Here it is! The story of Ripjaws falling in love! Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!
I only own Rachel, Mrs. Comstorn, and Veronica. All other characters belong to their respective owners.
Inspiration for this story came from the movie "The Batman vs. Dracula" which belongs to Warner Brothers and DC Comics.
A Different Kind Of Bite
Rachel was returning some library books when she spotted a young girl in a nearby chair, writing down something in a notebook while reading a large book. "I've never seen that girl before," she said to Mrs. Comstorn, the librarian. "Is she new?"
The elderly librarian nodded. "She and her mother moved here after they lost her father. He was a Marine," she said.
"A very brave man then," said Rachel, a respectful note in her voice. "Still, a terrible loss."
Mrs. Comstorn nodded. "Her mother is an accountant in town, and Veronica is attending the college," she said. "She is studying marine biology, looking to get a Master's in it."
"Marine biology?" asked Rachel. "That's interesting. Not many students at the local University get a degree in that field."
"True," said the librarian. "But it's good to see a young mind chose something different from the usual chosen fields for a change, just as you did."
Rachel smiled. "True," she said as she bought some books that the library was selling and then headed home, calling Rook on her communicator.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, Honey," she said in a sweet voice.
She heard his smile in his voice. "Hey, Baby," he said. "How is your day going?"
"Good, but I miss you," she said.
"I'm almost home," he said. "Is there anything we need?"
"I think we're good for a bit," she answered. "Although, before I forget, there's a new girl in town. She and her mother just moved her after her father, a Marine, died."
"Oh," said Rook, understanding and sympathy in his voice. "And no doubt the bullies in town will be after her."
"You read my mind," said Rachel. "Could you…?"
"Yes," he said, knowing what she was going to ask. "I'll keep an eye on her. I see her coming out of the library now."
"Thanks, hon. I'll see you at home. I love you."
"I love you too, baby. I'll see you at home."
Signing off, Rachel headed for home, smiling as she looked forward to Rook being home after having been away on a two-week mission. She had missed him terribly and couldn't wait to kiss him again.
Rook meanwhile was watching the new girl and then saw a couple local boys start to head toward her. "Good thing Rachel called me," he said to himself as he drove closer.
Veronica kept her head down as she walked home with her notes in her backpack for her report. She suddenly heard footsteps and turned to see two boys coming at her. "Looks like a new girl in town," said one of them. "Why don't you hang with us?"
She shook her head and continued walking, not saying a word. "She must be dumb since she didn't answer," said the other boy.
Veronica heard them start to get closer and began to walk faster. When sirens sounded behind them, she began running and the other two boys scattered, thinking the cops were after them.
Suddenly, the twenty-year-old woman felt something grab her and she screamed as she was carried through the air and saw the back part of a van open as she was taken inside by someone quite strong.
"Let's go," said a deep voice that made her shiver as it sounded quite scary to her.
"How is she?" asked another voice that wasn't scary.
She was set down and she looked to see a person with a vampire-looking face and to her shock, he turned into a bat, which scared her even more and she screamed.
"No! Dracula is not real!" she screamed as she tried to scoot back from him.
"Are you sure?" asked the vampire.
The driver turned around and Veronica's eyes widened when she saw he looked like a tiger. "You don't need to fear us," he said. "We are simply taking you to safety."
She looked even more frightened and went to run for the back doors, but the vampire flew in front of her and transformed back to his normal form, catching her as she screamed and tried to get away.
"You can't escape," he said.
She felt him pinch a spot on her neck that made her feel lightheaded and then her vision blacked out as her mind shut down.
Veronica heard a strange sound and opened her eyes to find herself in a room that was tastefully colored, but she didn't recognize it and so got up to see where she was. Opening the door, she spotted a long hallway and gazed around in amazement.
"Someone sure liked to decorate," she said to herself as she took in the antiques and the carpets.
"Well, a Mansion certainly can't be barren now, can it?"
The very-familiar voice made her turn and gasp as she saw the same bat from before in front of her. She quickly backed up into the room as she watched him transform and close the door behind him and lock it. She whimpered a little as she realized she was trapped.
As he came closer, she dodged to the side, but he easily followed and blocked off her escape each time, finally pinning her to the bed. She struggled, but he was too strong and he hissed at her, his fangs sticking out. Veronica froze.
"No," she whimpered. "Please, let me live. Don't turn me into a vampire. Please."
She continued to whimper as she watched him lean closer and bring his mouth to her ear. "I can't make you a vampire," he stated. "That is impossible for me to do."
That didn't make her stop struggling as she tried to move her head away from him and he knew why and reached down, his claws touching her neck, making her freeze as she saw his claws were sharp. Her breathing was irregular and he leaned close to her face.
"Calm down," he said, lowering his voice to make it have a gentle tone. She whimpered again and he leaned close to her ear. "Shh. I'm not going to hurt you."
Getting a bit tired from struggling, she looked up at him. "But, vampires hurt their victims," she said.
He shook his head. "You aren't my victim," he said to her. "We brought you here after those boys were bullying you."
She looked up at him. "So, I'm prisoner?" she asked.
He shook his head again. "No," he said, gently brushing a strand of her hair away from her face. She was slowly calming down as his touch was gentle and it reminded her of her father and she looked away, but he gently turned her face to him.
"Your father was a brave man," he said.
Veronica looked surprised. "How do you know about him?" she asked.
"Mrs. Comstorn, the librarian, told Rachel, who owns this mansion," he said. "She is my sister."
"What?" asked the younger girl.
To her shock, he then let her go, but took her hand and gave it a gentle tug. She followed him down the hallway and into the living room where the cat person she saw earlier was along with a young girl who looked about her age, and a tall being that looked like an angler fish, but had two legs like a human and a loincloth around his waist. His face was like a fish with medium-sized eyes and a huge mouth with teeth. The blonde-haired girl looked up at them.
"Hi," she said, a friendly smile on her face. "Welcome to the Grant Mansion, home of aliens and humans."
Veronica blinked. "Home of aliens?" she asked in confusion.
The other girl gestured to the three around them. "You're looking at three of them," she said, smiling again.
Veronica turned a bit pale and Ripjaws quickly caught her before she collapsed, carrying her to the couch where Rachel was before jumping into the nearby water tank so that he could breathe. Being the fish alien he was, he could only be out of the water for so long before he needed to get back into it. He looked at Veronica and admired her black hair and her golden brown eyes. His heart pounded a little as he watched her calm down and gaze at them, her eyes wide in surprise and awe, especially when they landed on him and he gave her a friendly wave.
The young woman had calmed down and the shock slowly left her as she absorbed the information in front of her. "It's alright," said the vampire alien. "This is no doubt a lot for you to stomach after what happened earlier."
She just nodded. "What is your name?" Rachel asked.
"Veronica," she said. "What about you and them?"
"I'm Rachel Jocklin," she answered and then gestured to the others. "This is Rook, my fiancée, Whampire, my brother-in-law, and Ripjaws, one of my brothers."
"You're in love…with an alien?" Veronica said slowly.
"Odd, right?" asked Rachel with an understanding smile.
"Uh, different," said the younger woman, hoping they weren't offended. "No offense."
"None taken," said Rook with a smile. "Rachel had seen you at the library and asked us to keep an eye on you because you were new here and the bullies often go after those that are new."
Veronica looked at Rachel, who nodded. "Rook and Whampire didn't mean to scare you," she admitted. "They just wanted to keep you safe."
The twenty-year-old looked at her rescuers and then at Ripjaws again. "They look like monsters, but they don't play the part?" she asked.
Whampire smiled. "Oh, trust me, if someone gets us angry, we can play the part of monster well," he said, his fangs glinting a little. "But that doesn't mean we're cold-hearted."
Rachel saw their friend was looking a bit overwhelmed. "Why don't you join me in the kitchen for tea?" she suggested. "I've found tea to be best after dealing with a shock."
Grateful to her, Veronica nodded and they headed for the kitchen. Ripjaws watched Veronica and smiled, feeling his heart now pound harder as he realized he was falling for her.
Rachel prepared some berry tea for both her and the younger woman, seeing down the hot tea in front of her. "This will help," she said as she added some honey to it. Veronica gratefully drank the tea, the taste of berries and honey helping her somewhat frazzled mind to realign itself as she asked Rachel questions and the owner of the Grant Mansion answered them, seeing her new friend calm down more with each question.
Later on, she walked down the hallway and found the Aquarium room and opened it to gaze at the huge aquarium and the small, aquatic fish inside, along with the colorful corral and sea anemones. The marine biologist within her was awed.
"You like?" asked a gasping voice and she turned in surprise to see Ripjaws behind her. "Rachel mentioned you're studying marine biology."
"Yes," she said a bit hesitantly as she watched him climb up some clear steps to the top of the tank and turn to her.
"Well?" he asked her and she gave him a confused look, making him chuckle. "Come on. There's only one way to really appreciate this aquarium."
With that he stepped in and she watched his legs morph into a tail. That stunned her as he swam up and lightly tapped the glass that separated them. "Come on, Veronica," he said. "You can't see the best parts from here."
She shook her head. "I…I never took swimming lessons," she admitted.
That surprised him a bit but he had an idea. "Then let me," he said as he jumped out and his tail became two legs again as he walked up to her. She looked at him curiously as he then held her close to him and took a massive leap in the air. She only had time to gasp in fright and hold her breath as they dived into the aquarium. When they surfaced, she gasped for air and felt Ripjaws hold her securely. "Just hang onto me," he said to her.
"But, I…I'll drag you down," she said worriedly.
He shook his head. "I'm pretty strong, Veronica," he said gently. "You'll be safe with me."
She looked at him and saw he meant it and slowly nodded, indicating she was willing to trust him as they dove down to explore the aquarium.
Veronica raced up to the Mansion with a huge smile on her face. Whampire noticed it first. "Looks like your presentation went well," he said.
"Better than that," she said. "I got the highest grade in the whole class!"
She tried to keep her squeal down, but it still slipped out and Whampire chuckled. "Good job," he said and accepted a hug from her. After the first week of her coming to the mansion and being around him, Ripjaws, and Rook, she wasn't afraid of them and often hugged them and Rachel, who was happy that the younger woman trusted them.
Now, Veronica ran to Ripjaws room and saw him in the water tank in his room and ran up the steps and jumped in, created a loud splash that startled the alien as he had been reading a book and hadn't heard her until she jumped in. She went to swim upwards, but he caught her and they surfaced, laughing a bit.
"Looks like you're not afraid to jump into a tank full of water now, huh?" he asked her.
"Because you're here to keep me safe, like you promised," she said to him, making him smile. "By the way, I got the highest grade in the class on my presentation."
Ripjaws grinned. "That's excellent!" he said, happy for her. "We'll make a marine biologist out of you yet."
She smiled. "Thank you, Ripjaws, for everything," she said.
"You're welcome, Veronica," he said, his arms loosening around her to let her jump out first but she surprised him by giving him a kiss.
Right on the mouth.
Instinctively, his arms gathered her closer as he returned the kiss, his emotions going crazy as he understood that just as he really liked her, she really liked him too.
It was a few months later now as Veronica came in the front door with another grin on her face. It was summer and she had already lined up one class to take over the summer online and had other classes ready for the fall semester. She smiled again and went up to her room to put her stuff away and to go find Ripjaws.
Rachel and Rook smiled as they watched Veronica head to the Aquarium room. "I've got a feeling there's another couple I'm going to add to the wedding list," said Rachel.
"I have no doubt you're right," said Rook as he pulled her into a kiss that made her melt into his arms.
Ripjaws had just placed a small box on a flat rock near some corral when he heard the door open and popped up to see the girl he loved come in. She spotted him and waved and he waved back, motioning her to jump in. He heard a huge splash a minute later as she suddenly tackled him, surprising him as she grinned and he returned the grin before taking them both to the surface.
"Looks like your day was a good one," he remarked.
"Not quite yet," she said with a smile and kissed him. He returned her kiss and very gently pushed his tongue into her mouth, giving her a chance to either pull away or accept. To his immense happiness, she accepted, letting out a moan of pleasure before they broke away gently and she smiled. "Now, my day is a good one," she said.
Ripjaws smiled. "Come on," he said and dove down. She followed him as he led her around the brightly colored corral and she gazed around, spotting something on a flat rock that looked like a box. Curious, she went over and picked it up, feeling a spot where it could open. She swam to the surface and gathered some more oxygen in her lungs as she held up the box and opened it, revealing a gold ring with mystic topaz stones that dazzled brilliantly in the light. She was still for a moment until she felt two familiar arms hug her from behind.
"Veronica, I've come to realize that as we've spent time together, I see you as more than a friend and I've realized you feel the same way," said Ripjaws. "At least, I think you do. Do you?"
She smiled and turned to face him. "Just what are you getting at, fish boy?" she teased lightly.
She saw him gulp and he dove down for a moment to catch his breath before he resurfaced again and took her in his arms. "Veronica, will you…be my mate? My love, forever?" he asked.
All her emotions jumbled together into love as she grinned, loving him as much as he loved her. "Yes," she said as she put the ring on her finger and looked at him. "I'll be yours, forever."
Happy, Ripjaws held her close as he jumped into the air and they dove down together, swimming happily as love filled them.
Rachel, who had overhead them and been watching, smiled and nodded, walking away from the new, happy couple as she updated the wedding list again, smiling as she did so.
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GoldGuardian2418