Part XLII.

"I'm a man," he smirks, "and I'm drop-dead gorgeous."

"Sean." I roll my eyes and give him the stink eye which he laughs at and sits on the couch.

"Fine," he sighs, "I really don't know what name to call myself but I'm definitely not human. We're not witches nor wizards but we possess supernatural powers."

"Are you vampires?" I ask and he looks at me shocked before bursting out into laughter.

"What information are you humans fed with, jeez!" He asks when he's done laughing.

"Well, give me something. Tell me something concrete. How you came about, where we are, your powers, kingdom and stuff. Anything."

"Long ago, long long ago, our goddess was a human," he starts getting serious and I give my full attention, "she was an orphan, alone in the big bad world and the world was truly bad to her. She was enslaved, raped, tortured, everything cruel you could think of and it went on that way until the day she decided to end it all. She decided but the courage to implement her decision eluded her once she had the knife in hand in her master's library, the bright moon shining effortlessly intimidating her weak and frail state.

Frustrated at her own cowardliness, she scattered her master's library and when he came up to her, she killed him. Stabbed him in the face, neck, chest, heart, belly, everywhere. Transferring her anger, frustration and suffering into her first kill.

Finally finishing her assault, she laid beside his brutalised body when a book laying carelessly close to her caught her attention. For once, something had similarities with her. They were both stained with her master's blood."

He pauses and looks at me then continues when I nod for him to.

"It was titled "HIDDEN EDGES". She read it and for once in her life, something made her happy, gave her hope. Before the sun rose, she reached the last page of the book and stumbled upon a spell. Unbeknownst to her what it was for, she read it aloud anyways and that was when her life changed. She became fortified with endless powers and it was said that she never knew the extent at which her powers could go, even though she could kill by just imagining it. It was said she could control time too but never did anyone witness her use that power.

She hid the book or destroyed it, no one knows, but she used her new found powers to exert her revenge on everyone who hurt her and hurt those who hurt others until she created this kingdom here, in-between life and death, and created people too.

Two babies, a boy and girl, whom she nurtured, empowered and told her stories to until they grew up and she was tired of breathing, living. Then she stopped."

"Wow." I breathed out once he ends the story. That's one hell of a history and I have not the slightest idea what the perfect response would be. Only more questions.

"Yeah," he continues after taking a sip of water from mine. "She left only a bit of her powers to the people she created so they couldn't create other people, except through sex and childbirth like normal humans.

They mated, gave birth to kids who gave birth to kids and powers along with them, some more than the others." He turns and looks at me, "that's how we came about."

Nodding my head slowly, I try to process the information I just got now and what to make of it. We're in-between life and death and that's probably how he caught me when Betty sent me back to Dylan. With his great strength and power, he has only a bit of the goddess's? She must've been the most powerful being then.

"Why are you king?" I ask the first question on my mind.

"My mom was queen." He responds.

"And your dad?"

"He died long ago."

"You guys can die?" I ask and he laughs lightly.

"Our goddess was a human Crystal. She only got extraordinary powers and became a supernatural being. We can die, but not so easily or quickly like you ordinary humans."

"How old are you?" I whisper loudly and he chuckles.

"Two hundred and fifty years." He says and I laugh a little but stop immediately I notice he isn't laughing but looking at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"What?" I ask with my eyes so wide it could pop if it goes an inch wider. "Two hundred what?!" He looks to be in his mid or late twenties, not two and a half century!.

"Close your mouth already," he says and I close it instantly, not even knowing when they opened, "don't think of me that way. Just put that at the back of your mind but address me like I'm twenty five, okay?." He grins and winks and I just stare at him still confused and shocked.

Wow. This is unbelievable. Joe looks way older than him, I don't even want to imagine how old he is too.

"So," he sits back down on the couch, "any more questions? I have to leave soon."

"Yeah, well," I say trying to recollect my thoughts, "can I go back to earth?".

His eyes widen at my question and although I doubt if I want to go back, I just want to know if I can.

"No," he says, "not alone but with the help of a high rank or royal, you can."

"So you can help me go back if I want to?." He looks somewhat hurt by the question but quickly erases the emotion off his face.

"Do you want to go back?" He asks and I sigh. I don't miss my mom, she left me to myself once she remarried. My dad is non existent in my life, I don't have friends nor a husband to go back to.

Thinking about it now, there really is nothing left for me on earth, no one needs me. But here, I can live and figure out what happened with the Connors and why they sought out to kill me, I could avenge Dylan's death too by ending that sick tradition.

There's a lot I want to learn and figure out here, going back to earth would be a nice but pointless step while staying here would be a scary but useful one. This is my new life. I didn't die the entire time so I could be here, I might as well make the best of it.

"No Sean," I say, smiling genuinely for the first time in a while. "I'll stay here, with you."