“Through My Cheek”

Karasu

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Chapter One

When I turned fourteen years old, I was already the definition of a “bad kid.” But I added another notch to my belt when I started staying out all night. Steel convinced me that sleeping anywhere we could was okay, as long as we were together. I was attached to his hip. Metaphorically, of course.

He also had me convinced that “sharing” (i.e. five finger discounts) were a-okay as long as they were from corporate-owned companies and not from locally-owned ones. So we did it all the time. My parents never questioned where my new shirts came from, even though I was born with a silver-fucking-spoon in my mouth. They just weren’t concerned.

So one night, while we were out, running around the town and sharing all we could fit into the “murse” (man-purse) he made me carry, it happened.

I’ve had quite a few life-changing moments happen to me. But this one is by far the most important.

At first, I thought I was being attacked my dogs… which is strange enough in itself. Steel bolted when he realized they weren’t after him. Which left me to defend myself against these huge dogs. They circled me, one hopping up onto a park bench and staring me down.

He was a beautiful animal, even though I was practically shitting myself in shock. Crimson, with burning yellow eyes. His mouth seemed to curl as the rest of them made a circle around me.

“What’s your name?”

Spinning, I searched around me, frantically trying to find who asked me that question. There was, however, no other person in sight. Just these… dogs.

“I’m not going to ask you again. And look at me when I’m talking to you.”

I spun again, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I was beginning to panic, when the red dog growled.

No.

I must’ve been going absolutely fucking crazy. Dogs can’t talk!

He growled again.

Even though it made me feel like a loon… I answered. “A-Adrienne.”

“Adrienne what?”

“Williams. Adrienne Williams.” I kept my eyes on the beast, who nodded his head.

“S’a lovely name,” he kept his head held high as he went on. “Well, Adrienne, we’re going to kill you. And it’s not how I do things to just leave you in the dark. I like… formalities. My name’s Cerberus.”

Was he for real? I wondered. But then I realized, heh, I’m talking to a dog in the middle of the park at three o’clock in the morning.

“This,” he nodded his head, “is Jealousy. He’s my second-in-command. The others you see around you are part of my pack.”

I looked down, to the dog he acknowledged as Jealousy. I had to suck in a breath as my eyes fell upon the most gorgeous animal I’ve ever seen. He was a thin, sleek animal, with glistening blue-violet fur (no, I was not going mad, thanks) and deep red wine-coloured eyes. He tilted his head to look at Cerberus.

“Now that that’s over…” Cerberus growled again, keeping his eyes locked on me. “Do you believe in God, Adrienne?”

I didn’t know how to answer, as I was unsure of myself then. My parents weren’t strictly religious, and I had never once been to a church of any sort. But I had never identified as a Christian or an Atheist or an Agnostic believer.

“I’m… not sure…”

“Well, whatever you do believe in, you’d better say your prayers. This will not be swift. This will not be merciful. We’re werewolves. Something out of horror novels. And I tend to do things by the book…”

--

You can guess what happened. You can also guess that I wasn’t killed that night by Cerberus or his pack. But they did attack me, just like Cerberus said they would. I was hurt pretty badly, and the first thing I remember after was waking up in someone’s room…

The lights were dim, but they still somehow hurt my eyes. I tried to sit up, but the pain that shot through my chest and abdomen was just too much. Luckily, someone else felt the same way.

“Shhh, just lay back down, you’re hurt.”

“Steel?”

Yeah, it was kinda fucked up that I thought Steel was going to be there to help me.

“No, sorry. Your friend, uh, hasn’t been seen since the night we attacked you.”

That opened my eyes up. “Excuse me?”

“Lay down,” the man commanded, pressing against my shoulders. He was surprisingly strong. “You’re hurt.”

“Were those your dogs that attacked me?!” I struggled against him for a moment, before giving up and trying to shield myself as best as I could.

He appeared over me, and I knew that instant that I was wrong.

“No, I am one of the… dogs that attacked you.”

I was staring into wine-coloured eyes, with wisps of blue-violet hair tickling my shoulders. He was even more beautiful as a man, somehow. With a long, Roman nose set above chiseled lips. Pale skin contrasted with my own Indian-bred skin.

“Jealousy…”

Instantly, he smiled, lips parting to reveal sharp, but perfect teeth, “You remember me! I was afraid Cerb had messed with your memory when he choked you…” He fell silent. “Sorry about that.”

“Attacking me? Naw, it happens all the time,” I finally got him to let me sit up.

He chuckled, a sound I knew I was going to get used to quickly (and what a beautiful sound it was), “Yeah, I bet… Not only that, though. I wasn’t supposed to bring you back here. But I couldn’t just let you die, y’know.”

“You saved me… after you tried to maul me to death? Forgive me for saying what the fuck, but what the fuck?!”

Jealousy scratched the back of his neck, eyes averted, “Say it all you want. I don’t get it, either. Call me a bastard, but I don’t normally do this. Our prey is just that… prey. Either we kill them or we leave them there. Victims of another ‘stray dog’ attack. But you…”

I held up my hand, really not too concerned about my physical well-being at the moment. I thought I was in-fucking-sane. Jealousy fell silent, but had that wounded look in his eyes. “So, uh… care to explain what exactly happened to me?”

He shrugged, getting down a glass from one of the cabinets that lined the wall. Pouring me some tea (at least, that’s what it looked like to me), he said, “Well. Cerberus told you the basics. We’re… werewolves. And I know that sounds far-fetched, but it’s true. If it makes you feel any better, vampires exist, too. Ghosts are real. The whole shebang. We’re just one pack in one city in one state in one country in the whole world.”

I sipped my tea (raspberry flavoured, in case you were wondering), taking all of this in. “So… am I… a werewolf now?”

“No,” Jealousy sat on the edge of the bed I was in, peering at me with his odd-coloured eyes. “We have to consciously turn you. When we… hunt, we aim to kill and eat, not turn.”

“How do you turn someone?”

His eyebrows rose, disappearing into his bangs for a brief second, “You… want to know?”

“Call me curious.”

“Well, there are a few ways to. One is to bite you, injecting a sort-of poison into your veins a la old school vampires. Another is for you to feed on our flesh. And another… is to share bodily fluids a la AIDS.”

I couldn’t suppress the chuckle that left my lips as he said the last one. “So you guys are pretty celibate?”

“Oh no,” Jealousy smiled, giving me a glimpse of that perfect face of his (and I wasn’t a kid to be… attracted to guys), “we get it on just as much as you humans. There are things called condoms and we do use them. But mostly, we don’t have to because we’re pretty immune and when we do have sex, it’s with our own kind.”

“That’s pretty rad,” I admitted, drinking the last bit of my tea, then setting it down on the little end table. “I’m still a virgin, so it’s nice to know I’ll be getting some poon when I’m a werewolf.” My mouth curls, but I see a flash of light across Jealousy’s eyes.

“You’re—no. You can’t be a werewolf!”

“Why the fuck not?” I hunched my back until I was sitting cross-legged, elbows on my knees. My fucking stomach hurt.

“Because… you just can’t. Cerberus wouldn’t allow it!” Jealousy backed away. Only slightly, but it’s enough to where I know it. “Besides, you don’t want this life…”

I leaned over some more, enough to where I was looking up at those wine eyes, making him look at me. “Yeah, living forever is horrible, I bet.”

“You don’t understand,” Jealousy pushed me back, hand on my shoulder, eyes locked with mine. He’s so goddamn beautiful. “You’re young, you have your whole life ahead of you. Trust me when I say you couldn’t possibly want this.”

I scoffed. He didn’t know what I wanted and what I didn’t want. “Lemme try it out. Go out with you guys on a hunt or something? You have to look at it from my perspective, kid. This is some fanciful shit! Who wouldn’t want to be part of the crowd?”

He laughed when I call him “kid,” even though he’s at least ten years older than I was. But… no matter how hard he laughed, his eyes retained that melancholy light. “Fine, I’ll humour your fantasy. But you won’t be able to keep up with the pack when we hunt. So I’ll take you out myself.” I started to cheer, but he immediately cockblock’d me. “When you’re better.”

“Promise?” I held onto the sleeve of his shirt, feeling the sheer fabric twist between my fingers.

He ruffled my hair, smiling at me, “Promise.”

--

So maybe I was stupid for wanting to become a werewolf. Hell, I didn’t even know if these guys were serious. But when you live a big part of your life without somewhere to call “home,” basically, you tend to latch on to whoever shows you attention. It’s a hard habit to break, too. I did it for about fifty years.

But, I figured, if all else failed and they weren’t real werewolves, I’d have a few cool stories to tell whatever friends I had later. And my philosophy, even from that young age, was to live life to its fullest. Why else are we here? Right?

Right.

So I spent a week under the care of Jealousy and some of the other pack members. Not once did I see Cerberus. But I got to meet his little sisters, twins named Payn and Pahnik. They were sweet and looked after me while Jealousy took care of whatever “business” he had to do, since he was second-in-command.

But the nights I cherished were the ones Jealousy spent by my bedside, spinning tales of the adventures he had with the pack. They were a lively bunch, starting out in the mid-west US and basically moving to every state before settling in Seattle. This fascinated me. I had never been anywhere other than my town. But Jealousy… he had toured the world!

I wanted to know what it was like, packing up what shit you had and just… leaving. He assured me that it wasn’t as nice as I was making it out to be. But to me, it was the most admirable thing I’d ever heard of. I wanted to be a part of that, no matter how bad Jealousy told me it was.

He told me all about the old pack members who had broken off in various parts of the country to form their own packs. How they rarely kept touch, but still knew which ones were active by scent and rumours.

Jealousy recounted numerous stories of the shit they’d gotten into as a pack, as a brotherhood and sisterhood. He showed me scars that were left from fights he’d been in. He laughed as he recalled just how many times he had been in the hospital because he’d pissed Cerberus off.

I was captivated. I hung on every single word that passed those lips. And, even though it had only been a week and some odd days, I knew that I was falling head over heels for Jealousy. The way he would look at me sent shivers up and down my spine, made me blush like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

It was never confusing for me, like it is with so many others, to identify as bisexual. It was just… there. I knew I liked tits, and I knew I liked Jealousy, what else did I need?

So I followed him around, very aware that I was probably annoying the piss out of him, even though he didn’t say so. He even said he liked the attention. Liked being a “hero,” as he put it. And oh, he was my hero. I never wanted to leave the pack. Never wanted to leave Jealousy.

But my request came at a price.

And it was Jealousy that gave me the ultimatum.

--

I had been staying with Cerberus’ pack for two weeks when Jealousy asked me if I wanted to stay. As a permanent fixture. My heart, of course, jumped at the thought. But that’s when he said it.

“Adrienne, I want you here… but I don’t want you to live the life I lived.”

“What does that mean?” I leaned forward, eyebrows furrowed. I wanted him. I needed him. In my fourteen-year-old mind, he was the only thing I would ever want or need. My savior.

“I’m going to let you choose. Either cut ties with me… or let me turn you. I can’t live half-way with you,” he placed his hands on my shoulders and I knew, I just knew, that he wanted me, too.

And, in my mind, there was no other answer. I had to let him turn me. I had to give myself over to this “curse.” I had to… for Jealousy.

So I moved forward, closer to him, exposing my neck like I’d seen so many heroines do in the vampire movies. “Do it.”

“You know what you’re asking of me, right?” Jealousy’s eyes shone with tears. This wasn’t what he wanted for me. “You realize what you’re doing? Is this really what you want?”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning in to tentatively press my lips to his, “Do it.”

That was all it took. Jealousy became savage. His teeth tore into my lips, clacked with my own. Arms pinned me down to the mattress, hips grinding into mine with a passion I had never seen a man exert before. I was a minor, but in Jealousy’s eyes… I was a lover.

I felt flushed, self-conscious, but when Jealousy’s lips curled around my neck, I let myself be taken over by passion. He was rough with me, all but tearing my clothes off, claws raking bloody marks down my stomach before he gripped my erection tightly.

Crying out, I pulled him closer to me. I wanted this more than I had ever wanted anything… and more than I would ever want anything. I was going to be Jealousy’s. He was going to turn me into a werewolf while we had sex. It was just like all those romance novels. Only… this was real.

This was going to be my life.

--

Author's Notes: I got the a-okay from Eden the other day, so I can continue posting! 8Dd

Cerberus is all hers~ I just borrowed him for Adrienne's first experience with an Alpha wolf. Cerberus' pack is also hers. Jealousy, however, is my baby. :'3 I love him so much~

Anyway uh. Well, when I was younger, I was fascinated by wolves (which explains my fascination and love for werewolves now), so most of what I know about packs and the like is from my ten year old brain. :| So if it's not quite up to speed, that's why? Idk why I felt the need to disclaim that or anything. But whatever. XD;;

YAY BUTTSECKS!

I need sleep. BRB SLEEPING FOREVER-- OH WAIT NO, MORE DEMYX TIME?! OKAY. 83