“I do,” Himora stated.
“Don’t get yourself killed. We don’t need Trevor losing his shit and I’m not tryna be stuck being a mother. I’m too young for that.”
The sound of a baby crying grabbed everyone’s attention. The children of the house ran from the back fields, racing one another on foot when one dropped down on all fours in a complete shift to a wolf cub. I stepped to the side, allowing them to rush into the sliding back doors, and ignored my name being called as a dark brown cat suddenly appeared in mid stride. Walking calmly towards the house from within the deep grass and the late summer heat, his eyes were focused and soft paws tipped forward until Raven came out. She had her pig tails with her white hair coming down on each side, a black ribbon tied on the top of each hold, and her usual black dress with the white collar, and ruffled lace socks in house slippers.
“Felix!? It’s about time you got back!” She hollered with her tiny fist on her hip. She stood next to me, barely coming to my waist as she waited for her house pet. “You see, Felix and I go way back…first thing I turned. Well,” she added. “That was back when I figured out what I could do. He’s under my calling now and will be with me forever until I decide otherwise. Most think he’s a familiar and he is…of some sort.”
“How did you figure out you could turn others into a vampire?”
“Oh well that’s easy really,” she laughed as her ponytails swung about. “I figured it out when I was in the middle ofdraining the body. You know that pulse you feel? That little thump on your tongue you feel that keeps them alive as long as possible? Otherwise they start to taste funny… You don’t wanna take too much but just enough to keep em on the brink of life. You gotta trick em…cut a deal with em.”
“Them who?” I asked. She looked up at me with a grin.
“Death.”
Her head turned back to look at Felix who continued to take his time walking towards her.
“When death comes to collect, gotta fool em that it was a mistake or strike a deal…I spoke with death before and she–––”
“She?”
“Death can be a she if she wants to be,” she argued. “She told me,hide the body so they don’t bleed, can’t collect a soul they don’t see. It’s a trick of the mind, body and soul. We all could probably do it. I asked Himora how my brother came to turn her, and she said it was her doing. She figured it out and told him what to do. I sunk my teeth deep into Felix, putting my fixings on him like I usually do,” she huffed with a raise of her chin only for her shoulders to drop as she stared at her cat stopping to lick his paws. “I thought I almost killed him because he hadn’t moved for days. He’s my best friend and I thought I killed him…All of the people that hurt me…Felix and my brother are the two that kept me…right in the mind. They keep me going in this world, raising my daughters, my family and now…I got wolves running around my house like lil summer cousins.”
Raven smiled as she gripped my pants leg to balance herself like an old woman. She bent down to pick up a yellow flower that grew within the weeds of her backyard.
“So how did you know it worked?” I questioned.
“He woke up a few days later, eyes red, and screaming. His fangs were longer than normal, and he was ready to feed. He only listens and speaks to me. Nobody else. His loyalty is to me and my kids, but ultimately, me.”
“Beautiful,” I muttered as I took another pull on my cigarette with a suck of my cheeks. Raven stood upright and glared at me with a screwed face.
“Looky here, don’t you dare mess with that young lady of yours. Let her live her life. She doesn’t need death looking for her because let me tell you, they won’t ever stop looking for her. It ain’t all what it’s cracked up to be. Especially if you turn her or her child against her will…It won’t go well for you.”
“Is it possible for me to become human?” I asked, voice strained. I felt the sudden urge to hurt someone, but I was trying to calm myself down. Birdie already posted pictures of going out a few nights in a row and I knew men were interested in her. Who wouldn’t be? She was a commodity in the Underground as one of the few rare human sightings.
“Why would you wanna do that?” Raven asked as she looked up at me. “You are who you are, why change that?”
“Because I never asked for this.”
“You can only trick death, but you can never beat em in the end. You were dead the moment you were born baby…That is the card you were dealt, take pride, and be proud…Find a way to live within that instead of chasing behind a woman who sees you as nothing but a fantasy fetish anyway.”
I looked down at the little girl as she scrunched her face up at the sun hovering just above her house. She took a step back like a child. Hopping back on both feet that looked more like a small uneven gallop where she was protected in the shade once more.
“Himora became–––”
“Himora,” cutting me off. “Did what she had to do as a mother. She is giving birth to children, so they don’t grow up hating themselves the way you do. You wanting to turn that woman and her child–––”
“Just the woman. I would never hurt a child,” I said. Raven stomped her foot on the ground and looked up at me with a defiant stare and pointed.
“Boy, don’t you dare think about doing it, Bellamy!” She fussed. “I’m serious!”
I smirked. Whether I would do it or not, a small temper tantrum from an old woman cosplaying as a child wasn’t going to stop me from getting my way.
“I tell you what…How about I take you with me to the Exchange Market…I’m sure you know what that is…”
“I let the dealers handle that,” I waved off. One of the many markets I had dealers go look and buy something pretty and nice for my club from drinks to mythics. Rarely did I step foot in those type of places unless there was a money issue.
“I’ll take you with me and I’ll show you how to have your very own progeny. You will be able to feed from her if you want as it's your blood returning to you…You will be able to lay with her and her loyalty to you has no limits. You will have to feed her, take care of her, teach her how to hunt…You even get to rename her…Everything you can do she will have the ability to do.”
