THE RETURN OF FORREST GATES
by Soledad Cartwright
A ''Pathways in the Dark'' story.
Disclamer: Most of the characters in this story belong to their respective creators. The Nosferatu characters' names were borrowed from the Nosferatu Genealogy of White Wolf Online. I don't know a thing about them, but found the names interesting and gave the characters a background of my own.
Rating: R for m/m sexual context, character death (sort of) and some major angst
Author's notes:
In case someone would wonder about the strong sexual undertones of my vampire stories - there is a reason for them. I understand vampires as highly sensual creatures, partially because they possess all those heightened senses and partially because they are immortal, unless you kill them. You don't have to agree with me, however - there is always the ratign to consider, so that you won't read anything you don't like.
CHAPTER TWO: BECOMING A MONSTER
Timeline: Summer break of 2000
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Nosferatu Embrace is a brutal thing. In many way, more alienating than the Malkavian Embrace. The body is one's most prized possession, and disfigurement of the flesh usually results in disfigurement of the mind.
The transformation usually takes a week. It begins with minor pain, as if a person were to light all your nerve endings with a candle. By the end of the week the candle was become a blowtorch. At the end is when the Childe realizes the extent of his transformation. He has become a monster. Many neonates lose their sanity, and it is their Sire's responsibi-lity to hunt down these beasts and destroy them.
In Hawk's case, however, there was nothing to fear about it. The boy had already been in so much pain and so weakened, not to mention so disfigured by Adam's experiments that the Change wold have been a blessing. Assumed, of course, he survived it at all. Fortunately, he was unconscious most of the time.
Hawk used this fact to perform his alchemy on him, meticulously restore his body to the semi-human form he'd be wearing for the rest of his unlife, unless in Frenzy. There wasn't much he could do for the missing arm, except of an fusing it with a dead man's limb, and since such things couldn't Change with the rest of the body, the boy would end up with mismatched hands: an implanted, human-like one and another one with heavy talons, like all Nosferatu had.
They stayed at the maison for almost three months. Bat Child explained that they won't be disturbed here, this being once Angelus' lair as well, whom all the Anarch feared and hated. The Slayer avoided the place, too... for different reasons. So they were able to use it, with Hawk hiding his white car in the underground parking lot. Long time ago, the place must have been beautiful, with a large garden and marble statues standing between the great, old trees and rose bushes al along the walls and wrought iron fences. No wonder Angelus liked to stay here. Hawk could have stayed here, too.
But it still wasn't safe enough, and Hawk planned to move as soon as the boy could be transported. Aside of Bat Child, a few other Nosferatu gathered around him in the mansion, all of them either Anarch or/and of unknown generation and bloodline... lost even in terms of the Damned. They all planned to accompany Hawk in L.A... and they all had gotten overly excited and worried about the promise of a new Childe after such a long time.
The Nosferatu usually chose their progeny quite meticulously. The most common trait for most Nosferatu was alienation from mortal society. The Nosferatu chose from the deformed, autistic, hopelessly antisocial and criminally insane. This was the reason for the Clan unity that is unparalleled in the Camarilla. Whom else could a monster turn to but another monster for comfort? When you spend your life alone, any company, even that of monsters, is palpable. The Elders of the Clan had long known this. This way, they had found that a few words of genuine praise so much more effective than the Domination and Blood Bondage that the Ventrue and Tremere clans are so fond of using.
This was the way Hawk treated his new followers, first and foremost the faithful little Bat Child, and they answered by helping him with everyone they could. They cleaned up the place (carefully leaving the exterior looking abandoned), they hunted for him so he was able to feed his new Childe, they bathed the boy and tended his grave injuries. One of them always kept watch so that Hawk could get some much-needed rest. And all of them were waiting for the boy to finally awake.
It didn't happen until into the fourth week. The boy went over the Change unusually slowly but in blessed oblivion, having been unconscious most of the time - his few waking moments were full of incredible pain. Since Hawk had to involve heavy amounts of alchemy in order to heal and reconstruct him, the physical changes of his apperarance were negligable: just elongated earlobes and a more defined bulging of his forehead in his human disguise. He even kept the human fingerneals on his single hand, in spite of his Sire's expectations. Of course, there also were the horrible scars his previous ordeals had left. Hawk's vast knowledge in alchemy could make his implanted arm work, but the difference between the two hands was obvious, and although his skull eventually healed, replacing his removed scalp with new skin where the spiked demon parts used to be applied, the rough, thick scar tissue criss-crossing the back of his head clearly remainded of his grave injuries.
''He's perfect'', Bat Childe whispered to Isis, the small, cat-like former Indian temple dancer. ''Now that his broken ribs and fractured limbs have healed, he'll become strong again, soon. The Vitae of Hawk is very powerful... it will heal him. I'm just too glad we found him in time. Never in centuries has our Clan had such a beautiful Neonate.'' He looked at Hawk. ''Are you gonna Claim him?''
The alchemist shook his head. ''It's not our custom, you know that.''
''I know'', Bat Childe nodded. ''But it wouldn't be for your pleasure only. It could prove necessary for his our protection. He's just too pretty. But you... you're respected and feared, not only among ourselves but by the other Clans as well. Everyone knows that you used to be the personal Enforcer of Castillo... No one would dare to touch him if he's under the protection of a Justicar... even a retired one.
Hawk gently caressed the few healed body parts of his newly-embraced Childe with one large, heavy hand.
''Oh, I'd certainly love to Claim him'', he confessed. ''I haven't taken a male lover for decades, and he's so beautiful, despite the Change, even for the human eye. But I wouldn't touch him against his wish... he's far too precious for me.''
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
His new Childe, his strong, beautiful boy, whose name he still didn' know, slowly opened tohse dark, liquid eyes ofhis and licked those full, soft, luscious lips that could make the strongest man week in the knees. He seemed to recognize Hawk.
''You...'', he said with a weak voice, ''I... I remember you. You... saved me... healed me... Have I changed yet?''
''Yes, my Childe'', Hawk nodded, eyes shining with love, pride and happiness, ''although mostly in the inside. You look hardly different.''
He held a mirror in front of the boy who frowned. ''Why... do I have a... reflection?''
''Why shouldn't you?'' Hawk wondered; then he smiled. ''Oh, I see. Well, our Kind does have a reflection. Only those of mixed Blood don't. We're much closer to mortals, you know.''
''But we're... still... dead'', the boy said.
Hawk nodded. ''That's right. Now, tell me, how do you feel?''
''F-fine, I think. Weak and tired, but... actually... fine.''
''That's good, Childe. Are you still Thirsty?''
''N-not so much. I... remember you... feeding me... a lot. I couldn't speak or... open my eyes, but... I heard everything... about me... all the time... I remember... the taste of your blood... so rich and sweet...''
Hawk smiled, and with a heavy talon opened the big vein in his wrist. He carefully lifted the boy's scarred skull and pushed the soft lips to the small wound. The kid started sucking immediately, and Hawk shuddered with the sensations.
''Drink, my sweet Childe. You need to regain your strength. Sooner or later, we'll have to leave the Domain of the Slayer.''
The boy stopped feeding, his eyes big and frightened. ''Where're... gonna go?''
''To L.A. I was elected to lead our Clan in that City. I've already sent Four-Eyes there to prepare our haven. But we can't move as long as you're weak and defenseless.'' He gently pushed the bald head away from his wrist. ''That's enough now, Childe. I'll arrange for mortal blood for you; it will nourish you better.''
The boy nodded obediently and licked the small wound to seal it. The thought of having to drink human blood didn't seem to freak him out a bit. Hawk smiled.
''You're a quick study. Have learnt a lot in your stupor, just by listening to the others.''
''Thanks'', the boy eyed him carefully. ''Thell me... what's... Claiming?''
''In some Clans, and by all the Anarch and clanless, the Embrace is completed through the Sire having sexual dominance over the Childe'', Hawk explained. ''That's called Claiming. It's a symbol that the Childe belongs to the Sire. Other Kindred can smell it, and it makes them carefull by dealing with the neonate.''
''Would you... Claim me?''
Hawk frowned. ''It's not a common practice among Nosferatu. The bonds of our Clan are strong enouh without making our Childer sexually submissive.''
''But... you said yourself... you'd love to...''
''No, you've heard it wrong'', Hawk bent down to his Childe and carefully planted a kiss on his forehead, just below the terrible scars that were clearly visible, in spite of enhanced Kindred healing. ''I've been dreaming about making love to you, ever since I took my first glimpse, who wouldn't, you're so beautiful, so strong... You're my first Childe to survive the Embrace with his sanity intact, and you hardly ever Changed physically. But I'd never, ever dominate you.''
''Not even... if I want to be... dominated?'' the boy murmured, dark, soulful eyes closing slowly in pleasure from his maker's gentle touch.
Hawk glared him in utter shock. ''Why would you want to become submissive to me? You're everything I've ever hoped for! I'm gonna teach and protect and cherish you, and I know you're gonna make me very, very proud one day. Why sould I take you that way?''
The dark eyes opened again, burning with desperate need. ''Sire... I need you... you gave me... my life back... rebuilt my... broken body... gave me a family... I've never had. I... I want to be... yours...''
Hawk slid his big arms under the still sore body ofd his Childe and gathered the boy in a careful embrace. ''You are mine, sweet Childe!'' He couldn't resist the temptation to kiss those soft, yielding lips. ''There's no need to use you like that.''
The boy opened for him, inviting him in, and Hawk deepened the kiss for a miment, sliding his tongue in the willing depths, then withdrew, albeit reluctantly. The kid tasted maddeningly delicious. He gave a small whimper of loss when his Sire withdrew, clinging to the bigger man with weak, desperate fingers, and in a sudden moment of clarity Hawk understood that his Childe, Indeed, wanted to be Claimed and possessed by him. The boy wanted to belong.
''All right, kid'', the older Nosferatu said. ''If that really is what you need, I'll Claim you. But not right now. You're still much too weak for that. You're gonna need several months of healing and extensive therapy before we could even think of sex. Kindred love is wild and violent sometimes, we can't always control our passions. But I'll teach you.''
''Promise?''
''I swear by the Blood of my Clan'', Hawk sliced his own tongue with the point of a fang and kissed the kid again, deeply and passionately this time, letting him suck on his tongue until the small wound healed, as the ritual of Blood Oath demanded. Then, he carefully laid the boy back onto his pillow, savouring the view of his beauty, the liquid eyes, the wet and seollen lips, the smooth, mahoganey-coloured skin, the hard planes of the beautifully sculped, compact, muscular body. He could hardly believe that such an exquisite creature had just offered himself freely to him.
''Rest now, mine own'', he murmured, stroking the boy gently. ''The time will come... I promise...''