And then just like that, Ali's arms were empty. The pouch luckily didn't fall from her hand, which she held onto tightly. She stood up and looked around in the midst of the darkness and towards the entrance of the cave. Sam had disappeared from her completely.<br/><br/>She decided it was best not to question Sam's disappearance when she saw Sammi run in a different direction. That couldn't be good. She ran towards the end of the cave and looked to the side. An unidentified creatures had landed onto the ground-and it did not look good at all!<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Ali, fetch a skin of the clean water we boiled a couple days ago. When she wakes she's going to be thirsty."</span><br/><br/>She could only nod in reply and rushed over to where the water jugs sat under a shady tree. She retrieved the skin tucked in a clay made pot after playing the empty pouch of the hare onto the ground in a position that wouldn't let it spill and handed it to Sammi.<br/><br/>"Sammi, I tried to feed Sam the blood as you have asked me," she said, "And she's-" Sam was right next to her. "...Right here." There was a faint, rusty smell of blood that tickled her nose and she understood right away.<br/><br/>She placed her skin onto the table and took her seat by the stump, waiting patiently for the announcements.<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>Cairo had licked away the remains of the eggs on his plate just as he heard a loud thump against the ground-alarming him right away.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Sammi? What's with all the ruck-whoa..." Something or someone had just fallen out of the sky... from nowhere! </span><br/><br/>"Cairo! Take this!" She practically threw the pan at him as she rushed to the fallen succubus's side.<br/><br/>Cairo caught the pan with one steady hand-making sure he wasn't letting any meat fall to the floor and ran over to the fire, immediately realizing his newly given task. It kind of made him sad, watching Sammi carry the succubus in by herself, but he had a job to do! He couldn't multitask something such as cooking and lifting a woman with one hand-not like he used to in another lifestyle.<br/><br/>He placed the freshly cooked meat onto what was originally Sam's plate and rested it onto the table. Before he could ask for anymore instructions, he recognized Sammi's signal and sat onto a stump next to Ali-who seemed to be bearing more activity than usual.<br/><br/>"Wow, what a busy today we got, eh?" She didn't respond to him.<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>Krov was angrier than ever. He was so angry that people thirty feet away would cower in fear at his temper that was ready to snap in mere seconds.<br/><br/>And of course the first people he was going to take this out on were the soldiers. Damn them! What the hell was wrong with his army? Why weren't they functioning according to his plans? It was simple too-do an early search hunt before the new year! It would have gone well if she didn't manage to escape, but he wouldn't have it.<br/><br/>Of all people, he had to take care of this himself and it would have gone well if the stupid succubus wasn't the reason for these scars on his bleeding neck. God, it hurt! And now he was stuck walking around in this stupid forest who knows how far away from town?<br/><br/>Sure, he could have been flying, but it just hurt so much since he wasn't used to this pressure yet... He was so close too! The sacrifice was nearly his-he got that successful rush in his veins when they were fighting the first time he had ever been over the boundary. Once his wings had spread, he was sure of victory!<br/><br/>When he had found his way back home, his soldiers had been less than eagerly awaiting his arrival, but quickly stepped back once they saw the dead pan look on his face. It wasn't even the beak or the talons or the wings that terrified them before they disappeared! He just looked more... horrifying to look at it. None of them dared to open their mouths.<br/><br/>"So it seems I have been wrong. I thought I hired decent men to carry out my business," Krov hissed, moving toward his frightening soldiers, "And what are you afraid of, hm? Getting a few bruises beyond the border?" He calmed his scowl.<br/><br/>"We need to do something. The Gods are angry at us and all you sissies are doing nothing about it. They want us to kill those sacrifices, right? We will have checks every single day for the new year and slaughter them. Nobody is to hide anything on their wrists and anyone who bothers to help a sacrifice will be slaughtered too. Spread the word." And he wordlessly went back home and managed to stop shaking and shivering and the suppression of his stress.