Hold Your Head High

I look down at my outfit one more time and start to descend the stairway to where I hear most of the conversation going on. I look down at the floor, not wanting to trip and not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. I hate eye contact. Everyone starts to quiet down into whispers once I’m in sight and I blush slightly. After finally making my way the stairs, my momma comes next to me, and introduces me, giving me a side hug. I smile and raise my head up, eyes going wide as I meet eyes with someone I didn’t think would be here.

------Andy’s POV-----

Everyone start to shut up as the missing daughter starts to walk gracefully down the stairs, and I can’t help but notice that she looks a little familiar. Her mom comes over and starts introducing her, and I don’t even pay attention to what he’s saying because I’m too busy trying to see her face that she keeps staring down to the floor. A minute later, she raises her head and my eyes go wide as I let out a silent gasp and our eyes meet.

Holy shit, I knew that there was something different about that human from school. She wasn’t a human at all. She was a fertile—is a fertile. Or at least now she is. We hold each other’s stares for a few minutes until Jordan—Amethyst’s (at least I think that was her name) momma—stops talking and he drags Amethyst over to some other people in our clan. I plop down on a couch and sigh. Well, maybe tonight will be better than I thought it would be. Still, tonight is going to be a long night.

Maybe an hour later, I wake up from my mini-nap as I see Jordan and Ashlar—the two throwing the party for their daughter—drag the tired looking Amethyst over to me and my parents (who had been previously mingling somewhere close to me). The two adult vampires start to talk to my parents and leave me and the slightly younger than me fertile alone on the couch. I turn my head to her and almost gasp and I see the amazing color of her dark blue eyes. I try to open my mouth to strike up a conversation, but nothing comes out. She seems to notice my discomfort and giggles slightly. A sound from an angel.

“Hi,” she says in her voice that sounds like music.

“Hi.”

“So, uh, my name is Amethyst. Nice to meet you,” she says while slightly holding out her
hand.

I take it with a small smile. “Andy and I know. I saw you around school.”

She rolled her eyes a little and I chuckle. “Well, that was back before I knew about any of…
this.” As she says the last word, she opens up her hands and motions to the whole party and house. I nod.

“Yeah. So, what is the whole story on that?” I ask, a little curious.

She gets this look on her face that looks like a mixture of rage and melancholy.

“I’m sorry, you don’t need to—“ I start, but she cuts me off with a shake of her head.

“No, it’s okay.” And she starts to tell me her story.

------Back to Amethyst’s POV-----

“And here we are,” I finish.

Andy sits next to me with a look of fury and pity on his face.

“I want to kill those fuckers who did that to you. How dare someone treat a fertile like that?”
He says, but he looks like he wants to say more. I shrug.

“It’s alright. I mean, all that matters is that I’m here now. And momma told me that my parents are actually locked up in the basement right now, so they won’t be able to harm any fertiles anymore. Daddy’s just waiting until this party’s over to get started on them, then he said that it’s a free-for-all.” I say with a little giggle.

He snarls. “Well, when he starts, I’m going to be the one finishing those little cock suckers.”

The red in his eyes are quickly taking over most of his eyes and I let out a small giggle
again. I mean, I knew that Doms get extremely mad when humans hurt fertiles, especially like I was hurt, but I didn’t know that it was this bad.

He takes notice of my little giggle and the red in his eyes slowly start to go away as he looks at me with an amused look on his face.

“So, you find my rage funny, huh?”

I laugh. “Maybe a little more than funny,” I admit, having gotten a little turned on by his rage—just like fertiles do.

A dumbfounded look appears on his face as I say that and I start laughing hysterically.

“Wow. Just turned back fertile and already acting like one after not even a day. You are one of a kind,” he says.

I nod. “’Tis true, I am indeed one of a kind.”

I hear a loud whimper from the basement and turn back to see Andy’s eyes turn red and I hear a hiss escape from his mouth. Daddy opens the door and starts to walk downstairs, and finally, he comes back up with a small smile on his face, and Andy’s eyes go back slowly to their beautiful blue.

“It’s weird,” Andy starts. “I’m not this bad with any other things like this. Even when there were other humans that did bad things to fertiles, I don’t think that I got this mad. I just—I don’t know, I think that there’s just something inside me that has the need to protect you. I don’t even know…”

I smile a little. “It’s almost like that with me. I feel… I don’t know... complete? Safe?—Something like that—around you. It’s… weird.”

He nods. “Yeah. I don’t even—“ he gets cut off as my daddy comes back to us.

“So, Andy, I heard that your mating ceremony is tomorrow?” Andy nods at this. “Well, good luck, then.”

Andy smiles at my daddy. “Thanks.” As my dad departs, we’re left alone on the couch again. Andy runs his hands through his hair and sighs.

“God, I’m so nervous about this fucking mating ceremony. I have no idea who I’m going to be mated to. But at least then, I’ll get a mate, too, and not have to sit around all of my other friends who are being all lovey-dovey and shit when I have no one.” I nod at this and somehow end up feeling a little sad inside about his mating ceremony. I’ve just started talking to him, and he’s really cool, and now he’ll be mated to someone else. I can’t even think about my own. I’m not even sure I’m ready to be mated right now. After all, I did just get turned back into a fertile.

“Well, hopefully, you won’t get some raging bitch, and you’ll get someone all cute and
sweet,” I say.

He murmurs something that I can’t really make out and I just leave it alone, not wanting to pry.

“Yeah. Hopefully,” he says with a huff.

The rest of the party passes by pretty quickly and my daddy and Andy go downstairs, starting to torture the people I knew as parents for most of my life. Before falling asleep to the lullaby of their blood-curdling screams, my eyes momentarily snap open as I realize what Andy murmured at the party.

“But not like you.”