Transformation, Pt. 2

Of all the things Elisa expected him to do, falling to his knees and sniffing her like a starving animal wasn’t one of them.

He nuzzled her neck with something like reverence. It would be charming if it wasn’t utterly ridiculous…

Then came the chittering. It was like a bat was forced into a body that didn’t fit and was forced to vocalize from within him.

Soon, the licking. Not on her face, mind. Instead, something cold and wet and around her… belly.

This brought to her attention a very big protrusion that was in a place that it really shouldn’t be.

A rod.

She craned her neck just enough to see it.

Yeah, that’s in deep alright.

The pain came with the knowing. Blood pooled fast, matting her shirt. How did the shirt not get utterly obliterated when she transformed into a bird, she didn’t know. Funny, that.

And Kael—who had fed only days ago—was breathing heavier.

This wasn’t going to go well.

She loved to focus on other things when things felt truly hopeless.

She was going to die at the hands of the one she loved, who had no say in this as much as she did.

Whatever Daniel did, it worked. Now Highcliff was going to be in a perpetual state of war where thousands were going to die…

This world was cruel.

Then Kael did something unexpected.

He bit her, yes. That was a given. A sudden lurch forward, teeth sinking into the side of her neck.

But it was the fact it was with ceremony.

Elisa tensed, her hands flying up to shove him off—only to pause.

It didn’t burn. It didn’t bleed.

It flowed in.

A red essence, slipping beneath her skin like liquid fire.

Her eyes widened.

Kael shuddered against her, breath ragged. And he wasn’t just giving. He was... breaking apart.

Somehow, someway, Elisa felt it, felt him. Everything, from his love to his guilt to his fear. Unfiltered in a way only a monster could express.

And then her instincts surged.

Her feathers—what feathers she still had—bristled and flared. Her jaw ached. Her mouth tingled.

And before she could think about what the hell she was doing—she bit him back.

Right at the base of his neck.

“What the fuck,” her brain whispered. But her body didn’t stop.

Kael’s body, meanwhile, spasmed to high hell.

It started at his shoulder blades—a twitch, a ripple, then a sudden burst.

Feathers.

Black as pitch, jagged at the tips. Not smooth like Elisa’s. His were coarser, unkempt.

Elisa gasped, still latched onto his neck, her teeth embedded—growing. Elongating. Sharpening in ways that made her wince from her own anatomy betraying her.

Her breath hitched—and then frosted.

Kael growled, low and guttural, half in pain, half in something else entirely. Their bond was fraying, mutating. He clutched her tighter, and she clutched him right back.

The jagged ridges along his spine trembled as he started to wrap his arms around Elisa’s torso.

Then, with a quick grunt, he yanked the rod out.

Elisa gasped. Her entire body jolted, but the pain was already dulling. The blood didn’t gush. It hissed. Sizzled. Sealed. The heat of vampire blood working its way through her veins.

And Kael—right there in the thick of it—began to change.

The feathers lining his neck shrank. His shoulders lowered. His jaw, unhinged and elongated just moments ago, began to reshape. Hands became less talon-like. The eerie glow dimmed in his eyes until only Kael remained—panting, flushed, and still clutching her tightly.

It wasn’t until she opened her eyes, blinking up at him with a look somewhere between horror and awe, that he seemed to realize what he was doing.

“Oh. Uh, hey." He glanced down at her as if just realizing she was conscious. His ears reddened. “Why is there a building on fire around us? Did I have something to do with it? Oh, what am I... What in the sweet hells happened to your stomach?”

Elisa blinked. “It just cauterized itself..."

"It did?"

Soon enough, his brain caught up with the rest of his body, noticing now how pale Elisa had gotten, the new fangs she sprouted, and the fact her eyes were bloodshot.

“That has to be… vampire blood. My blood.”

He looked down at themselves—cut up, soot-streaked, feathers still half-shed from their bodies. 

Kael stood, swaying slightly. 

Elisa rolled her eyes and slumped against him.

He didn't pay her any mind, for he was already panicking. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” He ran his hands through his hair, voice pitching high. “I shared my blood. Outside the bloodline! They’re going to kill me. You don’t understand—blood magic, they track it. The Council—”

“You just saved me and all you can think about is your bloodline?”

“They got in under lock and key. We are alive presently, sure, but we won’t be once...” He froze, taking in the hole they tore through this poor wooden building. “We did this, didn’t we?”

She nodded at the bloody metal rod beside them. 

They stood there, quiet, for a moment. The fire crackled around them.

"Right, current priorities." He breathed in and out. In, then out. "What happened, exactly?"

Elisa looked to the sky, her body still weak but steady.

“It's too much to explain. In broad tacks, I transformed into a falcon, the sight of me made you chase me, and then we landed here. It was mainly me defending myself from you, but semantics. As for who turned you? Probably Daniel. Or my father. I don’t know what’s worse… that either of them could do this. Or that we don’t know who actually did.” She exhaled. “We’ve been gone for quite a while.” 

Understatement of the century. The power Daniel wielded had the potential to end all demonkin in the Basin.

If they didn’t get back quick enough… Kael’s reign as Highcliff would know it would be over. The demonkin won’t simply relinquish it back to the humans either.

Such is Highcliff’s sorry fate.

She breathed, steeling herself. She already felt the red tendrils of his blood course through her back as feathers sprouted once more.

Curious. She no longer needed to be a falcon to gain access to her wings.

She held one hand out to her husband. She tried to quiet her thrumming heart as she realized even through the noise of Kael's ferality… love for her was ingrained as instinct.

...Holy shit.

“Come.”

And like so many times before, he complied. But this time, with a huge smile on his face.

"Yes, ma'am."