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omg new fic out!! (it’s a demon giyuu one shot :D)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Bite Me, Ch. 13
AO3 Link
Daisy laid still for a few moments after waking up, enjoying the last dredges of sleep while she could. It felt like she had slept through the night, but it still seemed to be dark outside. She considered nuzzling back into the grass and going back to sleep. Her loudly growling stomach seemed to have other plans, though, and she stretched out.
And immediately regretted it.
Every muscle in her body screamed. She was usually sore after a shift but this was another level. This was Crossfit-mixed-with-P90X-mixed-with-Terry-Crews-sitting-on-her-chest-pulling-her-limbs-into-extreme-yoga-positions-for-eight-hours level of pain.
A pitiful squeak slipped out of her throat and she contracted into the fetal position.
“Shh, don’t move. I’ll be right back,” a familiar voice whispered.
Daisy’s eyes shot open and then she remembered she didn’t shift last night.
The reason it was so dark was because she was in Jemma’s bedroom with the blackout curtains drawn. Jemma slipped off the opposite side of the bed that Daisy as curled up on and tiptoed out of the room. Daisy caught a glimpse of Jemma’s backside in short shorts as she closed the door behind herself and the memories of last night flooded back.
Daisy fucked her best friend.
Like…a lot.
Daisy’s memory of last night was foggy, but she still initiated it. Suddenly, Lincoln’s assumption that she was dating Jemma and the seemingly random feelings Daisy had after Jemma bit her made a lot more sense. They weren’t caused by the bite at all.
Daisy had a crush on her best friend.
But they skipped right over the dating part and went straight into sex. Sure, they definitely both enjoyed it at the time, but, well…
What now?
Before Daisy had a chance to properly contemplate that question, Jemma returned. She passed a glass of water and a handful of painkillers to Daisy. Daisy gingerly stretched out a sore arm and took them, grimacing the whole way. Once Daisy had gulped down both, Jemma took the glass from her and set it on the nightstand.
“Alright, roll over.”
“‘Scuse me?” Daisy whined.
“On your stomach,” Jemma clarified and started rearranging pillows on the bed. “It’ll help. I promise.”
Daisy eyed Jemma skeptically, but delicately tried to stretch her limbs out so she could flop onto her stomach. Jemma tucked pillows under Daisy’s chest and hips once she managed to reposition and shuffled onto the bed on her knees.
At this point, Daisy realized she was still 100% naked.
And Jemma was straddling her hips and popping the cap off something.
“Uuuhh, what—“
“Every study I’ve read says that a thorough massage is the best treatment for a werewolf who resisted shifting,” Jemma explained.
Ah. Jemma brushed the hair off the back of Daisy’s neck, started moving her thumbs in slow circles on the sides of her spine, gradually adding more pressure. Her hands were slick with a warm oil that sunk deep into Daisy’s skin and soothed her aching muscles. Daisy sighed in relief and sunk into the plush pillows.
Jemma continued, “Because of the strain of resisting, your muscles are extremely damaged. Luckily, you managed to avoid any major injuries— there have been reports of people breaking tendons or even bones due to the force. Your naturally faster rate of healing and the extra healing component added to this oil should have you feeling right as rain by dinnertime. Maybe a bit longer than your usual recovery time, but still more quickly than the average person—”
She was rambling. Daisy could tell. The rare occasions when Jemma was nervous or uncomfortable, she did anything to fill the silence and find a way to get out of the situation. Daisy noticed Jemma do it a few times when Daisy was hanging out with Lincoln.
Which reminded her…
“—really fortunate, actually. Most attempts to resist result in some level of shifting and an extreme loss of control. Hopefully, Elena and Joey were able to be as sufficiently distracted as you were and there were no injuries last night—“
Daisy flushed. She doubted that they used the same method of ‘distraction’ that Jemma and herself had.
“Jemma,” Daisy interrupted.
“Hm?” Jemma’s hands had trailed down between Daisy’s shoulder blades. Her thumbs continued to work a circular motion along Daisy’s spine, but her fingertips ghosted the edges of Daisy’s breasts and Daisy tried not to squirm.
“In the woods the other night. Before Lincoln…” Daisy trailed off, knowing Jemma would fill in the blank. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”
Jemma’s hands stilled for a moment.
“It-It’s not important.
Daisy frowned. “It didn’t sound not important at the time. In fact, it was important enough that you didn’t want me to interrupt you.”
Jemma snorted a laugh. “That was a bit dramatic, wasn’t it? It can wait. There’s too many things happening right now to worry about it.”
“Or, you know, life is short and we should probably say what we want now.”
“Now who’s being dramatic?” Jemma teased, but her voice was tight.
Daisy gritted her teeth and bucked Jemma off her hips and flipped over. Her muscles screamed in agony, but Daisy ignored the pain and planted herself in front of Jemma.
“Jemma.”
She stared into Jemma’s startled eyes, somewhat wishing she had Jemma’s weird suggestion powers. Jemma’s eyes darted between Daisy’s, looking for a way out of this situation, but Daisy wasn’t giving her one.
“Okay, fine,” Jemma relented. She pushed herself into a sitting position and finally broke eye contact. “I wanted to tell you….that I had feelings for you. Romantic feelings.”
“Oh. I—“
“—But it doesn’t matter. Like I said, there’s too much happening right now to worry about feelings,” Jemma interrupted.
“So…last night…?”
“Last night was a fluke. Just a trick of the moon.”
Daisy had to check to make sure Jemma hadn’t physically stabbed her in the chest, because it felt like she had. Daisy barely sorted out her feelings, only to have them immediately shut down.
Jemma continued to ramble. “I mean…I didn’t want to— well, obviously, I did want to…but with you and Lincoln— and now he’s dead— I shouldn’t—“
“Wait, what does Lincoln—“
An insistent knocked rapped on Jemma’s door, ending all conversation. Daisy was half-inclined to ignore it, but then the knock became an endless pounding.
“Daisy?! Are you in there?” Elena’s voice echoed through the door between thuds.
“I’ll get it,” Jemma muttered, sliding off the bed before Daisy could stop her. Daisy jumped off to follow, but realized she was still naked. Not like Elena hadn’t seen her naked before, but she should probably get dressed anyway. Daisy wobbled to her feet, stretching out her tight muscles as slipped into the living room to find her clothes.
“—Daisy in there?” Elena asked.
“Yes, she just woke up—“
“Oh, thank God. We checked her apartment and she hadn’t come back yet. We were worried something happened last night.”
“Nothing happened. Last night was fine.”
Daisy tugged on her pants and struggled to untangle her shirt as she heard the door creak open further and footsteps coming towards her.
“It’s hard enough dealing with changing when you’re new, much less resisting changing, but—“
Daisy barely managed to tug her shirt over herself before Elena stepped into the living room and surveyed the scene. Burnt out candles on every surface, the couch cushioned askew, Daisy’s bra (that she hadn’t managed to find in time) under the coffee table. Elena cocked an eyebrow while Daisy coughed out an awkward greeting.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Elena smirked. “Whenever you’re done, we need to talk. It’s important.”
“You’re not interrupting anything,” Jemma insisted. “In fact, I was just about to head out and pick up some things.”
Daisy snatched up the last of her things and turned to Jemma, but she had already disappeared into the kitchen. She huffed and followed Elena into the hallway.
“Didn’t picture Jemma to be one for post-coital pillow talk anyway, but that seemed a bit…frigid,” Elena remarked, once the door closed behind Daisy. Joey was waiting in the hall and leaned up against the wall. He pushed off to join them, as they headed down the hall and Daisy noticed he was limping slightly and quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Pulled a muscle last night…or twelve,” he said with a wince.
Daisy grimaced sympathetically. “Last night was…a bit unexpected for me. And I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding between Jemma and I about what my relationship with Lincoln was.”
“Ah,” Elena said understandingly.
“Anyway.” Daisy shrugged off the still-fresh stabbing sensation in her chest. “What was so urgent that you had to track me down?”
“The Watchdogs are having a rally later this afternoon,” Joey replied, “We figured we could start working on our plan and then scope out some intel on them later.”
“Then let’s get to work.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After many frustrating hours of everyone throwing out ideas to take down the Watchdogs (all of which ending in “and then they shoot us”), the pack gave up and headed down to the rally. They pulled on hats and sunglasses to keep the Watchdogs from potentially recognizing them later and lurked near the back.
The crowds had grown. Why, Daisy didn’t know. She even recognized a few normal humans in the crowd that she had seen hanging out with Erebus students and it broke her heart. Maybe everyone was intrigued because the Watchdogs’ greasy spokesman kept loudly bragging about killing a werewolf. Daisy felt her hackles rise and she had to restrain Elena who lunged forward snarling. Daisy had to remind her (and herself) that publicly eviscerating one of the Watchdogs would probably not be good for their cause.
After awhile, Daisy had to block out the crap the man with the megaphone was spewing and focused on surveying the crowd and the gathered Watchdogs on the platform. Most of the cowards were wearing masks, had silver bullets hanging around their necks, and were dressed in some level of camouflage. They smartly left their weapons at home for this. Even the main campus wasn’t dumb enough to allow those on campus.
It took awhile of listening to the response from the crowd for Daisy to notice something:
The crowd was jeering. They weren’t there in support.
Most stayed quiet until the speaker was confident that everyone was on his side. Around the fifth time time the speaker gloated about ‘ridding the world of one of the foul beasts’ a man screamed out.
“Where’s the proof?”
A ripple went through the crowd, but they silently waited for a reply.
The Watchdogs in masks glanced at each other while the one with the megaphone floundered.
“The…the proof was stolen! Hidden from us by the administration. They don’t want us to show you—it would ruin their illusion of— we performed a great service and have not had any thanks—“
The crowd called out in response to his ramblings.
“Liar!”
“Delusional!”
The man tried to speak again, but was drowned out by the crowd, either calling them crazy or intolerant. The ones Daisy recognized were angrily defending their friends.
Daisy smirked and she felt a flutter of happiness in her chest. People were on their side.
Another one of the Watchdog leaders jogged up the steps of the platform and whispered in the speaker’s ear. Even from the very back of the crowd, Daisy could see he was beaten to shit. A trickle of blood ran down his face from his temple and he had a black eye and a series of scratches down his face. Even his heavy Kevlar-and-camo outfit had tears in it. Daisy wanted to give a high-five to whoever managed to do that to him.
The speaker’s face shifted from fear to glee at whatever the other man was saying to him and Daisy knew it couldn’t be good.
The second man stepped to the back of the stage and the speaker set off the siren on the megaphone. The crowd winced and groaned, but mostly fell quiet.
“Non-believers! Fools!” He shouted, “You want proof, we will show you proof! Tomorrow at high noon, come witness the execution by sunlight of a vampire!”
Daisy’s stomach dropped and she glanced in horror towards Elena and Joey.
“They can’t…right?” She asked, nearly begging for validation.
Joey and Elena look equally stunned and said nothing.
Daisy took off running.
She sprinted across campus towards the dorms, not even feeling the residual soreness of her muscles from that morning. She tore through the quad and darted through the shortcuts between buildings they had found on their winter full moon excursions. Students strolling to and from class leapt out of her way as she darted past. Daisy reached the dorm and crashed through the door, barely remembering to pull out her access card and wave it at the sensor.
The wait for the elevator was agonizing and Daisy nearly considered running up the stairs, but Jemma’s apartment was near the top floor and the elevator was probably faster anyway.
Daisy forced herself through the elevator doors as soon as they opened a crack and sprinted down the hall. She told herself she was being ridiculous. The Watchdogs were obviously lying; Jemma was going to open the door and scoff at Daisy for being so gullible.
Daisy pounded on the door. No response.
She waited a moment and knocked again.
“Jemma?” she called out.
No response.
She pressed her ear into the door, listening for any small sound that Jemma was inside. She could ignore Daisy all day; Daisy didn’t care, as long as she was safe.
A few seconds of holding her breath and listening yielded nothing.
It’s fine, Daisy told herself. She just went out. She’ll be back.
Daisy dug out her phone and dialed Jemma’s number. Despite being nearly 400 years old, Jemma loved the modern convenience of having a computer in her pocket and kept it on her at all times.
It rang. It went to voicemail.
Daisy was starting to panic. She called again. Same result.
Elena and Joey spilled out of the elevator and met Daisy in the hall.
“Well?” Elena demanded.
Daisy took a deep breath. “She’s not home and her phone keeps going to voicemail. I’m sure it’s fine, though. She’s just gone out and forgot to charge her phone.”
She was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
Elena and Joey shared a glance.
“What?” Daisy snapped.
“About that…” Joey cautiously stepped forward, as if afraid that Daisy might bite him, and held something out.
It was Jemma’s phone. It was easily recognizable by the tacky sticker on the phone case with bright red lips with fangs that said ‘Bite Me’. Daisy had bought Jemma as a joke and Jemma had defiantly stuck it on the back of her otherwise plain phone case.
The phone’s screen was shattered in a jagged spiderweb pattern that indicated the phone had been dropped.
“Where did you find this?” Daisy demanded.
“Just outside of the dorm,” Joey replied. “Maybe they were staking out the dorm and waiting for someone to come out alone. Or…maybe she just dropped it.”
Daisy stared down at the broken phone as the cold realization crept up her spine.
“They’ve got Jemma.”
“bite me”
i thought i’d draw some art for my fic but tell me why this is the gayest thing ive ever drawn and ive drawn them making out
Bite Me, Ch. 10
AO3 Link
The next months fell into a routine. Schoolwork, full moon runs, Mario Kart tournaments with the pack, hanging out with Jemma. The last week of the semester, Daisy spent in the lab with Jemma, Fitz, and Bobbi. Jemma and Bobbi were working on lab reports and final runs of experiments. Bobbi’s frequently involved sparks or strange-colored smoke puffing out of a beaker, which Daisy tried to avoid going near. Instead, Daisy stared Fitz down while she brutally dismantled his programming project. Each time, he cursed and glared at his computer screen, while Daisy watched the code apparently rewrite itself across her screen. Eventually, she cut him some slack, helped him fix the security leaks, and they teamed up to take apart another student’s program.
The semester wrapped up, and most of the students headed home for break. The Erebus students, however, stayed in the dorms and used the relative desertion of campus to let their freak flags fly. The upcoming winter solstice was a huge holiday for many of them, and there were so many parties that Daisy couldn’t decide which one to go to.
The werewolves were even allowed to run through the campus during the full moon closest to Christmas, so long as they were careful to avoid human students.
Daisy still met Jemma on the second night of the full moon. They moved the location to the quad, since Jemma didn’t have to hide being out at night. They decided it would be a regular thing that they would meet for awhile each lunar cycle. With all their class work, and Jemma’s inability to go outside during the day, the amount of time they could spend together was limited. Hanging out while Daisy was in wolf form wasn’t ideal, but it was something until the Watchdogs situation was worked out.
Jemma was amused by Daisy’s inability to back talk him in wolf form anyway. She even had the audacity to try to play fetch with her one time with a pinecone. Daisy’s wolf-brain was all for it and tried to push her to chase after the pinecone. Human brain was not having it and Daisy hoped her disdain was adequately expressed in her face.
Eventually, the human students drifted back onto campus. Daisy even met a few of them who were in on the secret and had friends in the Erebus school. The new semester started with new challenges. The cold evenings spent with the pack gradually got warmer as spring teased its arrival.
Daisy was getting ready to meet Jemma for a tutoring session in statistics one night. Just before Daisy left the dorm, Jemma texted and said she had to cancel. She gave no explanation, which concerned Daisy, but she realized Jemma was probably busy.
Then the next day, Jemma cancelled on their lunch date. Still, understandable. It was a sunny day and Bobbi still hadn’t been able to find the supplies to make Jemma’s potion. Some of Bobbi’s classes even had to be suspended because they didn’t have any materials to work with.
Then, a few days after that, Jemma cancelled their movie night.
Now, Daisy was getting worried. None of their friends had seen Jemma in a few weeks. Daisy had yet to get an explanation from Jemma and it wasn’t like her to cancel so many things. Could vampires get sick?
After their next meet up was unceremoniously cancelled, Daisy marched upstairs to Jemma’s floor. She was partly annoyed that she kept getting blown off, but mostly concerned that something was wrong. Was it something she had said?
She knocked on the door and waited. And waited. She knocked again.
When she didn’t get an answer, she pressed an ear to the door. She could hear Jemma in her kitchen. The soft clink of a spoon on a ceramic cup gave her away.
“Jemma?”
Daisy knocked again and waited. Eventually, she heard barely audible footsteps approach the door. The door opened a crack and Daisy gaped.
Jemma was always pale, but now her skin was practically translucent. She had deep, purple circles under her eyes and her cheeks looked hollow. Her eyes were unusually dull and clouded. Even her hair looked limp and lifeless.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Daisy asked.
Jemma held the door firmly open only a few inches, to keep Daisy from coming in. “I’m fine. Just a little under the weather.”
Even her voice sounded weak.
“Cut the crap. I asked Bobbi and she said vampires don’t get sick, so what’s wrong?” Daisy demanded.
“Nothing’s wrong. I—”
“Jemma.”
Jemma glared at Daisy, but sighed and let the door open further to invite Daisy in. Daisy stepped in and closed the door behind her, but quickly leveled Jemma with a stare again. She wasn’t getting off the hook. Jemma shifted uncomfortably.
“I’m…I’m out of blood,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?”
Jemma glared at Daisy. “Part of being a vampire is that I need to drink blood, remember?”
“…Yeah.”
“I usually have a steady prepackaged supply delivered from a local place,” Jemma explained. “But the damn Watchdogs have been taking more and more of our supplies lately and I ran out.”
“Shit,” Daisy whispered. “Doesn’t the university—”
“They did,” Jemma interrupted. “I’ve already used up their emergency supply, which they didn’t have much of anyway.”
Daisy sank into the couch while Jemma agitatedly stirred her tea.
“Can you die from this?” she asked bluntly.
For once, Jemma didn’t scold her for asking personal questions. She shrugged. “Possibly. It feels like I’m dehydrated and starving to death at once. I figured it was better for everyone if I just stayed home until this whole situation gets figured out.”
“What if it doesn’t get worked out in time?”
Jemma shrugged again. “I’ve already tried every possible alternative I could find and nothing has worked.”
“Except the original source, right?” Daisy prodded.
Jemma’s gaze snapped up. “What?”
That was the first time Daisy had seen any energy from her all day.
“You haven’t tried getting it from someone who naturally makes it, have you?” Daisy asked, knowing the answer.
Jemma looked like a deer in the headlights. “I—No…”
Daisy held her arms out. “Well, I’m right here. I make, like, a ton of blood every day, right?”
“Less than half a pint, actually.”
“Whatever. I’ll be your donor,” Daisy announced.
“I—I don’t know…”
Daisy marched over to Jemma and stood right in front of her. Jemma stiffened and her pupils dilated. Daisy tried not to be too concerned by that.
“I’m not going to let my best friend shrivel up and die because some douchebags stole your dinner,” Daisy insisted.
Jemma still looked hesitant. “I—I don’t have any phlebotomy instruments here.”
“Yes, you do,” Daisy said. She pointed to the corners of Jemma’s mouth. “They’re those scary fangs you flashed at me when I blew your cover.”
Jemma’s skeptical expression morphed into abject horror. “No! No no no, definitely not. I haven't bitten anyone in…decades! Almost a century! I’m not changing that now.”
“Yes, you are,” Daisy said. “Don’t be a prude about it. You’re possibly dying.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“Jemma!”
Jemma cut off her next protest. Her eyes scanned Daisy’s, before drifting lower. Jemma gulped and took a step back.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes. Let me help you, Jemma,” Daisy pleaded. “Next time, I’ll get you a Watchdog to eat.”
Jemma crinkled up her nose. “Not funny. But if you’re adamant, we’re doing this right.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So is this how your species survived the Dark Ages? Dragging people into back alleys and attacking their necks with alcohol and cotton swabs?”
Jemma glared at her, but continued counting. She had two fingers pressed against the inside of Daisy’s wrist and was watching the second hand tick on her watch. Once Jemma was sure Daisy wasn’t going to back down, she had hustled Daisy into her bedroom, where she would be more comfortable, and ran around the apartment gathering supplies. Daisy sat on the edge of Jemma’s bed while Jemma fussed around her.
The anticipation was slowly killing Daisy. Daisy didn’t particularly want to be bitten in the neck, but she had to help Jemma.
Jemma finished her counting and shined a small flashlight into Daisy’s eyes.
“Okay, this is getting ridiculous,” Daisy complained.
“I’m making sure you don’t have any urgent underlying health conditions before I agree to do this,” Jemma explained. “Since you’re not giving me the opportunity to run proper tests, I’m making do.”
“I promise you I’m not anemic,” Daisy said. “Now can we get this over with?”
Jemma paused her inspection and leveled Daisy with a serious look. “If you don’t want to do this—”
“I’m doing it,” Daisy insisted. It was like going to the doctor; no one wanted to do it, because it would be probably be unpleasant, but they had to. Daisy noticed that Jemma’s fingers felt like ice on her wrist and she had a slight tremor in her hands. She really had to do this.
Jemma put the flashlight down and sighed. “I guess everything looks fine.”
“Thank you.”
Jemma pressed her lips together in a tight line. “Are you ready?”
Daisy gulped and nodded. Jemma looked just as nervous as Daisy felt. The only indication that Daisy wasn’t forcing her to do something completely unthinkable was that Jemma’s eyes kept flicking to Daisy’s neck and flashing hungrily.
Daisy scooted backwards on the bed and crossed her legs to make room for Jemma. Jemma slid onto the bed on her knees and sat back on her heels. Her slow movement still made Daisy nearly flinch back, but she restrained herself. Her heart was racing and she wasn’t sure why. Well, it’s not every day she offered herself as a snack to an apex predator.
“Last chance to back out.” Jemma nudged closer to Daisy so her knees were touching Daisy’s crossed legs.
“Jemma,” Daisy huffed. “Bite me.”
She was expecting an offended grimace or unamused tutting in response from Jemma. She wasn’t expecting Jemma to throw herself at Daisy.
She cringed in preparation for the pain, before she realized Jemma was just giving her a tight hug.
“Thank you,” Jemma whispered into Daisy’s neck.
Daisy swore she heard a sniffle. Okay, it was hard to be afraid of an ‘apex predator’ who started crying when she was about to bite someone.
Well, it was hard to be afraid of Jemma in general. Consciously, anyway. Daisy’s instincts didn’t seem to agree.
But Daisy trusted Jemma completely. She gently patted the back of Jemma’s arm in reassurance.
Jemma’s arms loosened from Daisy’s shoulders and one hand slid to the side of her neck. Her icy fingers left a cold trail as they softly searched for something. When they found what they were looking for, they slid down and rested on Daisy’s collarbone and Jemma’s lips replaced them.
Without warning, Daisy felt two sharp jabs in her neck. She bit back the cry of pain that threatened to come out, but it escaped as a whine anyway. Jemma’s other hand rested on the opposite side of Daisy’s neck and her fingers stroked up and down in a comforting gesture.
Daisy tried to not think about what was happening, but she still felt a bit light-headed.
It wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It almost felt like Jemma was just giving her a hickey. She alternated gentle sucking and running her tongue along the area. It was only when her tongue touched the two raw puncture wounds that Daisy was reminded what she was doing.
Daisy didn’t realize that Jemma had moved, but suddenly she was straddling Daisy’s lap. The hand that was soothingly rubbing Daisy’s neck slid up, tangled in her hair, and jerked her head to the side. The slight tugging on her hair twinged, but it was a good kind of pain.
Jemma’s sucking got harsher and she lightly scraped her teeth along the skin of Daisy’s neck with the occasional flick of her tongue. Daisy gasped but was distracted from the lips on her neck by Jemma’s entire body being pressed against her chest. Daisy’s heart pounded and a warmth trickled through her body. She couldn’t tell if it was a by-product of the blood loss and light-headedness or something else.
Jemma finally disconnected from Daisy’s neck, pressing a final kiss to the sore spot. She pulled back and her eyes met Daisy’s. They seemed to already have regained their normal brightness, but had a hint of red around her irises. Her eyes flicked to Daisy’s lips briefly, but Daisy might have imagined that. The room was spinning a bit more than she realized.
A hand pressed into Daisy’s chest and pushed her back into the bed.
“Lie still,” Jemma whispered, hovering closely over her. Daisy had the sudden urge to pull her closer.
Then, the weight of Jemma on her disappeared. A moment later, there was a slight pressure on her neck as Jemma pressed a cotton ball into the puncture wounds. Daisy winced slightly, but felt too exhausted to tell her off.
“Rest. I’ll be here,” was the last whisper she heard before her eyes slid closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daisy cracked her eyes open. The world had stopped spinning at least. She pushed herself upright, only to have Jemma appear in front of her.
“Good, you’re up. Do you feel alright?” Jemma rambled.
Daisy lurched and mumbled under her breath, “Jesus. Give a girl some warning before you pop up out of nowhere.”
“It wasn’t out of nowhere, I was right next to you.”
“Were you just sitting there watching me sleep?”
Jemma flushed. Daisy was glad to see that her skin had some color again. The dark circles under Jemma’s eyes were gone and the fingers that tilted Daisy’s head to the side to inspect the bite marks were warm.
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t pass out for too long,” Jemma defended. “You were only out for about ten minutes, which is normal. Do you need anything?”
Daisy shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind a drink.”
Jemma nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Daisy used her brief absence to take stock of how she felt without Jemma worrying.
She stretched her neck gently. It ached, but not terribly. She ran her fingers over the place she had felt Jemma’s teeth. There were already two dot bandaids stuck over the punctures, probably put there while Daisy was asleep, and the skin around them felt hot. Daisy slid off the bed and over to the full length mirror in the corner. Her legs wobbled a bit on standing.
Surrounding the two tan bandaids was a large, splotchy, deep purple and red bruise. That looked like it was going to be hard to hide. Daisy realized her suspicion earlier was correct and it did just look like a hickey. The only indication that it was anything different was the bandaids.
Jemma slipped back in the room and Daisy tried to look like she wasn’t checking out her bruise. Jemma had a glass of orange juice in one hand and plate with an omelet on it in the other.
“You should lie back down for awhile,” Jemma scolded.
Daisy rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, seriously.”
Jemma frowned and look unconvinced. “At least eat something.”
Daisy was never one to turn down food. She hopped back onto the bed and munched on the omelet. Jemma pulled a chair up beside the bed and watched Daisy eat. She was unusually quiet and Daisy caught Jemma inspecting her a few times like Daisy would pass out any second.
She tried to focus on her food, as opposed to Jemma’s scrutiny or the strange feeling in her chest.
Daisy couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting to Jemma every few seconds, though she tried to stop it. She also felt like she had a magnet stuck under her sternum that was slowly pulling her towards Jemma. Every detail was seared into Daisy’s mind, despite how cloudy she felt at the time. The feeling of Jemma’s chest pressed against her, her lips on her neck, her fingernails scratching Daisy’s scalp.
Daisy flushed and stared at the remains of her omelet. Maybe this was a side effect of vampire bites. Maybe that’s why Jemma didn’t want to do it, initially (and possibly why Jemma was staring so intently).
The room felt too hot and Daisy chanced looking up from her plate, only slightly. He gaze landed on Jemma’s knees and the memory of them wrapped around Daisy’s hips sprung to mind.
Daisy’s mouth went dry and she felt like her face was on fire.
She shoved the rest of the omelet in her mouth, downed the orange juice, and hopped up from the bed.
“Thanks for the snack, but I should probably be going. Lots of homework and all that,” Daisy mumbled.
Jemma shot up from her chair. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? I wouldn’t want you to have a bad reaction after you get home.”
She was standing so close Daisy could feel the fresh warmth Jemma was radiating and…was she wearing perfume or was Daisy imagining it?
“I swear I’m fine,” Daisy said, trying to feign conviction. “I’m probably going to take another nap and then get some work done.”
Daisy shuffled out to the kitchen with Jemma trailing behind. She deposited her dishes in the sink and made sure she had her dorm key, before she remembered something.
“Oh, the full moon’s coming up soon,” Daisy reminded Jemma.
Jemma nodded, but had a smirk on her lips. “Yes, as it does every month.”
“I know that,” Daisy said with an eyeroll, “The pack isn’t going out the night after the full moon this time, but we will be going out the night before, it you want to join.”
Jemma smiled and nodded. “I’ll be in the same place as always.”
Daisy’s heart fluttered at the statement. Which it always did, right? Because she liked hanging out with Jemma.
Daisy mumbled a goodbye to Jemma and then ran out the door to head back to her place.
Bite Me, Ch. 11
AO3 Link
Daisy tried not to think about her weird reaction to Jemma after she bit her. Surely, the effects of whatever it was would wear off soon right? It had to be a weird, vampire trick, like the mind-control thing, right? Right?
Daisy couldn’t stop thinking about it, though. She would be in class and the memory would pop into her head and she would completely forget what she was doing.
Daisy walked through the campus and scowled at the Free Speech Corner, where a crowd of Watchdogs and supporters was gathered. It wasn’t so much what they were spewing anymore that bothered her, though it did. It was the size of the crowd around them.
The hairy one, who was holding the megaphone and was decked out in everything from the army surplus store he could fit on his body, seemed to be in charge. A bunch of camouflage-clad guys with dog head masks perched on their heads cheered him on, as well as a few random students.
He ranted about the ‘plague’ of ‘non-human hell-spawn’ on the campus and how they needed to be eliminated in whatever way necessary to make their school great again. Most of the students who weren’t in camouflage looked skeptical of his claims, but Daisy saw a few nod fervently in agreement. The leader’s eyes landed and Daisy as she strode by and she flipped him off.
“You see! Another victim of the ravenous demons that haunt this city!” he shouted. It took Daisy a minute to realize he was pointing at her and she froze. What, did she have a giant sign on her back that said ‘I’m a werewolf?’
The hairy guy pushed through the crowd and marched up to her. He shoved the megaphone in her face. Daisy noticed a silver bullet casing hanging from a chain around his neck and tried not to flinch.
“How did you get that bite mark on your neck?” he demanded.
Daisy blanched and her hand shot to her neck. Luckily, she had replaced the bandage over the puncture wound, so it just looked like a bruise.
“What I do in my bedroom is none of your business,” Daisy snapped into the megaphone, loud enough that the crowd could hear her.
A few students in the crowd snickered and the leader looked off-put for a split second. He spun and continued his ranting to the crowd. Daisy turned on her heel and power-walked away from there, making a note to cover up the mark from now on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You do research and stuff, right?” Daisy asked.
Lincoln quirked an eyebrow over his coffee at her. “Yeah.”
“What do you know about vampires?” Daisy asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Girlfriend trouble?”
Daisy choked on her coffee. “Excuse me?”
“Are you and Jemma…not together?” Lincoln asked.
“No! God, no. We’re just friends,” Daisy stammered out. She could feel heat rising to her cheeks and hoped Lincoln didn’t notice it. Why was she getting so defensive? It’s not the first time someone thought she was dating one of her friends. She typically just played it off as a joke, so why was this different?
Lincoln looked slightly relieved. “Sorry, you guys just seem really close. I haven’t done a lot of research on vampires, since they're pretty private, but I know a bit. What do you want to know that you can’t just ask Jemma?”
Daisy picked at the lip of her paper coffee cup and tried to think of how to phrase the question. “So vampires….bite people, yeah?” Even to Daisy that sounded dumb.
But Lincoln just shrugged. “Not so much anymore. It used to be the only way for them to…feed. But most of them have switched to safer alternatives.”
Daisy’s stomach plunged. “Safer?”
“For them, I mean,” Lincoln replied. “It puts them in a vulnerable position to have to get that close to a person. A lot of vampires ended up dead because they were distracted while feeding.”
Daisy winced. “Wooden stakes through the heart?”
Lincoln snorted. “Well, yeah. But getting stabbed in the heart will kill anyone, not just vampires.”
“Fair.”
“I’ve also never met a vampire who bit anyone they weren’t romantically involved with. It’s an intimate experience,” Lincoln said. He shifted like he was uncomfortable talking about the subject.
“What do you mean? Are there…side effects?”
“Shouldn’t you be asking Jemma? I imagine she knows a bit more about it than I do,” Lincoln protested.
Daisy shrugged. “She doesn’t like when I ask a lot of personal questions.” That wasn’t exactly true since they became friends, but Daisy thought this one was a bit too personal.
Lincoln eyed her suspiciously. “As far as I know, no. There’s been limited research on the process, but what has been done only shows increased levels of oxytocin in both parties. It takes a more complicated process to turn someone, if that’s what you’re curious about, but I don’t know it.”
Daisy frowned. She was curious about the turning thing, but that wasn’t why she was asking. Lincoln’s answer would be a lot more helpful if she could remember what oxytocin was, but she wasn't going to nag him anymore. She fidgeted with the scarf wrapped around her neck (that, frankly, was annoying the crap out of her, but she definitely wasn’t taking it off now) and they finished their coffee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pack met in the woods that night. Daisy gazed up through the canopy of leaves at the moon. It was strange being out in the woods when the moon was on the other side of full. This time, she knew that the jittery feeling in her chest wasn’t due to the energy of the moon. After her conversation with Lincoln that afternoon (and an uncomfortable Google session where she found out exactly what oxytocin, a.k.a. the ‘love hormone’ did), Daisy resolved to talk to Jemma in the morning about that night.
The moon was finally high enough that they could pull enough energy to change. It was harder than usual, took longer, and required Daisy’s full concentration. Since the moon was increasing tonight, it wasn’t like they had any residual energy from the night before to work with.
Eventually, the whole pack managed to shift and they set off. They ran together for the first part of the night, nipping at each other’s heels, racing through the trees, and just enjoying the camaraderie.
A few hours in, Lincoln picked up a scent. His ears pricked forwards and he sniffed the air trying to get a better read on it. He huffed that he was going to go investigate and trotted off. Elena and Joey just shrugged and kept running and Daisy shortly joined them.
Eventually, Daisy picked up Jemma’s scent and split from the pack as well.
She found Jemma in their clearing as usual, but Jemma wasn’t sitting with a pile of books like she normally was. She was pacing. Daisy cocked her head and trotted forward.
Jemma saw her approach and stiffened slightly. Daisy slowed her pace as wolf-brain screamed something’s wrong.
“Daisy,” Jemma started. She crouched down to Daisy’s eye level. “We need to talk.”
Daisy agreed, but now? She whimpered the question to Jemma.
“Sorry, but yes. I have some things I need to say and I’d rather you not be able to interrupt me,” Jemma said.
Rude! Daisy barked. But…fair.
Jemma took a slow breath.
Before she could let it out, a gun shot rang through the trees.
Daisy instinctively flattened herself to the ground. The was close. Not close enough to be aimed at her or Jemma, but too close. Her ears swiveled around trying to triangulate where exactly it came from. The ringing still echoed through the trees.
It was almost enough to drown out the faint yelp that echoed after it.
Daisy locked eyes with Jemma. She heard it too.
Daisy shot off in the direction of the noise. Jemma would catch up. She sprinted through the trees as fast as she could push her legs, adjusting her course occasionally when another whimper crept through the trees.
Another wolf burst converged on Daisy’s path. It was Joey. He yelped a question at her while they ran, but Daisy didn’t have an answer. The scent of blood drifted towards them and got stronger as they ran.
Eventually, they skidded to a stop before tripping over a pile of black and gray fur.
It was Lincoln.
He was lying on his side and breathing heavily. A bloody wound punctured his ribs, just below his shoulder.
Daisy whined. No no no no. This couldn’t be happening.
Elena eventually appeared as well and started pacing. She glanced between Daisy and Lincoln, obviously saying what can we do?
Nothing that Daisy could think of. They didn’t exactly have thumbs to put pressure on the wound or have any knowledge of first aid.
Daisy knew who did though.
And she chose that moment to burst through the trees and collide with Daisy’s back before taking in the situation.
“Oh god,” Jemma whispered. She tore off her outer shirt, wadded it up and jammed it against the bullet hole. Lincoln yelped.
“I don’t-I don’t have anything here— Where did you store your things tonight?” Jemma asked.
Daisy nodded back in the woods.
“Go get them,” Jemma commanded. “Especially Lincoln’s. He might have something in his bag I can use. I’ll call the campus hospital. And stay together!”
Daisy nodded and she, Joey, and Elena bounded off towards the clearing where they had stored their bags earlier. It took some maneuvering, but Daisy managed clamp both her bag and Lincoln’s in her teeth and led the way back to Jemma and Lincoln.
Halfway there, she collapsed. She glanced up. The moon was setting already and sapping the last of her energy. She could feel her bones remodeling and her skin shifting. She didn’t have time for this. Elena finished shifting back first and grabbed the bags and sprinted the rest of the way.
Daisy finally fully shifted and dragged herself to her feet. Shifting was exhausting. There was a reason that she normally napped for awhile after shifting back, but she couldn’t spare that time now.
When she got back, Elena was putting pressure on Lincoln’s wound while Jemma frantically rummaged through all their bags. As Daisy watched, the pile of fur and blood that was Lincoln seemed to shrink. Jemma noticed this as well, and paused her search.
“No no no no, don’t shift back! You’ll cause more damage!” she commanded. Lincoln whined, like he was trying to listen, but there was no stopping it now.
He howled through the extra pain of shifting combined with the stretching and tearing of the bullet wound until he was fully human and panting on the ground. Jemma rolled him to his back and gasped.
“What? What is it?” Daisy asked.
Jemma pointed to the skin around the bullet hole. The parts that weren’t covered in blood had bluish-gray tendrils branching out from the wound. “Silver bullet,” Jemma said gravely. “I suspected it might be, but I was hoping it was wrong. The doctors at the university are on their way with a sulfur compound that might neutralize it, but I don’t know if they’ll get here in time.”
“So, what can you do?” Elena demanded.
Jemma’s eyes darted around the scene, weighing her options before responding. “I can try to remove the bullet. It might prevent more silver from getting in his bloodstream, but I don’t know how much it will help.”
“Do it.”
The weak whisper came from Lincoln. He was covered in sweat and ghostly pale already. Daisy grabbed his hand and nodded at Jemma.
Jemma hesitated, but pulled a knife out of her pocket. Daisy noticed that she had swapped out the silver knife she used to bring with her for this plain steel one. She only had a moment to think that, before Jemma plunged it into the bullet wound.
Lincoln screamed and nearly crushed Daisy’s hand. Jemma dug around the hole for what seemed like only seconds before she pulled out the tiny silver bullet and tossed it aside. She then grabbed her balled up shirt from the ground and pressed it back into the wound.
“What now?” Daisy asked.
Jemma shook her head and seemed to be fighting back tears. “We can only stop the bleeding as much as possible until the doctors get here, but I think the silver has already spread too far.”
Daisy’s stomach dropped. Lincoln looked like he was fading fast. The blue-gray tendrils from the wound rapidly crept up the veins across Lincoln’s chest. Jemma occasionally barked out a command to adjust Lincoln to try to keep him from going into shock, but even Daisy could tell that it was too late. His fingers in hers weakened by the second until eventually, they went slack.
Daisy felt like her heart stopped with his. This couldn’t be happening. He was there when Daisy felt like she was lost with the whole werewolf thing. He guided her through it and gave her a place that felt like home. And someone shot him. She remembered the silver bullet on the grubby Watchdog’s neck and knew exactly who did it.
She growled and pushed herself to her feet. She may not have her wolf-form’s sense of smell right now, but she knew they wouldn’t have been able to get far. A hand snapped around her ankle before she could get very far.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jemma snapped.
“I’m going to find the bastards who did this and rip them apart,” Daisy hissed.
“No, you’re not. The last thing we need is any of you to wander off and get yourselves killed as well,” Jemma said. “Everyone stays here.”
Daisy was tempted to argue, but she was just too exhausted. She sat down with the remainder of her pack, brushed the tears out of her eyes, and watched the sun slowly rise through the trees until they heard the crash of the Erebus doctors coming through the trees.
Bite Me, Ch. 9
AO3 Link
Waking up naked in a field of wildflowers sounded like the start of a bad romance novel, but here Daisy was. She groaned and rolled over to block the rising sun from her eyes, only to have a stick jab her in the ribs. It would probably be best to go find her clothes.
She dragged herself off the ground, dusted some of the dirt off her skin and trudged off in the general direction of where the pack left their stuff last night. She wasn’t too worried about being naked, since the rest of the pack seemed to have passed out elsewhere. Walking through the woods, with her squishy human feet getting stabbed on every sharp rock and twig, was significantly more relevant.
Eventually, a rustle in the brush drew Daisy’s attention and she saw Joey shuffling through the trees. He nodded at her and strategically directed his eyes as far away from Daisy as he could manage.
“Morning, Daisy,” he muttered.
Daisy murmured a similar greeting back and wrapped her arms around herself. Thankfully, they quickly happened upon their piles of clothes, where Elena and Lincoln were waiting. Daisy hurriedly shook out her clothes and pulled them on and then followed the pack back out towards campus.
“So, how was your first run with the pack?” Lincoln asked.
“It was good,” Daisy replied. “It felt…right.”
Lincoln smiled. “I’m glad. That’s usually the impression new werewolves get once they find their pack, but everyone adjusts differently. Elena and I were talking about coming out tomorrow night, too, if you’d like to join.”
Daisy originally would have thought she would never want to go out more than absolutely necessary. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to shift, but her wolf-brain seemed to be wagging its tail saying, Yes! Go!
“That sounds fun.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next night was just like the first, except they met at the fence at sundown. Joey elected to stay home this time to do some classwork, so the trio headed into the woods without him.
Everything else was the same. The clearing, the teasing, the waiting, the shifting. It took a little longer to shift tonight, and took some concentration on Daisy’s part, but it felt less aggressive than full moon nights.
Lincoln had told Daisy that the surrounding nights of the full moon tended to be less energetic than the full moon itself and the pack normally split up until morning. He offered to stay with Daisy to make her more comfortable, but Daisy wanted to explore a bit on her own.
Once they shifted, Elena bounded off and Lincoln trotted in a different direction, leaving Daisy alone. She took her time stretching her muscles and then picked a random direction to wander.
Lincoln was right. Daisy felt way more relaxed in wolf form tonight. Wolf-brain was still curiously prodding her to go investigate some scents, but Daisy didn’t feel like she was being dragged on autopilot to do so. Still, she had the whole night to explore, so she might as well.
She chased a few squirrels, accidentally disturbed a badger den, and stumbled into a fairy circle.
After a few hours of wandering through the woods, she smelled something.
It was that scent again. The one from last night with a hint of familiarity and danger to it. She didn’t have the pack to stay with tonight, so Daisy loped off to find the source.
As the scent got stronger, Daisy slowed. She didn’t know what she would be stumbling into, so she had to be cautious. She reached a clearing in the trees, but stayed hidden in the outskirts of it.
The near-full moon illuminated the wildflowers in the clearing and, with Daisy’s enhanced vision, it nearly looked like daylight. Then, she saw the source of the scent.
It was Jemma. She was sitting with her back to a tree on the edge of the clearing and had a book in her lap. Next to her was a backpack with other books spilling out of it.
Daisy’s human brain took over and she bounded into the clearing to say hello to Jemma.
Jemma’s eyes shot up from her book at the noise and, a moment later, she was on her feet. Her eyes were wide and she stood in a defensive posture with one hand behind her back.
Daisy cocked her head. Why did she looked scared?
Oh yeah, because you just look like a wolf, stupid.
Wolf-brain snapped her gaze to the object in Jemma’s hand hidden behind her back. She saw a glint of silver and the shape of a knife. Daisy’s hair stood on end and wolf-brain started pushing her to leave.
Bad. Go. Dangerous.
Daisy saw Jemma’s eyes flick to the sky and bright moon above and cursed.
“I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just leaving,” Jemma explained, slowly backing towards her bag.
Daisy frowned. Even wolf-brain was saying, wait, don’t leave!
Daisy flopped on the ground and huffed. Jemma paused and looked confused.
Daisy laid her head on her paws and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.
Jemma took a few steps forward, which human-brain Daisy thought was a good sign. Wolf-brain, however, took over and she jumped to her feet and skittered back a few paces with her teeth bared.
Jemma froze in place.
Dude, what the hell?
Knife! Bad.
Daisy’s eyes shot to the knife the same time Jemma’s did. Jemma muttered an apology and tossed the knife in the direction of her bag. Wolf-brain let Daisy relax and nudge forward slowly.
Jemma narrowed her eyes, but crouched down to Daisy’s eye level. “Daisy?” she asked cautiously.
Daisy sat back on her haunches and nodded, while her face broke into a toothy grin.
“Oh, thank god,” Jemma sighed and plopped onto the ground. Daisy trotted up and sat directly in front of her.
“What are you doing out tonight?” Jemma asked, “It’s not a full moon.”
Daisy shrugged. It was hard to convey human emotions in wolf-form. She put a paw on Jemma’s lap and then looked between the full moon and Jemma.
Hopefully, they knew each other well enough that Jemma would understand Daisy’s attempts at communication.
“What am I doing in the woods on a full moon?” Jemma translated. Daisy huffed and nodded. “Since Bobbi’s been having a hard time making the potion for me, I’ve been stuck inside a lot more during the day. Occasionally, I come out here to catch up on work overnight. I just wasn’t paying attention to the moon when I came out tonight.”
Daisy rolled her eyes. Of course the nerd came out to the woods to work, rather than do anything fun.
A distant howl pulled both their attention. It was Lincoln. He was just checking in wondering where everyone was (after the first shift, Daisy was able to make sense of the subtleties of wolf interaction, especially howls). Daisy raised her nose in a quick response, and heard Elena do the same from another direction, before turning her attention back to Jemma.
“If you need to reconnect with the pack, you can go. We’ll catch up tomorrow,” Jemma assured.
Daisy shrugged again. Surprisingly, wolf-brain wasn’t even telling her to run. She laid down in front of Jemma and gazed at her.
Jemma smiled and went to retrieve her book. Once she settled down crossed-legged in the middle of the clearing, Daisy got up and circled around her back and laid her head on Jemma’s lap.
Theoretically, Daisy could still read in wolf-form, it was just harder to comprehend the words. Whatever Jemma was working on, Daisy had no hopes to understand. She opted to just look at the pictures, even though they were just as abstract.
Occasionally, Jemma would muse something she read out loud, but none of it meant anything to Daisy. Still, she sat and listened, enjoying the calm of being nestled next to Jemma. Even the edge of danger, which Daisy guessed probably stemmed from the vampire part of her scent, faded after awhile.
The moon set on the horizon, but Daisy was too comfortable to bother exploring anymore and fell asleep with her head still perched on Jemma’s lap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Daisy. Daisy, wake up,” Jemma’s whispered voice dragged Daisy from sleep, but Daisy was less grumpy about it than she normally would have been. She wasn’t nearly as exhausted as she was after her full moon runs so far.
She cracked her eyes open. The sun was just started to poke through the bases of the trees, staining the sky above with light purples and streaks of yellow. She would have loved to stay and watched the rest of the sunrise, but then she realized she was still on Jemma’s lap.
“Shit!” she hissed. She jerked upright. “You need to get inside!”
Jemma shrugged and stared at the sky. “Yes, that’s why I was waking you up. It’s not urgent at the moment, but we’ll probably need to find your…clothes.”
Daisy realized then that she was naked again. In front of Jemma. This was the most inconvenient part of shifting, not to mention chilly.
Daisy wrapped her arms around her chest. She belatedly realized that Jemma’s cardigan was bunched up on the ground beside Daisy. Jemma had probably draped it over Daisy whenever she shifted back. Daisy swiped it and tried to cover herself as best as possible. Jemma kept her eyes averted, but Daisy swore she saw her eyes drifting towards her a few times.
Daisy muttered out the vague direction of where she had stashed her stuff and waited for Jemma to pack up her backpack before setting off.
“Do you normally stay until sunrise?” Daisy asked.
“No, usually only a few hours,” Jemma replied.
“You could have left me, you know.”
Jemma smiled. “Yes, but you just looked so comfortable.”
Daisy felt a flush creeping up her face.
They reached the tree where Daisy’s bag was hanging. Jemma turned the opposite direction while Daisy tugged on her sweats and downed the bottle of water. Then, they headed back towards campus to get Jemma inside before the sun fully rose.
“So, what was the deal with the knife last night?” Daisy finally asked.
Jemma blanched. “You remember that, then?”
“Yeah. Hard to forget your friend pulling a knife on you,” Daisy teased.
“In my defense, I didn’t know it was you,” Jemma said, “It’s just a precaution. I may be stronger than the average human, but I’m not invulnerable to werewolf teeth. In the past, most werewolves I’ve met haven’t exactly been as…civilized as the pack here seems to be.”
“What’s it made out of?” Daisy asked, remembering her violent reaction to it.
Jemma looked sheepish. “Pure silver. It’s lethal to werewolves if it gets in their blood stream.”
Daisy blinked. Well, that would have been good information to know. Also good to know would have been that her friend carried around a weapon that could kill members of her species.
They were silent for the rest of the walk. The sun was already streaming over the ground leading up to the dorm building. Jemma winced, but otherwise didn’t seem too discomforted by the sun. Still, Daisy kept an eye on her in case she had a sudden bad reaction.
“Why do you think Bobbi hasn’t been able to make the potion for you?” Daisy asked.
“I’m guessing it has something to do with the increased amount of Watchdogs around campus,” Jemma explained, “The Dean thinks they’re keeping tabs on and stealing shipments of strange materials to the university as proof that there are supernatural students. Orders of lots of important things have been interrupted recently.” A dark look crossed her face briefly.
They reached the front door and Jemma darted inside. She sighed in relief once the doors blocked the remaining sun. Daisy followed Jemma to the elevator.
She glanced at Jemma’s arms while they waited. Her normally pale skin was dusted lightly pink, like she had spent hours in the sun, rather than minutes.
They stepped into the elevator and Daisy prodded her floor number and then Jemma’s. As the door opened to deposit her on her floor, she turned to Jemma.
“So, same place next month?” Daisy asked with a teasing smirk.
“Agreed,” Jemma smiled. “In the mean time, lunch tomorrow?”
“Definitely.”
Bite Me, Ch. 7
AO3 Link
Daisy was still shaky as Jemma guided her home. She was in such a daze that she didn't even realize that they had passed through the maze of tunnels, the dorm lobby, and the elevator to get to Jemma’s front door.
Jemma kept an arm loosely wrapped around Daisy's waist until they were fully inside the apartment. The blackout curtains were still pulled back from the night before, letting the early morning light stream into the living room, where Daisy stood awkwardly. She had no idea where to go from this point. She was exhausted, physically and mentally and her mind still felt like a jumbled pile of words and feelings.
Jemma’s voice drifted into her consciousness, gently asking if she wanted to take a shower. Daisy nodded slightly, not sure if Jemma was actually asking her or if she was imagining it.
Jemma’s hand gently pressing against her shoulder answered that question. In a matter of moments, Daisy was in the spacious bathroom with a fluffy towel and a change of clothes in her arms. Jemma placed a hand on Daisy's shoulder and gave her a comforting smile, muttered something about breakfast and left Daisy alone in the bathroom.
Daisy cranked the hot water up and stripped off her borrowed, baggy clothes. Her hands were coated in a fine layer of dirt up to her elbows. She had bits of grass and mud still caked under her fingernails and a few flecks of dried grass stuck to her skin. On looking down, she noticed her feet were in a similar state.
Daisy glared at her reflection in the mirror, staring herself down as if any minute her dark brown eyes would shift to a brilliant gold and she was telling them ‘don't you dare.’ She clenched her hands into fists, half expecting that they would be fur and claws instead of skin.
Everything felt off. Like she was a stranger in her own skin. Or there was someone else in her head with her.
Daisy nearly didn't recognize herself in her mirror. Sure, she looked exactly the same, but somehow her reflection seemed sharper. She glanced around the bathroom and everything her eyes landed on seemed the same. Tiny, nuanced distinctions in the paint on the walls that Daisy would have never noticed before suddenly stood out loudly. Small print on Jemma’s shampoo bottle across the room was suddenly legible.
Daisy frowned. Her vision had never been bad but the way she was seeing now made her feel like she had been blind all her life.
She tore her eyes from the reflection and stepped into the scalding shower. She spent way longer than normal scrubbing every inch of her skin, trying to get rid of the memory of wind through fur. She squeezed her eyes shut when the memory of Coulson and May filtered through her mind, but she couldn't push it away.
She finally turned the water off, wrapped herself up in the towel, and stepped out of the shower.
Her stomach growled loudly and the smell of bacon drifted into the bathroom through the thick steam from the shower. Everything else could be put on hold. For now she needed food.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I talked to Coulson.”
Jemma’s voice finally broke the awkward silence of breakfast. For most of the meal, neither party had wanted to talk, but Jemma finally spoke up. Daisy just hummed an acknowledgement.
“He's spoken to the pack and found you a transitioner. And he'd like you to meet them this evening,” Jemma finished.
Daisy's stomach dropped. She was hoping to have at least another month before she had to deal with this...werewolf business again. Or at the very least, one night. Apparently the universe had different plans.
“Oh,” was all Daisy could muster.
“He said it didn't have to be until later, so you could get some rest, but he thinks it's important you start immediately,” Jemma muttered. She could definitely tell Daisy didn't want to talk about this.
Daisy just nodded in acknowledgment. They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence. Afterward, Daisy offered to help clean up, but Jemma shooed her away to go take a nap. Daisy wasn't going to argue with that too intensely, so she shuffled back to Jemma’s bedroom, collapsed into her plush bed, and slipped into sleep in seconds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “So, Lincoln? That blonde, guy who wandered into the lab the other day?” Daisy asked.
Jemma nodded tersely. “He's done this before, so Coulson thought he would be he best choice to help you out. And he’s been a werewolf the longest of the group, so he seemed the logical choice.”
Daisy frowned. “Is there something wrong with him?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“Well, you seem to have some issue with him,” Daisy countered.
Jemma flushed slightly. Daisy chalked it up to Jemma being out in the sun. “No, there’s nothing wrong with him. In fact, he’s brilliant at what he does. He just… I don’t know. He doesn’t like to follow people’s directions very well.”
Daisy quirked an eyebrow. “That’s why you’re annoyed with him? Why are you not constantly annoyed with me, then?”
Jemma rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I frequently am,” she replied, but with a slight smirk. “I was annoyed with him because I advised both Coulson and him that it wouldn’t be a good idea to have you meet the pack when we still weren’t sure of your status. I told him I would be bringing you to the lab and asked him to stay out of it for that afternoon, so we wouldn’t overwhelm you. Apparently, he decided that coming down to meet you anyway was a good idea.”
“Oh.” Daisy muttered. She appreciated Jemma’s concern, but she wasn’t too traumatized by the brief meeting with Lincoln, just a little startled by the suddenness of it. It seemed like there was something else that Jemma wasn’t saying, but at that moment, Daisy saw Lincoln leaning up against a light pole by the coffee shop they were headed towards.
He perked up when he saw them approaching and strode over to meet them. “Hey, Daisy. We’re so excited to have you join the pack,” Lincoln said when he caught up to them.
Daisy cringed. “Well, sorry. I’m still not in the excited phase of this whole thing.”
“Oh, yeah, of course. Perfectly understandable. There’s so much that you’re dealing with right now. But, that’s why I’m here. To make it a little easier for you,” Lincoln explained.
Jemma had disappeared for a moment, but reappeared by Daisy’s elbow with something crumpled up in her hands.
“What is that?” Daisy asked.
Jemma scowled. “Another Watchdogs flyer I saw hanging up.”
Lincoln mirrored her scowl.
“Um, Watchdogs?” Daisy glanced between the two.
“They’re a hate group that’s been trying to recruit on campus lately. They’re strictly against any non-humans 'tainting' their cities,” Lincoln explained with disgust.
“But I thought you guys— we— were a secret.”
Lincoln shrugged. “Sometimes the secret gets out somehow and people don’t react very well. Most people who don’t know about us just think the Watchdogs are delusional. Don’t worry too much about them, though. The campus is safe as houses.”
Lincoln placed a hand on Daisy’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
“Well, I didn’t take enough of my potion today, so the sun is getting a bit much for me. I’ll leave you two to it,” Jemma blurted. Daisy noticed her eyes dart between herself and Lincoln, before she turned on her heel and marched off. Jemma threw the crumpled flyer at a trash can so hard, Daisy thought she saw a dent poke out the other side.
“So, shall we get started?” Lincoln asked.
“Sure. Get started with what exactly?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They ended up in the woods surrounding most of the campus. Only the Erebus school students were allowed in the woods (though, apparently, the only regulars were the werewolves on full moons and a few witches), so they knew they were have privacy while they talked. Lincoln led the way, strolling through nearly invisible paths in the foliage. Luckily, Lincoln did most of the talking, so Daisy could just listen and ask questions.
“No one is really sure where we came from,” Lincoln explained. “The prevailing theory is that thousands of years ago, when humans first moved into cities, they tried to repress and get rid of their more 'wild' urges with magic. Somehow, it went wrong and they ended up splitting themselves into human and wolf.”
“How the heck did they manage that?”
Lincoln shrugged. “We’re not really sure. It might have been around the time they were domesticating wolves and tried to transfer part of themselves onto the wolves. It might have that the spell turned that part of the person into a wolf and that’s why they changed. No one really knows, because no one wanted to write it down. All we know is that sometime after that point, werewolf images started spreading around all sorts of cultures, so we’re probably all the descendants of those few people.”
“Great,” Daisy muttered sarcastically. “So, we’re genetically cursed because someone turned their bad thoughts into a wolf.”
“Not bad,” Lincoln clarified. “Just wild.”
“Yeah, like the urge to kill things. Which is bad,” Daisy countered.
“It’s not just to kill things. It’s a hunting instinct for survival. The more violent urges come from pushing all those instincts down and repressing them,” Lincoln said.
“So, what. Turning into a werewolf is all because we repress our feelings?”
Lincoln cringed. “Yes and no?”
“Very clear.”
Lincoln chuckled. “The wolf part is a manifestation of our natural, basal instincts. The need to run and hunt and just be around nature. The stories of violent werewolves destroying and killing is the result of people being too pent up and enclosed in urban spaces. Also, mostly exaggerated negative propaganda. When we’re given this kind of space to move around—” he gestured to the trees around them— “we’re actually quite tame and in control.”
“If all we need is space, then why did the dean put me in a fence for the first time I turned?” Daisy asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Lincoln flinched. “Honestly, the way they handled your transition was not great. They haven’t had someone go through the change on their campus before, so they weren’t really sure how to go about it. All they knew is that newly turned werewolves tend to be really confused and unpredictable, so they figured the best way to handle that was to keep you contained.”
“Which actually made it one thousand percent worse,” Daisy finished for him.
“Pretty much.” Lincoln cringed. “I suggested the pack could be on standby to help out, but they were still convinced you weren’t going to change, so they shot me down.”
Daisy’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Did you know I was going to change?”
Lincoln looked abashed. “We can sort of tell who is and isn’t a werewolf. You know that there’s a genetic component to lycanthropy, right?”
“If lycanthropy is 'being a werewolf, then yes.”
Lincoln nodded. “Even before a potential werewolf changes, there’s something that we can sense in each other. It’s not really a scent, just a feeling. Sometimes werewolves will seek out unchanged werewolves and try to change them, because of this.”
“Like whoever bit me,” Daisy said. A shudder ran up her spine from the memory.
“Exactly.”
“Have you figured out who it was yet? The one who attacked me,” Daisy asked.
“Unfortunately, not.” Lincoln frowned. “The whole pack was accounted for that night and nowhere near where you were attacked, so we’re trying to figure out how another werewolf got on campus without anyone knowing.”
“Are you sure?” Daisy prodded.
“Yes. We’re a very small pack and everyone was together that night,” Lincoln defended. “And I know my pack and none of them would change someone without their permission. They know what it’s like to be forced into it.”
Lincoln suggested they head back towards campus, so Daisy had to file away further questions for another day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Lincoln signed himself and Daisy up for a private yoga session. Apparently it was to 'refamiliarize Daisy with her own body and mind' while also giving her a chance to stretch out her abused muscles.
Thankfully, they didn’t start at the crack of dawn, because Lincoln and the pack shifted and went for another run last night, which Daisy didn’t even realize they could do.
“The whole process of shifting involves energy. It takes a ton of energy to shift form like we do, so we pull it from the full moon. That’s not warrior pose, Daisy.” Daisy huffed and tried to twist her torso into the position the video instructor was demonstrating. She spun her arms trying to keep her balance while her legs shook trying to support her body weight.
Lincoln continued his teaching, oblivious to Daisy’s struggling. “When the moon is at its peak, that’s when it’s easiest for us to shift and it’s nearly impossible to resist shifting. The days before and after, it’s still possible to shift with practice, but takes a lot more energy. Some months we just like to have the extra days together. I figured you would still be exhausted from your first shift and probably not want to join us this time.”
He wasn’t wrong. The residual memories of the last time made Daisy want to go as long as possible without shifting again. She couldn’t imagine wanting to do it more than she had to.
“So, other than running around all day, how do you control the wolf-brain?” Daisy asked.
“Well, you have to acknowledge that the wolf brain is your brain, first. The only biological difference werewolves have to normal humans is in our brain stem, which controls instinctive action. Actually, my dissertation is on the variation of neurobiology among non-human persons, and I’d like to have another werewolf in the sample if you—” Lincoln cut himself off when he noticed Daisy’s blank stare.
“—Nevermind, not the time. Anyway, the wolf part of your brain is basically the same as your normal brain, but since it’s new, it feels unfamiliar. Once you familiarize yourself with it and everything it wants, you can assimilate it into your normal stream of consciousness and you’ll be more in control. When you try to fight or push away the wolf part of your brain, that’s when you start to lose control of yourself.”
The video instructor twisted herself into some impossible position and Daisy lost her balance and fell on her ass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days later, it was decided that Daisy should move into the werewolves’ floor of the complex, since she officially was one. Jemma spent her weekend helping Daisy pack up her stuff and move it down to the fifth floor. Most of Daisy’s stuff was still in boxes from the last move, so it was just a matter of making multiple trips up and down the elevator and shoving the boxes into her new apartment.
Daisy was thankful that the rest of the werewolves seemed to be busy, so they weren’t around the floor while Daisy moved. Once all her boxes were situated, Jemma, who had been unusually quiet all day, offered to help her unpack.
“I think I can manage. I just need to figure out where to put everything. Thanks, though,” Daisy responded.
Jemma just nodded. “I’ll get out of your way then. If you need me, you know where to find me.” She gestured to the ceiling.
“Got it,” Daisy said, with a mock salute. “And…thanks. For everything this past month.”
Jemma smiled. “You’re very welcome.”
With that, she left and Daisy was alone in her new place.
It was set up similarly to Jemma’s apartment, but was significantly more bare. Obviously, Jemma had plenty of time to decorate her place with all her accumulated things from 400 years of life. Daisy had a lot of catching up to do in that department.
Daisy rolled up her sleeves and dove into the first box she could reach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, are you like the alpha of the pack or something?” Daisy murmured.
The coffee shop where Lincoln decided to meet was on the side of campus favored by the Erebus students, but they still had to be cautious. Still, he offered to meet Daisy again to answer some more of her questions and orient her a bit more, since the next full moon was coming up.
Lincoln wrinkled his nose at the comment. “No, definitely not. I think Elena would kick my ass if I even suggested that.”
“Is Elena the alpha then?”
Lincoln chuckled. “She’d probably like that. The thing is we don’t really have alphas and omegas or whatever humans like to attribute to normal wolves. Even normal wolves don’t really follow that model in most circumstances. The pack is more of a…team, I guess. We keep an eye out for each other, work together, support each other, et cetera. If we had to hunt to survive, we’d do that together, too.”
“Huh.” Daisy took a sip of her coffee.
“So, don’t worry. There’s really no hard and fast rules with the pack. We usually head out for runs together, but after awhile everyone sort of does their own thing. Honestly, sometimes it’s just really nice to take a nap in the woods,” Lincoln said with a chuckle.
Daisy had to laugh at that. Part of her brain seemed to relish the idea of curling up under a tree and just relaxing. The other part of her brain thought that was crazy since her new memory foam mattress was so insanely comfortable.
“Hello, Daisy.” A familiar voice pulled Daisy’s attention from Lincoln.
Jemma stood beside the table where Daisy and Lincoln were sitting. She had her coffee (or, knowing Jemma, tea) in her hand already and a pair of dark sunglasses perched on her head, despite the overcast sky.
“Jemma! It’s been awhile. Grab a chair,” Daisy greeted, brightly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything,” Jemma replied, her eyes darting between Daisy and Lincoln.
“You aren’t. We’re just talking about wolf stuff. Right, Lincoln?” Daisy prodded. Lincoln nodded in agreement.
“Really, it’s fine. I—I’m meeting Fitz in the lab in a bit. I just wanted to say hi,” Jemma said.
Before Daisy could say anything else, Jemma had turned and headed for the door, flipping her sunglasses over her eyes as she went.
Daisy frowned. “That seemed weird,” she muttered.
“I get the feeling that Jemma doesn’t like me very much,” Lincoln said, sheepishly.
“Why do you think that?”
Lincoln shrugged. “Well, usually when we’re working in the lab together it’s fine. We even collaborate on our research sometimes. Lately, though, anytime I bring up you or werewolf stuff in conversation, she gets really quiet.”
“How often do you bring me up?” Daisy teased.
“Not that often. I just figured she’d want to know how your were doing with everything. You guys seem close,” Lincoln said.
Daisy frowned again. She glanced at the door Jemma had just retreated from, wondering what that was all about. She knew Jemma was occasionally frustrated with Lincoln, but that should all be in the past now, right?
Eventually, they finished up their coffee and headed to their separate classes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This time, Daisy was alone in her own apartment when the date circled in red crept up. At least she knew what to expect this time around. There was no question on whether or not the full moon would affect her this month.
Even though the sun had set completely, it was only early evening, since winter was approaching, and Daisy was trying to finish up some homework. A knock on her door pulled Daisy away from her coding.
When she opened it, Lincoln stood there, with a woman and a man Daisy hadn’t met behind him. He waved slightly in greeting.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
Daisy gulped but nodded. She grabbed a small bag with a few things she needed and followed Lincoln and these two new people (her pack mates) into the woods.
Bite Me, Ch. 6
AO3 Link
Daisy followed Jemma down the elevator, to the tunnels, and down the maze of hallways, not even attempting to discern where they were going. Jemma tried to make idle conversation, but it came across as nervous babble that Daisy mostly didn't hear.
They eventually came up into a small, square building that had large windows making up the wall opposite the door they emerged from and one other door.
Waiting in the building were Coulson and an Asian woman Daisy didn’t recognize. Daisy was too stressed to ask what her 'thing' was, but from the intense look on her face, Daisy guessed dragon shifter. “Daisy, Jemma. This is May, the Dean of the Erebus School,” Coulson introduced. “She’s here to help supervise and advise on…whatever the situation may be tonight.”
May just nodded in their direction. Daisy got the feeling there wouldn’t be a lot of words in May’s form of 'advising.’
Jemma held up the bag she had carried in. “I brought the things you told me to, Coulson.”
“Perfect. Daisy, go ahead and change and then meet us outside when you’re ready. We still have some things to go over.”
Change? Daisy cocked an eyebrow at Jemma.
“Trust me, you’ll want to. Just in case,” Jemma replied hopefully.
May, Coulson, and Jemma slipped out the door opposite the one Daisy and Jemma had entered from and left Daisy alone.
She pulled a baggy gray sweater and sweatpants out of the bag and changed into them. Just in case? Oh, obviously her clothes wouldn’t change with her if she did turn into a wolf tonight. Maybe she shouldn’t have worn shoes that she liked.
She kicked off her shoes and socks and set them next to the bag. Out of curiosity, she poked through the contents of it, before folding her clothes up on top. There was a collection of healthy snacks, vitamins, and a few bottles of water and sports drinks, along with a damp washrag in a plastic bag and a hairbrush. Jemma really did prepare for this.
After psyching herself up for a few minutes (and trying to get over feeling self-conscious in nothing but sweatpants and a very loose sweater), she pushed through the door. She tried not to think about why there were so many heavy locks on the inside of the door.
The door opened up to a wide grassy field with a massive wooden fence encircling it. The fence was twice as high as any Daisy had seen and had no space between the thick wooden slats. Though she tried not to, Daisy couldn’t help noticing the various stains and gouges in the wood.
May, Coulson, and Jemma stood right in the middle of the field, watching Daisy carefully.
“So,” Daisy started, trying to break some of the tension, “What next?”
“Now,” May said, “We wait.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May and Coulson retreated to the building, dragging Jemma along despite her insisting that she could stay for a few more minutes. Daisy was sad to see her go, but it was for the best considering May’s unceremonious run-down of what could happen when she changed (May wasn’t interested in coddling Daisy with 'what-if’s, which she could appreciate to an extent).
'Total loss of control' and 'aggressive tendencies' echoed in Daisy’s mind as she picked at the grass. The little ball of anxiety and restless energy in her stomach writhed as the sun sank further into the ground, painting the sky with all shades of oranges and purples.
She couldn’t take sitting anymore, so she started to pace. She walked from end to end of the large field (well, really a cage), but she couldn’t seem to relax.
Occasionally, she glanced over to the building where she could somewhat see in the windows. Each time, Coulson and May were conversing, paying no attention to Daisy, and each time Jemma was looking in her direction. Jemma was fidgeting almost as much as Daisy was. A few times, it looked like Coulson tried to pull her into their conversation. Jemma politely joined in, but her eyes kept drifting back to Daisy.
Finally, it was fully dark. Pacing wasn’t helping, so Daisy flopped on the ground. She wriggled her fingers and toes against the ground to feel the cool grass between them. She could see the very tops of some tall trees over the fence and the bright full moon was barely peeking over the canopy. Apparently, she had to stay in the field until morning, just in case, but if nothing had happened by now, surely she was in the clear.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, than the muscles in her abdomen violently clenched, knocking the wind out of her. She froze for a moment, clutching her stomach and trying to catch her breath. She glanced over at the building, but no one inside seemed to notice. May was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed and Jemma was faking interest in whatever Coulson was saying as he appeared to be showing her trading cards.
Maybe it was just a weird cramp.
Nope.
Moments later, a second spasm shot through her body and caused all her muscles to seize up.
No no no no no. This couldn’t be happening. Daisy had been able to prepare herself mentally for a month, but she still wasn’t ready for this to actually be a possibility.
It felt like all of Daisy’s muscles were twisting and stretching under her skin. The pain quickly jumped from 'ow' to 'probably more painful than giving birth because it’s EVERYWHERE.'
Daisy writhed on the ground desperately trying to relieve the pain. Her skin felt like it was about to tear off; she could feel her bones bending. She cried out, unable to keep herself quiet anymore, and was surprised at how animalistic the sound was. It was hard for Daisy to form full thoughts through the agony and they just came in single words.
Pain. Pain.
Stopped. Tired. Freedom.
The loose sweatshirt suddenly felt constricting and Daisy clawed it off and threw it aside.
Suddenly, every muscle in Daisy’s body relaxed and she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. It seemed like ages, but the moon hadn’t moved at all during her ordeal.
Daisy laid still and tried to gather her thoughts. Her mind was still a jumble of feelings and words that didn’t seem to line up. The one that did was relief.
She pushed herself upright and steadied herself on the grass as the world spun around her. She didn’t quite know where she was anymore. But she was outdoors, with the moon overhead, the breeze in her hair, and grass under her feet, which was the most important.
And she was finally free.
The only thing in her way was this big stupid wall.
She stood up to try to find a way out of the fence and promptly fell on her face.
She glanced down. Huh, paws. That was new.
Duh, she had paws. Four of them to be exact, and a tail.
Daisy shook her head. Her brain still felt jumbled, like there was suddenly someone new in there that didn’t quite know how to work the controls.
Unfortunately, Daisy didn’t really either.
That was a 'later' problem, though. First, she had to get out of this wall. The second voice that just came in individual words was insistent: run, jump, play, free!
She managed to get to her feet and trot over to the wall. Was nighttime always so bright? And so smelly? There was so many things to smell here! She put her nose to the ground and tried to identify all the new things. Some seemed familiar while others were definitely foreign and felt sharp. She huffed at those smells and went back to her original task.
The wall seemed completely solid. She trotted around the circumference of the fence, looking for any weak points and found none, so she circled again. She pawed at the ground to see if there was any weak spots. Nothing here. She paced and pawed at another spot. Still nothing.
Now, she was starting to get annoyed. She just wanted out. Needed out. She jumped up and pressed her front feet to the fence and pushed. Nothing. She tried bouncing her weight into it, but it barely flexed.
She growled at the offensive object. Her legs felt like they were going to run out from under her if she didn’t get outside of this dumb thing immediately.
She slammed her shoulder into it.
Ow.
It did nothing, but leave a slight dent in the wood.
She tried again. And again. And again.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Oh, shut up.
Was she arguing with herself? Great.
“Daisy!”
A voice called a name (her name?) behind her and her ears flicked towards them.
A man was striding towards her. Something about him seemed familiar, but mostly, she was just annoyed that he was in her space.
She sniffed the air as he approached. Nothing about his scent felt threatening. The stern woman who walked behind him was another story. As soon as her scent hit Daisy’s nose, her hackles stood on end. The woman’s posture didn’t feel like she was going to attack, but Daisy could smell her power. She was going to have to keep an eye on this woman.
The man stopped a distance away. He was speaking softly with his hand held out. Daisy’s brain was too jumbled to catch everything he said, but she caught keywords.
Going to hurt yourself. Need to stop. Not getting out. Just relax.
Sit. Stay. Be quiet.
It sounded like the things Daisy had been told all her life. Women in black capes flashed through her memories (the word 'nuns' drifted along the images). They told her the same things when she was small. Sit still. Don’t do that. Behave.
Daisy snarled. She didn’t want to sit still. She wanted to run.
And this man was going to get in the way of that. She suddenly found an outlet for all her pent up energy.
She lunged at him.
Midair, something clamped around her throat cutting off her breath. She yelped and squirmed to free herself.
In a split second, she was free, but was flat on her back with the stern woman glowering down at her. She could tell she had been beaten and didn’t move.
The woman spoke to her in shorter, easier to comprehend sentences.
“You’re here until morning. Run around if you have to. You’re not leaving this fence.”
The woman strode away, guiding the man back towards a building at the end of the field.
Daisy huffed in irritation as they left. She was still antsy, but obviously wasn’t going to be allowed to leave anytime soon.
As they reached the building, Daisy noticed another woman in it, peering through the window. For some reason, she wanted that woman to come outside. She wasn’t consciously sure why, though.
Still annoyed, she decided to pace the whole yard. She loped through the grass, skirting just within the fence to maximize the amount of space she had. It wasn’t enough.
Walking didn’t move her fast enough, so she tried running the length of the yard. Just when she felt that rush of freedom that running brought, she had to skid to a stop at the fence. She’d grumble and turn around to run the other direction.
She pointed her nose to the sky and found the moon directly overhead. She felt like she could do anything under the bright light of the moon.
Distantly, she heard a howl. She felt like it was saying something, but she couldn’t tell what. It sounded like every time the humans had tried to speak to her; words jumbled, nothing making total sense except the bits she could piece together. The howl, however wasn’t in a language she knew. Or maybe it was and she had just forgotten.
But, for now all she could do was run in circles. She whined and resumed her circuit of the fence, desperately trying to burn off some energy.
It was going to be a long night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What a weird dream. Daisy nestled back down into her pillow, but the morning light was beating at her eyelids. She must have forgotten to pull the blackout curtains back over the window. Oh well, it’s not it would bother Jemma in here.
It sure was annoying, though.
She moved to roll away from the window and every muscle and bone in her body screamed in protest.
Daisy moaned and cursed under her breath. What the hell?
She felt a hand brush the hair off her forehead and suddenly feeling started to rush back into Daisy’s limbs.
She could feel grass under her bare feet and poking her through the fabric of her pants. The pillow she felt under her head was a blanket balled up in someone’s lap who was gently combing their fingers through Daisy’s hair. The morning was cool, but the sun beating down on Daisy’s skin was quickly warming her up.
She cracked an eye open slowly and took extra care not to move any more than she had to to look up.
The lap she was resting on was Jemma. She was wearing a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off her, but otherwise seemed quite content to let Daisy sleep. When she caught Daisy’s eyes on her, she gave her a sympathetic smile and reached into a bag she had next to her knee.
“Hungry?” Jemma asked softly.
Thank god she kept her voice down. Even the gentle question hit Daisy’s ears like a sonic boom and made them ring. She winced, but nodded. She was starving.
Daisy tried not to whine as Jemma helped her sit up. She felt like she had been run over by a road paver and then it reversed and went over her again. She had never wanted to know what it felt like to have your bones remodeled twice in one night, but now she did.
Neither of them spoke as Daisy munched on her protein bar and juice. Once she was done, she felt like she should address the elephant (well, wolf) in the room.
“So,” Daisy started, “What now?”
Jemma tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “Now, we need find you a transition mentor.”
