I stopped the car on the driveway as we got to my house.
"The Phoenix balls. Lestat throws one every year at his estate; it's basically a classy version of a rave-like masquerade party. Trust me it's really cool and only the top 15 of each faction is invited." Marilyn explained attentively
"Well, I don't really think it's my thing and top of that, I'm not exactly on Lestat's pale side these days." I said, fiddling with my ring.
We both got out of the car but kept the conversation going.
"Pleeeease Lancy, you'll get to see me in a dress and I'll be able to see my handsome dearest all dressed up. Also, Lestat told me he has already bought and paid for a tailored gown for you if you couldn't afford anything so it'd be kinda rude not to go now"
Marilyn said while she got out of the car as well and met me in front of the car pulling me in front of her causing me to fall back onto the hood of Wayne's old-fashioned lowrider.
I guess she had taken off her glasses out of the car without me noticing but we moved her hair behind her and gave a look that made me blush if it were even possible for someone of my complexion.
"Alright, fine I'll go" I said, giving into her charm. The look in her eyes was almost adorable even but it was as if I could get lost in them and not want to come out and it just warmed my heart every time our eyes locked.
"Yaaaay, I'm glad you reconsidered," Marilyn said excitedly, cracking a smile placing her hand on my chest trying her best not to break our gaze.
"Of course," I said to her, looking dead in her eyes, letting them captivate me with their look of passion and desire. I moved to my feet, making her take a step back as I put my hand onto her cheek slowly caressing it as I softly held her with my left.
I could see that she was slowly beginning to blush and if I'm not mistaken, I could have sworn that I had heard her heart literally skip a beat for a moment as if it wasn't beating heavily in a flutter as it was.
I was thinking of one word at the time but her heart-wrenching site let slip that word that she said the last time we were alone…" Please?".
And her response made my heart drop faster than the act that followed, making me fall even more as if she had read my mind.
She put both her hands on my face caressing my cheeks and said "For you anything. My king".
Before I could think of a response, she shifted her hands to the back of my head pulling me close to her giving me a kiss that made me forget about everything but her I wasn't thinking about anything else making it feel like there was nothing else in the world except me and her.
The funny thing about it is that if I look back at that moment the height difference at the time had become clearer like I admittedly was on my tippy toes as it progressed but by GOD, I was happy to be alive.
Marilyn stopped for a moment for which I'm glad because she'd taken my breath away twice, making the second almost literally with the kiss and she had noticed that I was quite literally stepping at my highest to kiss her.
She did the most considerate yet sexy thing anyone has ever done to/for me at the time, she grabbed my hand and swung me around so that we'd be trading places, making her rear face the car as she sat on the hood and me the house making us appear to be at equal height if not closer to.
In a matter of seconds Marilyn pulled me close in front of her by my sleeves and as I had gotten close enough to touch her she moved my head to the side I was about to push her away with the impression that she was about to bite me but in a split second she kissed my neck taking my breath away time again making her smile and kept going as if she wasn't near close to being satisfied, wrapping her legs around mine kissing me under the star-light it was in some cheesy sexy romcom but we stopped a moment.
I pushed away; I could feel that I was letting go of something important. My rut. I could feel my rut being triggered causing me to shift in my face making my fangs and ears grow, and my face bulks up with muscle with my eyes glowing passionate yet raging red.
One thing that I'll never forget is when this happened, she didn't run away or shout, she just put her hand on my chest making me stop moving and simply kissed my forehead.
"Beautiful" she smiled.
"You're not afraid?" I asked puzzled by her expression
"It'll take more than that to scare me off Lancy boy and we're all monsters but I only see someone I'd want to have by my side for as long as supernaturally possible". She said smiling in admiration at everything that I was with her wrists around the nape of my neck and was about to lean in for a kiss until...
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IS!?" I heard Tony yell from the upstairs window. We both looked at each other in the same look of 'Oh crap' to where she hopped off the car scared for her life.
"LANCELOT DU LAC you frickin thief" shouted Wayne bursting out of the front door. "I smoke a joint for one hour and when I look out the door my car is gone"
"You said I could use it though" I told him confused
"Oh yea, that's right" Wayne said laughing
"IF HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF OR ASK ANOTHER QUESTION THEN I'LL KILL THA BOTH OF YOUS MYSELF, NOW GET IN HERE". Tony basically screamed from the window.
Marilyn and I walked inside the house with our heads down with Wayne in front of us like he was in trouble.
I knew that I was mournfully screwed because I not only stole Wayne's car for longer than he said I could but for one, I was beyond my curfew of 9:30 (which is gracious by the all-mighty Tony's standards) but I let myself actually be able to want again.
"Get in here Lance" Tony shouted again from the kitchen
"Yes sir, … I'll be back" I first yelled to tony then whispered to Marilyn
"Go, I'll be fine" she said
I walked into the kitchen where I saw a very upset Tony awaiting me leaning against the counter behind him.
"Alright first off, congrats kid. I know that you haven't really let yourself love or care for most since the day Gwen died but with that being said, what the hell were you thinking lance? You're courting a Priestess, THE, High Priestess. Lance she's practically a queen to the witches so if you even hurt her in the slightest then she could come for us, Witches are predatory creatures JUST like us but the most vengeful as you already well know and it may not be 'rut' or 'mating season' or whateva you wanna call it but ever since her death you almost virtually destroyed your urge to mate but loving her in the slightest reawakens that urge and you need to control yourself when it comes...or you'll turn into Elliot and you don't need that on your conscious much less a war." Tony said before looking down after saying Elliot's name
-
-
Seconds pass as I turn my back to him and lean on the counter and take a deep breath. It felt like the ticks from the clock were mirroring my heartbeat. My breaths were slow, so I fiddled with my ring and took another as I turned around. I sat as straight as possible against the kitchen counter and looked him straight in the eyes and it was the first time in my life that raised my voice to Tony.
"Tony, I love you like an older brother but you know damn well not to say her name especially in front of me and don't call me kid. I'm aware of what can happen if I mess this up but I won't and she won't do anything bad even if it goes bad and I can control myself. The 'rut' isn't going to be a problem I promise and I appreciate you looking out for me homie but I got this."
I replied with a low voice.
"Listen Lancelot, I'm just making sure you thought this through and get pissed at me all ya want pal but I'm the man of the house and I'm practically a parent to the both of Yous so at least show some respect since your own father and mother opted out on that." Tony said furiously
"I'm sorry, what hell did you just say to me?" I said giving him a chance to fix what he said
"Oh, did I strike a nerve? Good now that you're listening, try to see where I'm comin from and what I mean kid." Tony said talking with his hands and stepping closer to me
"That's twice now, don't call me kid, don't push me Galahad. Mention my parents again we'll be having a completely different conversation so Adoptive family or not I'll still beat your ass like anyone else." I said taking a step forward not breaking eye contact
"Aww that's cute Lancy boy, you think yourself some kind of big man now Donncha? Well go on kid try it" Tony said ridiculing my demeanor in a fit to antagonize my rising anger to make a point
"CALL ME KID ONE MORE TIME" I shouted loud enough for the entire house to hear me. I realized that if I had taken a moment to think then I would have seen that he and I literally face to face with my fist balled up with one in a grasp of his collar shirt and the other waiting to strike
"Yo, back up" Wayne shouts as he and Percy separate us before we start a fight that would most likely break the house.
"You two are acting like playground bullies" Marylin says from the hallway keeping her distance.
"Stay out of this witch." Tony kept his eyes on me but everyone knew what he intended. I grip his shirt harder.
"Percy get her outta here. She doesn't need to see these two idiots like this." Wayne put his hands on Tony's chest and pushed lightly. Percy quickly reaches for Marylin and takes her upstairs; I could hear her protest until the door shut.
"Don't disrespect her like that. She has nothing to do with this." Wayne's hand was shoved away by Tony. "He didn't mean that Lance, you both are just heated." He turns his head to me and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"You could hurt her. I only said what I had to say, inter-species couples' risk higher danger levels. You could lose control and kill her." Tony took a deep breath. "I know I'm not your dad, but I care about you both. Stop holding on to Gwen, you have an amazing girl and it wouldn't be fair to either of you to compare what you have...to what you HAD. Let her rest." Tony backed away and leaned against the counter.
I huffed and took a deep breath, gently sliding Wayne's hand off me. "I know, it's just hard... Marylin saw my eyes, and didn't flinch or even look away. I feel safe...and I haven't felt that in a very long time. I want to explore the possibilities that I have but I can't stop thinking of Gwen. She haunts me."
"I understand.". Tony walks to me and embraces me, we stand there for a while.
"Alright this is getting weird now." Wayne Pats our backs and opens the fridge for a beer.
Tony and I pull apart and he pats my shoulder "go talk to your girl, man." He takes the beer away from Wayne and smacks his head. "It's a school night ya fucka."
I walk upstairs and knock-on Percy and my bedroom door. I heard a signal coming in and I slowly opened the door. Marylin sits on my bed looking down at her phone and Percy sits by her feet.
Percy gets up and makes a face. As he leaves and whispers "good luck bro." before closing the door behind me.
"Angel? Are you mad?" I take the spot by her feet on the bed. She pulled her feet closer to her and didn't look up from her phone. "Imma take that as a yes."
She turns her phone off, crosses her arms and turns her head to the side. She reminded me of a pouting child.
"Angel." I slid closer to her and she sat her legs up so her knees were a barrier between us. I raise my eyebrow at her. "Angel, come on. Don't be like that." I slide one arm under her legs and another around her waist and pull her so she sitting princess style on my lap, she turns her head to face the other direction. "Marylin." I try to sound authoritative.
"Did you just "Marylin" me!?" She whips her head to look at me.
"Whatcha gonna do about it?" I smile and, in an instant, she pounces on me. Normally I know she couldn't take me down but I decided to fall into bed. She was sitting on my abdomen and pinned my wrist to the bed. She was making an angry pouty face and I attempted to hold my laughing back.
"What's your deal man? Who's Gwen? Everywhere I go people always bring her up and it's like a sick joke that I'm not a part of!" Marylin sighed heavily.
"The fight was about you..." I see her face change to slightly shocked "...and Gwen is the Woman I killed." Marylin slowly began to sit up, still on me but giving me a questioning look.
" Elaborate." She crossed her arms.
" I have a high rate of putting you in danger if and when I go into rut." I sit up on my elbows.
"Not that part you dingleberry!" She smacks my chest.
"they say your first love is always the hardest but in my case it's one hell of an understatement. She was the first person that I loved but the thing is she wasn't mine...She was with this guy named Author and we had something, ya know? She was the one person in the world who I would have absolutely done anything for, the type of girl that made everything feel so simple and like you were on the top of the world but Author found out eventually and we had this rivalry which was in a word...a massacre."
"We were the two strongest wolves in the faction, making him the king at the time, and I was on the rise taking others out, which made me number two. Author was a jealous king and he saw that even though he was with someone else entirely that me and Gwen were happy together which made us have a....falling out for lack of a better word. It was a boy with the power of over ten men to a god. I noticed that Gwen was starting to act irregularly like stealing ingredients from the garden, forgetting things and wasting time.
One night we went on a date to, the cove, which is a hangout spot by the lake where the wolves go, and one minute it's fine and relaxing and the next she got on top of me at first thinking it was a game or something sexual she started to strangle me and I was trying to make her stop without hurting her so I ended up throwing her off somehow then started running screaming for help but no one and I mean no one came or heard.
She got in front of me doing some type of black magic and stabbed me and said something about a dark or black covenant but I blacked out. When I woke up there was a bonfire with many girls and scents that I could tell were things meant to kill me and she tried to slit my throat but before she could I guess my werewolf fight or flight kicked in and I stabbed her...with my claws and was able to slash the side of another but when I came to my senses Gwen was begging for air choking on her own blood and kept saying she was sorry. The factions almost got into war over this and I'm not allowed in most witch territories without a faction order or consent from a high-ranking witch or Werewolf."
"The Black coven." She climbed off me. "I heard of the rumors but I didn't want to believe that there was a secret coven." She fiddled with her fingers "and that bastard author...UGH!" she threw herself on to me again and held me. "I was the person he was with but Giaus had me as his apprentice at the time, I'm so sorry that happened to you."
"Past is past, it's time to let her rest." I run my fingers through her hair.
"What's about your parents? I don't think any of you spoke about your parents before." She leans into my touch and closes her eyes.
"You're one to talk." I chuckled. "It's complicated...have you heard of the New Cam massacre?". I turned to her as I sat up.
"Um...no, I was pretty sheltered as a kid and didn't hear much of what happened in the world and I was told by Lestat and his family that werewolves were nothing but ruffians and animals but this is a lot to...digest at the moment so could we maybe pick this conversation up another time because this is getting pretty heavy and a lot to take in all at one time? ". Marilyn fixed her glasses and gave a half smile.
"Of course,". I said, mirroring her response.
I could feel a familiar presence coming towards the door. We heard a knock on the door. "Excuse me Lancy, can I come in?" It was Tony.
"Yeah" I said
Tony came into the room looking as if he had just changed out of his work clothes because he was now wearing a fresh but tight undershirt with a rosary and his rings which somehow swayed from the look of shame if not guilt on his face.
"I think I owe both of Yous an apology, what I said was uncalled for and very rude of me. Like Lancy boy over here I was taught to be chivalrous and that wasn't very knightly of me but i really would love it if you could maybe find it in your heart to forgive me darlin?".
Tony pointed at me when he said my name and was classic Tony by cracking a joke to help ease the tension during a serious or sensitive situation.
"It's fine, I was never angry in the first place, also I've heard worse at home so you're good dawg". Marilyn said as she smiled, giving him a wink
He looked at me for reassurance to see if I was angry or upset with him because like other wolves who are close to me, he could actually feel my vibe but I simply gave him a nod to say we were all good and he nodded back to show he got the message.
"Anyways, we have some leftover Chinese downstairs so if ya want?" Tony offered us.
"I'd love to" Marilyn told him
We both get up to go through the door with Marilyn in front of me but while Marilyn goes down the stairs Tony stops me by the door.
"I have intel from the Knights on the west coast. Bodies of humans and Werewolves with slash marks over them, said to be 'rabid animal attacks', were left in a trail from California, to Utah, and Colorado." Tony said using air quotes knowing the media is wrong
"It could just be some Lesser lone Wolf on a rampage so what?" I replied leaning against the door
"All the bodies of said Wolves were completely stripped of power and it fit his MO from the massacre." Tony said
I took a deep breath knowing what it could be but leaving it for later thought and replied "I see".
We walked downstairs to see Wayne struggling to use a pair of chopsticks like really struggling to the point where I'm mostly sure he had one upside down and was using two hands to pick up his chicken with them and was rethinking all his life choices.
"Oh, sweet Jesus , ya poor mutt, get yourself a fork before ya hurt yourself it's freaking sad" Tony shouted to Wayne in honest disappointment and embarrassment of the idiocy we both were seeing.
"Alright fine, the freakin things are impossible to use, I'm surprised that Mary makin it work".
Wayne said getting up to head to the counter draws before we turned to Marilyn after he said that only to see her stop in her tracks stuffing her face like she had a box of noodles in one hand and her chopsticks in the other. She looked so embarrassed her cheeks were blushing, it was so adorable.
"So Marilyn, don't you think you should call your parents to check in or something cause it's gettin' a little late?" Tony said sitting down in a dining room chair right hand over the other showing the prominence of his family ring which was a silver ring that had a red shield-like design with a white cross in the center.
"Oh crap, you're right!" She said with noodles still in her mouth rushing out of her seat whipping out her phone to dial a number that I assume it was that stuck up grouch Lestat because there was an icon on her call screen that had an 'L'.
"Hey as long as you're in this house you ain't gonna talk with your mouth full young lady!" Tony shouted to Marilyn as she jogged away to the porch with her phone to hear ear only to give a faint "I'm sorry" back after swallowing her food I'm supposing.
"What are we gonna do with her, she's almost more of a spazz than you are Lancy" Tony said turning to me as i came from getting a cola from the fridge.
"Hmm?" I asked hearing a part of what he said while opening the bottle
"Anyways ya goof, I wanna make this as clear and inclusive as possible so I don't seem unfair or start steppin' on each other's toes, look I know only a few days ago you were named King, which I still need to get to the bottom of as to why by the way. But please try to go by my rules in this house and not let that crown consume you because for one, you may be the top dog but I still am the one who works to help put food on the table and stop Percy from taking all your hoodies and annoying you as much, with that being said, being king makes you stronger than ever but the power can literally change you as a person Lancy like Author". Tony turned to me after he said Author's name.
"I understand...but speaking of Author I want a search for him because it's been weeks since he was seen and I still don't know or can even remember much of what happened that night". I told him seeing as how that night literally haunts me in ways, I can't comprehend most of the time.
"We already are but there are no signs of him like he just vanished and second seat sur Morty is leading the search and investigation but I doubt that mook could even find the stick up his caboose much less a king." Tony said chuckling as he proceeded to steal my coke from my hand instead of getting his own. I heard the screen door open accompanied by familiar footsteps.
"Hey Tony could i maybe stay the night with Lance, I kinda don't wanna go home cause things are a little tense back at the estate if that's okay with you?" She shouted from the doorway.
"See darlin' usually I'd either say maybe or no outright but Lancy boy has this thing tonight that he needs to do and it's kind of a big thing so it's up to him" he said downing the stolen cola before pointing to me
"What thing?" I asked him, looking confused as I should be.
"Your coronation or rather, your ascension" Tony replied
"Honestly that slipped my mind entirely but I'd rather have her with me for the ceremony plus we could just leave the door open and we can't do anything bad in your eyes cause Percy is gonna be in the room so…?" I said brilliantly smooth-talking my way to getting into Tony's good graces and not complain or say no.
"Alright fine, whateva, just doesn't keep Percy up too late but anyways we gotta get ready soon so look presentable."
Marilyn walks in still talking on the phone "yes…. yes….no, of course not. Uh-huh." She grabs a marker and lifts my arm to her, writes, and proceeds to walk back out. Everyone's eyes followed her then looked at me.
I look to see what she wrote. "Call Jess".