Near Needful Things,Wednesday Evening
Allie couldn't say when was the last time she'd slept or eaten. After coming back from Caritas on Saturday night, she'd fallen into a sort of stupor, focused on her charm and all it good do for her.
Kanin's voice, urging her to protect Leland Gaunt had been surprising, but Allie had obeyed without question and taken position near the store.
If being in thrall to a cursed object meant Allie had missed a bunch of phone calls? Oops...
gunslingerpose
Did Gorgon count? Because he was absolutely here to threaten the store if it came right down to it. But more than that, he'd come back to the island because he was worried about his friend, and whatever happened to the store came second to the fact that something was wrong with Allie.
He hated himself for it a little, but that hadn't stopped him from stepping across the causeway and snapping his goggles open at a bunch of unsuspecting passers-by in Baltimore. Not long enough to hurt anybody, but long enough to make them woozy, and long enough to give him a sudden kick of power that he prayed he wouldn't burn through as he ran to find Allie like a man possessed.
"Allie!"
Now, maybe with any luck, he wouldn't get himself killed trying to save her.
allie-vamp
Allie stiffened. That was not a voice she was expecting to hear.
"You're not supposed to be here!"
gunslingerpose
Gorgon shot her one of his crooked smiles and gave his shoulders a shrug, at that.
"Yeah, well... here I am anyway. Funny how that goes. I'm more worried about what it is you're doing here, babe. It's not nearly sunny enough out for hanging around this shithole."
allie-vamp
Allie shook her head. "No, I need to be here. Kanin told me to protect Leland Gaunt. He helped me. I have to help him."
At the thought of that help, she unconsciously reached up and ran her fingers over the charm.
gunslingerpose
"Kanin?"
Oh. Shit. Okay.
"Allie, look, Kanin isn't here," he said gently, holding up his hands as he tried to walk closer. "And this Gaunt guy isn't helping you, he's fucking you over. This isn't you. This weird obsessive zombie mind-control thing is a bad look on you, babe."
allie-vamp
"He helped me," Allie insisted. "Because of him I can be practically normal now. Don't you understand?"
No Allie, he had no idea. Really.
gunslingerpose
"Yeah," Nick replied, "you can mock joggers in LA with me and eat ice cream and be completely fucking creepy-obsessed with that... it's that thing around your neck, right? That's what this is all about? Allie, that thing is makin' you all weird in the head. Makin' you sick. You gotta take it off."
Yeah. Yeah, he went there.
allie-vamp
He wanted her to take it off because he wanted it for himself Allie realized.
Logic was for other people.
"No," she said. "You can't have it. It's mine."
gunslingerpose
Ooookay. Round the bend and merrily marching off to Crazyland it was, then.
"What, you think I want it? That thing's not going to do me any good, Allie, I've got no use for joining the Gaunt hivemind today. But you need to take that thing off and smash it. Fucking break it to bits. It's poison, Allie, shit, it's getting to your brain."
A few more steps closer, hands still up in front of him. Nick was practically holding his breath, now.
"Here, let's talk it out. We can sort all this, okay?"
allie-vamp
"There's nothing to talk about. I'm not taking it off. It's not doing anything but helping me."
He was getting too close, Allie realized, taking a half step backwards. "Just go back to L.A. You don't need to get involved here."
gunslingerpose
"Allie... I'm so sorry, but I can't do that," Nick sighed, stopping for just a moment at her half-step back. "I gotta stay here. You need more more than L.A. does right now."
... Probably. L.A. had The Mighty Dragon and Blockbuster and Regenerator keeping it safe. Allie, right this moment, had... him.
"C'mon. It'll be easy. You just take it off, break the chain or something. Get your head back."
allie-vamp
Awww Nick, Allie would be touched if she actually was in her right mind for that speech.
"No, I can't. I won't." Her voice wasn't as steady any longer and she kept shaking her head in denial.
gunslingerpose
"C'mon, Allie. You have to. It's gonna suck, I'm not gonna lie about that, but this is poisoning you. And, I don't know about you, but I like my Allies not-poisoned."
He cared, okay? He wasn't even going to deny it. Allie was one of his best friends. Possibly the best friend he had, straight-up. Nick didn't exactly forge meaningful relationships on a regular basis.
He reached out a hand toward her.
"Please?"
allie-vamp
Unfortunately Allie reacted as if he was trying to attack and flung out her hands to push him away.
"No!" she screamed before taking off at a run.
Did that make Nick It in a horrible version of their usual game of Tag?
gunslingerpose
"Fuck," Nick swore, stumbling backwards for only a second, and then bouncing back and taking off after her. Thank god he'd taken that hit in Baltimore that he was feeling like shit about now, was all he could say. "Alle, get your ass back here!"
He'd always promised he'd catch her during these games. Today was the first time it actually mattered.
allie-vamp
Did he really think she was going to listen to him?
One thing working in Nick's favor was that the overwhelming urge to stay nearby to protect Leland Gaunt meant that Allie didn't go far.
She stopped, looking around warily. "Don't do this Nick. Don't make me hurt you."
gunslingerpose
He came to a stop nearby, though he was still pushing into her personal space. He wasn't about to let her get too far so easily.
"I'm not going to just let you hurt me, Allie," he protested. "But I'm not going to just let this drop, either. Please, can we talk?"
allie-vamp
"NO!"
Feeling attacked and not thinking rationally, all Allie could do was try and defend herself. Which meant instinctively reaching for a sword that wasn't there.
When her fingers closed around empty air, she screamed in frustration and did the next best thing. Threw one hell of a punch towards Nick.
gunslingerpose
Well. That had backfired horribly, and while the hit he'd taken in Baltimore was going to be great for chasing Allie down within a limited range, it wasn't going to be so great for, say, dodging when she decided to just flat-out attack him.
Nikolai was sent staggering backwards with a nose that he was fairly sure was busted, given the way his face seemed to be leaking.
"Fucksakes, Allie!" Yeah, now he was just straight-up digging his heels into the ground before lunging forward to try to tackle her. "Talking! With your fucking big-girl words!"
Edited at 2015-03-20 09:06 pm (local)
allie-vamp
The few seconds Allie took to be certain her charm was still in place meant that yes, she went flying with Nick's tackle. "You can't have it. It's mine!"
In an effort to get away, she went for the simplest hit. A head butt.
gunslingerpose
Oh, good. In case Nick wasn't sure his nose was busted before. And now one of the lenses on his goggles was cracked, on top of that.
"I don't want it," he spat, rolling off of her before she could crack his face a good one with her forehead again. "I'm not in the mood to lose my freakin' mind right now. It's yours I'm worrying about at the moment anyway."
He put a hand to his face for a moment and pulled it away again, glancing down at the smear of scarlet across his fingers.
God, it wasn't like he didn't do enough bleeding already.
allie-vamp
It was the blood that did it. Hunger flared, sharp and fierce and Allie felt the normally iron clad control she had on it start to slip. It was shocking enough that she froze trying to figure out exactly how it had come to this.
gunslingerpose
Frozen was good. Frozen meant that Allie wasn't trying to crack Nick's face open like an eggshell.
God, his poor face.
"Listen," he said, hauling himself to his feet, one arm up so that he could bleed all over the sleeve of his duster (poor thing got bled on plenty by him, apparently) instead of dripping all over the ground. "Allie, you're sick. This thing is giving you the sunlight, but it's making you sick. You have to break the damn thing, babe. For your own good."
allie-vamp
She really was going to feel sorry about that Nick. Honestly.
Like a whisper Allie could hear Kanin's voice urging her to protect Leland Gaunt. But she was confused about why her control had slipped. How she'd let that happen. Why was there blood...familiar blood...on her hands.
"Nick? I don't understand."
gunslingerpose
"I know you don't, babe," he said, about as soothingly as a guy with a busted nose could manage. He pulled in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. It was a relief to hear a bit of her in there. He had been starting to wonder if there was anybody home. "You've been played over. This Gaunt guy, Allie, he's been fucking with people's heads. Giving them what they want, and it's killing them."
allie-vamp
It was hard to focus but Allie tried, clenching her hands so tightly her nails dug into her palms. Everything Nick said made sense. The past week had been too good to be true, she realized and she'd almost paid a horrible price for it.
"How do I stop it?"
gunslingerpose
"You break that goddamn thing," Nick replied, expression grim. "You take that little piece of poison, and you leave it in so many pieces it won't ever be recognizable again."
Okay, so she probably just had to break it in half or something. But Nikolai wasn't going to take any chances, here.
allie-vamp
Despite knowing what she had to do, Allie still hesitated when her hand closed around the charm. "This isn't a trick?"
gunslingerpose
"C'mon, Allie. When have I ever lied to you before?"
Yeah, so it was such a cliché line that Nick always hated hearing in movies, because it seemed so much like a person's track record was supposed to be proof positive that someone couldn't turn around and be shitty now. But he really didn't have anything else.
"Gaunt's merchandise is killing people by inches. You gotta give it up."
allie-vamp
It might be a cliche, but it was what Allie needed to hear.
She pulled the charm from her neck and slammed it against the ground with all her strength. It shattered and black mist rose from the scattered pieces. The mist stirred and thickened, forming into the hulking shape of a one bald, one-armed vampire.
"Little bird..." Sarren hissed.
Before Allie could do more then shrink back in shock, Sarren returned to mist and drifted away.
gunslingerpose
Nick watched the mist dissipate, brow furrowed, and then he looked down at the shards of what used to be Allie's charm. Good and busted. Good. Fuck'em. What was more important here was, of course...
"Hey, Allie. You okay?" He swiped his sleeve across his face one more time, not that it did a hell of a lot of good for him, and tentatively inched his way toward her. "That you in there?"
allie-vamp
"Yeah," Allie nodded, slumping down, suddenly exhausted. She knew she wasn't injured, but it felt like it. Like her body had nothing left to sustain it. Struggling, she tried to stay awake. "Something's wrong."
gunslingerpose
"It would be," Nick sighed. "First of all, it's daytime, no matter what the fog says. Second, that thing's been poisoning you since you got it, babe."
He pulled himself to his knees, clearing the last bit of distance between them. "It's been putting forth its best effort to kill you for... what, how long now? You're gonna feel like shit for a while."
allie-vamp
"No." It was an effort to even get that one syllable out. "Dark..." Which was what happened when your eyes slipped shut.
She wanted to explain more, that it felt like she was fading away but she didn't have the energy to explain.
gunslingerpose
Oh. Oh, shit. That wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Nick was fairly certain that most people had smashed their items without slipping away like this, that for the most part they were just... sick.
Of course, most people weren't Allie. Were human or something close enough to it that people could more or less assume how they'd end up when they'd broken the curse. They weren't whatever variation on 'vampire' that Allie's world had come up with, weren't prone to slipping into-- what had Allie called it, once? -- hibernation? When things got too dire.
"Oh, fuck no," Nikolai murmured, leaning in to wrap his arms around her, to pull her into his lap. "Not today, Allie. I did not talk you back from fucking crazyland just so that you could check out on me now, damn you."
He frowned, contemplating digging through pockets for the little Swiss Army number he carried on him, and then just shook his head. Fuck it. Allie was a vampire. She came equipped with exactly what she needed in order to do this, anyway.
He took a deep breath, leaned her head back a little, and then rolled up his sleeve to press his wrist into her mouth. Right there, there were teeth made for just this. He only winced a little as he pressed his skin hard against them. He was already doing plenty of bleeding. Why not a little more?
allie-vamp
Nick's voice carried to Allie as if it were coming from somewhere far away. She wanted to reply but darkness kept creeping closer.
Warm blood trickling past her lips changed that. It was life and Allie snatched at it, biting down hard.
gunslingerpose
There was a sharp inhale as Allie bit down on Nikolai's wrist, a startled gasp as his eyes went wide behind those mirrored lenses. But he didn't fight back, didn't pull his arm away. He'd felt worse. Fuck, he'd felt worse so many times he was starting to lose track, and never for something as urgent as this.
He held on to her a little more tightly with his other arm, leaned forward a bit so that once he started to get lightheaded - and fuck, that wasn't going to take long at all, was it? - he wouldn't just topple backwards or something.
"That's right," he mumbled, trying not to sway. "I'll be so fucking pissed if you tap out now. You're stuck with me, you got that?"
Just... maybe don't finish him off or anything, okay?
allie-vamp
The savagery of Allie's initial bite had faded as she felt the pulse at Nick's wrist beating in time with his heart. It would have been easy to lose herself in the Hunger. To move from his wrist to his neck and drink until his heart slowed and stopped and Allie felt strong once more.
But it was Nick, her mind screamed. Her friend, who'd already been hurt trying to save her. It was an effort to fight against instinct, but Allie pulled her head away from his wrist, and forced her fangs away.
She still didn't feel up to moving, but she was way more aware and no longer felt like she was slipping away.
gunslingerpose
Nick... wasn't going to lie. It was kind of a relief to be able to re-claim his wrist now while he was still conscious, because there wasn't going to be a hell of a lot he could have done about the situation after he wasn't.
"Hey," he whispered down at her. "Have a good nap?"
Don't ever scare him like that again, Allie.
"True Blood's on me tonight."
allie-vamp
Her weak laugh broke into something that sounded a lot like a half choked off sob. "Oh god Nick, I'm so sorry."
gunslingerpose
"Hey, don't be," Nick replied, shaking his head and holding her close. "You were offered the whole damn world on a platter for the low, low price of... your sanity, apparently. That wasn't you back there, okay? And even if it was, I don't blame you for any of it. Shit, maybe I would've even done the same."
allie-vamp
Burrowing was probably the best description for how Allie tucked her head into Nick's shoulder. Physically she felt like crap. Emotionally, like she'd been through the wringer. Nick was warm, familiar and comforting. Allie'd grown enough in her time in Fandom to know to take advantage of it.
"Should have known it was too good to be true," she sighed.
gunslingerpose
"Maybe," Nick replied, shrugging his other shoulder just a little. "But then, what if it hadn't been? If any place is fucked up enough to offer people things that are too good to be true and actually have them be true, here's probably it."
allie-vamp
"Maybe. But they probably aren't that easy to get."
She thought they'd probably cost too much, one way or another. That line of thought made Allie remember the price she'd paid for the charm. "Dammit, that son of a bitch has my sword!"
gunslingerpose
"We'll put that on the to-do list," Nick offered. "Right behind 'getting up off the ground again' and 'getting out of the street.' He's not going anywhere without a fight. Rat-bastard fucked with the wrong island."
There was another moment's pause before he added, "So, am I carrying you?"
Because, if so, he was going to have to do that before the hit he'd taken in Baltimore wore off, otherwise he was going to be stuck on his ass out here in the open right along with her.
allie-vamp
Considering Allie's initial surge of indignation had only gotten her mostly upright before sending her slumping back down, Nick probably had a point.
"Get me on my feet and let me lean a lot. I can make. I'm not some damsel in distress that needs to be rescued."
She totally was.
gunslingerpose
"Fair enough."
He was willing to humor her anyway, hauling himself to his feet, half dragging her up with him as he went. If he was putting a little extra effort into holding her up, well, at least he was capable of making it look effortless, at least for another twenty minutes or so.
Mostly effortless, anyway. He was a bit dizzy.
"Let's get out of here."
allie-vamp
Now that they were both on their feet, Allie took a moment to actually look at Nick. He might be trying to make it look effortless, but Allie knew how he'd been able to keep up with her and that there was a clock counting down.
"How are you doing?" Lifting a hand, she stopped just short of touching a finger to his nose. "I've got ice back at my place if you want it."
gunslingerpose
"I'm gonna take you up on that ice," Nick decided. "And then I'm gonna borrow your shower, because I'm disgusting. And then, if it's all the same to you, I'm gonna find some sort of horizontal surface and I am gonna sleep all over it."
It could be a couch. It could be the floor. Nikolai didn't much care, at this point.
"It has been a really fucking long day. Let's call it one and be done with it."
allie-vamp
"No." Allie took a step...okay, she half staggered a foot or so, in the direction of her apartment. "You helped me break free from a curse. Fed me when I was going into hibernation, and now you're getting me home. I'm kicking you out with a bag of ice."
"Or," she said, slipping an arm around his waist, because yeah, upright was hard. "We'll do exactly what you said because damn that is a really good idea."
[Pre-played with gunslingerpose, NFI, OOC AOK]
Kanin's voice, urging her to protect Leland Gaunt had been surprising, but Allie had obeyed without question and taken position near the store.
If being in thrall to a cursed object meant Allie had missed a bunch of phone calls? Oops...
gunslingerpose
Did Gorgon count? Because he was absolutely here to threaten the store if it came right down to it. But more than that, he'd come back to the island because he was worried about his friend, and whatever happened to the store came second to the fact that something was wrong with Allie.
He hated himself for it a little, but that hadn't stopped him from stepping across the causeway and snapping his goggles open at a bunch of unsuspecting passers-by in Baltimore. Not long enough to hurt anybody, but long enough to make them woozy, and long enough to give him a sudden kick of power that he prayed he wouldn't burn through as he ran to find Allie like a man possessed.
"Allie!"
Now, maybe with any luck, he wouldn't get himself killed trying to save her.
allie-vamp
Allie stiffened. That was not a voice she was expecting to hear.
"You're not supposed to be here!"
gunslingerpose
Gorgon shot her one of his crooked smiles and gave his shoulders a shrug, at that.
"Yeah, well... here I am anyway. Funny how that goes. I'm more worried about what it is you're doing here, babe. It's not nearly sunny enough out for hanging around this shithole."
allie-vamp
Allie shook her head. "No, I need to be here. Kanin told me to protect Leland Gaunt. He helped me. I have to help him."
At the thought of that help, she unconsciously reached up and ran her fingers over the charm.
gunslingerpose
"Kanin?"
Oh. Shit. Okay.
"Allie, look, Kanin isn't here," he said gently, holding up his hands as he tried to walk closer. "And this Gaunt guy isn't helping you, he's fucking you over. This isn't you. This weird obsessive zombie mind-control thing is a bad look on you, babe."
allie-vamp
"He helped me," Allie insisted. "Because of him I can be practically normal now. Don't you understand?"
No Allie, he had no idea. Really.
gunslingerpose
"Yeah," Nick replied, "you can mock joggers in LA with me and eat ice cream and be completely fucking creepy-obsessed with that... it's that thing around your neck, right? That's what this is all about? Allie, that thing is makin' you all weird in the head. Makin' you sick. You gotta take it off."
Yeah. Yeah, he went there.
allie-vamp
He wanted her to take it off because he wanted it for himself Allie realized.
Logic was for other people.
"No," she said. "You can't have it. It's mine."
gunslingerpose
Ooookay. Round the bend and merrily marching off to Crazyland it was, then.
"What, you think I want it? That thing's not going to do me any good, Allie, I've got no use for joining the Gaunt hivemind today. But you need to take that thing off and smash it. Fucking break it to bits. It's poison, Allie, shit, it's getting to your brain."
A few more steps closer, hands still up in front of him. Nick was practically holding his breath, now.
"Here, let's talk it out. We can sort all this, okay?"
allie-vamp
"There's nothing to talk about. I'm not taking it off. It's not doing anything but helping me."
He was getting too close, Allie realized, taking a half step backwards. "Just go back to L.A. You don't need to get involved here."
gunslingerpose
"Allie... I'm so sorry, but I can't do that," Nick sighed, stopping for just a moment at her half-step back. "I gotta stay here. You need more more than L.A. does right now."
... Probably. L.A. had The Mighty Dragon and Blockbuster and Regenerator keeping it safe. Allie, right this moment, had... him.
"C'mon. It'll be easy. You just take it off, break the chain or something. Get your head back."
allie-vamp
Awww Nick, Allie would be touched if she actually was in her right mind for that speech.
"No, I can't. I won't." Her voice wasn't as steady any longer and she kept shaking her head in denial.
gunslingerpose
"C'mon, Allie. You have to. It's gonna suck, I'm not gonna lie about that, but this is poisoning you. And, I don't know about you, but I like my Allies not-poisoned."
He cared, okay? He wasn't even going to deny it. Allie was one of his best friends. Possibly the best friend he had, straight-up. Nick didn't exactly forge meaningful relationships on a regular basis.
He reached out a hand toward her.
"Please?"
allie-vamp
Unfortunately Allie reacted as if he was trying to attack and flung out her hands to push him away.
"No!" she screamed before taking off at a run.
Did that make Nick It in a horrible version of their usual game of Tag?
gunslingerpose
"Fuck," Nick swore, stumbling backwards for only a second, and then bouncing back and taking off after her. Thank god he'd taken that hit in Baltimore that he was feeling like shit about now, was all he could say. "Alle, get your ass back here!"
He'd always promised he'd catch her during these games. Today was the first time it actually mattered.
allie-vamp
Did he really think she was going to listen to him?
One thing working in Nick's favor was that the overwhelming urge to stay nearby to protect Leland Gaunt meant that Allie didn't go far.
She stopped, looking around warily. "Don't do this Nick. Don't make me hurt you."
gunslingerpose
He came to a stop nearby, though he was still pushing into her personal space. He wasn't about to let her get too far so easily.
"I'm not going to just let you hurt me, Allie," he protested. "But I'm not going to just let this drop, either. Please, can we talk?"
allie-vamp
"NO!"
Feeling attacked and not thinking rationally, all Allie could do was try and defend herself. Which meant instinctively reaching for a sword that wasn't there.
When her fingers closed around empty air, she screamed in frustration and did the next best thing. Threw one hell of a punch towards Nick.
gunslingerpose
Well. That had backfired horribly, and while the hit he'd taken in Baltimore was going to be great for chasing Allie down within a limited range, it wasn't going to be so great for, say, dodging when she decided to just flat-out attack him.
Nikolai was sent staggering backwards with a nose that he was fairly sure was busted, given the way his face seemed to be leaking.
"Fucksakes, Allie!" Yeah, now he was just straight-up digging his heels into the ground before lunging forward to try to tackle her. "Talking! With your fucking big-girl words!"
Edited at 2015-03-20 09:06 pm (local)
allie-vamp
The few seconds Allie took to be certain her charm was still in place meant that yes, she went flying with Nick's tackle. "You can't have it. It's mine!"
In an effort to get away, she went for the simplest hit. A head butt.
gunslingerpose
Oh, good. In case Nick wasn't sure his nose was busted before. And now one of the lenses on his goggles was cracked, on top of that.
"I don't want it," he spat, rolling off of her before she could crack his face a good one with her forehead again. "I'm not in the mood to lose my freakin' mind right now. It's yours I'm worrying about at the moment anyway."
He put a hand to his face for a moment and pulled it away again, glancing down at the smear of scarlet across his fingers.
God, it wasn't like he didn't do enough bleeding already.
allie-vamp
It was the blood that did it. Hunger flared, sharp and fierce and Allie felt the normally iron clad control she had on it start to slip. It was shocking enough that she froze trying to figure out exactly how it had come to this.
gunslingerpose
Frozen was good. Frozen meant that Allie wasn't trying to crack Nick's face open like an eggshell.
God, his poor face.
"Listen," he said, hauling himself to his feet, one arm up so that he could bleed all over the sleeve of his duster (poor thing got bled on plenty by him, apparently) instead of dripping all over the ground. "Allie, you're sick. This thing is giving you the sunlight, but it's making you sick. You have to break the damn thing, babe. For your own good."
allie-vamp
She really was going to feel sorry about that Nick. Honestly.
Like a whisper Allie could hear Kanin's voice urging her to protect Leland Gaunt. But she was confused about why her control had slipped. How she'd let that happen. Why was there blood...familiar blood...on her hands.
"Nick? I don't understand."
gunslingerpose
"I know you don't, babe," he said, about as soothingly as a guy with a busted nose could manage. He pulled in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. It was a relief to hear a bit of her in there. He had been starting to wonder if there was anybody home. "You've been played over. This Gaunt guy, Allie, he's been fucking with people's heads. Giving them what they want, and it's killing them."
allie-vamp
It was hard to focus but Allie tried, clenching her hands so tightly her nails dug into her palms. Everything Nick said made sense. The past week had been too good to be true, she realized and she'd almost paid a horrible price for it.
"How do I stop it?"
gunslingerpose
"You break that goddamn thing," Nick replied, expression grim. "You take that little piece of poison, and you leave it in so many pieces it won't ever be recognizable again."
Okay, so she probably just had to break it in half or something. But Nikolai wasn't going to take any chances, here.
allie-vamp
Despite knowing what she had to do, Allie still hesitated when her hand closed around the charm. "This isn't a trick?"
gunslingerpose
"C'mon, Allie. When have I ever lied to you before?"
Yeah, so it was such a cliché line that Nick always hated hearing in movies, because it seemed so much like a person's track record was supposed to be proof positive that someone couldn't turn around and be shitty now. But he really didn't have anything else.
"Gaunt's merchandise is killing people by inches. You gotta give it up."
allie-vamp
It might be a cliche, but it was what Allie needed to hear.
She pulled the charm from her neck and slammed it against the ground with all her strength. It shattered and black mist rose from the scattered pieces. The mist stirred and thickened, forming into the hulking shape of a one bald, one-armed vampire.
"Little bird..." Sarren hissed.
Before Allie could do more then shrink back in shock, Sarren returned to mist and drifted away.
gunslingerpose
Nick watched the mist dissipate, brow furrowed, and then he looked down at the shards of what used to be Allie's charm. Good and busted. Good. Fuck'em. What was more important here was, of course...
"Hey, Allie. You okay?" He swiped his sleeve across his face one more time, not that it did a hell of a lot of good for him, and tentatively inched his way toward her. "That you in there?"
allie-vamp
"Yeah," Allie nodded, slumping down, suddenly exhausted. She knew she wasn't injured, but it felt like it. Like her body had nothing left to sustain it. Struggling, she tried to stay awake. "Something's wrong."
gunslingerpose
"It would be," Nick sighed. "First of all, it's daytime, no matter what the fog says. Second, that thing's been poisoning you since you got it, babe."
He pulled himself to his knees, clearing the last bit of distance between them. "It's been putting forth its best effort to kill you for... what, how long now? You're gonna feel like shit for a while."
allie-vamp
"No." It was an effort to even get that one syllable out. "Dark..." Which was what happened when your eyes slipped shut.
She wanted to explain more, that it felt like she was fading away but she didn't have the energy to explain.
gunslingerpose
Oh. Oh, shit. That wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Nick was fairly certain that most people had smashed their items without slipping away like this, that for the most part they were just... sick.
Of course, most people weren't Allie. Were human or something close enough to it that people could more or less assume how they'd end up when they'd broken the curse. They weren't whatever variation on 'vampire' that Allie's world had come up with, weren't prone to slipping into-- what had Allie called it, once? -- hibernation? When things got too dire.
"Oh, fuck no," Nikolai murmured, leaning in to wrap his arms around her, to pull her into his lap. "Not today, Allie. I did not talk you back from fucking crazyland just so that you could check out on me now, damn you."
He frowned, contemplating digging through pockets for the little Swiss Army number he carried on him, and then just shook his head. Fuck it. Allie was a vampire. She came equipped with exactly what she needed in order to do this, anyway.
He took a deep breath, leaned her head back a little, and then rolled up his sleeve to press his wrist into her mouth. Right there, there were teeth made for just this. He only winced a little as he pressed his skin hard against them. He was already doing plenty of bleeding. Why not a little more?
allie-vamp
Nick's voice carried to Allie as if it were coming from somewhere far away. She wanted to reply but darkness kept creeping closer.
Warm blood trickling past her lips changed that. It was life and Allie snatched at it, biting down hard.
gunslingerpose
There was a sharp inhale as Allie bit down on Nikolai's wrist, a startled gasp as his eyes went wide behind those mirrored lenses. But he didn't fight back, didn't pull his arm away. He'd felt worse. Fuck, he'd felt worse so many times he was starting to lose track, and never for something as urgent as this.
He held on to her a little more tightly with his other arm, leaned forward a bit so that once he started to get lightheaded - and fuck, that wasn't going to take long at all, was it? - he wouldn't just topple backwards or something.
"That's right," he mumbled, trying not to sway. "I'll be so fucking pissed if you tap out now. You're stuck with me, you got that?"
Just... maybe don't finish him off or anything, okay?
allie-vamp
The savagery of Allie's initial bite had faded as she felt the pulse at Nick's wrist beating in time with his heart. It would have been easy to lose herself in the Hunger. To move from his wrist to his neck and drink until his heart slowed and stopped and Allie felt strong once more.
But it was Nick, her mind screamed. Her friend, who'd already been hurt trying to save her. It was an effort to fight against instinct, but Allie pulled her head away from his wrist, and forced her fangs away.
She still didn't feel up to moving, but she was way more aware and no longer felt like she was slipping away.
gunslingerpose
Nick... wasn't going to lie. It was kind of a relief to be able to re-claim his wrist now while he was still conscious, because there wasn't going to be a hell of a lot he could have done about the situation after he wasn't.
"Hey," he whispered down at her. "Have a good nap?"
Don't ever scare him like that again, Allie.
"True Blood's on me tonight."
allie-vamp
Her weak laugh broke into something that sounded a lot like a half choked off sob. "Oh god Nick, I'm so sorry."
gunslingerpose
"Hey, don't be," Nick replied, shaking his head and holding her close. "You were offered the whole damn world on a platter for the low, low price of... your sanity, apparently. That wasn't you back there, okay? And even if it was, I don't blame you for any of it. Shit, maybe I would've even done the same."
allie-vamp
Burrowing was probably the best description for how Allie tucked her head into Nick's shoulder. Physically she felt like crap. Emotionally, like she'd been through the wringer. Nick was warm, familiar and comforting. Allie'd grown enough in her time in Fandom to know to take advantage of it.
"Should have known it was too good to be true," she sighed.
gunslingerpose
"Maybe," Nick replied, shrugging his other shoulder just a little. "But then, what if it hadn't been? If any place is fucked up enough to offer people things that are too good to be true and actually have them be true, here's probably it."
allie-vamp
"Maybe. But they probably aren't that easy to get."
She thought they'd probably cost too much, one way or another. That line of thought made Allie remember the price she'd paid for the charm. "Dammit, that son of a bitch has my sword!"
gunslingerpose
"We'll put that on the to-do list," Nick offered. "Right behind 'getting up off the ground again' and 'getting out of the street.' He's not going anywhere without a fight. Rat-bastard fucked with the wrong island."
There was another moment's pause before he added, "So, am I carrying you?"
Because, if so, he was going to have to do that before the hit he'd taken in Baltimore wore off, otherwise he was going to be stuck on his ass out here in the open right along with her.
allie-vamp
Considering Allie's initial surge of indignation had only gotten her mostly upright before sending her slumping back down, Nick probably had a point.
"Get me on my feet and let me lean a lot. I can make. I'm not some damsel in distress that needs to be rescued."
She totally was.
gunslingerpose
"Fair enough."
He was willing to humor her anyway, hauling himself to his feet, half dragging her up with him as he went. If he was putting a little extra effort into holding her up, well, at least he was capable of making it look effortless, at least for another twenty minutes or so.
Mostly effortless, anyway. He was a bit dizzy.
"Let's get out of here."
allie-vamp
Now that they were both on their feet, Allie took a moment to actually look at Nick. He might be trying to make it look effortless, but Allie knew how he'd been able to keep up with her and that there was a clock counting down.
"How are you doing?" Lifting a hand, she stopped just short of touching a finger to his nose. "I've got ice back at my place if you want it."
gunslingerpose
"I'm gonna take you up on that ice," Nick decided. "And then I'm gonna borrow your shower, because I'm disgusting. And then, if it's all the same to you, I'm gonna find some sort of horizontal surface and I am gonna sleep all over it."
It could be a couch. It could be the floor. Nikolai didn't much care, at this point.
"It has been a really fucking long day. Let's call it one and be done with it."
allie-vamp
"No." Allie took a step...okay, she half staggered a foot or so, in the direction of her apartment. "You helped me break free from a curse. Fed me when I was going into hibernation, and now you're getting me home. I'm kicking you out with a bag of ice."
"Or," she said, slipping an arm around his waist, because yeah, upright was hard. "We'll do exactly what you said because damn that is a really good idea."
[Pre-played with gunslingerpose, NFI, OOC AOK]