Bite

9

One month later..........

Stefan was dreaming. Of his past life, of himself as a simple blacksmith, in love with what he thought was a good woman. Instead she betrayed him and tried to kill him. He fell for a beautiful woman but she was tricked into thinking his love was not real and murdered. He slowly opened his eyes.

"What? Where?" He was in a bed, wearing a sleeveless shirt and very baggy but soft pants. He could see the room was empty save for a nightstand. Stefan grabbed at his hair, which wasn't stringy and smelly anymore. It was soft and stopped at his shoulders. "Was it all a bad dream?" He spoke to himself.

"Nope!" Another voice emerged from beside him. It was an eerily beautiful woman with a skeletal face, two butterflies on each side of her head and wearing a purple and black striped cape and skirt. She had a necklace with amethyst beads on it.

"You're not Creator's favorite, today. You and your kindred gods are so weak compared to us. A human was much stronger than you." She smiled at him, hands on her chest. She was not a human. She was a goddess, but he didn't know who she was. Stefan was afraid of her.

She smelled of incense and lavender. It was similar to that of Ashara's. No....unless she was. That explained it. That kind of contract was extremely rare. Stefan's mind flashed to Ashara sending the coyotes right at him, setting him and herself on fire without any harm to her and her on top of him, screeching as she beat his face to a bloody pulp.

"She's your champion?" He felt sweaty and his heart racing. Oh shit, Stefan fucked up majorly.

"Yeah, you're lucky she didn't lose her eye." She narrowed her eyes at him and the butterflies turned to face him. He gulped. Stefan didn't need to shift now, he needed to calm down.

"She and her kind are the reason I was sealed. Also she started it." He crossed his arms. Stefan no longer looked skeletal but he was still on the thin side. He needed to regain his muscle and his frame.

"Asharat had nothing to do with what those hunters did to you. She was a victim to the descendants of one, if anything." Tzirihime glared at him. "Not to mention, you did that to yourself, wolf boy."

"I didn't ask to be this!" Stefan pointed to his body. "I wanted to live my life as a normal human with my people safe but that was not allowed."

"Yet you put them in danger at every turn, including one of my own children." She shook her head and pursed her extremely thin lips. "You allowed yourself to be consumed by hatred and lust and you ended up in that box by your own volition."

"Who was your child?" Stefan looked at her.

"Katalina, of course. She was one of my descendants as Ashara is." She looked at him. "I was a human once, I gave up my life to save my peoples' lives, you gave up your people's in exchange for yours." She then sighed. "I guess I'll see you later, wolf boy."

She vanished. He felt rage. Who did she think she was, judging him? She didn't-well she did, somehow. Stefan got him and fell to the ground instantly. Shit, he was barely able to move before and now his legs had atrophied. He cursed as he tried to crawl to the door.

"Move, stupid legs, move!" He was pissed off. Stefan could feel himself wanting to tear out of his human form, destroy things and kill things. He couldn't even shift. He heard footsteps near the door. It was a young woman, tall and slightly chubby with her hair in a braid. After her was another young woman with short hair and there was Ashara.

"What? Are you here to taunt me?" He snapped, glaring at her.

"No, I thought you might need help." She responded, crossing her arms. "I guess not from me." The tall girl and the one with short hair who offered to help him up. Stefan accepted as they guided him back to bed.

"Your body is still trying to heal from all of your wounds. You shouldn't try to walk just yet." The tall girl spoke. "And of course, your pneumonia."

"I would have been fine if someone hadn't beat me while I was sick." Stefan crossed his arms.

"Oh, please, you tried to kill us first." Ashara rolled her eyes. She walked over to him.

"And I was defending myself. After all, your kind is the reason I was sealed." Stefan glared at her.

"My kind? What's that supposed to mean, asshole?" She wrinkled her face. "You probably deserved to get sealed!"

"Ashara...." The tall girl looked at her. "I think you should go."

"I was trying to be a good man! I was trying to marry the woman I loved, start a family, and live a long life with her! And then some assholes had to ruin everything for me." Stefan could feel his veins popping and his body shaking. Ashara said nothing but she looked at him.

"Guess that makes two of us. But unlike you, I never took my rage out on innocent people." She looked angry but also on the verge of tears. She turned around and walked away. The tall girl sighed.

"Stop antagonizing her, you don't need that." She sighed. "Go back to bed please."

Stefan groaned. "What did you do to me?"

"You were bad. You had multiple infections, you were suffering from pneumonia and bleeding badly." The tall girl sighed. "Your body atrophied from you being comatose for so long. With some physical therapy, you'll be walking and doing stuff soon."

He sighed. "I don't need help, I can do it on my own." The girls then left. He laid back down, feeling tired. He wouldn't mind going back to sleep forever right now. He already hated this new world.