Note: Don't worry folks, still working on "The Lemur and the Penguin". Hopefully people enjoy this fic too.
"You won't need prayers, you have no mortal soul to save." - "Life After Life" from "Dracula the musical".
Julien's disappearance had been quite an eerie thing to all those in the zoo. It was bad enough he was gone without a trace. No signs of a struggle, no clues, no taunts from any villain that may have kidnapped him. Nothing. Maurice and Mort didn't even have a clue.
No one had any clue. The only thing that had been odd that night was the large colony of bats had flown overhead, blocking out the full moon for a full minute. Private had been the only one to bring the possibility of that event having to do anything to do with Julien disappearing. Skipper had quickly put down that idea, and moved onto what he called "real possibilities."
Still, even now as Kowalski worked in his lab late one night, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe Private was onto something. Of course, being a penguin of science he kept pushing the stray thought out. It was silly to believe that one slightly odd event would have anything to do with it. The suggestion of anything super natural going on was ridiculous.
But still...
Kowalski shook his head, try to shake himself of the strange, unsettling feeling coming over him. Nothing of the paranormal nature had happened to Julien. He didn't know what happened, but there was no way it broke any laws of nature.
It was during that thought when Kowalski realized something. He was being watched. Turning quickly, his fins in a ready to fight position, Kowalski called out.
"I don't know who you are or how you got into my lab unnoticed. But you have picked the wrong scientist penguin to mess with." Kowalski said, looking for any signs of the intruder he knew was there.
For a few moments, silence. Kowalski was starting to think maybe his strained nerves were getting to him when a figure stepped out from one of the dark corners of the lab. Already Kowalski was ready to attack. Who he saw made him stop.
"Julien?"
It was indeed Julien who stepped out of the dark. Something was off about him though. He seemed different. More graceful and sleek looking. And was it just the light or were Julien's eyes silver? Kowalski couldn't stop staring. Something about the heart breakingly handsome change...
Wait, did he actually just think of Julien as 'heart breakingly handsome'?
Something was very wrong. The sleek look now seemed predatory as Julien moved over to Kowalski. Kowalski's heart started beating fast, but he couldn't look away. Because he was too frighted deep inside to take his eyes off of Julien. Also, a part of him didn't want to look away.
"Julien.. where..where have you been?" Kowalski managed to croak out.
Julien smiled. Not a full on showing your teeth smile that was normal for Julien. Just a small smile. That worried Kowalski for some reason. It was almost a relief when Julien spoke and his voice sounded normal.
"You would not be of the believing where I have been the last month or so-ish. It is wonderful! Am not even knowing how to start the explaining it." Julien said.
For a second, Kowalski's fear was replaced by anger.
"Wait, you disappear on all of us and you come back and tell me all this time you've been at some party?" Kowalski asked, frowning.
Julien titled his head, confused.
"Party? Well, yes. There was much of the partying. But that is not why I was the being here and then no longer being here, thing." Julien said, stepping closer.
"Really then? Then explain because I really would like an explanation." Kowalski said, still looking quite unhappy.
"So... you were of the missing me then?" Julien asked.
That stopped Kowalski's anger cold. He had missed Julien. More then he cared to admit. It was why he had been spending many sleepless nights within the last month. Still, he wasn't ready to admit that. He was trying to formulate an answer when Julien smiled that small smile again and spoke.
"You were missing me! Oh good, then I was not of the coming back for nothing." Julien said.
"I'll just wake the others up and-" Kowalski said as he started to the lab door.
Julien grabbed a hold of Kowalski's shoulders suddenly. Kowalski noted that Julien moved a lot faster then he ever had before when he grabbed his shoulders. Julien also seemed a lot stronger when Kowalski found himself pushed up against a wall.
"What are you doing!" Kowalski cried.
"It will not be hurting for long, Kowalski." Julien said, smiling wide enough to show his teeth now.
Kowalski wasn't sure what was more surprising to him. The fact Julien knew and used his name, or the sharp fangs Julien was displaying now. Kowalski would have cried out for help at this point, but then his terrified gaze became caught in Julien's excited gaze.
He was frozen then. As some would put it, like a deer in headlights. Only deer didn't have to worry about their blood being sucked out by trucks. The scary thing was, Kowalski wasn't worried. Something about Julien's silver gaze kept Kowalski calm and reassured. Almost sedated.
Before Kowalski even realized it, Julien was slowly and lightly scraping his fangs against the side of his neck. Kowalski couldn't stop the resulting moan. He also couldn't stop it when Julien suddenly bit into the side of his neck.
Everything got jumbled from there. There were moments when he felt an intense feeling of pleasure. Yet at the same time, somewhere his mind was screaming, frighted and yet disbelieving that this was even happening. He barely noticed when Julien pried his beak open. Kowalski was not even sure what happened after that except an iron taste on his tongue and then blacking out.
Waking up later proved to be a hard process. Kowalski's head was pounding as he slowly eased his eyes open. Everything hurt, and his tongue was dry. What was worse, he could still taste that iron taste he had tasted before he blacked out earlier.
The two arguing voices in the room with him wasn't helping his headache, but it did wake him a little more. Enough that he could recognize one of the voices as Julien's and understand the words being said.
"Idiot! You ring tailed fool!" a thick voice yelled.
"There is not of the need to bring tails into this..." Julien said in a hurt voice.
"I'll bring whatever I want into this argument! You have acted foolishly, and for what? Lust? You have no idea what you have started." the other voice ranted.
Kowalski finally managed to pull himself up to a sitting position, his eyes focusing on all around him. He cringed as he did. The room itself was very nice actually. It appeared to be a fancy suite in some hotel. But he couldn't help but wince as the lights in the room were too high for him.
"Could... could someone turn down the lights." He managed to croak out.
The arguing stopped. Kowalski could now focus on the other being that Julien had been talking to. A large, black bat, larger then any bat native to the region they were in, looked at him. Two other things caught Kowalski's eye about the bat. The long fangs he showed and the green, gem stone pendant he wore around his neck.
"Oh good, you being of the wakefulness." Julien said, smiling big and reminding Kowalski of just what happened eariler. "Xerxes was of the thinking you might not wake."
"Xerxes?" Kowalski asked.
"That would be me." the vampire bat said as he flew over and landed on the bed Kowalski was laid out on. "And personally, I think things would have been a lot simpler if you had not woken up at all."
"This is all real... this.. this isn't some sort of sick joke?" Kowalski asked, glancing at Julien.
"Absolutely not. Do you think we're one of those beings that put in fake fangs and bite people for kicks? No. Now we have much to-" Xerxes started.
Kowalski wasn't ready to listen. Instead he stood up and snarled at Julien.
"How... how dare you! How dare you disappear on everyone? How dare you just show up in MY lab, and bite me in the neck! Did you think it would be amusing or did you just think I'd be more tasty?" Kowalski raged.
Julien looked surprised and hurt at Kowalski's rage. Kowalski would have started in with another rant but a sudden pain went through him, as if someone had knives in his insides. He cried out and sunk back down onto the bed.
"Don't push yourself." Xerxes said. "Your body is going through changes. For mammals they are considerably less painful but... the gift works differently on birds."
Panting a little, Kowalski looked to Xerxes. He did not like the grim look on the vampire bat's face.
"Gift? What are you-" Kowalski started.
"From the way Julien talked about you, I would have thought you would have figured it out earlier. Your becoming different. Not quite a vampire. There's a reason why we don't normally give the gift to birds. They never turn out quite right. I suppose it has to do with the fact they have no teeth. I don't really know." Xerxes said with a shrug of his impressive wing span.
Kowalski's eyes were wide. He was too shocked to speak at the moment, so Xerxes went on.
" You see, when my fledgeling here let you drink some of his blood-"
"I drank his blood!" Kowalski cried, suddenly finding his voice.
"Yes. Now be quiet. I'm trying to explain everything. In any case, once he did that, he passed on the gift. But as I said, it doesn't work well with birds. Sure, they get the heightened senses, agility, and strength. However, there's a few flaws. Which I could have explained to Julien if he had told me he planed to give someone the gift." Xerxes said, glaring at Julien.
Julien opened his mouth to say something, but a low hiss from Xerxes made him close it again.
"You see, you now can not live without your master." Xerxes said.
"Master?" Kowalski questioned.
Xerxes glanced at Julien. Kowalski frowned.
"Julien is not my master!" Kowalski cried.
Xerxes wing suddenly whipped forward and slapped Kowalski in the face. Kowalski yelped and fell back.
"Why were you doing that!" Julien cried.
"Only to make sure he keeps what I say next in his mind. Never say Julien is not your master. Especially among other vampires. That would make you free game for any other vampire, considering your thrall status." Xerxes said.
Xerxes paused at this point and sighed.
"You see, at this point your life is no longer your own. For now on you can only exist on the blood of full vampires."
Once again, Kowalski's eyes were wide. He shook his head.
"No! Absolutely not! I will not be ingesting anymore blood!" Kowalski said.
" If you wish to survive, you will. Maybe even if you don't. Sometimes the need for blood will override all thoughts. Sooner or later, you will need to feed again. You can't escape that need." Xerxes said, looking almost sad as he spoke. "I'm sorry but... this is your life now. For as long as you exist. Which can be a pretty long time."