Crimson Blood

Chapter 1

"The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win"
— Myamoto Musashi

'Why are you here?'

'You don't remember, do you?' he asked in a deep voice. 'I made that same question when you dropped that rotten bag to the ground by my side and kneeled, aiding your enemy.'

The woman's head was pounding and her body could barely gather enough strength to keep her awake and aware. There still could be people out there looking for her, it didn't matter the brim of the night that fell upon them.

The man assessed her wounds and lucky for him, there weren't as many as he thought. Some cuts here and there and bruised areas that would hurt like hell later, but nothing major.

'Can you walk?'

'Where to?' Her words came out blurry. Was she going to have a stroke?

'Crap, Burnham, that wasn't the question I made.' The man knew she didn't have much time left if he didn't do anything. 'Listen to me, woman.' He urged, looking inside her eyes while his voice expressed a note of despair he didn't want to acknowledge. 'You've been giving me hell ever since you've gone after me that day in the woods. Every single one of my nightmares is filled with visions of your devilish smile while you were bathed in my blood. You are not to die in this measly way, do you hear me?!' He couldn't scream or his voice could alert other people of their whereabouts, but his angered whisper was enough to display his disturbed state. 'When you die, it's either going to be by my bullet or my blade. No one nor anything will take away the honor of killing you from me, do you hear me?! Don't you dare die!'

Although she could feel her life slipping through her fingers, the woman was still able to draw a weak smile.

'If anyone heard you, they would think you're in love with me or something, Hades.'

'You ain't got the right to call me by name, Crow.'

'What a duo we are.' Her breaths were getting shorter and harder to drag out. 'The god of the dead and death itself.'

The man knew what she was doing; saying her goodbyes. But he wouldn't accept it, not this way. Crow Burnham was the most stubborn, despicable and brilliant soldier he had ever met, in both enemy and ally lines.

In all his years of service in this war, only she had been able to match his intelligence in military strategies and his combat knowledge. She was beyond skilled and secretly, he wished she had been on the same side as him. Both could've become partners who would look out for each other on the battlefield.

Instead, Crow had been born on the West continent. And she had been the thing Hades had to be aware of while in battle.

Regardless of the flag they fought for, he would not let her die like this. He still didn't know the details, but it seemed like she, the captain of her battalion, had been betrayed by her associates. After serving for three years in the war, collecting scars the man had given her, she had become nothing more than a mere pawn thrown away.

As a fellow warrior, he acknowledged her. She was the only one he ever would, nobody else was on their level, much less over them. It took him his whole life to find someone who shared the same burdens and thoughts, the same skill and mastermind. Seeing her die with no honor was not something he would let her do.

'You swore to make me regret the day I decided to be a soldier, Burnham. And you told me you never go back on your word.'

'Scared I'm gonna leave you, Hades?'

'It's Bennetti for you, Burnham. And swallow up the victim act, it doesn't fit you.' If he hadn't known any better, the man would've thought she let out a pained laugh.