After shredding two expensive outfits and biting a toothbrush in half, Drake was dressed and ready for the morning to begin. Fuck, I wanna go back to sleep. He growled in his mind..
By the time he made the short trip to the bedroom, having slept in the living room, he had cooled off enough to keep his wolf from tearing through a third set of clothing. When he realized that Warden had already left, he felt relief flood his body.
"I'm hungry."
Hearing Cerat's voice, Drake rolled his eyes until they landed on the vampire. He was grinning, but Drake could actually hear his stomach growling, too.
"Tough shit, carrot." He replied with a shrug as he walked over.
It wasn't a surprise when Cerat growled and launched himself at him. Stepping back, Drake snapped his right arm to the left and snagged Cerat's neck, then slammed him into the floor. The vampire yelped, but instead of struggling or whining, he just gave a quiet cough.
"You're mean." Cerat said after a few moments, earning a tighter squeeze around his neck as Drake leaned closer.
"You're just now learning this?"
Cerat's face pinched in frustration but he kept back his retort. Drake could see it in his eyes, but smirked when the vampire refused to respond. "Smart shit. Get in the shower." He growled as he released Cerat and stood up, gesturing to the door to the bathroom.
Wisely, Cerat remained silent as he got up and started for the bathroom, shedding his clothing as he walked. He tried to shut the door, likely intending to lock it, but Drake wasn't an idiot. At least he wasn't being one at that moment, because he had quickly followed the vampire and easily stopped him from closing himself inside.
"Not interested in males, now get your pale ass in the shower or you're going to work without it... and trust me, you need one." He said.
Even as he spoke the words, his wolf flashed an image of Warden behind his eyes and made Drake unintentionally bare his fangs at Cerat. While he hadn't meant to do it, it certainly got the vampire into the shower.
"You have three minutes." He said as he turned his attention to Warden's medicine cabinet.
Inside were the basics; pain reliever, headache reliever, band-aids, antibiotic cream, contacts, and... pulling out the small bottle of cologne, Drake sniffed the top and nearly groaned. He'd made Warden switch several times over the years, especially when he got something strong. The current one he had, Drake had picked out himself. His nose was sensitive and it was just strong enough for humans to pick up, without killing his sense of smell.
"What are you doing?"
Blinking out of a daze, Drake glared sideways at a fully-clothed, showered Cerat. Stupid dog, why'd you get caught up in his scent? He growled to his wolf as he gestured for Cerat to follow him out of the room. He knew that the electric collar was broken, but he also knew that it would cause more problems to report that then it was worth. Well, at least for Warden. And for some reason, he didn't want to cause the guy even more stress just yet.
When they both had their shoes on and Drake had grabbed his keys and wallet, they headed out.
"Welcome back to work, Carrot. Let's go." Drake said as he pushed the back doors to the store open and nudged Cerat inside.
Instead of going to the back office area Warden had told him about the previous night, he stayed on Cerat's heels until he stopped in the bird department. Cerat went straight for the macaws, taking each one out and checking that their wings were still clipped, then setting them on their perches. He made sure that each one was out of reach of curious customers, too, but still visible.
He then began cleaning their cages, and Drake noticed as he watched Cerat work, that he was smiling the entire time.
Scrubbing bird shit with a grin on his face.
Drake stared at him for several more minutes, or more likely, close to half an hour, before he began to help. He set down his laptop in the staff area and ignored the nice outfit he was wearing.
Cerat had finished with the birds, including the smaller parakeets, finches, and what not, by the time Drake had done one macaw cage, so they both moved onto the small mammals. After an initial cleaning, they began getting the rabbits out after setting up their little play area fence. Drake's inner wolf, by that time, was dying to sink his teeth into them. All of the delicious fluffy screams as he chewed their bodies into yummy morsels...
"Drake...?"
Hearing Cerat's voice, Drake looked up from where he was crouched on the floor, holding a tan and brown rabbit a bit too tightly.
"Yeah?" He ground out, feeling his wolf just beneath the surface.
Cerat frowned, but then quickly turned it up into a slight smile and moved his hands toward Drake's. "Can I have him?" He asked, making Drake narrow his eyes.
No. I want to eat him.
Instead of listening to his thoughts, Drake pursed his lips in a pout and handed over the squirming rabbit. When Cerat set the rabbit down on the floor, Drake's eyes followed it. That's when he noticed the other four rabbits in the ring cowering as far away from him as they could.
That's right. Fear me you little appetizers. I shall have you soon enough.
"Hello, Sir. I'd like to meet some of your rabbits please." A young woman said as she leaned over the small foot-high fence they set up around the bunnies.
When did the store open?
Not knowing what to say, Drake glanced at Cerat. The young man's previously stoic expressions had suddenly disappeared, leaving a cautiously excited guy.
"Hello! We have a few males and females. All of them are fixed and litter box trained," he said as he hurried over to the frightened rabbits and picked up a brown one.
Drake scooted away, allowing the worried rabbit to calm slightly as it was presented to the woman after she stepped inside of the small fence. When Cerat began speaking, Drake couldn't help but pay attention. The vampire's excitement was like a drug. Even though he was only speaking about how to take care of the rabbit properly and what the woman would need to buy, he just sounded so... happy.
Turning his attention to one of the other rabbits, Drake scooted over to it and before it could dart away, grabbed it. The thing struggled at first, but when it realized that it couldn't get away, it relented after landing a few good scratches.
Narrowing his eyes on the bunny held out in his hands, Drake tilted his head slightly, then frowned. "Rabbit. Make me happy."
The rabbit twitched an ear, then a pellet slowly slid from its backside to bounce onto Drake's expensive jeans, then drop to the floor. After staring at the turd for three seconds, Drake narrowed his eyes on the rabbit again and bared his teeth. "I'm going to eat you and your children."
"Drake?"
Glaring over the rabbit at Cerat, Drake realized that the woman had already left and he had the vampire's full attention. "Please don't eat Fop." He said, making Drake wrinkle his nose as he set the terrified rabbit down. It ran away immediately to huddle with the others on the far side of the fenced area.
"Who the hell names a rabbit, Fop?"
Cerat pursed his lips and shrugged, looking down at his pants. Of course. You named it. Stupid Drake. He chastised himself mentally before reaching over and tapping the guy on the head.
"It's a great name. Epic. I can totally see him as a uh... gladiator bunny. Stabbing all the other bunnies."
That didn't sound right.
Rubbing his palms into his eyes, Drake heaved a frustrated sigh and got up, trudging to the back break room he'd left his laptop in earlier. Inside, he got himself a bottle of water, glancing around the small room as he sipped. He was right in the middle of taking a large drink when he saw the sign that could only have been for Warden.
Choking, he coughed several times as he beat his chest, trying to not inhale anymore water while getting what went down the wrong tube, up. When he was finally able to breathe again, he turned to face back toward the door, only to see Cerat standing there. Drake grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he noticed the temperament change in the young man's expression.
He expected the vampire to ask for food again, but he didn't. Instead, he slowly stepped forward until they were practically toe to toe. Cerat met his eyes for a moment, but then looked down, only to have him look back up a moment later.
Come to think of it, he does look really pale.
"You're really hungry, aren't you?" Drake asked as he dropped into a seat a step behind him.
Cerat looked like he was going to say no, but when Drake growled quietly, the vampire jumped and nodded. He had thought that he'd gotten enough, but evidently, he hadn't. Patting his knee, he waited until Cerat was awkwardly perched on his leg before pressing his palm into his back and making him lean in.
"No arguing. Just drink before some stupid human comes in." He stated when he felt Cerat hesitate.
After a moment the vampire gave up and scraped his fangs over Drake's neck until he had a decent amount of blood running. He sipped a little, but it didn't take more than a minute before Cerat threw up all over Drake.
I did not sign up for baby vampire duty... damn you, Warden. He thought as he awkwardly set Cerat on his feet, then stood and stripped his gross shirt off.
"I'm sorry." Cerat said as Drake finished tugging the ruined clothing over his head.
He'd honestly been surprised that Cerat hadn't lost control while drinking, but he couldn't be mad at him for throwing up when he looked so upset already.
"We're going home early." He stated as he strode out of the room, Cerat on his heels without him needing to tell the guy to follow.
Drake knew that he had to work as part of his deal to remain alive, but he couldn't watch him with a bloody shirt all day and he probably wasn't feeling very good now. I could totally kill a rabbit now and no one would know the difference, though... Grinning, he waved to the owner, who had been quite busy all morning, then walked out with Cerat.
I'll have some explaining to do with Warden when he gets home tonight. Drake thought as he headed up the stairs to the apartment, blocking what his wolf wanted to push into his mind about Warden's bed as he pulled open the front door. Silence, horny dog. I'm going to have enough problems later.
(This is a rewrite so if there are any bad mistakes just note them kindly please and I'll try to get them fixed)