#she would never harm a fly ! (she probably eats mice whole)

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Seungcheol: Stubborn (Part Five)

Characters: Seungcheol x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, angst, slight fluff, mentions of eating people

Word count: 3,811

Summary: You’ve heard the stories your relatives told you about werewolves when you were younger, but you always thought it was just a scare tactic to make kids behave. Well, up until you woke up in a den full of werewolves.

a/n: so if anybody read the original tftp, they probably recognize most of the middle as a part from Wonwoo’s part, but the pov is switched. I might have missed a few pov edits in there so if I did uhhhh just ignore it dksfhjds

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Seungcheol had tried to kill you again. He trapped you under his body and sunk his teeth into your forearm, his fangs threatening to rip a chunk of flesh out. You managed to punch him in the nose with your good arm before you escaped.

As you wandered through the woods, cold, bleeding, and crying, you could hear that soft, familiar voice from the night before. She was calling to you by your name, and you followed the voice. You found her standing in front of a tiny cottage, so you assumed it was hers.

“_____, it’s me, Jia,” she smiled warmly at you, holding her arms out for you to stumble into them. “Are you okay?”

“Th-the wolves…” you sobbed into her shoulder.

She shushed you softly, stroking your hair as she held you, “No, you don’t have to fear them. These nightmares are only because of the stories you were told as a child. I promise you, your mate will not harm you.”

“My…” you pulled away to look at her, “my mate?”

Instead of elaborating, she opened the back door to the cottage and allowed you inside. However, as soon as the two of you were in, she froze, staring off somewhere else. Her light eyes widened like she realized something awful.

“_____…” your name came out as something just above a whisper. “Something…isn’t right…”

“W-what?” you stammered, gripping onto her hand for dear life. “What do you mean?”

She turned to face you, pulling her hand away from yours to place both her hands on your shoulders, “Yes, I’m sure of it. Something’s going to happen, _____; something very bad. You need to gather the pack, and hide the mates. Keep them all safe, okay? All of them.”

“What?”

“Hide.” she instructed, spinning you around in the opposite direction.

You turned to ask her more, but she was gone.

-

Soomin was awoken by a loud knock on her door that had her eyes flying open with a gasp. She hurriedly got out of bed and rushed to the door. Looking out the windows, she could see the sun had just risen, so she didn’t really know why any of her neighbors would be banging this loudly on your door at this hour.

Rubbing one eye to get the sleep out of it, she opened the door. She saw Seungcheol, Joshua, and a wolf she hadn’t met yet standing outside her door. Seungcheol quickly pushed his way into Soomin’s home, making Joshua roll his eyes as he followed inside at a much more relaxed pace.

“Good morning, _____,” Joshua turned his head to smile at you before gesturing to his alpha. “May we come in?”

“Apparently, yes,” Soomin deadpanned, although she was quite happy to see the wolf she hadn’t seen in years. “What’re you doing here? Is it Mingyu? Those suppressants have worked with unmated wolves so if they’re not--”

“You said she was here,” Seungcheol stated as his sharp eyes landed on the wolf you didn’t know.

“Who’s here?” she asked.

“No, I didn’t say,” the wolf you didn’t know said, “Jia said--”

“Same thing!” Seungcheol groaned.

“Hold on!” Soomin interrupted, holding her hands up to silence the pack in her house. “It’s hardly sunrise, you three barge in here yelling about someone being in my home, and,” she paused to point at the mystery boy standing beside Joshua, “I don’t even know who this is!”

“But--”

“Ah!” she held up a finger to the alpha, putting on her stern voice that she’d picked up from Beom. It always kept the wolves in check. “Joshua speaks first. Josh, who is that?”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Joshua smirking. She assumed it was because she made his alpha listen to her without any issues. To him, that was a feet nobody was able to accomplish. Well, except maybe his mate, but according to Soonyoung whom Soomin saw not too long ago, that wasn’t going very well.

“So this is the girl Beom raised,” the mystery wolf nodded approvingly at Soomin with a genuine smile. “I like her.”

“_____, this is Minghao.” Joshua told the girl, gesturing to the boy beside him.

Soomin nodded, remembering that Beom had told her about him. He was the other wolf that was from China, and he could mimic other powers. She was always interested in meeting him since you found his power to be so unique.

Minghao gave her a polite greeting, which she returned, before she turned back to the alpha, “Alright. Now explain calmly. This isn’t about the medicine for Mingyu?”

“No, _____ went missing again,” he began slowly, although she could see the panic clear as day in his eyes, “and Minghao’s mate, Jia, said she came here.”

Hardly any of that made any sense to her, but she had too many questions to actually ask all of them. Instead she opted to just answer what he probably wanted to know, “Nobody else is here except for the woodland mice that live in the floorboards.”

Seungcheol just shook his head, looking around the room again, “No, I can sense her. She’s nearby…”

Joshua sniffed the air carefully, his brows pulling together, “Yeah, he’s right.”

Soomin sighed, deciding it was best not to resist when it came to a werewolf and their mate, “Alright, then let’s just find her and make sure she’s okay.”

“I’ll search the bedroom,” Seungcheol said, already moving to go look for his mate.

“Josh and I can search around here, and you can check the bathroom,” Soomin instructed, pointing down the hall as she spoke to the foreign wolf.

As Minghao went down the hall, Soomin and Joshua took to the den and kitchen area, looking under every piece of furniture, in every nook and cranny, and behind every curtain in search of you. Soomin wasn’t entirely sure how you could’ve gotten into her house or how you even knew where it was, but she figured if you did get in -- which the wolves were adamant that you had -- it must’ve been because of the forest. It was always very kind to strangers and lost folk, and typically guided them here for help. 

“Has Seungcheol been this on-edge the whole time his mate’s been here?” Soomin wondered as the pair searched around.

Joshua shrugged, “More or less, yeah.”

At least this time wasn’t the first time Seungcheol woke up with you missing. It definitely didn’t concern him any less than it did the day before, but it was still scary. Still, he was more calm when he asked for help, going to Minghao before anybody else. Joshua was less enthusiastic to go, but he figured if you got hurt this time, he may as well help so Seungcheol would be less of a pain to deal with.

“Guys!” Minghao called.

Seungcheol was running out of the bedroom and across the hall before the pair in the living room could even get off your hands and knees from looking under the sofa. The two met the rest of the wolves in the bathroom where Minghao had been searching. He had the shower curtain pulled back to reveal a girl curled up in the tub, mumbling to herself in her sleep.

You.

“Good Lord…” Seungcheol sighed in relief, bending down to scoop you up.

As he got closer, your whining got louder, “Danger…danger…danger…danger!”

You shot up with eyes wide, looking around in fear. Your eyes needed to adjust to the bright light streaming in through the windows, so you were a little panicked since all you could tell was that you were in an unfamiliar place, and you weren’t sure how you got there. When they seemed to finally adjust and you recognized who was in front of you, you cowered back toward the corner of the bathtub. Your eyes scanned behind them as you tried to find something in reach for a weapon. You were out of luck in that department.

“D-don’t come closer…” you said, your voice shaky.

Jia’s warning was still ringing in your ears, and you could only think she’d be talking about the werewolves.

“_____--”

“Don’t!” you repeated sharply, cutting off Seungcheol.

You heard him whine softly as he stood and backed away behind Joshua. Instead, an unfamiliar girl stepped forward. Her kind eyes watched you carefully, making sure she didn’t scare you too badly. But since she was a girl, you assumed that meant she couldn’t be a werewolf. You’d never seen or heard of female werewolves before.

“_____, right?” she asked softly, crouching down to be level with you. “I’m Soomin. I’m not going to hurt you, okay? I’m just a human.”

“You’re...that girl, right?” you asked, recalling that you’d heard the pack mention her name before. “You... Your...mom or something... You and her help them...”

The gears were a little slow turning in your head since you’d just woken up -- and in a panic at that -- so it took some time realizing what that meant. Soomin liked the werewolves; she was on their side. That was bad.

Your hands reached for the first thing they touched -- unfortunately, there aren’t many toiletries that could be used as a decent weapon, but the sponge on a wooden handle would have to do if needed. You gripped just below the sponge, holding the handle part out almost like a sword.

“I don’t want you near me, either!” you warned, staring her down.

“No, look, I won’t hurt you,” Soomin insisted, holding her hands up in surrender. “I just want to know how you got here.”

That’s when you remembered you had no idea. You still didn’t even know where you were or why Soomin was even here.

“Where…am I?” you wondered slowly.

“This is my cottage,” Soomin replied warmly, showing a small smile. “You’re lucky you wound up someplace safe rather than a stranger’s home.”

‘You are a stranger to me,’ you scoffed in your head.

"But…” you said slowly, your eyebrows pulling together as you thought about what Jia said. They all kept insisting you were safe, but... “Jia said that there’s danger near…”

“Jia?” Minghao pushed past Joshua and knelt down next to Soomin by the tub, causing your guard to shoot right back up as you aimed your sad excuse for a weapon at him. “You saw Jia last night? She never came back to me; what did she say?”

“Easy there,” Joshua advised, placing his hands on the younger wolf’s shoulders, “let the girl breathe.”

But Seungcheol couldn’t help but want to press for answers, too. What did Jia mean there was danger near? He knew the odd mate was well acquainted with the sprites of the forest wherever it was she lived, so maybe they told her? But then why weren’t any of the ones around Soomin warning her? Why did she seem just as clueless to all of this?

Unless the danger wasn’t involving her, or it wasn’t anything immediate. Maybe it was coming from where Jia was and moving closer.

Luckily, you continued speaking, pulling the alpha from his thoughts, “She said…to gather the pack, and hide the mates…”

“Were you trying to hide, _____?” Soomin asked quietly.

You nodded, “But from something else at first.”

“She has nightmares,” Seungcheol explained in a sad murmur. “Yesterday, she had a nightmare, too. Wound up in a tree that time.”

Soomin looked back at you again, resting the back of her hand on the edge of the tub, “What was your dream about?”

Warily, you eyed her palm. As a thief, you’d always been one to listen to your instincts, and they were telling you that Soomin wasn’t a threat. Besides, even if she was, she was just a human. You could take her.

You rested your cold hand in hers. Soomin’s hand was so much softer and warmer than yours, so your fingers seemed to wrap around her hand on their own. Soomin gave a little smile. 

“They tried to hurt me…” you told her, “just like my last nightmare. I’m starting to think it’s a sign…”

You heard Seugcheol whine but you tried to ignore it.

“What if I make you some tea and we can talk it through?” Soomin offered, giving your hand a soft squeeze. “It might make you feel better.”

“But…what about…” you paused, looking behind Soomin at all the wolves, “them?”

“They’ll leave for now.”

“But, _____--”

“Seungcheol,” Soomin turned to her head and looked up at the alpha, “she’s afraid. I promise I’ll let you come back when she’s feeling better.”

“C’mon,” Joshua grunted as he stood up, patting Seungcheol’s back and guiding him out of the bathroom with Minghao following behind them. You could hear Josh complaining about his knees while they left, saying something like, “I’m too old for this.”

-

“Is she okay?” Seungcheol asked, standing from the couch.

Soomin nodded, gesturing back down the hall with her head, “She’s taking a quick shower to clean up. Wandering around in the forest got her pretty dirty.”

“Did she elaborate on what happened?” Joshua wondered, staying put on the plush chair he sat in.

“Jia just said there was danger near. She didn’t say if it was physical or time-wise or even who it involved,” she shrugged, taking a seat beside Minghao on the sofa. “She said she was running away from the house because…well, she was being attacked…but then she said Jia showed up like the night before to calm her down. Then she said to ‘gather the pack and hide the mates’, and I think that’s why _____ was hiding in my bathtub.”

“But isn’t it a little too coincidental _____ wound up here?” Minghao wondered, staring at his lap with a look of concentration on his face. “Could Jia...lead her here somehow...?

“I don’t know if it’s possible that Jia’s leading her around,” Joshua said, running a hand through his hair, “but if _____ didn’t sleepwalk before meeting her, then maybe, I guess. We’ll have to ask.”

Minghao suddenly jumped up from the couch, “Maybe _____ can lead us to Jia!”

“Okay, calm down,” Soomin chuckled, gently tugging on Minghao’s wrist. “Let the poor girl rest for a while; we’ll handle one thing at a time. In the mean time, you should all leave before she’s done. I need her to trust me.”

Seungcheol frowned. He didn’t want to leave you when he’d barely gotten to see if you were okay under all that dirt on you, but he knew his best bet on getting you to calm down was Soomin. Maybe she could convince you he wasn’t dangerous since she was a human, too.

“You gonna be okay, Cheol?” Minghao asked, noticing the sad look on Seungcheol’s face.

The alpha just sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, “Yeah. Let’s just go before we make things worse.”

Soomin gave a quiet goodbye as the three members of the pack left, leaving her alone in the house with you. 

-

After you’d dried off and changed into the clothes Soomin let you borrow, you opened the bathroom door and wandered down the hall into the den. You followed the sound of two girls talking to the kitchen, where Soomin and Danbi were chatting together.

“_____!” Danbi smiled when she noticed you come in.

Even though you knew Danbi lived with the wolves, you didn’t see her as a threat. She was there after your last nightmare, and she seemed a lot kinder than her brother, even if they shared a lot of the same features: same sharp eyes, same slim face, same prominent nose. 

Soomin turned around to look at you, a mug in her hands. As she walked up to you, she handed the mug over to you, “How’re you feeling?”

“Sort of better…” you mumbled, taking the warm mug between your hands. The hot steam rising from it warmed your face. “I apologize…for breaking in, and for causing trouble.”

Apologizing for breaking and entering was definitely a first for you.

Soomin just laughed softly and shook her head, “No, don’t worry about it. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“You should’ve seen Seungcheol this morning,” Danbi chuckled, perching herself on the counter as she looked over at you. “He was losing his mind trying to find you. Then he woke Minghao up, and he said Jia might’ve talked to you, so Seungcheol woke up Joshua and dragged him along to search for you in case you were hurt.”

“That boy really does care about you, _____,” Soomin smiled, bringing a few pieces of your hair over your shoulder, almost like a mother or sister would. “It’s understandable that you’re afraid, though. Nobody will force you to get used to it.”

“That’s the problem,” you sighed, staring down into your mug. “Part of me...wants to get used to it. I don’t know what it is, though.”

The two girls looked at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation between them. You just sipped at your tea and looked around Soomin’s house. It was small but cozy. She had a few paintings, knickknacks, and strange things you’d seen in the wolves’ house strewn about, but it was all still tidy and clean.

Your eyes landed on a picture with a woman you had seen in one of the pictures back at the wolves’ house. It was of Soomin with an old, short, round woman holding a walking stick that was taller than her. Around them were the three alphas: Soonyoung, Seungcheol, and Jihoon. All of them were smiling, including the grumpiest alpha.

“Has anyone mentioned mating to you?” Soomin asked, breaking your gaze away from the picture to look back at her. The twinkle in her eyes that she had in the picture was missing now. “I mean, has Seungcheol?”

You shrugged, knowing he’d mentioned the word, “He said it’s a strong bond between a wolf and his mate or something. Jia keeps mentioning it, though.”

“What else has Jia told you?” Danbi wondered, taking a sip from her mug.

“She keeps referring to me as someone’s mate.”

“She’s much more talkative than Minghao, isn’t she?” Danbi giggled.

“We should wait for them to get back for anyone to explain…” Soomin sighed, looking to Danbi for conformation. “You don’t think Seungcheol will be mad at us, do you?”

“Why would he be mad?” you wondered.

While you could pick up on bits and pieces of what their conversation meant, there were still parts missing.

Soomin sighed, wrapping an arm around your waist and leading you over to the den, “Please don’t worry about that right now. What you should do now is rest. You didn’t sleep very well last night, and the circles under your eyes are worrying me.”

“What about the pack?” you asked, letting her sit you down on the couch.

“If they come back, we’ll keep them outside,” she promised. “They won’t come near you unless you’re okay with it.”

She took your mug and placed it on the coffee table, then gently pushed you to lay down before covering you with a blanket. She walked away, going back into the kitchen and leaving you to sleep. Unable to fight the exhaustion, you let your eyes close.

-

“-Going to do?”

“You have to just tell her now.”

“What if she runs away?”

“You can’t force her to stay, Cheol.”

You woke up to talking, and you could hear the voices coming from outside the front door. Through one of the windows, you could see Soomin. She seemed to be looking between other people, talking from time to time.

You did recognize the other voices, especially Seuncheol’s. While you didn’t like that the wolves were back, you were glad Soomin at least kept them outside and away from you like she promised.

“We should go inside.” Soonyoung advised, making you sit up and curl your legs to your chest. “If anyone from town sees us, they might get suspicious. Soomin’s known to live alone.”

“But what about _____?” Soomin asked. “She’s still afraid.”

“Jia was able to calm her yesterday, why couldn’t she last night?” Seungcheol wondered.

“Maybe it had to do with the fact she warned her about oncoming danger?” Chan suggested pointedly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if _____ has interpreted the pack to be the danger. Jia did tell her to hide the mates, right?”

That wasn’t necessarily true. Jia didn’t really say much to calm you after your awful nightmare, so that was part of it. However, the thing that was scaring you the most was the fact she said you were someone’s mate. You didn’t want to be a mate. Being a mate meant getting marked, and getting marked meant getting bit, and getting bit could lead to your nightmares coming true.

There was still that part of you that was drawn to the wolves. Seungcheol usually made you feel oddly safe, even though you hardly knew him. However, it was difficult for you to get passed all the stories and tales that were in your head. You were raised to fear these creatures that weren’t even supposed to be real. How could you ever fall in love with one?

“She’s awake,” Seungcheol stated, making you realize just how fast your heart was beating because of your thoughts. “We should just go. Soomin, do you mind...keeping _____ with you for now?”

Even you heard the hesitation in Seungcheol’s voice when he asked that.

“Not at all.” she replied warmly.

“We’ll come back soon,” Seungcheol promised. “Let us know if she disappears in the middle of the night and we’ll come bring her back to you.”

“Of if she decides to go home,” Soonyoung added.

“Yeah…that…” Seungcheol didn’t sound too happy, but you knew he knew he couldn’t keep you here forever. “Have a good afternoon, Soomin.”

“You too!” she waved as the pack left. Then the front door opened, Soomin already smiling since she expected you to be awake. “Did you sleep well?”

“I’m staying here?” you asked.

“Only…if you want to,” she said, carefully picking her words as her expression started to look more worried than bright. “If you really need to go home--”

“No,” you said so suddenly, you even surprised yourself. You didn’t even know what compelled you to reply so quickly. You just blamed it on the fact you didn’t really have a home. “I…promised I would think about it, so I guess I’ll think about it.”

Soomin’s look of worry melted into a warm smile, “Great! We’ll be roommates! But I’ll need you to sleep in my room with me because if you wander off, I can’t go out by myself to look for you. I’m no werewolf.”

‘Good,’ you thought to yourself, but you decided not to say that out loud.

[binqtop-blog]

Here’s a story I wrote about my oc Jackie and @miraculousgems‘ oc Cherami It’s how they met and stuff! Please don’t ship them they’re literally based off my friend and myself so that would be extremely uncomfortable and disrespectful. They’ll both find their own significant others eventually don’t worry.

Warning: I’m not a good writer and I never re-read this to check for mistakes

It was late in the afternoon: the sun was still shining through the leaves, but the sounds of nature had softened. Leaves crunched under Cherami’s boots as she walked down the trail leading her back to the town. Her hat bounced with every step, and her cloak swayed with the crisp breeze. She quietly hummed to herself, occasionally glancing behind her shoulder to check on her bag of recently purchased goods, which had been enchanted to float in the air and follow her. Cherami’s been practicing witchcraft her whole life, and enjoyed taking trips to a nearby village to buy herbs, gems, and other ingredients. The trail to the village was through a dense forest full of beautiful flowers, mushrooms, and other flora. Of course she has come across many animals like the common birds, squirrels, and frogs; however, there have been times where the witch has seen a porcupine, opossum, and even a few bears. After walking for 15 minutes, Cherami reached a pile of mossy rocks: the landmark reminding her to take the special shortcut. She leaned over and pulled a wand out of her right boot. Gripping her wand, she flicked her wrist to the left of the trail, where there was just forest. The leaves rustled and drifted to the side, creating a miniature pathway. She paused for a few seconds, scanning the area to make sure there weren’t spiders. Despite not seeing anything, Cherami still ran, squealing for the whole time, which was around 5 seconds. She hopped onto the real trail and put her hand on her hip to catch her breath. Fixing her hat, she put slid her wand back into her boot and continued following the original path. The sun was starting to leave the sky, and the light began escaping from the woods. Cherami quickened her pace so she could make it home before dark, and covered lots of ground before stumbling as she nearly stepped on a tiny mushroom on a rock.

“I can’t just….not take it.” She muttered as she crouched down. Looking closer, she realized that the mushroom was next to the rock, and that the rock wasn’t a rock. “Oh?” Her voice caused the creature to stir. Its little head popped up and turned to look at Cherami. It was a bat, and it was laying on the ground. “Hey, little guy, did you fall out of a tree?” The bat’s big ears twitched, shifting its wings. Cherami picked up a twig and used it to pet the bat and scratch behind its ears. She brought the stick over to its legs, lightly pressing it against the feet, which latched onto the twig. Slowly standing up, she lifted the stick, with the bat now hanging from it, to the nearest tree and gently put the bat onto a branch. Before continuing her trek home, she used the stick to pet its back again. She had only taken a few steps when the she heard sound of rustling branches behind her.

And a voice.

“Hey wait come back that felt nice.”

Cherami screamed, barely saving herself from falling onto the dirt trail. She whipped and nae-naed around and saw someone sitting on the branch where she had previously placed the bat. They had disheveled short dark brown hair, matching their torn up shirt and pants that were both full of holes. They were dirty and barefoot, like they haven’t bathed in a few weeks. They were pale and skinny, and had pointy ears. Their big, red eyes wouldn’t stay still, and could barely hold eye contact with Cherami. It was like they were trying to absorb every detail, but couldn’t focus on anything long enough.

“Can you not!?” Cherami panted as she tried to calm her heart pounding in her chest. Her gaze lingered on the person’s eyes, the redness of the irises made her feel unsettled. She snatched her wand and grabbed her basket, just in case she needed to run or fight.

“O-Oh, yeah, um….sorry?” They were swinging their legs and picking at one of the holes in their shirt. “I haven’t really seen that many people lately. It’s just been a while since I’ve, um….. talked to someone.” They looked up and shifted their weight, and started messing with the tree bark.

They sure do move a lot, Cherami though before asking: “Okay, so who are you?” The question made the person perk up a bit, like they were surprised that Cherami even cared.

“Jack! But lots of people just call me Jackie. Like my friends….which I haven’t seen them in a long time. Can’t remember when I last saw them, haha….oops.” They sighed and licked their chapped lips. That was when Cherami noticed the fangs.

“Haha…..yeah, it was nice to meet you but I need to leave, so bye-” Cherami quickly announced and pointed her wand at her boots, putting a spell on them so she could run faster. She completely ignored Jackie’s response and, clutching her wand and basket, started sprinting down the trail. The environment became a blur of color as she sped closer to her house. In the blurriness, she saw a dark blob pass her, which distracted her long enough to make her trip over a root jutting out of the ground. Cherami yelped, her wand and basket flew out of her hands. The ground rapidly got closer, when she was suddenly jerked backwards. She cried out and flailed, trying to gain her balance until she realized that someone was holding her.

“You okay? I caught your glasses.” Said a familiar voice. Cherami squinted at the face and snagged her glasses. It was Jackie. Cherami started squirming aggressively and screaming. “Wait w-what are you doing–”

“PUT ME DOWN–”

“But I’m–”

“I SAID PUT ME DOWN!!!”

“Um….okay….” Jackie dropped Cherami, who kept screaming once she realized that Jackie wasn’t standing on the ground.

“WAIT NO–” Cherami landed on the dirt trail with a big OOF. “Shit….”

“You good? I honestly don’t feel bad if you got hurt cuz it was your fault! You told me to drop you that’s what you get!” Jackie was floating right above Cherami, their red eyes staring right at her. Cherami scrambled backwards, trying to find her wand.

“S-Stay back! I can and will use magic.” She stuttered, staring at the Jackie while patting the ground behind her. Where is it where is it where is it…..

“Did I say something weird? Or...or do I smell bad?” They started mumbling, “Of course I smell bad I probably smell like a dead animal…”

Cherami finally caught sight of her wand, which had rolled a few yards away. Some stuff had spilled out of her basket, too.

“No, it’s because you’re a fucking vampire!”

Jackie was silent for a few seconds, then laughed. “Holy shit I forgot about that. I’ve only been like this for…...what’s the day today?”

“Um.......the 27th.” Cherami responded and started scooting over to her wand.

“Forty-three days!” Jackie stated after counting with their fingers for a bit. They sat up and leaned back as if they were resting on a chair, except they were hovering above the ground. “Throwback to when I was turned...it was hella painful.”

“So you’re….not going to kill me?” Cherami paused, still tense, but curious.

“What? No!” The vampire almost looked offended. “Why would I? I’ve only seen three other people in the past month and a half. One person I just heard their voice so who knows if it even was a person. The second person I, uh….I was really hungry and hadn’t really eaten in a while so I may or may not have lost control of myself and…” They waved it off, “it doesn’t matter they’re dead now. And then there’s you! Congrats, you’re person number three!”

“Oh...fun.” Cherami forced a smile. “So how come you haven’t seen anyone else? This forest isn’t that small you could’ve easily just left.”

“Well….yeah but I barely eat so I have no energy, so I’m just tired all the time. That’s why I was just chilling on the ground when you found me. I was way too lazy to fly up into a tree so I was just kinda sat there.”

“You need to eat! You just said that you lost it and killed someone because you were so hungry. By the way please don’t do that to me I’d like to stay alive thank you very much. It’s close to being nighttime, so there’s probably some mice or something you can go snack on.”

Jackie silently lands on the ground and looks down at Cherami. “Wait you don’t hate me anymore?” They whispered.

Cherami grunted as she got up. “I never said I hated you. I was just scared because I expected you to rip my neck open.” She took off her hat, which somehow stayed on despite everything that just happened, and blew off the dirt. She brushed off her cloak and flattened the fabric. “You vampires don’t exactly have a good reputation.”

“Heh, you got that right.” Jackie smiled, showing off their fangs. “Oh, yeah! You dropped your stuff.” They flew over to the basket, and started to put some of the items back in.

Cherami watched them in silence for a few seconds. “What happened to your clothes?”

“Oh, yeah…. Sometimes I dissociate and fall out of trees, or I see a raccoon and I’m like ‘haha it’s a raccoon,’ and then I pick it up and– you know what I’m glad I can’t get rabies that would suck.”

“Yeah that wouldn’t be very fun for anyone.” Cherami picked up her wand.

“Hey, that reminds me! So you know how I’ve just been stranded in this forest for, like, over a month? I don’t have anywhere to live and I have no way to bathe, and also I don’t have any clothes! Also I have no idea where I am because after being bitten I was laying on the ground writhing in pain until I passed out and woke up in the middle of nowhere with blood all over my mouth! It was great.”

“Oh God–”

“So I was wondering….can I live with you? I’m just a lonely wittle vampire who means no harm!”

“No–”

“Please?” Jackie dragged the word for a few seconds. “I won’t kill you or anything I promise.”

Cherami sighed. “Fine–”

“YES!” Jackie clapped their hands together.

“BUT! If you try anything I won’t hesitate kick you out. Also I have a familiar who’s a tiger so don’t you even think about eating her or I’ll stomp you to death with my fucking boots.”

“Deal!”

“Now hurry up and get the basket so we can go home.”