Morpheus' arm slipped behind his back, his hand gently placing itself on my side, and pressing. The man was now pacing in circles around the middle of the room, scratching at his head through his short, black hair, briefly pulling at the tufts. Recollection dawned on me, but the feeling of recognition was quickly lost. He divulged, rebuking himself and warning us, "And, I knew that it was going to happen soon. I could sense it, Dalnim could sense it, Ikelos could sense it, everyone could sense it! But, I could see deeper. I was able to realize and understand the threat. And, yet, I stayed silent. Waiting. Expecting. Ignoring. I did not do a single thing, barely tried, and now it has begun."

The alarming shake of his voice made my legs tremble, and my nerves wavered as my curiosity twitched once more. I glanced around, catching sight of the door leading to the bedroom, and I started to ponder about whether I should remain there or creep my way into the room where a monstrous sized bed rested.

"Morpheus-" he started, but couldn't finish as I interrupted before he had the chance to. My eyebrows pinched together. That's his voice, but that's also his name? Why is he saying his own name?

My head snapped back, gaping at the two of them as I stepped out from my hiding spot, and I exclaimed loudly, "Wait, wait, wait-" my hands waved downwards, both of them gesturing for the men to be quiet while my speech fumbled, "-there's two of you? Two Morpheus'? Same name? There's two of them? Two? Two?"

Suddenly, the air lifted. And, the dreary fog that had captivated us all turned into a cloud of elation. The man wasted no time as he confidently sauntered up to me, who was now standing tall with a mass of intimidating muscle hovering at my back, and he ruffled his hair back to its loosely styled form prior to extending his hand out to me. My fingers fell into the palm of his angelic hand, and he leaned down to place a kiss of greeting upon my knuckles. His long eyelashes relaxed against his high cheekbones, the features of his face heavenly, much too divine for this world. "To avoid unnecessary confusion, you may call me 'Morph'."

A God, I nearly gasped.

As I peeked up at my Morpheus through a charmed gaze, I noticed how his characteristics were not so daintily ethereal. He was not godlike in the sense of being delicate, untouched, and pure. No, he reeked of war, rancor, and detestation. He held his head up high, his crooked features carved handsome by bloodshed and hostility.

While I was lost in the flood of power, stuck between two beings who held more control in the palms of their hands than a human could ever be granted with in their entire lifetime, Morpheus asserted a throaty growl of irritation, and it slipped past his lips vehemently. Morpheus' arm went over my head, and grabbed Morph's wrist in a tight hold, throwing it off of me. His own hand then enclosed itself around my limp one, clutching it the same as a parent would to their child's after they had just attempted to fortuitously run away in public.

Morph held up his hands in a form of surrender. "Calm down, wolfman. I mean no harm," he assured, a subtle whistle hanging off his words. And, with an aimed point of his finger, he motioned back and forth between us proudly, wiggling, "I actually played a part in making this come true, or at least I like to think I made the process easier to handle. But, no need to thank me, because I helped you out of the goodness of my heart."

"How?" Morpheus watched him with one eyebrow pulled up, a mocking look displayed on his face. The question was simply rhetorical. And, the answer was already clearly written out on his forehead in large, strikingly bold letters. 'Help? Me, in need of help? No'.

"I really did help!" Morph scoffed playfully, astonished at the denial, and faintly narrowed his nickel eyes that were once widened. He began listing things off, counting with his fingers, "For one, I turned you into a whole bedtime story. Who do you think began telling it first? Me, of course. That was all me. All me. For literal centuries, ever since the first night you were forced into that tomb, your story was being told to children all over the world. By the Gods, it was told to adults! If you ask me, I single-handedly kept your memory alive-" he shook his head, "-I can't claim that fully. There are so many shrines. Books are dedicated to you. Your history is taught in schools. It is unbelievable how popular you are. But, you know what else I did do? And, by myself, I might add. Minor sleep deities couldn't even go near her after I found out she was your mate. No one else can even come close to this. No one. Absolutely no one. Because, I personally made sure that Emery had dreams about you. I spent my time and effort into perfectly crafting her dreams, and you were the main focus in a lot of them. There was so much detail. You know, just the whole nine yards. Other ones were the usual types, as in the parents, the friends, some childhood memories, and a house made of candy. "

"How do you know my name?" I asked right off the bat, as soon as he was finished or before he could divulge in more of my dreams, but the question was more steered towards myself than him. Was it mentioned? Did Morpheus introduce me? Did I introduce myself? It seemed like there was a thin line between reality and supernatural abilities, and I found myself crossing it more than I needed, more than I wanted. Then, a more salient piece of information clicked just in time, "Wait. What did you say? You're the reason why I had nightmares about Morpheus all the time? You?"

"Well, first of all, I will not take any offence from that little 'nightmare' comment. I can deal with a little bit of a lapsus linguae, a slip of the tongue, you could say. A gaffe, if you're asking me honestly. No need to fret about it, though, I'll write it off as a simple misunderstanding. But, if you do say something like that to me again, then there's a strong chance that I might cry about it later." Morph pouted his lips while he spoke, emitting a fake whine under his breath. The action, the atmosphere, and the emotional aura all frolicsome. He intentionally shivered to get rid of the so-called embarrassing comment, and with his head lowered, he looked up at me through his eyelashes. A playful sparkle in his eyes and a hidden, cheeky smirk pulling up at his lips.

Morpheus groaned, "Get to the point."

Morph held his hand up again, focusing on Morpheus as he shushed him, "Respect. Okay? Respect. I know for a fact that your mother taught you to respect your elders, and I can guarantee that I am much older than you. You may be ancient in this realm, but you're an infant compared to the rest of the Gods and Goddesses."

Morph caught my attention as he turned back to me, rolling his eyes as if that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard, almost like he was saying, 'Can you believe this guy?'. "Anyway, I will skip past the many, many important bits that I had prepared for this first meeting. We won't share a laugh and a cup of tea, bond over our mutual, or our napping abilities. I thought that this would be under better circumstances. But, I can assure you that they were not nightmares. Most were very, very hilarious moments from Morpheus' past-" his sudden hearty laughter cut him off, and he started smacking at his leg, the both of us remembering exactly what he put in my mind, "-I mean, come on! A sip of wolfsbane and he's down? His mother is ridiculously strong, but I would have never expected that in a million years. Moral of the story, every single dream you had of this man is thanks to me. And, no need to applause me yet, but I would appreciate some gratitude."

He's kind of right. I scratched at the back of my head. Morpheus is a bit of a wimp.

Morpheus defended himself, sighing as he pinched the bridge of his vaguely aquiline nose, "That dose was enough to kill a fellow Alpha, and the only reason why it worked was because I was not expecting my own mother to poison my cup of ambrosia. I was celebrating. As usual, I put my entire trust into her. If she was another, or if I had known then what I know now, then it would have went down very differently." Muttering, he whispered bitterly, "Ridiculous."

Piping up, I added, "I mean, I've witnessed it twice."

"And, the second time only happened because, and I cannot stress this enough, the dose was, yet again, an overly powerful amount and could kill a regular Alpha in seconds. I was distracted. I had more important things on my mind than wolfsbane." As a quiet deterrent from mentioning something else, Morpheus tightened his clasp on my hand. A tingle shot up my arm.

"On the note of distraction, I came here for a reason. Áine is missing. Missing. Gone. I can't find her anywhere. I can't sense her anywhere. I asked Tsovinar, and no sign of her. I asked Viridios, and no sign of her. I asked Hathor, and no sign of her. Then, I even went around and double-checked with Sirona, Berstuk, and Eos! And, you guessed it, no sign of her! Is she in this realm? Is she in the divine realm? I have no idea. And, frankly, it is troubling," Morph admitted, nodding along to his own words nervously, and throwing his arms up in the air for emphasis.

"Who is Áine?" The top of my head was about level with their elbows, my height being only a couple inches above. And, I felt as though I had to talk louder for them to hear me, but that actually wasn't the case. Their bodies massive in length, yet Morph's was willowy, and Morpheus' was Herculean.

"Áine? Morpheus, you haven't told her about Áine?" Morph scolded, clicking his tongue in disappointment and bewilderment.

"I was getting to it," Morpheus said.

Morph cried with dismay, shooting a glare at him, "Not quick enough!" He lowered his voice when he began explaining to me, "My darling, Áine is Dalnim's sister. Morpheus' aunt-"

"Auntie?" The term very familiar, obviously, but the voice of the last person I heard say it rang repeatedly in my head. "Is she the auntie?"

"-and, the creator of vampires."

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