The Vampire's Soul (22/?)
Title: The Vampire's Soul
Author: me
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Keith/Shepard, Jon/Stephen, Anderson/David
Characters: Main cast of TDS & TCR, MSNBC, FOX News, and CNN.
Genre: AU
Summary: The Vampires are plotting for expansion. The Werewolves are fighting to keep their land. Shepard, a Fox vamp, finds himself oddly drawn to the family of liberal werewolves.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of these news media/political figures that are present in this fic. This is strictly fiction!
Author's Notes: First and foremost, I'd like to give a shot out to my lovely and kick-ass beta, lady_sci_fi , and her fics: Rage at the Moon and Howl at the Moon.
Hey everybody! Man, has it been a BUSY last couple of weeks! I feel like I have less time to write during the summer than I ever did during the school year - what the hell is up with that?
Anyways, these last few chapters are going to be dark and kind of sad in some places...
During the scene in which O'Reilly, Beck and Hannity run out of the castle to go find Shep in the forest, I kind of had the scene from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" where Lock, Shock and Barrell (the three nasty kids who work for Oogie Boogie) scheme to kidnap Santa Claus. ;-P
Lastly, Chris gets very angry and hurt when he finds out that Shep has been lying to him...
Oh, and in case I forgot to inform you, but I found out the term for the younger vampire with a sire: a childe. (to elaborate - Shep is Chris' childe)
Enjoy! ^_^
CHAPTER 22:
Back at the castle, Chris was summoned to Lord Murdoch’s throne room.
Chris was a little anxious about this sudden house-call from the Dark Lord, but he didn’t let it show. After more than forty years of being a Fox vampire, he had learned that showing fear or losing one’s cool in front of the Dark Lord will only make things worse. Lord Murdoch has never shown pity on the weak or spineless.
Chris gave a nod to the interns guarding the doors to the throne room before walking inside. Lord Murdoch sat stoically in his throne chair, sipping from a large chalice and seemingly listening to Beck, O’Reilly and Hannity, who all stood around him.
“…besides, it’s been almost four months, my lord.” Beck was saying.
“Surely, he has had the chance to cover the entire forest by now.” Hannity argued.
“Well, maybe Wallace knows if he has found anything-.” Murdoch added, turning his gaze to Chris walking in. “Ah! Just the man we wanted to see.”
Chris approached the throne and bowed his head. “You wished to see me, my lord?”
“Yes, we wanted to know how Shepard’s job is coming.” Murdoch said. “He hasn’t given me an update in over a month. Do you know if he has made any progress?”
Chris frowned slightly and shook his head. “He hasn’t, as far as I’m concerned.”
“You don’t ask him about it every time he returns from the forest?” O’Reilly asked with a raised eyebrow.
Chris’ eyes darted to the side involuntarily. “I know that he has covered nearly all the forest ground…but he has still been unsuccessful at finding the werewolves.”
Beck and Hannity exchanged suspicious looks.
O’Reilly took a step down from Lord Murdoch’s throne. “What about what we had discussed a while back…you know, about disciplining him?”
Chris’ chest rose as he inhaled as much air as he could. “I did discipline him…” He lied. “But it brought the same results as before.”
O’Reilly’s gaze narrowed and then turned to his master, who sat quietly in his chair.
“Have you seen anything suspicious…in Shepard’s behavior or routine?” Lord Murdoch interrogated. “Does he seem, at times, too eager to return to the forest?”
Chris shook his head. “Not that I can tell, my lord.”
“Anything at all?”
Chris shook his head again. “No…but, I must say that I’ve not seen him enough to notice.”
“Hmm…” Murdoch glanced at his three henchmen, looking for their impressions. “Well, perhaps we need to have a little chat with our young vampire…Gentlemen, go find Shepard and bring him back to the castle. Do it soon, the sun will be rising in a couple of hours.”
“With pleasure, my lord.” Beck grinned eerily and bowed his head. O’Reilly and Hannity both laughed, following right behind him. All three walked single-file toward the main doors, throwing a glance at Chris as they passed him.
Chris stared blankly at them as they walked out, and then whipped his head around when he heard his master’s voice again.
“As for you Wallace, I would like you to take a look in Shepard’s living quarters.” Murdoch ordered. “Perhaps there is some physical evidence to be found.”
"Evidence of what, my lord?” Chris inquired, trying his best to appear ignorant.
“For possible treasonous acts committed by Shepard.” Murdoch answered plainly.
Chris did another intake of breath before asking, “Are you so sure, my lord, that Shepard has committed treason?”
Murdoch’s frown stretched downward, and he stood up from his throne. “Wallace…” His tone was deep and silky - one that would have any of the younger vampires shivering from head to foot. “I know how much you care for your childe…but it is obvious that he is hiding something from us.”
Chris moved his gaze to his feet, choosing not to look up for fear of his master’s reaction - but still he remained calm. Lord Murdoch began to slowly circle him.
“Surely you remember what David Shuster’s deceitful actions did to our family?” He seemed to be stressing the ‘communal’ aspect for better effect. “He betrayed us…he was a disgrace…and still is.” Murdoch paused to stand on Chris’ left side, facing in the opposite direction. “Thankfully he is no longer a part of this family. Imagine what other ruin he could have brought to us…meddling with those filthy werewolves.”
Chris gave a tiny nod, though still looking down.
“You wouldn’t want another traitor amongst us, would you?” Murdoch brought his face uncomfortably close to Chris’. “Even if it’s your childe?”
Chris exhaled slowly, letting go of every bit of breath he held. He finally looked up into his master’s gaze and replied, “No…my lord.”
______________________
Beck, Hannity, and O’Reilly ran out of the castle, psychotically skipping and laughing.
Hannity turned to his fellow vamps and grinned. “When we find the little twerp, I’m gonna pick him up by his hair.”
O’Reilly shoved him. “No way! I get first dibs on the traitor! I’m going to drag him back to the castle by his toenails.”
“And then, I’ll could throw him underneath the skylight for a few minutes before handing him over.” Hannity added.
“Let him get a taste of the warm, morning sun…” O’Reilly mirrored his evil grin.
“As horribly good as your ideas are, dear friends…” Beck chuckled darkly. “The Dark Lord, I’m sure, would want us to work together.”
O’Reilly smirked and placed a hand on Beck’s shoulder. “Three of a kind…”
“Birds of a feather…” Hannity added, placing his hand on Beck’s other shoulder.
“Now and forever!” They all laughed in unison. Within a minute, Murdoch’s henchmen had reached the entrance to the forest.
_____________________
Meanwhile, back in the clearing, Shep stepped down from Keith’s cabin steps, carrying his backpack over his shoulder. He smiled at Jon, Rachel and Dan, who sat around the table. “Morning, guys!”
“Morning, sunshine!” Jon greeted after taking a small sip of his herbal drink.
“Did you have a nice time with Keith last night?” Rachel asked with a smile. Jon and Dan both hid their playful smiles in their mugs.
“Yeah…” Shep blushed. “Did we make too much noise when we got back to the clearing?”
Dan snickered and Jon shook his head, smiling sweetly. “Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s quite alright…all of us here can understand - we were all once young and newly in-love.” Rachel and Dan chuckled heartily.
Shep smiled, though still quite embarrassed.
“Are you leaving?” Dan asked, changing the subject suddenly - which Shep was quite relieved for that.
Shep sighed. “Yeah. I want to get back before the sun rises…you know. But I’ll be back again next week, of course.”
“Excellent.” Jon smiled approvingly.
“Before you go, Shep, we wanted to leave a thought with you.” Rachel said, standing up from the table. “We - the rest of the family and I - have been discussing it for a short while now, and we would like to offer you the option of coming to live with us.”
Shep could only gasp.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to - we just wanted you to know that we love you and you are more than welcome to stay, if you so wished.” Rachel elaborated, hoping to relieve the mental pressure on the vampire.
“And you don’t have to give us an answer right now.” Jon added. “This is an unlimited-time offer.”
Shep smiled appreciatively. “Thank you…it means so much to me to hear you say that. The honest truth is that I love you too - and I want to be with you all.” His smiled slowly faded. “But I don’t know yet if I even can…”
Rachel reached out, touching Shep’s arm. “No pressure. You may come live with us whenever.”
Shep nodded, his smile returning. He dropped his backpack on the ground and engulfed Rachel in a tight hug. He felt his eyes begin to moisten as his emotions overtook him.
“I promise to let you know as soon as I can.” Shep told them as he let go of Rachel. He knew that his answer was unrealistic - but it was what he wanted to say and it gave him at least a little bit of comfort in doing so.
Rachel beamed in response. “We’ll look forward to it.”
Before taking off, Shep snuck quietly back into the cabin and kissed Keith sweetly, saying ‘goodbye’. Once out of the clearing, he noticed that the dawn was catching up with him and so decided to take another route through the forest. After so many months with the werewolves, Shep had learned the wooded area well - enough so that he knew which routes were quicker and which ones took more time to reach the castle grounds.
In fifteen minutes, Shep had reached the outmost layer of trees. He looked up at the sky, impressed with the fact that dawn’s bright colors had only just begun to show. With a proud chuckle, he took off running across the open grounds and up to the main entrance of the castle, unknowingly missing Murdoch’s henchmen by a mere few minutes.
Once Shep was up the staircase, he noticed the door to his living quarters was ajar. Who would break into my room, Shep wondered as he slowly pushed open the door. Inside, his room was in shambles - his desk was covered in papers and its drawers had been pulled out; his dresser drawers were pulled out as well, with his clothes scattered everywhere; his bookcase was toppled over with his books all over the floor; the only thing that seemed untouched was The Cube, and Jonathan, who was sitting on the outside windowsill looking in, with a horrified expression.
Then Shep’s gaze found the intruder standing behind his bed - it was his sire.
“Chris?” Shep gaped as he shut the door behind him. “What are you doing in my room?”
Chris’ startled look quickly changed into an angry one. “Where have you been and what have you been doing?”
Shep blinked at his sire. “Uhh…I’ve been in the forest looking for the werewolves…like I was supposed to.” He half-mocked.
“Don’t lie to me…”
“I’m not…and seriously, what are you doing in my room?” Shep retorted. He then noticed something in his sire’s hand: it looked like one of his baseball books. “Why are you going through my stuff?”
Chris’ nostrils flared and he walked around the bed. “I must admit that I’ve had my suspicions but none came close to this!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Shep demanded. He had never seen his sire act this way. Chris was obviously angry, but the fact that he was being so interrogative was most unusual, Shep thought.
Chris held open the book that was in his hand. It was then Shep recognized it. It was a small book with pictures of and quotes by famous baseball players. It had been a gift from Keith - and it had Keith’s name on the inside front cover.
Shep’s expression dropped like a ceramic plate on the hard floor, shattering into a million pieces. “Fuck…” It was barely a whisper, but it was clear enough for his sire to hear.
“You better have a lot more to say than that, Shepard!” Chris’ voice reached a new volume. “Keith? As in Keith Olbermann, one of the werewolves?”
Shep raised his hands up to comb his fingers through his hair. He could not find a response to give.
Chris stomped closer to him, but then paused before speaking again. “You lied to me.” His sire’s voice was softer this time and expressed more hurt than anger. “How long have you been hiding this?”
“Since my first trip to the forest…” Shep answered softly.
Anger and contempt returned to Chris’ face and he let out a long huff. “Shep -!”
“Listen to me!” Shepard held out his arms in protest. “I didn’t find the werewolves…they actually found me.”
“What?” Chris eyes went wide.
Shep nodded. “Remember how I fell into that trench and hurt my head? Well, two of them found me and brought me back to their home…they took care of me.” Chris stared at him, dumbfounded. “I couldn’t rat them out after they saved my life-.”
Chris shook his head, repeatedly. “No! What you should have done is come straight back to the castle!”
“I was too injured!” Shep rebuked. “Not to mention there was a huge storm that night…I would have lost my way back and died in the process!”
Chris paced in front of him. “So, what then? What about after that night…I remember you stayed nearly the entire next day in the forest. Were you with the werewolves?”
“Yes.” Shep replied. “They gave me a place to stay for the night and invited me to stay until I felt well enough to leave.”
“And did you tell them why you even in the forest?” Chris sneered sarcastically.
“Not at first…but then I went back the second time and told them.” Shep said. “I thought they deserved the truth.”
“You went back?” Chris shot him a glare. “I told you to stay away from them - werewolves are not to be trusted!”
“Why?” Shep countered. “I don’t understand why we vampires hate them so much? There’s nothing wrong with them-.”
“Oh? Have you gone and made friends with them now?” Chris jabbed bitterly.
“Yeah, I have actually.” Shep replied defiantly. “And they’re really nice and caring people, who have a great life in the forest - one that doesn’t deserve to be taken away from them!”
Chris scoffed. “Oh, what now? You’re defending them? Are you choosing them over us?”
“I don’t know…maybe!” Shep mocked loudly.
“You’re a vampire! A FOX vampire!” Chris reminded him.
“I don’t care!”
Chris held up the book again - almost hitting Shep in the face with it. “And Keith?”
“I love him!” Shep yelled.
Chris went dead silent and simply stared at him.
“…I love him.” Shep repeated more softly.
Chris let the book drop to the floor. “A vampire in love with a werewolf?” His gaze fell from Shep’s and he began pacing once more. There was a few minutes of silence, before Chris finally stopped moving and looked up at Shep.
“I can’t believe this…In fact, I don’t know where to begin.” Chris huffed and shook his head. “You lied to the Lord Murdoch about the werewolves, you deliberately disobeyed me and went off to be with them, and now you’re telling me that you’ve fallen in love with one of them? Have you no respect for me or your own family?”
“One of them? His name is Keith!” Shep gritted his teeth.
“Dirty, filthy, untrustworthy, and barbaric WEREWOLVES!” Chris roared.
“How would you know what they’re really like? YOU’VE NEVER MET ANY OF THEM!” Shep yelled back.
Chris went silent again, his eyes darting away. That seemed to hit something inside of his sire.
Shep snorted and shook his head. “You know, you claim to be hurt by the fact that I keep things from you…when you have ALWAYS kept secrets from me!”
Chris looked back at Shep. “I, what?”
“You ask me about my personal life all the time…but you almost NEVER let me ask you about yours! How can you expect me to show you respect, when you show none for me?”
Chris’ eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shep.”
“Yes, you do!” Shep retorted. “Like, why don’t you talk to me about the years you were on Murdoch’s council? Or why you used to stay out by the pond all night, but don’t anymore? Or why you stopped smoking? Or where you got that container of herbs from - herbs that only grow in one part of the forest?”
“SHUT UP!” Chris slapped Shep across the face.
Shep was too stunned to react. He couldn’t believe his sire actually hit him. Neither could Chris himself.
Chris frowned and took a step back, looking in horror at what he had just done. He had hit his childe - something which he had sworn never to do.
Shep just looked at his sire; tears running down his cheeks - both from the emotional and physical pain.
“I think you just need to leave, Shepard.” Chris finally spoke; his voice was cracked with emotion. “As soon as the rest of the family finds out what you’ve done, they will try you for treason and execute you…but, if you leave now, there is a strong chance that you can avoid that fate.”
Chris quietly walked past Shep to the door, opened it, and then walked out.