Athens: Three Years Later...
Living among the Greek people, it has taken me considerable time to learn the language. Heva has been my tutor when and where she could.
I have spent my time hunting animals as I've done since I found I had to feed. While Heva sleeps, once every month, I would travel into the forest at night and hunt deer. The only things I claim are the heart and the blood. The meat, pelt and antlers are also harvested for sale. Admittedly, we retain some of the meat for salting and preserving. I stretch and tan the pelts for crafting uses and I'm careful to remove any parts that may provide tell-tale signs that it was me who killed the deer. The meat we don't keep, we sell to butchers or provide to people in need. The antlers are used to make various trinkets when I'm able.
The home that Heva and I own in Haidari was chosen on purpose. The home itself is modest and was unassuming. Being so close to the mountains but having the ability to travel into the city was ideal for both of us.
In all of the last four years, I have yet to see The Boeman again. It is something that both disturbs and comforts me all at once. Not seeing him meant that perhaps I was alright. I knew that seeing him meant someone, eventually would die. I thought back to the night in the cave. I didn't see him then either. To this day, I still do not understand why.
I found that I must feed at least once per month. If I wait any longer, Heva tells me that I look gaunt, even decrepit and that my skin continues to grow pale. Once I have fed, my pallor goes back to almost normal. Almost. Having been hidden away from daylight for so long, my flesh is paler than most and far more so than the people here with their olive complexions. No one notices the deer that are missing. The trinkets, meat and pelts that we sell have had a tendency to keep us from suspicion.
Seeing in the darkness isn't a problem. By the full moon's light, everything is visible to me. Still, deer are tricky creatures, even for me, to stalk and kill. Their hearing, agility, speed and hypervigilance means that they can, and sometimes do, even elude me.
I have taken to stalking them from the trees and dropping onto them, making them my meal.
Why animals? The answer is simple. I have no interest in attracting unwanted and unneeded attention to either myself or Heva. Heva would be in much more danger than I would. I've come to think of our home as our sanctuary away from the world and my time with Heva has drawn our partnership together in a way that we grow stronger together.
Still, in order to continue as I have, I still have to feed, same as Heva must consume food and drink. It would be far worse to make every attempt to hide ourselves outside the city. That failed to help me the last time and the isolation was not good for me either. Having to consider Heva means that every deceptive story we tell must be passable at a passing ear and nothing can raise suspicion. It forces me to be careful in the construction of such stories.
Our production of goods to sell had grown our supply of coin and living in Haidari allowed us the ability to stay secluded in plain sight.
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