Ravenous

15

"Yes. Melanie is my blood mate" he said.

 My legs couldn't hold me, and I sat down again. They sat facing me, holding hands.

"I didn't think you were still together" I said, I had thought his blood mate has passed on. He didn't speak much about her in his book, but the way he described the other stories, I had assumed he had the same fate.

"As if he can exist without me" she says, jokingly.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to assume the worst. It's just that the stories of other vampires, you outlined that they all lost their blood mate" I said, trying to mend the situation.

"It's ok Sage. Don't worry. To be honest, the first time you meet your other half, it's a very peculiar thing. It's hard to comprehend why you're suddenly so attached to another. We are lonesome creatures. To have the sudden urge to be with another, and the mere thought of being without them leaves you so wretched... it's a confusing time" Melanie explains.

"I mean the first reaction you get... by meeting them... is complete and utter thirst. We are selfish creatures first, and the urge to feed sometimes blurs things" Gus says.

"Yes, I mean the first time I met Gus I was just so..." she stopped, trying to find the right word.

"Ravenous" I whispered.

They both stared at me and I smiled weakly at them. For the first time, since a long time, I felt my tears on my face. I hadn't wept ever since I lost Mason.

"Sage" Gus tenderly whispered my name.

I nodded. We sat there as I cried with the depth of everything I had just heard. Their love and adoration shone like a bright light around them and it suffocated me. It reminded me that my other half was repulsed by me. His hateful words shook me more now. I didn't think I will ever see Gabriel looking at me the way Gus was looking at Melanie. Even now, as they sat with me, his eyes would flick towards her every other time. And the way she seemed to lean onto him, with no shame that she needed him.

"What's his name?" Melanie asked, her tone soft, and it helped calm the raging storm inside me.

"I cannot say his name..." I said.

She nodded.

"You haven't fed from him yet" she said, and I nodded.

"Yeah... I think having blood mates goes against how we are made. There are certain things you have to overcome. Saying his name feelings like an unholy thing. Just like how going into the house of God, is something we do not dare do. Although, nothing does happen to us, but our assumption that we are unholy, unfit, and blasphemous monsters seems to drive us away from pure things" Gus said.

"I mean the first reaction is his scent. You feel like it swallows you whole and you're in desperate need of release. I guess that's why you are constantly thirsty at first. Then... once you feed from him, things start to get better. You can say his name. You can be with him without having the constant need to feed. Actually, it dulls the need to feed altogether, because you start to feel like you're whole now. You discover that there was a cold, detached part of yourself and it's suddenly occupied" Melanie says.

"So... does he feel the things I feel?" I asked.

"Of course, the concept of blood mates is almost similar to the werewolf one, you were destined to be each other's. You just didn't find each other, or didn't feel it, until you have redeemed yourself to Aphrodite" Gus replies.

"How did he react to you?" Melanie asks, and I could tell she didn't want to trigger more tears. She could tell that it was a sensitive subject to me.

"He... despises me" I said, with a sigh.

"Understandable. We couldn't stand each other too. But once we spent some time together, letting the bond work its magic, it gets so much better" she said, trying to reassure me.

"He's not the easiest person to be around. He's cruel and has tried on many occasions to keep me away. His own coven feels detached from him" I said.

"It's hard in the beginning, but don't give up. If you were given this gift by Aphrodite, then it means you have both done something to deserve it. I would guess his reluctance to accept you, or even get close to his own coven, is due to something terrible he has done in his past" Gus explained.

Was that it? Did he do something so terrible that his own guilt has shut him off from everyone else. It does explain a few things now.

"You have to be patient Sage, for your sake and his. It will pay off in the end" Melanie says, and the way she voiced her words, with such conviction, sparked some hope inside me. Maybe I can crack through the hard-shell Gabriel surrounded himself with.

*

I spent the rest of the weekend, talking with them about their experience. It was quite a journey for them. It wasn't easy, but it was worthwhile.

On the last time I spent with them, they disclosed another matter to me.

"The COV doesn't know that Melanie is still with me" Gus says.

"Why not?" I asked.

"There is a reason why the concept of the compagnon de sangis kept a secret. They do not want the vampire world to know if it's existence. That's why so many vampires, who met their blood mate, lost them. They mistook the bond with pure thirst and ended up killing their other half" he said.

"But I don't understand, why are they hiding it?" I asked.

"Not everyone deserves such a gift Sage. We are created to be envious creatures. Can you imagine the uproar that only some vampires can have blood mates, while others can't? The envy that the Goddess of Love only gifted only a few, would spark something sinister. The COV do not abhor the concept of compagnon de sang, but they wish to keep its existence hidden. They had managed after centuries of bloodshed to create a system. They do not want anything to shatter that. Anything foreign is not accepted. This is why I had retired here. Only, one of the elders of the COV knows about Melanie, and he has kept quiet, and that's out of respect that's he's my maker" he said.

"You were shifted by an elder?" I asked. I didn't know that.

"Yes, Roman Andres" he said.

"Your secret is safe with me" I told them. I wasn't going to betray their trust. They had helped me beyond measures.

"We trust you Sage. After spending these two days with you, I understand why Aphrodite chose to bestow her gift to you. I only assume it took longer, because your other half needed to redeem himself" Melanie said.

I leaned in and hugged my new friends. I was forever grateful to have met them.