#vampires and carnivores; those with hungry animals and dogs.

[thenixkat]

Having some werewolf thoughts. Currently thinking about voracious people nomming, the benefits of being undead, and alike amalgam werewolf packs (think that music vid Du Riecht So Gut). Some vampire/sorcerer stuff added like being able to turn into lots of different things and swarms of things.

So. Lupines! Moonkin! Animalfolk! Werewolves! Call em what ya want, I’m using lupines cause I think its fun.

A ‘species‘ of shapeshifting magical beings or humans afflicted with a magical curse or people bless by the moon? Who the fuck knows, they don’t. They don’t even agree on what they’re called. Some are born with the power, some acquire it during their life, some after their death. Can turn others into lupines under certain circumstances, tho the transformation can fail partway through and cause the infected to turn into a vampire instead.

Basic Abilities:

1. Shapeshifting.

All lupines can shapeshift. Typically into a furry carnivorous beast of similar size to their base form. Transformations initially triggered by exposure to the light of a full moon or seeing a full moon, strong emotions, and extreme hunger. As the lupine grows in experience they can triggers transformations voluntarily and even include their clothes into the transformation and avoid being naked when transforming back to their human shape.

Shapeshifting makes lupines hungry b/c their body is using a lot of energy to turn into something else.

Lupines can gain larger transformations by accumulating mass either via overeating or merging with another lupine member or their pack/coven/troop. Lupines are prone to overeating while moondrunk (forced to transform by the full moon) and tend to be bigger the day after the full moon.

Lupines are not restricted into turning into furry carnivorous beasts. The most common transformation is wolves and dogs due to similarity in size, that most have seen or heard off a wolf/dog, and or there being local cultural links to wolves and moonlight or nighttime. In places where bears, big cats, or hyeanas are more commonly the ‘big dangerous furry thing‘ then lupine uncontrolled transformations will lean in those directions. 

Lupines can transform into any kind of animal but are unlikely to be able to turn into a specific individual without merging with them. Trying to transform into an animal smaller than the lupine can result in several outcomes depending on the level of control or lack of it the lupine has. For example trying to transform into a crow could result in:

- human sized crow - a crow sized crow that weighs as much as their base form - turning part of themselves into an entire crow and the rest into an insensate blob of flesh detached from the part that became a crow - turning into a flock of crows weighing the same amount collectively as their human form

If part of their body is destroyed when transformed into a smaller creature with most of their mass just sitting around as a flesh blob or transformed into a swarm of small creatures they can only regain that lost mass by consuming more mass. If part of a werewolf remains detached for more than 24 hrs it becomes its own organism.

2. Healing.

Derived from their shapeshifting abilities, lupines can heal from just about any normal injury with enough time, food, and shapechanging. If worse comes to worse a lupine could loose most of their body and survive in a small form and regenerate from there by consuming enough food.

Injuries caused by magic (either blessed materials, certain kinds of plants, some kinds of metals like silver) can disrupt a lupine’s magic making healing and shapeshifting difficult leading to things like scars, missing limbs, loss of senses, and brain damage.

3. Near Immortality.

Lupines are incredibly difficult to kill due to their shapeshifting and healing. They do not die of old age. They don’t necessarily stop aging but might not age if they don’t think about it/aren’t around nonlupines much. Lupines are not immune from getting sick but they won’t die from it.

Alone, decapitation could not kill a lupine. But setting every part of the lupine on fire until there’s nothing but ash can kill them.

4. Merging.

Lupines can learn to merge with other living beings. The most common use of this ability is for packs of lupine to merge together, sharing mass and information and power to transform into larger shapes or help injured packmates heal.

Lupines can merge with nonlupines but if the lupine doesn’t cancel out the merge within a few hours the nonlupine ends up getting digested and added to the lupine’s mass. Nonlupines that merge with lupines frequently enough can end up getting infected with lycanthropy and becoming lupines (if originally humans) or monster beasts/animal gods (if originally nonhuman) over time.

Lupines with very high skill can merge with vegetation or inanimate objects to hide.

Changing others.

Lupines can transform humans into lupines (successful) or vampires (unsuccessful). Merging repeatedly has a high chance of turning a human into a lupine. Other methods involve consuming lupine flesh (moderate chance of turning) and blood or saliva contamination in wounds/mucus membranes (low chance of turning).

Certain bodies of water or types of flowers flowing/growing near lupine graves has a very low chance of turning someone.

Humans infected with lycanthropy can fail to become lupines and instead turn into vampires. Vampires are boneless creatures ruled by their hunger and exist entirely in a moondrunk state. They are nocturnal and have a difficult time holding onto a shape if they haven't recently eaten. Vampires can be disoriented by bright lights (including very bright sunlight) and like to hide in small enclosed spaces like tree hollows and graves. Vampires have the same weaknesses as lupines but can be more easily injured by sharp objects. Vampires will turn into who or what they’ve most recently eaten, few are able to hold onto their pre-vampirization memories. Vampires can be a major vector for disease depending on their diets and grooming habits.

Like, lupines vampires are good at accumulating mass and healing from just about everything. They can also merge with other vampires to make larger forms.

Social habits.

Lupines are not much different than humans socially. While they can form packs/covens/troops not belong to one isn’t particularly harmful to their health. Some lupines can go their entire life without running into another of their kind and aren't particularly bothered by it.

Hierarchy formation runs similar to that of human groups. Leader type folks tend to lead, leaders aren’t strictly necessary or even form in every group. While there are lupines that might use alpha/beta/etc titles those tend to be ones that didn’t grow up around other lupines or they don’t know much about how wolf packs are run. Some lupine raised lupines might use such terms as a joke, usually to make fun of someone.

Lupines share just as much capacity for being decent people or evil shits or just regular folks as humans. Unfortunately for them, the majority of folks dedicated to hunting ‘monsters‘ tend not to care if the monster in question is a decent person or not. As to most monster hunters, being nothuman/not a natural creature is a good reason to try to kill them.

[saintevamp]

                               𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑨 01: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫

the black market seraphina works, fondly named “the underground,” is comprised of three groups of people: vendors, suppliers, and the council. they  work  inside          &*         outside  of  the  space  itself,      but  each  role  remains  extremely  important  to  the  underground  actually  functioning  within  its  means.        NOTE:      if  one  of  these  groups  were  to  be  dismantled,       the balance  would  become  way  off          &*        there  would  be  an  excess  amount  of  bloodshed  within  that  community.      below  i’ll  talk  a  bit  about  their  roles     (    though  they’re  fairly  obvious    )    &       briefly  list  some  people  who  work  them.

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＶＥＮＤＯＲＳ

➙    the  vendors,    as  obvious  to  their  names,       keep  the  market  going  at  the  most  basic  level:     selling  their  stock,     making  money  that  goes  both  to  them          &*         to  the  underground.         the  underground  currently  holds  about  200  vendors          &*         stores  as  of  current,     with  their  names  usually�� tailored  towards  the  customer  of  choice       (      vamps-r-us,         1-800-ZOMBIEBRAINZ,        smoke[ing] and apparitions,     just  to  give  a  few       )      or  just  general  dollar  stores          &*         grocers  for  those  who  prefer  a  diverse     (     or  are  omnivorous     )      palate.              this  role  depends  on  the  suppliers,       and  so  those  who  run  vendors  are  usually  cruel  to  them     –––––     when  the  suppliers  don’t  deliver,      their  vendors  fail          &*         their  existence  in  the  underground  is  questioned  by  those  above.      most  of  the  vendors  are  owned  by  older  creatures,         having  been  in  the  family  for  centuries  or  longer.                   VENDORS  ARE  THE  FIRST  TO  REPORT  THEFT,       a  little  too  much  pride  in  how  much  they’re  selling  for          &*         for  how  much  lower  than  anyone  else.      some  vendors  who  work  are:

𝚅𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴 𝙻𝙰’𝙶𝚁𝙰𝚈:      an  older    (    actual    )     vampire  who’s  been  around  for  way  too  long,     but  she  stopped  aging  in  her  thirties.      she’s  made  of  solid  silver,         her  teeth  replaced  with  actual  ivory.     she’s  wealthy,    full  -  stop.      her  shop  runs  vampire  -  exclusive  house    +    personal  ware,    such  as  fang  warmers,      vampire  -  friendly  sex  toys,     human  -  blood  substitute  for  those  allergic  – your own much  tinier  kroger/aldis/walmart     !          she’s  been  in  the  underground  for  centuries,    her  shop’s  name               𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄                a  household  staple  !

𝙿𝙰𝚄𝙻 ( " 𝚂𝚄𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙴 " ) 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙾𝙽:      some  folks  in  the  underground  call  this  wolf  -  of  -  a  -  man  an  absolute  delight!!!   to  have  around,     but  he’s  anything  but  that.          he’s  spoiled  rotten,     being  the  inheritor  of  his  all  -  including  vending  shop       (          &*        chain  stores   !       )         funded          &*        founded  by  two  pull  -  yourself  -  up  werewolves,     his  family  holding  the  title  of  oldest  werewolf  walk  -  in  as  of  current.    the  ladies  love  him          &*        their  boyfriends  hate  him,    but  they’ll  be  damned  if  they  say  something  against  him     !

𝙹𝙴𝚁𝙴𝙼𝚈 𝚂𝙸𝙻𝚅𝙰:      a  reanimated  corpse  that’s  been  in  the  underground  for  going  on  two  decades,       he  showed  up  out  of  the  blue          &*        refused  to  leave,      so  the  council  allowed  him  to  stay    ––––    and  he’s  not  being  removed  !        no  one  knows  what’s  in  his  shop,    it  doesn’t  have  a  name      (    or  one  they  haven’t  heard     )       but  people  always  leave  satisfied,      though  they’re  unable  to  describe  their  experiences.

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＳＵＰＰＬＩＥＲＳ

➙    the  suppliers,     once  again  obvious  in  their  name,     work  mainly  alongside     (    for.    )    the  shops  that  sell  fresh  produce  or  have  any  type  of  beef  with  any  other  vendor.        they  supply  produce          &*        in  some  cases     (    in  the  past,    )  meat,    working  to  keep  their  vendors  open          &*        active,     delivering  the  best  of  the  best  all  the  time.       most  of  the  suppliers  are  human  beings  who  have  become  disinterested  in  humanity          &*        show  no  attachment  to  them.         othertimes,      it’s  younger  ghouls  who  are  just  starting  out  in  the  working  world,      or  the  creatures  who  want  a  fast  -  paced,    more  violent  occupation.     some  suppliers  are:

𝙻𝙴𝙸𝚂 𝙵𝚁𝙰𝙳𝙾𝚁:      a  human  being  who’s  decided  to  live  among  the  supernatural,         he  works  extensively  with  a  cross  -  bow.      most  of  his  produce  goes  to  the  much smaller  companies  selling  meat,     but  the  meat  is  never  the  best  quality.       he’s  nearing  his  own  time,    however,     but  plans  on  purchasing  a  few  ingredients  for  an  aging  potion. 

𝙳𝙴𝚂𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙳𝙸𝙰:      an  oracle  seraphina  had  a  short  -  lived  fling  with,       desange  supplies  holistic  materials          &*        spiritual  things  for  the  witch          &*        apothecary  vendors.        her  work  is  well  sought  out,      and  she  gives  her  own  readings  to  whoever  wants  them,     for  a  very  reasonable  price      (     the  weight  of  your  questions     ).

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＨＩＧＨ ＊ ＣＯＵＮＣＩＬ

➙    the  high  council,     or  those  who  founded  the   underground  at  its  beginning.        comprised  exclusively  of  five  members,      four  of  which  are  original  members,       they  oversee  the  underground          &*        make  sure  everyone  is  in  their  rightful  place.        without  them,    there  is  no  underground.         they  hold  meetings  weekly,      and  reviews  happen  bi  -  monthly,       just  to  keep  a  tight  ship          &*        keep  everyone  paranoid.         NOTE:      seraphina  is  not  one  of  the  original  members;     her  spot  was  given  to  her  in  the  will  of  the  last  vampire  who  was  killed  by  a  human.        most  of  the  other  vampires  are  angry  at  this,   but  she  reigns  third  -  in  -  command  on  the  council.     i  will only  be  listing  two  of  the  members,     but  i  will  not  give  any  more  than  a  simple  description  of  them,     as  they  will  be  getting  their  own  metas  eventually.

𝙰𝙼𝙼𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚄𝚂 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚂:      an  older  vampire,     head  of  the  council          &*        the  final  sayer-so.          whatever  he  says,   goes.        he’s  got  a  wife  at  home,     two  vampire  children          &*        zero  room  for  bullshit.     he  is  not  a  fan  of  S.   taking  the  reigns  sometimes          &*        he  wishes  to  knock  seraphina  from  her  post  as  third  in  command.      a  stickler  for  tradition,      he  is  raising  his  children  to  take  over  his  post  as  head  of  the  council,     and  has  graduated  from  vendor  to  actual  store.      his  store          &*        restaurants  have  chains  only  visible  to  supernatural  creatures,      and  he  caters  to  everyone,     with  an  emphasis  on  vampire  cuisine          &*        delicacies.

𝚂.:      no  one  knows  if  S.  is  human  or  not,     nor  does  anyone  actually  know  who  they  are.   never  visibly  present  at  meetings  but  always  there,    S.  communicates  through  an  external  speaker          &*        assistant,    miss  janya  moray.  they  are  second  in  command,       but  even  ammadeus  is  afraid  of  them,    so  they  act  as  if  they’re  the  head.         whenever  they  do  come  around,     their  face  is  obscured  by  a  mask.        their  entire  body  is  made  out  of  metal          &*        flesh,        some  parts  of  their  head  covered  in  brain  -  matter  that  is  frozen  solid.    when  they  do  speak  as  just  themselves,       their  voice  is  almost  mechanical.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Same anon from the werewolf prompts ask. I was mostly asking because I'd love to see the 3rd, 4th and 10th prompt for a Polycho fic. You can decide who the werewolf is, or if all of them are wolves or not. I'm not picky!

The hardest part of getting bit is that, even when he's the "big bad wolf", Josh still can't find a place among his peers.

Luckily the wolf has an eye for good folk and maybe someone up there is finally looking out for him.

---

[[MORE]]

Despite what anyone might believe, Josh Sawyers had always lived a little rough. He'd gone to school, was well read, enjoyed arts and history, and had dreams of being a teacher one day. Sadly, he'd not had the money to pursue a higher education and due to his area of residency and skin color he was considered nothing but a lowly thug.

No one wanted to hang out with the too smart black kid that lived very close to the woods. No one but his family really. But that too had changed when he'd gotten bit.

No point keeping another mouth to feed when it might try to take your hand with it, and having a werewolf in the family would have further ostricisized his parents and siblings from the All American Dream society they were busting their asses to belong to.

In the end, Josh had just accepted it and left.

If he could run from muggers and cops that looked at him with predatorial grins and murderous eyes, he should be able to run with the crew of wolves that further complicated his life.

Except he couldn't.

"Yes I understand I'm a big bad werewolf now but really, I dont want to hurt those cute little rabbits and deer, can't we just wait until we transform back to eat?" He shrunk back when some of the others glared at him with condescending exasperation "That's not how it works? Well can't I just eat before I transform so I won't be hungry–I'm sorry I'm just new at this and I'm sorta trying to go vegetarian here–"

"Jack did you really have to pick the pansiest lilly in the fucking garden? Christ the stupid cunt won't even eat what he can get!" Dimitri, a southern english blond with a thick accent and the worst case of resting bitch face Josh had ever seen on a wolf, colorfully hissed at the alpha of the pack.

"I figured the guy would make a mean wolf. Fuck me sideways, I was wrong." Jack, their leader and the stockiest member of the group, grumbled as he glared daggers at Josh "Fucking smarty pants too good for meat?"

"Might make a good bitch." Yuri, Jack's second in command and a rather spineless idiot, offered with a barking laugh that made everyone else chortle while Josh blushed furiously and looked down.

"Ugh... You guys are assholes. I'm just gonna go for a walk." He got up and moved out of their den, an old abandoned cabin that had definitly seen better days. The stench of wolf didn't help.

"Good luck finding any food, Flower Boy, werewolves are carnivores. You gonna die for being a pussy." Jack called out behind him, getting a hearty laugh out of everyone else in the cabin.

Josh kept his back straight and his head held high, but if his tail had been showing and his ears were just a bit more wolfish, they'd have hung low in shame and sadness.

Not even a group of outcasts wanted anything to do with him. That certainly took the cake.

---

As it turned out, the others were right. As much as Josh wanted to be a vegetarian (a thought he'd had since primary school), the wolf couldn't properly process green foods. It was frustrating, because he didn't want to kill any animals. The thought of blood and gore made him shudder, even if the idea of salty iron tang made his stomach croak painfully with want. He was hungry. Very hungry.

"Think Josh... If vegetables and fruits aren't an option, then what else...?" He mumbled to himself as he walked. He needed to feed, otherwise the wolf would have a few things to say as soon as he got too hungry to keep in control.

His wolf was gentler than the others in the pack, but it was still a wild animal and hunger tended to do strange things to the mind. Especially one driven by the more primal instinct to survive.

He noticed a stream running downhill and got an idea. It wasn't a deer or a rabbit, but if bears could get nice and fat from eating fish, surely he could sustain himself on them as well? It was just a matter of catching some.

"Well, I don't have anything to lose from trying..." He figured, as he took off his clothing and folded it neatly. He set it by a rock near a massive tree, marking it with his sharpened fingernails before letting himself change into a huge dark coated wolf.

The feeling was still strange and painful, but his worries eased considerably as an animal. The world was a much simpler thing for a wolf.

With a hearty howl the wolf sprung towards the stream, hell-bent on catching some dinner.

---

"You know..." A female voice startled Josh as he pathetically crawled up onto the sandbank. A young woman was sitting there, holding a fishing cane and other assorted supplies. She had red hair, wore clothing that looked a bit too big on her, and a pair of heavy boots that looked to have steel toes. "When I saw you climbing out of the stream I was fishing in dirty, wet, and naked, I assumed you had just survived some kind of intense mob hit or something..."

Josh gulped as she set aside her tools and crossed her arms. She was smirking at him.

"But really you had just detransformed from a werewolf after you were playing in the water trying to catch a fish, and ultimately failing." Had she been watching him the entire time? "Nice ass, by the way..."

Yelping as he remembered he was completely in the nude, Josh picked up the nearest thing to cover up. It looked all the more pathetic considering the flat rounded rock was much too small to cover much.

"Easy there. It's not like I've never seen a dick before." The woman rolled her eyes "Now, before I go get my ma's shotgun, state your business here dog boy. You and your pack off to cause us trouble?"

"I... Uh no, no? I'm not..." He shook his head. "I'm not with my pack and uh, I didn't even know anyone lived here."

"We don't. The cabin is a summer retreat." The woman shrugged "What's a wolf doing trying to fish alone?"

"Could you not call me wolf? I have a name..."

"So do I. What a small world."

Josh grimaced before looking back where he came from. He should go get his clothes.

"I... Should get going."

"Hm... Yeah sure. Whatever. Try not to scare the fishes even more, you just cost me and my friends our dinner."

"You have friends?" That was hard to believe. The woman had been nothing short of unpleasant for the entirety of their short-lived and awkward conversation.

"Yes. One of them has a crossbow. Beat it pooch." She glared.

He didn't need to be told twice.

---

A couple of nights later, Josh had finally mastered his fishing abilities and was anxiously awaiting the rise of the full moon.

He hated going back to the den, but cuddling for warmth was the only way not to freeze to death in the woods, and it was risky to wander off too far without the pack. There were other wolves and worse, bears.

Not that his pack cared that he ran off anyway.

Still, as soon as the moon rose he could slink off to the stream and catch himself a good meal. He'd found a massive school of fish in a hole that lead to an underground pool. The fish either got stuck there by accident and couldn't leave due to low lighting, or were just too greedy when feeding on the vast surplus of food that the hole had to offer them.

All the better to keep him nice and full.

He had almost completely forgot about that woman from the other day, until he'd rushed off on all fours towards the stream and caught an odd sent in the wind.

The wolf grumbled in annoyance at the intrusion, but its curiosity was just as great as its human side's.

On feather light paws, it crouched and tracked the sent, before a whiff of grilled fish made its mouth water.

In the same spot Josh had met the woman, were three humans making dinner out of a bucket of large fat fish. It seemed like the redhead was a skilled fisherwoman.

"It's a loud night." A man with a shaved head, tan freckled skin and heterochromia, commented as he listened to the occasional howl in the distance. This trio was far away from the pack's hunting grounds, so there was no danger.

"Werewolves. I met one the other day..." The redhead murmured. "Took me longer to get a catch because the dumbass was flopping about like a drowning lamb."

"You met a werewolf? How come you didn't say anything, North?" A blond man with tired eyes and pale complexion asked.

"Didn't seem important at the time." North huffed "Besides, at the mention of my shotgun and your crossbow, he fled."

"You mean your mom's old shotgun. That thing is rusty as hell North. Wouldn't kill a fly..." The freckled man chuckled "But in all seriousness, Simon's right. You should have said something."

"Oh lay off Markus. It's fine! We're not staying much longer, just a couple of days anyway, and the wolves are far away."

The wolf watched them curiously. They were an odd trio. North, Simon and Markus.

Their names sounded... Nice somehow. And their interactions were all in good jest, rather than aggressive.

Whining softly, the large wolf lay down and kept watching them. It's heart ached for companionship it did not get from it's peers.

The blond's head perked up suddenly.

"Did you hear that?"

"Not everyone has your bat ears Simon..." North pointed out. "What's up?"

The blond didn't reply, instead staring off into the treeline where the wolf hid.

Had he heard it? That was impossible, humans didn't hear that well.

The man squinted, before getting up. His posture was intimidating to say the least, and the look in his eyes was one of warning.

Before anyone could say anything, or the wolf could process what was going on, the blond was right in front of it with his lips curled back so the wolf could see his long fangs. A vampire.

"Simon!" Markus called out, seeming just as startled at the wolf. "Don't do that!"

"We've got a wolf!" The blond called back.

"Is it big and got black mottled fur?" North asked from where she was sitting.

"Yes."

"Same guy from last time. Hey you caught any fish yet or just did a bad impression of the Little Mermaid?" The redhead grinned.

Simon rose an eyebrow in question before noticing the grimace on the wolf's face.

"I don't think it liked that."

"It can say that to my face. Come on, bring the thing over, if it didn't pounce us yet, it's not going to."

The vampire shrugged and looked back at the wolf, still suspicious, before motioning for it to get up and follow. The wolf decided it best not to argue, especially when the redhead offered a grilled fish.

It had been ages since it ate something cooked.

---

"So you really do run solo, don't you?" North asked in the morning, when the moonlight was no longer coursing through his veins, and after they'd all introduced themselves at the cabin.

The redhead hadn't been kidding about owning a shotgun. It was on display at the cabin, but it was also rusted to kingdom come. Markus had been right about it not harming a fly.

She used it as a threat to intruders. Uninvited guests were unwelcome, which was funny considering she had invited a vampire and a wolf into the threshold.

That was certainly some risk taking. Not that he was complaining.

The offered blankets had been so soft he'd practically rolled around in them when he woke up. The texture felt nice against his bare skin. It helped ignore the dull aches and sores of transformation.

"I prefer it." Josh replied. "It's calmer when I'm on my own. Quieter. Easier to get food and rest instead of getting pounced on and forced to submit to some asshole's command..."

Simon held the blanket he'd covered himself in tightly as he took a sip from a glass. The breakfast table was nicely organized, and he'd given them all plates of pancakes and glasses of orange juice. He himself ate nothing and drank a tinted glass that Josh's nose noted was full of pig's blood.

"Sounds rough." The blond commented as he shielded his sensitive skin from the sunlight creeping into the cabin.

"It is... Honestly though I hate my pack so much, like theyre a bunch of assholes but I ran into you guys on my full moon run in the forest and..." he shrugged "I don't know you seem pretty cool..."

"We seem cool? Bitch we're the coolest." North grinned.

"North..." Markus rolled his eyes. "Well... Uh, aren't werewolves social? Running solo seems very lonely for a wolf."

"It is but uh... I don't know, I was hoping I could sorta... You know." Josh stammered in embarrassment "Go hunting or scare some people or some shit? With you guys? I know this lake thats always really warm, I can show you... and uh, there's this hole in the stream that's full of big fat fish that just kinda hang in there? In case you uh, needed more?"

The three looked among each other debating what to do. They only had a couple of days left at the cabin and Josh would surely be lonely after they left.

North looked back at Josh before looking at Markus intently.

"... No." The heterochromatic man said flatly.

"Oh come on, we kept the vampire living in your attic, can't we keep this poor lonely lost puppy too?" North put on an exaggerated pout.

"I'm not a puppy. Also you were living in Markus's attic?" Josh asked Simon incredulously. That seemed a bit weird.

"Technically his dad's attic which technically is my attic because that mansion has been in my family for generations, but yeah sure let's go with that." Simon shrugged.

"A vampire doesn't shed or howl." Markus argued with North.

"I don't shed!" Josh was slightly offended.

"Come oooon. I can walk him, and feed him, and teach him cool tricks." North grinned.

"What the fuck is happening right now?"

"Your pack sucks and you're nice. You're getting adopted by the two most insufferable humans in this part of Michigan." Simon smiled "Don't worry. You'll get a bed, access to hot water and tv, as well as treats. They'll spoil you rotten."

"...Well I can't argue with that." Josh snorted. "I haven't showered in months and the smell of wet dog after I take a dip in the lake is pretty bad."

"Good choice." Simon laughed "Come on Markus, you always did say you wanted a pet."

"I was thinking along the lines of a canary or cockatoo..."

At the end of their trip to the cabin Markus relented, having grown very fond of Josh, and the werewolf collected what little belongings he had at the den before joining them at the cabin and sitting in the back of North's car with Simon.

The other wolves wouldn't miss him anyway, so he didn't bother to say goodbye. If anything he hoped he'd not hear from them ever again.

Thank god his wolf had a good eye for nice folk. North, Markus and Simon were weird, but they were his brand of weird.

He could get used to not living rough for once.

[caddy-whump-us]

Bloodlust

As promised, vampire whump, featuring new OCs Etienne and Viktor. 

In this version of vampire culture, there are postulates (human servants of the vampires who hope to be made vampires one day), Black Swans (human pets; humans kept by vampires for feeding on without the immediate intent to kill, possibly to be made vampires one day), and Lambs (humans kept or captured purely for feeding on with immediate intent to kill). 

Caution for blood, gore, human and animal death (carnivores and all).

His first kill had been a Lamb, brought to the ceremony for that very purpose, to be his first kill. And it had been a savage kill: all he could think of was blood and meat. He had thrown himself screaming at the Lamb. But he hadn't the experience his master had and had torn out the Lamb's throat to get at the blood he scented there. And it had been good. So good that he stayed latched onto the Lamb's throat still trying to drain just another drop, just one more drop from the body. There had been nothing in the world beyond blood and meat.

Viktor had had to throw a basin of cold water on him to get him to loose the corpse. (Had the Lamb been a woman or a man? He couldn't yet recall.)

Perhaps in other situations, where vampires had been made (born? begotten?) in haste or on the streets, anyone would have served for that first kill. But his master and the other vampires had brought the Lamb knowing that he would be starving and wild with bloodlust. Newborn, he was more animal than anything else.

No sooner had they pried him from the corpse but they were upon him again--only the vampires; the mortal postulates wouldn't have the strength. The collar was on him again (and he strained against it) and the manacles were on his wrists again (and he strained against them too). Pinned against the floor but still starving he had been eyeing the postulates that patiently attended the ceremony and panting and sniffing like a wild dog: he could smell their breath and blood, and could see the blood moving just below their skin, and could hear the beating of their hearts. He licked at his teeth like a wolf and tried to lunge at the circle of postulates.

That had been when his master had first put the muzzle on him--which had confused him, because it smelt of flesh but dead flesh, leather--and drawn it up under his chin. He had fought it, tossing his head from side to side, but only found himself held still by stronger hands. Buckled behind his head, it covered Etienne's mouth from ear to ear. And, bucked at the top of his head, it kept his jaw locked shut. But his teeth still chattered behind it as he longed for the killing bite again (and again and again and again).

They wrapped him in chains and carried him, writhing and thrashing, howling like a beast, down to the cellars again, where he had begun his days in this house. 

That had been the unceremonious end to the ceremony and he had been chained to one of the great stone columns in the cellar since as his master waited for the bloodlust and the madness to burn itself out.

That had been three days ago. He had howled through gnashed teeth all through the next day and the next night. Then he had gone still to listen to the footsteps (both mortal and immortal) in the house above him and to all the sounds of night around him. But now his thirst was becoming an agony. He was weak now with thirst and leaned against the column or hung from his chains and ground his teeth inside the muzzle.

But it was then that Viktor came down the stone stairs of the cellar at last, bearing a candle. Etienne watched him and sniffed at the air over his muzzle, longing for the scent of blood. Dawn would be coming soon; Etienne could smell that. And storms--it would be a stormy day as well.

Viktor crouched before him, holding the candle between them. Etienne pulled against his bonds towards him, longing and hungry. 

"Etienne," Viktor said, "I have a gift for you."

A bright burst of laughter in the house caught Etienne's attention. Viktor motioned for him to keep quiet and rose. Etienne watching him, but someone was coming--yes, coming down the stairs, yes, now, yes, soon, down the stairs to me to me to me.

One of the postulates threw open the door and, still laughing, led a young man in a university student's uniform down into the cellar.

"It's just here," the postulate was saying, "And you won't believe it when you see it."

"I already don't believe it," the student said, following along.

They rounded the corner and came to the column where Viktor stood with the candle. 

"Good evening, my lord," the postulate said. 

"Lord?" the student asked, somewhere between amazed and amused.

Viktor said nothing, but only brought the candle closer to Etienne so the student, with his eyes still weak in the darkness, could see him straining against this chains and growling.

"What in God's name is that?" the student shouted. But the postulate abandoned him there and went to stand guard at the base of the stairs. And Viktor had the student held by the back of the neck in an instant.

"This? This is Etienne."

And suddenly the student paled. "I know you," he whispered. "I've seen you before."

You. I was like you once, a student. You who are where I should be, save that it was all taken from me. And I, now I am left here, to starve or to murder.

Viktor was leaning over the student. "Perhaps you were in a lecture together or passed one another or shared some friend in common."

"What's wrong with him?" Etienne could smell the student's sweat and fear now; his heart was pounding and it rang in Etienne's ears.

You deserve death for what was done to me.

"Not a thing in the world," Viktor said. "Here, I shall set him loose and you'll see."

"No, please don't--he's a madman--"

But he was half-freed already, now straining only against the chain locked onto his collar. Viktor held him under his chin and unbuckled the muzzle (at last) while Etienne scrabbled against the floor. For here was fresh blood, human blood, which he had first tasted three days ago and wanting it again brought a fever on him.

The student tried to run, stumbled, and scrambled towards the stairs again. But too late: Etienne was loosed and lunging across the floor.

There was no hunt; there was precious little chase. The student fell and Etienne pinned him to the ground. And though he struggled, grabbing at Etienne's face, hair, bloodstained shirt, he could not free himself. He screamed, he wept. Etienne pulled the student's head back by the hair, revealing his throat (the same gesture his master demanded of him so often, so many different times) and at last could slake his thirst.

The postulate went back upstairs. Viktor watched as Etienne gnawed at the dying student's throat, lapping up blood in gulps and swallows. 

Sated at last, Etienne sat back on his heels and sighed. The student's throat was ragged, with throat and cords and tendons and flesh gnawed--the whole looking more like a frayed rope than flesh. Blood coated Etienne's face and his neck, down the front of his shirt, and across both wrists and hands. But he only gazed blissfully at the ceiling, satisfied.

Viktor crept up behind him and slipped the muzzle back onto his face; Etienne barely resisted and licked his mouth inside the muzzle, seeking any last trace of salt and copper. His shirtfront was stained with blood. He would have licked at his fingers if he could. His master led him back to the column and chained him again. But he was soothed now and writhed in his chains more like a drunkard than a madman. The blood warmed him and he breathed clouds of steam into the cold air of the cellar.

Viktor set his hand on Etienne's head and whispered to him: "We have all endured this same madness."

The postulates came down just before dawn broke to collect the body. Though Etienne was chained to the column again, he was very still, kneeling there. The only part of him that moved were his eyes, which followed the two postulates as they wrapped the body in a winding sheet and carried it back up the cellar stairs again.

He leaned against the column and thought of the feeling of flesh between his teeth, of the student's heartbeat pounding towards death, of the warmth of blood at the back of his throat. He would taste it again. For now he waited. In time Viktor would come down and feed him spoonfuls of pig's blood, brought fresh from the butcher's shop by one of the postulates or some other servant, to tide him over.

Etienne closed his eyes after swallowing each spoonful and Viktor would stroke his hair.

"Soon you will be well enough to return upstairs," he said, bringing another spoonful of blood to Etienne's lips; he doled it out like medicine. "And I have a place for you to sleep--dark and safe and much better than these cellars."

Etienne would tremble and open his mouth like a baby bird, hoping for another spoonful of blood (even pig's blood was better than thirst) and his master would smile and perhaps indulge him.

"Do you understand now why I did all those things to you when you first came here? Why you were left hungry and cold and desperate so many nights? Why I trained you up with such care? Why I was obliged to use the whip? Why I hobbled you until the time was right? It was all for this. So that you could survive these first days.”

Viktor brought him a live dove the next day and held it over him while Etienne, unmuzzled and panting with desperation, waited for the word or the blood.   With a silver knife, his master cut into the dove very slowly and only fed his newborn child drop by drop, but it was enough. Etienne sank to his knees and sighed, wiping the dove's blood from his chin and licking his fingers.

Soon it was rabbits, brought in live and set loose in the cellar so Etienne could learn, at last, to hunt--not simply to lunge and tear, but to hunt. Now he could hide in the shadows and listen for the small, soft sounds of the animal's footsteps or heartbeat. Now he could learn to toy with his prey, not simply devour it. But Etienne was still more beast than anything: barefoot, collared, filthy with dirt and blood, still chained, but his eyes were growing clearer now and no longer had the feverish glitter of bloodlust. 

And, at last, though Viktor still kept him collared and leashed, he said to Etienne, "Come. Come back upstairs, and join us."