Freja POV:

I woke up and felt relaxed. It was a good sleep. I opened my eyes and saw Raphael directly in front of me. He still had his eyes closed and slept deeply. One of his arms was placed on my waist. Probably a sleep-cuddler. I took his arm and pushed it away from me. Slow and careful, so he did not have to wake up. I stood up and went into the bathroom. Again my hair looked like a mess. I looked through the backpack and found some hair ties. I made two boxer braids. That's what I usually do so the hair doesn't bother me. My eyes still looked tired but I was fully awake. When I walked out the bathroom Raphael was already awake, well more or less. He was rubbing his eyes and his hair was a mess too. Looked kinda cute.

Raphael: "Good morning, princesa."

Freja: "Don't call me like that."

Raphael: "Any plans for today?"

Freja: "I never have a plan."

Raphael: "Then go back to bed. It's early. Estoy cansado."

Freja: "The sun is literally going down already. It's late." I stepped in front of the bed.

Raphael: "Nah for me it's like 5 am."

He grabbed my waist and wanted to pull me back into the bed but his touch hurt me and all the pain came back in a big wave. I flinched and fell right next to him into the bed which did not make it any better. Raphael was definitely awake now.

Raphael: "Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. My strength... Freja, I am... Lo siento."

Freja: "It's okay. Don't worry. It's still healing. Not your fault."

I took some deep breaths. It became better again.

Raphael: "We should go back to the institute. You need more medicaments."

Freja: "No,  it's okay."

Raphael: "That's your favourite sentence, isn't it?"

I smiled and so did he. I felt so connected to him. Did I really only know him for a day?

Raphael: "I have a better idea. We should go and see Magnus, the warlock. He's very nice and just wanted the best for you."

I nodded. We stood up and Raphael got ready. He wore a black suit. It looked so good on him but I would never admit that. When the moon was replacing the sun we started walking. I tried to hold up with him but Raphael was really fast.

Raphael: "Short legs, huh?"

We both laughed.

Raphael: "I'll show you how vampires do it."

He lifted me up and I know what that meant. Closing eyes, hugging him like a little monkey, holding breath. Wind. Cold. Stopped. We arrived. In front of us was a huge door. Raphael rang the doorbell. I was afraid. Soon Magnus opened.

Magnus: "Raphael, it's nice to see you. Who is with... Freja?" He looked confused. "You found her?"

Raphael: "Last minute. The faeries were after her."

Magnus: "Good job. I'm relieved to see you healthy and alive. To be honest I was pretty worried. Come in. Cocktail?"

I shook my head. So did Raphael.

Magnus: "Well, more for me then. Have a seat."

We sat down on the big sofa. I was close to Raphael without even really noticing. I watched Magnus making a cocktail... With magic... Raphael told me about it but it still fascinated me.

Freja: "How do you do that?"

Magnus: "Oh sweetheart, all warlocks can do that. Maybe you can do that too one day. Takes some practice tho. I'll teach you."

Freja: "What else can you do?"

Magnus: "Almost everything that you can imagine. Building portals to bring you to your desired location, control fire, water, earth and air, I can read your mind, heal your pain..."

Raphael: "Can you take her pain?"

Freja: "Raphael, no."

Magnus: "Raphael, yes. Sadly I can't do that. I knew that the pain would not go away. It's because you are hungry and don't have enough energy to heal completely."

Freja: "No, I'm not."

Magnus: "Yeah, you are. But it's not the hunger for food. You shouldn't forget that you have vampire blood in your veins. Do you dream?"

Freja: "No, I don't."

Magnus: "That's the werewolf-part. Your body is concentrating at night, trying to keep you in bed so you don't get up and kill mundanes. It affects the dreaming. Do you have a special connection to animals and nature?"

Freja: "Yes."

Magnus:  "That's the faerie-part. Do weird things happen in your surroundings? Changing weather within seconds, fires, a lot of water etc."

Freja: "From time to time it happened."

Magnus: "That's the warlock."

Freja: "I'm a monstrosity."

Raphael: "No, you are not. You are special."

Freja: "That's just another word for being a freak."

Magnus: "Sweetheart, Raphael is right. There's nothing bad in it. We will figure it out."

Raphael: "So to come back to the topic vampires. She's hungry? Do you mean she needs..."

Magnus: "Blood. Yes. She's probably not going to get better without it."

Freja: "I'm not doing that."

Magnus: "Sweetheart, you should probably talk to Raphael about that. I wish I could help you but you can't deny the downworlder side."

The conversation was over for me. I did not want to listen anymore. I wanted to go. "Magnus, who's there?" I saw Alec entering the room. He had no shirt on.

Alec: "Oh, I am... Freja? Where have you been?" He sounded angry.

Magnus: "Alexander, don't make her feel guilty. She made a right decision."

Raphael: "Princesa, we should go."

He grabbed my upper arm and stood up. I really wanted to go.

Freja: "Magnus?"

He looked at me and smiled questioning.

Freja: "Thank you."

Magnus: "It's my pleasure. I always have an open door for you."

As soon as we left the apartment Raphael grabbed me and we went back to the hotel. He went straight to a painting and removed it from the wall, entered a code and a safe opened. He grabbed something and with vampire speed he returned to me. It was an infusion bag full of something red. It was blood.