?I turn my back to the male and lightly glare at my best friends sister. Quietly, I mutter, “I’ve never seen his wings before.”
?She tilts her head to look past me and calls, “Hey, Fethermen!” I don’t think I’ve ever been this mortified before.
?“What do you want Waterstone?” He sounds exasperated and that just makes me feel worse.
?“Come here for a sec.”
?I can hear him sigh, but he doesn’t protest and my right eye twitches as I scowl at Hanna.
?The angel rounds my side and goes to stand adjacent to me and Hanna in front of the table. “You called, mage?”
?She snaps her finger at him. “Scorn, this is Mavyn. Mavyn, this is Scorn Fethermen. His father is the angel councilmen on the Mage Board and he is what you would call the black sheep of their family. Scorn, this is Mavyn. The Death Devourer who saved all of our lives when you were too busy with your books down here to notice a war going on.”
?I don’t know when my jaw dropped, but a finger pushes it back up and I whisper a thanks to Callahan.
?The angel looks over to me with orange-y pink eyes that have dark circles under them. He stares directly at me and for a moment the room turns with a frozen chill.
?His eyes slit and several feathers now ruffle.
?“They said you were a vampyr,” he gruffs.
?“And?”
?In my peripheral I can see Varian, Castiel, and Mr. Kyros coming. Scorn steps closer to me and I can feel Callahan step closer to my back.
?“And you feel like a vampire.”
?My blood wants to rush but I force it to stay calm. Being able to spar has released a lot of the strain I’ve been putting myself under. Especially because I still have not made my wish and it has drained me more than usual. I’ve needed twice the amount of blood I used to consume and I sleep for longer stretches of time now.
?“Would you like for me tonotfeel like one?”
?He smiles at me but it’s sharp and calculating. Like a too-knowing shark that is about to rip my throat out.
?“Careful,” he rumbles, “one might mistake that for a threat.”
?I want to know what his true form is.
?“Trust me, you’ll know when I’m making a threat.”
?He quirks a brow as if daring me to make one. I oblige for a half a moment. Letting time hold his breath as I make every part of myself disappear. I become nothing, and equally something infinite.
?A primordial kind of stillness.
?His face drops and then I become a vampire again. My scent muted but still there, my eyes their rosy hue, my magic undetectable and my aura hidden within my blood behind the blue belladon poison.
?“The gods are locked within their plane of existence. You shouldn’t be here.”
?I fist my hands and clench my jaw. “I amnota god.”
?How many times has that been eluded? Too many times and it’s beginning to get on my nerves.
?Scorn rolls his sunset eyes and dismisses us as he goes back to his table. I scoff at his ghost and focus on my group only to find them all staring blankly at me. Including a wide-eyed Mr. Kyros.
?Ricka whistles low. “Just fyi, sweetheart, after that whole display along with the stories about what you did in Syngenia City, no one’s going to believe you.”
?I sling my bag onto the table and begin pulling out my notebooks. Technology doesn’t work within the library so we have to go old school.
?“Ah,” Hanna huffs. “The age old ignore it till it goes away trick. Ten out of ten.” And then she digs through her back and eventually, after I sit down in one of the chairs, everyone follows. Everyone, except the two devils and demigod.
