Light from Shadows - The Beginning
Fic title:Light From Shadows
Author name: youaredriving
Artist name: apieceofcake
Genre: RPS
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: R
Word count: ~22,100
Warnings:Slash, supernatural elements (Vampires, werewolves, and others), violence, language
Summary: The madness of the Region’s King slowly drives Jared from his home Region of Houston to the Region of New Orleans. As one of the rarest weres, Jared knows to tread lightly around other supernaturals, especially vampires.
In New Orleans, Jared finds out he’s sharing home with the resident protector and vampire: Jensen Ackles. Through his first moons and the helpful hand of a few rowdy werewolves Jared learns that not all vampires are the same and family can from the strangest of places
Link to art: Here
The Beginning
Jared gripped his pack tight around his shoulders and tilted his face up towards the bright morning sun. He took a deep breath of the air around him and he waited as another set of shoes descended the stairs inside before joining him on out on the porch. He felt his beast rise in excitement at the sight of his companion; he remembered running with the shorter man last night. Their paws padding across warm Texas soil and the playful growls and purrs from the tiger that was contained in the compact blonde next to him.
“Someone had a good moon last night.”
Jared grinned at the snarky tone before he glanced out the corner of his eye and nodded. He watched as Matt toed at the ground with a scuffed Converse before he scented the emotions warring in him. Matt was anxious about something, “Good to hear it.”
“What has you so edgy Matt?” Jared ran his hands along the back of Matt’s neck tangling in the messy blonde locks before he started to walk. “What are you not telling me?”
“King Leo is stopping by tonight,” Matt looked everywhere but at Jared. “It might be better if you actually stayed out late for once. It’s not the brightest of ideas and it won’t be safe but he’s been nosing around the house a lot more than usual. Maybe this once it’ll be better if you did stay out, away from the house. You know?”
“Everyone thinks him stopping by has something to do with me,” Jared licked his lips before stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Jared toed at the ground, ignoring the bustle of people passing them by. “Because of what I am compared to what everyone else is.”
Matt wrapped his hand around Jared’s wrist, trying to put a stop to the way Jared was thinking as Jared tried to disappear into the crowd. “What you are is something special, Jared. Every cat is different from the other weres out there but with you? You are extraordinary. People can go their entire lifetime without setting eye or even hearing about your kind. Because that’s how rare you are and it’s down right terrifying to some but you are something amazing. So having the king stop by just after a full moon is strange but not all that unexpected.”
“I’m nothing special, not really. So why?” Jared quirked a brow as he started walking. “He doesn’t stop at any of the wolves’ houses after the moon. We go drink his special elixir of coffee this morning after shifting back just like his wolves but does he bother them? No, he only hangs around the cats.”
“It doesn’t make sense but he’s not right. Like in the head. He hasn’t been right for a long time,” Matt shrugged. “I just wanted to warn you what was going to be happening when you got home after your last class.”
“Be careful,” Jared called out as he and Matt separated. “With him stopping by, even if it is because of me doesn’t sound like it’ll be good for any of us. So get in before dark.”
“You too,” Matt grinned over his shoulder, “Never know when the vampires will bite.”
~*~
It was late when Jared started back home from class. His fingers curled tighter around the straps of his backpack with every step he took. He shouldn’t have listened to Matt. Deep down every were knew better than to be out after dark in Houston. Over the past year, things had gotten strange. Vampires had begun attacking weres and drinking them dry, only to leave the bodies to be found by the human half of the world. Being out after dark in human form was a risk that he shouldn’t have taken, especially after hearing that King Leo had been sniffing around the house, but he had had lost track of time.
Standing at the end of the driveway, the air seemed wrong. It was colder and he felt his beast pacing inside him as Jared registered the quiet. There wasn’t even the sound of crickets or mosquitoes humming in his ears. Staring up at the house, he finally registered what he was feeling. He felt alone. He felt alone. Jared never felt alone. His beast could always sense the rest of his make-shift pack and now there was nothing but an empty ache in his chest. Jared felt himself moving faster. He was running towards the house that should have been alive with sounds and laughter but it was so quiet it terrified him.
A sudden blow to the back of his head knocked the air from his chest, sending Jared sprawling across the ground. He fell hard and the loose gravel dug deep into his skin as he rolled onto his stomach throwing his hands up to cover his head. He took a deep breath trying to understand what was happening and hoping to scent whoever it was attacking him.
Immediately, the smell of fear permeated the air and the scent of blood sifted through his nose. He opened his eyes and he saw flashes of pale skin just before the stench of corpses, incense and coffee filled his nostrils. Jared could feel his beast rising to the surface clawing to get free.
A hand dug into his hair yanking his head back exposing his throat to every creature itching to get a taste of the rarest of the rare. A black werepanther. A pair of lips settled at Jared’s ear, “Calm your beast Jared or I will take more drastic measures. Just ask the rest of your house mates, as hard as they fought I still got to taste of each and everyone of them.”
The hot breath that ghosted across the bridge of Jared’s nose had him crying out. He could taste their blood on the back of his tongue. He could smell their pain and how much they fought, how much they suffered at their King’s hands. “They tasted like heaven and they weren’t even as pure as you are. I can only wonder how you’re going to taste, a black panther instead of the filth of a tiger. There is so much power in such a lithe form.”
Jared felt a growl rumble low in his chest with the way the King had wrapped around him. The vampire’s arms were tight across his chest with a hand moving slowly down along the thin cotton of his shirt as Jared kneeled on the ground. Jared bared his teeth when he felt the frigid finger tips of the vampire slip beneath the fabric and trace taunting patterns along the fragile skin of his belly. The growl rumbled up from deep within his chest and turned into a full fledged roar when the King’s fingers dipped below his waistband. Anger fueled the fire in his chest when the King laughed at his struggle and the cool grip tightened in his hair and across belly. Jared could feel the beast tearing underneath his skin, pulling at every shred of his humanity to get to the surface and fight where the human couldn’t. Jared jerked and twisted before the hand on his belly moved and his wrists were pinned behind his back.
“Now Jared,” There was a nip right at his ear causing him to fight even harder against the iron vise grip the vampire had on him, ignoring the crack along the ever-tightening grip on his wrist and the laughter he received from his actions. He needed to get free no matter what the cost. “You need to just stop fighting.”
Jared felt the air rush across his skin as his face collided violently against the pavement. His vision swam as he struggled to move. His palms slid against the loose gravel as he rolled on to his back fighting for the air he couldn’t breathe. The voice was far away as it reached his ears, he could feel himself being moved. He grappled with the hands clenched along the collar of his shirt. The tightening fabric made it harder to breathe, harder to stop what was happening. “You were always meant to be mine. From the first moment you changed. Your scent, do you know how amazing you really are?”
Hurried footsteps were muffled against the struggle between Jared and King Leo, but the smell of another vampire approaching wasn’t. The stench moved with the breeze choking Jared
“Let him go, Leo.”
Jared barely caught a glimpse at the newest vampire. His fist were clenched closed, his eyes a jet black as the breeze slipped through dark locks. The only thought in Jared’s mind now was that there was no way he was going to survive tonight. There were too many vampires.
“You’ve already done enough damage to the entire Region tonight by your actions. You don’t want to do any more by killing Jared. You let him go now or it isn’t going to end well for you.”
“He is mine Isaac!” The snarl was close to Jared’s ear and his entire body jerked tighter against Leo’s from the force of it. “I deserve to have him after watching him for so long.”
“You deserve nothing,” Isaac hissed.
Jared felt pressure along his chest and his stomach. The pressure was intense and cut off what little air he was managing to suck in. He couldn’t breathe and his beast was growing frantic underneath his skin. Bursting to get out and fight for the helpless human that was in control. Jared let his fingers slip over the vampires, curling and tugging while he met Isaac’s piercing black eyes pleading for help.
Leo let Jared go, turning the werecat in his arms misunderstanding Jared’s weak touches. “I knew you’d understand. That you would see it my way.”
“Don’t do this,” Isaac warned Leo as he moved closer. His muscles tensed, the lines on his face etched out of fear and worry.
Jared swallowed down as much air as he could before he reared back and slammed his forehead against the open mouth of the King of Houston. He felt a fang crunch under the force of the butt and he let out a satisfied growl, ignoring the warmth trickling down the bridge of his nose. “I will never be yours.”
The King’s eyes turned feral and he moved faster than Jared had ever anticipated. Within seconds he could feel the blood dripping from his nose, a tantalizing treat for the vampire just waiting to be tasted. The pain seared all the way down the base of his skull to his spine.
“You don’t get to touch me!” Leo was in his face snarling as his hands curled around Jared’s throat. Each second that passed Jared felt the vampires grip tighten. “You don’t have the right. You’re nothing but a filthy creature!”
Jared clawed at the grip along his throat, sucking in any amount of air that he could manage. He looked up at the blood spattered face of the King of Houston as the grip on his throat grew tighter with every passing moment. Closing his eyes, Jared gave in and waited for everything to be over with.
The King licked the spattering of blood off his lips with a serene smile, “It didn’t have to go this far. You just had to agree to be mine and you could live.”
Jared clenched his eyes closed tighter when his face was jerked upwards and the grip on his throat loosened. He could smell the blood of every life that had been taken wafting in the wind. He could taste it on the back of his tongue with every word that had been spoken.
“Look at me when I talk to you, Jared.” The words were spoken against his lips making Jared jerk backwards, his beast snarling in disgust. “You can stop this!”
“You killed them all,” Jared struggled to get out. He watched as Isaac moved towards them. He could smell the fear wafting off of Isaac. The vampire wasn’t strong enough to take on a King. No matter how brave he was coming here, Jared was still going to die. “I will never be yours.”
“You will!” The pale fingers gripped tighter along his jaw as he leaned in to press his lips against Jared’s ear, “There is only one of you left and I am the King of this Region. I will get what I want Jared. I always do.”
Jared could feel the fangs against his skin, he could feel his beast tearing to get out of his skin but the moon was too far away to offer any help. Jared rolled his eyes towards the sky and thought about how his beast had betrayed him. It had left him here to die at the hands of a vampire. His eyes shifted from hazel to bright yellow. Isaac was mere steps away, his adrenaline spiked and the vampire was ready to fight. In flash of movement, Jared knew he wasn’t going to die without a fight. He struggled to break free as another set of hands slipped past him and gripped the pale neck of the King.
The prick of fangs pressed against his skin accompanied by a searing white hot pain tore that through his neck and all Jared could seem to focus as he slipped from the hands of the King and to the pavement was how beautiful the stars were tonight. It didn’t matter how hard it was to becoming for him to breathe. It didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did.
Not the blurs of color that were fighting beside him, nor the fact that a vampire had come to his rescue. All that mattered was how peaceful everything was starting to become underneath the swirl of bright stars and blood loss.
A thump sounded beside him and warm drenched his abdomen. A bloodied face entered his line of view and a set of hands pressed hard against the wound on his throat causing his vision to go black.
“Jared, stay with me,” Isaac sounded like he was a million miles away. Jared ignored the soothing voice, his eyes rolled towards the house he had lived in for so long. He didn’t care anymore. He just wanted to go to sleep. He wanted to see Matt again. He wanted to run with the rest of his the family one last time. “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do but it’s necessary to keep you alive.”
Jared felt the burn entering his bloodstream. His entire world shifted before everything in him was fighting against this new presence. It wasn’t right. He felt his beast fighting tooth and nail at this new something that was flowing through his veins. He knew that both he and the beast caged inside his body right now agreed on one thing. They wanted to be gone from this world.
Part One