Chapter 6: Freedom and Its Reprocussions
Ceridwen had spoken to her sister on the phone, glaring at Jeremy for making something like that sound like an emergency. Jeremy had shrugged, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. As necessary as it was for Ceridwen to have moments alone with Dwight during the rehabilition process, the thought of the two of them being unobserved was unsettling to him. He would never trust Dwight and he would always worry for his little sister. Adopted or not, Jeremy had taken Ceridwen to him like blood and wished that he could have done the same for Lucille, Ceridwen's younger sister. Ceridwen hung up the phone after the 'goodbye's, 'I miss you's, and 'I love you's had been said. She stared harshly at her brother. He moved the straw protruding from a small glass of water away from his mouth and stared back.
"What?" he said in feigned innocence. Ceridwen sighed and moved past him towards the stairs.
"You know very well what, Jeremy. Lucille expects me to call her back from time to time to save on their end of the line. Calls from over there are terribly expensive," she said in irritation. "Not to mention that you knew I needed to talk with Dwight for a few minutes."
"Minutes, yes, but it had already been a good fifteen. That's more than a few, Ceri," Jeremy corrected.
"Be that as it may, you need to learn when and when not to call for me. I'm needed by him more than I am you; emergencies should be the only exception." She turned to move back to the cellar. "Dwight is still in the beginning phases and will need my help practically twenty-four seven."
"You make him sound like newborn," Jeremy laughed coldly. "Only most babies won't try to eat your throat out when you're back is turned. Or when it isn't, he'll do either."
Ceridwen whirled around and shot a sharp look at him. He raised one brow, challenging her to disagree with him. She frowned and shook her head before turning and walking back down the stairs. Part of her was haunted by the fact that Dwight was more than capable of doing away with her, but the majority of her repeated loud cries for his innocence in her head. She breathed deeply and made her way back to where Dwight was probably still waiting. She hadn't heard him come up the stairs. She stopped for a moment and thought. She hadn't heard him move up any set of stairs at all. She frowned and moved more quickly into the basement. As she fumbled with the lock and opened the door, she noted that the light remained on and nothing had been disturbed near the stairwell. Her heart began to race as she hastily descended the stairs and raced over to the nest of kittens.
She gasped. Dwight wasn't there. In fact, it looked as if the young vampire had disappeared. A sound caught her attention away from wondering what evil had befallen her subject. A loud gust of wind blew furiously against the now opened fire escape on the left side of the wall. She growled low and clenched both fists at realizing her precious, needy subject had fled as soon as she had left him with an opportunity. She shouted a furious Gaelic curse in Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. Reaching behind her, she grasped a small model submarine and flung it furiously at the stairs. Ceridwen's eyes shifted slightly and her fingernails grew into the long claws that would aid any instinctive kills while she was untreated. During the heightened emotions of the past week coupled with piles of paperwork, Ceridwen had forgotten to take the necessary elevated doses of medicine for the full moon. As the glowing orb lay peacefully in the sky, Ceridwen bolted through the fire escape and looked hungrily around the grounds. If Dwight had made it to the edge of the property, he wouldn't have made one-millionth of the journey required to flee from the current wrath of the girl.
Dwight looked around at the sparse willow oaks and birch trees that stood in a small forest behind the property. His mother and father had adored these trees and encouraged the town to leave the forest undeveloped. He couldn't be sure at the moment, but he had heard his father say that he planned to buy the property once long ago. He sighed and leaned against one of the sturdy trees, pressing his forehead against his arm as he looked back towards the faint figure of the mansion. It lit up every few seconds with a flash from the sky. Why did the weather have to make everything so depressing? It seemed to have rained for days every other week since he had arrived. Storms were becoming frequent as well. The electric storm that had caused an episode months ago must have been a person's doing in Dwight's opinion. Electric storms that could have knocked out all of the reformists' equipment and his microchip were not common in Maine.
When he had seen the slightly opened fire escape door that his father had installed before his birth, he had realized exactly how the cat must have entered the house and a perfect route for him to use as an escape. Without any further thinking, which seemed to be a vice that he would be dealing with long after he had either left or conformed, he had raced out of the door and headed as far away from the mansion as he could. As he had reached the forest behind the enormous home, he had begun to think more clearly. Really all he had needed at this moment was to get fresh air on his terms. If the reformists would simply let him come and go as he pleased, then maybe he might be more willing to cooperate with them. He frowned. That would never happen and he knew it. All government programs required that the person in question be controlled entirely. Poor Ceridwen; she must have been quite a powerful and liberated young girl before the Bureau took her. Still, she seemed happy enough behind the facade of strength and determination.
His mind told him that he should either head back to the mansion before Ceridwen came back down the stairs to see about him or toward the hangar to make a clean getaway. The words Jeremy had given as a warning still resounded in the back of his consciousness. While Dwight had no fear of the Bureau or Ceridwen, he did fear the righteous anger of a brother taking vengence against someone that had wronged their precious sister. Worse, it seemed that Stephen would do anything to keep his adopted child happy and adjusted. If he managed to escape without playing along much farther, then the two of them would do away with him in a very painful and very permanent sort of way. The permanent part didn't bother Dwight as much as the painful part. As a man, he could imagine the kind of horrors that a father or brother could concoct to take out their anger on a worthy victim.
He shook his head. Ceridwen was risking her life. If she didn't at least appear successful, then both he and she would be destroyed. She was a rarity in this world, a kind and gentle spirit focused solely on the comfort and health of others. Not even the majority of physicians in the world could boast that. He owed to her and himself to go back at least for a little while. Perhaps he could propose that they allow him out when he wanted to simply walk around the grounds. From there he could ask about flight and once trust was to a heightened level, he could go far north. He had made a huge mistake in coming back to the Continental United States. He should have stayed far to the north where people disappeared for no good reason all the time. He smiled. It wouldn't be long to wait before he could get back to doing what nature intended. A warm satisfaction settled over him at the thought of being freed and back to his purpose once again.
"There you are," an almost familiar voice said in a guttural growl.
The warm satisfaction dissolved into immediate cold fear. Twigs and small leaves crackled and snapped as Dwight turned around to see what was approaching him. His heart sank. Not what, but who was approaching him now? The figure was hard to make out even with his nightvision. He should have done a better job of replenishing his resources as of late. He kicked himself for not eating or taking in the blood that he had been told to. Dwight had yet to fully grasp the concept that he needed the blood every day to keep himself healthy since he had been so used to consuming it whenever he could reach it while on his own. He squinted, narrowing his eyes to nearly slits as the figure stopped moving a few feet away from him. He and the creature stood in a small clearing waiting for one to speak again or attack. Dwight decided that the first was a better course of action since he could easily dispatch anything that tried to do away with him.
"Who are you?" he asked carefully. A cold, gravel-like laugh came from the creature as it moved forward into the centre of the clearing. His eyes widened as the features of this person or animal became clearer under the light of the full moon. This creature was only alive under the light of the full moon and never truly dead otherwise. He took one step back, breathing deeply. "Ceridwen," he whispered as the creature's eyes flashed her bright jade hue at him.
"I leave you alone for fifteen minutes and you dart off the first chance you get," she snarled. "Do you have any idea what I'm going through for you? Do you have any what I've been enduring on your behalf, you ungrateful little hellion!?"
"In my defense, Ceridwen, I only came out for a moment. I wanted some time alone, outside, on my terms," he protested. Ceridwen hissed, lowering herself to the ground ever so slightly. Dwight felt the hair at the base of his neck stand on end as the microchip activated at its lowest level in reaction to his fear. He grunted and clenched both fists, swallowing the desire to shout a number of curses in retaliation. "I am trying very hard not to revert back to what is in my blood. Being confined all day every day is not helping me cope with this illness!"
"Day is hardly a time for you to be wandering around, Dwight!" Ceridwen screeched. "For that matter, the sun should be rising in only eight hours. You'll be back inside before then, of course; just probably not in once piece!"
With the last few words, Ceridwen lunged forward with her claws and teeth extended fully towards their target. Dwight dodged to the side, ducking quickly and keeping a close eye on Ceridwen as she steadied herself. She had missed the target, but now her anger was rising beyond control. Dwight stared at her in confusion. Either Ceridwen had forgotten to take her medicine or she hadn't taken it in time. He panted and moved beside a tree that was a good several feet away from her. She turned and crouched, looking more wild and cat-like than ever. Her ears had pointed, extended, and morphed into the very shape of a cat's. In fact, the only human thing remaining on her was the shape of her face and the shape of the majority of her body. The immature curiosity in him wandered if she had a tail. He leaned to one side, trying to decipher whether or not he could see it. In the brief moment that Dwight had spent in his childish attempt to see a tail on a cat-girl, Ceridwen had managed to create a new plan of attack and begin to execute it. She leapt into the air and landed right on top of him, pinning him painfully to the ground with the top of his head crushed against the trunk of the tree.
Dwight cried out in pain both with the collision of Ceridwen against his body and the chip sending electric reprisals through his entire nervous system. He breathed very deeply and looked up, trying to assess the situation once again. Ceridwen leaned forward, opening her mouth and hissing loudly into his face.
"Ceridwen, you are not yourself," he choked. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath for..." Dwight was cut off for a moment by his loud cry of pain and Ceridwen's angry howl as she dug her knee into his abdomen. A logical part of the young vampire marveled at how similar all these sounds that Ceridwen was making were to an average house cat. "This is not professional behaviour!" he shouted through clenched teeth.
Ceridwen lowered her face further, pressing her wet, feline nose against his and staring hatefully into his eyes. He could tell that she was struggling to continue to form words rather than simply start biting into him.
"Professional behaviour should be the least of your concerns right now, you pedantic freak of nature!" she growled. "I will not be called a failure or ridiculed any longer because of you! If you won't behave properly, then you'll at least die properly!"
Dwight's eyes widened in terror as the girl closed in on his ironically exposed neck. He drew in a sharp breath, closing out all feelings and letting out a primal scream. Ceridwen was stunned by the sound momentarily. Dwight found the strength and opportunity to throw the girl off of him and use the trunk of the tree to stand quickly. Ceridwen was thrown farther away than Dwight had anticipated and now lay perfectly still on the ground. Dwight panted and watched her for a moment, feeling a human twinge of guilt make its way through the adrenaline haze he was experiencing now. He screamed once again, finding that the guilt had also allowed more of the pain from the chip to manifest itself. From that, all the rest of the pain in his body began to shove for first place in his senses. He grasped the back of his head, leaning against the tree as he knelt slightly from the crippling amoung of pain now gripping him. As he struggled to calm himself and gather his senses, he noted that Ceridwen was moving once again. This time, she didn't bother to stand. She simply rose to her hands and feet, remaining on all fours like an animal.
He panted heavily and decided that the best, and really only, course of action was to race back to the mansion through the fire escape. From there, he could race up the stairs, locking the door behind him, and find Jeremy. Jeremy would be able to get Ceridwen what she needed and do it without harming her further. The only way Dwight could subdue her was by bludgeoning her into a level of consciousness that was on the ladder rung above death only. As Ceridwen moved towards him with all of her primal instincts working together, Dwight darted to the left and began running furiously toward the mansion again. Ceridwen turned just as quickly and bounded after him. Dwight's heart raced as he thought of what Jeremy would say to this. Hopefully, the youth's concern for his sister would be too great to ask questions until Dwight had safely locked himself in his room once again. The mansion grew closer and closer as he dashed towards it. He never thought that, since he had developed past his adolesence, that he would be so glad to see this house again.
The fire escape door seemed almost invisible now. A desperate twinge took hold of him at the worry that he might not be able to make it through the door in time. An almost feline howl caused a series of shudders and soft cries to move through him. He prayed silently that some part of her humanity would return for a moment. Perhaps a sudden influx of horomones at smelling the kittens and their mother would distract her. He gasped. The kittens and their mother would be easy targets if she was locked in the basement. He grunted in frustration as the small door met him. He wrenched the door open and climbed through in a blink. Ceridwen howled once again, alerting Dwight to the fact that she was dangerously close and ready to kill. He looked towards Desdemona and her young, trying to think of something quickly. With only his instincts in power at the moment, Dwight raced over to the tiny family and grabbed all corners of the nest in an unnatural move of protection. Despite the annoyed cries from both the mother and kittens, Dwight hurried up the stairs just as Ceridwen's upperbody made its way through the door. She hissed furiously and began clawing at the floor in an attempt to move forward more quickly. Dwight had no more than made it to the entrance door when Ceridwen had made it to the bottom of the stairs. Fear flashed several disturbing images in his mind, stunning him for a precious moment. He growled loudly, gathering strength through the sound. He flung the door open and moved past, slamming it shut behind him.
Ceridwen's body collided with the door in a sickening thud. Dwight felt another twinge of guilt at the thought Ceridwen could have hurt herself on something as solid as that door. The sounds of several scratches and low growls gave Dwight evidence to the fact that Ceridwen was perfectly fine, at least in were-form. He breathed deeply, smiling at realizing that he was alive as well. Mewing and growling drew his attention back to the bundle still clutched uncomofortably in both his arms. He sighed heavily and sunk to the floor, slowly allowing the bundle to open and give air to the waiting kittens and their mother. He breathed an even greater sigh of relief at seeing that all of them were totally unharmed. Desdemona looked at him reproachfully and scratched him once as he moved away from the bundle. He was slightly amused, in the same immature part of his conscious that had plagued him earlier, that now the cat's scratch didn't bother him at all. Now came the hard part, bringing in help for Ceridwen. Dwight had never thought, since meeting the boy, that he would ever call on Jeremiah for help. He sighed, realizing that the first time he had sought the boy's help had turned out alright. The door to the cellar continued to sustain angry assualts from the girl. It would soon be weakening under claws and primal fury. Dwight breathed deeply and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall.
"Jeremy!" he shouted. "Help!"