I returned to Giovanni's cozy cabin to find him pacing nervously in the kitchen. His face lit up when he saw me enter. He ran up and embraced me.
"Not so fast, mister," I scolded, "we need to talk, now."
He sighed letting me go and took a seat at his kitchen table motioning for me to do the same. "I was afraid of this."
He looked at me with hurt in his eyes. "You don't want to go through with this, do you?" he accused going to the worst possible solution.
"No," I began slowly, "I don't want to be your pet."
"That… wait that's not what-
"I want to be your lover," I finished, blowing over him like he never even opened his mouth.
He whispered softly, "That's what I want too."
"Then why the pet thing?"
"It's just a formality, a stupid tradition that the vampires think must happen. But I was going to suggest to you, if you still wanted to be with me, that I take my mark off of you. I think it's what's making you sick," he scooted closer to me waiting for an answer to his question.
I leaned closer, "It's not needed for the ceremony?"
"No they never look, will never know the mark's not there."
"Do it," I whispered.
He slowly pulled up my shirt and placed his fingers gently on top of the five original marks he had made. I expected pain the same pain that happened when everyone else touched it. Instead it almost tickled, there was a fluttering sensation, it wasn't exactly pleasant, but it didn't hurt. He breathed in deeply and slowly penetrated my flesh again. Closing his eyes he just sat there. I didn't know what was going on. His brow creased in concentration and I looked at the mark to see it disappearing. It literally looked like it was being sucked into his fingers.
A few minutes later and the mark was gone. He pulled his fingers out of me and bent down sealing my wound with his saliva. It looked like nothing had ever been there.
"Thank you." I said and meant it. The pain wasn't going to come back.
"I heard father gave the word for the ceremony to happen tomorrow."
My head snapped up, "So quickly?"
"Yeah. It's no big deal. As I said, just tradition. You go into a square where you are formally recognized as my… pet and then you're bitten, made to be a werewolf."
"I don't want to be a werewolf." I had never been so sure of anything in my whole entire life.
"I don't think it's going to work. You said you heard my conversation with Chole."
I nodded my head.
"If you're not human, the bite won't work. You won't be changed."
"What if I am human?" I asked softly.
"You're not," he said so sure of himself I could do nothing but gape.
"But how do you know?" I asked getting irritated,
"One, you're super strong. I found that out when you were sleeping. You have a monster grip. Two, you hiss when threatened, not exactly what most humans do as a first defense. Three…" he grabbed my arm and tugged me through his house.
"What the hell are you doing?" I was pushed into a bathroom and made to stand in front of the mirror. My eyes were glowing. Holy crap. They were glowing.
"Three, when you're pissed off, your eyes glow red."
I grabbed the sink with both hands. "Okay. Let's do this. Tomorrow."
He led me out of the room. "Let's get some sleep. Will you sleep with me?"
I began to protest.
"Just sleep, nothing else."
I nodded my head. We entered a room, his bedroom, and he motioned to his bed. I got in and felt my heart hammering in my chest. He got in on the other side and snuggled up close to my back. "Calm down. Your heart's beating a mile a minute," oh yeah, vampire. I don't know when I started believing that he actually was one. I chuckled at the way the world worked and found myself drifting to sleeps in the arms of this vampire.
Come on, flower, wake up," Giovanni nudged me gently. He gave me a look over and said. "You sleep so much yet you still look tired. Why?"
"It's been that way ever since you marked me," I whispered. Hopefully now that the mark was gone things would get better.
"Oh… Well, you need a bath, Delano," he said perkily, clearly a subject change or my name isn't Delano F. Enkeli. Which it is, by the way. He yanked me out of the bed and ripped my clothes off, taking me into a bathroom. I was then thrown into a tub of warm water.
Giovanni started washing me.
"Stop, stop, let me wash myself," I griped exasperatedly. I began trying to yank the sponge out of his hand. He managed to pull it out of my reach every time. Curse his vampiric speed.
"Nope!" he laughed clearly enjoying himself.
"Fine, then get in here," I shouted grabbing his arm and pulling him into the tub.
He entered the water with a huge splash and came up sputtering and gasping for air. "See what I mean about super strength?" he gasped.
I just laughed and splashed him.
We took turns… washing each other and then got out to get ready for this big event. My pet ceremony. I wonder what they'd do if they knew it was fake. Probably make me into mince meat for Geo to eat.
"Your outfit's on the bed. Hurry up and change. We don't want to be late." Geo said and turned back into the bathroom to put on his own clothing.
I looked at the outfit on the bed and found my nose crinkling up in distaste. The outfit was just plain tacky. It consisted of a white sleeveless shirt with a black cross in the middle. The shirt had tails in the back like a tuxedo. There was a kind of shirt pant combo under that that was completely black. Shorts that were too short to be socially acceptable and a collar completed the gross ensemble. I couldn't bring myself to put the outfit on. It was clearly made for someone who wanted to get some, and wanted people to know they wanted some…
Geo came out of the bathroom dressed in a nice ordinary outfit. "Why aren't you dressed?"
I held up the outfit, "Really?"
He just gave me a shrug. "It's tradition."
"Fuck tradition," I spat. I really think my buttcheaks are going to hang out the bottom of those shorts.
He muttered something about what he'd really like to fuck. "Everyone that's a pet wears the same outfit to this thing."
"Everyone?" I asked skeptically.
"Everyone," he confirmed. "That's why it's so ugly, they were trying for gender neutral and failed, miserably."
I quickly shimmied my way into the stupid outfit.
Giovanni took my hand and walked me out of his room. Out of his cabin.
It was time for the ceremony.
We entered Giovanni's father's house and were met by some more of those goons that made me think of a mob movie. I gave a questioning look toward Geo.
"We're kept separated until after the ceremony when you're led back to my home." He explained gently.
Okay, he never said anything about me having to do this without his support. "You're not coming?" I asked worry coloring my expression.
"I can't," he pulled me into a hug. "You'll do great. And afterward we can have a celebration. Whatever my father says, don't take him too seriously. He's one for dramatics. This is your ceremony. They're waiting for you."
With a chaste kiss to my forehead Geo spun on his heels and left the house. I was left with all those wonderful smiling cronies his dad seemed so fond of. They led me to a massive hall completely filled with vampires and their… pets. I was ushered to a platform that was near the front of the room. I glanced around the room at the vampires. The lot of them looked, unfriendly to say the least. Scorn was evident on most faces, disgust and lust prominent on others. I wished Geo was here. Could really use a friendly presence right about now.
On either side of the platform were five people. One set of five were what I gathered as distinguished vampires. The other side their pets. Of the five vamps, I recognized three. Geo's dad was, of course there, but his sister Chloe and, friend (maybe), Julius were there as well. I was led center stage and told to stand there. Apparently that's really all that happened. I stood there. His dad said a few words and then I was made to not be human. Which I was hoping didn't happen. I'm quite fond of the way I am now, thank you very much, and Geo had assured me that I would be fine. I trusted him, for some strange reason.
I felt a presence directly behind me and a hand was placed not too gently on my shoulder. "As I'm sure you are all aware," boomed the authoritative voice of Geo's father, "we are here to welcome a new pet into our ranks." Here his grip tightened on my shoulder causing me to hiss in pain. His nails had definitely broken my skin. Bastard. "He is only human," said with a certain amount of disgust, "but that is all about to change," a maniacal laugh was inserted here. Geo was right; he really liked to ham up these performances. "To be my son's pet this feisty little devil has agreed to be turned into a werewolf," there was an amazed gasp from the crowd. I rolled my eyes. Idiots, every single one of them. "So, without further ado, let's kill the pretty little human, and unleash the monster inside."
Not gonna lie, my heart definitely skilled a beat at his words. There's something about the word kill that just sounds so bad, so final. My heart hammered wildly in my chest. "Not having second thoughts are you?" he whispered hissing like a snake.
I put on my best air of bravado and said with a voice full of confidence I in no way possessed, "Bring it on."
He motioned for one of the pets to come forward. Geo's father went to watch the show from his seat on the platform.
I recognized the person or werewolf actually, in front of me as Chloe's pet. He gingerly put his hands on my shoulders and leaned forward saying words meant for only my ears. "Sorry, for how much this will hurt." He guided me into a kneeling position and transformed. He stood before me proud and seemingly in charge. There was something graceful about this silver creature in front of me. He gave me a look with his intelligent eyes, clearly apologizing again, before opening his mouth and biting deeply into my left shoulder. I expected him to release me right away, but his jaw stayed clamped around my body.
I waited for the pain I was supposed to be feeling. Nothing came. I looked at the teeth embedded deeply into my shoulder. Shouldn't this be hurting? Maybe, could he have meant emotional pain? I didn't think so. The way he said it seemed like he was talking about the kind of pain that left a physical mark. A pain that he knew to be very real because he had experienced it for himself. So why the hell didn't my arm hurt? I was beginning to worry at the lack of pretty much any feeling when I felt it. It was a tingling sensation. Almost like liquid was flowing from the werewolf's mouth into my shoulder. It was weird. Not painful.
Finally the wolf let go and just sat there watching. He cocked his head to the side, bewildered no doubt by my lack of any reaction. The whole hall was silent waiting with bated breath for something to happen.
What ended up happening was not what anyone expected. I doubled over grabbing my stomach. Not this crap again. Was Geo wrong? Is this what changing felt like? Judging by the outraged gasps and yells of surprise: no. I vomited all over the area in front of me.
There was something wrong. Something didn't happen the way it should. My breathing came in short jagged gasps. I began to sweat. I think I was panicking. But seriously could you blame me? Then the pain in my upper back that I had fought so hard to ignore was back with a vengeance. It felt like my flesh was ripping. Maybe it did. Specks of blood, my blood, flew everywhere. I screamed.
~FoM~
Darius watched from his seat in absolute fascination. Nothing like this had ever happened during a ceremony before. Sure there was the occasional non-human that was found out after being bitten but that was because nothing happened. This child looked like his body was fighting the werewolf's venom. And winning. A sickening smile slid its way onto his face. Maybe he had been too hasty to call this child human.
He watched as the kid was sick and found himself practically jumping for joy at what happened next. Ah; the beautiful sound of flesh ripping. Blood spurting everywhere. And then a stunned silence. His eyes snapped open in horror. No wonder the kid is so strong.
Protruding from the youth's back were two exquisitely bloody wings. The youth's eyes were brimming with unshed tears, from pain, and he passed out on the stage. The kid was an angel.
Everyone in the hall was on their feet trying to get a better look at the strange creature before them. Darius, acting quickly, rushed to the boy's side and gathered him up in his arms. He showed the kid to the crowd and thanked them for coming to the ceremony. He then calmly walked off the stage with the unconscious boy in his arms.
As he walked toward his destination Delano began to stir in his arms. The child was taken to his study and deposited in the same chair from his first encounter with the vampire. Darius looked to his little cronies and made a motion with his head. Translation: guard the door, let no one answer.
He sat behind his desk and fixed his fascinated gaze on the prized specimen that was currently glaring at him. "You are not human," he told the boy, as plainly as if he had made a comment on the weather. "You are radiant and strong. Something that must be tamed. And I am the perfect person to enforce such control."
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