Young God [GirlxGirl]

7. Ties That Bind

I don't know what's right and what's real anymore // And I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore // And when do you think it will all become clear? // 'Cause I'm being taken over by the fear // Fear, Lily Allen

It was Monday morning.

No longer was Violet so shaken up about the events of the previous night. In fact, she was mildly embarrassed about the effect it'd had on her. After all, she worked in a strip club; she should be used to that sort of thing at that point. At least, that's how she saw it. Anyway, Violet knew what she had signed up for when she joined the club, and she thought she was prepared for it. While she would have liked to blame her reaction on everything that had been happening in her life as of late, pinning it on everybody else seemed pointless and selfish in Violet's eyes, and she figured it was about time she faced reality.

And the reality was that she was practically still a kid -  a kid living a very grown up life dealing with some very grown up problems. It was bound to get on top of her at times, and she had to accept that. However, one thing she never thought she would have had to accept was the unexpected presence of a royal god stumbling into her world and invading both her personal and professional lives.

That, she would have to deal with.

So, when she showed up at Blake's that morning before college, she waited until Blake had run back upstairs to finish applying her make up to talk to Ash. Ash was sitting on the sofa, apparently transfixed by some show on TV. Violet picked up the remote and switched it off.

"Hey, do you mind? Stefan and Elena were just about to kiss for the first time." Ash said, her first sign of acknowledgement towards Violet since she'd arrived.

"We need to talk. About last night." Violet said quietly, not wanting to risk Blake overhearing their conversation.

Ash folded her arms. "You mean when I kicked those guys asses and you shooed me out of the door? Cause if so, I hope when you say 'talk about,' you mean apologise. Or maybe, I don't know, thank me." She put her feet up on the glass coffee table and raised an expectant brow.

Violet rolled her eyes. "Look, I appreciate that you had good intentions, but you had no right to be there. And anyway, how did you find me? Were you following me or something? Because maybe on your world that's cool, but down here it's called stalking. And it's creepy."

Ash wondered if she should tell the truth; if Violet would be able to handle the truth, but with Violet's eyes burning holes into her she didn't have much time to think of a lie convincing enough. "All right cupcake, if you're sure you want to know..."

"I'm sure." Violet snapped, wanting her to get out with it before Blake returned.

"Well, a few books I've read over the years talked about a phenomenon called imprinting, which is a rare occurrence that sometimes happens when a god first meets an intelligent member of another species. By intelligent I mean having a coherent language, thoughts, dreams, memories, etcetera. Basically, what this all means is that we've formed a sort of, uh, psychic link. When you feel fear, I feel your fear. When you feel happy, I feel your happiness, and so on - as long as the emotion is strong, and clear. It even works for things like pain... or pleasure." Ash explained. "You'll experience these things on my behalf too, in time."

"You've got to be joking." Violet buried her face in her hands. So not only had Ash invaded her personal and professional lives, but she had now invaded the only part of herself she could usually rely on to be kept hidden from the outside world. Her mind.

"I'm afraid not. And when you were panicking last night, I felt it too, so I went to see if you were okay. The rest, as they apparently say down here, is history." Ash shrugged. "Next time I'll just leave you to the dogs."