His Obsession

“…So that is why you should not jump.” Puck finished saying to the young girl perched at the edge of the roof. The wind blew her limp brown hair into her wild eyes that darted between Puck holding his hand out to her and the oblivious people some three stories below.

“B-but I lost them both.” She whimpered. “My boyfriend. Our baby. They want me to go to them.”

“Puck just told you they don’t want you to come.” He argued and when the girl’s face crumpled he added, “At least not right now they don’t.”

“But they need me.”

No we don’t, the Voice of the girl’s recently deceased boyfriend told Puck. The vampire sighed and dropped his proffered hand.

“Look, Puck is tired.” He told her. “He has been up here for the past twenty minutes trying to keep you from doing something you’ll regret. Puck has told you over and over that your boyfriend does not want you to jump off the roof, splattering your insides outside.”

“But they—” the girl started to argue when Puck finally lost his patience.

“Suicide is not painless, get your butt over here.” He hissed. With a squeak, the girl scuttled away from the edge.

Good job, Puck! A few Voices cheered.

Yes, be firm!

Once she was in reach, Puck put a friendly arm around her shoulders and escorted her back to her hospital room.

As they walked, the voice of the boyfriend rambled on about the circumstances of his death and the death of his unborn child. Then he began bestowing upon the vampire his eternal gratitude. Puck, however, chose to ignore the chatty ex-druggie and focused his attention on the girlfriend.

“Puck is sorry he snapped at you.” He told the girl as he tucked her into her bed.

“It’s okay.” She replied quietly. “You probably have more important things to do than to talk a crack whore off a roof.”

A crack whore is a derogatory term for a female who does narcotics. The Voices answered before Puck could ask. She hasn’t ever had sex with anyone to buy her next fix, thus the term doesn’t apply.

“You’re not a crack whore.” Puck said with a wry smile. “And whoever told you that is a liar.”

“Then what am I then?” she asked and the vampire took her skeletal hand.

“You’re just a really pretty girl who made some choices that led her down a dark path.” Puck replied warmly. “Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes they hurt just you and other times they hurt other people. All that matters is that you learn from them and try to move on.”

Didn’t you read that in a fortune cookie? The Voices inquired.

Yeah, those egg rolls were great, Puck thought before saying aloud, “Just take each day moment by moment, okay?”

“Okay I will, Mr Puck.” The girl replied as the vampire released her hand and waved goodbye before slipping away.

Once back at the August Jalapeño, Puck climbed down the basement steps and collapsed on top of his bed with a weary groan. He rolled around a minute or two, gathering up the quilt in his hands until he had himself wrapped up tight as a swaddled infant.

“Hehe, Puck burrito.” He said with a grin.

What does a Puck burrito come with? A side order of insanity?

“Warm Puck burrito comes with a Miss Felissia and a Witchy Poo and Puppy” Puck replied drowsily and turned on his side with a yawn. “Puck and Puppy…”

We don’t like him.

“Don’t have to.”

He’s bad news.

“Not bad news.” Puck argued as he drifted off to sleep. “Good Puppy.”
************************

“Goddamnit, I ain’t cleanin’ up any pixie puke!” Felissia screamed from the bar that night. “Quit tossin’ back drinks and go home.”

The two highly intoxicated fairies, no more than a foot high each, stumbled to their feet, twitched their butterfly like wings with a tinny curse and flew off drunkenly.

Puck who sat at the bar with his head down watched the two smashed sprites weave through the air with a grin. Him and a few others watching the tiny drunks let out loud guffaws when one fairy almost went face first into the side of the door. But luck was with the creature and it quickly avoided disaster, correcting its course and flew off into the night.

“Who’d ever think watching two skunked bugs leave would be entertaining, eh?” a familiar voice asked as they sat next to Puck. The vampire lifted up his head with a happy laugh.

“Hi Puppy.”

Chase shook his head and looked over to examine Puck’s meal. The scent of mushrooms tickled the werewolf’s nose long before the hint of blood was detected inside the soup. A glass of ice water sat next to the bowl and strangely, that too held a trace of blood.

Why is he lacing the blood with real food? Chase wondered.

“That looks like some good soup.” he told Puck. “Mind if I have a taste?”

“No.” the vampire promptly replied. “Miss Felissia says it’s specially made for Puck and Puck only.”

Correction: Why is Gray lacing Puck’s blood with real food?

Chase watched as Puck wolfed down his soup with obvious delight and came to a decision.

“Mind if I ask a weird kinda personal question?” Chase inquired. When Puck nodded he asked, “Why aren’t you just drinking blood straight?”

The vampire choked on his soup and suddenly went pale. Puck swallowed hard. His breaths became hitched and uneven. His eyes became unfocused and a low voice unlike Puck’s came from the vampire’s lips.

“Don’t say that word again, Chase Damien. Don’t ever say it.” He growled.

Before Chase could verbalize his confusion, Puck’s eyes regained focus and he returned to voraciously eating his soup.

“Uh Puck... are you okay?”

“Yeah!” the vampire replied brightly in between bites. “That was your weird and kinda personal question?”

Chase frowned, “You don’t remember me asking about drinking—”

Before he could say the word blood, the werewolf caught a warning glint in Puck’s eyes. One that didn’t fit quite right with the happy, oblivious profile Chase saw with his eyes but fit perfectly with the dark voice he heard before.

“How old are you?” Chase asked instead and Puck smiled faintly as he turned toward him.

“That’s a complicated answer.”

“You seem like a complicated guy.”

Puck sighed and turned away, allowing Chase the perfect opening to slip the animal tranquilizer hidden up his sleeve into Puck’s food. All the werewolf would have to do is let it fall into his hand, reach out and put it into the soup. He wouldn’t even need to stir it. Simply empty the syringe into the broth and wait for Puck to fall asleep.

Chase refused to do it.

“Puck isn’t complicated. He has a complicated existence.” The vampire told him turning back around to face him.

Why does he refer to being alive as existence? Chase asked himself. Is Puck one of those holy rollers who see vampirism as the ‘ultimate sin’?

“It’s really hard to explain.” Puck told him with a smile that made Chase want to hug him. Chase didn’t however; he didn’t want to end up on the floor again.

“Well then,” Chase said with a grin. “You don’t have to. We can talk about something else. Like hobbies.”

“Puck grows herbs. And makes things that Nora-kitty plays with and Miss Felissia sells for extra cash.”

“Nora-kitty?”

“Witchy Poo’s kitten.” Puck answered then leaned close and whispered. “She is a scary kitty. Nora-kitty pretends to want Puck to pet her and then bites him when Puck touches her.”

“So Puck is more of a dog person.” Chase said with a smirk. Puck nodded before blushing at the heated look he was the subject of. The vampire turned away to gain his composure, allowing Chase another chance to drug his food.

“So what does Chase Puppy do?” Puck asked before the werewolf could seize the opportunity he had been given.

“I do odd jobs for people.” he replied casually. He noted a remote look momentarily crossed Puck’s features before the vampire shook his head, snapping himself out of his reverie.

“Most times it’s finding lost stuff. One time me and my men had to saved this kidnapped girl. Another time we hunted down this piece of art and the person who stole it.”

“It sounds exciting.” Puck said. “Do you travel a lot?”

Chase shrugged, “Not too far. The furthest I had to go for a job was a state over. That was when we were tracking that kidnapped girl.”

“Did she get home safe?”

“No.” Chase responded somberly. Three years later and he still had nightmares about that girl. Pieces of her scattered across the hotel floor, her sweet cherub face peeled from her skull and discarded on the nightstand.

“But we got the bastard that hurt her.” He growled as Puck reached out and gently petted his head. “Offered his skull as a trophy to the parents and pissed on the rest.”

“You’re a good Puppy.” The vampire told him as he scratched behind Chase’s ear, causing the werewolf to twitch from the strange sensation. He firmly grabbed Puck’s wrist, slid the needle into his opposite hand, and stuck him.

“No, I’m not.” Chase whispered and pressed the plunger down on the syringe.

Puck’s startled expression relaxed as the drugs inside him began to take effect. His limbs felt unwieldy. His vision began to blur as the rest of his senses became muted. The Voices became muffled and distant, morphing into hollow sounding noise with hardly any meaning.

“Shit.” Puck hissed as he slumped into Chase’s waiting arms. He felt himself lifted up and dragged outside where he was swung into a pair of larger arms and carried to a vehicle.

We warned you, a surge of Voices told Puck as he was placed inside and doors slid shut behind him. The Voices grew distant again before swelling up loudly, But you didn’t listen.

“Bad puppy.” Puck muttered. Across from him, Jirou snorted as Medina pulled out from the August Jalapeño’s parking lot. The vampire weakly kicked the passenger seat where he knew Chase quietly sat.

“Bad dog! Bad fucking dog!” Puck punctuated his screams with hard kicks to the seat. “Damn you!”

“Jirou, trank ‘em.” Chase ordered and the last thing the vampire remembered was a weighty sigh.
************************

Beyond the city, beyond a black rod iron security gate and a long dark driveway patrolled by stealthy security guards, lay Kyriak’s shadowy gothic manor. Medina maneuvered and parked the van in front of the double entry doors before everyone climbed out.

“Why don’t you let me carry him?” the one eyed man said to Chase who pulled the unconscious vampire out of the vehicle. The young Alpha wolf merely glared, slid his arms underneath Puck’s knees and back and lifted him into his arms.

“Ring the bell, Jirou.” Chase ordered the man trailing behind him.

The Asian gave his leader a disturbed look as he did what the man commanded. Both Medina and he exchanged glances behind Chase’s back concerning their leader’s atypical orders and the brisk way they were issued. Before either could say a word to the other, the middle aged butler who met them once before answered the door. He politely invited the men in and guided them into a receiving room decorated in soft blues and greens.

“The Master and Mistress have instructed me to tell you to place our guest in the specially prepared chair so he does not harm himself or others when he wakes.” The servant told pointing at the wheelchair with leather restraints sitting in the corner. Reluctantly Chase placed Puck in the wheelchair and secured his arms and legs snugly in the restraints.

“I shall inform the Master and Mistress that their much anticipated company awaits.” The butler announced before leaving.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Medina muttered. Chase nodded as he took a seat on the sofa between the door and Puck.

“Relax, “Jirou replied with a casual air dropping down into a chair next to the ever vigilant Medina. “We did our job exactly the way they wanted, nothing to worry about.”

“The anticipated company’s probably Puck.” Chase added chasing away the nagging feeling that something was wrong. “Spartacus seemed pretty curious about him when we spoke this morning.”

Medina relaxed only a hair before tensing up in alarm when Puck jerked in his restraints. Chase watched silently as the vampire blearily peered back at him through his messy bangs. Puck violently shook his head and whimpered before he surrendered to the drug once more.

“Feisty bastard.” Medina growled with no small amount of admiration.

“But so cu~te!” exclaimed a new voice.

All eyes turned to the lavender eyed blue haired man posing in the doorway, the very image of gothic drag in an ivory lace dress with a large hoopskirt. Behind Sin dressed in a demure black jumper and accented with a simple silver belt was the ever devious Damia of Ephesus. Her brother and lover, Kyriak of Ephesus was also dressed simply in a pair of slacks and a rusty colored sweater.

Sin rushed over to Puck and hugged the unconscious vampire to his smooth bosom. His eyes began to dance and Sin let out an excited squeak when he tilted Puck’s head up and gazed upon his countenance. The smirk Damia came into the room with began to fade.

Why does he look familiar, she asked herself with a frown Chase noticed from his seat.

“So this is the mysterious Puck.” Kyriak said taking a seat across from Chase and Puck. Damia soon lowered herself down upon her brother’s lap and he wrapped his arms around her.

“This is the man who knows much, has the ability to rescind spells and enough raw power to kill Luk.” He continued saying as Sin toyed with Puck’s hair.

“You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, would you?” the werewolf leader replied. Chase found he didn’t like Sin touching Puck but refrained from voicing his displeasure. My job is to hand Puck over; whatever happens to him afterwards is none of my business. He isn’t mine.

“No, one wouldn’t.” Kyriak answered then inquired, “Have you found out anything more about our dearest Puck?”

“Not really.” Chase replied. “He eats blood laced human food. Hell even mention the word blood and he acts really odd.”

Damia snorted, “Pathetic.”

Kyriak swatted his sister’s leg, mildly chastising her. “Now Damia, Puck has obviously had no one to teach him better. He has proven himself capable of handling himself.”

Damia gave Puck, who was being cuddled by Sin, a disapproving look. “Just look at him brother, he couldn’t have defeated Luk. He’s scrawny, too stupid to know that blood is food. There is no way he could have overpowered Luk!”

She does have a point, Chase thought to himself. Puck doesn’t drink enough blood to give him the super strength vamps are known for. He only drinks enough to survive. There has to be some unique ability that Puck has that tipped the scales in his favor.

“You heard someone mention Luk and Puck had a disagreement, correct Mr Damien?” Kyriak asked him.

“Yup and you said it yourselves, Luk was going to go after some trouble he ran into and from what I gathered, it was Puck.”

“Luk would have cleaned Plucky’s clock.” Sin told everyone pinching Puck’s cheeks. “My Luk might have stayed out all night kicking tail end, but then pretty here would have also been burnt.”

Suddenly it hit Chase how exactly Puck could have defeated Luk, despite being the weaker vampire. He forgot that it had been an entire week since the vampire died and that Puck could have healed any damage he sustained during that time. If his suspicions were true, all Puck would have had to do was stay alive until sunrise.

“Do you have a UV light around?” the werewolf asked eagerly. “I’d like to test a hypothesis that might resolve our questions about how Jiang got his ass kicked.”

Damia frowned as Sin wrinkled his nose and cocked his head to one side. Kyriak made a motion and his butler rushed to his master’s side. The vampire gave the man some quiet instructions before the butler headed off and quickly returned with a small flashlight.

“You aim that in mine or anyone else but Puck’s direction and you’ll pay.” Kyriak warned handing Chase the light.

The werewolf gave the vampire a disgusted look as he stood and turned toward Puck. Chase placed the light directly against the vampire’s skin before briefly clicking the device on and then quickly turned it off. Gingerly, he peeled the flashlight away revealing by small increments perfectly smooth white skin.

“He’s immune to sunlight.” Chase revealed proudly to the three gaping vampires as he sat back down. “Here’s what I think happened: Puck lured Jiang out to the construction site. He’s smart enough to know all he has to do is keep Luk distracted long and good enough that the guy doesn’t realize the time. He’s out in the open when bang sun comes up, we have fried Chinese and Puck wins.”

“Oh he’s a keeper.” Sin cooed and Kyriak chuckled.

“Yes Sin, our mysterious and very beautiful Puck is a keeper.” he replied.

Damia jerked in Kyriak’s lap. Her brother’s words stirred a recent memory and she looked again at Puck. With new eyes, Damia saw not the unconscious white haired vampire sitting before her but the image of a dying young man with brown hair. An angry growl welled up from her throat as she launched herself at Puck.

Suddenly everyone was in motion. Damia was furiously clawing at Puck whose eyes shot open at the pain as the woman tore through his shirt. Chase moved to pull Puck away while Kyriak moved to pull his sister away. Chase’s pack went to defend their leader while Sin went to defend his. Over the din of Damia’s animalistic shrieks, Puck’s voice could be heard screaming over and over.

“Evil its! Evil its!”

The combined efforts of Chase and Kyriak separated Damia from Puck a moment later. She was thrown into Sin’s arms and he firmly guided her away from her victim amongst vicious screeching and Puck’s loud mantra.

“Holy shit, what the hell was that about?” Chase exclaimed as he knelt down and examined Puck’s chest. He let out a shocked gasp at the scores of disfiguring scars on Puck’s body. His gasp was echoed by Kyriak for a much different reason. There sitting right over Puck’s heart was a familiar silver medallion.

Kyriak saw what his sister had seen and reached out to cup the other vampire’s cheek. Puck flinched when he was touched, a scream catching in his throat as he leaned away. Kyriak followed Puck’s motion with a chuckle.

“You came back.” He whispered.

Chase looked between the obviously smitten Kyriak and Puck’s horrified face puzzled. Came back? They know each other? A strange jealousy shrouded Chase’s thoughts in a haze.

“Hey Spartacus.” He snapped. Kyriak leisurely turned from Puck and Chase went on, “Mind explaining what the fuck is going on? Your sister goes bat shit for no apparent reason, you know the mark…What. The. Hell?!”

“Evil its.” Puck whispered and Chase spun on him.

“Shut up! I don’t need commentary from the peanut gallery.” He snapped. “Y’know what, Jirou trank his ass.”

The Asian sighed and stepped forward with the last syringe of animal tranquilizer. He popped the cap off and the vampire’s eyes widened as he saw the needle.

“No!” Puck screamed as the syringe pierced his skin and a freak blast of icy air blew throughout the room. Almost as quickly as it appeared, the wind ceased and Puck was once more unconscious.

“Does anyone else need a drink after all that excitement?” Sin inquired dusting off his hands as he stepped into the room. He glanced at the chaos around him and dismissed it with a toss of his head.

“I left Damia overseeing the celebration arrangements. The feast should be ready in a few, so our helpful little mercenaries can have some meat with their drink.” Sin announced proudly.

“Celebration? What feast and meat? Kyriak what the—” Chase asked before Kyriak smiled and placed the tip of his finger to the werewolf’s lips.

“Sin, my sister and I merely wished to thank you with a mighty feast.” The vampire replied. “In my day, efficient completion of one’s work was rewarded in this way. I knew when I asked—”

“Demanded is more like it.” Jirou muttered and Medina shot him a stern look. Kyriak chuckled and turned, removing his finger from Chase’s person.

“I’m sorry you feel this way.” He told the werewolves. “I pray the banquet will make amends for my passionate request.”

“In the meanwhile, I believe a story is in order!” Sin exclaimed gliding into the room and once more draped himself over Puck like a lacy blanket. He shot Kyriak a hooded look from beneath his lashes.

“Since Chase asked ever so nicely how we knew Plucky, it would be rude to ignore him.” He added with a smirk. Kyriak graciously motioned for everyone to take a seat before he sat down once more.

“Once upon a time there lived a brother and sister.” The vampire leader began. “They were a nice sort, I suppose. Both were lovely to look at and the sister was lovely to speak with...but the siblings one day got unlucky.”

“They drew our attention.” Sin purred. “And then we had fun with them.”

Chase began to feel ill and he tried to disguise the look of horror on his face just as Jirou and Medina were hiding their own. But Chase could sense both men’s minds were screaming at them the same things his was.

It was them! They were the ones who scarred Puck! They’re responsible for his condition! Everything is all their fault!

The two vampires seemed to be waiting for one of the werewolves to say something about their twisted fairytale and all Chase could manage was a quiet “I see.” Kyriak and Sin laughed and continued their guiltless confession.

“It was very humorous when he,” Kyriak motioned to Puck. “actually tried tearing Sin’s throat out.”

“It wasn’t funny.” Sin replied with a scowl “That hurt. You try re-growing your throat after a good fuck.”

Chase’s nausea rose to great heights as Jirou went pale. The two vampires ignored their company and continued their banter.

“Recall all four of us gave him blood.” Kyriak said calmly with a hint of a smile on his lips. “I cut my wrist and fed him and then he threw himself onto Luk—”

“You threw him at Luk.” Sin argued but his leader carried on as if he had not spoken.

“—And later I noticed blood on Damia’s lips that belonged to my dear sister. You weren’t alone in your bloodletting now cease your whining.”

“I’m not whining.” Sin whined. He looked at Puck and asked, “Am I whining, Plucky?”

The vampire placed his hand over the top of Puck’s bowed head and forced him to shake his head. Sin turned back to Kyriak with a jubilant expression.

“See? He doesn’t think so either.”

“He’s unconscious.” Chase snapped drawing the vampires’ attention from one another and back to him. “Why don’t you have someone stash him in a room or something? He ought to be out for awhile.”

“Oh I’ll go do that!” Sin exclaimed leaping out of Puck’s lap. He moved behind the wheelchair and began to push the lifeless vampire out of the room but Kyriak leisurely rose to his feet.

“No Sin,” he told him. “I wish to be there when Puck awakens. There’s...much I need to discuss with him.”

Kyriak slipped easily between Sin and Puck and solidly nudged him out of the way so to brook no argument from the subservient vampire. Sin stumbled out of the way in stunned silence. He couldn’t recall a time his leader ever acted in such a possessive way except in all things concerning Damia.

“You have another duty to perform right now.” Kyriak reminded Sin with a smile as he pushed unconscious vampire away. “You have to see to our much anticipated company’s dinner.”

“Ah ye~s”

A dark smile creeps across Sin’s face.