When Ari moved his head, his lips brushed up against Cyrus' neck. It was hot to the touch along with other parts of him that Ari rubbed. Ari's leg moved against Cyrus' as he tried to grow close. He kept moving it back and forth loving the feel of Cyrus' skin on his until he drifted back to sleep.

Ari woke feeling cold, so he reached for Cyrus to move closer to him, but he was met with nothing but cool air. He closed his eyes for a moment and sat up. Of course, he would leave when Ari was fast asleep. Somehow, Ari believed Cyrus had another reason for wanting him here and not wherever he went off to. Ari snuffed at the idea but continued to stay in a bit of a daze. His body ached and his stomach was full, so full he felt a heat rush through him making that cold feeling disappear as quickly as it came.

He touched his lips before licking them. There was still traces of Cyrus left there. Ari could still taste him. He wiped the corners of his mouth and found some dried blood there. When he looked around the bed there was a pool of it where Ari had bitten him. Ari did not mean to take so much. It seemed like the more he took the more he wanted the next time. It was because he was different. Yes, that was it... It tasted so good to him, but when he tried to stop himself he could not, or more like would not unless he was full. Nonetheless, Cyrus should be fine. He was well enough to get up and get dressed on his own, after all.

Someone pulled the curtains back in the room causing Ari to shield his eyes from the blinding bright rays of light shining through the large window. When the person turned to face him, Ari instantly recognized him as Kaval. His hair looked browner and curlier than before. Like he had been out in the rain. It still looked damp. Had he been outside all of this time?

"Dress, dress, dress." Kaval threw his clothes onto the bed as he made his way around the room. "We have somewhere we must be."

"We?" Ari said. He quickly put his shirt over his head and grabbed his pants.

"We."

"... I think I should stay here. Or go back and see my father."

"And why is that? Because Blondie had told you so?" Kaval looked around the room, assessing it almost.

"Blond...ie?" Ari pulled up his pants and searched for his boots next. "He never said I should stay--"

"Then come with me."

Kaval drew closer causing Ari to back his head away.

"Do you not like secrets now?" Kaval said as he handed him one of his boots. "And now you must wonder what secrets they may be... " Ari took the other one from his hand and set them down on the ground. "I shall tell you. I shall tell you everything."

"You are a liar."

"We all are," Kaval said matter-of-factly. He stared at him causing Ari to become unnerved. Instead of keeping eye contact, Ari finished lacing up his boots and stood.

"It does not make you any better in my eyes. I am still angry with you," Ari mumbled. He made his way down the stairs with Kaval following closely behind.

"For how much longer?" Ari could practically hear the whine in his voice. "Tell me, am I really the same as that blood demon or am I much worse?"

"I am not comparing the two of you."

"Yes, you are," Kaval said, stepping in front of him.

Ari sucked on the inside of his cheek before sighing.

"Blondie has taken quite a liking to you much to his dislike. If I tell you why, will you forgive me then?"

Ari furrowed his brows and looked up at Kaval. He had a darker complexion than him but they were more or else the same tone. Ari had not seen someone so close to resembling his skin complexion before. And his eyes. Sai had tinges of gray in them, but nothing like his or Kaval's.

"... I suppose."

"Auovin, as selfish as he likes to profess himself to be... can be very selfless as well. He always had been before."

"I know this already."

"Auovin does not want Blondie anymore. No, no, no. That is a bad way to phrase it... He does not want Blondie to tag along with him any longer, so he tells him to do this for him and to do that, knowing Blondie will listen and obey him blindly. But Blondie caught on and now he is at odds with himself."

"What do you mean?"

"Use your head, Ari. Auovin's been mean, I am sure, cruel almost towards you, has he not? It is enough for any sane person to turn away from him completely, but you just keep coming back for more."

"I know he has been trying to push me away, but that... that has nothing to do with Cyrus."

"Auovin may have turned your head towards Blondie for a reason."

Ari's eyes widened causing Kaval to smile widely.

"Your eyes are as big as saucers now."

"Tell me."

"And now that Blondie is receptive towards you, all is going as he wanted it to. He just made one little misstep of falling in love with you. Minor detail."

Ari bit down on his lip at his words.

"In other words, his lover is yours now. He has given him to you. His most cherished person. It must make you feel nice."

"Why do you know all of this?"

Kaval shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps, I do not know a thing. This is all merely speculation, but founded on truth."

Ari's stomach felt like it was twisting and knotting up. He would never do such a thing to Auovin. Cyrus still loved Auovin very much. He was worried about Auovin even as Ari was in his arms. It could not be true.

"So Blondie was at a standstill. To keep me away from you or to go to Auovin. Blondie went his way. Now you must go yours."

Kaval pushed open the door and gave Ari a push.

"Just because he is going to Auovin does not me he does not love me as well. I do not believe I am the person Auovin needs right now. It may be Cyrus and that is okay. It does not mean he loves me less."

"I suppose so." Kaval combed his hands through Ari's hair and put it up into a bun with a small piece of fabric.

"Much better."

Ari moved his hand away from him and walked out the door. He picked at his hair trying to undo whatever Kaval had done to it, but he left it alone after failing twice. Kaval was nothing but odd. He seemed to care for him, but Ari could not be too sure.

Kaval had his head back and eyes closed almost as if he was basking in the sunlight and fresh air the rain had left. When he opened them again, Kaval looked at Ari which Ari quickly turned away from his gaze.

"They make good lovers. One cannot lie about that. They just know what places to touch to make you moan and beg to be touched more, but do not confuse that with love. Loving the way someone makes you feel does not equate to love."

Ari furrowed his brows.

"Do not be surprised. You think we did not once have relations with one another? If that was not so, you would not be here."

"I know... "

"And have you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"There are not many females born blood demons."

Ari looked at Kaval then.

"But there are many greats who are. I suppose the mixing of the two is bound to happen. So we will look past that other blood mixed in your veins."

"Right," Ari said, narrowing his eyes away from Kaval. If it was not Auovin and Cyrus dismissing one thing about him, it was another. He could never be what anyone wanted him to be. Each side found something wrong with him which bothered Ari, at first, but he paid little attention to it now. Freir loved him as he was without exception. If they could not do the same, they did not really love him as he wanted to be loved.

"I do not care if you do or not. It seems like you are in need of me and not the other way around. So what approval do I need from you or anyone? I am not a Great nor a blood demon. I am both. I am prone to human mannerisms because of how I was raised, but what of it?"

"Do not misunderstand me. I am not looking down on you for your mixed blood or upbringing. But I cannot say the same for the rest."

"Then I do not care to go."

"Ari, do not be childish. They can help you."

"I do not need any help," Ari hissed as he sped up. Kaval was quick to catch up with him and grab his wrist.

"Do you not want to become stronger?"

"I do. Some great part of me does, but what does it matter if I end up hurting one of the people who I love?"

Kaval muttered something under his breath before smiling back at Ari with a row of pretty white teeth.

"You must realize it, right? How different you are from them? You are more like us than them. You know this."

"And what of it?"

"You keep going on like this and sooner or later you may end up hurting them. Badly."

Ari thought on Cyrus and all the blood he had taken and wasted. He knew he took too much but he never thought it would count towards hurting him. Had he? Ari sucked in his bottom lip and looked away from Kaval in contemplation.

"Let me show you how you can overcome that." Kaval lifted Ari's chin easily with his finger and smiled. "There is much to know and I want to gladly tell you. But seeing is believing. And I want you to see for yourself."

Ari looked away still unsure of it.

"I did not think I was hurting them... "

Ari thought on Auovin's words feeling a lump growing in the back of his throat. Was that what Auovin meant or was it about something else?

Kaval nudged his head in the direction of the snowy mountain.

"Many of your questions will find answers there," Kaval said.

When Kaval started down the path Ari walked behind him and raised his shirt high so he could see his back. There were markings there. They drank blood, they had long-lasting lives, and they were very pretty like blood demons.

"We are the same," Ari murmured.

"No, we are not."

"Tell me what is it that makes us so different from them?"

"They possess abilities unique to themselves. They are very physical things. We are not. They enjoy reigning over humans. We much prefer to eat them instead. These markings... they did not happen naturally."

"Your form-- "

"Yes, we can shapeshift. Make ourselves grow older or younger, but it comes at a price."

"A price?"

"Sometimes, we lose some of our memories. Other times, our lives to another." We were great titans, guardians just a couple millenniums ago. The demons that crossed the expanse of sand to here set an imbalance, however."

"There is not much that separates us from one another yet you insist on drawing imaginary lines that do not exist because of the past. Misunderstandings were bound to happen between two very dominating classes of demons, but this ignorance should not be repeated again. I will not allow it nor will I participate in it."

Kaval smiled wryly.

"Do not become angry with me. I may have lied to you as to what I was, but I am loyal to you and you are very much still my..." Kaval touched his cheek before he dragged his hand down it. "Whatever you decide, I will go along with you."

"You do not seem so excited about the prospect."

"To be honest, no one would want to dedicate themselves to a boy who has not even lived to be a century yet. I wanted to devour you whole then. However, you are cute and quite lovable."

Ari let out a sarcastic laugh. That could not be all for his sudden change of heart, Ari knew that much.

"You eat... them?"

"Yes, we do eat blood demons... as well as the lesser ones. Humans too." Ari furrowed his brows. "It is why you cannot seem to help yourself when you take their blood. Auovin must have realized it then if your gray eyes did not say enough already."

"That..."

"You are merely playing around with your food." Kaval scoffed. "Such a child. Why can you not see reason?"

"Food?" Ari laughed. "Kaval, do not lie to yourself. You do not see them as just food. If you did, you would not see them as such a great threat. They locked you away. All of you away... but for what reason?"

"I think I answered enough of your questions already."

"What was it about the greats that caused such a rift between them all...? Why had my father done what he did then... When he loved them both once before?"

Kaval shrugged his shoulders.

"I know you know."

Kaval tapped Ari's chin causing Ari to glare and Kaval's smile to worsen.

"This is the part when you offer me something in return," Kaval teased. Ari shook his head away from him in response.

"It is this way, is it not?" Ari said pointing and headed off without clarification. He was tired of running around in circles and being led astray. Auovin would not tell him a thing. Cyrus was far too worried about Auovin and what he was planning to give much attention to him. For now, he would do what Kaval was asking of him. He may end up catching up with Auovin and that prospect alone lifted his spirits.

"You may be wanting to know now," Kaval said as his face became emotionless and forlorn. "But you will regret it once you know... The lies, deceit, and secrets that we keep."