did, that our relationship would never last, and we both had tried not to get too invested.
“Vasuki, the serpent king,” I finally said for my roommate. “The king of the naga. If I wanted more feminine prayer, I could pray to Manasa, the goddess of snakes and Vasuki’s sister.” I shrugged. “But I don’t pray anymore. I figured if they wanted to look out for our kind, they would have started doing so a long time ago.”
“Do even the famous nagas get reborn? Like the gods?” Raphael watched me intently. I was almost a little mad he’d thrown me into my own origins and not told me more about his problems.
“Raphael…all nagas are technically gods. Well, we’re considered divine because of our origins, and that’s how we’re classified in the Archives,” I smirked. “Kaliya of legend, Vasuki, Manasa…we’re all just one of the thousand. Some of the ancient names have stuck around, embodying beliefs, and we can only hope their souls in the afterlife listen, or one day they’ll be reborn and answer our prayers. Not all nagas were equal. Some rose up and had more power.” I was still smirking as his eyes went wide. “Don’t be too alarmed. We’ve lost a lot of our power over the centuries.”
“What kind of powers?”
“The ability to be…a monster,” I said, not finding a better word for it. “Nagas could once possess many different forms, from human-like to full snake and a lot in between, depending how powerful the naga was. Some think we’ve lost it because we’ve bred with humans.”
“So, like Wesley turning into a movie werewolf, you could become some…half-snake, half-human thing.”
“Possibly, but no one has that power anymore.” It would be nice. In that form, a naga was at its most powerful. If I could do it, I wouldn’t have had a hard time with Sinclair. I wouldn’t be fragile like a human or crushable like a normal snake.
“Now, back to you. If we’re playing twenty questions, it’s definitely your turn. Why have you really stopped praying?”
“Of course. Yeah…I was raised Roman Catholic, but I only really started praying and being devout when I was on the run.” He sighed and turned to look out of the window. “I thought maybe it was my lack of faith that turned me into a monster. But God never answered my prayers. You showed up. I’m still whatever I am, we’re in danger again, and I’ve killed people…”
“I found you at a church,” I pointed out. I wasn’t going to be the person who discounted a foreign god. I was more than willing to scream bloody murder at my own, but no one else’s.
He turned and frowned at me. I only shrugged.
“I found you on your way to Mass, actually. Who knows? Maybe your god had his fingers on the scale.”
“Thanks for trying, but…I think I’m done with it. Religion and everything my mother taught me just made or makes me feel bad for…everything, even the shit that’s not my fault. I’ve been thinking about it for months, and you know…I think I’m just going to avoid it from here on out. Since I stopped going, I’ve stopped drinking.”
“You know, the guilt and morals don’t go away just because the faith does. You were raised by obviously good people who taught you killing is wrong. Mind you, I think there’s a grey area, but that’s not the conversation. Your god didn’t teach you, those around you did. Just like those around me taught me that murder is wrong, but killing to protect myself or stop a great evil is fair game.” I shrugged again. “At least, that’s my perspective. Beliefs change, too. After a hundred and seventeen years, mine have changed a few times. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“You are incredibly wise for being such a train wreck,” he said, chuckling after a minute.
I couldn’t stop myself from snorting, trying to hold back a laugh. I lost in the end, laughing with him. I was a fucking train wreck when it came to a lot of things.
“Thanks,” I eventually got out as my laughter died. “I’m a mess, I know. A literal disaster walking.”
“Yeah, but you’re a beautiful disaster, so I guess you can have a pass,” he teased.
“You think I’m beautiful?” I needed a minute to process the words, but once I did, I couldn’t bring myself to just be quiet. The taste of his arousal on the air in my kitchen came back with a vengeance at the very slim