*Sorry it's been forever. Life got in the way. Luckily for ya'll, my little sister found out about this story and is pushing me to continue. More will be coming soon…I hope!*

I began laughing hysterically. "A goddess? You're kidding right?" Liam shook his head, though his smile still remained. "No, no, no. I'm no goddess. I'm human through and through. Hence the blood and the seemingly short life span."

Liam chuckled. "Maybe not a goddess." I smiled and nodded at the strange vamp. "But perhaps half a goddess." Now I fell still. "Perhaps the daughter of Nyx herself."

I stared for a moment, in silence, before I burst out laughing again. "No. I am in no way the daughter of Nyx. I mean, come on."

I looked to Daydream for backup but she just stared. "It…might explain why you were made of stars in my dream."

"No, vampyres are the children of Nyx. You are all marked by her and everything."

"Who are your parents, Mari?" Liam asked, seeming amused by my freaked out expression.

"Well, I'm adopted but…" Everyone stared at me, except for Jason and Jordan, with smiles on their faces. "But I'm a human. Not a frigging GODDESS. I mean…that's insane. That's—"

Liam put up a hand and I immediately shut up. Something told me he was the lead vampyre in this group because I instinctively wanted to do what he told me to do. "These are only theories, of course my dear. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to fear. Even if we were certain of you being a goddess we certainly wouldn't expect anything, yet." I didn't like his use of the word yet.

"If it helps," Jordan added, "I don't think you're a goddess at all Mari."

"Me neither," Jason grumbled.

"Regardless," Liam sighed, "we believe it is in your best interest for you to stay here." He looked and sounded pleasant, but I could sense his irritation with Jason and Jordan. "In the meantime, we should worry about our two brothers who did not come home last night." Everyone looked grim. "So, Erol and Desmond, would you two please accompany me to the surface in case they need help?" The two men nodded and Liam turned to Daydream. "I would like it if you came too but would understand if you felt the need to stay with Mari."

Daydream looked to me. "Go," I chuckled, though it came out sort of choked. Daydream nodded to Liam and, with a silent grace, the group left the room. I sighed with relief, knowing that Liam was no longer staring at me expectantly, but quickly felt pressure again when I noticed Rosto and his cousin staring at me. I looked to the girl. "I'm sorry, I haven't caught your name."

"Kimmy," she chuckled, pushing her beautiful red hair out of her face. "You know," she sighed, "I don't think you're a goddess."

I smiled. "Neither do I." I appreciated being left with the three vampyres who didn't insist that I was a goddess. Jason, Jordan and Kimmy knew I was a regular human, weird blood or not. Rosto, however, still stared at me as though I had a frigging rainbow sprouting out of my head. I raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"I don't know if you are or aren't a goddess," he sighed, "and I don't really care. I see a good person in front of me, nothing else." This made me smile. Normally I didn't even see myself as a good person. I mean, I'd had to kill other humans and vamps for goddess's sake. I thought of myself as…well not a bad person but certainly not a good person.

"What makes you think she's a good person?" Jason scoffed. I suddenly felt the urge to punch him.

"Without being asked, she sliced her wrist open and allowed me to drink her blood, something I needed or else I'd die," Rosto said proudy.

Jason laughed. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen ."

"Then you're old enough to have learned about the chemical reaction that occurs when we drink from humans. If she'd just wanted to get—"

"That's enough," Jordan 's voice boomed, rather suddenly. "Mari helped out and, instead of being thankful, you're attacking her. What's your problem?" Jordan stared hard at his fellow vampyre.

Jason broke eye contact looking pretty pissed. "Quit it Jordan."

"He wants to protect you guys and is angry that you're not letting him," I said simply, though I, once more, had no idea how I had jumped to that conclusion. "He's afraid that I might be dangerous but rather than show his fear he'd rather be mad."

Jason opened his mouth to reply but instead left it open. He tilted his head to the side and stared at me. "Yeah…pretty much. Good guess…"

I shook my head. "It was no guess. I know how you feel." Jason nodded, looking down at his shoes. He didn't know what to make of me. "So what did you do before you went into hiding?"

"I was a Son of Erebus with Desmond." As if he had to say so. He had it written all over his face. Jason was short but his muscles and the serious look on his face screamed protector. "Please stop," Jason sighed, interrupting my train of thought. "You're eyes are almost as penetrating as Jordan's." I glanced over and saw Jordan giving Jason signals to shut up.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Jordan can read minds err…intent. Big difference, so he says. You can tell when he does it because you feel practically naked."

He didn't have to tell me. I knew the feeling. I shot a glare at Jordan who rolled his eyes in return. "Way to go Jason," he sighed. "I wasn't going to tell her."

Kimmy made a face. "That's a little creepy. You were going to use it on her and not tell her. Privacy violation." I smiled. I was beginning to like this girl.

I turned to Jordan. "So what intent have you read from me?" He looked around the room and I suddenly felt embarrassed. He'd felt me wanting to throw myself at him the night before. I turned on my heels and headed for the hall. "Oh, come on Mari. It's not that bad." I kept walking away. "Where are you going?" he called out.

"You should know!" I replied with anger, though I was really just humiliated.

"What are you even going to do in your room?"

"Read comic books!"