Homonus Nocturna - Chapter 3 - Resisting the change

The Black SUV sped along the highway, hitting speeds of almost 105 miles per hour, much faster than any Vampire could move.

Melody was sat in the back seat, cradling her unfortunate date in arms, trying with all of her might not to shed a tear. Poor Eli had been bitten, and now he was well on his way from transitioning from Anthronian to Vampire, and all of it was her doing.

If only Eli could have been one of those Vampire lovers, who would give anything to be turned, that would have made everything so much easier, but alas, he was not, and all he had wanted was to be left alone and try to continue living a normal life. However, this had been now been robbed from him.

Blaine, the husky who was driving the SUV, had mostly been keeping quiet, apart from the odd remark about how long they had before the sun arose, and how they still had enough time to reach the isolated mansion that the Vampires of Apollo City called home.

Looking over his shoulder at Melody and the unconscious Eli, he finally broke the silence.

"Do you think he's going to make it?" he asked quietly. Melody had already shown that she was not in the mood to talk, but he felt he needed to check on her, and their target.

Melody said nothing for a few moments, while she looked down at Eli, and examined the tender looking pink spot of flesh that were visible on his chest. The mark was all that remained of the gunshot wound inflicted on him by Tritoch. Melody gently pressed down of the exposed spot to check if it had healed correctly, only to find it was still fairly sore, as Eli grunted in pain.

"The wound has closed up, he should be alright." Melody said, returning her gaze out of the car window to stare at the partially eclipsed moon. At least the moon wasn't full, as that would have meant that the Lycans would have been at their full power, unable to stop themselves from changing.

"Provided he survives the change of course" Blaine added, which only earned him another slap around the head from Melody.

"He has to make it, he just has to." Melody thought, while Eli began to groan and shuffle in her lap. This signalled that he had started to dream, meaning that the change was now in full swing, unable to be stopped.

Elis mind was now temporarily lost to everyone, trapped inside his own subconscious. The Dreaming was something every supernatural being experienced during their transformation, and losing oneself in it, or even dying, would result in death in the real world.

Inside his dream, all Eli could see was a gargantuan mass of swirling colours, giving him the image of paint going down a drain. He could feel a sensation of air rushing past him, and he realised he was falling into the colourful vortex head first, and their seemed to be no way to stop.

Down and down Eli fell, bracing himself for the inevitable smack into the ground, when, inside his head, he heard a voice. It was soft, almost familiar, yet Eli could not figure out who it belonged to.

"You have to make it..." it spoke, filling Eli with a feeling of warmth.

At that moment, something inside Eli awoke. The warmth he felt was spreading around his body, filling him with a new found strength. He really didn't want to die, and it seemed that the vortex had sensed that. It had begun to sink away, leaving only light in its place, a soft glow that made Eli feel even safer.

Even the feeling of falling had faded away, and now he was floating, as if on a cloud.

Eli looked down to where the vortex of colour had been, and stared full on into the light. It entered his eyes and bathed him in its glow, as if penetrating his very soul. He was drifting towards it, faster and faster, and he didn't care, he felt so secure, he was almost certain that he would be alright.

Closer and closer to the light Eli drifted, until, suddenly, everything went dark. Eli instinctively began to panic, writhing around and trying to find the light again. He had begun to fall again, the feeling much stronger than it had been previously.

Then, with a thump that caused Eli to feel pain, real pain, Eli smacked into something solid, suddenly becoming dizzy, and blacking out once again.

In the real world, Melody suddenly let out a scream, which caused Blaine to jump in his seat, and almost crash the SUV into the barrier that guarded the edge of the road.

Whatever Eli had hit in his dream, his body had reacted by jolting violently, resulting in him falling from Melodys lap, and giving her one hell of a fright.

"Bloody Hell! You scared the crap outta me!" Blaine yelled, obviously irritated now. "He must be having one hell of a dream."

Melody didn't respond, instead leaning down to pick Eli up and put him back onto the back seat, his head once again resting in her lap. As she did so, Eli grumbled, making her look at him in the hopes that he was going to wake up, but sighed as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Let's hope he doesn't do that again." Blaine said, rubbing his forehead.

* * *

After another hour and a half of driving through the darkness, the SUV slowed to a stop at a large set of wrought iron gates, blocking the entrance to an impressive, extremely gothic looking mansion. The Vampire Headquarters of Errata City.

"We're here", Blaine said to Melody, as he opened his window, to speak into the wall mounted intercom, which had just crackled to life.

"It's Blaine and Melody... we have the target. He's begun the Dreaming." He spoke clearly and slowly, making sure the person on the other end of the connection heard and understood every word.

Without a single word of reply, a light buzz emitted from the intercom, and with it, the gates slowly slid apart, creating a gap wide enough for the SUV to pass through. Driving forward towards the main doors to the mansion. Blaine parked up at the entrance, and looked back at his passengers. Melody was, once again, not paying him any attention.

Melody had her forehead pressed against Elis, and her eyes were clenched shut.

"The Bond takes time, you can't force it". Blaine said, which made Melody suddenly shoot upright, and throw him a dirty look. "It was probably the initial forming that caused him to jump earlier."

Melody assumed that he was right, as Eli hadn't even twitched since.

"C'mon, we'd better get him inside. It's almost dawn, and we don't wanna be out here when the sun comes up. I really don't fancy being a barbecue husky."

Before Melody could open her mouth to speak, Blaine suddenly interrupted her.

"I know you care for him, and you think that he doesn't deserve to be dragged into all of this, but like it or not, he is gonna become a Vampire in less than twenty four hours, and we have to protect him while he turns." He said sternly.

Melody reached out, putting her paw on Blaine's cheek and giving him an understanding look, then, for the third time, smacked him around the head.

"Don't you think I know that!?" She yelled, "I was just gonna ask if you could help me carry him inside!"

Blaine rolled his eyes, his silly jester personality resurfacing.

"Duuh, I knew that!" He lied in a sheepish tone, "You know if you keep hitting me you'll break a nail."

Melody raised her arm in warning, causing Blaine to recoil.

"Ok! I get the point!" Blaine grumbled, as he leaned into the SUV and dragged Eli off of Melodys lap, and hoisted him onto his shoulders, trying his best to look macho, but failing miserably.

"C'mon moron." Melody said, as she walked over to the mansion door, pressing her hand upon its wooden surface. As if in response, the door creaked loudly, and slowly but surely, opened up, waiting for them to pass through into the grand entrance hall that lay within.

"Ladies and invalids first" Melody said in a feminine tone, causing Blaine to grumble. It was almost as if he and Melody had suddenly switched personalities.

Following along in Melodys footsteps, Blaine lugged the unconscious Eli up the large flight of stairs that lead to the dormitories. As he climbed, he huffed and puffed, constantly complaining about how heavy Eli was, even though Blaine was strong enough to lift an adult elephant. Melody however paid him no heed, her mind occupied with thoughts of what would happen if Eli woke up.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Melody led Blaine to her room, unlocking and holding open the door, after which Blaine lugged Eli inside, dropping him down onto the bed, and then, returning to his usual cheery self, he climbed onto the bed and began spooning the unconscious wolf, saying, "Don't we make a cute couple?", before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Melody was just about ready to pick Blaine up and hurl him through her bedroom window, but was stopped by a sudden knock at her door.

As Melody whirled around to see who knocked, she was greeted by the stare from one of the resident vampires, who had raised an eyebrow at Blaine as he played around with Elis unconscious form.

"Can I help you?" Blaine said from the bed, as he pretended to nuzzle Eli.

The vampire at the door merely cleared his throat, before beginning to speak.

"If the two of you are quite finished, She has requested an audience. Now." He said plainly before turning on his heel and striding off down the corridor.

"Looks like the boss lady wants to see us." Blaine said as he sat up and hopped off the bed, and then pulled the bed covers over Eli, whispering "Sleep tight little wolfie". Blaine quickly ducked before he was struck by Melody, who had swung for him again.

Shaking her head, Melody left her room with Blaine hot on her heels, preparing herself for a discussion, with, Her. Specifically, their leader, the Vampire Elder, Genevieve.

As the two of them left the room, they failed to notice that Eli had begun to move around in his sleep again, ears and tail twitching feverishly, as the next stage of his dream began.

Eli was now in a familiar place, finding himself in the sprawling streets of Apollo City, the place he used to call home. As he gathered his senses, he realised he was running, at a full sprint no less, drawing power a seemingly limitless amount of energy.

As he ran, a sense of panic and fear began to overtake him. He must be either in a rush to be somewhere, or he was running from something.

Turning his head to look behind him, Eli saw what was causing his dream self to run at such a speed. Several creatures were chasing him, fangs and claws in full view with looks showing they were intent on tearing him to pieces.

As he stared back at them, memories returned to him as he examined each of their faces, time seemed to slow to a crawl when he did so. As he checked each one, he remembered everything that had happened to him during the last 5 hours or so.

He could see Tritoch and Nathaniel, the Lycans who had attempted to kill him and Melody, but instead had met their doom at her hand, with his help. Then there was Blaine, whom Eli didn't really recognise, as he had only seen him for a moment, when he was being put into the SUV, and being bitten by Melody. He remembered looking directly at Blaine while she had done that, almost begging him to stop her, yet he sat and did nothing.

Then of course, there was the Vampire vixen that had started all this, Melody. Eli remembered the date, the meal, how she had wolfed down her food. And then, his mind flicked to the kiss. That one moment, when he felt like nothing could go wrong, and now, here he was, running from his own memories.

Elis focus flicked back to the creatures giving chase, but this time, something was different.

They had seemed to have gone out of focus, their fur beginning to change from their usual colours, to a uniform grey. All of them seemed so thin, skeletal almost, and their eyes, had gone from their defaults to a sinister red, that seemed to glow in the false night inside Elis mind.

Seeing these creatures made Eli panic even more, his pace increasing, till he was moving so fast he could no longer make out the buildings and street signs that he was running past. He had to get to his apartment, at least there; he would be safe for some time. Something about that thought made him feel that once he was in there, these monsters would not be able to touch him.

Eli ran and ran, constantly checking behind him to see if these new, more horrifying versions of his memories were following him.

After what felt like another hour of running, Eli checked once again, and immediately stopped his sprint, narrowly avoiding falling on his face.

The creatures were chasing him were gone.

Eli looked around, checking every direction he could think of, even looking up at the sky to make sure they hadn't suddenly started flying, but after several checks, there was no sign of them. They had simply vanished.

"I'm safe?" Eli thought to himself, turning around to find that somehow, in his extended dream marathon run, he had wound up directly outside of his apartment building.

"Where are you?" Eli said aloud this time, wanting to be absolutely sure they were gone. Waiting a few moments, Eli called out again, but still received no response.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Eli dropped to his knees. It seemed that whatever energy that was helping him to run that far had left him, and now he was panting for breath. Also, for some reason, Eli felt cold, even though he had run a great distance.

Eli was beginning to feel dizzy, and he couldn't explain why. He assumed that it was because of the running, the oxygen deficit his body had accumulated, had now all hit him at once. He could barely breathe; he could feel his heart rate slowing. The only reason Eli could think of, was that he was dying.

As a matter of fact, this was all part of his transformation, as Vampires have no heartbeat, and no need to breathe, this was all simply part of his becoming a Vampire.

Eli fell to his side, clutching his chest, while desperately trying to inhale. The dizziness was getting worse, and he could hear his ever slowing heartbeat in his ears. As he lay, his eyes began to close, and he could just make something out in the corner of his eye.

Another skeletal creature, like the ones chasing him earlier, was staring at him, its red eyes glowing with a light that seemed to penetrate his very soul. This one was different from the others however, and in a way that would have frightened Eli to Death, had he not already just passed from the realm of the living, and into the realm of the undead.

The creature looked exactly like him, even down to the clothes he was wearing.

Without a sound it faded away, knowing full well, that it would encounter Eli again in the future.

Melody and Blaine felt like they had walked down thousands of steps by the time they reached the underground sub-basement of the mansion, where the throne room, and Elder Genevieve awaited them.

Approaching the double doors that barred their path, Melody greeted the guardsman stationed there with an almost unnoticeable nod of the head, which returned by the guard, who then proceeded to push open the door, and hold it open for the two of them.

Upon entering the Throne room and awaiting the door to close behind them, Melody and Blaine took several steps forward and then sank to their knees, bowing their heads as a sign of respect towards their Elder, who greeted them with her arms outstretched, as if ready to pull them into a friendly hug.

"Ah, Melody, Blaine, welcome home my children." Genevieve said slowly.

The Elder Genevieve was an extremely old Vampire, almost 3000 years of age, and one of the very first of her kind. The mansion that she called home was constructed by her and several other Vampires almost 300 years ago, and it was her decision to turn it into a Vampire Headquarters.

Not a single member of the Vampire Covenant that resided at the mansion knew how Elder Genevieve came to become a Vampire, only that she was the first to be done so, at the age of 24, by the very first Vampire, Frederic Antharrus, who passed several hundred years ago, leaving Genevieve in charge.

She stood before them in a silken grey robe, the very same she was wearing when she was turned, the original material had needed mending and altering that many times, barely any of it remained. Her long silver hair was a sign of her age and status as Elder, yet her face remained as it was throughout time, her brown feline fur still as lustrous as it had always been. Almost every Vampire considered her to be the most beautiful cat on all of Anthron, including both Anthronian and supernatural in their comparisons.

"Please, rise", she said, "I have heard that you have the one from the prophecy, and that he is well on his way to joining our ranks. I believe that congratulations are in order."

With a smile, Genevieve walked over to Melody and Blaine, and lightly kissed them on both cheeks, which was a gesture of great honour among the Vampires.

"You have both done very well. Was there any trouble?" She added.

Blaine was about to start talking, no doubt to spin some amazingly over exaggerated tale of how he and Melody defeated the Lycans and claimed Eli, but before he could begin, Melody cut him off.

"We encountered resistance from Lycan forces, your excellence." She said quietly, knowing full well that she had ended the life of one of her oldest friends a few hours ago.

"That is unfortunate." Genevieve replied, pushing her hair back as she walked over and sat down on her throne. "It is a pity that the Lycans have chosen to side against us, they had always been such reliable comrades in battle." Her tail swished behind her as she spoke, and she lost herself in thought for a few moments, before beginning again.

"I suppose the situation cannot be helped. Return to your progeny Melody, protect him while he sleeps, for when he awakes, it will be your duty, as the one who turned him, to teach him our ways." Genevieve said, which made Melody wonder how she knew that she had bitten Eli, as neither her nor Blaine had mentioned it to anyone. Perhaps she could tell when a Vampire had recently fed.

With a nod of the head and a curtsey from Melody and a bow from Blaine, they left the throne room, and began the ascent back to the dormitories and Melodys room, where Eli slept.

"Trust you to do all the talking, leaving me to stand there like a lemon." Blaine huffed. He always liked making himself look all macho in front of the Elder. "At least I got kissed though, and is it just me, or did she not seem all that bothered about the situation with the Lycans? The way she spoke about it, it was as if they had always been like that!"

"Oh be quiet would you!" Melody snapped, "She probably has more important things to worry about, and besides, she probably didn't want to listen to your boasting about your 'amazing endeavours' that didn't actually happen!" It was late, and Melody was tired, in less than an hour the sun would rise, and even though the Mansion was light proof, staying awake during the day would severely weaken a Vampire anyway.

"You didn't have to be so cold..." Blaine whined, sticking out his bottom lip and pulling a sad face.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Melody headed down the corridor to her room, while Blaine meanwhile, took a different route, instead heading to the kitchens, for a light blood snack before he called it a night. The kitchens of the Mansion were always stocked with plentiful amounts of blood off all types, kindly donated by the unwitting citizens of Apollo city. There were also the serving staff and, the 'Chew toys' as they were known, a group of Anthronians who would willingly allow the mansion residents to bite and feed from them, even going so far to satisfy the sexual needs of the Vampire, if they required it.

On most occasions, being bitten by a Vampire would cause an Anthronian to become one themselves, however, if the bite victim were to then ingest a drop or two of Vampire blood, then the change would be cancelled out, and the Anthronian would not be turned, and ready to be fed from again. It was more than likely that Blaine would probably feed from one of the 'Chew Toys', as he preferred his blood fresh, and not from a plastic container.

Melody meanwhile had reached her room, opening the door quietly, and slipping inside. Even though Eli was too far into his dream that he could not be awoken for another few hours, Melody still made as little noise as possible, as she picked up a nightshirt, and entered her on suite bathroom to change.

After she slipped out of the evening dress that she had been wearing for some time now, Melody picked it up and took a good look at it. During the course of the nights events, it had been smeared with Elis blood, scorched, and torn in a few places. Melody tried to suppress a smile when she realised that she had just spoken to the Elder, all the while looked like she had been shoved into a flaming bush.

After several minutes, Melody emerged from her bathroom, throwing her tattered dress straight into the garbage can, knowing that she would never wear it again.

She climbed into her bed next to Eli, and giggled a little as he unconsciously snuggled up to her, nuzzling into her chest. Seeing that his shirt was just as tattered as her dress, Melody easily tore it off of him, throwing that too into the garbage in several pieces, leaving Eli bare chested.

Melody lay there, cuddling her unconscious former dinner date, now Vampire progeny, while running her fingers through his chest fur. Doing this made Eli murr a little, which made Melody giggle even louder.

Melody rested her chin on Elis forehead as she contemplated the thought of having to teach Eli about being a Vampire. Her first objective would be getting him to accept what he had now become, and then he would have to feed, something she knew he would be reluctant to do. She supposed he could start with just a blood pack, and then when he was ready, he could move on to actually biting someone, most likely one of the servants or Chew toys.

Before sleep took her for the night, Melody checked Elis pulse, and found none, signalling to her that he had completed the second stage of the Dreaming, and was about to, if not already had done, begin the third and final stage.

"Sleep tight." Melody said, repeating Blaine's words, before gently kissing Eli on the forehead, and pulling him up so that she could cuddle him like a life size rag doll.

As Melody fell asleep, Eli began to twitch once again in her arms, his Dreaming was beginning again.

His dream had now taken him to the place he had wanted to be most during his last nightmare. He was at home, curled up in his own bed, with the doors and windows of his apartment all firmly locked, and the curtains closed, blocking out the outside world.

As he sat up from his laying position, Eli scanned him room, barely able to believe it. How had he ended up here? Had someone carried him inside after he had blacked out just feet from the entrance? And what had happened to the monsters that were chasing him?

Eli was beginning to piece everything together, his memories returning to him, as they had been since the earlier chase through the streets. He had met Melody, she had saved him from Tritoch, and then... she had bitten him.

After that, everything had gone hazy. The world he was in didn't seem right; things were vastly off about it.

"I'm dreaming?" Eli said aloud, the realisation hitting him like a brick. All of this, it wasn't real at all. The monsters, the darkness that kept engulfing him... it was all in his head, and now, he had to figure out a way to wake up.

Looking around the bedroom, Eli tried to find some clue that would lead him out of this world, and back into reality.

Everything seemed to be exactly the way it was, clothes randomly strewn across the floor, a pile of magazines in the corner, even the missing door handle from his closet was still gone. It wasn't until he checked the bedroom door, that he saw it.

There was a light on in the hallway, on the other side of the door. However, that could not be right, as the light in the hallway of Elis apartment had not worked at all for the entire time that he had lived there, to the extent that Eli himself had removed the bulb from the ceiling light, and not replaced it.

Yet there was defiantly a light coming from the hallway, and something in Elis gut told him, that that was the way to go if he wanted to wake up.

Slowly getting up off of his bed and stepping onto the carpeted floor, Eli made no sudden movements as he crossed the room and went over to the door. Every step filled him with a fear that at any moment, any manner of creature may suddenly burst through the door and kill him.

Reaching the door and placing a paw on the door knob, Eli steadied himself, and threw open the door.

The light that greeted him blinded him for a moment, yet his eyes quickly adjusted to it. The light from the hallway seemed to spread from it and fill his room, yet it was a soft glow, which bathed Eli in warmth.

"Is it safe?" Eli thought, still trying to make sure that he would leave all of this unscathed, although the warm feeling he got from the light was convincing him otherwise. He couldn't stop himself from shuffling forward, edging closer into the wall of light, wanting to feel it covering him completely.

Closer and closer he got to it, until the light was so strong he could see nothing else, and then, everything suddenly changed.

The warmth was not as great as it was, and Eli suddenly felt rather, constricted. Everything had gone dark, but that was quickly remedied when Eli realised that he had closed his eyes.

Opening up his eyes, he looked around the new place he had wound up in. A pleasant room, with beige wallpaper, and a stone floor. Eli was in a large king size bed, and, he quickly noticed, there was someone cuddling him.

Elis eyes immediately widened when he realised who it was. Melody. The vixen that had started all of this, and dragged him into a world that he could not escape from.

Eli nudged himself out of her grasp, standing up from the bed and making to leave the room, wrapping his arms around himself as he was no longer wearing his dress shirt, making him feel a little cold.

He barely got two steps when a sudden pain shot through his stomach, and Eli yelped out in pain. He felt like he hadn't eaten in days, and it felt to him like normal food just wouldn't fill him up enough. His entire body ached, and he felt like he barely had any energy.

Eli fell to his knees holding his stomach, as Melody jolted awake in bed, awoken by his moans of pain and hunger. Leaping out of bed and landing right next to Eli, she immediately pulled him into another hug, which he tried to resist, but couldn't muster the strength.

"Thank the Maker you are alright!" Melody said, relief clearly audible in her voice. "After everything that had happened, I thought the Dreaming would be too traumatic for you, but you pulled through! I had a feeling you might..."

"...die?" Eli finished her sentence for her, barely able to get even that one word out.

"Oh my God! You've just woken up! You need to feed, and now!" Melody said, sounding slightly panicked. She knew that getting him to drink blood would be no easy task.

"Feed? ... What..." Eli spoke, trying to conserve energy to string together at least one full sentence.

"You haven't realised it yet have you..." Melody trailed off, looking at Eli with sorrowful eyes.

"Eli, you know what I am, and when I bit you, you became like me..."

"No...I can't be! ..." Eli croaked, his voice cracking.

"I'm truly sorry Eli... but you are. You are Vampire, and you cannot go back to the way things were before. You need blood to restore your energy, and you will drink it Eli, even if... even if..." Melody stopped, she was going to hate herself for what she was about to say, as she felt it may even come to this.

"Even if... I have to force it down your throat... you will drink."

End of Act I

Homonus Nocturna will return with Chapter 4 - Afterlife Lessons