Coming of Age

PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here

Serenity smiled as her hands worked their own special brand of magic, back when Ghost first joined the pack she had spent a lot of time with him, helping him come to terms with the gaping hole in his soul. Whenever he started to cry his heart out she was there and would start rubbing his back and he would quickly go to sleep no matter what state he had worked himself into, it wasn't until later that he realised there was something special about what she was doing.

"How did you meet Ghan?" Serenity asked curious as to how those two close friends met.

Crystal turned her head to the side, "like I said, I had resigned myself to being alone, I would never turn someone and since I couldn't get close enough for anyone to get to know me I spent most of my time alone, in the wild. I was hunting, I didn't know Ghan had been stalking the same deer. Anyway I got to them first and was draining a buck when he walked into the clearing, curious imp that he was, he had no fear. It was day time and there I was drinking blood."

Serenity unsnapped Crystal's bra strap to better get at her back.

"He asked me what I was, I was so pleased that someone wanted to talk to me even after seeing what he did that I just poured it all out. I don't even remember parts of it but by the end he had his arms around me and we were friends." She sighed, "it wasn't until much later that I learnt Ghan was searching for his brother and that his brother had given birth to Vampires. If I had known that at the time I probably would have turned away from him but I didn't so... yeah. In a way he had hoped I could help him and when he learnt I couldn't he didn't care. 'No one deserves to be alone,' were his words. He tried to integrate me into his pack but they were really uncomfortable with me and to be honest after so long alone I was uncomfortable with them."

Serenity went back to lightly scratching for several moments before starting to really work on Crystal's corded muscles.

"So," Crystal said a little sleepily, "I left, but I had a friend and that it meant more to me than anything. I started to see life differently, I started to explore but I would always find Ghan and tell him of my adventures, which only became easier with technology. Then one day, fourteen years ago he called, he wanted to meet up and had managed to talk Amy and Wolfgang into letting me come to the central den." She felt her eyes closing, she couldn't stay awake even if she tried.

Serenity knew the rest of this story since she was there for it.

~*~*~*~

~Fourteen years earlier~

Serenity skipped into the hallway, she was bored, normally when bored she would go and play the piano but it was being tuned which meant she was at a loose end. Today she wore a black shirt with "I'm Were what are you?" blazed across the front which went with a pair of shorts, she didn't bother with shoes as it just made no sense in the house.

She saw her parents and walked over to them, they seemed to be waiting for something, she played with her choker a little, "are we waiting for someone?" She asked; her mother still felt a little sad, almost a week since she had returned in so much pain and she would bear the scars on her soul for a very long time.

"Several actually," Amy told her daughter.

"Can I stay?" Serenity asked making sure she gave her mother the big begging eyes that she couldn't resist.

"No reason why not," Amy told her.

"Who are waiting for?" Serenity asked.

"Some new friends, they smell like vampires but they are not a threat to you." Amy said firmly.

"Okay," Serenity answered, she trusted her mother and if her mother said they were friends they were friends, regardless of how they smelt.

They heard a car pull to a stop, "That will be Arianna and Destiny." Amy said as she went and opened the doors, two men were working with space age capsules, which were special travel coffins that vampires used when doing long trips. They were sealed in a way which kept light out and would only open when there was no UV readings on the lid. Amy had gotten the call that a car will be coming with two coffins. Two men wheeled in two carts followed by a third.

"Where would you like us to put them?" The third man said.

"Just on the floor, they will be fine in their coffins." Amy directed.

The men shrugged as they did as she asked and were actually relieved that they didn't have to take the coffins up stairs. Amy walked over to the coffins to sign the paper work as the coffins had to be hand delivered to the person on the docket which just so happened to be her. They left as quickly as they came, being transport for vampires could be dangerous but damn it paid well.

Just as they were pulling away a motor cycle pulled up, they waited, not rushing Crystal. Crystal walked to the open door and hesitated, playing with the zipper on her jacket as she glanced into the house.

"Come in Crystal." Amy welcomed. Crystal walked in slowly, still unsure of her welcome in the Alphas home. Amy approached Crystal who went to back away but Amy stilled. Crystal knew all about the Wolf Haven Alphas and had a healthy respect for them which was heightened by the fact her senses were screaming run, the little woman was dangerous.

"Please forgive Ghan, he asked you come here because I asked him to." Amy explained, "As soon as we are done you can go and see him."

Susan and Bastion walked into the hall, "You wanted us?" she asked Wolfgang who nodded.

"Yes, can you take Crystal's bike and put it in the garage and bring her things in." Wolfgang asked.

Susan and Bastion nodded and started walking to the door, "nice," Susan said as she spotted the bike. She turned to Crystal, "I'll be careful," she promised as she held her hand out for the keys. Crystal hesitated for a moment but suddenly all her fear and nervousness was gone. She felt calm and sure of herself, which baffled her, she gave the keys to her baby to Susan who left with Bastion.

There were clicks as the sensors finally said it was safe for the two women to come out having read zero UV readings for the last five minutes. Both lids opened but the one closer to the door slammed shut again as sun light touched her body.

"It is safe to come out, the windows and doors won't let any UV in." Amy said to Destiny who had sat up but was watching her hand which was sitting in direct light. She got out slowly still cautious but after long moments of nothing she knocked on the other coffin.

"It is safe." Destiny said and Arianna's coffin crept open, a hand shot out into the light to test it for herself but when nothing happened she flung the coffin open and a moment later was out. Both women glanced around and wondered why Crystal was here.

"I guess you are wondering why I asked you all here?" Amy began.

"You said you knew who my maker was and what happened to Vlha!" Destiny said firmly.

"You used my friendship with Ghan to get me here." Crystal added.

"You said that you knew something which would change conclave and vampires in general." Arianna continued.

"All are correct, what I know is going to shake up the vampire race. If you will follow me I will explain why I have asked you three to come here." Amy replied.

"Why is Crystal here? She is a freak not a Vampire." Arianna asked.

"Nor do I wish to be..." Crystal snapped.

"Please..." Serenity said a little pained at the anger rolling off of Crystal, other emotions swirled around her, anxiety from her father, distrust from Destiny and suspicion from Arianna. The only person who was calm was Amy, she had expected this.

"Five minutes... if I haven't answered your main questions in five minutes then go." Amy explained.

The three women considered it then nodded. Amy directed them to the library and to waiting chairs, Serenity sat on her father's lap as Amy poured out some coffee. Crystal watched, amused, as Amy made her coffee just as she liked it and snorted into her cup when she offered a mug to a stunned Destiny.

"I don't..." Destiny started to say.

"You'll be amazed if I tell you that not only can you drink this but that you'll like it." Amy told her and Destiny found herself taking the mug. Amy then offered Arianna a cup of tea.

"How did you know?" Arianna asked as she sniffed her tea, it was the one thing from her human life that she couldn't get rid of, her love for elder flower tea.

"I know all three of you." Amy explained as Haley approached with a cup of juice for Serenity.

"Excuse me..." Haley said to get Amy's attention. "Are you sure you only want seven jugs?"

"Yes, seven will be fine." Amy replied and Haley nodded before leaving.

"How do you know us?" Destiny asked before she sipped at her coffee and found that she loved the brew.

"Well you see I just came back from an alternate reality where I met all of you and learnt some of the vampires deepest secrets. Like the source of your race was actually born a Were." Amy said which instantly had Arianna's and Destiny's attention as very few knew that.

"Okay... what else do you know?" Arianna asked.

"That Destiny ordered the destruction of Crystal's blood which had been taken and stored by Judas." Amy added, "and that she did it as a new born and that only days later Vlha vanished when he went to look for Crystal."

Destiny and Arianna couldn't refute any of it as it was all true.

"Who is my maker?" Destiny asked. Amy said nothing she just gestured to Crystal.

Crystal turned to Destiny in shock, surely she would have known if someone was bound to her that firmly.

"Prove it," Destiny demanded.

Crystal grabbed a biscuit and handed it to Destiny, "Eat it all." She ordered and Destiny couldn't disobey, she took the first bite quickly trying to rush this as she knew from others that human food tasted foul. However as she chewed the tastes exploded on her tongue almost like blood did, it had her slowing down, savouring the biscuit.

"Oh yeah... she's like me," Crystal said before she growled and stood, "I'll fucking flay him."

"Sit down..." Wolfgang ordered and hoped Amy was right, that this would work, that the small blood bond Ghan and Crystal had formed would mean that she too would be under his command because Ghan was.

Crystal sat instantly and was a little surprised, but Wolfgang was relieved that Amy was right.

"Judas used Crystal's blood to make you." Amy said directly to Destiny.

"After he was ordered to stop his experiments," Arianna surmised and Amy nodded.

"He also had a witch place spells on you to restrict your heart, make you fear silver and make you more like a Vampire so that you could blend, all the spells will break the moment Crystal's blood passes your lips again." Amy explained and before Destiny could even turn to Crystal, Crystal was offering her wrist.

Destiny winced at the thought of biting Crystal, human blood had always tasted bad to her and vampire blood was not better, as soon as she figured that out she stayed far away from it.

"The one thing the witch couldn't do was make you like human blood," Amy added.

"I know... just do it quickly and get it over with." Crystal said in understanding.

Taking a deep breath she took Crystal's wrist and bit into it, trying to do it quickly, she sucked. It was only after she removed her teeth and released Crystal's wrists that she realised that Crystal's blood didn't taste rancid to her like the blood of other Vampires and not foul like human blood. It was simply delicious but at the same time it was precious and not to be wasted.

There was a sudden tightening in her chest as Crystal's blood joined her system, but as soon as the pressure was there it was gone. Destiny focused, listening as her heart started making it's slow regular beat pattern. Like Crystal's heart there were pauses between each beat because at rest her heart would only beat forty times a minute. She didn't feel very different, the only thing to change was the slow sound of her heart beating.

The slow steady beat of her heart was almost the loudest thing in the room, "it's so loud." Destiny said aside to Crystal.

Crystal shrugged, she had always had a heart beat so couldn't really relate to suddenly having one. "I am sure you'll get used to it and it won't seem so loud in a couple of days."

"Apparently you like the taste of Crystal's blood, don't know if it works the other way around. The only blood however that you will truly crave is the blood of your soul mate." Amy explained after letting Crystal process for a few moments.

"Vampires don't have soul mates," Arianna said firmly.

"Yeah they do, you just have very little chance in finding them." Amy answered. "Everyone has a soul mate, even a Vampire. The only reason Vampires can't find their mates is because they suppress their humanity to the point where they feel nothing, no love, no compassion, no joy, no sorrow and it is those emotions which help you find and keep your soul mate." She explained further. "Destiny and Crystal aren't Vampires. They never have been because they aren't allergic to silver or sunlight."

"We are part Vampire," Crystal stated.

Amy shook her head, "no such thing, nor will there ever be such a creature. You have never been a vampire, a Vampire gave birth to you but you are something else entirely."

"I drink blood... I am a Vampire, my blood made her." Crystal argued.

Amy chuckled as she shook her head. "Besides being the most dangerous being you've ever met, what am I?" Wolfgang grinned as he knew where this was going.

Crystal frowned, "Ancient... Were... I don't know." She answered with a shrug.

Amy nodded, "I don't know either, but I'm not Ancient and I am not Were, even though I have the beast of a Were and the powers of an Ancient, just like you have the abilities of a Vampire. Eat more red meat and you might find your reliance on blood vanish almost completely."

"Almost?" Destiny questioned.

Amy nodded again, "you will always crave the blood of your mate, a remnant of your Were ancestry so to speak."

Arianna decided it was time to step in, "I now know why I am here but I believe it will take them longer to wrap their minds around this."

Haley cleared her throat before she continued to walk in followed by Anna, they placed the jugs of blood on the coffee table and Anna laid down a square of plastic sheet to prevent spilt blood getting on the rug. Once everything was in place Anna checked the drink situation before she ushered Haley from the room.

"What's all this for?" Arianna asked.

"Vlha... I could have gotten him a little sooner but Ghan said it would be better for you three to see him as he comes, not once he is cleaned up." Amy answered.

"So Ghan knows what was going to happen today?" Crystal asked.

Amy nodded, "I had to inform the house that you three plus Vlha would be here and why, to keep you safe until people get used to you." She explained as she focused on Vlha and willed the man here.

Is this giving you a case of Deja-vu? Wolfgang asked as he firmly placed his hands on Vlha's shoulders.

No because this is very different to what happened there, Amy replied as she went to grab a jug but Serenity was already offering one to Vlha. She pressed it to his lips but he needed no prompting, he almost snatched the jug from Serenity and started to chug it down, spilling some in the process. When he finished his eyes focused on the other jugs, he took another and drank it down almost as fast and as soon as that one was finished he started on the next one until he finished his sixth jug, he grabbed the seventh and clutched it to his chest afraid it would be taken from him.

"Destiny please tell him we won't take his blood," Amy asked.

Destiny wondered briefly how Amy knew she could communicate with Vlha, but nodded, "Old friend you don't have to protect the blood, it is yours we wouldn't dream of taking it from you, I give you my word."

Vlha studied Destiny, of any of the Vampires in the world there was only one that he would trust and that person was before him. He felt the hands keeping him in a seated position leave, giving him back his movement if he chose. He placed the jug back onto the table he got it from then studied his surrounds. "How long?" he almost whispered.

"Three thousand years," Destiny answered.

Vlha felt rage tear through him only to have it vanish instantly, washed away like one would wash dirt from their hands. A small hand was touching his drawing his eyes to the little child who had given him the first jug of blood. "You are a powerful child."

"Yes she is," Ghan replied, he had tried to stay away but the moment he felt his brother's presence he couldn't stay away, he had spent so much of his long life searching for his twin brother, to bring them back together like they should have always been, to just wait.

Vlha turned the moment he heard his brother, Vlha sighed and went to get up, "I will leave."

Ghan snorted, "I am not Alpha here, the two behind you are, they brought you here, do you really think they would want you to leave after you just got here."

"Vlha the world has changed," Destiny added, "you won't be able to cope."

"Things have changed," A very familiar male voice said as he walked in, Vlha flinched when he saw the man the voice belonged to, Mryddin, which explained how he had gotten out of the coffin at the bottom of an abyss. He had run into the weird man a few times in his past.

"You brought me here?" Vlha questioned.

Mryddin shook his head, "My niece did." He gestured to Amy who smiled when Vlha turned to her.

Vlha bowed his head, "Thank you for freeing me, I am in your debt." He waited then glanced at one of the three to translate.

"He thanks you." Destiny said before she turned to Crystal, "may I give him some blood?"

Crystal nodded seeing no harm in it.

Destiny stood and walked over to Vlha offering her wrist to him.

"I don't need any more blood," He said for a moment confused.

"You taught me your language this way, now I will teach you what I have learnt while you were away." She explained.

"For someone who claimed to be intelligent you are rather obtuse," Ghan said in a slightly teasing tone.

Vlha glared at his brother who just smiled, "Excuse me... you would be a little out of it too if you had been in a suspended state for three thousand years." He snapped before be bit Destiny's wrist, he took two deep pulls and licked over the wounds before he released her. His head spun a little as he absorbed all that Destiny had learnt over the years.

"Well since I am no longer needed," Mryddin said as he grabbed the book he had originally come in to get and walked out.

Serenity held out a damp cloth that she had willed into her hands, Vlha glanced at it then at his body which had some spilt blood on it. He took the cloth, "thank you." He said softly as he put the cloth to use in cleaning the blood away.

"What happened to you?" Arianna asked.

"Arianna?" Vlha said surprised for a moment as she had always been timid around him.

Arianna nodded. "What happened, where have you been?"

Vlha snarled as he remembered again what had happened, but just as the fury rose up in him it was again washed away. He turned to the little girl, "it is healthy to feel emotions, why do you keep taking mine away?" He asked.

"Rage and fury are painful, I feel everything you feel but because they are not mine they hurt." Serenity explained. "I don't mind most emotions, they don't hurt but negative ones do."

Vlha considered the little girl's point of view, "I will try to control my negative emotions."

She smiled, "Thank you." She turned to her mother, "can I have a cookie?"