A/N Welcome to Fangs and Fur! This is my first story in a while, so feel free to review with constructive criticism! I've wanted to jump into this fandom for a while, ever since I watched the movie again and was reminded of how much I love Gregory xD But I was getting kind of tired of the story always seeming to be about a human girl who's related to Tony and follows him throughout the whole adventure. So, here's my spin on the classic love story!
Note: Yes, Aksel is a masculine name. No, I don't care that I gave it to a girl.
Getting used to Scotland was going to take a while, but it wouldn't be too bad. No, the new country wasn't going to be difficult or hard to stand. The people were going to be the problem.
I don't think we ever had to deal with someone quite like Rookery before. In all of our travels, my mother had never chosen a human like him to associate with He smelled of sweat and chicken and garlic and lived in his very own VampKill truck. Wonderful. Classy. What other great adjectives could I possibly use to describe it? Usually, we worked for someone rich and occasionally eccentric. Rookery was eccentric, but not rich.
Cracking my eyes open, I saw that it was still evening. Damn jet lag had me all messed up. I sat and pulled leaves from my hair. I didn't object to sleeping on the ground beside Rookery's truck, so long as he didn't run me over. I've had to deal with worse.
Looking around, I saw that mom was already up. I could hear her speaking with Rookery and just listened for a moment.
"This contract of yours," mother said. "How long does it last?"
We had signed the contracts last night. Neither of us could read—mom's parents never taught her, so she never taught me—and we still had no idea what we agreed to. Not the best deal, I know, but we always manage to get through alive.
"Till all the damned vampires are dead," Rookery spat. "And you can start with the family in the cemetery. They've been around there past few nights. Send the puppy in."
"Aksel!" mom barked.
I stood and walked around to the back of the truck where the doors were open and the two sat, forcing sleep from my legs. Mother was tiny next to our employer; her petite frame made her look like a child beside him.
"There you are, dear." She said as I came into view. "Sleep well?"
I nodded, trying not to look unhappy. A job was a job and money was money, and this job paid well. Vampire killers were hard to find these days, it seemed. We were in high demand.
"Go on and patrol the cemetery, girl." Rookery said roughly. "Find anything, you kill it. Understood?"
I nodded again.
"Off with you then." He waved me away and I bowed my head before turning and running into the woods.
This job sucked. Majorly. I hardly even knew my employer and already I hated him. Rookery was big, smelly, sweaty, lived in his car—and somehow he could still afford all of his insane weapons. You don't need a stake gun to kill the undead; just teeth and a set of claws.
Rolling my eyes, I slowed to a walk and stopped next to a fallen tree. I stripped out of my clothes and stashed them under the log, being careful to tuck them out of the way so I wouldn't come back to find them missing. Because that would suck. Even more than this job.
Crouching, I let go of all my pent-up anger and what little energy I had left and felt my bones crunching around and rearranging. My growing toes clutched the cold soil as I felt the familiar itching of fur growing out of my skin and my face grew out into a snout. The last thing to change was my elongating tailbone that sprouted out and was soon covered in long fur.
It all only took about thirty seconds. After that, I was free to run—lope awkwardly, rather—off into the darkness and towards the graveyard. When I got there and slowed down, I was immediately greeted with the not-so-sweet smell of vampire.
And there was something else, another smell I picked up while my nose was plastered to the ground…human. Small human. Small human boy. What was a little human doing out in the cemetery at this hour? Visiting with the bloodsuckers? Now, that just wouldn't be right at all.
I followed the scent through the graves in a frenzy, ignoring everything else. I just concentrated on getting to that small human. It would be far too difficult to comb through the entire graveyard trying to pinpoint the exact location of the vampires, as their scent was so strong. But if I followed the human's smell, then I would at least find him, if not any vampires. It would be better than nothing.
As I scrambled over an old tombstone and stopped to catch my breath, I heard voices from up ahead. I didn't bother trying to make out what they said. I didn't feel the need to. The harsh male voice resonated with all my memories of the way vampires spoke.
I had found them.
I crept toward the voices, careful to be stealthy now. If I could hear them, they could probably hear me, and the last thing I wanted was a bunch of vampires coming down on me. I had already gone through that last month in Germany, and I wasn't planning on repeating the experience.
Crouching behind a large headstone, I surveyed the scene in front of me. There were two adult vampires, a male and a female, as well as three children, the oldest looking to be about my age—but of course, I knew better-and the small human. The vampire daughter was closest to me, and as she seemed to be the youngest, I figured she would probably be the best one to pick off first.
But how was I supposed to do it? She was too close to the others for me to just drag her away and slice her open like a little bloodsucking tomato. If I just jumped in right in and started gnashing my teeth, I probably wouldn't get out alive.
I accidently shifted my weight to my back foot and a twig I wasn't aware I was standing on snapped. The girl turned to look at me, but she was the only one that seemed to notice the noise. The others were all too caught up in whatever it was they were fighting about.
She took a few steps toward me, obviously unaware of what I was. She came forward curiously but with caution, as any young vampire would, and her family ignored her. Perfect. All I needed was for her to take a few more steps and—
"Anna!" her mother yelled. "Come away from there!"
Dammit.
She started to turn back. "Mother, I was just-"
No time to lose. I jumped on her and she screamed as my paws knocked her to the ground. Saliva was flying from my mouth as my teeth reached for her throat to no avail. She rolled away somehow and scrambled to her feet, running to the others before I could even think. So it looked like I really was going to have to face the entire family on my own.
"Anna!" the younger son yelled as she reached them.
The father forced them all behind him, even the human, and soon he was facing me with his cape spread out, making him look like a huge bat. "Do your worst, beast!"
I crept toward them on all fours awkwardly, wishing that I was shaped more like an actual wolf than this odd hybrid form. Snarling, I stopped, sizing them up. Five against one, not counting the human. I could use him to pick my teeth out afterwards.
"W-what is that thing?" the human asked.
"A werewolf," the mother said fearfully.
"I thought they were all dead," the older son said. There was something oddly attractive about him. Maybe it was the way that he stood slightly apart from the others, or maybe it was his hair—spiky on top, and sort of mullet-like—but for whatever reason it was, I didn't want to kill him.
"Obviously not, dude," the human said.
"Quiet, all of you!" the father ordered, still staring at me.
I growled and lunged at him, throwing him to the ground. His hands went around my throat and he began choking me while I thrashed and tried to free myself from his iron grip. I could feel my strength draining and I had to give up fighting as my vision started to blur.
He tossed me to the side and I hit a grave that cracked in half, the top part falling on me. It felt a bit like it chipped my shoulder, and I know I was bleeding because I could smell the sweet liquid as it oozed out into my fur. I looked up to find the vampire standing over me, a look of pure hatred on his face.
"How dare you come here and attack my family," he hissed. "Where is your master?!"
The mother came and put a hand on his shoulder. "Frederick, darling, it probably can't understand you, let alone speak. It's only a beast, after all."
He nodded after a long while of glaring at me. "Yes. You're right."
There was a moment of silence broken only by his hard breathing and my panting. I could have gotten up if I wanted, but why push my luck? They didn't seem to be in the mood to kill me in cold blood. Too bad the feeling wasn't mutual. If I stayed there long enough, maybe they would lower their defenses and let me go or start ignoring me or something.
"Wh-what are you gonna do with it?" the human whimpered.
"Father, you can't kill it!" Anna insisted as her father seemed to consider the idea.
"I never said I would," he snapped.
"If we don't kill it, what will become of us?" the eldest son interrupted. "Don't you want to go down in history as the werewolf slayer?"
"Gregory!" Anna gasped. "How could you-"
"Quiet, both of you!" their father ordered. He took a step toward me and looked at me.
I met his eyes with a look that I hoped conveyed intelligence and fear. The second he turned his back, he would be mine.
He considered his options for a while. I was growing tired of it when he finally turned back toward his family, his guard lowered. He motioned for the others to follow him and as they all began to turn, I rose to my feet silently and followed. I had a clear shot at him. If I took down the leader, the rest would be simple. That's how vampires worked. Get rid of the king, and the subjects lost their organization and were easy pickings.
I was getting ready to jump at him when the one named Gregory, the one I didn't want to kill, turned and hissed at me. Before the others could do anything, he had gotten both hands around my snout and was holding it shut, trying to throw me to the side. I struggled to part my jaws and stood on my hind legs as I did so, lifting him up with me. I swung my head from side to side, trying to get rid of him, but he only kicked me in the ribs.
He dug his nails into the thin flesh of my muzzle and sharp pain erupted across my snout. I dropped to all fours again and threw myself to the right violently. He finally let go and skidded away a few feet. I snarled and advanced toward him, but was stopped by someone grabbing the scruff of my neck twisting my head up dangerously fast. It was the father, back to finish what he had abandoned.
I wiggled out of his grip and ran away a few feet, panting. I threw my head back and howled for my mother and Rookery. As much as I hated it, I needed help. Badly.
Gregory and his father attacked me simultaneously, clawing and biting at me, beating me down until I was on my belly. I gritted my teeth. All I had to do was hold on until they came. Just a few minutes and I would be safe.
I heard snarling several yards away and recognized mom's growl. I looked up as the vampire father was lifted away from me to see her gray form silhouetted against the moon up above, a deadly look on her furry face. Gregory was backing away to the other vampires as quickly as he could, and I pushed myself back to my feet.
Bright light filled the cemetery and mom dropped the vampire to let him burn before grabbing my neck in her teeth and half-dragging me over to where Rookery stood in front of his truck, the headlights illuminating everything. He was holding the stake-shooting gun and was about to shoot the vampire father when Mr. Dracula made the others hide.
"Go! Do as I say!" he yelled. He spread his cape and faced Rookery. "Do your worst!"
Rookery pulled the trigger, but the power went out and there stood the human with the power cord. Why did the gun even have a power cord? That was just ridiculous. I mean, really.
"The age of chivalry is not yet dead!" Anna exclaimed from their hiding place.
Rookery grimaced and pulled out a glowing cross. I just sat there and watched as he threatened the human with it. Idiot. Could he not tell that he was just wasting his time and making a fool out of himself? Last I checked, humans aren't afraid of glowing crosses. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it was going to do him any good.
The little human fled and Rookery followed him up a small hill. Suddenly, the human disappeared down a hole and Rookery shot flares down after him, peering in. He turned back to mom and me.
"You," he came toward me and seized the scruff of my neck. "You're going down there."
I struggled against him and dragged my feet in the grass in protest. I was too weak. I really didn't want to go down there and face the vampires again.
Mom whined while he pushed me down the shaft. I hit the ground with a sickening crunch. I got up for the millionth time and looked around to see that I was in some sort of crypt. I could hear the vampires, but their voices were muffled and I couldn't make out what they said. Following the sound, I finally found them.
"He has a sympathy for our kind," the mother said.
"Lovely," Anna sighed.
"Young Von found the stone. Then he made his way to Scotland, plucked from the sea by a merchant ship, just as rumor had it." The father's voice was growing louder as I neared them.
"Then he could still be roaming free,"
"There was a woman I've never seen before. She wore a strange coat of arms. We must find what family she belongs to, trace her crest."
"I can help," the human offered.
"No. It's too risky to involve a mortal."
"What have we got to lose? We've been searching for three centuries-" the younger son said.
"This is what comes from contact with mortals! Disrespect! Insolence!"
"Frederick, he does have a point," the mother said in her dreamy voice.
Frederick thought for a moment. "All right. Help if you can. But do not think to change your mind and betray us to our most hateful enemy, or my wrath will be revealed. Am I clear?" he had the human backed up against stone steps.
The human nodded vigorously. Everything seemed to be fine and dandy until they noticed me crouching there, covered in dirt, blood, and cobwebs, probably looking as miserable as I felt. I hadn't even been awake for an hour and already everything was turning out to be shit. I wasn't in fighting condition at this point—the fall seemed to have broken a few ribs and bruised a few more. Damn that Rookery man.
I growled desperately as they closed in on me. If this was going to be my death, at least no one would find me in this state. I would be a floppy bag of bones by the time the vampires were done with me.
"I don't think it's going to hurt us," the younger son said.
"Rudolph, we don't know for sure. It could be a trap-" Frederick began.
"It's not a trap, dear. At least, not an immediate one. Besides, what can you do? Werewolf blood is poisonous to all but a rare few. I'm surprised you haven't already been weakened." The mother took a handkerchief out and began cleaning the blood—my blood—off her husband's hands.
"What will you have me do, then? Freda, it can't stay here-"
"Darling, of course it can. If you're that concerned, there are shackles in the western tunnel. It can stay there until its intentions are made clear."
"It is a beast. It has no intentions."
"Of course it does. Gregory, Rudolph, be dears and put the poor beast in shackles for the remainder of the night."
The brothers looked at each other and came toward me. I tried half-heartedly to escape as Rudolph seized my legs and Gregory supported my upper half. I gave up growling and went willingly with them, unable to do anything else. They took me through a few narrow tunnels before finally coming to a stop at a dead end. On the clammy wall sat a pair of shackles, a rusty key set in one. Gregory grabbed it and put it in his pocket before they set me down and got to work dusting the chains off.
"Sorry about this," Rudolph whispered as they put the cold metal around my wrists.
"Don't talk to it," Gregory snarled. "It's not like it can understand you anyway."
I grunted and he glared at me. His brother almost smiled.
"See Gregory?" he asked.
"Oh, shut up."
A/N: So, how was it? Am I off to a good start? Review and let me know!
