Lament for a Daemon's Soul [Chapter Twenty-Seven]
Title: Lament for a Daemon’s Soul
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 71534 / ?
Spoilers: This is AU, but Season 1 spoilers are possible starting with chapter 6.
Summary: Rachel is a member of an immortal altered race of humans that call themselves the Vanpyr and live in secret alongside normal humans. Murdered years earlier, her outrage over her death gave her the strength of will to step Beyond the Veil and join the ranks of the altered humans known as the Vanpyr as a daemon. Since then she has been hiding the truth of her existence and fighting to control the Beast within her. So far so good, until she enrolls as a student at William McKinley High in Lima, Ohio as the daughter of her “two gay dads”.
Note: This is a loose fusion with an original universe.
For a prompt (found here) at rq_meme.
A/N: Whew! Almost didn't make it up! Kinda short, but I hope it's okay.
*****
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Finn didn’t show up for the bus ride to Sectionals Rachel was entirely unsurprised - Puck had his suspicions as to why that was - but most of the rest of the group expressed various levels of disbelief and disappointment. None of them wanted to believe that his loyalty to the group had been so easily shattered. But time was growing short, Mr. Schuester had recruited Jacob to fill in so they wouldn’t be disqualified, and there was no sign of the group’s leading man.
“He’s not coming.”
The words fell on the heavy silence like stones, shattering it. Rachel wasn’t entirely certain why she’d spoken but now that she’d started, she couldn’t see any point in stopping. “He’s too busy being wrapped up in himself like the child he insists on remaining to care about anyone or anything else.”
Puck watched her staring out the window at the school. “Rach, that’s way harsh. The dude’s hurting.”
“Harsh?” She turned her attention to him, sending a brief shiver of fear down his spine, “I believe it to be an honest assessment, Noah. A man would put the needs of his team before his pain and grieve later. A child is only concerned with the immediate.”
Quinn’s hand rested lightly on her shoulder, the taller girl leaning over the back of the seat to do so, “Don’t be so hard on him, Rachel. It’s... he has a lot to work through right now.”
“I have not the faintest idea as to why you should attempt to defend him, Quinn,” Rachel’s hand reached up to cover Quinn’s on her shoulder, though her gaze had gone back out the window, “but I will give him until the time of our performance to prove if he has the competence of a man hidden somewhere in his childish psyche.” She turned her head, shooting Puck a look that made him stop before speaking, “He attempted to take his upset out on two people I care deeply for, Noah. That is the sole benefit of the doubt I shall be applying to this situation.”
Puck didn’t speak, just turned to look out the window at Jacob, Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury talking. Quinn gave her shoulder a final squeeze before sitting back. When Jacob finally boarded, Rachel’s mood was so sour that all it took was a curled lip and low growl to make him scramble for the back of the bus after his aborted attempt to sit with her.
At the snarl, Quinn sighed, getting up and moving to sit with the smaller girl as Ms. Pillsbury got on board. With a soft smile for her friend, she picked her hand up and gave it a squeeze.
“Hey, don’t worry. Even with out him, we’ll be amazing.”
Rachel’s smile was tinged with her lingering irritation at Finn, but it was there and that was all Quinn could ask for. And if she didn’t let go of Rachel’s hand until they pulled into the lot at the performance center, well that could easily be chalked up to comforting her friend. It wasn’t at all because the tiny hand in hers calmed her own anxiety about the performance, and if maybe it was a little that was fine, because friends did that, right? They comforted each other when they were stressed or upset.
Right?
*****
She smelled it almost as soon as she stepped through the doors of the venue.
The cloying reek of death, the subtle tang of rotting blood underneath mixed with the sweetly heavy scent of decay, all three combining to coat her senses, pulling her Beast to the fore, leaving her only barely able to restrain it. Beside her Puck bristled as he wrestled his own Beast into submission, refusing its urge to change, to run and hide as the scent hit his nose. Quinn, on Rachel’s other side, just looked at them confused, it was obvious that she couldn’t detect the odor that was setting both Vanpyr on edge.
Rachel recognized the scent. How could she not? It had haunted her for centuries, always just one step ahead, just out of reach. No matter how fast she ran it had always been just around the next corner. But now, she was here.
And if she was here, then there was no doubt that her fawning little sycophant wouldn’t be far behind.
Most of the other members of the club just assumed the dreamy smile wreathing the tiny diva’s face was for the idea of performing for an audience. If they’d known she was envisioning finally getting to sink her claws into a very deserving heart - amongst other less palatable thoughts - they likely wouldn’t have remained standing anywhere near her. Puck, recognizing that smile, took a careful step away, leaving Quinn standing beside her looking at him puzzledly.
Rachel was oblivious. It had taken more than 300 years, but the thing she’d craved most since her death was finally within her grasp. She would finally into the eyes of her murderer.
And she would have her vengeance.
*****
It was intolerable!
Only Quinn’s hand on her arm was helping keep the Beast in check. It shared her desire to rise up and destroy the source of the terrible insult. The scent of her prey filling her nostrils - thicker than ever in the dark heat of the auditorium - making it hard to focus enough to keep it down on her own.
When she saw one of the people - mindless sheep! - filling the auditorium reach up to wipe a tear away at an utterly appalling rendition of Don’t Stop Believing, she snapped. Though, thanks to Quinn’s surprisingly soothing touch, not in a manner that would be exceedingly detrimental to the continued well-being of the audience.
“Meet me in the Green Room in five minutes!”
This would be resolved. One way or another.
*****
“You leaked the set list.” Kurt’s tone was shocked, disbelieving that anyone could have betrayed the team, “you don’t want to be here, you’re just Sue Sylvester’s little moles.”
“That’s only partially true, Kurt. Sue did ask us to spy for her,” Quinn walked in, stepping past the pair standing defensively by the door to take a place on the sofa by Puck, “but that was only the reason for joining. I don’t know what they’re doing now.”
“Look, we may still be Cheerios, but neither of us ever gave Sue the set list.”
“Well, I - I did.” Brittany shrugged, looking down cast, “but I didn’t know what she was going to do with it. I took it from your folder when you weren’t looking, Rachel. I’m sorry.”
Rachel looked confused for a moment before shaking her head, “I never had a copy of the set list in my folder, Brittany. Though that would explain where my Best of Barbra mixlist went.”
Santana glowers at Rachel for a moment, before stepping away from the door, “Okay, look, believe what you want. But no one’s forcing me to be here. And if you tell anyone this, I’ll deny it, but I like being in glee club. It’s the best part of my day, okay? I wasn’t going to go and mess it up.”
There was a long moment of silence as the group took in Santana’s abrupt confession. Rachel watched the darker girl for a moment before smiling softly. “I believe you.”
It wasn’t much - just three little words - but those words meant a lot to the girl after being accused of betraying everyone. Now, okay, she might be a bitch and all, but she didn’t do betrayal. It was why Sue never found out about Quinn’s bun in the oven from her hot as hell lips - seriously, these lips could set people on fire and she wasn’t about to be modest of her skills - she had to go elsewhere for that tidbit, even if it would have guaranteeed her Head Cheerio for Life status.
So hearing someone believed in her after that? Even if it was the annoying little midget that her Britt had developed and unusual fondness for? Okay, yeah, Rachel Berry was okay in her book. She smiled at the girl - like with actually fondness and stuff - and whispered a soft, “thanks”.
Rachel just smiled back, “Look, guys, there’s no point in us arguing any more, we have to go on in an hour.”
“And we have no songs.” Tina looked over from her slouch on one of the room’s office chairs.
“Perhaps I could improvise some of my def poetry jams,” Artie’s expression was so painfully earnest that Rachel couldn’t really bring herself to shoot him down before Tina shook her head sadly at him. “No?”
“No, look, we’re going to do this the right way. We’ll start with the ballad. Mercedes, do you have anything else in your repertoire?”
“Yeah, but,” the girl didn’t even look up, “not as good as anything you’re going to sing.”
Rachel frowned, “No, we agreed -”
Mercedes cut her off, coming to her feet and walking over, “we agreed that I would sing And I’m Telling You and that ain’t happening. Look, Rachel, the truth is,” if she was surprised by the stricken look on Rachel’s face when she said she wasn’t taking the ballad, she didn’t let it show, “you’re the best singer that we’ve got.”
For once, Rachel didn’t know what to say. She knew she was the best singer - she’d had centuries to perfect her voice after all. And she certainly couldn’t lie and say she didn’t want the solo, because she did, but she wanted it because she was the better singer. She didn’t want it like this. Stolen from her rival by a cruel twist of fate playing games on a level higher than their petty high school dramas.
“As much as it hurts me to admit it,” Kurt’s voice drew her attention away from the girl standing in front of her, “and it does, she’s right. Rachel’s our star, if anyone’s going to go belt it on the fly it should be her.”
She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help her eyes from darting to Quinn’s, searching for reassurance in calm hazel over Mercedes’ shoulder. After a moment, it’s like Quinn understands because her chin dips ever so slightly in a subtle nod. And Rachel smiles, confidence that she’s making the right choice renewed.
“Well, I do have something I’ve been working on since I was four,” Not the exact truth, but saying that she’d headlined in Vegas with it in the sixties would have been rather difficult to explain.
Quinn stood, smiling, “Then I guess we have our ballad. And we can close with Somebody to Love, it’s a real crowd pleaser.”
“That’s great, Tubbers, but maybe all the baby hormones swimming around your brain have affected your ability to count. We need three songs, that’s only two.”
Puck stepped closer to Quinn, “Santana’s right. We still need something we can all sing together or we’re gonna come in third and it’s adios, glee club.”
The door creaked open, letting in a battered Finn. “Maybe I can help with that.”
“Oh wow, Finn, you like totally got your ass kicked.”
Finn shot Brittany a look, but the blonde only smiled back. “Um, yeah, kinda. Anyway, I’ve got a song that we could maybe do together. I found the sheet music online, used the Cheerios’ copier to make copies,” he glanced up, grinning shyly at Rachel, “then I trashed the thing.”
Rachel glanced at the title - You Can’t Always Get What You Want - and almost scoffed out loud. Apparently the idiot child could pay attention every now and then. The question now was, did he learn anything - something she was doubting by the way he was looking at her.
“Mike, Matt, you guys are our best dancers,” he began, only to be stopped by Rachel’s upraised hand and Quinn’s scowl.
“Excuse me, Finn, but as I recall, you turned down the position of co-captain for this team.” Quinn had seen his look at the smallest member of the club and wasn’t at all happy with it. He was supposed to be devastated over the news he’d gotten yesterday, so what was he doing fawning over her girl - not that Rachel was her girl or, well, everything was so confusing! “By means of forfeiture as I recall. Which I’m pretty sure I do since I was the one who stepped in and cleaned up your mess.”
“You,” he took a step towards the blonde, furious scowl on his face, only to be stopped by a glance at Rachel, “Don’t even talk to me! I am sick of hearing your voice!”
Rachel frowned, “nevertheless, Finn, Quinn is entirely correct. You are not a leader of this club. We thank you for the song and you are welcome to take Jacob’s place and join us in performing it, but it is not your place to dictate the method or nature of the performance.”
She turned back to the rest of the group, ignoring the crestfallen expression on the quarterback’s face, “Brittany, Santana, Mike and Matt. The four of you are the best dancers we have. Can you come up with something in the next half hour?”
Mike frowned at the music in his hands for a moment before looking up at the two co-captains with a nervous expression, “It’s gonna be choppy.”
“That’s fine,” Quinn’s soft voice was soothing, “we’re at our best when things are rough and we can’t really get much roughter than this. We’re the underdogs here, everyone. The ones no one expects to win, because they cheated. But we’re going to show them that we may be the underdogs, but we’re also winners.”
Rachel smiled, letting her fingers rest on Quinn’s wrist, “All we have to do is believe in ourselves and the music. There’s no way the judges could possibly choose anyone but us if we give this everything we have.”
Most of the group gathered around the conference table in the back almost as soon as she finished speaking, their four impromptu choreographers already blocking out the rough positions for everyone with pencils and the backs of the sheet music. Rachel turned to Finn for a moment with a only slightly begrudging smile, “Thanks for coming back, Finn.”
Puck walked over to Finn, hand out to shake, “We cool, dude?”
Finn just stared at the proffered hand in disgust, “No.”
He turned to Rachel ignoring Quinn’s forelorn expression, but the smile was gone. “Rachel, I -”
“Save it, Finn.” She frowned up at him, not liking how he’d closed the distance between them, emphasizing his greater height, “I’ve neither need, nor interest, in one of your locker room style pep talks.”
“Fine,” his face fell, “just... you got the solo now. Don’t screw it up.”
“I assure you, I am a consumate performer. There is no doubt as to my ability to perform to meet and even exceed anyone’s standards. Including yours.”
He just nodded, and walked back to the table. Quinn stepped into his place and hesitated only a moment before sweeping the smaller girl into a tight embrace.
“Don’t worry, Rach. You’ll be amazing.”
Rachel just smiled, leaning into the hug, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s waist, “So will you.”
And if they both lingered just a second longer than averaged, well, they were friends and friends hug each other when things were stressful.
Right?
*****
The scent hit her almost as soon as she stepped through the curtains. She was here. Close. If she’d been less experienced in hiding her reactions, her voice might have broken.
But she maintained her composure, moving through the crowd, eyes scanning for the familiar face, nose nearly quivering to find the source of the reek. She played the audience, drawing them in, even while she looked for those who didn’t react. For those who reacted wrong.
It frustrated her to know the goal of the quest that had been laid upon her at her death was so close and yet she still couldn’t find them.
She made her way to the stage, singing her heart out, the sound bursting from her lips to ring to the very back of the balcony, filling the room with sound as she had learned to do long before microphones had become common place. She cued her teammates, smiling at her friends as they made their way down the aisles, given that little bit of extra time to finish preparing by her unorthodox handling of the solo. She’d warmed the crowd, prepared them to love her team with her voice. Now all that was left was to delve into their hearts of the judges with the power of their combined voices.
She had no doubt they would win.
And then she would find the source of the scent of death and force it to show her the hand that had driven her to the Veil.
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 71534 / ?
Spoilers: This is AU, but Season 1 spoilers are possible starting with chapter 6.
Summary: Rachel is a member of an immortal altered race of humans that call themselves the Vanpyr and live in secret alongside normal humans. Murdered years earlier, her outrage over her death gave her the strength of will to step Beyond the Veil and join the ranks of the altered humans known as the Vanpyr as a daemon. Since then she has been hiding the truth of her existence and fighting to control the Beast within her. So far so good, until she enrolls as a student at William McKinley High in Lima, Ohio as the daughter of her “two gay dads”.
Note: This is a loose fusion with an original universe.
For a prompt (found here) at rq_meme.
A/N: Whew! Almost didn't make it up! Kinda short, but I hope it's okay.
*****
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Finn didn’t show up for the bus ride to Sectionals Rachel was entirely unsurprised - Puck had his suspicions as to why that was - but most of the rest of the group expressed various levels of disbelief and disappointment. None of them wanted to believe that his loyalty to the group had been so easily shattered. But time was growing short, Mr. Schuester had recruited Jacob to fill in so they wouldn’t be disqualified, and there was no sign of the group’s leading man.
“He’s not coming.”
The words fell on the heavy silence like stones, shattering it. Rachel wasn’t entirely certain why she’d spoken but now that she’d started, she couldn’t see any point in stopping. “He’s too busy being wrapped up in himself like the child he insists on remaining to care about anyone or anything else.”
Puck watched her staring out the window at the school. “Rach, that’s way harsh. The dude’s hurting.”
“Harsh?” She turned her attention to him, sending a brief shiver of fear down his spine, “I believe it to be an honest assessment, Noah. A man would put the needs of his team before his pain and grieve later. A child is only concerned with the immediate.”
Quinn’s hand rested lightly on her shoulder, the taller girl leaning over the back of the seat to do so, “Don’t be so hard on him, Rachel. It’s... he has a lot to work through right now.”
“I have not the faintest idea as to why you should attempt to defend him, Quinn,” Rachel’s hand reached up to cover Quinn’s on her shoulder, though her gaze had gone back out the window, “but I will give him until the time of our performance to prove if he has the competence of a man hidden somewhere in his childish psyche.” She turned her head, shooting Puck a look that made him stop before speaking, “He attempted to take his upset out on two people I care deeply for, Noah. That is the sole benefit of the doubt I shall be applying to this situation.”
Puck didn’t speak, just turned to look out the window at Jacob, Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury talking. Quinn gave her shoulder a final squeeze before sitting back. When Jacob finally boarded, Rachel’s mood was so sour that all it took was a curled lip and low growl to make him scramble for the back of the bus after his aborted attempt to sit with her.
At the snarl, Quinn sighed, getting up and moving to sit with the smaller girl as Ms. Pillsbury got on board. With a soft smile for her friend, she picked her hand up and gave it a squeeze.
“Hey, don’t worry. Even with out him, we’ll be amazing.”
Rachel’s smile was tinged with her lingering irritation at Finn, but it was there and that was all Quinn could ask for. And if she didn’t let go of Rachel’s hand until they pulled into the lot at the performance center, well that could easily be chalked up to comforting her friend. It wasn’t at all because the tiny hand in hers calmed her own anxiety about the performance, and if maybe it was a little that was fine, because friends did that, right? They comforted each other when they were stressed or upset.
Right?
*****
She smelled it almost as soon as she stepped through the doors of the venue.
The cloying reek of death, the subtle tang of rotting blood underneath mixed with the sweetly heavy scent of decay, all three combining to coat her senses, pulling her Beast to the fore, leaving her only barely able to restrain it. Beside her Puck bristled as he wrestled his own Beast into submission, refusing its urge to change, to run and hide as the scent hit his nose. Quinn, on Rachel’s other side, just looked at them confused, it was obvious that she couldn’t detect the odor that was setting both Vanpyr on edge.
Rachel recognized the scent. How could she not? It had haunted her for centuries, always just one step ahead, just out of reach. No matter how fast she ran it had always been just around the next corner. But now, she was here.
And if she was here, then there was no doubt that her fawning little sycophant wouldn’t be far behind.
Most of the other members of the club just assumed the dreamy smile wreathing the tiny diva’s face was for the idea of performing for an audience. If they’d known she was envisioning finally getting to sink her claws into a very deserving heart - amongst other less palatable thoughts - they likely wouldn’t have remained standing anywhere near her. Puck, recognizing that smile, took a careful step away, leaving Quinn standing beside her looking at him puzzledly.
Rachel was oblivious. It had taken more than 300 years, but the thing she’d craved most since her death was finally within her grasp. She would finally into the eyes of her murderer.
And she would have her vengeance.
*****
It was intolerable!
Only Quinn’s hand on her arm was helping keep the Beast in check. It shared her desire to rise up and destroy the source of the terrible insult. The scent of her prey filling her nostrils - thicker than ever in the dark heat of the auditorium - making it hard to focus enough to keep it down on her own.
When she saw one of the people - mindless sheep! - filling the auditorium reach up to wipe a tear away at an utterly appalling rendition of Don’t Stop Believing, she snapped. Though, thanks to Quinn’s surprisingly soothing touch, not in a manner that would be exceedingly detrimental to the continued well-being of the audience.
“Meet me in the Green Room in five minutes!”
This would be resolved. One way or another.
*****
“You leaked the set list.” Kurt’s tone was shocked, disbelieving that anyone could have betrayed the team, “you don’t want to be here, you’re just Sue Sylvester’s little moles.”
“That’s only partially true, Kurt. Sue did ask us to spy for her,” Quinn walked in, stepping past the pair standing defensively by the door to take a place on the sofa by Puck, “but that was only the reason for joining. I don’t know what they’re doing now.”
“Look, we may still be Cheerios, but neither of us ever gave Sue the set list.”
“Well, I - I did.” Brittany shrugged, looking down cast, “but I didn’t know what she was going to do with it. I took it from your folder when you weren’t looking, Rachel. I’m sorry.”
Rachel looked confused for a moment before shaking her head, “I never had a copy of the set list in my folder, Brittany. Though that would explain where my Best of Barbra mixlist went.”
Santana glowers at Rachel for a moment, before stepping away from the door, “Okay, look, believe what you want. But no one’s forcing me to be here. And if you tell anyone this, I’ll deny it, but I like being in glee club. It’s the best part of my day, okay? I wasn’t going to go and mess it up.”
There was a long moment of silence as the group took in Santana’s abrupt confession. Rachel watched the darker girl for a moment before smiling softly. “I believe you.”
It wasn’t much - just three little words - but those words meant a lot to the girl after being accused of betraying everyone. Now, okay, she might be a bitch and all, but she didn’t do betrayal. It was why Sue never found out about Quinn’s bun in the oven from her hot as hell lips - seriously, these lips could set people on fire and she wasn’t about to be modest of her skills - she had to go elsewhere for that tidbit, even if it would have guaranteeed her Head Cheerio for Life status.
So hearing someone believed in her after that? Even if it was the annoying little midget that her Britt had developed and unusual fondness for? Okay, yeah, Rachel Berry was okay in her book. She smiled at the girl - like with actually fondness and stuff - and whispered a soft, “thanks”.
Rachel just smiled back, “Look, guys, there’s no point in us arguing any more, we have to go on in an hour.”
“And we have no songs.” Tina looked over from her slouch on one of the room’s office chairs.
“Perhaps I could improvise some of my def poetry jams,” Artie’s expression was so painfully earnest that Rachel couldn’t really bring herself to shoot him down before Tina shook her head sadly at him. “No?”
“No, look, we’re going to do this the right way. We’ll start with the ballad. Mercedes, do you have anything else in your repertoire?”
“Yeah, but,” the girl didn’t even look up, “not as good as anything you’re going to sing.”
Rachel frowned, “No, we agreed -”
Mercedes cut her off, coming to her feet and walking over, “we agreed that I would sing And I’m Telling You and that ain’t happening. Look, Rachel, the truth is,” if she was surprised by the stricken look on Rachel’s face when she said she wasn’t taking the ballad, she didn’t let it show, “you’re the best singer that we’ve got.”
For once, Rachel didn’t know what to say. She knew she was the best singer - she’d had centuries to perfect her voice after all. And she certainly couldn’t lie and say she didn’t want the solo, because she did, but she wanted it because she was the better singer. She didn’t want it like this. Stolen from her rival by a cruel twist of fate playing games on a level higher than their petty high school dramas.
“As much as it hurts me to admit it,” Kurt’s voice drew her attention away from the girl standing in front of her, “and it does, she’s right. Rachel’s our star, if anyone’s going to go belt it on the fly it should be her.”
She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help her eyes from darting to Quinn’s, searching for reassurance in calm hazel over Mercedes’ shoulder. After a moment, it’s like Quinn understands because her chin dips ever so slightly in a subtle nod. And Rachel smiles, confidence that she’s making the right choice renewed.
“Well, I do have something I’ve been working on since I was four,” Not the exact truth, but saying that she’d headlined in Vegas with it in the sixties would have been rather difficult to explain.
Quinn stood, smiling, “Then I guess we have our ballad. And we can close with Somebody to Love, it’s a real crowd pleaser.”
“That’s great, Tubbers, but maybe all the baby hormones swimming around your brain have affected your ability to count. We need three songs, that’s only two.”
Puck stepped closer to Quinn, “Santana’s right. We still need something we can all sing together or we’re gonna come in third and it’s adios, glee club.”
The door creaked open, letting in a battered Finn. “Maybe I can help with that.”
“Oh wow, Finn, you like totally got your ass kicked.”
Finn shot Brittany a look, but the blonde only smiled back. “Um, yeah, kinda. Anyway, I’ve got a song that we could maybe do together. I found the sheet music online, used the Cheerios’ copier to make copies,” he glanced up, grinning shyly at Rachel, “then I trashed the thing.”
Rachel glanced at the title - You Can’t Always Get What You Want - and almost scoffed out loud. Apparently the idiot child could pay attention every now and then. The question now was, did he learn anything - something she was doubting by the way he was looking at her.
“Mike, Matt, you guys are our best dancers,” he began, only to be stopped by Rachel’s upraised hand and Quinn’s scowl.
“Excuse me, Finn, but as I recall, you turned down the position of co-captain for this team.” Quinn had seen his look at the smallest member of the club and wasn’t at all happy with it. He was supposed to be devastated over the news he’d gotten yesterday, so what was he doing fawning over her girl - not that Rachel was her girl or, well, everything was so confusing! “By means of forfeiture as I recall. Which I’m pretty sure I do since I was the one who stepped in and cleaned up your mess.”
“You,” he took a step towards the blonde, furious scowl on his face, only to be stopped by a glance at Rachel, “Don’t even talk to me! I am sick of hearing your voice!”
Rachel frowned, “nevertheless, Finn, Quinn is entirely correct. You are not a leader of this club. We thank you for the song and you are welcome to take Jacob’s place and join us in performing it, but it is not your place to dictate the method or nature of the performance.”
She turned back to the rest of the group, ignoring the crestfallen expression on the quarterback’s face, “Brittany, Santana, Mike and Matt. The four of you are the best dancers we have. Can you come up with something in the next half hour?”
Mike frowned at the music in his hands for a moment before looking up at the two co-captains with a nervous expression, “It’s gonna be choppy.”
“That’s fine,” Quinn’s soft voice was soothing, “we’re at our best when things are rough and we can’t really get much roughter than this. We’re the underdogs here, everyone. The ones no one expects to win, because they cheated. But we’re going to show them that we may be the underdogs, but we’re also winners.”
Rachel smiled, letting her fingers rest on Quinn’s wrist, “All we have to do is believe in ourselves and the music. There’s no way the judges could possibly choose anyone but us if we give this everything we have.”
Most of the group gathered around the conference table in the back almost as soon as she finished speaking, their four impromptu choreographers already blocking out the rough positions for everyone with pencils and the backs of the sheet music. Rachel turned to Finn for a moment with a only slightly begrudging smile, “Thanks for coming back, Finn.”
Puck walked over to Finn, hand out to shake, “We cool, dude?”
Finn just stared at the proffered hand in disgust, “No.”
He turned to Rachel ignoring Quinn’s forelorn expression, but the smile was gone. “Rachel, I -”
“Save it, Finn.” She frowned up at him, not liking how he’d closed the distance between them, emphasizing his greater height, “I’ve neither need, nor interest, in one of your locker room style pep talks.”
“Fine,” his face fell, “just... you got the solo now. Don’t screw it up.”
“I assure you, I am a consumate performer. There is no doubt as to my ability to perform to meet and even exceed anyone’s standards. Including yours.”
He just nodded, and walked back to the table. Quinn stepped into his place and hesitated only a moment before sweeping the smaller girl into a tight embrace.
“Don’t worry, Rach. You’ll be amazing.”
Rachel just smiled, leaning into the hug, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s waist, “So will you.”
And if they both lingered just a second longer than averaged, well, they were friends and friends hug each other when things were stressful.
Right?
*****
The scent hit her almost as soon as she stepped through the curtains. She was here. Close. If she’d been less experienced in hiding her reactions, her voice might have broken.
But she maintained her composure, moving through the crowd, eyes scanning for the familiar face, nose nearly quivering to find the source of the reek. She played the audience, drawing them in, even while she looked for those who didn’t react. For those who reacted wrong.
It frustrated her to know the goal of the quest that had been laid upon her at her death was so close and yet she still couldn’t find them.
She made her way to the stage, singing her heart out, the sound bursting from her lips to ring to the very back of the balcony, filling the room with sound as she had learned to do long before microphones had become common place. She cued her teammates, smiling at her friends as they made their way down the aisles, given that little bit of extra time to finish preparing by her unorthodox handling of the solo. She’d warmed the crowd, prepared them to love her team with her voice. Now all that was left was to delve into their hearts of the judges with the power of their combined voices.
She had no doubt they would win.
And then she would find the source of the scent of death and force it to show her the hand that had driven her to the Veil.