"Blue? Really? You have to be so stereotypical and say your favorite color is blue?" He snorts. Julius sits laughing across from me at the round oak dining table, the sunlight raining down through the glass windows give his hair a chestnut glow. He squints his violet eyes at the rays, a dimple so small it almost goes unnoticed appearing on his cheek.

"Julius you have no right to talk! Just because you're in the closet it doesn't entitle Narnia to be your favorite movie!"

"But Jesus is in it!" He chuckles.

We've been going at it for a while now, my pancakes long gone but we are still spewing questions at one another. This is probably the most fun I have had in literally years.

"Favorite show!" I yell at him, erupting into a fit of laughter as he stumbles for an answer.

"Um..um..er Glee!" He giggles.

That sound. Beautiful and exotic in a non attractive way of course. Sigh. I've kissed boys before and I've even done acts with them sexually but Julius is different somehow. Julius is my innocent knight in shining armor and I love him for saving me. However, there are plenty of female fish out there in the Moon-is-straight sea and Julius is not in it.

He ruffles his hair through his slender fingers, messes it up, gives a gorgeously heartbreaking pout, and smiles. I know that what I feel is normal for me because of who he is but I still feel squeamish and wrong for glancing and smiling at him the way I do. They are supposed to be attractive to their servants to reduce pain when feeding. Being attractive to humanity gives them a better chance of luring in unexpected humans for a midnight snack in the woods. They don't do that Twilight shit-it's only for pu-

Julius's hand interrupts my slightly offensive train of thought. There is a slight curve on his hand, a scar probably the size of a cap eraser, maybe slightly bigger. I glide my thumb over the bumpiness of it and snatch his wrist before he pulls away. He looks sick, uneasy about the thought of me touching him, caressing him. His face is a slot machine of emotions as I roll my thumb over the small scar, loosening my grip on his hand.

"What happened?" He could of played it off as a bike accident, kitchen accident, ran into the couch accident but he just shakes his head and bites his lip, staring down at the table. I turn my head to the side and bite my lip in a nervous no-way-in-hell-was-this-meant-to-be-seductive way "Will your servants tell me?"

His brows furrow as he squints his eyes a tad bit. His head moves to the opposite side of mine and a wave of confusion washes over his face. "What servants have you been talking to?"

"Um a decent amount." Was he just playing dumb with me?

Julius blushes deeply and tries to hide the shame in his eyes but is too late. I barely met him and he is already lying to me?! What did he gain from doing this?! The anger is already boiling up inside of me ready to explode. "Oh...Moon-"

"Who told you about me?" I growl through my clenched teeth, hands balling into fists and rolling out of them just as quickly as they came.

"It's not hard to spot a werewolf I just-"

My anger dims down a significant amount. He doesn't know about me just yet. I sigh and remove our still entwined fingers with a smile. "I'm not a werewolf but do me a favor and stop guessing, stop lying, let me come out to you in time. We need to build this relationship up with trust before we try bigger things." Wow, that sounded awfully professional of me.

I turn away to scrape my dish as a small woman runs in front of me. She's childlike in her shape and stature with the smooth face of one as well. Her hair is braided and pulled back to frame her bony cheeks perfectly. Her almond eyes are larger than average and her lips are tiny but full like a doll's. She gingerly takes the ceramic plate from my hands and slides it under a stream of hot water. She spins back around to gift me with a shy smile before running to another room, beckoning us to follow her.

So we do. It's brighter than the other rooms with it's cream colored walls and sunshine yellow couches. The once pristine carpet is grayish from age but clean none the less. I dig my toes into the comforting fabric and return her smile with a more confident one. The smell of tangerines radiate from her elfish body, a powerfully strong amount for someone her size.

"Sit." Her voice is higher than I expected. I gently let her grab hold of my hand and almost instantly pull it back with regret. I fight the urge, my hand shaking slightly in protest and stare down at her chocolate skin. It is a normal hand yet I can barely feel her bones. Just skin and muscle and fat but barely even that. My body cools and my panic subsides as Julius places both hands on my shoulders and jokingly shoos her away. As soon as the decorative door shuts behind her I whisk around like a madman, confusion deep in my eyes as I think over what I had felt moments before.

"Oh Julius her hand! What is wrong with her?" I whisper, voice strained.

Guilt flashes across his eyes, a pain in them I never want to see again. The back of his hand sweeps across my protruding collarbone as he stares at my Adam's Apple. "I hurt her." he muttered "The a-acid in my venom eroded her bones during h-her Marking." His voice is thick with regret and he chokes on the little words he manages to force out.

No wonder she smelled so strongly of tangerines, his venom eroded her bones then solidified to replace them. The poor girl was just jelly and poison. I check around me to make sure she isn't there before leaning into his strong chest. I know I'll never be marked as his territory because I'm a B.S but the thought terrifies me, especially now that I know what can happen if something goes wrong. I balance on my tip toes, my lips delicately brushing his earlobe. We both shudder as goosebumps trail down our arms.

"Why not kill her?" I whisper.

"I gave her a choice and she chose to live. I respect that choice." His arms wrap around my small waist but I instantly pull away. Way too much intimate contact for the day.

Julius doesn't react negatively to my rejection thankfully but there is a flash of hurt in his eyes as he unwraps his arms. He gently rolls his fingers around my upper arm and drags me to the sunshiny couch in the center of the room. He flips the TV to a blank channel before the familiar sound of an Xbox is ringing in the air. He tosses a controller my way and flashes a smile, unknowingly showing his fangs. It doesn't bother me a bit though as I situate myself as if nothing had happened.

"Aren't you a little old for this?" Perfect way to find out his age.

"Aren't you a little young?" He spits back playfully while placing COD in the tray.

"I'm only seventeen." I say with the same joking fierceness.

"And I'm only twenty two." So I was close with my guess. A while into the game I notice him biting his pink lips and continually pulling his eyes away from me. I try and advert my eyes from staring into his but my strength breaks and soon enough we are gazing at each other. "How old are you really?" He whispers, the game still playing in the background.

I stare into the walls with a blank expression as I try to remember important parts of history to mark my age. "I remember when they found America. I was sitting at home and my friend came in with her cousin screaming about a pale man that sailed the ocean. I was so fascinated by the fact that there was more out there than what we thought."

Julius's eyes seemed to pop as his jaw drops and he leans forward to shake my shoulders. "You were born before Columbus found this place?! That was 1492 Moon! You're a freaking dinosaur! You're older than me but younger than me at the same time, what a mind fuck." He exclaims with a childlike enthusiasm.

"What about you?" I laugh, gingerly removing his fingers from my shoulders.

"I was born a little before 1776 I think. I vaguely remember going through all the independence crap. God, you have to be a good three hundred years older than me."

I can't shoo my smile away fast enough. It is contagious apparently, causing Julius to erupt in a fit of giggles, his feet curling to his chest as he buries his head in his knees. We turn back to our game but I find it hard to concentrate with Julius so close to me.

His legs casually brush against mine, my body trembling under his icy touch. My eyes travel around the room to distract myself from the contact, falling on a blue end table. It's missing a leg, paint chipped and covered with candy wrappers. Gently my fingers wrap around an aging mahogany picture frame. I pull it close as if it were an injured animal, cradling the strangers to my chest. I place the picture in its rightful position on the table and turn back to the blaring television but Julius is already hovering above me.

My face burns as he bends over to lay his chin on my head. His crotch firmly pressed to my bottom. My blush only deepens as he moves around, accidentally rubbing hisself against me. This is wrong. Not because we're men but...sigh. What's wrong with me, I never sigh! His hands grip the photo then release and repeat.

"Who are they?" I ask, tilting my head down to hide my deepening blush.

To the far left was a young girl my age. Her mud colored hair to her shoulders. You could see she was a naturally thin girl by the way the man beside her was holding her, his arm draped delicately around her hips. Her smile reached her hazel eyes where the sun reflected and made them dazzle. I allow my thumb to graze over her slim figure.

"That's Megan, my brother's Blood Servant." He whispers in my ear, making them tingle as I grow excited.

The man holding her resembled Julius in his face shape and thin lips. His dirty blonde hair swept over his eyelids in an I-don't-care fashion. "That's Gabriel, my older brother." His nose nuzzles in my hair while he takes heavy breathes blowing the strands askew.

Julius was smiling in the center of the photo and on his right was another man. His eyes were dark, almost black in a way. The man's lips were blowing a kiss to someone, short blonde hair swaying in the breeze. He didn't seem a day older than twenty five either.

"That's Marcus, a close friend of mine. He's holding his blood servant Victoria."

Victoria. Wow. Her shiny platinum hair rested over her breasts and flew gracefully around her hips. Lips full and small, caked with bright red lipstick. Her black party dress looked out of place in the small meadow where they stood smiling together, happy as can be.

Julius entangles his fist in my hair, my blush coming back as I take in our position. "I was going to call Marcus actually to help with picking out schools. It's just...nobody except you knows that I'm gay and I don't know how he'll react. Marcus has always been unpredictable, especially when things shock him." His lips draw into a pout before thinning into a smile.

Shrugging, I advise: "Then throw a party and tell him, then talk about guy stuff and hope he accepts you."

"Moon, you're different from the average Blood Servant and I worry about what they'll say about you. Schools will be hard and with my work resuming soon I can't have you home alone."

"I'm seventeen!" I protest.

His brows furrow. "You're scarred! What if you hurt yourself?"

I need to tell him. But I can't, not now at least. Julius picks up the matching blue phone, dialing the number by memory and smiling proudly when they pick up.

"Hello? Marcus? It's Jules. I...I want you to come over so we can talk about schools and stuff...bring Victoria! I...errr" He begins pulling at his shirt collar, focusing his eyes on anything but me, "I have a Blood Servant Marcus and it'd be nice if Victoria would come to talk with them. It's all so new to me I could really use your help."

Julius gives me a charming smile, my heart breaking and repairing itself multiple times over. And he's all mine. My stare falls on his lips, he nervously sucks on his bottom lip and I squirm uncomfortably. I shouldn't be thinking about kissing a man, it's wrong.

"Good! I'll see you in fifteen minutes! I can't wait!"

Julius gives me a peck on the lips that flips my whole world upside down. He takes the steps gracefully two at a time but stops to blow a kiss at the top. My heartbeat accelerates to an unsafe speed, blood burning my cheeks as I grow harder by the second.

Damn, I'm in trouble.