Changing Oneself (Entangled side story)

16, A Night Out

Something surprising happened at breakfast the next night. At the table where they ate said breakfast, my cushion on the ground was gone. In its place was another chair, identical to the ones belonging to the two vampires. 

I froze in the doorway on my way out there. The two of them had gone ahead of me to sit, but they seemed to expect my reaction, and turned to look at me. Silence stretched for a long minute. 

"...What?" I asked, barely above a breath. Ieli tried to brush the change off as something that wasn't a big deal. 

"To make up for last night," he said in explanation. "Come sit."

"But..." I glanced warily at the servant who was standing off to the side, waiting to dish the food out onto plates and fill our glasses. The servant had her gaze towards the floor, and didn't see my glance. 

"Come sit," Yenthyr repeated, but in a more commanding tone. That sounded more like him, and without thinking, I moved forward and took my seat. 

It was so strange, sitting down and being at the same level as them. I was still in shock, not quite processing movement as the other two sat down and the servant began dishing out the food. I glanced at her again, but her gaze was still pointed respectfully downward, focused on her task. She seemed completely uninterested in my new position. 

Is this actually happening? Am I dreaming?

I was still too shocked to eat. The two vampires dug in, and after a few bites they noticed I still hadn't moved. "Eat," Yenthyr ordered. For a moment I wondered if he resented the new change, but I caught his sideways look at the servant as she retreated back to give us space. I realized, with further shock, that he was putting on an act. 

"Yes, Master..." I murmured, to play along. I leaned forward and began my meal. Eggs, bacon, and a slice of raw ham. I spared a look at their plates, and took note of how their own sliced ham were cooked. Is this another piece of their apology?

My bewilderment didn't lessen throughout breakfast. It still left me numb with disbelief as we all finished and the servant cleared away our dishes and left to go downstairs. Yenthyr immediately went into their room to sit at his desk and buckle down on his work the second the last bite left his plate. 

Ieli met my gaze with a smile. "Are any gears turning in that head of yours?" he asked with an amused tone. I blinked at him. His expression revealed a bit of remorse, and he busied himself with wiping some crumbs off the table. 

"We thought it would help. I didn't-" he paused and mulled his next words over. "I know Bartok's words weren't the worst things you've ever been called, but I know our reaction was what hurt you more. I figured we could push aside an unspoken traditional rule for you. Just up here, though. They'd throw a fit if we did it down there, during dinner."

Ieli had said they weren't good at trying to be better with me, but this was far from terrible. 

"You're not off-put by this?" I asked. Vampires stuck to Master-pet tradition almost as fiercely as they did with drinking blood. Letting something like this slide was probably as odd to them as it was to me.

"Well," he said, his eyes turning to my chair as he considered it, "a little. It's different. But nothing we can't get used to."

He let a minute of quiet stretch between us. His gaze didn't waver from the chair I sat in, and I wondered what he was thinking about. "You're our pet, but we do care about you."

For some reason, it made me think back to Vanilla and his vampires. I had been so convinced that they had brainwashed him, or maybe were holding something over his head that made his escape from them impossible. But recalling his words, his intense protection of his place with them, it made me wonder how nicely they truly treated him. He wore a collar, had a curfew, and was subjected to their horny needs even outside their grasp, but they cared enough about him to let him roam during the day, to let him spend time with other werewolves, and to even have a place of his own to stay when he wasn't with them.