I stared at the blue-eyed and purple-eyed vampires that looked between me and Savros nervously, “Is everything alright, My Grace?” One repeated.

I tried to not look at Savros as I passed him to get to the women. My heart broke when I snuck a peek and watched him lean away from me. I saw a small vial in his hand before he could be out of the corner of my eye. I looked back to the weary group with a some-what confident smile.

“Yes,” I was able to hide the hurt and steady my voice enough to speak to them, “I just had a small matter to deal with.” I looked at them with a small confused look on purpose, to give me a little bit of… reassurance that I was not going to hurt them, “Though do tell me… How long was I out for? A night, yes?”

They seemed to relax as they giggled to each other. “My Ladyship, it has been a month since your ritual.”

A month. I was out for a month. I guess I froze just a little too long because the group of silk-covered bodies started to tense. Turning away from them and paced past Savros – this time not glancing his way – and looked into the shallow pool that I had awoke from.

“Please leave,” I said finally. They were gone quicker and quieter than when they entered. Directing my voice to Savros who I heard still slightly moping around, I tried to not to sound too upset. “A month? And how much longer am I supposed to be here?”

I heard him shift, it was like I could hear every movement and thought as if I’m looking at him and reading his thought bubbles. “Another month after you take her blood from this vial… I was supposed to…”

“Supposed to what?” I turned to him, flung my arms wide and heard the water rise above me. I looked behind me and saw the petal-covered water turn into a giant wave and then watery spears. Losing my focus and anger had the water return to the pool in a blast of water. I looked back to him and he had a flicker of fear in his eyes but then sighed.

“I was supposed to give you the vial so you could recover normally but there was too many people and it was too unpredictable. Your guardians agreed that you weren’t exposed early enough so they decided against you getting it at the ritual.” He rubbed his face in his hand, “I was hoping you’d still be resting before the blood pool ran out, it was keeping you alive.”

I just stood at him like I would if he told me he wanted to break our friendship. I had the blankest face as he explained how the water helped us recover since it was one of the original pools of the world after it was renewed. The High Lunar Priestess and the Moon Goddess blessed this place so Dominic couldn’t enter on his own, and none of his people should’ve… But its been eons.

“My last act,” He sighed, and looked at the empty ceiling above us. At this point I was dry again and all the water had flowed back into the pool. We both were sitting but on the opposite sides of the pool. “I had tried to save a Priestess from being devoured from Dominic, but I couldn’t. After she cursed herself and another man, she sealed her fate, but gave me a warning to deliver to the other dwellers around. She was the sign that you were on the way. I was ordered by the Goddess’s will to protect you, but you still got attacked by him, even if it was indirectly. Such a coward…”

“Let’s… Just get this over with.” I sighed myself, I couldn’t stop looking at his face. “Just toss it in the water.”

He frowned, his red eyes showing his disbelief as he held the vial in his hand in front of his face. “No, you come and get it.”

I glared at him and walked on the water (I didn’t do it on purpose, but I wanted to walk not swim) and grabbed the vial. Savros grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to kiss me. It felt sad and like a good-bye. I pulled back slowly with the vial in my hand and watched his face turn from cold to somewhat of a sad look.

I stayed with in tempted range, I still wanted to kiss him back, but I didn’t want to push him into something he didn’t want to do.

I sighed heavily, “I guess that was my last one, huh?” I let a tear fall, “You must really love your Goddess.”

“Sanity,” I heard the hurt in his voice, “I love you, I just… I’m supposed to be a guard and nothing more. If we were normal humans; I’d totally date you and maybe just run away with you. I thought about it every day but I knew you had to do this.” He gripped my arm back and pulled me back in for another kiss.

I didn’t stop and neither did he. I let the vial drop in the water and it popped open. He flung me into it and I gripped him in with me, nearly ripping his shirt off with a growl. I swallowed a large mixture of water and blood which seared my senses. The rest of the silver liquid pierced my skin, rejoining with the body it came from. I snarled and kissed him harder and Savros pulled me closer. The pain was horrible, I couldn’t focus on him. I let him go and heard the echo of a whine and something else splashing into the water.

“So,” It was a deep dark voice, the scent was a mixture of deep dark and honey. I screamed in pain as the blood changed me.

“Get out!” I roared with her, gripped him with what power I could and flung back out of the cavern. “You are not yet strong enough, Guardian!” My voice had an echo, it was beautiful and seductive.

“Calm down,” I felt Savros trying to pull me back from the fringes of darkness like a bad fighting scene. I was just underestimated and burning from the inside. He touched my face as I flailed in the pool. It felt like it had gotten deeper and I was going to drown. “Breathe Sanity, damnit.”

“He was just…” I shuttered through the pain, this wasn’t going well. I was on fire in water and hallucinating. “He was just here.”

Savros gripped my head and made me look at him, “No, he wasn’t. Maybe in your head but he’s not here. The blood must be playing tricks on you. Look,” he said as he pulled a petal from the water. It was glowing in the water. “You put the seal back. Goddess, and I almost made you mad.”

I stopped flailing and finally took a deep breath in and then sighed. I leaned back and realized again I was naked with the guy I had the hugest crush on. My mind didn’t care. I took a look at his ripped shirt, I was too tired to even fathom on what I could do with the skin underneath.

What is wrong with me?

“Now can I go to sleep?” I said as the pain started to throb away. “Actually, can you give me some space please?”

Savros looked at me like I hit him with a truck and stepped back. I had a lot to think about and someone to talk to. I heard him get out of the pool and he didn’t hide the fact that he wanted to come back. Savros paused and looked back to me as I went under water and looked at the flowers. He padded away in his soaked clothes.