Pavlov (manxman)

Chapter 2: A walk.

Vadim stirred awake from the sound of a door rattling open. He rolled over in bed still huddled under the soft warm blankets. Pale morning light was shining trough the slit between the curtains, making dust particles visible in the rays of light.

He hoped it was Sergey returning as he heard footsteps go over to the bathroom before stopping in front of the door. The door swung open.

"Good morning princess!" said the chipper voice of Aleksei.

He had a rifle slung over his shoulder, some clothes thrown over his arm and held Vadim's muzzle and cuffs in one hand.

Vadim frowned and let out a low growl. Out of the two personal reinforces Sergey had, he liked Aleksei the least. Artyom spoke less and wasn't so damn cheerful all the time. Most of all Artyom at least minded his own business.

"What? Boss fucked you in the wrong hole last night or something?" The pale blonde said with a smug smile as he half leaned over Vadim in an attempt to belittle him.

Vadim sat himself up in bed and leaned forward, his face slightly hovering in front of Aleksei's in a challenging way.

"Watch that mouth of yours Aleksei. I already killed one of you before, I could do it again," he threatened with a low voice.

Aleksei's eyes raked down over his now exposed body. He let out an amusement huff before he took a step back.

"Oh you mean ol Boris? You did me a favour really, never liked that guy."

Vadim rolled his eyes.

"Anyway I didn't come here just for fun small talk. Boss' request. He let us know it's gonna be a new moon tonight and ya know what that means."

Of Course he knew what that meant. New moon was the best time period to shift new people. The closer to one, the saver it was to do.

Aleksei handed him some black sweatpants and a zip up hoodie. He didn't turn away as he got dressed. Vadim wasn't body shy, he didn't have much privacy anyway.

"Boss let us know there's a patron coming by around 7. Man by the name of Bogdan. He got someone for you to shift."

Vadim hummed in understanding as he pulled his arms into the hoodie, not zipping it up all the way.

Sergey very rarely made deals with other dog fighter patrons or rings, to let Vadim shift someone. Usually only for big sums of money or if he was on good terms with them. Only a select few he allowed, although he seemed a bit looser on the matter lately. It was all done under the tables, secretly of course, as not a lot of people were aware Vadim was a shifter to begin with. Most of the gang wasn't even aware.

Vadim didn't know where they got these people from that he were to shift, but he preferred it a lot more when they didn't scream, cry, beg for mercy, or struggle so much. Yes the shifting process hurt, but he wasn't going to kill them. That was the main reason they shifted folk on or close to new moons instead of full moons. On full moons he couldn't control himself at all and accidents could happen. He didn't really like the process of shifting people, but Sergey was always in a good mood, and very proud of him after he did.

"Where's Sergey?"

"The boss is at home with his wife and kids. Took a day off. We're to escort you this time."

Vadim's pouted. So he wouldn't even be able to see Sergey in a good mood. He wondered if this was extra punishment because he would have lost that fight yesterday.

"Just sometimes, I think I can see a glimpse of why the boss keeps you around so close."

Vadim raised an eyebrow at him.