"Can you like give us a list of all the Immortals?" Spazz asked me for the third time in the past hour.

"Like I told you, it's not that easy." I'd hung around for the past three hours with this ragtag group of hackers and gamers and people who believed in just about anything because why not. I liked them, I really did. I found out that Freak was from Finland and Spazz was half of a green-blood - by which I mean his mom was full-on Irish. He lived in New York in Brooklyn, not too far from where the storage locker of Annie's was. Kat and Kazee both lived in Ohio like Bust but they were two hours from each other so they'd never met him in person. They, however, were from the same town - one so small that it wasn't on any map I'd ever seen. Needless to say that I felt for the girls.

Bust had been showing me all the details of their site - of which the video-chat was a very small part of. There was a very in depth blog of all the newest rumors and sightings of any mythological figure or creature the world over. There were articles about how much proof there was of the probability of different mythological figures existing. There was a message board and forum where frequent flyers to the site could mention anything they'd heard or any questions they had as well as give some answers to the others who'd visited. The video-chat was the only super secure part of the site with the rest being both user-friendly and open to the public. These kids had done an amazing job with all of it - especially when you considered that my fourteen-year-old niece had set it up in the first place. I mean, the only thing missing from the site was the loch ness monster and Bigfoot - which no, by the way, were not real, much to the disappointment of Kazee and Spazz.

"Why not?" Kat had taken a break a while back and had gotten dinner, having called her girlfriend while she was at it. She was still eating bits of KFC every now and again.

I sighed. "Well, first of all, I don't know every immortal on the planet."

"Really?" Bust had driven the van out of the mall parking lot about an hour in, moving it to a Taco Bell parking lot instead where he got both of us some sustenance. Now he was back in his chair in front of the screen. "I thought all immortals sort of just, knew each other."

"Well, I kinda do, but not in the way you're thinking. Ninety percent of us hole up somewhere and rarely - if ever - leave our circle of believers. The other ten percent - which is around two to three hundred immortals - have to travel for our jobs. The whole world either believes in us or our task isn't restricted to one area. The Guardians, for example." They all nodded at that, knowing exactly what I meant. "Of those of us that travel, about half to two-thirds have a base of operations or at least a place to stay when we want to sleep or eat, while the rest just wander around. All the wandering immortals you'll meet within the first decade or two, since its hard to avoid someone who's everywhere. But the hermits are just that, I don't even know half of them - and the half I do know are the ones who are ridiculously outgoing and enjoy having a night off."

"The ones you see at Legends?" Lizzie had pulled out her homework about twenty minutes prior and had been doing it while still in the chat. The others kept glancing at her in surprise every time she spoke since she'd always been so reclusive before. I'd asked her about that and she'd said that she thought no one would take her seriously if they knew how young she was.

I nodded. "And besides all of that, not all Immortals want to be seen anymore." There were a few surprised and questioning outbursts at that. I held up my hand to quiet them. "For a lot of us, it's easier to do our job if no one can see us. The Muse, for example, or Mother Nature." A few nods that read 'well - yeah, okay'. "The rest of them have gotten so used to being invisible that when a mortal sees them we kind of freak out and don't know what to do."

"Like you did with me?" Bust had half of a taco shoved in his mouth as he spoke.

"Kinda. I just didn't expect you to be drawing me - by the way, I didn't mention it earlier but you're really good." He grinned around his full mouth mumbling his thanks. "I mean we could all use more believers, but active believers aren't always the best thing."

"What is 'active' believer?" Freak was getting close to passing out, it being about two in the morning where he was.

"Well there's two kinds of believers - well, no make that three." I held up my fingers, ticking them off as I spoke. "False believers, which are the people who know the legend and the sayings and everything about any given immortal, but don't believe. Adults with the Guardians is the best example. We get a weird sour feeling when anyone knows about us but doesn't believe." I put down my first finger. "Active believers, you guys and anyone else who can see an immortal. You know us, you see us, you believe in us wholeheartedly." Second finger down. "Lastly, dormant believers. They have no idea who you are, they've never heard of you, but they somehow still believe in you subconsciously. It's how most of my believers are. Whatever our job is or whatever we stand for - they believe in it - but there's no way for them to make a connection until they have some inkling of who we are."

"So then a list of Immortals should help out then, right?" Spazz, again, with his incessant want for a list. "I mean it could turn all the dormant believers into active ones."

"Yeah but it would also open the floodgates for false believers." I sat back a little, rubbing my neck again. "Hell some of us probably wouldn't know what to do with believers even if we got them."

"What do you mean?" Kazee's attention was somewhat divided between her television and the video-chat.

"A lot of us either never really had believers to begin with, or have by now lost all of the believers we once had." Lizzie put her pen down and focused on me. I'd never mentioned this to her before so she was intrigued. "In their cases, they were too stubborn to fade away and fashioned themselves another purpose."

"Like how?" Most of them were focused on my now, this having been something none of them had heard of with Lizzie out of the loop.

"Well... who's a good example?" I thought over my friends who had little to no believers and then it hit me. "Sunny! He used to have the most believers of anyone on the planet but now there's almost nowhere in the world that believes in him. He took a really big hit to both the ego and the strength department. Now he's the highlight - sometimes literally - of Legends. Between that and watching out for Gaia he sort of sustains himself. A lot of immortals do that. We go off whatever ambient belief we have and then our belief in ourselves sort of does the rest. We couldn't win any big fights on our own but we're solid and alive. But yeah, Sunny would love some believers, him I'm sure of."

"What is he? Or who?" Kat tossed her to go box in the trash like a basketball and I could hear it bounce and hit the floor. "Damn."

"He's the Sun."

"Like Ra? Helios?" Kazee.

"Apollo, but yes. Any and all sun deities, ever, are and were him." Actually, his new purpose was more watching out for Gaia than anything else. Other than that he was just sort of existing. I mean he was living it up, but he wasn't really doing much, that much I saw when I'd seen him with a hangover.

"Whoa..." Spazz was wide-eyed at the knowledge that Mr. Sun was a thing.

Kat scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "So what does he do now? I mean most of the world is monotheistic now, and he was kind of the big guy of all the polytheistic ones right?" I nodded. "He must have lost a lot."

I nodded again. "Yeah. When Christianity spread he lost believers by the hundreds daily. According to Gaia, he was down for the count for a few years straight going through something akin to withdrawal. When you have the powers of a god - literally - and your power source is getting stripped away in an instant - constantly and for decades straight - you feel like you're sick all the time."

"Like how the Guardians felt when Pitch stopped belief thirty years ago?" Lizzie knew that story all too well. I'd told her in detail everything the movie had left out - as Jack had told me as much from his end too. The only one who didn't talk about it any more than the others was Sandy and that's because he sort of went into stasis mode when Pitch got him.

"Yep. Except with Sunny this was happening every day for almost a hundred years straight." Each of them had their eyebrows up in the rafters. "Around then he started getting used to it and it didn't bother him as much."

"A century?" Freak was the only one capable of voicing what they were all thinking.

Lizzie got out of the shock a lot faster than the others, though. "Sunny is the singer of Legends, right?" I nodded. When I'd shown her the pictures of the club she'd been able to see the faintest ghost-like images of the band members once I'd pointed out who and where they were. "The one with the ego and the 'never say no' thing?" I nodded again. "So that's why he has the ego that he does."

"Sort of. It's a longer story than that, but more than I should get into."

"You? Not tell a story?"

I sighed. "Lizzie, this one isn't mine to tell. Gaia and Sunny don't really want everyone to know about it and I don't really know the whole story myself. I don't like telling stories that I don't know all of." I looked hard at all of them. "Especially to people who'll probably go blabbing to everyone they see." There was a guilty silence for a minute as the bloggers shared a look. We all knew damn well that as soon as I left they were going to share this with the world in a heartbeat. "And don't bring up that bit about Sunny when you do. Tell them he was the sun god - is - sure, but don't tell them about the withdrawal shit." I looked hard at them. "If I hear about that anywhere on the internet or IRL I will hunt down whichever of you blabbed it and beat the shit out of you myself."

After another guilty - and somewhat scared - silence, Lizzie cleared her throat. "Um, guys, take my word for it. She'll do it."

-

The others had all logged off, Freak having been first as he had to go to work. The girls had gotten off next having to get sleep for school the next day. Spazz had held out until he was literally falling asleep at his desk. Lizzie and I were keeping it down since Bust had pulled down a cot from the wall murphy style and had passed out around an hour ago. I glanced at him as he snored loudly. "Does he live in here?"

"Sometimes." Lizzie sipped on her water. "He has an apartment but he doesn't always make it home before night so sometimes he crashes in his van."

"Damn this is the Mystery Machine." I glanced towards the driver's seat and noticed all the wrappers on the floor. Also, if I sniffed hard enough I could still notice the scent I'd picked up as I'd first climbed into the van. And it made me believe even more that this was the Mystery Machine - if you catch my drift. This boy's Shaggy IRL. And he sort of looked like him too, the dumb live action version where he was brunette instead of blonde like he was supposed to be. And Bust was a little short to be Shaggy, but you know it's the personality that counts, right?

Lizzie laughed on her end. "Yeah, a little bit." She pointed towards him. "He was the first person to hit up the page when I started it. That's a little why I used the voice mod and hid my face. Random boy way older than me talking to me on the internet? No thanks." She shook her head giggling. "He was buddies with P.K. and Kazee from the gaming circuit and after talking to them about immortals he found out they were believers too, and he brought them here. P.K. knew Freak via Call of Duty and brought him into the fold about four months ago. Spazz just showed up a month back." She looked off into the middle distance, thinking. "I hope we can get more people here."

"I hope so too." I did, really I did. I was just a little worried about them, what would they do once they stopped believing? Then again, this could keep them believing longer. It's possible. I didn't want to say I was a skeptic about it, but so far history had proven it so. Except for Jamie. Except for Jamie.

"Aunt Story?" I looked up at her, eyebrow raised. "You okay?" She was looking at me with concern.

I shot her a smile. "I'm fine." I glanced back at Bust again. "I think I'm gonna head out, though. I was planning on stopping at the club and seeing if Shady'd be willing to schedule another lesson."

"Then you're gonna hang with Sam?" I nodded. "Say hi to him for me. Shady too."

I nodded, grinning. "Will do kiddo. Now how do I turn this monstrosity off?" I glanced over the computer that was lightyears ahead of anything I was used to.

She laughed. "You can just leave it on, Bust usually forgets to turn it off anyway, it won't hurt it any."

"Alright, bye Lizzie." I pulled my bag off of the floor and onto my shoulder. I waved at Lizzie as i opened the door, careful not to make too much noise. I didn't wanna wake Buster up. Once outside I called my wings and took off, instantly a hundred feet above the parking lot. I looked down at the van where I'd just spent the past few hours and shook my head. "What a day." I'll say.

As I flew towards New York, the winds caught up to me, chattering away as always. I swear once there was someone willing to talk to them, they didn't shut up. Not like I minded, though. "How's Jack doing?"

"He is well. He and North are playing a prank on the elves as we speak." They buffeted my wings a little and I righted myself. "We are sorry about that."

I smiled. "It's okay. I'm used to it by now."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm stopping at Legends for a little bit then I'm heading to Sam's - the Halloween Spirit." The winds didn't always know the real names of all the Immortals, just the official ones as that's what the Moonbeams had told them when the Immortal had first shown up. Also, some of us had more than a few names we answered to, so the Winds didn't know all of them. They knew a lot - don't get me wrong - but things said behind closed doors - or walls - were off limits to them more or less.

"Will you see Jack soon?"

"Maybe." I didn't know if they were spying for Jack or honestly curious. With no facial cues or body language to read the only way to know the true intentions of the winds was by their tone of voice. Which, wasn't a lot to go on since it was always breathy and drawn out, halfway between singing and sighing. There were little to no emotions present, or there were too many to figure out. Either way, I usually took what they said at face value - so to speak. "Any word of the missing Immortals?" I'd asked Jack the same last time I'd seen him and I also asked the winds anytime I spoke with them, but thus far nada.

I almost felt them shake their head - figuratively. As it was, the air swooshed past me. "Nothing more that we have not said before." Call me weird but I loved whenever the winds ended up rhyming. The way they formed their words made it sound almost like a song.

I nodded. "I didn't think so. At least no one knew disappeared." One thing that made me furious about the disappearances was that as the list grew, and I learned the identities of my peers that had vanished, I found that many on the list were immortals who's legends I'd heard before, but had never met. I was pissed that I'd never gotten to meet them and I was infuriated at whoever was responsible for their disappearance. I felt the wind wrap around me, almost like someone touching your shoulder to see if your all right. "I'm okay. I'm just mad about all this."

"It has been eleven years since you found out. You are angry still?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

"The others do not seem to show emotion about this other than concern. They only search for answers and solutions when not doing their first duties."

"Yeah, I know." The others never seemed angry about any of it. Not the Guardians, not Sam, not any of the immortals at legends. Most people were worried if anything - you know when they remembered that it was happening. Most of them forgot about it. That pissed me off too. "It's like I'm the only one who cares." I waited years to see this world, to be a part of it and now that I was here it was threatened. I wasn't going to have it. "Hell, it could be Shady or Artie next for all we know! I don't understand why more people aren't freaking out over this!"

"It has been happening for quite some time now..."

"That's another thing. What took Manny so long to tell anyone about this? I mean, I'll understand if he was distracted by Pitch but he's been down a hole for thirty years, he's not doing anything worthy of notice. If this has all been going on as long as North thinks it has then Manny has some explaining to do for not telling us sooner." I was furious about that too. It was rare that I was mad at Manny for something. I could usually see his reasoning for things but this was similar to how skeptics felt towards cancer and such when debating god. I just couldn't see a reason for it.

"You really are angry."

"You bet I am." We ended up talking about some more trivial things after that for a while, then I was flying over New York City and looking for Legends. The winds left me and I dropped down a few streets over from where the club was located. Were I mortal, I'd probably avoid the back alleys of New York, but I wasn't and so I wasn't even concerned by the lack of light, cleanliness, or safety. All I cared about was that there were little to no people. Although the people who hung out in the alleys were creepers and druggies so there's that.

They all steered clear of Legends, though. Annie and Shady had explained it to me in the past, that the wards made the club look like the least appealing thing ever to anyone who passed by. The way they'd described it was similar to the Hogwarts disguise spell. That's how I'd understood it anyway. Regardless, it looked the same as always to me, almost gleaming with the life overflowing from inside the building. Goliath was on door duty tonight and he let me in with a nod and a smile. Inside was as busy as usual. I'd since gotten used to the bustle. Flying indoors was discouraged if you had any sort of wings or apparatus that allowed you to do so, as it'd get even more crowded inside, so I always walked around.

I found Shady and Artie on bar duty as per the usual. Aramis and Dollie were working the floor with two other immortals who I didn't know personally - though the other male I suspected was d'Artagnan. I took my usual seat - which oddly enough was empty every time I showed up. Only once was it occupied and that was the night I'd come with Sam and Jack after I'd lost Caeden and Tanya. I smiled at them as I sat down, letting them finish up with the others at the bar.

About five minutes later Shady came over to me with a Diet Dr. Pepper. I grinned as she handed it to me. "You know, yer the only Immortal 'ere who ever drinks this."

"That's their loss." I took a sip of the pure gold I could never get my hands on anywhere else. It was hard to get food as an immortal unless you grew it. Most of the meals I'd had in the past decade or so had been either at the club, at another immortal's house, or swiped from food carts. "Where does Annie even find this?"

Shady shrugged and leaned against the bartop. "Same place we get the booze."

"Which is?"

"From Dee." At my faintly confused look she explained. "Dionysus." Her accent made it sound a lot different from how it was supposed to be pronounced, but it sounded almost better that way. Regardless I knew who she meant. Dionysus was the greek god of wine and parties. It made absolute sense that he'd be the one to supply the club with alcohol. "I dunna know how 'e gets the soda but 'e does." She pulled her own drink out from beneath the bar. It was some other kind of pop but I couldn't tell what. From the smell I could tell it was spiked, though. "What've you been up to lately?"

"Same old, same old. I actually came by to see if I can schedule another training sesh." I gulped down half of my cup in a single swig.

She grimaced. "I'm about to be travellin' fer some time."

"How long?"

"Five months give er take. I'll be stayin' with a few buddies in tha' time but most dunna have space to train." She grimaced again. "Sorry, Story."

I shook my head. "That's okay. Where are you gonna go?"

"I'll stick with Europe mostly. I'll be visitin' the Nords - Thor's a blast to take on in spirits."

"Thor?" Mr. god-of-thunder-I-wield-the-mighty-Mjolnir Thor... was real?!

She nodded. "Tha' fella tha' stands in as bouncer frum time te time." My jaw hit the floor and she chuckled at me. "When're ye gunna stop bein' serprised at who everyone is?"

"When pigs fly." I pointed at her as she opened her mouth to retort. "Of their own accord and by their own power." She smiled in submission. "Where else are you going?"

"Sparta, I've a few friends there tha' I 'aven't seen in years. And Avalon o' course." She sipped at her drink again nonchalantly.

As soon as i registered what she'd said I spit out my pop, instantly making my nose sting and my eyes water from the carbonation. I squinted to try and alleviate the pain and stared at her incredulously. "Did you say, Avalon?" I held my hand up to my nose and wiped off the pop that was dripping from it, blinking as I did.

She nodded, pointing over her shoulder at Artie. "I'm spendin' a munth with Artie a' 'is place." She glanced over her shoulder. "Artie!" He glanced at us, eyebrows raised. "Are ye willin' to let Story come fer trainin while I'm at yer place?"

"I've no problems with that. I may join in while you two are at it."

Shady looked back at me, smiling. She chuckled when she saw my face, though. "Wha's tha' face fer?"

I blinked to break myself from my self-instated trance. "Same as usual, fangirl mode initiated." She laughed again, then quickly set her drink down and rushed over to where another Immortal was flagging her down.

I stared down into my pop, wide-eyed in amazement. Avalon... Camelot... Training with Artie! King Arthur, holy crap! I'd not-so-long-ago gotten over my awe of Artie as an immortal and had since gotten to know him as a person and friend, but the Arthurian legend had always been one that had interested me more than others. It was kind of like how Salem had called to me long before I ever set eyes on it, Artie's story was always popping back up whenever I stopped thinking about it. And now I was going to see, first-hand, what his home looked like. I knew very well that I could be over-romanticizing it, but I didn't really care.

I watched him for a little while, while he worked. Excalibur was strapped to his back like always and just like Jack's staff, the large object never seemed to be in his way. I'd never seen it out of its scabbard, so I'd always had to guess what it really looked like since only part of the hilt was ever visible.

I was still musing about all of it when i felt a hand on my shoulder. Before I could turn to see who it was, Aphrodite swung around me and took the empty seat to my left. I blinked at her. I hadn't spoken to her nor seen her since the karaoke night eleven years ago. Now here she was sitting next to me like an old acquaintance. "Um... hi?"

She smiled at me, looking like a huge flirt while she did it. Sunny and her should hook up. I almost snorted in laughter at that but I managed to hold it in. "It's been some time since I happened to see you here when I was."

"Yeah, about a decade more or less."

She giggled musically and set her empty glass on the counter. "I actually met up with you after your performance but by then you were well on your way to earning your new moniker." I grimaced at yet another reminder of my crazy Sunny scheme fiasco. She touched my hand and smiled at me. "Oh, don't bother yourself about it. Gaia told me why it was you did that to yourself and I don't blame you. How did that work out by the way?" She turned towards Shady as she set down a new glass identical to the empty one, but full this time. Aphrodite smiled at her and handed over the empty one, thanking the Celt as she did.

"Well, I got some answers. Not the one's I was looking for, but I got part of the story, so I'm good." I shrugged and sipped at my drink.

She nodded sympathetically. "I did love your singing that night by the way. Gaia also told me how I had stolen your song, and I wanted to apologize for that. Regardless of how egregiously overdue it is." She adjusted herself in her chair. "To be frank more than that had me interested in you." I raised an eyebrow at her. "You no doubt know who I am, most immortals talk, especially this gaggle." She gestured to the staff as she spoke. "I caught a whiff of something during our brief interaction back then and seeing you again i wanted to see if my suspicions were right."

I raised my eyebrow again. "And what would that be?" I wasn't in love with anyone, that was for damn sure. As far as i knew no one was in love with me. I was straight but that's not a big deal, now is it? Well, there is the fact that you're still a virgin, maybe that's it? Oh yeah. "Oh, is it that I'm a virgin?"

She shot me a bemused look. "No, but it is on that track. You're asexual aren't you?"

My eyebrows rose in surprise for a moment until my brain caught up with the fact that she was the goddess of love. "Yeah, why?"

She shook her head, again bemused. "You're the first immortal I've met in a long time who is. Mors is the only other alive today." She glanced over her shoulder towards the stage where Mors was positioned to the side of the stage, playing bass as always.

"I didn't know Mors was asexual." She nodded. "Well damn, no preference anywhere for Mors then."

She giggled again. "Not really, no." She crossed her legs revealing a very long slit in her Jessica Rabbit-esqe dress. "Aside from the rarity, I was intrigued by your love styles in pair with that tidbit."

I once more - how many times was it now three - raised my eyebrow at her. "Love styles?"

She set her drink down. "Everyone alive - and some that aren't - has at least one of the six love styles, though most have two or three predominant ones. Someone having all six is rare but not unheard of."

"Huh." I mulled that over. "So what are the styles?"

She held up fingers as she counted them off. "Mania, you've no doubt noticed that one in nearly every movie ever. They're the individuals who'll run off with their lover after only knowing them for a few days."

I nodded, absorbing that info. "Good to know... Yeah, that's not me, next." I'd never fell fast and hard... or at all.

Next finger up. "Pragma - which is quite the opposite. These are individuals who only come together if every bit of their relationship makes sense and benefits them. It's is the logical love. Arranged marriages spring out of pragmatic lovers." She held up the third finger. "Agape is the most selfless. It is unconditional and what parents feel for their children. You love them no matter what and would do quite literally anything for your other."

"So far none of these sound like, me. I mean that last one sounds a little like me, but I have a limit as to how far I go for people."

"Yes, I can see that. You are somewhat agapic, in all honesty, though it is not one of your major styles. You are quite interesting and contradictory." At my questioning look, she held up her pinky for style four. "Ludus. They are players. Sunny is a prime example. You are also ludic, though your tendencies veer more towards the fun and games aspect of it."

I held up my hands to stop her. "Woah, hold up a minute. I've never had any real boyfriend before, let alone been a player. How am I that?"

She bobbed her head back and forth. "You enjoy excitement and adventures in relationships. You don't want to get bored." Okay, now that sounded like me. "The fifth style is eros. No doubt from the name you can guess what it entails. Eros lovers feel and show love through physical aspects. They like to look nice for their partners as well as wanting them to look nice. They express themselves through touch and - predominantly - sex." She gave me a look. "You are very much an eros. This with you being asexual interests me."

"Okay, I'm confused. How is that me? I mean, yeah I'm a touchy person and I'm not shy on hugs and kisses and shit and I like to look nice and I have standards for how guys look..." I'd slowed my speech as it registered what I was saying. "Okay, i see it now." She grinned at me. "You said there were six, what's the last one?"

Her grin turned into an honest smile. "Storge. Don't let the drab name throw you on its properties, it happens to be my favorite." Her voice held none of the joking tones it had earlier, now it was nothing but honest and kind. "Storgic lovers are friends first and foremost. They are those who fall in love with their best friend and rarely disintegrate as the friendship is the basis for the entire relationship. So long as their friendship is as strong as they usually are, the relationship can withstand the tests of time. It is foremost in longevity, second only to pragma."

A smile had slowly crept across my face as she'd spoken. "That one. That's me."

I was still smiling when she spoke again. When she did there was surprise in her voice, although subtle. "I know that look. I see it every day. That's the look of someone in love." She paused, staring me down as I stared back confusedly. "Well this is strange, there's no one in your life that should be making this happen. No one in your past either." She screwed up her face a bit trying to work it out. "Explain yourself, you strange and intriguing immortal." She held her chin in contemplation.

I shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. I've never been in love..." I stared off at nothing. "I want to, believe you me. More than anything." I absently ran my thumb over the edge of the bar top. There was a small knot in the wood, I couldn't see it but I could feel it. "I've never met the guy, though." I shrugged, still working my thumb over the knot.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "There's more to it than that. You know it, and you know that I know it."

I locked eyes with her and it was like I had words that I'd never known how to use. "They're not him. Any of them, none of the guys are him." I glanced down at the bar top, staring at my thumb as it moved. "I know the second I see them that he's not them."

"Who?"

"Him." I looked at her. "You know, my soul mate, my one true love, my other half - whatever you want to call it. The person I'm supposed to be with..." I looked down a little, not seeing the bar anymore. Instead, I was envisioning everything I'd always known. "I know that somewhere out there is the love of my life. He's funny, likes laughing, and he doesn't like to fight. His smile's a mile wide, know's how to tell me 'no', he'll always be there to hold me, he won't ever let me go." I recited slash sang the chorus of the song I'd written so long ago that I didn't remember exactly when. I knew it was when i was immortal and in high school, but not anything more than that. "I've seen this guy's smile, I've heard his laugh. I know what it feels like to hold his hand and how his heartbeat sounds. He's taller than me but not by a lot. His eyes aren't brown but I don't know what color they actually are. I know him -" I cut myself off, knowing that if I didn't take a second then I'd loose it. I took a breath to steady myself before continuing. "I don't know his name, what he looks like, where he is or what his voice sounds like. I have no way of finding him." I blinked hard, trying to push down the hopelessness and loneliness I always felt whenever I thought about him. "I've loved him for longer than I can remember but I've never met him. How is that even possible?" I laughed humorlessly at my own question.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Aphrodite gazing at me with concern and sympathy. She shrugged slightly. "It's like you said, he's your soul mate. Some people's souls come back time and again to this world - I know this much from Mors, it's one of his duties, to shepherd them back and forth once they've passed. Those that return often are drawn to the souls they knew previously. Every once in a while, I've seen them begin to retain memories of how their loved ones appeared in past lives." She rubbed my shoulder a bit. "I think that you remember what was always the same. Those things you don't know, those must be was was different each time but we always carry similar traits no matter where we go or who we are, that's what makes us... us."

I blinked at her. "So..." I looked away as i wrapped my brain around it. "I have had past lives... Which means that I lived in Salem - I knew it! And the Celtic lands. New Orleans, Egypt, that sinking ship I think about - all of it..." I took a breath that was almost a shocked laugh. "I knew it." I looked at her. "And he was there, almost always." I took another breath as my life and mind reordered itself.

Everything made a lot more sense now - why I was drawn to places or things or people. Why they meant to much to me to the point where I couldn't put it to words. Well, you're not crazy. I laughed a little. "I always thought there was a reason why I needed to go there, or see that, or know this person... now I know. It's because I remember them."