(no subject)
title: chained to death
challenge: bingo - lucy
characters/pairings: Lucy/Katherine, OCs
rating: mild R for violence
word count: 1.900
summary: The story of how Lucy got tangled up with vampires as she was growing up.
“You bitch,” Lucy heard when she was nine and through the keyhole saw her father slap her mother so hard she fell on the bed. Lucy pressed her palm over her mouth to force herself to stay quiet, too scared to even run away.
Father continued to beat Mother with his fist while she was begging him to stop, but there was no stopping his rage - but then suddenly he started screaming in pain and curled in on himself on the floor, hands pressing hard into his skull as if to stop it from bursting apart. Mother was standing above him, shaky, bleeding, eyes filled with tears and a kind of murderous fury Lucy had never seen before. She wasn’t even touching him, her outstretched hand never made contact with her husband’s body and yet in a few moments the screams became unbearably loud and then stopped altogether.
Mother sat down on the bed and cried. Lucy started sobbing in confusion on the other side of the locked door.
A few hours later a man came Lucy had never seen before and kissed the bruises on Mother’s face. He picked up Father’s cold body like it was nothing and disappeared into the dark night. By the time he returned Mother had packed the suitcases. He gave her an encouraging smile, kissed her delicate wrist and bit down, drawing blood.
Lucy couldn’t find the voice to scream, just watched her mother’s lips open in a silent, content gasp. When the man pulled back, Mother kissed her own blood from his lips.
“What about the child?” he asked.
“Everything is taken care of,” Mother said. The man smiled, embraced her and in a flash they were gone.
Six hours later when her aunt arrived, she found Lucy sitting on her mother’s bed, eyes red but not crying anymore.
-----
Aunt Florence ran a beauty salon in a rundown part of another small town and lived above the shop with her on and off Mexican boyfriend, Julio. They were fun to be around and Lucy quickly fell in love with their quirky friends coming over for the weekly poker nights, but whenever she asked about her mother, Aunt Florence got very quiet and just said, “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
And Lucy did.
When she was fifteen there was banging on the door one night. A man was brought in, weak, sweat running down his temples, barely breathing. Florence looked hard at the young woman he was with and immediately showed them to the guestroom.
“Vervain,” the woman said. “He needs…”
“I don’t have any,” Florence scoffed, but the woman’s threatening stance made her falter. She set her jaw and started rolling up the arms of her blouse but the woman stopped her.
“We might have been followed. We need you strong.”
Then she turned slowly to face Lucy standing in the doorway, but before she could say anything, Julio stepped in front of Lucy.
“I’ll do it.”
“No,” Florence shook her head but Julio didn’t listen.
“She’s just a child, Flo.”
Just then the front door burst open.
“Go,” Julio said, sitting down on the bed next to the man. “I’ll take care of him.”
Lucy followed Florence and the woman but her legs wouldn’t take her farther as the top of the stairs. There she stood, rooted to the spot as her aunt was taking on two men, baring their fangs, eyes dark and littered with veins. One took her off guard and bit hard into her neck but immediately the woman threw him across the room, giving Florence enough time to pull herself together and release her power. The two men started screaming in agony and fell on the floor. The woman then staked one and ripped the other’s heart out.
Lucy shuddered and with her heart beating violently ran back into the guestroom. The first thing she saw was blood on the sheets. She screamed and screamed and screamed until Florence and the woman came running upstairs. The man let Julio’s lifeless body drop on the ground and wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding anything but.
“We should go,” the woman said, vague anger colouring her voice. “Thank you for everything, Florence.”
Florence didn’t react, she was standing in the doorway as if turned to stone, staring at Julio’s corpse, and barely seemed to notice as the two vampires left the house. Long minutes passed before she slowly moved closer and took Julio in her arms. She didn’t cry, she just held him for hours.
Lucy dried her tears and went back to her room. When she passed the door of the guestroom again an hour later Florence was still crouching on the floor, clinging to Julio. Lucy didn’t say anything, she just walked down the stairs, past the two grey corpses. She stopped for a moment, hesitated, then bent down to pull the stake out of the vampire’s chest. She put it in her backpack, walked out of the house and closed the door.
And then she ran.
------
Lucy started working as a waitress in a small town where nobody cared she was not even sixteen yet. The diner’s owner, a grumpy, middle aged man called Bob let her sleep in one of his rooms in return for breakfast in bed. He sometimes tried to grope her but after Lucy once kicked him in the balls he never tried again. They got on well after that and over the years it almost started feeling like they were family.
Lucy knew it wouldn’t last.
She had just turned seventeen when a new boy came into town. Darren had messy brown hair and a perfect smile to make all the girls wet. Lucy just rolled her eyes but liked hanging out with him, he had a sharp enough tongue to scratch her hardened skin and it excited her. The whole town thought they were dating. They didn’t particularly want to but it was easier to go along with it than to keep denying the persistent rumour.
One night when Bob was out drinking Lucy let Darren undress her. He lacked finesse and came before she even started enjoying herself but then he grinned at her and kissed his way down her flat stomach. Lucy found herself arching off the bed as he was teasing her and she cried out loud when her orgasm ripped through her.
Afterwards they lay in bed together and burst out laughing. They never did it again and just let the people talk.
“I met someone,” Darren said two months later with shining eyes and Lucy felt excited for him, wanted to know everything. “I want you to meet her.”
The next evening he took her to a house at the edge of the town that had been empty for years and had only recently been bought by a weird old lady. She opened the door with a vacant look and smiled letting them in. The living room was filled with people, most of them Lucy knew from the town, mostly young party girls and horny studs, but there were a handful of others she had never seen before. One of them came to greet her. She was about their age, with long brown hair and a shy smile that seemed to make Darren blush.
“Luce,” he said. “This is Jane.”
“Hi,” Lucy smiled and shook the girl’s outstretched hand. She felt cold and hot at the same time and pulled back gasping.
“Is something wrong?” Jane asked with a frown.
“I’m… not feeling very good,” Lucy said unconsciously taking a step back. “Darren, would you mind taking me home?”
He looked torn. He obviously wanted to stay.
“You could just lie down in one of the guest rooms,” Jane offered but Lucy shook her head barely managing a smile.
“I’d much rather sleep in my own bed. Darren… please.”
“I can take you home,” a young woman with wavy brown hair stepped closer. Her face was that of a girl’s but her eyes were old and sharp, the contrast made Lucy want to run.
“Would you?” Darren cheered up. “That would be wonderful. Listen, Luce, I’ll check in on you in the morning, ok?”
And before Lucy could object he disappeared in the crowd with Jane.
“Shall we go?” the woman asked but Lucy took a step back. She forced herself to smile.
“Thanks but it’s not far. There’s no need.”
She tried to remain calm until she was out of the house and then she ran. She locked all the doors and windows in their house and slept fitfully, with the stake she had taken from Florence’s house under her pillow.
Next morning the town was in an uproar. A party in the woods seemed to have gone a bit too far, eighteen kids were found dead, probably caused by a yet unknown drug the police said. Lucy flirted with a young officer until he gave her a list of the names of all the deceased. Darren wasn’t among them. She waited all day, all week. But he never showed.
-----
One night, three months later, Lucy was on her way home from a friend when she was knocked hard off her feet. She looked around, her heart pounding in fear and saw someone crouching not far from her under a big tree.
“I’m sorry, Luce.”
Lucy blinked and stood up to take a few steps closer.
“Darren?” she frowned. “What happened to you?”
Darren shook his head and the bright moonlight broke on his tears.
“I’m sorry Luce, I didn’t know where else to go.”
She was terrified, certain that Darren was now what she feared most but she still crouched down next to him and took his cold, shaking hands into hers.
“It’s ok, I’m here.”
“She died, Luce,” he whimpered. “Jane died.”
“How?” Lucy asked quietly and hated that all she felt was relief.
“Werewolf…” Darren chocked on the word and shivered. “It… it bit me too, Luce. I’m scared… so scared.”
Lucy didn’t really understand what it all meant, tried not to think too much about the fact that apparently other monsters existed beside vampires, and just pulled Darren into her arms. He started sobbing into her neck but then suddenly she felt teeth breaking her skin and unnaturally strong hands pushed her on the ground. She tried to free herself but the pain exploding in her neck made her gasp for breath.
And then just as the thought she was going to die Darren’s body went limp on top of her and was shoved to the ground. Lucy looked up and saw a woman standing above her, smiling. It was the woman she had met at the party. She helped Lucy up and placed a soft kiss on her lips, as if to mark her as her own.
“You owe me now.”
-----
Las Vegas was always crowded, always loud and for the first time in her life Lucy felt like finally she could disappear in the sea of people and forget who she was, forget her heritage and war and death. But one night as she was dealing cards at a table she felt an odd sensation in the back of her head and when she turned she saw the woman that had saved her, watching her from across the room.
challenge: bingo - lucy
characters/pairings: Lucy/Katherine, OCs
rating: mild R for violence
word count: 1.900
summary: The story of how Lucy got tangled up with vampires as she was growing up.
“You bitch,” Lucy heard when she was nine and through the keyhole saw her father slap her mother so hard she fell on the bed. Lucy pressed her palm over her mouth to force herself to stay quiet, too scared to even run away.
Father continued to beat Mother with his fist while she was begging him to stop, but there was no stopping his rage - but then suddenly he started screaming in pain and curled in on himself on the floor, hands pressing hard into his skull as if to stop it from bursting apart. Mother was standing above him, shaky, bleeding, eyes filled with tears and a kind of murderous fury Lucy had never seen before. She wasn’t even touching him, her outstretched hand never made contact with her husband’s body and yet in a few moments the screams became unbearably loud and then stopped altogether.
Mother sat down on the bed and cried. Lucy started sobbing in confusion on the other side of the locked door.
A few hours later a man came Lucy had never seen before and kissed the bruises on Mother’s face. He picked up Father’s cold body like it was nothing and disappeared into the dark night. By the time he returned Mother had packed the suitcases. He gave her an encouraging smile, kissed her delicate wrist and bit down, drawing blood.
Lucy couldn’t find the voice to scream, just watched her mother’s lips open in a silent, content gasp. When the man pulled back, Mother kissed her own blood from his lips.
“What about the child?” he asked.
“Everything is taken care of,” Mother said. The man smiled, embraced her and in a flash they were gone.
Six hours later when her aunt arrived, she found Lucy sitting on her mother’s bed, eyes red but not crying anymore.
-----
Aunt Florence ran a beauty salon in a rundown part of another small town and lived above the shop with her on and off Mexican boyfriend, Julio. They were fun to be around and Lucy quickly fell in love with their quirky friends coming over for the weekly poker nights, but whenever she asked about her mother, Aunt Florence got very quiet and just said, “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
And Lucy did.
When she was fifteen there was banging on the door one night. A man was brought in, weak, sweat running down his temples, barely breathing. Florence looked hard at the young woman he was with and immediately showed them to the guestroom.
“Vervain,” the woman said. “He needs…”
“I don’t have any,” Florence scoffed, but the woman’s threatening stance made her falter. She set her jaw and started rolling up the arms of her blouse but the woman stopped her.
“We might have been followed. We need you strong.”
Then she turned slowly to face Lucy standing in the doorway, but before she could say anything, Julio stepped in front of Lucy.
“I’ll do it.”
“No,” Florence shook her head but Julio didn’t listen.
“She’s just a child, Flo.”
Just then the front door burst open.
“Go,” Julio said, sitting down on the bed next to the man. “I’ll take care of him.”
Lucy followed Florence and the woman but her legs wouldn’t take her farther as the top of the stairs. There she stood, rooted to the spot as her aunt was taking on two men, baring their fangs, eyes dark and littered with veins. One took her off guard and bit hard into her neck but immediately the woman threw him across the room, giving Florence enough time to pull herself together and release her power. The two men started screaming in agony and fell on the floor. The woman then staked one and ripped the other’s heart out.
Lucy shuddered and with her heart beating violently ran back into the guestroom. The first thing she saw was blood on the sheets. She screamed and screamed and screamed until Florence and the woman came running upstairs. The man let Julio’s lifeless body drop on the ground and wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding anything but.
“We should go,” the woman said, vague anger colouring her voice. “Thank you for everything, Florence.”
Florence didn’t react, she was standing in the doorway as if turned to stone, staring at Julio’s corpse, and barely seemed to notice as the two vampires left the house. Long minutes passed before she slowly moved closer and took Julio in her arms. She didn’t cry, she just held him for hours.
Lucy dried her tears and went back to her room. When she passed the door of the guestroom again an hour later Florence was still crouching on the floor, clinging to Julio. Lucy didn’t say anything, she just walked down the stairs, past the two grey corpses. She stopped for a moment, hesitated, then bent down to pull the stake out of the vampire’s chest. She put it in her backpack, walked out of the house and closed the door.
And then she ran.
------
Lucy started working as a waitress in a small town where nobody cared she was not even sixteen yet. The diner’s owner, a grumpy, middle aged man called Bob let her sleep in one of his rooms in return for breakfast in bed. He sometimes tried to grope her but after Lucy once kicked him in the balls he never tried again. They got on well after that and over the years it almost started feeling like they were family.
Lucy knew it wouldn’t last.
She had just turned seventeen when a new boy came into town. Darren had messy brown hair and a perfect smile to make all the girls wet. Lucy just rolled her eyes but liked hanging out with him, he had a sharp enough tongue to scratch her hardened skin and it excited her. The whole town thought they were dating. They didn’t particularly want to but it was easier to go along with it than to keep denying the persistent rumour.
One night when Bob was out drinking Lucy let Darren undress her. He lacked finesse and came before she even started enjoying herself but then he grinned at her and kissed his way down her flat stomach. Lucy found herself arching off the bed as he was teasing her and she cried out loud when her orgasm ripped through her.
Afterwards they lay in bed together and burst out laughing. They never did it again and just let the people talk.
“I met someone,” Darren said two months later with shining eyes and Lucy felt excited for him, wanted to know everything. “I want you to meet her.”
The next evening he took her to a house at the edge of the town that had been empty for years and had only recently been bought by a weird old lady. She opened the door with a vacant look and smiled letting them in. The living room was filled with people, most of them Lucy knew from the town, mostly young party girls and horny studs, but there were a handful of others she had never seen before. One of them came to greet her. She was about their age, with long brown hair and a shy smile that seemed to make Darren blush.
“Luce,” he said. “This is Jane.”
“Hi,” Lucy smiled and shook the girl’s outstretched hand. She felt cold and hot at the same time and pulled back gasping.
“Is something wrong?” Jane asked with a frown.
“I’m… not feeling very good,” Lucy said unconsciously taking a step back. “Darren, would you mind taking me home?”
He looked torn. He obviously wanted to stay.
“You could just lie down in one of the guest rooms,” Jane offered but Lucy shook her head barely managing a smile.
“I’d much rather sleep in my own bed. Darren… please.”
“I can take you home,” a young woman with wavy brown hair stepped closer. Her face was that of a girl’s but her eyes were old and sharp, the contrast made Lucy want to run.
“Would you?” Darren cheered up. “That would be wonderful. Listen, Luce, I’ll check in on you in the morning, ok?”
And before Lucy could object he disappeared in the crowd with Jane.
“Shall we go?” the woman asked but Lucy took a step back. She forced herself to smile.
“Thanks but it’s not far. There’s no need.”
She tried to remain calm until she was out of the house and then she ran. She locked all the doors and windows in their house and slept fitfully, with the stake she had taken from Florence’s house under her pillow.
Next morning the town was in an uproar. A party in the woods seemed to have gone a bit too far, eighteen kids were found dead, probably caused by a yet unknown drug the police said. Lucy flirted with a young officer until he gave her a list of the names of all the deceased. Darren wasn’t among them. She waited all day, all week. But he never showed.
-----
One night, three months later, Lucy was on her way home from a friend when she was knocked hard off her feet. She looked around, her heart pounding in fear and saw someone crouching not far from her under a big tree.
“I’m sorry, Luce.”
Lucy blinked and stood up to take a few steps closer.
“Darren?” she frowned. “What happened to you?”
Darren shook his head and the bright moonlight broke on his tears.
“I’m sorry Luce, I didn’t know where else to go.”
She was terrified, certain that Darren was now what she feared most but she still crouched down next to him and took his cold, shaking hands into hers.
“It’s ok, I’m here.”
“She died, Luce,” he whimpered. “Jane died.”
“How?” Lucy asked quietly and hated that all she felt was relief.
“Werewolf…” Darren chocked on the word and shivered. “It… it bit me too, Luce. I’m scared… so scared.”
Lucy didn’t really understand what it all meant, tried not to think too much about the fact that apparently other monsters existed beside vampires, and just pulled Darren into her arms. He started sobbing into her neck but then suddenly she felt teeth breaking her skin and unnaturally strong hands pushed her on the ground. She tried to free herself but the pain exploding in her neck made her gasp for breath.
And then just as the thought she was going to die Darren’s body went limp on top of her and was shoved to the ground. Lucy looked up and saw a woman standing above her, smiling. It was the woman she had met at the party. She helped Lucy up and placed a soft kiss on her lips, as if to mark her as her own.
“You owe me now.”
-----
Las Vegas was always crowded, always loud and for the first time in her life Lucy felt like finally she could disappear in the sea of people and forget who she was, forget her heritage and war and death. But one night as she was dealing cards at a table she felt an odd sensation in the back of her head and when she turned she saw the woman that had saved her, watching her from across the room.