Asher's first instinct was to draw his knives, seeing the massive man enter his tent.  The severed head, which he held by the hair, he recognised as a junior scout, and he flinched as it was tossed aside.  The man approached and stared him down, and Asher was only moments from taking his head off himself, until he called Seraphina his sister.  Asher clenched his jaw, at a loss for how to respond.  The vampire was a threat, and even with the way Seraphina stepped in between, he had no intention of backing down.<br/><br/>"I mean her no harm," he growled at Jax, "And it would be wise of you to keep your head low if you prefer to keep it on your shoulders."  Asher backed away a couple of paces, and then held his knives in front where Jax could see them, making a show of sheathing them back into his vest.  "I have every intention of seeing her home safely, but my hands are tied.  I can't stop my Clan from attacking you again, that I guarantee.  Nor do I want to see<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>taking any more heads."<br/><br/>He heard some commotion outside and a scream.  The scout's name was cried out, presumably someone had discovered his body.  Asher swore under his breath, racing to the opening of the tent and peering outside.  There were several hunters gathering around the barracks, and the scout's body was being covered under a dark linen.  He closed the flap tightly behind his back and ran his hand nervously through his hair again, hissing a long line of profanity.  He could almost feel the rest of his Clan's rage building, and should they see either of these vampires within the camp, there would be no corner of the valley in which to escape their wrath.<br/><br/>He raised his head and spoke to the pair of them urgently.<br/><br/>"You two need to leave.<span style="font-style: italic">Now.</span>"<br/><br/>Without another word, he exited the tent and raced toward the barracks, where the Chief was seeing to the fallen comrade.  He pushed through the small crowd, and upon his arrival, several heads turned his way.  Their eyes were accusing, and he knew right away what they were thinking.  This was his fault.  He spotted Zaine storming through the ranks, hunters clearing a path as she walked, her expression contorting somewhere in between rage and grief.  She didn't slow as she approached him, and struck him across the jaw, strong enough to send him spinning to the dirt.  She didn't stop when he was face down.  She picked him back up by the back of his shirt and turned him over, crouching on top his chest and holding her knife to his throat.  She pressed into his windpipe- hard- and drew blood.<br/><br/>"Where is she?" Zaine snarled, her injured arm shaking with the force she exerted on him.  Asher cracked an eye open and coughed.<br/><br/>"She got away-"<br/><br/>"<span style="font-style: italic">WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE GOT AWAY?</span>" She spat, lifting his torso and slamming him back into the ground with surprising strength.  "You were planning this all along, weren't you?!  You're one of<span style="font-style: italic">them</span>now, is that it?"  She pulled her knife away from his throat and brought it to his eyes.  "You know what we do to traitors, don't you?"<br/><br/>Asher's pained shout reverberated through the camp as she plunged it into his left eye.  Many of the hunters looked away, but none made any move to help him.  Zaine was their senior huntress, and there was no challenging her.  The woman stood, wiping his blood off on her coat as Asher turned over, curling into a ball as his life spilled into the dirt.  Zaine launched a final kick to his gut and then strode away.  She signalled a small group of hunters, who stood at attention as she addressed them.<br/><br/>"You will follow me now.  Asher is a traitorous disgrace.  If you ever see him after sunrise tomorrow, you will kill him.  Understood?"  The hunters nodded slowly, unwilling to question her.  "Come."<br/><br/>Zaine led the hunters after the vampires' trail.  They couldn't have gone far, and she would show them no mercy.  She drew her blades and chased them, fueled not only by her Clan blood, but the jealousy she harboured.  She would show that little bitch what happened to those who took the one who was promised to her, what happened when they turned him against her.