Well, this is it; you finally get to meet the other were-wolves that Gabriel noticed the other day! Hooray! I've been waiting for this moment too. Thanks again to everyone that reviewed: wolfgren (that's a really cool name by the way), Davidian, Patty08 (I was so excited that you reviewed, because I just adore Blood and Chocolate II: Bound by duty for life, and couldn't believe that you finally read my story!!!), silver.shadow.23, brooklyn06, LivinInTwilight (who I believe is also a new reviewer, and thanks for the sympathy about the whole Satan review. Don't worry you didn't say that to me.), LadyNightSky, ShinningSilverLove, LeaScott
Still waiting for that apology you JERK!
And tell other people who like werewolves, or love stories like this one, in general so that they can read it, and then there are more reviews. Seriously reviews make my day, and I go around and tell my friends the great news and I'm just so happy.
I'll have to agree with Patty08, I guess I am pushing the envelope with all the private scenes between Vivian and Gabriel? Should I do less? NAHHHHHHH, Patty says she likes it, so I like it, and I bet all of you like it too. Hee hee.
Also I am so so so so incredibly sorry that I have not updated in more than a month, I feel horrible. Here's my excuse: homecoming (which was so amazing and I had the greatest and hottest dance partner ever, I wish he knew that's how I feel about him), college applications, homework (curse you English!) band, and I just got out of the hospital, the food was soooooooooo bad. Blech! So I thought I could write some while I was recovering but my hands kept falling off the keyboard cause I'm really tired!!!! I am so sorry, I feel like the worst writer EVER!
Disclaimer: I do not own Blood and Chocolate. I only own the other werewolves in this fanfic that were not mentioned or existed in the original story. Nor do I own the Monty Python sketch: Nudge, Nudge. Yes I have delivered the Monty Python treat of the day!
Inside the ski lodge in the owner's office, two other loup-garou were talking.
"We can't keep him restrained like this anymore, at least not here, the room at the house is too easy to get out of." The lanky teenager from before stated. The middle-aged man, his uncle really, ran a tired hand down his face.
"I know. But the only time we could get a cage to put in the basement will be months away. If the tourists see a cage being delivered they will think some wild animal is on the loose."
"But he is! And even though it's my father, we have to do something about it…" the boy sat in one of the leather chairs. "Even if it means death, he's not going to get any better."
"Je suis désolé." The uncle put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Merci… Gérard, if we don't do something now he's either going to bite someone or die slowly. I can't see my father go like that."
"I know Tristan. I know. There are two other loup-garou here, I passed by them yesterday in the lodge after you told me your father got out. A male and a female, probably mates."
"I saw the girl, she came to bring back her skis, and I could smell her, but she didn't notice me." Tristan sighed, it seemed that any girl who came here was already with another man, to old, human, and would never have any interest in him. Stupid puberty.
"We should go talk to them."
"Now?"
"Later tonight. Did you check off her name and time when the girl dropped off her skis?"
"Yeah."
"Bring the book log here." Gérard sat behind his desk as Tristan retrieved the log for him. Gérard flipped through the pages from yesterday until he came to the time that Vivian dropped off the skis."
"Vivian and Gabriel, hmm. Those names sound familiar."
"There could be a pack a ways from here. Who knows now a days?" Tristan flopped back in his chair, throwing a leg over the arm. "What cabin are they in?"
"Number 26. I think I'll pay them a visit tonight." Gérard said thoughtfully, scratching his chin.
"I'm going to go visit dad, okay? Just call me if you need me." Tristan left the office pulling on his down jacket. Gérard watched out the window as his nephew trudged to their home, he was so sad for him. When Tristan's father, Gérard's brother Julien got sick a year ago and showed no sign of recovery, it tore Tristan apart. His nephew was right, and very strong for saying the perhaps Julien should be put out of his misery. Tristan was thankful that he had a caring uncle to help him through this otherwise he would go insane.
Tristan closed the door to the house and disposed of his jacket and boots. With an exhausted sigh he went to his father's room at the very back of the house. When he came to the room, he heard pacing.
"Dad?" Tristan knocked on the door. The pacing stopped and Julian grunted in acknowledgement. "Can I talk to you?"
"Yes." His human voice showed (obviously) that he had reverted from his pelt a while ago. Tristan went to the closet and pulled out a folding chair then set it beside the closed door.
"Comment êtes-tu?"(How are you?) Asked Julien.
"Pareil, et toi?" (The same, and you?)
All Julien did was laugh sarcastically.
"Son, do you know what I heard a few nights ago? A female. She sounded very nice. It's been a long time since I had someone." He laughed again, but ended in a ragged cough. Tristan placed his hand on the door wishing this moment were not happening. (A/N: Just to let you know, Julien is not some dirty guy, he's referring to his late wife.)
"Dad, please. You can't get out again, what if you bit someone?"
"I don't care." Julien sank onto his bed, turned away from the door.
"But I do. Dad, if only you knew what this is doing to me. To Gérard, especially when he has to hunt you down like you're a rouge or something." Julien did not respond for a long time, instead he sat on his bed, shaking uncontrollably. He had actually bitten his own brother once, and Tristan thought Gérard would get sick too.
For a day and a half he thrashed around in his room, screaming, cursing, changing back from loupe to man. Gérard even obtained a terrible fever, which threatened violent sickness to him. Two days later though he was better, and in a week he had regained all his strength; extra locks were placed on Julien's door. Apparently the disease was not permanent to the next victim.
"I'm sorry Tristan." He finally said to his son, his real self-showing through the sick man. Though his legs were having spasms, he crawled to the door, leaning against it.
"I don't know how much longer this is going to last. I don't know how much longer I've got." On the other side of the door, he heard his son sobbing. "Listen to me." He coughed again, and placed his hands on his legs trying to stop the shaking. "No matter what I say at times, I really appreciate what you and your uncle have done for me. I love you."
"I love you too Dad." And Tristan was sure that he and Gérard would have to kill him, so there would be no more suffering.
For the next hour Tristan talked to his father, listening to his strained words and whimpers. So much pain.
(A/N: Well I guess I just can't leave you guys with three pages of sadness, or could I? MUWAHAHAHA! I guess I'll add some of our favorite couple!)
Skiing lessons were off for Christmas Eve, but the slopes were still open for the vacationers. (A/N: after all what else would you do on a mountain except skiing? And snow fighting?) Vivian stood at the top of a small slope, watching Gabriel climb back up. The cold wind was starting to become unbearable, so under their clothing, their pelts were out making the two nice and cozy.
Gabriel's breath came out in long white wisps in the air as he stood beside her.
"Not tired already are you?" Vivian leaned on her stick.
"A little? Aren't you, we've been out here for two hours now."
"Well, we haven't tried any of the more advanced slopes yet."
"Think your ready, cause you know I'll beat you down the mountain any day." Gabriel smirked. Vivian lifted an eyebrow in disbelief.
"You're going to eat those words." She stated.
"Really?" he teased.
"Uh-huh." Vivian headed to the ski lift with Gabriel close behind her. Once in their chair, Gabriel wrapped his arm around her small shoulders as they enjoyed the view of the mountain and its forest that lay just next to the slopes.
Soon the turn around point was coming and they got ready to jump off the seat. A little too quickly they slid off the seat, but regained their balance and went down the mountain. Even though they were racing, they tried to keep a decent speed.
They skied side by side, trying to stretch ahead like racehorses. Vivian had the advantage of being smaller, but Gabriel had listened better to the instructor so he knew how to speed up controllably. So they were matched, and when the end of the mountain was coming, Vivian squatted down and zoomed ahead. When she reached the end she put her poles between the skis, and sat down so that she stopped. When she turned to Gabriel, she let out a fitful laugh.
"Told you so."
"Guess you did." Gabriel couldn't help but smile. "Let's go on back, I'm tired." They got back in their car and made their way to the main ski lodge.
Meanwhile Gérard was back at the main desk in the ski lodge, and his head lifted when Gabriel and Vivian walked in. Gérard and Gabriel's eyes met, and for the briefest second Gabriel stopped Vivian, but when Gérard smiled reassuringly, Gabriel and Vivian continued forward.
"Hello," Gérard said as they approached, "I'm Gérard, the owner of the resort. I believe you are both Gabriel and Vivian?"
"Yes." Gabriel shook his hand, and could easily tell that Gérard was a werewolf too.
"I hope you two are enjoying our stay here?" He looked at Vivian who was clutching Gabriel's hand rather tightly. "I suppose we all know that I too am a loup-garou, and I mean you two no harm." His smile was truthful. "Do you come from a pack nearby?"
Vivian was not sure what to say, so she let Gabriel do the talking.
"Vivian and I are the Alphas of our pack, we live in the Green Mountain National Forest."
"Yes," Gérard scratched his chin, "I do remember hearing of your pack moving there. How's the land?"
"Spacious. It has enough game to last a long while." Vivian turned away for a moment, her eyes shining at the thought of her and Gabriel hunting on those hot summer nights, along with other activities.
Man: Your, uh, your wife, does she go, eh, does she go, eh?
Squire:(flustered) Well, she sometimes 'goes', yes.
Man: Aaaaaaaah bet she does, I bet she does, say no more, say no more, know whatahmean, nudge nudge?
Man: Is, your uh, is your wife a sport, ay?
Squire: Um, she likes sport, yes!
Man: I bet she does, I bet she does!
(I couldn't resist throwing in this Monty Python sketch, hahaha, which I don't own either.)
Gabriel, meanwhile, was intently curious as to why this male was not part of a pack, so he asked.
"My brother and his son are the only others with me. My brother… he has a condition."
"What kind of condition?" Vivian asked, turning back to Gérard and Gabriel.
"If you don't mind, I'd rather talk to you about it in my office, it's the second room on the right down that hall," he pointed to the other side of the large room. "You can go and wait for me, I just need to get another person to cover the desk.
As promised, he found another employee to cover for him, and let Vivian and Gabriel into his office.
"Do have a seat." Vivian noticed how thick his French accent was, but his English never faltered. She toyed with the idea of conversing with him in French, but feared she might slip. No I won't, she thought, my accent is perfect.
Gérard sat behind his desk, a bit uncomfortable, crossing and uncrossing his legs. Odd that he would want to share family incidents with strangers, but he needed the comfort of his own kind. Slowly he cleared his throat.
"A while back, Julien got a disease, not rabies but something I don't know of and its slowly driving him to insanity and death. He got out the other night so if you two would please be careful outside I would appreciate it. I do have posts warning vacationers of wolves, but that's all I can do for now, I don't want to mess up business. Julien's son wants to put him out of his misery soon."
"Would you mind if I saw him?" Gabriel inquired, Vivian sighed in an exasperating tone, but thankfully only Gabriel heard. He shot her a look, and she didn't complain anymore.
Gérard was stumped for a moment.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm curious to know more, just in case that ever happened in my pack."
"Honestly Gabriel, that's not going to happen." Vivian complained.
"Well, actually better safe than sorry." And for a moment he thought how it could possibly be safe for Gabriel to get near his brother without being bitten. "I'm not busy right now, so if you would like to come now, that would be fine."
Gabriel looked at Vivian, and then at the owner.
"That will be fine. Is it far?"
"Not too bad, but definitely not worth the walk, how about you follow me in your car."
Gabriel was a little shocked at Vivian's sour mood when they got in the Volvo, her arms were crossed tightly after she slung on her seatbelt.
"What's wrong?"
She only looked at him for the briefest moment in an expression that said "You're kidding me right?" before turning to the front seeing Gérard get in his own car and start the engine.
"Vivian what is wrong?" he pleaded.
"You promised, no no…you swore that while we are here that we would have NOTHING to do with pack business! Gabriel, you know that we needed this vacation, because if you haven't noticed recently all you do is worry about pack business," he started to protest but she held up her hand. "No, let me finish. Yes there is reason to still be a little edgy about Vermont, but that was months ago! MONTHS AGO! We are in a freakin' national park, there are no hunters!" Her tone suddenly softened, "All I wanted this Christmas was for you and me to just relax together."
The fury flew off of her body, but only put back Gabriel a bit. He waited a brief moment before wrapping his fingers tightly in her hair, turning her head gently to face him.
"Vivian, baby, I'm sorry." His beautiful face softened her snippy mood. "I know I swore this to you, but honey I've got to a least have some concern for what's going on around here." His blue eyes were two steaming pools that slowly melted her resistance. "I swear I'll make this up to you." His mouth descended on hers for a brief moment.
Man: Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?
Squire: Holiday snaps, eh?
Man: They could be, they could be taken on holiday. Candid, you know, CANDID photography?
"You better," she said and smiled despite herself. Gabriel slipped his hand away from her hair and followed Gérard, who no doubt had seen the whole argument. Now Gabriel's hands moved onto her neck, tracing warm circles with his thumb.
Gérard, being the owner of the resort, had a nicely built, very large and stylish cabin. It was not really different than the others in the modeling of the edifice, but still nice. They parked their cars, Gérard waited as Gabriel went to hold the door open for Vivian. (A/N: everyone say: awwwww!!!)
Julien lifted his throbbing head when he heard the front door open, then returned to scratching the fleas behind his ear. Then he heard a woman's voice. His ears perked, this female had to be the one form across the property, his brother wouldn't bring a human into their home. Julien's long tongue wagged as he thought about the girl.
Gérard and the woman were moving into the living room, but Julien could hear a third pair of footsteps, too heavy and cocky to be his son. Julien crept to the door trying to pick up a scent. The strangers smelled close to the same person, so he assumed that they were related. Little did he know that they were mates.
He could still distinguish the female from the male; her scent eased the throb in his head. He heard her name being spoken.
Vivian, hmm, that is a beautiful name. He thought. His tail began to wag as the company moved around the house.
Vivian and Gabriel sat on a couch in the living room as Gérard went to the kitchen to fix them drinks. Gabriel, with his superior sense of smell, could detect Julien some where off in the house. He began to think it might not have been a good idea to bring Vivian here. He did not want another male going after his mate…especially a mental male.
Gabriel stole a glance down the hallway from where he was sitting as Gérard returned with drinks. He gave Vivian a hot chocolate and Gabriel a beer. Gabriel did not like the smell of the loup-garou in the other room, it was sickly, and a threat. Every once in a while the three could here Julien moaning and wheezing.
For a while they all sat together drinking quietly with some small talk, really only between the males, until Gérard offered to show his brother to Gabriel.
Vivian started to get up to come with them, but Gabriel shot her a protective look that put her back down on the couch. The look in his eye said: "I have my reasons." So Vivian did not argue and watched as the two males went down the hallway.
Julien heard the heavy footsteps approaching his door, so he opened his eyes, but lay still as death on the bed. There was a window in the door that Gérard used to look into the room, a safety precaution so as to not be bitten again.
"He's already bitten me once," Gérard stated as he opened the window. Gabriel was taken a back by this, and looked puzzled at the man.
"Then why are you not sick?"
"Well, Julien was bitten by an actual wolf, not one of our kind, so I believe that once it has been passed to from its original host to another body, the virus builds up only in the second host and only has a temporary effect on a third host. It was hell though when he bit me. I was sick for a little over twenty-four hours."
Gabriel looked into the room at the sick loup-garou on the bed. The sheets were disgusting, the room torn to shreds. Julien's coat was all mangles and mats; yellow puss clogged at his eyes, he was even loosing the fur on his forelegs.
Julien glared at Gabriel realizing that Vivian was not a relative but the mate of his man. No! Julien would claim Vivian as his own, this Gabriel person had not suffered, he did not need the soothing voice of the sweet angel in the other room. Julien would take Vivian from him, he would break out and take Vivian.
A small growl reached Gabriel's ears as he continued to watch Julien. The sick man's scent was overbearing for Gabriel, and when he heard Julien growl, the hair on his arms bristled, and his teeth sharpened, but he did not return the threat.
If Julien some how got out and came for Vivian, Gabriel would rip his throat out. But the sinister look in Gabriel's eyes confirmed the returning response he felt towards Julien's threat. They could sense what the other was thinking, and the object of their desire had no clue about it.
Gabriel turned away from the window to Gérard who reclined against the opposite door jam.
'Thank you for showing me, but if you don't mind, Vivian is a little tired and we'd like to head back to our cabin."
Gérard could see through Gabriel's words, but nodded his head in understanding. Julien was a very possessive man.
Quickly Gabriel and Vivian said their goodbyes to Gérard and left for the car. Inside Gabriel let out a tense sigh.
"Well? What happened?" she asked, putting on her seatbelt.
"I'm…worried about this Julien person. He's very sick…I just have a bad feeling." Gabriel did not look at Vivian, he did not want her to know of his suspicion of Julien, he just wanted to get her inside the cabin where they were safe.
Julien looked out his barred window as Vivian and Gabriel drove away. A cracked growl emitted from his throat.
Vivian would be his, and very soon he will take out Gabriel. All he needed to do was escape.
(A/N;) FINALLY! I never thought I was going to finish this chapter, and I'm going to let you all know in advance that it might be a while before I update again, I hope not to long though. I have not run out of ideas yet, we just might be getting to the good part next chapter!
Review please!!!!!!
Love,
Dahlila