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The full moon was, objectively, an overwhelming disaster. Subjectively, it was a complete success.
After Viago’s close call with the bikers, Anton took action. The very next night, he called together the Te Aro pack, as well as packs from Kelburn and Mount Victoria, as well as the vampire flatmates. “Right, there’s a gang of humans picking on supernatural creatures,” he started without preamble. “Saw them in action last night. They’re calling themselves Royal Bogans, and that’s no exaggeration. Te Aro, you’re only to go out in pairs.” He cast an uneasy glance over at the vampires. “I’d say you guys shouldn’t go out alone either.”
“That is no problem,” agreed Vladislav. “We like to stay together anyway. More chances to get an orgy going that way.”
There were a chorus of cleared throats and rolled eyes. “Yeah, well, so long as you’re happy,” is all Anton could come up with. “Kavan, Doreen, don’t know if the Bogans are in your area or not, but you’re the closest packs to us, and I thought you should know what’s going on.”
Kavan was the Kelburn alpha, and when he spoke, it was a deep bass rumble. “We’ve our own set of fuckwits, but sounds like same song, different verse.”
“Yeh, same with us,” Doreen confirmed. “So far, nothing we can’t handle, but we’ll spread the word.”
In his most joking moments, Anton wanted to blame Lord of the Rings for making New Zealand and Wellington a tourist destination, because this bullshit didn’t used to happen.
“We will pass the information, too.” Viago shot a look at Vladislav, who just shrugged. “We will talk to Pauline--”
“That slut.”
“--and she will help us spread the word to the rest of the undead community,” he finished after Vlad’s outburst. “She and Vladislav are on-again, off-again--”
“We are off, again,” Vlad clarified, and hissed over his shoulder at Deacon’s rude noise.
“Nevertheless, she will help us as we explain the situation,” Viago said firmly. “We will do our part.”
“Great!” Anton said loudly, drowning out the vampiric backchat. “Now, the second reason I called is, we’re trying something new in Te Aro. Last month, I transformed away from the pack, with a friend staying with me, and it went well. Nobody got hurt, no humans, not my friend.” He resolutely did not say anything else about Viago being that friend. “We’re going to try it again this moon, and if it’s safe again, then we’ll think about trying it separately. We’re good together, but when we all turn as a pack…” Anton trailed off as he saw the other alphas and members of his own pack nodding. “We get a little out of control. And the chains don’t always work, or the trees aren’t strong enough.”
“We have volunteered the use of our basement; it is safe to use because we stay awake upstairs, and do not get in the way,” Viago offered. “Anton told me sometimes vampire scent upsets a wolf, so we try and stay clear unless there is a problem.”
Nods all around, although the two guest alphas were obviously surprised to hear of the depth of cooperation between the Te Aro pack and the vampire coven. But vampire strength would be enough to subdue a single wolf, long enough to prevent mayhem at least. “Right,” Anton echoed. “So my friend and I are going to give it another shot next week, and if that goes, then I’ll ask one of the other guys to come with. See if they get the same results or whatnot, and go from there.”
After a few more questions and Anton’s rambling answers, the meeting broke up. All the wolves except Anton were leaving in pairs or groups, even the two alphas sharing a ride.
The vampires were shifting and milling around now that the wolves were gone, and only Stu had remained behind. “We are going out tonight,” Vladislav announced. “Deacon and Nick and myself. Viago, are you coming?”
“No,” came the quick answer. “I think not.”
“What? Why?” Vladislav leaned in closely. “Do you not want to go to an orgy?”
“Er, no, I don’t,” Viago answered. “I would like to stay home tonight, please?”
“Come on, leave him alone,” Deacon said, tugging Vlad’s arm. “We need to go get Nick and bring him along.”
“I’m right here,” Nick pointed out from his corner. “Been here the whole time. Came in same time as Stu did.”
“Sorry, Nick. We did not see you,” Vladislav answered. “Come, let us go find an orgy tonight.”
“Man, I can’t believe you guys.” The sound of Nick’s complaining followed them out, leaving Stu, Anton, and Viago.
“Stu, you want to go with the guys? Or the vampires?” Anton asked, noticing he’d stayed behind.
“No, thanks. You said nobody goes anywhere alone, and that means you. So I’ll wait for you.”
“Yeah, I meant that for you guys, not me,” Anton had to point out. “Head on out and catch up with Nick and the vampires, they’ll treat you good. They like you.”
Stu stubbornly shook his head, and crossed his arms over his chest.
Anton was about to argue, when Viago put a hand on his arm. “Stu is right. You should not be out alone either; they might still be looking for you since you were the one who saved me.”
A red flush tinted Anton’s cheeks. “By the way, thanks for not saying that. Don’t know how the other packs would’ve reacted to knowing that I saved a vampire.”
“Probably the same way that my flatmates reacted,” Viago pointed out. There had been guffawing, and calling of names, and intimating that Anton was a loyal guard dog for Viago, none of which had made Viago comfortable. It had ended with Viago flying into the air, hissing down at both Vladislav and Deacon before the message landed.
“Our pack’s pretty okay with it,” Anton agreed, flashing a look at Stu. “Meant to stay tonight and have a chat, but…”
“It is all right,” Viago soothed. "I think it is a good thing that Stu watches out for you, because you are the alpha and do not always look after yourself."
Anton knew to give in gracefully. "Look, if you get out tonight, go as a bat or something, all right? You'll be safer that way."
"I promise you, I will not go out tonight. There is blood in the refrigerator and I have something to do on the computer that Stu set up for us. I will be fine." Although he did appreciate the concern. "Thank you, for being worried about me."
"No worries, mate. S'what friends do, right?" He shrugged his shoulder as he smiled back at Viago. "Call you later if we find out anything else about those guys."
"Or even if you do not, you can still call," Viago said, which was bold for him but probably not for anyone else, he mused. "You could let me know that you and Stu make it home safely."
"Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea." Anton's smile became more real and less wry. "Okay, well, we're off." Not knowing what else to say, Anton threw Viago a little wave as they tromped down to the footpath.
Stu waited until they were about a block away from the vampire house. "I think he likes you."
"What, who now?" Anton tried very hard to keep himself from scenting out his mild hysteria.
"Viago," Stu clarified. "He gets awkward like that around people he likes. He used to get like that over his lady friend, Katherine. Deacon complained about it all the time, called it mooning."
"Ah." Because honestly, what the fuck was he supposed to say to that?
"You're my alpha, and my pack mate, and honestly, I don't think I'd be here without all you guys. But the vampires, they're my friends, too. And they're idiots, like Nick. If they get hurt by somebody in the pack, that's going to be tough."
Anton blinked, because this was possibly the most he'd ever heard Stu speak at once, and he'd even managed to work a threat to his alpha in there. It was, of course, a vague threat, but he got it all the same. "You don't have to worry about it, we've got a truce, remember?"
Stu just nodded affably and fell quietly in step with Anton once he'd spent his allocation of words.
Viago's phone howled as he fumbled it from his pocket. Cold fingers made him a little clumsy but he managed to swipe the phone. "Hello, this is Viago von Dorna Schmarten Scheden Heimburg."
Anton was laughing at the mouthful of Viago's full name. "It's just me, mate. Letting you know me and Stu got home all right."
"Oh, I am very glad to hear that," Viago said honestly. "I meant to tell you while you were here that I am fully healed from the scratches and bruises, so you do not have to worry about me." Over the phone, he could hear the creaking of the rocking chair on the pack house porch.
"I could tell. You didn't smell like blood and fear anymore," Anton pointed out. "And, I know that I said it already, but… thank you. I should have told them all up front that you were the friend, but--"
"But you are the alpha and we are hereditary enemies," Viago finished with a wistful sigh. "But we will prove to the supernatural world that we do not have to be enemies; we can also be friends."
"Yeah, something like that," and then Anton paused as someone on the other end spoke to him.
Tell Viago I'm going to email him something before dawn so he can read it on his phone, Stu's voice came.
Anton, to Viago's surprise, didn't repeat the message. He only asked, "You got that, yeah?"
"I did, yes, and thank him for me." Viago paused. "And thank you for remembering."
"Remember--oh, right, the hearing thing. We've got sensitive ears, too, so it's not hard."
"Yes, but most people would have treated me like a child and said it again," Viago admitted. "Even my flatmates do that and they are vampires too."
"Well, you're definitely not a child," is all Anton said about that. "Look, I know it's really stupid, but… could you not go out until after the moon? If those humans attack you again, I don't think I can stop it this close."
"I will stay in," Viago agreed. "I will try to get the others to stay in, too."
"Yeah, that'd be great." And it would be, except Anton was having a hard time giving a damn about any of the vampires except Viago. "So I got to work tomorrow, but I was thinking, maybe tomorrow night, we could do something? Like hang out somewhere?"
"The Light House Cinema is playing Nosferatu at midnight, if you would like to see," Viago said excitedly. "I don't know if it is the German version or English, but if it German, I will translate for you."
A midnight movie date sounded like a great time, but. "Can't, mate. Too many people in a closed up space is just too much so close to the moon. Hold on, though." Anton muffled the phone against his shoulder. "Stu! Hey, you got the TV system set up at the vampire place, yeah?"
"Yeah, ready to go," came the answer.
Anton picked the phone back up and smiled. "So how about I bring a couple movies over and watch them there? If the guys don't mind, that is."
"They are already planning to go to the Centre tomorrow night and try to get into Boogie Wonderland again, so I will be happy to see you tomorrow!"
"Great! See you then!" Anton hung up and found himself smiling again.
Viago, I'm not sure if I'm overstepping, but. You're my friend, and I can tell you like Anton. You're doing the super courtesy thing Deacon told me that you did for Katherine. Anton likes you, too, and I'm glad you're friends. But he's my alpha, my pack mate, and my friend, and if he gets hurt, then it's going to be tough. Thanks for letting him stay in the basement; he told me you were the one who stayed with him. Be careful, for both your sakes. Stu.
Movie night went without a problem, except for the fact that Anton had wanted to sit practically in Viago's lap, which he hadn't done. And except for the fact that Viago did actually climb into Anton's lap to hide during the scary part of the movie.
Anton brought a scary movie every night thereafter.
And then the full moon came.
Viago spent the early afternoon in the basement, moving some of his ancestral earth to Petyr's crypt, secure behind the boarded up window with steel shutters that kept every particle of sunlight out.
Because they kept no food in the house, Viago (with Stu's help) had ordered a miniature fridge and drinks to stock up with. Anton had brought a cheap microwave to the house for popcorn, and Stu had brought a flat-pack cabinet he put together in half an hour that was packed to bursting with snacks and food for a hungry post-transformation werewolf.
Anton made it about half seven, having detoured to check on the pack. They were all secure, but a little antsy about their alpha transforming alone. But they were loyal, and they had followed his rules even though he hadn't been there to enforce them.
The first thing he saw was the fridge in the basement, and found it full of sports drinks, water bottles, and beer. In the middle of taking his clothes off carefully, Anton froze, sniffing the air.
"What is it?" Viago asked, looking around. He caught Anton sniffing and did the same; mostly he smelled the molten copper that was associated with the transformation, and under that copper, he smelled gasoline and rubber.
Anton growled out one word, "Bikers," just before his eyes started to flash reflectively in the lamplight. Then he was transforming uncontrollably, and he let out an agonized howl as his body was wracked by the change.
The wolf drew himself up to full height and threw himself mindlessly at the window.
"Anton!" Viago shouted. The vampire was hovering so as to be the same height as the transformed wolf, try to catch his eyes. "Anton, stop!"
The wolf was aware enough to avoid Viago's eyes; without eye contact, he could not hypnotize. He howled again, realizing that the window wasn't going to give, and he ran up the stairs. The door splintered on the second hit, and with it, his mind fled and the animal ruled.
Daybreak found Anton lying on the grass beside the house. The warm rays were already--
A chain rattled as he tried to sit up. It led to a silk-lined cuff--and as he inspected it, he recognized Viago's silk handkerchief and a scarf that Deacon had knit.
Taped to the chain was an envelope with his name on it.
Anton, I am sorry that I cannot be here with you when you are awake. We have left a message for Stu and told him where we left the key, so he will be there soon after you read this. Thank you for what you did. Please let yourself into the house and come wake me when you get here. Viago von Dorna Schmarten Scheden Heimburg.
Anton found his clothing in a neat stack nearby, and he fished out his trousers. A bottle of Gatorade orange was tucked in his rolled-up shirt, along with a couple of peanut and almond protein bars. He yanked the clean pants on, and scarfed down the two snack bars. The intake of protein was just what he needed, and he looked around the yard.
The fence was broken down in several places, and the grass was flattened all around. Two humans--enthralled, by the stiffness of their movement and the shuffling feet--were filling in a dit--that was not a ditch.
Holding his hands out, Anton scrutinized them, but found no blood on them at all. He held out his arms, and they were covered in light red scratches that had once been deep gouges. His chest was bruised but healing, and… "Petrol, there was petrol last night." But that was about all he remembered before his thoughts blanked out.
Before much longer, Anton heard a car door and recognized Stu's scent. Hurried footsteps brought the other wolf to his alpha’s side, and Anton looked up as Stu looked him over. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, mate,” he said weakly, trying to laugh at Stu’s expression.
Wordlessly, Stu handed over a mirror and jumped. He landed on a low branch and jumped once more to land on the trunk of the tree Anton was chained to. As promised, the key to the chains was nesting quite securely in the V of the branches, inside of a plastic bag that smelled like Viago. There was also a note in the bag, addressed to Stu.
Thank you for coming to help, Stu. I did not know any other of the pack to call, and did not want them to know what happened until Anton could tell them himself. V.
Stu jammed both in his pocket and carefully leapt back down to the grass. “Come on, let’s get you in the house.”
While Stu had been retrieving the key, Anton looked at himself in the mirror. His face looked as if it’d been clawed to ribbons; nothing now but scratches that would likely disappear entirely by nightfall, it took no time at all for him to extrapolate how ugly they’d been when they were inflicted.
He caught the other wolf by the wrist, and put as much stern Alpha tone into his voice as he could manage. “What happened last night?”
Stu didn’t stop unlocking the chains or rolling them up into a coil. “Get your kit on, Viago’s waiting in the house for you.”
Apparently, he was going to learn from Viago, or not at all. He didn’t appreciate that… except that he did.
Shrugging into his shirt was simple, now that he was unbound, and in silent answer to Anton’s earlier demand, Stu shoved the note into his hands.
He read the note while putting his feet into trainers, and didn’t bother to lace them up. He was dressed enough to get into the house and hopefully find something more satisfying than snack bars. Passing it back to Stu, he carefully opened the front door just enough to squeeze in. Stu followed, leaving the chains looped over the banister.
Viago was standing in the darkness at the top of the stairs. “Anton! Thank goodness you are all right, I was worried about you. Come on up.”
“Right.” Anton was a little nonplussed at the invitation, but his feet were moving before he thought about it. About halfway up, he noticed a delicious smell. “Is that… meat?”
“Yes!” Viago was thrilled. “I read in some of our literature that after transformations, wolves are very vulnerable because they need to regain strength and energy, so I thought, perhaps you would like something rare? Cooked, I mean, but not too much.”
A couple of rare porterhouses and about a half a dozen eggs sounded really fucking good to Anton right about then, but he was glad enough that Viago had even considered his needs that much. “Tell me you got beer, and I’m yours.”
“I have a six pack, and if you want more, it is downstairs in the basement. There is also more food down there, but mostly snacks and popcorn.”
That made Anton pause. “Did you go out by yourself last night and get this?”
“No, Nick went with me. I promised I would not go alone, and so I did not.” He beamed as Anton made it to the top of the stairs. “It is not much, but this is my room.”
What he’d expected, Anton did not know. What he found was Viago’s coffin in place of a bed, the furnishings antique--probably from the time period Viago was last alive in--and bolted windows and shutters. There was a chair in Viago’s room, which usually sat in the den downstairs. He recognized it, because it was usually the chair he sat in when he came over with the pack. He lowered himself into it now, familiar contours cradling his body. “What happened last night, V?”
“You must eat first.” Viago laid the plate-sized steak on the end table at Anton’s elbow, and pulled it around in front of him. He carried two cans of beer in his elbow, and those joined the steak on the table. “And then I will tell you. But you have to take care of yourself first.”
Anton really wanted to argue, but the smell of the bloody meat and the loud rumble of his stomach made the decision for him. Using the stainless steel cutlery--thoughtful, with the wolves’ allergies to silver, he thought, before remembering vampires had the same difficulty. He started out using the knife and the fork, but ended up just tearing at the delicious cut with his teeth. A linen napkin had appeared around his neck at some point, protecting his clean clothes from the spattering of blood and juices, and in short order, the steak had disappeared. He was tempted to tip up the plate and sip at the juices, but was embarrassed to do so in front of the fastidious Viago. Instead, he cracked open one of the beers, drained it almost instantly, and then started to sip at the other. “Now, can we talk?”
“Yes, we can.” Viago was absolutely beaming. “I am glad you liked the breakfast. I didn’t know how much you would need, but next time, I will prepare two.”
“Viago.” Anton wiped his face with the napkin and folded it neatly beside the plate. His inner wolf was content at the moment, digesting that incredibly delicious hunk of meat. The rush of protein was already making him feel better, and he could feel tired muscles knitting themselves back to human proportions. “Please.”
“All right.” The vampire perched on the side of his coffin, then immediately got off to stand. That didn’t last long, and he paced a few steps. “What is the last thing you remember?”
Anton considered as he watched Viago pace. “Petrol and rubber, actually. And maybe a door breaking.”
“Yes. You broke the basement door,” Viago confirmed. “But it is no problem, Deacon already got a replacement last night, we just need to get someone to hang it. You told me only, Bikers. And then you broke out the door.”
“Bikers. Yeah, okay. That’d be the petrol and the rubber, but… Viago. What happened?”
When he turned around, the vampire was actually wringing his hands. “I followed you when you broke the door down, and you were already outside.”
The fully transformed werewolf burst out the front door. He was growling, nose in the air as he sniffed.
Four humans on motorcycles were parked on the footpath in front of the vampires’ house. “This is where that dandy fuck lives,” Hurley answered, the jerry can sloshing on the back of the bike.
“You sure you wanna do this, mate?” asked another of the bikers, but he didn’t get to answer. The smell of gasoline, the smell of these same humans who had harassed Viago the other day, that was enough. The wolf launched himself at the speaker, tearing his throat out with one savage bite.
“Fucking monster! Kill it!” Hurley shouted, splashing the creature with gasoline from the can.
Anton kicked out a hind paw, sending the can flying. His front paw swiped at another biker, and then knives came out. Steel blades and not silver, the wolf noticed that much, but they were flying almost as quickly as his claws. A pained yelp as one of the knives crossed his muzzle, and--
The human flew across the yard and thudded hard against the stone gargoyle statue. A sickening crunch and the smell of blood permeated the air, stronger to his animal nose than the gasoline.
Vampire! The wolf howled again as the Enemy approached, but did not attack him. Instead, the vampire seemed to be helping him, wading in and biting, tearing at flesh and blocking blows that might have seriously injured the wolf.
“Anton!” Viago said loudly. “I am your friend!”
The name, his name, it touched something in the primitive brain of the wolf, and he realized that yes, the vampire was familiar, at least. He dropped his claws from the vampire’s shoulder and turned to take a blade in the chest. Another pained yelp, and he batted the human away.
Both vampire and werewolf were soaked in arterial spray as Viago bit Hurley’s throat. He tore chunks of flesh out in his rage, the hunger pushed aside by the need to fight, to devastate, to destroy.
Four humans were dead, and Anton was howling at the moon.
Viago tried to hypnotize Anton, but only managed to get him calmed. He could not get the wolf to get back in the house, but they stayed under the shadows of the trees. Viago managed to hypnotize the neighbors with, “A friend’s dog is staying with us and he got out, sorry. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Nick came home first, having swung by Stu’s flat to check on him and the other wolves, and then came here to check on Viago and Anton. As soon as he saw the state of the yard, he dropped out of the sky. “Oh, shit.”
“Nick, I am glad you are here. Will you please go into Vladislav’s torture chamber and bring some of his chains? Anton is all right for the moment but I do not know how much longer that will last.”
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Nick came out a few minutes later with Vlad’s strongest chain, and Viago took it from him. “You sure about this?”
“I am, thank you.” Viago turned his back on Nick and focused completely on Anton. “Anton? I am going to put these chains on you, so you do not hurt yourself, or anyone else.”
The wolf lifted his head from where he’d been licking his wounds, and chuffed an angry warning sound. But he didn’t bare his teeth, just went back to licking his wounded leg.
Viago assumed that was as close to agreement as he was going to get from the wolf, and clipped the cuff around Anton’s foreleg. He looped it around the trunk several times, pinning the wolf’s torso to the tree, and then looked critically at his work. The cuff was already digging into the wolf’s leg, and Viago took his silk handkerchief out and tucked it inside the cuff.
“Here, mate, use this.” Nick handed over a scarf that Deacon had knitted, and Viago wrapped that around the handkerchief.
“Thank you.” Viago stood, satisfied for the moment that Anton was as secure and comfortable as he could be, and Nick pulled him a few feet back. “What?”
“What the hell is going on here, Viago? I mean, I come home to check on you and it’s like a bloodbath or something. You look like you’ve been taking a shower in blood, and Anton’s no better. He didn’t hurt you, did he? Were you fighting?”
“Yes, but not with each other.” Viago indicated the bodies lying around, which Nick hadn’t noticed before. “These are the biker people that have been harassing us lately,” he explained. “Anton was just about to transform and he smelled them and their fuel cans. I believe they might have meant to start a fire, but Anton attacked them before they could. He was… protecting us.”
“Okay, that’s nice. Look, there’s a couple of kids sleeping rough at the corner, squatting in that old house. I’ll go and hypnotize them, and get them to start cleaning up around here. Vlad and Deacon will be home any minute now, so maybe you want to get inside and change clothes before they think Anton did something to you and it ends up with a dead werewolf.”
Nick had a point; their friends were very tolerant of Anton and the pack because of Stu, but if they thought Viago had been harmed by the werewolf alpha, they’d kill him without question. “Yes, I hadn’t thought of that, thank you.”
“No worries, mate. If they get back, I’ll just tell them Anton got loose, and we caught him up. You can explain the rest. And hey, while you’re cleaning up, leave a message for Stu. Anton’s grooming him to be a backup alpha or whatever, he’ll know how to handle this in the morning. Just leave him a message on the phone and he’ll get it as soon as he’s human again.”
“And that is what happened,” Viago finished. He’d finally perched on the edge of his coffin, sitting primly like he was posing for a portrait. “When Vlad and Deacon came home, they thought I had had a wild party and they were quite cross that I had not invited them. And then I explained what happened, and Vlad helped to re-chain you, and Deacon went to Bunnings and took a door from the loading dock.”
About halfway through the narration, Anton had stopped Viago, gone downstairs, and brought up a second six-pack. He was halfway through the first at that point, and realized he was probably going to need a few more to finish the story out. He’d silently offered Stu a couple of beers when he’d passed the other wolf downstairs, and he’d gladly accepted.
By the time Viago was finished, Anton’s head was cradled in his hands. This was not the story he’d expected to get; he’d just expected something relatively normal; he’d broken out, sure, but the vampires had fucked up things going on anyway, and so two people burying body parts on the bloody lawn didn’t really strike him as odd. …Perhaps that said more about his mental state than he really wanted it to.
“So you were protecting us, and we got rid of the bad guys!” Viago added, when he saw that Anton was not as chipper about the situation as he himself was.
“Yeah, nah, that’s… really not the idea, mate,” he said tiredly, downing the last of his beer. “The idea is to spend the full moon quietly transformed without killing anyone.”
“Even if they are… what did you call them? Doongi? Not very nice people who were trying to set us all on fire?” Viago sounded downright confused. “I thought it was good to kill the people who are trying to kill us? We have always killed the villagers that tried to burn down our homes or castles. Petyr killed many hundreds to defend his castle, as has Vladislav.”
“Mate… no. Viago, please, please. Stop.” He held up both hands to stop the torrent of words. “Yes, it’s a good thing the bad guys are gone. I had actually hoped to handle it another way, but this is all right, too. It’s just really not what I expected to hear this morning, you know? I expected, Oh, Anton, you got out of the house and we caught you up on the lawn and tied you up nice. You don’t really expect, Yeah, bro, you killed a gang of biker assholes and spent the night chained to our tree covered in blood.”
Viago held up a finger. “I did try to wash you off with the hose, but you were not so receptive. So when you let me close again, I just dried you off best that I could and made sure your clothes were clean and in reach.”
Anton was stunned. “You… you turned a hosepipe onto a werewolf?”
“How else was I supposed to get you cleaned up? I couldn’t just let you sit there all night with blood matted in your fur.”
“You’re an absolute muppet, you know that? A nutter, through and through. I could’ve bitten your head off!”
“But you didn’t!” Viago beamed proudly. “You sniffed my hand and then you nipped it, which I deserved for the water, but then you just put your head down and let me dry you off.”
Shit. Wolves didn’t pacify like that for just anybody, and Anton had a very, very bad feeling where this was headed. Except it really wasn’t all that bad at all. It was a little pleasant, when he thought about it. “Your hand okay?” He reached out to take Viago’s hand, to see for himself.
Viago offered it without a thought. “It is fine; you cannot even see where it happened. It was only a little nip, barely broke the skin. It was more like an imprint of your teeth than anything else.”
Jesus Christ, this vampire was a true moron. “That was a warning, V. Usually it means to stop doing whatever you’re doing and leave me alone.”
“Oh. I am very sorry I did not understand that!” Suddenly he looked distressed. “I should have left you alone and not tried to dry you or brush your fur!”
While that was the total truth, Anton couldn’t bear to see Viago upset over what he’d meant as a kindness. “Hey, it’s all right. Obviously I recognized you, cause I didn’t actually bite your hand off. And I appreciate the thought; nice to know that someone’s looking out for me when I can’t.” Because the thought of someone as genuinely fussy as Viago trying to groom a feral werewolf was somewhere smack in the middle of utterly terrifying and completely hilarious. He gave Viago’s hand a little shake, and only then did he realize he was still holding the vampire’s hand and had not released it.
He moved to drop it, and Viago caught his hand to look at it, and then at his arm. “You are already healing so well,” he said quietly, and moved in closer to inspect the fading scratches on Anton’s face.
“Less we scratch ourselves, we usually do heal up.” He pulled his shirt up and showed Viago a set of three claw marks, long-scarred over. “That was me, trying to claw my chains off one night, just about gutted myself.” Usually he was ashamed of those marks, and he didn’t quite know why he was telling Viago about them.
Cool fingertips probed the light tracery still remaining on Anton’s face. “I can feel them healing,” he said, almost silently, but he was delighted nonetheless, judging by the smile that spread. “You really are going to be all right!”
“Yeah, I think I might be.” Anton closed his eyes for a moment, just feeling Viago’s fingertips, and when they lifted from his skin, he leaned forward. He expected nothingness, but he collided with Viago’s nose. And before the vampire could recover, Anton kissed him. A lingering press of lips against lips, ending with Viago’s hand cupping Anton’s jaw.
“What was that for?” Viago asked shyly.
“To say thank you, for everything. Including your thank you the other night.” He pressed a second quick kiss to Viago’s lips. “I need to get home and shower, and you need some rest. I’ll come over tonight, later, because I’ll have to tell the pack about this and then I’ll help you explain to the vampires.”
Viago let his thumb rub over Anton’s cheek, delighted at the warmth under his hand. “I will be waiting to see you,” came the reply.
“Then I’ll see you.” He waited to make sure that Viago was going to get into his coffin, and he caught the little wave Viago gave him just as the lid came down. He waved back, and then started down the stairs. To his surprise, he found Viago’s silk handkerchief in his pocket when he stuffed his hands in there.
He balled it up inside his fist and kept it tucked carefully in his pocket as he met Stu at the bottom of the stairs. “Home, yeah? I got a story to tell you.”