Look for the flash to post every Monday. Fair warning: there are some scenes of dubious consent. If you've read any of my books, you know I don't do rape, but this *is* a Halloween flash. It *is* going to be a bit on the dark side. I *am* going to push the boundaries.
And it's not been edited since I waited to the last moment (again) to write the chapter lol. It's Sunday and football! I'm in front of the TV all day. ;)
Chapter
Seven
“A lot of fucking good praying is going to
do,” Caleb whined as he flopped back into his chair. “Or running.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Raleigh tugged at his
hair. “Okay, give me a second to think.” Raleigh paced up and down the kitchen.
It was so silent Caleb could hear the hum
of the refrigerator. The low buzz tempted him towards sleep. He blinked his
eyes several times, but they continued to water. God, he was so tired. He
rubbed the wetness away with a closed fist.
Raleigh continued stalking around the
kitchen mumbling under his breath.
Caleb rested his chin on his fist and
watched his best friend…. who was a werewolf. His mind wandered. What would it
be like to shift into another form? Into an animal? How many of the animals he
saw on a daily basis were actually animal?
Oh God. What about the squirrel that
committed suicide by running out in front of him a couple days ago? It didn’t
bear thinking about. Surely people like Raleigh still maintain some semblance
of themselves. He sincerely hoped they’d have enough sense not to run out front
of a moving vehicle.
Raleigh suddenly stopped pacing and looked
at Caleb. “Where did the pendant come from?”
“It came with the spell. I just didn’t
tell you about it.”
Raleigh kicked one of the kitchen
cabinets. “I really wish you would’ve
had.”
“Stop beating up on inanimate objects or
we’ll never get our deposit back.” Caleb blew a strand of hair out of his eyes.
“And believe me, I wish I’d told you too.”
“So you bought the spell and got the
pendant. And what? Tell me what happened next.”
“I… well, I rented the cabin and went out
to the woods. Once I was there, I did the spell and—”
“Wait a minute. Backup just a moment. When
exactly did you put the pendant on?”
“Not long after I bought the spell.” Caleb
shrugged. “It was kinda cool in a goth sort of way, and I liked it. I remember
thinking it would probably look better on you than me since you wear stuff like
that.” Caleb waved his hand at Raleigh.
Even though Raleigh hadn’t been up long,
he wore several leather bracelets and a couple o of chains. His long black hair
was loose and flowing down his back. All Raleigh wore was a pair of black night
pants. Huh. Caleb stared at the tattoos on Raleigh’s body. “You have tattoos.”
Raleigh blinked. “Yeah, so?”
“If you change into a wolf, how do you
keep the tattoos? Wouldn’t they—I don’t know—like disappear or something when
you change forms?”
Raleigh blinked several more times. “Not
exactly the question I was expecting, but okay. Let’s go with that. The tattoos
are permanent. So even though my body can shift from one form to the other, the
tattoos are always there. The reason why you can’t see them in my wolf form is
because I have fur then.”
“That’s cool.”
Raleigh sat back at the kitchen table.
“Cool, he says.” Raleigh shook his head. “Let’s focus more on what’s going on
with you right now, okay?”
Caleb yawned again. “Yeah, sorry.”
“So? The pendant…”
“There’s not really much to tell. I got it
when I got the spell, I liked it, and I put it on. It was as simple as that. I
took the spell and went to the cabin.”
“And left me a voicemail while I was at
work when you knew I couldn’t answer.”
Caleb scowled. “I already apologized for
that. You want me to tell you what happened or are you going to ride my ass?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Continue.”
“As I was saying, that night, under the
full moon, I recited the spell. I waited and waited, but nothing happened. When
nothing continued to happen, I finally had to admit I was an idiot. I was also a
hungry idiot, so I went into town to eat. I came back to the cabin and went to
bed. That was the first time I had a weird dream.”
“Wait, what kind dream?”
“It’s kind of fuzzy but it had something
to do with mist and someone making love to me.”
“Didn’t you think that was strange
considering what you had just done?”
“If you keep interrupting I’m never going
to get this told. Besides, I thought it was a fucking dream. The second time
the mist thing happened I finally figured out it wasn’t just a mist. Now, again, as I was saying… I came back home.
Remember that night you and I went to the movies?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I went to the bathroom, and do you
remember how shook up I was when I came back?”
Raleigh closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. He opened them and looked at Caleb. “Did he appear to you in the bathroom?”
“Yeah. It was the weirdest thing too. It’s
like he froze time, except for it didn’t apply to us. He… touched me, just like
he did that night the cabin.”
“What you mean he touched you?”
Caleb’s face heated. “What do you mean
what do I mean? He… he… Jesus. He jacked me off, okay?”
“And?”
“And I hate you.”
“Now’s not the time to be coy.”
“I’ve never been coy in my life either. He
bit me that night, and I came so hard it’s a miracle I didn’t sprang my dick.”
“Now that’s an image.”
“Shut up. But then it was like he took a
step back. Some time passed and nothing happened… until last night. He showed
up, told me to invite him in, and the next thing I know, we’re having sex… and
he’s bitten me yet again. He also told me there was nowhere I could run and
that I couldn’t take the pendant off. That he could always find me because of
it.”
“Shit. Is there anything else?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
Raleigh scowled.
“Oh, oh, yeah, there is. I forgot this.
After the first bite, I started having dreams. Sometimes they were erotic, but more
often than not it was almost like I was seeing flashes of his life.”
“Shit.”
“You said that already. Sometimes Brone
was in a kilt, sometimes it was a elaborate suit with a with a top hat…. One
time he had a fancy white wig on. Another time I saw him walking down a dark
street with a cell phone stuck to his ear. Only, it wasn’t like the cell phones
we have today. This thing was as big as a brick.”
“He’s tying himself to you. I’m almost sure
those are memories of his you’re seeing.”
“So what do I do?”
“I… let me talk to my dad.”
“Are you going to get into trouble for
telling me what you are?”
“Well…” Raleigh huffed. “The good thing is
dad knows you and likes you. He’s not going to be happy, no. But when I tell
him why I said something, he’ll
understand. Maybe he can help. We had a medicine woman in our pack. Maybe she
has some advice or ideas.”
As Caleb listened to Raleigh speak, the
sinking feeling of being unable to avoid the the inevitable outcome over him. “This
isn’t looking too good, is it?”
Raleigh stared at Caleb. “You want the truth
or do you want me to blow smoke up your ass?”
“The truth.”
“Well, then, no. As far as I know there’s
no way to stop this. And from the sounds of it, this vampire is very old,
especially if you’re seeing flashes of him in a kilt. The older a vampire is, the
stronger they are. And I’ll be honest with you, there aren’t too many
paranormal’s who are willing to take on a vampire.”
“So basically I’m screwed.”
“I didn’t say that.” Raleigh reached
across the table and took Caleb’s hand. “I’ll help you, if that’s what you
truly want.”
Raleigh’s words startled him. “You don’t
think it is?”
“Well, you’re the one who’s been wanting
to be a vampire for as long as I can remember. Now you have a chance to be what
you’ve always wanted.”
“God, that’s frightening.” Caleb scrubbed
his hands across his face. “You said it sounds like he wants me for a mate.
What does that mean?”
“Keep in mind, I’m not a vampire, so I
really don’t know that much about them. But what little but I do know is taking
a mate is a serious thing. For some reason this vampire—what was his name
again?”
“Brone.”
“Brone has decided there’s something about
you that would make the perfect mate. Let me see that pendant again.”
Caleb lifted the pendant so Raleigh could
see it.
Raleigh leaned over the table, frowning. “I’m
not really sure what the stone is, but it’s got black veins in it. And all
those…. Are those bats that make up
the setting? Right. Because that’s not morbid at all.”
“Hey, if he’s a vampire, it kind of fits.”
Raleigh sat down. “Have you noticed if he wore
any other jewelry?”
“No, not really. I’ve had other things
occupying my mind when he’d been around.” Like
his hand on my dick or his cock up my ass.
“Yeah, I bet. I’m willing to bet that this
pendant is very important to him. I’m guessing that stone has some sort of
meaning. Think of it like a wedding band. Kinda.”
“A wedding band. Jesus. Apparently it’s a
permanent one.” Caleb yawned again.
“Why don’t you go lay back down? You look
like you’re about to fall asleep at the table.”
“I am really tired.” Dying will do that to a body.
“Go take a nap. I’ll call my dad and see
what I can find out. I’ll wake you up in a little while.”
“Before nightfall would probably be good.”
Raleigh nodded soberly. “Yeah, there is that.”
Caleb dragged his tired ass from the
kitchen back to his bedroom. Oddly enough, his mind was numb. He didn’t know if
this was the calm before the storm—meaning that it hadn’t really sank in yet
that he was dying—or…. Or he really wasn’t scared. But how could that be?
According to Raleigh, he was dying. Dying.
What person in their right mind wouldn’t be afraid of that?
But death was only the beginning.
So tired he could barely keep his eyes
open, he stripped and, naked, climbed into bed. He pulled the sheets up to his
chin and closed his eyes. “I’m scared.”
As he fell asleep, Caleb couldn’t say to
whom he was speaking but the sentence ‘death was only the beginning’ kept
circling and his mind.
* * * *
“Caleb. Caleb. Come on, buddy. I need you
to wake up.”
Caleb moaned helplessly. He didn’t want to
wake up, dammit.
“Look, I know you’re tired, but I talk to
my dad, and I need you to wake up.”
Caleb’s eyes flipped open. “W-what? Your
dad? Huh?”
“Yeah, I talked to my dad.”
“Okay, okay. Jeez. How long as I sleep?”
“Only about an hour.”
“Well, I feel like I’ve been asleep a hell
of a lot longer than that.” Caleb struggled to sit up. He made sure the sheets
were tucked around his waist then shoved his hair out of his eyes. He looked at
Raleigh. “Well?”
“Dad wants me to bring you to him. Let me
tell you, that’s something which doesn’t happen very often. He wants our
medicine woman to take a look at you and that damn pendant.”
“Okay, why is it such a big deal? I’ve met
your parents several times. I’ve even eaten at your house on more than one
occasion, remember?”
“Because dad isn’t meeting you as my dad.
He’s meeting you as my Alpha. I’m taking you to a sacred stone temple on our
pack lands. It’s where we worship our gods. Tell me, Caleb, do you believe in
magic?”
Caleb blinked. After everything he’d
learned lately, Raleigh really had to ask that question? “Yes. You better
believe I do.”
“Good. Because you’re going to see things
you’ve never believed possible.”
Caleb snorted. He was one slippery step
away from being dead and his best friend was a werewolf.
