Sorry guys :( I'm back to school now and its been a bit of a pain in the arse with loads of homework and that, so I've not had time to update, many apologies on my behalf. Now... The awakening... Short chapter and really just a filler before Ashrai goes to Hunter training one-oh-one :D
I could feel the virus in my body. I didn't hurt, or, at least didn't hurt much; although I was still recovering from torture at the hands of that wicked Hunter. Speaking of hands... There was a pair of them drifting softly up and down my arms in a light caress, nails scratching lightly on each downstroke. It was Damien, my sense of smell was returning to me and I could smell him over the tangs of blood and death, like a citrus kind of scent, one that I wanted to rub myself all over just so I could smell like him. There was a musky stench from under the bed - so I guessed I was in Damien's room, on his bed, since the smell was under me. There was a faint whiff of other Hunters, one clean, flowery odour and the other smelled heavily of blood. Something in my brain that was no longer human told me the cleaner one was female, but the scents were so entwined with each other, I couldn't tell; only trust my instincts. I had a feeling I would be doing that a lot until I settled into life as one of the living dead, or undead, or... You get the point. Feeling was coming back to my fingertips, although they stubbornly refused to move, no matter how much I focussed on getting them to twitch for me, they remained unmoving. That also meant that I could feel whatever they were touching; one was on the bed sheet next to me, the soft material felt wonderful on my deprived senses, but the other was being lightly held by a solid but surprisingly soft hand, which I took to be Damien's. He wasn't so hot now, not since my body temperature began running on par with his.
I could smell his heat though, so he was closer than I guessed; no doubt I would wake up with the line of his body pressed down my back, just as I had awoken before, but it was getting slightly tiresome now. The other hand halted for a minute in its ministrations and he squeezed with the one holding mine.
"Ashrai? Can you hear me?" He spoke quietly, as if he hadn't wanted anyone else to hear. I - of course - remained silent, even though I wanted to scream and shout at him for being such an idiot and leaving me alone, even if I had wanted him to at the time. Truth was, I was the same as him now; there would be no getting away, after all, someone needed to teach me all their neat, little tricks. Trying to give his hand a squeeze back, I failed miserably, probably only managing the tiniest movement of muscle in my pinky finger, but even Damien felt that. He was gone in a blast of cool air against my cheek, like he had teleported away from me and I could hear him talking to the other two Hunters downstairs, chiding them about something along the lines of 'First my bed and now the couch?!' I didn't really want to know... Then he began something else as I heard the slight rustle of clothes being straightened out and fixed, now I knew what had happened... I could only make out part of what the discussion was, but the overall subject seemed to be me waking up, wonderful, but they didn't say when I would be up off this dreadful bed. I had the most horrible cramps in my thighs and calves as they screamed to be moved instead of being stuck, paralysed in this position.
After some shouting and thundering up the stairs, I could feel the heat off of three bodies now, pressing against me on every side. My hand was lifted - presumably by Damien - and he began speaking in my ear again, his warm breath whispering against my skin and I twitched involuntarily, my hand muscles contracting.
"See!" He cried, startling me enough to make me give a more violent shiver, "Oops, sorry, love." Love? Great, a pet name now that I was a little Hunter that he could call to heel. I tried to argue but my brain just wouldn't process the command to open my freaking mouth and give that man hell for assuming I was going to fall into his stalker arms swooning. No sir-ee. He continued before I could really get into the argument that would play out in my head, "Told you, she'll wake up soon and then I can show her the ropes! She'll make a magnificent hunter, I just know it," Turns out, Damien was the only one excited about that. I wasn't, or not as excited anyway, but what was the appropriate level of happiness for being something that supposedly eats brains and flesh. True, they didn't do that... When some of my old group had been bitten, it had been more of a hit-and-run kind of thing, so much for zombies being stupid, they clearly knew we had guns, and had split us up one by one until it was only me left, crouching in the corner of a safe house, praying that they wouldn't find me. Look how that turned out. Here I was getting comforted by a hunter as I made the transformation into my new life, just another day in my life.
"Damien, bro, calm down, I can't imagine she's going to be half as excited about this as you are," a feminine voice said, and it was a lovely voice, like a glass bell tinkling compared to Damien's deep voice.
"Maybe not, but you take what you get, don't you." There was a world-weary sigh from him, "She's just going to have to learn, she can scream at me later for not getting there quick enough to save her," He truly blamed himself for what had happened? I was starting to warm up to the idea of swooning into his arms now.
"Hey, not your fault, man," A more familiar voice said and I could remember it from the safe house... That big brute of a Hunter who had scared me in my sleep. Although he probably wouldn't harm me now, I still wanted away from him; my mind trying desperately to get my body to move, to flinch away from that voice, but the most I could do was grip Damien's hand with the faintest squeeze.
"Xavier, speak again," Damien commanded and I knew he had felt it, when the other male asked 'Why?' in a confused tone, I struggled again. It was pointless, but that inhuman part of me was frightened, and it really isn't good if the predator is scared, it's not a natural feeling to be scared of your own kind and I gave it a kind of mental slap, which silenced it immediately. Clearly, Damien knew him from the use of his name, therefore, he wasn't a threat - not much of one anyway.
"She's scared of you, I can smell it in the air, got worse when you spoke there," That from the female, followed by a feral growl from Xavier, which was then followed by tiny snarl trickling from the back of my throat. It hurt to do it, my throat was so dry, but it felt good to know I could threaten him, even if I couldn't follow up on the threat. There was more hustling and chatter when I did it, but it had exhausted me. Slowly, so slowly, darkness consumed me and I could feel my breathing easing out into a longer rhythm.
L4DL4DL4DL4DL4DL4D
When I came to, my front was surrounded by warmth, instead of my back. What a lovely twist to waking up with Damien snuggled into me, though I had to admit that the other way felt much better. My Hunter brain said that it was because when he spooned me, he was protecting my vulnerable back, like a good mate, but when he was like this, both our backs were bared to whatever came into the room. Well, it didn't really say that, it was in simpler terms, more along the lines of: ,backbare. So I pieced that into a vaguely human sounding statement and just agreed. He had clearly moved my arms so that they were curled between us - to keep them out of harms way, as was suggested by my Hunter. I think I'll call that part of me Fang, because it get's repetitive calling it 'The hunter part of me.' Sooo Fang was apparently pleased by this and wanted to nuzzle in closer, even if my body wouldn't respond to it... Except it did. I cuddled in closer to the heater that was Damien, curling my legs up and pressing cold toes against his heated legs, making him jerk awake with a start, flying out of the bed with a snarl tearing from his throat. My eyes still wouldn't open on command, but that was okay. I was content to know that I could smell, hear and move slightly.
"Ashrai?"He growled, and from that sound I could tell he was closer again, but still on guard.
"Day... Damien," I managed, lips barely opening as I exhaled his name on my next breath. I suddenly found myself surrounded by warmth and knew that Damien was hugging me into him, holding me tight enough to make me splutter. He hastily apologised and lay me back down on the bed and wriggling back in next to me before pulling the heavy quilt up to cover us both. The weight of his gaze on me was undeniable, but I still couldn't make myself look and see him, but the moment Fang wanted to see him, my eyelids shot open.
It was far too bright, so much so, that it burned my eyes and I began tearing at them, more at Fangs command than mine; tearing at light that was assaulting me until two strong hands pinned my wrists to the bed. My eyes slammed shut again, my whole face crinkling up from the pain of their sensitivity.
"Now, now, wouldn't want you tearing those pretty eyes out before you get a chance to use them, eh?" Damien joked, allowing me to sit up - eyes still closed. "Don't worry, we'll fix that in a minute, stay right there," Before I had the chance to retort, he was gone and back, pulling something heavy and dark over my head, pushing my arms through it.
"Open" He said and I allowed my eyes to open, seeing in crystal clarity for the first time. I felt like Bella from Twilight, everything seemed so much clearer, but that wasn't the best thing; I could smell everything, and hear so much more too, I guess that was why Hunters wore hoodies, they didn't need to use their vision with their other senses heightened so much. My vision paled in comparison to the other ones. Looking down, I found myself in a dark coloured hoodie, a clean one by the looks and smells of it, before letting my eyes drift up slightly to see the hood overhanging my face. Only then did I look to Damien, sitting patiently in front of me, a huge grin on his face, and I realised that I could see into that dark place that usually surrounded his face now, his high cheekbones framed by rich red hair that flowed down either side of his face, down the back of his neck. I wondered absently how long it was then met his eyes, grey-blue and glittering in the harsh sunlight that shone through the windows. How long had I been sleeping? Cocking my head, I allowed myself to really gaze at Damien, I could feel the need to swoon coming, but I wasn't ready to give in yet, although the temptation was definitely there. Damien clambered off the bed with not an ounce of grace, then turned to face me, holding one clawed hand out.
"M'lady," He said, gesturing grandly and I allowed myself to take his hand, noting the claws that had begun to grow on mine, short, but sharp. Pulling me out of bed, Fang began growling harshly at me, downclawsnotstand. But I ignored it, staying firmly on two feet, even if the muscles felt strange and pulled in this position. I glared at my legs with hatred, I hadn't felt this uncomfortable since I had growing pains as a teenager.
"Your muscle will have shifted around a bit," Damien informed me with a chuckle, "You'll get used to it, you can crawl if you like,"
I ignored him, instead, waddling over to the door and opening it. I came into this room as Ashrai, the survivor and immune, now I was leaving it as Ashrai, Hunter and infected.