CHAPTER NINETY THREE

WHAT.

"I was born human about twenty-five hundred years ago. I was a farmer in a small village just outside of modern-day Rome with my small family. My mom passed when I was five due to disease, so my father raised my sister and I. Of course, this was long before he was like he is now. He was a good father and made sure that my sister and I wanted for nothing.

Well, one day my sister and I decided to go meet some of our friends by the creek at sundown. We liked going for night swims sometimes. Granted, it was dumb to do, especially at our age, but it was our way of escaping our responsibilities for a bit.

There was a full moon that night and we were feeling a little wild, so we started stripping down to skinny-dip instead. Everything was going fine, until we heard someone walking through the woods towards us. Obviously, swimming naked with mixed genders was a huge offense back then, so we panicked, trying to hide behind some rocks. Then, my father's voice called out for us.

We were all terrified, but suddenly, a bright beam of light came down and blinded us. We didn't know what the hell was going on and started to panic. I swam towards what I thought was the shore only to bang my head on a rock and black out.

By the time I came to, I was surrounded by my friends and dad. Except, only my dad looked remotely human. The rest of them looked like beasts of various kinds. And thus, the six 'firsts' were born."

He stopped, presumably to give me time to comprehend what he was saying. So, he wasn't a god, but rather a human turned into some monster by a bright light in the woods?

"What was the bright light?"

"We aren't sure. Most of us started out believing that it was the moon that changed us, which is why it's such a common symbol in our history, but we can't know for certain."

"We?"

"Yea, all the firsts. Well, the five of us, excluding my father." I shook my head, my eyes widening.

"Wait, so they're all still alive? And are they also werewolves and vampires?" He chuckled at some hidden joke, taking a sip of his wine and pouring me some more.

"Yes, they are alive. Just in hiding at the moment. And no, they are much different from us. That was a benefit of my sister and I's transformation. At least we could blend into the human population."

Wait, so the other firsts don't look human? I immediately began picturing alien lifeforms, slime and ten eyes, making me shudder.

"Can you tell me about them?" I finally asked, preferring the truth over my outlandish fantasies. He leaned forward on the table, eyeing me with curiosity.

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"What are their names?"

"Genedier, Coree, and Sicily." He said the last name with a wince.

"Oh. And, um, what kind of creatures are they?" I held my breath, my heart beating through the roof.

He smiled.

"You don't need to be so nervous. You've probably already heard of them all before. There are a few tales of their species that have survived throughout the years. Some humans have even spotted them."

Now my curiosity was really piqued.

"Genedier is kind of a leader of sorts. She's always been that way. She is what humans call a mermaid."

"Holy shit, what? Like Ariel?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"No clam shell bikinis. Also, mermaids have the ability to morph their tales into legs. They just get a lot weaker out of water, and they also have scales beside their eyes. Hence why they would stand out in a crowd up here."

"That's so cool! How about the others?"

"Ah, Coree is a Yeti. Big and furry, but one of the kindest guys you'd ever meet. He was always the more shy and timid one in our group. And Sicily is a pixie."

"That's it? Just a pixie?" He shrugged, but I could see in his eyes that he didn't care for this Sicily person. "What is a pixie? What's she like?" I prompted and he reluctantly sighed.

"Pixies have the ability to grow and shrink at will. They could be the size of a mosquito up to a normal human. They have obnoxiously loud hair, strange colored eyes, and always carry around an overly sweet scent with their dust. As for Sicily, she is absolutely the most annoying woman you would ever meet. She's clingy, whiny, and purposefully provokes me constantly."

His eyes were already red by the time he finished his description, and I had to stifle my laughter. My muffled giggles confused him, though, and he cocked his head at me.

"I'm sorry, it's just... It sounds like she just likes you." He grimaced at my deduction.

"I know she likes me. I just don't like her and she can't take a damn hint."

I could already feel my jealously surfacing, so I decided to change the topic.

"Okay, so were they considered the 'gods' of their people, too?" He seemed relieved that we were moving on.

"Yea. Well, rulers more than gods. All firsts have special abilities beyond their descendants. Obviously, I have teleportation and telekinesis. Luna has the ability to read minds and control dreams. Genedier can basically hypnotize people into doing what she wants. Coree can liquefy or harden non living creatures, essentially changing the physical properties of said thing. And Sicily can read and change people's moods. She's the other passion deity."

He was right, this was a lot of information to take in. I was starting to understand why he was so hesitant to tell me at first.

"So you aren't actually a god. You're just a vampire," I clarified.

"Disappointed?" He asked, his eyes searching my face.

"It still doesn't explain how you're able to answer when I pray to you or how you could make sure I had Rory's child. And how about mates and royals! How can you do that?"

"Well, as firsts we were granted a certain level of power when it comes to our people. Manipulating people to love one another is a relatively easy thing to do. And we can choose to interfere with things like conception, though we don't actively control each pregnancy. That would be far too time consuming. I've said this before, but the mating and royal bonds were created by my sister and I to ensure the preservation of the species. We lost over ninety percent of our population in the Great War, and we needed to get it back up and stable. It may sound impersonal, but it was necessary."

Holy hell. The bonds were just made to make people reproduce? There was no real love involved?

"Now, we do try to choose bonds based on peoples' personalities most of the time, so it's not like we stick random people together. It doesn't always work out perfectly, but we aren't perfect. We just wanted our people to be happy."

I nodded in understanding, even though I could feel myself getting emotional already.

"Okay. So what is the Great War? And why did you lose so many vampires?"

"My dad didn't bother creating descendants for his species right away. He wanted to be unique, the only one of his kind. That was until he realized that he wouldn't be able to rule anyone. So he decided to pose as a regular human and managed to convince the humans to go to war with supernaturals. We didn't want to fight, but they didn't give a shit. They massacred us by the thousands. The war itself only lasted a month, but within that time, three species were near extinction, and my sister and I fled to America to hide amongst humans along with our people.

Then my dad's real reign started. He finally decided to create descendants, but they were all corrupted by his hatred and darkness. Those are his dark angels, and they're twisted bastards. He trained them to kill.

Not long later, the hunts started. We knew that we couldn't run forever, so we asked for help from a shaman in present-day Vegas. He gave us a spell that could bind the King, keeping him imprisoned with the same dark magic he had grown fond of."

All five of the other firsts gave their blood for the spell, and it wasn't supposed to be able to be undone without blood from each species, but something changed. My dad was somehow fighting it from the inside for the last few thousand years, chipping away at its strength. It took the Sire only wolf and vampire blood to complete the ritual to release him fully.

Since this was all before the time of present-day record-keeping, the story was lost in history. Humans nowadays don't even recognize our existence except in fictional novels. We didn't mind, since we knew that they would go back to hunting us if they found out."

"Like the hunters."

"Exactly." He took an exaggerated breath, meeting my eyes and placing both of his palms on the table. "So, how bored are you with me, now?"

I couldn't help but giggle at his assumption. Sure, it was shocking, but I was far from disappointed.

"Ly, I'm not disappointed at all. I'm actually relieved." He raised a brow in confusion. I stood, crossing to his side of the table in graceful strides. He turned his chair to face me and I straddled his lap, placing my arms over his shoulders, looking him in his glowing blue orbs. His hands rested on my hips for support and I could see his blush all over again.

"But I'm not a god. Just an immortal freak."

"Lysander, you may not be a god, but you are an incredible man. I don't care if you are all-powerful or not. You're still amazing and unique and yes, sometimes pretty strange, but I love that about you."

He pulled me further up his lap so that my chest was against his, then traced his lips against my neck.

"You're blood sounds amazing." He whispered sensually against my ear, making me shiver in delight.

Was he asking if he could drink from me? My insecurity skyrocketed along with my want. Would his venom work from his bite, still, or was I only immune to his saliva?

"Drink." I rasped, my breathing shallow against his shoulder.