Allure (Part 3a)
Title: Allure
Fandom: The Gates
Characters & Pairings: Andie Bates/Dylan Radcliff, ensemble cast
Rating: R
Warnings: underaged sex with an adult, initial dub-con due to uncontrollable succubus powers
Summary: A vampire and a succubus meet on an empty street. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but in The Gates community it’s a more than likely occurrence. When Andie refuses to eat life force, her strength wanes and her powers go awry in a desperate attempt to feed and survive. So you can imagine the problems that arise when she bumps into the gorgeous vampire Dylan alone on an empty street in the middle of the night. What’s a succubus to do?
“Okay, what is going on?” Mia asked the minute she entered Andie’s room, Brett, Lexi and even Lukas right behind her
“What?” Andie asked distractedly, looking up from her book.
Lexi sat next to the girl on her bed. “Don’t ‘what’ us, girl. The whole town is talking about you and Mr. Radcliff. They’re saying you’re having an affair.”
“Yeah, so what is going on?” Brett asked angrily, his eyes threatening to turn a wolf-like yellow if he didn’t calm down.
Andie sighed and gave the same abbreviated speech she’d given to her father. “How does a vampire have life force?” Lexi asked immediately afterward.
Andie shrugged but Mia knew the answer. “Life force is a lot like your soul or spirit. It has nothing to do with whether or not your body is alive. Vampires are sentient creatures who have free will and can make their own choices therefore they are ‘alive’ and have ‘life force’. In fact, now that I think about it, this makes sense.”
“How so?” Andie asked in curiosity.
“A vampire can live for hundreds of years. That’s hundreds of years worth of life force accumulated. That’s perfect for a succubus. They can take what they need and, if the vampire’s old enough, they’ll never even feel the difference,” Mia explained. “I’m so sorry I never thought of that sooner,” she apologized to Andie, knowing how difficult things had been for the girl as she struggled to find a way to survive without hurting others.
“It’s okay,” Andie replied, smiling at her friend. There was no reason for Mia to have put the two together. It was complete coincidence that even led Andie and Dylan’s paths to cross.
“No, it’s not okay,” Brett broke in angrily, glaring at Andie. “I can’t believe you’d go to a vampire over a werewolf.”
Lexi, Mia and Lukas exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Guys, could you give us a minute?” Andie asked as she stared Brett down. “Brett and I need to have a long overdue conversation.” The other three reluctantly vacated the room leaving the former couple alone. “Brett, I think I’ve been pretty clear and patient about this,” she stated gently.
Brett scoffed and looked to the side of the room. “I can’t help it, okay?”
“Yes, you can,” Andie insisted. “I know that you think you love me-”
“I do love you!” he interjected, angry that she was degrading his feelings.
“Okay, I’m sorry.” She raised her hands in surrender. “But I don’t love you. I care about you as a friend, but I don’t feel anything more for you and you need to accept that. I’m not going to come back to you. I thought if I gave you time, you’d move on, but you didn’t. So then I thought if we could just be friends, you’d realize that there couldn’t be anything more between us, but still you didn’t. Brett, I’m at my rope’s end here. What am I supposed to do? What can I do to help you move on?” she asked.
Brett looked at her seriously for a moment, before scowling and looking away. “I guess you can’t.”
Andie gave a small, sad sigh. “I think you need to date other people,” she said. “Find someone new. Someone who will like you back.”
“Like who?” he scoffed but fell silent at her knowing look. “You know about…?”
“Lexi’s huge thing for you?” she asked with a small smile. “Find me someone who doesn’t.” Brett awkwardly cleared his throat, his cheeks turning red. “Look, you should give her a chance. She really likes you and she’s done a lot for you. Couldn’t you at least try and go out with her on a few dates? See if there’s even anything there?”
Brett thought about it for a minute before giving a small sigh which Andie knew meant agreement. “You’re such a meddler, you know that?” he asked with a small smile.
“It’s a talent,” she replied with a nonchalant shrug and a small smirk.
“I’d better go,” Brett said as he made for the door. “I told the pack we’d go running.” Andie waved him off as he left.
After a minute, her bedroom door opened again, surprising her. “I heard what you said,” Lexi said hesitantly as she stepped into the room. “You didn’t have to do that. I’ve been pretty horrible to you this past year.”
Andie shrugged lightly. “I was dating the guy you loved. You were allowed to be a bitch to me.”
Lexi gave a small laugh. “Thanks,” she said. “You’re a good friend.”
“Us supernatural girls have to stick together,” Andie grinned. “Tell me how the date goes!” she yelled as Lexi left.
The next day was the day of the Monohan’s end of summer pool party. Everyone would be there and unfortunately that included Andie and Dylan. Andie put on her bikini and then threw on denim shorts and a purple tank top. She and her friends had agreed to go to the party together because of how much gossip was going around involving Andie.
She walked out the door and immediately spotted her friends waiting for her across the street. She grinned and ran over to them. “Ready to be put on the spot?” Mia asked as they made their way to the Monohan’s house.
“Nope,” Andie admitted easily.
“It’s a weird situation,” Lexi spoke up. “What are you going to tell people?”
Andie shrugged. “Dylan and I haven’t talked about it, but I figure we’ll go with what we told the Chief. That it was a misunderstanding and that I was at his house babysitting Emily.”
“You think they’ll buy that?” Lukas asked.
Andie shrugged. “I’m not sure. I figure, worst comes to worst, we’ll tell the truth. Everyone at the part is one of us, right?” she asked.
Brett nodded. “I think so. My mom said the pack was going to be there.”
“My mom’s going and she’s picking up Leigh on her way,” Mia added in.
“Dylan said that the vampires were coming,” Andie added, “which should make things tense with the werewolves, but manageable. So like I said, it’s going to be an all-supernatural party.”
“It’s weird how the Monohans got so close with our kind without even realizing it,” Lexi spoke up.
Brett, Lukas and Andie nodded in agreement, but Mia shook her head. “Not if you think about it. The people with the most to hide tend to be the most friendly. If they act like they’re hiding something, then people will get suspicious. When the Chief and his family moved here, our kind were the first to welcome them because we wanted to seem nice and normal and like we had nothing to hide.”
“Ah, psychology.” Andie nodded. “There you go, making sense out of nonsensical things.”
“I try.” Mia laughed as they all walked up to the Monohan house. Mia reached out a hand and knocked.
“Oh, hey!” Sarah grinned as she opened the door. Her smile froze when she spotted Andie and her gaze changed to something between pitying and confusion. “Come on in. We’re all in the back.”
The teens trooped through the house, but Sarah reached out and gently stopped Andie before she could follow her friends. “You know, Andie. You can talk to me, if you need to. I know that your mother’s gone but if you ever need any motherly advice…”
Andie shifted awkwardly. “Uh, thanks, Mrs. Monohan,” she replied awkwardly before hurrying to catch up to her friends.
Lexi was giggling uncontrollably and even Lukas and Brett were having a hard time hiding their smiles. “They were eavesdropping,” Mia said, stating the obvious. “But they didn’t tell me what they heard.” She pouted at the werewolves at the unfairness of it.
“Good,” Andie replied to Mia before turning to her other friends. “You guys suck.” The five teens finally made it out to the backyard and quickly claimed one of the smaller plastic tables by the pool as one of their own. A bunch of men were seated at a table near the grill where several were grilling up steaks, burgers and more. The women were all relaxing by the pool on lounge chairs, though a few were noticeably in the shade.
Andie caught Dylan’s eye and gave a small smile before quickly looking away, not wanting more gossip to be started about them.
Nick caught the look and once more glowered at his friend causing Dylan to sigh. “You’re really not going to let this go, are you?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes still trained on Emily playing in the pool with Dana.
“No, I’m not,” Nick muttered back. “She was not babysitting.” Dylan gave a small sigh in response. “She is sixteen years old for fuck’s sake.”
“Seventeen,” Dylan corrected mildly, having celebrated the girl’s birthday only a few weeks ago. “And you should understand, Nick, why, as a vampire, age doesn’t really matter to my kind. When I was her age, I was married and my wife was pregnant with our second child.”
Nick blinked in shock. Dylan had never disclosed his age and even less about his human years. “That was a long time ago. Things are different now,” he said instead.
“And they’ll be different again in another twenty years and then again twenty years after that. You can see why such rules don’t matter much to us when they’ll just change soon anyway,” Dylan pointed out.
“So are you saying that there is something going on that’s against the rules? Our current rules,” Nick asked, trying to trap the man in his words.
“Even if there was, I think it’s obvious that Andie’s father knows the truth of the situation and as her guardian, has given his okay,” Dylan pointed out, trying to sidestep the situation without giving too much away. He wanted his friend to trust him again, but he didn’t want to give up Andie’s secret. He could feel the burn of everybody’s eyes boring holes into him. The entire community was talking and while the vampires could understand, it was still frowned upon for him to attract so much attention to himself.
Nick glared at the man. That wasn’t the point. And before he could say something to that general effect, a loud crash was heard, drawing the attention of all the party goers. A large wolf had just jumped over the Monohan’s back wall and was now growling at all of the people at the party.
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