Lament for a Daemon's Soul [Chapter Six]
Title: Lament for a Daemon’s Soul
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 10417 / ?
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 300 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: Again with a long chapter. Hope everyone likes the other Vanpyr revealed here, and don't worry, Quinn will get more time coming up.
*****
Chapter Six
Cheer camp had not been what she’d been expecting. Sure, camp her freshman year had been hard, but she’d only had to worry about herself then. As captain, she not only had to worry about herself, but also all of the other girls on the team, their routines, training schedules and diet. If it wasn’t for Santana and Brittany, she wasn’t sure she’d have made it.
For a briefly fleeting moment, she’d wondered if it would have been easier with a fourth person on her side. And maybe that fourth person wouldn’t have been a Cheerio. And maybe they would have had soft brown hair. And maybe they would have had eyes that burned like balls of brown fire when they were angry. Maybe they would have been someone who could have listened to her and not back down from the stupid crap she pulled out when she was angry.
But, she didn’t have anyone like that. She didn’t need anyone like that. She had Brittany and Santana. And maybe they spent more time fixated on each other with giggles and soft touches poorly hidden from anyone who knew them, but they were her friends and, like she kept telling her mom, she didn’t need anyone else.
Yet she still paused for a moment outside the locker room and glanced down the empty hall hoping for a glimpse of flashing eyes or a swirl of brunette hair. A bright glimpse of a brilliant smile she’d never seen directed at herself. She’d never admit what she was looking for or how much she wanted to see it. Not even to herself.
A soft sigh escaped her lips for a moment before she pushed through the door to prepare for morning practice.
*****
She’d never held a great deal of hope for the school’s Spanish teacher, but looking at the white sheet on the bulletin board declaring that auditions for New Directions were available for sign up, she started wondering if maybe he did have some redeeming qualities. There were actually other names on the list as well. Other students who shared that inner fire to be the best. To be a part of something special.
With a satisfied smile, she gripped her pen carefully in her hand and neatly inscribed her name on the first open line. There was barely any hesitation this time before she affixed a gold star sticker after it. It had taken a while to get used to this specific quirk she’d developed for this ‘incarnation’, but she was finally getting a handle on it. Rachel Berry was a star after all, the sticker was just a metaphor. And metaphors were important.
Finally satisfied, she turns away with a proud grin wreathing her face. It was sophomore year. Things were already looking up.
Right until the cherry flavored iced splashed across her features, shocking her into silence with the sudden cold and making her spend a valuable moment grappling with her suddenly raging Beast. It had been fast and had taken her by surprise, but had she recognized her assailant? She flicked the ice from her eyes with hasty hands and spun about, brown eyes narrowing as she spotted a familiar pair broad shoulders and narrow waist striding down the hall with a empty cup in hand. The ever present hairstyle just confirmed it for her.
“Noah Puckerman!” Her shrill voice cut through the general noise of the crowd and the boy stopped dead in his tracks. “Noah! I know it’s you! How dare you?!”
He turned slowly, jaw dropped and mouth hanging slightly open in shock as he took in who he’d just assaulted with a slushie, as suggested by the football team’s other halfback. The one who wasn’t nearly as awesome as he was on the field. He’d only just transferred to WMHS this year and he’d had no idea she would be here.
For a moment he was stunned. She looked the same as she had when they’d first met. Different clothes maybe, but her face, that nose, the way her eyes flashed when she was angry. “R-rachel?” He felt like an idiot for stammering, but he couldn’t help it. “Rachel Berry?”
She glared down the hall for a moment before storming over to stand in front of him, now glaring up at him. It’d been a long time, but she was still shorter than him. He smirked, only barely resisting the urge to give her a hug. The slushie mess still dripping off of her definitely helped in the resisting.
“Of course, it’s me. Who else would call you out in the middle of a hallway for your exceedingly juvenile behaviour?” She reached out and smacked the taller boy lightly, ignoring that her eyes were definitely reaching the “burning brand” stage. “Seriously, Noah? A slushie?”
“Look, I’m sorry, Rach. I didn’t know it was you.” He shrugged, waving his hands out to the side, nearly smacking a passing freshman with the cup still gripped in his hand. “You know I’d never do something like that to you.” His voice dropped to a low hiss, nearly sub-vocalizing, not wanting to share the comment with the rest of the hall. “You’d kick my ass.”
“You are astute as ever, Noah.” She heard him. He knew she would. A light smile turned up one corner of her lips, allowing a tiny peek of teeth that were far too sharp. “What are you doing here?”
“Going to school, what’s it look like?” He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Every high school needs the Puckersaurus in it.”
She grinned, pulling the Beast back down. The Beast liked Noah, liked his casual charm, and it didn’t hurt that she enjoyed his company as well. “It’s been a long time, Noah. How’ve you been?”
He caught her arm and escorted her to the nearest restroom to clean up. “You know me, always up for something new.” His leer and eyebrow waggle made her laugh, the same as it always had. He pushed the door open, escorting her in and grabbing a folding chair. “Here, let me help with that.”
“You don’t have to, Noah.” She began collecting the items she’d need to clean the sticky red mess off her face. “It’s okay. You can go now.”
“No, really, I want to. It’s my fault, so I should help clean up.” He looked slightly upset at the thought that Rachel was blowing him off. Sure she was all kinds of special crazy, but she was his special crazy. “I’m not some deadbeat, Rach.”
She paused in what she was doing to walk over and lay a hand on his arm, catching his attention. “I know you’re not, Noah, but it really is okay.” She smiled, now altogether Rachel, the Beast curled up back in its cage, content for now. “I’m used to it.”
He frowned. “You shouldn’t be. You’re better than this. Better than all of them. They don’t have any -”
She cut him off, her fingers against his lips. “And they don’t need to know. I’m okay with this, Noah.”
“But, Rach...”
“Seriously, I’m okay. I can handle this. Go, play football, or whatever you’re doing now.” Her smile was brave, and he hated that she felt the need to put on that sort of face around him. They’d been close enough that she shouldn’t feel the need to do that with him. “I’ll see you later.”
This time he didn’t resist the urge. He reached out and folded her into his arms, pulling her close. She rested one hand against the hard planes of his chest, allowing herself to relax into his arms, confident that the Beast wouldn’t rise up while he was near. “Hot Jews like us need to stick together, Rachel. I’ve got your back.”
“I’m not sure we can even be considered Jewish any more.” Her body shook slightly with laughter, and her eyes sparkled as she turned her face up to his. “But I know you do, Noah. And thank you.”
He pushed her back a bit to make it easier to see her face, but didn’t let go. “For what?”
“For being my friend.” That shy smile he hadn’t seen in years was back. “Thank you.”
He just smirked at her and grabbed the towel, swiping a clump of ice off of her head. “Any time, Rachel.” His smirk became the smile he’d given her once a long time ago and he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Every time.”
She might be older, she might be stronger, but she’d always be his girl. Even when she wasn’t.
*****
Finn wasn’t sure what to do. He’d been accused of having drugs and threatened with jail and he didn’t even know why. And now he was being forced to join the biggest group of outcasts in the school.
Glee club.
Quinn wouldn’t approve. He knew it. None of the guys would either.
And then there was that girl. Rachel. She seemed nice and all, but she got way too into her singing. It was kinda scary. Not scary like Quinn was scary, but like intense. Real intense.
And now there was a mandatory field trip. What did Mr. Schue think they were? Grade schoolers? And it was on Saturday. He had practice on Saturday.
He shoved his books into his locker, banging them around for a moment before slamming the door shut and heading off to the locker room. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Coach Tanaka that he wouldn’t be able to be there because of some silly Glee thing. He was especially not looking forward to any of the guys finding out he was in that club. He liked singing and all, sure, but it looked really bad. Like really bad.
He just didn’t know what to do anymore.
*****
Puck was waiting for her when she came out the backdoor of her home. He sprawled over the garden bench in his loose jeans and black muscle shirt, looking completely casual, as if he wasn’t sitting uninvited in a yard surrounded by an eight foot high privacy fence. He took a swig from the beer bottle dangling from one limp hand as he watched the stars speckling the clear night sky.
She smiled when she saw him. It’d been nearly seventy three years since they’d last seen each other, but some things didn’t change. When they were together, they ran together, hunted together. They were a strange sort of family, but when you lost so many over the years, the ones that didn’t change, didn’t pass from your life like so many wisps of smoke, they were the ones you clung to with all your might. Now that they knew they were in the same territory again, it was only natural that he would find her.
“Noah.” Her voice was soft in the night, a quiet whisper almost lost to the night’s breezes, but he heard. He turned his head and smiled, standing from his seat.
“Rach.” He wrapped her in his arms again and she just let herself melt into the warmth of his embrace.
She’d heard the rumors about him, knew how he always developed a reputation for womanizing. But there was nothing sexual about the hug, only the offer and acceptance of comfort. They knew each other better than anyone still alive. For a time, they’d been each other’s world, their everything. That time was past, but their friendship remained.
They parted. “Is it time?”
She nodded, and the space between them opened. He pulled off his shirt, dropping it to the ground where it was quickly joined by his jeans. Unlike her, his change didn’t allow him the convenience of a humanoid form. Finally he stood, clad only in the light of the stars, waiting calmly until she finished neatly folding her outer layers and stacking them on the back steps for her “fathers” to collect after the change, leaving her only in the underlying spandex bodysuit, a bit large for her petite form.
She changed first. She always did. The muscles of her arms and legs whirled and writhed under her skin, changing the connections. Under the spandex covering her back, the flesh bulged and rippled as the extra heavy ropes of muscles needed to drive the massive wings ripping their way from her flesh formed themselves. She keened softly at the pain as her hands twisted, sprouting massive claws, as her legs broke, lengthening and reforming, as her horns burst from her skull in a soft spray of blood that spattered his chest. She shook with the pain, trembling in agony, but she never allowed her voice to raise from the soft cries that hurt his ears. Finally, she stood before him, still shaking like a newborn lamb, all six feet and more of horn, muscle, and talons. Her wings shivered in the air as she belled them outwards, getting the first taste of the night air.
Their eyes met and almost immediately his entire body siezed, every muscle going rigid at once as if they were trying to rip him physically apart. His teeth clenched against the pain, eyes squinted shut with silent tears leaking out as his hands and feet bent and broke of their own accord. His jaw twisted, shattering and lengthening before reforming into a canine snout. Fur sprouted from every inch of skin even as his ears lengthened and a stiff brush of a tail erupted from the base of his spine. He curled, hunching in on himself as his spine realigned, driving him to all fours. Finally, the pain grew too much to bear in silence and he opened his mouth to scream. All emerged was a long, low, mournful howl.
Rachel flexed her legs, powerful thighs sending her surging into the night’s sky. Below, a massive black wolf, larger than any dog though slightly smaller than a pony, gathered itself and leapt over the fence, easily clearing the tops of the wooden pickets. They matched each other’s course the same as they always did when hunting together. Tonight they would sate themselves on deer, Rachel’s Beast not needing the sweet terror of human suffering.
They both preferred it that way.
*****
A/N the second: No, I have no intention of making this more than Puckleberry friendship in this fic. However, they do have a past together, that did involve them being romantically entangled at one point. If there's interest, I might be willing to write that as well at some point in the future.
Author: Sio
Rating: At least R for violence.
Length: 10417 / ?
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 300 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: Again with a long chapter. Hope everyone likes the other Vanpyr revealed here, and don't worry, Quinn will get more time coming up.
*****
Chapter Six
Cheer camp had not been what she’d been expecting. Sure, camp her freshman year had been hard, but she’d only had to worry about herself then. As captain, she not only had to worry about herself, but also all of the other girls on the team, their routines, training schedules and diet. If it wasn’t for Santana and Brittany, she wasn’t sure she’d have made it.
For a briefly fleeting moment, she’d wondered if it would have been easier with a fourth person on her side. And maybe that fourth person wouldn’t have been a Cheerio. And maybe they would have had soft brown hair. And maybe they would have had eyes that burned like balls of brown fire when they were angry. Maybe they would have been someone who could have listened to her and not back down from the stupid crap she pulled out when she was angry.
But, she didn’t have anyone like that. She didn’t need anyone like that. She had Brittany and Santana. And maybe they spent more time fixated on each other with giggles and soft touches poorly hidden from anyone who knew them, but they were her friends and, like she kept telling her mom, she didn’t need anyone else.
Yet she still paused for a moment outside the locker room and glanced down the empty hall hoping for a glimpse of flashing eyes or a swirl of brunette hair. A bright glimpse of a brilliant smile she’d never seen directed at herself. She’d never admit what she was looking for or how much she wanted to see it. Not even to herself.
A soft sigh escaped her lips for a moment before she pushed through the door to prepare for morning practice.
*****
She’d never held a great deal of hope for the school’s Spanish teacher, but looking at the white sheet on the bulletin board declaring that auditions for New Directions were available for sign up, she started wondering if maybe he did have some redeeming qualities. There were actually other names on the list as well. Other students who shared that inner fire to be the best. To be a part of something special.
With a satisfied smile, she gripped her pen carefully in her hand and neatly inscribed her name on the first open line. There was barely any hesitation this time before she affixed a gold star sticker after it. It had taken a while to get used to this specific quirk she’d developed for this ‘incarnation’, but she was finally getting a handle on it. Rachel Berry was a star after all, the sticker was just a metaphor. And metaphors were important.
Finally satisfied, she turns away with a proud grin wreathing her face. It was sophomore year. Things were already looking up.
Right until the cherry flavored iced splashed across her features, shocking her into silence with the sudden cold and making her spend a valuable moment grappling with her suddenly raging Beast. It had been fast and had taken her by surprise, but had she recognized her assailant? She flicked the ice from her eyes with hasty hands and spun about, brown eyes narrowing as she spotted a familiar pair broad shoulders and narrow waist striding down the hall with a empty cup in hand. The ever present hairstyle just confirmed it for her.
“Noah Puckerman!” Her shrill voice cut through the general noise of the crowd and the boy stopped dead in his tracks. “Noah! I know it’s you! How dare you?!”
He turned slowly, jaw dropped and mouth hanging slightly open in shock as he took in who he’d just assaulted with a slushie, as suggested by the football team’s other halfback. The one who wasn’t nearly as awesome as he was on the field. He’d only just transferred to WMHS this year and he’d had no idea she would be here.
For a moment he was stunned. She looked the same as she had when they’d first met. Different clothes maybe, but her face, that nose, the way her eyes flashed when she was angry. “R-rachel?” He felt like an idiot for stammering, but he couldn’t help it. “Rachel Berry?”
She glared down the hall for a moment before storming over to stand in front of him, now glaring up at him. It’d been a long time, but she was still shorter than him. He smirked, only barely resisting the urge to give her a hug. The slushie mess still dripping off of her definitely helped in the resisting.
“Of course, it’s me. Who else would call you out in the middle of a hallway for your exceedingly juvenile behaviour?” She reached out and smacked the taller boy lightly, ignoring that her eyes were definitely reaching the “burning brand” stage. “Seriously, Noah? A slushie?”
“Look, I’m sorry, Rach. I didn’t know it was you.” He shrugged, waving his hands out to the side, nearly smacking a passing freshman with the cup still gripped in his hand. “You know I’d never do something like that to you.” His voice dropped to a low hiss, nearly sub-vocalizing, not wanting to share the comment with the rest of the hall. “You’d kick my ass.”
“You are astute as ever, Noah.” She heard him. He knew she would. A light smile turned up one corner of her lips, allowing a tiny peek of teeth that were far too sharp. “What are you doing here?”
“Going to school, what’s it look like?” He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Every high school needs the Puckersaurus in it.”
She grinned, pulling the Beast back down. The Beast liked Noah, liked his casual charm, and it didn’t hurt that she enjoyed his company as well. “It’s been a long time, Noah. How’ve you been?”
He caught her arm and escorted her to the nearest restroom to clean up. “You know me, always up for something new.” His leer and eyebrow waggle made her laugh, the same as it always had. He pushed the door open, escorting her in and grabbing a folding chair. “Here, let me help with that.”
“You don’t have to, Noah.” She began collecting the items she’d need to clean the sticky red mess off her face. “It’s okay. You can go now.”
“No, really, I want to. It’s my fault, so I should help clean up.” He looked slightly upset at the thought that Rachel was blowing him off. Sure she was all kinds of special crazy, but she was his special crazy. “I’m not some deadbeat, Rach.”
She paused in what she was doing to walk over and lay a hand on his arm, catching his attention. “I know you’re not, Noah, but it really is okay.” She smiled, now altogether Rachel, the Beast curled up back in its cage, content for now. “I’m used to it.”
He frowned. “You shouldn’t be. You’re better than this. Better than all of them. They don’t have any -”
She cut him off, her fingers against his lips. “And they don’t need to know. I’m okay with this, Noah.”
“But, Rach...”
“Seriously, I’m okay. I can handle this. Go, play football, or whatever you’re doing now.” Her smile was brave, and he hated that she felt the need to put on that sort of face around him. They’d been close enough that she shouldn’t feel the need to do that with him. “I’ll see you later.”
This time he didn’t resist the urge. He reached out and folded her into his arms, pulling her close. She rested one hand against the hard planes of his chest, allowing herself to relax into his arms, confident that the Beast wouldn’t rise up while he was near. “Hot Jews like us need to stick together, Rachel. I’ve got your back.”
“I’m not sure we can even be considered Jewish any more.” Her body shook slightly with laughter, and her eyes sparkled as she turned her face up to his. “But I know you do, Noah. And thank you.”
He pushed her back a bit to make it easier to see her face, but didn’t let go. “For what?”
“For being my friend.” That shy smile he hadn’t seen in years was back. “Thank you.”
He just smirked at her and grabbed the towel, swiping a clump of ice off of her head. “Any time, Rachel.” His smirk became the smile he’d given her once a long time ago and he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Every time.”
She might be older, she might be stronger, but she’d always be his girl. Even when she wasn’t.
*****
Finn wasn’t sure what to do. He’d been accused of having drugs and threatened with jail and he didn’t even know why. And now he was being forced to join the biggest group of outcasts in the school.
Glee club.
Quinn wouldn’t approve. He knew it. None of the guys would either.
And then there was that girl. Rachel. She seemed nice and all, but she got way too into her singing. It was kinda scary. Not scary like Quinn was scary, but like intense. Real intense.
And now there was a mandatory field trip. What did Mr. Schue think they were? Grade schoolers? And it was on Saturday. He had practice on Saturday.
He shoved his books into his locker, banging them around for a moment before slamming the door shut and heading off to the locker room. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Coach Tanaka that he wouldn’t be able to be there because of some silly Glee thing. He was especially not looking forward to any of the guys finding out he was in that club. He liked singing and all, sure, but it looked really bad. Like really bad.
He just didn’t know what to do anymore.
*****
Puck was waiting for her when she came out the backdoor of her home. He sprawled over the garden bench in his loose jeans and black muscle shirt, looking completely casual, as if he wasn’t sitting uninvited in a yard surrounded by an eight foot high privacy fence. He took a swig from the beer bottle dangling from one limp hand as he watched the stars speckling the clear night sky.
She smiled when she saw him. It’d been nearly seventy three years since they’d last seen each other, but some things didn’t change. When they were together, they ran together, hunted together. They were a strange sort of family, but when you lost so many over the years, the ones that didn’t change, didn’t pass from your life like so many wisps of smoke, they were the ones you clung to with all your might. Now that they knew they were in the same territory again, it was only natural that he would find her.
“Noah.” Her voice was soft in the night, a quiet whisper almost lost to the night’s breezes, but he heard. He turned his head and smiled, standing from his seat.
“Rach.” He wrapped her in his arms again and she just let herself melt into the warmth of his embrace.
She’d heard the rumors about him, knew how he always developed a reputation for womanizing. But there was nothing sexual about the hug, only the offer and acceptance of comfort. They knew each other better than anyone still alive. For a time, they’d been each other’s world, their everything. That time was past, but their friendship remained.
They parted. “Is it time?”
She nodded, and the space between them opened. He pulled off his shirt, dropping it to the ground where it was quickly joined by his jeans. Unlike her, his change didn’t allow him the convenience of a humanoid form. Finally he stood, clad only in the light of the stars, waiting calmly until she finished neatly folding her outer layers and stacking them on the back steps for her “fathers” to collect after the change, leaving her only in the underlying spandex bodysuit, a bit large for her petite form.
She changed first. She always did. The muscles of her arms and legs whirled and writhed under her skin, changing the connections. Under the spandex covering her back, the flesh bulged and rippled as the extra heavy ropes of muscles needed to drive the massive wings ripping their way from her flesh formed themselves. She keened softly at the pain as her hands twisted, sprouting massive claws, as her legs broke, lengthening and reforming, as her horns burst from her skull in a soft spray of blood that spattered his chest. She shook with the pain, trembling in agony, but she never allowed her voice to raise from the soft cries that hurt his ears. Finally, she stood before him, still shaking like a newborn lamb, all six feet and more of horn, muscle, and talons. Her wings shivered in the air as she belled them outwards, getting the first taste of the night air.
Their eyes met and almost immediately his entire body siezed, every muscle going rigid at once as if they were trying to rip him physically apart. His teeth clenched against the pain, eyes squinted shut with silent tears leaking out as his hands and feet bent and broke of their own accord. His jaw twisted, shattering and lengthening before reforming into a canine snout. Fur sprouted from every inch of skin even as his ears lengthened and a stiff brush of a tail erupted from the base of his spine. He curled, hunching in on himself as his spine realigned, driving him to all fours. Finally, the pain grew too much to bear in silence and he opened his mouth to scream. All emerged was a long, low, mournful howl.
Rachel flexed her legs, powerful thighs sending her surging into the night’s sky. Below, a massive black wolf, larger than any dog though slightly smaller than a pony, gathered itself and leapt over the fence, easily clearing the tops of the wooden pickets. They matched each other’s course the same as they always did when hunting together. Tonight they would sate themselves on deer, Rachel’s Beast not needing the sweet terror of human suffering.
They both preferred it that way.
*****
A/N the second: No, I have no intention of making this more than Puckleberry friendship in this fic. However, they do have a past together, that did involve them being romantically entangled at one point. If there's interest, I might be willing to write that as well at some point in the future.