Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"Accept that some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue."

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Chapter 21

Kiara

I was woken up by my phone ringing. Quietly I grabbed the phone and answered. Nick's voice chirped hello on the other end.

"Hey Nick, what's up?" I queried, trying to rub the sleepiness out of my eyes. I'd only fallen asleep about five hours ago because mine and Kyrian's... activities had kept me up for most of the night.

"Do you think you could pick me up from school later? My car is in the shop for an oil change but they found something else wrong with it and I won't get it until tomorrow. I'd ask Kyrian but he's dead to the world during the day and my mom is working."

"Yeah of course. Where should I meet you?"

"Meet me inside the history building at three. I'll text you the address. Thanks Kiara!"

"No problem. I'll see you later." I hung up, turning my head to make sure I hadn't woke Kyrian. It was no surprise that I hadn't. Like all Dark Hunters, when he slept during the day, he slept hard.

I shimmied my way out of bed so I could go take a shower and get dressed before I picked up Nick. If he got any inkling that Kyrian and I had hooked up last night, we'd never hear the end of it, not just from him, but from the other Dark Hunters as well.

The shower definitely woke me up and by the time I'd dried my hair and put on my makeup, I was fully awake, rearing to go. Looking at the time, I realized I needed to leave if I was to pick up Nick on time. Kissing Kyrian on the head, I slipped out of the house. It took only fifteen minutes to get to the building. It would've taken less had the GPS in my car not sent me a bass ackwards way. Kids started pouring out of the building, none of them were Nick though. However, he appeared sooner or later. By later, I mean he was the last one. He was accompanied by a tall, lean man that seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties. No matter how old he was, he was stunningly gorgeous, nearly as handsome as Kyrian and nearly as tall.

"Hey Kiara, I want you to meet someone. This is my professor, Julian Alexander. He's an expert on all things Greek and Thrace, whether it's military or political. Since you were interested in learning about some ancient Greek stuff, I thought you'd like to talk to him," Nick said. I knew what he was doing, something which was sincerely appreciated.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alexander. I'm Kiara Castellanos," I said, holding out my hand.

He shook it firmly, giving me a kind smile. "Please, call me Julian. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Nick said you were interested in a Greek princess that shares your name?"

"I am. Do you know anything about her?"

"I do, but for the life of me I can't recall any information about her. I'd be happy to gather some information on her and give it to Nick so he can give it to you?"

"Oh no, I don't want to be any trouble. There is one more person I had some questions about though: what do you know about Kyrain of Thrace?"

Something flickered in the professor's eyes. What struck me odd was that the look wasn't of familiarity of the name or the excitement of knowing the answer to my question. It was a look of sadness, as if he'd known Kyrian personally and had lost him.

"Yes, I know quite a bit about Kyrian of Thrace. We talk about him quite a bit in my lecture. He was a famous Greek general trained by Julian of Macedonia. The two of them would've conquered Rome had he not been tricked and had- had Julian not been captured afterwards."

"You seem fond of the subject," I remarked gently.

"Yes. I know so much about Kyrian it's as if I knew him in another life."

"Perhaps you did. I'm one of those people that believe people are born again. Do you?"

"Very much so."

"Julian and Kyrian were friends, correct?"

"Practically brothers."

"Maybe you were the great Julian of Macedonia. What do you know about him?"

"As much as I do about Kyrian of Thrace."

"I would absolutely love to hear about the both of them. I've... heard quite a bit about Kyrian of Thrace but I'd love to learn from an expert about both him and Julian of Macedonia. Oh, before I forget, Nick, I parked my car down the street. I thought I'd let you drive back to Mr. Hunter's. Would you like to go grab it?" I said, handing him the keys. Thankfully Nick was quick to understand that I wished to speak to Julian alone. He happily took the keys and left us. Once he was out of earshot, I tried my plan, praying it'd work and not make me look like an idiot.

"Could you tell me about the Battle of Haskovo with you and Kyrian?"

"Of course, in that battle Kyrian and I-" Julian caught himself, but not before blanching at his mistake. He tried to laugh it off by saying, "Sometimes I get him and myself mixed up I've studied him so much.

"You don't have to pretend around me, General Alexander. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I'm Princess Kiara of Athens."

"You're from my time period as well?" he asked suspiciously.

"Do you know about Dark Hunters?"

"Yes. But you're not one. They can't walk in sunlight."

"No, I'm not. I'm an Arean. I serve Lord Ares. But I'm quite similar to the Dark Hunters."

Julian visibly relaxed. "It's nice to have someone with shared life experience."

"It's an honor to meet the fearsome Julian of Macedonia. No matter how many millennia go by, you and Kyrian were always in the history books. Listen, I have to go because I have a friend I need to talk to but would you like to come over to dinner one night this week? I'd love to hear about your life and I have a friend who knows about us as well and would love to talk to you as well."

"I'd love to. When would you like to have dinner?"

"How about Friday night? Eight-thirty? My friend is a Dark Hunter and since the sun is setting so late still, he won't be up until eight and he'll need some time to get ready before you come."

"That works perfectly. Should I bring my wife?"

"Absolutely! I'd love to meet her. I see Nick pulling up now. Julian, it was a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to Friday."

"As do I.

Friday night...

"Something smells delicious," Nick commented as he walked into the kitchen. He attempted to steal a taste of the mashed potatoes but I swatted his hand away.

"No this is for Kyrian and our guest," I said.

"Who is the guest?"

"Your professor, Julian Alexander."

"Wait, what? Why are you inviting him over? I feel like if he talks about Thrace and says anything inaccurate, Kyrian might fight him over it."

"He won't say anything inaccurate."

"Why not?"

I looked up at him. "Because he lived in Thrace. He fought side by side with Kyrian as Julian of Macedonia."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're telling me that my professor has been my boss's best friend and I didn't even know?!"

"It's a surprise for both of them. Neither of them know the other is still alive and I thought with all the negative in our lives, it'd be good to have a positive. Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"I would but I promised my mom I'd be home for dinner by seven. Let me know how it goes!" Nick hugged me goodbye. He'd just left the kitchen when Kyrian came shuffling in. It was obvious he'd just woken up not long ago, but despite that fact, he still looked incredible in black pants and a black, button-down shirt.

"Hey," I greeted, smiling over at him. He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder.

"So tell me again why you're inviting Nick's professor over?" Kyrian questioned.

"Because he's an expert on Thrace and Greece and I thought having him over might give me some insight about everything. Trust me, you'll love him. For a professor, he's a lot like you."

At that moment, the doorbell rang. I ordered Kyrian to keep an eye on the food while I went to answer the door. My friend did as he was told. Upon opening the door, I was surprised to find Julian by himself.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little a late. Grace wanted to come but one of the kids got sick and she decided to stay behind," Julian explained.

"Don't worry about it! Hopefully it's nothing too serious, the illness?" I replied, moving aside so he could enter.

"No, just a stomach bug I believe. This is a gorgeous place you have by the way."

"Oh it's not mine. It's my friend's. I'm in the process of buying a house just down the road actually and he's letting me crash here until it's finalized. Why don't you go into the dining room and I'll send him in there while I dish everything up?"

I escorted Julian to the dining room. He took a seat in one of the chairs while I went to the kitchen. Kyrian was stirring the gravy.

"Hey, our guest is in the dining room. Dinner is ready so why don't you go chat with him while I dish up?" I suggested. Surprisingly Kyrian didn't argue.
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Kyrian

There'd been a weirdness between me and Kiara ever since a few nights ago when we finally decided to let go. Whenever she asked me to do something, I simply did it, not wanting to add to the existing weirdness. I had no idea why she'd invited Nick's professor over but it irked me that she had. Of course I'd never show that.

"Kyrian?" The voice was so familiar, but one I hadn't heard in over two thousand years. It was impossible for him to be here, but when I turned around, it was obvious just how wrong I was.

"Julian?" I said in shock. He walked up to me slowly, as if not believing what he was seeing either. "How are you-"

"It's a long story but let's say it involved a punishment and a sex scroll. My wife freed me of that prison. What about you? How are you-"

"Dark Hunter. I wanted my revenge and Artemis gave that to me."

"Who was your revenge on?"

"Initially Valerius but in the end I took it out on his father." Then there were no more words to be said as my friend and I embraced, neither able to comprehend that the other was alive and well.

"You look well, my friend," I said. "You look extremely well. Who's your wife?"

"Her name is Grace. We have four kids: Vanessa, Dmitri, Neco, and Penelope. What about you? You hardly look a day over twenty-five."

"I've never been better. I've been hunting Daimons with Kiara a lot and been helping her with her missions and-"

"Wait, did Kiara not tell you about me?" Julian interrupted.

"Tell me what?"

"She figured out who I was. I thought she would've told you but now it's dawning on me by your reaction that you had no idea I was coming over here."

"I wanted to surprise the both of you," Kiara's voice piped up from the doorway. I turned around to look at her. She'd brought all our dinner plates out and set them on the mat. "I hope you don't mind. I just thought it'd be a nice occasion for you two."

"How did you figure out who he was?" I asked.

"Because I saw the look in his eye when I asked him about you and I knew there was no way he was from this century," she chuckled.

"Did he know anything about you?" Disappointment flashed across her face which gave me the answer I needed. "We'll figure it out."

"What's going on?" Julian queried.

"Why don't we start eating and we can discuss it?" Kiara told him. With growling stomachs, we readily agreed.

Three hours later...

Julian offered to help Kiara figure out her past the moment he knew the entire story. We proceeded to catch up on everything going on in our lives afterwards. Halfway through the meal Kiara brought in a dessert. When she'd baked an apple pie, I have no idea. Or maybe Rosa did. But whoever made it, it was delicious.

"Why don't you two catch up in the living room and I'll clean up?" Kiara offered. "You two probably have a lot more catching up to do."

"Are you sure you don't want help?" I said.

"This was my treat for the both of you. Go. It's fine. Let me know if you want any more to eat." She made a shooing motion at us with her hands. Julian and I listened to her. Once we were seated on the couch and out of earshot of Kiara, Julian asked, "So what's going on between you and Kiara?"

"Nothing," I said. It wasn't technically a lie because we weren't together but we weren't not either. I didn't know what we were.

"We might not have seen each other for two thousand years but I still know when you're interested in someone, and you're far beyond interested in her. What's going on?"

"I don't know. We've been friends for a while, and I'm not going to lie there was some flirtation going on, and then a few nights ago we got together. Something's been different between us ever since. I don't know what to do."

"Do you think it might have to do with her husband?"

"I can't deny that that's probably the biggest factor," I admitted, rubbing my face in my hands. "I'm sure she feels somewhat guilty because that's what was stopping her before. That and I was still injured..."

"Why were you injured?"

"Got kidnapped by some demons and they used some Roman torture techniques on me. They had a lot of enjoyment nailing me to that bloody cross."

"They tried to crucify you?" Julian demanded in incredulity.

"Yeah. Kiara saved me. If it hadn't been for her, I'd be dead."

"Good gods, Kyrian. Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Because I knew you'd be upset and there was no point in bringing it up in our conversation at dinner."

"Would you like me to talk to her? Being married to Grace who's a psychologist, I've picked up a few tips on how to talk about sensitive subjects with people."

"No, I need to do this. But if I need help, I'll certainly let you know. I'd love to meet your wife someday."

"And she'd love to meet you. She knows about all our adventures."

"Hopefully not all of them," I laughed.

"I did leave a few out," Julian mused with a grin. "Speaking of my wife, I should probably head back home. We need to get together again soon though."

"Of course. It was wonderful so see you again, brother," I said.

"You too, brother." Julian I hugged once more before I escorted him out. I went back to the kitchen where Kiara was finishing up cleaning the kitchen. She looked up at me when I entered and said, "Did Julian leave?"

"Yeah, he needed to get home to Grace and the kids. Thank you for setting this all up. You really have no idea what it means to me to have him back in my life."

Kiara smiled. "You're very welcome."

I leaned against the doorframe, watching her as she flitted around my kitchen, putting things away and wiping down counters. It took her a couple minutes to realize I was watching her which prompted Kiara to ask, "What's on your mind?"

"Are we okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" she replied, furrowing her brows together.

"Ever since we got together the other night, you've been acting... differently."

"I have?"

"You seem to be quieter around me, that's all. I guess I wanted to make sure you weren't regretting it because of your husband..."

"Wh- no! No, if I thought I'd feel guilty afterwards, I never would've gotten with you. No. I was quiet, first of all, because I was really excited about tonight because of Julian coming over and I thought if I acted too cheerful, you'd think something was up. Then the Malachai case is becoming difficult. I'm trying to figure out a way to approach the person I think is the Malachai without letting them know that's what I'm doing. It's complicated."

"What can I do to help?" I inquired, walking up next to her.

"How about when I finish cleaning the kitchen, we go upstairs to your room?" She suggested with a glint in her eyes. I pushed her hair over one of her shoulders so I could kiss her neck, mumbling that we should go up now. However, she was adamant about at least finishing cleaning the stove. I pulled away, but keeping my hands on her hips. It was then I noticed that Kiara had a tattoo on the nape of her neck.

"What's the tattoo?" I asked, staring at the red and black spears that formed an 'X'.

"Oh, that's my mark as an Arean. Like Dark Hunters, we get tattoos where the blow was that killed us. The only difference is ours takes shape in the weapon that killed us instead of the bow and arrow."

"How did you-"

"Spear to throat through the back of my neck. My brother, Taren, ordered it to be done. That's all I remember though."

"Terrible," I murmured. Out of impulse, I kissed the place where her tattoo was, and the effect was almost immediate, although it was certainly not a good reaction. Kiara went rigid for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

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Uh oh, what's happening to Kiara? Let me know what you think in a review :)