Kayden's POV
I woke up suddenly, as I always do. There is no gradual passing of the line between sleep and wakefulness; I am either here or not. My eyes darted to a particularly loud clock on the wall. I was surprised to learn that I slept for most of the night. It seemed to me, that human touch could somehow pacify the horrors of the night, just as it could heal. The theory, however, had a flaw in that it was limited to one specific human. The weight of her little brunette head on my chest reminded me of her presence. I could feel her drawing random shapes on my stomach. She must've been awake for some time.
I glanced up at the mirror on the ceiling. A brown-haired, pale guy stared back at me with an empty gaze. I looked terrible in the morning. My naked body was partly covered by her small, bare form. Her hair was scattered on my chest, where she lay still. She was uncharacteristically quiet. It began to unnerve me. I expired and readjusted. She was still unbothered, deep in thought. I moved my gaze from the mirror to her head, which rested on me. My fingers were lightly caressing her back. What was she thinking about?
I flipped her over and pinned her to the bed. She expired, surprised. I smiled, pressing my nakedness onto her. She was always so warm. The touch of her naked skin sent chills down my whole body.
She wiggled and looked deep into my eyes with her chin held high. Her hands slowly made their way down my back as she hovered with her lips just bellow mine.
"I need to go", she drawled, rubbing against me provocatively.
"No", I stated, nibbling on her neck. She chuckled.
"It's late", she continued, "and you have a meeting with your friend, remember?"
I exhaled irritated and relaxed my body without notice, dropping the whole weight on her. She protested and tried her hardest to move me away. Her frustration grew as she realized she was trapped. I laughed sincerely.
"Move your fat ass, jerk", she commanded, "you're suffocating me!"
"No"
"Don't be so stubborn!"
I laughed.
"Move!"
She wiggled energetically. No progress. She growled and stopped moving, breathing heavily. I lifted myself up slightly, touching her nose with my nose. I could see she was flustered. I gave her a small smile. And a small kiss on the lips.
Then I threw myself off of her. I looked around for my clothes. They were nowhere to be found.
Layla was getting her panties on.
"What do you have to tell him?" she inquired, "Does it have anything to do with Rose?"
I raised one eyebrow. "You're awfully curious this morning."
"I'm always curious", she disputed, rolling her eyes, "he also gave you a pretty nice beating yesterday."
I chuckled as I pulled a new pair of underwear from the wardrobe. "I sometimes forget he's a royal pure-blood pup."
"Aren't you two cousins?"
"We are."
She paused as she got up and picked her red dress up from the floor. "You're awfully noiseless this morning."
"I'm always noiseless", I mimicked her.
She looked at me disapprovingly and shook her head.
"Take me back to the region, lover-boy", she said when she was finally dressed up. I stared at her.
"What do I look like to you?"
"Like my ride back home."
I huffed.
"I can't be seen out of the region", she continued, walking towards me accusingly, "I got my rights taken away because of your horny ass."
I smirked as I backtracked to the wall with her threatening finger pointing at my chest.
"Remember?" she added, pushing me against the wall. I lifted my hand up in defeat and she nodded satisfied. She didn't move away, though.
I lowered my hands on her waist, slowly gliding to her ass as I moved my lips down to her ear. "You also seem to talk about my ass a bit excessively this morning", I said, squeezing her ass.
"It's a nice ass", she retorted simply as she turned around, slapping me with her hair.
I laughed.
She's funny.
***
It was sundown. The sky was bloody red and the whole word seemed to slow down. I was walking slowly with hands in my pockets staring up at the sky, stoned out of my mind.
It was a necessity.
I couldn't talk to my mother sober; my brain would bleed.
Like the sky.
Still, the talk was painfully long and filled with unneeded interjections of fake worry. But I endured.
The things we do for love. Or family. Or knowledge?
Do I love?
Maybe.
Maybe there's some kind of loyalty intrinsic to the blood bond?
Maybe I was just curious?
Who could tell?
The shape of massive castle appeared in front of me. It seemed far but close.
Damn.
How will I ever find an entrance if the whole building flashes like a firefly?
I shook my head trying to focus, squinting my eyes.
"Do you maybe need some help?" I heard a person say. It was a voice form heaven. Or like some positive karma. Or an angel. Could be one of the muses humas believed in. I believed in it too. Right now, anyways.
"Lead me to the young prince, muse", I exclaimed, not looking for the source of the voice.
"Prince Adrian?" the voice asked.
"Who else?"
I turned around seeing the most ordinary-looking guy I've ever seen in my life. "You're no muse", I snorted and sighed in disappointment. Of course, there were no muses.
Maybe I could write a song? Maybe I am the muse.
I chuckled and took a few steps.
Suddenly the world started spinning around. Weed, meds and booze weren't a god mix, I thought as I leapt forward, tripping on my own feet, falling into the bush.
And the darkness consumed me.
Rose's POV
I was sitting on my bed, still lovestruck from last night. Butterflies were up until this time dancing in my stomach as I was drawing his face on the paper from one of my notebooks. Just like a child madly in love for the first time. It didn't feel ridiculous, though. I felt happy. I just couldn't help myself. He swallowed me whole, and I knew I couldn't escape. It happened so quickly, but the peculiarity of the situation bothered me only at the back of my head.
Loud knocking jerked me from my doodles. I quickly hid them under my pillow and ran to the door. I was surprised to see Luke with a frantic look on his face. He wasn't hanging out at my place lately, and he certainly didn't look this worried often. My mind raced in a hundred directions. It scared me that something could have happened to Nimueh... or Adrian.
"You need to come with me right now", he said pulling me out. I instantly started following him.
"What happened?"
"It's Layla"
My heart stopped pounding out of my chest, and initial stress faded away. Almost momentarily, a feeling of shame took over me. I bit the inside of my cheeks and shook my head. She's my best friend, I reminded myself.
"Is she okay?" I asked, hoping he didn't notice the moment.
"Something very weird is happening", he said, giving me only a glance as we neared the very familiar door. Luke slowed down. He looked wary of coming inside.
I couldn't restrain the thought that she probably took a shit ton of alcohol and odd Ultrrian substances, provided by none other than - Kayden, of course. She must've been in some weird withdrawal or psychotic episode. It wouldn't surprise me. She was especially careless with him. And he was a maniac.
Luke opened the door to Layla's apartment, and we entered slowly. There was no strange smell or anything that would point to an outburst. Layla was nowhere to be seen, which was very unusual. I started to feel confused.
"Layla", I called out quietly.
I heard muffled sounds from the bathroom. Luke let out a breath and nodded.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I was walking towards her, "Can I come in?"
"Yeah", I heard her say weakly, so I rushed in.
She was sitting on the floor under the shower, completely naked and wet, rubbing her eyes. I crouched at her side and took her hands off the red face. Her eyes were still closed.
"What's happening?" I asked worried.
"Promise you won't be mad", she said seriously.
Silence.
I could choke her to death right then and there.
"You smell mad", she continued.
"I'm not", I said sternly. She tore her hands away from me and started rubbing her eyes again.
I sighed and took them again, holding them tighter. "I will not be mad", I said.
"Promise?"
Choke. To death.
"Okay, fine", she said quickly, sensing my frustration.
She opened her eyes slowly. They were red from all the rubbing, but I could still see her brown irises glowing intensely. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was Ultrrian. My mouth must've fallen wide open from shock, so she jerked away from me and started rubbing them aggressively again.
"They're still glowing, aren't they?" she whined. The desperation was obvious in her voice. I took a breath.
"Layla, stop, it's not helping", I said, trying to keep her from hurting herself, "What did he do to you?"
"He didn't do anything", she spat defensively, looking at me with Ultrrian eyes. I pinched the root of my nose and closed my eyes, trying to suppress the growing headache.
"Don't be a fucking child", I said.
"You said you wouldn't be mad", she grumbled and got up. She took a cloth and started drying herself.
"I'm not mad at you", I lied as I got up, "How can I help you if you won't talk?"
"How can I talk when you keep judging me?" she mumbled as she rubbed every part of her body roughly.
"When did this happen?" I ignored her stupid comment.
She looked up and opened her mouth to speak but stopped. I was still uneasy about her eyes. "First", she started, "stop cringing."
"I'm sorry", I said as I shook my head.
"An hour ago", she declared, not looking at me.
"Will you tell me what you were doing before that?"
She was rubbing her skin so roughly that I thought she would bleed.
"Nothing", she said, "I was sleeping."
"With Kayden?" I asked.
"No", she growled, "alone, in my bed."
She threw the cloth away angrily and took the clean clothes from the sink. "I was with him last night, but he brought me back here in the morning", she ranted as she was putting the clothes on, "My eyes were glowing a bit in the morning, after, you know, everything... but they went back to normal, like always, after some time", she tightened her pants, and finally, looked at me fully clothed with fully glowing eyes, "I went to sleep and woke up like this"
I didn't know what to think.
"Did you take some drugs or something?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.
"No!" she snapped and walked out. I followed her.
"I had to ask, don't be mad", I said, "I don't know what else it can be."
She sat down on the bed, frustrated. Luke handed her a bowl of berries, like on demand, and slipped away, disappearing from view. "I cleaned every part of me", she said and took a few berries into her mouth, "I thought that maybe he left some of his liquids on me."
"You're disgusting", I stated and sat by her.
"It's a better guess than the drugs", she mocked me and threw another bunch of berries into her mouth. I eyed her, not entertained.
"What will you tell your parents?"
"Nothing", she cut me off, "they can never know; they'd kill me."
I expired. "No, they wouldn't."
"You don't know them like I do", she continued, "they seem very nice and polite, but they can be very ruthless and unforgiving."
"You're exaggerating"
"Rose", she stopped eating and looked at me "I need to fix this very soon; they can never know", not one muscle moved as she looked deep into my eyes, "I'm already their biggest disappointment."