Talia took another bite into the heart. Blood poured out, covering all around her mouth and nose. It had begun to drip down her front as well, leaving for a contrasting sight of beauty and gore.

Her dress had become drenched in blood, her cleavage fully red. If one of Keyla's voices were here it would be screaming 'Blood orgy!' at the sight of the Sepiida. I watched on with a gut-wrenching feeling in my stomach.

I felt bad. I never planned on her cannibalising another Sepiidan's heart. This seemed more like a punishment compared to an initiation right. Still, the unwavering gaze Talia had while eating the heart as her eyes stayed glued to me was very attractive.

The resolve to do something what society considers extremely vile just to prove she wishes to remain loyal to me... It spurned up some feelings for Talia that were simply mulling around in the background until now.

Despite what was happening and me feeling bad, it was also very flattering and I would make it up to Talia today with a small gesture I hope she would appreciate.

One final bite and Talia gulped hard and closed her eyes. The heart was definitely not the worst tasting thing she had ever put inside her mouth and the rich iron and gamey taste was surprisingly not half bad, but as she opened her eyes and looked down at herself, the emotional turmoil of what she just did hit her.

'I ate one of my kin...' she thought as she gazed at her bloody hands. Talia was in a crossroad of conflictions. She felt an overwhelming sickness due to what she just did while also feeling a sense of pride.

Not only did she do what many cultists from her meeting claim about doing, but she also proved her devotion to Apollo and judging from the soft, concerned gaze he was giving her, he clearly appreciated the gesture.

Letho then walked up to Talia with a series of towels and smiled eerily. "It was delicious wasn't it? Mmhhhh~ to be in your position again with those unaltered taste buds... The blood has never been sweeter~"

Placing my hand on Letho, he turned to meet my stern gaze, causing him to shrink into himself. Talia didn't need someone moaning over the thought of eating people right now, the dude had a bit of a screw loose it seemed.

After letting him go, Letho scurried away behind his Mother who moved aside, clearly taking her mate's stance of feeling, a perfectly valid thing to do in the eyes of Letho.

Walking up to Talia, I brushed some of her hair that was covered in blood back and tilted her face up to mine, stroking her cheek as I met her gaze. Her eyes were narrow, clearly upset, but also holding back to show the reason why she did this.

"Eep!" She suddenly exclaimed as I swept her off her feet and carried her in one arm against my torso. I then gazed at Sophia with a slight intensity she didn't expect as I said. "You are not to do this again. She has proven her loyalty to us, now I am going to give her the injections."

His words were not a request, but a statement that Sophia would obey with absolute intent. She had made a mistake... She forgot to count in the fact that while her Apollo loved the hive greatly, he was also a big softy, especially to his friends and while he valued the hive's input more than theirs, he could still display dissatisfaction to hive's methods.

Sophia couldn't even shift the blame over to her cultist as even she thought the idea was a good one... She suddenly groaned. "I can't believe I upset Apollo the day before he is leaving..."

Letho opened his mouth in an attempt to soothe his mother, but she simply pointed her claw at him. "Not a word out of you right now, or I will put you through that wall! Now clean this all up, I need to find something that will cheer Apollo up before he departs."

...

I turned on the decontamination shower in the lab and removed Talia's and my own clothes. She had gone silent since I began to carry her and I assumed she was probably thinking about what she just did.

Getting into the shower with her, I began to scrub away at her body, removing all the blood. Talia stood there letting it happen, her eyes simply focused on me. After a minute or two, I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let them do that to you." I said as I brushed my hands through her hair. Talia finally spoke up, in a calm, serene tone. "It is fine Apollo. The emotional burden of cannibalism has had less of an impact on me than what I would have expected... If anything, I have had a bit of clarity about my future. I am now surrounded by powerful beings and a powerful mate. As your concubine to be, I must toughen up and get used to things I am not used to."

I said nothing in return, as actions can speak louder than words. I knelt down slightly while bringing my hand to her chin and pulled her towards me. I initiated a deep kiss, one Talia clearly wasn't expecting, but began dominating a moment later. I then pulled back after only a few interlocking of lips, but the look we shared after the kiss was enough to get my point across.

"I look forward to having you in my life in what is to come Talia, what turned out as a whim for me has truly become something worthwhile. Now come on, let's get these injections done before I reward you for your bravery today."

I then turned off the shower and dried the both of us off in a moment before leaving the wide eyed Talia gazing at my back as she thought to herself 'That wasn't the reward!?!'

…

Shortly after the shower, A cultist had brought Talia a new dress that she complained about the floral print, but after I said I found summer dresses to be very cute, she shut up and had it on so fast, it was like she pressed an equip button.

She was now reclined in a surgical chair as I was preparing the injection with the final strands of genetic code, using a culture growth I had taken from Talia as the stabiliser. "Apollo, what are these going to do to me? Are they going to hurt?" She asked as Apollo picked up an extremely large needle...

"Um, you might feel some discomfort as the injection enters, but no pain. "Also, the base formula I am giving you is a gene enhancement injection. I have been working on them in my spare time for Valerica, but I am still trying to create one potent enough to work on her. However, I have added a minute amount of Sophia's concentrated poison into to mix. This will not cause you to begin mutating, but it will make you more susceptible to change the more you take it so by the time I come back after how many more injections you have and we use the poison I create to convert you into a cultist, you might find the mutations more easier to achieve."

Talia blinked at me rapidly with a smile, clearly not understanding most of what I just said, so to simplify. "The injection I am about to give you is going to make you ever so slightly more pretty and healthier. Even a little bit stronger without muscle gain with the only negative you won't even be able to tell its effect."

Talia's smile turned real as the prospect of becoming even more beautiful than she was now was something any Sepiida would pay any amount of cost for. All she had to do was eat a heart? Give her another hundred! She'd gobble the lot up.

Of course, she wouldn't admit that, the traumatic experience just got her a kissy and a reward to still be determined! She then attempted to play if cool. "Oh, I see. Well, I don't really need beauty enhancements. I am already considered a heart attack risk for those over sixty, but I won't say no if it will make you happy Apollo."

I exhaled a heavy breath out of my nose as her attitude humoured me before completing the final touches to the injections. The moment I turned around with the needle, Talia gulped, causing me to reassure her.

"Don't worry, I have a slight fear of needles as well. Will you trust me that I will get this done as painlessly as possible?" Talia's eyes widened at me exposing a vulnerability, but it caused her to lose some tension and nodded her head smiling.

After quickly wiping her arm with some alcohol, I then injected the needle and before Talia could close her eyes in brace of the pain, I stated. "All done."

"Huh?" She said and looked down at her arm, but before she could say it didn't even hurt, he had already moved on to the next one and the next and in less than fifteen seconds Apollo was done. He then nodded his head satisfied and got up saying.

"Right, come on. Time to treat my patient to a nice simple reward."