Tainted Love

7 - Meeting for the first time

I didn’t even realize the Leviathan had woken up. I know he is chained to the ground with a net covering the entirety of his large body, but I’m pretty sure he can get free from those if he tries hard enough.

I feel a cold sweat trailing down my net. I shouldn’t have put Celine in danger. Their parents were right.

“Can you remove the net?” Celine suddenly asks.

“No” I almost shout and she looks at me with a frowning face.

I am ashamed to admit I am afraid of her mate, but in my defense, he is huge and very unpredictable.

“If he would turn back, it would be easier for us to communicate with him” Dr. Annette suggests. “Maybe then I can ask HPS to remove the net”

“Ok…” Celine mumbles, her gaze once again focused on her new mate.

I have to take a moment to admire his shiny eyes, which are glistening with a greenish-blue shine, while looking attentively at Celine, as if she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

This is the first time I am this close to him. He is more beautiful up close. His scales are shining even if there is merely any light in this large prison-like room.

I still find it hard to believe Celine is truly his mate, but after seeing how he reacted to her presence back in the valley, I suppose there is no denying it.

Honestly, I am still overblown on how there’s an actual living Leviathan at our home. This creature is meant to be extinct. The last one of its kind was said to be Amelia’s mate and he was killed more than 20 years ago. Come to think of it, Amelia was his mate, and she wasn’t a Leviathan either. Maybe they don’t need to be the same species to be mated.

“Hello” Celine’s sweet voice echoes. “Are you ok?”

I can tell the Leviathan has no idea what she is saying. Does he even understand English? Heck, does he understand any language at all? He was raised by wolves after all. He just keeps looking at Celine with his shiny eyes.

“Can you change back so we can talk?” Celine continues pressing but there is still no response from the Leviathan.

“Perhaps a demonstration would be good for him to understand?” Dr. Annette suggests.

“A demonstration?” Celine inquires.

“Yes, turn into a wolf and then back” Dr. Annette explains. “Maybe that will be enough for him to understand what he has to do”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try” Celine says and proceeds to turn into a wolf.

Her white figure looks so soft, one cannot help but to want to pet her. The Leviathan eyes her with even more adoration now that she has turned. He doesn’t seem surprised at all by this. Perhaps he thinks everyone can shift forms like he does, they just have a different animal form.

Celine reaches out to touch the Leviathan’s snout with hers. Just like back at the valley, it is such a unique and tender scene to watch. It is as if they are connected even though they are only touching snouts. Is this how every mate feels when they meet each other?

I feel a little jealous. As a witch, I will never get a mate. That is exclusive to werewolves nowadays.

Their eyes linger on one another, and the Leviathan lets out another purr like sound. After a short moment, Celine steps back and turns back into human. She is smiling gracefully as she raises her hand towards the creature as if she wants him to take it.

With no warning, a bright blue light engulfs the room and I have to look away to shelter my eyes. When the light fades and I look back, the creature is no longer there. Instead, a scrawny n*ked boy with long and dirty black hair stands in his place.

The only thing barely similar to the creature he is, are his greenish blue eyes that stare at Celine with such intensity that I don’t know how she isn’t feeling embarrassed.

The net has also been thrown out from over him. I was right when I thought he could dispose of it whenever he wanted.

Dr. Annette arranges a blanket to cover the boy so he feels more comfortable, though I’m sure he doesn’t care at all about his n*ked body.

Celine’s smile deepens, showing off her dimples and she draws closer to the boy, taking the feeble hand that is now drawn towards her.

“Hello” Celine says, holding his hand in hers. His hand may be bony and feeble but it is so much bigger compared to her small ones. “I’m Celine. It is nice to meet you”

The boy continues looking at her as if she is the only person in the world.

“Ce...” He mumbles in a hoarse voice, surprising everyone. “...in...”

“Yes, that’s right!” Celine says, excitedly while pointing to herself. “That’s my name. It's me!”

The boy seems to understand and even tries to mimic Celine’s smile which is weird and adorable at the same time.

“That’s better” Celine tells the boy, holding his hand again. He seems to enjoy this. “Are you hungry?”

Now understanding he doesn’t speak or comprehend our language at all, Celine signals to her mouth and makes a motion as if she is munching something.

The boy’s eyes light up and he mimics her munching expression.

“I’ll ask Raphael to bring something in once I am done with the examination” Dr. Annette says. “For now, do you think you can ask him to keep calm while I draw blood and do some tests?”

“Hmm…” Celine mumbles as she looks back at the Leviathan with a doubtful expression. Even she thinks that is too much to ask of her to do. “Ok, this doesn’t hurt much, see?”

To my surprise, she picks up one of Dr. Annette’s syringes and pokes her own arm with it, obviously trying not to show her pain. I know how much she hates needles.

The Leviathan looks wide-eyed at her but seems to understand what she means. At least he doesn’t try to attack Dr. Annette when she picks his arm to draw blood.

While Dr. Annette examines the Leviathan and does what she has to do, I help Celine sit down on the floor as she was starting to faint from the needle still poked on her skin.

“That was very brave of you” I tell her, after getting the needle out of her arm. Fortunately, she didn’t hit any vein and the bleeding is minimal. I place only a small bandage on it.

“It was the only thing I could think of” She says, her eyes closed due to the dizziness. “Is it very bad?”

I smile at her question. “No, it’s fine. It was just a small poke. You didn’t even use the biggest needle”

“Oh, thank the Moon Goddess” She sighs in relief finally opening her eyes and examining the small bandage on her arm.

“Feeling better?” I ask her.

“Yeah” She answers and gets up to look at the Leviathan again. It seems Dr. Annette is done. “We need to give you a name. He doesn’t have a name, does he?”

“Not that I know of” Dr. Annette says.

“We’ll give him a name, then” Celine decides. “I know! How about Virgil? Gil for short?”

“Like your plushie?” I ask her. She has a wolf plushie in our shared bedroom that she has owned ever since she was a toddler. She just nods in response. She really loves that plushie.

“That’s a nice name” Dr. Annette agrees. “But I don’t know if he will understand that is his new name”

Thinking ahead, Celine grips the boy’s hand firmly to call his attention and motions to her.

“Celine” She says and then moves her hand to his chest. “Virgil”

The boy doesn’t seem to understand at first, so Celine repeats.

“Cece” She says, using her nickname this time. “Gil”

While her hand rests on the boy’s chest, there seems to be some understanding in his eyes.

“G-Gil...” He mumbles.

“Yes! That’s right!” Celine says in excitement and repeats the motion between her and the boy to make sure he understands.

Surprising everyone, the boy raises his hand to touch Celine’s forehead.

“Cece” He says, more coherently this time.

Celine can only smile and the clear emotion in her eyes is enough to make anyone want to tear up.

Dr. Annette smiles at the newly found mates, stepping forward to call their attention.

“I’m afraid we have to go now” She says. “Any longer now and Raphael will come barging in thinking something bad happened”

“Dr. Annette is right” I add. “We have to go”

Celine looks disappointed to have to part from her mate so soon and even pouts a little while still holding his hand.

“It’s alright, Cece” Dr. Annette tells her. “I’ll see to it that every time I have to check on Virgil here, that you will be able to tag along”

“Thank you, doctor” Celine thanks her and slowly lets go of Virgil’s hand. Now, it is his turn to look disappointed.

We head back into the vent we came from, and Dr. Annette makes sure to close it behind us. Shortly after, she goes to call Raphael and explain what happened while she was in there with the Leviathan, being careful to keep our presence a secret.

The smell of a fresh broth comes from the vents as we exit into the corridors. I know Virgil must be having his meal by now.

I carefully lead Celine into our bedroom. Yara and Felix are still waiting up for us.

“How did it go?” Yara asks.

“It was great!” Celine replies excitedly. “His name is Virgil and he is the most wonderful person I’ve ever met!”

“Virgil?” Yara questions. “Like the plushie?”

“She’s the one who named him” I explain.

“Ah” Yara mouths. “So, he woke up and he didn’t kill anyone”

“Of course not!” Celine says. “He is as harmless as a little lamb”

“Yeah, well. Lambs don’t have teeth the size of a sword” Yara retorts.

“Are you going to see him again?” Felix asks.

“Dr. Annette said that she would allow me to go along every time she goes to see him” Celine says. “I hope that is tomorrow”

“We’ll see” I say. “For now, I think it’s best if we go to sleep before someone decides to come check if are actually in our bedroom”

“Good call” Yara says. “And good night”

We all get into our beds, though I’m sure I’m not the only one having a hard time falling asleep. It’s been a pretty eventful day.

It makes me wonder what else God may bring us tomorrow.