100% Freshie Chapter 6 --PG-13

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librarian_7
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100% Freshie Chapter 6 --PG-13

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Disclaimer: The characters from Moonlight are copyrighted by CBS, and no infringement is intended.

Special note: This work takes place in the world of Moonlight, but your favorite vamps are not the main focus. Sorry about that; try to enjoy the story anyway. You might be surprised.


100% Freshie

Chapter 6


1.

The sound of Will’s footsteps had scarcely died away when Emma and Hunter rushed in. Danni was still in a daze of euphoric bliss, but even so it occurred to her that their return was a little too convenient to be accidental. She supposed, since she found it comforting, that it was kind of Will not to want her left alone. And she did have questions for them.

Emma had come and plopped down beside Danni on the couch as she sat up. “You had it figured out, didn’t you?” she asked eagerly. “I mean, I told Will you wouldn’t be surprised or freak out or anything.”

As usual, Hunter moved more slowly, taking time to put aside her purse and jacket before sitting down on Danni’s other side. She reached up and stroked a piece of hair back from Danni’s face gently. “Emma, calm down. Of course Danger didn’t freak out.” She smiled at Danni, questioningly. “Will was good to you, wasn’t he?”

Danni instinctively touched her neck. “Yes, of course he—you knew all about this, didn’t you?”

Emma and Hunter exchanged a look Danni couldn’t quite interpret. “Well—“

Danni looked down, studied her nails for a few seconds. Finally she asked quietly, “Emma, Hunter, I’m not mad, not complaining, but—I have to know. Did you pretend to make friends with me just to get me here for Will? Was it all fake?”

Emma gasped, and Hunter put an arm around Danni’s shoulders. “Danger—“ Hunter started.

“Why can’t you call me Danni? Don’t I get to be Danni anymore?”

“Look, Danger—Will named you that, and even if you don’t understand yet, it’s an honor. The vamps—God, it is so good to be able to talk to you about this at last—the vamps are very particular about their freshies these days—“

“Okay—stop right there. Vamps? How many are there? And what the hell do you mean by freshies?”

“You know. Fresh blood. And I think, fresh life. We’re the ones that keep them connected to their humanity. They can’t get that from other vamps, and they can’t get it from attacking people in alleyways. Will says the acceptance is very important to him, and I’ve heard other vamps say about the same thing. As for how many vamps, who knows? Lots, just here in L.A. I mean, you were at Pulse! It’s a freshie club. There were probably 25 or 30 vamps there that night. I kind of thought you’d figured that out by now.”

“Oh. But you still haven’t answered my first question. Were you just trolling for—for new freshies for him?”

It was Emma’s turn to look away. “I know it sounds bad. Sometimes I think there’s no way to make this not sound bad. But—are you happy? Have you been harmed? Taken advantage of?”

Danni sighed. “I don’t know yet. It’s just—it all seems contrived. Couldn’t a guy like Will get a million girls here in L.A.? I mean, why me?”

Hunter shrugged. “He could. He does.” She paused. “Danger, I know you have a lot to process right now, and I don’t want to spoil this night for you. But there are a few things you really need to understand.”

Emma nodded. “Will especially told us to explain.”

Hunter took a deep breath. “I guess I should just say it straight out. Feeding these vamps—it isn’t like the romance novels, Danger. It’s not a big love affair.”

“They need more blood than one freshie can provide,” Emma said. “I mean, if you’re with someone like Will—it isn’t that he doesn’t care about us, not that at all—but he can’t just focus in on one girl.”

“And really it’s considerate, when you think about it,” Hunter added. “If you have a regular relationship with a vamp—if he comes to you over and over—he wants you to be healthy.”

Emma laughed. “He told me once it’s too much work to have to seduce every meal you get.”

“Except for the ones fresh off the bus from out of state?” Danni asked with some asperity.

Hunter had the grace to look embarrassed. “Will—Will has this thing for new freshies sometimes. I think he’s trying to re-live something. Maybe he’s trying to make it come out right. I don’t know. He’s never told me why, really.”

“But he gets you to recruit for him?”

“Danger, you have to get past that. You really do,” Emma replied. “You told me once—back when we were first getting acquainted online—that you’d give anything to meet a real vampire. Now you have. And if the reality is a little different from the romances, well—how did Will make you feel? You don’t have to tell us, but be honest with yourself. How did it feel to get bitten?”

Danni stopped and thought for a moment. “You’re right. It was, well, you know what it’s like. It’s wonderful. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It’s just—this is scary, you know? Really scary.”

Emma scooted closer, added her arm to Hunter’s around Danni’s shoulders. “Danger, it’s okay. I think we were all scared at this point—but you have more friends than you realize. And, well, it’s not such a bad thing to be more or less under Will’s protection.”

“M-more or less?”

“That’s another thing we need to talk about,” Hunter said. “Some vamps—mostly the older ones—go for what they call exclusives. Freshies who don’t make their blood available to anyone else. That other vamp Will was talking to at Pulse! your first night here—Josef—he has exclusives.”

“Those women with him? I talked to Lucky in the ladies room. She seemed really nice.” Danni paused. “And I think I understand now some of what she was saying. Some of it didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. But—you said the older vamps. How old is Will, really? Or Josef, for that matter?

Emma laughed. “You know those stories Will tells about his grandfather, the Hollywood bigshot? That was him. We think he’s maybe, I don’t know, 110 or so.”

“And Josef?”

Hunter shrugged. “He’s really old. Lucky probably knows for sure. But—centuries. That’s one reason he can afford exclusives. Of course, it’s not that he doesn’t share the love, from what I hear. But not every vamp has exclusives. Some of them prefer not to take that much responsibility. And don’t mind freshies who play the field more.”

Emma added, “I think some of them worry about girls getting addicted. I mean, it happens. You know how good it feels now, Danger—don’t you want to feel that way again?”

Danger shivered, remembering. “Yes. But it’s hard to imagine—someone besides Will…”

“Will would prefer you to try others,” Hunter said shortly. “I don’t know why, but he’s really antsy about it. Really worried about addiction.”

“Hunter’s right, Danger,” Emma said. “I think he must’ve had a really bad experience. But that doesn’t mean you have to do anything you don’t want. And you don’t have to be bitten against your wishes.”

“True. ‘Freshie” is only half the phrase. It’s usually ‘Willing Freshie.’ That’s what they want. Willing. A night or two from now, we’ll all go back to Pulse!, and see if anyone’s interested. Between me and Emma, we can tell you who might be good for you.”

Emma looked thoughtful. “Depends on who’s there. Oh—but she’ll need to get her number.”

Hunter shook her head. “Will told me it was all taken care of.” She rose and went to her purse to pull out a package. “He said to give you this.”

Danni opened the box, and found a new iphone and a box of business cards. They were elegantly engraved in blood-red lettering with Danger, an unfamiliar phone number, and in the lower left corner, in tiny letters, WFS and a number.

Emma hugged her. “Looks like you’ve joined the club,” she said, warmly. “I’m so glad. We’re sisters now.”

2.

Danni woke the next morning just after 8 to the sound of her new phone ringing. “And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand...” When she saw who it was, somehow she wasn’t too surprised that Will had programmed in “Iris” for his calls to her. She was only glad she’d had Emma call her three times the night before, so she could practice answering. Even so, her head was aching and she couldn’t help sounding fuzzy with sleep.

“Will?”

He laughed softly. “You sound sexy when you’re sleepy, babe,” he said. He thought she was dealing well with the shocks she’d had; she hadn’t sounded fearful or hesitant in her greeting, but he knew he still needed to speak carefully to her. The last thing he wanted was to spook her now. “I was about to go to—bed for the day, and wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Are you?”

“Umm, yeah, I’m good. It’s really sweet of you to call.”

“No—I want to make sure you take good care of yourself, Danger. Will you do that for me?”

It crossed Danni’s mind right then that he was making sure of a food source, that there might be more cold calculation behind his concern than there was caring. Still, if it were only that, would he have bothered to hold her as she slept last night, after he fed? And she wondered if she were only trying to convince herself. Well, maybe he only wanted her blood, but if it was going to feel so damn good for her to give it to him, that was all right, she supposed. “Of course, Will,” she said. “And Will? Last night—“

“I know, babe.” Danni could hear the smile in his voice. “You have a good day, all right? And I’ll see you in a day or so.”

“So long?”

“It’s best that way, Danger. You’ll see me soon enough.” And he ended the call without a goodbye. Danni stared at the phone for a moment, then laid her head on the pillow again. She was too awake now for sleep to come again.

Stepping out of the shower, something occurred to her, and wrapping herself in a towel, she wiped off a small area of the steamed up mirror, to stare at the healing wounds on her throat. Talking to Hunter and Emma had been enlightening, but she knew she hadn’t heard the whole story yet. Making a decision, she went back to her bedroom in search of the evening bag Hunter had loaned her. Tucked into it was the card Lucky had given her.

A few hours later, she was seated opposite Lucky in a shaded, glassed in garden room at the house of Josef Kostan, listening to some pleasant and not so pleasant truths being served along with an elegant luncheon. At first, Danni had been too overwhelmed by the surroundings to listen very closely, but the more Lucky talked, the more Danni realized what she had to say was important.

“I can understand you feeling a little manipulated,” Lucky was saying, “but even so, I seriously doubt they’re lying to you now. These relationships with the vamps—they’re just like anything else—they take time to grow. I don’t know what you want out of this, Danger, and I don’t imagine you know yet yourself. There are some girls who are perfectly happy feeding any number of vamps. The ones who just crave the bite. And there are those who can’t stand the thought of feeding more than one vamp.” She paused, and a dreamy look came into her eyes. A few seconds passed in silence, then she shook her head and continued. “Josef wasn’t my first vamp,” she said, “but he will be my last. You have to understand, Danger, I would quite literally die for Josef. Under his fangs or however else he needed it to happen. I trust him implicitly. Every time you feed a vamp, you are taking a big risk that they are in control of themselves enough not to drain you. Every single time. I shudder whenvever I think about all those girls standing outside the clubs, wanting so badly to get in. There’s a good chance that a few of them will never make it home, any given night. It might be an accident, or it might be on purpose, and I can tell you there are vamps in this city who think a freshie killed here and there will never be missed. The sad thing is, they’re probably right.

“I’m not saying,” she continued, “that you shouldn’t trust Will. In fact, you’d probably better trust him. He took a lot of trouble to get you to this point, and—well, another thing you need to realize is that the vamps—living so long and all—they tend to be conservative. They take the long view. He’s going to look out for you, try to make sure nothing happens to you.” She looked away, briefly, and somehow it seemed to Danni that she was looking somewhere far beyond the plants around them. “If something bad does happen to you, Danger, as long as Will is protecting you, he’ll fix it.” She reached up and touched a gold chain that disappeared into the neckline of her silk blouse. “You can count on that.”

Before Danni could ask what she meant, she caught a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye, and Lucky rose to greet Josef. The tall vampire slipped his arm around her waist and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“Lucky…” he murmured, and Danni could almost see the light coming off the woman’s face. She wondered if she would ever look that way around Will, or if she already did. And she wondered if Will would care. Josef lifted his coppery head to look at the visitor in his house. There was an interested, slightly predatory look in his warm brown eyes that Danni found unsettling, and strangely exciting. Josef inhaled slowly, and she knew enough now to realize he was reading a great deal of information from her scent. She would swear she saw a momentary flash of silver in his eyes, and he pursed his lips slightly. He drew away from Lucky, who sank back into her chair, smiling, and took Danni’s hand. “Danger. What a pleasure to see you here. You are most welcome in my house. Any time.” He smirked. “As usual, Will has excellent taste. Not that there was ever any doubt.”

Danni opened her mouth to reply, and found herself without an answer. So she simply gave him her best smile. It beat saying something irretrievably stupid. He squeezed her hand, his eyes fixed on her throat. She touched the marks there nervously, and Josef’s smile twisted a little, noting her uneasiness. His eyes flicked up to hers.

“Lucky,” he said without shifting his gaze away, “I think your guest needs a glass of wine.” He wheeled suddenly towards his freshie. “And I think I need—to leave you ladies to your lunch.” He walked away without another word, and Lucky shook her head, watching him go.

“He likes you,” she said. “But he usually makes a better exit.”
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francis
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Re: 100% Freshie Chapter 6 --PG-13

Post by francis »

This conversation was long overdue. Now she is getting to ask all the questions. I like the take on the term „freshies“ to be „fresh life“, connecting them to humanity. I applaud Danni for keeping a straight head and grilling them for recruiting her to LA.
I think he’s trying to re-live something. Maybe he’s trying to make it come out right. I don’t know. He’s never told me why, really.
Hunter might be on to something here. Will has history, and Danni should be aware of that.
Love the business cards bit.
Will’s call is equally disturbing and comforting. And I like that Lucky takes her under her wings and talks so openly. Danni seems already jealous of the relationship Josef and Lucky have, she wants that with Will.
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allegrita
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Re: 100% Freshie Chapter 6 --PG-13

Post by allegrita »

Good for Danni! She may be smitten, but she's not dumb. I bet she's really glad to have Lucky's take on things to compare against the other girls'. She's getting some home truths there. And she's seeing a completely different kind of relationship than the ones the girls described to her. Maybe Will's not able to give her what Jose can offer Lucky, but I can tell that she's imagining it. I wonder what it'll be like for her to go back to the club.

I loved the last line... :laugh: ...what is it about Danni that makes the vamps all get a little off-balance?
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