The city of Di'aru was always a haven for slavers. Part of the slave trade includes hunting down and retrieving lost or stolen slaves, and the business over the past few years was very lucrative, especially since the slave uprising in Ametition, over sixteen years ago. In Juv, one pair of Delphin half-brothers were the beings to go to if you needed a slave returned.

These two were born slaves who freed themselves using their skills at tracking other slaves. They felt no remorse for what they did, they simply viewed it as returning property to it's rightful owner. They did their jobs, no questions asked.

When they met with another Delphin one evening about retrieving a stolen slave of his, they had no idea the slave they would be retrieving would be their mother. But the silver-haired Delphin did. He was quite pleased to find these two, as they would provide his much-needed extra leverage over Snowhawk.

“She'll probably resist,” Kione warned the two. “And she can be a vicious little bitch when she's not getting her way,” he continued, thinking of her feline form's needle-like fangs.

“We can handle her,” the younger brother commented.

“Do you know where she may be?” the older asked.

“Hiding with her former owner. She always seems to run back to him. But he has no claim to her,” Kione said, sliding them a piece of paper with an address scrawled on it. “She's also possibly using the Delphin Society as a shield, so watch out while you're there.”

“Well, brother,” the older began, “this seems like quite the challenge.”

“Indeed. But we'll be back with her soon enough. We've never missed a mark.”

As the pair left, Kione mused to himself. This will be good enough to watch, he grinned. I'll have to follow them. I can't want to see her reaction when she finds out her oldest sons are slave hunters.

The brothers also mused, though openly, about their latest client as they drove to Ametition. “He's a bit of a creep, isn't he, Cody?” the younger brother asked.

“Yeah, he is Jesse. I'm not sure about him, but his offer is too good to pass up.” He frowned a bit at he thought and drove. “Something about this slave seems familiar though. I know the story about her, but beyond that.”

“I know what you mean. I was thinking the same thing.”

“I'm sure it's nothing. I'll shut up so you can rest and we'll trade off halfway.”

Cody nodded and leaned back his seat slightly and closed his eyes.

*********

Late the following day in Ametition, Snowhawk sat in a study in the estate with Valerian, explaining to him some of the history she knew of their kind, as well as teaching him a bit more about the Delphin language.

Janus was in the room with the two, listening to the history and language lessons. Snowhawk was the better teacher between her and her cousin. She knew more about Delphin history, in part from her connection to Emerald, and had been better trained in their language. He was fascinated, as always, to hear the Delphin language spoken.

“I'm sorry I wasn't around to speak this to you as a child,” Snowhawk told the young man, in their language.

“Nytehawk taught me what she knew,” he replied, slower than his mother.

“And for that I am grateful. Having to start from scratch when you're almost an adult would be much more difficult.”

Adian interrupted the group, sticking his head in the door. “Sorry to bother you, but we have company.”

“Who are they?” Janus asked, rising from his chair.

“Two Delphin. Young, probably early 20s.”

“Find out what they want,” Janus growled, not pleased with the unexpected visitors.

“Already ahead of you,” Adian said as he ran off.

“I sense something familiar,” Snowhawk said as she stood.

“What is it?”

“I can't tell, but I think it has to do with our visitors.” She strode from the room, following the direction Adian went.

“Does she do that a lot?” Valerian asked.

“Yes,” Janus sighed. “Come on, we should follow her.”

At the front door, Adian met with the two Delphin. “So why are you here?” he growled, also displeased with all the unexpected visitors of the past few years.

“We seek a slave,” Jesse began. “We have reason to believe she is hiding here.”

Adian laughed. “There haven't been slaves here for over fifteen years.”

Almost on queue, the sound of Snowhawk's shod hooves on the tiles could be heard. “Jesse? Cody?” she said, recognizing the two boys instantly.

“That's her!” Cody exclaimed.

“Snowhawk, they're here for you. They think you're a slave,” Adian explained.

Her hand went immediately to the steel band on her neck, hidden behind her dress collar. “I haven't been enslaved in sixteen years, firstly, and second, you're hunters?!” She was exasperated.

The younger brother tried to take a step forward, but was stopped by the chocolate wolf before him. “How do you know our names?”

“Because I'm your mother!”

“They told us our mother died,” Jesse continued.

“I should have. I almost did delivering you. That's why they sold me off.”

“Mom?” Valerian's voice began, as he stepped behind his mother, “who are they?”

“Shit,” she sighed. “Your brothers. But they're hunters.”

Janus folded his ears back, growling at the two. “What business do you have here?”

“We were contracted to bring her back,” Cody explained.

“We can't take her back now,” Jesse said to his brother.

“Bullshit. A contract is a contract. Do you really want that client following you?”

Snowhawk looked back at Janus, and her youngest son, then stepped toward the two older boys. “Which client?”

“A Delphin from Juv. That's all I'll say.”

“Kione,” she again sighed. “Boys, you've gotten yourself in a world of trouble.”

“Who is he?” Jesse asked, growing more frantic.

“A very old vampire. And one that is in no way my owner.”

The younger brother was near panic. The older now seemed confused. “Then why would he contact us?”

“He thinks his dead mate can be resurrected through me. But she's gone for good now. But, I can't let you not go back. You'd be too much at risk.”

“Snowhawk you can't–” Janus began.

“I have to, love, I can't put them in danger. Contact Rais, have him ready to come back. I'll figure out how to escape.”

“Snowhawk, you'll never get free. Not in that city,” Adian commented.

“Then give me five days, that's enough time after getting there to find an opening if there is one. If you have to come after me, bring my daggers. I'll at least remind him why he left me alone for a decade.”

*********

A mid-spring rain seemed to follow the trio to Dia'ru, setting the tone of the ride. “So, how did you fall into this?” Snowhawk asked, speaking to them of their profession.

“We were raised to do it, and we purchased our freedom with it,” Cody responded, staring at the road ahead. 

“Why didn't you go to Juv?”

“They wouldn't take us, not with what we had done,” Jesse explained. “We had nothing else we could do!”

“I see.”

Cody snorted. “It was this or starve.”

Snowhawk dropped her head. “I guess Ametition's little revolution didn't affect Dia'ru at all.”

“Just pushed more of the slavers there.”

Snowhawk nodded a bit and sighed, feeling responsible. “Go to my cousin, your aunt, Nytehawk, after you deliver me. Tell her I sent you, and you both need jobs.”

“The leader of the Society?”

“Yes. She'll help you. I'll write a letter for you.”

“You are probably going to die, and yet you still help us?”

“Of course.”

*********

At the hand off in Dia'ru, Jesse refrained from assisting his brother. Normally, one brother would deal with the money, the other with the slave, but Jesse wanted no further part in this contract. He knew they couldn't just abandon the job, but the thought of turning his mother over to a vampire just made him sick.

Cody easily handled both transfers on his own, and as he handed his mother's lead to Kione, he asked, “Did you know?”

“About what? Her being your mother?”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“And is it true?”

The vampire nodded. “Again, of course. She knew your names before you said them, didn't she?”

“How do you know about that?”

“Oh, oops, I shouldn't have said anything,” Kione mockingly grinned.

Cody just growled and turned to walk away, knowing he could do nothing at this point. Dia'ru's laws were clear in protecting slave owners and not their property.

“And don't think you're going anywhere, you bitch,” Kione growled at Snowhawk.

“I don't know why you're wasting your time,” she asked as he drug her into his home. “We both know she's gone.”

“No!” he growled, throwing her onto a couch. “She can't be.”

“If I couldn't sense her, then I know you wouldn't have.”

“She can't be gone.”

“After a decade locked away wouldn't you get bored and move on?”

Kione grabbed Snowhawk by the throat and pressed her into the cushions. “She wouldn't have left me, and if she has, then I will kill you and your wolves.”

“Just give up.”

“Never,” he growled, then pulled her head up with his free hand, and quickly bit her high on the neck.

For fuck's sake, Snowhawk thought as she again had to wait through another attempt at turning her into a vampire.

*********

Hours later, Snowhawk still lay on the couch as she had been left. She was unconscious this time, having been unable to fight off the amount of venom the vampire injected into her system. Yet, there was still no sign of Emerald. Kione was beginning to worry.

“It's impossible,” the vampire whispered as he examined the unconscious Snowhawk's eyes. “There's no doubt she's a vampire, but there's not even a glimmer of Emerald left.” Kione sat back and sighed, disgusted. “I won't let it end like this.”