Ari paced around the room in deep thought over the words Auovin said to him some odd hours ago. Auovin had said he would not change. He would continue to do those terrible things. It was a growing worry for Ari. What if one day their conflicting views would set them apart or against one another? Ari did not want that and the very thought made his stomach turn. There had to be a reason for why he was the way he was. If Ari could find out what it was then maybe he could find a way to redirect him elsewhere. Ari did not want him to become like Ylanan.

The sun dimmed in the darkening night sky. Soon the stars would be out Ari noted as he looked out the window. He searched for Cyrus, growing more worried by the hour. He should not have left him back there with that demon. Something about Ylanan gave Ari goosebumps. Ari rubbed his arms and left out the room. He should look for him. That may be the reason why Auovin had disappeared as he slept. Although they seemed to be at odd with one another these days, Ari could tell that Auovin's love for Cyrus ran deep; deeper than any river or fissure.

Auovin was kind as he was malicious which confused Ari. Auovin would say such mean words and then soothe his aching heart with kisses that made him writhe. It made Ari feel uneasy. What could Ari do about his feelings growing massively stronger by the passing days when Auovin was that kind of person? But just what kind of person was he, exactly? Auovin was a growing mystery to him.

As soon as Ari walked into the living room, he saw Sai looking out the window. Auovin was nowhere to be found. Sai turned and looked at him as if sensing his presence.He was as pretty as ever, Ari could not help but think. Just like them, Ari felt as though Sai was hiding things from him as well. Ari did not understand the need for it. He was not a child and he did not need to be coddled. It was true what Cyrus said back then. Auovin did coddle him just as Sai was now.

"You have questions... " Sai mumbled. Ari only went and sat on one of the chairs in the dining room.

It was quiet all but for Sai's footsteps going from the living room to the kitchen. In the next minute, he came out with a ripe bowl of strawberries and sat it down right in front of Ari's face. An unbidden smile crept onto Ari's face which caused Sai to have the most amused look on his face.

"What?" Ari said as he began to stuff his face with sweet juicy fruits.

"You are predictable, so it makes you very easy to manage... is all."

"Auovin and you," Ari said, getting to the point. "What are you to one another?"

"You were raised by humans, so you think there is a fine line between certain relationships... but it is different with us."

"You were once lovers?" Ari said, disregarding his words.

Sai shook his head no. "A kiss does not have to be one of love. It could be out of friendship or to express the closeness to one another. Intimacy is something we, as blood demons, and something we all want in every form."

"Friends then?"

"Yes."

"Then why do I see such love in your eyes when you speak of him?"

"Can I not love a friend or must love be strictly for lovers?"

Ari sucked on his cheek and looked at Sai.

"You are jealous," Sai laughed. "It is as he said it was."

"But you are not any longer, why?" Ari said, ignoring him.

"He wanted something I did not want. I wanted to live in peace and leave what terrible past we had far behind us. However, he cannot seem to forget. But, then again, how could he?" Sai sighed. "He was once great and he was once very kind and giving. But time has made him the way he is now. His wounds have festered and spawned new pain of their own."

Ari noticed how visibly upset Sai was getting. He would have never asked if he had not thought they were lovers.

"But still... I should have never abandoned him even at his worst. What right do I have to call myself a friend? He hurt me, but I know I hurt him deeply when I turned away from him just as everyone else had done. I was no better than a human then."

"I am sorry for asking... "

"We can hate one another from a distance, but we are emotional things who feed off of another's emotions. We cannot stand to see one of our own in pain. We feel it as if it is our own. It makes you want to hurry and find the cause and put an end to it right away." Ari knew the truth in those words which gave him some more clarity to how he felt that day. That time when Cyrus had such pain his eyes and Ari could not bear to see it.

"Is that why you are not on good terms?" Ari said.

"Good terms? If I were anyone else, Auovin would not have been so... calm."

"Calm? He was covered in blood."

"You have yet to see him at his worst. That is nothing. And he had right of it. I had not been keeping up with things as I should have been and some humans meant to do us harm had come in... " Sai took Ari's arm and began assessing it. "With some blood, you will be fine. It has been more than three days and the effects of it still had not shown in you. It is surprising considering how young you are."

"Those blue stones," Ari murmured.

"Auovin does care a great deal for you, Ari," Sai went on to say. If it had not been for that, I am sure he would not have been able to find you as fast as he did."

Ari looked at his arm before looking back at Sai.

"You took his blood and said his name... you formed a bond between the two of you. If you get hurt or if you are in pain, a simple slice of your palm will lead him to where you are. But there is more to it than that. You like him and you already placed him so near your heart. It is no wonder he is so lenient and patient with you."

Ari looked at the palm of his hand, remembering all the times he had it cut open and his blood poured into a goblet. The similarities were uncanny, but their practices would make sense if they truly once worshiped them as gods. They offered their blood up to the demons and cut their palms in order to garner their attention, Ari thought. It lost its meaning, as Ylanan had said and just became a practice of the religion. Ari shook those thoughts away and focused his mind back onto Auovin.

"He becomes angry with me for things I was incapable of knowing. What reaction would you have if some of the lesser demons tried to drag you away from a place you thought of as your home? You would run, would you not?"

Sai smiled.

"He bit me here." Ari pointed to his ear.

"Do you want me to kiss it for you... " Ari looked at him. "To make you feel better?"

Ari knew he was toying with him again. However, now that Ari had him, somewhat, figured out he could use this to his advantage.

"Kissing me here..." Ari pointed to his lips, "would make me feel better."

"Honestly," Sai laughed. "Why can you not see me as anything other than something sexually appetizing to you?"

"I like you."

"You like me? For what reasons?"

"You are...--"

"Pretty?"

"--Affectionate. Even with the man who had raised me, he was not the most affectionate man towards me. It was not until everything came spilling out how true his love and care for me became... " Everything from the night before came running back to Ari, causing him to close his eyes at the very thought Freir would ever do such a thing. He did not want to think about it.

"Auovin or the other one can give you that, I am sure," Sai said, pulling Ari out of his thoughts.

"Auovin is not a tender soul, nor is Cyrus, although he can be gentle at times... And the way you kiss me is not the same as theirs either. Let us not draw comparisons here. What does the others matter to you when I say to you now that I like the way your lips feel on mine and how they taste? That I like your smiles and the way you wrap your hair around your fingers? What does any of them matter when I say to you now that I like you and I want to kiss you?"

Sai only stared at him, which made Ari lose some of his resolve.

"There are more things I can like and that I can fall in love with, if only you open yourself up to me."

"Maybe those blue stones are having an effect on you, after all. Auovin should be back soon and he will take care of it for you."

Again, he brushed him off, but Sai said something interesting while doing so.

"Those blue stones," Ari repeated again, which caused the Sai's eyes to shy away from his. "I saw them in the market... A strange man was trying to get me to place my hand on one before he attacked me."

"It is nothing," Sai mumbled and looked at the door.

"Sai."

"... You are sweet. As sweet as the fruit you are eating now. But like all things bared to the cold and harsh weather, they rot and wither away. So stay in the sun for a little longer."

"Nothing?" said a familiar haunting voice coming from the door. "Is that not where all of our troubles began?"

Ylanan's voice grew closer still, but Ari could not see him. Ari turned and looked at Sai who continued up the stairs, wondering if he could hear Ylanan as well.

"Everything has its beginning and ours starts there," Ylanan finished.

Ari rose from his chair and looked aimlessly around for him. When he turned back to the door, Cyrus was coming through it along with Auovin. Auovin had a tight grip on his arm before he threw it away.

"Auo--"

"Stay."

Auovin turned his face away from Cyrus and started back out the door.

Ari could only look on in bewilderment. Could he be looking for Ylanan? If so, Ylanan was somewhere inside. He could hear his chilling voice. Ari shook his head and covered the distance set between him and Cyrus.

There was a deep gash on the side of Cyrus' forehead and a smaller one on the lower right half of it. Carefully, Ari placed both his hands on each side of his face, making sure not to touch anywhere that would make him flinch away.

"I am sorry for leaving you," Ari said, trying to find his eyes. "I was not thinking properly... I am glad you are okay... but your face... "

Cyrus only answered Ari by taking one of Ari's hand away from his face and kissed it softly.

"Minor things," Cyrus replied.

"What happened?"

"Useless things."

"Was it Ylanan?"

"Needless worries."

Ari took back his hand, unable to peel his eyes away from Cyrus'. He wanted to find a speck of something in those green eyes, but all he could make out was worry that was slowly dissolving into something else much warmer. His eyes, Ari noticed, had a way of communicating things his mouth would not say. The same went for Auovin.

Instead of saying anything more, Ari wrapped his arms around his back and tucked his head into his chest, loving the scent of mint and honey that came from him. It comforted Ari beyond all reason. The aches in his heart seemed to go away instead of growing, unlike Auovin. Just seeing him brought a smile to his face and made his heart beat a little faster.

"You are warm and you smell nice, as always. If you are like this, then I will not worry... If you tell me not to then I will try not to... but it would be best if you gave me nothing to worry about at all."

"That demon up there has a way with sweet words and I suppose you have learned a few things from him."

Ari looked up at him and felt hot lips pressing onto his. He tried his best not to become dazed by it, but it made his eyelids flutter and caused his nails to sink into the skin on Cyrus' arm. Cyrus wrapped an arm around Ari's lower back, pressing him close. It stripped Ari of his words and thoughts of what happened with Auovin and why he was gone for so long and filled his mind with thoughts of where Cyrus' hands might possibly touch next or rather where he wanted those hands to touch next.

"Does that melt away some of those worries?" Cyrus says still so close to Ari's lips. Ari could feel Cyrus' breath on his lips. It sent a small shudder down Ari's body. His cheeks were flushed and he had the hardest time staring at Cyrus without wanting to fill the distance again with his lips.

Ari took a breath and licked his lips before answering, "I suppose it... does."

Cyrus smiled and continued to walk deeper into the lower hall where Sai had given him and Auovin their rooms. Ari could only stand there baffled and tongue-tied. Had Cyrus gotten out of explaining what happened by kissing him? Ari sucked on the inside of his cheek at how gullible he could be sometimes.

Ari wanted answers and if did not get them from him, Ari would get them elsewhere, if he must. But, really, Ari wanted it from Cyrus. He wanted Cyrus to tell him and give him some semblance of an idea as to why Auovin does and says the things he does, so he could have a better gauge on how to deal with his feelings for Auovin separately. If Cyrus did not tell him, he was afraid of what someone else might say. Someone like Ylanan.

Slowly, Ari crept down the hall and just as he was about to push open the door, Cyrus pulled his shirt up from his back and over his head. Ari watched Cyrus take a hand through his hair before splashing water onto his face. He gave his thumb a lick and slid it down the deep gash at the top of his forehead. At that moment, Ari watched it heal up in a matter of seconds. Cyrus did the same thing with the other cut which made Ari's brows furrow.

Ari walked in not trying to be caught in a very compromising situation. Cyrus did not bother to raise his head as if already knowing he was there. There was so much worry in Cyrus' eyes, Ari thought he could drown in them. Was it for Auovin? Just where was Auovin going and what was he going to do exactly?

"Is it Auovin?" Ari said, which finally made Cyrus look at him.

Cyrus nodded. "Is it not always him?"

Ari did his best to keep his eyes trained on his, but they would drop ever so often when Ari would notice water tracing down his neck and falling into the cuts his abdomen. In truth, Ari wanted to feel how soft his skin was against his fingertips. Would it be hot? Would it be cold or just somewhere in between? Ari wanted to know the difference in their bodies and wanted to know if it would feel just as good as Auovin's did, so many nights ago. It was like a distant memory now.

Somehow, thinking of that led to thoughts of how Auovin embraced him and how he kissed him as well. Were they gently placed or hard ones that left marks behind? He tried to blink away the image, but it was too well-crafted to be easily forgotten like that.

Cyrus hit the bottom of his chin with his finger, causing Ari to look back at him already growing red from staring for so long. Ari could not help it no matter how much he tried to push the urges aside. They seemed to be growing by the passing days. Although Ari had a strong desire to kiss Sai and be more than just friends with him, Ari had an even stronger desire to grow what he had with Cyrus into something much more intimate. He had that desire once before for Auovin when he was not around, but since his arrival, he had been too reluctant to act on it.

Ari still felt Cyrus' finger on his chin slowly circling around his lips. It rested right between his bottom lip and chin.

"You must have many thoughts going through your mind right now. Probably just as many as mine... " Cyrus mumbled.

"Shall we keep each other company then...? Maybe I will leave you with some of my thoughts... and you can leave some with me."

Cyrus stared at him.

"Think of only me in this moment as I will only think of you."

"Are you looking for answers? If so, I gave them to you, but you chose to run away."

"I do not want to be alone... I do not want to be alone with my thoughts," Ari admitted. "At least just for one more day."

Cyrus grabbed Ari's arm and took him out of the room. He shut the door behind him, which made Ari's eyes lower. Ari knew he was trying to run away from his problems and he wanted to be comforted. Ari knew Cyrus would not respond well to his request. He was not very affectionate and gave him no room to show weakness, but Ari still wanted it to be his arms wrapping around his back and no one else's. Ari would deal with his problems, but dealing with them would draw him further away from them again.

Ari sat outside his door contemplating on what to do next. It was some time before Ari opened it back up again, hoping to find Cyrus in the bed. When he did not stir, Ari made his way over to where he was resting and climbed in right beside him. Ari wrapped one leg around his and laid his head just above his heart.

As he listened to it beat, he noticed that they were very strong slow beats. Cyrus' hair was still wet, but Ari still took a hand through it loving the feel of it. When he went to tuck his head into his neck, Ari saw a pair of slit green eyes staring at him. Still, Ari tucked his head into the nape of his neck, ignoring him altogether.

Cyrus grabbed at each of Ari's sides, pulling Ari away from him.

"Who told you to come and sneak in here?" Cyrus said.

"I want to be close to you."

Ari wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling himself back into him.

It was quiet for some passing moments before Cyrus said anything.

"You must learn to be alone. You cannot be so dependent on other people. Do things by yourself." Cyrus' voice was still heavy with sleep. It made a small shiver travel through Ari.

Cyrus' eyes held the glow of a nocturnal animal. It faded as they adjusted to the darkness. Slowly, Cyrus sighed and unwrapped Ari's arms from around his neck.

"It will be hard, at first, but you will learn to cope and think for yourself. Make your own decisions and stand on your own two feet."

"I know." Ari kept himself upright, but continued to peer down at Cyrus. He made his heart beat fast. Ari did not know if it was his voice or just touching him that brought that on. However, Ari was growing to love the feeling as unsteady as it made him feel.

"I will. I promise I will... " Ari said as he fiddled with Cyrus' fingers. They were soft and warm, surprisingly. His nails were short and when he brought them to his nose, they smelled like flowers.

Ari could sense the smile growing on Cyrus' face without even having to see it clearly. His eyesight was doing poorly due to not having blood in so long, but it did not matter much to him. Ari already had every bit of Cyrus' face memorized.

Ari ran his thumb down his cheek before cupping it in his hand. Gods, he was so pretty. He let his fingers trace along his eyebrow. Even the hair there was fine and softly arched. As they down to his nose, Ari took his time as he reached the tip of it. He imagined it to feel sharper. His thumb went around each nostril until his thumb started to circle around his lips. The top of his lip was warm and not as thick as his bottom lip which was very plump. There was still some saliva left at the bottom, but Ari did not mind it much. It was much softer and hotter. That was the reason why he was so kissable, Ari thought. When they parted, Ari felt Cyrus' breath on his fingers. His jawline was sharp and very smooth; so smooth Ari wanted to lay kisses there. He wanted to kiss Cyrus badly, but he did not want Cyrus to throw him out again.