A Greater Love

Running with a friend or maybe two

Finally both women were out of the town centre and now walking on the beach as the waves started to calm down for the day and the tide rescinded for the nighttime. Upon reaching the sand Annea had quite loudly made the decision that she was going to take her sandals off to enjoy the sand.

Dora just laughed off the way her friend acted so dramatically and was thankful when after a quick survey of their surroundings that no humans had been out to hear the auburn haired woman's declaration.

"Come on Athena hurry up," Annea shouted from halfway across the beach as her long hair wafted slightly in her face from the nighttime winds. Athenodora as requested started to quicken her very human pace turning it into a vampire run instead.

"There is that better!" Athenodora exclaimed as she was now standing just behind Annea. The girl then jumped out of her skin when the blonde vampire spoke, she hadn't expected her to use vampire speed to get to her.

"You just gave me a heart attack!" Annea shouted as she held her hand near where her heart was beating rapidly from receiving the fright of her life, but all Athenodora did was grin widely at her accomplishment of scaring her closest and currently only friend.

"Oh sorry, last I checked your the one who asked me to hurry up," Athenodora retorted smartly as she received a hit to the arm from a very annoyed Annea, who was now whacking the vampire's marble hard skin with her sandals, knowing better than to use her hands.

"Not like that!" Annea screeched one last time with one last hit to Athenodora's unwilling arm. "Plus I'm still not happy," Annea continued speaking her shoes now finally lowered back down to her side.

"And why's that?" Athenodora asked with a single huff of annoyance, she'd ran all the way other to her and she still wasn't satisfied, what more did she need to do? Well the answer came quicker than the vampire had expected as Annea was now unclasping her cloak and letting it drop to the sand.

"Oi! what was that for?" Athenodora asked whilst looking from her cloak that now rested on the sand beneath her feet and her friend, a term she was starting to greatly question. "Was that really needed Annea?" This time she asked the question with a less raised voice because clearly, as she should have known, Annea didn't answer to authority.

"Well I couldn't see you properly under that thing, and now I can, I swear not even Artemis could have seen you under that thing." Annea explained her reasoning for removing Athenodora's purple cloak that she had, had on all day.

"Well it's off now you happy?" She wasn't angry but curious and feeling just a little mischievous.

"Very much so, thank you." Annea spoke proudly of what she was able to accomplish, and then an idea came to her mind and she was desperate to know if the snowy blonde vampire would indulge her. "Race to the other end of the beach with our stuff and No! Vampire! Speed!" She harshly emphasised the last part making the rule crystal clear.

"Sounds like a challenge, I'm in." Athenodora agreed and then went to grab her purple cloak, that looked black under the nights sky, and they both got themselves into a running stance. "Three. Two. One!"

Athenodora spoke the last number and then they were both off, Annea was trying with all her might to run faster than she ever had before to try and beat her vampire companion but when she looked over to said vampire, all she saw was how Athenodora's face seemed unconcerned as if this was all child play.

Still with all the might she could muster Annea kept running and running, and then the two started to run by the tall cliffs that over looked the beach and further down over looked the sea, but that part wasn't safe to venture to as the sea's waters were unstable in that area.

The finish line was so close in sight for Annea and determination was written all over her face and then finally, she passed the invisible finish line panting and wheezing with her sandals surprisingly still in hand. Then she started to look around her to see if she had won and to her utter disbelief Athenodora wasn't there, she'd won.

A minute passed and Annea had done her little victory dance and all, but still Athenodora wasn't there. Where was she? Annea thought and in the darkness of the night it was hard for her to see anything with her very much human vision.

Now with it being longer than a minute of waiting Annea took it upon herself to go and walk back down the beach to try and find the stubborn woman. She only had to walk down a couple of metres before her eyes caught sight of the snowy blonde, who was still holding her cloak in hand.

"Athena!" Annea called as she ran other to check on her friend and make sure everything was okay.

"Athena, is everything alright? What happened?"
She bombarded the vampire with questions when she reached her panting for air, from running so many times in the past five minutes.

"I saw her again," Athenodora said plainly as she continued to look at the point of where the city began to end and the forest began atop the cliffs above. "I'm certain I did," Annea was struggling to understand if Athenodora was saying that for her benefit or whether she was instead trying to convince herself.

"Well what should you do?" Annea didn't have a clue how best to handle the situation, so instead she opted to ask Athenodora the question, so she could make the decision for herself.

"I'm going to go after her," The woman's voice this time was far off. Clearly she was debating in her own head what was best to do and now she had come to the conclusion but was still undecided. "I have to."

"I'm here for that, you know I am Athena," Annea would always stand by her best friend no matter what, it never fazed her that she had a vampire for a friend, perhaps it should, but it didn't. She'd known Athenodora for two years now and regardless of how they met it doesn't matter, she was always here for her.

"Annea go home, Im going to go after her, I think she needs me, I'm not sure but there's something that's telling me to go. I'll meet you near the gardens at noon tomorrow okay." Athenodora kept eye contact with Annea the entire time making sure the red-headed woman understood her instructions.

"Okay, I'll see you at the gardens tomorrow," Annea nodded her head and began to put her sandals back on her feet so that she could make the walk back home easier. Once the shoes were back on her feet, she grasped Athenodora's shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze, "Good luck, I hope you find her."

And after saying this Annea was off back down the beach walking home, "Night, Wisdom Goddess!" She heard her call from up ahead and all Athenodora could do was smile fondly and shake her head softly.

"Good night, little fox."
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Hey everyone, here we are another chapter complete, sorry for the bit of a long wait I've been super busy with school and other projects. Well I hope you all enjoyed and guess what SUMMER HOLIDAYS START IN TWO DAYS. So I will be update a lot more frequently across most of my books. Until next time fellow readers.