A/N: So, I've seen the au idea floating around on tumblr where Cavendish is a vampire and Dakota is a werewolf. I absolutely loved the idea, and decided to write my own little story about it. Because this is a story about werewolves and vampires, there will be violence and blood in this. That's just kind of the nature of vampire and werewolf stories.
Dakota groaned and rolled over, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. The room was pitch black, and there wasn't any clocks lying around, so he had no idea what time it was. By how exhausted he felt though, Dakota could tell that it was way too early for him to be awake. This was really weird though, because Dakota wasn't usually the type of person who just woke up for no reason. The only reason that he would be awake was if he had heard something that might mean danger...oh.
Dakota groaned again and sat up. He really didn't want to be awake right then, and the bed just felt so welcoming, but he had a job to do. If someone had told Dakota fifty years ago just how often he would have to break his sleeping pattern to keep Cavendish's undead neck safe, he wouldn't have believed them. After all, Cavendish was a vampire, and just how many idiots out there thought that it was a good idea to go after a vampire?
Apparently a lot.
Dakota dragged himself out of bed and reached for his sunglasses. After nearly half a century of being out almost solely during the night, Dakota had developed a bit of a sensitivity to light. It wouldn't turn him to dust like it would Cavendish, but it just felt so unnaturally bright to Dakota.
Cavendish muttered in his sleep and frowned discontentedly. Cavendish was an even sounder sleeper than Dakota was, but he could also be a restless sleeper if he wasn't completely comfortable. Cavendish despised the stereotype of vampires sleeping in coffins, but he did feel more comfortable resting if he was completely secure. This was why the two of them had been sharing a bed with each other for nearly forty years, because Dakota had a tendency to cuddle when he slept, and Cavendish liked the security.
Of course, if Dakota had to go and make sure that things were safe, he couldn't exactly cuddle with Cavendish that day. The best thing he could do was grab a thick, heavy blanket and throw it on top of Cavendish to make him more comfortable.
That done, Dakota grabbed the heavy metal bat that he kept under the bed. Cavendish had complained many times about him using such a 'barbaric' weapon, but since Dakota was the only one who would actually be using the weapon, he thought it would be best to go for something that he actually knew how to use. If he just went for a crossbow like Cavendish always seemed to hint at, then he would probably end up shooting himself with it more than the intruder.
Besides, as simple as a bat may be, it got the job done, and it was freaking durable. There were a couple of solid dents in the bat from when he had used it on previous potential attackers, but it still worked just fine, and Dakota knew that his weapon of choice would be able to hold out for quite some time.
Dakota wondered just what kind of joker he would be dealing with this time. A number of different people seemed to think that it was a good idea to sneak into a vampire's home while he slept. From experience, Dakota could narrow down who he was up against to somebody from one of three categories. A vampire hunter, another monster, or a kid who had been dared by his friends. Considering Dakota didn't even have to try to be able to hear the intruder moving around, and they hadn't found the hidden bedroom that Cavendish had added when he found that his home didn't have a single room that didn't let any light in whatsoever during the day, Dakota knew that he wasn't dealing with a professional here.
So, it was either a monster or a kid. Now Dakota was getting excited, because those were the funnest kinds of intruders to scare/fight off. He just needed to know what kind of person he was dealing with to know the best method to go about getting rid of them.
Dakota snuck out of the room completely dark room and made his way down the secret passage that led back to the original part of the house. After listening carefully through the hidden door and deciding that the stranger wasn't in this particular room, Dakota eased the door open and slipped out. He made sure to close it behind him, making it look like an ordinary bookcase (Cavendish wasn't very original). Dakota had made the mistake once of leaving the passage open, and Cavendish still hadn't stopped nagging him about it.
That was how Dakota had learned that immortal vampires could hold grudges for a very long time.
Dakota snuck awkwardly through the house, looking for their unwelcomed guest. He knew that he probably looked like an idiot, but being quiet really wasn't his strong suit. He couldn't move around as though he was walking around air like Cavendish could. If Dakota wanted to move quietly, it was slow and awkward work.
Fortunately, he didn't have to do it for very long.
Dakota soon found the intruder looking around the study. The guy looked a little too old to be somebody who would let their friends dare them to explore a supposably haunted house, but he also looked too human to be most monsters.
The guy was also acting weird. He kept on sniffling his nose, so either he had a really bad cold, or he was smelling for something. It almost looked like he was looking with his nose instead of with his eyes, but that was stupid. What kind of person would look for something or somebody else by sniffing for them like some kind of...dog
...Oh.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Dakota said without thinking, unintentionally announcing his presence. The intruder spun around with lightning quick reflexes, and, yeah, Dakota could see it now. He looked like an ordinary Joe from off the street, except his eyes were so wide and bloodshot that Dakota was almost surprised that they hadn't popped right out of his head. It almost looked like he was just coming down from a really bad high. The stranger's hair was tangled and had a couple of twigs in it. His clothes were in pretty bad shape too, all ripped, stretched, and slightly bloody.
With all those signs put together, it was glaringly obvious just what this guy was. That didn't make Dakota feel any less annoyed about it though.
"What is with you fleabags?" Dakota asked as he adjusted his grip on his bat. "Haven't you guys learned yet that when it's vampires vs. werewolves, vampires always win?" And that was with the werewolf in wolf form.
"It would be difficult for the vampire to defend himself during the day." The werewolf smirked and Dakota could still see that his teeth were sharper than was normal for a human. It always took a day or two for the werewolf's hold to fully let go of the human, and considering the full moon had just been the night before, it really wasn't all that surprising that this guy still had some wolfish traits.
It also explained what the guy was doing here in the first place. Werewolves were territorial creatures, and it wasn't all that uncommon for a werewolf to go after Cavendish the afternoon after the full moon. They always seemed to strike around noon, when the sun was at it's highest point in the sky and Cavendish was at his weakest.
What everybody seemed to forget was that vampires didn't just have partners so they could have an on hand supply of blood at their disposal.
"Just try it, mutt." Dakota bent his legs and got into a fight ready position. It was a good thing that he did, because the second that the werewolf had heard the word 'mutt' (they hated those kinds of nicknames), it pounced at him.
Dakota easily dodged the attack and he immediately countered with a sharp swing of his bat across the guy's back. This would send any normal human sprawling to the ground, but his opponent barely staggered. He was a lot more wolfish than Dakota had originally thought.
This was going to be interesting.
The werewolf, Dakota decided to call him Fluffy, snarled and immediately went to strike again. Dakota, once again, dodged the attack, but when he moved in to hit him with his bat again Fluffy grabbed the bat mid swing. He had learned the lesson from Dakota's first attack.
Dakota didn't know exactly who this guy was, all he knew was that he was a werewolf. He wasn't just a werewolf though. He was a smart werewolf. He wasn't just a wolfish ravenous beast, and he wasn't a superstitious mortal. At that moment, Fluffy was the perfect combination of the two, with the fearlessness and strength of the wolf, and the intelligence and craftiness of man.
Truly, Fluffy was the perfect example of the worst of both worlds, and there was no way that Dakota was going to let this guy get to Cavendish.
The two fought for a few minutes without it being clear who had the advantage for this fight. Normally, it would be the werewolf, hands down, except while there were certainly advantages to having the soul of a werewolf in the body of a human, there were downsides too. Fluffy may be stronger than a normal mortal, but his body was still human, and it just didn't know how to adjust to all of that extra strength.
This caused Fluffy to grow frustrated, which just made him more reckless. With every hit he tried, none of them causing more than minor scratches for Dakota, Fluffy became more and more angry. It wasn't long before he started growling.
Dakota should have recognized that growling as a sign telling him to end the fight soon. Animals had a tendency to growl as a warning when they were getting ready to strike. Humans attacked with their fists, but many animals, including wolves, had the tendency to attack with their teeth.
"Gah!" Dakota cried out in pain when Fluffy grabbed his arm and sunk his teeth into it...well, not sunk, because that implied that it was a quick puncture. It wasn't. Fluffy may be wolfish, but he was still a man, and even with sharper than average teeth, human beings' teeth just weren't made for penetrating human skin. Fluffy managed it though, because he was a determined fella.
The thing was, so was Dakota.
Still in pain from the dull bite, Dakota dropped the bat and just decided to do things the old fashioned way. With his fist.
Dakota punched Fluffy right in the nose, which caused him to stumble back (Dakota barely managed to not scream in pain and disgust when some of his skin got torn away when the werewolf fell back). Fluffy ended up hitting his head on the desk, which knocked him out cold.
Thank goodness for that too, because Dakota didn't think he could handle much more of a showdown. Even though it was his job as Cavendish's partner to provide protection for him during the day, Dakota wasn't the most physically fit person. He could hit hard, and he was pretty good at avoiding hits himself, but his endurance was lacking...a lot. So he wouldn't have been able to hold out in the fight for more than just a few more minutes.
And that was saying nothing of the bite.
Dakota grimaced when he got a good look at the wound. Fluffy had broken through the skin, and even though it wasn't bleeding very much, it still hurt a lot. What was really concerning to Dakota though was that he knew that even though most people only became werewolves if they were bitten while the creature was in their wolfish monster form, there were exceptions.
In most cases, bites from an unturned werewolf would just cause the victim vaguely wolfish side-effects. They would suddenly prefer their meat undercooked. They would find a fascination with the moon, especially when it was full. Just little things like that.
Dakota, however, wasn't most cases.
There were a couple of ways that people who were bitten when the full moon wasn't out could still turn into full fledged werewolves. One of the ways, and the only one that really concerned Dakota, was when the victim got vampire venom in their blood. Dakota didn't entirely understand why, but something about the venom completed the transformation. Maybe it had something to do with the natural rivalry between vampire and werewolf.
Whatever the reason, this wasn't good news for Dakota, who was bitten by Cavendish on a bi-weekly basis. It was the only way for Cavendish to get blood, unless he wanted to go out and find another source, and Dakota knew how much he hated doing that.
Dakota was extremely concerned, and he just didn't know what he was going to do. He had been a part of the darker aspect of the world, complete with monsters and magic, for fifty years, but he still felt apart from it. Dakota had thought that he had seen it all, but he hadn't actually experienced very much of it. But now he was being thrown headfirst into the action, and he wasn't ready. It felt like he had been watching a sport (he wasn't an athletic guy and wasn't entirely sure which sport specifically, but he was sticking to his analogy), and now he was being thrown into the game without warning or fully understanding what the rules were.
Dakota felt his legs beginning to shake and he had to sit down. He didn't know whether it was because the adrenalin from the short fight with Fluffy had left him, or if werewolf bites drained energy (it was a possibility), or if he was just so overwhelmed by the situation. Whatever the reason, his legs just decided that they weren't going to hold him up anymore.
That was fine. Dakota didn't really need to be on his feet anyways.
Dakota leaned back against the nearby wall and tried to catch his breath. It had been a while since he had felt this tired after a fight with an intruder, and he could use a break. Dakota really wanted to return to bed and get some more sleep, but he couldn't do that while Fluffy was still around. Dakota knew that he should get Fluffy out of there before either he or Cavendish woke up, but Dakota just felt so tired. He didn't have the energy to stand on his own two feet, let alone drag somebody else out.
Besides, because of the bite, Dakota's left arm felt like it was on fire and yet numb at the same time. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and Dakota knew that that arm would be all but useless while the injury was still fresh, and there was no way that he would be able to drag Fluffy anywhere with just one hand, let alone all the way out of the house.
The best that Dakota could do at the moment was to just sit there and keep an eye on Fluffy, just in case he woke up. Cavendish would be awake around nightfall. Dakota could keep an eye on an unturned werewolf for a few hours. No problem.
Just...just as soon as he rested his eyes for a few minutes.
-kota...Dakota!" Dakota groaned as he slowly woke up...wait, woke up? When had he fallen asleep? Dakota's eyes snapped open to see Cavendish kneeling in front of him, a scolding and yet concerned look on his face. "What are you doing out here?"
"I...there was an intruder." Dakota stretched slightly (sleeping on the floor really left him feeling sore,). He couldn't hold back a cry of pain though when he moved his arm the wrong way, which irritated his injury. Cavendish's eyes flashed dangerously as he eyed Dakota's still bleeding bite wound.
"What did he do?" Cavendish's voice was low and angry. Dakota shuddered slightly. Cavendish didn't get angry very often, but when he did it was scary.
"Uh...who?" Dakota still felt half asleep.
"Our guest." Cavendish glared behind him. Dakota leaned forward to see that Fluffy was still there. Like Cavendish, he was also awake, but Fluffy was tied up and gagged. So Cavendish had woken up before Fluffy. Well, that was fortunate. "He didn't cause too much trouble, did he?"
"Nope." Dakota said immediately. Lie. "Seriously, he just did these little cuts." Another lie, but Cavendish didn't need to know that. As far as Cavendish needed to know, these were no worse than regular cuts. Dakota was just glad that Fluffy's teeth were so irregular, because the bite mark barely resembled one at all.
"Little or not, these look rather painful." Cavendish carefully touched the bite, which made Dakota hiss in pain. "They may be infected." A strange look came over Cavendish's face, an almost hungry look, which wasn't all that surprising. Dakota was bleeding for goodness sakes, and Cavendish was a vampire.
Dakota knew what the smart step at this point would be. He shouldn't let Cavendish drink his blood anymore, or else he would get vampire venom under his skin and become a full fledged werewolf. Dakota knew that that would be the smart thing to do, but it just didn't feel right.
He was Cavendish's partner, and as his partner it was Dakota's job to make sure that he got the blood that he needed. Dakota had been slacking on that job lately, though it hadn't been intentionally. Cavendish had been getting more and more reluctant to drink his blood lately, especially in large doses. Cavendish hadn't been having nearly as much blood as he needed, and it was starting to show.
Cavendish was even paler than he normally was. His eyes looked sunken in. He had been moving around more sluggishly than he normally did, and in general he just seemed to be more tired all the time. These were just subtle differences, but Dakota had known Cavendish for fifty years. He noticed these things, and they concerned him.
Not that he could bring any of this up with Cavendish though. Every time Dakota had tried, he had just been waved off. Dakota had no idea what was going on with Cavendish lately, but he knew that he had to do something about it.
This was the first time in months that Dakota had seen Cavendish actually look tempted by his blood, and he couldn't just deny it from him. Whether Cavendish realized it or not, he was wasting away, and Dakota couldn't let that happen. Not if he could do something to prevent it.
"It probably is infected." Dakota moved his arm closer to Cavendish. "...Could you-?"
Cavendish rolled his eyes, but he lowered his head and sunk his fangs into Dakota's arm anyways. Dakota flinched at the bite, not because it hurt or he was squeamish, because he had stopped being bothered by this years ago. No, Dakota just flinched because he knew that he had just sealed his fate.
A month from then, he would be turning into a werewolf.
But Dakota had gotten Cavendish to have some blood, which, in his book, made it all worth it. Dakota didn't know what had been going on with Cavendish lately. He was pretty sure it wasn't his blood, because if it was than Cavendish would have needed more convincing to bite his arm.
Whatever the reason, Dakota was just glad that he had actually found a way to get Cavendish to drink his blood again. Vampire venom could actually sterilize and heal a wound. After all, most vampires didn't want to have their source of food bleed out on them or die because of an infection.
Dakota didn't know why Cavendish was suddenly only willing to bite him so he could heal him. It would make things difficult, but at least Dakota had an idea of what he could do for Cavendish instead of feeling completely useless. Dakota didn't know if this could be a long term situation or not, but at that moment it was the only thing he could do.
Maybe in the long run it was a bad idea to let Cavendish drink his blood now, but Dakota didn't care. Cavendish needed blood, and, as far as Dakota knew, he was the only person around whose blood was compatible with Cavendish's needs (yeah, apparently vampires were very picky about the blood that they had, and Cavendish was even pickier than most vampires were). Maybe it would get Dakota turned into a werewolf, and, yeah, that wasn't exactly good, but it was better than letting Cavendish starve.
Vampire or not, Cavendish was the best person that Dakota had ever met, and he would do anything for him...even letting himself get turned into a werewolf. Others might think that Dakota didn't have his priorities straight, but he would just shrug.
Maybe Dakota was being dumb, but it was Cavendish. What're ya gonna do?
A/N: This is just my first chapter. The second one will be from Cavendish's point of view.