Rosalie and Amanda were walking along toward Roxie's and were very nearly there when all of a sudden, they heard someone honk at them, interrupting the deep conversation they'd been having. They stopped and stared as a car pulled alongside. "Stay calm," Rosalie told Amanda. "If he tries to hurt us, I'll kick his ass."
"And I'll help," Amanda replied. "You're not doing all of it by yourself."
But Rosalie felt some relief as the window slid down and the guy in the driver's seat removed his glasses, showing that he was Aaron after all. "You girls need a ride?" He asked. "You've been walking for quite a bit."
"Well, how would you know that?" Rosalie asked.
"I saw you," Aaron replied. "And when I noticed you were going to a sketchy part of town, I decided to follow you."
"Thanks, but we don't need your help," Rosalie told him. "We're fine. You can skedaddle now."
"All right," Aaron sighed and started up his car again. "If you say so." He drove away and Rosalie gave a shudder. "Maybe it's good that I don't hang around him anymore, even if he is cute!"
"Yep," Amanda nodded. "Looks aren't everything. A person's gotta have a good personality too. And not be a creeper."
"Do you think my dad's right about it being a bad idea to allow humans into our family?" Rosalie asked. "I mean, I know we've had some, but…I don't want to make a mistake."
"Oh, your father is just being silly!" Amanda reassured her. "I mean, Elizabeth was human when Katherine and my brother Gregory adopted her and nothing bad happened. And my brother Tristan married Emily and she was human at first. You can't listen to your dad. I mean, sure there's always a chance something could go wrong. You just have to decide if it's worth the risk."
"Well, right now, stupid Aaron is being an idiot, so I don't want him anywhere near me, but someday…" Rosalie sighed. "Someday I might."
They stood in silence, and then Amanda said, "Enough with all this seriousness! Let's go to Roxie's, get some drinks and play a round of pool!"
"I'm surprised you wanna play pool," Rosalie replied. "Seeing as how I always beat you."
"It's cause you always use your magic to cheat," Amanda smiled. "You're lucky I only play for the fun of it."
"Well, I do too," Rosalie pointed out. "It's not like I make you pay me money when you lose." They kept walking to Roxie's, got inside, and as they stood at the pool table, drinks in hand, they heard swearing, yelling, and sounds of a scuffle.
"What's going on, guys?" Roxie asked as she approached the bouncers and saw that they had a bruised and bleeding Aaron pinned to the ground.
"This human tried to get in," one of the goons said. "I don't know how he found us."
"Bring him over here," Roxie told them, her eyes narrowed as she led them to a spot by the bar so everyone could watch Aaron get beat up. "We gotta make sure he doesn't tell anyone."
Aaron was breathing heavily, his eyes wide as the bouncers pulled him up and pushed him to the ground. He was then given a sound beating, which was interrupted when Rosalie came to get a soda refill and saw him.
"Oh, my god!" She cried, running over when she saw Aaron's bleeding body. "What are you doing to him?"
"He's a human who wandered in without anyone to vouch for him," Roxie explained. "We have to make sure he never comes back."
"I can vouch for him!" Rosalie replied. "He's a friend of mine, and I'll make sure he leaves. Just don't hurt him anymore, please!"
"All right," Roxie said with a heavy sigh as she called the bouncers off. "I'll put him in your charge, Rosalie. But you watch him like a hawk and make sure he doesn't come back."
"Okay," Rosalie nodded as a dazed Aaron was pushed into her arms. "I will." She then took him into the bathroom and helped him get the blood off of himself.
"What the hell's going on?" He asked.
"You shouldn't have come here!" She told him. "What were you thinking?"
"I-I just wanted to see what you were up to," Aaron replied. "Those guys, they said I wasn't allowed in here because I was human. Does he mean that everyone else isn't?"
"Exactly," Rosalie nodded irritably. "This is a bar for werewolves only. You're lucky you weren't killed."
"So you're a werewolf?" Aaron asked. "Those things are real?"
"Yeah, they are," Rosalie nodded. "And you better not tell anyone. If you do, I'll kill you without hesitation. I promise."
"So you've actually broken up with King?" Klaus asked Vivi. "Did I mention you're my favorite daughter?"
"Don't get too excited," Vivi told him flatly. "It's not a permanent thing. I just want to explore my options a little so I can be sure I made the right choice being with King so soon."
"I think this is a good idea," Klaus smiled. "I'm proud of you, Vivian. Now, what sort of man are you replacing him with?"
"A guy I met at a bar," Vivi replied. "I know that might sound alarming, but his name is Tom and we get along really well."
"Oh, dear, sweetheart," Klaus told her. "You just be careful. This isn't gonna last. As much as I don't like King, I don't see this other relationship ending well either."
"You just hate him cause he's human," Vivi replied. "Daddy, don't ruin this for me."
"I won't," Klaus replied. "Your werewolf nature will do that for you without me being involved. Believe me."
"But I'm not active! I can't be!" Vivi cried. "Mom made my gene dormant! No werewolf thing can happen to me!" She looked worriedly at her mother. "Right?"
"Right," Amy assured her. "Despite all the craziness that happened when you were born, I did remember to make your gene dormant."
"Well, that doesn't matter, really," Klaus replied. "All that means is that you won't transform into a werewolf if you kill someone. It doesn't make you immune from the other side effects."
"What other side effects?" Vivi asked. "Will I kill people? I don't wanna kill people!"
"I'm really not the person you should ask about this," Klaus replied. "Your aunt Selina has a whole mountain of books and notes and things on werewolf behavor that her uncle made. Go see her."
"O-okay," Vivi nodded. "I'll do that. And I think I might take Eva too, so she knows."
"Good idea," Amy smiled. "And don't you worry. Everything will be all right."
"Yeah," Vivi nodded. "I'll try and remember that."
She left her parents' house and went to Sean's to get Eva.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything," she told her daughter after explaining why she'd come. "But I really think it's important that you hear about this."
"All right," Eva nodded. "Yeah, I get it." She paused and hugged her mother, much to Vivi's surprise. "Thanks for looking out for me," she said before letting Vivi go.
"You're welcome," Vivi replied. They got in the car and headed to Selina's, where they found her just coming back from school.
"Hey, you two," she smiled. "What brings you here?"
"Daddy says you know about werewolf stuff," Vivi replied. "And I have questions."
"All right," Selina nodded and told them to follow her to the library where all her uncle's notes were kept. "We'll see what we can do."
When they were settled in the library, Selina asked, "So, what's the problem?"
"Well, you know I've been with King for a long time now and we got together when we were teenagers, right?" Vivi asked.
"Yeah," Selina nodded. "I remember that. Is something wrong?"
"I've decided to take a little break from him, you know?" Vivi continued. "Experiment with what dating other guys is like. It's not gonna be forever and I'll go back to King after, but…when I told Dad, he said it would never work because my werewolf side won't allow it. Please tell me he isn't right!"
"He is," Selina replied. "Sorry. There's a concept in the werewolf world called 'mating'. The definition of it has changed over time from just being two werewolves who feel strong physical attraction to each other (or people with werewolf genes) to anyone that a person with a werewolf gene develops a strong attachment to regardless of their species." She then looked at Eva. "I'm about to talk about your parents' sex life. If you don't want to hear anything about that, I suggest you cover your ears. Or you can get a cinnamon roll from the kitchen, if you'd like."
"I'll go with the cinnamon roll," Eva told her. "And there's blood in the fridge, right?"
"Of course," Selina nodded. "Knock yourself out."
Once Eva was gone, Selina continued. "You and King have a strong physical attachment, right? The sex is good and all that?"
"Well, yeah, the sex is great!" Vivi replied. "But I want an emotional connection too, and it's just not there because King has the emotional maturity of a toddler. Can you blame me for wanting to go out with someone who's less self-absorbed?"
"No, I can't," Selina replied. "Not really. But I would advise holding off intimacy as long as you can, or at least restricting it to daylight hours, cause if you try and have sex at night with someone who isn't your mate, that's where the trouble starts."
"What kind of trouble?" Vivi asked.
"Well, I've murdered in the past, before my gene was active" Selina admitted, "I've been sexually promiscuous, a couple of times with a distant cousin of mine (don't ask; my mother's family, where I get the gene from, are a very messed up bunch) among others. It just varies from person to person. But your being with King helped control it. Gave you something to put all that animal energy into. Fighting it is no fun."
"You've fought it?" Vivi asked.
"Yeah," Selina nodded. "I'd go into detail, but it would involve me talking about when your dad and I were together and I don't know if you want to hear about that."
"I'll listen if it helps me prepare for what will happen," Vivi told her resolutely.
"Okay…" Selina replied. "When I first met your dad, it was the twenties and I was kind of…evil. We were friends with benefits and really hot and heavy. Then, with the help of Elijah, I ended my evil ways and broke it off with your dad, which pissed him off, so that when I came to apologize to him, he wiped all my memories of ever being with him. When I saw him again years and years later, he was just some evil psycho murderer that I found myself immensely attracted to even though it was nothing I wanted.
"I was married to another man at the time, but my gene would not be denied. Under cover of night and with the moonlight guiding my way, I would sneak away from my husband's house and go meet up with your father, and then we'd engage in all of our old behaviors. Then, the next morning, I would wake up in his bed, the hold my werewolf gene had on me released, with no memory of ever going to see your father in the first place. That made waking up naked in his bed a real shock."
"And that's gonna happen to me when I try and sleep with guys other than King?" Vivi asked. "Well, that's a real bitch, isn't it?"
"It could be worse," Selina shrugged.
"True," Vivi nodded. "But still."
"Well, good luck," Selina told her. "I hope you're able to get what you want."
"Yeah," Vivi nodded. "Me too. And would you…would you mind telling Eva all this too? Even though I doubt she'll ever leave Sean, it wouldn't hurt to prepare her for what will happen if she does."
"Sure," Selina replied. "No problem."
A few nights later, Vivi had another date with Tom. It was their third, and after a nice dinner, he drove her home and she invited him inside.
"King seems to be gone," Vivi observed after calling out for him. "I mean, he was when we left, but I would have thought he'd be back by now. That's a good thing. It means we'll have privacy."
She sat down on the sofa and asked him to sit next to her. When he did, she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry if this sounds a little presumptuous, but this was our third date, and I've heard that that's when you traditionally decide where your relationship goes. Or to have sex or not."
"And what is it that you wanna do about that?" Tom asked. "The latter, I mean? Whatever you decide, I'll go with."
"Well, it's been awhile for me," Vivi replied admiring mentally how much more selfless Tom was than King and deciding to take the risk since she felt really good with him. "So I say, we do it!"
Tom smirked. "And you're not worried your husband will come back in the meantime?"
"He's not my husband, technically," Vivi replied. "And I bet that wherever he is, he found a girl to be with. I won't be made to feel guilty."
"All right," Tom smiled as Vivi took his hand and led him to the guest bedroom (although she was totally comfortable dating someone other than King, she couldn't bring herself to have sex with another man in her and King's bed.) To take even more risk, she opened the window in the room and let the moonlight flow in. "Do you mind?" She asked Tom after she did it.
"No," Tom shook his head and smiled as he undressed. "I don't mind at all."
Vivi stared just as intently at a naked Tom as she did at a naked King, and soon, they were holding each other close, their fingers in each other's hair as they kissed one another wildly before falling back on the mattress together. Tom then kissed down her chest before her legs parted for him and she felt his tongue go inside her as she gasped and giggled.
Eventually, he rolled off her and they both took time to catch a breath before he took her in his arms, kissed her deeply, and buried himself inside her while he felt her kiss his neck, nibble his earlobe, and whisper that he was wonderful into his ear, something that made him laugh as he lay her back down on the mattress.
"You really think I'm wonderful?" He asked, and eyebrow raised. "Even more than your boyfriend?"
"I wouldn't say 'more'," Vivi corrected. "But you're definitely as good as he is."
Eventually, they both fell asleep and when Vivi woke up the next morning to find Tom snoring gently beside her, she told herself that her father and Selina had been wrong, and that she'd be able to get through dating other men just fine. He woke up soon after, and got up to go to the bathroom, resuming his normal appearance as King and whispering congratulations to himself on accomplishing his deception into the mirror while he brushed his teeth. Then, after he heard Vivi call out for him, he changed back into Tom and went to join her in bed again.