Title: Vamped
Fandom: DCU, Red Robin
Rating: PG
Word Count: 910
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: In the wake of her new fangs, Tam Fox must ask herself, “What’s one more secret?”
A/N: It’s a rather cliche response to a tumblr prompt, but I’m just jotting down what came to mind. ;p
How many secrets has she kept for him? Not just the cape, the kevlar, and the fact that he dresses like some sort of crazy bat-bird-ninja at night. But the company secrets too. The way he really screwed over Mikalek. How much control over the Drake Industries segment of Wayne Tech he still controls despite Bruce's return. And the personal secrets. The exactly type and dose of antibiotics he requires to treat his spleenless body.His borderline anorexia. The little hidey-holes all about Gotham that he's kept from his family.
In the end, this isn't too much of a secret for him to keep in turn, is it? Exept, that she can tell by the way his fingers tremble when he cups her face that it totally is. Still, while his hands give him away, his face is calm. His voice soothing. That's good, since Tam's experiencing borderline hysterics at the moment.
The whole "You're a vampire now" thing is starting to sink in, and it terrifies her. Her heart would be beating a mile a minute, if it were able to beat at all.
"Okay," Tim mutters, "The important thing is that you're not dead. That means we can work with this."
"Work? Oh, God. I can't go in to work tomorrow. I can't go into work ever. Oh, G--"
"Tam! You can. Just... we'll take a week to adjust. It will be my fault. I called you away to help me with a project in Madrid. We'll fly out of Gotham, set up a routine based on a nightshift. We can hide this from the public, I promise. And we'll figure out how to tell your family. Er, if you want to tell you family."
Of course she wants to tell--or does she--Tam suddenly isn't sure. Daddy's little girl is a vampire. It isn't a thought that strikes her as particularly bearable. Tiffany... Tiffany would understand. But Mom... Mom's the one who makes sure they go to church every Christmas and Easter. Mom can't know. She just can't.
Tim hugs her. Tam accepts the comfort. Better to not think of any of it. Not her family and not... Tim's family. It rings in the back of her head. Bat-rules. No metas or supernaturals allowed in Gotham. And just like that, Tam knows that Tim will lie for her. That Madrid is not just to hide her from the public. It's to hide her from Batman too. And any one of his agents who would dare tell.
She tries to push it all from her mind, and just feel Tim holding her in the here and now. But as she does, she smells it. The iron tang. It's so... it's so strong on him. If she'd had time to make an educated guess, she'd expect it to be weaker on Tim, given how he's been eating. But no. He overcompensates with extra vitamins and pharmasuetacals. His blood is rich. And close. And she knows in that moment how scared and distracted he must be too, to have tucked a vampire's head right next to his jugular.
It's pulsing. She can sense the flow underneath. The plasma that she suddenly wants more than than the most sumptious cheesecake. Except that want is growing stronger. An almost instantaneous slide from want to need. Suddenly ranking a hair's breadth beneath oxygen.
Tam's still not clear on how much, exactly, she still needs to breathe, but she finds herself panting. Clutching his shirt, and trying to be oh-so still, just staring at that one quivering vein.
"Tim, I--"
"Yes?" He's gone still too. Realized his mistake.
"I ate a hobo."
"You what?"
"But he wasn't dead! I mean, when I woke up, I stumbled around outside my apartment and he was just there. I mean, he was all stinky and badly-dressed, so I think he was a hobo, but I was thirsty, so thirsty I couldn't take it... but... he survived. I'm pretty sure. I think... I think I could maybe... if you could find an animal or something, I could try--?"
Tim breathed.
"Might not be compatable. I'll take my chances right now. I don't know how much of a choice we really have. And I trust you."
"You mean--?"
"Bite me."
She wants to slap him for being so damn snarky about it.But she's too busy drinking. And then she feels momentarily like herself. Like the blood is hers. The pulse, hers. And Tim is so close, and that iron tang and thick red sliding down her throat is so, so good. She runs her hands through his hair, and feels the scars at the base of his scalp.
He's weakening. And she feels her own arms gaining strength and holding him up. There's some kind of... glamour to it. Like he's hypnotized. Because when she pulls back, he's relaxed in her arms with his eyes closed.
She's never seen him look blissfull before.
On instict, she licks his bleeding neck, and watches the coagulate take effect, sealing up the pin-marks, leaving tiny twin scars.
Tam swallows.
He blinks, and she knows he'll be fully awake momentarily.
He better hope that cats are compatible. Or rats or snakes or something (not spiders).
Because if he doesn't, she'll be stuck with humans.
With him.
And if that's the case...
Tam isn't sure how long her self-control's gonna last.
f.i.n.