Two Worlds - Choni

Chapter 4

Cheryl parked in front of her house and stepped out of the car, only to find a large, heavy set man standing in front of her. Cheryl glanced to either side and saw that six other men were with him, all built along the same lines. "Hello Hiram." Cheryl said stiffly. "What can I do for you?" She hated being polite, but Hiram was a centuries old Alpha. As werewolves grew older they gained more control over their transformations. The oldest of them, like Hiram, could transform at any time without the full moon, even in full daylight. She wouldn't let this stop her normally, but she was weakened by the daylight even if it didn't burn her like a newborn.


"You have a werewolf in your house." Hiram growled. "An Alpha."


"Yeah. So what?"


"She was turned by members of my pack. So that means that you're holding a member of my pack prisoner."


"She isn't my prisoner." Cheryl growled, glaring up at him. Hiram was three inches taller than her, and she hated it.


"Then why is she in your house?" Hiram demanded, taking a step forward.


"She's my friend." Cheryl told him, not moving a muscle. "I'm showing her the ropes of this new world." When Hiram growled at this information, Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Keep your skin on. Besides, why do you want her? You're the Alpha."


"My bloodline must continue." Hiram told her. "Only another Alpha can do that." Cheryl's eyes widened.


"You want her to be your mate?" She growled, her eyes narrowing. Hiram shrugged.


"Of course." Cheryl lashed out and punched him, knocking him on his ass. The other werewolves growled and stepped forward, and Cheryl laughed.


"Oh don't try that." She said. "You're all stuck in human form, and we both know you can't even scratch me like that."


"I can do a lot more than scratch you." Hiram said, standing up.


"Old age has made you arrogant mutt." Cheryl said, letting her fangs slip out. "But if you really want to go, I've got a basement designed to trap things much stronger than you. We can have a go if you want." Hiram hesitated. Homes were sacred places, and any magical intruder with hostile intent would suffer a major loss of power even if they were allowed in by the owner. If the owner of the house was a vanilla mortal, that didn't hurt the magical being much. But for a fight against a vampire, especially one as strong as Cheryl, it was too big of a risk.


"The groves, 10 o'clock tonight." Hiram growled.


"I'm not fighting over Toni." Cheryl growled right back. "She's not a slave."


"This is a fight over the insult you just dealt me." Hiram told her. "There was no call for that attack."


"You just said you wanted my friend to join your pack just so you could knock her up. That earned you the punch." Cheryl growled. Hiram stared at her for a moment, and then started laughing.


"Oh my, you're crushing on her, aren't you? I thought you were against being a stereotypical vampire, but it doesn't get much more stereotypical than the lesbian vampire, does it?" Cheryl scowled.


"You've got a lot of nerve to mock me on my front lawn." She growled. "Now get out of here." Hiram walked off with the other members of his pack, laughing. Cheryl scowled after him, then stomped back to her car and grabbed the two bags of raw meat she'd bought. "Toni had better appreciate these". Cheryl muttered to herself, locking the door. "When did steak get so freaking expensive anyway?" She growled, walking inside.


"Steak? Did someone say steak?" Toni asked, looking at Cheryl from the couch where she and Rose had been watching The Empire Strikes Back. Cheryl smirked and, deciding to see how far Toni had gone, pulled a steak out of its wrappings and tossed it to Toni, who caught it in her mouth. Cheryl and Rose burst into laughter, and Toni's eyes widened in horror as she realized what she'd just done. "What was that?" She demanded, pulling the steak out of her mouth. "Why did I do that?"


"That's the mutt in you coming out." Cheryl said with a smirk, heading into the kitchen. "Don't worry; it'll wear off at the end of your first week of transformations."


"You'll still have a preference for raw meat though." Rose told her as Toni began to bashfully eat the steak. "That never goes away."


"I can still eat stuff besides raw meat though, right?" Toni asked nervously.


"Of course." Cheryl said, jumping over the back of the couch to sit between Rose and Toni. "You're a dog after all, and dogs will eat anything."


"Stop calling me a dog!" Toni yelled. "I'm a werewolf, but that doesn't mean I'm a dog!" Cheryl raised an eyebrow, grabbed a couch cushion, and threw it.


"Fetch." Rose and Cheryl both laughed as Toni had to visibly force herself not to chase after the pillow.


"That's not funny guys!" Toni complained, folding her arms and looking away from them, pouting. Cheryl rolled her eyes and fought the sudden urge to hug Toni.


"Calm down Topaz, it happens to all werewolves. Like I said, once the week is over, you're human side will take complete control and everything will be fine."


"You're sure?" Toni asked softly, looking at Cheryl. Cheryl nodded.


"Absolutely. Now Rose, I need you to babysit Toni tonight. Lock her up in the basement before the sun goes down and make sure that all the meat you give her is raw and thawed out." Cheryl said, standing.


"Where are you going?" Rose asked, frowning.


"I've got a fight with a werewolf at 10 o'clock tonight." Cheryl told them. "I need to get prepared and go feed before then." With that, she turned around and walked out.


"Feed?" Toni asked. "She means she's going to drink people's blood doesn't she?"


"Well, yes." Rose admitted. "But, to be fair, she only drinks from homeless people."


"That's just because nobody will miss them though, isn't it?" Toni said.


"...Yes." Rose sighed.


"Can't she drink animal blood instead?" Toni asked. Rose frowned.


"Theoretically yes. But there's a distinct lack of deer in the area, and I don't think there's enough blood in a Chihuahua or cats to feed her."


"What about steaks?" Toni asked, licking her lips thoughtfully. "There's a lot of blood in a raw steak, I'm sure she could just, you know, juice it." Rose frowned.


"Maybe. You'd have to ask her though, I don't know for certain if vampires can drink animal blood." Toni nodded and resolved to question Cheryl about it tomorrow.


Six hours later


"Are you ready?" Cheryl asked as the huge wolf lumbered into the central clearing of the grove, followed by the other wolves of his pack.


"Of course." Hiram said simply, standing up on his hind legs and flexing his claws.


"You're little entourage had better stay back." Cheryl warned, glaring at them.


"They will. They are merely here to witness my victory." Hiram reassured her.


"Yeah, about that. What exactly are the terms here?" Cheryl asked. "I mean, we're fighting over an insult. Does the winner get to insult the loser some more or something?"


"There is no prize in this fight except for a restoration of honor." Hiram growled. Cheryl sighed.


"Oh for the love of Hell. This is how blood feuds get started, you know that? You're going to lose, and then you'll lose even more 'honor' and then you'll just keep challenging me to fights." Hiram shook his head.


"The code of the pack forbids it. If we fight for honor, we can only fight that person once."


"Oh good. Let's get started then." Cheryl said, unsheathing her claws and fangs. Hiram let out a howl and ran at her, swinging his clawed hands at her head. Cheryl didn't move a muscle, instead turning into mist and reforming behind Hiram. "You'll have to do better than that mutt." Cheryl said with a smirk. Hiram let out another howl and charged at her again. Cheryl simply turned into a bat and flew above him, then turned back and let herself fall, landing on his back. "Giddy up little doggie!" She called out in the voice she normally reserved for mocking Toni, grabbing Hiram by the ears. Hiram let out a bark of pain and tried to reach up and grab her, but Cheryl let go of his ears, jumped off of his back, grabbed him by the arm, and threw him into a nearby tree.


"You really should have challenged me in the day. I wouldn't be able to transform then." Cheryl said mockingly. "The thing is, magic is like alcohol. The older it is, the stronger it is. You were turned in the sixteen hundreds yes, but I was turned in the thirteen hundreds. At night, when it's my time, you don't stand a chance." Hiram stood up, shook his head to clear it, and bellowed a challenge, running at her. Cheryl rolled her eyes and stood her ground. Just as Hiram came within swiping distance of her, she lunged forward and plunged her hand into his stomach. Hiram gasped in pain, and Cheryl quickly withdrew her arm, letting Hiram fall to the ground.


"Do you surrender?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Hiram would live, she knew that. Werewolves had an incredibly fast healing rate, allowing them to survive almost anything. Hiram nodded weakly, and Cheryl turned around and walked away.