Ch.8
(Whitney's thoughts)
*Frederick's thoughts*
The early dawn light beamed through the windows of the colorful interior of the Pastel Castle. The soft gentle colors that lined the extravagant furniture and fixtures of the grand home awakened with a smile as the servants of the palace quietly bustled around the dimly lit halls; The maids set the table, careful to not clink the flatware, and cooked the meals with the same diligence to abstain from noise. These precautions were made so as to not awaken the four young Pastel children slumbering in their rooms; Their father would scold the maids for ruining his precious children's sleep, albeit in a more whinny manner then a harsh one. It seemed like the beginning of another regular day. But in the cozy office of the eldest member of the royal family, today promised to be full of sorrow and grief. King Jack's wizened hands shook as he ogled the letter that was sent to him this morning from his dear friend, King Leland of the Plaid Kingdom.
He couldn't believe it.
Prince Frederick was dead, slaughtered and replaced by a despicable blood craving monster. His hand reached out behind him for his chair, needing to sit down. He gripped the arms and let his legs go limp as a multitude of emotions came over him, sinking into the chair as they came down on him with their heavy burden; A weathered hand covers his mouth as tears of grief ran down his cheeks. "That poor boy… How horrible…" King Jack choked out, his heart aching in sympathy. He couldn't even imagine the pain his friend was feeling right now; To have your youngest child taken away from you in such a violent and cruel way. As a father himself, he knew that this tragedy must be tearing Leland apart. He would have to see him right away and attend the funeral. When his body could move again, he got up and exited from his private office to inform his children.
Whitney cracked open his silver eyes, forced to by the sun's piercing glare on his thin lids. They narrowed at the sight of the river's blinding glint. Its light rivaling the brilliance of the most pure diamonds. He saw by the sun's position that it was around eight in the morning. The pale man rose from the grass on his hands and knees with a tired moan. He arched his back and rested his bottom half on his haunches, stretching like a cat would after its nap. "Wow, I slept like a log last night… Strange, I'm normally a pretty light sleeper. Was I that tired?" he said as he scratched his head and got to his feet. He turned to the tent and his drowsiness faded away as he remembered the events of yesterday. "Oh, crap. I forgot about him." He walked briskly over to the tent and lifted the flap to see inside.
"Where did he go?"
Whitney turned his nose to the air, trying to pinpoint the youngster's scent. A trail led away from the campsite and deep into the woods. His colorless eyes narrowed into slits as he hissed through gritted teeth,
"Damn kid."
He sprinted off into the woods at top speed, leaping over large roots and deep ridges. His rapid steps fluttered across the ground, sending leaves and twigs flying through the air. The wind whistled in his ears as the teen's scent twisted and curved through the trees; The erratic pattern along with the sharp scent of frenzy made Whitney's heart clench. Then the boy's ink and paper aroma mingled with a sharp coppery tang that nestled into the back of his throat.
Blood.
The cursed man quickened his stride, becoming a monochrome blur flashing through the verdant maze; A sickening dread squeezed his chest as spurs of anxiety racing through his bloodstream. He came to a stop before a massive circle of sentry like trees that guarded his view of its center. The stench of blood reached its pinnacle as the sharp odor pooled in the middle. Whitney stood at its edge, his heart thumping against his rib cage. He swallowed hard as he took in a few breaths to calm his uneasy heart. He stood there for a few moments before finally stepping past the enormous trees and into the clearing.
The sight before him made his hair stand on end.
The green grass was littered with a plethora of mammal corpses; Rabbits, badgers, squirrels, foxes, and even a few wild pigs laid lifelessly on the ground, their throats torn out, exposing ragged flesh. Their bodies were shriveled and pale from lack of fluids so they resembled stringy, moist beef jerky.
That was not the most spine chilling image.
That prize went to the creature sleeping amongst the bloodless carcassas. It had the appearance of a human but it's raw muscles and exposed bone spoke volumes of its otherworldly nature. A pale film like sheet covered its body like a blanket. Whitney began walking toward the cryptid, taking extra care not to step on the cadavers lest he startled it. As he got closer, his fingernails sharpened into claws for fear that the slightest sound would disturb the thing's slumber causing it to attack. When he was right in front of it, he could see that the film over its body was skin and corn yellow hair had sprouted from its bleached skull.
Familiar yellow hair… along with a familiar scent under the thick and heavy smell of animal blood.
He knelt down to get a better look at the creature's face; He could see that sleep did not come easy to the cryptid for its face and eyes were slightly creased with distraught. From it, rose the familiar paper and ink aroma that Whitney had followed here. His mouth dropped open as realization and shock struck him like a spear of lightning.
He knew who this was. His smell and that hair. It was unmistakable.
"Frederick."
Earlier in the wee hours of the night, Frederick was a victim of the restless sleep phenomenon; A state that most find themselves in when they are stressed or in stressful situations. To put it frankly, Frederick was merely closing his eyes, trying to sleep but his anxiety, shame, self fear, and the nightly noises of the forest kept him alert.
So that single word broke the spell of fitful sleep that was upon him.
He lashed out at the voice with a hiss. Whitney leapt backwards, feeling a piece of his cloak tear away. Frederick scrambled to his feet, poising himself for another attack. When his frenzied eyes focused on Whitney, his snarl fell from his face and was replaced with dismay. Whitney was speechless as he became transfixed on the teen's eyes. The whites of the sclera were pitch black, bringing out his lime hued irises. Before Whitney could say a word, the skinless boy took off into the tree line at full speed. "Hey, Wait!" Whitney called as he ran after him. At first he thought he could catch up to him, but the bloody raw teen started zig-zagging through the trees with an inhuman speed. (When did he get so fast?) Whitney increased his pace, trying to catch up, but the teen kept changing directions frequently, almost disappearing a few times. Then Frederick made a sharp turn to the left and Whitney followed him. He found himself in front of a valley populated with thick bushes and thin trees. Thick vines hung from their branches like snakes.
The teen cryptid had disappeared.
Whitney breathed heavily as he scanned the area for some sort of clue to the kid's whereabouts, but he found nothing. Once again he smelled the air to locate him. The paper, ink, and blood aroma was still strong in the area. At first he wanted to go in and get him, but decided against it. He didn't want to scare him off, so Whitney took a deep breath and called out into the silence,"Frederick! Frederick! Please come out, it's dangerous out here!"
Silence.
"I...Look, I know you don't trust me… I get it. I wouldn't trust me either to be honest. Last night, you were right. If we're going to be living out here, we're going to have to be honest with each other and I wasn't being truthful to you. I was purposefully being vague…. I thought if you knew about my curse and who I was before then you'd get scared and run away from me… I didn't want to be alone again… But now, I see that, we're not that different. A long time ago, I used to be well off and well taken care of. I had everything I could ever want and more…. All at my fingertips…. I took what I wanted, when I wanted, and if anyone got in my way….. Then I made them suffer…. This was something that my ex-fiance realized when she tried to tell me that she loved another and I ended up using her to lure her lover into a trap….. So I could curse him… Ha Ha…. How ironic, I ended up failing and when I went back home, I was cursed to change into a weretiger every full moon. So my family chased me out and…. The first few months, I remember feeling horrible, angry, and scared….Like you…... I was completely disgusted with myself both inside and out….. I've been where you are...scared… frustrated…. Suspicious of everyone around you. You don't know what to do…..where to go….. And worst of all, you're all alone. I know I was. But you don't have to be, Frederick. If you want, maybe….. I could help you manage your curse. I know it's not the same as mine, but I might be able to help out with what I can….. That is….. if you want to."
The forest was quiet for a moment; The song of birds was the only sound to be heard. Whitney starts to turn and walk away, when he hears a rustling behind him. He turns to see the red bound boy rise from the thick bushes; His harsh emerald eyes peered into his being, investigating every fiber of his soul with hopeful caution.
"You can?" Frederick asked
Whitney nodded as the boy made his way towards the large man, his raw feet snapping twigs with every step.
Frederick crouches by the rocky river bed, washing away the dirt and pebbles from his skin. In his haste, he had left the skin on the ground and it got dirty very quickly. It was now also infested with ants much to his annoyance. Whitney sat by him, listening to his story of how it all started with a weird aching and then escalated into almost being publicly executed.
"So this isn't a curse? It's a family trait?" Whitney asked. Frederick nodded as he picked off tiny red ants from the folds of his flesh.
"My mother said that it's from her side of the family. At first I thought that she was talking crazy, but it's hard not to believe the ravings of a drunk when you're standing in the middle of a crowd of terrified people looking at your own insides with your skin bundle up like a bed sheet in your brother's arms."
Whitey stared at the boy, his grey eyes flashed with concern.
"O-kay…. Do you know anything else?"
"Well, she also said that grandma only fed when she had to and she only drank enough blood to satisfy her, so the…. person would still be alive. But so far I've only drank animal blood."
"Well, that's a start. A word of advice, stick with animal blood. Things might get bad if you get a taste for human blood, especially if you're still getting used to the cravings."
Frederick felt himself shrink as heat traveled to his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me! I was just so hungry!"
"Did you have anything before we met?"
"I had a rat the night I escaped."
Whitney's eyes widened a bit.
"That's all you had? No wonder you went crazy last night, you were practically starving."
Frederick curled up even more as he avoided the man's gaze; If his skin was on it would have been redder than a beet. Whitney noticed his discomfort and extended a hand to him but he pulled it back at the last second. Instead saying,
"Hey, I was like that the first time I changed too. One time in one kingdom I visited, my cravings came up while I was walking around the town. I was passing by a dog and I caught a whiff of its blood…. it smelled like my favorite food…. Chicken with mushroom sauce….. Long story short, I ended up having to leave because people started getting suspicious about the increase of dead strays." Frederick let loose a small chortle. *Oh, God…. Why am I laughing at this?*
"Later on, I learned that small animals are an appetizer that can hold you over for a short time and larger animals can usually fill you up with one body. But smaller animals are better for you if you want to be discreet."
Frederick had to bite on his cheek to keep from laughing again. He didn't know why he wanted to. *We are literally talking about how to kill animals and drain them of their blood to keep ourselves from murdering people. How is this funny? Have I gone absolutely insane?* Before he could further question his mental stability, Whitney asked,
"Do you know anything else? Like what powers you have?"
"Oh, I can heal really fast, I'm really strong… sometimes. Oh, and I can also see in the dark." he replied.
"Your abilities depend on how much blood you consume. When you go without blood, you'll start to feel sick and your strength and powers will weaken as a result. If you continue to fast from blood, your hunger for it will overtake all of your senses and drive you to feed until you lose all sense of yourself." Whitney said in a dark tone.
Frederick ogled at him with wide fear filled eyes, the muscles on his face turning pale red.
"I'll have to keep in mind that you need more raw meat when I cook tonight." Whitney said, oblivious to the tension.
The two were quiet once again, which gave Frederick enough time to brew up a whole new list of horrible worries and outcomes. *SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! Is he joking? Please be joking…. Who am I kidding, does this look like the kind of guy that tells jokes!? Oh, no….. This can't be real….. I could lose myself if I'm not careful…. But what if it's happening already? I already almost ate Whittney…. I couldn't control myself…..I almost killed him….. I could have killed him…. Is that how I'm going to see people from now on? As meals?* Whitney glanced over to the boy. His golden hair shimmering in the sun contrasted sharply with the stark white bone of his exposed skull. His wide shadowed emerald eyes were downcast and turned away; His nose tickled at a familiar frenzied ink laced scent.
"So that's all you know?" Whitney asked.
Frederick shook himself from his thoughts as he responded, "Like I said the information on boo hag's is sparse. I don't think people know a lot about them."
"Alright, then let's get started then." Whitney says as he stands up and walks away from the bank. Frederick looks up at him like he just grew a second head. "What!?"
"We're going to hunt, we'll need to get something for lunch anyway."
"How is that suppose to help me?"
"Look, Frederick, If you want to know more about yourself we have to do something that triggers your instincts. It's how I got to learn about my curse and we have to start somewhere. Besides, you need to learn this anyway If you're going to live out here." Whitney replied as he walked over to the tree line. He stopped and looked over to the teen, his sharp eyes asking him to follow him. Frederick starts wringing out the water from his skin.
*He's got a point and I don't have any better ideas.*
"Ok, just give me a sec." Once he finished, he took his damp flesh over to his tent and hung it up to dry on one of the poles. It flapped in the wind like a ghoulish flag as he followed the cloaked man into the woods.
The two males travel deep into the woods with Whitney leading the way and Frederick bringing up the rear. The chrome haired man stops walking and begins unbuttoning his cloak. "Ok, what was your method last night?" He asked
"Huh?"
"Your style. Do you like to chase or do you rely on stealth? Claws first or teeth?"
The boy stared dumbfounded. "I understood nothing of what you just said."
Whitney hung his hood on a low hanging branch as he scanned the young man with inquisitive eyes.
"Let's…. start with something easy. Now, I want you to smell the air."
"Uhhh…. Why?"
"Just do it."
Frederick obeyed and sniffed the air a few times, not really understanding the purpose of this odd exercise. Whitney observed him with crossed arms."Try closing your eyes. And really try to focus on one smell." he said.
Frederick did just that. While he could smell things like fallen leaves slowly boiling in the heat and hearty aroma of earth, he realized that wasn't all. Like last night, his senses felt more in tune, more heightened. He could once again smell the sweet exotic aroma of Whitney, but other scents filled his nose that came from all directions. He could smell the river far behind them, along with a fox that was drinking at its edge. About a few meters in front of them, he could smell a larger animal; Its gentle footfalls lightly crunched on the leafy ground.
What was that?
Frederick instinctively started to follow it, keeping his steps as quiet as possible; His bare feet dancing around small twigs and decaying leaves. When he reached the source of the smell, he saw that it was a deer. It was grazing about in a patch of grass, happily chowing down on the green blades. It's massive ivory antlers curled skyward; Their heavy weight showed itself through the taunt muscles bulging from the creature's neck. Whitney came up behind him just as quietly, eyes glinting with satisfaction. "Impressive. You picked up on that pretty quickly. Now lets see what you got." he whispered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if we're going to eat tonight, you're going to have to catch it."
"I…..uhhhh…Umm" Frederick wrinkles his brow in concentration, trying to come up with a way.
After a few moments, Whitney says, "You're thinking about it too much. Just go with your gut." Frederick stared at him, his green eyes wide and anxious. "Go with my gut? I don't know what to do! I've never done anything like this before, I'll just mess it up!" he whispered, panic tinting his voice. Whitney confronted his uncertain gaze with a determined stare as he whispered in a calm yet stern voice,"Frederick, you did this by yourself last night, I know you can do this. Just trust yourself."
Frederick took a few deep breaths to ease himself.
*He's right… if I can do it once, I can do it again.*
Frederick looked back to the deer and focused on it. The strong creature dipped its head once again to eat, its long antlers pointed away from the sky and to the front. Its strong scent curled around the young man in an embrace similar to walking into a bakery.
And just like that, it was clear.
His left foot moved back as he crouched down to a mid lunge. All of his anxiety and uncertainty washed off of him like a summer shower. His ears tuned in to the heart beat of the deer; A slow and gentle measure filled his ears; A sound that told him that the deer was content and totally oblivious to their presence.
*Perfect.*
His fingers curled in and then he pounced high into the air; a sharp and quick piercing tore at his fingertips as razor sharp bones shot out into fearsome claws. He was about to tear right into the neck of the deer, when the unexpected happened. The deer lifted its head just as Frederick was coming down, catching the boy in its curved antlers.
*Whaaaaaaa!?*
The deer, naturally, swung its large head over to the left with a startled keen. Frederick flew off the antlers with a surprised yelp of his own and landed hard against a thick tree trunk back first. Frederick cried out as he landed on the ground. The deer bounded out of the area, leaving the teen groaning in pain. Whitney stepped out of his hiding place and stooped down over the kid. "Are you
alright? Is anything broken?" Frederick picked up his head. "I don't think so. I'm sorry I let our lunch get away, I told you I wouldn't be any good at this." Whitney looked off to where the deer ran off. "Well for the record, Deer are pretty hard to catch since they're so quick and have those antlers, so you did good for your first try. You'll get better the more times you do it." Whitney extended a hand to Frederick,
"Can you get up ok?"
Frederick sat up on his own with a moan, rubbing his sore back and checking himself for any other injuries. "Nothing seems to be broken and even though it hurt landing into the tree, It went away pretty fast." He said.
"That's great. Come on, Lets go." Whitney said as he started to dart away. Frederick looked at him, his lime hued eyes wide in disbelief. "I have to do that again?"
"Of course. You have to practice if you want to get good. You make some mistakes, learn from them, and then you improve. Plus we still need food for tonight." Frederick sighed deeply as he got to his feet. *This is going to be a long day.*
Happy late Halloween! I wanted to post the new chapter on Halloween but life got in the way. I hope I did a good job with this in terms of establishing a relationship between Whitney and Frederick. Ever since seeing Whitney, I really wanted to see their interaction develop into a friendship. So I'm really excited to get into all the good fluff and angst between the two in later chapters. Tiny little secret: If Lance and Blaine met Whitney in the later chapters, there is a good chance they might get jealous. HeHeHeHe.
And don't worry, I've got some good interactions planned between Gwen and Frederick. Stay tuned!
