Forever 17

Chapter 7: Destree

Aw, man. What the fuck have I done?

What I had done was now starting to sink in. I changed Dakota, without permission from higher authority. Even though I am who I am I could still face harsh consequences for this, I could be severely punished for this. I am in Fuckedville again, and I have been re-elected mayor of Fuckedville. I don't want to get in trouble for saving my best friend's life. They are displeased enough with the fact that I am not in Vantria (or The Vampire Realm) training for things I am in no mood to discuss, but instead I am in the human world. They could really care less about what happened even if it was some heart warming story. They weren't human. They didn't care. I still broke the law. It all comes down to that, I still broke the law. And that will go unpunished, that is certain. I will be punished whether I am Destrius Morgan or I was some homeless person on the street.

Let me just explain how much of an offense this is. Even though this could have been worse. Dakota could have said no and if I would have still changed her after she said no, she would be counted as unwilling because the change wasn't 'consenual'. One, I didn't have permission. Traditionally you are supposed to make arrangements to change someone, to prepare them for the pain of your entire body shutting down, your blood being re-coded, for whatever else I forgot what happens during change. I didn't do this, I changed her in the heat of the moment, but only because she was dying. Two, Dakota isn't 18 yet. When you're underage you are still considered a child to us, as you are. But at 17 your body is yet to be done with the developing process. Let's say Dakota was still going to grow about two and a half inches, that wouldn't happen now. It's like the same way you're not supposed to drink alcohol until you're 21, because your body should be done developing by then.

The thing I'm nervous about is how are they going to punish me? There are so many things that they can do, so many things that they're capable of. Silver chains, removal of fangs, death by staking. None of this I wanted to happen to me or Dakota for that matter because now she's a part of this too. By me changing her, by letting her into my entire world I've also put her in danger. This world is a dangerous place, but then again Vantria isn't much safer.

It are times like these where I am glad that Dakota's grandma knows about me, about my world because she is a part of it. Dakota's grandma is only 47, she had Dakota's mom at a young age and Dakota's mom had Dakota at a young age. So I pull out my phone and dial her number. I don't know how she would take this news at all.

Ring...ring... ring...

"Hello, Destree, is that you?" she answers the phone.

"Yes Mrs. Mason it is,"

"Well why aren't you in school? it's Wednesday."

"I stayed home with Dakota, she's not feeling too well right now," I hopped onto the counter.

"Well is she okay? What happened?"

This is the hard part.

"Um, not exactly Grandma Mason, the thing is is that we were attacked by Demitri and Damion at the cemetery Friday night and-"

"Why were you at the cemetery Friday night?" she asked.

"Well, it's a long story,"

"Well, we have nothing but time right Destree?"

"Right, well we were walking by Hills of Eternity, and I thought I picked something up, like a scent of someone I knew, so I wanted to check it out. So Dakota and I walked in there, and we saw Demitri and Damion beating the life out of another vampire. Dakota, of course being the kind hearted person she is wanted to get help, because they weren't going easy on the guy at all, but with them having super hearing, they heard this and wouldn't let her call for help. But I told Dakota she needed to get out of there because I knew they saw us, and I didn't want Dakota to meet two hungry vampires in the middle of the night. But she wouldn't go, she wouldn't leave me. I was finally able to convince her to leave so I could go and confront them. Just as I started talking to them, we all heard Dakota fall in the distance and she broke her ankle completely, and there was blood everywhere. You surely know that Dakota has a very rare blood type,"

"Yes, she's AB-,"

"Yes, well they were very fond of it right away, so I hurried over there so I could defend Dakota. I picked her up and ran for the gate, they appeared there and pushed us back and we went flying into that small building, I protected her from the impact, and I made a tourniquet out of my hoodie and t-shirt, and just as I was about to leave to go confront them, they came in there and demanded to have Dakota, but I told them she belonged to me and I made fake bite marks. They left after they saw them."

"It's good you got out of there, is Dakota just shook up about it and not feeling well?" she stated, then asked.

"Well, the story isn't exactly over yet, she was losing a lot of blood from her ankle, in the short time it took to ward them off my hoodie and my shirt were soaked through with blood. I knew I wouldn't have been able to get her to a hospital in time with it pouring like it was..." I trailed off.

"Destree what happened to my granddaughter?"

"Grandma Mason, I had to change her, it was either that or let her die,"

"Do you know how much trouble you could potentially get in?"

"Yes, but Dakota is worth it, she's my best friend, and I refuse to live in a world where she doesn't exist,"

"I know, Destree, is she doing okay?"

"Yes, she's doing okay, Mrs. Mason, she's just sleeping right now," I hopped off the counter and continued pacing.

"Are you going to keep her home from school, I'll call her in sick,"

"Yes, she won't be back in school for one maybe two weeks, but I'll be able to take care of her and still go to school,"

"And would I be able to come see her?"

"Well, you could come see her, but it's not pretty, she's not handling it as well as I thought she would,"

"Destree, please keep me posted on how she's doing," I saw Dakota shift on the couch, and I got all anxious, we had a lot to discuss.

"Okay, well I'll update you on her later,"

"Okay, thank you Destree, I know everything will work out for the best,"

"Thanks,"

"You're welcome, well, I'm going to let you go the dryer just went off, give Dakota a kiss and a hug for me Destree," I went a bit red at the last part, there is nothing like that between me and Dakota... wait is there? We are really close.

"Yes ma'am, I will. Bye,"

"Bye," She said. I heard the click of her hanging up, I turned off my phone and put it back in my pocket. I saw that Dakota was awake, "So you're finally awake?" I looked at her from the kitchen.

I made my way to the living room and I sat down at the end of the couch, at the end of her feet.

"Yeah," she said, her voice was hoarse from the change that was happening, from the fact that her insides were practically destroying themselves all to rebuild themselves. "What do you mean by finally?" she asked hoarsely.

"By that I mean you've been out for a few days," I say.

"What?" she looks at me with a completely shocked expression.

"We have much to discuss, but first let's get some pain meds into you,"

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed.

I got up and walked to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, I had a ton of pain meds, I grabbed something that I can't pronounce the name of, but I know that it works. I went to the kitchen and filled up a glass of water, took a pill out of the bottle, put the bottle on the counter and took the medicine to Dakota. She sits up a bit to take it, takes it and then hands the glass back to me. I put it on the coffee table and sit back down on the couch. "Dakota, we need to talk,"

She looks at me like I would if any girl ever said those words to me.

I don't know where to begin, and I just don't wanna come out and say "Hey, I just saved your life and now it's possible they're going to execute me or force me to..." no I couldn't even think about that. I had to tell her that there was new rules she had to follow. I had to tell her about living life amongst normal people, even though she had done so her entire life, well with the exception of me. I had to tell her about the consequences we could possibly face because I saved her by changing her. And I had to tell her we had to face and accept the consequences with dignity. And that no matter what, there was no way to avoid being punished for this. Even if I did it to save my best friend, whose life hasn't even began yet. Even if I thought it was 'right' at the time. And no, I couldn't avoid the punishment this time, even if I was a prince.