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How Not To Become Lunch: 79 - Don’t Oversleep
“In here we have made arrangements for you all to sleep,” announced the Beatricia family’s butler, after leading the procession of partygoers a fair distance down a lengthy vampiric hallway, and then turning to open a set of double doors. He waved the guests inside.
Jack and Fiona were somewhere near the back of the group, listening to others enter the room with small exclamations, something which was making Jack quite curious. Fiona didn’t seem too interested, but then again, she’d attended one of Sarabeth’s sleepovers before. Plus, aside from the… brief incident… during truth or dare, the werewolf hadn’t seemed invested in much else besides her dinner, still occasionally wiggling in her swaying belly.
What could it be? A bunch of fancy sleeping bags-? “Whoa,” Jack muttered as he too stepped inside. Like many in the mansion, this new room was fairly large. But much unlike the others, this one had hardly any room to walk around, because the entire width and depth of the space was occupied with rows of full-sized, ornately adorned beds. It was one bed, then the next, then the next, row after row, with just enough space between them to walk by single-file.
“You didn’t really expect Sarabeth to spend the night in a sleeping bag, did you?” Fiona asked rhetorically. “Can you guess which one’s hers?”
“You’ll all spend the night here,” Mr. Belv informed the group before Jack could respond. “The large, central bed is Lady Sarabeth’s. Each of you is free to choose from the remaining. As you were asked not to bring baggage, sleepwear has been provided for you. Our predatory guests can find theirs laid out along that wall,” the butler pointed, “and our human guests should be well served by the selection of sizes over there,” he gestured to the opposite side of the room. “Gentlemen’s and ladies’ dressing rooms have been arranged. Please see me in the hall for guidance when you are ready.”
With that, the butler-mage departed the room, and the guests began to filter through the network of tight, mattress-bordered passages.
“I think I’m gonna pick out a bed,” Jack decided, thinking a bit ahead.
“Alright, I’m gonna go change,” Fiona replied. “Pick one out for me too?” She gave a comforting little smile.
“Sure,” he replied, smiling right back, happy that they were thinking the same.
While Fiona and many others filtered out towards their pajamas, Jack went straight for the back of the room, where the final row of beds were up against a wall dotted with windows. He singled one out and greeted it with a palm against the soft, pearly-white spread. His fingers almost melted into the comfort. He potentially might’ve slept better there than in his own house- if not for all the predators in the room.
For now, though, he got up with his knees against the mattress and pressed his hands against the accompanying window. It made a small noise as it budged but otherwise slid open soundlessly, as was to be expected in the vampiric mansion.
Good, they open, he thought. To anyone else, it might look like he was planning a potential escape, but really he was just thinking back to his first sleepover. Or at least the first since he’d moved back from his aunt’s. His marked scent had built up so strongly in the room overnight that Fiona had almost tried to eat him in her sleep. That probably wouldn’t be an issue in such a larger room with so many other people, but he wasn’t about to take that chance.
Satisfied with that, he turned around to claim the bed next to that one as well. Despite that ‘first sleepover’, he’d sleep a lot sounder in this creepy place knowing that Fiona had a line of sight on him.
That’s when he noticed Harry. The bespectacled boy was standing awkwardly on the opposite side of Fiona’s future bed, the mattress between the two of them.
“Um… hey,” Jack said sociably. It was the first exchange they’d had since truth or dare. Since Harry finding out that Fiona, the werewolf Jack had encouraged him to trust, had an unfortunate history of gulping down the marked boy’s dates, friends and, well, self. Jack couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty just meeting the other kid’s gaze.
“Hey…” Harry replied in a similarly uncomfortable tone.
“…Did you, um, want this one? I was gonna save it for Fi.”
“Oh, um, no that’s fine, you can- I mean, she can have it. I just, uh, I wanted to-”
“Whoa hey look out!” Jack pointed frantically as his distracted gaze was caught by a large blob of black and white fur with tie-dyed clothes, quickly coming into focus directly behind his spectacled friend.
Harry spun around in the narrow space between beds, just in time to see the mountain of a predator flop down lazily onto the mattress now directly in front of him; a large, meaty, five-clawed mitt of a hand bouncing in his direction.
“Ah!” The boy jumped back, knocking into Fiona’s bed and tumbling over backwards onto it. His flailing limbs caught in the soft comforter and knocked throw pillows off their stack and onto his face, briefly blocking out his view. In an embarrassing moment of panic, Harry continued to fight valiantly against the lifeless grasp of the predatory bedspread, but a moment later found himself tangled up on the floor, having fallen off the mattress at Jack’s feet.
“Ahh…” Petal sighed in relaxation as the bed creaked beneath her bouncing weight, currently enhanced by that of her dinner- though it would all just be ‘her weight’ soon enough.
Harry frantically pulled himself back to his feet, using Fiona’s bedframe as support, still well tangled in linen.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jack soothed, reaching out to help keep his snarled friend from toppling over again. The bespectacled boy- spectacles now askew- continued to breathe heavily, but calmed down a touch when he saw the panda simply lounging in her newly selected spot.
Despite the size of the beds, a predator of her bulk didn’t leave much room left over, especially with meal in tow. She let her muzzle lazily fall in the direction of the chaos she may or may not have intentionally caused. Laying eyes on Harry, she chuckled.
“Hehe, human in a blanket.”
“Human in a…?” Harry repeated, severely unnerved. “Wait you mean like pigs in a- Seriously?!”
The panda bear snorted and laughed at his response as he immediately worked to untangle himself from his wrappings, very unhappy to be reminiscent of any snack food.
Jack helped as best he could, attempting a more orderly unwrapping of the linen and depositing it all back on Fiona’s bed. Harry threw the last corner of fabric off himself and stood there panting for a moment, under a potent mix of embarrassment and adrenaline.
“You, um… You alright?” Jack asked.
“Yeah… yeah, sorry. Oh- um- you said this was going to be Fiona’s bed, right!? Uh- sorry- um-”
He somewhat frantically attempted to remake the bed as best he could, and even though Jack wanted to stop him, he couldn’t quite muster the words, so ended up helping instead. It didn’t take them too long, but maybe just long enough for a bit of the ice to thaw so one of them could potentially break it.
“So… um…” Harry muttered.
Jack looked up, a bit anxious.
“About what Fiona said…”
“Yeah,” Petal interjected a bit crassly, “what was up with that?” Her belly sloshed as she shifted position to get comfortable.
The marked boy went silent and glanced away.
“…You, uh, wanna go change?” Harry offered.
“…Yeah, good call.”
So the pair went over to the far wall, where a narrow table was laid out with sets upon sets of sleepwear. Even though most of the other kids had taken theirs already, it wasn’t hard for either of them to find a matching size and then head for the doors. They were both silent until they entered the hall, where they once again met Mr. Belv.
“The gentlemen’s dressing rooms are that way,” he informed them, pointing toward a line of waiting boys. Glancing past him, the girls’ line seemed to extend out in the opposite direction.
“Thanks,” Jack replied. “Oh, um, Mr. Belv?”
“Yes?”
“Have you seen Sarabeth? She hasn’t been around since she left at the end of the last game, I just want to make sure she’s alright.”
He gave a very slight, slightly troubled kind of smile. “Lady Sarabeth will rejoin the celebration soon. I’m sure she’d appreciate your concern.”
“Okay,” the marked boy said with a nod, not able to do much more. He continued with Harry, getting into the changing line.
“…”
“…”
“…So-”
“Look-”
They both spoke at once, mirroring the first moment they’d met. This time, Harry gave a very definite nod, indicating for Jack to keep going.
“…Look, what happened… It wasn’t completely her fault, okay? Fiona… never actually met… them. You know, before she… But she knows you, you’ll be fine.” There was a long pause before Harry replied.
“…She said she ate you…”
Jack couldn’t argue that she hadn’t known him, that’s for sure. And as much as he didn’t want to talk about it, how could he expect Harry to trust a werewolf who’d devour her best friend on a whim. No, he needed to explain.
*sigh* “…It was… complicated…”
…
Mr. Belv, walking past the line of guests still waiting to change, quietly entered another room along the lengthy hallway. Normally, he would have knocked first, but he had been asked to remain inconspicuous and been given explicit permission to enter unannounced. Once inside, he withdrew his hand from his coat, holding a nicely bundled collection of fabric, tied with a ribbon.
“Your nightgown, m’lady.”
“…Thank you, Mr. Belv,” came the slightly delayed response. Sarabeth sat in a chair, not too far from the door, looking noticeably distracted and quite serious. The butler set the garbs down on some furniture.
“Mr. Eten has enquired as to your wellbeing. He seemed a tad concerned.”
“As he should be, the fool,” the vampiress replied. She’d heard. She’d been listening. Even now she was listening to them. The line to the boy’s dressing room was just a few steps beyond the door, close enough that her exceptional ears could pick out their conversation even in the muffled vampiric mansion.
She carefully parsed every word, as Jack unknowingly painted for her the picture of the last party he’d attended. The one where a pack of predators, led by a particular werewolf, pressured, encouraged, and otherwise orchestrated his ingestion at the jaws of her Fiona. But that Arthur, for all his so-called ‘prowess’ and ‘charisma’, in the end turned out to be nothing but a fool, just as Sarabeth herself had assessed.
He’d been free of all suspicion, only to let his true intentions slip at the most critical moment. Sarabeth would not do the same.
No, it was quite blindingly obvious to anyone with half a brain, that if one were to play any part in the disposal of Jack and still remain in Fiona’s life, it would necessitate taking that secret to one’s doom. And with the plan she had crafted, she was sure that she could easily succeed where that furbrain had failed. Her only regret was that thanks to Arthur’s utter incompetence, her dear Fiona would have to suffer an additional time.
What Sarabeth surely wouldn’t regret, was implicating her chosen scapegoat. After everything that frog had said and done, the amphibian had set up her own demise to perfection. And Jack? Well he was just one boy, one human. Surely Sarabeth would be able to console her chosen, and they could go on to live a happy life in each other’s company. One foolish, guileless, marked human, and a loudmouthed, graceless, ingrate frog were a small cost.
“M’lady?” Mr Belv asked. He was still standing there, respectfully quiet.
“…My apologies, you may take your leave. I will rejoin the others soon. I’ll see you in this room tonight once I have them.”
“Yes, miss,” he replied, his face hiding all emotion. As he opened the door to leave, Sarabeth overheard another snippet of Jack’s conversation with his equally unsuspecting companion.
“…I just…” Harry began. “…How could you be so calm with her after fighting your way out of her stomach?” He himself couldn’t at all imagine being anywhere near comfortable with the predator whose belly he’d endured.
“I didn’t fight…” Jack replied. “I know it sounds crazy, but even then I just… I didn’t want to hurt her… And I didn’t have to, she let me out all on her own. I don’t even think I said a word…”
I suppose dear Fiona’s stomach simply couldn’t handle the guilt… Sarabeth thought. Mine will have no such issue.
…
*yaaaaaaawn* Fiona unintentionally showed off her pointy, pearly whites to the room as she stretched atop her bed. Her belly groaned and burbled as her muscles flexed about her unmoving meal, quite ready for a long, pleasant night of digestion.
“Where’s Sarabeth already? I wanna say goodnight,” the sleepy werewolf lightly complained.
“Mr. Belv said she’d be back soon,” Jack replied, glancing past his friend and over the room. Most other kids had picked beds closer to the door, Harry was over chatting with his new crush, and Petal had lumbered out into the hall toward the restroom, so the two of them had a moment of relative privacy in the otherwise busy room.
*yaaaaaawn* went Fiona again. She couldn’t help catching Jack’s eye. A werewolf sitting in front of you with a big open maw and an even bigger belly was not something you easily missed. That said, he was fairly used to it by now.
“Someone’s tired,” the marked boy remarked.
“Hehe, yeah I guess. You know, a big dinner and all…”
*glorp*
“Thanks again for that, by the way.” The content smile on her muzzle broadened as she thought back to the start of her most recent meal. “It was really nice.”
“Sure,” he said, her contagious joy once again spreading onto his face to overpower any lingering awkwardness regarding the subject.
“…Hehe.”
“What?”
“No, it’s nothing,” the stuffed canine dismissed.
“Come on, what?” Jack pried playfully.
“It’s just… you know… with werewolves, giving someone a special meal like this… It’s the kinda thing you do when you’re… you know, dating.”
“…Oh. …Oh…” Jack inconspicuously glanced away; the concept sending several thoughts spinning off into his mind like the strike of a cue ball. “W-wait, is that what Arthur was trying to pull? When he marked that girl for you?” Jack recalled.
“Pff, yeah, probably,” Fiona realized. It had been pretty obvious at the time, but she also had been a bit distracted, hadn’t she? Stupid hot jerk.
Luckily for them, the double doors to the room opened at that moment, providing a distraction.
“Hey, Sarabeth,” Fiona called, just loud enough to catch the vampire’s attention- which wasn’t particularly loud at all. The lady of the night, who’d only just come into earshot of her crowd of guests, set eyes on her friend and calmly walked over, dressed in a darkly-colored, frill-adorned sleeping gown with intricate little bat-themed designs sewn into the nimble fabric.
“Fiona. Jack,” she greeted in turn. It was clear she’d recomposed her usual demeanor in the time she’d spent alone.
“Just wanted to say goodnight,” the werewolf said, somewhat bubbly to match her belly. “Thanks for another great party. Hey, um, aren’t you going to eat something good before bed too? I mean, it is your birthday after all.”
“No, that’s quite alright, I invited these humans as treats for my guests. I have other plans following tonight’s party for which I’m saving myself.”
“Ooo, something good planned? Glad to hear.” Fiona smiled on, oblivious.
“Hey, um,” chimed in an equally oblivious Jack. “I know I said it before, but, thanks again for inviting me too. Hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” the vampiress replied plainly. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.” It will have been the last time. “Well, I’ll be retiring now. I wish you both a sound sleep. See you in the morning.” One of you. And with those words, she turned and walked off toward her bed.
Naturally, it was the largest in the room, positioned prominently in the center, and with a bit of extra space cleared around it. She leaned past two of the decoratively carved posts, turned to sit, and pulled her legs up, slipping completely under the decorative canopy.
As a groggy panda thudded her way back into the room and found her own bed, Sarabeth settled into hers and cast her butler a glance. He, in turn, waved his wand and cast a quiet spell. One of every four candles littering the room snuffed out in quick succession, sending the already dimly-lit chamber into a much deeper darkness.
And then he shut the doors behind himself, and the room fell hushed.
…Hushed, but not silent.
Even the specially crafted floors and walls couldn’t snuff out all noise, and with so many people packed together, the faint chorus of collective breathing formed a steady sonic background as dreams began to slowly take shape. That, and the eager, relentless gurgles of several pred bellies, now finally given unrestrained freedom to set to work and break down the hefty, human meals they had been so happily supplied with.
Jack, naturally, found the soundscape a bit unsettling. Mostly, it was all the noisy digestion, though the fact that Petal had quickly taken to snoring just two beds over didn’t help either. He tried to focus on the wind in the trees outside, but the more he took his attention away from the lingering threat of predation around him, the more anxious it made him.
In the end, what actually helped him fall asleep, was Fiona. Knowing she was close did a lot to soothe his nerves in this strange, scary place. Anything or anyone that might come for him would have to get past both of them. That said, he couldn’t actually make out any detail of hers at all in the nearly nonexistent light, and so, ironically, he found himself focusing on the ever-present sound of her burbling, squelching belly to reinforce her presence.
As he drifted off to sleep, he vaguely thought back to one of their other sleepovers. The first time he’d stayed over at her place while she’d had a full belly, the sounds had given him nightmares. Nightmares that he might somehow end up inside there too, being gurgled down into unrecognizable slop. It was weird but, now that he actually had been inside her stomach, the thought didn’t bother him nearly as much. In fact, he found that if he focused on Fiona’s belly in particular, he could slowly let go of his fears, and let himself melt away into sleep.
…
There was someone else, however, who was having a much harder time than Jack falling asleep. That is to say, she was actively keeping herself awake.
Sarabeth listened to the breathing of every single guest, as each rhythm gradually slowed and softened- with the exception of a few snorers. Meanwhile, an endless repeating loop of thoughts ran through her head. Her plan, its potential repercussions, her justifications for each one, every potential risk and her contingency for each in turn, on and on as the stars slowly shifted past the windows.
She waited until she was sure everyone was asleep. And then she waited longer. She told herself it was to be certain of her secrecy, but in reality it might have also been nerves. Eventually, she understood that the time had come, the optimum moment, and she was either going to seize it, or miss it.
So she moved.
Silent as the night itself, with touches so light that her own vampiric ears could hardly perceive the sounds above the choir of breaths, she slipped out of her sheets and rose from her bed. A dark, mute figure against an equally dark backdrop, she practically glided past the beds of her sleeping guests like a ghost.
As she approached her first target, her plan ran through her head one final time.
Tonight, both Jack and Lily would meet their ends by her belly. She would strike silently, shrinking first one and then the other with her bite, and carrying them from the room. Even now, her faithful butler was awaiting her arrival, ready to work his magic. The almost innocent spell he’d learned to aid her upset belly as a girl, wasn’t all too different from the spells mage-preds used to help digest their meals, and it would allow her to make quick work of both her prey, helping her dissolve them both down into nothing within a single night.
Once morning came, there would be no trace left, and she could frame the amphibian as having gone to bed hungry, and then run off with the delicious marked boy in the night. Lily would never return to dispute the story, and no one would ever suspect any other culprit.
And then finally, finally, she and Fiona could be together. She would finally get her friend back, finally defeat her loneliness, maybe even finally manage to bloom their relationship into something more.
And all she had to do to begin- she stopped before a particular bed beneath an open window- was devour this foolish, marked human.
Jack. Ever since he’d appeared in her life, he’d been a nuisance. She could not possibly fathom by what force he had her Fiona bound. What could the fair werewolf see in such a person? So naive as to walk willingly into a predator’s home, never even suspecting the plot against him. Senselessly reckless and needy. Practically oblivious more often than not. Blind and stubborn enough not to grasp the truth even when it was staring him in the face. By what logic conceivable could a human maintain a companionship with a predator who had just intentionally swallowed them whole!?
She glared down at the boy’s sleeping face, his neck poking out just beyond the blanket.
Thank you, for being a good friend, Sarabeth.
…He was loyal, though… She’d have to grant him that. Loyal to a fault. He’d tried to support Fiona even as Arthur threatened to carry her away, even after she’d devoured him in a fit of rage.
…And he was kind, if nothing else. The vampiress had never heard him pass up an opportunity to bring cheer to a companion in need. Herself included.
…He was caring and considerate. The latter perhaps out of necessity for his own survival, but still the fact remained.
Without a doubt he was the most accepting human- perhaps even person- that she’d ever come across. No one else aside from Fiona had ever taken to her so quickly, despite her high standards for conduct, and despite her dietary disposition.
The only other human schoolmate she’d grown a rapport with had been Zach, and even he had never gone so far as to call Sarabeth a friend, but then, she had been openly hunting him, hadn’t she? She felt a slight pang at the late boy’s memory; it was a strange feeling, to miss one’s prey. But before long the moment passed, and her attention returned to the still breathing boy before her.
…Would she… miss Jack?
The idea struck her like a blow between the eyes.
N-no! Of course not! Not the slimmest chance in all the world that I will even think about this boy again after he melts away!
She bared her fangs, staring the sleeping human down with a look that could rival death itself.
…Right? His words echoed in her mind again, along with the sight of his smile. … … No… no, no, oh… Oh how could this be? Sarabeth Antoinette Beatricia you could not possibly, actually…
She couldn’t even bring herself to think the word, but the concept still remained.
She… she actually kind of liked Jack, didn’t she?
Ugh! What difference does it make!? She clenched her fists so hard they began to vibrate. I will not return to solitude again! I will not resign myself to these empty halls! Forced to invite solely random acquaintances from my classes just to hold a celebration! I will not allow anyone to steal Fiona away! Not Jack, nor Lily, nor Arthur, nor-
A thought intruded into her mind. One of the ones she’d been trying to ignore. The kind that took a simple, black and white concept and turned it gray.
Was she not just trying to steal Fiona herself? …Could she… could she come to terms with that fact? Could she live with it? Even Arthur had never sunk so low as to target an opponent through deception in the dead of night.
But- but then what!? What was she to do!? Slink off in despair and wallow in her perpetual sorrow for the rest of her days? Why!? Why Jack!? Of all beings on the planet!? Why should he and he alone win her friendship!? Why should he get to be happy!?
The answer to her rhetorical rage came in the form of a memory. A stray moment from a handful of days earlier, when the threat of Arthur’s grip was only just beginning to take hold. Jack had promised that the next time he met with Fiona, he’d ask her to visit.
…Arthur had made every surreptitious attempt he could to hoard Fiona for himself, and she’d emphatically banished the other werewolf from her life. Jack, in stark contrast, had gone out of his way, at his own significant peril, to give others a chance with her. And now she was closest with him than perhaps she’d ever been…
For as far back as Sarabeth could remember, Fiona was the only real friend she’d had. Sure, she’d had acquaintances, peers of mutual respect, servants, practical alliances, and so on. But she’d never had another friend like Fiona. But maybe… maybe she could.
Maybe, by a cruel twist of fate, in her attempts to keep that one friendship alive, she’d been the one acting senselessly reckless and needy. Practically oblivious more often than not. Blind and stubborn enough not to grasp the truth even when it was staring her in the face.
Perhaps, she and Jack could actually enjoy Fiona’s company… together? What if they actually could all be friends, just as the naive boy assumed? Wouldn’t… wouldn’t they all be happier that way? And all she had to do was trust that Jack wouldn’t steal Fiona away for himself. It was a concept that was almost completely foreign to the young vampire, and yet… now that she’d spent some time around the marked boy, she simply couldn’t imagine him doing any such thing.
*guuuuuurgle*!
A loud, rather crass sound came from directly behind. Slowly, still utterly silent herself, she turned around.
Fiona rolled a bit in her bed, sound asleep, still wearing a large, blissful grin as her knees rose up to hug her distended gut. Her tail, poking just out from the covers, wagged lightly a few times. She seemed so happy. Sarabeth liked seeing her that way.
Maybe… maybe she could actually try to be friends with Jack, rather than just tolerate him. Even if it turned out she was wrong about sharing Fiona, at least the werewolf would stay happy for a time. Jack always did do a good job of keeping her happy…
I suppose… I’ll need to tell Mr. Belv that there’s been a change of plans…
…
Jack groaned as he opened his eyes. Something… something wasn’t right. He was… wet? He felt the touch of liquid all around him, covering him, he was floating in it! No-no-no had he been swallowed again!? Not another predator’s stomach!
No. Not another predator’s stomach. As his eyes opened, he saw light, and space, and the liquid was cold. He looked around at the lake of white he was soaking in, with ripples flowing around him as he bobbed.
He noticed a dark spot, quickly growing larger, moving toward him, almost like a-
He looked up, and descending from above was a giant, metal, spoon. It dipped below the milky-white surface, and before the waves battered him about, his eyes focused further and he saw the enormous, grinning face of the person holding it.
A massive Sarabeth casually lifted tiny Jack up in her utensil. As terrifying as her fangs were, poking out from the corners of her smile, instinct also forced him to briefly look down over the edge of the spoon, catching a glimpse of the cereal bowl he’d been plucked from.
She- she’d shrunken him! In his sleep!?
“S-Sarabeth!? What are you doing!?”
Her smile widened. In fact it parted all together. Lips opened into a gape, letting light shine upon her red gullet as she started moving him towards it.
“No! Wait! Sarabeth stop!” He pushed up against the back of the spoon as her fangs passed overhead, casting him into the heat of her maw. “Please! Whatever I did, I’m sorry! I thought we were friends! Please-!”
*NOMF*
“Mmmmmmm,” the vampire hummed pleasantly, before pulling the empty spoon from her lips.
…*gulp*
“Ahh…” She let out a content sigh before reaching over to pick up the nearby cereal box, with a clear picture of her breakfast’s face plastered on the front. “Jack Eten, now part of a complete breakfast.”
“WHAAGH!” Jack’s eyes shot open to find not the dark interior of a vampire’s stomach, but soft morning light streaming through an overhead window.
“Huh- wha-? Ja-? Jack!?” Fiona bolted up in her adjacent bed, so quickly that her belly sloshed and groaned at the sudden disturbance. She turned to look in his direction as he sat up a bit more slowly.
“Uh… sorry, just a… weird dream,” he said. Would his stupid human-instinct-brain ever stop messing with him? It’s not like Sarabeth would ever just shrink him in his sleep and nom him, that’s just ridiculous. He took a few deep breaths, listening to the birdsong blowing in from outside.
“Oh, um, alright,” the werewolf mumbled sleepily. *yaaaaw- urp* “Well, guess we might as well get up. What time is it?”
“I’m… not sure.” Jack looked around the room but didn’t notice any clocks. What he did notice, were a lot of empty beds.
It seemed like most of the other kids had left, including a good majority of the humans. Which made sense, what human wouldn’t want to get out of there as soon as possible? You know, besides Jack. To his disappointment, he couldn’t see Harry anywhere; hopefully he’d made it out alright. He did catch a couple familiar faces, though. Petal was still snoring away, one leg dangling from her mattress, and Lily was sitting quietly on hers, already changed out of her sleepwear.
Fiona slid out of bed in Jack’s direction (since Petal wasn’t leaving her much room), took a couple steps and then stretched, raising her hands to the ceiling. The morning light caught the patterns in the pajamas she’d been lent, as well as the fur of her arms and on the underside of her bulge. Her belly had shrunk quite noticeably overnight, to the point where her top could cover more than half of it now.
“Mind grabbing my clothes?” she asked as Jack slid his legs out behind her.
“Sure,” he agreed.
They’d each stashed their own attire under their beds last night, but bending over like that wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do with a dense slurry of digested dinner rounding out one’s gut. Still a bit too lazy to properly stand, Jack slipped out of his bed down onto all fours, passing Fiona’s clothes up to her before grabbing his own and finally hauling himself up to stand.
“So, I guess we just… walk out?” he asked as he began following Fiona toward the room’s double doors.
“Pretty much. I’m sure Sarabeth will be waiting to say goodbye.”
“Yeah, she is,” chimed in a new voice. Lily pushed off her bed and started toward them, intercepting them on their way out. All three stopped when they met at an intersection in the inter-mattress pathways. “You two sleep alright?” the frog girl asked.
“Like a puppy.”
“Yeah, not too bad.”
“Guess it’s hard not to with fancy beds like this, huh?” she remarked.
That sounded like the end of it, but something in her body language said otherwise. For an extra moment, they all just stood there.
“…Just for the record, not that I did anything wrong or whatever, but I’m sorry you guys got upset last night. You know, crying and stuff.” She glanced away with a hint of guilt.
Fiona cracked a smile. “You stuck around just to apologize to us?” she observed warmly.
“Wh- no! I mean, yes, but also I just wanted to ask Jack if he knew that guy.”
“Huh? Which guy?” the marked boy asked.
“That kid over there. The one in bed,” Lily pointed out. He turned and looked over the sea of linen to one of the few spots that was still occupied.
“…Um, no, never seen him before,” he answered, confused.
“Good.”
*TWACK*
Lily’s tongue blasted out of her mouth, arcing low over the mattresses at ridiculous speed until it slammed right into the unsuspecting, unconscious boy she’d just pointed out. With precision timing, just before the impact, she hopped three or four times her height straight into the air.
“Wha- AAAAAAAAAHHHH-!!”
*SHLORMP*!!
Startled awake, the poor kid went literally screaming through the air, reeled in and up over the intervening obstacles to meet Lily’s gargantuan, gaping maw as she caught him mid-hop.
*boing*
She landed on all fours on a nearby, abandoned bed, bouncing lightly.
*GULP*!!
With the unrivaled elasticity of her amphibious gullet, she sent her breakfast down to her belly in a single, meaty swallow.
*BWORP*! “Oh yeah, I needed that,” she remarked, smiling in her characteristic ‘still kinda annoyed’ way. “I have to apologize to Sarabeth next, and I do not think I could manage that on an empty stomach.” She smacked her tongue round the inside of her gob. “Huh, I’ll have to tell her, the flavored PJs for the humans were a nice touch.”
“W-wait- these things are flavored!?” Jack exclaimed, tugging at the threads he was covered in.
“Scented too,” Fiona admitted. “I… wasn’t gonna say anything.”
*guuurgle* went her sloshing belly.
“Fiona!” the marked boy scolded, if a bit lightheartedly.
“Sarabeth didn’t have anything else! And I didn’t want you to worry about it for nothing. It’s not like they’d make much of a difference with you,” she explained through an awkward smile.
“True, can’t beat perfection,” Lily agreed.
“Urg, come on, I’m getting these things off,” Jack insisted, starting off toward the exit.
“Hey, are we cool?” Lily called after him.
“Oh, yeah, we’re cool,” he called back as he walked. Any predator who’d postpone their breakfast just to make sure it didn’t include his friends was more than okay in his book. Come to think of it, Lily had never asked him that before, had she? Maybe she really was sorry.
“See ya at school tomorrow,” Fiona chimed in with a smile, beginning to follow after her friend.
“Yup, see ya then.”
…
“This way to the drawing room,” instructed a vampiric member of the mansion’s house staff, as Jack and then Fiona each emerged from their changing rooms. They followed his gesture and found themselves approaching a familiar set of doors, and passing through them they reentered the large room in which they had spent most of last night’s party. The musicians had resumed their ambiance, though the chamber was all but empty except for-
“Harry?” Jack called out, pleasantly surprised.
“Oh, good. I wasn’t sure how long you’d stay out,” the other boy said, getting up from his comfy chair to approach them.
“I didn’t think you were still here.”
“I just didn’t want to sit in there and listen to Petal’s snoring,” he admitted. “Or, you know, digestion.”
*blurble* went Fiona’s belly.
“Um, no offence?”
“Hehe, don’t worry about it,” the werewolf told him. “Glad to see you made it through the night.”
“Thanks. Um… I’m glad I met you guys last night, thanks for looking out for me.”
Jack’s smile broadened. “Sure, no problem.” Looks like his new friend and their friendship had survived the night.
“I’ll, um, see you guys around at school tomorrow?”
“We’ll be there,” Jack replied.
Harry turned to walk away, but Fiona called out.
“Hey, that girl you were hanging out with, she give you her class schedule?”
“Uh, y-yeah,” the bespectacled boy replied, slightly unnerved at the sudden personal question, and unsure whether the werewolf had come by that knowledge through predatory or feminine instinct.
“You should introduce her to me sometime,” Fiona offered with a smile. It was the kind of statement where, out of context, it probably would have been very worrying indeed. A smiling werewolf wanting to ‘meet’ your crush. But now that Harry had gotten to know her a bit, and in light of everything Jack had told him, he smiled back at the offer.
“Sure,” he replied happily, maybe even with a bit of relief. Though he did falter for a moment. “Um… you won’t lick her, right?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, Fi,” Jack pointed out, “you did lick him, after all.”
“I- yeah but- I mean- It’s a traditional canine greeting,” she tried to justify, but she could recall quite clearly saying at the time that she’d wanted a taste of him. “…Listen, I won’t lick her, okay?” she promised, slightly embarrassed.
“Good. Well, I guess I’ll see you then.” He turned for a second time and started off toward the exit doors on the far side of the room.
Looking past him, they could see Lily as well, just about to walk out, as well as Sarabeth, now walking toward them. It looked like they’d just finished saying their goodbyes, and hopefully their apologies. The human/pred pair started walking to meet her.
*glorsh*
Fiona’s belly had been making noises all morning, but that one had sounded particularly loud.
“Fiona. Jack. I trust you both had a pleasant night?” Sarabeth inquired. It went unsaid, but there seemed to be a subtle difference in the way she’d said their names, one of them in particular, compared to times past.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Jack replied.
“Very nice. Your sleepovers are always the bes-” *slorsh* *groooan*
“…You alright, Fi?” the marked boy asked. The werewolf went awkwardly silent for a moment.
“Yeah, fine, um. Excuse me for a second, I’m just gonna run to the restroom.”
“Yes, of course. You remember the way?” the vampire asked politely.
“Mm-hm,” replied the canine curtly, as she quickly turned and headed back the way they’d come.
Suddenly, it was just Jack and Sarabeth, alone in the huge mansion chamber, say for the musicians minding their craft.
“…So, um…” Jack muttered awkwardly, trying to dismiss the half-faded memories of his nightmare, “did Lily apologize for last night?”
“She made a valiant effort. Actually quite impressive by her usual standards.”
“Good.”
“…”
“…”
“Jack?”
“Yes?”
“…I want to thank you, for what you said last night. I’ll grant I may have been a bit coarse with you at times. I hope you can forgive that.”
“Oh, um, of course. I mean, what are friends for?”
Sarabeth’s stern expression cracked a smile. It was a small smile, but a warm one, a genuine one.
“Would you like to take a seat while you wait?” she offered with a gesture.
“Sure.”
“Now, for the next time you visit, do tell me, what might make it more comfortable for you…”
They sat and chatted for a time as the musicians played, and though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, the vampiress did seem somewhat more… peaceful than usual. And he was glad for her; it seemed she’d had a happy birthday after all.
A few minutes later and Fiona reentered the room, looking quite literally several tens of pounds lighter, with a belly that had noticeably shrunken even further. Jack and Sarabeth rose, the vampire wished her farewells and walked them out to the front door. Mr. Belv was there to open it, wearing a polite if particularly genuine looking little smile himself.
And then for the first time in what felt like a surprisingly long while, Fiona and Jack stepped out into the open air again. The birds were chirping, the sun was climbing, and they had the rest of the weekend to spend, though nothing would top the night they’d just had.
"So, my place for breakfast?” Jack asked. “No offence, but I don't want werewolf food and you still seem to have breakfast covered."
“Hehe, sure Jack.”