DPOV

Counting down the final heartbeats of a changing human is fascinating. They always become a contortionist, bending in ways that a creature with bones and stone skin should not be able to mimic. That aside, I took a couple of steps back, giving her a little breathing room. No matter what her mind knew, she was still going to react as anyone that just woke up did. She'll be confused because the pain is gone. Her ears are going to be ringing because of the white nose that lasts about a minute after waking. Her eyes will be blurry for about the same amount of time because venom is thicker than the normal tears that would cover them making seeing difficult until you get used to it.

Nothing is instant as far as senses go for a freshly woken vampire. The only thing that is, is the instinct to survive and if you wake up with another present, that you cannot see or hear, you will always feel threatened. Not even their sense of smell will lend them a hand in this endeavor. Humans can catch our scent, but it not the same. It is sharper, clearer, and more defined to a vampire than it will ever be to a human so there are no dots to connect because it is not the same scent.

Take mine for example. To a human, it would be defined as a basic woodland scent. Trees, grass, dirt; things of that nature. To a vampire, it is far more involved and closer to the rainforest during a hurricane. You can smell the moisture, the wind, the trees, the earth in general with nothing to set me apart from my surroundings. When outside, where we are most in our element, I could be standing right behind you and you would never know it until it was too late.

This not being my first time dealing with a newborn, I was ready when the attack came. I just smirked as she came at me with teeth and claws. With a twist, I had her back slammed into the wall behind me, her hands trapped above her head and a forearm across her chest to hold her in place. She snarled and snapped at me.

I just leaned back and out of her reach, a chuckle in my throat. "Now, that's not very nice. Such a naughty little thing, aren't you, Gatáki?"

It was the name that broke through to her and made her take pause. Her eyes were still cloudy and unfocused, but she stopped trying to eat my face. She started at me for a moment before the most curious thing happened. She took a sniff of the air and her eyes glowed pink for a moment before they went back to red. When they settled back into the bright red of a newborn vampire, they were clear and focused meaning that the venom over her eyes had settled into the proper consistency and she could see properly.

Her voice when she spoke was soft and unsure. You could see the war behind her eyes between the muddy images of her human mind as sharper and clearer details made themselves known to her. "Demetri?"

Letting up on the restraining hold and releasing her hands, I nodded once but said nothing. Her eyes narrowed a little as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Her movements were hesitant and slow, measured and slightly jerky as she lifted a hand and lightly touched my cheek with her fingertips.

Her head tilted slightly to the side, amazement lighting the depths of her eyes. "You look so different."

I smirked at her, the corner of my lip lifting to flash my teeth. "No, I look the same. You're just seeing with different eyes. Everything is going to look different to you; sharper, clearer, more defined. Nothing will be unseen. It can be a little disorienting at first until you get used to it."

She nodded a little, her eyes still curious. "How long until that happens?"

I pressed my lips together with a hum. "Oh, I don't know, couple of weeks maybe. Some things will intrigue you. Some things will scare you. Others could very well terrify you. Nothing about this is going to be easy or instant. It takes time to grow used to the heightening of your senses to the degree they grew. Loud sounds will hurt your ears. Bright lights will hurt your eyes. Overly strong and multiple scents can make your head hurt a little. The first few weeks of this life are not a stroll through a garden, Gatáki. You are going to be cranky, irritable, hungry and very unstable as far as emotional climate goes. One minute you'll be calm and the next ready to go ten rounds with Satan with no warning whatsoever."

The poor thing looked like she was about to cry, and I hadn't even gotten to the bad shit yet. Her brow was drawn down but her eyes were wide. She whimpered slightly and I chuckled. Taking her chin on my grip, I tilted her head back a little and grinned at her. "Relax, Gatáki. All of that is normal. Every single vampire has gone through it. This is a… rite of passage, so to speak. You must learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you run. It's a learning process that no one can get out of."

She gulped, her eyes dropping for a moment before she looked back into mine. "You'll be there to help me, right?"

I snorted. I couldn't help it. "Of course. As a matter of fact, I have your first meal ready and waiting, as well as something to help you get your emotions back in check after you eat."

I absolutely remembered that I was going to have Isabella bring Felix down a peg or two and as soon as she eats, she'll be doing just that as I see to teaching Afton a little lesson in controlling his squad.

*X*

My little Gatáki's first meal went about as I thought it would. She, and the cell her meal was in, were a mess. Christ, I cannot actually recall a time that such brutality was used during a newborn's first feeding. I am not even going to hazard a guess as to how much blood she actually drank versus what she was wearing, but I do know how much blood is in a human's body and there was at least three of five covering Isabella and dripping from the rafters.

She stood in the middle of her created chaos, her eyes darting every which way as if looking for anything that survived. There was life giving crimson dripping from her bangs, a little splash sounding every time one fell into the pool at her feet. The blood had also apparently pooled in her palms because when she cracked her knuckles, it splattered from her hands.

She was adorable.

As the river of death made its way to my feet, I grunted a little as I lifted the tail of my jacket off the floor. Blood was a bitch to get out and this was my favorite one. Luna was used to blood on our shoes and didn't usually throw too much of a hissy fit over that. She was just going to burn what Isabella was currently wearing, that was a given. Scratching my temple, I clicked my tongue as I finished surveying the damage. "Did you actually eat anything, Gatáki, or just play?"

Her eyes snapped back into focus as the sound of my voice, darting over the room as a look of confusion settled on her face. Finally, she pointed to a section of the room that had scattered human body parts all over the place. "I ate him." Then she scratched her head, "I think it was him." Her lip curled a little as I pressed mine together to stop from laughing. She then pointed to the other side of the room. "It might have been her." Her voice grew even more confused as her head tilted slightly. "I think it was a her."

I glanced over to where she was pointing now and saw what might have at one point been a human woman, but was now nothing but a mangled and shredded corpse.

My eyes snapped back to Isabella when she grunted a little. She had her hands held up to her face, her nose wrinkled. "I'm a mess."

That time I did chuckle. "No, the room is a mess. You? You are far worse than just that." Turning to the side and holding my hand towards the door, "Come. I do believe that Luna has a bath and a change of clothes waiting for you."

Isabella nodded and, with a final look around the room, she followed after me. She went to grab my arm and I twisted out of her reach. "Oh, no you don't." When she blinked at me, her eyes drawn, I grinned. "Do you have any idea just how difficult it is to get blood out of this kind of fabric? I will carry you if that is your desire, but not until after a bath."

She pursed her lips a little, but once again looked down at herself, seeing the blood of her meal continue to drip from her hair, skin and clothes and fall to the floor. She creased her brow and glanced behind her, a noise of shock and surprise sounding out into the hall. "Holy shit."

I hummed before looked over my shoulder as well, a brow sliding up to my hairline. There was a very clear trail to follow from us to the room Isabella destroyed. I cocked my head and nodded. "That, again, is relatively normal. However," turning to her, "should it become a regular occurrence after you learn to feed properly, I do believe the cleaning staff will come to hate you."

She bit her lip and looked up at me with a sheepish look. "Sorry."

I snorted and shook my head, a light chuckle rumbling my chest. "Don't apologize to me. I'm not cleaning that up." I lifted the cuff of my jacket and clicked my tongue as I saw the time. "I have other obligations to see to currently." Looking up and seeing Luna standing at the end of the hall, I dipped my head to her and smirked at the look on her face when she saw the state of my mate. "Gatáki?" When she looked up at me, I glanced down at her. "You do remember Luna, yes?"

Isabella looked at me for a moment longer before she too looked to the small vampire that was looking back at her in absolute horror. She bit her lip as she tried to connect the dots on where she had seen her before and nodded slowly. "A little."

I nodded to her and when we were a little closer to Luna, her eyes widened and a hand came up to cover her mouth. "Good heavens, Child. What in the many levels of Hell did your meal do to piss you off?"

Isabella bit her lip and crossed her arms behind her back. "Um… nothing? Sorry, I made a little bit of a mess."

Luna choked on her tongue, an unidentifiable noise sounding from behind her tongue. She shook her head and looked at me, her brow cocked. "Master Demetri?"

I just shrugged. "I didn't feed her. She fed herself, and it was her first try, Luna. Cut her some slack." Luna grunted a little as she covered her face with her hands while I looked back at my mate. "I must be off. I have a few things to see to that were neglected over the last few days. I'll leave you in Luna's care and she will return you to me once you're cleaned up."

Isabella looked back and forth between myself and Luna a few times before she stayed looking up at me, her voice agreeable but her eyes showed she didn't like this. "Alright."

I smiled at her and grabbed her blood covered hand. "There's a good girl." Bringing her knuckles to my lips, "I'll see you soon, Sýntrofos." After pressing a light kiss to her bloody hand, I licked her dinner from my lips with a hum making Isabella giggle a little. I winked at her before cocking a brow. "Behave." Then as an afterthought, I slid my eyes over to Luna. "Both of you." With one more glance at my mate, I turned and left the two ladies to get acquainted and my girl to get cleaned up.

As I was walking past Luna, she sighed. "Just so we are clear, Master Demetri. I am not even going to attempt to clean her clothes."

I didn't pause as I nodded in response. "Never would have thought you would, Luna."

BPOV

As I stood in the hallway dripping blood into a pool at my feet, I watched Demetri bound up the steps and out of sight. This felt weird. However, I didn't get to dwell on it long before Luna waved a hand in front of my face making me jump. I growled at her, not because I meant to, but because she startled me.

She didn't even look surprised at the reaction as she smiled at me. "Well, Mistress. I must say you look much different than the last time I saw you, and I am not talking about your attempt to get a part in a B-rated horror movie." I nodded but just turned back to where Demetri vanished to, Luna looking over her shoulder a moment before looking back, understanding in her eyes. "This particular bond between you and Master Demetri is still very new. It will take a little time before you grow used to the separation anxiety and it doesn't affect you in such a way." Then she smiled at me again. "He is feeling the separation as well, Mistress. Probably more than you are since he's the male."

I blinked at her again. "Really?"

She nodded and turned, crooking a finger at me so I would follow her into a room off the hall. "Of course. You are only hours awake and this is the first you have left his sight, even before your change. It's his job to protect you and he isn't here to do so." Her head tilted to the side slightly as she stood in the doorway before she glanced back at me. "I almost feel bad for whomever it was that pissed him off right before your change." She stepped in the room and then off to the side so I could pass her. "So, let's get you cleaned up and returned to him before he destroys more than one vampire. He gets away with more than anyone, but thinning the guard will land him trouble with the Head Masters."

I nodded and passed by her into the room. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was a basic bathroom. The tub was already filled with steaming water and bubbles. There was a fifty gallon drum off to one corner and I didn't really want to know why, so I didn't ask.

Luna bustled around the room for a moment before she turned to me with a smile. "You can go ahead and just rip those off. I have something else to put on you after you're clean and those clothes are beyond saving. Just throw them in there when you get them off." When she pointed to the drum, I figured out what it was for.

She was burning my clothes.

Looking down at myself again, I really couldn't blame her. I wouldn't want to try and wash them either. With a shrug, I walked over to the drum, grabbing the hem of my shirt and tried to pull it over my head. However, the blood I was covered in had started to dry and my shirt was sticky so I didn't so much pull it off, but more like shred it. When the rip reached my ears, I stopped, whirling around and staring at Luna with wide eyes.

She just laughed before coming over and twirling her finger at me, telling me to turn around. Doing as I was told, I turned around and she came up behind me, making me tense a little as she grabbed the back of my shirt and just ripping it in two. She pulled it off my arms and tossed both pieces into the drum before squatting down and grabbing the cuffs of my jeans and tearing the denim up my legs. First one side then the other and doing the same to them. Once I was down to bra and underwear, she crossed her arms and smirked. "Do you want to remove those on your own or am I shredding them too?"

My jaw went a little lax and I shook my head. "I'll take them off."

Luna snorted but nodded and went back to what she was doing. "You are not my first blood covered newborn to see naked, Mistress. There is no need to be shy. Finish undressing and get in the tub so I can try and get the gallons of blood out of your hair."

I looked back at her before looking down at myself. With a shrug and a sigh, I grabbed the sides of my panties and pulled them off like Luna did to my jeans and, after tossing them into the drum, I grabbed the front of my bra and, with a twist of my wrists, broke the clasp and took it off. Once it joined the rest of my clothes in the drum, I turned and went to the tub, pursing my lips at the amount of steam coming out of it.

Lifting my eyes to Luna, I cleared my throat. "Isn't it too hot?"

She giggled and turned to grin at me. "No. It is going to feel fantastic. You don't have body heat anymore, Mistress. You cannot tell, but it is actually very cold in here, hence all the steam. Anything warmer than you will feel like heaven. Nothing will ever be 'too hot'."

I gave her a dubious look, but did as I was told and slowly put a foot in the water, sighing nearly right away at the warmth that it filled my foot with. I won't say I dove in because I didn't. I did, however, make quite a splash with how quickly I submerged myself though. I watched with a sense of morbid fascination as the once white bubbles turned pink as the blood melted off me and stained them and the water, blinking a little at the fact my tits bobbed on the top of the water. I never had boobs before so this was different.

I pushed them down under the surface, my eyes widening as they popped right back up. A smile lit my face as I did it again with the same results. This was a fun little game. I sat up a little more, pushing my butt off the bottom of the tub with my hands and bounced a little, giggling when they jiggled at the action. Well, now I know why men love tits so much. These fuckers are fun to play with.

When there was a snort behind me, I turned to Luna with a grin. She just shook her head with an amused 'newborns' falling from her lips as she pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head, leaving her in a just a tank top. She cracked her knuckles and rolled her head on her shoulders before she knelt next to the tub by my head. "Alright Mistress, under you go. Let's get your hair clean and we'll go from there. Oh, and a word to the wise. You don't need to breath and you will hate yourself if you inhale the water."

I glanced at her before nodding and, taking a breath through my mouth anyways, dunked my head under the water. I was going to come right back up, but my eyes rolled up into the back of my head when I felt her fingers slip into my hair and rake across my scalp. I groaned at the feel, following her commands as her fingers pushed and turned my head from one side to the other. I nearly mourned the loss when her hands left my head and tapped my shoulder, telling me to come back up.

Coming out from under the water, I ran my hands down my face, sniffling a little. I grunted slightly when there was the same stab of pain to the back of my skull as there was when I smelled Demetri's scent for the first time. I reached up and pushed against it as I looked over my shoulder at Luna, my face pinched up a little. Just like with Demetri, I saw a pink fog that led to Luna. I shifted my eyes and saw the same fog floating all over the room, not moving or dissipating as you would think fog would. I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was it made my head hurt.

When she looked at me, her eyes went wide and a light gasp slipped past her lips as she jumped a little and dropped the bottle of shampoo she was holding. I whimpered and her eyes snapped to mine, the relief of pain subsiding with the eye contact. I closed my eyes and laid my forehead on the edge of the tub, a quiet little whine sounding from my throat. "Ow."

I heard Luna grunt a little and it sounded both confused and torn. I didn't know why it would sound like that, but I got the confusion. I didn't know what the fuck was going on either.

After a moment, I heard her clear her throat a little. "Are you alright, Mistress? Do you want me to call Master Demetri back?"

As wonderful as the offer sounded, I shook my head. I didn't want him to come down only to have to watch him leave again so I could finish getting a bath. I was still covered in blood and I knew he had things to do at the moment. "No, it's alright." Then I lifted my head to look at her, my voice quiet as I told her why. "I don't want to see him leave again."

Her eyes seemed to soften when I said that and she nodded. "Well, let's hurry up and finish your bath. I do have to tell him what just happened though."

I nodded my understanding and she picked back up the bottle she dropped, setting to work getting the blood out of my hair and then off of me.

Ten minutes later she deemed me done and grabbed a towel, moving back so I could get out of the tub. After wrapping that one around me, she grabbed another and set to work drying my hair before having me bend over so she could wrap it around my head. Then she set to work drying me off before turning and picking up the pile of clothes that were sitting on the counter.

Beckoning me with a crooked finger, she took the underwear and knelt, holding them for me to set into. To my utter shock, they fit perfectly. She then took my towel away and picked up a corset style top and turned me so my back was to her. Reaching around me, she set it in place before she quickly did up the latch hooks that went up the back. When she bent back down to help me into the short black skirt she had for me, I looked in the mirror and got a look at the top. It was black with red lace trim and over where my heart was, was a copy of the pendent that Demetri had around his neck in white stitching. I looked down and ran my fingers over it as Luna did the zipper and button on the back of my skirt.

"What's this?"

She looked at me in the mirror before where I was looking at, a small smile on her face as she reached up and pulled the towel from my mostly dried hair. "That is Master Demetri's personal crest. If you look at the different necklaces and chokers that the guards wear, you will see that each level within the guard look a little different from the next. The different crests separate the different ranks. The one that Master Demetri wears is a one of a kind, naming him as the Head of the Guard. You'll wear his crest to show that you are his. When you get your choker, it will be exactly like his only crafted in white gold instead of the yellow gold he wears as any other mate to a guard member. Until it arrives, the crest will be displayed on your shirt right where that one is."

I sat down on the chair when I was told to, Luna picking up a brush. I looked at the design for a moment longer before turning back to the mirror, taking a moment to look at myself. Luna was right, I did look different than I used too. My hair was still brown, but it was darker, the red and copper highlights sharpened so they stuck out more. My lips were fuller and stained red. My eyes were a glowing red and my lashes were fuller and longer, like I was wearing mascara even though I wasn't. My eyes themselves seemed to have dark liner burned around them, the lids also stained in fading shades of grays. I would never have to fuck with makeup again. Hells yeah.

Once she was done brushing my hair, Luna put it up into a high ponytail, scrunching it with her hands to make it fluffier and fuller looking. When I told her I hardly ever wore my hair up, she smiled. "You will now. Until your choker comes, Master Demetri will demand that your hair not cover his mark on your neck or the crest on you shirt, which it is long enough to do both." She tapped a place just below my throat, "The pendant will lay right here making covering it impossible and he'll relax a little on keeping his mark uncovered." When I blinked at her again, she giggled. "I told you, the mating bond between you two is still very new… and males of our kind are extremely possessive of their mates. He waited over two thousand years to find you, Mistress. You are just going to have to go with the flow on this until the bond is cemented."