When her eyes fluttered open, Roxanne didn't know where she was. The only thing she was aware of was that she was only wearing her knickers, and was in a bed that wasn't her own. Sitting up quickly she looked around the well furnished room she had awoken in, and the memories of the night before came flooding back. The paintings on the walls suddenly made sense, as did the old fashion emerald green colored wall paper and the black chandelier hanging above her four poster bed.
She had ended up talking long into the night with both Megamind and Wayne about their lives, and how they functioned as a team. It had been interesting of course, but sleep catches up with all of us sooner or later and when she had begun to yawn far too often, Megamind had insisted she go to bed.
He had helped her to the room, saying it was one of the guests room and pointed out where the bathroom had been. Had she thanked him at all? She couldn't remember. Glancing at a near by chair she saw her two thousand dollar dressed tossed over it along with her push-up bra and small bag. On the floor was her matching shoes, accompanied by the sheer stockings she had worn.
Sighing she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before glancing around the room, hoping to see a dressing gown somewhere. There was, though, an old wooden cupboard that reminded her of the stories about Narnia. It was engraved with trees, intricate but beautiful designs and flowers of various kinds. Making her way over to the cupboard she pulled it open and found it was full of womens clothing.
They hadn't mentioned a woman in their lives... so why were there beautiful dresses of all kinds? She reached out and pulled out a peach colored dress that looked like it had stepped out of the forties. Pushing a few more dresses away revealed more recent clothes, simple skirts and blouses but nothing too 'recent'. Had the boys ever had a Mother? There weren't any portraits of her... if she had been killed by vampires too, surely that would fuel the lust that the two had for destroying vampires?
Humming, she found a soft purple dressing gown, and pulled it over her shoulders and tied it around her waist before heading to the bedroom door and pushed it open.
Walking into the hallway she smelt breakfast cooking somewhere, and it smelt wonderful. Bacon, eggs, toast, and possibly hash browns? Her stomach growled noisily at her since she hadn't had a full meal the night before, only crackers and finger foods had passed her lips along with ice tea. She made quick use of the facilities, and after washing her face she walked back into the hallway and began heading down one direction in hopes of finding the stairs.
The paintings on the walls gave her pause, though. There were people of various races painted up there, all of them spanning different ages and sizes. She liked the one of the African woman dressed in clothing from the eighteen twenties holding a sword and using it as a prop to keep her standing up. Her eyes shun with a determination Roxanne hadn't seen in a woman's eyes before. This was a woman who had been the fighter, despite being a woman and black.
Did the Family hold no gender or racial restraints?
Looking at more portraits only confirmed her theory. There were a few Chinese men holding their weaponry, or in one case a dead vampire in their grasp. She saw women, and men, all of them wearing different clothing too. Some were simple every day 'casual' wear, while others were done up to the nines. Roxanne felt like she was walking through a museum since some of these paintings looked very, very old.
"Miss. Ritchi!" the voice surprised Roxanne so much she squeaked, and spun around to see Minion standing just around the corner from where she had stopped. "Sorry!" the fish apologized.
"Oh, no. No it's okay...!" it was still surreal talking to an alien fish in a gorilla suit.
"I was just coming to see if you were awake, I made you breakfast!" Minion held up a tray in his hands that was covered in a silver cover. "Would you rather take it in the dining room with Wayne and Sir?"
"Oh, downstairs please... um. I meant to ask, Minion. You call Megamind Sir but not Wayne... why?" she asked as she began to follow the fish past some busts now.
"Well. My allegiance falls to Master, not Mr. Wayne. Sir's parents gave me to him, and told him I would take care of him. So that's what I do. Mr. Wayne is very capable of taking care of himself but I'm also there for him, too. He is Sir's brother, after all." the fish explained as they began walking down a stone curving staircase. "I take care of both of them, but Sir is my only Sir."
"Do you like doing all this stuff for two grown men though?" Roxanne asked.
"Yes." Minion nodded his tiny body. "I live to help, and take care of them since neither have parents here."
Roxanne fell quiet before remembering the clothes in her cupboard. "Minion, did they have a Mother?" she asked.
Minion didn't answer, mainly since as soon as they reached the end of the stairs Wayne was standing there. Unlike last night he was actually dressed, and looked very suave in his suit and tie. Seemed like he had heard them since he looked apprehensive, standing there like that.
"Yes we did." he said. "She left when Megamind and I were only a few years old. She couldn't handle the lifestyle, and Father let her leave."
"O-oh. Sorry..." Roxanne replied sheepishly, face reddening.
"It's not your place to apologize." Wayne shrugged. "You asked, now you know. Don't mention it to Megamind. I've forgiven her, since I know it can't be easy to see your sons being trained to deal with monsters that could kill them. Him, though... some wounds run very deep."
She understood that, and nodded.
"This way Miss. Ritchi, the dining table is this way." Minion gestured.
"Are you joining us?" Roxanne asked Wayne.
"Nope. I've got a meeting." Wayne said as he slipped some sunglasses over his face. "I'll see you later, Roxy, probably." he grinned charmingly, and she chuckled.
"Sure. Bye..." she watched as he left the house, but didn't hear a car start up. Roxanne was just beginning to head to the window when she heard somebody else coming down the stairs.
"Roxanne...!" it was Megamind, of course. She turned and smiled at him in greeting, before giving a small snort of amusement. He was wearing pajamas that could be considered adorable since they were blue with various hazard signs printed on them and his slippers were black bats. Seconds too late he realized how he must look, and his face purpled. "...I'll be right back." and he was off, running back up the stairs.
Chuckling to herself, Roxanne finally made her way through to the dinning room where Minion was setting her up a place at the table. "Thank you, Minion." she thanked the fish as he pulled a chair out for her and sat. "Oh wow this looks amazing...!" she marveled at the plate full of food ahead of her, and was impressed by the fact he had orange juice, coffee, and tea on offer for morning drinks. "I hope they pay you, Minion..."
The fish scoffed as he tugged the curtains of a few more windows open, allowing more sunlight to stream into the room.
"Ahem." Megamind coughed curtly to himself as he walked into the room, now wearing a deep red smokers' jacket and had appeared to have changed the bottoms of his pajamas into black pinstriped pants. Even his footwear had changed into simple tartan slippers. "Good morning!" he greeted her as he walked up to the table.
"Morning." Roxanne smiled. "I must say, I normally don't get this kind of treatment from a guy without blowing his mind the night before." she said as she cut into the egg and toast.
Megamind flushed brilliantly, but luckily she missed it. "Well...!" he said, tugging at the collar of his smokers' jacket. "You blew my mind, last night."
"I did?" Roxanne glanced up at him.
"At how well you took all of this." Megamind said,, holding his arms out to gesture to the whole room. "I mean... I always thought if someone learned about all this they would freak out at us, or go running to escape. You didn't..."
"I try not to be like everyone else." she smiled, hoping no egg was dribbling down her chin.
"Well good. Everyone else is so boring." he grinned before taking a seat. Minion hurried away to another room, probably to fetch his breakfast. "So did you sleep well?" Megamind asked.
"Like a baby." Roxanne replied.
"So you cried and wet the bed?" he asked.
Roxanne arched an eyebrow at him.
"Sorry, stupid joke. One Wayne's told to me all my life. I just wanted to try it out on someone else." Megamind apologized before leaning back as Minion placed a plate similar to Roxanne's in front of him only it had more hash browns. "Thank you Minion."
"No problems, Sir!" chirped the fish.
"How about you, sleep well?" Roxanne asked.
"Not really." he admitted. "I kept worrying about what happened after the party last night, after we left. What if they got someone?" Megamind asked, picking up his knife and began cutting into his bacon and toast.
"Do you think they changed them, or just consumed?" she asked, having learned a lot about what vampires do the night before.
"Depends, since I can't tell if they're hungry or not. They knew it was a crowded place, and risked being spotted by somebody. But a bigger crowd makes easier pickings, just like in nature. Any weak or stragglers get snatched up." Megamind mused before eating what was on his fork.
Roxanne nodded. "If I hear tell about someone missing from work today want me to call you?" she asked.
Megamind blinked in surprise, before smiling. "That... that'd be great." he smiled.
They both smiled at each other before going back to their breakfast.
~*~
Bernard pushed his glasses onto his nose and squinted at the morning light. It was his turn to open up the library for the morning patrons, and he hated it when he got this job. It meant coming into work very early, opening all the blinds, unlocking the doors, and ensuring all the security devices that needed to be off were off, and those that had to be on were on. Even though the library didn't open until nine o'clock meant he had to be in there by seven thirty to ensure everyone was done right.
Seemed the night time cleaners had left some mess, since one of the plants had been tipped over so there was dirt on the floor.
"I have to do everything." he muttered as he went to seek out the dust pan and brush. Going into the backrooms he found one with the label still on and wondered just how new it was as he turned and began heading back into the library but found his way barred by someone. He yelped and jumped back, before glaring at who it was. "Wayne... you know I hate it when you do that..."
"Sorry. Force of habit." shrugged the man who, this morning, looked especially well to do in his pinstripe suit. He smiled, and Bernard's annoyance at him melted instantly. "Morning Bernard."
"Morning." Bernard mumbled as he walked around him.
"How are you this morning?" Wayne asked as he followed Bernard into the library.
"Well as I can be." answered Bernard. "You?"
"well enough. Just thought I'd stop by to warn you that you're in trouble." Wayne said as he looked at the books that they stopped by.
"Trouble?" Bernard asked, turning to look up at the man and adjusted his glasses as he did. "Why am I in trouble?" he asked. "Nothing happened last night..."
"No, no. I'm not talking about that." Wayne assured him, looking back down at the bespectacled man. "Roxy. She knows everything."
"How much of everything is everything?"
"Not everything. Just that you've known me and Megamind for several years, you're our contact person, and that you were watching her for us." explained Wayne.
Bernard groaned before continuing to the mess and once there he knelt down and began brushing the dirt into the dust pan. "That's just great." Bernard muttered. "So Megamind allowed her into the little circle then?" he asked.
"Pretty much. She's a good girl, very dedicated. I can see why you two are friends." Wayne's voice answered. "Hey you know you have spider webs up here?"
Glancing over his shoulder Bernard saw that Wayne was hovering completely off the floor, hanging near the lights with great scrutiny. "Forgive me for not having legs the length of ladders." he said dryly. "I'll look into them later." he turned back to the task at hand. "So let me guess, Roxanne is going to fly in here demanding to know how I met you guys?" he asked.
"I can only guess. Last I saw her she was having breakfast with Megamind." Wayne replied as he slowly returned to Earth.
"How quaint." muttered Bernard. "Stupid dirt..." he added since some of the dirt had been stepped in by somebody, probably the cleaner, and was mashed into the carpet fibers. He dug at it with his nails. "So how long do you think I've got until Roxanne's cut my balls off?"
Wayne couldn't help but laugh. "She can't be that bad!" he said.
"She can be tenacious if she wants." Bernard stood up and turned, and had to step back since he hadn't figured Wayne to be so close to him suddenly. His glasses fogged momentarily. "You're right though, she's a good girl. Good at pulling me into line."
"You? Into line? I thought that normally meant a leash being used?" Wayne asked with a grin.
"Ha. Ha. Ha." Bernard said sarcastically.
"Aw don't be like that." Wayne grinned, and playfully punched his shoulder. Thankfully through the help of Father, he knew how to contain his strength. If he couldn't, Bernard could have had a shattered arm and shoulder at this point. "You know I kid."
Bernard wanted to pout but thought better of it. Pouting is too childish for him since that was more up Megmaind's isle. Funny how the guy could decapitate a vampire with a sword or drive a stake through their heart one moment but then fuss and bitch about getting ash in his clothes seconds later. So instead he sighed and moved away from Wayne, heading back towards the back room to empty the dust bin into the bin.
"Yeah I know." he said, before taking a quick breath. "I was wondering though. We've been meeting like this for too long. How about I drag you outside and eat somewhere like normal people?" Bernard asked.
He got no answer.
"I mean. If your schedule allows." he continued, dumping the mess into the bin.
Still there was no answer.
"Or, maybe..." Bernard turned, and found himself alone. He stared at the empty area, before walking back into the library. Wayne was gone, probably off to meet more people or whatever it was he did.
"...or not." he mumbled before groaning to himself. "That was pathetic." Bernard told himself. "See, that's what you call a sign. Not meant to happen not with him, or anyone. It's too dangerous and stupid..." Bernard put the dust bin away in frustration before continuing his morning routine and waited for Roxanne to arrive to tear him a new one.
What could he do to explain himself? Beg for her forgiveness? No, that wasn't who he was. He would tell her it was his job to do it, and he could make no apologies about it. She did her job with all her heart, just like he did his. Being a librarian was his job of course, but he was also an informant. You don't become an informant by telling everyone you care about what you do, after all. If he had done that, his mind would be completely void of any vampire hunting aliens in his city and that would make him miserable.
Since then he wouldn't know Wayne at all.
And that would be a travesty.
So he went about his business, greeted Mrs. Brown when she arrived at quarter to nine and they had their morning tea and coffee together.
"You're not looking well, Bernard." Mrs. Brown commented as she sipped her black tea. "Are you getting sick?"
"Hm? No. This is my face. It normally looks like this." he replied with a smirk as he stirred the sugar into his coffee.
"That's not what I meant. You look unwell around the eyes. You need more sleep, young man. If you don't rest your body you'll be old before you know it. And seeing grey hairs in your head will only make me feel older than I already am." she said with a soft smile.
"Wouldn't want that, would we?" he asked with a grin.
Bernard, in turn, wasn't at all surprised when Roxanne showed up around midday that day. It was her lunch break, and he saw her walk into the library with purpose this morning in her business suited short skirt and heels. He heard Mrs. Brown tell her he was sorting the newspaper wracks and groaned as he collected up discarded papers from the reading desks as she approached.
"Bernard." Roxanne said, hands set on her shapely hips.
"Roxanne." he replied just as sternly, not looking at her. "Have you seen the Sports section anywhere?"
"No. Bernard, I need to talk to you." she followed him as he walked away, trying to find the missing section of the Morning Gaze.
"Aren't we talking now?" he asked, glancing over at her with a tired expression.
"Oh wow you look like crap." Roxanne stopped in her pursuit to stare at him. Bernard really did look like the living dead this morning. His hair was a bigger mess than normal, his skin looked pale and there were great big circles around his eyes. "Are you sick?"
He sighed heavily. "No, I'm not sick... thank you for asking, though."
"You just thanked me. You are sick. Are you dying? Don't tell me you're dying." she sounded actually very concerned now, the anger and determination in her voice waning.
He stared at her with a 'are you kidding me?' type of expression before sighing, and set the Morning Gaze on the table. "No, I'm not. You normally don't see me like this. But this isn't about me, it's about... well me, but a different part of me isn't it?" he asked.
Roxanne hesitated, before remembering why she was here. Then she realized what he just said meant he knew. "Damn it, did Wayne come here? And is this the 'Wayne' you've been going on at me about for months?" she demanded, hands back on hips meaning Roxanne was back in business.
Sighing again, Bernard slumped into a chair and looked up at her. "Yes. To both questions." he muttered.
"So you know I know about you." Roxanne stated.
"I know that you know only a little about what I know and do. So what do you know exactly?" he countered with.
She stared at him before glancing around. "Not here. Too many ears and eyes."
"Stealthy. Follow me. Break room will be empty." he got out of his chair, deposited the newspaper where it belonged with the rest and they walked up the stairs through to the break room on the second floor. Most of the librarians preferred the one on the first floor since it was larger and had the snack machines along with the coffee machine in there. The second one was the original break room from the library so it was small, with only enough room for a table, some chairs and a lone sink where a lonely kettle sat to boil water.
As he said, it was empty. Bernard shut, and locked, the door after him once Roxanne was inside.
"All right. Spill." Roxanne said, "And I'll find out if you're lying to me."
"No doubt. You're a reporter after all." Bernard replied as he walked to a chair and slumped into it, and put his hands together. "All right. You want to know how I met them?"
"Please." she replied, finding her own chair to sit on.
"It happened eight years ago." Bernard started, "And it was a dark and stormy night."
"Oh please." Roxanne scoffed. "Dramatics."
"Allow me a few small pleasures, please." he replied.
Eight Years Ago
"Why did Minion have to break down tonight?" Wayne asked as he drove the car through the streets. "And why can't you learn how to drive exactly?" he asked, eyeing Megamind.
"Because you need a birth certificate and other paperwork in which to obtain a drivers lisence and if you forget I don't have either." Megamind replied testily as he checked his sword for the hundredth time. "Besides I like being driven around. Makes me feel important."
"Hmmhmm." the older of the two rolled his eyes before marking the invisible car along the rail road track.
A body had been located just that morning at this site and the poor girl had been all but ripped to shreds, most of her blood spilt. It was an obvious sign of a berserker vampire, the type who don't stop for anything and attack like wild animals. Most of their human traits were gone, erased after years of feeding and madness that was probably already rotting their brains to begin with. Megamind never liked facing these vampires since it meant getting close to them in order to lop off their limbs and set them on fire to kill them properly.
Stepping out of the car Megamind walked across the train tracks and looked at the police tape that still remained in place long after the girl's body had been taken away. He sighed, staring mournfully at the site even if he hadn't known her.
He suddenly stilled, and drawn his sword as he heard rushing movement through the bushes. Megamind hurried out of the way as not one, but two bodies came lunging out of the darkness. Startling a cry Megamind backed away since one of them wasn't a vampire at all.
One of them was a vampire, a female one at that. She was mostly bald, her pale white skin glittering in the darkness and her frail frame was only ruined by her sickly looking bulging stomach that let him know she had recently eaten. But what was fighting her was the last thing Megamind would have expected.
A wolf. A brown, massive wolf with sharp glistening teeth and large paws and claws. The beast and the vampire tumbled and barely missed the car in which Wayne was now climbing out of to watch, shocked at the scene.
The wolf suddenly reared onto its hind legs, while its front paws grabbed the vampire by the head and slammed her into a tree head first. A dreadful cracking noise filled the air, and the woman shrieked in pain as the wolf leapt upon her again, snarling and ripping at her body. Megamind watched, unable to pull his eyes away as the wolf began to tear the woman apart, doing his job for him. But then he realized once the wolf was done with her, it may lash out at anyone else.
And was this a wolf at all? It seemed to prefer standing on its hind legs, and being able to grab things...
It was a werewolf. An actual, honest to God, werewolf. Father had told them of the wolves of old, who wore human skin and fought against vampires since both species had been at odds against each other since the birth of monsters. Vampires looked down their noses at werewolves since they believed them to be nothing but slobbering idiots. Werewolves detested vampires for their assumptions about them, and how rotten they stank. Whenever a vampire and a werewolf crossed paths, their Father had told them, chances were blood would be spilt and a vampire would die.
This made werewolves, in a way, an ally to him and his kin. But they were dangerous, unstable and this fact was made all the more obvious since as soon as the vampire's dying screams faded the werewolf spun on his feet and snarled viciously at Megamind.
While Megamind assumed fighting a werewolf was no different to fighting a berserker vampire, he wasn't prepared for this kind of fight at all. Still, he readied his sword for when the wolf would attack since it was obviously planning on doing that. No doubt Megamind's sword stunk of vampires, having ended so many of the monsters lives the smell of them clung to the metal and drew the wolves attention like flies to sugar.
The werewolf snarled and leapt at Megamind, but never reached his target. Wayne was upon him, and with one swift punch from his hand the werewolf was unconscious on the ground, knocked out cold.
"...hey!" Megamind cried.
"What?" Wayne asked.
"I had everything under control!" Megamind snapped.
"Oh please. Now come on, you've got a job remember?" he asked, gesturing to the remains of the vampire.
Scowling, Megamind hurried to the car to gather up the bag he'd have to put the vampires remains into. You didn't burn a vampire in such a public place, they had a furnace at home just for this occasion. Meanwhile Wayne approached the werewolf who remained lying there, dead to the world. Kneeling, he stroked the animal's head, and quickly opened one of its eyes. Unstaring brown eyes met his, and he sighed before turning to glance at his brother who was shoveling the remains into a body bag.
"We can't leave him like this." Wayne said.
"What?" Megamind turned, staring at his brother.
"Him." he pointed to the werewolf. "We can't leave him."
"Why not?" asked Megamind.
"Because it's wrong. He's a person; this is just a horrible disease that transforms him every full moon. He's a danger to himself and anyone else he might run in to." Wayne pointed out. "He needs to be taken care of."
"If you want a pet by all means, take him home but I am not having that thing in my car." Megamind said, glaring at the big, furry beast.
"No problem. I'll take him home myself." Wayne said, and easily picked up the werewolf into his arms before flying upwards into the sky and was soon gone.
"Yeah you do that!" Megamind called after him before pausing, and realized something. "...I can't DRIVE!"
The present
Roxanne stared at Bernard blankly. "What the heck was that?" she asked. "First vampires, now werewolves?" she asked.
"Is it that far a stretch?" Bernard asked.
"Well... no but... where were you? You said that was how you met them, but you weren't there! How could you know what they were doing or what-" Roxanne's voice froze in her throat as realization dawned on her. Bernard had been there, and this story had no doubt been relayed to him once he was... was... "You?" she asked.
"Me." he replied flatly. "Last night was a full moon, wasn't it?"
"Yes... that's... that's why we couldn't call you and why..." Roxanne was putting one and two together.
"Why I look like this today. My moons always take a lot out of me since... well. Takes a lot of energy to change." he explained.
"So... you're a... werewolf. Who works with vampire hunters and... works in a library too." Roxanne said slowly.
"Yes. Do you want me to talk slower?" he asked, giving a faint smile.
"No, no." she shook her head. "Sorry. I'm just learning a whole lot of things this past week it seems. So after coming to, what happened?" she asked.
"I came to on their property, and Wayne was there to talk to me. He told me who they were, what they did, and that they could help me by ways of offering me assistance on my Moons." Bernard explained. "That, with my keen sense of smell, I could all but smell out vampires wherever I was. See, that had been my first change, I didn't even know I was a werewolf but to have support, right off the bat like that, really helped me."
"How do they help you?" Roxanne asked.
"They lock me up in their basement on my Moons." he said flatly.
"...what?" she asked.
"I'm restrained in a body harness so I'm not a threat to anybody in case I escape. Wayne bring some food, raw cow mostly, and I feast on that. That's been my routine for eight years now." Bernard explained. "I park just outside the fence of their place, and when I change I take myself home to get dressed for work and here I am. Every month, after a moon, Mrs. Brown tells me how sick I look but she never figured it out. You didn't, either."
"I don't see you every day like she does, though." Roxanne pointed out. She wondered now if she'd be allowed down into the basement to see what kind of set up they had arranged for Bernard. Was Megamind all right with that? Wayne appeared to be the one to reach out to him first, so maybe their friendship was stronger than that to Megamind? Plus, this explained just why Bernard was so smitten with Wayne. Not only was he handsome, but he understood Bernard's plight and wasn't afraid of him.
"So how did you become a werewolf?" Roxanne asked, wanting to know thanks to that curious streak in her.
"Nothing fancy. I wasn't attacked or anything like that. I got it from a blood transfusion." Bernard said. "Since the disease is transferred via bodily fluids, I was doomed the second I had the blood transfusion."
"Surely the person giving the blood knew they were a werewolf..." Roxanne said slowly.
"Maybe it was a cruel joke on their behalf. Luckily one of the nurses in the hospital is a friend of Wayne's and when he got word it happened the original blood was destroyed and never used on anyone else." Bernard explained. "So... yeah. I'm a werewolf. Which is why holding down a relationship is pretty much impossible."
"Why?" she asked.
"You try telling someone you care for that one night every month you turn into an animal who would no sooner rip their head off to eat them than look at them?" Bernard asked. "No. I can't. People like me just don't do dating."
Roxanne looked at him sadly, before getting up and moved over to him to crouch besides the chair he was in. "Well. Either way, even if you've been keeping all these things from me you're still my friend."
"Really?" he asked quietly.
"Really. I've known you too long to just give up on you like this, and you know far too much about me for my liking." she grinned playfully.
"Ha, ha." Bernard replied sarcastically, before genuinely smiling at her. "Thanks, Roxanne. This... this really does mean a lot. Far more than you know. Nobody else knows about this, not even my parents know... it's one thing to come out to them, another to tell them you're a werewolf."
"I can't begin to understand how that must be like for you." Roxanne said gently before placing her hand onto his, and smiled faintly. "But you've got nothing to worry about. You're the same old, sarcastic, dry and witty Bernard to me. Only now that when you talk about Wayne I just know who you're talking about." she grinned playfully at him.
"Oh boy. That will be fun." he replied dryly, but still with the same smile on his face.
To be continued