When I woke up the next afternoon, the first thing I noticed was the distinct smell of cooking meat. Immediately, I remembered the night before and realized we still had a werewolf in the house. I rolled out of bed and put on fresh pajama bottoms before walking down the hall.
Angus and Elizabeth were in the kitchen cooking what seemed to be an enormous amount of meat. They must have gone to the grocery store while I slept. Elizabeth waved at me with a happy grin and seemed to be without a care in the world. I could tell she was comfortable being around Angus despite him being a werewolf, and the thought made me happy.
"We'll be done in a few minutes. Want some coffee?" she asked.
I smiled back at her. "Sure."
I thought about her beautiful smile and the way she had embraced me and my life without judgment or reservations, and suddenly, I realized that all of my misgivings had vanished - I was going to sire her, and then spend the rest of forever with her.
The thought immediately gave me a sense of peace that I hadn't had since before I was a vampire, and I was amazed that I still had the capacity to feel that way.
"Good afternoon, sleepyhead!"
I turned around and saw David standing behind me wearing boxer shorts. He had a strange smile on his face.
"Morning," I said, as we moved into the living room.
"So..." I said.
David raised an eyebrow at me. "So," he responded.
I waited for him to say something, but he didn't, choosing to remain
uncharacteristically quiet. He clearly wasn't going to mention the elephant in the room - or, more correctly, the large redheaded Scotsman in the kitchen, so I decided to start the conversation.
"Do you want to talk about what happened last night?"
He smiled and shook his head. "You mean with Braveheart over there? No. I don't want to talk about that because I'm not sure what I think about it yet."
I nodded. "Fair enough."
We sat together quietly. Finally, I asked, "Did you two have a good time?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Hoo yeah. The word is stamina!" he said, and we both started laughing.
"I don't know if it's going to be more than just a Highland Fling, but it's been a long time since I had that much fun in bed," he said with a grin.
I smiled, happy for my friend.
David ran a finger over his teeth. "He IS a hairy mother fucker, though."
"Well, he's a wolf," I said. David chuckled.
Angus and Elizabeth walked into the dining room and sat down at the table.
"Come sit with us, lads, and keep us company while we eat," Angus said. He was wearing only his jeans, and it was easy to see what David was complaining about - he was very hairy, even for a werewolf.
David and I smiled at each other and walked over. Elizabeth's plate had a couple of eggs, a quartered tomato, and a few slices of ham. Angus' plate, on the other hand, had what must have been the rest of the ham, as well as sausage and bacon.
"A 'coimhead mar gu bheil an t-acras ort, Aonghas!" David said. Elizabeth gaped at him, while Angus started to laugh.
"Yes, I am very hungry. And I'm impressed! Most people take years to get the accent down in Scots, but you said that almost perfectly, right out of the gate! Stosh, your friend here is like a language sponge!"
I smiled. "David's a natural polyglot. He picks up languages the way some people pick up bad habits."
"Is that why you speak French?" Angus asked.
"Because speaking French is a bad habit?" David asked. We laughed, and David continued. "French is my native language. I didn't learn English until I was a teenager." Angus' eyes widened and he smiled, obviously impressed.
"When I first got here, I spoke almost no English, and David didn't speak any Polish. I spoke enough French to limp along pretty well for a while, but David picked up my language quickly and it made our lives a lot easier," I said.
Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up. "Wow! That is so cool!"
David winked at Elizabeth. "Polish isn't that hard of a language, sweetie."
"Yeah, it's Russian that's the challenge," I heard Dmitri say from behind me.
"And ANOTHER county heard from!" Angus laughed. "Dima, come sit down and eat!"
I shot David a quizzical look, and he gave me a half-smile.
Vampires in general are solitary creatures, preferring to live alone or with one or two others. Although my apartment is large, almost 2000 square feet, it was beginning to feel cramped.
On the other hand, the close quarters seemed to really agree with Angus and Dmitri. Werewolves live in packs and enjoy having other wolves under feet all the time. Elizabeth seemed to sense my discomfort and gently smiled at me while touching my hand.
"When did you get here, Dmitri?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
"Once I saw how little you'd laid by in provisions, I put a call into Dima to bring some meat," Angus said.
Dmitri laughed at the expression on my face. "Oh, don't look so sour. I'm only here to deliver groceries and have some dinner. After we eat, I'll take my friend back with me."
David looked surprisingly upset with Dmitri's last remark. "You don't have to take Angus away!" then he turned to me, a look of panic momentarily crossing his face. "I mean, I'm sure Stosh won't mind him staying a little longer."
David has fairly dark skin, so it's not obvious when he blushes. Even so, I could hear a note of embarrassment in his voice.
"Dmitri, you are always welcome at my place, and Angus can stay as long as he likes," I said, gritting my teeth. I was uncomfortable having so many people in my apartment at once, but David very obviously wanted Angus to stay, so I decided to swallow my discomfort.
Elizabeth winked at David, and he looked down at the table. "I should make some coffee. David, do you want to help me?"
"Sure," David said, standing up quickly, ready to get away from his embarrassment.
Angus and Dmitri smiled at each other.
Dmitri lowered his voice. "I know how little vampires appreciate company. Are you sure you don't mind having so many people around?"
I sighed. "Well, it does feel rather close in here, but I'll be okay."
Dmitri smiled and nodded at me and went back to eating. After a couple of minutes, he looked at Angus and asked, "Do you feel it?"
Angus smiled. "I believe I do, Dima."
"What are you feeling?" I asked, confused, as Angus gave me a huge grin.
"It looks like our Gussy finally met his mate!" Dmitri said with a laugh.
When it comes to romance, werewolves have it easy. At some point after reaching adulthood, they meet someone they just know is the person they'll be with for the rest of their lives. I'm not sure if it's pheromones or what, but the mating pull seems to be inescapable. From the moment they meet, they're stuck together as though they have some kind of invisible magnet. Wolves regard their mates as the other half of their souls, and as far as I can see, they mean it. Their goal is to be with their mate, and they won't be denied. Gender, nationality, pack, nothing else matters once a werewolf feels the mating poll.
But I'd never heard of a werewolf having a vampire for a mate.
David and Elizabeth came back to the table carrying coffee. David looked at Angus with an absolutely lovesick expression before dropping his gaze and Elizabeth and Dmitri grinned at each other broadly. Elizabeth gave me a cup of coffee as she sat down.
