?I tilt my head to the side and stare at her. I must have mistaken her reverence for admiration after all.
?“I am not a god,” I say slowly. Because that invoking of morals forces a god to state their name and title before them. A way to ensure no god or goddess can trick a being. But it does not work on those who are below the primordials.
?Her brows twitch and uncertainty flashes. “But the Forgotten God of Blood Moons – “
?“Is not me,” I softly interrupt. “And they are nameless. That is how a god or goddess becomes forgotten. Their true name is taken from them.”
?“And do you have a true name?” she asks pointedly.
?“Of course,” I answer simply. “Any being with a true form has a true name.”
?She swallows and lifts her chin. “Vampyr don’t have true forms.”
?And I can’t help but lift the corner of my lip. They did it again, of course.
?“When didIever say I was a vampyr?” With a shrug, I turn towards the stairs again and start walking. “Good night, Ricka.”
?She doesn’t respond and I make it to my door without seeing anyone else. I turn the handle and the door opens silently to a dark room my eyes adjust to almost immediately. There’s a larger lump on Jullia’s bed and I know Asher is under the covers with her.
?Walking in, I shut the door with a quiet click and then lean against the cool wood. Asher’s back is to me, curled around Jullia who’s closer to the wall. I contemplated going to a different room on my walk here. I had five of them to choose from. Five beds I could have crawled into and five bodies I could have chosen to curl myself within.
?But none of them know, and I wanted my friend.
?Carefully, I let my aura flood my eyes – and only my eyes – as I feel for the blood flowing through Jullia’s veins. I follow it for a moment. It takes forty-eight seconds for her blood to complete a full circulation, and then I make a slight – non-harmful – fluctuation that will wake her up.
?Her eyes flutter open and her body twists. I can hear her nose sniff, and then. . .
?“Mavyn?”
?She sits up and it causes Asher to shift. When she sees me, she has to blink and rub her eyes a couple times before her brain processes what she’s seeing.
?Slightly groaning, she slips out of Asher’s hold and pulls the blanket over his face as he grumbles.
?“Mavyn doesn’t have clothes on,” she sleepily says to him, “so you have to get out.”
?He grumbles again. “Tell her to put some on then and go to sleep.”
?There’s a smack and Asher whines as Jullia says, “She was just being tortured for two days so shut up and get out. It’s girl cuddling time.”
?His sigh is audible as he sits up keeping his back to me. “It’s the middle of the night.”
?Pushing off from the door, I grab a light throw blanket and wrap myself within it. “He can stay, Jullia.” Then I crawl into my bed and push my back against the wall. I don’t want to make him have to get up half-asleep and walk all the way to his room.
?There’s some movement and shuffling before I see Jullia get off her bed with one of her fluffy blankets and comes towards me. Asher pulls another blanket back over his head and lays down.
?“Stubborn, coddled baby,” she mutters as she climbs into my bed and lays right next to me on her side. Her forehead almost resting against mine.
?There’s a slight glow from her lavender eyes that makes it so I can clearly see the color. I’m sure mine are doing the same but with red. I haven’t taken my aura from them yet.
?“How are you feeling?” she breathes, her voice soft enough that Asher shouldn’t be able to hear.
?“A hundred and one,” I correct. Her brows twitch so I elaborate. “I was there for a hundred and one years. Not just two days.”
?Her body tenses but I shake my head at her.
?“It only felt that long while I was there. During it. Now that I’m no longer in that realm it feels as if it has only been two days.”
?I can tell she forces herself to relax as she stays quiet for a bit. Both of us staring at each other with the rest of the world unable to touch us. I decide right now I will not tell her that he finally did it. He did what he wanted to do when I was ten years old. I will not tell anyone, ever.
