Ofs/Ifs Chapter 1, Part 2

            “Has anyone even considered how we’re going to explain this to Mother?” Evan’s voice bounced down the dank hallway and its musical lilt sounded out of place in the darkness. Nocturne abandoned his cloak at the doorway, not meeting the eyes of his companions. Truth be told, he had been considering this all the way back from their lair and had found no easy answer.

            But in reply he smirked and said, “Of course I have Evan. Don’t worry about it. Let me handle this.”

            “Meaning he had no clue,” Silver’s lip pulled into a sneer. Nocturne shot his jealous rival a menacing glare, but the loud clomping on the stairs distracted them.

             They all stiffened as Romulus appeared, except for Evan, who rushed forward. Romulus continued towards them, approaching cautiously.

            “Romy! Guess who’s home! Did you miss me? Did you? Did you tune my guitar?” Evan wrapped his arms around the other blond, ignoring the tightness of Romulus’s lips and the rigidness of his torso.

            Nocturne shook his head when Romulus turned to him with the question in his eyes. Evan poked him in the stomach. “Romy you’re ignoring me!”

            “My apologies Evanescent,” he brushed the boy off and continued to address Nocturne. “Are you telling me you didn’t find any to kill? We are hardly difficult to find!”

            “We found them quite easily,” Nocturne admitted. “But…they were not what we expected.”

            Understanding lit Evan’s eyes, and he whispered loudly to Romulus, “Oh! I get it! You want to know if we killed the werewolves like we were supposed to!”

            A collective sigh traveled through the other four and Romulus relaxed. When their quiet breath had dispelled, the air seemed lighter around them. They breathed freely for a moment in each other’s company before Romulus murmured, “I see.”

            Four faces turned to question him, and he smiled gently at them. “I had worried you would come home and think me a beast as well.”

            “I believe it would have made us beasts ourselves if we had killed them,” a fourth voice intoned from the corner.

            Nocturne nodded. “Eternal is right, Romulus. We watched the werewolves for two days before we planned to kill them, and by the end, we couldn’t. The third day we spoke to them. They welcomed us into their shack and were shocked when we told them our purpose,” all the boys smiled at the memory of the people who had surprised them so much. “Then they begged us to leave before the full moon so they would not harm us, and sent us away with two boys they had rescued.”

            “They reminded us too much of you for us to kill them, wolf-brother,” Eternal’s hair swept over his face as he shook his head. “The boys they had rescued were victims of a coven war. Vampires, Romulus… our family. Why would they do this? Why were we ordered to kill your people when there are clearly other troubles to be concerned with?”

            Heaviness settled in Nocturne’s chest at the sight of Romulus’s torment. He knew the answer before it left the werewolf’s lips: the reason behind all the pain of the pack and the human victims alike.

            “It’s a blood feud, Eternal. It’s all about power.”

Ofs/Ifs Chapter 1: Of Blood and Water

Tess glanced up from the letters on her polished desk to peer out the bedroom window. Four cloaked figures huddled outside in the snow, their muffled voices carrying through the crisp air. Her lips turned in a smile even as her stomach contracted in hunger. She dared not greet her boys when she had not fed in so long. She sighed.

            “Romulus?” she called softly. “Rom?”
            “Here, my lady.”
            Her eyebrows rose into a delicate arch. “How quickly you respond, my cub. One would almost think you had been waiting for me to notice you.”

              She noted his awkward silence but did not turn to look at him. Instead, she lifted her pen again and continued tracing flowing letters across the script. Her steady hand fashioned a small flourish at each corner of the page. She laid down the pen. His heavy, musky scent countered her building hunger and settled her mind, though the dull drum of his heart teased her. He stayed mute behind her, unaware of his influence.

            “Romulus,” she sang, “Why were you waiting outside my door?”

            “The boys have returned.” His demure voice held a trace of resignation. He did not continue, but stood at attention, eyes riveted on the pages where she had written. Tess winced as his pace quickened.

            “Are those the papers, my lady?” he abruptly asked.

            “Naturally.”

            Outside, the wind had picked up again, and the murmur of voices retreated to the downstairs hall. The floor shook slightly as the door was slammed shut against the elements. Most of her recent conversations with Romulus had played in this fashion: the tenseness, the long silences, and the strange disquiet in her normally unshakable cub. It was almost a relief to see that something could sway him from his servitude and submission to her. She wondered, if she pushed him far enough, would the monster within him finally break loose?

            “My lady, is it true what the boys were doing in the woods?”

            Tess straightened, then stood, her lithe form flowing with inhuman grace to his side. He appeared as a figure of gold in the warm light of the fireplace, and when she caressed his cheek, he remained as a statue beneath her touch.

           “Romulus, not all your kind are as…tame…as you are. Their numbers must be controlled. Do you understand?” He turned away from her hand, his face distorted.

            “Does it bother you that much, my cub?”

            “You sent the boys, who I consider my adopted kin, to learn to hunt and kill my true kin. And you ask,” his golden eyes hardened, “if it bothers me?”

            “They are not your kin, they would have killed you if they had found you in-“

            “If you had not found me so young, I believe you would have killed me as well.”

            Tess froze, lips parted and eyes plaintive. The hand that reached for his arm was stilled. “My cub…” she whimpered.

            He stepped away from her and turned his gaze to the wall. “It is time you learned the difference between a cub and a wolf, my lady, and between blood and water. This wolf is not tame.”

             He snatched the papers from her desk and threw them into the fire. Both he and they vanished in a flash of gold, leaving Tess with both a heat and a chill she could not escape.

Old High-school Sims 2 Scribblings: Ofs/Ifs

I could not believe what I found the other day. This is the first "Sims Story" that I ever tried to write, way back when I played Sims 2 in high-school. I could not believe it was still on the internet.

I am both intrigued and somewhat appalled by it. Although it is not related to the Sims 3... or to challenges, for that matter... I think I will share it! Consider this both an interlude and a predecessor to The Dog Days.