[Hollows Fic] From Being Gone
Hi all,
So this is my first ever fanfic and I have to say i am really quite nervous about posting it. I have done some writing in the past but never shared any of it with abyone else. A couple of weeks ago i started reading Fanfic about the Hollows (I have to say i am pulling for a Rachel / Ivy happy ending in the books) and quite suddenly found myself addicted. Unfortunately there is a somewhat limited supply and i just had the urge to write and, well, here is the result......
I hope that you like it. Like i said i am new to this and i find i am struggling with POV and what tense to write in. Any tips, criticisms and ideas to improve my writing would be greatly appreciated. Also, if i do something wrong with the posting or anything let me know that too....... :)
Enjoy!!
Title: From Being Gone
Author(s): Lynders11
Fandom: The Hollows
Summary: Rachel leaves for 2 weeks to attend her brothers wedding and see her mom settled at her new place. What happens when she gets back after spending more time away from Ivy than ever before? This takes place after WWBC, so some spoilers are included
Disclaimer: All characters, and the world they are set in belong to Kim Harrison. I just wanted to write.
Notes: This was all me, any mistakes or inconsistencies that are made in this are entirely on my head.
Chapter One
“Rachel?” I heard from the back of the church as I slowly eased the front door shut. It had seemed like I had been gone forever and it felt good to be home. The smell of incense and leather and a hint of the garden, the scents I associated with Ivy and Jenks, wrapped around me the moment I walked through the door. Yup, this was home. Going to my brothers wedding, though not a mistake, had been an extremely trying experience and I was glad to be back. All I wanted was to have a shower, crawl into some comfy PJ’s and curl up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, despite the heat wave currently settled over Cincinnati.
“Yeah it’s me” I spoke at a normal volume knowing full well that Ivy could hear me and that since she hadn’t come out to check to see who it was walking through our front door, that she already knew it was me.
“I’m glad you’re back, it’s been very quiet here without you,” A crash followed by a bellow from Jenks interrupted the statement, “well uh…as quiet as it can be around here.” Spinning around in surprise at the sound of Ivy’s silk voice coming from directly behind me I thought, ok, so she had come to see who was coming through our door.
“Cripes Ivy, I’m serious about getting you that damn bell! You are worse than the freaking cat and she has to wear a bell!” I will admit it was a bit harsh but startling me wasn’t the best way to get an I’m-so-happy-to-be-back-hug, even if you were a six foot vampire that looked like sex walking.
Smirking at my ire, Ivy turned to walk back towards the hall, glancing over her shoulder she said “There is coffee on if you want some, I just made it. I am heading out back to finish helping Jenks with some stuff. Do you need any help with anything?”
“No, thanks though, I’ve got it.” I grumbled to her retreating back. “The cabbie brought everything to the step for me.”
“Cabbie?” Ivy asked sounding a bit put out. Like my having to take a cab in this heat somehow upset her life.
“Yeah, you know the nice people that drive you from one place to another, in this case from the airport to here.”
“I thought Al was going to drop you off here after your…lesson”
“Apparently he is ‘not an airline and had nothing to gain from helping me out’.” I quipped using the little quotey quotey signs with my hands while mimicking Al’s English accent. “He said it was something to do with the time difference and it would short change him on how long he had me for, unless I was willing to stay the extra time with him.” Stifling a shudder I added, “He hadn’t been real pleasant after having to pick me up elsewhere two Saturdays in a row; flying back was just easier than trying to deal with him. As it was he barely got me to this side of the lines in time to catch my flight back to Cincy.”
Throwing a bit of a whine into my voice to try and get some sympathy seemed to do the trick as Ivy seemed to realize that my time away hadn’t been all sunshine and lollipops and that I wasn’t in the best of moods, she sashayed her way back over to me looking almost apologetic. “Sorry about startling you, I guess I’m out of practice at purposefully making noise.” Trying to stay annoyed while looking at the apologetic grin Ivy had spreading across her face was nearly impossible and I felt the tension start to melt out of me.
“Sorry for snapping at you. It was a long 24 hours with Al and then a long flight. I stink, I’m tired and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you”.
I took a moment to actually look at Ivy and noticed that though she was still managing to look as svelte and sexy as always, she had bags under her eyes and seemed wire tight. She was trying to be discreet about staring at me, doing it from under half-lidded, hair covered eyes but I was suddenly aware of the intensity of her gaze.
“You ok?” I hedged, wondering if she was trying to burn a hole through me with her eyes.
“I’m fine, here, let me get those for you” She swooped in to pick up a suitcase from either side of me just as I was bending to pick them up. We nearly banged our heads together in the process and she straightened, flushing. Bags in hand she muttered, “Sorry” then spun around to head towards the hallway once again, her speed edging into Vamp quickness.
What the hell was that all about? Try as I might I don’t think I was ever going to understand Ivy. Scaring the crap out of me she found amusing but showing the slightest bit of clumsiness embarrassed her? Again, whatever. I scooped up my remaining shoulder bag and followed her to my room to drop it off. She was just laying the suitcases on the bed as I entered and watched as her neurotic attention to detail had her arranging the bags just so.
“What was that all about?” I asked as I dropped my bag on top of my dresser. Turning to face her I saw that the ring of brown around her pupils was shrinking. She was vamping out and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. “Ivy what the hell? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, I am just glad that you are back is all,” her voice was lower and more predatory than before. The pheromones that were rolling off of her hit me like a lovers caress. I had to fight to keep my knees from buckling at the tendril of pleasure that was wrapping itself around my core. It was just my scars reaction to her, not mine. I had to stay focused if I wanted to come out of this with my throat intact.
“You’re glad that I am back yet your vamping out at four in the afternoon?” Slowly edging towards my door so as to not trigger her instincts into giving chase I kept my voice low and even. Not knowing what was setting her off was scaring the crap out of me, regardless of the pulse of desire that was running through my veins, but I was working hard to keep my breathing and my pulse slow even as I tapped the line out back.
Normally, I could handle talking Ivy down. Normally I knew what the hell set her off in the first place though. I wasn’t going to take any chances until I knew what this was all about. I was two steps from the door when she reached out for me and it took everything I had to not flinch or throw the energy now flowing freely through me, at her.
Her hand was tight on my wrist but not painfully so. When she looked up and saw that she was making me uncomfortable she immediately let my hand drop and said “I really missed you while you were gone, I just wanted to make sure that you were actually here. I’m sorry I’ll get out now.”
“Ivy wait.”
Turning towards me at the sound of regret in my voice I saw that her eyes were brown again and she looked ashamed. I felt like an ass. She was a living vampire and she used me as a lodestone. Keeping her centered. Me being gone had probably been hard on her and was what accounted for the tension and the bags under her eyes. I reached out to take her hand again and her eyebrows shot up her forehead.
“I’m really back, I told you I would be, and here I am. Relax, Ivy, I’m not going anywhere ok?”
She sighed and her shoulders drooped at my words as the tension flowed out of her.
“It’s been hard not seeing you everyday. I know we sometimes go days without seeing one another when our runs don’t jive but at least then I always know you are here. I can see it in the dirty coffee mug sitting in the sink, or the steam coming out from under your bathroom door as I’m leaving or your spell pots being moved around. I didn’t realize how much that meant and how reassuring it was until it wasn’t there anymore.” Hearing her silk voice catching in her throat as she spoke caused a spasm of pain in my chest. I hated seeing Ivy in pain or upset. She was my best friend after all.
She looked up and met my eyes then and I could see she was close to tears. I gave her hand a squeeze to let her know I was listening and I understood. It had been hard not seeing her or traces of her for the last two weeks. I hadn’t realized how much I leaned on her not just for protection from vamps after my unclaimed scar but for emotional and mental support as well.
“I worried about you while you were gone and I worried that you maybe would find something better while you were there. I know they have great schools that could help take you to new heights in your spelling and that your mom is moving there and that she was the last of your family left here. I was scared”
“Ivy, I am not going anywhere. You’re my family too, so is Jenks. This church is my home. After two days with my brother I couldn’t wait to come home…..I missed you too.”
“I have barely slept Rachel, I’m sorry that I’m such a mess. I’m sorry I vamped out, I’m sorry I need you so much. It’s not fair to you.”
She was beating herself up for missing me? It was a long known fact to both of us that Ivy placed her sanity and humanity squarely in my lap and I long ago stopped resenting her for it. I understood that Piscary had screwed her up royally and I hated him for it but not because it meant Ivy depended on me. I hated him for it because he had done it at all. Ivy was not some toy or a part of a game. She was a living, breathing, beautiful woman and because of him she was afraid to love. That fear is what did this to her. My heart broke a little more every time the two of us got into a situation where I was made to understand a little more of Ivy’s past. Not thinking it through, just wanting to comfort her I tugged on her hand that I was still holding onto and drew her in for a hug.
“Rachel, …”
“Shh Ivy its ok, I am right here and I just want to give you a hug ok?”
“……..you stink like burnt amber.”
“Oh! Right… sorry.” I could feel my face flaming when I realized I had just mixed our scents to give comfort that had been no longer needed, “Al didn’t leave me any time before my flight when he dropped me off. I haven’t been able to have a shower since coming out of the Ever-After” After rummaging through my suitcases for my toiletry bag I pushed passed Ivy into the hall and headed for my bathroom. “I’m going to take a quick shower; I will meet you outside in a few minutes.”