Hearty laughing, I waved at the audience before the curtains closed and we left the stage.
My hair was sweaty, and my throat was itchy from all the singing, but no wonder after not using my voice like that for a few years.
I didn't finish coming down the stairs when old friends from another band greeted me.
Mostly, I was happy to meet the female singer of that group again. Her name was Hayden Summers – I only knew her from the performances or small meet-ups but we enjoyed meeting each other every time, now even more after so long.
After I left my band, when I still lived in Germany, I hadn't had the chance to meet her although we considered each other as friends.
»Well, look who we got there. The long-lost singer. Congratulations on your return.«
Laughing, she hugged me, and I joined in her lively laughter.
»Nice seeing you again too, Hayden.« She was just a few centimeters smaller than I and had black hair with dyed fiery red tips. Her eyes were brown, just like mine.
»Yeah, nice meeting you again, Kyran.«
For some time, we exchanged stories between our groups before their group got called to prepare themselves. Shortly, she kissed my cheek before she disappeared with her group.
Slightly lifting the corners of my lips I lifted my eyebrows and left backstage just to dive into a crowd of drunk, dancing and joyful people.
»Lucien, Lucien, Lucien, Lucien! Did you hear us! Kyran sang! Kyran sang! You are a great shrink! You were right that he will go with the flow if he just stands on the stage!« Flora screamed and stormed to her brother who looked exposed at his sister.
Busted, Delta, I thought and shook my head slightly, so no one noticed it.
Smiling, I patted Flora's head as I stood next to her and nodded thankful to Lucien before I walked past them and stopped in front of my friends.
Lucien did me something good with his choice and I couldn't comprehend my thankfulness in words. But I didn't need to speak up because one look at the Delta and he knew what I couldn't say.
Silently my friends watched me, which made me kind of nervous and started to rock my foot. And then, all of a sudden, I got run over and couldn't stop my unmanly scream.
Goddammit, someday she will kill me with her stormy personality!
»You sound like an angel!« Leandra screamed into my ear and I could just moan in pain because my ears were already over sensitive because of the volume of the speakers and crowd.
»Don't scream like that! Our ears still hurt!« Ethan yelled who leaned over my face and made me squint my eyes.
»Oops.« Yes! Oops!
Grimly, I looked up to him and could finally stand up because Lea got up from me and jumped happily between her brothers.
»Well, I would have preferred punching him.« Indignant, I looked at Zack who normally would never ever say something like that. What was going on in the head of that vampire? What happened to the contention hater?
He seemed to catch my look and widen his eyes knowingly in shock. »Gods, not you, Kyran! I wanted to punch Ethan!«
Slightly I rolled my eyes. He could find another opportunity to punch Ethan. The guy provoked so much that I wondered how his nose was still in a perfect position.
Then my eyes wandered to Cassian who leaned casual against the bar and watched me with sparkling eyes. He didn't need to say something to my performance because the sparks in his eyes told me enough. It was enough of an answer that he thought that this performance was fantastic.
Grinning, I tousled my hair and didn't even try to hide all those happy feelings. He liked it, although I shouldn't care if he liked it. Still, it made me so damn happy that he liked it – well, he was after all my mate.
»Anyway, how could you get so fast back from brown to blond?« Naika asked and tousled my hair. Not really comfortable for me because she pulled down my collar to get to my head. Dwarf!
»Princess, just tell me if you need to be lifted up,« I teased her and lifted her at her hip up, which made her grumble, but she still inspected my hair further. This girl was hopeless.
»For that, I'm in the game!« Emily giggled, and all the eyes of our friends went to her. Shocked looks.
»A little hocus pocus here and a little abracadabra there and boom, the brown color was removed, and the beautiful blond was back!«
»But you never do magic for other people, Emi. Only if they pay you or you get something in return,« Enzo said, confused and now everyone looked at me. Even more shocked.
They assumed the worst. Unimpressed I shrugged my shoulders and eyed them bored. The price wasn't that big. But they didn't need to know that for now.
»I just sold my soul, what else does the devil in human form want?«
And immediately I got the reaction I wanted. »Are you insane?!« Toby and Sean screamed at the same time.
»How can you sell your soul for some stupid hair?!« Chat thundered and Fynn hit his head on the counter of the bar for their stupidity. He was the only one that saw through my little lie.
Sometimes it really seemed like all of our friends were complete idiots and only Fynn and I had something in your heads.
»Chill out, guys!« Emily yelled loudly, which made all of our friends quiet down and now she looked at me with salty eyes.
In defense I lifted my arms and giggled quietly. »Okay, okay,« I laughed and rolled my eyes, grinning.
»I just need to buy Emi a cat and she wants a clichéd black cat and if I can find one it should have green eyes. And of course, I need to buy her a stupid broom and a pointy head, fitting to the whole thing. Then she wants to train the cat so it will sit on her shoulder on carnival and Halloween while she picks up the candy.«
Unbelieving they looked at me before Cameron suddenly grabbed Emi's shoulders and started to shake her. »ANOTHER DEVILS INCARNATION! ARE YOU INSANE!«
Cameron didn't just hate cats; feared them. I wasn't aware of the correct circumstances but after what Toby and Naika told me it all started in his childhood.
As they told me, he went with his family to the zoo and they watched the predator feeding. And there he saw the big cats tear apart the flesh they got fed with. Then they told me that he started to cry, and his older sister teased him that normal house cats were the same as the scary big cats in the zoo.
Obviously, child Cameron didn't believe her. However, he wanted to pet a cat after that incident to demonstrate to his sister that she lied, and that backfired.
He got bitten and scratched and because our self-healing isn't really strong as children, he still has a scar until today. Since then, he has a fear of cats – so I and the others assumed after the story Naika and Toby told us.
Laughing, I went to the counter of the bar and ordered something without alcohol. »You were fantastic,« Cassian suddenly breathed and leaned right next to me against the counter. Shortly, I threw a smile at him before I turned my head forward again.
»As Floras screaming sounded, Lucien had his fingers in the game. Probably he provided some of his shrink tricks to the three. I can imagine that he told Ethan to piss me off so hard that I would take every chance to get rid of him even if I needed to get on stage with them. And naturally, a performance was the requirement to get rid of them and they knew I always went with the flow of the music and the emotions when I was on stage and tada, Kyran sang.«
Sneaky of this group and the Delta! Sneaky and not stupid!
Smiling Cassian shook his head and looked at my drink that the bartender put in front of me.
»You don't drink alcohol?« he asked in confusion and frowned. Did he expect that I would drink so much to get drunk?
»Maybe later. Now I only need something cold to calm the itching in my throat. And alcohol would just worsen the itching,« I answered and made him laugh before he nodded.
»I can see you don't drink alcohol too,« I said as I saw the cola in his glass. He looked down at his drink and for a short moment his face darkened before he looked up again.
Something was wrong. Something changed significantly in his face with my question – no, in his whole appearance.
»I can't... remember the moment I marked you as a traitor, but I can still see the blood on my hands after I woke up sobered up. My head throbbed and I laid without memories of the evening in the forest. Of course, I asked myself what happened, but I assumed I transformed and hunted down some animal in my drunken state. That I did that to you... It just won't leave my head. I want to remember, seriously! But I just can't, and it despairs me. Well, since I woke up in the forest without memories, I swore to myself that I wouldn't drink so much ever again. Yes, we can only get drunk if we put some of that shitty wolfsbane inside our drinks but still. And now... in your presence, every cell in my body refuses just to touch a glass with alcohol inside because I fear to hurt you again.«
He spoke from his heart and told me his inner feelings and thoughts. He told me about his fear, and it made me forgive him a little bit.
I didn't know his reasons, maybe he would tell them someday, but right now only his words were important to me.
Cassian was desperate because he gave himself the fault. It was his fault, of course, but he was still in a drunken state and not owner of his senses. Whatever made him do that must have had a reason and I swore to myself that I would get to know that exact reason.
But right now, it was more important to make him understand that it was okay. It was okay because he changed himself after everything he did. He deserved some forgiveness. Although, I couldn't forgive him completely.
Still, it made me forgive him a little bit. Not much, but still a bit. And that little bit was a lot for me. Because I swore that I would never forgive him my whole life and would take my hate with me into my grave.
Now everything changed and I was ready to forgive him bit by bit. Just as I was ready to face my old life bit by bit. To face things, I wanted to run away from, before my return.
Softly I grasped his clenched fist and smiled carefully up to his tensed face. »It's okay, Cassian. It's absolutely fine,« I said and met his insecure lineaments.
»Don't view my scars as permission to kill or punish me. View them as« - I thought about how I could continue - »another way of marking. A marking that you put unknowingly on my body before we got to be mates. But don't search for the fault in yourself because if you do that you will break down and that won't help the both of us. As Lucien said, we have a strong bond. And if you stay automatically awake when I'm awake, you are breaking down with guilt and regret will hurt us both. Moreover, you can't hurt me anymore. And if you still can, so be it. Then you will get your own scars I will inflict on your body while training or in another way. So be it. It's fine if you want to drink alcohol. And someday you will remember what happened even if it may hurt you. But always remember, I'm trying to forgive you bit by bit. And you should also remember that I swore myself to never forgive you before that. So, view it like that. It will get more bearable with us two and maybe we can already say that it's already good.«
***
For a long time, we all stood there together and talked. Sometimes Emi, Leandra, Flora and Kate disappeared on the dancefloor and Sean, Enzo and Lucien followed after them.
Zack just watched his brother and sister from the bar. He didn't like to dance but he would still watch over his siblings even though Sean was the oldest.
I, too, was protective of Elli, but I just couldn't imagine following here through the bar to keep her safe.
Would I maybe be more like them if Caleb were a girl? He was, after all, younger than I and Elli was the oldest of us. Or I was just never confronted with a situation where I needed to awake my protective brother side for Elli.
A few times, I also drank some alcohol – just for the flavor – but of course I couldn't feel the effect of it. Chat on the other hand leaned completely drunk against the counter of the bar and threw up one time – on the toilet of course.
Fynn was also drunk and could only stand up because of one reason – Toby. He squeezed the smaller one tightly against him and talked to Naika.
The witch siblings couldn't walk correctly anymore but that didn't stop them making the dancefloor unsafe – Enzo lost all lack of restraint.
Of course, there was also Jackson who somehow held onto the counter and babbled something to himself and was one of the humans that handled his alcohol badly. And at the end there were we wolves and vampires that weren't affected at all by the alcohol.
Only Ethan who put some of the wolfsbane powder into his drink and now he was slightly drunk. And while he got himself drunk with the powder; he could only get disapproving looks from Cassian.
I assumed that the disapproving looks came only because of the wolfsbane powder – so, because of me and my scars.
For the whole evening he didn't leave my side, only when I went to the toilet which wasn't really easy to reach because every meter, I got stopped by some people who wanted to congratulate me for being back in the bad or they just wanted to talk because they liked my performances from the past.
Hayden's band later said goodbye to the crowd and another band went on stage, but I didn't know them. Still, they played well, and the singer wasn't bad at all just like the rest of the group.
Widely grinning, the black-haired girl with the fiery red tips came up to us.
Tightly she closed her arms around my body, and I put one arm around her too because with the other one I still held my drink and then she pressed a kiss on my cheek. After she let go of me, I greeted the only male in their band with a fist-to-fist and hugged the other two girls.
»Kyran baby, you were magnificent, seriously. And now I want to dance with you before we leave his place,« she said and immediately I felt jealous eyes in my back.
Slightly grinning, I put one arm around her shoulder and turned to my friends which were only Cassian, Caleb, Toby, Naika, Fynn, Zack and Chat. Jackson and Ethan already knew Hayden and her band.
»May I introduce? This is the beguiling Hayden Summers, the most gifted and worthy of worship singer in this whole universe and in other universes I don't know exist,« I introduced her and while I talked, she began posing and made me snort in amusement.
»And there we have Maive Hunter, the bassist and a true gem.« I threw an air kiss to her and she caught it laughing loudly and returned it. Her hair was at the top in a light turquoise and turned into a dark blue deeper down. Her eyes were green.
»This unique male specimen in a group full of females is Yoshi Salomon. He was the one with the cool e-guitar solo.« Grinning, he lifted his hand and shook his head amused.
»My name is Josh, but our lovely shirker calls me Yoshi,« he explained his correct name and ran his fingers through his black hair that had just like Hayden's fiery red tips. Both of them knew each other from childhood.
»Well and then there is Laurel Park, the one at the drums.« Immediately I felt a hit on the back of my head and because a second tried following I dodged it and wriggled myself away just to pop up behind Hayden and laid my arms around her shoulders.
While I did that Laurels, eyes followed me angrily. Her hair was in a high ponytail and dyed in a bright pink. Then she turned to my friends.
With her hands she signed signs I understood. Sign language. Laurel couldn't talk for her whole life, but I wasn't aware of the circumstances.
»Just ignore that idiot. Pleased to make your acquaintance, I'm Laurel. And not as uninteresting as that idiot described me,« Maive translated and my friends nodded understandingly.
»Well, if you want it like that,« I purred and walked over to her and lifted her ponytail up to present it. »Pink hair, gray eyes. Who could she be? Damn right, the mute drummer star, Laurel Park!«
Grinning, she looked up to me and I returned her look. »Better?« Immediately she nodded in agreement and pushed me back towards Hayden.
»So, now the introduction the other way around,« I said and shortly eyed all of my friends.
»The boy who looks just like me is my younger brother Caleb. But he isn't musically gifted as I am, just so you know.« Giggling Hayden shook her head and Laurel's shoulders slightly moved up and down – she always laughed like that.
»Then we have Zack Anderson here. The guy who looks evil but can't hurt a single fly. So, kind of a Damon Salvatore as our sick friend Genevieve likes to compare him. And he hates quarrels, so his nickname is contention hater.« Uninterested Zack's eyes squinted to me before his concentration went back to his siblings.
»The completely drunk guy on the ground is Chat Jones. And I won't say more to that.« Grumbling Chat fell to the side and hit with full force face forward on the ground. I shook my head. Idiot.
»Then we have my Canadian abroad-siblings. Naika and Toby Ramsay. The nice quote blood is thicker than water doesn't fit here because I think in that sense water is thicker than blood. And the blond guy clinging to Toby is Toby's future sex buddy and life partner.« Angrily Fynn furrowed his eyebrows before he cuddled himself even nearer to Toby while making happy eating noises. Gods, how much did that guy drink?
»And then there is Cassian Walker, my...« Yeah, how should I introduce him? Hayden and her band didn't know about our kind. So, I couldn't introduce him as my mate and as my boyfriend was the question of questions.
Was he even my boyfriend? We didn't talk about it officially and hadn't had any agreements in that matter.
»I'm Kyran's boyfriend,« his voice sounded, and I looked over to him in surprise. Like that he took away my decision. And also, the fear of talking about it.
Maybe he hadn't wanted that. To be my boyfriend meant outing himself as gay in front of humans that knew him as hetero for all those years.
»Nice meeting you all. But now I will borrow Kyran for a bit. Baby, we are going to dance now!« Hayden yelled and pulled me with her while I looked a little helpless to my friends who were more amused. Only Cassian looked a little bit angry – jealous. Stupid jealousy!
To the music the band played we started to dance. We mostly didn't touch each other, but the dance floor was too crowded to completely avoid it.
Hayden knew, even before Cassian told her he was my boyfriend, that I was gay and that was the reason why she was so open and a little touchy with me. She didn't treat Yoshi that way even though they knew each other from childhood and formed their band.
Loudly laughing she jumped onto my back as I led us out of the dancing crowd after we danced, or God knows how long. A
mused, Yoshi picked her up from my back and threw her over his shoulder. Even though I was a supernatural being she was kind of heavy for me.
Hayden wasn't overweight, if anything she needed to get forced to eat more because she was almost too thin. But she was a few or even just one centimeter smaller than I. And for a girl pretty big because I was already 1,78 meters. Ten centimeters smaller than Cassian.
»So, we are going to say goodbye now,« Josh said and waved at us as the four left – Hayden still thrown over his shoulder.
»Very charming,« Naika purred. »Mostly Laurel.«
With raised eyebrows I looked down at my abroad-sister and needed to suppress my laughter because she needed to lean her head into her neck to meet my eyes.
»I hate you.« I love you too, little one.
And with those words she turned around and I couldn't stop myself anymore. Hearty, I started laughing so hard that I bent over and held my stomach because I got a stomach-ache.
An evening that I didn't want to be removed from my memories.