had barely been snapped up when it instantly caught fire and burnt into ashes in the space of seconds.

Mino looked amused at seeing Klaton's use of his powers and simply shook his head knowing better than to nag Klaton about it since he would simply do it more to annoy him.

"They must be pissed! I'm sure they're pressing the lieutenant to find them at any cost. We should do our best to aid him," Mini commented with a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

Something he found greatly amusing the more he walked beside Klaton as they discussed it, while they walked and maneuvered their way through the dark roads of the lower city.

"Of course. It's just annoying that we ran all through the night and made it back to the lower city but we have to run back,"

"Run back?" Mino asked with an extremely confused look on his face.

"We're meeting up with them at the Baran Villages, all three closest to the slave tower. There's been some information going around that some of the slaves escaped," Klaton explained. Mino's eyebrows instantly shot up in shock, as he fully turned to look at Klaton whose sole focus was the path in front of him.

"You think the slaves escaped?" Mino asked, recalling the human woman who had begged to follow them.

"No, I don't but the Royals do. But if by chance they did, then Humans are bigger fools than I previously thought they were," Klaton responded in a deep tone, his eyes flashing with a look of irritation as he recalled the crying human he had spoken to.

'Weak and powerless. The sooner they accept their fate the better. Only the strong can change the world' Klaton thought muttering the last part under his breath.

"Only the strong can change the world," Mino mumbled in agreement, echoing their group's mantra while wondering why Klaton suddenly decided to say it.

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"Wake up! Misha!" Rye sharply whispered under her breath as she shook Misha, doing her best to wake her up as quickly as she could.

Misha on the other hand looked extremely annoyed as she continued to hold on to her blanket, without making any efforts to open her eyes and pay attention to Rye.

"Misha, this is important!" Rye spoke again directly into her ears only to feel a hard push against her shoulder, one that almost sent her flying off the bed.

"Leave me alone! The fact that I don't feel like waking up means that it's not dawn yet. Whatever you have to say can wait until then," Misha snapped, pulling her blankets higher close enough to hide her face.

This only made Rye feel more desperate as she focused on Misha and reached out to swipe off the blanket on her body in one swoop.

"WHAT THE--"

"Remember what you mentioned about the monthly stuff?"

"If you don't say what you--"

"It came. I woke up and I saw blood on the sheets," Rye informed her, glad to see Misha slowly open her eyes and sit up to look at her, even with an extremely annoyed look on her face.

"Why are humans so annoying?" Misha loudly asked, slowly getting off the bed to look into her wardrobe.

"You'll remain in this room for the entire day. I'll inform the mistress that you're sick,"

"What about for the rest of the week?" Rye asked, accepting the supplies Misha passed to her. She was relieved to have someone look out for her and she couldn't even hide it.

"What do you mean? Your heat period should be over in a day no?" Misha asked, confused as she stared at Rye trying to understand what she was trying to say.

"It takes seven days. Yours only takes a day?" Rye asked, shocked at the new information she received, while trying to hide the slight envy that came with it.