Author's note: So, Wattpad decided to be a butt and literally removed all the tags in this story during the weird outage we had earlier, even though I was ranked 14 in the horror tag, ranked 223 with the vampire tag, 210 in the werewolf tag, and had similarly high rankings below five hundred on ALL OF MY OTHER TAGS, which a friend said could lead to me being featured.
That's all out the window now, though.
Thanks, Wattpad. You really make your under-the-radar writers feel good. Especially since this isn't the first, but the SECOND time this has happened on a story of mine. Hmmm....
To the rest of you, ignore the acidic flavor of my saltiness and enjoy this chapter!
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Chapter Nineteen
That night was one of the longest I'd ever had.
The howls had vanished, the crashing and faint yelping had stopped, and the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own slow breathing and the occasional huff from the wolf lazing in the gloom on the opposite end of the room. I lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling with most of my long hair intentionally spread out across the pillow above me, hands folded over my chest.
I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss.
The feeling of that moment still lingered on my lips, skin tingling madly where his mouth had been, tingling in a way that I hadn't felt since my first relationship had collapsed. I had been single for a very long time, had given up on the idea of romance and love and sexual relations.
I'd thought such things were impossible for me but my mind had taken a turn after Sebastian's kiss and, after the fright wore off, it hit me like a truck that there were other people out there with infinite lifespans, people I wouldn't have to worry about turning or outliving.
For the first time since all the love in my heart had been ripped out, even though I was totally surrounded by insanity, even though I should have been trying to figure out how to get out of this nightmare, I was instead thinking about the possibility of maybe, eventually, dating again.
Don't ask me why. I knew it was nuts.
I just figured I'd finally cracked and decided to go along with it for once.
Either way, my mind was roving over the possibilities, half formed ideas and thoughts that were thwarted by reality. For starters, how would I even go about finding other eligible supernatural beings? Were there any other possible choices aside from vampires and werewolves?
I didn't want to consider the possibility of that because it depressed me. I mean, other vampires would probably be more likely to kill me than date me, and since werewolves instinctively hated vampires enough to butcher them on sight, I probably wouldn't have much luck on that end either.
Still, another, much quieter part of me wondered if it was healthy to even want to look for a romantic partner, supernatural or not. Sure, there were people like me out there who wouldn't age, that much I now knew, and maybe I'd eventually get lucky and find someone that I could relate to at some point, but this was the here and now, and in the here and now I was struggling with the confusing question of why Sebastian, of all people, had kissed me.
Why had he done it? Why had things turned out this way? Had it been the transformation making him delirious? Had it been because of a weird, unknown side effect of me biting him?
There had to be a logical reason for it, because a man like him couldn't be gay, and even if he was he wouldn't have kissed me of his own free will. He hated my guts with every fiber of his being, hell, he'd made that more clear than anything else I knew about him, multiple times.
I let out a soft sigh, raising a hand to scratch an itch on my forehead.
I felt wrinkles there from the perpetual frown lacing my features.
Maybe he's sexually repressed or something, I eventually reasoned, thinking about it; then I shook my head, since it wouldn't have made sense. No, he's got other werewolves here who obviously respect and maybe even admire the hell out of him. Not to mention, most of them are pretty good looking... and Sebastian himself is hot enough to have anyone he wants, so, why?
That was the question.
Why me?
Why kiss little old girly-faced me?
Better yet, why hadn't he left the room before his transformation? What had even led him to coming in at the last possible second? I'd thought about that again and again, continuously replaying the situation in my head, but no matter how many times I went back I knew it had been only a few minutes after I'd bitten him that he'd changed because of the full moon, which could only mean he'd either intentionally waited or hadn't been expecting to be in here so long.
I finally turned my head and looked at Sebastian, frustrated by my lack of answers.
Two glowing yellow eyes were already staring right back at me, the only true source of light in the darkness of the room. His gaze was disturbing, because even though he lay with his head resting on those massive chocolate-brown paws, he'd refused to look away from me even once.
I saw his ears swivel and heard a soft huff, but aside from that he didn't move.
"You're a confusing person," I muttered, and in a fit of whimsy, I stuck my tongue out at him; a blink and a low growl followed the action, but I simply scowled at him accusingly. "This whole time my head's been stuck on that kiss you gave me. I can't figure out why you did it."
His head rose and my heart leapt involuntarily since the look in those eyes intensified... or maybe it was the luminescent quality that did. Either way, his stare became more noticeable, which made me highly uncomfortable, but I pushed past it and finally sat up.
Hair fell across my face, but I pushed it back and hooked it behind my ear.
"I know you hate me," I said, and those eyes narrowed a fraction, "and to be honest, compared to the people around you, I'm nothing special looks-wise, so I can't think of a single reason why you'd kiss me like that. So, I've finally decided to assume you simply lost total control of yourself during your transformation and did something you never intended to."
The wolf's eyes narrowed into glowing slits.
My breath caught when he rose, massive body looming in the dark, and I quickly pushed myself backward across the mattress as he padded towards me, eyes fixed on my face. I was soon met with the wall, though, so I slid over to the corner and huddled down with my back against it.
He halted directly in front of me with those narrow eyes glaring.
I felt my pulse racing, beating against my chest like a drum as he came closer--
And licked my entire face from my chin to my forehead.
I jumped, face scrunching in revulsion as it was coated in a thick film of saliva, and the second he pulled back I frantically tried to wipe the slimy fluid off my face only to have it stick to my fingers.
And, like the prissy little fucker I am, I instantly lost my shit.
"EWWWWW!" I squealed, rapidly flailing my goop-covered hands. "AGH! Ew, ew, ew! DUDE! WHY?!"
I wiped my palms and fingers on the blanket I'd been given, then scrubbed it across my face, trying to get his spit off of it, but I paused when I heard what sounded like a voiceless laugh containing nothing but rapid huffs coming from directly in front of me.
I lowered the blanket.
Glared.
Sure enough, Sebastian's muzzle contained what would have been a grin had he been human, which made my blood boil since he was fucking laughing at me! I was being mocked by a dog!
What the fuck had gotten into him?!
"Not. Funny," I angrily hissed, scrubbing my face off with a shudder. "Ick. I can still smell your spit all over me... seriously, you either need a breath mint or should brush your teeth better!"
The laughter stopped and a growl replaced it.
"Oh, don't even, pal," I snapped, instantly tossing the spread back down and glaring at him. "I'm not the one who just up and licked your whole fucking face for no reason! Yah nasty!"
The wolf before me let out a snort and leaned close, one leg lifting and coming down over my thighs, but when his muzzle bumped against my lips, I froze. He didn't blink, he didn't look away, his gaze didn't falter for even a second, it was literally intensity made solid.
Wait... what? I wondered in shock, hair standing on end. What is this?
That massive head pulled back and raised high, looking down on me, but then, his ears flicked to the sides and his head snapped around to look right at the door. I touched my mouth, too shocked to focus on what was happening, because... well, I mean, really, what the actual fuck?
Had I just been kissed by a wolf?
What?
"Am I insane?" I dazedly wondered, still reeling. "What the hell is wrong with him?"
And as if God were trying to further that question, Sebastian lurched away from me and charged at the door keeping me prisoner at top speed. I gasped, eyes flying open wide when he literally smashed through it and slid into the wall before lowering his head and blurring out of sight.
I remained sitting where I was, staring at the light of the hallway with my jaw hanging.
Okay, I thought to myself, blinking rapidly, that was... strange.
Right. As if this whole damn night wasn't a cesspool for the bizarre. I figured I deserved an award for my stupid thinking by that point, and for all I knew, one might materialize at any second since I already felt like I had been dropped right into the Twilight Zone.
"Doo dee doo doo, doo dee doo doo," I chimed, then swallowed, staring at the hall. Since the door had literally been busted off its hinges, I didn't know what to do. On one hand, I could stay put like I was supposed to, follow the rules, and possibly get butchered by the other wolves. On the other, I could get up, find another room with a door, and stay the fuck out of harm's way.
I weighed the pros and cons of both ideas.
It occurred to me while I was doing so that I hadn't heard any disturbances or evidence of the other werewolves' presence since earlier in the night, and Sebastian had also busted out of the room like something was wrong, which unnerved me since I didn't know if I was in danger.
How was I supposed to react?
"Finding a room with a door might be safer," I muttered, pushing my hair out of my eyes and crawling to my feet before I paused, staring at the broken one. "Then again, maybe not...?"
There was little I could do if one of them tried to bust into whatever room I was in, but the idea of having some sort of barrier between myself and them made me feel better. So, after putting on my big boy pants and finally growing a pair, I carefully tiptoed my way across the room and pressed myself against the door frame, listening intently for any sounds.
I heard absolutely nothing.
"Well, if I'm going to go," I muttered, shaking my head, "I guess now's the time."
A surge of adrenaline sent a chill down my spine but I held my breath and slipped out. I stayed close to the wall as I padded down the carpeted hallway, bare feet brushing against the gray fabric with each soundless footstep. I tried the handle of every door that I passed but for some strange reason they were all just as locked as mine had been earlier.
Go figure.
I blew an annoying strand of hair out of my eyes and hurried towards the corner leading to the main hall. I remembered it only because the room where I'd seen the other werewolves had been there but my heart leapt when I saw the huge double doors lying broken on the floor.
"Explains the crashing I heard," I muttered uneasily. "This is probably a bad idea... maybe I should go back to my room. I mean, having a door won't really stop them, and I'd rather not get in trouble with Sebastian for wandering around his house without permission, so... yeah."
Just as I stepped back I felt a strange chill make my hair stand up. I froze for a second, every part of my body going tense, and before I knew why I found myself turning around.
A squeak of terror left my lips and I clamped a hand over my mouth to muffle the pathetic sound, but to be fair I nearly peed myself when I saw the huge black and white wolf standing in the center of the hallway. It was most certainly not Sebastian since it was smaller although that didn't mean much considering it looked to be around the size of a pony.
Its lips were drawn back over sharp teeth, head lowered, four legs spread, and it was looking right at me without making a sound, the fur on the nape of its neck bristling. Fear exploded in the pit of my stomach as I slowly, very slowly, backed up.
I heard faint growling when I slowly inched my way around the corner and pressed myself back against the wall, knowing that by going out of its sight I ran the risk of it charging down the hall and coming after me at any possible second. My breath came hard and ragged with fear and I felt myself getting shaky, but I tried to keep myself calm.
I couldn't lose my mind, not here, not now.
"Shit, shit, shit," I panted, hands curling and uncurling, face breaking out into a cold sweat; I stared at the ceiling, heart in my throat, trying to figure out what to do. "This was a bad idea..."
I had been completely stupid to venture out of my cell in the first place. Stupid thinking. It would either be the death of me or... well, the literal death of me. Somehow, I needed to get out of the building, or at the very least away from the wolf around the corner.
I started counting inside my head, planning on making a run for it when I hit three.
One...
The growling grew louder.
Two...
I heard padding footsteps and a snarl.
Three!
Whirling on my heel, I pushed off from the wall and booked it down the hallway towards the fallen double doors, arms and legs pumping, fists clenched, hair blasted out of my eyes. I ran as fast as I could but I didn't quite make it.
The werewolf behind me must have heard me take off anyway, or somehow felt my footsteps on the floor, because shortly thereafter I heard thudding paws against the carpet. I knew I was being chased, that it was faster, but some part of me hoped I could outrun it.
Just as I opened my mouth to sing and burst into a top-speed supernatural sprint something very large and heavy hit me square in the back. I flew forward with a startled yelp, arms flailing out in front of me, desperately trying to grab onto something, but there was nothing there, nothing to break my fall, nothing to save me.
My knee hit the ground, followed by my unbroken hand, and they all throbbed in pain at the impact. My arms and leg did nothing to break my fall, did nothing to stop my momentum. My chest hit the ground next, knocking the air out of my lungs, and I gasped for breath as I went sliding across the carpeted floor.
I lay sprawled out on the ground for a few seconds, stunned, but the moment I rolled over with the intention of crawling back to my feet I was attacked. I saw the wolf lunging at my throat just as I sat up and whipped to the side, turning away.
There was no warning, no time to prepare, I was helpless and that was that. The creature's jaw came down on my right shoulder with a sickening, wet crunch and I screamed at the top of my fucking lungs as its razor-sharp teeth sank into my flesh and buried deep. I screamed even louder when the wolf jerked its head this way and that, violently tearing into my body.
"OW!" I screeched, kicking my legs as I was dragged across the carpet. "OW! STOP!"
A snarl met my ears and I was jerked again.
The world went hazy as the agony from those vicious incisors ran throughout my nerves like a wave of flaming acid, the serrated enamel bones grinding against my own, severing muscle, ripping flesh... the worst combination of pain that I'd ever felt in my whole life.
"PLEASE!" I cried, fisting my hand in the creature's fur. "STOP! PLEASE! IT HURTS!"
A snarl met my ears and for a moment I saw a wild yellow eye looking right at me, lucid, intelligent, angry. While we gazed at each other the fucker bit down even harder, so hard that I saw stars. My mouth came open and another scream erupted from it, high-pitched and deafening and making my ears ring. I smelled my own blood... the scent of it rose into the air like a fragrant cloud, filling my nose, and I wanted to burst into tears but for once in my life I clenched my teeth, trying to steel myself against the pain tearing my arm to shreds.
I knew it would probably make the overgrown werewolf even more excited to know how badly I was hurting. I leaned into its jaws, trying to lessen the tearing sensation, and clutched at its fur before fumbling for its mouth. I summoned all of my strength and shakily attempted to pry the wolf's jaws free of me, but they didn't budge, if anything the teeth only sank in deeper.
"OWOWOWOWOW!" I bawled, kicking and jerking my legs. "OWWWWWWWWW! GET OFF!"
I felt myself going lightheaded so I started beating at the beast's face with my free hand even though my efforts did nothing to faze it, and all the while that same yellow eye stayed locked on my face, gleaming, glowing, smirking in a way that only a human's could smirk.
A screech came out of my mouth without prompting as I pulled my hand back into a fist, sticking my middle and pointer fingers together. With as much strength as I could muster, I jabbed at that vicious yellow eye, but even though the beast yelped and backed up, it refused to let me go.
I let out a strangled wail as I was once again dragged across the floor, and after a moment of agonized flailing I jabbed at its eye again with all of my strength. The wolf immediately let out a screechy yelp and flung its head to the right, sending my legs into the air.
At the last second it let go, sending me flying right into the wall.
I landed heavily on my good side with the wind knocked out of me, writhing and struggling to breathe through the tangled blonde hair that had obscured my mouth and vision.
Agony unlike anything I'd ever felt was ripping through me, making it hard to think, but once I was able to I breathed through my mouth, face covered in a sheen of sweat, fighting the nausea that crept over me and made me want to vomit. Every pulse of my heart made my shoulder burn and grind like something acidic, and it hurt, so terribly, it just hurt... hurt... hurt...
I saw the wolf swinging its head back and forth about fifteen feet away from me, dragging the right side of its face along the carpet with snarls and whimpers. After a time, however, it turned its attention back on me and I saw rage being directed at me.
Hatred came over me in the face of that stare, hatred fueled by pain and suffering.
"Who the hell are you looking at like that, asshole?" I hissed through the agony, curling into a quivering little ball. "You're the monster here! You, not me! If you're going to kill me, fine... do it. Go right ahead and do it! At least I'll get to watch as you become exactly what you hate!"
A snarl of rage met my ears and those eyes flared so bright that they almost turned white.
I saw the wolf charging at me from down the hall through my hair, saw it coming, and I knew it was game over for me. I braced myself, praying it would be quick even though I knew it wasn't likely, but at the last second one of the huge windows spanning the wall exploded in a deafening shower of wood and glass as something enormous went crashing through it.
I lifted my head when the shining shards rained down on the carpet, watching through blurry vision as a huge brown wolf smashed into the smaller black and white one, but I didn't have the energy to keep my head up so I let it drop back to the floor. I heard snarls and yelps and the snapping of teeth as I clamped a shaking hand to my wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, but fountains of red were practically gushing from the gaping clefts in my shoulder.
My hand wasn't enough.
I flinched as the wolves suddenly tumbled past me and tilted my head back to watch through grey, spotting vision as the smaller one was pinned down by the brown one, teeth flashing against its massive throat. I heard screeching yelps and vicious growling, and saw the black and white one flailing madly, paws kicking at the air, but with a flashing of white teeth, it finally fell still.
I wondered, vaguely, if it was dead... but I saw that its chest was still heaving madly.
The beast was whimpering but definitely alive.
After a second, the brown one's head raised and swiveled around. Yellow eyes shone as they landed on me, but I knew that face, and although I didn't know why I practically melted into a puddle of relief.
"Sebastian..."
His name escaped my lips before I could stop it.
I saw him turn, saw him trot back toward me, and saw his massive head lower to my shoulder, but when he nosed my shaking hand I hissed through clenched teeth and even moaned a little. I was doing very little to slow the insane bleeding, but his prodding hurt that much more.
The pain was worse than every time I'd ever been cut or burned combined, worse than when my skin had caught fire that first time in the hospital. I felt like vomiting, like screaming in anguish, but my body was too stunned and weakened to pull off either.
Sebastian's teeth closed around my hand, and I flinched; it wasn't painful... or at least, I didn't think it was, but I couldn't really feel it over my screaming shoulder. Another, slightly sharper nip followed, and then another one, until he growled loudly and finally bit my hand.
I let out a wail when it was dragged off my shoulder, and I braced myself with the expectation of vicious pain, but to my confusion he dropped my limb to the floor and moved his head back over to where my shoulder was. I felt teeth scraping against my sweater, digging in deep.
What's he doing? I wondered, trying to see; aloud, I started to ask, "what are you--?"
But I wasn't able to finish my sentence due to the fact that my upper torso was abruptly lifted off the ground, and then I was being jerked around violently, head swinging to and fro so quickly on my neck that I almost fainted. Loud ripping noises filled the air, and I let out a weak sound of protest as my body jolted a second time.
I limply fell back to the floor and lay there, dizzied by what had just happened, wondering what the fuck it had even been. Cold air washed over my arm and neck as something wet started stroking my skin. My face scrunched up in pain for a few seconds, and I thought I was finally going to black out again, but something strange happened not long after...
Something I couldn't explain.
My severed muscles started tingling and itching, and the feeling swept through my arm, but as it progressed it made the pain fade. I turned my head as the wet feeling continued, pushing my hair off of my sweat-soaked cheeks and dizzily trying to see what was happening to me.
I was met with the sight of Sebastian licking my gaping wounds. I twitched, staring at his long, wide tongue as it swept across the punctures and coated them in the slick saliva that had previously been on my face, only my arm was no longer bleeding the way it had been.
My sweatshirt had been torn to shreds, exposing most of my arm and parts of my chest, but where his saliva was touching, the wounds were somehow scabbing over. It itched, and it burned, and it stung, but those sensations slowly overwrote the agony of the teeth that had previously been shredding my body. With every lick, every touch, I saw my wounds close a little more, closing much the same way his own injuries did. I didn't even know what to think.
I was in shock, again.
He was healing me.
First he'd rescued me, and now he was healing me -- what was with him?
Why would he go so far to keep me alive? What sort of motive could he possibly have? Surely the fact that I was a weird, weak, vocal-oriented vampire couldn't be worth this much effort, especially since he was usually so violent with me. He was being more gentle with me now, as a wild animal, than he'd ever been as a man and I didn't understand it.
I didn't understand him.
Despite my questions and all of my suspicions, though... I was so grateful that words couldn't really express the full depth of the feeling.
"Sebastian?" I somehow managed to say; his eyes immediately met mine, flitting up from my shoulder to my face as his tongue paused right over a particularly painful puncture. "Thank you... if you hadn't come back, I'd... be dead right now. So, thank you."
I received no response aside from a slow blink, then his attention returned to the injuries and he resumed licking them. I swallowed as a wave of dizziness washed over me, followed by yet another wave, and before I could so much as blink I was fighting back intense nausea.
I tried to raise my injured arm but it didn't respond as well as it should have, almost like I was submerged underwater. Down the hall, I saw the black and white wolf watching the two of us, still lying on the floor, narrowed eyes drilling evil little darts into the back of Sebastian's head.
Whoever it was obviously wasn't very happy about being thwarted. I watched through bleary, light-headed vision as the aggressor finally rose and slowly skulked in the opposite direction. The moment he or she vanished, my head flopped back and I lay limply, feeling strangely cold.
I just couldn't move any longer.
There was an odd rushing noise in my ears, and I couldn't even feel Sebastian's tongue on my skin. The dim yellow light coming down from the chandeliers above me grew almost blinding, and I heard my slow breathing echoing all around as colors sparked into my eyes.
I was tired.
So tired.
All I wanted to do was sleep.
Two massive chocolate brown paws suddenly stepped into view, and I faintly made out the sight of a muzzle coming down at me before I blacked out.