Everwinus

"How long ..." Ansgar yawned.

He was heavy. Too heavy. At least in the long run. After all, I had more to carry. And he needed a bath. Urgently. "How long what?", I grumbled, annoyed.

"Was I with you? Involuntarily?"

"A little over a week."

"What?" The werewolf blinked. "Only?"

"Only?"

"I could have sworn it was a month or so." He grinned as he clung to me. "Good. Then we're not too far away from my pack." He fidgeted with his feet, almost throwing me off balance.

"You were supposed to tell me when you can walk again." I wanted to drop him.

"I forgot!" He fidgeted more.

"Don't do that!" In an increasingly bad mood, I put him rudely on his feet. "So. Run yourself! We have to hurry before my friends notice our absence. Maybe we're not too far from your pack, but we're definitely still too close to my friends."

"Your friends suck."

"Thank you. I know." I trudged ahead, through tall nettles, past bushes. The wolf followed me. He was hopping rather than walking. "Stop the jumping. You're annoying!"

"What?" He hopped on. Apparently, to avoid the nettles. "But the nettles are burning! Ouch!"

"Ansg!"

"Ansgar. My name is... OUCH!" He hopped past me, cursing, directly into a hedge, got tangled up in some fine branches, and fell unathletically to the ground. "Ouch! Oops! Damn. There are more nettles here."

For a moment, I thought about just leaving him lying there or sending him back to unconsciousness. Instead, I watched him laugh as he crawled out of the hedge and plucked leaves from his hair. "Leave the crap, or you can find your pack on your own." I could have kicked him, but I didn't. Even if I wanted it very, very much. Instead, I tore at one of the bushes. I tore up a handful of leaves and imagined it was this pain in the neck.

A good-looking pain in the neck.

He looked at me with sparkling eyes. His ears twitched. They looked fluffy.

"Well, since I'm the werewolf of the two of us, I should have NO trouble sniffing out my pack. Aren't you dependent on me? What are you planning to do now? What are you doing here anyway? Apart from some crime and an escape. Oh! There was a fox!" He pointed somewhere.

With my hands clenched into fists, I did my best not to beat up this idiot. "Come on. We have to find each other somewhere... Ansgar!"

The wolf's buttocks protruded from the nearest hedge. "Here's a rabbit hole or something!"

I pulled him out of the hedge by the slightly damp pants and pushed him forward. Then I wiped my hands on my own pants. EW! "Go! Start sniffing out the way. Your nose should be finer than mine." As a vampire, my nose was also fine, but not fine enough to locate a whole pack. And besides, this fool had cut himself on some thorns. Now, he not only smelled of sweat and urine. No, he also smelled of delicious blood. A terrible mixture. "You need a bath!"

"I know," Ansgar grumbled. "But it's not MY fault." He led me in a different direction than I had wanted to take. And in doing so, he elegantly showed his talent for driving me crazy. He kept stopping. Out of nowhere! "Oh! A woodpecker!"

"Go on!" How many times had I run into him? Because he had suddenly stopped?

The slight smell of blood distracted me, overshadowing any further scent. The wolfish fragrance bearer chatted without a break and changed the subject faster than I could follow.

Blood.

Delicious blood.

My stomach growled. "Sorry."

Urine and sweat. Everwinus! Be reasonable. You don't want to bite into that.

"Huh?" Ansgar turned to me briefly, but went on. "Oh. I always knew I was a treat!" His ears twitched. For a moment, I saw the golden earring sparkle, which adorned one of the soft-looking ears. He sniffed.

"What?" I frowned.

His ears twitched again.

"I smell water!" He pointed to dark, tall trees. "There!"

And he was gone...

A few moments later, I heard a splash. I raised my eyebrows. Stunned, hungry, and worried. "Did you even undress before you went in?" I shouted and followed him. "I took clothes with me, but I don't know if they fit you!"

"I forgot! It's dirty anyway! I wash them directly." Ansgar grinned broadly when I spotted him in the water. A river. Narrow, but deep enough that he was up to his waist in water. Wavering, thanks to a strong current. "It almost washed me away!" he announced triumphantly.

Maybe I should knock him unconscious after all? "Seriously... You..."

Ansgar tilted his head. "What? Will you get in, too? We could have a water fight..."

"No!" I interrupted. "Are you clean now? Then come out. We have to move on!"

"That's right..." The werewolf dived under for a moment, then shook himself like a dog and stumbled out of the river, which threatened to sweep him away. Then he stood in front of me. Grinning, no longer smelly and... Wet. His clothes stuck to his body. I saw every muscle. "So... Um..."

"What?" I asked, but he shook his head. "What?" I went to the river and washed my face. I probably didn't smell very pleasant either. I rubbed wet hands over my armpits. Under my clothes, which became damp. Then I washed my hands in the river water.

"It doesn't matter. When we meet my sister and uncle, what are you going to do?"

"Oh... You know who's looking for you?"

"Yes! I can smell them. They have come this way. Maybe we can intercept them somewhere. Or we miss them, and they go on to beat your friends black and blue. In that case, we meet them in my pack. We'll just go in the direction where their smell is coming from until we know exactly where we are... Oh! Is this a cave?" He pointed to a rocky outcrop, overgrown with bushes and slightly hidden behind trees.

"Yes. Can you smell any predator?"

"Nope. The cave should be empty."

"Then we should rest there and then continue in daylight. An unfavorable time for vampires. My friends will have a hard time following us during the day. Our eyes are very sensitive to sunlight. And you can see if some of the clothes fit you. Or do you want to stay wet?" I hurried ahead and tried to put more distance between us before I followed my instinct and drank from it.

He no longer smelled of blood, but my nose remembered the scent very well. My stomach growled again. This time louder.

His slight scratches must have healed long ago, and I had already drunk from him that night.

Not much.

My friends had been too greedy.

"Are you running away from me?" The wolf followed me faster than I would have liked. "What's going on?"

"You're annoying!" I growled.

"I know. That's what everyone says!" He ran past me, turned around, and began to walk backwards. Or rather, to stumble. "So! What are you planning to do now? After you saved me? Back to the ... Uh... Your homeland is a swamp, isn't it?"

"Partially." I nodded and grabbed his arm before he fell over a branch that lay in front of the cave entrance. "Careful!"

"Thank you!"

I just snorted. "Let's get some sleep." My stomach began to sing an aria. Did my cheeks turn red? Was it anger, or was I embarrassed by the rumble?

"You could also bathe."

"Tomorrow morning. Before we leave. I'm tired!" I was. Very

I had hardly slept since my escape. We were always on alert.

But in the cave, my personal nightmare continued.

We ate some bread from the supplies and shared the little water that was still in the water bag that I carried with me. I tried not to think about the smell of his blood, and he... Continued talking.

While he kept talking about things, I handed him new clothes. Three times, I had to remind him to try them on. This idiot forgot it again and again. He happily switched from topic to topic. There seemed to be no end to his flow of speech.

He kept talking...

And on, and on, and on... He even forgot to eat!

Maybe I should beat him to unconsciousness after all?

I had nothing to anesthetize him, and when I looked at him more closely, his fine physique spoke volumes. This wolf was muscular! Provoking him was probably a stupid idea.

I myself was also well built, but I couldn't keep up with him. His muscles promised more trouble than I would have liked. At first glance, he looked slim, soft, and pretty... As if he didn't know how to strike. Surely he knew.

So I rolled away from him on the cave floor, the supplies close to me, and tried to ignore him.

I couldn't sleep.

At least the clothes fit reasonably well. When he changed, I wanted to look away at first, but then curiosity had overcome me. He... He had a very... appealing body. My mouth watered. F*cking thirst! He looked DELICIOUS.

The wolf was still babbling and tossing and turning. "The ground is too hard. How can you sleep.... AAAH!  EEWW! SPIDER!" He jumped up, screaming. "Eeeeew!!! A spider crawled over my hand!"

"GO! TO! SLEEP! AND! SHUT UP!!" I sat up straight.

"I'm hungry."

"What?" I closed my eyes. Don't beat up the wolf. Not the stupid wolf ... If my friends were around, they would have found us long ago.

"And I have to pee... OH! I have to poop too."

Don't BEAT up the wolf, even if he deserves it. "Then. JUST. GO."

"Are you coming with me?"

"What?" I opened my eyes again and stared at him, stunned.

"Alone is boring... OH! Do vampires have to poop? Pee? I always thought you only drink blood, but you... Are you actually thirsty?"

"Ansgar?"

"Yes?"

"Go pee, or I'll break your neck!" I growled.

"Sure thing!" He saluted and fled from the cave.

Unfortunately, I could still hear him.

"I'm small. My heart is pure. Today I'm going to pee in the forest. Alone!" he sang to himself. I heard leaves rustling. Leaves and fabric. "I am the king of the forest and do my business here at this tr.... SPIIIDEER!!!"

And he came back, with his pants half hanging down and a spider, which clung to his hair. Poor little thing. "Spider! Spider! Get rid of it!" Thanks to the hanging pants, I had a full view of everything in the lower area. Was there a spider hanging from his... Had he noticed? Better I didn't say anything...

I got up and... Gifted him a black eye that would heal within a few moments. To beat the stupid wolf was a liberation. Then I rescued the spider from his hair. She fled along my arm. I left the other one where it was. The area was too intimate for me.

"Ouch! Not me. The spider! OUCH!", the wolf whined. "Get rid of the spider!"

Spider 2 now squatted on his private parts and watched the spectacle.

"Ouch!"

"The spider is gone!"

"Really?" He waved his hands and caught me in the face. I clenched my fist again and...

He held my fist and... The idiot kissed me.

Startled, I took a step back.

"Stop beating me." The werewolf growled slightly. "You don't want to fight with me, idiot!"

I would have been intimidated if he hadn't still been standing in front of me with his pants down. And a spider on his best piece, which now climbed it. The wolf noticed it, shrieked, struck at the spider, and fell over his trousers. He kicked. "Ah! A spider is sitting on my peepee!"

I stared at him. My face turned very red. "You kissed me." THAT MAN had dared to kiss me! With his pants down!

"Yes." He sat up with difficulty, looked for the spider, did not find it, and pulled up his trousers, trembling. "So that you stop hitting me. I don't like violence. Is the spider gone? Do you see it?"

"Are you serious?" This wolf...

"I hate spiders. And I still have to pee. Are you coming with me now?"

"What? Are you SERIOUS!?"

"The spider attacked me! Two spiders attacked me! What if they get their buddies and they pounce on me?"

"You... You're bigger than a little spider."

"Please?" Ansgar let his ears hang. "I'm really afraid of the critters."

What can I say?

In the end, I accompanied the wolf outside to protect it from a spider gang while he did its business. At least I had forgotten the bloodthirst for the time being.