Feral
Feral chuckled as the boy jumped to his feet. "Do you want to take a look?" he asked the wolf, pointing toward a mirror that set above the dresser. "Jump up on the bed," he instructed. "You'll be able to see your reflection," he told him before suddenly pausing to ask, "You do have a reflection right?"
"I have a reflection," Feral assured him with a mock-growl making the boy laugh.
Leaping up onto the bouncy mattress and stepping carefully on the give-way surface he looked at himself in the mirror. Though Feral could not see all hues of colors he could tell the fang shaped pendant was red. It barely dangled from around his neck. It... looked...nice, he thought. And the boy had been right. It did look appropriate hanging around his neck.
"Very nice," he complimented. "Thank you, human," he murmured. "I shall wear it always."
The boy grinned his pleasure. "Shoo," he said, pretending to wipe at nonexistent sweat. "I was worried there for a minute. I am so glad you like it!"
"It is fitting," Feral said, springing lithely from the bed to land with a soft thud back onto the floor. He stepped toward the door. "Shall we go back down?" he enquired. "Your uncle will return soon. It is best that we stay in the living room, closer to the basement," he suggested.
"Yes, you're right," the boy agreed, following behind Feral as they made their way back down the stairs.
The boy immediately sat back down on the sofa but Feral walked over to the boarded up wall. It looked peculiar to Feral. He had never been inside a home before but he had looked in many over the years. Never had he seen this particular type of decoration. He turned to the boy and asked, "I have wanted to ask you," he said. "Why is this wall different? It seems an odd decoration."
Feral watched as the boy turned towards the chimney. He noticed how the boy's eyes widened an awkward expression came over him before he began lightly gnawing at his lower lip. The lip biting always indicated that the boy was experiencing a heightened state of anxiety. Feral wondered why such a simple question would cause the boy to react so uneasily.
"You do not have to tell me, human," Feral said quickly, walking over to stand in front of the boy. "I was only curious. I have not seen such a setup in other homes. I only wondered at its meaning."
The boy glanced down at Feral before looking back up and staring at the boarded up chimney. "It's really not my story to tell, Feral," the boy said looking back down at him. "It's my uncle's really. But you're not just anybody," he said, apparently coming to a decision. "Let's sit down and I'll tell you what my uncle told me."
They both sat down on the couch side by side. The boy lifted up his leg and rested it on the sofa cushion, twisting his upper body so that he could face the wolf. "Before I tell you," the boy prefaced, "I want to remind you that I heard this story before I met you." A second later he began recanting the tale his uncle had told him.
"I didn't really believe him when he told me," the boy confessed. "I mean, I believed he had seen something but not what he had said he had seen," he tried to clarify, shaking his head. "He said it had pale white skin, claws, fangs, and blood red eyes. It was nothing Uncle Steve had ever seen before."
"What happened next?" Feral asked with trepidation. It was clear from the boy's words that his uncle had encountered a vampire but he wanted the boy to finish telling the story before he responded.
"Uncle Steve tried shooting at it, but it didn't work. All it did was make it angrier, and in its anger, it charged at Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve got lucky and he was able to fight it off! He thought he had killed the thing," the boy continued. "But he hadn't. He didn't realize that though until the police, who he had called, showed up and searched everywhere but they never found anything. It was like he had made the entire story up!" the boy said, staring sadly at the wolf.
"Your uncle, as a result, boarded up the chimney?"
The boy nodded. "Since then, Uncle Steve keeps things vampire-proof to avoid a reoccurrence of a similar incident," he explained. He looked at Feral then with a questioning expression. "But it couldn't have really been a vampire right? They no longer exist, right?" the boy asked pleadingly. "I know you're here, but they turned you long ago. The vampires that turned you and that are the basis for all of the horror movies and myths come from something that no longer exists, right?" he asked almost desperately.
"I am sorry, human," Feral said with a pitying look at the small boy. "But they do still exist. I am sorry for whatever I said that mislead you into thinking they had died out."
Feral watched as the boy paled, his hands started to flutter, and he began chewing at his bottom lip. "I'd convinced myself that my uncle had been mistaken," he suddenly whispered. "I know about you and I knew they had existed but I had nothing to fear because they were no longer real. And you aren't a threat," he said before quickly qualifying, "At least not to me."
"I am not," Feral agreed. "But they are," he warned.
If possible the boy became even paler.
"I think I want to go home," the boy whispered, his hands reached out and he grabbed at Feral's coat.
Taking pity on the youth, Feral scooted in closer to the boy so that they were touching. In seconds the trembling boy had wrapped his arms tightly around Feral as he shook in fear.
"Human," Feral said quietly and calmly. "Your uncle is smart and makes wise decisions when it comes to the vampires. The fact that he has faced one and lived is a good thing. They would think twice before returning. Vampires are lazy. They like easy prey," Feral explained.
"So when my uncle warned me about the large bats here in Colorado he was really talking about vampires?" the boy asked, everything that he had learned since his arrival was finally starting to sink in appeared.
"Yes," Feral replied, waiting for the boy to figure it all out.
"And that first day, when I got lost in the woods and trapped in the ravine, that was probably a vampire, too? It was going to attack me?" the boy asked, clutching tighter to Feral.
Feral had never told the boy that he had been the one to rescue him. He had thought it better to never to disclose to the human just how close to death he had come, but now changed things. He would not lie. And quite possibly the truth could save his life one day.
"Yes," Feral confessed. "That had been a vampire," he admitted.
The boy suddenly sat back away from Feral and looked at him, "But how can you be sure? You weren't there," he said adamantly, but then frowned and thought for a moment, putting more pieces of the puzzle together. "It was you!" he exclaimed, pointing his finger at Feral. "You saved me that night! You flew in and picked me up and saved me! Why did you never tell me?" he asked accusingly.
"At the time, I thought to protect you from the fear you are feeling now," Feral admitted.
"You should have told me," the boy repeated, sitting back away from the wolf, his arms crossed in anger. "You should have told me everything," he added. "You've had to have known what I've been thinking all this time. I'm scared of everything!" he half-shouted. "Do you really think I could act so indifferently to news like this?"
"Human," Feral interrupted. "You acted unpredictably when you learned about me. I am a vampire-wolf," he gritted out in distaste at describing himself this way. "Yet you acted as if what I am is no big deal. Yes, you are full of fears but I am never able to predict your reactions. Simple things upset you and sometimes big things do not," he explained. "I apologize if you think I should have told you sooner but no damage was done by my keeping quiet. And," he added, scooting in close to the boy again to offer comfort, "It appears that knowing, at least at this moment, has not helped you a bit."
It took a few seconds, but the boy gave in and hugged the woof again. "Ugh!" he said. "I feel like I am in a dream or something!" he confessed into the wolf's fur. "I feel stupid, too!" he admitted. "It was all right there for me to see. I'm blaming your for not telling me but the truth is I wasn't ready to listen."
"My poor uncle," the boy finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "That night changed his life. A lot of people in town didn't believe him. Heck! I didn't believe him. Some even treat him like he's crazy," the boy added. "But he's not! And I am as bad as all of them. I know things. I could help him but I haven't. What kind of person does that make me?" he asked, looking up at Feral.
Feral eyed him wearily. "Does this mean you plan to tell your uncle," he paused before continuing, "Or even the town about vampires...me?"
"What?" The boy appeared to be completely taken aback by the question.
"It is not unreasonable for me to think that you feel obligated to... divulge things, to help your uncle," Feral said hesitantly, carefully.
Feral fought the urge not to run from the room and fly away. Years of self-preservation were kicking in, telling him to run... hide. He fought those urges now with everything in him. He had gained something in Durango this summer. He did not want to run from it if there was any hope he could hold on to it, even for just a little while.
The boy didn't hesitate though, when he responded. He shook his head adamantly at Feral and what he was insinuating. "I would never do that Feral. Honest!"
Feral did hesitate before finally saying, "Alright."
The boy sat up and back away from Feral while his hands gripped the fur on his chest. "No Feral," he said insistently. "I'm serious. Dead serious. Read my mind!" he implored. "Read my mind if you have any doubts! I would never tell anyone about you!" he vowed.
Feral was taken aback by the fierceness of the boy's plea. He considered, for a moment, reading the boy's thoughts but then he looked at him, really looked. He saw earnestness and openness and truth! In that moment he knew he would not peek into the boy's mind for his answers for he felt he had them already.
"I believe you," Feral said gruffly. "I believe you, Ricky!" he repeated when the boy's hands remained gripped tightly in his fur only relaxing long moments later as Feral convinced him of this truth with his golden eyes.
"Why do you keep my secret, human?" Feral asked, needing to know. "Especially when the truth can help your uncle?" he added, looking down at the boy who was no longer clutching him but leaning on him heavily, his hands absentmindedly stroking Feral's fur.
The boy looked up at Feral with tired eyes. "Because," he said simply. "It's not just my secret. It's yours."
Feral cocked his head, slightly confused. "Explain?" he ordered.
The boy smiled lightly. "You're bossy," he said, taking Feral aback by his observation.
Feral frowned. "I apologize. Please explain," he requested politely, playing along with the boy who seemed pretty drained by their exchange.
"When I barely knew you, I admit, I considered telling my uncle about you. But in the end, I decided against it. And after I got to know you better, you were my...friend. Friends protect each other," he said solemnly. "I trust you and you should trust me."
Feral stared at the boy seeing nothing but sincere honesty. Friends? Trust? These things were foreign to Feral yet he had to admit to feeling both over the last few weeks as he had gotten to know the boy. To now know that the boy felt the same, somehow solidified his feelings. It made them real. And that realness actually scared Feral. He was not sure he knew what to do with them.
As Feral stayed lost in thought, the boy leaned into him more heavily. He lifted one of his hands and idly played with the pendant on Feral's chain. Feral looked down and watched the small brown hand as it palmed the red fang.
They were sitting like that relaxed for long moments when suddenly the boy stiffened and he sat up, leaning back to look at Feral in the eye. The pendant still lay in his palm.
"Bloodfang!" he gasped.
Feral's ears perked. "Bloodfang?"
The boy nodded. "It fits you doesn't it? You have fangs and you drink blood," he said. "And you aren't a wolf or vampire," he continued in excitement. "You're a Bloodfang!"
"Bloodfang." Feral repeated. "Bloodfang," he said yet again. For all of his humoring of the boy in his quest to find a name for what Feral was, Feral actually liked this one. It felt like a true representation of what he was. It felt like him!
He had a name after all. He just hadn't discovered it yet. It had taken a... friend to help him find it.
He was a Bloodfang!