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Creatures of the Night

Chapter 3: Of Runes and Specialty Drinks

Authors Note: This chapter is mostly backstory and fluff so that the following chapter can be devoted to stuffing, sex, and debauchery. Or as the vocabulary went when I started writing: Next one’s a lemon.

“It’s a little snug” Christian said, pulling one of Eliza’s sweaters over his head. The blue and grey argyle highlighted the curve of his tummy as he tugged it down. “And it smells… Mmmm… it smells like you” he took a deep breath into the sleeve and sighed.

“Good luck getting me to part with it”

Eliza gave him a once over and grinned, “looks better on you anyway. C’mon, let’s get going”.

“Right, er… where are we going exactly?”

“Well, there’s no quicker way to introduce you to the second life than through the night life… and to be honest, I worry for the shop while I’m away so I’ll be clocking a few hours while you get some things sorted”. At the thought of being left alone in wherever she was taking him made his skin crawl. He reached for her hand which she gave a quick squeeze of reassurance.

“I’ll not be far away darling, and don’t think for a moment that I’d just turn you loose where I can’t see you”

Christian smiled and kept holding onto her hand as they walked. He kept his other hand in his pocket, trying to brace his belly against his thumb to control the newfound jiggle because even though the bloating had gone down, he had definitely put on a few pounds in a more permanent sense.

Finally, they stopped in front of an alley littered with trash and old newspaper. “Are we going in there?” Christian asked, eyeing the alley nervously. Eliza chuckled and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Don’t you worry. I’m scarier than any firstie that you’ll find lurking after hours. That said, no. We’re taking the underground”

“The what?”

“The underground. Not in the sense that you’re probably thinking” she guided him down the alley towards a dilapidated door that had been tossed next to a dumpster, only barely in tact. Eliza knelt and knocked on the door.

“Are you feeling oka---” *click* The door knob turned and the door swung into where the ground ought to have been. Eliza didn’t allow him much time to gape but rather pulled him through, down a short flight of brick stairs, and into a boisterous and bustling market place bathed in color and lights like an unending halloween party minus the cheap tricks.

“Stay close love” she said pulling him to her by the hip. “I thought you said no one here would be dangerous”

“For the most part no one here is, the door has an intention reading carm on it. The border Romans put around their inner city was of the same strain of magic. No hostiles can get through” she drummed her fingers across his belly, plush and warm through the sweater, “that does not however, pertain to pranks and undesired advances. A delectable fledgeling like yourself would attract a fair amount of attention if left unattended”.

“Undesired…? Are you jealous?” Christian grinned. Being coveted really wasn’t in his experience repertoire. His smile took on a haze of bliss when she slipped her hand under the sweater and over his middle; somehow she still managed to be warmer than him. “You’ll find that while most of the archetypal tropes about existing magical beings are false, they usually have a little ground. Werewolves, like myself for instance, typically do not behave like dogs but the bite does tend to bring out a little more possessiveness than we might’ve shown in our first lives” she gave his tummy a satisfying jiggle, “but to answer your question. Yes, I can be a bit jealous and you’re rather cute so I really don’t think I’m being so needlessly”.

At last Eliza guided him into a corner pub, “Evenin’ Morax” she called to the bar tender. The guy looked up from under the bar, revealing a set of bull horns, a broad bare chest, and a flat but expressive face adorned with arched eyebrows and a steel nose ring. The minotaur looked eyes on Christian “Oh hello sweetness how can I do you toni---” he stopped short when he recognized the sweater, hugging the small swell of a tummy “I see you’re spoken for. Sorry Liza, no disrespect”

Christian clung to Eliza’s sleeve like a lost pup. “None taken. Christian, this is Morax. He’s the best bartender this side of the pavement. Morax, this is Christian. He’s mine”

“The fledgling you got assigned?”

“Yeah, he’s going to file some of the formalities while I ink out a few things”
“Thank god, Flora’s been trying her best but between you, me, and the broken tap things are going to go better when she goes for her next rotation”

Eliza nodded, “proclivity can’t be taught”. She turned to a rather dazed looking Christian, “C’mon, my shop is just through on the other side. See you in a sec Morax”.

The shop she led him into was a tattoo parlor alive with chatter, music, color, and designs suspended in the air like otherworldly clouds each whispering either purpose or simplicity into the air around it. Eliza had him sit in a chair in the corner while she pulled on some gloves. “Before you ask, they aren’t permanent and yes, you need one”

“Wait, what? I-I don’t know Eliza I’ve never really.. needles. They freak me out a bit” he squirmed.

Eliza stroked his cheek with one hand and kissed the top of his head, “ the needle is enchanted. It’ll tingle but it won’t hurt. Sorry hun, you have to get a nyx rune. Every fledgling has to get one and it’s the only mandatory permanent one. I can make it as small or as big as you like with whatever else that pleases your lovely self but it needs to happen”

“Why?” he asked still eyeing the needle.

She sighed and lifted him off the chair, then resettled with him on her lap. “Because,” she said letting him rest his head on her chest, “a nyx rune is a kind of stabilizer. When a lot of magical beings, of the same sort or a variety, get together they get a charge off of one another. That’s a good thing right up until you account for those who haven’t been trained in magic channeling. The rune keeps any excess chaotic magic in check so that you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else on accident. Tell you what, I’ll kiss it when I’m done and later the rest of you just for good measure” she nipped at his ear, “how’s that sound?”

He nodded and nuzzled her neck for a moment before she handed him a book of designs to flip through. After a few minutes deliberation he settled on a small gossamer dreamcatcher between the shoulder blades. Finished with a kiss as promised.

“Hey Morax, keep his mug filled. I need to do my rounds” she pulled Christian aside and gave him the kind of kiss that made his knees almost give out. “Drink your fill, I’ll be back in about an hour. Afterwards we can grab some dinner and I’ll show you the wonders of mermish ice cream”
Christian sat down at the bar, a pint of something fizzy was set in front of him. “So, Christian, you going to keep that name or are you going with something with a bit more flare?”

He sipped cautiously at the drink, it tingled on his tongue but went down creamy and smooth. “What do you mean?”

“Kind of an ironic name for a vamp” he plopped down a form and pen, “that’s your paperwork by the way. Pretty simple. Old name, new name, kind, when you turned, shit like that. You can take it back with you, doesn’t need filing until the end of the month”.

“Kind?”

“Vampire, you’re vampire kind. Eliza is werewolf. I’m a fae. Makes more sense than species”

Christian rubbed the back of his neck where the new mark was, “do you know what she meant by doing rounds?”

“You’re one privileged fledgling. You got the district rune master as your mentor. Not to mention she’s taken a liking to you. Several times by the look of you” Morax winked suggestively. Christians cheeks turned bright pink, “What makes you think that?”

The fae reached across the counter so he could feel Christians tummy, making him blush even harder. “You were, what? A week changed when you got assignment? You should still be emaciated but you’ve got a little pudge on you. On the rare occasion that Eliza picks someone to be hers, the don’t stay skinny very long” he smirked, “The chamber might be old fashioned sometimes but they sure can pick a match… What she meant by rounds though was sort of weekly maintenance. Runes are used for a lot of things and some of them can wear thin after use so the rune master repairs or replaces them. Not a soul here who’s not indebted to her for the service but she doesn’t ask for more payment than a favor if she needs to call one in”

Christian drained his drink only to have it promptly refilled. The drink frothed and bubbled in his belly giving him the pleasant feeling of sloshing. “So, you two…?”

“She mentored me too. And she keeps the order in here. See that rune on the ceiling? It gives off amiability” Christian raised his eyebrows and swallowed a bit of air with his drink by mistake. “Relax. We were never a thing. It’s rare for a mentor to get it on with their mentee. Rarer for Liza to pick one so fast”

Christian nodded, surprised to see his glass empty again. The soda was thick, cream coated his upper lip. The more they talked the faster he found himself drinking (apparently Eliza’s services to the bar secured her drinks for life). The more he drank the tighter the sweater started to feel. His soft pudgy tummy spilled over the top of his jeans in a smooth, juicy muffin top. It’s bloated contours hugged in all the right places by the sweater he could swear was shrinking. He caught himself several times on the edge of arousal before Morax looked down at the fledglings heavy tummy.

He let out a low whistle, “No wonder she took a liking to you, haven’t even stirred up the carbonation and you still look like you swallowed a balloon”

“Stirred up..? Didn’t really think to bring mentos with me”

Morax motioned for him to come around to the other side of the bar. The minotaur wrapped his arms around him so that Christians back was pressed against him and strong hands gripped his indulged tummy “She’ll be back any minute. You wanna get lucky tonight?”

“I-I figure I’m lucky as it is”

“Not with me. Just going to give you a shake, okay?”

Christian could only nod in stunned silence before his gut was bounced up and down rather quickly, liquid sloshing around audibly creating an intoxicating sensation. When Morax set him down in a chair he could actually see his belly expanding, hem of the shirt sliding up to leave a stretch of smooth, vulnerable underbelly exposed to the cool air where it eclipsed his belt.

“Oh, and if you want to drive her loony. Hiccups”

A split second later Eliza walked in looking tired for just a moment before she saw Christian, then breaking into a wolfish grin. She crossed the room in strides to wrap her arms around him, fingers gently testing the exposed flesh. If the expanding feeling had been intoxicating then her touch was euphoric. This time he couldn’t keep from showing his arousal.

“Ready to grab some dinner big boy?”

All he could do to respond was let out a satiated sigh and nuzzle her cheek.

“You two have fun. Use protection. Liza I like this one, don’t get him pregnant”

Eliza winked at him, then guided her stumbling, debauched fledgling into the cool night air. She draped her jacket over his shoulders. “Take out sound good to you love?”

Description
Creatures of the Night

Chapter 3: Of Runes and Specialty Drinks

Authors Note: This chapter is mostly backstory and fluff so that the following chapter can be devoted to stuffing, sex, and debauchery. Or as the vocabulary went when I started writing: Next one’s a lemon.

“It’s a little snug” Christian said, pulling one of Eliza’s sweaters over his head. The blue and grey argyle highlighted the curve of his tummy as he tugged it down. “And it smells… Mmmm… it smells like you” he took a deep breath into the sleeve and sighed.

“Good luck getting me to part with it”

Eliza gave him a once over and grinned, “looks better on you anyway. C’mon, let’s get going”.

“Right, er… where are we going exactly?”

“Well, there’s no quicker way to introduce you to the second life than through the night life… and to be honest, I worry for the shop while I’m away so I’ll be clocking a few hours while you get some things sorted”. At the thought of being left alone in wherever she was taking him made his skin crawl. He reached for her hand which she gave a quick squeeze of reassurance.

“I’ll not be far away darling, and don’t think for a moment that I’d just turn you loose where I can’t see you”

Christian smiled and kept holding onto her hand as they walked. He kept his other hand in his pocket, trying to brace his belly against his thumb to control the newfound jiggle because even though the bloating had gone down, he had definitely put on a few pounds in a more permanent sense.

Finally, they stopped in front of an alley littered with trash and old newspaper. “Are we going in there?” Christian asked, eyeing the alley nervously. Eliza chuckled and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Don’t you worry. I’m scarier than any firstie that you’ll find lurking after hours. That said, no. We’re taking the underground”

“The what?”

“The underground. Not in the sense that you’re probably thinking” she guided him down the alley towards a dilapidated door that had been tossed next to a dumpster, only barely in tact. Eliza knelt and knocked on the door.

“Are you feeling oka---” *click* The door knob turned and the door swung into where the ground ought to have been. Eliza didn’t allow him much time to gape but rather pulled him through, down a short flight of brick stairs, and into a boisterous and bustling market place bathed in color and lights like an unending halloween party minus the cheap tricks.

“Stay close love” she said pulling him to her by the hip. “I thought you said no one here would be dangerous”

“For the most part no one here is, the door has an intention reading carm on it. The border Romans put around their inner city was of the same strain of magic. No hostiles can get through” she drummed her fingers across his belly, plush and warm through the sweater, “that does not however, pertain to pranks and undesired advances. A delectable fledgeling like yourself would attract a fair amount of attention if left unattended”.

“Undesired…? Are you jealous?” Christian grinned. Being coveted really wasn’t in his experience repertoire. His smile took on a haze of bliss when she slipped her hand under the sweater and over his middle; somehow she still managed to be warmer than him. “You’ll find that while most of the archetypal tropes about existing magical beings are false, they usually have a little ground. Werewolves, like myself for instance, typically do not behave like dogs but the bite does tend to bring out a little more possessiveness than we might’ve shown in our first lives” she gave his tummy a satisfying jiggle, “but to answer your question. Yes, I can be a bit jealous and you’re rather cute so I really don’t think I’m being so needlessly”.

At last Eliza guided him into a corner pub, “Evenin’ Morax” she called to the bar tender. The guy looked up from under the bar, revealing a set of bull horns, a broad bare chest, and a flat but expressive face adorned with arched eyebrows and a steel nose ring. The minotaur looked eyes on Christian “Oh hello sweetness how can I do you toni---” he stopped short when he recognized the sweater, hugging the small swell of a tummy “I see you’re spoken for. Sorry Liza, no disrespect”

Christian clung to Eliza’s sleeve like a lost pup. “None taken. Christian, this is Morax. He’s the best bartender this side of the pavement. Morax, this is Christian. He’s mine”

“The fledgling you got assigned?”

“Yeah, he’s going to file some of the formalities while I ink out a few things”
“Thank god, Flora’s been trying her best but between you, me, and the broken tap things are going to go better when she goes for her next rotation”

Eliza nodded, “proclivity can’t be taught”. She turned to a rather dazed looking Christian, “C’mon, my shop is just through on the other side. See you in a sec Morax”.

The shop she led him into was a tattoo parlor alive with chatter, music, color, and designs suspended in the air like otherworldly clouds each whispering either purpose or simplicity into the air around it. Eliza had him sit in a chair in the corner while she pulled on some gloves. “Before you ask, they aren’t permanent and yes, you need one”

“Wait, what? I-I don’t know Eliza I’ve never really.. needles. They freak me out a bit” he squirmed.

Eliza stroked his cheek with one hand and kissed the top of his head, “ the needle is enchanted. It’ll tingle but it won’t hurt. Sorry hun, you have to get a nyx rune. Every fledgling has to get one and it’s the only mandatory permanent one. I can make it as small or as big as you like with whatever else that pleases your lovely self but it needs to happen”

“Why?” he asked still eyeing the needle.

She sighed and lifted him off the chair, then resettled with him on her lap. “Because,” she said letting him rest his head on her chest, “a nyx rune is a kind of stabilizer. When a lot of magical beings, of the same sort or a variety, get together they get a charge off of one another. That’s a good thing right up until you account for those who haven’t been trained in magic channeling. The rune keeps any excess chaotic magic in check so that you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else on accident. Tell you what, I’ll kiss it when I’m done and later the rest of you just for good measure” she nipped at his ear, “how’s that sound?”

He nodded and nuzzled her neck for a moment before she handed him a book of designs to flip through. After a few minutes deliberation he settled on a small gossamer dreamcatcher between the shoulder blades. Finished with a kiss as promised.

“Hey Morax, keep his mug filled. I need to do my rounds” she pulled Christian aside and gave him the kind of kiss that made his knees almost give out. “Drink your fill, I’ll be back in about an hour. Afterwards we can grab some dinner and I’ll show you the wonders of mermish ice cream”
Christian sat down at the bar, a pint of something fizzy was set in front of him. “So, Christian, you going to keep that name or are you going with something with a bit more flare?”

He sipped cautiously at the drink, it tingled on his tongue but went down creamy and smooth. “What do you mean?”

“Kind of an ironic name for a vamp” he plopped down a form and pen, “that’s your paperwork by the way. Pretty simple. Old name, new name, kind, when you turned, shit like that. You can take it back with you, doesn’t need filing until the end of the month”.

“Kind?”

“Vampire, you’re vampire kind. Eliza is werewolf. I’m a fae. Makes more sense than species”

Christian rubbed the back of his neck where the new mark was, “do you know what she meant by doing rounds?”

“You’re one privileged fledgling. You got the district rune master as your mentor. Not to mention she’s taken a liking to you. Several times by the look of you” Morax winked suggestively. Christians cheeks turned bright pink, “What makes you think that?”

The fae reached across the counter so he could feel Christians tummy, making him blush even harder. “You were, what? A week changed when you got assignment? You should still be emaciated but you’ve got a little pudge on you. On the rare occasion that Eliza picks someone to be hers, the don’t stay skinny very long” he smirked, “The chamber might be old fashioned sometimes but they sure can pick a match… What she meant by rounds though was sort of weekly maintenance. Runes are used for a lot of things and some of them can wear thin after use so the rune master repairs or replaces them. Not a soul here who’s not indebted to her for the service but she doesn’t ask for more payment than a favor if she needs to call one in”

Christian drained his drink only to have it promptly refilled. The drink frothed and bubbled in his belly giving him the pleasant feeling of sloshing. “So, you two…?”

“She mentored me too. And she keeps the order in here. See that rune on the ceiling? It gives off amiability” Christian raised his eyebrows and swallowed a bit of air with his drink by mistake. “Relax. We were never a thing. It’s rare for a mentor to get it on with their mentee. Rarer for Liza to pick one so fast”

Christian nodded, surprised to see his glass empty again. The soda was thick, cream coated his upper lip. The more they talked the faster he found himself drinking (apparently Eliza’s services to the bar secured her drinks for life). The more he drank the tighter the sweater started to feel. His soft pudgy tummy spilled over the top of his jeans in a smooth, juicy muffin top. It’s bloated contours hugged in all the right places by the sweater he could swear was shrinking. He caught himself several times on the edge of arousal before Morax looked down at the fledglings heavy tummy.

He let out a low whistle, “No wonder she took a liking to you, haven’t even stirred up the carbonation and you still look like you swallowed a balloon”

“Stirred up..? Didn’t really think to bring mentos with me”

Morax motioned for him to come around to the other side of the bar. The minotaur wrapped his arms around him so that Christians back was pressed against him and strong hands gripped his indulged tummy “She’ll be back any minute. You wanna get lucky tonight?”

“I-I figure I’m lucky as it is”

“Not with me. Just going to give you a shake, okay?”

Christian could only nod in stunned silence before his gut was bounced up and down rather quickly, liquid sloshing around audibly creating an intoxicating sensation. When Morax set him down in a chair he could actually see his belly expanding, hem of the shirt sliding up to leave a stretch of smooth, vulnerable underbelly exposed to the cool air where it eclipsed his belt.

“Oh, and if you want to drive her loony. Hiccups”

A split second later Eliza walked in looking tired for just a moment before she saw Christian, then breaking into a wolfish grin. She crossed the room in strides to wrap her arms around him, fingers gently testing the exposed flesh. If the expanding feeling had been intoxicating then her touch was euphoric. This time he couldn’t keep from showing his arousal.

“Ready to grab some dinner big boy?”

All he could do to respond was let out a satiated sigh and nuzzle her cheek.

“You two have fun. Use protection. Liza I like this one, don’t get him pregnant”

Eliza winked at him, then guided her stumbling, debauched fledgling into the cool night air. She draped her jacket over his shoulders. “Take out sound good to you love?”