With Yuu's help, it didn't take long for my body to heal. I found myself alone in an empty guest room, not even bothering to try to sleep in a coffin. There was too much on my mind. I sat in a chair beside the fire, watching the endless storm outside. The wind was absolutely howling tonight. After my absence, I should be spending time with the others, but I couldn't bring myself to. I didn't want to hear what had become of them from fear of it being as terrible as Ryan. It may sound strange for me to say his growth is terrible, but there's so much more to it than power. The few times he'd spoken of the change magic had on his body, I could see it so clearly in his eyes he was unhappy. I fear the less human he becomes, the more miserable he'll be. Of course, it's clear his tempestuous relationship with Angelo is wearing on him enough already.

The door creaked barely before shutting. There's only one person who doesn't find it necessary to knock. Ville took a seat beside me, setting his glass down on the table between our chairs. His eyes lingered on the fire absentmindedly as he settled. He looked tired, something I was very unaccustomed to seeing. It wasn't very becoming of him.

"He hasn't forgotten you." He finally spoke, reaching for his drink.

"I wasn't worried about that. I knew it was probably another episode of amnesia from his PTSD." I replied.

"No," He said abruptly, "I didn't mean it like that. He knew exactly who you were when he attacked you."

"But why would he-" I paused, remembering the exact reason Ryan had assaulted me. Though I can't see my own soul, I can only assume the scar upon it had healed, or at the very least changed. "I didn't think Ricky could see souls anymore."

"Neither did I." Ville sighed as he raised his glass to his lips. "I wouldn't have let you see him yet if I knew. He's always been a little bit paranoid of shapeshifters. Something he's clearly instilled in some of his servants."

A memory came back to me of the day I brought Yuu to the castle. Ricky hadn't cared for formalities and manhandled Yuu rather roughly to ensure he was what he said he was. I wonder where that came from, because it wasn't due to Manson. As far as I know, he has no use for such tricks. Perhaps it developed out of a general fear of deception, which is something I can definitely accredit to Manson and Devin both.

I responded, "Angelo planned to speak to Ryan about it. Hopefully he understands because I'd prefer not be back at square one with him. He had trouble warming up to me when we first met."

"I can't blame him. This world must be utterly terrifying to an Earthling."

"Were you scared?" I asked, "I mean, when you went to Earth for the first time?"

Ville stopped to reflect. Then he laughed softly, "Petrified, but not for the reason you'd think. Some of the deities were a little bitter about the situation. They thought it'd be funny to reroute my first portal to land me in the center of a vampire's den."

"But there's not a vampire alive who could even scratch you." I replied.

"Well, I didn't know that at the time." He stressed. We both smiled and laughed together. That had to have been around the early 1980s, somewhere in the UK would be my guess. Those types of vampires, they have a bit of a flare for dramatics.

"Is that how you met..." I trailed off, realizing he still hadn't given me a name.

Ville's smile fell. "No." He looked to the fire again, watching as the flames danced, listening as the wind shook the shutters. "He was an outsider to his kind. I'm not sure you'd be as fond of me if you knew."

"My clan wasn't like many other vampires. We didn't care for some of the old ways. But, I'm not going to press. You do tend to have better judgement than me." I said, "Have you had a chance to explain things to Ricky?"

"The best I could. He's still a little confused. Give him a few days." He rose from his seat, sweeping his nearly empty glass from the table. "A certain little fairy has been asking about you quite a lot. I think you owe him a visit in the morning."

I turned my head over my shoulder to watch as he walked towards the door. "I hope he isn't mad at me for leaving."

Ville simply smirked. "Him? Never." He slipped out the door, leaving me with the silence once again. The whole situation with his past vampire lover was beyond strange, but it was the least of my worries right now. I had far bigger problems.

—

As promised, I visited Rune first thing in the morning. I hadn't slept much but that didn't matter to me. His smile, brighter than the sun, gave me all the energy I needed. In the months that I had been gone, he hadn't changed at all—Which, honestly, was a relief. For just a few hours, I could pretend as if time hadn't passed me by in a flash. Eventually, after I'd painted his favorite animals with him and listened to him tell me cute stories of all I'd missed while I was away, one of his caregivers came to take him for his afternoon nap. It was an escape for a few hours at the very least, but it was time I faced reality.

I found Ezra and Ryan training out in the garden, as per usual. Angelo sat on a nearby bench, his nose in a sketchbook. From what I can remember of the visions I saw, Ange tended to keep his distance from Ryan when others were around. It was strange he'd decided to stay within his general vicinity today. Upon noticing me, Ezra signaled his combat partner to break. He began approaching all while Ryan laid back, clearly still harboring some hesitance towards me. Before Ezra could reach me, however, out of seemingly nowhere a large dog-like creature bolted past him and knocked me to the ground. I didn't react violently, sensing no hostility from the animal as it began licking my face like a puppy, but I was certainly taken by surprise.

Vinny ran up, attempting to restrain the beast. "Hey! C'mon! Moony!" He grew more nervous knowing his older brother's judgmental eye burned into his back. "I'm sorry, Chris. She's just excited to see you. Hey, c'mon, you gotta listen to me." She finally began to calm down, though I could see if Vinny wasn't forcing her back, she'd definitely continue treating my face as a lollipop.

I regained my footing, replying with a laugh, "It's fine. But are you sure that's Moony? Last time I checked, she wasn't that big."

He smiled awkwardly, "Huh... Yeah, she, uh, she grew up a bit."

That was an understatement. I can't believe it was even the same animal. The opal foxes had been the size of house cats when we found them. Now, the creature before me was as big as a German Shepard. I wasn't even aware they were supposed to get bigger. It appeared her size wasn't the only noticeable change. The gem in her forehead was no longer blue, but had become a harlequin of colors, much like the opal of the same name. Her fluffy tail now sported an ombre of white to dark red, too. I wonder if the other two had changed this much. Even with all the strange creatures that roam around this garden, our little fox definitely stood out as extraordinary.

"She doesn't leave his side now." Ezra said, "He's not the strictest trainer, if you hadn't noticed."

"Hey, the important thing is she does listen to me." He replied.

"Eventually." Ryan muttered.

Vinny turned around to look at him across the courtyard, "Yeah, but she does listen."

Ezra smiled my way, shaking his head a little. "Did you miss us?"

"Believe it or not, I did." Moony continued to tap her paws excitedly while trying to stay behaved. I knelt down and gave her pets. She's the closest thing I've seen to a dog since I arrived to this realm. "I'm guessing it was you who took care of everyone while I was gone?" She made a sweet coo to confirm. "Yeah?" I laughed, "Thank you. You're a good girl." Moony stood up and did a happy spin. Maybe she's a little wild, but she's absolutely precious. I raised back to my feet, addressing the ogre brothers, "I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on, but if you wouldn't mind, I need to talk to Angelo and Ryan for a moment."

"Of course." Ezra began walking towards the palace entrance. "I could use a break anyways. You know where to find me."

Vinny hurried after him, replying, "You know you don't have to announce to everyone you're going to fuck your boyfriend."

"I didn't say it. You did."

"They can read between the lines!" He flipped around, calling for Moony to follow him inside. Well, those two haven't changed a bit, have they? I'm glad Vinny's taken over care for animals like the opal foxes. He's really come into his own since entering Ricky's service.

Now, Angelo said things have changed, but as I notice the disinterest in Ryan's eyes once again, I guess I find that hard to believe. On the outside, he's still the same construct of apathy and suppressed anger. I could see his distaste the second I said that word, "Talk." He's not the talking type. Angelo remained planted on the bench nearby, observing us both intently but choosing not to intervene.

"I know, I know. Talking's not your thing." I spoke in reference to his sour look. "We don't have to talk, but I wouldn't mind a sparring partner. I was gone awhile. I need to shake some dust off."

He cocked an eyebrow in shock, then grew a Cheshire grin. Angelo's expression remained neutral, though I could sense his apprehension. Ryan retrieved his hunting knife from it's sheath upon his hip and fearlessly flipped it around his fingers until it was comfortably in his palm. "No fangs." He said.

I snickered, revealing the daggers I called teeth. I agreed, "No fangs."

As if I'd do that to Angelo. In the vampire world, biting someone's mate is no different than having sex with them. Even in a combat sense, I wasn't interested in attempting it on someone who's quite deadly at close range. Between his hacking skills and those magic rings on his fingers, this wouldn't be an easy fight to act offensively in. Let's hope my dodging skills aren't rusty.

I rarely sparred with anyone back at the castle. Ricky didn't prefer me to act as his solider, and I didn't exactly need to polish my skills after hunting prey for two hundred years. But, things have changed. As I learned the first time my soul was damaged, a change to the soul is a change to the body. My motions would flow differently, my thoughts and reactions following suit. If that wasn't enough, I've got to learn to fight with a permanently bandaged arm. I figured it was for the best that I wasn't walking around with coal black skin in a world where hexes and curses and all kinds of bizarre tales are common and normal.

Ryan must've assumed I was still injured because he made several attempts to cut towards my forearm. I blocked it, pushing him back every time. We went around in a violent dance, saying no words but reading one another like a book. I could now see something had changed, though I couldn't exactly explain it. He moved and acted like the Ryan I knew, yet there was something inexplicably different. As we sparred, I quickly began regaining my momentum. It didn't take long for me to overpower him and push him into a corner. Eventually, I managed to sneak behind him as a shadow and pull his legs out from under him. The metal of his knife clattered against the cobblestone. He reached for it only a second too late. I swept it up as I re-materialized, then hovered over him cockily.

"Payback's a bitch." I taunted him. What? Was I supposed to just let go of the fact he tried to turn me into an undead shish kebab a few days ago? I thought this would be the end of our battle. I had won. But, it wasn't. As Ryan started to get up, his left eye ignited in mystic flames. Veins as red as his crimson fire crawled across his face and hand. I could only assume beneath his uniform, those beastly marks covered an entire half of his body.

As quickly as this form had taken him, it disappeared. It wasn't my doing, however. The sound of Yuu's voice broke the tension and finalized the end of our training session. As he entered the garden, Ezra in tow, he called out, "Is this what you two consider talking?"

"I thought you guys were going to be busy." I responded, cheeky in tone.

Angelo piped in to say, "That was an hour ago."

I shrugged, "Okay, so we lost track of time. We were having fun."

Yuu rolled his eyes with a smile, arms crossed over his chest. "Men."

Ange closed his sketchbook and finally left his bench. He was one to drift, nearly float, in the way he walked. So fluidly and kind. He placed his hand upon Ryan's shoulder, murmuring to him about how he should take a break and relax. I silently agreed, returning his weapon to him. The two said nothing more as they returned to the palace's interior.

Yuu readjusted my collar for me, using his hands to iron out the wrinkles on my chest and nagging me about how I should've spent the day resting. I've been asleep long enough, I didn't want to lay on my back another minute.

"Did you know about that?" I asked. My eyes lingered on the doorway Ryan and Angelo had left through.

"Happened right after you left." Ezra responded.

"What happened, exactly? Because I'm still not sure what I saw."

"If a sorcerer born without natural magic like Ryan learns to use it and uses it long enough, it'll begin fusing with his physiology. It's not a big deal, really, but he seems to think it is." He explained.

"Where we come from, that kind of thing isn't exactly normal." I said, "I understand why it'd be a big deal to him. Any other dramatic changes I should be aware of?"

"We've all done our fair share of growing, but I think that all can wait." Ezra replied, "We came out here because Ville asked us to find you. He said he needs to talk to you. Didn't say why."

"Great," I sighed, "Thank you."

I started to walk away, only to feel Yuu's dainty little hand on my arm. "Chris, when you left, you said it was incredibly important, what you needed to do. I trust you, but you did leave us in the dark for a long time. We had no idea when you were coming back."

Ezra's tone wasn't nearly as kind. "What he's saying is, when you're done with Ville, you better be ready to talk."

Yeah, I knew I wasn't going to skate by completely on this. I can't blame them. If someone disappeared on me for months in a dire time of need, I'd want to know where the Hell they were too. Like Angelo said, there isn't much of a point in us maintaining sacred vampire laws when we're the only vampires here. I'll tell them the truth and much more. It's about time they know of my plan, though I'm uncertain of how they'll react. They've kept incredibly patient with me and remained loyal to a weak master, all while bobbing through a twilight zone without answers or a remedy in sight. I owe them all far more than I'll ever be able to repay them for that.

—

a/n: tried to make it a longer one to make up for the lack of updates! hopefully that will improve, i'm sorry for the lack of updates. the whole state of the world has been hard on everyone, my family included. i hope you're all staying safe and sane <3