So Lunar Charming (1/6) Annie/Tom PG-15
This had never been part of the plan. Not that Annie had ever had a plan as such, not beyond staying with Mitchell and George at least. Protecting them and making up for all that time she’d lost before she met them. That idea seemed stupid now, short sighted at the very least. Because now there was no Mitchell or George. It was stupid to have based her plans on the idea that they’d always be there really. George was always going to move on. When Nina got pregnant Annie had always known it was just a question of how long they’d all stay together. George had stopped being one of her boys the moment Nina had moved away from Bristol with them. ‘Them’ being Mitchell and George, since Annie had been detained in Purgatory at that point. There was no way they’d have gone to Barry Island if she’d had any say in the matter. She’d been ready to let George go though, she trusted Nina to look after him. She was very much a no nonsense type of woman. The way she’d handled suddenly becoming a werewolf had really been something. George would have been fine without her and Mitchell, in fact in many ways he’d have been much better off without them. The vampire and the ghost. It was hardly the stuff of a happy stable home, was it? Then of course there was the fact that George wasn’t immortal. Even without what had happened she would have had to watch him grow old and die if things had followed her plan. Which would have left only her and Mitchell. Two people who couldn’t die, couldn’t move on, forced to watch everyone around them do just that. She’d honestly believed Mitchell was immortal, that he’d be around forever like she would be. Like he said he would be. Even having seen Herrick stake him, she’d never given up, never thought he’d actually die. She hadn’t even considered the idea of a life without Mitchell. The reality had been like plunging into ice water. Life without Mitchell wasn’t right, but she’d no time to grieve, not with the vampires out there, making trouble. Not with George and Nina and Tom to fight alongside. The Old Ones to thwart. To try to thwart.
George had been taken too soon after Mitchell. Not even six months after the trouble had begun. The vampires and the werewolves and the ghosts fighting for the people that didn’t even know they existed, hidden in the night and the shadows away from humanity, or as away from them as they could be when the vampires preyed on them and the werewolves lived amongst them. Neither Nina nor Tom had been there at the time, but Annie had. She’d been making her rounds, checking on her two best friends and Tom, who while on the outskirts was fast becoming one of them. She did it every full moon though she was fairly sure none of them knew. She’d just ’poof’ from one location to the next, just to make sure there was no one nearby that might catch them, make sure they were safe from other people and that other people were safe from them. Only when she’d got to where George was supposed to be he wasn’t there. There was only a vampire, standing in the spot she imaged George would have been in, just standing there looking far too happy with himself. “We’ve got your dog. Payback for Wyndham” he’d said and then he’d beamed at her with black eyes and fanged teeth. “You should come and watch. Death’s so much more entertaining when there’s a sobbing audience.” She’d gone alone because it was a full moon and the idea of the other two being caught and used for a dogfight was more than she could bear. Looking back she wasn’t sure what she’d thought she was going to do. Save George from a horde of vampires all by herself, despite the fact she’d only just managed to kill one vampire alone before now? She should have taken Tom with her. She hadn’t been thinking straight. She’d been scared and hadn’t had time to work out the best option. She’d just acted and got to the warehouse on the edge of Barry just in time to watch two werewolves tearing each other apart. Apparently werewolf verses human just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Wasn’t enough entertainment for these sickos, laughing and jeering while Annie screamed and sobbed and tried her best to protect George from the other werewolf. Only it had been too late. She’d only been there in time for him to die in her arms.
After that horrible experience there was only really Nina to think about. The world they were in was no place for a mother and a baby and Annie couldn’t bear the thought of losing yet another friend.
“Nina, I need you to listen to me,” Annie said gripping the other woman’s shoulders as Tom paced behind then, rocking and cooing at the crying baby, trying to calm it.
“You need to get out of here. You need to run. For Eve. It’s not safe anymore!”
“Not safe anymore,” Nina screamed, shaking with rage. “George is dead, Annie! Life with you lot was never safe! There was always something. Kemp, Herrick, Mitchell-”
Annie winced at the name of her lover as if she’d been slapped across the face.
“Mitchell. The Old Ones. It‘s just one thing after another.” Nina continued not letting it put her off. She knew this was difficult for Annie, but it was true, everything she was saying. She’d only really stayed for George, because he was so bloody loyal to Mitchell in spite of everything. Still the idea of leaving Annie felt terrible. Annie had been the best friend she’d ever had. She had no idea how she’d have coped when she was first scratched if it wasn’t for her. The world she’d been thrust into was dark and frightening. It went against everything she’d ever believed in, but Annie never seemed to let it get to her. She was like a constant ray of sunshine, the voice of optimism. Just leaving her to deal with the mess Mitchell had made, alone, wasn’t right, was it?
“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? Just-just hide from the vampires?”
“They’re looking for us,” Annie said slowly. “Because of the connection I had to Mitchell. Because he pissed them off. Because I’ve pissed them off. It’ll be safer if you’re not with me.”
“Safer, but not actually safe.”
Slowly Annie let go of Nina’s arms, suddenly looking much smaller than she had done moments before. “Safer’s the best we can do. I’m sorry, Nina. I’m sorry we dragged you into this.”
“Mitchell dragged us into this.”
“Without Mitchell George would’ve been torn apart by vampires years ago and I wouldn’t even be here! He tried so hard Nina. He died to try and make things better. It‘s not his fault it didn‘t work. Now-now we just do what we can.”
“And what about you?”
Annie shrugged. “I’ll keep fighting. I’m already dead.”
“Alone?”
“Why not? Like I said I’m already dead.”
“Because I know you, Annie. You need people. You need people to look after, to talk to, to keep you company.”
Before Annie could even reply Tom spoke from his position on the sofa where he was with Eve, much quieter now. “I’ll stay.”
Both women turned to look at him.
“I mean…what else am I gonna do? Dad’s gone. He raised me to fight vampires, better I do it here and keep Annie company than go off on me own, isn’t it?”
“That settles it then,” Annie said with a firm nod. “I’ll phone and write once you’re settled. But you have to go now, before…before,” she couldn’t finish the thought. Before the vampires come back and it’s too late. She couldn’t lose yet another friend. She could only keep on fighting in the face of that for so long.
Nina looked between the two of them. She wondered if they’d planned this together, but then she was sure Annie would have mentioned Tom’s willingness to stay in the first place if she’d known anything about it.
“Just until it’s quieter,” she said feebly. She knew she was defeated. The thing about arguing with Annie was that you’d never win. She didn’t need breaks to sleep or eat. It was unfair really.
“Just until it’s quieter,” Annie agreed, wrapping her arms around Nina and trying not to burst into tears. It was all too much. This was it - the last thread of her old life, if you could call it that when you were dead. It was too late to say things were going to be okay. George was dead. Mitchell was dead. Nothing was going to be okay again. They were just going to be bearable. It felt like the best she’d been able to hope for for quite a while now.
With a shaky smile Annie let go of Nina. “I’ll help you pack if you want?”
“Anyone’d think you were trying to get rid of me.”
The b+b was much too quiet without Nina and Eve. It felt empty and cold with just the two of them. Annie sat curled up in the chair in her room, knees tucked beneath her chin as she stared at the door because it awoke the least memories. Tom knocked on the door, waiting until Annie said come in, not wanting to interrupt her if she was busy. As she looked up he walked in with two cups of tea, causing Annie to burst into tears at his thoughtfulness even if it was misplaced.
“Are you-? Did I-?” Tom wasn’t good with crying women. He’d never had to deal with them before, but then he’d never had to deal with women full stop, or even girls for that matter. His dad had been very particular about that.
“I’m fine,” Annie sniffed, curling in on herself a little more. “It’s just…dead,” she reminded, gesturing to herself in one sweeping hand gesture.
Tom frowned, setting one of the cups down on the side. Annie always made tea when things were bad, it had just made sense that he do the same now, to try and make things a little better somehow. The fact she couldn’t drink it hadn’t even occurred to him. Lingering awkwardly by the door he tried to decide if he should stay or not. “I was thinking,” he said, deciding he should at least stay for a while. “We should probably move on. They know where we are. We’re a target here.”
They were a target everywhere that was what happened when you pissed off the Old Ones. But he had a point, if they were moving it had to make them a little more difficult to find, didn’t it? Still all Annie did was nod dully in response before speaking again, as if she hadn’t heard his suggestion at all.
“Sometimes I wonder what turned me into this-this warrior against darkness. Who turned me into this. Because it can’t have been me. I was never like this in life. Before I died I’d never even have considered hurting a living thing and now look at me. Now I don’t even bat an eye as I plunge a stake into someone’s flesh. I don’t even have the time to pause and think about it. I mean was it Owen? Did he do this when he killed me? Or was it Mitchell? When he tried to hide all those terrible, terrible things he’d done and I refused to help him, to the point where I had to kill someone.”
“You said he was a vampire.”
“Where I had to kill someone,” she repeated looking Tom steadily in the eye. “And do you know the very worst of it? I didn’t feel any different. I don’t feel any different. I still feel like me. I still feel like the same old, sweet, kind Annie. And that terrifies me.”
“That’s because you are still sweet and kind.” He moved closer, crouching in front of her. “Do you think I’m a bad person because of what I do? What I’ve always done?”
Annie shook her head, a pang of guilt in her stomach that he’d even think that.
“Well then. We do what we have to, don‘t we? We’re doing all this for the right reasons. We just have to remember that.”
“Do you worry then? Do you have doubts I mean?” she asked, shuffling a little closer, searching his face for an answer before he even spoke.
“Yeah, course I do. Sometimes. My dad, right? He wrote me a letter just before he died, because I think he knew it was coming, that it was going to be him or Herrick. He said he wanted me to be human. To be normal finally. But he made me into this. He raised me to fight a war against vampires, even before the war had really begun and right now I’ve never been more thankful he did.”
He gave her a little smile, one that made him look even younger than he was, and reached out for Annie’s hand, giving it a little squeeze. He wasn’t sure why but the idea of leaving her to face all this alone really was unthinkable to him. He supposed it probably had something to do with the way McNair had raised him to always respect women, but be chivalrous at the same time. McNair seemed to think women were delicate creatures to be protected, but Tom had seen enough of Annie now to know nothing could have been further from the truth. Still Nina had been right, Annie needed people, but then didn’t everyone? He knew he needed her just as much as she needed him. Without Annie he’d be alone just like she would. This was the only way that made sense.
Smiling, Annie squeezed his hand back, curling into herself a little more, almost pulling him with her. “There’s nothing wrong with being human,” she told him quietly. “Maybe one day, hey? But for now I’m really glad you’re here too. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you here, Tom. Not now Nina’s gone and even before then. I really appreciate you staying, in the first place and now, obviously. I really don’t do well on my own. I think I went a bit crazy before. Before the boys found me. When I was all on my own in the house.”
“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. I’m just glad you don’t mind me tagging along.”
Annie’s smile grew brighter as he spoke. “Well you know me. I need someone to make tea for, don’t I? You really are doing me a massive favour.”
Laughing slightly Tom let go of Annie’s hand and stood up, grabbing his tea again as he headed for the door, sipping it and noting how it really wasn’t as good as when she made it. It was probably just as well she couldn’t drink it really, she’d probably have been disappointed, not that he supposed she’d have said anything even if she had been. “I’ll go and pack then. If there’s anything you want to bring from here, for safekeeping, or whatever, the van’s pretty secure.”
“We left just about everything important to me in Bristol when we left but I’ll see. Meet you downstairs?”
George had been taken too soon after Mitchell. Not even six months after the trouble had begun. The vampires and the werewolves and the ghosts fighting for the people that didn’t even know they existed, hidden in the night and the shadows away from humanity, or as away from them as they could be when the vampires preyed on them and the werewolves lived amongst them. Neither Nina nor Tom had been there at the time, but Annie had. She’d been making her rounds, checking on her two best friends and Tom, who while on the outskirts was fast becoming one of them. She did it every full moon though she was fairly sure none of them knew. She’d just ’poof’ from one location to the next, just to make sure there was no one nearby that might catch them, make sure they were safe from other people and that other people were safe from them. Only when she’d got to where George was supposed to be he wasn’t there. There was only a vampire, standing in the spot she imaged George would have been in, just standing there looking far too happy with himself. “We’ve got your dog. Payback for Wyndham” he’d said and then he’d beamed at her with black eyes and fanged teeth. “You should come and watch. Death’s so much more entertaining when there’s a sobbing audience.” She’d gone alone because it was a full moon and the idea of the other two being caught and used for a dogfight was more than she could bear. Looking back she wasn’t sure what she’d thought she was going to do. Save George from a horde of vampires all by herself, despite the fact she’d only just managed to kill one vampire alone before now? She should have taken Tom with her. She hadn’t been thinking straight. She’d been scared and hadn’t had time to work out the best option. She’d just acted and got to the warehouse on the edge of Barry just in time to watch two werewolves tearing each other apart. Apparently werewolf verses human just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Wasn’t enough entertainment for these sickos, laughing and jeering while Annie screamed and sobbed and tried her best to protect George from the other werewolf. Only it had been too late. She’d only been there in time for him to die in her arms.
After that horrible experience there was only really Nina to think about. The world they were in was no place for a mother and a baby and Annie couldn’t bear the thought of losing yet another friend.
“Nina, I need you to listen to me,” Annie said gripping the other woman’s shoulders as Tom paced behind then, rocking and cooing at the crying baby, trying to calm it.
“You need to get out of here. You need to run. For Eve. It’s not safe anymore!”
“Not safe anymore,” Nina screamed, shaking with rage. “George is dead, Annie! Life with you lot was never safe! There was always something. Kemp, Herrick, Mitchell-”
Annie winced at the name of her lover as if she’d been slapped across the face.
“Mitchell. The Old Ones. It‘s just one thing after another.” Nina continued not letting it put her off. She knew this was difficult for Annie, but it was true, everything she was saying. She’d only really stayed for George, because he was so bloody loyal to Mitchell in spite of everything. Still the idea of leaving Annie felt terrible. Annie had been the best friend she’d ever had. She had no idea how she’d have coped when she was first scratched if it wasn’t for her. The world she’d been thrust into was dark and frightening. It went against everything she’d ever believed in, but Annie never seemed to let it get to her. She was like a constant ray of sunshine, the voice of optimism. Just leaving her to deal with the mess Mitchell had made, alone, wasn’t right, was it?
“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? Just-just hide from the vampires?”
“They’re looking for us,” Annie said slowly. “Because of the connection I had to Mitchell. Because he pissed them off. Because I’ve pissed them off. It’ll be safer if you’re not with me.”
“Safer, but not actually safe.”
Slowly Annie let go of Nina’s arms, suddenly looking much smaller than she had done moments before. “Safer’s the best we can do. I’m sorry, Nina. I’m sorry we dragged you into this.”
“Mitchell dragged us into this.”
“Without Mitchell George would’ve been torn apart by vampires years ago and I wouldn’t even be here! He tried so hard Nina. He died to try and make things better. It‘s not his fault it didn‘t work. Now-now we just do what we can.”
“And what about you?”
Annie shrugged. “I’ll keep fighting. I’m already dead.”
“Alone?”
“Why not? Like I said I’m already dead.”
“Because I know you, Annie. You need people. You need people to look after, to talk to, to keep you company.”
Before Annie could even reply Tom spoke from his position on the sofa where he was with Eve, much quieter now. “I’ll stay.”
Both women turned to look at him.
“I mean…what else am I gonna do? Dad’s gone. He raised me to fight vampires, better I do it here and keep Annie company than go off on me own, isn’t it?”
“That settles it then,” Annie said with a firm nod. “I’ll phone and write once you’re settled. But you have to go now, before…before,” she couldn’t finish the thought. Before the vampires come back and it’s too late. She couldn’t lose yet another friend. She could only keep on fighting in the face of that for so long.
Nina looked between the two of them. She wondered if they’d planned this together, but then she was sure Annie would have mentioned Tom’s willingness to stay in the first place if she’d known anything about it.
“Just until it’s quieter,” she said feebly. She knew she was defeated. The thing about arguing with Annie was that you’d never win. She didn’t need breaks to sleep or eat. It was unfair really.
“Just until it’s quieter,” Annie agreed, wrapping her arms around Nina and trying not to burst into tears. It was all too much. This was it - the last thread of her old life, if you could call it that when you were dead. It was too late to say things were going to be okay. George was dead. Mitchell was dead. Nothing was going to be okay again. They were just going to be bearable. It felt like the best she’d been able to hope for for quite a while now.
With a shaky smile Annie let go of Nina. “I’ll help you pack if you want?”
“Anyone’d think you were trying to get rid of me.”
The b+b was much too quiet without Nina and Eve. It felt empty and cold with just the two of them. Annie sat curled up in the chair in her room, knees tucked beneath her chin as she stared at the door because it awoke the least memories. Tom knocked on the door, waiting until Annie said come in, not wanting to interrupt her if she was busy. As she looked up he walked in with two cups of tea, causing Annie to burst into tears at his thoughtfulness even if it was misplaced.
“Are you-? Did I-?” Tom wasn’t good with crying women. He’d never had to deal with them before, but then he’d never had to deal with women full stop, or even girls for that matter. His dad had been very particular about that.
“I’m fine,” Annie sniffed, curling in on herself a little more. “It’s just…dead,” she reminded, gesturing to herself in one sweeping hand gesture.
Tom frowned, setting one of the cups down on the side. Annie always made tea when things were bad, it had just made sense that he do the same now, to try and make things a little better somehow. The fact she couldn’t drink it hadn’t even occurred to him. Lingering awkwardly by the door he tried to decide if he should stay or not. “I was thinking,” he said, deciding he should at least stay for a while. “We should probably move on. They know where we are. We’re a target here.”
They were a target everywhere that was what happened when you pissed off the Old Ones. But he had a point, if they were moving it had to make them a little more difficult to find, didn’t it? Still all Annie did was nod dully in response before speaking again, as if she hadn’t heard his suggestion at all.
“Sometimes I wonder what turned me into this-this warrior against darkness. Who turned me into this. Because it can’t have been me. I was never like this in life. Before I died I’d never even have considered hurting a living thing and now look at me. Now I don’t even bat an eye as I plunge a stake into someone’s flesh. I don’t even have the time to pause and think about it. I mean was it Owen? Did he do this when he killed me? Or was it Mitchell? When he tried to hide all those terrible, terrible things he’d done and I refused to help him, to the point where I had to kill someone.”
“You said he was a vampire.”
“Where I had to kill someone,” she repeated looking Tom steadily in the eye. “And do you know the very worst of it? I didn’t feel any different. I don’t feel any different. I still feel like me. I still feel like the same old, sweet, kind Annie. And that terrifies me.”
“That’s because you are still sweet and kind.” He moved closer, crouching in front of her. “Do you think I’m a bad person because of what I do? What I’ve always done?”
Annie shook her head, a pang of guilt in her stomach that he’d even think that.
“Well then. We do what we have to, don‘t we? We’re doing all this for the right reasons. We just have to remember that.”
“Do you worry then? Do you have doubts I mean?” she asked, shuffling a little closer, searching his face for an answer before he even spoke.
“Yeah, course I do. Sometimes. My dad, right? He wrote me a letter just before he died, because I think he knew it was coming, that it was going to be him or Herrick. He said he wanted me to be human. To be normal finally. But he made me into this. He raised me to fight a war against vampires, even before the war had really begun and right now I’ve never been more thankful he did.”
He gave her a little smile, one that made him look even younger than he was, and reached out for Annie’s hand, giving it a little squeeze. He wasn’t sure why but the idea of leaving her to face all this alone really was unthinkable to him. He supposed it probably had something to do with the way McNair had raised him to always respect women, but be chivalrous at the same time. McNair seemed to think women were delicate creatures to be protected, but Tom had seen enough of Annie now to know nothing could have been further from the truth. Still Nina had been right, Annie needed people, but then didn’t everyone? He knew he needed her just as much as she needed him. Without Annie he’d be alone just like she would. This was the only way that made sense.
Smiling, Annie squeezed his hand back, curling into herself a little more, almost pulling him with her. “There’s nothing wrong with being human,” she told him quietly. “Maybe one day, hey? But for now I’m really glad you’re here too. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you here, Tom. Not now Nina’s gone and even before then. I really appreciate you staying, in the first place and now, obviously. I really don’t do well on my own. I think I went a bit crazy before. Before the boys found me. When I was all on my own in the house.”
“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. I’m just glad you don’t mind me tagging along.”
Annie’s smile grew brighter as he spoke. “Well you know me. I need someone to make tea for, don’t I? You really are doing me a massive favour.”
Laughing slightly Tom let go of Annie’s hand and stood up, grabbing his tea again as he headed for the door, sipping it and noting how it really wasn’t as good as when she made it. It was probably just as well she couldn’t drink it really, she’d probably have been disappointed, not that he supposed she’d have said anything even if she had been. “I’ll go and pack then. If there’s anything you want to bring from here, for safekeeping, or whatever, the van’s pretty secure.”
“We left just about everything important to me in Bristol when we left but I’ll see. Meet you downstairs?”