My Bad Boy Werewolf Quadrillionaire Space Lord

After the Werewolf

Luca first conscious thought when he opened his eyes again, was wondering why a lake was leaping up to hit him in the face.

It occurred to him that it might be an unfair interpretation of events, and managed to bend himself into a respectable dive before he cut into the water. He had, after all, spent near every other evening in his very wealthy life at pool parties. Even despite his best efforts, sometimes he learned things.

The next thing Luca had to contend with was the fact that the water was colder than that one Dutch countess had been the first time they met. Luca was fairly confident the duchess had warmed up quite a lot faster than the lake would, so he swam back up to the surface.

He broke the surface to find himself in the middle of the lake, with a portal about ten feet above his head. A little further away, Isabella was waving excitedly from the dropship window, smiling like a teenaged boy who had finally gotten around the porn blocking filters on his computer.

Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out his portal device. He looked at the screen just long enough to verify that the waterproofing still worked, then moved the portal above his head to a spot just above the shoreline. He then pointed it just below his feet and turned it on.

Like someone had pulled a massive plug, Luca plunged down through a violent current of water into another blot of inky darkness. Into it, through it, and he landed feet first on a sandy beach. He rolled away from the gushing torrent of water and hit his device to deactivate the portals. The one above his head vanished in a bellowing sound that, had Luca heard in a bathroom stall, would have prompted him to phone an ambulance.

"Damn things really do sound like bowel problems," Luca muttered to himself as he stood up.

"Not your best entrance," Luca's mother said.

Luca turned around and grinned. His parents were reclined lazily in lawn chairs, with an empty third chair waiting invitingly. Luca half sat, half-collapsed into it, and held out his hand. "Beer me," he said.

His dad reached into his bag of holding, pulled out a bottle, and knocked the cap off on the side of his chair. Lito handed it to Anna, who then passed it to him. Luca took it and read the label. "Moon brew? From Luna's first grain field? You only bust that stuff out when you're celebrating. And mom's been drinking it, so I'm pretty sure I'm not getting a little sibling. What's the occasion?"

"Your friends gave us the easiest full moon we've ever had," Anna said. "Alcuard was quite a dear and took point a few times, and Isabella used that new portal trick of yours to keep you penned in the lake since about, oh, five hours ago. We put the chairs out around one in the morning."

Luca looked down and only saw two open bottles in the sand. "This is only your second round?"

"Oh no," Lito said with a laugh. "Your vampire buddy took the empties with him when he went to go up and rest. Said something about sunrise ruining his complexion."

"You mean constitution," Luca said. "Apparently sunlight is lethal to a vampire."

"Yeah, that was the word," Lito agreed. Luca noticed that his father's speech was slightly slurred, as if he was having trouble focusing. But he suspected Lito was putting on an act, since his father's next words were sharp and focussed. "When you see him next, apologize for biting him."

Luca's hand started to shake, and he nearly dropped the beer in his hand. "Is he okay? Is he missing a limb or something?"

"He might have an extra tree limb from when you hit him with a log," Lito said with a smirk. "But you barely drew blood when you bit him. Apparently, vampires taste like semi-putrefied flesh. Who'd have thought."