calliope

‘This is a curse,’ she had sighed as you sat against the headboard next to each other, while the others were still asleep. ‘And I hate David.’

You were taken aback. ‘I’m struggling to get used to it too, Star,’ you admitted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. ‘But… David? He’s been trying to make things easier.’

She shook her head. ‘He’s a monster. A heartless monster!’

‘He cares about us!’

‘He doesn’t. He wants us as… as pets. How can you not see it?! The way he talks to us, the way he touches us… He just needs to feel like he owns us. Like he can control us. But he doesn’t see us as equals, and he most definitely doesn’t care. You could die right in front of him, Y/N, and he wouldn’t even flinch.’

She had sounded so certain and convincing that she made you doubt him for a few days.

But you had gotten closer to him after the fight at Michael’s house.

‘David?’

Sitting on the couch, he raised his eyes from the spliff he was rolling and waited for you to continue.

‘I think I’m ready.’

He understood exactly what you meant, of course.

He studied you for a few seconds and then smiled, patting the seat next to him. ‘Come here.’

You did as he asked. When you sat down, he wrapped an arm around your lower back and got you to place your head on his shoulder, caressing your hair with the other hand and looking right into your eyes. ‘You sure?’

You nodded.

‘Do you understand what you’re giving up?’

You nodded again and listed it all: sunlight, a normal human life, bearing children, growing old with your family…

‘And what you’d gain?’

Nights being yours, not having to worry about work or rent, strength, eternal youth, immortality, staying with their pack…

‘Correct. You’ll be a great vampire, Y/N,’ he said, caressing your cheek with the back of his fingers. ‘But how about I turn you tomorrow instead, so you get to sleep on it one more time?’

You appreciated that and nodded.

‘Actually, one thing was missing from your list,’ he added. ‘Know that, as the leader of this pack, I’ll always take care of you and protect you. With my life, if it ever comes to that. I should have been able to do that during that horrible fight, too. I hate the fact that I was too busy fighting Michael to see what his brother was about to do,’ he commented through his teeth, looking to the side and shaking his head. ‘I’m so grateful Dwayne was there, though. I never would have forgiven myself if we had lost you.’

You replayed Star’s words and made him look at you as you said it, sounding more confident than ever: ‘Star and Michael never understood you. They didn’t deserve you.’

He needed to hear it. 

He really needed to hear that, after everything that happened.

‘They were an error of judgment. My biggest one, perhaps,’ he muttered, hiding his pain behind his harsh tone and looking to the side. Then, he moved his eyes back into yours and caressed your cheek. ‘Not you, Y/N. I’m so proud of you.’

You smiled.

Then, his voice changed, an innuendo as he raised an eyebrow. ‘Now, is there anything else you want to tell me?’

You knew he was talking about Dwayne.

You blushed immediately.

He caressed it. ‘Aww, you humans. You’re such open books.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t brag or tease too much, if I were you. I’ve been in love with him for months, and you’ve only recently figured it out.’

He raised that eyebrow even higher. ‘Love? I thought it was just a crush,’ he tutted. ‘This is serious.’

You shook your head. ‘It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t feel the same way about me.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘And you do?’

‘I don’t,’ he admitted. ‘He’s not an open book like you. He always keeps everything inside. But I’d try and find out for sure, if I were you, instead of jumping to conclusions.’

‘And make things awkward right when I’m about to join your pack forever? No, thank you,’ I said, lowering my gaze. ‘I don’t want to risk it, David. I-I can’t.’

He sighed, but just as he was about to say something, the others came back.

‘What’s up?’ Paul asked, sprawling onto the couch opposite yours, while Dwayne’s eyes followed David’s arm around your back.

Your leader looked at you. ‘Y/N has decided she’s ready to be turned, tomorrow.’

Paul and Marko clapped and cheered loudly. Dwayne showed you a proud look, the corner of his lips raised.

‘Fucking finally, Y/N!’ Marko commented.

‘Hey, it’s okay if she needed more time, after everything she went through,’ David said in a tone that didn’t allow disagreements. ‘I never doubted her. Anyway,’ he stood up and started walking away, pointing at the bedazzled bottle on the side, ‘I’ll get my blood ready for tomorrow. Unless someone thinks he should be the one turning her,’ he said in a controlled but suggestive tone before replacing it with an almost bored one, shrugging. ‘Well, you all know the rules.’

You furrowed your brows. ‘I don’t?’ you reminded them, standing up and looking around, but David had already left. ‘In what scenario would it be anyone other than our leader, turning me?’

‘Only if you’re romantic with someone else, really,’ Marko explained. ‘So, no idea why he brought it up.’

Paul grabbed your hand and pulled, making you fall onto his lap. ‘I’ll turn you, Y/N,’ he said in his usual playful tone, burying his head into your hair and pretending to bite your neck.

‘Paul, stop it,’ you complained, rolling your eyes and pushing him away.

Marko was still laughing.

Dwayne had quietly made his way towards the exit.

***

You realized David had offered Dwayne the perfect opportunity to say something. He had handed it to him on a silver platter!

But he hadn’t taken it.

As you replayed the whole scene for the fourth time as you got ready for bed and applied your nightcream, you sighed, your stomach feeling even heavier.

It is what it is, you told yourself. I have eternity ahead of me to meet another vampire and fall in love, anyway.

You walked back in your short pajama set and slippers and found Dwayne sitting on your bed.

He stood up immediately. ‘Hey.’

‘Hey,’ you mumbled, confused.

He ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. ‘Do you wanna… go for a walk?’

‘Now? I-I thought you had just gone for one.’

‘I did,’ he acknowledged, looking down. ‘That’s what helped me clear my mind.’

You crossed your arms around your chest. ‘Sure.’

You followed him outside.

The waves crashed ahead of you as you walked up the little bridge next to the cave.

When you shivered, Dwayne was quick to remove his leather jacket and place it on your shoulders.

‘Thank you,’ you whispered, looking down to hide your blushing cheeks.

Seeing him barechested and having his smell on you was already taking away your ability to think. You hated the power he had on you.

Eternity better come soon! you told yourself. I need to move on from this.

After a few more steps, Dwayne stopped and turned towards you. ‘Can you promise me that, no matter how this conversation goes, things won’t be… weird between us?’

You blushed even more.

He clearly has no idea that things are already weird for me!

You couldn’t bring yourself to say a word.

So, he brought a hand to your face and caressed your red cheek with his thumb. 

They both felt even hotter as you held your breath.

‘Okay,’ he said with the hint of a smirk. ‘This is giving me a little bit of hope.’

‘Dwayne, you’re freaking me out,’ you complained.

He frowned. ‘No, that’s the opposite of what I want to do. Really! I just… don’t really know how to do this.’

He sighed. Then, he thought about it. ‘Remember when we stayed out and talked, after taking Laddie back to his parents? And I told you it’s harder for us to identify our emotions and feelings?’

You nodded.

‘Well, it’s not like I haven’t… noticed things,’ he began, running a hand through his hair again and looking away. ‘Like, when you cried for weeks after coming to us, because Max had turned you without your consent... I literally considered killing him myself, at one point, just to make it all go away for you. I thought it’s what you humans call empathy. Or when I saw that kid aim at you, and his arrow left the arch, and it was like the entire world was about to stop existing... I thought it’s because I nearly lost a friend. Or whenever Paul and Marko had their hands on you and I eventually started to feel angry… I thought it was because I was feeling left out. Or whenever I went to sleep and couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it’d be to lie down next to you instead, I thought I just missed connection and warmth. But I was wrong. I—’

He shook his head, cupped your face with his large hand, and crashed his lips against yours.

It took you a few seconds to finally realize it was happening.

By then, Dwayne had pulled away and taken a step back.

Your mouth stayed open, even though you had pretty much stopped breathing.

‘I hadn’t been in love for so long that I had forgotten what it felt like, Y/N. But I know, now. I’ve never been more certain about anything else,’ he said with a half smile, but it quickly turned into a frown as he scratched his head and looked down. ‘What I still don’t know is… how you feel.’

You tried to reply but still couldn’t speak.

So, you broke the distance between you, placed both hands on his cheeks, and kissed him from below.

This time, you both lost yourselves in it, his tongue claiming yours.

Dwayne brought a hand back to your face and wrapped his other arm behind your lower back.

Even as you pulled back to breathe, he continued to give you gentle pecks on your lips, cheeks, and your lips again.

He kissed you properly one more time.

Then, he rested his forehead against yours and took your hands in his, caressing your fingers softly. ‘Thank fuck,’ he said, letting out a sigh of a relief.

You laughed. ‘I’ve been in love with you for months. And I’ve known for months. But I honestly didn’t think you felt the same. We lost so much time,’ you commented, a melancholic note in your voice.

He brought your hands to his lips and kissed them, one at at ime. ‘Well, good thing we now have eternity ahead of us, starting from tomorrow, isn’t it?’’

You smiled and nodded.

‘About that, actually… Can I be the one who turns you, Y/N?’

You nodded frantically and threw your arms around his neck.

You stayed like that for minutes, the seasalt breeze in your air as he held you underneath the night sky.

Then, David watched as you and Dwayne walked back into the cave together, his jacket still on your shoulders and his arms around you while he kept peppering kisses against your temples and hair.

When your eyes met, he smiled. He then showed a slow, silent nod to Dwayne before giving you some privacy.

***

After arranging it with his parents, you finally got to see Laddie again a couple of weeks later.

You went to pick him up as soon as the sun went down, and he gave you a big hug.

You waited until his parents closed the door behind you before asking him: ‘Have you told anyone about vampires?’

He shook his head and showed you a scout’s promise.

You smiled and ruffled his hair. You had so many more things you wanted to ask him, but as soon as you turned the corner and he saw the boys, he lit up even more. You knew exactly who he was gonna run straight to.

‘Dwayne! Dwayne!’ 

The vampire picked him up and held him in his arms for a long hug. ‘I’ve missed you, buddy.’

As you looked at them, reunited, your chest felt full and warm.

When Dwayne put him down, Laddie said hi to the other three, and you all started walking towards the boardwalk.

He filled you in on what happened during the time we were apart: school, and his new friends, and all the meals his mother had cooked for him, and a weekend away with his parents to celebrate him being back with them.

‘What did I miss?’ he then asked.

‘Well,’ Marko began, elbowing you, ‘did you know you’re currently hanging out with five vampires, not four?’

Laddie’s mouth dropped wide open. ‘You did it, Y/N?’

You smiled and nodded.

He gave you another hug, wrapping his arms around your waist. 

But when he pulled back, a frown crossed his little face. ‘I want to become like you, too.’

You kneeled down and caressed his hair. ‘When you’re eighteen, okay? If you still feel that way by then, we’ll do it. Pinky promise.’

‘But that’s so far away…’

‘Hey, you’ll still get to have a ton of fun with us, in the meantime!’ Paul said in an encouraging tone. ‘In fact, how about some cotton candy right freakin’ now?’

That got a smile out of him. He nodded and disappeared with Paul.

You walked up to Dwayne, who immediately wrapped his arm around your back and kissed the top of your head.

‘How are you feeling?’ you asked him.

He nodded. ‘Good. I know I didn’t react particularly well, when you first suggested sending him away but—’

‘Particularly well?’ you repeated, arching an eyebrow as you remembered the way he had shouted at you, the things he said, and how he wouldn’t even look at you when you tried to speak to him.

He looked down, the hint of a blush on his cheeks. ‘I’m sorry, baby,’ he said and then kissed your temple. ‘I already knew you were right. But when I heard him talk about school and his parents, just now, it really sunk in. It was the best thing to do for him.’

You caressed his cheek and smiled.

He lowered himself to give you a long kiss.

‘Woah!’

You turned around and found Laddie staring at you, a giant stick of cotton candy in his hand, his mouth wide open again.

‘I literally asked you what I missed,’ he complained, but luckily, he sounded ecstatic. ‘And you guys left that out?!’

Dwayne laughed. ‘Sorry, buddy. I guess you kinda missed out on this too,’ he said, scratching the back of his head and looking at you. ‘Y/N and I are… together.’

The little boy’s eyes went from his favorite vampire, to you, and then Dwayne again. ‘Finally!’

You furrowed your brows. ‘What do you mean, “finally”?’

Dwayne had the same look on his face. ‘You knew we liked each other?’

‘Err, duh?’ Laddie said, rolling his eyes before biting off a large piece of candy floss. ‘Even a child could see that.’

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Taglist: @misslavenderlady @callisoapy @daes-knight @i-dont-know8111 @xx-owl-xx

Well, this all started out as an EXTREMELY vague idea and concept, and I didn't know how to continue it... or if it was even WORTH continuing.

So, thank you to everyone who commented and encouraged me to develop that initial idea!

Your support really makes all the difference 🥹