#dante1

Vrunir had been, once again, dreadfully bored. He was spread over a couch in the common area in the Undercroft, taking up way too much space than he should in a shared area, but he truly couldn't care even if he wanted to. He was humming some song to himself, eyes closed and seeming more relaxed than a slave should. He could feel eyes on him though, like a sixth sense his eyes snapped open directly aimed at the other. "Can I help you?" He questioned, his voice dripping with an annoyed tone. Though, he eyed him up and down and his tone was quickly switching to something more flirtatious, "If you want to take a seat, go ahead," He patted his thigh, smirking cheekily up at him.

Noah was doing his best to actually try and pass himself off as Bastion since he was in his body. It was dumb but it didn't seem too hard. He swaggered around a little more than usual with Bastion's bulkier body, figuring that's what an Alpha werewolf would do. He stood up really straight, chest puffed out, the whole thing. They'd partied together a few times but it wasn't like Noah knew Bastion all that well. Couldn't be too hard though, right? It wasn't like he and Noah were that different.

He didn't love being back in the Undercroft, though with everything all chaotic because of Spring Mischief it didn't seem like he really had to stay there. He spotted one of the newer slaves he didn't know that well but that he'd always found hot and figured an Alpha would go after another wolf. It was strange to be able to instinctively know that Dante was an omega and that that brought out certain protective feelings in him. Weird. Still, he swaggered over and smiled at the other man. "How're you doing? Not gettin' too messed up, I hope? Or maybe you got hit with something fun?"

"Why should I be mad?" Roland's tone was amused as the little wolf seemed almost shy even though he'd been the one to hit him with the spells in the first place. "Oh, I have plenty of suggestions." He used the binding between them to tug Dante closer and wrapped the other arm around him. He'd seen him in the directory and happened to remember his name he'd just never gotten around to renting him as yet. He slipped his hand up into the other man's hair and gripped it tightly, pulling his head back sharply. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help being rough with you given the spell. Surely you won't mind?" Even the feel of their bodies close together like this was exciting and Roland barely gave Dante the opportunity to answer before he caught his lips in a hard kiss, forcing his tongue into his mouth and making a soft sound at the taste of him. He grabbed Dante's wrist and pulled his hand to him, encouraging him to touch. Roland did crave it so at the moment and was impatient for the wolf to oblige him.

Another Monday, another week of leaving her house at dawn only to barely make her way back through the heavily secured door in Bloodhearth by midnight. Astrid made her own hours, and she made them long the way she was used to them being. 

Johann Sebastian Bark met her at the creaky gate that separated her property from the winding dirt street she frequented, walking to and fro the train station each day. Knowing how many women just like her went missing on this island should have worried her, walking alone as she did, but Astrid actively made sure she didn’t let it. There were better ways to spend a lifetime than worrying. 

Tonight the bottle she uncorked at the counter was a $12 red blend from the Bloodhearth gas station. It was worth maybe $4, but she would have paid $50 to be spared checkout boy Johnny Page’s methodic ramblings - emphasis on the meth - at the till. As usual the bottle was carried home under her arm with one hand wrapped around the glass neck, in case she needed to use it as a weapon. 

At home she overpoured it into a thin-stemmed wine glass with a full, round top. The wine sloshed back and forth as it glug glug glugged from the bottle. She corked it and left it on the counter, whistled for her cat and wasn’t surprised when it didn’t come, lit a balsam candle and sank down onto the couch which was low to the ground and covered in thick fur blankets. 

She sipped and sighed and considered slipping her fingers under the waistband of her good sweatpants but after another second decided it seemed like too much effort, and then somewhere between flipping channels and taking a quiz to see which extinct species of bug the internet said she was, Astrid fell asleep on the couch and did not awake for some time until the alarm began to ring.

“Five minutes.” Her hand reached out to silence her phone, but all it found was the scorching lick of flame. Astrid shot up from the couch, wine glass shattering against the floor. Smoke reached her eyes before her lungs; she couldn’t have seen the clear way out even before the coughing began and distracted her. At some point in the confusion Johann’s jaw locked around her arm and the dog’s gnarly teeth sank straight down to the bone as he yanked and pulled Astrid through the house, until the beams began to come down and blocked his path. “Shh, it’s okay,” she choked out when the fearsome beast whimpered its apology at only getting her so far. If she could only see, but the tears from the smoke made it impossible. It wasn’t the pain, but the impediment. 

Astrid buried her face in the dog’s thick, midnight fur allowing her brain a second to catch up to her body. No one is coming for you, she reminded herself. She doubted the neighbors would call for help. Once, in the 40’s, they’d set it on fire themselves. To Astrid it didn’t feel like all that long ago. No one is coming, get up. She’d lived in this house for more than a hundred years, built and rebuilt it with her own hands. She didn’t need to see to know her way through it, she knew it by heart. Astrid closed her eyes, took a step forward, and ran face first into some man’s gasmask before vomiting black all across his boots. 

"Wanted me so much you needed to be tied to me and rile me up? All you had to do was ask, petit loup, but I'm certainly happy to oblige. However shall we pass the time?"