Age Recommendation: 16+
XavLab is the pinnacle of modern science. From an accident, humanity discovered a handful of powerful immortals, and from their blood, the cure.
To everything.
A new world was born that day.
He covered his ears as an ear-piercing howl cut through the air, and kicked blindly out from his bed.
The howl cut off with a whimper.
He curled back under the blanket, and began to drift back to sleep. Though, as always, that simply wasn't to be the case. He hated the full moon. It always made his other half... Frustrating.
She landed on top of him, "The heck was that, Xavier!?"
"Shut up, and go back to sleep." He muttered as he tried to pretend her claws were not digging into his back and cutting straight through the blanket as if it wasn't ever there.
She growled in his ear, and then giggled, "Xavier. Do you want to play?"
"No." He moaned, "I want to sleep."
"So... If I were to..." She began, fingers creeping around him and then lower. He rolled over and kicked her off the bed.
He sat up, looking down at the hurt looking monster. She was a monster, by almost any consideration of the word. A handful of vaguely related species could be found in nature, but nothing quite like the beast that howled at the moon for one week of the month, every month.
She pouted, looking up at him with sad eyes, hurt that he'd rejected her advances. Again. He was so sick of having this argument three or four times a month. She always ended up biting him to prove her ownership of him.
"It is time. To sleep." He sighed, "I've got a board meeting in... Four hours. Awesome. Can you leave me alone, at all? I made you that sound-proofed room so you can howl all you like."
She stuck out her bottom lip, "But you're not in it."
"That's sort of the point."
Her bit her lip, threatening to let loose another kind of howl. He rubbed his eyes, "I don't hate you. I just want to be able to sleep. Things are fairly stressful at work at the moment."
She bounded onto the end of the bed, "I was going to help relax you. To say sorry."
"That's... Not relaxing." He laughed, "You know that, right?"
She smiled cheekily.
He rolled his eyes, "Fine. You're not going to let me sleep, anyway. Do you want a cuddle?"
She sprang into his arms, rubbing her face against his chest, and wrapping around him. Her teeth sank into his neck. He winced, "You're drawing blood. Again."
She glared up at him, "You're mine, Xavier. Remember."
"I know." He replied, "Do any of the other scars around there remind you of anyone?"
She grinned up at him, blood leaking down the corners of her mouth, "They're reminders of me. So you can't ever forget."
He kissed her forehead gently, "You're one of four of your kind. I'm pretty sure the whole world knows who you are, let alone the guy who... Well, it's supposed to be my bed, but it may as well be yours as well."
She grinned, "Getting playful?"
"No. Tired." He complained, and let himself relax onto the bed, holding her, "Besides, aren't you supposed to have a long day, today, too?"
She hissed, then nuzzled him, "I guess. They're making me do another drill. The stress test, followed by another blood draw."
"Stress tests are work."
She kissed his cheek, "Worried about me?"
"Last time you broke the equipment." He frowned, "It was expensive. I'm hoping that I've managed to build things up to your limits this time. I doubt it, but I'm hopeful."
She winced, "No. I don't want to actually have to put in effort. That'd suck."
"You lifted twelve tonnes last time. The machinery should make you have to lift closer to eighty this time before you max it out." Xavier sighed, "Try not to break it when you blow away my expectations."
She giggled, "Why is it so important for you to find my limits? Not like there's any need to use them in the real world."
"The closer to tired we can get you, the more effective the treatments we can derive from your blood." Xavier shrugged, "The closer I can get to manufacturing something that effectively replicates your actual blood."
She sighed, "Why did I have to fall for a doctor?"
"Scientist." He corrected, "I don't have a medical degree. Most people only call medical doctors that."
"They call you Doctor Xav, though, don't they?"
"Eh, for the cameras." He sighed, "That's just a PR thing. Most people call me Xavier. Or professor. And I know that you know that."
She sank her fangs into his shoulder again, and he felt the slight dizziness start as she did more than just bite. It was irritating, but he was used to it. This was exactly how he had met her, in fact.
"You're yummy, early." She grinned at him.
He wiped her cheek, "And you're hungry, early."
She kissed his nose, and then sat lightly on his chest, "We don't get much free time anymore, do we? You run the company. They test me. Cycle, cycle, cycle."
"We get Sundays to ourselves." He shrugged, "Are you feeling the pressure, Hope?"
She shook her head, "Not like that. I miss you too much. I don't like sharing you with everyone. I didn't used to have to let it go. You were only working four days when you started."
Xavier nodded, "You're right. I'm sorry. You changed the world, and I guess we've both been caught up in that storm. I haven't been giving you much attention, have I?"
"No." She bared her fangs, "You haven't."
Xavier winced, "So... Once this next big line is released to the public, I guess I need to take some leave. A week shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Hope made a pouting face, "A week. That's the best you can do?"
"The world keeps turning." He shrugged, "It isn't forever. Just a few decades. For you, that shouldn't be that big a deal."
She punched him lightly, "And lose your best years? No thanks."
He winced, looking where she hit him and knowing that it was probably worse than a bruise. She wasn't just freakishly strong. She didn't exactly have perfect control over it, following a feed.
"It's more than you've had."
Hope flashed her fangs, "You better not disappoint me."
He smiled, "So, because it's going to take a little while to get the line out and ready, why don't you plan our trip? We could go anywhere you like. Romania, or England, or -"
"Name another Vampire haunt." She threatened, glaring at him.
He grinned, "It's up to you where we go. Literally anywhere in the world. For a week. We could crash out in a hotel for all I care. This is about you."
Hope frowned, "You're being nice. What do you get out of this?"
"My bloodsucking fiance?"
Hope grabbed his nose, not so gently, "Do you want to reword that?"
"My beautiful fiance who happens to be the inspiration for vampires, werewolves, and a half dozen other mythical figures?" He said painfully.
Hope let go and sighed, "You're never going to let me forget that, are you? Not even for five minutes?"
"You woke me up at 2AM howling at the moon, and then bit me. Twice." Xavier glared at her, "Turnabout is fair."
Hope grinned and scratched at one of her teeth, "Okay."
He sat up, "Now, I guess I need breakfast. Since you had yours."
She sprang off him, spinning around as she landed daintily, and then grabbed him and swung him over her shoulder. He sighed as she carried him to the kitchen, knowing exactly what she was doing.
She put him gently into a chair, planted her hands on her hips, "This morning, I'll -"
"No."
Hope bit her lip, fighting back tears, "But... But... I've been practising!"
"It only counts if things get less burned." Xavier said and stood up, "I'll be cooking my own breakfast. But you can watch."
As he got the fry pan and some bacon ready, he asked her something he had been wondering, "So, since we found you, we found three others. Have you ever been interested in meeting them?"
"No." Hope purred in his ear, watching him with fascination. It wasn't that Hope was a bad cook. She was the worst cook that Xavier had the displeasure of witnessing. She could hear the instructions to turn over what she was burning, and to turn the heat down, but the words were magically unintelligible. She took cooking and turn it into an art form of horror.
He flipped the sizzling meat and began to toast the bread, fending her off as she went to change the settings. "Really? I've met distant cousins and all sorts. Just because they were family."
"Only one of us was found on each continent, right?" Hope whispered, brushing her fangs on his neck again, "Why do you think that was?"
"Ah." Xavier said, "So it's a territory thing, then?"
"Pretty much." Hope said with disappointment, pulling back. So she had been going to bite him if he guessed wrong. "You brought us out of hiding with that machine of yours. It calls to us. But, I'm pretty sure if you managed to call two of us to the one place, we'd rip each other to pieces."
He could imagine the collateral damage. It wasn't a pretty sight. Most humanoids, in a fight, ended up pinning the opponent, and then bashing in their face. However, so far, Hope had a punch force that exceeded a semi-trailer truck being dropped into the ground. Probably much exceeded it. It would be nothing short of an earthquake's destructive force.
"You go through some... Excessive intimacy issues." He tried to word it carefully, "Like once or twice a month. How are you supposed to handle that, spread out across the globe?"
"We don't mate with our own kind, silly." Hope laughed, "I inject my eggs into a suitable host, like a human, and then the young consume them from the inside out."
He rolled his eyes.
She had a fairly normal reproductive system, as far as primates went. Apart from the cycle of extremely high hormone production. He also knew that she could viably mate with any primate at all, which was something he would rather that he could forget.
Studying his own fiance's biological make up had its hazards.
Hope glared, "You're supposed to laugh. I said I was an alien or something from one of those 60s movies."
He finished making his sandwich and turned to her, "You're cute when you're mad."
"So, you want a serious answer." Hope sighed, "Can you ever not do the science thing? It isn't attractive at all. It's embarrassing. I... Take care of... Myself. And you just made me tell you."
He covered his mouth as he laughed, looking at her nearly crying at his response. He swallowed and put the sandwich onto a plate, "Hope... I didn't actually expect an answer."
She went bright red, "Asshole!"
He shrugged and ducked under her playful punch so he wouldn't need to see a nurse, and then grabbed her in a cuddle, "Got you."
She grinned up at him, fangs shining, "Who has who, human?"
He clapped a hand on his neck, "No. You've done that enough this morning. At least give me a chance to heal."
Hope grinned broader, "I could just heal you."
He kissed her forehead, "My monster. What am I going to do with you?"
"Hopefully finish at a reasonable time." Hope glared at him, "I started howling this morning. You know what that means."
"That is why I was asking about your cycle." Xavier responded, "It's on my mind. I mean, I love it when you're romantic, but after just a couple days, you wear me kind of ragged."
She pouted, "Not my fault humans are so easy to wear out."
He leaned her back, smiling down at her, "No. But the interest of this human is definitely your fault."
Hope smiled at him, "You know, if you kiss me now, that won't be enough for me."
"You got me up two hours early." He smiled at her, and then he kissed her.
© Copyright 2024, James Milne