Alison glanced over into her living room, finding Alice sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had a light T-shirt on, but the green glow of the Spriggan in her body shone through the clothing. She could see the tree bark growing on the back of her neck and disappearing into her hairline like a part of it was attached to her brain. More bark grew on her upper arms, just under the sleeves of her shirt.
She wanted to walk over and hug the vampire, but she knew that the twins had said was right. The Daybreaker needed a little time to process everything. To start picking up the pieces of what she was, and what she could become again.
She turned and headed into the kitchen where the twins and Peredite were sitting at the table talking.
Kira smiled softly when Alison came in. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
"I would have slept better if you had stayed in bed with me." Alison answered, heading over to the counter to put together breakfast. "Anyone want anything?"
"No thank you." Aviri smiled.
"I'm afraid you're the only one in the house who actually needs to eat anything to survive." Peredite added.
"Not even you Peredite?"
"That's correct. I survive off the energy around me. I could of course take that energy from other beings, but its not necessary."
"Good to know. Does Zoe want pancakes?"
"She'd be content with just drinking the syrup." Aviri laughed.
"She was about to ask for it." Kira cringed.
Alison chuckled herself before making pancakes while the sisters talked about how annoyed they were with Zia showing up out of the blue.
"I am grateful that Alison smells like Luna. Otherwise Zia may start to catch on." Kira sighed.
"That's true. It's bad enough Zia keeps visiting randomly. I wonder if she already suspects something's wrong?" Aviri crossed her arms over her chest.
Alison sat down beside Kira and stabbed a fork into her pancake. "If Zia is older, does that mean that she's stronger than you two? Like how Alice is stronger than her brother?"
"While strength does come with age, it also comes with skill. Alice's power makes her far superior to anyone who can't counter her ability, so Alex made for an easy target. His power does pose a concern. There's always the chance we only dispatched a clone and he's still out there somewhere, plotting. One of Alice's clones could also still be alive and serving Agora." Aviri seemed to drift off into thought.
"To answer your question, no. Zia isn't stronger than we are. Aviri could likely best her in magic, and I can close distance too quickly for her to counter." Kira explained.
"So how long are we supposed to make her wait?" Alison asked, glancing towards the archway to the living room.
"It's going to take some time." Kira answered.
"Let her brood for a bit." Aviri added, getting Alison to glare at her.
"I get that she's done really bad things, but you can't just keep torturing her."
"We're not torturing her. We're ignoring her." Aviri explained. "She's spent her entire life being conditioned to think that we're goody-two-shoes vampires that don't know how to be cruel. Because of which she likely thought she could take advantage of our kindness before stabbing us in the back. We need to show her that we're more than happy to give her that kindness, but that we can also be far worse than her family if push comes to shove."
"That, and she intended to attack you to get her way." Peredite noted.
Alison sighed deeply before taking a bite of her food. "Just so you know, I can't keep two vampires fed with my blood."
"That likely wouldn't be very healthy for you." Aviri agreed. "But it's alright. Peredite and I brought over a few bottles before you woke up. They're in the back of your fridge, in case you have any friends come over they won't see them unless they go looking."
"Not that they look unnatural. Most humans mistake the bottles for red wine." Peredite shrugged.
"So what happened to Sapphire?" Alison asked.
"Well... she was going to be sent with Amy back to the Wizard's Tower, but my mother told her that Alice was here, and restrained. Amy suggested we take her back to try and help Alice."
"Wouldn't Sapphire hate her?"
"That's what we thought too. But apparently my mother saw something that I didn't." Kira shrugged.
"Weird."
"Amy also mentioned something about Alice having a few servants who actually left Agora's manor when they heard that Alice betrayed the family. Apparently she was nice to them?" Aviri shrugged.
"There's also the matter of Sarah Navarra." Peredite added.
"Right." Kira sighed.
"Who's that?"
"Apparently, it's someone who Alice made immortal. She's a descendant of Merlin who was about to die, but when Alice made her immortal it stopped the curse from progressing." Kira explained.
Alison blinked as she stared at her girlfriend.
"Alison's from the human world Kira. She has so clue what any of that means." Aviri laughed.
"Right. Well... First of all, descendants of Merlin suffer from the same curse that he had, where after a certain amount of time they become a tree. This period of time is determined by how much magic they use. If they use a lot then the curse accelerates, but if they don't use any at all, then they can actually live a full life." Kira explained.
"How could Alice make her immortal?" Alison questioned.
"Vampires can gift immortality remember. They inject their blood directly into them and it stops aging. It can also increase healing speed, but that depends on the vampire."
"So Alice saved Sarah? Why would she do that?"
"We don't know." Aviri admitted.
"Sarah studied at the Wizard's Tower long after I left. I never personally met her, but Amy has been letting me know how she's doing. She left the tower a few years ago to go to Yeager, which is the village where Merlin's tree is located. She was apparently studying something before Alice found her and gave her immortality. When she woke up Alice was bringing her somewhere."
"Somewhere?"
"Sarah said she was being taken back to the manor, but if Alice went through the effort to save her, I doubt she would have brought him back to her family." Aviri shrugged.
"Sarah attacked her and ran. Alice apparently didn't put up much of a fight. Afterwards, Sarah returned to the Tower to continue her studies."
"How long ago was that?" Alison asked.
"Maybe a few hundred years?" Kira offered with a shrug of her own. "We're not entirely sure. It's all based on Sarah's word."
"But you know it was Alice who saved her?"
"When a person is made immortal, you take the essence of the vampire who turned you. She gives off the same scent and even aura as Alice does. It was most certainly Alice." Aviri explained. "But the question is why."
"Is it really that big a deal?" Alison asked as she ate another mouth full of pancake.
"It could be. When you make someone immortal, you can also enthrall them. A vampire's bite can inject a potent venom that incapacitates the victim. This allows the vampire to put down a spell to force that person to obey them for the rest of their lives. It's most commonly used when making a person immortal, as there's no better thrall than one who'll never age." Aviri explained.
"Can you tell if Sarah's been enthralled?" Alison questioned, looking a bit shocked.
"Well, that's where the issue lies. We don't think she did." Peredite continued. "If she was enthralled, then why would Alice let her get away so easily? She could have just ordered Sarah to stop fighting and come with her, but she didn't."
"So what's the problem?"
"Gifting immortality is a precious gift. It's something vampire's cherish very dearly. You're essentially giving a person part of you. It's very similar to how dragon's link to people."
"Wait... you gave me your blood?" Alison raised an eyebrow at Kira.
"N-No." Kira cringed. "The link we shared before was done with magic and seems to have worn off."
"Oh... So if you gave me your blood, I'd be able to hear your thoughts like you hear mine?"
"Kira doesn't hear your thoughts twenty-four seven." Aviri laughed. "We can just hear what you think aloud, and only when we want to. We've long since learned how to shut it off."
"Actually, since Kira is mated to Alison it's likely that her vampire nature seeks out Alison's thoughts normally. At the same time when she drinks your blood she can feel your emotions for a few days." Peredite explained.
"Good to know..." Alison stuffed another mouthful of pancake in her mouth as she smirked at Kira who looked to be pretty embarrassed. "So the question is, why would Alice go out of her way to save some random girl she just met?"
"Exactly." Aviri nodded.
"Well what if Sarah is Alice's mate?" Alison offered.
Kira and Aviri blinked before exchanging glances. They're expressions changed a few times like they were having a psychic conversation.
"Hey." Alison waved. "Can you use your mouths for those of us who can't hear your thoughts." Which got Peredite to chuckle.
Aviri cleared her throat then looked at Alison guiltily. "We didn't think about that." She confessed.
"So Sarah is Alice's mate then?"
"That's the best explanation." Peredite nodded. "I can't see another reason for her to just react that way without thinking, or without a real purpose."
"She could just have a kind heart."
"Doubt it. Even if she wanted to be kind, her family wouldn't let her. If she brought Sarah back with her they would just torture her too."
"Why don't we just ask Alice about it?"
"She's still in time out." Aviri answered, getting Kira and Alison to glare at her. "Plus, don't you have school in a few hours?"
Alison groaned. "That's true."
"Then eat your damn pancakes and hurry up." Aviri laughed.
Alison picked up the last pancake and stood up, eating the pancake like toast as she started putting her dishes away then running off to go take a shower.
When she came back out, Alice was exactly where she had left her. Alison sighed and headed back into the kitchen, drying her hair with a towel. "Can we just leave her while I go to class? I know you're not going to stay here." She asked as she looked to Kira.
"Alice isn't going to leave. She has no where else to go." Kira explained. "She'll be here when we get home."
"Why don't you enroll in the school?" Alison asked.
"Because I want nothing to do with school." The vampire scoffed. "I'm only stepping foot on the campus because you're there."
"Thanks." Alison rolled her eyes. "Are you two going to head back to Exodious?"
"Probably." Aviri answered. "Might stick around for a couple more days."
"Hold up. Peredite, can you explain how travel between here and Exodious effects time?" Alison asked. "I think Kira mentioned it at some point but I still don't really understand how it works."
"Travelling to Exodious works like walking through a door. You just appear in the correct period of time. When travelling to the human world, you can sort of decide when you want to appear."
"I get that. But why does it work like that?" Alison questioned. "I thought Exodious was created side by side with the human world."
"Actually..." Aviri started.
"The Gods actually created this world as an alternate Exodious. They created it with the intention of moving here to escape conflicts, and to bring their human followers with them. Exodious was first." Peredite explained.
"So this is the fake dimension? How come we have a whole solar system and Exodious doesn't then?"
"Exodious doesn't have space travel." Kira laughed. "We shun technology and don't allow it. This allows our world to continue indefinitely. I'm sure if we wanted to we could throw ourselves into space and travel to another planet, but there's no reason to."
"So this whole time the Realm of Demons has been the real world and this was the fake one."
"Indeed. Which is why you can time travel when coming here."
"So if you left here for a week, how long would it take you to come back?" Alison asked.
"A week."
"But-"
"If I left for a long period of time, like a thousand years, when I wanted to return maybe a month would have past here because I wouldn't be able to picture what a thousand years would have done to this world." Kira explained. "But if I left for a week, I can picture what a week into the future would look like."
"That's so weird and random... What if we get flying cars and shit? What happens then?"
"Not sure." Kira shrugged. "Maybe when the humans destroy their planet the gods will just reset your progress."
"What if every time you leave and come back another earth is made, so there's like... an infinite number of earths with an infinite number of me's-"
"The fuck did you put in your pancakes?" Aviri questioned.
"I can confirm that that is not the case." Peredite laughed. "There is only one Human World."
"Well I saw a lot of movies, and there are a lot of different multiverse theories."
"They are all incorrect."
"Are you sure?"
"I can see into all the different dimensions, and there is only one Earth." Peredite repeated.
"You have like twenty minutes before you're supposed to be at school by the way." Aviri noted.
"Fuck!" Alison gave Kira a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you at lunch. Bye!" She then ran out the front door.