The Nosferatu Adventures
page 60, chapter 60
"How long was I gone for?" our heroine asked sitting up.
"Long enough to give me two pulled muscles in my back carrying you in here. No more gingerbread for you." Dagan commented as he flopped down on the corner of the sofa. Reuben leaned over the back of the sofa then, his hands dangling between them, while Finn stood there his arms crossed over his chest a look of shock on his face.
"What were you drinking?" Reuben asked. Our heroine shook her head resting her pale fingers at her throat.
"I don't remember." her voice was a low hush as she looked around the room. Standing up she turned staring at the back wall just behind them. "There should be something here." she commented, stepping up onto the sofa, forcing Reuben to stand back up straight, as she opened her arms wide pointing. "Against that wall." climbing over the back of the sofa, she moved towards the wall, running her hands over it.
"This place looks just as it did when we arrived." Reuben assured her, as he leaned on the sofa again. "All but the destroyed door." he tossed the comment at Finn.
"You mean that door?" the familiar said waving his hand towards the broken splitters that were scattered across the floor, as they magically pieced back together and fitted themselves into place. "Door looks fine to me."
"Again, I ask you why are you still here?" Dagan stood now, his hands at his back staring at Finn.
"I still have 4 hours till sunrise."
Dagan shuffled towards the female, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I think you are just a little oxygen deprived from being dead. Again." he grabbed her shoulders pulling her away from the wall. "There is nothing wrong with the wall." he tilted his head pouting as our heroine was about to say something else but he wouldn't let her. Letting out a deep sigh she grabbed his wrist dragging him back outside.
"Something is missing from the wall. I don't know if it's a painting, or what but you've got to believe me. I saw something just as I was coming to...er, back to life...waking up whatever you want to call it."
"Okay, what do you think you saw?" Dagan was smiling at her, his blue eyes sparkling. "I'm waiting."
"A large jellyfish."
He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes wide, licking the corner of his mouth. "Oh of course. The jellyfish. The one that was..." he took a step back his arms out as he spun in a slow circle before facing her again. "...in the living room on the far wall. Right next to the book case and the lantern." he leaned forward, one leg now crossed over the other as he tapped his forehead smiling. "The big green slimy invisible jellyfish that sat like a trophy in the middle of the living room..." he took another step towards her, leaning in so that he was just a centimeter away from her, this time tapping her dead center in the forehead. "...mounted in the frame on canvas with the spotlight. That one." Dagan snickered at her, resting his forehead against hers. "Do you need to feed? Is that it? Were you dead just a bit too long this time? Low blood sugar?"
"I wasn't dreaming if that's what you're thinking."
"No of course you weren't dreaming." he made a noise as he closed his eyes continuing to laugh. "You were dead, can't dream if you're dead." he opened his eyes again shaking his head, his forehead still touching hers. The werewolf cleared his throat then, as he heard the sound of leaves crunching not far off, the smell of another werewolf in the air.
"So all is well then? You two..." Rolf asked as he made his way through the woods towards them. A smile crossed his face when he spotted them standing there
"Alright alright alright." Dagan said his hands up in the air in a surrender gesture. "Noooo! Never happened." he said backing up about five feet.
The larger wolf ran his hand through his hair, brushing it out of his face as the grin turned then into a look of puzzlement. "So Reuben is our alpha? He actually decided to..." our heroine shook her head, her hands clasped behind her neck.
"No one claimed anyone. There was no shacking up of any kind." the female said blushing.
"Then what happened? It's still a few hours till sunrise, the moon is still full and that means, it never reverted back to you...so what gives?"
"I died. Well, to be more precise, he killed me. Again. That's like what, five times now you've killed me?"
Dagan nodded in agreement. "Haven't been counting." Rolf grunted as he crossed his arms over his massive chest, his shoulders slouching. Our heroine went back into the cabin, leaving the males standing in the light of the moon. Dagan started to chew on his bottom lip as he slapped his buddy on the back. "It all worked out for the best."
Rolf grunted again as he turned to look at his friend, making a face as if he'd tasted something bad. "Why did you never tell me that the sire bond can be completely broken?" he shifted his weight slightly, the look of disapproval in his blue eyes. "Huh?"
Dagan nodded, looking at the ground as he started to wipe his feet, his eyes turned up to look at the other man from under his lashes, scratching then at his eyebrows. "I forgot. Besides...it's just a little...I mean...we have...and there was the rose garden to dig through..." he stammered.
"You forgot? Na, man that's just..." Rolf shook his head licking his lips as he moved past him following our heroine into the cabin. "Who's he?" he asked gesturing towards Finn.
"Rolf, Finn. Finn, Rolf." our heroine said not bothering to look at either of them as she started to flip through the large spell book that Reuben had been reading. "Huh." she said rotating the book sideways, "Finn what did you know about the old witch who lived here?"
He shrugged, making his way towards where she was sitting, leaning on the kitchen table beside her. "Melinda. She was one of the members of my witch's coven. Why?" our heroine slid the book towards him pointing to a page.
"If I read this correctly, she was a seer herself. She wrote about having a vision about one of her children before they were even conceived." She looked then up at Rolf. "Speaking of, is our human crystal ball back at Ash's cabin with him and Clive...er Leo...er the King. Just what are we calling him these days? Since he's not seeming to want to be all kingly."
"The Seer went hunting hours ago, haven't heard from him since and as far as the king is concerned...I don't know. Oh but that reminds me." Rolf reached into his back pocket holding up a small leather pouch. "I'm suppose to give you this. The King...Leo made it." Rolf handed her a necklace made out of suede, the charms were a single owl feather between two sharp animal teeth. She guessed it was cougar. "He said he noticed you weren't wearing your mermaid one anymore."
"I lost it back at the castle." she took the gift getting Finn to help her tie it in place. The placement then of Finn's hand on her shoulder did not go unnoticed by the larger male. Sniffing, his eyebrows knitted together in worry.
"Who are you again?" Rolf asked, flicking his hair out of his face, leaning back against the wall.
"Finn. I'm a familiar, my witch sent me here because she sensed trouble." he let his hand slap his thigh. "I'll be gone in a few hours once the sunrises. Back to my cat form."
"Uh huh. I'm going hunting. Reuben you coming?" the large male said turning and walking out the door of the cabin. Raising his eyebrows, Reuben made a duck bill with his lips as he followed his buddy. "We need to find where Dagan went. I don't trust that guy."
"I've been human before, twice. Both times sent by my witch to help other witches. Both crones." Finn said running his hand through his short hair then gesturing towards her. "You're the first mother I've been sent to."
"I'm not a mom. Vampire can't have kids."
"I didn't mean it literally, I just meant going by your age you're not in the crone stage and I'm guessing that you're not in the maiden stage, so that would put you in the mother stage according to the three forms of the goddess."
"Got it." she raised her chin squaring her jaw as her words slithered out expressing her annoyance. She sighed, just as Finn leaned in kissing her. "Okay, what the hell was that?"
"I told you, I've only been in human form around old women in their last years of life. And chalk it up to curiosity killing the cat."
"Well, careful or else it will be someone else who kills the cat." our heroine shook her head. "I have no idea why I said that."
"Tell me about the sire bond, how does that work? Him being wolf and all?"
"We fight all the time, lots of trying to one up the other, insulting each other, sometimes it's borderline flirting. And that's when we're getting alone. There's an odd comfort level with each other, and don't like to be apart for long."
"So are you his mate?" Finn asked.
"No. He's not interested in me. None of them are. And as Dagan likes to point out, I'm just not pretty."
Finn shook his head his tongue running across his teeth. "But that is just a shell. Not what counts. And as any crone will tell you, a shell withers. I mean, look at me." he raised his hands out to his sides. "This is just a shell, temporary."
"But it's a really nice shell as far as males go." our heroine said.
Meanwhile...
Dagan sat with his back against a tree, tossing handfuls of grass and rocks into the lake, the half eaten deer beside him, as he waited for Reuben who was still hunting. Rolf was sitting a few feet away by the campfire, a look of worry etched on his face. Both men turned silent, as their ears twitched with the sound of someone screaming in the distance, the scent of another werewolf suddenly filling their nostrils. Dagan said nothing at first as he continued to sit there, rocking slightly, slamming his back against the tree, bored.
Reuben emerged from the darkened woods, his hair matted with blood, his face smeared in it, a large white wolf limp in his arms.
"We've got trouble." he said carefully placing the creature on the ground, as the other two quickly moved towards him, Dagan crawling. "This wasn't a hunting accident. There are no bullet marks, no..." Reuben choked back his emotions as he raised his hand, then grabbed a handful of his hair. Spinning around he swore.
Dagan knelt beside the dead creature, his eyes cast down, completely silent. Rolf on the other hand, let out a roar of anger as he examined it.
"No teeth marks, no claw marks. Nothing to indicate it was another animal. No marks on the skull..." he sniffed deeply taking a second to process the scents around the creature. "No indication this was done by a human either. This was magical."
tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me (straight up story. But who can stay away from those three werewolves for long eh? And what's Finn really up to?)
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