affectionate - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

FALLON
It was only after I noticed my father's car in the driveway and after I opened the door to my home and after I stepped inside, that I realized I had forgotten to shower at Lucius'. His scent, woodsy and all consuming, was like a second perfume on me. My father, who was laying on the couch watching TV snatched me up as soon as he caught a whiff of it.
He seized my biceps and thrusted me against the wall closest to the door. Fire ignited in my veins and a silent cry fell from the confines of my mouth.
"You don't know when to stop do you?" My father's voice was terrifyingly calm. In the corner of my eye, I could see my mother standing with her arms crossed, eyes the color of the setting sun. I knew she was angry, but for her to stand there and watch as my father abused the power that he had over me, it hurt almost more than the physical pain my father was inflicting upon me.
"I'm s-sorry—" My father pushed me further into the wall, fingers delving deeper into my skin, almost like they were trying to leave their shape permanently in my skin.
"We're trying to protect you, Fallon. The faster you understand that the better it'll be for everyone." My heart was beating a mile a minute and fear coursed through my veins; but not for me. The bond was in fact punishing me again, my entire body was so hot that I almost felt cold. It was definitely a new feeling but until Lucius was ready to mark me, I'd have to endure it. Which would never happen if he died tonight. I knew he could feel this, feel me. The sensation of my skin being attacked by a heat so ruthless and vile coupled with the raging emotions of terror, anger, and desperation would surely cause Lucius to flip out. I didn't have to guess to know that Lucius was on his way here, nothing but the thought of killing my father at the forefront of his mind and that premonition alone fueling his own anger and, in his mind, justifying what he was planning on doing.
"Daddy, please, I won't see him anymore I'll reject him I promise but you h-have to let go. He'll come here and—" My words only seemed to anger my father more, the pads of his gnarled fingers pressed searingly into my arms. My arms hurt the most, my bones ached under the weight of my father and distantly I felt the beginnings of bruises start to form, they'd stay for weeks with how hard he was digging into me. My heart broke knowing that my father was doing this on purpose, hurting me with intentions to scare me into submission.
"I'm perfectly aware, and once he's here, I'll end this. He'll die and your bond will break." Words of protest died on my lips, their purpose unneeded now as I look into my father's eyes. It was like looking into mine except rage consumed his, just like it had consumed his actions.
Suddenly my father broke our heated staring contest and let me go. I fell forward onto my hands and knees, gasping for air and trying to fill my lungs with the need to breathe. My body felt numb, I couldn't move let alone stand up even as my father opened the door, his face pinched and entire body taut with pent up anger; anger that would be no doubt taken out on Lucius who I knew was standing on my front lawn. Looking behind me, I could see my father step out onto the steps and in the blink of an eye he was no longer my father, but a wolf whose size was far from normal. His form hulked over Lucius and for a mere second I hoped that despite his size, my father would lose. I immediately felt terrible for even thinking about the death of my father, but could I really call him that anymore?
What father did this to his daughter? Lied to her, isolated her, took her freedom away from her, used her own body against her in an attempt to harm her? He wasn't a father, not to me. He was a man, blinded by his own prejudice and rage that he couldn't even see the wrong that he was committing, couldn't see the pain he was inflicting. He'd rather see his own flesh and fucking blood down on her knees writhing in pain over a stupid fucking boy, than see her happy.
But Lucius wasn't just a boy to me. He was my bloodmate, my literal other half. Maybe it was because I was a lonely and touch starved but the thought of losing him sent a shiver down my spine.
I glanced up at my mother, she was still standing in her previous spot, eyes now looking out into the yard where my father and Lucius circled each other. From an outsiders point of view it looked utterly ridiculous. A big midnight black wolf, sharp teeth bared and ready to pounce at any given moment, staring down what appeared to be a regular human. Although, the look on Lucius's face made him look inhuman. It was the scariest I had ever seen him and I imagined this was the same look he had on Christmas Eve while killing my attacker. Fangs digging into his bottom lip, fists clenched and eyes, an odd shade of indigo.
"Mom, please you have to stop them. They'll kill each other." My mother diverted her eyes away from the brewing fight and peered down into my pleading eyes.
She shook her head before returning her attention to the scene before us. "You should've thought about that before making the wise decision to go against me and your father." She spat sarcastically. Her eyes burned a crisp yellow and her hands were clasped in front of her almost as if she was praying. I assumed she was casting some type of spell and could only hope it wasn't one to harm Lucius anymore than he already was.
Deep, guttural growls pulled my attention from my mother to back outside. My father or—the wolf had finally pounced onto to Lucius and they were rolling around on the ground. The wolf had Lucius pinned, big menacing paws tearing into Lucius's flesh beneath his shirt. Bright red blood spilled from the rips in the flimsy fabric that Lucius wore and I cursed him in my head for not wearing more layers to protect himself. The wolf nipped hungrily at Lucius's neck and face all the while Lucius kept his own hands wrapped tightly around the wolf's neck to keep its murderous mouth away from him. Suddenly, Lucius brought his knee up and drove it into the wolf's stomach causing it to howl, the perfect opening for Lucius to shove it off of him and send a blow to its face. A sickening crack sounded throughout the air and the wolf shook its head a few times as if trying to shake off the pain administered to it.
Lucius stood back up, but immediately after seeing his body I wanted him to sit down. Blood decorated the entirety of his arms and torso, meaning the wolf's claws must've gone pretty deep. The sight of him, torn and tattered, made my a pit open up in my stomach and my heart sank into its depths.
The wolf was no better. Lucius hit it hard enough to daze it and Lucius took another chance to grab it by the snout, his hands forced the woof's mouth open. It was disgusting to watch, he was trying to force the wolf's face apart, turn into to two halves and walk away the victor. The wolf wasn't having it, he quickly swiped at Lucius who just barely dodged it and let go of the wolf, not before sending another bone cracking hit to the wolf's face, this time drawing blood.
I couldn't watch without doing anything anymore. They were both too prideful and full hate to back down and stop. But I knew that if they didn't, my mother would lose her husband and I'd lose the only person I ever cared about aside from my parents.
I scrambled up from my spot on the floor and dashed outside, I stood only a few feet away from the actual fight. They were back at it again, tussling around on the ground. This time Lucius was on top of the wolf, nails plunged into its neck and ripping its flesh. The wolf howled out again, blood foaming at the corners of its mouth and limbs flailing in the air around Lucius. A smile played on Lucius's face, the wolf made no moves to best him and the howling had stopped. But I knew my father, and I knew he was no where close to giving up. In an instant the two were flipped and the wolf swiped at Lucius's stomach again, this time successfully creating deep gashes in his skin. Lucius growled loudly and pushed the wolf off, a hand coming up to clutch his wounds while putting a few feet between him and his assailant.
Maybe it was the rush of emotions I was feeling or the smell of my blood pumping and rushing through my body, but Lucius glanced behind him and made eye contact with me, his eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing, almost as if telling me to go back inside. I shook my head and looked past him, the wolf seemed to understand his moment of weakness and barreled towards him at an alarming speed.
"Lucius!" It was too late.
The wolf reached him before my voice did and in a split second Lucius was knocked onto his back. A gasp weaseled out of his lips at the impact and the wolf paused in triumph. A scream caught in my throat, dread filled my body and the pit in my stomach swallowed my heart the rest of the way down, into its deepest nook, never to be seen again.
All my life, I was sure Melrose was it for me. That I would spend the rest of my life here alone, and wither away under the watchful eyes of my parents. It was annoying, but I was fine playing with the cards I had been dealt. Nothing could touch me here in Melrose—literally, under the roof of my childhood home, in a sleepy town where no matter how hard I looked the answers that I needed would never uncover themselves. Until two months ago, when I met Lucius and my world flipped upside down. Never would I guess that what I was looking for was in my own home, down the hall from the kitchen. The answers lived with me, yet fed me cruel lies that only made me wonder more. And when those truths finally revealed themselves I was expected to just take it; not do anything with it, reject it.
I found what I was searching for, and I was done living like that.
I wasn't sure if it was these thoughts or the sight of Lucius lying scarily still that prompted me to move. Nevertheless, I sprinted towards his body just as the wolf bent back on his haunches, positioning himself to pounce onto Lucius one more time for the final blow.
Tears ran down my face, I couldn't see properly but I stood my ground between Lucius and the wolf. It was a stupid idea, I didn't know how much control my father had but I was hoping he was still in there somewhere. The father that I knew wouldn't kill his one and only daughter.
"Please. I won't move unless you sh-shift back." The wolf tilted his head. He growled lowly in warning but I could care less.
"Fucking shift back. Or you can kill me too, I'd rather die than sit here and watch you kill the only person in the world who has ever given a shit about me." To my surprise, the wolf let out another bone rattling growl before shifting and the man I knew as my father was once again standing in front of me. His clothes were ripped to shreds and his neck had deep claw marks trailing down the sides and down to his collarbones. His chest heaved up and down and if looks could kill, I'd probably be halfway to heaven by now.
"You'd choose him over your own father, Fallon?" The fake hurt in his voice was not hard to hear and I scoffed at his words.
"Yes. I've chosen you my entire life, I'm fucking sick of it." He narrowed his eyes at my response, probably disliking my use of profanities but still, I didn't care.
"You watch that mouth, Fallon. This is your last chance, if you do this, that's it. You won't be my daughter anymore." Blood pooled at the corners of his lips and morbidly, I wished it was him who sprawled out on the grass and not Lucius.
"Good! I don't wanna be your fucking daughter anymore, that is all I have ever been and I'm tired of it. I deserve to be more than just a daughter, I am twenty and I have never lived a day in my fucking life. You and mom took that away from me." It looked like my father was going to say something but he was cut off by my mother who ran past me and straight to him. It was hard to ignore the pang of betrayal I felt.
"Marcus, you need to get inside so you can get patched up and heal. Now. I will speak with her." My father gave me one final look before limping past me and disappearing inside the house. I didn't regret anything that I said to him, but a small part of me hoped that he wasn't serious about disowning me. I felt stupid for even hoping but at the end of the day, no matter how much I now hated him, he was still my father.
My mother stared at me, a disappointed look on her face. Her eyes were back to normal which meant whatever spell she had been doing was released.
"Get yourself together before coming back here, you understand?"
"Mom—" My mother held her hand up to silence me and for some reason I listened and shut my mouth.
"Vampires can heal themselves but," She looked down at Lucius who was still silently lying on the ground behind me. "He seems to be struggling." And with that my mother made her way inside.
I quickly turned around and sank down to my knees next to Lucius. I hated to admit it but my mother was right. He wasn't healing, at least not fast enough. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes again as my hands gripped Lucius's shredded shirt and pulled it over his head. His stomach was an angry red and two big, deep cuts took up the better parts of his skin. His shoulders and upper arms were lined with nasty gashes too. I had no idea what to do and I mentally kicked myself in the butt for majoring in psychology and not something more helpful like nursing or human bio.
My hands gently scooped his face up. I examined his head and blew out a breath of relief after not finding any blood.
"Lucius, why aren't you healing properly? Whatever you need I'll give it to you." His hand came up from his side and circled my wrist. He brought it to his lips and kissed my pulse point over and over again until he was satisfied. My eyes were puffy due to my crying and my nose was beginning to run. I did not go through all of that just to lose him.
"Lucius, please..." His thumb rubbed not so reassuring shapes against the skin on my arm. I sniffled and watched his eyes fade from midnight blue to his usual sky. The attention he was giving my wrist wasn't enough to distract me from the fact that he was fatally injured and wasn't giving me any way to help him. I wracked my brain, thinking of ways to speed up his process but with my limited knowledge of the supernatural world, I was pulling blanks. Lucius's eyes gazed into my teary ones as he once again kissed my pulse through my wrist, the kiss was sweet and soft and made me cry harder because I wanted it to be on my lips so bad.
" 'm sorry, I can't—" Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I wasn't sure if it was what Lucius was subtly hinting at with his kisses but I was going to try. I snatched my wrist out of his hand and stood abruptly from my spot next to him. I hastily made my way to street and searched for a rock, one sharp enough to break through skin. Once I found one, a tiny piece of gravel sitting in a pot hole, I ran back to Lucius. He was paler than usual if that was even possible and it was scaring the shit out of me. I looked at him once before turning my attention to the rock in my hand and held my wrist up. I took a deep breath before slicing open the thin skin and watching as my blood gushed out of my cut. I winced and dropped the rock to hold my wrist and squeeze it so more blood would come out.
Lucius looked at me, the look in his eye one that I couldn't read through my tears and I hoped he wouldn't hate me for what I was about to do. We hadn't discussed anything about him drinking my blood prior to this and we both knew what it would entail.
Without giving it a second thought I gripped his mouth hard enough to force it open and held my wrist to his mouth. His eyes widened just a smidge as I forced my blood to flow into his mouth. He was still looking me in my eyes, brows seeping into the space between his eyes and his breathing noticeably picking up.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know—" I cut myself off with a gasp as I felt Lucius grip my wrist and pull it closer to his mouth. His fangs punctured my skin, the feeling similar to that of getting your finger pricked at the doctor's office. I held my breath as he drank, the pain nothing compared to what I felt earlier. Soon both of his hands were holding my wrist and he was drinking greedily, gulping down every drop of blood that I had to give. I was feeling lightheaded but Lucius's strength was starting to come back. Mine was wavering, he was drinking too much but I couldn't open my mouth to tell him to stop. My body felt alarmingly light, too light to keep holding up so I slumped forward onto Lucius's chest, eyes closing on the way down.
The last thing I remember is the wetness of Lucius's tongue gliding across my wrist.
hope all the mentions of blood wasn't too triggering for anyone, i tried to keep it as subtle as possible but at the same time not take away the gory aspects of the fight