Fanon:The Good Ones-Chapter 37

Defiance
The cold air was refreshing. Its cool gusts did not make me cold but instead gave me fire; its frigid blasts did not stab me with an icy blade but it felt as if I was being soothed by gentle hands.

That came with being a vampire: cold was warm, dark was light... Although some things never changed: pain would always be pain, just as wanting would be wanting, fear would be fear, and love would be love.

Love. Love of family, of home. Love of life, love of friendship... did those same feelings exist as a werewolf? Would I still be more powerful by night, yearn to live in its dark embrace? Would I still have the same desires, the same passions? Would I still be capable of loving my family and my life the way I did now?

Shut up, Pierce, my inner voice scolded me. Don't ever think about that.

So on I sped.

But then it hit me: think of all the benefits! I could eat food again... real food! I could go out into the sunlight and not have to bother with applying an alchemical mixture to my skin to enjoy the sun's rays! And then some of the downfalls: I wouldn't be as fast, as strong. I wouldn't be able to subconsciously force people to do my bidding, read their minds, dig deep into their brains to discover things that they didn't even know about themselves.

You just don't give up, do you? the little voice in the back of my head said. ''You've already decided to defy the wishes of your doctors, the wishes of your family, the wishes of your friends. For all you know, this change might kill you. How can you know for sure that you'll survive? Your family needs you, now more than ever, and you've already made up your mid that you're going to go to a foreign town and fight a battle for someone you don't even know. That battle... you can't possibly win it!''

Usually, the little voice told me much less. But my subconscious was right: I had already made up my mind. I was going against what everyone had told me to do. I was putting my health - my life - at risk for the sake of one person and the wellbeing of a town that I had no idea existed.

And this was not just my decision: this was defiance.