CHAPTER 3; Family

 

CHAPTER 3 Family

There were new words in his head now. He slept peacefully on a soft bed that was inside of a glass case. A woman would come to nurse him. He remembered her. Now he knew that her name was Anniel. She was the mate of the big man with the black wings called Ashriel. The man that looked like his mirror image, but with black hair, was Devon.

There were many others, but what made him happiest was that he had been given a new name. He was no longer Stupid Clone or Dumb Clone. They called him Ozzy.

He knew many things now. He was in a space station called Alpha 7, and the people who lived in this space station were called Alpha Angels. Five of them had black wings just like him. One of them was a woman… but she did not have any milk to give.

Sleep cycles were called days, and he spent seven of them in a special room with Dr. Quinn, who was trying to make him better. Dr. Quinn told him that his heart was sick, but that he would fix it. Dr. Quinn was kind to him and so were the others… except for Ashriel.

Ashriel was cold and made him afraid.

Ozzy felt confused and a little apprehensive when he was brought into the playroom of the children. He had never seen children before. They were small people.

When he saw them, he hesitated, turning to Devon.

“It’s okay,” Devon reassured.

He looked curiously around the toy-filled room as the children seemed to have no interest in him and continued with their gleeful playing. He looked at the colorful objects, then crouched down to touch a bright red ball that had rolled to his feet. Immediately, a crimson haired boy appeared scowling before him.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

Ozzy fell back in fright, his lower lip quivering as his eyes began to fill.

“Remember… no spoiling or coddling,” he heard Ashriel say to Devon behind him.

Ozzy stared in fright at the red haired vampire boy that floated away with the pretty, bright red ball. His name was Kayden. He had a twin named Kaylen. Another child approached him and he ducked underneath his wings, trembling.

Something soft and furry was placed at his feet. He wiggled his toes feeling the pleasant sensation and slowly opened his wings to see a small blonde haired boy that looked like a miniature version of himself, except for the lack of wings. The boy smiled, then scampered away, leaving a large furry object at his feet.

“It’s a gift,” Devon said softly behind him. “See. Jazriel gave you a teddy bear.”

Teddy bear. Jazriel. He stored those sounds away in his memory. He knew Jazriel was Devon’s son. He was just unsure what the word son meant.

Cautiously he touched the teddy bear. It was soft… like the white tiger. He looked up at Devon and Ashriel. Only Devon smiled so Ozzy remained unsmiling also so that Ashriel would not become angry with him. He drew his hand away slowly desiring to hold the teddy bear, but wondered if it was allowed.

Ashriel walked over and picked the bear up and held it out to him. Ozzy only stared at the bear. Ashriel frightened him, ever since the winged man had slapped him viciously. Ozzy had become angry when he tried to interrupt his feeding from Annie and had struck out at Ashriel with the tip of his wing. Big mistake. The reaper had grabbed his hair and yanked him away from Annie and struck him hard across the cheek. The blow had hurt terribly, but the fight between Ashriel and Remien had frightened him even more when they had drawn blood from each other. Remien was a man with blood-red hair and green eyes.

”Take it,” Ashriel ordered.

“Ash, not coddling or spoiling is one thing, but I think you’re being a little too hard on him. He’s barely a toddler in reality.”

“Seven feet of killer sinew and brawn is all I see.” Ashriel replied before shoving the bear at Ozzy.

Devon scowled.

Ozzy was given his own room. He carefully crawled upon the bed with his new companion and looked around, hugging the bear to his chest. They stared at him expectantly, but after he’d surveyed his simple surroundings, he’d yawned sleepily and stared back.

Ashriel put his glass of milk on a table by the bed and ushered everyone out.

The door closed, but Ozzy stared at it a while longer just in case they came back in. After a long moment his stomach growled. He looked at the glass of milk sadly. No warm female to cuddle up against. He almost didn’t want it, but his tummy hurt.

Still not very coordinated, he gripped the glass with two hands and brought it up to his lips. Most of it dribbled down his neck as he gulped. He grimaced. It wasn’t warm.

Tears spilled from his eyes as he carefully set the offending liquid down. With the back of his hand he wiped away the milk that dripped down his face and chest.

A sudden fluffy towel wiping at his face startled him making him almost faint.

Everything swam before his eyes as strong arms embraced him strange words he didn’t understand in an angry manner.

“Ozzy! I’m sorry! I forgot about your heart! I didn’t mean to scare you, little guy!”

“Rem! What did you do now?” It was Seth. He was the one who could turn into a white tiger. Remien could shape-shift into a red dragon.

He knew this.

Remien and Seth both began to argue as they massaged his arms and legs briskly. Little by little he regained clarity.

Remien had brought him more milk but in a strange thing he called bottle.

At least it was warm milk.

Ozzy fell asleep with his teddy bear, his bottle and Seth and Remien at either side of him, but when he’d awakened half way through sleep cycle he was alone… and it was dark.

Teddy bear was still with him. He hugged the bear and looked around the semi dark room. He was hungry again. Ashriel had said he needed to be weaned from his nighttime feedings because he was a big boy now, but he was hungry.

He began to cry silently.

Some time after he must have fallen asleep because he was roused by a stern faced Ashriel when sleep cycle was over.

He followed the big reaper to the dining room where the others were congregated.

There he was kissed and hugged by all. His hands trembled when he held the glass of milk and gulped greedily from it, now uncaring that it wasn’t as warm as he liked it. He was starving! Only he drank too fast and he suddenly felt sick.

To his utter mortification, he spewed up the milk. The little vampire boys laughed at him making him cry in embarrassment. Now he was hungry, in pain, and shame faced.

”All right, boys!” Remien snapped crossly making Ozzy jump. “That’s enough.”

It seemed a bit too much stimulation for him as once again he saw stars dancing before his eyes. Before he toppled from his chair Lucien and Zak were the first ones that reached him and held him upright. Lucien, along with Devon said they were his big brothers. Zak had golden hair and like Remien, was capable of shifting into a dragon, but a golden one. Zak also had very big muscles.

Someone wiped his face with a cool cloth as hands stroked him back from the dark abyss that threatened to swallow him.

“Can’t he have some baby cereal? Surely that’s gentle enough not to harm him. He’s too big to just be sustained on nothing but breast milk,” a female argued.

A bowl of creamy cereal was placed before him, but Ashriel forbade anyone from spoon-feeding him.

Handling a spoon felt strange. He tasted the cereal and grimaced. Its thick lumpy texture made him want to vomit again. He felt himself growing dizzy as he fought his despair at the situation.

Sobs shook him as he lowered his head upon his arms folded upon the table

Again, they were fighting, verbally this time, but it was equally disturbing and frightening.

The chair beneath him morphed into his bed as he found Lucien laying him back and pulling his silvery cool sheets over his quivering body. Luke lay next to him and held him.

“It’s all going to be okay, little guy. Being a grown up can be complicated sometimes.”

Ozzy tried to cuddle against Luke, but his belly began to burn from hunger. He felt something nudging at the corner of his lips and turned his gaze to see that Lucien held another bottle of warm breast milk for him to drink from. He opened his mouth and let Lucien feed him. He loved Lucien.

His blonde brother smiled indulgently and kissed his forehead. “That’s a good boy. Later on I’m going to let you eat puréed forbidden fruit. To hell with all this baby cereal stuff. I’ll have you eating solid food before the month is up.”

 

Author's Note

Once again, rough dreft. I'll edit later.

Reviews

[Mary Evans]

Nice development. A little confusing and fast paces at some points though.

Also: “Only Devon smiled so Ozzy remained unsmiling also so that Ashriel would not become angry with him.” Sounds a bit awkward.

Overall nice chapter. Keep up the good work.

[Cassandra D.]

once again, a great written chapter.

[deeps]

alot going on in this chapter, like it though.
Very well written. Like this alot.
Well read the next the chapter.

[The Creator's Little Ro..]

All the new names are a bit confusing...but I think it's supposed to be that way? Ozzy doesn't know anything about them yet, other than their names and what he has seen, right? Maybe there should be so many new people at once...