Neske continued struggling against the confines of the hand prison as she heard the rush of wind all around her. She could tell that they had traveled to someplace in the world outside the goddess's castle, but where that was she had no idea. The goddess had made remark about forcing her to apologize to some group of mortals though she couldn't think of who that might be either. It was irreverent however as this would present an opportunity for her to attempt an escape. All she would need to do is wait for the goddess to be distracted.

Suddenly the gigantic hand opened up and Neske found herself once again exposed on the palm of the young goddess. The fingers lifted back far enough to make a relatively large platform and allowed the blinding light of the evening sun to assault her senses. At first she panicked as she thought certainly it was the end for her as sunlight killed vampires. Her fears were quickly calmed however when she remembered that the magical ring of fire protection was the only item she had been allowed to keep. Thus even as a vampire she was immune to sunlight. It was still unpleasantly bright.

Neske pushed herself up to stand on her feet and looked out over the edge of the girl's hand. Far below she could see a small village. It was little more than a couple dozen small buildings collected together in a clearing of the forest. Deep snow was everywhere making it difficult for people to walk around, though there were several paths cleared thanks to the resident's shoveling. Jenna herself towered so far above the village it was like a human standing over an insect nest.

The villagers however were not afraid of the massive little girl in the slightest and had actually begun to gather around her enormous boots in the snow. Looking up Neske could see that the goddess's face was its usual friendly smile which only served to lure the mortals into a false sense of security. These disgusting fools were so easily swayed by those in power offering kindness that they could be tricked into almost anything, even offering themselves up as sacrifices.

Jenna cupped her left hand around her prisoner and put her right hand on her hip as she addressed the village below.

“Hello everyone!” She said in a friendly voice. “Listen up now! There's someone I want you to meet. They have something important to say to you.”

By this point most of the population of the village had gathered around in front of the goddess's feet. It was clear that the residents of this village were not that well off, likely only surviving with the bare necessities. This desperation was likely the reason they would be so quick to worship a goddess Neske figured. There was something oddly familiar about these people she noticed however the longer she looked down at them.

Suddenly the massive goddess reduced herself to human size, the entire process taking no more than a few seconds. This was done in such a way that Neske found herself dropping alongside the goddess to be left standing next to the little girl in the snow. There was no chance of escape either as Jenna had made sure that the vampire's arm ended up grasped in her unbreakable grip. Now the two of them stood there in front of this growing crowed surrounded by the snowy forest.

Jenna smiled again and gestured to the pale woman standing next to her with her right hand, her left still grasping the wrist of her prisoner.

“This is Neske.” Jenna said. “She's currently my prisoner but I've brought her here to apologize for her past actions.”

Neske stood there completely stunned. She had no idea what to do as the most strange feeling washed over her. For some reason she was embarrassed as if being put on the spot like this in front of such a large group was somehow unpleasant. That made no sense though! These were mortals! Why should she feel embarrassed being out in front of them? If anything they should be bowing to her. Maybe it was because she was being paraded before them as a prisoner. Yes that would be why she was feeling this way. It only made her hate these mortals and their goddess more.

A young man with long butter colored hair stepped forward out of the crowd and pointed at Neske with a shout of terror.

“That's her!” He cried. “Its the vampire who attacked our village!”

This reaction was more like it and brought a small smirk to Neske's face. Now she remembered these mortals. Yes it was the village of cursed beastmen that she had attacked for interfering with her plans. She had planned to come wipe them out later but had been captured by this stinking goddess before she had been able to. Having them fear her upon this new meeting was good.

“That's right Remus!” Jenna replied with a happy tone that seemed to put the villagers ill at ease. “She's the person who attacked your village and drove you to relocate.”

Another villager stepped forward, this one an elderly man with white hair and matching beard. There was a look of grave concern on his face, a sentiment clearly shared with the other villagers.

“Why would you bring this woman here?” He asked.

“I brought her here to apologize to ya'll!” Jenna replied happily. “Go ahead Neske.”

Neske had a look of complete shock on her face which quickly changed into one of pure disgust. What a ridiculous notion! Her apologize to them? As if they deserved it. When she looked out over the faces of those in the crowd she could see the self same bewilderment reflected back at her. Though of course many of the faces were filled with anger as well.

One of the women in the crowd shouted out angrily.

“Apologize? She should burn for her crimes!”

Another member of the crowed, this time a man, joined in.

“Her words mean nothing goddess! Execute her or allow us to do so ourselves!”

Thus and so other members of the gathered villagers joined in the accusations and demands for death. Many simply yelled out in anger or rage while others kept quiet to silently judge and seethe. There were very few among the village that had any hint of mercy in their eyes. This was to be expected and while it made Neske furious to even imagine being put at their mercy she couldn't blame them either, she would be just as bloodthirsty with them.

None of this seemed to come as a surprise to Jenna either. She stood there calmly with the vampire in her grip, patiently waiting for the villagers to finish their angry outbursts. It was clear to her however that they weren't calming down, the snow and other small objects being thrown their way no small clues. These items were simply blocked by a magical barrier the goddess erected so that none touched her prisoner.

Seeing this a particularly large man stepped out from the gathered villagers and turned around to face them. He held up his arm and shouted in a very commanding billowing voice.

“Quiet! Everyone!”

His yells overpowered the shouts of the crowd and they all began settling down while he continued to speak.

“Have you lot lost your minds?” He questioned almost angrily. “Look at you throwing things in the same direction of our goddess! You should be begging for forgiveness!”

The various members of the crowed that had been throwing objects suddenly came to their senses and looked over to where the objects lay in front of their goddess and the vampire woman. They realized that while they had been throwing at the prisoner they had indeed also been attacking their goddess. As the magical barrier dropped many of them dropped to their knees and begged forgiveness from their kind goddesses. Many others also said prayers of apology even though they hadn't actually done anything but shout.

This large man then turned to face Jenna and kneeled down into the dirt and snow, his head bowed as he paid his respects.

“Please forgive us our arrogance oh divine goddess!” He said. “If you brought this woman before us we trust you that your intentions are well planned.”

Another older man stepped slightly out in front of the crowd, clearly an elder of some kind. His voice was weak but he managed to be heard as he addressed their goddess.

“Pray tell Goddess Jenna. Why have you brought this terrible woman here? Not truly for her to apologize? It is true what they say, that words mean little compared to her actions.”

Neske couldn't believe what she was hearing. What manner of torture was this little goddess planning to parade her around like some disobedient dog? She opened her mouth and began to protest this absurdity herself.

“I-”

Jenna instantly cut her off with a firm yet dangerous sounding tone.

“Shut it.”

The young goddess then released her grip on the vampire's wrist, almost like she was giving the woman this chance to prove herself trustworthy. She then took a couple steps forward and raised her voice enough for everyone present to hear clearly. Her head was raised high and her back straight.

“I'm well aware of this woman's sins.” Jenna said calmly. “Do you think I'm not or something?” She waited for the murmurs to die down among the crowd. Then she raised her left hand and wagged her finger. “This vampire has tremendous power and she can put it to good use helping the world. I would have her rehabilitated so that she can do good.” She then lowered her hand and shrugged. “I know ya'll have mixed feelings about this but its my judgment. I could have punished you when you attacked the human village when you first arrived here. Point is everyone has sins in their past and I think Neske deserves a chance to right her wrongs just like anyone else.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

For what reason Neske remained standing there she could not know. It was an obvious chance as any to make an escape attempt, even if the goddess could easily catch her. But she made no such attempts, instead choosing to stand there partly in shock as this all played out around her. Was she actually going to be made to apologize to these filthy cur? Why would she even want the forgiveness of mortals?

The villagers for their part were all looking between their goddess and the vampire woman. From the murmuring they did as they talked among each other it was becoming clear they saw truth to the goddess's words. Within only a couple minutes it seemed they had come to the consensus that perhaps their previous enemy did deserve a chance to redeem herself.

The village elder that had spoken before, the man with white hair, spoke again.

“Do we have your promise oh goddess that this monster will be able to do no more harm to our village? If so she shall trust your judgment.”

Jenna just smiled and nodded. She then stepped back again until she was standing next to Neske.

“You have my word. I promise she won't be causing anymore trouble for ya'll.” She then slapped the vampire on the butt which got a yelp of surprise as reaction before giving an order. “Go on. Apologize.”

Neske's brain was just finally finalizing its processing of events. That slap on the ass hadn't helped and only served to scramble her thoughts more. Now she was being ordered to apologize. If she refused would she be destroyed? Honestly that was preferable to having to humiliate herself any further to these disgusting cursed half-breeds.

Another slap on the butt prompted Neske to stand her ground. She stomped her right foot and clenched her hands into fists. If blood had been able to circulate around her body her face would have surely been flushed bright red by now. However without that only the feeling of immense shame remained, shame she didn't even understand why she had.

“I refuse!” She snapped.

All eyes were upon Jenna as the very air seemed to freeze solid from the tension instead of the biting cold of winter. It seemed an eternity passed in those few moments that the young goddess studied the vampire standing before her. This act of rebellion was sure to end extremely badly for the woman, at least so everyone thought. How surprised they were when the reaction was much more calm and collected.

“I'm not giving you a choice.” Jenna said firmly, as if speaking to a child. “What would your master think if he found out you were so disobedient?”

Emotional blackmail. One of the classical tactics Neske herself used to get her way with the various victims of her charms throughout the years. However in this highly emotional state that was the extent of her thought process on the matter, her mind utterly lacking the self awareness to prevent herself from falling for the tactic she was so familiar with. If Barthenor were to find out she had failed him so utterly when he trusted her to obey the goddess she could never continue living. She would end her own life before bring him shame. Why would he order her to obey a goddess though? That still made no sense! However it was clear that in this instance she had no choice.

“I-I.” She began stammering.

Jenna jabbed her none to gently in the side with her elbow while still facing the crowd.

“Take a knee.”

Neske hissed furiously under her breath but obeyed. The overwhelming shame washed over her as she knelt down on her right knee, her head handing to hide her face from the judgmental looks of the mortals. She attempted to regain control of her emotions and found herself feeling an almost foreign emotion: guilt. Was she actually feeling guilty for her actions? Another baffling happenstance, that her humanity still survived after all this time somewhere deep within her. Perhaps this goddess had sensed it and was trying to pull it up from the depths of her soul for some sinister purpose. Perhaps that was what she had done to her beloved master.

Neske swallowed nervously and then spoke in a somewhat wavering voice, an affliction that only ever had overcome her before when directly addressing her master.

“I-I N-Neske Felelem.” She stammered. “He-Hereby apologize f-for the harm I h-have inflicted upon you.”

After she had finished speaking those words Neske felt something stir deep down within her soul. It was if she felt her dead heart begin beating again though she knew that impossible. No it was more that she deeply remembered so vividly the feeling of her heart beating that her mind was being tricked into believing it was once again. She felt rising emotions she figured had been lost to her for all eternity, ever banished by her curse of undeath.

This little goddess had managed to reawaken her humanity, that little spark of empathy and hope that had gone out for so many centuries. It was beyond her understanding how the act of being forced to apologize for her actions had roused this unthinkable reaction within her soul. How many times in her long un-life had she wished those that had wronged her would act with this level of humility for their wrongs. They were all long dead however and that brought a new level of anguish to her heart. Her mind began swimming with thoughts and feelings again and she wondered if she was even still capable of crying.

Jenna's voice could be heard faintly in the background as Neske's mind became overwhelmed. There were also other distant voices from all around her that she couldn't understand through the chaos of her mind.

“That's enough everyone!” The goddess was saying. “I'll get back to you in a moment. Just give me a minute here.”

Neske felt her body being moved and she was too stunned at first to do anything about it. That changed however when her instincts took over. Suddenly she was thrashing around and slashing at whatever movement her eyes could detect. It was meaningless however as she was very quickly restrained by some kind of firm rope, her body pulled tight against the cold earth.

Jenna's face appeared hovering over Neske's own. There was a look of actual concern in the goddess's expression, something wholly unexpected to be sure.

“Hey hey hey!” Jenna's said in a soothing voice. “Calm down Neske. Are you doing alright?”

Neske's vision slowly came back into focus and she looked around. She was tied to the ground by thick vines that were sprouting from the frozen earth. The little goddess was crouching over her chest and looking her over with a worried expression. When she saw Neske coming around the look on her face became one of relief.

“There you are!” Jenna said with a relieved smile. “You really went crazy there for a second!”

After trying to sit up and being held back by the vines Neske flopped back onto the ground with a grunt. Then she felt the vines retract from her body and watched as Jenna stood up and stepped back. This made Neske wonder if she was free and so she tried to sit up once again. Much to her surprise she was now able to. As she pushed herself up she noticed they were in the forest with the village off in the distance.

“You brought me away?” Neske asked lifting her right hand to her throbbing forehead. “What the hell did you do to me?”

Jenna looked down at the vampire in genuine surprise.

“I didn't do anything to you.” She replied flatly. “It sure looked like you were having a hell of a time though. Was it the sun?”

Neske shook her head to help clear it and began pushing herself up. She winched and fall back on her butt when another piercing pain shot through her still lifeless heart. With a grunt of pain she gripped her chest with her right hand.

“My heart...” She muttered. “You did something to my heart.”

With a curious look Jenna stepped in front of the vampire and her eyes lit up with a bright glow. After a couple seconds of looking her prisoner over her eyes went back to normal and she crossed her hands over her chest.

“What are you talking about?” Jenna asked. “Your heart isn't beating. You're a vampire. You're dead.”

Neske hissed and turned her head to look away from the judgmental gaze of her captor. There was still a lot of haze in her mind for her to sort through.

“Back there it felt like my heart was beating again.” Neske said in a much calmer state. “I know it wasn't but I could swear it was.”

Jenna's left hand lifted to her chin as she looked puzzled.

“Interesting...”

“Is this what you did to my master?” Neske asked angrily. “You bitch!” She exclaimed slamming her right fist on the frozen ground.

Jenna looked genuinely surprised at this reaction and crouched down in front of the vampire again. There was a confused but patient look on her face.

“I mean I took him out to have some philosophical conversations and meet a bunch of mortals like I am you.” Jenna replied. “If that's what your asking.”

It was slowly becoming clear to Neske that this goddess actually hadn't done anything to her with any kind of spell or magic. It was indeed her own body causing this reaction when she had been forced to make her apology. Whither this goddess had known this would be the result of that action or not it was clear she wasn't telling. Was this permanent?

“You re-awoke my humanity.” Neske finally said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. “That's what you did.” She looked at her open hands. “Now I feel all these feelings. I remember things.” Then in a quieter voice. “You fucking bitch.”

Jenna had clearly heard that last part, it was impossible for her not to. However instead of attacking or snapping back instead her face became dominated with a soft smile. Much to the bewilderment of her prisoner she stepped closer and reached out her left hand to offer her assistance.

“Your master mentioned something similar I suppose.” She said smiling. “Why don't you stand up and we can talk about it. At least if you want?”

Neske glared at the offered hand and pushed herself to her feet without any help. She still had her pride as the highest ranking member of her master's forces. Once she was standing she grunted and brushed the snow and dirt off her clothing while avoiding eye contact with the goddess.

“Talk about it huh?” She quipped. “You will be putting me to work either way. Likely as a servant to those pitiful beastmen.”

Jenna kept her left hand up to her chin to tap her fingers a few times before dropping it down to rest on her hip.

“Well yeah I was thinking of assigning you to help the werewolves rebuild actually. Once I can trust you enough that is.” She cocked her head to the left. “I'll be letting them know as well of course. Think of it as your first step.”

Neske huffed and glared as the goddess standing before her, her budding humanity giving her an grain of true defiance she had not previously exhibited. She placed her own hands on her hips and glowered at her captor.

“I'll never forgive you goddesses.” She sneered. “And I'll never forgive mortal kind either.”

Jenna simply giggled and shook her head, her shoulders shrugging again as she raised her hands.

“I'm not saying you have to alright?” She replied. “Just keep doing what I say alongside your master and earn your freedom back.” She then tilted her head the other direction. “I think you'll be amazed what you two will look like when its all said and done.”

With another scoff Neske turned around to face away from the annoying little goddess.

“So what now gaoler? Off to be made a slave to those mortals?”

Jenna shook her head and stepped up next to the vampire again, getting an angry reaction from the woman. As she came to a stop another golden portal of swirling light appeared before them, this one properly sized for a human adult.

“Not yet.” Jenna replied. “For right now I'm taking you back to my castle. Your master is waiting for you.” She shrugged. “Besides you have a lot to work though at the moment. I'll figure out how specifically you can help out the village later and get back to both you and them.” She motioned her head at the portal. “Go on then.”

Neske clicked her tongue angrily and gave one quick glare to the goddess before turning to face the portal in front of her. With her head held high in what little pride she had remaining she stepped forward and through the portal. Whatever horrid future awaited her at the hands of this tyrannical goddess she would stand firm, if nothing else than for the sake of her enthralled master. In fact she might just go along with this helping of the mortals just to spite the goddess and show her how fruitless this attempt to change her truly was.