Page 33 of Paying The Vampire

“I shall, my King,” a smile adorned my face as I staggered to my feet. I took a few steps and then looked up to the moon. My body was covered in marks Cassius had left on me. My skin was flushed, and I glistened under the pale light of the moon. Cassius had unlocked this primal, passionate part of me, but there was something else I needed to do now that we had been together.

I closed my eyes and looked within myself. I had done the same thing before, many years previously. Then I had been met with silence, with an abyss in my soul that I thought would never offer anything more. But this time there was something else. This time I was met with a howl. There were glowing golden eyes and a hot, passionate frenzy that could only be the call of a wolf. I stared inwards, not showing any sign of fear because there was no reason to be afraid. This was me, and I was it. Slowly I felt the change within me. I felt the crack of bone and the tearing of flesh as I became more than I had been. I understood now the stories of those who had undergone the metamorphosis. I knew now why they had found it so difficult to talk with me afterwards, because the change was a profound one and it was something that could not be understood other than by experience.

Claws extended from my palms and dark, soft fur covered my naked body. My teeth sharpened and I found that the world became even more vibrant as my senses became more focused. My eyes glowed gold and suddenly I was something else entirely, something more than I had been before. I was still Willow, but now I was a wolf, and the only thing that remained the same, apart from my soul, was the amulet that dangled from my neck. I looked back at Cassius. I could smell him from here, and I was filled with arousal again. I was not done with him yet, nor would I ever be done with him. My appetites were insatiable and I was going to prove myself a Queen to him in every way.

But for now I was a wolf, and wolves needed to run and hunt. I bounded along the courtyard and then found a path away from the castle, down into the wilderness that offered death and darkness. It held no fear for me now though, for I was a wolf and I could defend myself. I ran through the bracken and over the black rivers. I crashed through brittle branches and I claimed this world as my own, knowing that I would never be the same again. I had lost the girl I was, but I had found something new. I ran towards the top of a rock and I looked to the heavens. I threw my neck back and howled as loudly as I could, announcing to the entire cosmos that I had arrived, and I would never be shunned or silenced again.

Chapter Twenty Five

Cassius

I picked myself up off the ground and dusted myself down. My clothes had been torn to tatters by her, and I smiled at the display of passion she had given me. The amulet had indeed changed her, but it seemed to me as though she had always been missing a little bit of a wolf. Now it was present and I knew she would never be afraid of anything again.

The feelings were going to take a while to dissipate. Everything with her was new again. I had made love before, but with Willow it was a different matter entirely. I felt as though I could lose myself in her without holding anything back, unlike with the others. I was confident that I had not made an error in picking her as my queen, and I looked forward to many years with her as my companion. I smiled as I thought about how the days could be spent with each other, lost in each other’s arms. This castle was a big place, and there were many rooms for us to make love in. I would do them all three times over at least before I was done.

I had also seen her become a wolf, and I did not find it as distasteful as I thought. Even in her lycan form she was still beautiful and majestic, retaining those elements that I found so fetching and attractive. There had been stranger things in this world than a vampire and a wolf, and I had never been one to follow the rules anyway. There were some who said that only bad things could happen from two ancient enemies coming together like this, but they were probably just stories.

As I stood at the edge of the courtyard I thought about all I had been through in life, and how it had all led me here. I still felt guilty about the other vampires and perhaps I always would, but at least I had Willow to help me cope with those feelings. In the distance I heard the cry of a wolf. It was unusual to hear such a noise in this barren world, and it was another sign of the effect she had had on this place. I smiled as I listened to the sound echo and then fade, knowing that soon she would return to me and we would stand and reign over this world together. Somehow it did not seem as bad when I knew there would be someone beside me.

I had done many bad things in life, and I would never declare that I was a great man. I had left a trail of misery and broken hearts in my wake, and I had turned against my own people. But that was all in the past. Now I had Willow and with her I had a chance to experience something that was still alien to me, true, unadulterated, unconditional love, and I could not wait to spend every minute of the rest of time with her. I was in awe of her, my Queen, and I longed to worship at the alter of her flesh again.

She returned, shifting back into her human form again, the amulet resting against the hollow of her throat. I walked over to her and gathered her into my arms. I tilted her chin so that she would look up at me.

“How do you feel now?” I asked.

“Complete. Whole,” she said. I smiled, glad that I had actually been able to make a difference to her life. I kissed her again, taking the time to enjoy the feeling of her lips against mine, to feel the emotions flowing between us.

“Come inside. If you are to be my Queen then we need to dress you accordingly, and you are going to need a crown,” I said. She chuckled and then took my arm. With a wave of my hand, I extinguished the fire and we left my tattered clothes on the courtyard. I looked up at the gargoyles, who were silent now, and then at the moon, which seemed to wink at me.

But this was not the ending of our story. It was only the beginning, and what a happy beginning it was.

Epilogue

Brandon

I stood with my fists clenched, staring at my father.

“You don’t need to do this Brandon. This is all going to come to you in time,” he said. Time, time was one of those things that people thought was our ally when in fact it was an enemy. It was a hunter that stalked us and it would always win. I snarled and glared at this man who I had once seen as a hero, but now I only saw as a coward.

“I cannot wait father. You know what happened. You cannot stand back and let this go unpunished!”

“I can, because you do not know what forces you are playing with. If we follow your lead then this pack is going to suffer as it has not suffered in generations. If you would just listen to me then you will understand. Have patience. Temper your anger my son.”

He spoke calmly, but the words were like daggers in my heart. I could only hear him goading me. My head twitched and my lips curled.

“Wolves are meant to fight. We are not supposed to stand by and allow vampires to come into our territory without any resistance!”

“Again, you do not understand the forces you are dealing with. Stop this, before I have to stop you.”

“I am not going to stop father, and nor would you if you truly knew what it was to be a wolf. I thought you were the best of us, but now I see that you are just a coward. I am not afraid of you or vampires or anything.”

“You should be,” he said, his eyes narrowing as he glared at me. That was the moment when he ceased being my father and he became just another enemy for me to fight, one that stood in the way of the safety of this pack. The vampire had come and taken Willow, had invaded our territory and who knows if he was going to do the same again? What if there were more of them? I had tried to convince everyone that we needed to find him and launch a counter attack before more vampires appeared, but father had not listened. Instead he said that vampires were too dangerous to attack, and we would be better served remaining as we were.

I could not believe that I was hearing these words from his lips. This man who was a vaunted warrior was now preaching patience and cowardice. I lost whatever respect I had left for him, and now it was time for a new Alpha to take command.

We charged towards each other, shifting into wolves as we did so. This man had taught me everything I knew about being a wolf and about fighting. He had taken me out hunting, raised me on the stories of old, and had instilled in me a sense of honor because I would one day take over from him. I knew that he had never imagined that day coming as swiftly and suddenly as this though, but like all great leaders he had grown old and soft, and the sun was ready to set on him.

He swung out a long arm, trying to end the fight quickly. I ducked and slid underneath him, before snapping my jaws at his legs. He just managed to evade them. I sprang to my full height and threw myself at him. We rolled around the ground, a tangle of fur and claws and bared teeth. I lost all sense of the wolves around us, but I did not lose sight of why I was doing this. I had to hold onto it because it was the only way I was going to make it through this.