Living as Lenore: Chapter 18 'Bark at the Moon'
Title: Living as Lenore
Author: Luna (aka Luna_del_Cielo on lj)
Fandom: Supernatural/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Cast of Characters: Tara/Lenore McLeod, Fergus McLeod/Crowley, Loki/Gabriel, Anya, Castiel, Kali, Eli, Angel, Darla, Spike, Drusilla, Dean, Sam, Scoobies
Rating: T
Summary: Willow tried to bring Tara back…and she did. Unfortunately, she was brought back to life in 1672. Now 'Lenore' has to deal with witches, demons, pagan gods, and even angels, as she struggles to find the red-haired woman she sees in her dreams.
Pairings: Multiple pairings that will include the characters: Anya, Gabriel, Kali, Tara/Lenore, Willow - at least.
Spoilers: BTVS S6E19 ‘Seeing Red’, SPN S2E3 ‘Bloodlust’. Spoilers for Crowley's past in S6 “Weekend at Bobby’s” and Trickster/Loki's past in S5 ‘Changing Channels’
Warnings: Character death, Femslash (nothing explicit)
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I did then fewer people would have died in each of those shows :)
Read specific chapters here: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17
Or all of the entire story here: Living as Lenore
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Bark at the Moon
October 11, 1769
Zografou, Greece
Lenore awoke gasping great mouthfuls of air as she jerked up in her simple bed of hay. She glanced around the abandoned barn her clan of twenty-three vampires had found a week ago and was relieved to see that everyone else was sleeping - she didn’t want anyone to see her in this state.
Lurching upwards Lenore groggily left the barn and walked into the brightness of the sun. It did not burn her but it did sap her strength, however she didn’t care about that at this point. Lenore needed to feel the warmth of the sun on her face; to feel something other than the coolness of the lonely dark nights.
When she first dreamt of her nephew Gavin’s death earlier this century she had thought it had been a fluke. But over the years she had dreamt of the deaths of others - her older brothers Edgar and Ennis, Michael the son of Elizabeth, Jesse the son of Alexander, and several other grandchildren that had died from either natural causes or accidents. Several of Alexander and Dawn’s children had died during Hunting trips. Each of these dreams stung her spirit and she hated the curse of seeing each member of her bloodline die.
Even if sometimes she thought it was a blessing as well - to know what happened with her family.
But today…today’s dream had brought giant rolling tears down her cheeks and she shivered in the warmth of the warmth of the sun.
Alexander O’Neil had been of seventy-four years of age and sleeping when death took him last night. He was in bed alone; his wife Jessica had passed away ten years ago. He slept in the master bedroom of Summerford Manor which was also home to his eldest son Duncan O’Neil who lived with his wife and youngest daughter Elspeth. She had moved there after her husband was killed during a Hunt and had brought her teenage daughters Mara and Brigid with her; overall they were a happy family.
This strange snapshot into the life of her son made her happy in a strange way -happy that he had lived such a long and productive life - yet it still grieved her to know that she could not be there for him in the end. He was the first of her three children to die and the surprise of seeing his life end was painful.
Maybe one day she could see her family in person. One day when she had saved enough vampires from killing humans and felt less like the cursed creature she was. Until then she could only console herself by sending money for the funeral arrangements through her Wolfram and Hart account.
January 5, 1821
Stockholm, Sweden
Vampires flourished in the north. Although it was cold and their kind preferred warmer climates, the long dark days of areas close to the Arctic Circle provided a great deal of incentive to live here. Stockholm had a large vampire community and Lenore had just finished up her final diplomatic mission of visiting the various vampire groups. Each meeting consisted of her explaining her clan’s lifestyle and persuading the other group to join, but that was easier said than done. Many of the vampires here in Sweden were several hundreds - two of them even a thousand - years old. No matter how much practice she had experienced in the last seventy-six years, not even she could persuade these guys.
Actually, Lenore was just glad that the older vampires hadn’t done something bad to her. It puzzled her that Aurelius hadn’t attacked her yet or sent word to his minions to capture and/or kill her. Clearly he must know that the vampire seer converting others to animal blood had to be her. The only reasoning behind his lack of action were the several rumors she had heard about him. Aurelius, it seemed, had gone underground. A few believed him dead but most just thought that he was hibernating - ancient vampires were known to do that from time to time. As they passed the thousand year mark many of them would get weary living and slumber until they found the world interesting again.
At any rate, she heard that The Master was the new leader of a cult devoted to Aurelius and his teachings - including her prophecies.
Lenore snorted with laughter. She couldn’t wait to see the Master use her prophecies only to end up getting staked by the slayer he killed.
“You have two letters, Lenore,” a soft voice informed her as she stepped into her hotel room.
Lenore smiled at the younger vampire and gave her a quick kiss. “Thank you, Maria.”
Maria was a vampire of fifty years that Lenore had found just days after her transformation in 1771. Maria had attached herself to Lenore and she had personally taught the former southern Spanish gypsy woman everything she needed to know in her new life. Almost immediately Lenore had suspected that Maria loved her on a deeper level than Lenore felt for the new vampire, but she had only thought of her as a pupil and then a friend. Then ten years ago something had changed. An attacking vampire clan had practically left Maria for dead during a battle - sadly Lenore had made quite a few enemies over the years - and it was then that she realized how much she cared for Maria.
Since that moment their relationship was taken to a new level. The love Lenore felt for Maria was not close to what she still felt for Willow or Kali but Lenore did love her…and she was tired of being lonely.
Lenore skimmed the first letter. It was from Eli, sent over from eastern Russia, where he had taken fifteen of their clan members. While some of their members had left their overall clan and others were killed in attacks by hunters, demons, or other vampires, their numbers had grown greatly. So much so that they had to branch off into sub-groups - after all, if eighty-five vampires were roaming together in one group then surely someone would notice! Lenore led one group, Eli led another, and there were five other group leaders, all of whom were dedicated to their lifestyle.
Of course, Lenore missed Eli a great deal. They still kept in touch and several times a year the entire clan would congregate but it just wasn’t the same.
At least she had Maria.
Tossing Eli’s letter onto the dresser, she began reading the second one. This one was from her Wolfram and Hart representative, Parvati Patil (a descendent of Padma’s) and was an update on her investments. The nineteenth century was thus far a tumultuous one as numerous colonies sought liberation - Greece from the Ottoman Empire and nearly all of Spain’s colonies in Latin America (Mexico, Dominican Republic, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, and more). However, since Lenore knew ahead of time that each of those countries would be winning their independence sometime soon she was putting forth the proper investments. According to her letter the revolutions were going well and her investment should prove worthy soon.
It was times like now that Lenore loved her past/future life and all the memories that came with it.
“Any news?” Maria asked as she settled comfortably onto the couch. Her lithe dancer’s body was clothed only in her peach-colored corset that lit up her dark skin beautifully and a matching set of panties. Lenore allowed herself a long moment to take in every detail of her lover before answering her question.
“Eli sends his regards. His group is doing well and took in one new member, although Patrick was maimed during an unsuccessful polar bear attack. And Parvati just messaged me on money issues.”
Lenore let the letter drop carelessly to the floor as she began undoing the buttons of her dress. “I’ve given each of the Stockholm groups a week to decide if they want to learn anything from us. Two leaders seemed interested but the others just laughed in my face.”
“Hmm. A whole week? What shall we ever do until then?” Maria asked with a flirting smile as she sat up slowly and pressed her arms to her sides, thus emphasizing her large breasts.
“We’ll have to get creative, my dear,” Lenore smiled in anticipation before she lost herself in Maria’s love.
January 13, 1821
Stockholm, Sweden
“Well the trip here has been a bust,” Alice remarked sadly as Lenore led a caravan of seven of her clan members through the early morning hours. Alice had been with Lenore since 1819 and was the more surly member of the group, likely because she had been turned at the age of fifteen. However, she was a good girl overall when she wasn’t complaining about something. “We visited at least forty vampires and none of them joined!”
Lenore wrapped her arms around the younger vampire and squeezed gently. “The vampires that roam the north are notorious for being quite a bit more bloodthirsty than most. Their replies are not surprising but it is good that we came to sow the seeds of our mission. Over time those seeds may grow and we may see them again.”
“I suppose so,” Alice grumbled. “So where to next? Oslo?”
Oslo. The capital of the country of Norway - a country that Lenore had not seen in 117 years.
“There are two groups of vampires known to be living there, so yes,” Maria replied. She gave Lenore a cautious look and immediately Lenore wiped her expression clean of sadness. The only friend of hers that knew about Loki was Eli - for some reason she had been unable to bring herself to tell Maria or any other others. She didn’t know why exactly…perhaps just thinking about him made her sad.
“I heard that they have huge wolves there!” Alice chatted happily, her mood switching quickly as always. “Mmm, I can’t wait to try them!”
“No,” Lenore responded quickly. The others looked at her in surprise and she shrugged. “I’ve…been to Norway before. The wolves were my allies. Please do not harm them.”
Mostly everyone nodded in agreement; Lenore didn’t request many personal favors of them after all. But Alice was an eager little thing and loved to pester her with questions.
“Is that why you never eat wolves? Why were you friends with the wolves? Is that why that huge wolf saved you a long time ago? Is he one of your friends?”
Lenore let out an exasperated sigh and shushed the teenager with a wave of her hand. “Yes, that is why I never eat wolves. Yes, we were friends. No, as the legend goes I have no idea who that giant wolf was, so no, he was not my friend either.”
“Well-”
“Alice, please,” Lenore spoke as she struggled to refrain from allowing her irritation at the girl enter her voice.
Alice became quiet and so did everyone else. That made Lenore feel a little bit guilty but she was already incredibly nervous about heading towards Loki’s homeland. What if he was there? What if he saw her? Did he still hate her?
The last thought made her want to cry. All these years later and she still thought of him as her best friend.
She missed him.
February 13, 1821
Oslo, Norway
Since Stockholm she had taken to spending most nights by herself. Maria was confused and a little bit hurt but Lenore just needed some alone time. Being this close to Loki’s home was grating on her nerves. A part of her yearned to see him while another part wanted to run away, in both fear that he hated her and the guilt she felt at sleeping with the love of his immortal life.
It was perhaps four in the morning when she heard a ghostly wolf howl echo through the cobbled streets of the neighborhood she was meandering through. Lenore stiffened and her senses went on red alert. Loki had taught her the language of wolves long ago and that howl seemed to beckon, "Come here, Lenore.”
Lenore debated the situation but figured that she was powerful enough, both physically and magically, to take care of most things that went bump in the night. She began running quickly through the darkened streets towards the wolf’s call. It howled again, farther this time, and she left the city limits and headed for the fields outside of it. The snow was thick, at least three feet, but she was running so quickly that she never sunk into it.
A final howl sounded even closer. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a high, rolling hill covered with snow. The full moon lit the hill up perfectly from its position behind the crest of the hill and for a moment Lenore was afraid that there may be a werewolf waiting for her. However, the howl sounded more animal in nature…
She ran up the hill and was surprised to see the giant wolf that had saved her back in 1765 appear. He looked majestic and proud and the bright moon made his black fur shine brilliantly. Lenore swallowed heavily as he set his keen eyes upon her and she shivered as she felt the power roll off the wolf. This was no mere wolf but it was not a werewolf either.
She had no idea what it was.
But it wasn’t killing her now and it had saved her before, so she was trying to think positive thoughts.
“H-hello,” she stammered nervously. Its power seemed to curl around her, testing her. It was ancient and the taste of it weighed heavily on her tongue as she breathed in deeply.
The wolf sat and regarded her for a moment. He barked ‘Look at me’ and she did. Lenore stared into eyes the color of the bark of a redwood tree and just as old. Once eye contact had been established she could hear him speak in her mind, which was nothing like she had ever experienced with another wolf.
’You are Lenore McLeod?’
“Yes,” she spoke out loud, because answering in her head felt silly - even if her life couldn’t get sillier at this point.
‘I saved you from certain death fifty-six years ago at the request of my father. Now I need you to perform a similar task for him, for he is imprisoned where I am not permitted to tread.’
Lenore’s heart started to pound as bits of information began to string together in her head. Her mind knew the answer to her next question, yet she had to ask it regardless. “Who is your father?”
He gave her a stern look, as if he knew about her betrayal and did not approve of his need to ask for her help. ’Loki.’
A/N:
So I signed up for the Gabriel Big Bang on LiveJournal (as in Gabriel from Supernatural) and I kinda just realized I officially have only a month and 2 days left to figure out a 20k story and then write it. Eeep! But I wanna finish this story first, hence the many fun updates you Most Awesome Readers are receiving ;D
*crosses fingers and hopes she can finish everything*
References
*Bark at the Moon - Ozzy Osbourne album and song! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_at_the_moon)
*The Greek city near Athens that I placed Lenore in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zogr%C3%A1fou,_Greece
* When I write I just decide what year Lenore will be in and then look it up on Wikipedia *I was pleasantly surprised to see that 1821 was a very exciting year! Lots ‘o’ fun revolutions and such! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1821)