"You waking up?" I groaned, wincing as I try to turn my head but a pain in my neck as me halting from the movements in my neck.

As I open my eyes I burst into pathetic tears as I look up at Istvan.

"Why-" I croak, "Why am I-I still here?!" I scream, causing even more pain to my throat. "Hey, hey. Opal, relax. You're wasting energy." He told me, petting my head. He looked sorry almost. I hiccuped, "I don't want to be here anymore." I cried, shaking my head. "You should've killed me."

He chuckled, "I would think you'd always be the girl who sees the bright side of things." I look out and zone out. "I was." He gives me a small smile, rubbing my hair. "Don't let anything mess with that. You humans are stronger than we think. Especially you.." I give him a smile.

"Thank you Istvan." He smiles, "Let me get you uh some water. I don't have maids like Kronos." My heart deflates at the sound of his name.

"Wait. Where am I then?" I ask looking around. He ignored me and flashes out of the room. I sat up, my head spinning causing me to take in a deep breath. I lean my head against the dash board. Istvan flashes back in handing me a glass of water.

I smile at him taking the cup. "Thank you." He takes a seat at the foot of the bed watching as I drink the liquid. I finish and he takes the cup, "You're at my quarters. Or home. Loft if you will." He says giving me a cheeky grin.

"Why?" He runs a hand in his blond hair.

"Well, because Kronos-or Natalia-or I was going to kill you. I can't really remember. But I do remember your blood. It's something I've never tasted before." He clenched his jaw as his eyes run over with a black shadow.

"Istvan..." He shook his head, clearing his throat. "It's okay, I can control myself. With your blood but I don't know about this body." He says playfully, poking my thigh. I laughed tiredly, shaking my head. "How's Ida? Is she okay? How long have I been out?" I question trying to get up but Istvan pushes me back.

I groaned. "Two days...Ida is not so good." My eyes widened. "What? Why?" He looked down, "Kronos made the decision. You can not see or be near Ida. And she currently thinks you're dead so you're staying here with me for awhile. The palace has never been this quite lively."

I look at him, tears in my eyes.

"I'm sorry Istvan. I don't mean to intrude. I should've kept quiet I-" He whacks me with a pillow. I let out a laugh, "Istvan," I whine. "This is serious." He whacks me again. "Listen, Opal. Let it ride out. Just chill at mi casa." I nod my head. "O-okay." He smiles. "Good. By the way, this is a studio apartment so and I'm no gentleman so we're gonna be sharing this bed." My eyes widened while Istvan sends me a wink as he walks out.

I sigh, "y-you don't have a couch?" I ask, his head pops back in as he dramatically gasps. "You expect me to sleep on a couch in my own home."

I shake my head, "No-no! It's n-not that I just-" He bursts out laughing. "I'm joking, Opal. Yeah I have a couch." I stand up, my legs feeling like jelly but I push through it, I look out into the rest of the loft giving Istvan a glare as I see this couch. It was more like a bench.

He gave me a smile, "You can sleep on that if you want." I huff, I look down at what I'm wearing and let out a shriek. "You changed me?!" He sank his teeth in an apple and shook his head.

"Not me...and that's not my shirt." He walks over to me, leaning over and sniffing it. I giggle at the weird act making him playfully roll his eyes. "That's Kronos'." He say looking over me.

"Opal, I have a few questions for you."

We take a seat on the bed, "Do you know what mates are?" He asked and I nodded my head questioningly. "Yes..Emma explained it. Why?" I say almost in a panic. He chuckles, "Just wondering." He says with one last glance. "And your parents were both humans right?" He asks and I snort.

"Of course." He nods his head.

"I miss Ida. And my whole family." I whisper as it grew quiet. "You didn't steal. You didn't steal that meal did you." I looked at him and he seemed to already know the true answer.

"They would've killed them," I say quietly. "I can't keep loosing family. Those who I love." Istvan nods. "Who was that Tobias that I heard from your mind? Really." I sighed, tears forming in my eyes. "He was the one I thought I was going to die with."

"I hate myself everyday because I didn't love him as much as I could've..my body always rejected him. If we got too close...you know," I whisper sadly.

"How'd he die?" Istvan asks curiously, sitting up.

"It was my birthday, he saved up so much money to make me chicken Alfredo. Because when we were out working I saw some vampires eating it and I thought it looked absolutely delicious. And weird," I giggled, sniffling. "When it was my birthday he covered the place with flowers and candles and-" my breath faltered.

"After we ate, the children were getting babysat...something lured me outside." I said confused, and frustrated with what happened those years ago.

"A smell...and a feeling came over me and I felt like I needed to be where ever that was coming from because it felt like if I didn't I'd die. Or I've been waiting for that thing my whole life."

I paused, "But then Tobias came out and found me, it was snowing so hard and I was bare foot with his shirt on. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck, somewhere that always hurt when he kissed. He said, 'Im just going to ask you here.'" I pressed my hands to my face. "As he got down on one knee...a noise in the woods had us scared. It was loud and shook the place."

"'Get back Opal. Go inside.' He told me pushing me towards the house but I couldn't. I was still in that..trance. It didn't happen fast...it happened painfully slow." I said emotionlessly.

"It was in a coat, a hood it was black. It was a man...he had ripped Tobias' arms off. Took his e-eyes out his head," I let out a sob. "I tried-I did but when I touched it. I froze. I looked at Tobias and he looked at me, just as he ripped his heart out and his head."

Istvan looked to me and let out a deep breath.

"Opal? Do you know what alcohol is?"