Chapter 8- Unveiling
I stood before her, humbled, and grateful that she had even opened the door to me at all, let alone at this hour. Being apart from her all of this time had left me feeling so incredibly hollow, and even as the effects of the anecdote had worn off, my grief had driven me mad. For the first time in eight hundred years though, my grief was not spent on Sonja, but rather on Maya. I was so afraid that I had lost her love forever, so much as I hated what I was about to do, I knew that my only choice was to transform before her eyes so that I could give her the proof she needed of who I was, and that I truly did love her. Tears streamed down my face as the fear gripped me that she would still turn me away out of fear after this.
The feeling of kissing her just now, mixed with the memory of touching and kissing every inch of her caused my nerves to tingle, and I felt a hollow feeling inside at the thought of never doing these things again, or never even being with her at all. That brief moment when our eyes had met from our kitchen windows a second time tonight would haunt me forever if this was the last time I'd see her; not just the look of anger she'd given when she'd glared at me, but the pain I'd clearly seen on her face before it had registered in her mind that I was looking out my window at her. I also smelled the faintest smell of alcohol on her breath; she had taken to a strong remedy to forget what I'd done to her. It stung to even think how she might have been hurting all evening and afternoon since I'd sent her away.
"Maya, I need to show you something to prove to you that what I said this afternoon is true." I took a breath to steady myself, heart pounding. She would run. "But I will have to frighten you to do so." I hung my head not in shame- I accepted myself for all that I was- but in humbled fear of her rejection. I did perhaps feel some shame in the thought of terrifying her the way I was forced to now.
She stared at me, appearing to be irritated, in expectation. Her face softened a bit, puzzled, but comprehending my sincerity and obvious fear of her reaction. She seemed to understand now that I was not happy about what I was about to do, and it registered on her face that I was unwavering in my intensity; I was serious. She seemed to know that now. She took a deep breath, not seeming to know what to expect from me now that I'd taken her a bit by surprise. I held on to a glimmer of hope that she appeared to want to believe me now.
"Okay, then frighten me," she whispered. "If you're telling the truth that you love me and that there's something going on with you, then just do it. I'm ready."
I took in a deep breath. "Please, promise me you won't run. And believe me that I won't hurt you- that I can't hurt you, as impossible as that will be to believe in a moment."
She truly did not know what was in store for her. Fear and puzzlement were etched into her face. "You're really scaring me now, Lucian."
"I wish I didn't have to," I whispered.
In the blink of an eye, I transformed into the Lycan within right before her. She stared up at me in complete shock and wide-eyed fear. Despite all of that, acceptance crossed her face as she stared up at me- fangs, talons and fur.
"Oh my… God… oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" she whimpered, frozen where she stood. "So your genetic mutation, you're a… werewolf? Werewolves actually exist? Wait a minute…" She seemed to be having an extreme amount of difficulty gathering her thoughts, and I decided she had seen enough of me that way. She had her proof now. She wasn't running, and she would stay and hear what I had to say now. I felt badly enough for all I had done to her already.
"Yes, I am a werewolf," I confirmed, "a Lycan, to be precise. I am half human, and half werewolf. Unlike werewolves, who do not take on the form of a human until they die, I can transform at will. I was the first of my kind, born eight hundred years ago. I assure you, I am in complete control of myself even in my Lycan form. I will not hurt you. And the anecdote that I'm taking," I pulled a vial of a red, transparent substance out of my pocket to show her, "is to turn me into a human for good. I've been taking a vial a day for five months, and in another month's time the transformation will be complete and permanent. If I stop treatment, all of the anecdote that I've taken so far will have no effect and I will remain a Lycan. I would have to start all over again for a complete six months; therefore I must take a vial every day at the same time. It is crucial."
She took a deep breath, pressing her fingers to her temples. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God… okay. And so the vial that you take causes you severe pain?" she inquired, attempting valiantly to absorb all that I was telling her.
I handed the vial to her to examine, which she willingly took and held up to her eyes, turning on the kitchen light. "That is correct. After I ingest the anecdote, it's immediately absorbed into my bloodstream, and from there it begins a rigorous process of rewiring and rerouting my DNA. As it goes through my veins I feel an extreme burning sensation, like fire coursing through my body. The effects last for hours before I can be myself."
"And so when I saw you hunched over your sink in the kitchen, that's the pain that the anecdote is causing you?" Sadness and concern burned in her eyes, her compassion for me returning. I was so relieved to see that she was accepting me back into her life again slowly, but surely, and that she was beginning to trust me again.
"Yes. The first time we made eye contact through our kitchen windows I was in the throes of pain from the anecdote. I was also thinking of Sonja, my lover who was killed, but I was physically in pain too." I realized that that wasn't the only time she'd seen me this way, either. She'd probably seen the outline of my form through my shades when they were drawn as well.
"Oh Lucian, I'm so incredibly sorry. And here we were both talking about the deep kinship we felt with each other, and how deep of a bond we shared, and I doubted you. I feel like such an ass… I'm horrible!" Maya began to cry, her face buried in her hands.
I took her hands and pulled them around my neck, cradling her chin in my hands, and stroking the tears off of her cheeks. I kissed her softly and deeply, and she sighed contently, pulling me closer and pressing her body against mine. "My love, you have nothing to be sorry about. I presented the information about the anecdote so suddenly after we had shared such an intimate moment; it created such a horrible, despicable illusion that I was in a rush to have you gone out of disinterest. It is I who should be sorry, and I am. I am so incredibly sorry for making you feel the way I had, Maya. If I had had more time and didn't need to take the anecdote at the same time every day I would have found a way to manage our time together-"
"Shhh, it's alright Lucian." She kissed me back with such intensity that my heart soared. "It's better that it happened this way. Now I know the truth. I don't think I'd know any perfect way to tell someone that I'm a werewolf- sorry, Lycan- either. If I hadn't seen you turn into one right before my eyes I'd have still thought it was all so ridiculous. I still do feel badly too that I couldn't just believe you and take it on faith when you said you had to take an anecdote that caused you pain, though. Like I said, I'm no doctor."
"Fear not, my love. As I said, I understand completely why it stung so badly for me to usher you out. And all that I told you is quite an unusual story." I stroked her hair tenderly, desiring so deeply to take her again.
"Lucian, you know you can show weakness in front of me. I don't mind seeing you that way when you take the anecdote. I'll stay with you if you want."
"Believe me, love, it wasn't out of shame of my weakness that I kept you away. When I'm in that much pain, though I can usually control myself from transforming, there's that risk if my concentration slips when I'm in such twisting agony. In case today had been the day that happened, I didn't want you there where I could frighten you before I'd had a chance to warn you. At least now tonight I had the chance to warn you that I'd have to frighten you."
She nodded. "I understand now. That was actually very considerate of you. From now on though will you let me stay with you while the anecdote's effects are hurting you? I know what you look like now as a Lycan so you couldn't possibly scare me twice."
"I'd be grateful to have you with me," I whispered. "Your company is the most precious to me."
She ran her fingers gently through my hair, and kissed me again. "Whatever small comfort I can give you, I want to help you."
"You're more than a small comfort to me, my darling. Believe that."
She smiled and nodded. And then a new facial expression crossed her face. "Hey, why don't we go get something to eat together? I know of a diner open twenty four hours a day since it's after four in the morning. It's on me. Call it a peace offering."
I smiled too. "That sounds sublime. Perhaps we both should freshen up, though. I don't mean to be rude, but you look like you haven't showered for days."
She smelled herself and smiled ruefully, making a face. "Ugh, you're right, actually, I haven't. Geez! And you got all close to me smelling like this."
"Well you didn't smell at that time. Perhaps that's why you smell. It was… quite an exertion," I grinned at her impishly.
A crimson blush colored her face. "Hmmm you could be right about that. Well, alright. Let me go shower, and I'll let you go shower too. We can meet up here in half an hour. I'll leave the door unlocked. See you then!"
She seemed to be very excited and in a rush to get to our little late night rendezvous, but I wasn't in a rush, though I was certainly excited. As she wheeled around to go run upstairs I caught her hand, tugging her gently back towards me.
"You know, we've already seen each other naked. We could always save time and water by sharing."
A grin crossed her face as she comprehended my meaning. "Lucian if we do this your way I doubt we're going to be 'saving' water. Or time." She winked devilishly.
Desire washed over my body, and she tugged on me, her hand still in mine, leading me up the stairs to her washroom. I lifted her up into my arms with one swift motion, and she straddled my hips with her legs like before as I carried her up the stairs, kissing her passionately.
"Screw eating," she groaned into my mouth. "We'll just eat breakfast in the morning. And then we'll…" I kissed her in between every word, "just… have… a good… time… here… MMMM!"
I snickered at her response to my wild passion brimming over. Our clothes were off in a matter of seconds, the hot water running, and we stumbled into her shower with all of the grace of two drunken imbeciles. She was certainly right. We weren't going to be saving water right now. In the dead of night, our moans and howls of pleasure echoed off of the tile walls until we reached a release sweeter than the first time. Perhaps my revelation to her had been the most crucial to being able to see her again. She was stronger than I'd given her credit for. In the face of a Lycan, she hadn't run, but rather she had trusted. And now I was surer than ever that she was the one meant for me. I screamed her name joyously into the night just as she was screaming mine.
A/N: I don't really know what to do when I get all science-y on you guys, so I'm trying to not get into too much detail about the anecdote, simply because I really don't know what much about DNA (see what good high school bio did me?), and it doesn't really matter anyway because it's science fiction. So just take all of that stuff with a grain of salt, and I'm sorry if I'm inconsistent or make anything a little bit too unbelievable in the sci-fi department.
Also, I need to re-watch either "Underworld" or "Rise of the Lycans." Does anybody know what happens to a Lycan's clothes when they transform? I don't even remember if it was mentioned or shown in any of the movies. This is probably the "Twilight" geek in me talking, but I know when Jacob "phases" his clothes rip off. If Lucian needs to have some clothes handy, I need to write that into my script. Or maybe not. ;)