Victor grinned.
“Yeah it does, doesn’t it? What do you usually listen to?”
At that, the werewolf who had claimed the bench underneath his perch hesitated, and Victor noticed he had hit a nerve. But before he could say anything, she said a lot of words, really fast, without a single pause.
“Like, nothing really, I guess? I mean I used to say I kind of like techno, and I do a little bit, but like I also kinda like classical, it’s cool when I want to study, you know? But all in all, I just feel like music really isn’t for me, perhaps? It all seems like it’s missing something like it’s all just kinda good, but nothing really makes me bob my head along.”
“Yo,” Victor said. Then he paused a second to think because that’s the kind of guy he was. He half expected the werewolf to interrupt him, but she just sat there, her tail wagging a little, looking at him with her neck arched back.
Finally, he said: “Classical is nice, yeah. My mom likes it, actually.” It was a bit of a test, and perhaps that wasn’t really fair, but the evening had been one disappointment after the other. So he threw that nugget of a mention in there to see what would happen.
But the werewolf just kept wagging her tail, smiling. When he didn’t say anything after that, she said:
“Okay, cool? My mom likes Country, I guess? And my Dad likes rap, but not mumble rap, just the old school kinda stuff that they played back when he was young. He says he did it to rebel because everyone listened to something else back then, but it’s like super hard to imagine my Dad rebelling against anything. He’s a bit of a softie, but he can be super stern, too. I kinda wonder if that is how he made Mid Boss in that dungeon he’s in. What’s your mom do? And your dad?”
----------------------------------------
Waverly had been a little worried that this would be one of those conversations that she had to carry all the time like she already had so many times tonight. But when she started talking about Music, the werecat’s smile had broadened, and even though he had grown frowny when he talked about his mom, he’d been super happy to just hear her talk. She liked that. She liked that a lot. She didn’t quite know why, but it made her feel like she could talk about more stuff, even though he didn’t answer back all that much. Usually, she would feel kinda shy about talking so much without the other person talking back, but there was just something about this dude that made her feel listened to, and that was awesome. But still, she also wanted to know who he was.
So she asked him about his mom and dad, and he said:
“My parents? Oh, my Dad’s a housecat, I guess. And my Mom runs a dungeon.”
As usual, Waverly’s mind filled with things to say and ask before he even stopped speaking. Way too many. But she had told herself that she wouldn’t try to hold herself back, and so she just allowed them to flow.
“Ohhhhhhh! That’s like, so cool! My mom wants to run her dungeon, too, and we hope she’ll get like, promoted soon. Her current boss is kind of like a dick, but he’s growing too powerful for the Dungeon Core to handle so maybe they’ll transfer him. But like actually that’s so interesting that your parents aren’t the same class! You’re like a mix, then? Do you have like, two classes?”
The boy shrugged, and she noticed she still thought about him as “the boy” and that she hadn’t introduced herself and that was super rude and she didn’t want to be rude so she said: “Oh damn, sorry, I’m Waverly, what’s your name?”
----------------------------------------
Victor laughed and said. “Yo Waverly, I’m Victor, nice to meet you.”
Then he extended his hand, and she shook it. Her grip was firm, but her fingers didn’t stay still for one second, always readjusting, probing, testing, sensing. He liked her. She obviously had no idea who his parents were, but somehow, he could tell that even if she did, she wouldn’t really care.
Instead, she asked about him. So many questions, in fact, that he didn’t know which one to answer first. So he thought about it a second, head tilted.
Finally, he said:
“I’m a [Vampire]/[Werecat] mix, but my second class is [Catboy], probably because of the human part in my mom. You’re a werewolf, right?”
Waverly nodded vigorously. “Yeah! [Werewolf] through and through. But that’s so cool that you have two classes!”
The unspoken question about his levels hung in the air. Having two classes at his age was rare, and although few people were rude enough to ask outright, everyone wanted to know just how much of a head start he’d gotten. Victor wasn’t expected to answer, of course. Levels were kept semi-private for a reason. And yet, when he checked Waverly’s body language, he didn’t find a speck of intrigue, just curiosity. In the end, that was what made him say:
“Doesn’t help me much. I’m level 17, and it’s mostly the 16 levels from [Catboy] that get me there.”
----------------------------------------
Waverly nodded and was about to ask why Victor’s [Vampire] class was so low and then also tell him her own level because he had shown her a lot of trust, and she totally wanted to get even, when the door opened behind her, interrupting her train of thought.
“Yo what’s up big girl?” said a deep male voice.
Waverly turned to find a werewolf guy almost as tall as she was (tank top, skinny jeans, gold chain) strolling towards her. He was accompanied by a bored-looking lizardkin girl (deep cleavage, gem-studded heels, blowing bubblegum) a weretiger, (leather jacket, cowboy boots, smirk stapled to his face), and a werehyena, (eyes as big as saucers, bad undercut, ripped T-shirt with a cartoon picture of the Pope smoking a bong and the caption “High as Heaven”).
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I’m Chad,” the Werewolf said, pronouncing it exactly like you would expect a werewolf wearing a tanktop and a gold chain to pronounce the words ‘I’m Chad.’
“Heard you’re looking for a pack. We should totally hang out,” Chad said. He was in full werewolf form, which Waverly thought was kinda weird. Usually, werewolves were aware of their reputations. You just didn’t shift your full werewolf form unless you totally wanted to show off.
The other wolf came closer, and he smelled like trouble. Waverly instinctively bared her teeth at him, even though she tried to hide it inside a grin.
“Hey!” she said, wagging her tail apologetically. “Sorry, not looking for a pack. I’m pretty happy with mine, even though Mom and Dad are always—“
“Yeah that’s too bad,” Chad said, interrupting her. That was super fucking rude, and it was all Waverly could do not to flatten her ears against her skull. The world plunged into tones of blue and yellow as her eyes shifted, and it took her a second to get them back under control.
“But yeah, that means we will totally have to fight it out over territory rights,” Chad said, cracking his neck. It took Waverly a second to realize he wasn’t joking.
“Are you like, serious?” Waverly said, her tail stopping its wagging. “A duel. Just for this party?”
“Nah, bro. For the entire class.”
Waverly frowned. “Uh, I don’t know how to, like, say this politely, but I’m going to DeSade, so like, we’re probably not in the same class, so…
Chad bristled at that. “Yo bitch, you better pack your tail between your legs and shut your trap. Obviously, I’m going to DeSade too.”
That was super weird. Waverly thought DeSade was super exclusive, at least that was what they told her in the invitation letter. She hadn’t thought they’d let someone as territorial as this guy in. Maybe he was on some sort of sports scholarship?
Behind her, Victor sighed. “Your father’s Lord Barkerton, right?”
“Yeah, bro. And he didn’t raise a fucking puppy who rolls over to some beta-ass bitch. You the von Katzer Kid, yeah?”
Waverly assumed Victor nodded because Chad smirked. “Yeah, that checks out. Probably the reason why you didn’t even try to hold court at the party. Heard your mom is going to leave your dad because he’s a pussy ass bitch, so seems like the apple doesn’t fall far from the twig, bro.”
Chad held out his fist and his pack bumped it one after another, and they were chuckling as though that was funny somehow, but Waverly didn’t get it.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “Who is this Barkerton, and what’s that about your mom?” Waverly asked, turning to Victor. She thought that maybe he’d be frowning or something, but he was actually pretty relaxed, leaning back against the window with a quiet smile as if this was all just a game to him. It was a bit like the Vampires on Hellevision, Waverly thought, and that kinda fit because Victor was part Vampire, but when they had spoken, his smile had been super different, it had reminded her more of a meadow with a cozy house on it, and not like some sort of snow-capped peak with a scary castle or something, because that’s what his smile was like, now.
“Yo check it out, the bitch doesn’t even know who von Katzer is.” He laughed, and it sounded super fake, but then he grew all serious. “Not knowing those has-beens is like, whatever, but like, you should totally know who my Dad is. Everyone knows Barkerton, bro.”
“They sell Arghidas,” Victor supplied. “You know, the sportswear?”
“Ohhhh,” Waverly said. “Like the stuff all those mumble rappers wear?”
Victor nodded. “Most of them wear Spikes, but yeah.”
“That’s not true, bro!” Chad said, coming another step closer. “I was gonna duel you after the bitch but you can take first place if you want to, bro.”
Victor smirked. Waverly thought his smirk was actually pretty good. It was super contemptuous and his fangs gave it that dangerous edge. He must have practiced that a lot!
“Duel? You?” he raised an eyebrow and left it at that.
Waverly chuckled. Man, he was good!
“Yo, what are you laughing about, bitch?” Chad asked, coming even closer.
This time, Waverly didn’t hide her snarl.
She had told herself she would be honest, right? That also meant she had to be honest about what she didn’t like, right? She’d done it before with the music, and that worked, so it should work here, too.
Maybe Chad would back off!
Hopefully.
So Waverly got up and took a step toward Chad, stepping into his personal space. She had to look up because he was easily 3 nails taller than her. Still, she bared her teeth.
“Stop calling me a bitch,” she said. “It’s, like, rude.”
“Or what?” Chad asked, sneering.
Okay so he wasn’t backing off, which was super fucking dumb. Waverly had promised her parents that she’d not cause trouble, because they knew her and what she was like when people pushed her buttons. But this guy was pushing her buttons super hard, and most importantly, though, he was being an ass to Victor.
And she wasn’t going to lie, Waverly kinda hated that.
----------------------------------------
Until this point, if Victor’s father had called him and asked him if he had made any friends, he would have smiled and said yes. He would have described Waverly as an enthusiastic, cheerful girl, hungry for the world.
“Or what?” Chad repeated himself, a bit louder. This time, Waverly answered.
The moment she’d opened her mouth to reply, Victor knew he would have to add: ‘Oh, and she will fuck you up if you mess with her’ to his earlier description.
Her tone was neutral, still almost friendly. But unlike before, when her personality had been wide-eyed excitement and sunshine smiles, she was all canine-sharp, moon-chilled precision when she said:
“…Or I will put you down.”
Victor’s smile grew a little. Man. She was good!
Chad seemed to agree because he twitched. It was almost imperceptible, but watching people was one of Victor’s favorite pastimes. He’d picked up some tricks. Chad’s friends were far easier to read. They all took a step back.
“So what,” Chad said, looking at Victor in an obvious attempt to weasel out of the fight. “You’re going to let some mutt fight for you?”
“You said you wanted to fight her first,” Victor said, doing that thing where he added enough sweetness to his voice to give someone diabetes. He loved doing that. It always just felt right. However, this time was the first time he did it on purpose.
Congratulations! For acting aloof towards the rabble and beating the dim-witted with their own words, you have earned 150 [Vampire] experience.
Huh! A trigger. A tiny one, but it would easily get him to level 3 before it ran dry. Nice.
So with the same sardonic smile, he added: “Unless, of course, you think she’s stronger than you.”
Congratulations! For acting aloof towards the rabble and goading them into revealing their own foolishness, you have earned 140 [Vampire] experience.