Monster University Day 4: Raven

Raven

A Monster University Story

All Rights Reserved

                “Demons aren’t supposed to feel the virtues.  We can feel the Deadly Sins. My favorite has been lust. Sex is something in of itself. When I was warned to stay away from the Angel, of course I didn’t. I started going to the bar and talking with her. Flirting with her. When she moved and became a cadet at the police academy, I would make sure to run into her when she came to work random shifts at the bar. Or even when she came to the diner or bar to talk to Morgan and Jo. When I first realized my lust had skidded into the unmentionable virtue and I was going into a downward spiral of appreciation and… affection, I started to sleep with anybody and everybody. I was running from the feelings, of course, I am a Demon! I don’t… love… I went home with a different mortal each night, had se, made a deal, and then did t again to keep my thoughts off the Angel. And I did this until it didn’t work, and I started calling her name no matter the body I was with at the time. So, I started causing battles with her instead… Sometimes fighting could be just as good as sex…”

                Raven sat upon the bar stool at Jo’s, he had no real idea why he was here. I stopped picking up random mortals, the high just wasn’t there anymore. The Angel had destroyed him. He went from the model Demon to… to this excuse for an immortal Earl of Hell.  If his minions saw him now, they would revolt, rebel, they would re-something anyways. The Angel. That was why he sat at the bar with a beer and was depressed.  He sat watching her bring out her wings, it was past closing time and no mortals were in the bar. They were almost all gold, meaning she still tried to be a good little Angel. Sinning only when needed, a lie here, a lie there, about her past. Or stealing to live. There are grey’s too. Her sins she had chosen. Cursing is what she told Jo, but Raven wondered if any of them were lust. If she had given into any of the Deadly Sins. He got up and made his way towards the girls. Drunk enough now to be stupid enough to ask the question.  Frank and Lucas grabbed his arm. “Let me go.” He slurred out as he tried to continue that way. He had to ask HIS Angel a question.

                “You are drunk,” Lucas drawled. “Sit down.”

                “I gotta ask the angel a question!”

                “Why?” Frank didn’t really care, he was just trying to delay him from going over there and embarrassing himself. Anybody with even a half of brain can figure out the Demon fell once more, this time for a Fallen Angel that had the power to say no to Satan.

                “Because she makes me a worse demon than the one in the book she has fallen in love with!”

                “Which one is that?” Lucas sat back with his hands behind his head and smirked.

                “That one! Where the angel, who really revels in the deadly sins, and the demon hid the fact that he reveled in the virtues.  The pair she calls the ineffable husbands! That demon is a disgrace to demons!  Cares about kids, kind regards of what he says, in love with a blood sinning angel! And I gotta ask MY Angel a question! While I am drunk! Or I won’t be able to ask her!”

                Lucas let go, “well, go on, I am curious what question could make a demon nervous!” He laughed as he drained the rest of his beer.

                Frank looked like he wanted to protest, but he let Raven go; it would at least give them some entertainment while his mother and Bo were out spoiling his daughter.

                Raven stumbled over there. “Angel! Angel!”

                Alyssa looked at Raven and tilted her head. “What is it, Raum?” She still insisted on calling him by his real name.

                He smirked, “You want to keep calling me by my name, perhaps I should call you by yours, after all your signal is still branded upon the back of your neck.”

                “What is it you want, Raum?” Alyssa sighed, it wasn’t like anybody couldn’t look up who she was, it was obvious after all, her signal, as she kept her hair short.

                “Well, Anael, I was wondering, if any of your grey feathers are because you have had sex?”

                Alyssa spit out her drink. “What? No! And the feathers would be a deep rich royal blue if I gave into lust. Even if there is love behind it.

               

                Alyssa was growing flustered at the questions. She knew he was just picking another fight, and she didn’t feel like fixing up the bar, again. “Leave me alone, Raum.”

                Raven sneered and then jumped. “Come one, Anael, you think you are so much better than me! We are both FALLEN! We are both the same!” He threw here against the wall, it buckled under the force and broke the frames that were upon it.

                “WE ARE NOT THE SAME!” Alyssa screamed as she used her wings to push herself from the wall and push him back. Before she took to the air and used gravity to come down upon him with her full strength, pushing him through the floor.

                The fight was destroying the bar, Jo was a bit peeved, but it wasn’t anything that hadn’t happened before. Raven moved and finally got an amulet around her neck.  And with that it gave him the boost he needed, along with his connection to hell, to get her on the ground.

                “It is the eleventh hour, what will you do dear Angel?” Raven smirked as he held her throat in his fist.

                “Let me go, Raum!” She struggled to be let go. “Where did you get this amulet?”

                “At my eleventh hour, I had implemented plans A thru Z on how to get over you, I had gone into apocalypse mode and put all my avoidance skills to the test. But I can’t get you out of my mind or heart. If I can’t have you in a romantic way, I will have you thinking I am the enemy. After all, fighting can be as good as sex, when one wins dominance.”

                Alyssa used what strength she had, though it was being contained by the blood stone forged in hell, a blood stone that was once the soul of an angel made diamond, corrupted by hell, around her neck.  It was just enough to push him back, and his back hit window busting it, but not going through it.

                “If you want me come,” Alyssa panted out, it had been three hours of none stop battling and it was now the Devil’s hour. “Come and get me.” She stood but swayed.

                Raven paused and smirked, he rubbed the sweat and blood from his face and kept his hand upon his chin as if in thought. “Want you in what way, Angel? Don’t get me wrong, both involve ropes, but it is an important distinction to make before we proceed.”

                Alyssa blinked, “what on this forsaken Earth do you mean?”

                “Think about it a moment Angel, what else could I do while I had you tied down?”

                Alyssa’s eyes went wide, and she sputtered. ‘You think I mean sex?” She dropped the pool cue she had been using. “I can’t have sex! I am an Angel! It would mean giving in to the Deadly Sins!”

                Raven moved closer, “you are a Fallen, Angel. That means you can give into any sin you want. Including the Deadlies. I think you would look perfect with Royal Blue Wings. Only sin a deadly can’t over take is murder. A few black with the Royal Blues, maybe some Violet for that Pride of yours.” He was right up close to her, his own pool cue, long forgotten. “Come on Angel, join me in the Sins.” He unleashed his own wings.

                Alyssa gasped, she saw the Wrath Red, Lust Royal Blue, Sloth Sky Blue, Gluttony Orange, Greed Yellow, and Envious Green.  Al of them mixed black. It made her swallow. They were gorgeous.  She backed up and her back hit the wall.

                Raven smirked as he sauntered towards her and pined her between his arms. “See what they could become? Come join me, Angel.” He brushed his lips against her skin.  “You are a Fallen. You can do what you want. You are a free agent. You aren’t even bound by Hell, not like I am. So, join me, join our own side.” He smirked, he could quote her favorite book. “You ruined me you know.” He placed one hand on her hip. “I can’t even be a good demon. I am stuck in this look of that unmentionable virtue, a downward spiral of admiration and affection.”  He kissed her neck again. “Join me…” He kissed up her neck until his lips hovered over hers. “Join me in our second fall.”

                “Raum…”  Alyssa bit her lip. He was tempting her, so tempting to let him lead her down that rabbit hole.  “I… I was…” Alyssa swallowed, “I was always the purist of Angels. I fell for my love of humanity. I fell to save a human, because I loved them. I love these damned broken souls. If I give in, them that angel I was is truly gone. And never coming back.”

                “That is a good thing!” Raven placed his other hand on her hip and pulled her towards him.  “Do you want to be that angel that followed orders like a good little girl? Do you want to be the angel that stood by and watched as the beings you love were hurt, killed, tortured, or destroyed? Do you want to be her? Because I didn’t like her! I didn’t love her! I fell for the angel that is becoming a cop. I love the angel that is secretly getting justice and vengeance for those who hurt kids! The spells and the curses and leading our monster family towards them! I never in all the eons I have been alive, as an angel, or as the human that got tricked into making a deal with the devil, or as a demon, ever let myself feel the virtues. Then you skid into my life and destroy me! Not because you are an angel, not because you are GOOD,” he spat the word. “But because you have a set of standards, of rules, you live by! You FELL, because you couldn’t do it any longer. When I was an angel I fell because I didn’t want to choose a side! I became human because I didn’t choose a side, reborn loads of times, before I made a deal with Lucifer, and gave him my soul. I became a demon and remembered everything. You stand for something, I fell for anything because I didn’t. That is why when I fell the second time it was without noticing! It was without resistance! I fell Angel, and it is for who you are now, not who you were then, for this woman standing in front of me right now! With her anything but white wings! With wings that will go from this gold to a deep rich blue, to a deep rich black as you embrace the Fallen Angel of Justice and Vengeance you are! Don’t be afraid to embrace the change… because you are leaving the shallow end, you are leaving the sand, join me! Join me in the ocean of desire, join me on the mountain top of love. Join me Angel in this fall!” He then kissed her with all the lust, want, affection, appreciation, desire, and love he felt for her. When his lungs screamed for the air, he didn’t really need he pulled back. “Join me, Angel. My Earth Angel, join me.”

                Alyssa swallowed, she looked up into his eyes, through her lashes, her hands had found their way into his hair during the kiss. She took a breath. She never felt anything like she was feeling now. “Show me.” She straightened and with more confidence stated. “Show me how to Fall.” She stated as she pulled his head back down so she could run her lips over his, whispering, “show me how, Raum.”

                Raven pulled her closer and kissed her again and he flapped his wings and used his abilities to disappear from the bar, he felt her powers repair it.  He internally chuckled, his Angel would always have the streak of having to do what was right. And he would never change her core being, he just wanted to bring out who she truly was, and that was HIS Angel.

                He fell the first time because he was a coward who didn’t want to fight. As a human he made a deal he never should have, and had always regretted, especially after getting his memories back.  He no longer regrets it, for as a Demon he finally found his completion, in a Fallen Angel who, was just enough of a saint to hide among the humanity she fell to protect. No, he would never regret his choices, because this second fall, was worth every pain and moment of hell he had ever gone through. For he fell to meet his Angel.

               

               

               

Monster Univeristy Day 3: Drake and The Brides

Drake and The Brides
Monster University
All Rights Reserved

            “I remember the day I was cursed, or should I say the day I realized I was cursed. It was in my blood. My grandfather had evolved into an Incubus. And as soon as I choose my mates, I will as well. Of course, my grandfather was unaware of my existence. The key word is was, much like I was unaware of his. Now he barges into my life, and he expected me to give up the guilt, to embrace this curse, to give up my last bit of humanity.  He wanted me to accept the power of the family blood stone. I looked at the scepter he had handed me, I had listened to my grandfather go on and on and on and on about our family destiny.
            I had to stop and think. Was I ever really human? I mean, at one point I had my brides, and I was the basis for Stroker’s blood book.
            Then my grandfather says it is a curse, a curse given to me by Van Helsing. He then comes and gives me the cure.
            I felt the power, I feel my power unleashed, the curse breaking. Now I look at the blood stone daily and now I feed it. And I remember why I was once feared. Now if I only had my brides…”
            Drake smirked as he left the dorm building, since his grandfather cured him, he had become himself once more. Blood thirsty, powerful, a true Dracul! But he still felt empty. Always empty. Ever since Van Helsing, that bastard, killed his brides. Making a vampire, an eternal friend or slave, was easy. But a bride? A bride had a special place in a vampire’s slash budding Incubus’ heart and undead soul.
            Of course, before he gained his first brides, he was a war hungry monster, he used that to fill the void he felt in his cursed soul. The blood, never satisfying fully, but keeping him sane. Maybe he should join the military again. War and world travel… Now that sounds like his type of life. It wouldn’t be the first time he joined the military and jumped head first into a war. He even was ‘killed’ in action during World War II.
            He was thinking and walking back to his apartment when he bumped into someone. “Oh! Excuse me.” He stated in his ‘I am so charming, follow me to your death’ voice. He looked at who he bumped into, it was a short woman, finely developed, and with long mahogany hair up in a tight bun. Her eyes were weird mix of dark brown and red, the color of chocolate mixed with blood.
            “No! I am sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” She smiled as she held up a book to show him, she was reading. “I have a paper to do for my Romantic Classics class.”
            Drake looked at the book and laughed. “Romantic? Dracula?”
            The woman blushed. “Dracula is romantic. Look at what he would do for Mina. He had to truly love her to go through all that and then to die.”
            Drake internally winced. Mina and Lucy, his lovely brides, they were each other’s sister in all but blood and, more importantly, the first loves of his existence. Only loves, he never looked for new brides, just one-night stands with people on their last night of their lives. He kept praying for their rebirth. “I will give you he did adore Mina and Lucy.” He answered her, Van Helsing couldn’t kill him; so, he cursed him. And Van Helsing had killed Lucy and Mina. “And Van Helsing was the true monster of that book.”
            She smiled. “My name is Florence. My friend, Lenore, and I believe the same! We are both doing a paper on it. She is like my sister in but blood, we always connected.” She was excited to meet someone who thought the same as she and her friend.
            “Drake. Well, I happen to have a degree in English Lit, want me to help you and your friend?” Something about this pretty girl drew him in like a moth to a flame. Perhaps she would make a fine first bride. He did truly need brides. And nothing said he had to love them, be faithful to them. Just he would need their blood and energy, and well them to give him sex when he couldn’t find a willing victim.
            Florence beamed at him. “That would be amazing!” She stated. “Are you busy now? I am on my way to meet Lenore!”
            Drake smiled. He had been on his way to pay Tony for his work in the dorm, but eh, Tony can wait. “I was just out walking. I would be happy to help the two of you!” He smiled and took her arm into his. “So, Florence, what is your major?”
            “Pre-law. I want to be a lawyer.” Florence went on to babble her many reasons why. Drake oh’d and ah’d in the right places. The more she spoke though the more she was reminding him of Mina. There was a simple way to see if they were in fact reborn. A potion. And he just so happened to have some.
            Finally, they got back to the dorms, and Drake gave a smirk and nod to Tony who was just leaving. Tony lifted an eyebrow, but Drake shook his head slightly. They made the way to the dorm room Florence and Lenore were sharing. “Flo!” Lenore greeted when the door opened. “Who is this?”
            “This is Drake! He has a degree in English Lit and offered to help us with our papers on how Van Helsing is the bad guy and Dracula was the hero, who tragically died when Van Helsing killed his true loves.”
            Lenore tilted her head her blonde hair fell in her face. “Sure! I can use all the help I can get!” She laughed, as she pulled out the book.
            Drake spent the next few hours going over the lies within the book. “Come on! Mina would have wasted away and become a shell of herself! She was what they called a New Woman! Lucy boarded it, but she would go back into her shell when she was mortal. When she was a vampire, she shined. She became the woman she should have been and not the shell of a living creature she was as a human.” Drake explained. “Being a vampire liberated her from becoming nothing but a piece of arm candy. As one of Dracula’s Brides she became a Queen! Her and Mina were unstoppable, they had a thirst for life that made Vlad very much proud they were part of the Dracul clan!” Drake started talking with his hands and stood up and paced as he continued his rant. “And Van Helsing was a monster! He wanted them to be weak unthinking mortals! He hated Dracula for the sole purpose that he made both Lucy and Mina his brides. Van Helsing was a monster, from abusing his own child to someone who hunted down those who were different than what was ‘normal’ at the time. He once killed a young man just because he didn’t prefer the company of women!”
            Florence and Lenore were writing this all down. They fully agreed and they got into the conversation tearing the book apart. Lenore taking the side of Lucy, reminding Drake of Lucy. “I can see why when mortal Lucy would fall back to those standards, even if she had free thinking ideas, she hides them. She tries to be what her mother wants. I get that. I mean my parents pay for this,” she waves her hand around. “So, my major is what they want it to be. They expect me to find a politics driven man and marry him. So, I get it. I really do. But where as I don’t have an out, Dracula gave Lucy the out she needed and wanted. I think that is why she was able to be changed to begin with, why Mina was able to be changed, it is because they wanted that freedom. It wasn’t that they were tying themselves to Dracula, he truly loved them, he was as tied to them as they were him.” She sighed. “Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be Lucy and Mina? They had a god love them, kill for them, adore them, give them freedom.”
            Florence nodded, “I agree. I don’t see how Mina ever agreed to marry someone else. She could have been a woman of power. She was smart and under that needy and submissive mask was a woman who knew herself and what she wanted. That is why when we see Vampire Mina, it shows her true self the one hidden under her brainwashing that she be the perfect Victorian wife.  Mina was judgmental towards her friend, Lucy, outwardly, but internally, I know she admired her.”
            Drake nodded, “After Mina became a vampire, we can see that, Lucy and here were much alike, sisters. Being mortal changed the girls to standards that were biased, sexist, and frankly disgusting. Dracula made them Queens. To rule AT his side, not behind him, not be submissive to him. For he couldn’t truly exist without them, and they couldn’t truly live without him.” He looked at the time. “Well, look at the time Darlings! I have got to get going. How about you both come over to my place, a friend of mine is always throwing parties. We can talk about some more classics, and tear into them and their disgusting views on women.” He smiled as he held out a paper with his address.
            Both girls smiled and nodded, both hugging him as he walked out of the dorm. As he walked back to his apartment, he was sure his brides had been reborn. And once it was proven, he would change them once more. And may whatever power out there have mercy on the soul of anybody who thought to take them from him again, because he wouldn’t have any.
            Three days later both Florence and Lenore found themselves in a study. Their eyes were wide as they took in the ancient books, trinkets, and everything else under the sun. Many hundreds of years old.  “I see you both seem enamored by my collection.” Drake drawled as he walked into the room. He was wearing a red silk shirt and black pants. He had always favored reds and blacks. Only this time while meeting them he has left his fangs elongated. For tonight he would either have his brides or he would have a feast. For tonight's party had a dozen girls only, the reason being if he made his brides the girls would become their dinner in three days. And he would have to feed them nutrients and potions to prevent their turning as his brides feed upon them. But first they had to drink the potion. If his brides they would regain all their memories. If not, nothing would happen, but as he drained them the blood would be a little sweeter.
          “It is an amazing collection. I could spend an eternity reading these books.” Florence stated as she placed a book back on the desk.
          Lenore smiled, “it is amazing. You must be so well traveled. I wish I could spend a lifetime traveling.”
          Drake smiled showing his fangs, he handed them both a glass of wine containing the potion.  “Then you both shall, get your dreams one day.”
          The girls took the wine and both to nice healthy drinks, after all college students drink quick and fast anything given to them. It is why the Monster Clan has almost always chosen college towns to temporarily settle in. He watched them both. He wasn’t sure if he was praying or begging whoever’s was in charge of the fates, but he was doing something, hoping they were his brides reincarnated.
         At first it looked like nothing happened. Drake's non-beating heart started to drop, when he looked up at two gasps and the dropping and shattering of the two wine glasses. He looked at their blown eyes and held the breathe he didn’t need. And waited.
          Lenore, no she was Lucy, looked at Mina. “Mina?” She whispered, afraid she had lost her mind to their obsession with Dracula.
          Florence, no Mina, looked at her and smiled. It all made sense. Their obsession. The way they just knew Van Helsing was the bad guy. “Lucy, it all makes so much sense. We are alive again.” They smiled and both turned to Drake.
         “My Brides?”
         “Husband,” they stated with love and affection. “Change us back to what we were born to be.” They both demanded of him as they dropped their dresses to the floor. “Claim us once more.”
          “With pleasure.” Drake purred as he pulled them to him. “My precious, beautiful, gorgeous, perfect, Brides.”
         Four days later Drake had a smirk on his face as he called a number. “Hey, Tony, bulk discount? I got 12 some of which Gus may like.”
         Tony sighed at his desk. “Make sure you and those brides of yours don’t hunt to much in tton.”
         “Never, Tones, Never. After all, we like it here!” Hanging up leaving the sound of three people laughing in Tony's ears. It was the start of a glorious new chapter. And best of all, not fucking Van Helsing to try and end it all! He looked to his brides and raised the wine glass of blood. “To new beginnings and second chances.”
         “To Dracula and his Brides!” Mina and Lucy laughed, as they drained their goblets of blood. “May our reign never be disrupted again!”
          Drake laughed as he drained his goblet , “Long Live The Dracul Clan!”

Monster University Day 2: Draco and Flora

Draco & Flora

A Monster University Story

All Rights Reserved

            ‘Walking into Griffin sleeping with that woman hurt me. I may have been a bit rash in my curse. However, I didn’t anticipate it curing myself as well. The last hundred plus years we have been living in this cycle of living for twenty years and then reborn and murdered. But for some reason I can never forgive him. He tells me every time he was being disowned to marry me. That he was drunk and thought it was me. So why do I always use him? Abuse him? Curse him? Never forgive him? Why never forgive him and free us both? Why can’t we stop this cycle of reincarnation and murder? He spends the first five years of my new life as a damn ugly bird and I am spoiled and loved. And then as I continue to grow up he lives his life. But he always lives with the fact I cursed him and he killed me. Maybe this time will be different… Then again most likely not. How is it we can’t walk away from each other? After all we are soulless monsters, and how can someone without a soul love?’

            “Flora…” The name fell off Draco’s lips in a sigh. It was 2021 and he had the next thirteen years to live his life, then two years to win the woman who cursed him. Why did he still love her so? He found her diary this time. He always thought that she got her memories when he told her. But this diary he found in her old things, that Bo had collected for him, proved she always knew. Always. He felt a fury boil in his blood. He took a deep breath. She was six. She was six. He had to keep telling himself. And he may be a monster but he didn’t hurt kids. Even a witch. He took another breath. Nothing he could do. He sighed. They were still in Grand Rapids Prairie, Bo and Beth had adopted a pair of twins four years ago. Frank and Lucas still were connected at the hip as they raised Frank’s daughter Sophie, who was now five, oddly enough she had been born of werewolf so Lucas had taken her in as pack heiress. Sam, even had a gal now. SAM! A brain eating zombie! Maybe it was time to move on. Take the fact he would be a bird for five years then he could live his life for fifteen years. It was time to move on once and for all. He felt a flash of cold as he thought those words.

            Flora looked up from the book her new parents had given her. A shiver went down her back. What was that? Did it have something to do with Draco? He would be human once more. She frowned. She moved over to the phone and rank Bo’s number. “Bo?”

            “Flora. Are you going to drop this con you don’t remember from the moment you turn five?” Bo drawled over the phone.

            Flora sighed. “I felt something. Draco, he is… He is still among us, yes?”

            Bo sighed. “Yes, Flora. He just had me set him up as a student, he is going to finish his degree and do something for these fifteen years. I think you felt his final acceptance of your curse.”

            “He is moving on?” Something in her voice broke.

            “I believe so. He is actually dating.”

            Flora slammed down the phone. “Screw this.” She moved quickly to her room. “A quick potion and I will be aged to twenty. I will confront him. He wasn’t ever supposed to give into his punishment! He wasn’t supposed to move on! He is mine!” She screamed as she gathered everything and with a quick slit of the throats of her ‘parents’ she disappeared.

            Draco was actually trying to pay attention in his class, but was just so bored. He was three hundred thirty five years old. He was friends with Vincent Van Gogh! He partied with some of the best musicians. He was a hit Musician! He sighed, he missed the eighties and classic rock, and for sure being able to tour with a band. Hell, he missed the swinging twenties! He missed the hippies, the rebels! He let out a loud sigh; he just missed the past period. But he was moving on, he had to for his own sanity. He couldn’t love Flora anymore. It was toxic. He couldn’t hold on to the only one he ever loved. He may have had his fair share of sex, but only Flora ever held his heart. Even a soulless being like him could feel love. After all he was once a mortal with a soul. He sighed again.

            A girl next to him smiled. “You seemed bored.”

            “have done all this before.” He waved his hand toward the professor. “The class just didn’t’ transfer.” Draco smoothly lied. He looked at her. The opposite of Flora, Tall, blonde, blue-eyed. “Draco.” He held out a hand.

            She smiled and took his hand. “Jane.”

            “Pleased to meet you, Jane. Want to go and get a coffee?” He gave her a charming smile.

            Later that night Draco stood outside on the deck, smoking a cigarette, looking out into the dark, focusing on nothing. Jane was naked and sprawled out in his bed. He took another drag when he heard her voice.

            “Well, Griffin, at least your taste hasn’t approved.” She drawled.

            “Flora.” He flicked his cigarette away.

            “Not shocked?” She frowned.

            “You messed up. I got one of your dairies. You remember and can age yourself, it seems.”

            Flora smiled. “I felt you accept the curse. I felt you give up.”

            “You don’t love me, Flora.” He offered her a smoke.

            She took the cigarette. “I do. I loved you so much as to give up my soul to curse you!” She lite the smoke and conjured a seat. “I do still love you.”

            “Then why this/” Draco asked as he knelt in front of her. “Why do this to both of us? We are monsters, yes, no denying that fact, but we were once mortal, we do love. What is in the remnants of our souls, those pieces of soul still inside of us, they allow us to love. We could be together Flora. Forever. All you have to do is cancel the curse.”

            Flora broke down. “Then you would become mortal again!” She cried out.

            Draco took her hands. “There are many ways to stop that. You are the strongest witch I know. There is a way to modify the curse so I ain’t a damn bird for five years.”

            Flora looked at him. “I don’t know, Griffin. I barely know what I did to curse us to begin with all those centuries ago.”

            Draco looked at her. “How about this? You remove the curse and then curse me with immortality?”

            Flora frowned and winkled her nose. “That could work, but the timing would have to be perfect and we would need a blood sacrifice.”

            Draco looked into his bedroom where his naked conquest laid. “What about her?” He nodded his head toward Jane.

            Flora sneered towards the naked blonde. ‘She will work as the catalyst to release you from your curse. We need another to curse you again.”

            Draco nodded. “Give me two hours; there is Jo’s bar she can help get another sacrifice. I work there as a bartender to give the illusion of being a poor college kid. And the free whiskey is always good.”

            Flora rolled her eyes. “You always did like your drink, Griffin.”

            “Draco. I have to go by Draco, for now.”

            “Fine. I will try and remember. Now go get me a blood sacrifice.” She took his head in her hands and kissed him for the first time since she cursed him over three centuries prior.

            Draco broke the kiss. He went and moved into the room, and put on a shirt, pants, and shoes, he kissed her head and left.

            Flora sneered at the naked woman. “That bed will have to be burnt with the slut.” She sneered at the body, using a spell to keep the woman asleep.

            Draco got to the bar. “Jo, there any expendables around?”

            Jo raised an eyebrow but tilted her head toward a group of drunken sorority girls. Draco nodded his thanks and slide over to them with a few pitchers of beer.

            An hour later he had two girls on his arms and headed back toward his apartment. The curse would soon be over, and he would finally have Flora back in his heart.

            Flora had the alter set up with the black and red candles, the woman was naked and awake, trying to get free. He walked in then; Flora rolled her eyes as she knocked the two sluts out with a spell. “Two?”

            “Eh, can’t say no to twins.” He smirked.

            Flora hit him over the head with a piece of parchment. “Clean off. It is time to do this. Lay under the alter after you tie the other two up.”

            “Yes Mistress!” Draco mock saluted. He striped the women and tied them down and then laid under the alter.

            Flora moved over to them and started to chant, a reversal spell, as she cut the throat of Jane. The blood ran down the alter, mixing with the spices and herbs she had laid out with the candles, mixing with the wax, and ran down and over Draco, as the blood washed away the curse he became visible once more. He gasped as he felt the curse lift, as heat spread through his body. He felt his mortal heart start beating once more! He gasped and gulped the air into his now living lungs.

            Flora saw this and changed her chant into a new curse, and slit the throats of the twins, allowing their life blood to flow and run down over Draco and into his mouth, giving to him the magic and life of their souls.

            Draco had no choice but to swallow the blood, to accept their life force, to accept the curse given to him, he felt as the curse changed, as his heart slowed once more, as his soul once more became tattered remains of a mortal soul. But as he flicked between visibility and invisibility he felt the ability to control this curse. Allowing him to never be a bird again. Allow him, most important of all, to be immortal. He laid there as the blood soaked into his very being, he allowed it to disappear into his body.

            He only stood once he felt no more blood. He smirked and grabbed Flora to him and kissed her hard. “Marry me, my flower.” He demanded.

            “Of course, my Griffin.” She kissed him and dragged him into the guest bedroom.

            The next morning Draco stood on the deck in a robe, smoking a cigarette, calling Tony as Flora took the master bedroom’s bed and burned it out back. He smiled as he rolled her eyes at her obvious glee to cast the bodies and bed on fire. But he was happy.

            Extremely happy. Today started a new chapter in his undead life. The best chapters he had a feeling. He reached up and wiped a drop of blood off his cheek, he sucked it off his finger. He smirked, yes, a new undead life, with the love of his life…