Thirst of the Insane

Chapter 2

"Are you even going to tell us when you plan on doing this raid of yours?" Amey asked, just as Amaranth stopped to listen.

Ameera narrowed her eyes at him slightly and almost growled out, "It's not a raid. I go looking for them, yes. But I'm not going to break into their home if they are not out looking for me. It's only those that know who I am and still want to take some from me whether I want them to or not. You know...the ones that force me to. The ones that have left marks on this skin just for their own selfish reasons."

She didn't go any further because she knew her brothers understood why she did what she did. It was the reason that they never tried to really stop her unless they found out there was more than one that was working together. She appreciated the help and the information they gave her. She was after all small and even though she was their princess, she was still half human and therefore, weaker than most of her people.

"Sorry, sis. I didn't mean it to sound like you killed our kind in their sleep and you have only killed the ones that have been after our princesses for years. You have even killed a couple of them that have killed a princess in the past but could never be found to give punishment to. Some reason, you can be led right to them. We're happy to help you in your quest, it's just hard to see you put yourself in danger for it. Especially, when we know we are here for you and supposed to be protecting you," Amey explained softly.

She looked over at Amaranth to see him nodding in agreement. "It does make us feel like we are useless, 'meer. Here we are, supposed to be able to protect you from being killed and sometimes you are caught and disappear for days. It's true that you do get away and half the time you end up killing the one that has you captured, but you are always so badly hurt that you are out of it for days after that. We can't even wake you up...do you realize how scared we get at those times?"

Ameera frowned and stared at the ground when her brothers spoke. She knew they were right and she hated making them feel that way. She didn't mean to, but she knew she did and she took the responsibility for it. "I'm sorry," she whispered trying to ignore those feelings that had come from them.

Amey walked to her and gave her a hug, and Amaranth joined in a few seconds later, not liking that his sister was feeling like she had done one of the worse things in the world.

"We know you are. We wouldn't ever hold it against you, but we do worry and we wish you would let us help you sometimes," Amey said, while Amaranth kept quiet for a change.

Ameera smiled, but they could tell it was a painful one, "The problem with you trying to help me is that other Upir can sense you two. I have their memories and the ones that are dead have the memory of your scent and aura, so they can sense you coming and run before you get to them. Your power and aura overwhelms theirs. That's why they sense you before you sense them. So, if you were to come with me and try to help me catch someone, all you would do would be to scare them off. Then they would know what I looked like, but I'd never get a good look at them. I'd be at a disadvantage."

The two brothers pulled back a few steps and looked at her with wide eyes. They never realized that other Upir could sense them from that far off. They had never had a reason to reign in their power and try to control it in any way, shape or form. Amey's expression turned thoughtful and Amaranth just shook his head, annoyed with himself for not realizing that sooner. It made a lot more sense to them now. They had never encountered any Upir while they were with Ameera, but she always found other Upir when she was alone and they were nowhere near her.

"Why do they sense you then?" Amaranth asked, curious now about learning everything he could about it now. "And do you know if there is a way for us to control what other Upir sense from us?" He knew they had the memories from their people just as much as their sister did, but their sister had a little more range on what she could look at and what she wasn't allowed to look at. Ameera even had permission to look at all the memories of their fallen people. If an Upir was completely gone from this world, Ameera could go in that memory and look at it for as many times as she wanted to. All the princesses did.