“It might be easier if you knelt on the ground. Lots of us do that while we shift.”
Vince awkwardly followed Zach’s directions, feeling like a fool for being a grown man that had to be told how to do something that even teenagers knew how to do. Hell, for all he knew, the family probably taught children how to shift properly. He’d never felt more out of place than he did tonight, but if it worked, he’d gladly suck up his shame.
The moon’s energy saturated him out here in the wild night, and especially while he sat with barely any clothes on. It was similar to the crazy anxiousness he felt when he and Penny made love, except this wasn’t a sexual feeling. His entire body just felt ready for action… ready for change.
When Zach began growling low and deep in his chest, his glowing eyes focused hard and heavy on Vince, his alpha power washed over him and it was all he could do to keep from screaming.
Zach’s power felt like it was trying to pull every tendon, every muscle, every bone out of his body all at once. Vince’s insides felt like they were tearing themselves apart, and he fought with wanting to wrap his arms around himself to keep himself whole, or stretch his body out to try to fight the cramping and tearing of muscles he could feel and hear happening inside himself.
He heaved when his stomach literally wrung itself like a washcloth, then decided the hell with trying to stay quiet. He screamed in holy agony, his entire body shaking and sweating worse than he’d ever felt in his whole life. He thought for sure he was going to die and almost didn’t care, so long as the pain stopped.
**
All of Anthony’s senses were focused on Vince, though he couldn’t bear to watch him. The jaguar wasn’t whole. Something was missing from his energy, something important to all shifters. What that was, Anthony wasn’t exactly sure, but he felt it.
He looked around himself, unsettled that he could sense more things every day, things he’d never known where there to be sensed.
And Zach tried his best, he really did, but Vince was in nothing but pain at his attempts to get him to shift, and it was getting harder and harder for Zach to hold back his own animal at the same time. Anthony could feel it through their blood connection as well as see it in his eyes. They’d turned into his cat eyes almost as soon as he’d thrown power at Vince, and they never turned back.
Ed had already succumbed to his shift and tried to patiently wait for Zach, but he was nothing but a distraction now. Zach growled in his direction, then gave one more incredible pull of power, but all it did was force more screams of agony from Vince. Anthony was about to tell Zach to stop when he suddenly faltered, then fell to his knees, gasping.
“I’m sorry Vince. I can’t do anymore. That’s as much as I have in me.”
It was disconcerting to listen to Vince gasping in pain as he awkwardly shook and trembled, trying uselessly to find comfort. He lay on his side and kept curling into the fetal position only to immediately cry out and straighten his body again. He arched his back as he pawed at the ground, then curled up and held his stomach tightly. He dry heaved as he continued looking like he couldn’t decide whether to lay still or keep moving.
Anthony said to Zach, “Go. You need to shift. I’ll watch over Vince for the rest of the night and get him home safely. Father, you as well. Feel free to tend to Daphne.”
Isaiah gave him a tense look, then nodded and excused himself. Gossip was starting that Daphne, his father’s wolf girlfriend that he’d brought home with him after years away from the family, wasn’t happy living in the meager apartments in Brookhaven. Even quieter gossip was that Daphne was starting to spend more time socializing with other wolves, and in particular, Tristan, Anthony’s daytime business assistant. Anthony had never smelled Daphne’s scent on the man, but all that meant was that they hadn’t slept with each other.
He scowled at those thoughts, not wanting to know so much about people’s personal business, and especially not if it brought pain to his father. They might not be incredibly close, or even see eye to eye on a lot of things, but his father was his true family and because of that, he cared what happened to him.
Zach looked torn by indecision as he sat on his knees, sweating with exertion from holding back his own shift while he’d tried to force Vince’s out of him. Ultimately, he knew he’d have to transform, so he shakily started stripping out of his clothes. Anthony locked eyes with him, his cat eyes bright and desperate.
He nodded once. “Go.”
He grimaced and let his shifter magic pour over him. His muscles quickly morphed and bones popped and snapped as they should. He dropped to all fours, his face shifting shape until a snout and cat ears appeared and, finally, black hair poured over his body as his tail grew. The entire shift took only seconds, though that was because Zach was an alpha and because Zach himself had a special talent for shifting faster than Anthony had ever seen anyone do. Vince looked mesmerized by the sight, and Anthony had to admit it was hard not to be amazed, even after seeing it for so many years.
Zach’s gleaming black cat stepped forward, pressed his nose to Vince’s shoulder, then raced off into the night.
Anthony reached down and draped a blanket over Vince’s twitching, shivering body, not sure what else to do to quell the bitter disappointment that now hung thick in the air.
**
The full moon’s pull, or maybe Zach’s power as alpha made Vince feel delirious. He wasn’t even sure he saw what he thought he saw when Zach was just suddenly a jaguar. If that was how a shift was supposed to happen, Vince was well and truly handicapped.
He lost all hope that he’d ever heal once Zach’s cat trotted off. Apparently the blood ritual Zach had done with both him and his mom before they left Brookhaven earlier tonight hadn’t helped his alpha link to Vince, either. Being officially part of the pack didn’t seem to make one bit of difference.
He curled up in pain, his body uncontrollably shaking and sweating. Every single muscle felt twisted and cramped up one minute, then like he needed to stretch the next. He screamed as the most horrific stomach pains he’d ever had ripped through him, his body feeling like it was eating itself alive.
Through chattering teeth he managed to get out, “Please don’t let anyone see me like this.”
“No one can see you. I’m still using my power to conceal us. No one can hear us either.” Anthony’s voice was oddly settling to his nerves.
“Is that bullshit or is that true?”
He sounded completely no nonsense when he said, “I’m a Master Vampire, Mr. LaRue. I have many powers.”
He gasped, “Vince. Call me Vince.”
“Vince. I can put you in a trance if you like. Then you wouldn’t feel any pain.”
He whimpered in disbelief. “Would I still have my mind?”
“No. But it wouldn’t be permanent.”
“Then no.” His muscles shook in a bad way, but he’d get through this. He’d been laboring through monthly nights of torture for years now. “This’ll pass. I’ll be fine.” But he wasn’t at all certain of that. This time was way different from any other night. This time he’d had the magic of an Alpha Jaguar trying to pull his very soul through his flesh, and this time it felt completely wrong in a way it never had before.
Anthony startled him from his wandering delusions of souls and men that turned into animals. “I suggest you stay here for a while. Zach wasn’t able to coax your animal out of you, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t still happen on its own. He’s an alpha and his magic is strong, besides that he’s had my blood many times.”
“So he laid some pretty heavy voodoo on me?”
“So to speak, yes. Your body is no doubt trying to figure out what to do with all the energy inside you.”
He made himself stop whimpering and closed his eyes, his face turned up toward the sky. He swore he could feel exactly where the moon was, even through his eyelids. “Talk about something. It’s calming.”
“My talking is calming?”
He grunted out through uncontrollable shakes, “It’s distracting. It helps. Tell me about other shifters who’ve had problems over the years.”
He heard a heavy sigh. “I haven’t seen this issue with any other shifters. At least not for long. Adolescents usually go through this not quite shifting phase of pain and body aches for only a month or two before they finally shift.”
“Awesome. I’m the only shifter ever who couldn’t shift.”
“I assure you I think no less of you for your struggles. I’ve had enough of my own troubles as a vampire to appreciate the situation you’re in this evening.”
Vince shivered as he tried his best to stay still through the cramps in his stomach. More blankets were thankfully pulled up over him to help keep him warm.
“Is any of the pain you feel normal?”
His teeth started clacking he was so cold, and it felt like heaven when the air suddenly warmed around him. “I’ve had bad full moon nights, but this is the worst.”
His head was a mess, but he recognized the rising tide in his stomach. He popped to his knees and dry heaved as his skin itched and his body spasmed. When he wasn’t sure if it was over or not, he gasped out, “Tell me what your troubles were.”
“My troubles?”
“As a vampire. Tell me. Distract me because this fucking hurts.”
The only sound for a time was Vince’s occasional dry heaving, but Anthony did finally start talking.
“My father found me as a human living in the countryside near Rochester, New York. I was thirty three years old by then and had grown up thinking he’d died before I was even born. I knew nothing of vampires and shifters and the supernatural world, but to find I had family after living alone for so many years… It was different back then. The large cities were far away and hard to get to, and the rural towns… I didn’t prefer the people in the town closest to me, so I was alone besides the animals on my small farm. Meeting my father for the first time, well, I made up my mind to do anything to join him. Even become vampire.”
Vince’s dry heaves were getting a little easier to bear, so he laid on his side and let Anthony settle the blankets on top of him again. His breath fogged in the cool night air when he wheezed out, “Keep going.”
It was weird to see that the air only fogged around Anthony when he spoke. Otherwise he wasn’t breathing.
He settled back in the grass next to him, though he looked out into the night instead of directly at Vince. “Father traveled back home to Atlanta on his own where he had a much smaller version of the family we have here today. I sold my farm and made my way here with his most trusted friends. Two wolves. Jonathan and Olivia. When we finally arrived it was daytime, so my father was still asleep. The current Alpha Wolf quickly made it known he barely tolerated my father’s existence, and only because he provided and managed all the finances for the family. He had no intention of allowing him to turn me vampire, or allow any other vampires into a home filled with shifters. So, the house was divided. I wasn’t prepared for that type of greeting, nor was I prepared to see the alpha challenged and killed in front of my eyes. That was my introduction to my new life.”
“Jesus.”
“Shocking. Yes. But there was order to the madness. It was the natural rite of succession for alphas back then, especially when the elder alpha felt his time had come. It was honorable to go out fighting, and it was always to the death.”
Vince shivered and pulled the blankets closer.
“Shall I make the air warmer for you?”
“You can do that?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah man. That’d be good.” His muscles spasmed and he did his best to grit his teeth and bear it. He gasped as pains racked his body, even worse than before, and his skin itched like ants were crawling all over him. To his surprise, the air got even warmer, but his shakes didn’t get any better. “Keep going.”
“Warmer?”
Anthony’s eyes were already glowing a bit. He wondered how much brighter they could get.
“Your story.”
He nodded and leaned back on his hands, looking completely comfortable in the chill night air.
“My father had never turned anyone vampire before, so it was a leap of faith on my part that it would work. Even if it didn’t, I’d already given up my old life so there was no going back. When the time came, though, I was terrified. He’d begun drinking my blood so it was too late for me to back out, but it didn’t stop me from trying. The rest of the night was a blur of pain and in and out of consciousness. It wasn’t until the next night that my real struggles began, though.”
Vince started panting way too fast for some reason. He looked up at the fat, full moon hanging heavy in the sky, and its pull was strong, but it wasn’t doing any good. He had muscle cramps, dry heaves and a killer headache, but still no cat. “More.”
Anthony sighed and a plume of foggy air appeared. “May I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“You’re friends with Kaia, correct?”
“Yeah.” He quickly amended, “Friends. Nothing more.”
Anthony flicked a look at him, then nodded once. “Her transition will take time. Turning her is just the beginning. Once she wakes as a vampire, she’ll need all the help she can get to keep calm and focused as she learns control over her new form. It’ll take an extraordinary amount of effort and willpower on her part to not feel rather insane during the process. Having friends around would help.”
“You want me to hang out with her after she turns?”
“Yes. Please.”
He laid back and closed his eyes. “Sure, no problem man. Now on with your story.” He wasn’t positive, but he thought he felt an ease of tension in the air. Anthony was definitely stressed about Kaia.
“Very well. The first night I woke as vampire, I wasn’t myself. I thought of nothing but sating my thirst, a thirst more intense than anything I’d ever known or even knew was possible to feel. And Olivia… she was the only woman in the room, and once I’d had my first taste of blood from a shifter, all my senses woke. All my desires woke to a maddening degree. It was only by a shaky force of will that I refrained from… taking her. My father immediately slammed me to the ground once I’d let the poor woman go.”
“Shit man. Did you hurt her?”
“I didn’t physically hurt her, no. The possibility had been very real, though.”
“Then what?”
“Then, all the women were told to get out of the house. We also realized the shifters were no match for my newfound strength. I was immediately feared and the stigma of being one to watch out for has never gone away, even to this day.”
“Yeah, but you’re the Master of Atlanta. Shouldn’t people fear you?”
“I wasn’t always the Master. My father was back then. But yes, I’m powerful. I’m also a person, and the less I’m treated like one, the more I blindly drift towards being… inhuman. Kaia helps keep me from that.”
“So it’s super important that Kaia gets through her transition ok. I mean, not just for her own sake.”
Anthony finally looked squarely at him and said, “Yes. I need her too.”
Vince nodded and curled into a ball as his stomach cramped again, and the night wore on with more of the same. “Tell me more. It helps keep me distracted from the fact that I’m not a real shifter.”
Anthony sighed. “We’ll continue to work on that. And I assure you, you’re a shifter. I can feel it. You’re just missing something. I can’t put my finger on what it is, though.”
He waved it away, then noticed how disturbed Anthony seemed at his own comment.
They quit talking about Vince’s problems and passed the time with Anthony telling stories about the old days, back when he was still learning how to be vampire. Vince would’ve thought he’d leave out the embarrassing parts, but the way Anthony described things, every good and bad thing that happened was just a part of life for a supernatural, and the family was prepared to deal with it all, even if they didn’t know how. They were there to try.
He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke, he was wrapped in blankets and being carried through the forest by Anthony as if he weighed nothing.
He felt delirious again as he tried to tell him to put him down, though he wasn’t sure the words really came out or if he was just thinking it. Anthony must have gotten the point because he set him on his feet, though he made Vince put his arm over his shoulder so he could support his weight as they walked to his gleaming car. “Nice.” A midnight blue BMW M5 sedan.
“Thank you. But if you need to vomit, will you please tell me so I can pull over?”
He tiredly slurred out, “Sure thing, man.”
Anthony helped him into the front seat, then adjusted the heaters until he was cozy and mostly dozing off again.
The next thing he knew, they were back home in Brookhaven. Anthony helped him to his apartment, but stopped at the front door, a solid wall of energy blocking them.
“What’s that? Are you doing that?”
“In a way. I’m vampire and am blocked from your home without an invitation. You’ll have to go inside and invite me in, if you so choose.”
He sobered up at that. This supernatural stuff was for real. He opened the door, stumbled inside, his limbs feeling too heavy to cooperate properly, and turned back around. “You’re invited in. Is that how I do it?”
Anthony took a cautious step forward. “Yes. It appears that was enough.” Vince’s knees buckled, and Anthony grabbed him up before he hit the floor.
“I believe it’d be best for you to lay down now.”
Vince was so weak by this point, he let Anthony carry him to his room and lay him in bed. He couldn’t even move his arms, so he just blurted out, “Too hot.”
Blankets were pulled away and he grunted as way of thanks. He closed his eyes for a minute when his thoughts got too blurry and his body was nothing but numb from pain and fatigue. Light was struggling to break through his curtains when he next stirred, and by then, Anthony was gone.