Jolavania || MJ FanFiction

III

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Before Akasha and Michael were to set out on their journey, Draven decided to throw a celebration dinner, but he ordered Michael to put on some actual clothes since he foolishly left his clothes back at the hospital. Akasha teleported back to it to grab his clothes and let him change in her room. In the meantime, Nerezza cooked the food. Michael saw her after he came into the kitchen and offered to lend a hand, but she politely declined.

"Trust me, this is not the kind of food you'd be used to cooking on Earth." she told him. "There's special methods involved."

"What, y'all gotta perform Satanic rituals or something?" Michael chuckled, which earned him a raised eyebrow and a small scowl, prompting him to zip his lips.

"No, we're not monsters to that extent. There are some magic spells."

Michael sat down at the kitchen table and watched as she murmured a series of words and sprinkled something in the pot on the stove. "Are you happy that Akasha is getting the throne?" he asked.

Nerezza turned the heat down and looked at Michael. "Yes, I am. I couldn't be happier for her than I am right now." she said, smiling. "She seems to like you."

"I don't know, I couldn't tell." Michael chuckled.

"Don't worry, she does. To be honest, she's been feeling confident about it recently. I remember when she told me she was nervous at first when her father told her, and I totally understand why." she said as she sat at the table next to Michael. "With her father being sick, she felt like she didn't wanna let him down....Draven is strong, that's why I married him all those years ago."

"I know Draven must be lucky to have a woman like you in his life. My love life hasn't exactly been all that great, but I'm still hopeful, you know?" Michael said.

"I get it." Nerezza said with another nod. "Akasha is a special girl."

Michael chuckled. "Yeah, she is. Thanks for this little talk, I was having some anxiety about this whole thing, but you helped me out a lot."

"Thank you, honey." Nerezza said as she gave Michael a hug.

Later that night, the four of them sat around the dining room, feasting on minestrone soup, bat wings and cups of blood. Michael wasn't sure if he would like any of it, let alone eat it. The bat wings looked a little intimidating, as they were slightly bigger and pointier than the chicken wings he normally ate back home. After some coaxing and convincing from Akasha and Nerezza, Michael took his spoon and sipped on his soup. His eyes lit up and he licked his lips as he dug back into the bowl. He then nibbled on his bat wings, and surprisingly he liked those too.

"Just seasoned with dragon seasoning, that's all." Nerezza said with a nonchalant tone, causing Michael to raise his eyes.

"Dragon seasoning? Now I've heard and tasted it all now." Michael chuckled as he tore the wings up and finished them. The blood was the only thing left, and he was somehow extremely thirsty. He took the cup and downed it without a second thought.

"You'll definitely feel very thirsty when you get your first taste of blood." Draven said. "It will be the only thing you'll need to survive on."

"I don't need blood to survive, I'll just drink water." Michael said.

"Water? Oh no, vampires don't drink water, dear." Nerezza replied.

"Well, I mean I like this blood, kind of weird, but that doesn't make me a vampire."

A beat of silence followed before Akasha spoke up. "Michael, don't you remember when you got bitten?" she asked, and Michael looked confused. "You have a mark on your neck from when you were bitten."

Michael slowly reached his hand up to his neck and sure enough, he felt two small scabs from the wounds where he was bitten. "Wait...because I got bitten, does that mean that...I'm a vampire?" he asked, his eyes darting to each person in the room. Silence confirmed the answer as Michael scooted back and got out of his chair. "I didn't fucking sign up for this." he grunted, storming off.

"Michael wait!" Akasha called out. The sound of a slamming door reverberated throughout the dining room.

"It's okay, give him some time to process it." Nerezza said, placing her hand of Akasha's arm and made her sit back down in her seat. Akasha looked off in the direction Michael took off in and frowned.

Michael sat on the floor of the bathroom, pulling his knees up to his body. His fists were balled up in anger, his cheeks were wet with angry tears and a million thoughts were swirling around in his head. Not only was this news, but this was also the biggest blow to his career. He had an ever growing fanbase, album sales were growing very fast, and he consistently had sold out shows. Now that he was a vampire, his career was going to tank. No one had heard of a major label act that was selling millions of records and concert tickets and was also a fucking vampire. It just didn't happen! What about his family back home? Would they alienate him just because he had a thirst for blood? It was almost too much for Michael to handle, so much so that he suffered a small panic attack.

A knock on the door made Michael's head hurt. "Go away."

"Michael, please let me in." Akasha's voice said through the door. "I know it seems scary but it's going to get better."

"How the fuck would you know? You were born into it. I got a life, and I don't need it upturned because some idiot went to town on my neck!"

Akasha sighed and sat down on the floor outside the door, her back up against it. "Yes I was born into it, but when you get older and realize all what you're doing during your childhood was drinking blood? I was 15 when I realized it, and I got into shock like you." she said. "Luckily I had two parents who literally went through the same exact thing, and they were able to talk me through it."

Michael sighed as he unlocked the bathroom door and came outside, cutting the light off and sat next to Akasha. "How long did it take you to get over it?" he asked.

"Not even ten minutes later after that, I was good." Akasha chuckled and turned to Michael. "It's probably gonna be longer for you since you're a first timer to this."

Michael shook his head. "Well fuck. Guess I'm really a vampire now, that's something I never thought I would say." he said, chuckling.

Akasha laughed and nodded, standing up and then helped him up. The pair both walked back to the dining room.

"I'm sorry, I had a slight mental breakdown, but I'm back, and I'm proud to be a vampire now. It's gonna take me a little bit of time to get used to it." Michael said.

"We're glad you had a change of heart about all of this. We were getting worried." Draven said.

"Of course, I'm not gonna let Akasha wander on this quest by herself. We in this together!" Michael exclaimed.

"Too right, Michael, too right." Akasha said as she looked at him, and he looked back at her with admiration.

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