Ashe
After we'd gathered our notes and felt confident in our plan and backup plans, we had decided to eat dinner in bed. We sat next to each other in silence for a while, I was reading my book and August was making more notes for the Oakley situation. "You got everything you need already in your bag?" August finally spoke up. I nodded with a smile, "yeah, triple-checked already." He smirked and then yawned, "is it cool if I take my pants off? I'll leave my boxers on obviously."
I thought about it for a minute and then nodded again, "that's fine, I don't think I'm in the mood for any cuddling tonight anyways." I spoke casually but, I could see the slight disappointment in his eyes.
I punched his shoulder playfully and laughed, "I'm just messing with you Gusty, it'll probably help me get to sleep." I chewed my bottom lip as I debated messing with him a little more, "but since you get to sleep pants-less, I do too." A huge grin broke across his face before he spoke, "your house, your rules princess." I rolled my eyes and turned away with a huff to hide my blush.
I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, but first removed my shorts and tossed them in the hamper. I pulled off my top and tossed it in the hamper too, grabbing a big t-shirt off the counter and pulling it on. The large black shirt went about midway down my thighs, exposing the red outline of a snake tattoo on the front of my upper-left thigh that trailed down to my knee.
I touched the tips of my fingers to the tattoo, sixteen years and I still couldn't recall how or when I'd gotten this piece of art but, I don't regret having it. I haven't felt anything negative when I see it or touch it, so I try not to think of it too much. The only issue I have with it is that at the age I was when I first remember seeing it, I shouldn't have been able to get tattoos.
"Admiring yourself huh?" August's voice cut through my thoughts unexpectedly and caused me to flinch away from him. His humored gaze quickly softened with concern, "are you okay?" I sighed with a chuckle and shoved him, "yeah, you just scared the shit out of me." He laughed as he pushed by me to brush his teeth, I shook my head at him with a smile. "I'll meet you in bed loser," I said with an eye roll as I left the bathroom and went back to the bedroom.
***
August
I watched myself brush my teeth in the mirror while cursing myself for not handling that better, she was probably struggling with everything that's happened over the last week...my chest felt heavy at the thought of all she'd been through in general and the fact that I was only adding to it with all of the new information. Memories like that don't just disappear and trying to comprehend that you aren't what you've always believed yourself to be was something I couldn't understand from her perspective.
It got even heavier when I realized she'd have to experience war in the nearing future. Not only experience it but, lead it as well. That was assuming she'd accept that route out of the multiple paths ahead of her though. There's no telling what'll happen if she doesn't.
I needed to figure out how to tell her the rest of the truth about who she is. Between getting Oakley to the island, telling Oakley who and what she is, teaching both her and Ashe about their gifts and controlling them, and keeping all of this a secret from Savanna and the rest of Wolf Creek, I didn't have much time to think about how I was going to show Ashe the whole truth just yet.
With a frustrated sigh, I left the bathroom and headed back towards the bedroom with a half-assed smile. She'd see right through any attempt at hiding my stress, I'd blame it on having to hold secrets for now if she asked. I mean, it's not a complete lie.
Ashe was sitting up against the headboard with a thick book in her hands, as usual. This time the smile that crept onto my face was genuine, "you're really pretty when you're doing nerd things."
I laughed a bit as she sent me daggers with her eyes, "doing nerd stuff is why I'm smarter than you," she retorted with a huff and looked back at the book in her hands. A second later her head snapped back up, "only when I'm doing nerd stuff?" She asked with a raised brow.
I laughed again and shook my head while crawling onto my side of her bed, "you know what I mean." I ruffled her hair and she slapped my hand away playfully. "I don't think I do," she spoke in a sarcastically innocent tone.
I sighed and relaxed while crossing my arms in defeat, "you, Asheland Walker, are always gorgeous, you're just a little extra cute when you're being nerdy." I tossed a wink at her and chuckled when I noticed her face growing pink. "You're not so bad yourself, August Stone," she giggled and rolled her eyes while closing her book and setting it on the bedside table.
I watched her curiously, if any other Shadow Breeds had ever come across her they'd know what she was immediately. I was still surprised she'd never figured it out herself or ran into any other Shadow Breeds after all these years. It should be impossible for another creature to go unnoticed that long regardless of their location, we are everywhere.
Her eyes were too silver to be human but, grey enough to pass as human to other humans, however, if you add the white swirls that are in the silver of her eyes, it becomes even more obvious what she is to any shadow being. Of coarse they wouldn't actually swirl as they're supposed to until she's fully transformed, but it was still clear.
All shadow gods, goddesses, and their relatives had white-colored swirling lines within whatever color their iris was. Gender, hair, eye color, and skin color varied between all Shadow Breeds so the swirls are the only way to differentiate the bloodlines of gods and goddesses from other shadow creatures.
In general, Shadow Breeds with human-like figures could pass as human however, most were pretty obvious if you knew what to look for. Ashe's hair should be another giveaway but, to humans it probably just looks dyed. When we're young our hair will take a more natural shade, but as we get older it brightens or darkens and changes unnaturally and hers had become a deep, fiery ember red. Her skin glowed with her aura which exposed what she was even more, something that would only be clear to another Shadow Breed even though most beings, including the humans, have an auric glow. I couldn't help but wonder what I looked like to her.
We had gotten under the blanket and curled up together about thirty minutes ago, but I couldn't sleep yet. There was so much she needed to know and so little time, and now our feelings were out in the open and we'd decided to explore them. I didn't regret that last part, I just hoped nothing in the future changed how she felt. Eventually, I over-thought myself into a restless sleep.
***
Ashe
The sun came through the windows and woke me up. I rolled out of August's arms and dragged my feet to the kitchen. After taking a minute to stretch and wake up, I started making coffee. Once I was done with my usual kitchen routine I went back to my bedroom to grab clothes.
"Good morning sunshine," August said very sleepily and quietly as I had started to walk back out. I turned with a smile, "good morning to you too, coffee is being made so I'm going to grab a shower." He nodded with his eyes still closed, I turned again and went to the bathroom. I set the water to the temperature I wanted and shed my clothes, checking the heat of the shower before stepping under it.
I was kind of dreading today, something just seemed off. I couldn't put my finger on what it could be though. Based on August's constantly changing facial expressions, he's been really moody lately and I couldn't pinpoint his reasoning either. I just hoped Oakley took this new information well.
By the time I finished my shower and got dressed I had decided that stressing about it wouldn't make it go any smoother. It made more sense to focus on what was currently transpiring so that August and I went in as prepared as we could, especially when he's the only one that actually knows about all this stuff.
"So what are we lacking as of right now?" I asked curiously as I walked into the kitchen to see August sitting at the table with a notebook. "Well, nothing considering we don't need much, what's the best way to communicate this stuff to Oakley without scaring her?" he asked, sounding genuine with his concern. I thought for a moment, being told you're half vampire shouldn't be that scary for her, but then again she is sensitive to the supernatural stuff. However...
"I think she already knows but doesn't quite understand it to be honest, so maybe we can work with that. She's sensitive regarding the supernatural legends so we'll have to be soft about it," I answered. He looked up at me with a puzzled look on his face, "what do you mean you think she already knows?" I smiled for a second before answering him.
"She believes in this stuff already and she's obsessed with vampires, but not necessarily the stereotypical vamps. You'll have to ask her about it, she'll be better at explaining it." I said while thinking about all the times Oakley had mentioned vampire lore since our friendship had begun. It would make sense that she'd know or at least have assumptions.
August nodded slowly, taking in this new information and seemingly relaxing. With a sigh, he spoke up, "I wish you'd have told me that sooner, that makes everything easier." He turned back to his notebook and scribbled a few things down before closing it and taking a sip of his coffee, "are you almost ready?"
I nodded, "let's get this shit done." I pulled out my phone to call Oakley and let her know we were ready when she was. The call was short, so once we hung up we grabbed what we needed and headed to the front porch. After about forty minutes I saw Oakley walking through the trees and waving at us.
I stood and waved with a smile as August followed me towards her. "Hey! Been a while," I said jokingly. Oakley giggled, "yeah yeah, how'd last night go?" She asked.
"It was good actually, nothing weird happened," I responded cheerfully, "how's that boy you were seeing?" Oakley rolled her eyes with a sigh that didn't sound very happy. "He was a dick, I've already deleted his number," she grumbled. "Anything I can do to help with that?" August half-joked, causing a small chuckle to escape Oakley.
She shook her head no and let out another sigh, "I think I'm going to look for a girlfriend instead, as difficult as that is in this town, men have become too stressful, no offense August." He shrugged and we all laughed. Then he spoke up again, "I might actually know someone, if you're into women that are huge nerds for gardening and vampires."
This caught Oakley and me off guard, the mention of vampires made me anxious but had the opposite effect on Oakley, whose eyes were bright with excitement and curiosity. That helped me relax again, maybe this would be a lot easier than we originally thought, although I had a feeling the girl August was talking about wasn't just a nerd for vampires as he put it.
"Speaking of vampires," I started nervously, tossing a glance at him, "August was curious about your view on the lores about them, I told him you'd explain them better than I could since it's more your thing." I tried to sound casual but I was pretty sure my anxiousness was very present in my tone.
Oakley didn't seem to notice as she perked up even more, this was one of her favorite things to discuss after all. "As long as you're prepared for me to talk your ear off," she spoke heartily. "Are you still scared of the cottage?" I asked with a giggle, "if you are we can set up a blanket out here somewhere." She shook her head and smiled, "we can hang inside." With that, the three of us headed back in.
***
"So basically, you think vampires look and live like any other human except they can expose or disguise their fangs at will and although they need blood, not having it won't kill them?" August asked, seemingly trying to understand. Oakley nodded with a smile, "that would be putting it extremely vague, but yes, that sums it up pretty well." August and I shared a glance as he smirked, causing Oakley to send both of us a confused look.
"What? Did I miss something?" She asked. "Your description was actually pretty correct," he said calmly, making her appear even more bewildered. "Correct?" She asked after a minute, August nodded and then she looked to me for confirmation. I was the one who was always preaching about this stuff not being real, so with a serious expression I nodded slowly. "So you of all people are telling me vampires are real, how do I know this isn't a prank?" She asked, her concern was understandable.
August spoke up confidently, "we can prove it, if you think you can handle the truth." Oakley's face let me know that she was deep in thought about this. She was probably trying to comprehend it, I know I was still struggling to come to terms with the bits and pieces I've learned.
After a long moment of silence Oakley finally nodded, "I can handle it as long as I don't have to be a blood bag to anyone." She let out a small chuckle, humor was how she dealt with things she didn't fully understand. August smirked again, but I spoke up before he could, "there's some things you should know first." An expression I didn't recognize came over her face, "let me guess, the reason for the smoke was a lie and the smoke isn't actually smoke, it's shadow."
August and I shared a look of surprise, "you knew?" She pursed her lips and nodded, "I saw what actually happened the day it came and you two disappeared out of the front door. By the time I even got to it the shadow was gone and so were you guys, and then you called me and told me you were safe and I kind of put the pieces together based on that and what I already knew of Gateways lore. I didn't expect vampires but, I knew about the shadow."
August's face had turned a little red, this was certainly an unexpected turn of events and I knew we could not afford to be that careless again. Especially with how many self-proclaimed shadow hunters live in town. "Well, that'll make proving it a lot easier," August spoke quietly, I groaned, knowing what was about to happen and Oakley tilted her head at us in confusion. I reached for her hand and she grabbed mine, then I grabbed August's.
A moment later he snapped his fingers and the shadow jerked and surrounded us immediately. Oakley gasped and began to cough, I squeezed her hand to let her know everything's fine. Once again gravity was gone for a split second before we hit the ground again.
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