Romulus was excited. Not at all visibly but underneath the exterior he felt entranced by the idea. A date would be fun. He'd never actually been on one before, now that he'd thought about it. He was only fourteen when sired, and existence amongst the undead didn't leave much time for fun.
However, Willow's following story left him growing colder and colder, as if a flame within him was slowly being extinguished. He didn't say anything until she was finished, but when she spoke those last words, her reason for coming to meet with the Prince, that spark was totally gone.
"I...see. If that is the case, then I shall take you to the Prince and no further. I do not doubt we shall meet again, but once you are one of the Wolves I am afraid I will show you no further conduct but the respect worthy of the Prince's ilk. A warning, though you have learned your lesson no doubt - oppose the Nephilim. They are no friend to my kind, your kind, or your future kind's. They are no one's friend but their own."
Say goodbye As we dance with the Devil tonight Don't you dare look at him in the eye As we dance with the Devil tonight
Wolves were believed to have been created as a natural enemy of the vampires...Willow had heard it somewhere, and now it was fresh in her memory. She sighed. But Romulus didn't say he was going to abandon her, he'd take her to Fenrir.
"I saw that for myself," Willow said in agreement. "Thanks for the warning." Hesitantly, she turned her head at an angle. "If you want to go to the party, I can meet you by the lake after dusk. If you do want to go," she added hastily. "You don't have too."
Romulus was more human than some wizards she had met. He laughed, he was mischevious, but he had a serious side too, and frankly, he could be scary. Each to his own fault, she thought. At least she'd have someone in the woods she could go see on a regular basis and not worry about getting him killed by a lunatic...Six years. Willow wondered what his name had been before he'd been created, but decided not to ask. That'd be a question for another time.
Romulus didn't quite know how to continue reacting. On one hand, Willow desired to become a Lycan, and join her blood with Fenrir's. It was not racial animosity that caused him to detest this decision, but rather that he had been beginning to grow comfortable around her, and the last time he had dealt with a member of the Prince's brood...could he even begin to think of another one as a friend? And so soon after, too?
"Yes," Romulus said, his mind made up, "I will go with you. It'll be..." He smiled, "fun." His silver eyes gazed over the witch, wondering what exactly could've brought her to this point. She was an enigma, this one, so full of life and yet willingly desired the curse of lycanthropy. "Willow," he said rather quickly, "I'm just going to tell you beforehand. I know Lycans, and all those things I said about the dancing dead applies to them as well. They may be able to see the sun, and make children, and enjoy all the pleasures and wonders of life, but they are still monsters. And they are not immortal. Their bodies are strong and healthy, and they live for many, many years, but one day there will come a day when even the wolf must make his final pilgrimage."
It was rather quick, but Romulus felt it had to be said. "The power, the abilities, the gifts that come with your change will never compare to the ultimate gift that is taken for granted - being human."
That being said, he pointed his finger in a certain direction, "The Prince likes to take his den in a nearby cave. He's written things in the side of it, tries to seem spooky for spooky's sake...not that being a gigantic wolf doesn't do the trick. Remember, I promised to take you to him unscathed, if he's sleeping when we get there and you wake him up, you're done for."
Say goodbye As we dance with the Devil tonight Don't you dare look at him in the eye As we dance with the Devil tonight
Post by Willowness on Oct 15, 2008 23:07:59 GMT -5
The gryffindor was glad Romulus decided to go to the party, even if by being there, he'd be a danger to everyone there. He'd be fun. Fun. It was a word that had become unfamiliar to her over the last few months. Fun had been with Felix and Gwyneviere, but that'd been a while back, it felt like years. Another lifetime. Fun had been with Colette, just a few days ago, racing around the Quidditch Pitch.
She listened, but already knew; "I don't want to be a lycan for the sake of being immortal. If that were the case, I would have gone to the castille," she replied softly, eyes blazing. "Romulus, I don't need to be a wolf to be a monster." She'd never told anyone why she had disappeared for three months, but she wasn't about to start now. Romulus didn't need to know about that. He already thought she was a freak.
"I'm already a monster...I don't want to explain now, but maybe another time..." Maybe. "And I'm not stupid, I won't wake him up. I'll wait. He's probably not even home at the moment." She turned away. "Thanks Romulus. For the warning. But don't worry about me. There's no going back now, is there?" It wasn't really a question, more of a statement, but she said it like it was one. 8
Romulus listened, but shook his head. It all clicked to him now. She had taken the first step into the oblivion. She had condemned her own soul. "Had you gone to the Castille," Romulus responded in a purposely cold voice, "we would've drained you, skinned you, and torn apart what was left. Unlike the Lycans, we are not in the least human. We are demons."
He stepped closer, not even with his vampire speed, but with a chilling yet comforting aura surrounding him. "Perhaps there is no going back now..." He murmured this in his deep, hypnotic voice. "Back to your friends, whatever family you might have, to your school...you leave behind your life, and for what? To take the visage of an animal and roam the woods?"
As he spoke, he grew closer and closer until he was so close he could touch her. "I offer you the alternative. To taste life itself pouring from the vermillion waves." The silver eyes of the Vampire flashed. "To find shelter in the coldest dark and never again look upon who you once were...the monster you claim to be. Instead you shall be a monster of beauty...respected, hated, feared."
His black bangs seemed to glide away from his shining pale face like curtains withdrawn to reveal a glorious moon. It was the mystifying, awe-inspiring, deathly glory of the vampire. "And I shall ever be with you," he whispered, "until the moon disappears into the sun for the final time..."
Romulus stepped back after saying this, allowing the illusions to end and fade back to normal. He turned his back to her. "But I give you choice. Become one with me, become one with the Prince, or run back to the mages. This is the last threshold."
Say goodbye As we dance with the Devil tonight Don't you dare look at him in the eye As we dance with the Devil tonight
A light breeze rustled the leaves of the forest, rattling the branch and setting Willow on edge as Romulus spoke of what would have happened if she had dared entered their forbidden housing; He could have done that to her tonight, and he wouldn’t have felt in the least guilty about it; What if she was wrong, what if Romulus had been the one who’d torn her classmate apart and left his head on the campus, or the one who’d cut the fingers off that poor boy they’d found in the greenhouse, drained of blood? Willow felt sick for a moment, imagining, but she believed him; There was nothing human left in that boy infront of her.
And he was offering the chance to be like him to her; Could Willow go that far, and for a moment, the chance was so tempting. She’d be with Romulus forever, and until now she hadn’t realized how much she thought of him as a friend, maybe more, even if they’d been in the wood scarcely. Willow could never tell Felix, Torrid, or even Shadonoius what she’d done, she was no better than the noferatsu, even if her murder hadn’t been quite as extreme. But she could tell Romulus, maybe once she’d come more to terms with it. Maybe.
“I don’t....know,” she mumbled, looking at him in a puzzled way, as if she wasn’t sure why she was here. Her friends faces, lingering on Gwent’s and Torrid’s, drew up infront of her. Colette. Joe. Gwyneviere, Ashelle, Felix, Onyx, Kaoki, Lucius...could she leave them behind? As a lycan, she could still go back, unless it warped her beyond caring, but hadn’t even Fenrir retained a bit of his human side, and he knew who his friends had been. No. If she went with Romulus, she couldn’t ever go back, ever, for fear of tearing them apart. Another image of the boy in the green houses came to mind. What if it had been Felix, and the vampire had been herself? She shook her head at Romulus.
“Thanks for the offer, but...I don’t think I could completely leave them behind,” she explained. “Besides, your....companions wouldn’t want to put up with a moody person like myself. And I need the sunlight,” she added. “So thanks, but no thanks. But I won’t forget the offer. Ever.”
Will I regret not going with him? She thought. Maybe. But Willow had made the decision ages ago, and even promises like the ones Romulus held out and more, she wouldn't let it sway her. Life doesn't work like this for most people, but it'll work for me, she told herself, looking affectionately at Romulus.
Romulus scowled. He was visibly disappointed with her decision, especially considering the excuses she used to explain herself. Having already accepted damnation, she refused immortality, the goal of all mankind. What all science and magic strove towards could've been hers in but a night, and she had denied it.
"Unless you return now, you will be leaving them behind completely." The Vampire spoke seriously, "As you are now, you can hide whatever horrors you may be keeping to yourself, but once you are one with the Prince, all will know..." Romulus turned to face her again, "...and will they accept you, knowing what you are? A child of Fenris Fenrir, the nightmare that stalks the shadows of the trees, prince of the forest?"
Before she could respond, he continued fiercely, "And do not even believe that your friends may show compassion on you, for they won't! Did Windwaltz show mercy on Fenrir when he struck him down? Are the students so humane that they chase him into a mountain wall to hide, more for fear than shelter?"
He stopped for a moment, then continued, "The only Lycans the humans accept are tamed, the ones not even worthy of being called wolves, but should instead be called dogs. If they allow you back into their society, they'll find a use for you. A subservient one."
The vampire showed his fangs in a smile. "But we...are no servants. For we are not their slaves, nor are we their fellows. We are their superiors. What better proof is there that we are greater than they, that we are the ones who feed on them? Would you deny that, still?"
Say goodbye As we dance with the Devil tonight Don't you dare look at him in the eye As we dance with the Devil tonight
"I don't care, Romulus," she retorted. For the first time, the noferatsu looked visibly stung, maybe even angry. She'd said something, but he was wrong, at least to her, and Willow looked away, starting for Fenrir's den. The leaves crunched underfoot, and for a long moment, there was near silence. She'd gone several steps, waiting, to see if he'd come after her, but he didn't, at least not yet.
"Thanks for your help," she muttered, eyes downcast. "I'll see you at the lake, dusk on halloween, okay? Goodbye, Romulus." Willow never looked back over her shoulder at him as she replied. "I'm not here for power, Romulus, or anything like that. You wouldn't understand." She'd learned a few things about noferatsu, damnit, and that was that power got to their head. Why?
She hated to leave him on an angry note, although she was probably more upset than he was, but she wasn't getting into an arguement with a noferatsu.
But what if he's right? What if they do leave you? What then?
Then I'll stay in the forest, she thought, wand in one hand and using the other to steady herself against a tree. All right Fenrir, or whoever the hell you are. I'm ready.
"Not here for power? Well that's an interesting way of wanting to become a supernatural creature that is superior to humans in many regards," came an amused voice from the cave. Slowly emerging from the darkness of the cavern was Fenris Fenrir, in all of his glory. He was, however, not in his wolven form, but he stood on his legs as a man. His raven-colored hair looked like it had been cared for, to the extent that there was no leaves stuck in it, and his form seemed as dangerous as ever. There was a grin etched on Fenrir's face as he stared down at the girl, and once he reached the mouth of the cave he leaned against it nonchalantly.
"So you've returned and I think ya made the right decision," said Fenrir in a chipper manner. "Romulus is a good fella, but he forgot to mention that despite your eternal life, you live a damned one. People will recognize ya for what ya are in a heart beat, and they'll try to murder ya. That and supposedly the Lord above doesn't take to kindly ta vampires: no redemption for their lot. At least with us, we're not denied passage to Heaven and we can conceal our identities better. But our curse is that we completely lose our connection with our old life: things can never be the same for us again. Is that the decision ya are willing to make?"
"And if so, what else drives ya ta become a lycan?"
The gryffindor started at Fenrir appeared nearby, amusement written all over his face. She eyed him carefully, more cautious than her last, more blundering, attempt to find him. Have I gotten any wiser? she wondered, her pale eyes more grey than green at the moment. Willow studied him for a moment, having expected the question. She wondered how long he had been listening.
"That's true," she said, acknowledging him with a nod. He was once again out of his wolf form, but he was still as intimidating as ever, despite the grin on his face. Fenrir was exactly as she remembered him, and for a moment, she tried to remember why, of all people, it was him she'd come looking for. Surely there was more than one lycan around here? "Romulus is all right. A little overbearing, but yes...He's nice."
"And I don't want to take that chance, I suppose," Willow mused, brushing her bangs out of her hair. She held her wand in one hand, but now she put it away, figuring there was little she could do with the item if things turned ugly. The lion paused for a moment, as if trying to think of an answer. "Because I want to belong, somewhere. I can't go back to the muggle world, not with what I know, and I can't stay here. I guess you could call this my last hope for a sweet escape." A breeze rustled the leaves, threw her hair in her face, and she blinked, the haze vanishing from her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for his response, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.
"A sweet escape?" said Fenris with barking laughter following his exclamation. Oh was Willow going to be in for a surprise. "There is no such thing as a sweet escape m'dear, and if there was one I think that everyone would be trying to get to that level. When I was first turned, I was beaten and left to fend for myself. Monster: that is what they called me because I grew to an abnormal size for a wolf, but in the end it was their actions that created an abomination. Had I been accepted differently, then who knows what might've happened. I might've been the friendliest lycan alive, or at least not as murderous. I might've found it in myself to eat the natural wildlife instead of human flesh, but now the flesh of Adam is what I hunger for," said Fenrir as his single eye became lite with some inner fire.
"Nothing is ever easy and it certainly won't be easy should you decide to become a lycan. You'll be hunted if you ever tell anyone what you are and your friends will never look at you the same way again." With those words, the fires in his eye died and were replaced with what could be linked to a sadness. After all Richard had lost both Talon and Tristan because of his horrific transformation, and now only Tristan wouldn't kill him on sight but even then he still believed that Tristan only saw a monster inside of him. Looking over at Willow, he saw that her stance on the issue hadn't changed so there was one final test awaiting her.
"But I think no matter what advice I give on trying to maintain one's past life, it'll mean little in the end because I couldn't retain mine. So you've set your mind on becoming a lycan: you're searching for a pack to fit into. If ya want ta run wild with mine, then you've gotta follow the rules. First," began Fenrir, "Ya are not ta associate with outsiders unless you have no other choice. That means former friends and anyone from the school: their loyalities may switch should they learn what you've become so better to not take any chances. Second, if I ask ya to do something for me ya'll not stop until its done. If I think you're doing otherwise, the consequences maybe very severe. And lastly, never betray the Pack. Ya betray the Pack, ya lose your honor and I'll not have some honorless lycan in my realm."
"Do ya understand my terms and are ya still willing ta follow through with your desire, Willow?"
She listened to his speech with a mild sadness, wondering how many people had turned against him when he'd been turned. The gryffindor remembered Tristan from before, or Exvind as she knew him, and wondered if he saw Fenrir as a monster. Willow chewed her lip, thinking about everyone she would have to leave behind for this. Torrid. She almost laughed. Shadonious, Gwent, Felix, Onyx, Gwyneviere, Lucius, Morgan. Gah. The list went on and on.
After a beat, she took a step forward, eyes flashing. Rules. There were always rules.
"I'll run with the pack, and no one else." What was the point of going this far, only to turn back, she wondered, almost amused. A life descision, and she'd made it a long time ago. There had been so much blood then. More to come, she thought. "I give you my word, Fenrir," she murmured, trying to remember what Tristan had called him, but the name slipped away like a dream. Willow's pale hands clenched at her robes, the robes of a student that after tonight, she would no longer be.
At least Felix won't have much competition from his own house, she thought, restraining a chuckle. Willow wondered who else ran with Fenrir's 'pack', and how long it would be before she met them. I'll find them, she thought. Blood was thicker than water, after all. Willow couldn't remember where she had heard that first, or what it had to do with this situation. Nothing. Besides, how thick was blood, really?
"Now know that your word is your bond; if ya break your word, then I'll make it a point to break ya as compensation for treachery. But you seem adament and I've given you enough lecture..." Fenris' voice seemed to trail off there as his eye seemed to cloud over and his body contorted as he shifted forms. Throwing his head back to the sky, Fenrir started howling to the darkness of the night as he transformed from man into wolf. Panting with anticipation, the colossal, silvery-grey wolf pawed the ground anxiously until he couldn't stand waiting any longer and lunged forward.
Mouth open wide, Fenrir rushed the girl and bite down on her thigh. It was the safest place for him to bite someone after all; anywhere else, and he might've done permanent damage with his oversized jaw. The blood rushed down his throat, like a cooling river that slacks the thirst of the tired wanderer, and Fenrir continued tearing at the girl's leg. Oh yes it would be painful, and more was still to come, but that was the point of this. If she wasn't strong enough to survive, then she didn't deserve the powers he'd be endowing her with. And if she did make it through these events, then she was worthy to be a part of his Woods. Biting down harder until he felt his teeth touch naked bone, the wolf gave her one last shake before releasing her.
Backing away from the girl, the bloodied lupine turned back into a man, and Fenrir watched the girl closely. He had infected her through his contaminated bite, but this was still the most critical stage of the siring. If this girl wasn't given the right attention, she'd turn into what he was and Fenris couldn't bear fathering a monster. So he was resolved to give her the attention that he had lacked when he was turned and make sure she wasn't soft-boiled. Blood staining his face, Fenrir licked away at the corners of his mouth with his tongue and watched as Willow dealt with the infection.
"It'll hurt lassie, but you'll be surprised at how much the human body can withstand: let alone a lycan's tolerance ta pain. It is a natural transformation: do not resist it or struggle and nothing horrific will happen ta ya."
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5