Haejangguk

Zeke smiled softly and shrugged.

"It's a lycan thing, you want to win a fight or get someone to submit, the easiest way is to go for the throat, the faster you tear it out the less likely you are to sustain injury."

He chuckled softly and spooned more of it into his mouth.

"I see, I never had a problem with blood, you hunt as a wolf, you're bound to get your muzzle covered in it."

Nearly raw meat was always one of his favourites, nothing ever tasted as good as a fresh kill, unless Moe cooked it.

"You still struggling with feeding?"
He asked softly, looking up at the vampire with calm silver eyes, he was not hostile about such things anymore.

"Any animal will go for the throat. It's one of the easiest ways to kill."

Jean-Claude had a secret love of animal documentaries. He knew a fair bit about animal behaviour.

"Human's aren't quite the same. Blood is a taboo that most people don't indulge in." He had to admit that the first time he had tried animal blood, he had been very iffy. Drinking blood had put him off, but once he tried it, he had to admit that it tasted okay.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Can't stomach any blood except Gabe's. It's a real pain. Neither of us can cope with him having to feed me all the damned time."

"That human taboo is something I find hard to understand, it was no that long ago that the blood of an animal was common in food.

Meat was hard to come by so you used up the entire animal for the protein, I find humans very wasteful these days."

Zeke scratched the back of his neck, a common trait for when he was thinking something over.

"If you need help, Moe is great with helping vampires, she is currently teaching a pureblood vampire who at the age of nine hundred has never eaten anything but blood to eat human food.

Could you imagine that? Trying to eat solids after living that long on only liquids?
So far he is going really well, and if she can managed that I sure she could do the opposite for you.

I mean, you can stomach animal blood and that's a start."

"Yeah, we can be pretty wasteful at times." He paused for a moment. "They," he corrected.

Even after a couple of months, he still called himself a human at times. He needed to break that and just accept he was a vampire.

"She is? Wow, bet he's having a rough time trying to stomach solids. I have trouble eating anything after being on a liquid diet for a few days."

He couldn't imagine it. Nine hundred years without food... He didn't think he'd be able to do that.

"Well, yea but, animals aren't-" He gave a soft sigh. "Animals aren't human. I just can't picture eating a human."

Zeke shrugged softly.
"He's struggling through it, he is determined to be able to eat so I don't think throwing up a few times is going to stop him."

Chances were that Aeker's body would reject the solids at times, no matter how slow the transition there was always going to be issues to work through.

"It doesn't need to be human, it just needs to be blood.
I know it's hard but you have to over come the pseudo-cannibalism outlook you have on feeding.

There are people out there who will let you feed from them willingly, there is no violence, no killing, you don't have to step over your own morals.

And if it's the fact that it's human blood, why not find another vampire to help you and Gabe out? I know a few who would be willing to help."

Jean-Claude nodded. He admired the man's determination and he hadn't even met him yet.

The German sighed softly, eyes turning from Zeke.

"You're not the first one to try and convince me, Zeke. Gabe has tried and a woman called Taylor tried. Look, I don't want to piss on your efforts of trying to be nice to me, but if I could drink blood after being talked to about it, I wouldn't be having any trouble right now."

He appreciated the man's attempts, but they probably wouldn't work. It was a wasted effort.

"That's fair enough man, I'm not here to pester you about it, I'm not the mothering type.

But you're a good kid and I don't want to see you getting sick because of this, but if you change your mind and wanna try a few new things to see if they work, that little cottage by the forest is where I will be if you need me."

He nodded to the man, he hoped that he could over come this sometime in the near future.

His lips twitched.

Zeke knew when to call it quite and stop bothering him. He was glad for that. He liked the man even after their rocky start and he didn't want to fall out with him because he couldn't stop.

"You're much more understanding than that Taylor woman." She hadn't backed off like this when he had warned her off. She just stormed full pelt forwards and ended up making things worse.

He gave the Lycan a smile. "Thanks for the offer. I'll be sure to make my way down there if I need any help."

Zeke sighed and nodded his head, running his hands through his now shoulder length hair.

"Taylor can be a little...rough, try not to take it to heart alright?
I'm understanding because I have been there, a long time ago but I remember it.

Changing into a lycan may be more painful and take longer to get use to, but I think being a vampire is a bigger change is lifestyle.

So don't sweat it, you have all the time in the world so do fret about the little things."

"Easier said than done with what she put me through."

He doubted he'd ever be on good terms with the woman after what she had said and done.

"I think it would have been easier for me if I had lived back when you were younger. You're, what, five hundred and fifty? Life back then must have been a struggle from the start; human or Lycan or Vampire."

He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "After I got off the streets, I managed to get into quite a comfortable life. I've never really had many hardships to overcome so I'm quite a weak person compared to some. I lived a comfortable life and then got thrust into this. If I had lived a more difficult life, I'd probably have gotten used to this life easier."

"That's probably true, for a lot of us, becoming what we are was our salvation so we embrace it, we're proud of it.

But I think you will find that deep in most of us, we long to be human again in some way or another, vampires want to walk in the sun and live without killing, lycans was the be able to control themselves and not be controlled by the moon.

But at the end of the day we're all still alive, I could of filled myself with silver, you could of walked out into the sun.
You adjust to this life and you find little pleasures in it, enough that you endure the bad."

Zeke leaned back in his chair, it was moments like these that he really wanted a cigarette.

"It gets easier, trust me."

Jean-Claude shrugged.

He hadn't wanted this. He had wanted to find a nice little house in Seoul, get married to a great woman, have two point five kids and get another cat or two. This but a wrench in those plans.

"Yeah..." He just had to find those little pleasures. Gabe and Khaliq and Cleo, for all their worth, just weren't enough to have him fight to get used to his life.

He needed to find more friends, little things like learning to do something, buying a rare comic, learning the new routine for a night at the club. He needed to get back into those things again.

Zeke could tell by his reaction that Jean-Claude had not found something to live for as of yet.

"Took me until a few months ago to find something worth living for because I was too stupid to look past my anger for what was done to me, forced to become a lycan so I could serve my masters, fight for their entertainment, kill for them.

And now look, I have a wife, a little cottage by the woods and pups on the way.

Don't look so defeated before you have even started, this world has a lot to offer when you can live as long as we do."

"She's pregnant? Contrats."

He sighed softly as he pushed himself off the counter and busied himself with washing his bowl and fork.

"You had your anger to push your through your life. I don't have that. I'm not angry at Gabe for turning me. I don't hate him. And, though you did manage t make me think long and hard about it, I don't resent him for keeping me around."

He set the bowl down on the drainer. "I dont have anger or little things to keep me going."

He gripped the counter and sighed heavily, bowing his head. He stayed like that for a few moments before lifting his head and grinning at the man. "Maybe I need to make a few friends and drag everyone out on a bar crawl at some point, ne?"

"I know a few good guys that would gladly go for a pub crawl with us if you're interested?

I even know a good little place in town, 'The Last Stand' its a mean little pub that my band plays at every few weeks."

He knew he could drag Aodh out for a few drinks, Aeker would probably follow and Drago could use a few more friends as well.

"Yeah, sounds fun. I know a guy and his sister that'll definitely come if I ask them to."

He cocked his head to the side. "The Last Stand... Can't say I've heard of it. I work in one of the big strip clubs at the edge of town. Khaliq and I usually stay around there when we're out."

Exploring a new area of the city sounded fun.

"We can make it regular thing then, I know some of the newer coven members could really use some more friends, it would be nice to have a tight knit group."

If Jean-Claude had a nice group of friends maybe he could start feeling a bit better about things, it wouldn't be too long and most of Zeke's time would be spent with Moe so he hoped the fledgeling would hit it off with a few people.

"Not many people have, its in with all the warehouses, mostly bikers and such in there, not the best crowd of people to be around but at least its got good music and good drinks."

"Sounds good. God knows I miss being dragged out by my friends every time I got off work."

Perhaps if he made friends here, that'd happen again. He'd have people dragging him out all hours of the night to go for a drink.

Jean-Claude gave a loud snort. "Ever been to the red light district in Seoul? That's not the best crowd. I'm sure I can deal with your crowd just fine." He had managed well enough while he was in Korea, he'd do just fine here.

"You say that now, just wait until it is me and a bunch of other lycan and vampires pulling your ass out of bed at all hours to go out.

You don't know a rough morning until you have gone drinking with lycan's."

He replied with a wolfish grin, he knew Aodh would find this amusing.

Jean-Claude laughed.

"Sounds fun but I gotta warn you, I'm up all hours of the night and you wont have much of a drinking partner if you drag me out during the day. Just try dragging em out of bed to take me drinking."

He shook his head slightly. "I dunno. Khaliq can hold his own. I swear that man was made to drink people under the table. He's built like a shithouse and can hold his drink better than anyone I've ever seen."

"You're kidding me, my partner in crime is practically nocturnal, if you're already up that just makes it easier for us.

Half the group I am planning to get together are vampire's, no chance of me pulling any of you out of bed during the day."

Zeke chuckled softly.
"Well we will see what he is made of when we head out. Got a few new pups in the pack that I might drag along, seems more of the bastards pop up faster than I can count."

"Oh good, I won't be the only one. That'll be a relief." He didnt mind being around Lycan, but he'd enjoy the company of vampire.

"Oh, gotta warn you, my two are human so we gotta keep quiet about all this." He gave a wave of his hand, gesturing to the mansion and its inhabitants. he liked Khaliq and his sister. It'd be a shame for them to be scared off.

"This is sounding more and more interesting the more you go on. Better not bail on me, old man."

"Nah you'll be fine, I'm dragging Aodh along, and where ever he goes, Aeker follows. So you will have at least one other vampire."

Zeke hummed softly and shrugged.
"We will be in public so no one if going to be running around showing off their claws and fangs, it will be fine, everyone knows how to behave in public." .....most of the time.....

"I wont be bailing on you kiddo, don't worry about that."

He nodded with a little grin. "I get to meet other vampires than Gabe and Jace. I hope he's not as sex-driven as those two. Gabe'll blow a gasket if he finds out I've had sex with another person."

He hadn't been all that pleased that Jean had had sex with Jace, but he had gotten over it. He didn't think he'd be that lucky if he slept with another guy.

"Yeah, but it comes up in casual conversation. And I can only blame so much on you lot being escaped mental patients that I had the misfortune of meeting." He grinned widely, flashing his white teeth.

The vampire stuck his tongue out a little and picked up the wet sponge he ahd used to clean his bowl, tossing it at the Lycan. "I'm not a kid. I'm twenty seven."

Zeke snorted and shook his head.
"Unless your name is Aodh I don't think Aeker would ever make a suggestive comment at you.

He's not some young sex crazy vampire, he's older and a bit more reserved.

I'll tell them all about the humans, no need to worry about that."

Zeke rolled his eyes at the mental patients comment and let out a playful growl as he caught the sponge with ease, Jean was slow.

"Oh your asking for it."
The lycan smirked and ditched the sponge at his head.

"I'm not a kid, says the boy who lives in a coven where everyone is in their triple digits." He snorted softly.