Imprinted Prompt
So for the longest time, I've had this character stuck in my head: Liz. She's a Twilight shifter, sad to say, but she's strong and independent and hates being wrong and also has issues being alone, and has this whole history. Well, to cut ti the point, she imprinted on this guy just after she became a shifter, and then vampires attacked her village and turned him into a vampire. I always wondered what would happen to the shifter if that happened. The shifter stays young so long as the vampires are around, right? So if you're tied to one in your soul, then that means you're around forever, that's my thought. Well, so many centuries dancing around each other gives you some issues, but also a sense of - camaraderie, I suppose. So this prompt made me think of Liz and her vampire beau, and what she thought of him through the years.
So here it is.
Once We Were in Love
There were times when Liz wanted to kill Caron. When he followed her and threatened the men she tried to talk to. When he bit animals, just for the fun, and then set them loose after the venom had their way. And then she had to clean up his mess, or else the Volturi would deal with him, and she couldn’t have that.
Because he was her world.
There was a time when they were childhood friends, and then sweethearts, and then almost married. But then they came, and she changed. Because the village had to fight back; she was an immune response. But everything was still fine, because he was still strong and kind and loving, and he was her world, and she could protect him. Until one night she didn’t.
And the venom had its way with him.
His eyes scared her. His skin burned her. So she left, snuck away during the day with only one dress to her name. Not that she spent much time as a human. It was easier to find food as a mountain cat, and the humans were suspicious of newcomers. She met a tribe of eagle-men who obviously shared her curse. Except they weren’t empty inside.
Not like her.
About a century later, she finally realized that she wasn’t going to die that easily. The transformation between human and cat was swift, like a well-oiled machine. It took only a thought. It wasn’t going away, and she wasn’t getting older. She spent more time as a human, and picked up the name Elizabeth when she crossed to the mainland. She wanted to leave her old life behind, try and move on from him.
Then she found the first corpse.
As soon as she reached a new town and settled down, perhaps a few weeks after first greeting her neighbors, and mangled corpse would appear on her doorstep. Usually male, usually young and - well, he used to be handsome. She would be horrified, even after countless times, because she could always smell him on them.
So she fled again.
He finally caught her, literally, two centuries after the first corpse. She was walking home from the local bookstore when the world went dark. She woke up in a cramped cell underground, chained to the wall. She ripped it out, but before she could tackle the door it opened, and there he was. It was terrifying how she was suddenly complete, because she had been empty for so long and it hurt to have him back so suddenly. He grinned and told her she was his.
She agreed.
That didn’t mean that she loved him anymore. It was an obligation, a biological compulsion (she especially enjoyed that term once it had been invented). They were attached, and she could never escape him, but that didn’t mean that she loved him, or even liked him. After the first time together, she ran away again and it hurt hurt hurt again, so much, and she didn’t think it had hurt this much when she ran away the first time, so she didn’t fight when he found her again.
She was like a pet.
Then she found the Society, and suddenly she had something else besides him. He threw a fit, of course, and that hurt for a decade or two, but there was light again. And she couldn’t regret that, not after so long with just a murdering sociopath as her other half. Oh, she still took care of him when she had to, because they were the same, but she had a life now.
She had a life.
And of course that didn’t last very long. It turned out that there was this great big plot, started before she was even born, and the Society was eventually toppled. And she was left him again. But this was different. She wasn’t a pet anymore. She was her own, just as she was his. And no longer was she his; he was also hers. She didn’t love him. He didn’t love her. But they could get along. And maybe after the centuries of darkness, that might be enough.
It would have to be.
So here it is.
Once We Were in Love
There were times when Liz wanted to kill Caron. When he followed her and threatened the men she tried to talk to. When he bit animals, just for the fun, and then set them loose after the venom had their way. And then she had to clean up his mess, or else the Volturi would deal with him, and she couldn’t have that.
Because he was her world.
There was a time when they were childhood friends, and then sweethearts, and then almost married. But then they came, and she changed. Because the village had to fight back; she was an immune response. But everything was still fine, because he was still strong and kind and loving, and he was her world, and she could protect him. Until one night she didn’t.
And the venom had its way with him.
His eyes scared her. His skin burned her. So she left, snuck away during the day with only one dress to her name. Not that she spent much time as a human. It was easier to find food as a mountain cat, and the humans were suspicious of newcomers. She met a tribe of eagle-men who obviously shared her curse. Except they weren’t empty inside.
Not like her.
About a century later, she finally realized that she wasn’t going to die that easily. The transformation between human and cat was swift, like a well-oiled machine. It took only a thought. It wasn’t going away, and she wasn’t getting older. She spent more time as a human, and picked up the name Elizabeth when she crossed to the mainland. She wanted to leave her old life behind, try and move on from him.
Then she found the first corpse.
As soon as she reached a new town and settled down, perhaps a few weeks after first greeting her neighbors, and mangled corpse would appear on her doorstep. Usually male, usually young and - well, he used to be handsome. She would be horrified, even after countless times, because she could always smell him on them.
So she fled again.
He finally caught her, literally, two centuries after the first corpse. She was walking home from the local bookstore when the world went dark. She woke up in a cramped cell underground, chained to the wall. She ripped it out, but before she could tackle the door it opened, and there he was. It was terrifying how she was suddenly complete, because she had been empty for so long and it hurt to have him back so suddenly. He grinned and told her she was his.
She agreed.
That didn’t mean that she loved him anymore. It was an obligation, a biological compulsion (she especially enjoyed that term once it had been invented). They were attached, and she could never escape him, but that didn’t mean that she loved him, or even liked him. After the first time together, she ran away again and it hurt hurt hurt again, so much, and she didn’t think it had hurt this much when she ran away the first time, so she didn’t fight when he found her again.
She was like a pet.
Then she found the Society, and suddenly she had something else besides him. He threw a fit, of course, and that hurt for a decade or two, but there was light again. And she couldn’t regret that, not after so long with just a murdering sociopath as her other half. Oh, she still took care of him when she had to, because they were the same, but she had a life now.
She had a life.
And of course that didn’t last very long. It turned out that there was this great big plot, started before she was even born, and the Society was eventually toppled. And she was left him again. But this was different. She wasn’t a pet anymore. She was her own, just as she was his. And no longer was she his; he was also hers. She didn’t love him. He didn’t love her. But they could get along. And maybe after the centuries of darkness, that might be enough.
It would have to be.