1 I don't own the NW, and am not making any money from it. General night
world spoiler, nothing particular.
Part Summary: A werewolf learns to break free from his domineering father
2
3
4 A Respectable Business
Connor was a corpse collector. Not exactly the best of jobs, but it was the family business. His dad was his boss, and dad had decided Connor would follow in his footsteps. It was best to do what he said.
Connor could usually get the best pickings for himself, but everything else they sold to other werewolves and shapeshifters. Connor was a wolf himself, but his business contacts were mostly human. Like Mark Thorpe for example. Connor had no idea how he survived that friendship, but he managed it somehow.
He was pushing a special little cart through the west quarter. Hunter territory. He licked his lips and looked around nervously. It was hard to disguise the shape in his cart as anything other than a dead body. Connor had no taste for killing personally, but some over-eager young hunter might not know that.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he crossed the invisible line into the north quarter. His dad's little shop was on the corner. 'Rudy Connor and Sons Ltd.' Read the sign above the door. He went in. The shop was like a 24 hour supermarket, Connor thought. A couple of panther shifters were looking in the freezer at the frozen organs. One of them looked at him with interest. "A fresh one?" he asked, drooling slightly. Connor looked away in distaste.
"Yeah, but you're not getting any. They'll be on the shelf by morning."
The panther shrugged. "Suit yerself." He picked up a frozen liver. Connor's brother Rudy II looked up from the book he was reading. The panther was just paying as Connor slipped into the back. His father was carefully extracting the innards of a corpse. Rudy Connor I was a handsome, greying man with an aura of authority and power. Connor had always felt slightly in awe of him. Mostly he was just plain scared, though. "One human girl, vampire hunter, blood drained, precautionary stake through heart."
His father looked up in annoyance. "Heart destroyed? Bugger, they always fetch the most. We can't sell it now. You can't have any." Connor wondered, not for the first time, how his father could be so heartless. ~Argh, bad pun.~ He thought. But it was true. His father didn't seem to care that they made their money from other people's misery. That poor girl had been devastated at this one's death. And he was profiting from it. Surely that was wrong?
"You can start to carve her up." His dad was saying.
"Okay." Connor said, no expression in his voice. He laid the body on one of the twelve metal tables in the long black room. It was very sterile, that room. Everything was white or chrome, everything germ-free and clean. He put on a pair of plastic gloves and a disposable apron and got to work.
***
By the time Connor had finished, it was midday. The sun did little to light up the streets, it only served to illuminate the permanent low fog that lay on the ground. Connor leaned on the door frame of the back entrance, looking out. Gods, what was he *doing* here. He wanted wide open fields, where he could hunt like nature intended. It had been nearly three months since his last change. Connor was a scavenger, in the body of a hunter. But there wasn't a lot he could do. Connor sighed. He threw away his gloves and apron, and sat on the step.
A couple of people came, flogging various organs, mostly vampires who brought their latest kills there. Connor laid them out, but couldn't bring himself to carve them up. He went up to his room and tried to sleep. But his window had been smashed and the wind was blowing in. He groaned and went back downstairs. He didn't have any *energy* today. He relieved Rudy up the till and tried to be helpful to the customers. But his mind was on that girl, Nick's sister. He was having a serious attack of the conscience, and he felt like shit.
The bell rang as a young, female werewolf stepped in. She looked nervous. "Uh, hi." She said. "I need something to eat."
Connor waved a hand at the freezer. "Knock yourself out. Hearts, livers, kidneys, we've got the lot."
The girl nodded, looking sick. "You okay?" he asked, not really caring.
"No." she said. "I just, y'know, don't like the idea of it."
"Haven't you been doing it your whole life?" he asked, interested now.
"No," she replied, her voice oddly choked. "I only got turned into a—a—a werewolf last week." Connor stared at her. It was obvious, really, when you looked. After all, how many blonde werewolves did you meet?"
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Trish." She replied, choking back tears. "What's yours?"
"Connor. Zev Connor. Did you *want* to become a werewolf?"
"No!" she wailed. I was just a normal human. I was a goddamn vegetarian!"
She was really pretty, Connor thought. He vaguely reached out a hand to touch hers, a simple gesture of comfort. But as their hands touched, something happened. A sudden warmth spread up his arm. The world slid out of focus. But what slid into focus was her mind. He could sense it. Glittering away, beautiful and tingly. He wanted the feeling to last forever.
But she pulled away. "What are you doing?" she asked, not so much annoyed as nervous. "Is that another Night World thing I should know about?" Connor shook his head. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but he wanted it to happen again.
"Trish, are you doing anything tonight?" He asked impulsively. He'd never asked a girl out before, and wasn't sure if he was doing it right.
"No," she said, surprised. "Why?"
"Do you want to, like, go out or something. You don't have to if you don't want to."
Trish laughed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's the first normal thing anyone's said to me all week. "I'll see you in the Green Dragon at eight."
She practically flew out of the shop, forgetting what she'd come in for. Connor gaped in amazement. He couldn't believe what he'd just done. He was going on a real, live date with a pretty girl. "Holy hell," he muttered under his breath.
"What?" his brother walked in.
"I'm going on a date tonight. With a girl." He felt oddly proud. Rudy's girlfriend Tala was nowhere near a pretty as Trish.
"What?!" his bother said again. "How much did you bribe her? You're just lucky it's your night off."
Connor was grinning like a moron and he knew it. But that didn't matter. He had a date with a pretty girl.
***
Connor was desperately nervous. He wasn't exactly Mr. Sociable, he had very few friends. He was the kind of guy most people would dismiss as 'quiet' or 'shy'. He certainly felt it now. He decided to dress casual, after all they were only going to the Green Dragon. Rudy liked in while he was combing his short brown hair.
"I won't tell Dad." He said. "You know he won't like this."
"So? He can't control my life forever. I'm going out tonight whether he likes it or not. But don't tell him." Rudy grinned.
"You're right. But… be careful. You know what he's like. Don't rub it in."
Connor smiled at his brother. "Thanks, Rudy. You're a mate."
"Likewise, Zev."
They both grinned. They were both commonly known by their surname, they were the only ones allowed to call each other by their first. "You better get going," said Rudy. "Good luck."
***
Trish was waiting for him outside the Green Dragon. She was eying the door with dubious terror, He didn't blame her, some of the people going in and out were downright scary. "Hi," he said, coming up behind her. She gave a yelp of surprise.
"Hi," she replied. "Are you *sure* about this place?"
"Positive. It's the most relaxed place here. Even vampire hunters come here."
Trish went white. "Hunters? They won't—won't—"
"Nah. Too busy with actual vampires. Want to go in?"
They entered the pub together. It was early evening, so it was crowded with people of all sorts. He saw Kim and Gareth talking to that wimpy witch, and waved. They didn't reply.
"So," he said. "Want a drink?"
"I'll have a beer." Connor ordered two.
"So," he said, looking at her. "How exactly did you end up a werewolf?" She looked tearful again. "It's alright," he added quickly. "You don't have to tell you if you don't want."
"No, I do," she said. "I want to tell someone. I, uh, had a one night stand with one." She blushed slightly. "We were really, really drunk. When I woke up, I had claws. And, and, I had fur. And I was here in the estate." She started to cry.
Connor kicked himself inwardly. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Sorry. Sorry."
"No, it's okay." She said, wiping her eyes. "It was stupid. I've got no-one to blame but myself. I take it you were born one?"
"Yes. My dad runs the shop." She nodded.
"Do you, er, hunt and stuff?"
He shook his head bitterly. "Never got the chance. That's the way of the estate. Easily in, difficult to get out."
They were quiet for a while, thinking about their problems. He reached out to hold her hand. As their skin touched, a feeling like static electricity shot up Connors arm. He jerked in surprise, but then clasped it tightly. It felt good, like holding her hand cut him off from his father, and the unsavoury nature of the pub.
"Why do they live like this?" Trish asked quietly. I mean, I've heard all about the Night World laws and stuff, and to a certain extent I understand them. But why have you holed yourselves up in this shit tip?"
"Hey, this is my home you're talking about!" he said indignantly. "But you're right. And the thing is, I don't really know. I mean, things were okay at first. This was pretty much like any other council estate in the 50s and 60s. But then people seemed to stop caring. The mist came, and then the vampire hunters. People just seemed to stop caring about each other as well. That's why I admire Circle Daybreak."
"Connor… what exactly is Circle Daybreak?"
"They're sort of an organisation. For werewolves and vampires and witches and shifters who want us all to get on with humans. Enemies of the Night World. They're a *lot* bigger here than they are anywhere else. Mostly they're completely hidden, but here… it's different somehow. They're strong. They can't beat us and we can't beat them. It's stalemate, so we mostly leave each other alone and use guerrilla tactics. Its kind of hard to explain in one go."
"I'm a human."
"Were." He corrected. He didn't want to think of her as a human. Didn't want to think about Night World law. "Look on the bright size." He said. "If you were a human, I wouldn't be able to do this."
And he kissed her gently on the lips. She drew back in surprise at the feeling of warmth which seemed to almost numb her lips. Then she began to kiss him back.
"That makes it seem a lot more worthwhile," she said with a small giggle. Then she frowned and sat back on the booth. "If you admire Circle Daybreak so much, why haven't you joined?"
"It's my dad." He said, aware of how stupid this excuse sounded. "He has this thing about family honour, and keeping our business in the family. He'd disown me."
Trish gave him the oddest look. "If he'd disown you for standing up for your beliefs, why are you conforming to his?"
Connor felt his hand jerk. He sat back in kind of shock. Trish's blue eyes widen at his reaction, their silvery lashes fluttering in an unconsciously sensual way. Connor felt as if a chasm had opened in his stomach. As though with one sentence everything he believed in had been thrown into jeopardy.
He turned slightly away from Trish, not wanting to look at those eyes any longer. "I—I need to think." He muttered thickly. "I should go now. Come back to the shop, oh, some time next week. I don't know what to do, oh god I'm so confused."
As he babbled he stood up and shoved his purse into his jacket pocket. He slid out of the booth and walked out of the pub with his head down, ignoring the funny looks, and Trish's shouts of "Connor? Connor!" There was so much he had to consider.
Part Summary: A werewolf learns to break free from his domineering father
2
3
4 A Respectable Business
Connor was a corpse collector. Not exactly the best of jobs, but it was the family business. His dad was his boss, and dad had decided Connor would follow in his footsteps. It was best to do what he said.
Connor could usually get the best pickings for himself, but everything else they sold to other werewolves and shapeshifters. Connor was a wolf himself, but his business contacts were mostly human. Like Mark Thorpe for example. Connor had no idea how he survived that friendship, but he managed it somehow.
He was pushing a special little cart through the west quarter. Hunter territory. He licked his lips and looked around nervously. It was hard to disguise the shape in his cart as anything other than a dead body. Connor had no taste for killing personally, but some over-eager young hunter might not know that.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he crossed the invisible line into the north quarter. His dad's little shop was on the corner. 'Rudy Connor and Sons Ltd.' Read the sign above the door. He went in. The shop was like a 24 hour supermarket, Connor thought. A couple of panther shifters were looking in the freezer at the frozen organs. One of them looked at him with interest. "A fresh one?" he asked, drooling slightly. Connor looked away in distaste.
"Yeah, but you're not getting any. They'll be on the shelf by morning."
The panther shrugged. "Suit yerself." He picked up a frozen liver. Connor's brother Rudy II looked up from the book he was reading. The panther was just paying as Connor slipped into the back. His father was carefully extracting the innards of a corpse. Rudy Connor I was a handsome, greying man with an aura of authority and power. Connor had always felt slightly in awe of him. Mostly he was just plain scared, though. "One human girl, vampire hunter, blood drained, precautionary stake through heart."
His father looked up in annoyance. "Heart destroyed? Bugger, they always fetch the most. We can't sell it now. You can't have any." Connor wondered, not for the first time, how his father could be so heartless. ~Argh, bad pun.~ He thought. But it was true. His father didn't seem to care that they made their money from other people's misery. That poor girl had been devastated at this one's death. And he was profiting from it. Surely that was wrong?
"You can start to carve her up." His dad was saying.
"Okay." Connor said, no expression in his voice. He laid the body on one of the twelve metal tables in the long black room. It was very sterile, that room. Everything was white or chrome, everything germ-free and clean. He put on a pair of plastic gloves and a disposable apron and got to work.
***
By the time Connor had finished, it was midday. The sun did little to light up the streets, it only served to illuminate the permanent low fog that lay on the ground. Connor leaned on the door frame of the back entrance, looking out. Gods, what was he *doing* here. He wanted wide open fields, where he could hunt like nature intended. It had been nearly three months since his last change. Connor was a scavenger, in the body of a hunter. But there wasn't a lot he could do. Connor sighed. He threw away his gloves and apron, and sat on the step.
A couple of people came, flogging various organs, mostly vampires who brought their latest kills there. Connor laid them out, but couldn't bring himself to carve them up. He went up to his room and tried to sleep. But his window had been smashed and the wind was blowing in. He groaned and went back downstairs. He didn't have any *energy* today. He relieved Rudy up the till and tried to be helpful to the customers. But his mind was on that girl, Nick's sister. He was having a serious attack of the conscience, and he felt like shit.
The bell rang as a young, female werewolf stepped in. She looked nervous. "Uh, hi." She said. "I need something to eat."
Connor waved a hand at the freezer. "Knock yourself out. Hearts, livers, kidneys, we've got the lot."
The girl nodded, looking sick. "You okay?" he asked, not really caring.
"No." she said. "I just, y'know, don't like the idea of it."
"Haven't you been doing it your whole life?" he asked, interested now.
"No," she replied, her voice oddly choked. "I only got turned into a—a—a werewolf last week." Connor stared at her. It was obvious, really, when you looked. After all, how many blonde werewolves did you meet?"
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Trish." She replied, choking back tears. "What's yours?"
"Connor. Zev Connor. Did you *want* to become a werewolf?"
"No!" she wailed. I was just a normal human. I was a goddamn vegetarian!"
She was really pretty, Connor thought. He vaguely reached out a hand to touch hers, a simple gesture of comfort. But as their hands touched, something happened. A sudden warmth spread up his arm. The world slid out of focus. But what slid into focus was her mind. He could sense it. Glittering away, beautiful and tingly. He wanted the feeling to last forever.
But she pulled away. "What are you doing?" she asked, not so much annoyed as nervous. "Is that another Night World thing I should know about?" Connor shook his head. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but he wanted it to happen again.
"Trish, are you doing anything tonight?" He asked impulsively. He'd never asked a girl out before, and wasn't sure if he was doing it right.
"No," she said, surprised. "Why?"
"Do you want to, like, go out or something. You don't have to if you don't want to."
Trish laughed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's the first normal thing anyone's said to me all week. "I'll see you in the Green Dragon at eight."
She practically flew out of the shop, forgetting what she'd come in for. Connor gaped in amazement. He couldn't believe what he'd just done. He was going on a real, live date with a pretty girl. "Holy hell," he muttered under his breath.
"What?" his brother walked in.
"I'm going on a date tonight. With a girl." He felt oddly proud. Rudy's girlfriend Tala was nowhere near a pretty as Trish.
"What?!" his bother said again. "How much did you bribe her? You're just lucky it's your night off."
Connor was grinning like a moron and he knew it. But that didn't matter. He had a date with a pretty girl.
***
Connor was desperately nervous. He wasn't exactly Mr. Sociable, he had very few friends. He was the kind of guy most people would dismiss as 'quiet' or 'shy'. He certainly felt it now. He decided to dress casual, after all they were only going to the Green Dragon. Rudy liked in while he was combing his short brown hair.
"I won't tell Dad." He said. "You know he won't like this."
"So? He can't control my life forever. I'm going out tonight whether he likes it or not. But don't tell him." Rudy grinned.
"You're right. But… be careful. You know what he's like. Don't rub it in."
Connor smiled at his brother. "Thanks, Rudy. You're a mate."
"Likewise, Zev."
They both grinned. They were both commonly known by their surname, they were the only ones allowed to call each other by their first. "You better get going," said Rudy. "Good luck."
***
Trish was waiting for him outside the Green Dragon. She was eying the door with dubious terror, He didn't blame her, some of the people going in and out were downright scary. "Hi," he said, coming up behind her. She gave a yelp of surprise.
"Hi," she replied. "Are you *sure* about this place?"
"Positive. It's the most relaxed place here. Even vampire hunters come here."
Trish went white. "Hunters? They won't—won't—"
"Nah. Too busy with actual vampires. Want to go in?"
They entered the pub together. It was early evening, so it was crowded with people of all sorts. He saw Kim and Gareth talking to that wimpy witch, and waved. They didn't reply.
"So," he said. "Want a drink?"
"I'll have a beer." Connor ordered two.
"So," he said, looking at her. "How exactly did you end up a werewolf?" She looked tearful again. "It's alright," he added quickly. "You don't have to tell you if you don't want."
"No, I do," she said. "I want to tell someone. I, uh, had a one night stand with one." She blushed slightly. "We were really, really drunk. When I woke up, I had claws. And, and, I had fur. And I was here in the estate." She started to cry.
Connor kicked himself inwardly. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Sorry. Sorry."
"No, it's okay." She said, wiping her eyes. "It was stupid. I've got no-one to blame but myself. I take it you were born one?"
"Yes. My dad runs the shop." She nodded.
"Do you, er, hunt and stuff?"
He shook his head bitterly. "Never got the chance. That's the way of the estate. Easily in, difficult to get out."
They were quiet for a while, thinking about their problems. He reached out to hold her hand. As their skin touched, a feeling like static electricity shot up Connors arm. He jerked in surprise, but then clasped it tightly. It felt good, like holding her hand cut him off from his father, and the unsavoury nature of the pub.
"Why do they live like this?" Trish asked quietly. I mean, I've heard all about the Night World laws and stuff, and to a certain extent I understand them. But why have you holed yourselves up in this shit tip?"
"Hey, this is my home you're talking about!" he said indignantly. "But you're right. And the thing is, I don't really know. I mean, things were okay at first. This was pretty much like any other council estate in the 50s and 60s. But then people seemed to stop caring. The mist came, and then the vampire hunters. People just seemed to stop caring about each other as well. That's why I admire Circle Daybreak."
"Connor… what exactly is Circle Daybreak?"
"They're sort of an organisation. For werewolves and vampires and witches and shifters who want us all to get on with humans. Enemies of the Night World. They're a *lot* bigger here than they are anywhere else. Mostly they're completely hidden, but here… it's different somehow. They're strong. They can't beat us and we can't beat them. It's stalemate, so we mostly leave each other alone and use guerrilla tactics. Its kind of hard to explain in one go."
"I'm a human."
"Were." He corrected. He didn't want to think of her as a human. Didn't want to think about Night World law. "Look on the bright size." He said. "If you were a human, I wouldn't be able to do this."
And he kissed her gently on the lips. She drew back in surprise at the feeling of warmth which seemed to almost numb her lips. Then she began to kiss him back.
"That makes it seem a lot more worthwhile," she said with a small giggle. Then she frowned and sat back on the booth. "If you admire Circle Daybreak so much, why haven't you joined?"
"It's my dad." He said, aware of how stupid this excuse sounded. "He has this thing about family honour, and keeping our business in the family. He'd disown me."
Trish gave him the oddest look. "If he'd disown you for standing up for your beliefs, why are you conforming to his?"
Connor felt his hand jerk. He sat back in kind of shock. Trish's blue eyes widen at his reaction, their silvery lashes fluttering in an unconsciously sensual way. Connor felt as if a chasm had opened in his stomach. As though with one sentence everything he believed in had been thrown into jeopardy.
He turned slightly away from Trish, not wanting to look at those eyes any longer. "I—I need to think." He muttered thickly. "I should go now. Come back to the shop, oh, some time next week. I don't know what to do, oh god I'm so confused."
As he babbled he stood up and shoved his purse into his jacket pocket. He slid out of the booth and walked out of the pub with his head down, ignoring the funny looks, and Trish's shouts of "Connor? Connor!" There was so much he had to consider.