Lament for a Daemon's Soul [Chapter Twenty-Two]
Title: Lament for a Daemon’s Soul
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 54278 / ?
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.
*****
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was nearly midnight before she was able to slip away from the Hudson household and make her way to her place by the pond. She was tired and her feet hurt from walking the entire way in her dress flats. She didn’t even know if her friend would be there, but she had to try. She just needed someone to understand her right then.
Her father had taken everything - her car, her phone - he’d barely let her have a duffel bag hurriedly jammed with a few clothes, personal effects and school supplies. And he’d likely not have even given her that much if Finn hadn’t finally broken out of his fugue and started storming about how he couldn’t just throw her out without anything.
She hadn’t even taken the time to change before bowing out for some time alone. Carol had been so sweet and understanding, but she couldn’t take those expectant eyes. Finn had been such an idiot to let her find out. Now she was getting her hopes up and thinking there was something there and there wasn’t.
Quinn might not be the most honest person in Lima, but she wasn’t fond of lying to herself. She knew the truth would come out, it always did, especially now - God was obviously conspiring to make her life hell for her mistake - that it was starting to look like things couldn’t get worse. She just didn’t think she had to courage to admit it to the gangly boy herself. After what had happened with her parents she didn’t even want to try contemplating what it could possibly be like - reality was proving far harsher than anything her imagination could come up with.
All of which led to her standing on the edge of the pond, arms wrapped around her stomach and shivering in the cold. She wanted to sit and let her feet rest, but the grass was still wet from the rain shower earlier and she didn’t feel like ruining her clothes on top of her life. So she just stood there, staring out across the water as she had every other time the other had appeared.
The click and scrabble of claws on pavement and gravel caught her attention first. She turned at the unexpected sound, almost stumbling back into the water at the sight of the largest black wolf she’d ever seen. Its massive paws looked the size of dinner plates and she was certain its head would reach above her waist on all four paws. It flicked its tail from side to side as it stalked forward, ears pricked and black eyes seeming to burn with an unholy intelligence.
The beast advanced slowly towards her, its massive head dropping lower to the ground, ears flicking back and lips curling up in a vicious snarl. She shook her head wildly from side to side, this wasn’t supposed to happen. There weren’t supposed to be two monsters. There wasn’t supposed to be one monster, the rational side of her mind tried interjecting, but it couldn’t make much headway against the rest trying to break down in gibbering terror.
Then there was the heady rush of wind, the loud flap of leather wings, the double tap of clawed feet smacking lightly into the ground one after the other. And she was there, standing between Quinn and the wolf, wings outstretched to their fullest length, arms spread wide to deny the beast it’s prey. The wolf only growled and the Daemon lunged forward, wrapping wiry arms and legs around its body and head, drawing it back into an awkward hold.
“Control yourself!” The Daemon snapped, twisting with the wolf’s wild gyrations as it tried to escape, “Dammit, we don’t have time for this!” The wolf just snarled, snapping blindly.
“Oh, God.” Quinn couldn’t help the terror filling her body at the sight of her friend grappling with the massive wolf, “Oh, God, be careful!” She barely held back a shriek with her hand as one of those paws raked across an arm, drawing dark drops of blood to the surface to glide sluggishly down tanned skin.
“It’s Quinn! Noah, it’s Quinn!” The wolf gave an incredible spasm, slamming the top of its head into the Daemon’s jaw and snapping her head back. “Contain the Beast or you’re going to hurt her! You’re going to hurt the baby!”
And with those words, like a switch was thrown, the fight went out of the wolf. The Daemon cautiously unwound herself from him and stepped back, keeping herself protectively between it and the girl behind her. It didn’t get up, didn’t move, just laid there panting heavily at the exertion it’d just gone through. Finally it raised its head and turned to look back over its shoulder - past the brown leather pack she’d not noticed in the struggle - at the two women.
“Are you okay now?”
It carefully raised and lowered its muzzle twice in a way that could only be interpreted as a nod of affirmation. It’s eyes - now looking decidedly more brown than black - seemed to shine with regret. Reassured that the fight was over, she turned to the pregnant teen, carefully folding her wings behind her.
“Are you okay? I’m terribly sorry, Quinn. We were hunting and -” Her words died as the girl launched herself into her arms, trembling arms wrapping around her impossibly slender waist, blonde head burrowing into her chest, body racked with sobs. Confused and intensely worried, the Daemon’s arms came up, slowly - gently - wrapping around the blonde’s shoulders. Her head lowered to rest on the top of the girl’s head, gently nuzzling her hair as she tried to comfort the distressed girl, her wings wrapping about them. “Shh, Quinn, shh. It’ll be okay.”
“No, it won’t! It won’t ever be okay again!” She needed this, needed someone to hold her and tell her things would be okay. She’d wanted that someone to be her father, but she had to admit now that that would never happen. He was a lot of things, but forgiving was not amongst his titles. So instead she shook her head frantically and tried to hide from the world in her friend’s embrace.
“What’s wrong, Quinn?” The Daemon’s voice was so soft the harmonics were almost unnoticeable and for a second her voice sounded so very normal. It was just another piece of the puzzle that only waited confirmation before the obvious secret was revealed. “Tell me, please. Let me help.”
The wolf padded over and whined softly, nudging at the blonde’s hip with its cool nose. One wing swept back to allow it into the embrace and it curled around the two women’s legs, its length letting its nose rest easily on its tail as the wing swept back. Thus surrounded in the unusual embrace of two beings that everyone else would call monsters, Quinn found it within herself to shakily relate the story of what had happened to her since the Daemon and she had last spoken.
When she finished, the wings had swept back suddenly, leaving her feeling berefit for a moment but she realized that it was done to release the wolf at their feet when her friend’s arms never left her shoulders. The beast lunged to its feet, ears pinned back and snarl rippling from its chest in the general direction of the Fabray household. Before it could get more than two feet though, the Daemon had released Quinn and dug a claw into its scruff, bright blood welling up around the punctures she made.
“No! We’re not killing them.”
The wolf shook itself furiously, dislodging her claws, then glared back over its shoulder with a growl.
“Neither of them!” The wolf gave a sharp yelp. “Have you lost your mind? Do you want us to get caught? Do you really feel like throwing yourself on the tender mercies of the human government?”
The wolf growled, dropping its eyes to the ground and pawing at the dirt almost sullenly, it’s tail dropped.
“I know and you’re right, but that’s how it must be.”
“W-what’s going on?” Two pairs of unnatural eyes suddenly focused on the blonde as if they only just realized that she was there.
“There are... secrets, Quinn.” The Daemon spoke, hands wide, “Secrets you would be far safer not knowing.”
“I see.” The blonde probed at the inside of her lower lip for a moment with her tongue nodding her head slowly. She didn’t meet the Daemon’s eyes. “So you’re going to play this like my father.”
The Daemon snarled, for the first time showing anger in front of the pregnant teen. “I am nothing like your father!”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it. Making decisions for me. Treating me like I’m still a child.” She turned to face the angry face, her cheeks damp with tears not even bothering to try and hide them as they trickled down her face, “Well, I’m not a little girl anymore! I can’t be a little girl anymore! I’m on my own out here dammit!”
The Daemon’s face shut down, all expression dropping from her features, glancing at the wolf who was looking worriedly back and forth from one woman to the other, “Noah, please ensure that Ms. Fabray arrives safely at the Hudson residence, if you would be so kind.” Her eyes never met the trembling blonde’s, “I must go.”
She spun about on a clawed foot, her wings snapping out as she stormed away, preparing to carry her into the sky. She was only trying to protect Quinn. If Quinn didn’t want her protection then she would leave it to Noah. She was tired of being hurt, of being attacked for just trying to keep the teen’s best interests at heart.
“Wait.” Her voice cracked, far too quiet to reach the Daemon walking away. It hurt. It hurt! She didn’t want her to just walk out of her life again. “Wait!”
She stumbled towards the Daemon, breaking into an awkward run, her hand outstretched for the other. Massive wings began to sweep towards the ground. Powerful legs flexed to launch her into the sky. To send her away. And she just knew if she let her go she’d never see her again.
“Rachel, wait! Oh god, please!”
The Daemon froze mid-motion, her breath broken, her will to leave - to finally just go and leave the girl that made her heart hurt behind - shattered. Quinn smashed into her back, her arms slipping under her wings and around her waist to grip each other at the wrist, locking her in place. She could feel the girl shaking, hot tears searing the exposed skin of her back between her wings where her face was pressed.
“Please don’t leave me alone.”
Rachel stared at the sky with unseeing eyes, arms and wings hanging limp at her sides, the girl she loved pressing against her back, breath harsh with raking sobs, arms wrapped around her waist. Her tears popped and sputtered as they were licked away by the flames of her eyes, the few that escaped scalding down her face. A clawed hand shook as it raised to delicately cup the hands gripped together over her stomach.
“Y-you know?” For the first time since Quinn had first met her, she sounded unsure of herself, “You know and... you’re not - you won’t be alone. Noah will stay.”
“I don’t want Noah.”
The wolf who’d been treading cautiously towards the two most important women in his life paused at the words. They may have only been whispered, but he was in wolf form and the words were more than audible to him from only twenty feet away. Ears dropping in disappointment, head slumping down to hang lower than the usual proud stance, he turned and headed away, determined to give them the privacy they deserved for whatever they needed to do.
Neither woman noticed him slinking away, “You have friends. Santana. Brittany. Let them be there for you.”
“I don’t want them.”
“Quinn...” Rachel’s voice was soft, pained.
“I don’t want them. They don’t understand,” she gasped through her tears, holding Rachel tighter, “anything. They don’t know what I’m going through. They don’t know what it’s like to feel someone growing inside of you.”
Rachel’s throat worked as she swallowed, “you hate me.”
“I don’t. I don’t!” She pressed her face all the harder into Rachel’s skin, breathing in the distinct scent of the Daemon, praying harder than she had before that Rachel would believe her, would see she wasn’t lying for once. “I never have.”
“You,” Fiery eyes turned down from the heavens to the hands gripped around her waist, her voice cracked unsteadily as she spoke, “you have strange way of showing it.”
“You made me mad. I just wanted to be your friend and you didn’t want me. Because I made a mistake that you wouldn’t even let me apologize for.” Her body shuddered against Rachel’s back as a frest wave of sobs struck her, “Why are mistakes so horrible, Rach? Why do they hurt so much? Why do they always destroy everything?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel could only rub the hands around her waist in what small comfort she could offer as she tried to find an answer. But there weren’t any to be found. She was right. She’d made mistakes. She deserved to be forgiven, not punished.
“I just don’t know, Quinn. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve any of this.”
“I just wanted to be your friend.” The blonde sobbed into her shoulder blades, “Why does that have to be punished?”
Rachel could no more hold back the tears streaming down her face than stop Niagara Falls.
“I don’t know.”
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 54278 / ?
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.
*****
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was nearly midnight before she was able to slip away from the Hudson household and make her way to her place by the pond. She was tired and her feet hurt from walking the entire way in her dress flats. She didn’t even know if her friend would be there, but she had to try. She just needed someone to understand her right then.
Her father had taken everything - her car, her phone - he’d barely let her have a duffel bag hurriedly jammed with a few clothes, personal effects and school supplies. And he’d likely not have even given her that much if Finn hadn’t finally broken out of his fugue and started storming about how he couldn’t just throw her out without anything.
She hadn’t even taken the time to change before bowing out for some time alone. Carol had been so sweet and understanding, but she couldn’t take those expectant eyes. Finn had been such an idiot to let her find out. Now she was getting her hopes up and thinking there was something there and there wasn’t.
Quinn might not be the most honest person in Lima, but she wasn’t fond of lying to herself. She knew the truth would come out, it always did, especially now - God was obviously conspiring to make her life hell for her mistake - that it was starting to look like things couldn’t get worse. She just didn’t think she had to courage to admit it to the gangly boy herself. After what had happened with her parents she didn’t even want to try contemplating what it could possibly be like - reality was proving far harsher than anything her imagination could come up with.
All of which led to her standing on the edge of the pond, arms wrapped around her stomach and shivering in the cold. She wanted to sit and let her feet rest, but the grass was still wet from the rain shower earlier and she didn’t feel like ruining her clothes on top of her life. So she just stood there, staring out across the water as she had every other time the other had appeared.
The click and scrabble of claws on pavement and gravel caught her attention first. She turned at the unexpected sound, almost stumbling back into the water at the sight of the largest black wolf she’d ever seen. Its massive paws looked the size of dinner plates and she was certain its head would reach above her waist on all four paws. It flicked its tail from side to side as it stalked forward, ears pricked and black eyes seeming to burn with an unholy intelligence.
The beast advanced slowly towards her, its massive head dropping lower to the ground, ears flicking back and lips curling up in a vicious snarl. She shook her head wildly from side to side, this wasn’t supposed to happen. There weren’t supposed to be two monsters. There wasn’t supposed to be one monster, the rational side of her mind tried interjecting, but it couldn’t make much headway against the rest trying to break down in gibbering terror.
Then there was the heady rush of wind, the loud flap of leather wings, the double tap of clawed feet smacking lightly into the ground one after the other. And she was there, standing between Quinn and the wolf, wings outstretched to their fullest length, arms spread wide to deny the beast it’s prey. The wolf only growled and the Daemon lunged forward, wrapping wiry arms and legs around its body and head, drawing it back into an awkward hold.
“Control yourself!” The Daemon snapped, twisting with the wolf’s wild gyrations as it tried to escape, “Dammit, we don’t have time for this!” The wolf just snarled, snapping blindly.
“Oh, God.” Quinn couldn’t help the terror filling her body at the sight of her friend grappling with the massive wolf, “Oh, God, be careful!” She barely held back a shriek with her hand as one of those paws raked across an arm, drawing dark drops of blood to the surface to glide sluggishly down tanned skin.
“It’s Quinn! Noah, it’s Quinn!” The wolf gave an incredible spasm, slamming the top of its head into the Daemon’s jaw and snapping her head back. “Contain the Beast or you’re going to hurt her! You’re going to hurt the baby!”
And with those words, like a switch was thrown, the fight went out of the wolf. The Daemon cautiously unwound herself from him and stepped back, keeping herself protectively between it and the girl behind her. It didn’t get up, didn’t move, just laid there panting heavily at the exertion it’d just gone through. Finally it raised its head and turned to look back over its shoulder - past the brown leather pack she’d not noticed in the struggle - at the two women.
“Are you okay now?”
It carefully raised and lowered its muzzle twice in a way that could only be interpreted as a nod of affirmation. It’s eyes - now looking decidedly more brown than black - seemed to shine with regret. Reassured that the fight was over, she turned to the pregnant teen, carefully folding her wings behind her.
“Are you okay? I’m terribly sorry, Quinn. We were hunting and -” Her words died as the girl launched herself into her arms, trembling arms wrapping around her impossibly slender waist, blonde head burrowing into her chest, body racked with sobs. Confused and intensely worried, the Daemon’s arms came up, slowly - gently - wrapping around the blonde’s shoulders. Her head lowered to rest on the top of the girl’s head, gently nuzzling her hair as she tried to comfort the distressed girl, her wings wrapping about them. “Shh, Quinn, shh. It’ll be okay.”
“No, it won’t! It won’t ever be okay again!” She needed this, needed someone to hold her and tell her things would be okay. She’d wanted that someone to be her father, but she had to admit now that that would never happen. He was a lot of things, but forgiving was not amongst his titles. So instead she shook her head frantically and tried to hide from the world in her friend’s embrace.
“What’s wrong, Quinn?” The Daemon’s voice was so soft the harmonics were almost unnoticeable and for a second her voice sounded so very normal. It was just another piece of the puzzle that only waited confirmation before the obvious secret was revealed. “Tell me, please. Let me help.”
The wolf padded over and whined softly, nudging at the blonde’s hip with its cool nose. One wing swept back to allow it into the embrace and it curled around the two women’s legs, its length letting its nose rest easily on its tail as the wing swept back. Thus surrounded in the unusual embrace of two beings that everyone else would call monsters, Quinn found it within herself to shakily relate the story of what had happened to her since the Daemon and she had last spoken.
When she finished, the wings had swept back suddenly, leaving her feeling berefit for a moment but she realized that it was done to release the wolf at their feet when her friend’s arms never left her shoulders. The beast lunged to its feet, ears pinned back and snarl rippling from its chest in the general direction of the Fabray household. Before it could get more than two feet though, the Daemon had released Quinn and dug a claw into its scruff, bright blood welling up around the punctures she made.
“No! We’re not killing them.”
The wolf shook itself furiously, dislodging her claws, then glared back over its shoulder with a growl.
“Neither of them!” The wolf gave a sharp yelp. “Have you lost your mind? Do you want us to get caught? Do you really feel like throwing yourself on the tender mercies of the human government?”
The wolf growled, dropping its eyes to the ground and pawing at the dirt almost sullenly, it’s tail dropped.
“I know and you’re right, but that’s how it must be.”
“W-what’s going on?” Two pairs of unnatural eyes suddenly focused on the blonde as if they only just realized that she was there.
“There are... secrets, Quinn.” The Daemon spoke, hands wide, “Secrets you would be far safer not knowing.”
“I see.” The blonde probed at the inside of her lower lip for a moment with her tongue nodding her head slowly. She didn’t meet the Daemon’s eyes. “So you’re going to play this like my father.”
The Daemon snarled, for the first time showing anger in front of the pregnant teen. “I am nothing like your father!”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it. Making decisions for me. Treating me like I’m still a child.” She turned to face the angry face, her cheeks damp with tears not even bothering to try and hide them as they trickled down her face, “Well, I’m not a little girl anymore! I can’t be a little girl anymore! I’m on my own out here dammit!”
The Daemon’s face shut down, all expression dropping from her features, glancing at the wolf who was looking worriedly back and forth from one woman to the other, “Noah, please ensure that Ms. Fabray arrives safely at the Hudson residence, if you would be so kind.” Her eyes never met the trembling blonde’s, “I must go.”
She spun about on a clawed foot, her wings snapping out as she stormed away, preparing to carry her into the sky. She was only trying to protect Quinn. If Quinn didn’t want her protection then she would leave it to Noah. She was tired of being hurt, of being attacked for just trying to keep the teen’s best interests at heart.
“Wait.” Her voice cracked, far too quiet to reach the Daemon walking away. It hurt. It hurt! She didn’t want her to just walk out of her life again. “Wait!”
She stumbled towards the Daemon, breaking into an awkward run, her hand outstretched for the other. Massive wings began to sweep towards the ground. Powerful legs flexed to launch her into the sky. To send her away. And she just knew if she let her go she’d never see her again.
“Rachel, wait! Oh god, please!”
The Daemon froze mid-motion, her breath broken, her will to leave - to finally just go and leave the girl that made her heart hurt behind - shattered. Quinn smashed into her back, her arms slipping under her wings and around her waist to grip each other at the wrist, locking her in place. She could feel the girl shaking, hot tears searing the exposed skin of her back between her wings where her face was pressed.
“Please don’t leave me alone.”
Rachel stared at the sky with unseeing eyes, arms and wings hanging limp at her sides, the girl she loved pressing against her back, breath harsh with raking sobs, arms wrapped around her waist. Her tears popped and sputtered as they were licked away by the flames of her eyes, the few that escaped scalding down her face. A clawed hand shook as it raised to delicately cup the hands gripped together over her stomach.
“Y-you know?” For the first time since Quinn had first met her, she sounded unsure of herself, “You know and... you’re not - you won’t be alone. Noah will stay.”
“I don’t want Noah.”
The wolf who’d been treading cautiously towards the two most important women in his life paused at the words. They may have only been whispered, but he was in wolf form and the words were more than audible to him from only twenty feet away. Ears dropping in disappointment, head slumping down to hang lower than the usual proud stance, he turned and headed away, determined to give them the privacy they deserved for whatever they needed to do.
Neither woman noticed him slinking away, “You have friends. Santana. Brittany. Let them be there for you.”
“I don’t want them.”
“Quinn...” Rachel’s voice was soft, pained.
“I don’t want them. They don’t understand,” she gasped through her tears, holding Rachel tighter, “anything. They don’t know what I’m going through. They don’t know what it’s like to feel someone growing inside of you.”
Rachel’s throat worked as she swallowed, “you hate me.”
“I don’t. I don’t!” She pressed her face all the harder into Rachel’s skin, breathing in the distinct scent of the Daemon, praying harder than she had before that Rachel would believe her, would see she wasn’t lying for once. “I never have.”
“You,” Fiery eyes turned down from the heavens to the hands gripped around her waist, her voice cracked unsteadily as she spoke, “you have strange way of showing it.”
“You made me mad. I just wanted to be your friend and you didn’t want me. Because I made a mistake that you wouldn’t even let me apologize for.” Her body shuddered against Rachel’s back as a frest wave of sobs struck her, “Why are mistakes so horrible, Rach? Why do they hurt so much? Why do they always destroy everything?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel could only rub the hands around her waist in what small comfort she could offer as she tried to find an answer. But there weren’t any to be found. She was right. She’d made mistakes. She deserved to be forgiven, not punished.
“I just don’t know, Quinn. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve any of this.”
“I just wanted to be your friend.” The blonde sobbed into her shoulder blades, “Why does that have to be punished?”
Rachel could no more hold back the tears streaming down her face than stop Niagara Falls.
“I don’t know.”