The Kin

  ***

  Her name was Fabia. She didn’t have to tell him, it was there in his mind already from the shared consciousness of the Kin. And they could communicate silently with each other, something else that was left over from their shared past and exacerbated by their exchange of blood.

  She stayed the rest of the night and every night after. They took comfort in each other, talking openly and mourning the loss of the Kin and expressing their fears and worries for the future.

  Junius became ultra-protective of her even though she was fiercely independent, and more than capable of looking after herself. She in turn viewed him as her would-be maker and superior, but it had nothing to do with his position in Roman society; it was based on their standing in the Kin hierarchy.

  Slowly, despite her best efforts and regular blood from Junius, the influences of the Kin left her body, but she insisted on holding onto her beliefs and adoration of them. In her eyes they could do no wrong and had been cruelly murdered. Junius gave up trying to persuade her to see the truth of their existence; in many ways she was like a child and in fact she’d only been seventeen years when her maker had claimed her.

  Junius quickly regained his strength and was soon able to train properly with the other legionaries. Gradually he also came to terms with the traces of the Kin still inside him; more and more he was able to enjoy the benefits of being stronger and faster, with far more acute senses.

  He recognised that he had a few options open to him if he couldn’t get the darkness inside him completely under control. He could always to go back to the Kin, which was an idea that didn’t really appeal given his last experience. Or there was the possibility of returning to Rome and joining a cult that required their followers either to become eunuchs or remain chaste all their lives, though that didn’t really appeal and it wasn’t ideal as he’d be joining for the wrong reasons. He’d also heard that the rituals of Dionysus involved plenty of sex and debauchery, so his penchant for biting necks might not be noticed there. It sounded ludicrous to him, but if he couldn’t get the desire under control that might be the best option.

  When Marius returned, Junius was back on his feet and almost ready to return to Rome, though he didn’t tell his friend of the internal difficulties he was experiencing.

  Unfortunately Fabia took an instant dislike to the older Roman, which wasn’t surprising considering what he’d been away doing. She called him murderer to his face and accused him of killing her friends, which he’d done and couldn’t deny. He was proud of it as well, which also didn’t help. No matter how many times Junius tried to explain to Fabia that it had been necessary to destroy the new Kin, the girl refused to listen and wouldn’t have anything to do with Marius.