Veil of Vladikovo ✓ (BxB)

Four

Over the course of the next few months, Aayan held brief sessions with Eviirs, Sean, and Ferox to tell them what he knew about the history of Vladikovo; each of these sessions was rather short—-only about forty-five minutes at the very longest.

     As night fell around Vladikovo, the October weather flooded the sleepy town.

     Eviirs made his way down to Aayan's beaten down home.

      Ferox and Sean has decided to stay back at the cabin to do more "research" on topics related to Vladikovo; Eviirs, of course, knew this to be a lie.

      Eviirs was well aware of the fact that neither of them would actually be studying.

      Sean would most likely use his time to make small little sketches in the margins of the books, while Ferox would just go to sleep.

      The cold night time air continued to whirl about as Eviirs walked down the silent sidewalk.

      Not a single person on horse rode past.

      This place really is a ghost town, huh? Eviirs chuckled at that thought.

      Finally, Eviirs made it to Aayan's home. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

      A few moments later, Aayan responded, seemingly having more energy now than he had during the day. "Eviirs." Aayan greeted. "Come in."

      Eviirs entered the home and Aayan closed the door behind him.

      Aayan sat down in a chair while Eviirs sat in the chair on the opposite side of the Palestinian man.

     Aayan then asked, "Can I get you something? Tea?"

      "Mm. No. I'm fine," Eviirs tried to reassure the other man.

      "Your loss." Aayan adjusted how he sat in the chair. "So… I think it's time I finally tell you about that hunting trip."

      Eviirs moved forward in his chair a little more, seemingly excited by that fact.

       "I had already lived in Vladikovo for a while when some tourists came into town hunting for elk," Aayan said.

      "How long have you lived here?" Eviirs began to ask. "...if you don't mind me asking." Eviirs shrunk a little in his jacket, nervous that he might've annoyed Aayan. Eviirs' jacket was far too large for him—-and he liked that. He loved how it hid his chest.

      Aayan exhaled air, sounding a little amused. He licked his bottom lip a little. "Uh… Let's see… I think I first came up here after the third crusade…"

      Eviirs raised an eyebrow. "So, a little after 1193?"

      Aayan nodded. "Yeah. That's about right."

     "How old are you?" Eviirs then asked the man, curiously.

     Aayan chuckled a little. "Um… I'm 640."

    "Oh, wow," the French man responded, having a hard time grasping that. "You look twenty-three."

     Aayan laughed again. "Yeah. I know." He wetted his lips. "I've seen a lot…"

      "I bet," Eviirs said.

     "I started out as a warrior fighting against the crusaders…" Aayan told Eviirs. "At one point, I got kidnapped by those said crusaders… They found out the truth about me. They disrespectfully called me a 'woman' afterward. I stabbed them all… in the neck."

      "Why did they call you that?" Eviirs asked Aayan.

      "Um…" Aayan nervously laughed. "I… I was born female." He grimaced a little, nervous of what Eviirs might say.

      "Oh." Eviirs sucked in a breath, surprised. "I was too."

     Aayan raised a dark eyebrow. "You were?"

      Eviirs nodded. "Mhm."

     "Good to know," Aayan said. "Anyway… I went on the hunting trip with the people because I had nothing better to do." He inhaled. "...to make a long story short, we got ambushed by wolves."

      Eviirs raised an eyebrow. "Wolves?"

     "Werewolves," Aayan clarified. "Each one of those poor people got their livers eaten."

       Eviirs shuddered at that thought. "Why didn't anything happen to you?"

      Aayan leaned back in his chair. "I'm not human."

     "I figured that much," Eviirs said, laughing a little. "What are you really though?"

      "A siren," Aayan told Eviirs.

      "A siren…" Eviirs repeated, his eyes growing with recognition.

      "On that topic though," Aayan began to say, leaning forward, closer to Eviirs. "You lied to me."

      Eviirs tensed up. "What? …lied to you?"

     "You told me you were a vampire," Aayan recalled. "That's not true."

      "How do you figure that?" Eviirs responded.

     "Sirens just have a knack for figuring that kind of stuff out," Aayan replied, softly. He wetted his lips once again. "You're one of us, Eviirs."

      "A siren?"

      Aayan nodded. "Mhm." He moved a little bit closer to Eviirs, residing right next to him. "And a very pretty one at that."

      Eviirs felt his face light up red with blush. "O-Oh. You too." His voice trembled a little. He felt like his heart was beating a million miles a second.

      Aayan smiled, softly before leaning in to place a kiss on Eviirs' lips.