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zemossunshine · 2 years

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Sunshine Chapter 33

Pairings: Zemo x You Bucky x You

Summary: Falling in love with a villain. This will start sweet and then go very dark.

Tags: Explicit. Mature. Not for minors. Dark. Angst. Knife play. Depression. Suicidal thoughts. Self Harm . Vomiting. Nightmares. Sleepwalking. Torture. Smut. Broken Bones. Blood. Injury. Violence. Rough Sex. Rape. Kidnapping. Spanking. Unhealthy Relationships. Mental Health Issues. Anal Sex. Orgasm Delay. Fear. Blow Jobs. Sexual Violence. Suicide Attempt. Reference To Domestic Violence. Sleepwalking. Memory Loss. Gen Violence. Threats. Manipulation. Manipulative Relationship. Murder. Death. Loss Of Parents. Implied Alcohol Abuse. Threats Of Rape. Non Consensual Drug Use. Emotional Manipulation. Gaslighting.

Warning for this chapter: Kidnapping, amputation, torture & rape.

I'm going under and this time I fear, there is no one to save me. This all or nothing, really got a way of driving me crazy. I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have, somebody to hold. It's easy to say, but it's never the same. I guess I kind of liked the way you numbed all the pain. Now the day bleeds, into nightfall and you're not here, to get me through it all. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug. I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved. I'm going under and this time I fear there is no one to turn to. This all or nothing, way of loving, got me sleeping without you. Lyrics owned by Lewis Capaldi.

–

A rush of air filled your lungs as your eyes fluttered open, all you could see was a golden haze. You felt warm and comforted inside whatever you had been placed in, so it was a shock when you stepped out onto the cold floor. The same levitating robot came into view, it pulled a pair of black fluffy slippers from its chest, you thanked it. You briefly remembered being told you were going to a castle. Castle Doom, you had never heard of it. Your body had returned to its former state, you supposed it made sense. Your knight in shining armour was magic. You had no experience with or of magic at all, but if Wanda was anything to go by then you knew you were in safe hands. Your milk hadn’t even had a chance to come in, due to going into labour early, not that it mattered, you never had plans to breast feed your daughter anyway, you weren't supposed to live. Daughter. You had a daughter an alive, breathing, survived your powers daughter, you smiled wide. Whoever that man was, he made it possible. You owed him a huge debt. After securing the slippers you were greeted by said man with a fresh steaming coffee in his hands, bathed in a white glow, the same light that neutralised your powers and protected your daughter.

“My name is Victor.” He gestured to a table in the middle of what appeared to be a laboratory. Machines were whirring away, there were several screens, chemicals bubbling all encompassed in a room of dark damp misshapen bricks, roughened stone walls and candles from eons ago lit the room. This was truly a castle, ripped straight from a fairytale castle, or your book about Dracula. It was magnificent. You noticed a shelf with your coffee machine from home on. Weird. Next to it was a bottle of Zemo’s whiskey and a handful of books, books that you had read or were reading. You shook off the unease rising, whoever this man was must know about you and he saved your daughters life. You thanked him, honestly, with sincerity and his bright green eyes dazzled right back at you. You glanced back at the machine you had emerged from. An upright glass coffin, almost like Bucky’s cryochamber but it wasn’t cold.

Victor held out a wheeled stool for you and you sat down and the plopped himself right next to you. He explained that although he was a man of magic, he first and foremost was a man of science. The glass chamber had healing properties and calibrated itself to your DNA. He spoke with a soft tone as he explained his life story. He was the monarch of his country Latveria, but he lost it. He lost the love of his life Valeria. He had vast amounts of wealth and was of genius intellect. You wanted to interrupt him to ask him to elaborate, but you also wanted to hear what he had to say, he was reminding you of someone. He was eerily similar to Zemo. Even the accent threw you for a loop. Their lives were parallel.

He then went on to describe his powers, apparently magic came in many different forms, something you weren’t aware of. But initially he was an inventor and the levitating robot, which he called a doombot made a beeping sound next to you. That explains the machines then. He could manipulate electricity and travel through dimensions. Dimensions? You had no idea what he was talking about. He paused as you moved your head around, you were in a castle with a man who wore armour, ancient armour. Could you have time travelled backwards, quite far backwards? Hundreds, even centuries back? You knew that was possible. But then the technology in here would suggest otherwise. Your eyes fell to the pile of books. Dracula. Vampires aren’t real. Aren't they? Perhaps he found comfort in items from centuries ago because he was in fact centuries old. Yet, he kept his distance, hadn’t intimidated you. Saved your child’s life. He had to be a super hero of some kind.

“I can sword fight too.” he smirked under his helmet. The familiarity he had with Zemo settled you somehow. A shiver ran through you and he flicked his hand towards a fire place which instantly roared into life. High flames that were already filling the room with warmth. Victor saw you were cold and rectified it immediately. Magic really did come in handy, even for menial tasks. The doombot floating behind Victor pulled out a plain manilla envelope. It was your file, you weren’t worried, he obviously knew about you and your powers.

“I find this very interesting. Two pages, a medical report and a handful of photographs. No education whatsoever and yet you work for Nick Fury. Then you were erased, bank accounts, subscriptions, everything. It was then that I recognised your file for what it was. A lie. Do you know why?”

“It was made that way so I’m hidden from Hydra.” You told him encouragingly. You knew the file was a lie, constructed perfectly by Maria. Zemo took care of everything else.

“I assume then, having spent time with Hydra that The Winter Soldier and The Scarlet Witch are treated the same way? Lied to?”

“No.” Your voice was much quieter than you wanted it to be. You weren’t exactly lied to either. You racked your brain, what made you different to Wanda and Bucky? They were living out in the open. Bucky even did public interviews, made no attempt to conceal where he was. Both walked around freely and openly. Neither of them were tracked or monitored, in fact you didn’t know anyone else who was. You remembered Maria’s warning about who you could be and something you were afraid Zemo could turn you into. “I could become dangerous.” Victor would understand that as an enhanced person himself.

“The soldier and the witch aren't then? Every single person on the planet has the potential to be dangerous. Why are you treated this way?” Victor asked dryly.

“Zemo,” You rushed out. “He is very protective.”

“You are protective. Your darling husband-” Victor shook his head, “Is possessive, manipulative and controlling, all under the guise of protection. I can prove it to you, with one question.”

Victor wasn’t exactly wrong, before you could think of a retort, Victor handed you a tablet, the screen flickered through images of properties you had never seen, all with a location attached. Victor ran through each one, with coordinates, the number of bedrooms, how long each one had been in Zemo’s possession. His research was meticulous. He spoke as if he was running through a report, like he was bored. You tried to hide your shock, you knew Zemo had other properties but you had never seen them and there were so many. Victor knew so much about you or Zemo, or both of you.

“Placed strategically all over.” Victor continued, but he still hadn’t asked you a question. The screen went blank before the next image showed the house in Louisiana, then it went back to the blank screen, you knew what was missing, the original house. It was the only other house you knew, how was that proof that Zemo was controlling? You could tell him about that house no problem, you lifted your head to Victor waiting for this apparently inevitable, proof of Zemo being controlling question.

“Where is it?”

You opened your mouth before your jaw fell slack of its own volition. Victor had stunned you into silence, you looked down at the black screen. Victor with all of his abilities couldn’t find it, didn’t have a scrap of information about it. No public or private records. You had mysteriously never even seen the entrance, conveniently being asleep every time, Every single time.

“That was by design, no packaging on food, cars both left and right hand drive, no licences, no currency, nothing.” Victor remarked.

You had never thought about it, not once, your heart sank. You didn’t even know the make and models of the cars. You should have noticed this, you knew the house was well protected but to not know where it was, to have it concealed from you, to not have the slightest inkling, but wait, there was currency once at Christmas.

“America, they had dollars.” You spoke with a quivering voice. America was a big place, not exactly a precise location. You really needed to ask Zemo where that fucking house was.

“Dollars? Everyone had dollars?” Victor asked with excitement in his eyes. Yes everyone did, well almost everyone. Sam, Sarah, Bucky, Oeznik, Fuck Oeznik had currency from all over the world. You shook your head. Even when they played that poker game they didn’t mention currency at all.

“I tried to track your husband's movements from the Raft and I couldn’t, I believe he has taken your daughter there.” Victor sounded sad and you did feel a pang of upset, but he saved her. You were about to die, you both were. Shuri must have shielded Zemo somehow, which was a good thing, that house was a fortress, they were safe there. Not being able to see your daughter was a small price to pay for her life. Zemo wouldn’t have coped if she died, you made the right choice, you ensured Zemo would be happy. You could feel Victor's eyes on you, so you decided to change the subject, take a look around to your new life. Something caught your eye, a number in the forty thousands.

“Is this all the people you have saved?” You chirped, an attempt to lift yourself up.

“That is the amount of sacrifices I have made for the good of humanity.”

The good of humanity? The room spun, you gripped onto the screen with that deadly number on. Victor wasn’t a superhero, he was a villain. He was Zemo with powers, a truly horrifying prospect. You took a shaky breath before you painted a smile onto your face. You sat back on the stool after pulling it away from Victor. You dipped your head with your heart thudding in your ears.

“There’s no need to panic. You have been around trained killers all of your life. I help and hinder depending on the situation, I save lives too. I could have let your daughter die. I could have taken both of you. But your darling husband would have reacted very poorly if his wife and child were taken from him again. I did what was fair, I took one of you. You agreed to come here with me so, I’ll make you a promise. When I give my word, I mean it. I’ll protect the people you care about.”

What the fuck did this man want? How did you even attempt to answer him? He must be insane, he must be, but you weren't about to argue, when he talked through his powers, he could quite literally do anything he wanted to. He didn’t have your power, but as long as he had that shield up neither did you. What the fuck had you gotten yourself into? Was this the worse Bucky talked about, villains worse than Thanos? You had to get out of here, how? You didn’t have the first idea. Zemo would be tracking you and finding a way to get you out right now, you just had to wait and not do anything to anger this man. But even if Zemo got you out, if he could, Victor could come back and take you again and again.

“You are very powerful,” You gulped trying to appease him. “What do you need me for?” It was a reasonable question. You needed to understand Victor, then you could tell Zemo. A remote island in the middle of nowhere was looking more and more appealing.

“I want you.”

Oh, how you regretted asking. He wants me? What for? You weren’t about to ask that. He said it easily, so simply, as if it were the answer to the universe. No answer to that question would bring anything you wanted or needed to hear. His doombot pulled out a fresh steaming coffee, yours having gone cold. You slowly reached for the cup and your wedding ring glittered in the warm light. Hurry up Zemo.

“Perspective Sweetheart. There is electricity running through your body right now, I could make you do anything I desire.” All of the screens around you buzzed with white static, a show of his power. “I could have you on your hands and knees scrubbing my floors for all eternity. I could turn you inside out and hang you up like a chandelier. Walk you around like a puppet, catering to my every whim. You will notice I’m not doing those things. I, unlike others actually respect you.”

Sweetheart? Now we are onto nicknames. Yet his words calmed you, Victor could do whatever he wanted, but he hadn’t, he did have some rather unfortunate imaginative ideas and for some inexplicable reason said he respected you. You took a sip of the coffee, not that caffeine ever did a good job of subduing a racing heart.

“In addition, I will never touch you without your express permission.” Victor sauntered over to the coffee machine, the metal of his armour clinking with every step. He fiddled with it for a few moments before he worked out how to operate it, he could have just used magic, this man was an enigma. He was actively making an effort to calm you, had no issues answering your questions, he could have lied, but he seemed very assured of his ‘word’. That his word meant more than anything else to him. He was something beyond a mass murderer, but there was an underlying tone of benevolence within him. He said he would protect those you loved and he didn't have to. He already had what he wanted Me.. He said he was fair, well then it was fair to make a request and run like hell. You couldn’t see a door, just stone walls, but you just had to keep him down long enough, until you found one.

“You said you are fair?” You challenged and he nodded. “Take the shield down.” You exhaled, you never expected to go against someone like Victor. Your hands shook, visibly, in fact your entire body was trembling.

“Even after you promised to come with me? In exchange for your daughter’s life? I gave you a choice and you gave me your word.” Victor inclined his head as he sat down with his own coffee. It sounded like a threat, yet it wasn’t direct. You hated that everything he stated was true. He took a sip through the small slit in his helmet. Victor rested his elbow on the table in complete disinterest. Then the white shield slowly disappeared.

You immediately and awkwardly got to your feet and clenched your fingers inwards, but no black came. No matter how hard you concentrated, you couldn’t summon your powers. Victor must be stopping you in another way, but he hadn’t moved, he was watching you intently.

“Your powers were never tested, an epic mistake.” He chortled. “As I said before you are protective, an unfortunate limitation on your powers.” He waved his around around the room. “Your powers protect others, so as long it’s just you and me…” He trailed off.

What the fuck? Why did your powers come with so many limitations? You couldn’t hurt anyone you love and now this? Although Shuri did say you could be pushed to hurt someone you love, it wasn’t a true limit, it was one of your own making. How were you this useless? This couldn’t be right, you had only used your powers a handful of times. That first mission, the first time you used your powers, you were protecting Sam. The child in the battle. You protected Zemo and Bucky from gunfire. Protected them all in the warehouse. Mark, you protected fucking Mark. When Bucky used that hideous pain machine on you, you were pregnant, protecting your daughter. It was so clear once you thought about it. All of the times you were alone, with one other person believing you could defend yourself if needed. Zemo. Your mind helpfully added. You were wrong. Zemo was wrong, this was the very reason he gave you your powers, to protect yourself, it was all for nothing. It felt as if your gut instinct was there to mock you. Zemo was going to be furious, something you thankfully would have to deal with later. Would he blame you and your nature again? Perhaps you could even keep it from him, he rarely left your side anyway, so he never had to know.

Where in hell was Zemo? Surely he had asked Wakanda for assistance. Obviously caring for your daughter but still, he left you completely alone once, one time, other than that you were always with someone. He wouldn’t have just left you. Would he? You were so lost in thought Victor had to clear his throat a few times before you noticed.

“I hope that one day you can protect yourself.” Victor handed you a pile of clothes and behind you the bricks shifted. You barely registered his words, mindlessly taking the clothes and stepping towards the opening. Inside revealed a very compact shower, toilet and at a quick glance absolutely no escape route. You were still in the maternity dress Zemo insisted on. You could also feel the itch of dried blood and bodily fluids on your skin. You crossed the threshold, if that is even what it was and the doombot followed. You looked at it and then to Victor with raised eyebrows. Instead of an answer you were answered by the bricks sliding back into place and being plunged into darkness.

–

The shower was much more appreciated than you realised, your hair had never been so greasy, it took quite several shampoos to even feel clean. Victor made sure his ancient castle had modern plumbing. Wearing the clothes that you felt comfortable in helped, they weren't exactly your size but they weren't far off. You stayed a bit too long, hoping that Zemo would have arrived by now. You did keep an eye on the doombot that just floated mid air, doing nothing. It only moved when you started to get dressed, it pulled out a towel from it’s chest, allowing you to dry yourself. Once you had put yourself back together, you knocked on the brick, what else could you do? And called out to Victor. The bricks slid back and a very simple dinner was set up on the table. Your stomach grumbled in response.

You jumped when Victor sat next to you instead of the head of the table. You frowned at him as he quietly sliced his food to fit into the small slit of his helmet. Did it not come off? The doombot hovered next to you, like it was awaiting instruction. You asked it for a glass of water and it remained still. Victor barely moved his head and it flew off into the wall? And came back with a glass of water. Victor could control it with his mind. Your eyes rounded, that doombot watched you in the shower.

“Victor, can you see through your doombot?” Your mouth went dry. “In the shower.” You muttered.

Victor coughed through his mouthful. “What?” You had offended him. Shit. Shit. Shit. Victor took your water and drained it. “What kind of person do you think I am? Who would do that?” Zemo would, did in fact. You decided not to respond. You didn’t even know it was day or night. You waited for Zemo, twisting the ring around your finger. Hours must have passed before Victor announced he was tired. The doors to the glass cabinet opened.

“You expect me to sleep in that? Standing up? It looks like a coffin.” You exclaimed. To prove your point you climbed in without reluctance, before you turned the golden glow flittered around you and your eyes closed.

–

Days had passed in silence. You wanted to go home desperately. You wanted to hold your daughter, you didn’t even know her name. Ozenik asked for ideas but you refused. You didn’t want to imagine or name a child you would never meet. You slept surprisingly well standing up, feeling well rested but parched whenever you were woken up. You missed Zemo, Bucky, Maria, Sarah, Sam and the boys, your life driving around, helping others. You had a million questions and none were for Victor, there was a lot that was kept from you and you needed answers, from Zemo specifically. Had you been manipulated? Zemo had good intentions, he must have his reasons. You didn’t really know what was expected of you here. Victor hadn’t said anything, he didn’t make you uncomfortable, it’s just you had no idea how to live here with him. He had no trouble with the adjustment, he was happy in your presence, you could feel it. Whenever he looked at you, it was with fondness, like he had always known you. He made wide gestures whenever he moved around, which you were sure he was doing for your benefit. You got up again and waited at the wall to use the bathroom, as always his dutiful doombot followed, Victor has told you to treat it as if it were an assistant.

“Can you change this to a door?” You enquired. Victor inclined his head, one of his machines unfolded revealing several other doombots. They approached the wall with sledgehammers. Without ceremony they all started to smash the wall apart. He was destroying his ancestral castle at your suggestion. You thought he would use magic. Another machine whirred away sawing pieces of wood, constructing a door. You watched in fascination as his doombots worked together to fulfil your request. When you exited, dinner had been set up and Victor was on his chair right next to yours.

“You can speak you know, there won’t be repercussions.”

Zemo was obviously having trouble finding you, so you might as well talk with Victor, try to change his mind about the path he was on. You doubted you could get through to him, but there wasn’t anything else to do. “No one has to die.” You stated firmly. Zemo said you were a skilled negotiator, and Victor clearly had no intention of stopping.

Victor scoffed with an abhorred expression. “Yes they do. Out of interest how often did you have to say that to your husband? Or the soldier? Or Maria? Or Fury? Are they all villains too?”

I didn’t say it often enough. “I’m not naïve, I know there are bad people. If you expect me to join you or kill for you, I won’t.” You snapped.

“I’ll never ask you to.” Victor shrugged.

Oh. You couldn’t figure this man out at all. You looked around the room for the millionth time. Where is Zemo? This conversation had already gone on long enough, despite you only saying two sentences and you just didn’t want to be around Victor, not because you were frightened, but because he was making sense. Making you consider things you never had, making you question things you had never asked yourself before and you didn’t like the feeling. You tapped for your fingers impatiently on the table.

“Where are you Zemo?” You whispered.

“I told you where he is.” Victor spoke tentatively. But that wasn’t what you meant. You know the sleepless nights would be hard work, but it had been days. Couldn’t he send someone else? “I removed your tracking device.” Victor said shyly.

“What?” You heard what he said and yet you found yourself unable to believe it. Zemo couldn’t find you without it. You were sure he had other ways but against Victor? You weren't sure anyone could beat him, “Why?”

“You are not a fucking pet or an object.” Victor growled. “You are a human being.” You hadn’t seen him remotely angry, but the tracker pissed him off for some reason. You stared back at him, unsure of what to say. You needed that tracker, there wasn’t any choice in the matter.

Victor was staring at you again. “Speaking of being treated like shit, I have something to show you.” One of the screens changed to a calendar. You blinked unable to believe your eyes, hoping your eyes had deceived you. You hadn’t been here days, you had been here for weeks. Weeks. “You needed to heal.” Victor whispered. Heal? Heal? I would have been fine.

“I need to go home.” You croaked out. Tears threatened to spill over. You couldn’t be found, you had missed so many of your daughter’s first moments. You sank into the stool. You could never go home, you agreed to be here so she could live. You had to be strong.

“Once we find that house, I’ll take you home.” Victor waved his hand so the doombot could offer you a tissue. You kept your head down for a few more moments looking at your wedding ring before lifting your head to Victor. He was still looking at the calendar, refusing to meet your eyes. That’s when you saw it, one date was in red. A date you had ignored, been told to ignore. Your birthday. You swallowed the rising panic. It was a few days away and Zemo hadn’t come for you in weeks.

“I had help finding you and unfortunately I gave Hydra my word.” Victor's voice was laced with sorrow.

“Take it back then.” You implored, keeping your voice as steady as you could. The only sound that filled the air was the metal clinking as Victor turned away from you. Victor was a coward, he promised you to Hydra, like you could be sold, or given away, like a pet. “I thought you said I am a human being?” Victor had made several little digs at Zemo, insinuating that the tracker made you a pet, but he had offered you out to hydra. “You're no better.” It wasn’t that you believed that Zemo was evil, but Victor seemed to be blind to what he was, himself.

That got his attention, he stormed over to you. You didn’t move, what was the point? To induce higher levels of fear? You waited for the pain, for the blow to your face, for the horror to begin. “Your husband used the avengers love for each other, against them, to tear them apart. If I were like him, I would have ran to Hydra informing them of your pregnancy, instead, I kept them away.”

You didn’t even consider your daughter when you saw that screen, a child that might already have your powers. A child you thought, might be hunted from day one. Victor protected her from Hydra, didn’t even allow them the knowledge that you were pregnant. Another thing you had to thank him for, another debt you owed him. The thought alone of Hydra knowing about her, made your lungs seize. A familiar feeling, Your body started to shake, your legs felt like jelly. You knew what was happening, Another terror induced panic attack, but Oeznik wasn’t here to get you through it. A doombot extracted a needle from his chest within your clouded view. Liquid pushed itself through your veins, a gentle warmth spreading from your arm across your chest. Your muscles stopped spasming, Your lungs relaxed, your heart slowed down, the feeling slowly came back into your body.

“What the hell is that? You said you would never touch me!” You half shouted.

“Technically I didn’t.” Victor gestured to the doombot which beeped happily at you. “Serotonin and endorphins. You will be happy here, with me.”

–

No panic attacks, you would never slip into that sweet void again. You needed to stop thinking like that. Never? As if, you wouldn't ever make it home, ridiculous. Zemo was searching for you right now, you had to believe that. In the meantime Victor wanted you to be happy, and he sounded so certain, that would be the case. Even if that meant drugging you to induce happiness. In the grand scheme of things you could be drugged with worse, had been on several occasions. The way he worded things concerned you, but as ever he kept true to his word of no touching, which you now realised meant his exact word. He would never touch you, but his doombots could. They didn’t do anything sinister and were in fact like assistants, passing you the salt at dinner, making sure your slippers were ready after a shower. Passing Victor screwdrivers and wrenches. You didn’t give Hydra another thought, despite the fact your birthday was the very next day. The torture you described as ‘just words’ couldn’t become a reality. Full denial was the only way forward. Zemo would arrive by then. If not, Bucky would, If not, Maria, or Sam or Fury. Just someone. You asked where you were, as once again you hadn’t fucking asked and briefly wondered if there had been occasions, where maybe you had been ever so slightly naïve. You were in Latveria, well what had been Latveria, you were at the very least on earth and not a far away distant planet, it could be found. You also thought your old house could be found. So so stupid. Victor has dedicated an entire workstation to the cause, your old home. It searched for 24 hours a day and also placed alerts on what he called your loved ones, as he promised to protect them. You didn't understand him and didn't want to, the more you spoke to him the more scattered your brain felt. You just sat with a book, not reading it, instead waiting for someone to burst through the door, well wall. A red light pulled you out of your daze.

James Buchanan Barnes - Abducted

Those words flashed on every screen around you, just when you thought nothing else could go wrong. You jumped up and rushed to your glass cabinet, ready to be put under so Victor could deal with this as he promised.

“I’m not going to save him, Sweetheart. You are.” Victor was poised waiting for you.

Me? How in hell were you supposed to do that? You assumed you would never leave this room. Your mouth was moving but no words were coming out.

“You are enhanced. This is what you are supposed to be doing.” A portal opened next to Victor. You were going to be useless, a liability even. This was going to be a catastrophe. You stepped through the into the night. Victor handed you what appeared to be a bundle of black fabric, when you took it from him you saw it was a floor length cloak. You wrapped it around yourself to discover it was weighted, the hood covered your eyes, but whatever Victor made it from you could see through it clearly. Victor handed you a mask that resembled the mask of the Winter Soldier. You conveniently, couldn’t be identified, not that it mattered, if Victor were here then any cameras would be disabled.

“You look like a superhero now.” Victor trilled. A superhero? You rolled your eyes. Victor had far too much confidence in you, this was going to be a disaster. Since when did heroes and villains work together? Since when did villains rescue Avengers? This entire situation was ridiculous. Victor expected you to step up and claim a title you never had, never practised for. He was just throwing you out into the field. Victor’s gold shield surrounded you both before the white shield surrounded him. You were both standing at a large impenetrable door, to a building that according to Victor’s intelligence, held Bucky.

“Don’t we need weapons?” You asked. You both had no idea what you were up against, if you even got past the door. Besides, some other Avengers should be turning up any moment now to actually rescue Bucky because if you were meant to, then you could quite confidently say that you would be leaving empty handed.

Victor’s head whipped to face you. “We are the weapons.”

You scoffed at that. Victor yes. You, not so much. “Alright then, what’s the plan? How are we getting in?”

“Plan?” Victor laughed. “When you are me, you just walk in.” He shrugged. He placed his metal covered palm on the metal door, which towered over him. Victor loomed over you as it was. Victor turned so you could see the pure bliss in his eyes as sparks flew out. The door fell forward with a thump, thankfully Victor couldn’t see your astonished look, well he certainly saw your jaw fall slack. You scrambled to put the mask in place as you heard gunfire. Victor stood still so you could watch as bullets disintegrated as they came into contact with his gold shield.

Victor was unstoppable.

With the shield alone, nothing could touch him, you flinched at the gunfire but didn’t need to. Victor made it so, you wouldn’t come to any harm. He stepped onto the door and into the building without a care in the world, confidence surging through him. There wasn’t even a tear on his green cape, it dragged behind him as unscathed as he was. Whoever these dissidents were they threw knives, grenades, themselves at Victor. He looked around as if he were in a gallery taking in the art, he didn't spare them a glance. You watched him in awe. Your heart was hammering due to being at the centre of a gun fight. Victor jerked his head for you to join him, you stumbled along. You cowered at the attacks on your person. Every bullet, every knife, every movement made by them, was fruitless.

“It’s just a waste of ammunition, honestly.” Victor said with pity, he trailed along opening doors, not seeing Bucky he pressed on. After you had cleared one floor the tension in your body started to dissipate, you were learning to trust this shield. If Victor wanted you as he said, then you had a very small advantage, he wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Well bar Hydra, but you had no intentions of coming to terms with that.

You felt sick to your stomach when you came across Bucky, he was strapped to that heinous machine, the one used to brainwash him. To take control of his entire being, to rob him of his life. A life he was thriving in. That contraption could have a super soldier writhing with the flick of a switch, Bucky’s head was lolled to the side, a film of sweat coated him. They had already used it. Those sick bastards. The shield around you dropped and Victor stood guard at the door. You adjusted the mask to speak and asked Victor if this was Hydra. Victor explained that there wasn’t anyone with the level of training Bucky had, so he was sought after, but government got there first.

“They aren't controlling Bucky like Hydra did.” You panted.

“Aren’t they? Compliance is a condition of his pardon.”

“Don’t say it like that!”

“You mean, how it is?”

“Shut up and destroy this chair.” You demanded. You could not let Victor get inside your mind, this was just too much. Victor gave you a terse nod and waited for you to unstrap Bucky, as you were supposed to be in charge. You mumbled about this all being bullshit as you pulled wires off Bucky, a bit to harshly. You grunted pulling Bucky out of the chair, you faltered under his frame and hit the deck. You didn’t have time to brace before Bucky’s dead weight, dropped right on top of you.

You groaned, but the groan was for this stupid mission, for Victor, for how in the fuck had you been kidnapped again? Did this even class as kidnapping? You agreed to this. I asked Zemo to kidnap me. Your thoughts were being ever so helpful again. Maybe you could just stay here? Just lie on the floor and wait. Bucky would wake up and at the very least you could tell him where you were before Victor inevitably took you back to the castle. You wanted to tear your hair out. You rolled Bucky off. Victor hadn’t said a word, hadn’t laughed, he waited for instruction.

You glanced around. “Where is the chair?” Perhaps Victor has portalled it, to some distant far away land. Victor dropped a small but rather heavy silver and black ball into your hand. It was no bigger than a snooker ball.

“What can’t you do?”

“I can’t fly.” Victor stated then his eyes narrowed. “Actually it would be easy, If I added an electrical current into my-”

“Destroy that too.” You huffed out, pointing at the cryochamber, you couldn’t go there, you just couldn't. You just gave Victor an idea. Then man who had killed forty thousand fucking people. Victor gave you an acknowledgement, accepting your order before he got to work turning another machine into a ball. You wanted to watch, you really did, but there were more important matters at hand. Bucky actually alive, being at the very top of that list. You checked for a pulse while simultaneously watching his chest rise and fall. You had exactly zero medical knowledge, was his pulse irregular? Fuck knows. Should a super soldiers pulse be irregular anyway? You were useless, utterly useless and you didn’t know why anyone would ever let you be in charge of anything ever.

You turned when you felt Victors hand on your shoulder, but were met with someone in a balaclava. Before you could react. Victor hauled the man to his feet. You watched fear take over the man’s body. Your neck prickled with ice, seemingly understanding what was coming before you did. The man opened his mouth to speak and then fell into a puddle of flesh and meat to the floor, boneless.

Victor tore his entire spine out. There was a fully fledged spine in Victor’s hand. You covered Bucky with your body. Victor could rip out spines, full and intact, ribcage still attached, spines. You praised whatever was up there, that you didn’t hear it. You knew Victor was a villain but to see that first hand. Fucking hell. That can’t be possible. Just no. So much no. You wrapped your arms around Bucky as much as you could. Trying to hide him and to hold onto something real, because you were sure that ripping out spines couldn’t be. It just couldn’t not, even Bucky was not that strong. You couldn’t think, you couldn't breathe. You were protecting Bucky, holding your body over him. It was the best you could do. Victor lowered himself down on the floor next to you, to come down to your level.

“He didn’t ask to touch you. You need to get up, the rest are on the way.” Victor spoke softly. “Sit up Sweetheart and protect your soldier.”

Bucky. Bucky. Yes, these people wanted to control Bucky. To torture him, to use him against his will. You didn’t need to ask about spines, it was not information you needed. You kept one very unsteady hand on Bucky’s chest and held the other towards the door. Bucky, just get Bucky out. You focused your mind on Sarah and the boys and how worried they must be. You blew out a breath of air in a pathetic attempt to control your emotions.

Before the first could take a shot, you clenched your fingers inwards and thought only of the pain these people had brought Bucky. In return screams bounced around you. You blinked away the water gathering in your eyes and didn’t stop until, you could no longer hear footsteps approaching. Using your powers gave you clarity, allowed your brain to concentrate. You were here to get Bucky out, anything else that happened could be dealt with later. You had done the same on missions with Zemo, ignored his actions and pressed on. You got to your feet. Victor looked very pleased with you. He hauled Bucky over his shoulder without any sound of struggling. He told you to walk ahead and take down anyone in your path. The gold shield surrounded you and you walked out determined to complete this mission. After stepping over several dissidents sobbing, curled into balls, you walked through the same door you arrived through. The metal door rose up behind victor, he ran his hand around the frame, welding it shut.

You almost blurted out Sam’s name when he touched down in front of you. Victor slowly lowered Bucky and placed him on the ground. As Sam crouched down to, what you could see were the correct procedures for medical checks, you thought you could tell Sam, that you were right here in front of him. Then the image of a spine slammed full force into your mind. Victor had not said he wouldn’t kill your friends. Or specifically not tear out spines. His exact word did not include that. It was in everyone's best interest that you stayed quiet. To keep the peace and to keep spines inside bodies, where they should be.

“Thanks man. I knew this was sketchy. I should have come with him.” Sam sighed with a haggard voice. “It’s been hectic lately.”

Hectic? Your ears perked up. Hectic in a bad way? In a no sleep way? In a, Zemo is on his way, way?

“How so?” Victor asked, voicing what you couldn't. Sam’s eyebrows pinched, his eyes bounced in between you both, through his goggles which you now noticed, were diagonal on his face. His eyes trailed your black cloak and the mask Just like Bucky’s. Sam was making the same choice to stay quiet.

“Superhero stuff.” Sam rose to his feet and puffed out his chest. That wasn't a good sign, you could see that Sam didn’t trust either of you. Victor offered out his hand to Sam, to shake. To show he was an ally and not an enemy. Sam took it and you blew out the breath, you had been holding.

“Dr Doom and this is my……..partner.” Victor nodded in your direction. You glared at him from under the hood. Dr fucking Doom. And partner? This had to be a nightmare. As you seethed, Sam’s arms wrapped around you. Soothing you, encompassing you in an embrace you thought you had lost, you settled into him, clinging on.

“Do you often put your hands on people without an invitation?” Victor bit out. You withdrew immediately, holding on any longer wasn’t worth the risk.

“Possessive, I get it. I know someone like that.” Sam smiled crookedly. Zemo. Your heart swelled at the mention of him.

“Don’t use that word to describe me.” Victor warned. Victor really did not like being compared to Zemo. You pulled on his arm. Sam was digging himself a hole and he needed to get himself and Bucky home without any further damage. Victor bid Sam a polite farewell and let you drag him away. You waited until Sam flew away with a rescued Bucky in his arms before you removed the mask.

“You saved an Avenger, remind me, why you are dangerous again?”

“Did you miss the screaming?” You retorted.

“Did you miss the part where you saved him?”

You had help. But yes, you could say you assisted in a rescue mission. Got everyone out when it was imperative to, the same as your run in with Hydra at that warehouse. As long as you had someone with you, it seemed arbitrary that you weren't put on missions. Even if Zemo forbid it. Your powers were going to waste. Maybe you should have been doing things like this. Helped eliminate threats and build a better future. When you lifted your head to answer Victor you were back in the castle. Another alert was filling the screens.

Rebecca Hilda Zemo.

Zemo? Before you could ask, the words ‘Not enhanced’ appeared underneath it. Your daughter, she had a name, she wasn’t like you. This would be the first of many tests, you were sure, but she hadn’t been born like you. Why would Zemo put this out there for anyone to find? Were they trying to ward off Hydra? Was it a way of getting a message to you? Was this a birthday present from Zemo? If he couldn’t find you at least he could tell you this.

“Do you like the name?” Victor asked. You weren’t sure you would have had much say anyway. Rebecca after Bucky’s sister and Hilda after Zemo’s mother, it was perfect. Tears welled in your eyes. She was safe, safe from all of this. She could live the peaceful life you dreamed of.

“What if I told you, that’s your name?”

“It can’t be.” You quipped and showed Victor your necklace. The necklace Zemo had engraved. You knew your name, you did. Maria told you, once you woke up from your coma. There wouldn’t be any reason to lie. Well unless it was to hide you from Hydra, another layer of protection. But Zemo would have told you, or he would have kept up with the pretence, to not upset you. The questions were piling up again. You were so confused by it all, Victor had turned your world upside down, with just a few questions. Victor asked for your ring and necklace and you refused.

“Sweetheart. Hydra will take those from you.”

Hydra, right. Your birthday. Just a few hours away. What if you got pregnant? Were you expected to have their children? You knew just that thought, confirmed that you had accepted what was going to happen. Zemo would find you, one day, he would save you. It just might not be in time. At least your daughter wasn’t here, she wouldn’t be tainted by Hydra. You handed them over without any hesitation.

–

Much to your dismay, you woke in a room, very similar to the box at the Raft, one of Victor’s doombots was with you. You desperately scrambled to find a way out, your lungs clenching rapidly, your nails scratched at the openings of the door. You begged the doombot for help. This room had many glass windows. You quickly realised they were for observation, Hydra being as sick and twisted as they were, desired you to be watched as you were tortured and humiliated.

A minute for every year you had lived.

You couldn’t pinpoint what each Hydra agent did, it all merged into one. You held back your cries, until it became clear that it egged them on to push you further, to inflict more pain. You stupidly thought that if they saw you were in pain they would sympathise and stop, you just couldn't comprehend how this evil was in the world. You cried out, thrashed, writhed. You screamed for Zemo until you couldn’t scream anymore. You attempted to curl up to defend your body. Your hands had been placed into a device of Hydra’s making, stretching up to your elbows. You couldn’t clench your fingers, if you tried. Not only that Hydra, having known you longer than anyone else in your life, they made sure the door to enter and exit, had another door behind it. Only one could enter at a time. They would close you in before they swapped over.

They kicked, punched, sliced, diced, broke and it still wasn’t enough. You finally knew why you didn’t like guns, because they raped you with them, When they tried to put things in your mouth you bit back, why? Because what else could they do? It was the only power you had in here. They taunted you asking if you remembered it. You pleaded with them to stop and it spurred them on.

You tried desperately to go somewhere else, to dissociate, but they would bang the glass, leer and taunt. Keeping your mind alert and aware of what they were doing. You passed out a few times from the pain and you would wake to them rutting into you. You cried, you howled, convulsed against the restraints, you kicked out and it didn’t end. For your defiance, they put hooks through your feet, shackling you in place. The black within you paced like a caged animal, mocking you, reminding you that you could stop them if the circumstances were right. But Hydra made sure that the criteria was never met. Some even vomited behind the glass at what the others were doing, but together they were a pack of wolves, ready to devour, thirsty for your blood, for your torment, to be safe in the knowledge that could make you crumple and despite being enhanced, there wasn’t anything you could do to stop them.

The smell of burnt flesh invaded your senses, there were pools of your own blood on the floor, you thought their scent would linger on your skin forever, you were unable to cradle your wounds, they were left open. As you imagined the memories from this day would be, open, unable to heal. You couldn’t understand how or why you were still alive, you had met death a few times in here, but Hydra wouldn't allow you to cross over. You expected Zemo to burst through the door. The only thing you were vaguely aware of was the doombot, who wiped away your tears, stroked your hair, but otherwise hovered next you to. You were being comforted by a robot, you held onto the fact that you were not alone. Robot or not, the doombot was on your side, helping you through it all, with a countdown on his chest. Your body was spent, there was no energy left, only to let them do as they pleased. Three minutes. What more could they do in three minutes? That they hadn't already? You didn’t even know what would happen at the end, would they pick you up and deliver you back to Victor? You didn’t fathom this kind of treachery existed. You were confused when the Hydra agent left, all of the others made sure they used every last second of their time. When he returned with a guillotine you told yourself that you were hallucinating. You knew he would have a sinister sneer on his face, but your eyes, would not leave the contraption. He pulled a hook out of your left foot without any care and you couldn’t have been happier, you do not know where you found the strength to kick out, but you kicked for your life. You yanked on your other foot, praying the hook would tear through.

“Your husband killed my brother. Took a piece of my heart, so now I’m going to take a piece of you.”

Zemo? How were you being punished for something Zemo did? How was that fair? You shook your head frantically. Zemo had killed many people, you did know who this man was or, his brother, or if it had anything to do with you, The door opened again and the youngest agent who you saw earlier, dropped to his knees and pulled the hook out as delicately as he could. You tried to tell him to help you but from all the screaming, no sound came out. He rushed around and used a key to open the clamps, closing in your hands. They had been in place for so long, you could barely move. He lifted your hand to the agent fiddling with the guillotine. You were too dazed, you didn’t understand what he wanted. Get that thing away from my leg! Hydra unlike Zemo, couldn't read your thoughts.

“STOP HIM!” The younger agent screamed.

How?

He shook your hand, but his order got the older agent's attention, he picked up the gun he had violated you with earlier and aimed it at his head. Powers, my powers. A surge of black came and you feebly squeezed your fingers inwards. The older man’s body jarred, removing his hold on the guillotine and the blade came crashing down.

Why is my leg in his hands?

Why is there nothing where my leg should be?

Where is Zemo?

The doombot pulled a large sheet out of his chest and draped it over you, The younger man pulled it and pushed the fabric into the stump that was where your leg should be. The doombot pulled the sheet back into place. A portal opened in front of you, Victor stepped through and rushed over to you.

“Sweetheart.” Victor looked at the empty space where your leg should be and looked back at you with wet eyes. “I need to touch you.” His voice sounded strained, almost as if he were in as much pain as you had been.

You must be dreaming, they didn’t take your leg, this was a nightmare, you passed out from the pain and your mind had taken over. Running rampant, envisioning the very worst. Victor said he wanted you, that must include all of you, including your leg, that the man was stroking. Weird, you couldn’t feel it. Legs don’t come off that quickly, you couldn’t even feel any pain, maybe you were in shock. No, no, it couldn’t be possible, this was a vision of some kind. Victor was magic, maybe he was showing you a memory and Maria managed to put your leg back to where it should be. Victor made it very realistic, the sheet was getting heavier, absorbing some sort of red liquid, was that supposed to be blood? You giggled at the absurdity of it all.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” The young man shouted, trying to manhandle you. Why was he shouting? He was overreacting and ruining the peace in your mind, The peace in your body, they weren’t hurting you anymore, even the black stopped, you were safe, there was no more pain, everything was fine.

You cupped Victors face with your hand. “Victor, this isn’t real.” You whispered to him, like it was a secret. Zemo would never let this happen.

Victor pushed his head into your hand. “Say yes anyway.” Victor pleaded.

You gave Victor a condescending smile and nodded gently, giving him that permission he desperately craved. You don’t know why you gave it, but he seemed very upset. You couldn’t understand why, there was no reason to be upset. Everything was great, you were tired, maybe a nap would help, help you understand why you could feel Victor's rage in his breath across your face, The worry in his eyes, the doombot pulling out bags of blood from his chest. You would wake up and have a good laugh about all of this.

Next Part: https://www.tumblr.com/zemossunshine/691507346401378305/sunshine-chapter-34?source=share

#zemo #zemo x reader #zemo x you #dark #dark zemo #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky #dr doom

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vee-vee-writes · 3 years

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Reading time (Alucard x reader)

As the child of a stone mason education had not been high on your father’s priority list for you. However, once hell had been unleashed upon the earth you were thankful for the physical skills you had learned. Your family had been caught up and killed in the first attack on Targoviste. Fearing Dracula's wrath, you had not attended the Archbishop's festival celebrating the death of the dhampir's wife. Instead, you had hidden in the sewers to avoid Dracula's wrath. You had tried to convince your parents to come with you, but your father had foolishly believed the church would protect you all. It had not and soon you were travelling alone on the road, desperately trying to survive.

In your search to replenish your dwindling supplies you had come across Gresit and the Speaker dilemma. You admired their talent for memorizing oral histories but found it foolish that they were willing to risk their own deaths to help those who blamed them for Dracula's wrath. Despite your vocal opinions on their residing in a town that hated them, they had given you a hot meal and a safe place to shelter. You had soon become acquainted with the thirteen Speakers, with Sypha, the elder's granddaughter, telling you legends of a Sleeping Soldier. A mere day later you found yourself foolishly tagging along on her quest to wake him. It was not long into your search that a bright flash of light filled your vision, and the world began to fade to obscurity.

The next thing you knew you were coming to next to Sypha with a strange man standing above you. To your shock he revealed himself as Trevor Belmont, the last male heir of the House of Belmont. You were not sure if it was shock of being in the presence of nobility or the stench of beer and sweat that made you wary of the man. Despite your reservations you allowed him to lead the two of you back to the Speaker's residence.

After the saga with the Church and the villagers trying to burn the Speakers to death as 'penance' for their 'role' in releasing the night creatures upon Wallachia, you had fallen through the ruins into a strange metal and magic world. Trevor was instantly suspicious that the three of you had landed in Dracula's castle, but you were not so convinced. Why on earth would Dracula's lair be under Gresit of all places? Trevor's fears had further been exacerbated when a gorgeous golden-haired man had raised from a coffin in the room you had reached.

You had instantly been taken by the dhampir, though slightly hesitant. You had only ever heard nightmarish myths about dhampir so meeting one in the flesh was as frightening as it was exciting. Your fears had been heightened when the Sleeping Soldier had almost killed Trevor. However, after some brief introductions and planning, the four of you had teamed up to defeat Dracula.

As your quad travelled Wallachia in search of Dracula's castle you had begun to get to know Alucard. He was a surprisingly kind and mellow man, though slightly standoffish. Adrian went out of his way to check on how you were doing and always looked out for you when facing off against night creatures. Your upbringing as the child of a stone mason had left you unprepared for fighting. You were much more skilled when it came to trapping and wildlife knowledge. In the beginning of the journey this had you feeling like a useless burden but as the four of you travelled on, your knowledge proved invaluable. Supplies came and went but your knowledge of edible plants and trapping skills kept your bellies full. The trio were thankful for your skills and knowledge. Evenings spent in front of the fire bonded you all closer, until finally you made it to the Belmont estate.

The Belmont Estate once again left you feeling useless. Your lack of reading ability hindered your usefulness to the mission, though Trevor was not much more helpful. Sypha searched through the records while Adrian mulled around looking for magical objects that may aide them. You made yourself busy cleaning up debris from when the Estate had burned down.

On one occasion as you stood admiring the shelves of books you had put back Alucard spoke from behind you, "I don't mean to be rude, but it seems that you've put the books in the wrong order." His voice startled you, you had not heard him approach from behind. "Oh Alucard, you scared me. I didn't hear you coming" you laughed lightly, "it probably would be a good idea to put them in the order of the catalogue. I would have if I could read." Alucard was unsurprised by your admission, outside of the speakers, church, or nobility there were not many who were taught to read.

"Would you like to learn?" he simply offered as he began to help you rearrange the books. The offer took you off guard. "You wouldn't mind" you questioned quietly. "We can start off slowly with the basics. Do you know the alphabet?" Alucard inquired. His eyes were kind, and you knew that no matter what you answered he would not judge you. "No. Nobody ever taught me" you admitted. Nodding he took in what you had said and began to think about the best way to begin.

"Wait here. I'll go look in the catalogue to see if there is anything simple that we can begin with" Adrian ordered and with that he retreated towards the center of the library. Leaning up against the shelf you rested your head against it, closed your eyes, and took a deep breath. Your hunger to learn to read was finally going to be fed. Footsteps, although light, disrupted your excited thoughts of learning. Alucard had returned with a few books tucked under his arm.

The two of you found a comfortable reading area in a small nook. You bundled up next to Alucard as he began to outline letters and phonics to you. You appreciated his efforts to teach you, nobody had ever done you such a kindness. Alucard flourished as a teacher, he was compassionate and patient whenever you struggled. If you got frustrated, then he would calm you with gentle words of reason. After several days of learning while you waited upon Sypha, your ability to read slowly began to prosper until you were beginning to read simple literature. Adrian was proud of you and openly celebrated every small step that you made. It was reassuring and only fueled your growing feelings for him.

After the hard-fought defeat of Dracula, you had decided to remain behind at the castle with him. Watching the fading outline of Trevor and Sypha's, Adrian broke the silence. "Why didn't you go with them." Bashfully, you began to rub the back of your neck as your brain began to string together your response. "How could I leave you here all on your lonesome. After all you've done for me the least, I could do is keep you company for a bit. I know you'd miss me" you teased, "Besides, I would miss our reading sessions too much." Adrian snorted, but a faint blush crept up his neck and splayed across his cheeks. "Well, we better get back to it then hadn't we."

Taglist: @awkwardspontaneity (ask, message, or comment if you would like to be added to my Castlevania taglist)

#alucard #alucard x reader #alucard fic #alucard imagine #castlevania x reader #castlevania netflix #castlevania fic #adrian tepes #adrian tepes x reader #adrian tepes fic #adrien fahrenheit tepes #adrian tepes imagine #castlevania #castlevania imagine

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hohoz · 3 years

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How RE Village (8) SOLVED almost every problem that I had with RE Series

Okay - a few weeks ago I made a post that was “The ones that suffer the most” where I showed and explained my main problems with Chris and Jill and the RE series in general

RE 1 is my fav game of this series and probably one of my all time favs, I player every RE there is to be played except 4 (because I dislike Leon, sry)

Recently, specially after 4, the franchise had a few problems, specially in writing/map design/lore

Resident evil 5 for example (I love this game) but it has it flaws, Chris there is only driven by anger and action - Sheva is used as a tool for lore exposition and to be Chris’s new partner

PLEASE: be aware that game at that generation didn’t have much lore - with some exceptions, like God of War 1 2 3 were a simply game with a simple lore, and the most recent GoW has evolved a little bit in the storytelling

Until we hit rock bottom in RE6 - I know a lot of people like this game, but this is only and action game, bad writing and generic stages.

Chris there is so mistreated that makes me mad (if you want to read more about this go to my other post “the ones that suffer the most”)

Until RE7 appeared, Capcom had a new engine and they wanted to do a game that was more horror like - since RE is know for being a Survival horror game.

I liked 7 - some people complained about Ethan being without emotion and others complained about the mold, a few didn’t like the FEAR vibes from Eveline.

I personally enjoyed the game, I thought RE series was going back on track, that game has it’s problems but it was really nice compared to what we had in 6.

After that game I had a conversation with my best friend and I said that I wanted a game that portrayed Umbrella’s fall since the only game that shows this is Umbrellas Chronicles (and that is most a resume of what happened)

And I said: “Bro, I wish that when they made that game, they could tie some mythological lore and human evolution before Umbrella - using Spencer, this would solve LOT OF STUFF and open new ways to handle this series”

and guess what - this happened in RE8 and kudos to the one writer that did that, i have my gratitude.

RESIDENT EVIL 8 is probably one of the BEST RE games that we had IN YEARS

And I want to address all thing that I loved in this game and do some predictions to what will happen in the next games.

“WELL WELL IF IT ISN’T ETHAN WINTERS” (The Father of the year)

My father was not a great guy... really, so I want to be the best dad ever, I really want be like Ethan - a guy who is ready to sacrifice and fight every monster in the way to save my family.

Ethan was a character that in RE7 was used to make us fell like that it was us in the Baker’s house, so that is why he didn’t had that much personality (in my opinion) but they changed that in RE8, here he has nice dialogues AND a diary

He has one of the best story line in the whole REverse, a guy that did EVERYTHING in his power to save his daughter - and you saw that playing the game, every sentence line that he delivered, he tried to save others too and even tho Chris said to him stay put ... but he couldn’t, he had to go to the altar, he had to help Chris, he had to go forward and keep going, specially after having the tools to face Heisenberg.

The plea from a father, that was his last wish, after he heard that Mia was alive he knew that someone had to stop that monster, he made a promise to his daughter “Daddy won’t let those weird fairy tale monsters get you” so he trusted Chris, to be the one that teaches his kid how to be brave and strong

I will not address Chris and Rose situation here because this is Ethans part and he deserves completely all the spotlight, his sacrifice was 100x times better than Steve (CV)/Piers(6)

My cheers to Ethan Winters - You have my respect !

Revelations -> RE8

So leaks from earlier times said that RE8 sucked and Revelations 3 was amazing

Revelations FYI is know for using old tales in RE stories

Revelations 1 - Dante’s Inferno

Revelations 2 - Frans Kafka

Revelations 3 - Dracula

But since RE8 sucked, Capcom said to the REV3 team that they could make REV3 become RE8 and they accepted

Revelations series is one of the best in the games, they handle Jill in a way that I love, Claire and even Barry - so they deserve all the spotlight for making this awesome game - you CLEARLY can see that they love this series and that they treat all the characters with the love that they deserve.

Keeping that in mind, they are the same team that made Rev 2 and in REV 2 we have this file here

So they had a plan for Jill and we can see that in RE8 - I will address that later but keep that in mind - this team cares for the old characters, they were the ones that brought Barry back to the games :V

Chris Redfield

This is a hard one, because he is my fav character and I usually have the most critics regard him, since I’ve expect a lot from Capcom

In the latest games they made him kind dumb, only muscles type of guy and an alcoholic that let all the people in his surroundings die (RE5,RE6,Vendetta)

RE6 treats him the WORST

But in RE8 he had an amazing part in the storyline, it was obvious that he wasn’t evil and they FIXED HIS EYE COLOR - FINALLY

I still don’t like the model face that much but it’s way better than 7 - so I believe Capcom, I still feel that he need more jawline

But let’s go to the most important thing - here he really feels like a squad leader and a veteran, he has his team but he is the one in the front line, he covers and ask for help when he needs, everything about his line delivery makes you feel like “Woah, this guy is a badass, he is not some stupid guy only driven by emotions”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINALLY GETTING THIS RIGHT

If you remember my post about the ones that suffer the most / Jill is also in that list and I will talk about her a little bit later but if my guess is right RE8 saved her character aswell

Another thing that I enjoyed here is the fact that he is kind of a mercenary / Neo Umbrella kind of guy, even tho he is one of the founders of the BSAA

So I will give you all my score to this game:

9/10

I won’t give 10/10 because of some technical issues, the cursor lock didn’t work and mouse sensitivity was i dunno, not the best.

RE8 and the future (PREDICTIONS) - Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, BSAA, Neo Umbrella, Ada Wong and Rosemary

First let’s look Rose

The first time I saw Rose all grown up - I thought to myself : She has the same problem as Eveline (age a lot faster than normal)

But she also absorbed Miranda’s power since the metalicite (something like this) thought that she was a better host. - so maybe she will live longer or something because I doubt that they will do a 14 years time skip.

This is not the same as Terra Save logo (Claire’s job) but it kind reminds me of it - her shoes appeared at least 3 times in this cut scene so maybe they are trying to show some hints with this

She really reminds me of Jodie (Beyond two souls, a game where a girl has a lot of power and the gov uses her in missions and stuff, but she also is learning how to be her own person)

Another thing here is that they don’t have a logo in this car, it really reminds me the car that Chris as using in RE8

This supports the theory that Chris’s organization is dealing with her instead of the BSAA, the she is a hot headed girl and that she had a lot of powers.

So here you can say that she is just a kid because she is a teenager, but what if she actually grows older really fast (like Eveline) maybe this is just 1 year later / 2 yrs later. (after RE8)

So this is the tricky part, this is Chris’s guard/soldier, someone that Chris trust to stand by her side, in my mind I do believe that Chris is kind of a father figure to her, so when this guys says this he is thinking about hot head Chris but she replies “Yeah” thinking about Ethan - (she has the mold memories, so she can actually remember Ethan’s memories)

Now let’s look at this

BSAA

So in REV1 is hinted that BSAA is not the best organization in the world, but since our heroes work there we think that they are the good guys right ?

In REV 2 (it’s important to remember that the team that created RE8 is the same from the REVELATIONS and they had this file here in REV2)

This email is from Jill and what does Jill have ? T-Virus

Wesker is a different case since he was a project and she had the vaccine but this would make a lot of sense if they had this tests with Jill to get the T-Virus

If that is the case, they explained Jill’s absence in the main games, could even explain why Chris left BSAA and opened a new window to a lot of possibilities

My Predictions:

- Chris had trouble dealing with BSAA and Jill’s case, he wanted to get her out of there, maybe he removed her from there but that resulted in him being expelled from the force

-Jill may or may not know what they are doing with her blood, but she will have a huge part in the BOW used by BSAA

-Chris is married to Jill (sorry- I had to place this here, in a perfect world he has two kids with her and they all love aunt Rose)

-Chris will hopefully be a father figure to Rose and they will be in a game together since in the end they came to get her

-Rebecca is still involved in BSAA activities (leak from new REV3) if you consider Vendetta canon, she maybe the one that used Jill’s sample of blood to create the virus soldiers

-Barry maybe retired

-I don’t think Leon will be in this game, but he will get his RE4 Rmk

- I do believe RE9 will be release after Code veronica rmk and MAYBE they will do a game about Umbrella’s Fall (Chris and Jill in Europe against Red Queen and BOWs)

But that is it, you can see a lot of elements from old RE games in RE8, they tried to do something really smart and the game felt amazing to play, that was something else and it’s been a while since a player a RE game that made me feel that way <3

313 notes · View notes

friggsdc · 3 years

Text

Title: little delinquent pt iii

part ii | part iii | part iv

Warnings: Female!reader (bat!sis), mostly family fluff, AU, hurt/comfort, Jason’s language

Word Count: 4700~

Synop: It had Bruce and Dick sharing a look for a moment before the latter spoke up, “It’s not like I’m against continuing to expand the family, but…” he eyed the child you held nervously, “please don’t start bringing home every child you find…” he tilted his head, “he’s bad enough.” Bruce settled a light glare at his first son (that definitely wasn’t what Bruce was thinking), though Dick was stilled by the way your eyes narrowed at him instead.

“His name is Terrence,” that was all you said, brushing past as they were suddenly on guard at the inherited Wayne-scowl on your face.

A/N: tbh I cut the last chapter in two, this is the second half ee;;;; but I rewrote it to be it’s own chapter tho haha. Hum… this doesn’t pick up exactly where the last chapter ended, but it’s still all here. c’: Also, if you wear glasses, just know grumpy ol’ Bruce would probably force contacts on you in public (he’d see them as more ‘professional,’ and glasses as a danger/hazard in the field). Glasses are for home only sighs.

Ngl I see lexcorp similar to westworld’s delos, lotsa fancy designs ee;;;; Cadmus like nasa test rooms, clinical as heck with little to no windows, and wayne ent with Alien franchise’s archaic but advanced spaceship tech, or dracula’s castle with cubicles lmao

“Hey, Jaybird…”

Normally he knew what to expect, normally he’d open the door braced for a tackle, so when the rush of wind never came, he was at a bit of a loss. There you were, dressed like Bruce for some irritating reason. A size-too-big of a jacket, zipped up over a uselessly thin black turtleneck, a pair of black gloves, pants covering everything, and a pair of black lace-less… boots… with red… soles…?, and a suspiciously familiar-looking kid in your arms…

There was a slight guilty look on your face as you gauged his reaction, he could tell, you were nervous.

Wait.

He eyed the kid something scary, his voice grounding out, “so, who do I have to murder?”

“You weren’t gone that long, you know.” Snorting, you pushed past him into the small safe house, frowning at the bareness of it all before situating Terrence on the floor mattress. “How you sleep on this thing is beyond me…” he just shrugged, “too used to it? Answer the question,” he pointed at the kid while closing the door, “who?”

Agitated.

“Terrence,” said child was looking around, but there was only so much that would grab his attention, as empty as the room was.

“His name is Terrence, and he’s no one else’s, he’s… mine.”

“You just said it hasn’t been that damned long—” his frustration was building; he wasn’t liking where this was going, not that you were aware which direction his head was headed at the moment, you’d just gotten here.

You shook your head, “don’t tell me you…” his anger settled into a dark scowl, but you refused to look at him, “you can’t seriously bring more kids into that fucking prison.” He was so conflicted, it was you, but you were still a Wayne. It scared him to think of more children stuck in that lonely mansion, becoming bitter like he had.

You remembered what Dick had said days earlier when he first saw the child,

“Jason—” you began, a slight warning to your tone.

He didn’t care,

“Don’t be like Bruce.”

His voice was so cold.

Terrence had crawled his way over to the legs of the table in the makeshift kitchen, eyes on a prize as he began trying to figure out how a chair worked.

“You know, that actually hurt.”

You didn’t hate your father like Jason projected, but you knew the way he spoke about him, the way he expressed his feelings, that he ‘hated’ him. It was a half-truth, you knew. Jason preferred not hurting you, next to Alfred, you were more tolerable than the other family members.

Somedays Tim and Dick made that list. Somedays.

But that didn’t mean he was actively trying to be kind, he wanted it to stab.

Petty. Resentful. Haunted.

He went to say more, but stopped, fists shaking slightly from anger.

You were staring him down, that same look of disappointment Bruce would give him when he made an obviously stupid decision, as if he were still a Robin in training. Like your father, you could read him like an open book when you tried, it made him feel vulnerable, guilty, small.

Fucking frustrated.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he was at a loss for words, “…shit.” He turned away from you, coming back to the moment as he tried to reign in his temper, “it’s just…”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.”

Instead of continuing to argue the point, too used to his outbursts (Alfred and your family primed you too well for dealing with the unstable emotions of others), you walked over and wrapped your arms around him, head resting on his clothed chest, “missed you, Jay.”

Almost hesitantly, his arms returned the hug, his head burying itself in your hair, “sorry…” he breathed out, almost too quiet. He was tense as you pulled back a bit, reaching up to grab his face in your gloved hands as you leaned up on your toes, pulling his head down to yours. You touched your forehead to his, making certain to be gentle, “Honestly, it’s okay Jay. I forgive you, okay?”

“Cold,” his hands cupped your (oddly chilled) gloved ones, eyes searching your face before he shifted, head nodding slightly, rubbing yours. A heavy sigh escaped him, an awkward smile forming, “so, how’s my cutest little sister been?”

Glad that he was trying to get past his guilt, you shook your head, “a roller coaster. Dad’s upset at me.”

He just snorted in amusement, relaxing a little as you continued, “And how was California? The Titans? I miss Kory…” you blinked at his flat expression, “what? You were at the Tower, right? With Kory and Roy, and the others?”

Wow you ruined the moment fast.

“Aaaand that’s where you stop being cute. I swear this family is full of creepers. I think Dick’s the only normal one,” you tilted your head as he kept his hands firmly on your shoulders. “Honestly, you and Tim are terrifying, your brother is a demon, and I don’t even want to describe Bruce.”

“Glad you didn’t include yourself in that, zomboy,” he groaned, “that’s hurtful,” then he pouted, finally getting a good look at you.

Terrence was old enough to stand on his two legs as he held onto the chair, but he kept stumbling as he moved uncertainly. His eyes were focused on his mission as he started trying to climb further up.

Something clicked in the back of Jason’s brain, sudden realization dawning, “what…” you sighed, his hand moving from your shoulder, “is this…?” You refused to meet his stare as his fingers hooked on the zipper of your jacket, “uhm…” you flushed as he pulled it down, a bright red bat in his face.

There was a sudden sparkle in his eyes.

“Huh, didn’t expect you to be that much of a fan.” You were burning from head to toe now, refusing to look at him at all, rubbing the back of your neck with a thick swallow. “That… that’s kind of the problem…”

“What, that you’re walking around with my colors?” His grin seemed disappointed, but turned a bit more concerned at the frown you leveled at him, “it… let me explain… I think I need help…”

“Definitely gonna need explanations. A lot of them.” The kid was one thing, this outfit was another. He made to sit down, and you followed, leaving Terrence to his own devices for the moment.

It’s not like there was much trouble to get into, everything of worth or danger was out of his reach.

“…yeah.”

“…”

“What is it?”

“…Why’d you think I slept with someone? When you first saw Terrence in my arms?”

He leaned away from you, chin resting on his palm, propped up on the arm of the couch with his elbow, “I’m your brother, and he looks like… it’s… I’m supposed to get upset about that… just… answer…” he did his best to keep a straight face, but eventually he had to turn away, looking at the wall, ears burning.

“Hm…?” you leaned towards him and he didn’t have to look at you to know you had a less than innocent smile on right now.

“Creep.”

You just laughed as you leaned into his side, causing him to crack a small smile, still not looking at you.

[“So… How to start this…”]

[“The suit, first, Terry after.”]

[“Terry?”]

[“The kid. Just explaaaaain already, uuugh I have patrol in a few hours…”]

[A heavy sigh, “Okay, then... So, you know how Lex helps fund the Society’s shenanigans?”]

[“…oh.”]

[“Yeah.”]

When it came to most places, breaking and entering was always easier at night, but for the LexCorp building? Nighttime came with problems, it came with heightened security, rigorous control, and the easy ability to spot something that was out of place. There was also your youngest brother who had filled you in on his adventures with Jon once, not a single detail of the LexCorp building having been left out; he was a thorough kid.

It was far easier to infiltrate during the day, the number of staff on the security team, the cliques of scientists and researchers, and the average workers meandering about made it easy to blend. You had donned a pair of (older prototype) smart glasses, normal from the viewer’s perspective, an integrative matrix mapping AI system from the wearer’s. Well, it could do more, but this was what you needed, the constant reconstruction of old building plans for more accuracy as you walked around.

Tim’d made some amazing things over the years, such as his matrix encryption to keep your work phone quiet, scrambling any noticeable connections that could be traceable. But this one was probably the coolest in your opinion, and he had yet to see the return of said glasses since you wouldn’t give them up, and he could never find where you’d put them. The glasses were a useful subtle change from the norm, a quick disguise, the security barely giving you a glance-over as you entered the passcode for the ID tag you wore, walking into the building.

With a slight wave from you, and a “Good Afternoon!” from them, getting in the backdoor was always the easy part. There were two more women next to you chatting in excitement and you made to stick close to them, parting only when you came upon the women’s locker rooms. The badge number Tim’d tracked down for you was useful until it wasn’t, Lex’s problem was needing levels three and above extensive background checks on anyone hired, and Tim knew exactly where to look.

[“Like I said, terrifying.”]

[“You do the same thing.”]

[“That’s a bit above my paygrade, usually I ask Tim for help when I need information from behind top-of-the-line security walls.”]

[“Oh.”]

[“Yeah.”]

Next was invasion of personal privacy and property, and a lot of it. You’d have felt worse if it weren’t for having been raised this way, “you’ll find out that people are just that, some sick and twisted, some happy and kind-hearted, but in the end, we’re all the same. Eventually, nothing will surprise you,” your father would say.

It didn’t take long, going through a few lockers and purses, letting your glasses do most of the work. They were able to see in a three-dimensional matrix, constantly being constructed behind most any material or metal. There were plenty of lab coats in varying sizes to choose from, and you spotted one badge and wondered who the dumdum was. You had plenty of electromagnetic strips for your ID if you needed a switch, but it seemed unnecessary. Some people left their everything when they clocked out, too.

You’d secured your purse around your stomach and under your shirt, the bulge flattened at your side, tying the ends in place. It would uncomfortably dig into you, but you couldn’t leave it behind and it would only be for a short time.

No one had paid you any mind, too busy rushing to get in and out of the locker rooms, and you made to escape with a group of women in the same coats as yourself. The group and yourself came to an elevator, and you let them do all the work. One of them scanning their ID for the group, the rest blurting out the number of the floor they needed to get to, and yourself joining in. A strange calm settling as you got more into the coworker attitude.

Seventh level Research and Development wing.

[“Not his office?”]

[“Why?”]

[“I dunno, there’s probably some terrible top-secret info in there.”]

[“I mean, I was on the main R&D floor, how much more top secret can you get?”]

[“Touché.”]

The entire R&D area was made up of floor to ceiling glass window dividers, a white and chromatic color scheme, and a lot of tightly sealed doors. You honestly didn’t even need the glasses to find the head researcher’s office, it was written in huge bold letters next to the dumb door on a plaque.

Weaving through a few people with their eyes busy reading clipboards and cellphones, you eyed each inch of the floor, and wondered if the other stock standard R&D floors at LexCorp were similar. No one paid you any mind as you stood in front of the group of office doors, all packed neatly in a little corner, and each leading to a different R&D office. They were mostly empty, only one occupied, most of the techbros and techgals were out and about doing work.

Again, the glasses did the decoding work for you, getting you the set of numbers you needed to enter the room. Unlike the rest of the lab, this office had less windows, though the few it did have were still large. Though they faced out rather than in, and it also wasn’t as large and as roomy as you’d have imagined. The Wayne R&D offices being waaay bigger in comparison.

Taking out two small flash drives, you shoved the sticks into the lone computer on the desk, booted it up, and just let them do their thing. Having the computer start with the flash drive, it acted as an executable program, letting it bypass any needed passcodes or security clearance for now.

One for unlocking the system, the other for information storage.

No doubt someone will notice that.

You wondered briefly if this was how the Cyborg felt, only ever having gotten to see him briefly before he utterly devastated an entire operating system. He then rebuilt it to his preferences, all in the matter of seconds. Tim had always lamented not getting to watch when you described it.

Notably, it was quite lovely how LexCorp’s researchers had everything organized in a folder subsystem so well. You were able to track down the needed information in less than a few minutes through the root directory.

Gotta be faster.

However, as you stared at the processing bar on your information download, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Clicking the monitor’s sleep button to dim any light, you stood up and strode over to the door.

Being the lookout for a computer program was a new one.

[“Pfff.”]

[He snickered behind his palm as you smacked him on the shoulder.]

[“At least you got in without needing to hack anything yourself. Get dunked on, Dick, Damian.”]

[Light laughter echoed.]

Nothing had happened by the time the computer let out a small ding, indicating the download had finished. With both flash drives now pocketed, you turned to the next problem: getting out.

It really shouldn’t have been that hard, it was so stupidly easy to get in, thank you new temporary coworkers, but as you eyed the group of security detail by the elevator, you made a hard turn to the side.

Had you gone through the front doors instead of the employee entrance, you would have seen a ton of security. Through the back however, they really were only at certain check points, it’s not like just anyone could get in. So of course, there was no way they would have been able to get so far as the head office of any department.

How long had you been gone from the others? How long did you still have on Tim’s encryptions?

Oh heck.

The options were now trying to squeeze by the security, which was doubtful, they were checking everyone, or figure out a way to base jump without any gear. Neither option sounded appealing, you had no wings or grappling hooks with you, and it was still midday.

The corridor you turned into went from full on glass to a partition supporting windows, half and half, split horizontally to allow for more privacy, probably.

This was also exactly where you didn’t want to be.

Frick.

Most of the rooms looked like chemistry labs, charts everywhere, huge gravity convection and forced-air ovens, and thermo-freezers that looked like they belonged in meat markets. It was almost overwhelming at how cool some of these things looked as you searched for an exit. So filled with anxiety and adrenaline as you were, you almost missed it out of the corner of your eye. It was the red shimmering of a glass bowl on your face that made you notice it, the barely-there stream of sun that caught it just right.

You wasted no time getting to work, the door just as easy as the others, passcodes, they were all passcodes. Where were the fingerprint and retina scanners? Hell, where was the facial recognition scanners? You’d come prepared for so much, so you were incredibly confused at the lax security features. But again, this wasn’t the ground floor and security clearance was stricter this far in, your badge did most of the infiltration for you.

Was your dad that paranoid that now, so were you?

[“The civi world is full of sub-par idiots.”]

[“You sound like Dami.]

[“Gross.”]

[“…it’s uncanny, really, he said the same thing.”]

[“Shit.”]

The room looked similar to the others, less windows, more wall, plenty of graphs and charts, but there were a few different things as well. A few of which you pocketed; the only expensive looking laptop was also grabbed straight off a table to the side of your quarry.

The most notable thing however was glaring you boldly in the face, all black and a giant red bat on the chest.

A batsuit.

[“Yeah, I’m gonna want to know why baldy even had this thing.”]

[“Tim’s going through the drives right now, Dami dropped them off…”]

[“Damn.”]

Why did Lex have a batsuit? Where did he get it from, or did he help develop it? Terrence was part of all this, and what about your fa… the Batman? Why was Cadmus part of all this? Why was Lex? Were there more suits? More clo— children?

Shit shit shitshitshitshi—

To say you were freaking out a bit was an understatement.

Hearing heavy footsteps, you panicked and grabbed the garment from behind it’s glass case and took a dive behind the nearest desk. They hadn’t come in yet, they hadn’t gotten to this room, there was still time, but… still time to what?

You eyed the suit in your hands, it’s size horribly different from your own body type (but you could probably still fit it) and you decided to make a really dumb decision then and there.

You were gonna get caught regardless, might as well suit up and try to fight your way out. If you were lucky, you could get out of this without ruining your father’s reputation (or Batman’s identity.)

You began stripping behind the desk, fully intent on donning the batsuit. If nothing else, these things usually came with masks, even though you hadn’t seen a single one near it.

The moment you pulled the fabric over your legs, heels sliding effortlessly into the red soles, you watched almost in amazement as the fabric melted to your skin, reshaping to fit you. There was going to be a lot of bagginess in the suit when you wore it, a lot of tightness in weird places, too, and it had looked fitted to a larger male. So you hadn’t expected the suit to fit perfectly on purpose. It even had a built-in utility belt. Suddenly you were a bit giddy.

Again, what the hell was Lex Luthor doing?

“So freaking cool.”

The material felt almost like a second skin, there was also no sensory loss from wearing it, you could feel the floor as if you were barehanded.

You’d never thought about it before, but now you couldn’t take your mind off Dick and his skintight suit. You felt almost nude in this suit, not used to something showing everything off like it was.

Did Dick enjoy this?

Your ears burned brightly as you finished suiting up, no longer able to think about a large portion of superheroes and villains.

How could you ever face some of them again?

How could you ever look Dick in the eyes again?

“Oh no…”

Perverts. All of them.

[Loud laughter.]

[A very red face.]

You had to admit though, it was so much cooler than your heavier and bulkier recon gear. It didn’t weigh you down and the sensory adaptation was something you’d never come across before. Speaking of, reaching up, you took the glasses off to get a clear view of your surroundings and immediately regretted it.

The suit seemed to come to life on it’s own as something came out of nowhere, engulfing your head in complete darkness.

A silent scream, too terrified to let out any sound.

You about died then and there.

The suit wasn’t that cool anymore.

Without missing a beat and calming your fears of being bagged or worse, the darkness faded, and you could see your surroundings. Blinking for a moment to adjust, you tried to get your bearings on what the hell just happened, your hand gingerly coming up to feel your face.

[Booting...]

Were you hearing things or did the suit just...?

Unfortunately, that was the exact moment the door to the room you were in opened, and you panicked. It was a dead-end room, you weren’t as good at fighting as your brothers, and the security here could be scary when hunting down an intruder.

Stupid Lex.

Without thinking, you grabbed your things now bundled up in the labcoat like a bag, slung it over your shoulder, and bolted towards one of the windows looking out.

You were so used to recon jobs that you hadn’t taken into consideration that you had none of your gear (but your brothers did this kind of stupid thing constantly, so you’d be okay, right?).

You were too caught up in the moment.

You hadn’t heard the sound, mind too blank, but the glass falling around you was enough indication of just what you had done.

Base jumping it was.

You were in a batsuit, after all.

Falling seven stories was terrifying, but definitely brought you back to reality. Securing the makeshift bag on your back, tied around your neck, you began thinking as fast as you could. Claws? The suit had them, you had noticed, but you were too far from the building, having jumped a distance, then... The suit had a built-in utility belt, right? Maybe there was something useful in one of the —

[Servo-Motors engage…]

[Checking system function…]

[Loading protocol…]

…huh?

[84 feet till impact.]

…wait—

[75 feet till impact.]

“Yeah I see that.”

[71 feet till impact.]

“Thanks.” Sarcasm, “What else can you tell me other than my unfortunate demise at the hands of gravity?”

[Thrusters not online.]

[68 feet till impact.]

[Grappling gun unavailable.]

[Batarang lines unavailable.]

[67 feet till impact.]

[Retractable wings availa—]

“Yes, that one, wings, please! Wait… thrusters?” you had little time as your whole body suddenly started tumbling, a set of red wings expanding between your arms and the sides of your torso. “Shitshitsh—” and then you were gliding, your arms having spread on their own from the force of the fall. “Oh… Oh my…”

The suit was cool again, “Dang this is… nice… Like a bird or… him.” You reeeaaallllly didn’t want to chance him hearing you say his name.

You wanted to try this higher up now, in a sea of clouds… It was like floating, an almost weightless feeling taking over. The wind currents were a bit to get used to, but it wasn’t terrible, having imagined it would be worse higher up, in them dang fluffy clouds... sigh.

[23 feet till landing.]

The suit helped guide you to an area with less people, something akin to your own Gotham alleyways (to a point, Metropolis’ worst streets were like Gotham’s safest ones). The small alley that led to several businesses’ back doors was rather clean, and there weren’t many places to hide. The best you could do was a growing shadow next to an empty dumpster.

“Alright then…” you sighed aloud, hands doing their best to find any seam in the suit, and after a few minutes, your—

[Heart rate at 142bpm.]

[Heart rate rising.]

[Blood pressure at—]

“—No kidding,” you thought, mind racing, and unfortunately, there wasn’t a single seam on the suit.

Anxiety was building in your chest,

“Frick.”

[“Wait, the suit talks?”]

[“I think it has an OS on it? I haven’t tried the cowl since…”]

[“You should.”]

[“…Nnnn”]

“Why do you look like Nightwing?” All you did was take the clothes from Damian and began to dress yourself over the suit, not certain at all on what you could say to this situation. You’d called Damian the moment you lucked out and made the cowl… come off?, and in his eagerness to leave Jon behind, he showed up quickly.

“You will tell me,” he was sounding just like dad.

“Dami, I uhm…”

“…I won’t tell father.” he could deduce a few things this pertained to, including but not limited to the child you had brought home, and how you avoided Bruce.

You could only sigh and nod at him, resigned. You really hope this didn’t come back to bite you in the bottom.

“What are you two doing?”

The clothes you had couldn’t cover most of the suit, the clothes Damian had brought you were able to do just that. Strangely, you weren’t feeling overheated, even though you looked like you were ready for cold weather.

“Ah, Jon.”

“You look silly.”

“…thanks.”

[“…”]

[”...”]

“Nightwing? Screw that brat.”

“Please don’t speak like that…” you sighed, your head in your hands.

He just huffed in annoyance, “I wear the colors better,” he muttered, “it sounds like a lot, what's your next plan of action?”

You let yourself slump forwards as he pulled you into a side-hug, arm slung over your shoulders, “it’s this suit. I can’t get it off, and—"

BAM

You and Jason about had twin heart attacks.

Without missing another fraction of a second, the larger male was on his feet, flipping over the back of the couch ready to attack before he swore at the sight in front of him. Striding over to the table in two long steps, “What the hell, Terry.” He haphazardly picked the kid up, a red helmet falling on the table with a clang, and turned to you, “your kid just tried to kill us, you realize.”

Having slid to the ground out of need to instantly roll to the side, you stopped, staring at the smoking gun that’d been pushed off the table, lying on the floor near you. Your eyes then shifting to the hole in the safehouse’s wall, “Uhm… The safety…”

He just snorted, “I don’t always have it on.” He wasn’t great at taking care of himself, sadly. You did your best with your busy schedule and budgeted time constraints, but when he wasn’t here, he easily fell into old habits.

“Please don’t let the demon spawn near him.”

“Please keep the damned safety on your guns.”

Batman was straining so hard that it looked like he was in the middle of a fight, an obvious aura of unrest around him.

“Whoa, you gonna punch yourself in the face? Wait, wait a minute, I gotta…” Batman groaned, irritated as a red blur came into the room, jabbered on too quickly, then took his phone out and pointed it at the big bat.

“Okay, I’m recording now, do it!”

It took a moment as Batman thought, rubbing his temples.

“I trained my kids too well,” at that, Flash put his phone down, tilting his head in confusion, “and that’s… bad?” He looked up at the League’s computers in front of him, noting the blinking [[ALERT ALERT ALERT]] off to the side.

“Because,” Batman reasoned, “I have to deal with them,” he ground out, glaring at the sign of intrusion.

“Ooooh, your kids hacked into the system again, huh?” Flash let out a low whistle, clearly amused by Batman’s misfortunes. Batman did his best to ignore the red nerd, calling on Cyborg to assist him, even though he had already been on his way, noticing it moments prior.

“Family, amirite?”

Batman said nothing in response,

Tim almost got away with it.

Almost.

#tim drake x reader #dick grayson x reader #jason todd x reader #stephanie brown x reader #duke thomas x reader #bat!sis

61 notes · View notes

mysticpetals · 3 years

Note

Brandon anon here- don’t worry! It’s your show we’re all just spectators :)

Could I possibly get angst #36 for RC Vlad from Dracula instead?

Forgive me

Pairing: Vlad × past!mc (Lale)

Genre: angst (yay)

Words: 1.3k

Summary: Lale noticed that Vlad had been acting differently ever since he came back and she was going to find out why.

Prompt: 36. "They warned me about this."

"About what?"

"You."

Warnings: blood, stabbing

Notes: Aaaaaaaa I really struggled with this one. At first I thought that integrating this into the present would be way too simple and predictable so I thought I would do it in the past. Only, I didn't know how I should go about that lol but then I whipped something up and hopefully it isn't too bad and makes some sense haha

Ever since he came back from his home country, Vlad had been acting very strangely.

You couldn't really notice the difference if you didn't know him but Lale knew him well enough to understand that something was bothering her friend. When she had asked about it that one time, she only got a smile that didn't reach his eyes, telling her not to worry about him.

She had even asked Aslan for help.

"Did you notice anything odd about Vlad?"

"Like what?" He questioned, confused and Lale had dropped the topic, thinking that maybe she had been overthinking if Aslan also didn't notice anything wrong.

She spent most of her time in the library, reading up for school and when she was bored with it, she asked Aslan and Vlad to tell her stories from their lands. When the three of them were together, it seemed as if all in the world was well and she laughed at herself for ever thinking that something was different with Vlad when he was sitting beside her, shaking his head in amusement at what Aslan had said.

"Ah, children. Beautiful day, isn't it?"

It was Sultan Murad, flanked by a pair of guards and the teenagers rushed to bow and greet him. He laughed heartily at seeing their flustered faces.

"It's okay. You can continue whatever it is you were doing. I was merely passing," he said and Lale smiled at her uncle's retreating back, turning to her friends to tell them about that one time her uncle caught her sneaking around the kitchens, when she noticed Vlad's eyes still trained on the Sultan and his hands clenched to fists.

"Vlad? You okay?" She touched his hand gently, and he jumped, breaking out of whatever trance he had found himself in and smiled at Lale.

"Yes, yes, everything's okay. I'll see you both later, Radu wanted to see me," he said distractedly and walked away, Lale frowning at his tense back.

She pursed her lips but didn't say anything as Aslan launched into the story of the fight he saw in the barracks that morning.

————

"You teach really well, Zara. I'm sure that for the next competition, I'll be able to answer anything they ask," Lale said and Zara smiled bashfully. They were sitting in the library, preparing for a competition that was to be held next week.

"You're too kind Lale khatun. We just need one more scroll to go through and then we'll be done."

"Ah, but can I go stretch my legs first? We've been sitting here for far too long," Lale stood up and stretched and as soon as Zara smiled in agreement, she ran off outside, wandering aimlessly, just enjoying the cool breeze on her face.

That is until she saw Vlad turning the corner in front of her. She tilted her head, questions milling in her mind and decided to follow him at an arm's length.

He was being incredibly careful not to make a noise or let someone see him and Lale had had enough. So she loudly announced her presence.

"Vlad! What are you doing here?"

He whirled around in panic and drew his sword, but seeing her he calmed down slightly. Although his pinched brows still remained.

"Lale, I was just passing through. How about you?"

Lale knew that he was lying and a stab of hurt went through her when she realised. Were they not supposed to tell each other everything? Weren't they best friends?

"I was stretching my legs after being stuck in the library for the past few hours," she straightened up and went to move past him, when he held her wrist delicately.

"Are you okay?"

He seemed genuinely worried about her but she wasn't in the mood to answer or talk to him, so she removed her arm from his grasp and smiled tightly.

"Yes, of course."

She didn't look back and didn't hear his footsteps moving. Turning the corner, her breath hitched as she saw the Sultan talking to the Grand Vizier.

Vlad, what are you doing, she thought.

————

She realised too late what was going on when she heard Vlad talk with his brother, telling him to take care of himself no matter what happened to him.

She rushed to find Aslan but the soldiers told him that someone needed him and that he had been gone for a few hours but would be back soon. Panicking and not knowing what to do, she ran to her room and turned out all the drawers to find her mother's dagger. Just in case.

When she reached her uncle's room, her heart sunk on seeing the dead guards outside and she quickly made her way inside where Vlad was standing over the Sultan, sword brandished to kill.

"No! Stop it Vlad!" She shouted and he turned around in surprise.

His hair was in a disarray and the usually kind eyes held a storm inside them. He sneered, an expression she often saw but never directed at her.

"Leave now, Lale. This does not concern you," he said.

The Sultan shifted in his place but it was clear that he was incapacitated, judging by his red eyes and disheveled appearance.

"Please, Vlad, he's never been anything but kind to you," she said, moving towards him and his eyes blazed with fury.

"My parents are dead because of him! All because he imprisoned me here and I couldn't go to them," his voice cracked at the end and Lale had tears in her eyes too, the anguish in his voice piercing something deep in her.

"Lale, go," her uncle choked out and Vlad's attention once again went to him.

"No. I won't let you do something you'll regret," she said and hesitantly put her shaking hand over his, still holding the sword.

For a moment, it seemed as if he considered her words but then the sound of clamouring footsteps came and Vlad's face hardened.

"Get out, Lale!" He snatched his hand back but she had his wrist in a tight grip.

"No, Vlad please! This won't bring them back," she pleaded but he turned a blind eye to her, shoving her away from him forcefully.

The sound of a pained gasp and shout of her name made him look back and Vlad almost wished that he didn't.

A sword was sticking out of her stomach, bloody, and on the other side was Aslan, looking at her with a horrified expression on his face. Vlad's breath stopped, sword clattering to the ground as he saw her body fall against his best friend, the rest of the soldiers too stunned to do anything.

"Lale? Someone get a healer!" Aslan screamed, tears streaming down his face and Vlad slowly made his way towards them, face ashen as he kneeled down.

Lale's eyes were barely open but she still reached out to him, the other hand holding Aslan's.

"They warned me about this." Her voice was soft and she was looking at Vlad.

"About what?"

"You."

Vlad didn't know when he started crying but he found that he couldn't stop, holding Lale's bloody hand tightly in his own. He looked at Aslan's face and saw guilt and sorrow, knowing that he would never forgive himself for holding the sword that did this.

"Shahi Khatun told me that my future would not end well if I followed what my heart wanted. And it has only ever wanted you."

"Don't. Please," Vlad cried, sobbing with his head down, not even being able to look at her, ashamed and guilty.

"I'm just glad that I stopped you from doing it," she said and at the same moment, the healer rushed inside, pushing both of the boys aside.

That seemed to break the spell as the soldiers began advancing towards him and helping up the Sultan.

With a heavy heart, he ran to the window, looking back once at Lale's bloodied body and Aslan's empty eyes and jumped.

#romance club #dracula a love story #dracula: a love story #romance club vlad #vlad × mc #vlad × lale #rc vlad × mc #rc vlad #rc dracula: a love story

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awxward · 3 years

Text

A3! Boys + My Stuffed Animals

Spring Troupe:

Sakuya

Gabriel

Gabriel is a small elephant with big ears that constantly make him fall over. He has a pink bowtie that says 'I Love You'

Makes Saku feel safe and Gabriel is a reminder to himself that he's loved and appreciated by everyone at Mankai.

Named after a friend from theatre class :)

Masumi

George Washington

George Washington is a tiger. He is small, but his arms are like those slap bracelets so you can wear him on your wrist (or let him hang on the side of shelf like I do).

So I got Georgy-Boy for easter 2020. i asked my friends for name ideas. They sent me stuff like 'Stripes'. I went offline for a few minutes and when I came back online I told my friends his name was George Washington.

//////////

Me: tiger has a name now

Friend: which name did you choose?

Me: his name is George Washington.

Friend: what the fuck. how'd you get George Washington?

//////////

Pretty sure he got the name bc I was listening to the Hamilton soundtrack.

Citron

Daniel

Daniel is mostly pink but has other pastel colors that look like watercolors. He's a unicorn. And a ketchain. And he's one of those dream lites, so he lights up. (He's supposed too anyway, but he's never lit up since i got him like 7 years ago at a yard sale).

Named after Daniel Howell (formerly danisnotonfire) [YouTube]

Tsuzuru

Lucifer

Lucifer is a small panda pillow pet. Very easy to travel with bc he fits in most backpacks.

My mom told me she wanted me to have a stuffed animal with a biblical name, i picked him up, looked her in the eye and said "His name is Lucifer." My mom tried to protest. "You said a biblical name, Mom. Lucifer is in the bible."

Itaru

Pao(???)

Pao is a panda. They are also a phone holder thingy. Like it'll hold your phone if you're watching movies or whatever.

Like 5-ish years old. Got them from a friend. They have a tag with their name on it, but I read it once and then just called them "the panda" for some reason instead of their actual name and now the tag is too faded to read the name, but i am 38% sure it says Pao or something close to that.

Chikage

Tsuki

Tsuki is a dinosaur. Tsuki is a sparkly dino. He's green rn, but if you brush your hand over him, the sparkles turn over and he becomes orange. I like green tho bc his tummy and the bottom of his feet are orange and so are his eyes.

Named after Tsukishima Kei (Haikyuu)

Summer Troupe:

Tenma

Hinata

Hinata is a narwhal. A bright orange narwhal. Infact he is the same color as Tenma's hair.

Named after Hinata Shoyo (Haikyuu) [bc its the same color as his hair. there is a theme with this narwhal and the anime boys i associate with them]

Yuki

Steve

Steve is a regular teddy bear, except he has a shirt that has pikachu on it. (the shirt was originally Tsuki's bc i got tsuki at a friends build a bear bday party, but it fits Steve better)

I just think Yuki would try new designs/color schemes/styles by making clothes for Steve to see how they look.

I got Steve from a claw machine (my bf at time won him for me just before we watched Endgame together.)

Named after Steve Rogers (Marvel)

Muku

Eeyore

Muku most definitely loves the Winnie the Pooh movies and I will fite for this hc. He gets my Eeyore. You know how Eeyore's tail is always going missing or falling off??? Eeyore's tail comes off (velcro) but its attached to his actual body with a string so it cant be misplaced.

Eeyore has a patch that says "official disney store" but i got him for $3 at a thrift store.

Misumi

Sherlock

Sherlock is a polar bear. Sherlock is very huggable. He makes Misumi feel safe. He has a hat and scarf (that don't come off. they are sewn on him)

the hat has a pom pom on top and the scarf has a pom pom on each end. the hat and scarf and the bottom of his feet have a blue/white plaid pattern.

Kazunari

Victor

Victor is a puppy and the first big stuffed animal of mine on the list! He's all tan and abt maybe 3-4 ft long. Victor lays pretty flat so he's comfy to lay/sit on. I think Kazu would like sitting or laying on him when drawing. Probably has him on his bed so he's like a giant pillow.

Victor is from Toys R Us. I got him last August-ish from my Aunt and Uncle who found him at a thrift store and thought I'd like him.

Named after Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)

Kumon

PJ is a small white tiger. He is also a ball. He can fit in one hand. When Kumon is thinking or stressed or bored (etc) he just lays on his back and tosses PJ up into the air.

When Kumon is laying on the floor tossing PJ, Misumi sits on the bed closest to where PJ is and tries to grab him (but only if Kumon is in a good mood and okay with it) It's a fun little game they made up they like to play.

Pretty sure he was named after KickthePJ (YouTube)

liber pls give us a pic with all of autumn i am begging

Autumn Troupe:

Banri

Sammy

Sammy is another one of my large stuffed animals. He is also a puppy, but unlike Victor he is sitting instead of laying. He's abt 2-3 ft tall. His fur is the same color as Banri's hair. Great to squeeze at anytime, but very therapeutic when you're in a bad mood. Has a heart on his ear.

i got him abt 7 years ago. I had just finished spn season 2 and was upset abt the finale and had no way to start season 3.

Named after Sam Winchester

Juza

Tiggs

Tiggs is a beanie baby tiger. Tiggs is a little larger than PJ (and not a ball). He's a regular orange tiger instead of a white tiger like PJ. He'd buy Kumon PJ so they could have matching stuffed animals. Small and very comforting to just hold/hug.

Omi

Benedict (Ben)

Benedict, also known as Ben, is a small koala. Just a little bigger than Tiggs. He has a heart on one of his feet (i think the right one). very soft. very fluffy.

Named after Benedict Cumberbatch (Actor)

Taichi

Dean

Dean is my largest stuffed animal. He is a dark brown teddy bear that's abt 4-ish ft tall. He can be put in a corner and used as like a bean bag chair, or he can lay down flat and be a good pillow like Victor can.

It's very fun to just wrap around him and squeeze as tight as you can. Especially in when your in a bad mood. Very comforting to cry into.

I got him a couple years ago at a thrift store.

Named after Dean Winchester (Supernatural)

Sakyo

Lev

Lev is a lion abt the size of a regular teddy bear (maybe slightly larger). I got him a thrift store so he's slightly worn out from age. He's mostly a pastel dark yellow-ish tan and his mane is dark brown. very huggable.

He's the stuffed animal I sleep with. Smells nice all the time, like the fabric softener.

Named after Lev Haiba (Haikyuu)

Sakoda

Emotional Support Iron Man

So Iron Man is small and he sparkles. He will hurt you/someone if thrown hard enough. Sakoda likes heroes bc they remind him of Sakyo they look cool. I'd hc that he got Iron Man from Sakyo when he was younger and its one of his most valued possessions and goes everywhere with him (or stays with Azamo or Sakyo at the dorm. Maybe Izumi or a couple others are on the list of who can watch over Iron Man.) Very protective of it.

Got the emotional support part of his name from a friend.

She saw Eddie Redmayne on a movie cover (think it was The Danish Girl) and started freaking out bc she loved him. I handed her the Iron Man and the next day she thanked me and said he was an Emotional Support Iron Man and the name stayed.

Azami

[Emotional Support] Spooder-Mon

Sakoda knew Azami as a kid. He most definitely got him the Spider-Man so they could have matching plushies.

Spider-Man is square and has little blob hands doing the web thingy. The tag said travel pillow, but he probably just chills by Azami's bed. When needed, Iron Man will be placed next to him if Sakoda can't take Iron Man with him.

I brought him to school one day and we had a bio test and all the people sitting around me passed him around and gave him a pat for good luck. We all got good grades and then he was dubbed as Emotional Support Spooder-Mon, but the Emotional Support title isnt part of his name (unlike the Iron Man).

i wanted guy in the pic, but i also wanted tsumu and hiso in the pic so you get 2 pics for winter

Winter Troupe:

Tsumugi

Phil

Phil is a zebra. He is a pillow pet zebra. Like Lucifer, Phil is also easy travel size. The bottom half of Phil is pink, so I refer to him as my pink zebra.

I just think it'd be cute to have Tsumugi with a pillow pet ok. I also thought he'd probably have has Phil for many years (since he was a kid) and Tasuku most definitely brings up things from when they were kids and shit.

//////////

Tasuku: you chose the pink zebra, and for what???

Tsumugi: its a very aesthetically pleasing pastel pink.

Tasuku: THERE WAS A DOG PILLOW PET RIGHT THERE AND IT WAS CUTER

Tsumugi: dont talk bad abt Phil.

the rest of mankai: ????????

//////////

I got phil before I got Lucifer many years ago. He was old when i got him and he is very old now. I love him so much.

Named after Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) [YouTube]

Tasuku

Cap

Cap is a husky. He was won from a claw machine with Steve.

There's just something abt the grey and white that gave me Tasuku vibes. Also, Cap's eyes are abt the same shade of blue as Tsumugi's and Tasuku knows this bc they are in love. Very squishy when hugged and with the way he sits, you could make it look like he's guarding something.

Named after Captain America (Marvel)

Homare

Ushijima (Ushi)

Ushijima, also called Ushi, is the last of my giant stuffed animals. He is abt 2-3 ft tall (like Sammy) and has a tail abt the same length.

Ushi is a raccoon thats mostly hot pink. Ushi's eyes are also pink and just abt the same shade as Homare's hair, although Ushi's fur is brighter by a few shades.

Ushi hurts when thrown/swung hard enough. Very fun to hug bc he's filled with beans (like beanie babies) so unlike all my other giant animals, he doesn't have to be fixed/adjusted after everytime you squeeze him. The tail has cotton tho and makes a good pillow.

Homare would definitely just see a 3 ft tall hot pink raccoon and claim it with no explanation.

Named after Ushijima Wakatoshi (Haikyuu)

Hisoka

Vladmir Dracula the 3rd (Vlad, Drac)

Vladmir Dracula the 3rd, who has many other names but usually goes by Vlad or Drac, is a vampire (surprise).

Vlad is a squishmallow thingy, and their tags say something abt them being able to be used as pillows, and thats why Hisoka gets Vlad.

Vlad is triangular in shape, with triangle ears, and triangle fangs, so I thought abt Misumi, but i figured Hisoka bc it's a pillow.

He's like the perfect travel size and he has a cape and a bowtie.

Named after Vlad the Impaler, the real life inspiration behind Dracula (my brother thought he was named after Vladmir Putin and I wanted to punch him for that but I was too busy laughing.)

Also named after Dracula, who was a vampire.

Idk where 'the 3rd' came from, but it's part of his name for forever.

Azuma

Sebastian

Sebastian is a dinosaur thats blue with a white tummy.

He's also a squishmallow, but he's bigger than Vlad by abt 2× as wide, so he'd be harder to carry around, which is why Hisoka got Vlad instead. Being a squishmallow means he looks more blob than dinosaur and i love it.

His tag said his name was Dominic or something, but I named him Sebastian before I actually checked the tag, so he's Sebastian.

Named after Sebastian (Black Butler) and Sebastian Stan (Actor)

Guy

Moriarty

Moriarty is my other polar bear. I got him with Sherlock and named him Moriarty bc Moriarty is Sherlock's nemesis.

He's just a plain white bear thats very huggable and adorable. I usually have a bowtie on him bc it makes him look fancy.

Guy would like him bc he's plain white and very fluffy.

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dietdrpepper4men · 4 years

Text

RIP 2 My Youth

AN: I know I usually write for star wars but fuck it, twilight. I got inspired by @ssa-holmes for this story! Go check out their fic “My Forever” for more Felix content! :)

Warnings: Blood, character death, Edward fucking something up but what isn’t new, I wrote this at 6 am so it may or may not make sense who knows.

Maybe listen to this while reading :)

WC: 1.5k

Not my gif

You never thought death would be like this. No really, dying after your sisters boyfriend threw you into a wall in a vampire throne room in Italy? It seems like Edward may have a thing for getting the Swans almost killed, or in this case most certainly killed now.

You were home for the winter semester from college with Bella during the pit of her depression, Edward had left her with a hole in her heart and essentially ripped out the foundation of her second family in Forks out from under her. It was great to see your sister adjust to life with a family outside of yourself and Charlie, considering you were only home for so long during the year. But hearing her speak about the Cullens so highly just made your heart leap, even if you were in agreement with your father that Edward was the bane of both of your existences. But what sealed the nail in the coffin for you with your hatred of Edward was him abandoning her after her birthday, in the fucking woods.

But now, now this whole situation takes the fucking cake. You had decided to complete the spring semester online so Bella at least wasn’t cooped up only with Charlie, but so she could at least have someone else to support her along with her friends from and outside of school. You were finishing up a final paper on the couch one night when Bella came home one evening, you had let Alice in and was about to yell that to Bella as the door opened, but her small screech was enough to alert you that Alice had just stood by the door and waited for Bella to notice her.

You had known about the whole vampire situation when Bella confided in you about it during the winter, you had ordered takeout for the two of you and watched a movie in the living room. Which the takeout was just bait you could spend some time with her, but you didn’t know that Dracula would strike such a nerve with her, especially when he was confessing his love to Mina. If just picking some other movie would have saved you from doing several hours of mental gymnastics and having to rationalize the Cullen’s as vampires you would have just put on Pirate of the Caribbean instead. Unless Edward somehow happened to also be a pirate, but that was besides the point.

Now, now a whole other level of bullshit was happening. Which mainly involved flying across the world with your sister and Alice, and committing grand theft auto, to save Edward from exposing himself to some humans. Who knew indecent exposure in the vampire world lead to death? Anyways, now that Bella had run off, you and Alice had made it to the palace a little while after her. Just trailing behind enough so that Bella could make it to Edward in time. When you two arrived you took a second to marvel at the fact that Alice practically punched the lock of the door to open it, but then took a little bit of time to marvel at the two men standing in front of Edward and Bella.

Though you only took a quick glance at the blond haired man, the man with the dark brown hair, who stood at least a foot and a half taller than you was mystifying. And for a split second when your eyes met it felt like a a rope around you was pulling you towards him, you hadn’t even noticed that you were moving util Alice grabbed your hand to stop you. With that, another shorter blond girl walked down the hall and ushered you all towards the elevator. The ride was awkward enough, but the tension was cut for you at least whenever you stole a glance at the man standing behind you. His gaze always met yours and the brush of his hand against yours was a welcome comfort, the flush in your cheeks didn’t die down the entire ride, and his gentle smile could have easily caused you to melt on the spot. But all good things must come to an end, and it did when the elevator dinged and you were led out. Alice stayed close to you, but it was most likely to ward off whoever just managed to flip your world upside down.

The next thing you knew was that Edward was being interrogated, then subsequently Bella. The man in the center of the room, Aro, was taking great joy testing Bella’s immunity to different gifts that his guard had possessed that he barely left you with some time to enjoy Edward getting his ass handed to him by the same small blond vampire, Jane, from before. Though after that Aro turned his attention to you, Alice let your hand go as he beckoned you forward,

“May I?” His ruby eyes were blown with curiosity as he held out his hand, though waiting for you to place your hand in his.

Though the demand was posed as a question, denying a millennia's old being a simple request to read your mind seemed like a one-way ticket to being drained like a capris sun in front of your sister.

“Uh, sure, no problem” you chuckled awkwardly, compliantly placing your now clammy hand in his, and watched as he covered his other hand on top of yours.

It was an odd sensation as her probed your mind, it felt like you were put in a small daze while he poked around at your memories and thoughts as he please. But nearly as soon as the sensation started it was over.

“My my,” he tutted, “Another human has found a mate among us” He clapped after releasing your hand, “Felix, its so wonderful that you’ve found someone”

Felix, that was it, your lips perked up in a smile as you walked back to your small group. The name fit him well, you remember one obscure memory from your high school Latin class, you were picking latin names at the beginning of the year and one name that stood out to you was the name Felix, it meant happy. So maybe that smile he had when he first saw you was the first taste of happiness he had for the first time in years, or maybe even centuries.

While you had been too entranced in your own thoughts, you didn’t hear Aro give the order, nor did you see Felix walking towards Bella, but what you did notice was a hand on your shoulder and a quick yet forceful push to said shoulder. And the next thing you knew you were slammed into a wall. Marble no less, and not to mention you had the privilege of listening to a symphony of your bones breaking and your skull cracking. The rest was a blur, you could feel your velvet soft blood coating your nose and matting your hair together. Your vision was blurry and your hearing was fuzzy. But you could make out Bella screaming your name, and the warm touch of her hand in yours. But as soon as you felt it, it was gone as Bella ran away from you. Everyone else was standing still. And Felix was holding Edward down as Bella pleaded for his life.

The only thing keeping you warm now was your blood enveloping you in a pool, it was enough to keep the vampire’s disinterested as most of it was laying stagnant and cool on the floor. The betrayal you felt was unmatched, but understood. If Bella’s established bond was as strong as yours was with a passing glance? You would sacrifice everything as well to keep Felix safe from harm.

Your heartbeat, once pounding in your ears was slowly dying out, the blur of someone running to your side once you saw the shapes of Bella and Edward embracing was enough to keep your eyes open for a little longer, no matter how heavy they felt.

“Cara mia, just please stay here a little longer.” Felix pleaded.

He was bundling you up in his arms, a hand on the back of your head to keep you supported. His voice was so soothing, so warm despite his freezing hands holding you close. Everything was so dark now, your vision was fading like a tunnel. Maybe just a short rest and this would all be over. Bella again had rushed to your side as Felix pulled you to his chest. Edward was trying to pull her away desperately, knowing that your death was now under the jurisdiction of the Volturi. And that he and Bella would have to explain to Charlie that his oldest child went missing on a beach day on their little trip to Italy and was never recovered. Even though he would be staring their killer straight in the face when they returned to Forks.

Your vision finally blacked out, and the last thing you remembered was the feeling of teeth sinking through your flesh.

-Fin-

#felix volturi #felix volturi x reader #twilight #twilight fanfiction #demetri volturi #volturi #volturi x reader #edward cullen #bella swan #alice cullen #aro volturi #jane volturi #Edward really do be making mistakes left and right in new moon

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seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana · 3 years

Note

Diego and number 28? (for the kisses prompt) 💙

Thanks Wren🥺💙💙. And here we go and I hope it’s good :).

28. One person tracing the other’s lips with a fingertip until they can’t resist any longer, tilting their chin towards them for a kiss.

Diego loved MC so much.

So much.

She always managed to push his boundaries, she broke down his walls slowly, and managed to squeeze into his heart. She became the most important person in his life. However, when she became that, worry and fear was another feeling that was put into his heart. He was a vampire, he was stronger than a normal human and could protect himself better, but MC was a human. She wasn't weak, but trouble was following Diego and now it was following her.

She was targeted and he felt like it was all his fault.

He knows he shouldn't blame himself, MC always told him that, but blaming was a habit for him and it was hard to break out of that. Because of the trouble of Dracula and his worry, he decided to take her and escape Havenfall. And he felt his heart drop when he heard that MC thought he was going to abandon her to protect her.

He may have been stupid at times and didn't always know how to handle feelings, but he knew he would never abandon her. His own heart wouldn't be able to handle it. And with that plan, they went to LA, and stayed at a hotel when MC couldn't keep her eyes open in the truck.

MC was worried and panicked when she tried to sleep, but Diego managed to calm her down and help her go to sleep. He always watched her when she slept since he couldn't go to sleep, and he always saw the peace on her face and he knew he wanted to keep her like that. He wanted to keep her safe and happy even when she was awake, so he protected her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, trying to comfort himself by feeling that she's there. She's safe in his arms, she's breathing, she's alive, and she's okay.

When she woke up in the morning and saw Diego looking at her, she gave him a tired smile and looked confused. "What is it?" Her voice was groggy, but still beautiful to him.

He cupped her cheek and watched her lean into his hand with a smile. His heart always pounded faster when she returned his love and trusted him. His hand moved to her chin and his thumb traced her bottom lip. Her lips were always soft and it made him remember their first kiss, the way he wasn't thinking straight. He was only thinking of need and want. It made him feel slightly embarrassed since he thought he should've done it in a better way, but he also wouldn't change a thing.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked with a loving smile. She knew things about him, but his thoughts were almost always a mystery to her. Especially when he gave her that look. That look of love and care.

He came back to the present and smirked at her. "Thinking about you."

MC felt her throat go dry and a blush run across her cheeks. She wasn't used to feeling this love, feeling like this, and his compliments and words always caught her off guard. "What about me?" She said with a teasing tone she managed to speak in.

He stopped tracing her lips and took her bait. They both leaned in at the same time and Diego's lips brushed hers in a gentle way.

But it didn't stay that way.

He pulled away, barely, and smiled. "Our first kiss."

MC's smile went into a smirk at the memory. He was the one who had the power in the first kiss, he was the one that had the need for her, and now it was her turn. She pushed him onto his back and moved to be leaning above him, bracing herself with one hand, and the other rested on his cheek. This time, it was Diego's turn to blush and she leaned in closer to him.

"You had the power the first time, and I think it's my turn to take control."

Without giving him time to respond, she leaned in and didn't give the gentleness he had with her. Her kisses were rough and they knew the morning would be very entertaining.

"Stop at the part where the prompt is mentioned," a part in my brain tells me, BUT NO-

I'm gonna always keep going and I hope this was good! Kissing is hard to write even though I've read it like multiple times and suddenly forget the words to use when writing :').

Here's the ask thing if you want to ask me more or others want to ask me! My ask box is always open😌💙💙.

There's proofreading but sorry if some things are messed up or sound weird!

#my writing #lovestruck #havenfall is for lovers #diego escalona #havenfall is for lovers Diego #UGH why is describing kissing so hard?? Ik what I want in my head??? But???!?!!? Putting it into words??!?!?! Literally impossible for me?!#Anyways I hope you get it and it doesn't sound too weird :(.#And I love Diego and love how much he loves MC😌.#And I believe they ended up in LA? Or was it Chicago? I can't remember exactly where they were when they ran from Dracula but I'm pretty #sure it was LA? Idk but yeah hope you enjoy :).#And I'm always open for multiple asks and some feedback!!#And I don't forget about these I'm just a slow writer-#Always trying to make things perfect😌

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keelywolfe · 4 years

Text

FIC: A Glitch in the Thought Process (standalone, lemon)

Summary: This, Stretch knew, was a horrible idea. But even bad ideas can have the best results.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Lemon Goodness, Fluff, Humor, First Times

Notes: A short standalone smutty spicyhoney story for y'all, with an extra helping of bad ideas. But hey, even bad ideas can have the best results.

Read it on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

This was a horrible idea.

A horrible, awful idea. Terrible, no good, awful, dig out a thesaurus and go to town because it was so bad—

“oh!” Stretch whimpered, trying to muffle it with both his hands as Edge nuzzled at his pubic symphysis, his breath teasingly hot. A terrible idea, because his bro was downstairs, with Red and Sans and Papyrus, all of them gathered for what was supposed to be a little party. For their seven-month anniversary of meeting, according to Papyrus, and yeah, it was always fun to hang out at the Tale brothers house, movies and madness, that wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening.

Only, when the food started coming out, somehow Stretch ended up with a lapful of ‘whore devours’ as Red called them. He still wasn’t quite sure if it was the food or the plate that caused the mini-explosion, just that he was glad he only got hit by the edible part of the shrapnel.

Edge was supposedly helping him clean up, even offering to let Stretch borrow the pair of pants he kept in his inventory, and that was all. If Stretch could manage to squeeze his pelvis into the ass clamps that Edge liked to wear, anyway. Took a shimmy and a prayer, but he got them on, fly zipped and all. That should’ve been it, a couple minutes to clean out the nooks and crannies and they should’ve been back downstairs waiting to see what kind of damage dinner was gonna cause.

Only, when he finished struggling with the zipper, he’d glanced up, caught sight of Edge in the mirror and the look in Edge’s eye lights kinda took Stretch off-guard. Like glowing coals in the darkness of his sockets and when he licked his teeth, the bright crimson of his tongue against ivory pale, Stretch was already giving in, raise that white flag, captain, his self-control was calling for a surrender.

His fault, really. Probably Stretch should have thought it through a little before dropping trou right in front of Edge, all things considered. They’d been on a couple of dates now, all of them ending with lingering kisses and heavy breathing, but not much else, aside from some seriously wet dreams. Now they were in the Tale brother’s bathroom together, alone, and Edge was looking at him like he was gonna skip the appetizers and head right for the main course.

Edge was wearing dark fingerless gloves, the slender whiteness of his phalanges exposed, and he met Stretch's gaze in the mirror as he reached out with a single long finger to trace the broad curve of Stretch’s iliac crest peeking over that tight waistband, teasing the sensitive bone.

That was it, that one touch, and how that ended up with Edge on his knees in front of him, eager hands pushing his stained shirt up, Stretch didn’t know. He couldn’t think, couldn’t move, and there was a palm resting flat against his rib cage, body-warmed leather against the sleek bones there and Stretch was quivering before Edge even had those damned pants open again, his magic already forming a cock, the shaft hard and eager for whatever Edge wanted to give him.

Stretch watched as Edge leaned in, sockets closed as he breathed in deeply, mouth open as if to taste the air between them. Stupidly, Stretch blurted out, “sorry, i probably stink, there was enough garlic in those things to give dracula a migraine from two streets away.”

“I don’t care,” Edge murmured, and he leaned in again, let the tip of Stretch’s cock brush his cheek bone and leave a pale orange smear of wetness behind, holy fuck, “and you don’t. you smell like you.”

“what do i smell like?” Stretch whispered. Lavender, maybe, from the soap Blue always bought, or sweat, he’d showered that morning but that was hours ago, the bitterness of his cigarettes, the sweet taint of his own magic…?

Edge’s grin was a slash of sharp white teeth, his voice the satisfied rumble of an old tom cat lapping up a dish of fresh cream as he said, “Delicious.”

Fuck.

Hot breath was a bare touch against the delicate bones of his pubis, ticklishly gusting along with the barest scrape of his teeth as Edge whispered, "Hold still."

And Stretch had to cram a hand against his mouth, holding it there with the other as he bit down on a bony knuckle. He hadn't known what to expect, tried not to consider what it might be like. He hadn’t jerked off thinking about it, even though he’d wanted, fuck, he wanted. But he sure as fuck hadn't thought Edge would be experienced.

And he was, had to be, no fumbling touches or uncertain flicks of tongue. Edge took his shaft in deeply, swallowed him down with only the faintest graze of sharp teeth drawing out a tantalizing shiver rather than a muttered protest. Stretch bit his finger harder, muffling the throaty cry that tried to escape as Edge sucked him, cheek bones hollowing as he drew Stretch into the hot wetness of his mouth.

The hands on his pelvis shifted, fingers spreading wider and Stretch dimly realized it was to hold him down even as he unconsciously strained against them, trying to push in deeper still. With a sharp breath through his nasal cavity, Stretch managed to relax back, sagging against the wall. He nearly moaned aloud as Edge hummed his approval, the vibration rumbling through his cock and straight up his spine. Oh, all the blessed days, there were times in the past when he’d thought sex might be the end of him, but he'd never dreamed it might happen like this. Standing here with harsh fluorescent lights overhead, reflecting off the gleaming white porcelain as Edge moaned eagerly while sucking him off.

With an effort, Stretch managed to pry his sockets open, squinting down and his struggle had its reward. Crimson eye lights, half-hidden by heavy lids met his own and Stretch could not be mesmerized by that gaze. Not when confronted with the sight of Edge's mouth stretched around his dick, long, flexible tongue curled around the shaft. He stared helplessly as Edge took him down in a deep, wet suck, watched the length of his cock slide between those teeth in a deliberate rhythm.

Cool air made him wince as he was abruptly released, but the automatic protest was cut off mid-whine and Stretch watched, sockets achingly wide as Edge playfully licked at the tip, tongue dipping beneath foreskin to tease, and he could never have imagined, not in the filthiest of never-confessed dreams. Another flick of tongue, lapping at the honeyed fluid jewel beading at the tip and wetting Edge's teeth, and then he was taken again. Deep into his formed throat, the hot, lovely slickness of Edge's mouth surrounding him, the curve of his tongue against the underside and Stretch had to close his sockets, had to concentrate on muffling the sounds that were being driven out of him because he could not, could not, be heard. If the others heard, the others would come looking and if they came looking, the others would see and Edge would stop, he would, and Stretch bit his own tongue hard enough to taste the sweet blurt of his magic because he couldn't, could not stop—

The problem with keeping quiet was Stretch had no way to offer a warning, nothing past a sharp, quick inhale as he shook and trembled and toppled over the peak into the exquisite pleasure that Edge's mouth was offering him. Dimly, he felt Edge startle, and then Stretch could feel nothing but the sweet pulse of coming over that soft tongue, any guilt fluttering off on pleasure-soaked wings along with whatever was left of his dignity, and oh, by all the little heavens, he could feel Edge swallowing around him, the quick flickers of tongue against him as every thick droplet was lapped up.

If his knees were truly as weak as they felt, then the only thing keeping Stretch from sagging to the ground was the hands on his hips, holding him firmly up. Between that and the wall, Stretch managed to keep his feet, offering only a soft whimper as Edge finally released him, offering a last tender kiss before tucking Stretch’s softening cock back into his too-tight pants even as he licked his come-smeared teeth clean.

Holy flying monkey fuck, Stretch needed a cigarette. Maybe a little nicotine would slow down his scattered wits enough for him to pick them up again.

It was only when Edge looked up at him again, a sly smile curving his still-damp mouth, that Stretch managed to find words, husking them out around his bitten tongue as he admitted, "so…uh…i don’t think i can walk right now. fuck, i'm trying to remember how to breathe."

Edge's grin widened, "And yet you’re still not at a loss for words. That would have been high praise, indeed."

"only because i can talk without permission from my brain," Stretch mumbled, wetting his teeth with a nervous flick of his tongue, "might have to gag me if you want me speechless."

A rough chuckle sent a gust of warm breath to caress his pelvis where his sweatshirt was still riding up around Edge’s hands curved around his pelvis. Those hands shifted, petting gently, "I’d be happy to accept that invitation."

"invi—" Stretch began and only then realized just what he'd said, "hey, wait a min—ute!" The word was bitten off as those supporting hands abandoned him and he promptly slid down the wall, straight into the lap of the skeleton who’d been kneeling at his feet. "erm, hello?" Stretch added, inanely, and again his brain abandoned him, left him staring dumbly straight on at Edge when only a moment ago he'd been looking down.

"Hello," Edge's voice carried that simple word, just a tiny, foolish greeting into a deep rumble that sent a shiver through Stretch and honestly, was he so easy that a single word seduced him?

Yeah, he decided, as Edge's mouth covered his own in an oddly tender kiss, stealing away any other idiocy that might try to escape. Yeah, he was pretty damned seduced, by the too-hot press of Edge's faintly swollen tongue against his own, by the sweet taste of his own come carried with it, by the heavy groan that was muffled between them, the kiss shifting from tender to eager.

Stretch supposed he could forgive himself for that much. He figured most people would be seduced by any one of those things, never mind them all mixed together.

With a mouth over his own, any sounds that might bubble up and out were effectively blocked and Stretch gave into a long-held wistful urge, cupping Edge’s head in his palms, running shaky fingers over his skull as if he could read the future there.

Even if he’d been a fortune teller, the only fate that interested him just now was how the night was gonna end, and the firm shaft he could feel straining against the front of Edge’s own too-tight pants told him more than any little bumps under his fingertips.

"we…we should…" Stretch began, a touch breathlessly, struggling for words between kisses. They should go somewhere else, somewhere that every little sound couldn't be heard and known and teased about later. They could hardly manage more in a damned bathroom and—

"bro?"

From through the door and both of them froze, Stretch's scream of frustration never made it past his mind. That was certainly a voice he knew and had it been Sans or Papyrus or Blue or any other damned person sneaking in from the streets of Snowdin, he would have suggested a hasty shortcut. But this name was Wednesday’s child full of woe, ‘cause Red was not one who would give up a search, not when it came to his brother.

From the low, vicious curse Edge let out, he was thinking the same thing and he pushed Stretch hastily to his feet, the both of them fumbling to straighten their clothes. If Edge gave Stretch's crotch a quick brush off with rough fingers, then Stretch's hasty scrub of his sleeve over Edge's mouth was probably more acceptable than leaving any stray smears of honey-orange behind.

They were both more or less presentable when heavy boots gave the door a pointed kick and Stretch snapped off the overhead light, hoping that the dimness would hide anything they missed as the knob slowly turned.

"there you are," Red grunted as he shouldered through the door, "why the fuck are you two lurkin’ in the dark? trying to roll for backstabbin’?"

“think that’s more your skill tree,” Stretch said, relieved to hear he sounded mostly normal, and he really hoped Red left it at that, ‘cause the real reason they were hiding in dark corners would probably get them at least a years’ worth of ribbing. Possibly literally.

"Did you need something?" Edge asked impatiently, teeth gritted and at least his annoyance was a decent disguise.

"yeah, blue’s kickin’ up a fuss about servin’ up the main course. told ‘im i’d find ya," Red shrugged, oblivious to the smoldering heat in Edge's glare. "i'd tell ‘em yer both alive and kickin’, but they might wanna look-see themselves if ya don't come on down.”

Edge heaved a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nasal cavity with his thumb and forefinger, "Very well, tell them I—"

"oh, there's ain’t no hurry, little brother," Red interrupted. His jacket creaked as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall. "i'll just wait for the two of ya to finish your chat and we can head back together, the three of us."

Yeaaaah, that was a knowing look, wasn't it. Stretch looked very firmly at the ground, ignoring the high heat rising in his cheek bones. He risked a glance up and found Edge and Red engaged in a very impressive, silent contest of glaring and wriggling brow bones, with Edge's fury ever hotter and Red's equally unimpressed.

A loud sigh from Edge was his only clue as to who finally triumphed, and Edge's hand was gentle at the small of Stretch’s spine as he gathered him up.

"Come on," he grumbled, casting a last angry look Red’s way. The shorter skeleton offered a sharp grin in return, gold tooth flashing, and the three of them started walking back downstairs, following the merry sound of laughter, and if Edge’s stride was a little stiff, Stretch really hoped they attributed it to those pants.

"next time, ya might wanna wait to sneak off after dinner," Red murmured, "they’ll miss ya less, just save some room for dessert.”

“Thank you ever so much for the advice," Edge ground out and if glares and sharp words could wound, Red might collapse to dust right at their feet.

“couldn't have gone back without ya, bro,” Red offered calmly. "if it’s gonna piss ya off, don’t give me a reason to come lookin’ again.”

"we won't," Stretch said, softly, and both brothers paused, eyeing him, though Red's look was considering and Edge's bordered on stricken. "i mean, we'll…be more careful. next time."

"good to hear," Red said heartily, and matched it with a slap on the ass that nearly sent Stretch sprawling and earned him a low growl from Edge. "now, let’s get back before your bro comes lookin’. brothers can get kinda protective when they ain’t sure what their bro is getting up ta.”

"You would know," Edge sniped and only got a chuckle for his spite.

A horrible idea, Stretch sighed mentally as he followed them, pasting on what he hoped was an innocent smile for his brother, or, lacking that, at least a sheepishly apologetic one. A terrible, no-good very bad idea.

Yeah. He really couldn’t wait to see what other ideas Edge came up with.

-finis-

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #lemon goodness

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my-fanfic-library · 4 years

Text

Something Different {BBC Dracula x Reader}

Masterlist

~^*^~

The fog that had settled overnight was nothing short of opaque. Thick and with an amber tinge, it seemed to cast a curtain between the north cliffs and the harbour, and, the North Sea, of course. However, a little fog wasn’t going to get in the way of any business or any vendor today as people still busted about the small seaside town, getting on with life.

Your feet carried you over the swing bridge and down to Bridge Street, where shops began to open by pulling up their shutters and the owners looking out expectantly as the small clusters of customers waiting to come in. Instead of following the road round to find yourself on the other side of the mouth of the River Esk, you abruptly turned left up to Church Street, where the cobbled road made walking just that little less easier. The boutiques here were also opening up, doors unlocking and shutters ascending to be concealed by the concrete above the windows.

Although the fog that had seemingly come from nowhere overnight, the humid summer air still clung to the streets and made a sheen of sweat grow on your skin. The walk from the viaduct, all the way down the cinder track and even this far was quite a trek when it got warm. 8am, a foggy day and you were still panting from the heat? Something wasn’t right.

But then again, you had read in the news this morning that a strange man had been surrounded by police on the sea front, not too far from the cliffs that hosted Whitby Abbey in the early hours of the morning. And that was the cause for your journey so early. Clutching your bag closer to your chest, you made your way past the countless Whitby Jet distributors and found yourself at the top of Church Street, eyeing the 199 steps.

“Quite a lot of exercise for first thing in the morning, no?”

You snapped your head left, eyes connecting with the blue orbs belonging to Dr. Zoe Van Helsing. Her eyes smiled at you, along with her lips that pulled up mischievously. She had caught you off-guard and she knew it. Replying to her question with a hint of sarcasm, you both began to climb the stairs. About halfway up, when the seagulls had no issue with swooping far too close to your head, you decided to pipe up and inquire about the gentleman you had been called to visit.

“Ah, you mean the Count? Yes, he is definitely a piece of work. We have a whole test group of people to come in close contact with him, however, we’d still like for you to have a chat with him, given your expertise in the area.” She turned her head to look at you expectantly.

“Well, it sounds like it’ll be a challenge. But you know me, I love a challenge.” You smirked back at her.

“We’ll see.”

When you both made it to the top of the steps, you stood to take in a deep breath of air and look back out towards Whitby. The fog was moving inland and it was getting difficult to see even the band stand, which stood overlooking the harbour on the opposite side of the mouth of the river from where you stood. There was a faint noise coming from the amusements and the sound of people slowly filling up the streets. But it was all drowned out by the roar of the North Sea, the howls of the summer winds and screeches of seagulls.

You turned once more, facing towards and beyond St Mary’s Chruch. Just further up, you could make out the peaks of Whitby Abbey. You were close. No more words were shared between the pair of you as you walked further up. You pushed past the open gates and found yourself facing the visitor centre. You turned right once more and before you, as grand as every, the Jonathan Harker Foundation.

Zoe led you through the winding halls and turns once inside and it seemed she knew the place like the back of her hand. You had only been inside a handful of times, and yet you still hadn’t acquainted yourself at all with the winding halls.

“I must warn you before we go in, so I suggest you take a seat.” Zoe began, leading you into a small room with a desk. She held the door for you as you stepped inside and reluctantly took your seat.

“You say it like it’s a life or death situation.”

“Actually, it is.” As if she had simply stated on the weather, she strode last you and slumped down into the seat opposite.

“You alright?”

“A little tired. Nothing a cup of coffee can’t fix. Now, let me explain to you a little about the gentleman we are... housing. You need to throw all of your understandings of this world out of the window. This isn’t some basic cannibal or murderer we’re dealing with.” With every word, with the seriousness of her tone, you were starting to panic.

“Ok, Zoe, you’re really starting to worry me now.”

“There’s no need to panic. You see, you will be in safe hands and there are precautions put into place to ensure your safety.”

“My safety? What on Earth, Zoe-?”

“Count Dracula, the man you will be speaking to today, is a vampire.” Your mouth dropped at the words. The absudety of it all! A real life vampire?! What nonsense!

“Ok, you’re definitely pulling my leg. There’s-...” you looked at the demeanour of her expression. Her eyes were cold, lips softly turned into a frown. She wasn’t joking.

“Count Dracula is approximately 525 years old. He spent 123 years drawing energy in a box of his own Transylvanian earth at the bottom of the before emerging last night. According to oral accounts, Dracula is the cause of one of my own ancestors deaths, along with several others on the Demeter that brought him here. You will be assessing him - just like you do with all of the other criminals you’ve worked with before. Except he isn’t a criminal. He’s a beast.”

Those last three words rung in your ears continuously as you followed Zoe down the hallway towards the room that held this beast of a man. You did not know what to expect, though the image of an old and shrivelled man concealing superhuman strength came to mind. He was over 500 years old, after all. You had read the case file after Zoe’s briefing with you, and learnt about the real mystery of the Demeter whose ruins lay on the coast line. It had come as a shock to you to learn of such things actually existing, yet you had no time to digest the information as you practically marched behind Zoe. Lining the hallway was an abundance of guards; you took notice of the fact that they were oddly guarded with crosses and stakes. Clearly all of this vampire lore turned out to be true. You wondered if Zoe had figured this out, or if it was the work of her ancestor who was murdered by the man lurking behind you door you stride towards.

“Don’t let him intimidate you. He’s like a dog - can smell fear a mile away. He feeds off of it.” These were Zoe’s last words to you before she pushed the doors open. A large room stood before you, with a glass square in the centre perched on a circular stage rising maybe a foot higher than the rest of the floor. Inside the box, a desk, and standing in the corner, hidden in the shadows, a looming figure. Zoe spoke again, “you may close the skylight. Let him come to us.”

As if her words were spoken by a god, the light that streamed down into the glass container began to dim as load croaks came from the ceiling. Now, he was free to roam his transparent prison. Your eyes locked on his form, watching as he slowly prowled forwards. His nose twitched and pulled his head up. He was taking in a scent.

“Ah, I see you’ve brought me another new appetiser.” His smirk was plastered over his face and you were finally able to take in his features.

He was nothing of your imagination. Nothing close. He was a towering 6’4” with ebony locks styled up and out of his face. Matching thick eyebrows kept watch over darkened eyes and although his face was clearly mature, it was built well and prominent with masculinity. This, paired with the tailored suit he wore (where on Earth he had managed to acquire such clothing, you hadn’t a clue) screamed danger. It screamed warning. He was sophisticated; he was inviting; that meant he was dangerous. His feet carried him towards the glass panel closest to you and he pressed his long, thick hands up against the glass.

“I can smell her from here.” His smirk deepened.

“Pay him no attention, [First], he’s trying to scare you.” Zoe rolled her eyes, leading you closer towards the cell.

“No, just... testing the waters.” His tone was slightly mocking. His voice was deep and somewhat sensual to the ears. It was nice, melodic voice. It was a dangerous voice. Just like the rest of him.

“Well, there’s absolutely no need. Count Dracula, this is my associate, [First].” Zoe stepped aside, allowing him better access too look you up and down. Had he been a normal male, the gaze would have been dubbed rather disgusting, eyeing you up with a sickly grin toying on his charming features. But he was not a normal male and he was gazing at you like a predator eyeing up its prey.

“Very nice to make your acquaintance, [First].” He locked his eyes with yours and you could only stand the building tension for a fraction of a second. But you continued to keep the gaze locked, wanting to prove that you were the stronger of the two of you, “oh, I like her.”

“Good. You’ll be spending a considerable amount of time with her. Now, step back so she can enter - and don’t you dare forget that we can end your pathetic existence in a second if you attempt to harm her.”

“I have been around for over 500 years, Helsing, so don’t be surprised if some things happen to slip my mind.”

“You have no reason to harm her. We have provided you with adequate nutrition.” Zoe stated plainly, leading you closer to the door.

“You humans have no reason to indulge in confections, yet you do. It’s about the satisfaction, is it not?” His eyes bore wicked holes into you. You were much too close to him now, mere meters and a thin sheet of glass separating you from him.

“I am not your confection, Count Dracula.” You narrowed your eyes, “ and believe me, you try to put a single malicious finger on me and it will be the last thing you do.”

“Ooh, feisty. You remind me of someone I once knew. Hopefully your fate will not adhere to a path similar to theirs...” he trailed off and once he realised your presence was about to accompany him, he stepped backwards, keeping his eyes locked on you.

“Do not threaten her.” Zoe warned before turning to you and placing her mouth close to your ear, “he tries anything funny, use your fingers as a makeshift cross. We’ll get you out as soon as we can.” You merely nodded, psyching yourself up for this fateful date with a real life vampire.

The ceiling opened up as the door opened in sync and you stepped over the threshold. Immediately, you were hit with an intoxicating scent of something. Pine, maybe? Or something more earthy. It filled your lungs in a matter of seconds and you took a moment to intake the scent, pleasing to your senses.

Dracula’s eyes watched you closely as you placed your bag down beside the door as it snapped shut. Now, a triangle of light illumated the centre of the glass cell and Dracula was pinned against one dark corner.

“Come closer.” His velvety smooth voice commanded, long finger beckoning you towards him. You knew that he wouldn’t try anything here. The jeopardy to his life was too great, and so you found yourself being pulled closer towards him. In this proximity to him, you realised just how much he towered above you. His head found itself slowly rolling downwards to stay connected with your eyes and his mouth was turned upwards smugly.

You grew closer still, until all that remained between you was the barrier of light. An oddly symbolic line of goodness and of evil.

“May I?” His eyes trailed down to your hand. You looked at him, eyes narrowing slightly, “my only intention is to be chivalrous, I swear.”

“If I get even a hint of tooth-“

“You have my word that you will not.” His eyes flashed with mischief.

Oh, the way he spoke! The way he smiled! The charm oozed from him, but that was to be expected. He had over five centuries of experience under his belt in the art of charming his victims. Of course he was going to be good at it.

Hesitantly, you lifted your hand and it cut through the veil of darkness. Part of you was intruding on his side now. His cold hand slipped under your own, a tinge of freezing cold electricity running up your arm and down your spine. The smirk that had played on his lips since the very moment you stepped into the room moved towards the back of your hand, and cool lips struck your flesh.

“Compliant, I like it.” He spoke against your hand, “why don’t you come into the shadows?”

You immediately pulled your hand away, taking a large step back into the light as you did so.

“Why don’t you come into the light?” You mimicked.

“Touché.” He turned his head to look at Zoe who was standing close to the door, “where did you find this one ? She’s got a fire to her.”

“Yes, well let’s hope you don’t get burnt.” Zoe countered, ignoring his question.

You looked around the cell, mostly at the large desk in the centre where a chair sat on either side. You looked back at the count who was eyeing you up (again), clearly waiting for your next move. Taking a breath, you pondered on the recklessness of your request the followed.

“Close the skylight.”

“[First], that’s not safe!” Zoe called, alarm bells clearly ringing in her head at the million different scenarios that could play out from that action alone.

“It’s alright,” you eyed Dracula, “he won’t hurt me. He knows his place.” You glared.

“I do, do I?” His right eyebrow cocked.

“Yes. Now to make yourself comfortable. We have quite a discussion.”

When the sound of the skylight closing filled your ears, your heart began to pound. You took steps backwards in the light as it retreated, and like a slow, careful dance, he took steps forwards, like he was commander and the darkness filling the space was his army. This was a battle you were losing.

“You’ve got some nerves, haven’t you?” He lowered his voice, “trusting a vampire so easily.”

“I don’t trust you. I trust them.” You eyed the several guards stationed around the room.

“And who do you think would come out as victorious?”

“Why don’t you tell me? I want to know everything about you, Count Dracula. Now, take a seat.”

You slumped down into one of the two chairs and Dracula took the seat opposite. He sat up with a straightened back, crossing one leg delicately over the other and rested his elbow on the mahogany, and his chin in the palm of his hand.

“I can hear it.” He spoke softly, eyes once again locking with yours. Every time they did so, your heart faltered.

“Hear what?”

“The blood rushing through your veins. It was rather sweet the way it jumped when I kissed your hand. Tell me, [First], why are you putting up such a front? I can read you like an open book. You’re nervous, you’re afraid.”

“I told you. I’m not afraid. You can’t harm me because they will harm you.”

“And again, I must lead you back to the rhetorical question of who would win?”

“You believe it is you, correct?”

“Correct.” He leaned forwards, closing the gap by another inch, “well, I know. I do not believe anything.”

“Well, I know that all we have to do is open up that light once more and you’re toast. Quite literally.” He chuckled at this. A deep, booming noise that sent a chill down your spine.

“There it is again, your heart. You must be infatuated with me.”

“You wish.” You glared, “now why don’t you tell me just what happened on board the Demeter.”

“You see, to tell that story, I’d have to begin right back in Transylvania - months before I even set foot on that ship.” He noted, eyes boring into your face.

“I have already read the accounts, Count Dracula. I already know. I want to hear it from you.” You folded you arms, tryinf to control your heart rate.

“Why from me?”

“To understand you. That’s why I’m here. Surely you knew that. Just get on with it. I don’t have all day.” You unfolded your arms, your impatience beginning to get the better of you. Your fingers found their way to the edge of the table.

“Then let’s begin,” he raised his head, just enough to slip his hand down into the table. In a swift movement, his right hand had swept up your left and encased it in coolness, “when I stepped foot on the Demeter.”

It took no less than two hours for Dracula to finish his account of the Demeter and he decided to also explain what had happened after he was arrested on the beach in the early morning. The entire time, he was effortlessly attempting to charm a little of your trust into him, but from the first words that left his mouth, you knew what his game was and you wouldn’t give up. Often, his foot would brush against your own, he’d insist on eye contact, or he’d grasp your hand in his at every opportunity he could get. By the time he was finished, you were beyond pissed off with his actions, horrified with the story he had told and exhausted from trying to keep your body from ratting your true emotions out to him.

“Right,” you began, pushing yourself up from the table, “I think that will be all for today.”

“Going so soon?” He faux pouted. He rose with you, clearly trying to prove his dominance over you one more time before you left.

“Unfortunately for you, yes. I’m afraid your company has ran out for today.”

“Is she coming back again?” He looked past you, towards Helsing who was frowning deeply.

“Perhaps. Don’t concern yourself with it, though.” Zoe snapped, “come, [First], you have other appointments this afternoon.”

Turning on your heel, you began to make a b-line for the door. However, the vampire behind you had other plans and before you had even made it halfway, his icy fingers hand tangled around your wrist and kept you held in place. Your heart jumped. Your blood pounded in your ears. His lips brushed against the cartilage of your ear, a cool sensation rippling throughout the left side of your head.

“You really must work on that heart of yours, it is much too easy to pin when you’re lying.” He mumbled, the words pooling in your ear, “even now, the blood coursing your veins is pumping with some vigor. It makes me... hungry.”

You tore your body out of his grasp, turning on your heel to face him and the smug look on his face at the reaction he gained from you. The door was opened and two strong arms hailed you backwards before the door shut once more and light began to flood the cell. Your body collapsed under the pressure of the other person pulling you and your knees buckled.

“Are you alright?!” Zoe was by your side, kneeling quickly to help you up, “you!” She bellowed to the vamp, “you shall be getting only scraps today for that!”

“Now, where have I heard that before...” Dracula mused.

He watched as you practically fled the room, eyes following your every movement until the doors shut. Helsing was glaring at him.

Your feet carried you, the adrenaline pumped in your veins and it was like you knew your way back out without ever having remembering it before. At the entrance, a man dressed up a little too much was arguing with the lady sitting behind the white desk, but you could only catch a snippet as you got yourself out of the building as quickly as you could.

“...-don’t understand! I’m his lawyer!”

Later that evening, when your appointments had all been dutifully carried out, you found yourself wandering along the beach below the cliffs where Whitby Abbey stood proud. The summer air had cooled and the fog had all but dissolved into the summer air. You looked out towards the wave cut platform where rock pools had been formed, and remembered times when you were younger and had gone fossiling (usually with little luck), or waded throughout the rock pools until the sea licked the sand once more.

The dusty sky was lilac, slowly bleeding into navy the higher up you looked and the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon south of you, behind the swing bridge and beyond. The tide was completely out, the waves sounding years away as seagulls cruised the sky above, unable to find any supper for the evening. The sand was derelict apart from you.

“We meet again.” You gasped loudly, turning on your heel to come face-to-chest with a rather unfortunately familiar form.

“Wha-.. I-... how did you-?”

“Get out?” He finished your rambles amusedly, “I have connections.”

“Even though you technically haven’t been on earth for over a century?”

“Yes, despite that.”

“What is it that you want...?” You took a step back, feeling a small pebble bite the underside of your foot through the flimsy sandals you wore. His eyes bored down into yours with such an intense predatory gaze that you felt your knees buckle for the second time in the day. He grinned.

“What else? You.”

#oh my god my first fic on tumblr in years #i hope i did the characters justice #but sorry if it sucks i wrote this on 2 hours of sleep #dracula #bbc dracula #claes bang #dolly wells #dracula x reader #bbc dracula x reader

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flutteringphalanges · 3 years

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Caught in a Riptide

Summary: After the infamous Count Dracula is discovered and taken into custody by the Jonathan Harker Foundation, former nun and now guardian to her young niece, Zoe, Agatha Van Helsing is tasked with keeping tabs on the vampire after a mishap leads to his release into modern day society. Can Agatha remain levelheaded, or will fate turn her onto a new path?

Pairing: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing

Rated: M

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for each and every one of you! Here’s a token of my gratitude! Feedback/reblogs/hearts are greatly loved and appreciated! Love you guys! -Jen

Chapter Nine

At first, Agatha found herself questioning if she had heard the vampire right. That maybe the fumes brought on by the combination of countless mixed drinks and body sprays had gotten to her head. But when she stared down at the Count's large, outstretched hand. At his long, pointed nails. The former nun's ears had been working correctly.

"Dance?" She repeated, the word tasting odd on her tongue. "You want to dance with me?"

"Well surely you know how." The man smiled widely, taking her hand before she could pull away. "Come now, it isn't so hard. I'll show Waltz only has six steps."

If her lack of ballroom dancing wasn't enough, Agatha felt several pairs of eyes fixed on them as they moved about the floor out of tune to the techno music. Dracula, who had taken to humming his own song, didn't seem fazed at all by their audience. Blood rushed to the woman's cheeks, the embarrassment making the room feel so many degree hotter.

"You're blushing." The vampire noted, tugging his partner back to reality. "Might I inquire what about?"

"Surely you're observant enough to realize we're being watched." Agatha hissed under her breath, nearly tripping over Dracula's shoes. "Just a touch out of place."

"Oh, Agatha, you really shouldn't worry yourself about the judgement of others." He chuckled, gracefully gliding across the ground. "Do you know any of them?"

"Well…" She began to stumble. "Well, no...but that…"

"Then I see no issue." Dracula finished, cutting her off. "Relax, Agatha. Enjoy the night while it's young. Though I haven't known you for long, I can tell you need it."

The former nun frowned, but said nothing as the vampire spun her about on the dance floor. Soon the other patrons became a forethought as her eyes locked on to Dracula's. She found it odd how a bloodthirsty killer could be so delicate. So graceful. And as he dipped her, brutality masked by this gentlemanly cover, she found herself delving into conversation.

"So how do you know how to dance so well?" Agatha asked, surprised by how she had yet to trip and fall. He was quite the teacher, she'd give him that. "And saying it's due to your age doesn't count."

"A fair enough question." Dracula agreed. "I simply desired to learn. Everyone has a hobby or two they enjoy. Or an interest they wish to pick up. Dancing happened to be one of my more...socially acceptable ones." He grinned, clearly amused by his choice of words. "What about you, Agatha? Surely you have a guilty pleasure locked away in that treasure chest of a mind of yours."

She thought for a moment. "I can knit...sort of." When his left eyebrow cocked in interest, she continued. "I'm not very good at it and have only managed to somewhat make oven mits. But between my job and caring for Zoe, I don't have a lot of time to myself."

"Perhaps you could knit me a pair that I may use next time you come over for dinner." Dracula suggested lightly. "For business reasons, of course."

Agatha felt her cheeks burning again, but from a different fire this time. She looked away, avoiding the vampire's gaze as her eyes fell on a clock mounted on a nearby wall. A distraction. Sucking in a breath, the former nun pulled away.

"We should get going." She said quietly. "It's getting, well, later and I need to be getting home. Dr. Bloxham left me some paperwork to fill out and I'd like to get that done. She's very...particular when it comes to turning things in on time." A poor excuse, but Agatha hoped it would work.

"Of course." Dracula bowed his head smiling. "I've kept you out long enough, haven't I?"

"It's been a night." Agatha agreed, somewhat struggling to find the right words. "I think it's at an appropriate end." She offered him a small, awkward, but genuine smile. "Your lead?"

Frank jumped in surprise, his phone falling into his lap at the sound of Dracula lightly rapping on the car window. Quickly, he unlocked the car doors as the two adults slid in without a word. Peering into the rearview mirror, glasses sliding down onto his nose, Frank feigned a smile.

"Today went well I hope?" He asked, starting the engine. "No complaints on either end?"

"Oh, I think it was rather splendid." Dracula replied, looking over at Agatha. "Wouldn't you agree, Agatha?"

"I suppose both busy ends were held up to the bargain." She replied, leaning back in her seat. "I don't have anything negative to report back to Dr. Bloxham if that is what you're asking."

"Excellent!" The lawyer beamed. "I knew it was possible for you two to work things out. This is good. Very much so. And I know Dr. Bloxham will be just as pleased as I am."

Agatha said nothing, just merely stared out the window watching the street lamps speed by. She knew Dracula was watching her closely as they pulled up outside of her house. And it was no surprise that he too got out of the car when she did. Of course he'd walk her to the door. How polite of him.

"Don't forget your Champagne." The vampire smirked, handing over the bottle. "I spent a pretty penny on that."

"Thank you." They were the first two words to come to her mind. A phrase that she hoped would send him away. "Tonight was decent...have a good evening, Count Dracula."

"You as well, Agatha Van Helsing." He replied, his teeth glinting in the moonlight. "I look forward to seeing you again. Perhaps you can work on those knitting skills of yours and make me a lovely pair of oven mittens. I'm quite partial to red."

Agatha gave him a half hearted smile and turned away. She felt some relief in knowing he wouldn't follow her inside. At least she hoped Zoe's invitation would've expired by now. Stepping into her home, she locked the door behind her. It wasn't until Agatha heard the sound of Frank's car rumbling off into the distance did she exhale, shoulders relaxing.

"Hey, you okay?"

Jack stepped out of the kitchen and Agatha couldn't help but note the flecks of glitter that sparkled on his shirt. He offered her a genuine smile as he scrubbed at his hands with a rag. Clearly the craft had proved to be messier than the doctor intended. But cleaning was the least of worries on the woman's mind.

"Long night." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. With the other that clutched the alcohol, Agatha held it out towards Jack. "Drink?"

"I'm fine." He shook his head to which Agatha merely shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. He followed suit. "Was it really that bad?"

"We went out for dinner and then to an arcade." The former nun stated, digging through the cabinets before producing a glass. "An arcade, Jack." Exhaling, she poured until the cup was full before downing it. "And don't get me started on the night club. I agreed to watch the beast, not partake in a dance number with him."

"Wait, you actually danced with Dracula?! The Count Dracula?!"

Agatha tried to ignore the look of astonishment on Jack's face as she downed her second glass of Champagne. So much for not drinking. Perhaps telling him how her evening had gone hadn't been the best idea. Especially since she'd have to relive it tomorrow when Bloxham asked for the nitty gritty details. After the last bit of beige liquid passed through her lips, she set the cup down on the counter with a rough clink. Though she wouldn't admit it allowed, it wasn't what they did that bothered it. It was, in fact, how she felt afterwards. Good.

"That's what I said. I was caught off guard." Agatha stated, trying to fend off the young doctor as he took away her bottle. "Clearly I was not in the right state of mind to think for myself. Perhaps I'm coming down with something..."

"Well, at least nothing bad happened right?" The young man interjected, trying to lighten the mood. "No one died?"

"Just my ancestors rolling around in their graves." She snorted, letting out a humorless laugh as she shook her head. "I unintentionally went on a date with Count Dracula, didn't I? Or rather, I might as well have." Jack's lack of a response was a good enough of an answer as any. "Shit..."

"Well it's over now, right?" The man assured her. "Best put it behind you. You won't do yourself any good stressing over it." He smiled, motioning to his sparkling shirt. "Anyway, what do you think of my outfit? Zoe may have gone a little overboard with the glitter. I did my best to clean up what I could. I'm sorry for whatever random particles you come across for the next decade."

"As long as you had fun and she behaved." Agatha smiled softly. "I don't mind the occasional sparkle. This place needs to lighten up anyway." Glancing around, she folded her arms over her chest. "You're welcome to stay the night. I can pull out a blanket and some pillows. The couch isn't so bad."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." Jack promised her with a wave of his hand. "There's some work I have sitting on my counter that I need to bring in tomorrow. If I don't, Bloxham will have my head. You know how she can be."

"Right." His friend nodded, chuckling under her breath. "Well, thank you a million times over again, Jack. I don't know what I'd do without you in my corner."

"Well, if I'm ever set up on a date with a vampire, I'm sure you can return the favor in some way." The man joked. "Have a good night, Agatha. Give Zoe my best when she wakes up tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning."

"Same to you, Jack." Agatha smiled. "Bright and early."

XXX

Agatha tried not to think about the previous night's events until she came across Bloxham and her henchman of sorts, Commander Irving, the next day. Doing her best to ignore the rather intimidating man in the corner, she sat down in front of her boss who'd taken to calmly sipping what appeared to be a cup of tea.

"Mr. Renfield informed me earlier that last night was successful." The head of the Harker Foundation commented, swiveling in her chair. "Were you able to gain anything useful from your time together?"

"He can't go in the sun and hates crosses, just as much as we already know." Agatha said, trying to refrain from using a harsh tone. "A rather pointless excursion."

"Nothing is pointless when it comes to Count Dracula." Bloxham replied curtly, setting her drink down. "Him opening up to you, though slight as it may appear, is just as big a goal as any. I'm impressed, Agatha. I wasn't expecting much from you...even though it is only common knowledge."

"I'm not sure what else I can offer at this point." Agatha replied, folding her arms over her chest. "Can I go or is there something pressing you need me to fulfill for you?"

Bloxham glanced over her shoulder at Irving before looking back to Agatha. "I suppose…" She stated thoughtfully. "For now. But keep your schedule free as much as you can. I cannot say when your services will be required."

"Right." The former nun muttered. "I'll be cancelling my tickets for leaving the country then." A snide remark that went unmentioned by Bloxham. "Thanks."

Agatha made sure to accidentally slam the door a little harder than needed when she left the office. Fury bubbled in her chest as Bloxham's words replayed in her mind. A pawn in a game. A puppet in a show. The woman has basically slapped a figurative ankle monitor on her. At least the anger gave her something to focus on to make the time go by faster.

It was lunchtime when the former nun's phone vibrated in her pocket. Taking it out, she frowned deeply when she noted the caller ID. Count Dracula.

"Last night was fun. I wanted to inquire if you'd be interested in scheduling another meeting. My place or yours?" -Dracula

Deciding to ignore it, Agatha shoved her cell back into her pants. Dracula was the last person she wanted to see right now. Part of her expected Bloxham to immediately summon her to her office, believing the vampire to use Frank to his advantage. But when that didn't happen and time rolled on, that concern began to push into the back of her mind.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're ignoring me. Not fun, Agatha. Not fun at all." -Dracula

Agatha groaned, annoyed by the text that had awoken her from her deep sleep. It had been three nights since the vampire's last text. Though despite the messages, neither Frank nor Bloxham had seemed to become involved yet. For whatever reason, Dracula hadn't used that lifeline to his advantage. Turning her phone off, the former nun shoved it into her dresser drawer and closed her eyes. Sleep was a bliss worth taking.

"Agatha, I do hope you are alright. I'm beginning to worry. Do respond. Should I have a welfare check done on you? Perhaps Frank would be of service." -Dracula

"I'll put you out of service." Agatha muttered to herself as she shoved her phone into her purse.

It was late evening now and she was just about to head home. She was tired, hungry, and just about done dealing with the Lord of Darkness. It'd been a week now. A long, paperwork filled one, and all she wanted to do was rest. Getting into her car, Agatha drove home, the moon well into the sky by the time she pulled into the driveway.

"Mrs. Avery?" Agatha called out as she entered the house. "Sorry I'm late, I got caught up at the office."

The house was dark which sent a tingle up the former nun's spine. In the distance, she could see a light coming from the living room. The slight hum from the television meeting her ears. Cautiously, she made her way down to the room wondering if all was well. What she saw made her stop cold in her tracks.

Zoe lay curled up peacefully on the couch, a blanket draped over her frame as she slept. But instead of the short, elderly woman sitting at her side, a tall, loaming man grinned at Agatha from his spot. Count Dracula brought a long, pointed finger to his lips and quietly shushed the former nun.

"Welcome home, Agatha."

#Dragatha #Dracula 2020 #Dracula #Agatha Van Helsing #Dracula x Agatha #Caught in a Riptide

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indestinatus · 3 years

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Perfect Match

TIVATOBER 2020 // DAY 28

↳ prompt: Halloween Party - rated T (2,170 words)

summary: Ziva steps into the party and isn’t completely surprised by all the eyes that turn to her - but that is far from being the only surprise of the night.

A/N: for my darling @softdeckerstars, who mentioned something on chapter 1 and stayed with me until chapter 28 to see it written. Your love and support is unmatched, dear friend. Love you so.

read it on AO3 🎭

Ziva stepped out of the car, facing the chilly air of the street.

She was nervous. This wasn’t something she usually did, dressing up like that.

She should’ve brought the jacket she left hanging at the back of her door. Her bare shoulders were shivering, but now there was no going back. Maybe if she had calculated how much skin that outfit was going to show, she wouldn’t even have tried it. Even with the metal-like plaques now covering her forearms, there was still a lot to cover—and the tightness of the bodice didn’t really leave things to the imagination.

She wasn’t feeling bad as she had looked in the mirror earlier that night, though.

No, she felt… Different. It wasn’t common for them to have time to dress this fancy, and even more than that, go to a party. It was true it was still in the local bar they used to go to every Friday or so, but… With makeup and styled hair, Ziva hadn’t felt that different in a long time.

Swallowing down her self-consciousness, Ziva took a step towards the bar, opening the rusty door.

A dozen conversations started at the same time, the sound amplified as she stepped inside. Quickly surveying the bar entrance, Ziva realized it had been decorated with Halloween colors - dull orange and light purple lights hanging from the ceiling - as well as a few spiderwebs and scary skulls placed between the drinks and on various tables.

In a second, Ziva also noticed that many eyes had turned to her. Some belonged to people she knew, perhaps ones she could even call friends - after a couple of drinks, it was difficult not to laugh with the regulars - but most were from men seeking something. Company for the night.

Ziva tilted her chin up, challenging them. With a side smirk, she thanked the bartender, Gina, and the young woman gave her an appreciative nod. It didn’t take long for Ziva to spot her friends, though, and a relieved smile cracked on her lips as soon as she saw Abby across the room, also smiling broadly at her.

“Wow, Ziva, you look great!” Abby took both her hands inside hers, a face so excited Ziva wondered if she had had any drinks already or if this was her natural state. She decided on the latter.

“Thank you, Abby. And you look… Dark.” Ziva eyed her costume and quickly added, “In a good way.”

With dark eyeshadow and sporting a long red velvet cape over a black dress, Abby looked like her normal self—except for the little fangs that now protruded from inside her mouth.

“Thank you,” she replied, grinning. “It’s my version of Dracula. Last year, I didn’t win because no one knew who was Mina Harker, so I decided on something simpler this time. Well, simpler in my eyes. It’s just absurd no one knows her. But knows him! She’s part of the story too and—”

“Wonder Woman.”

Tony’s voice made Ziva’s heart do that little flip she was familiar with, and as their gazes met, his was so intense she felt unable to breathe properly.

It was as if the whole world was reduced to that moment, with Tony’s eyes doing an elevator motion and then back up to her face after a slow blink. Ziva looked down to her own outfit, taking in the knee-high boots and metallic dress. Meeting his gaze again, she felt that even the cold plaque circling her forehead had turned warmer somehow—when Tony parted his mouth to lick the curve of his bottom lip.

“Yes,” Ziva replied, feeling better than she did the whole evening.

Tony’s brow shot up, appearing above the glasses he was wearing. Ziva bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making any comment about it (or inflating his ego)—but good heavens, did he look good sporting that. Wondering if Tony would ever wear glasses in real life - and not just a part of a costume - Ziva let her gaze wander down his outfit as well, taking in his combed hair to the side and open shirt.

“You weren’t lying,” he said, breaking eye contact for a second with a sheepish smile.

“Why would I do that?”

Ziva tilted her head and visibly saw Tony inhaling. She knew what that gesture did to him, and offered him a secretive smile she knew he would understand. There was something so compelling in making him lose control like that, and how easy it was. All she needed to do was to linger her gaze for some seconds and he would start fidgeting, pressing his lips together or talking without any filter at all.

But there was something different about tonight. She noticed he couldn’t stop staring. Not even when McGee arrived with the first round of drinks - dressed in some sort of character Ziva didn’t recognize, with elf ears and a strange-looking vest - and not even when a couple of his local friends approached him.

Tony continued to look at her over the bottle brim and stealing glances when neither of them was talking. The night stretched into a few rounds of drinks, and Ziva soon started to feel the happy dose of alcohol inside her system. Smiling more than usual, she realized they had drifted closer to one another, and Tony’s shoulder was now pressed against hers.

“You do know this is just a party, right?” Tony looked at her from the corner of his vision. “Not a job interview for modelling or…” he trailed off, and for what felt like the tenth time that night, let his eyes trail to where the bodice hugged her waist, tight and fitting.

“I heard there is a competition, yes?” Ziva lifted one of her eyebrows.

“Right,” Tony chuckled, taking another sip of his beer. “Ziva David, parading in front of everyone, dressed as a sexy Amazon Warrior.”

“Isn’t that one of your fantasies, Tony?”

His eyes sparkled and Ziva couldn’t help but cast a confident smile when the beer he was drinking stopped midair, a half-hearted huff sent in her direction.

“Funny,” Tony said, pointing her a finger. ”You… You can’t say that. You have no right to—”

“You guys are matching!”

Abby gestured at them with a wide smile, clasping her hands together. Her excitement caught the attention of nearby tables, and now a few curious customers stretched their necks to see what she meant.

Abby was right. Tony had the decency to look down his own torso, where a half-open white shirt displayed the Superman logo which suited him well. A loose tie was draped around his neck, and with his hair combed to the side, Tony did look straight out from a comic book.

From the way he still stared at her, Ziva guessed she did too, his attraction now way less disguised from the effects of the alcohol. She met Tony’s gaze to find it curious rather than with the playfulness she expected, and Ziva was caught off guard for a moment before she could slip back into her façade.

“Really?” Ziva cast Abby a smirk. “I did not notice it.”

A click sounded a second later, and Ziva flashed a smile at how excited Abby looked when she pulled McGee to see it too. Halting for a second and furrowing his brows, McGee’s gaze darted between the two of them but finally decided not to comment on the matter. After some loud, excited babbling coming from an already tipsy Abby, she left them alone as well, but not before sending a not-so-discreet wink Ziva’s way.

“Hm.” Tony turned to her, putting his hands inside his trouser pockets. “Do you think they know?”

Ziva glanced to where Abby and McGee now stood, not looking at them but still close. They appeared to have started some sort of debate on another table about someone’s costume, but Ziva couldn’t catch much more than that.

“No,” she replied. “They do not.”

“I thought that was the plan.”

“Hm.” Ziva turned to Tony, smirking up at him. “Seeing you squirm is way better.”

Tony’s tongue pushed the inside of his cheek, as he tried to suppress a smile but failed.

“And you couldn’t settle on something looking less…” he trailed off, tipping his chin to her costume.

Ziva chuckled. “Powerful?”

His eyes were pure hunger when they returned back to her face. Ziva’s heart started beating faster.

“I was going to say ‘less Ziva’.”

Tony’s eyes sparkled and Ziva smiled, appreciating how good he was at flirting.

“Hm.” Ziva pursed her lips, leaning forward on the table. “I like it. I can even conceal my weapons.”

Tony’s eyes instantly flickered to her chest, the low cut of her dress drawing the desired effect. When his gaze met hers again, Ziva parted her lips. Everything was just too intense. And he looked way too handsome with his hair and glasses like that.

“How many are there with you?” Tony stepped into her space.

Ziva tilted her chin up towards him. “Do you really want to know?”

“A man needs to be prepared,” Tony chuckled. “But you do look... amazing.”

“Thank you,” Ziva opened an honest smile, then skimmed his face as she said, “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

Tony lifted a hand to brush a curl off her shoulder, and the light touch of his fingers left a burning trace on her skin.

“We clean up nice, don’t we?”

He skimmed her face in wonder and Ziva smiled, looking at him from under her eyelashes. Not even a moment after, Tony chuckled, shaking his head as she trailed his gaze with her own.

“You know what?” He chuckled weakly, then hummed with the back of his throat before meeting her eyes again.

“Screw you,” Tony said, though his eyes were visibly sparkling.

Ziva huffed out a laugh, taken aback. “Why?”

“For making me want to tear it off.”

Tony’s lips pressed together as he nodded towards her metal dress and his hand hit the table a couple of times in a fist, then opened with the palm facing down. Licking his lips, he closed his eyes and glanced the other way, and Ziva couldn’t help but laugh at how helpless he looked.

“Hm.” She clicked her tongue and cracked a smile. “And I have not even ‘paraded’ yet.”

Tony continued to shake his head, the look he cast a clear mix of helplessness and pure lust.

“Dangerous woman.”

“Wasn’t it Wonder?”

A smile cracked on his lips, and Ziva followed it as Tony turned to face McGee and Abby still in a heated conversation at the table across the room.

“They’ll know,” he said after a moment, with a duck of his chin.

Ziva chuckled amused, then lifted an eyebrow.

“How?” she asked, then motioned to their costumes, adding, “I do not think we can be more obvious than this.”

Going with matching costumes had originally been Ziva’s idea, but Tony had also helped pick the ones that felt appropriate. They had previously discussed how to break the news to the team, but it wasn’t something that easy to tell everyone that they were actually together now, however natural it may seem. With a Halloween party approaching, Ziva had joked they should leave them a clue, even if as minimal as matching costumes.

“When I kiss you,” Tony replied, then chuckled as Ziva sent him a questioning look. “Just saying. They’ll know.”

“I thought we had agreed—”

Tony’s hands cupped her face and pulled Ziva close in an instant, words cutting short. As soon as his lips met hers, his tongue demanded access into her mouth, and Ziva let him with little to no restraint.

Tony’s mouth was almost aggressive, the kiss an explosion of all that had been building up all night. Ziva tuned her senses to return its energy, and as she let her fingers trail to the back of his head, Tony let out an appreciative groan from low on his throat.

She felt his hands fisting her hair, and Ziva circled his neck to pull him closer. With all the weight of Tony’s body now flushed against hers, she suddenly felt lightheaded, and as his hands left her hair to trail the sides of her hips, Ziva did feel like she was getting out of breath.

Breaking the kiss, she heard him whine before sharing her breath—as if he was also in need of some oxygen. Tony let his forehead pressed to hers, and squeezed Ziva’s waist to make a point.

“Know that this is your fault,” he said, sounding indeed a bit breathless.

She tightened her grip around his neck, chuckling against his lips.

“We both know it is not,” Ziva replied.

“It is, though.”

And if he heard another click coming from Abby’s camera, Tony made no comment on it before claiming Ziva’s lips again with his own.

As he smiled through the kiss, though, she had a feeling he was alright with them figuring it all out just like that.

#tiva #tiva fanfiction #tivatober2020 #once upon a halloween #my fics #this is so silly!!!#I do love their costumes though <33 I think they match

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raleighcarrera · 4 years

Text

honey & the moon

ride or die | colt kaneko x mc (ellie wheeler)

~20.3k words | E (18+) - graphic violence, explicit sex, etc.

a werewolf au following mtv’s teen wolf lore because logan is an alpha werewolf without a pack and ellie is his brilliant human best friend who helps him out of sticky situations and when they’re not fighting monsters in their hometown or working to graduate high school they’re trying to decide whether or not they should join colt’s alpha pack of hotties, y’know?

“i’m sorry, did you just say --”

“an alpha pack,” logan repeated gravely. he nodded, swallowing hard. ellie could feel how she was gaping at him, her mouth opened as wide as it would go.

“as in... a pack of werewolves,” ellie started slowly, “but all of them... are alphas.”

“right.”

two fingers lifted to rub at her temple. “and they came... to your lacrosse practice.”

“yep. well -- one of them.”

“today.”

“yes.”

her head bobbed with a nod as she, too, took it all in. then, she opened her mouth and screamed.

the door of her bedroom banged open abruptly. her dad rushed in, breathless from racing up the stairs. “what’s going on in here? is everything alright?”

logan was staring at her, eyes wide with concern. right. detective wheeler still didn’t know about the whole... werewolf thing.

“sorry, dad,” ellie explained weakly. “i saw a spider.”

“sorry, mr. wheeler. el -- you have to show me where it is next time, if you want me to kill it.” logan smiled politely.

“jesus, ellie. don’t scare me like that.” her dad stepped forward and ruffled her hair, shooting her a stern look. “i’m headed to the station. just call if you two need anything.”

“of course, dad. be safe, okay?” as soon as the door to her room swung shut again, the panicked look on her face was back. logan held up a hand as soon as she opened her mouth, before she could say a word.

“okay, don’t freak out! i can see you freaking out.”

“an alpha pack, logan!”

“i know.” he winced, lifting a hand and pushing it through his hair. “i know, it’s insane. which is why we can’t afford to have you have a meltdown right now.”

she really, really wanted to have a meltdown, though. “well -- what did they want?”

ellie didn’t need to be a werewolf to read his tells. logan was her best friend, and she knew his body language better than anyone else’s. her eyes narrowed as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, shuffling his feet back and forth.

“logan,” she repeated, “what did they want?”

“well...” he cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes. “the thing is that... they sort of -- want me to join them.”

it felt like her eyes were going to bug out of her head. “what?”

“i know, it sounds insane. but -- they’re having, like, a pack meeting or something? on saturday. and they want me to go, but -- you know you’re like my werewolf guru. so i was really hoping... that you’d come with me.”

logan’s voice was pleading -- he was giving her the puppy-dog eyes. ellie frowned at him. “logan,” she sighed, “we don’t know anything about them! they could be dangerous. we can’t just -- go there.”

already, her mind was racing a mile a minute. in all the dusty old books she’d read since logan was turned, she didn’t recall ever seeing anything about an alpha pack. there was hardly enough time to do any real research before saturday, and it wasn’t exactly like this whole thing came with a training manual -- so, your best friend is a werewolf? here are twenty scenarios you’ll be facing before your high school graduation.

“i know, okay? but...” both of his shoulders lifted with a shrug. “the guy kind of made it seem like i didn’t have a choice. and i can’t do this without you, ellie.”

she flopped back onto her bed with a groan. he was right. logan really couldn’t do any of this without her. over the last three years, they’d fought their way through more supernatural messes than she’d ever thought possible. ellie found herself spending every waking hour not at school or cramming for it consuming magical lore that she was only sure was true less than half the time, pursuing shady leads in weird libraries across california, all in the hopes of learning something that would help them, someday.

the night he was bitten, they’d been out in the woods together -- logan had suggested it as a way to cheer her up after a failed test. the clearing they visited frequently had always had the best view of the stars, something that never failed to calm them both down when life felt overwhelming.

though he’d always assured her it wasn’t her fault, ellie couldn’t help but feel responsible for what’d happened to him, and all the problems that eventually followed. as it was, she and logan went on to save each other’s lives at least a thousand times over. she was the only thing that helped him through his first few shifts, and he was always, always, always her best friend, even before everything -- maybe the only real one she’d ever had.

now it was three years later, and she knew way more about werewolves than she’d ever expected to. since logan was bitten, their sleepy town of lake forest, california had undergone an awakening -- a chasm in the woods near the very spot they’d been exploring that split wide open and filled the city with all sorts of insane magic that the two of them always seemed to be stuck cleaning up. even though she had no idea how, ellie was pretty sure that was somehow her fault, too.

the least she could do now was pay him back for all he’d done to help by continuing to be the brains of their operation. “they’re going to kill us,” she moaned, sparing a brief, fleeting and ridiculous thought to what she should wear.

“i’m not going to let anyone kill us.” right. that was his role -- confidence, brute strength, being the sturdiest shoulder to cry on she’d ever met in her life. she had no idea what she could ever do without him. “so -- is that a yes?”

“ugh.” she rolled up to sit on the edge of the bed again, reaching in her nightstand for the journal she used to take notes on everything weird that ever happened to them. logan looked absurdly hopeful, perched in her desk chair. “just -- give me all the details you have before i change my mind.”

“huh.” she frowned at him as she put the car in park on the street, squinting up at the house they were stopped in front of suspiciously. it looked... normal enough. it was in a regular neighborhood, surrounded by plenty of other... normal looking houses. “are you sure we’re in the right place?”

“what were you expecting?” logan asked, sounding amused, “dracula’s lair?”

ellie rolled her eyes at him. “if dracula’s real, i’m resigning as your werewolf handler. i bet he’d at least pay.” but it was throwing her off a little, how far this seemed from what she’d been expecting. her stomach twisted with unease as she glanced up at the house again. “do you think they can hear us?”

as if on cue, the front door swung open. a young woman was standing in the doorway, smirking at them. ellie felt her cheeks flush. damn werewolf hearing.

“well -- i guess this is it,” logan declared, sliding out of the passenger seat without hesitation. ellie sighed, slamming the car door and following closely behind him. she tried not to look nervous when they made their way up the front path.

“hey.” logan greeted the girl who’d opened the door with a sense of calm she wished more than anything he could teach her how to exude. over the years, it’d been just one of his annoying quirks she couldn’t get to rub off on her.

the stranger looked them both up and down. her eyes shifted from logan to ellie, and then she grinned sharply. “awwww. you brought a human.”

they both bristled. “my name is ellie,” she cut in, her nerves giving way to annoyance. why was every supernatural she met always so fucking rude?

logan reached out for her wrist and tapped twice, their universal signal for trouble. okay. so the rude lady was one of them -- part of the alpha pack. that was fine. she’d hardly be the first alpha werewolf ellie ever mouthed off to before.

the tension gave way as the woman looked down at her and laughed. “cute. this should be interesting.” she surveyed them both for another moment and then inclined her head down the hallway. “follow me.”

ellie shot logan a look as they both followed her down the hall, but he only shrugged one shoulder at her. at this point in their friendship, they were perfect experts at communicating with just a look, and she rolled her eyes at him, knowing he didn’t see anything wrong with or off about the situation so far. this was why she always had to be on her guard -- logan was way too trusting. one side of his mouth lifted in a slight smile.

from in front of them, the woman asked, “do you two always do that?”

ellie startled. “what?”

“forget it. in here.”

there was music playing in the room somewhere, soft and slow. ellie frowned as she looked around, again expecting... something much different than what she saw, which was a simple study with a desk, some arm chairs and a pool table, where two incredibly well-dressed women were playing each other. whoever had solids was winning by a lot.

every set of eyes in the room landed on her when they walked in. defensively, she folded her arms underneath her chest. typical. this was how everyone they encountered always looked at her -- like she didn’t belong, just because she was human. if they only knew how many dangerous situations she’d gotten logan out of, how many times they’d saved the stupid city and, frankly, all of orange county --

from beside her, the werewolf woman who’d opened the door for them laughed. “amp down, tiny. they’re just surprised, that’s all.”

her cheeks flushed. she hated when logan did that, let alone -- strangers. her private emotions were meant to be just that: private.

“she really doesn’t like that,” logan remarked helpfully from her other side. “i try to just tune the way she smells out.”

the woman shrugged. “well, she smells good.”

“excuse me!” ellie could feel her cheeks burning bright red. “i’m right here.”

the two women by the pool table had abandoned their cues and were now starting to walk over. they smiled at logan, stepping closer to shake his hand. “logan, right? we’ve heard a lot about you.”

they were both gorgeous. logan smiled charmingly as he shook both of their hands. “that’s me, and this is ellie.”

the blonde woman eyed her with interest. “really -- how does that work?”

“well, we’ve kind of been best friends our whole lives,” logan answered obliviously as the other woman -- taller, with dark hair -- moved to shake ellie’s hand, too.

“nice to meet you both. i’m ximena.” she nodded at the blonde woman. “this is ingrid. and i see you already met mona.” ellie twisted around to look at the woman who’d answered the door for her. she only stared back at the both of them.

“we’re just waiting on colt, he should --”

the door from the patio swung open and a boy who couldn’t have been much older than she or logan strolled in, a motorcycle helmet held under his arm. he looked annoyed. “sorry i’m late, there was a shitload of traffic on the...”

he trailed off into nothing. ellie recognized exactly what he was doing as soon as his head cocked to the side. logan always did the same thing whenever she switched perfumes or someone new had been in her bedroom. he was scenting the air -- probably wondering who let the human in.

his eyes locked on hers immediately. “who’re you?”

seriously, so rude. ellie shot logan a look he’d seen many times before. do they not teach manners in werewolf school?

he stepped in smoothly. “hey, this is ellie. she’s my --”

“this meeting isn’t for girlfriends,” colt snapped coldly, looking her up and down. ellie huffed, annoyance rolling off of her in waves. she could feel logan tense beside her, but he was perfectly calm when he spoke up again.

“ellie’s my best friend. we work together on everything. she knows everything there is to know about... werewolf stuff.” she turned to look at him and found his gaze firm. “we’re a package deal.”

judging by the little nod logan gave her, he could smell how warm the sentiment made her. but that was logan -- always sticking up for her, always finding some way to make her smile. even when they were in some ridiculous situation like this.

ellie looked back at colt and found him glaring at the both of them. he looked like he’d just bitten into a lemon. she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “fine,” he said begrudgingly, “i guess she can stay.”

it was less awkward than she’d expected it to be. the tension from their introductions faded and logan charmed the alphas pretty much immediately, in that same easygoing way he always did. the girls thought he was just about the greatest thing they’d ever seen -- not that ellie blamed them. in her short time dealing with werewolves, ellie had come to realize logan was a rare breed. he was the real deal: honest, loyal, brave, compassionate -- driven to do the right thing, even when it usually spelled trouble for them. he was a far cry from the mess he’d been when he was first turned, just a few years ago. he was a true alpha -- he hadn’t gotten his status by killing or taking, he’d earned it.

she doubted the same could be said for anyone else in the room they were in.

mostly, colt and the others seemed curious about all they’d seen in lake forest since the awakening. they grilled logan with questions on every ridiculous creature they’d fought over the last three years, though more often than not, logan kept having to turn to her to have ellie fill in the details, which she did with precision, gritting her teeth against the way the rest of the werewolves kept staring at her in surprise as she described their escapades.

logan was halfway through a story he’d mixed up with another when she shook her head. “no,” she interrupted, “that was when we fought the kanima. you’re confusing it with the harpies. the kanima couldn’t be in water, remember?”

“oh, you’re right.” logan nodded, ignoring the way everyone was looking at them both. “did you bring your book? i think it’d help jog my memory.” his grin was sheepish when he turned it on the other alphas, rubbing at the back of his neck. “it’s been a crazy three years. it’s hard to keep it all straight.”

ellie pulled her notebook out of her purse, flipping through the pages. from across the table, on the other couch, colt snorted. “what is that?”

she glared at him. “i keep notes on everything we encounter, not that it’s any of your business.”

“ellie’s an amazing researcher,” logan declared proudly, seemingly thinking he was helping. colt and ellie continued to glare at each other. “i think she’s read literally every book on the supernatural there is. she also keeps an encyclopedia of terms and stuff we haven’t seen yet, in case of emergencies.”

colt smirked condescendingly. “sounds resourceful.”

“actually, it is,” she bit back, snapping her notebook closed, “and if you’re going to make fun of it, don’t come asking us for help the next time you run into a nogitsune and can’t get it to leave.”

mona’s eyebrows lifted high. “you two fought off a nogitsune?”

logan winced. ellie folded her arms under her chest and looked away. “it sort of... possessed her, for a little bit.” he bumped his shoulder into ellie’s, and she softened, looking back at him with a tiny smile. “we got her back, though. ellie’s real tough.”

her eyes flashed gratefully at him. logan’s answering grin was wide, all teeth. don’t mention it.

she turned to look defiantly back at colt, and found him studying the two of them thoughtfully. the expression on his face was mostly neutral, though she was sure she could read disgust in the twist of his mouth.

when he spoke, his voice was slow. “mona... why don’t you show logan the rest of the house? i’d like to talk to ellie a little more about her diary.”

she rolled her eyes. so -- now he was sexist, too? if logan had been the one keeping incredibly detailed notes on their adventures, she highly doubted he’d be calling it a diary.

logan was stiff beside her. “that’s okay,” he said evenly, “we can go over it together.”

colt smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. there seemed to be a challenge in his gaze. “relax, i’m not gonna hurt her. i just want to talk to her.” colt turned towards her and fixed her with a stare so intense it made her freeze in place. “that’s alright, isn’t it?”

logan’s obvious anxiety drew her back to him. they locked eyes, and he silently held her gaze. she was sure he was doing what he always did, listening to her heartbeat. after a moment, he nodded. “okay. a quick tour sounds fun.”

he stood up, and she watched everyone leave the room, until it was just her and colt, who stood, too. “let’s talk in my office,” he said, in a way that didn’t leave room for an argument, “we’ll have more privacy there.”

she didn’t bother pretending like she wasn’t looking around when he shut the door behind him. ellie’s eyes swept the study, cataloging everything she could see with interest. the books in the shelves lining his walls were almost enough to make her drool -- too bad they were wasted on such an asshole. she’d never give him the satisfaction of letting him know she’d love to sort through them.

her eyes came to rest on the line of his back as he strolled to the desk and poured himself a drink. “want one?”

ellie grimaced, eyeing the little purple flowers floating in the decanter. she hated the taste of wolfsbane. “no thanks.”

colt sat in the chair behind his desk and gestured for her to sit in the one in front of it. ellie ignored him, still strolling slowly around his office, looking thoughtfully at everything from the carpet to the artwork hung on the walls. “so,” she started, “how long have you been a werewolf?”

“i was born one.” she could feel his eyes following her as she scanned the works on his bookshelf again from up close, making a mental note of the titles that stuck out to her.

“how long have you been an alpha?”

“five years.” he didn’t elaborate further. she stepped closer to his desk, though her eyes didn’t stray from the spines of the books.

“who’d you have to kill?”

he didn’t hesitate to answer. “my dad.”

ellie twisted to look at him over her shoulder, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “seriously?”

colt shrugged, bringing the glass in his hands to his lips. “he killed my mom.”

“that’s... heavy.” she slowed to a stop in front of his desk, still not taking the seat he’d indicated. “so... why an alpha pack?”

colt shrugged again. “why not?” ellie leveled him with an unimpressed look, and this time he continued. “you know how dangerous it is for people like us. logan’s done well for himself, but there’s strength in numbers. if you two keep going the way you are now, it’s only a matter of time before another alpha challenges him. he needs a pack.” he eyed her from behind his glass, and then amended, “a real pack.”

ellie planted her hands on her hips. “you mean you? look -- we’re not stupid. i know you only want him because he’s a true alpha. and you’re after his power, like everyone else. but logan is a good person. all he cares about is doing the right thing. and i’m not going to let you manipulate him into being someone he’s not, just so you can use him to beef up your arsenal.”

colt’s eyes flashed. in a nanosecond he was up from his desk, and backed her against the wall. ellie gasped as he crowded in close. “what’re you doing? back off.”

“not so brave without your guard dog here, are you?” he sneered at her, actually laughing when she lifted her hands to push ineffectually at his shoulders. “your self-righteous bullshit is all well and good while you’re taking down harpies in lake forest. but you two have no idea what’s actually out there. and sooner or later, you’re both going to realize i’m right. joining this pack is logan’s only option.”

his eyes were blazing, awfully intense as they swept ellie’s face. she shoved him again, but this time he moved, shaking his head as he walked calmly back to his desk. “he values your opinion. you should let him know what you think.”

she was flushed again. “i think you’re an asshole.” she turned to leave.

colt smirked at her. she did her best to cover up her emotions in the way she’d been practicing with logan, and was gratified when he narrowed his eyes. “maybe,” he said finally, “but i’m right.” he set his empty glass back down on the desk. “and i’m patient. i’ll wait as long as it takes for you to see reason.”

ellie strode to the door and flung it open, startling when she saw logan just in front of it, out of breath like he’d run back across the house. “jesus, you scared me,” he said, reaching out to grab her shoulders, looking her over for any signs of distress. “i couldn’t hear your heartbeat.”

colt appeared from behind her shoulder. “sorry. this room’s soundproof.” logan looked back and forth between the two of them, still glancing her over. his nose wrinkled, and he turned his gaze on colt warily. ellie blushed to the roots of her hair as she realized she must smell like him, now, from where he’d pressed her in against the bookshelves.

she shook her head at logan, who arched an eyebrow as if to let her know that he wouldn’t forget to ask her about this later. “i’ll walk you guys out,” colt said, breaking the sudden quiet.

they stepped silently into the foyer. colt held his hand out to logan. “listen, why don’t you come around next week after school? we do most of our... group stuff in the afternoons. you can see what it’s really like out here, and we can talk some more.” without even having to look at him, ellie knew he was already considering it. there was a pause, and then colt said, “your bodyguard can come, too.”

ellie stayed resolutely silent beside logan, watching colt curiously. she wondered what he was playing at, but he kept smiling that weird smile -- the one that looked more like a threat. “sure,” logan said finally, annoying people-pleaser that he was. one of these days his politeness was seriously going to get them killed. “sounds fun.”

no amount of nagging could talk logan out of going back to the house after school on monday, so that was how ellie found herself sitting outside on the alpha pack’s back porch, working through her calculus homework while the rest of the wolves ran around in the backyard.

it was almost nice -- logan had never known any other werewolves who were actually kind to him before. most of the creatures they encountered in lake forest were looking to kill them or some other innocent people, so he’d hardly gotten the how-to manual ellie had been sorely hoping for, when he first turned. out here, around other people like him, he seemed... lighter, somehow. more carefree.

then colt sat down on the porch next to her. “don’t you have something else you could be doing?” she asked, without looking up from her text book. she was almost done with her problem set.

“is it so wrong if i want to get to know you better?” his voice had a carefully manufactured tone of innocence. she rolled her eyes.

“it is, because that’s not why you’re here. you want something. so please just spit it out so i can get back to my homework.”

she glanced over at him, then, and found colt already looking at her, clearly annoyed. he pursed his lips, seemingly weighing his options, and then sighed. “did he... say anything to you? about his decision?”

ellie laughed, turning back to her notebook. “i can try slipping him a note, if you want? ‘do you like colt as more than a friend, check yes or no’ --”

“forget it. you’re impossible.” she looked back at him just in time to see his eyes flash red -- so quickly she might’ve missed it otherwise. it felt very, very different than any number of times she’d seen logan do it before.

“you don’t scare me,” ellie said.

colt smirked at her. “that’s not what your pulse says.”

true, her heartbeat was going faster. ellie rolled her eyes at him. “don’t be nosy.” she turned her gaze resolutely back to her calculus textbook, forcing herself to keep her eyes on the paper.

colt leaned in a little closer. “but you don’t smell scared.”

she could feel her cheeks flush. “stop it. i hate that.”

he laughed. “you and logan are practically joined at the hip, and you hate being read? how does that work?”

“logan’s a nice person,” she said pointedly, “he ignores it.”

the sound of his scoff made her lift her eyes curiously. “unless his nose is broken, i’m not sure how anyone could ignore that. you reek. it’s unbearable.”

she blinked. “excuse me?”

“at first i thought you were projecting, but since you hate everyone else knowing how you feel, i guess you’re not.” he wasn’t looking at her -- his gaze was staring out at the backyard, where the rest of the alphas were talking to logan.

she frowned. logan had never said anything about the way she smelled before. “is it... bad?”

colt shook his head. “nah.” when he didn’t elaborate, her frown deepened.

ellie drew in a breath and decided to change the subject. “so... if logan decides to join your pack, what happens next? is there some kind of... initiation?”

“what, like group sex?” he grinned widely at her. “i bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“no!” she exclaimed, reaching out and whacking his shoulder. “that’s not what i meant.” her face was hot with an undeniable blush.

colt laughed at her again. “you two haven’t... done anything, to make it official? being pack, i mean.”

she shrugged. “everything i found online said stuff about biting. logan never wanted to risk it. he said we were pack way before any of this mess happened, anyway.” and she’d been inclined to agree with him.

when ellie turned back towards colt, she found him already staring at her. his gaze was indecipherable. “it’s amazing you two are still alive,” he said finally, “flying blind like you are.”

“hey, we do alright.” her voice was a mix of defensive and proud. they’d figured out a lot together, after all.

colt slowly shook his head. “i guess you never needed it. pack dynamics are all about protection. and you smell so much like alpha werewolf i wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole, if i ran into you somewhere outside of this.”

ellie was surprised again. logan had never mentioned her smelling like him before, but he was a hugger -- always lingering, rubbing his palms over the sleeves of her jackets, laying in her bed when he came over. huh. “i smell like logan?”

“you smell like you two spend all of your free time rolling around together in a pile of his dirty clothes.” ellie looked down at her own shirt, her brow furrowing. she’d never noticed that before.

“logan never said anything. but i guess we do spend a lot of time together.”

colt shrugged lazily. “he probably likes it. even if he doesn’t want to fuck you, it’s instinct to want to have a pack, and to protect that pack. i’d wager smelling like him has kept you out of a lot of trouble.”

ellie gaped at him. before she could say a word, he stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. “i’ll leave you to it.” colt nodded down at her textbook and walked off down the stairs, heading over towards the group.

logan waited until they were almost all the way back to lake forest before he said, “so...”

she sighed. “i still don’t like it.”

“i know. but?”

“but... i guess they’re growing on me,” ellie admitted begrudgingly, shaking her head at the sight of logan’s smile. “i know you like them. i just think we need to be careful.”

“definitely,” he agreed, nodding. he still looked pretty excited. “i’m not saying i’m ready to make my decision. but... i think we could keep hanging out over there, see how things go. i think they like you, too.”

ellie laughed. “really? i think they tolerate me because of you.”

“nah. the girls were totally grilling me about you all day! i don’t think any of them have any human friends.”

“maybe they were checking to make sure you’re single,” she pointed out fairly, thinking of the way they’d all seemed pretty enamored by him. “colt said we basically smell like we’re sleeping together 24/7.”

logan jerked forward abruptly as she slowed the car to a stop at a red light. he coughed. “he said that?”

“uh huh,” ellie confirmed, pursing her lips as she recalled their conversation. “how come you never told me i smell so much like you? he said it’s... really noticeable.”

logan shrugged. “i guess i never thought about it before. you always smelled like me, even when i first turned. and i spend so much time at your house... we kind of just have one smell, at this point.”

“well -- it seemed to bother him,” she pressed thoughtfully, thinking of the scowl on his lips. “he said it was really strong.”

“really?” logan questioned, “that’s weird. i’ve never noticed you smelling... more or less than anyone else. most people just kind of smell... like themselves, you know?”

“no,” she laughed, “but i get it.”

“the only person i ever remember smelling really strongly was jessica valenti, last year. she’s the reason i failed british lit.”

“she’s the reason you failed brit lit?” ellie repeated, her voice climbing with disbelief, “i don’t think so. you were obsessed with her, but...”

her voice trailed off, the words dying in her throat. logan had a pretty monumental crush on jessica valenti. for the entirety of their junior year, she was all he ever thought or talked about.

“uh oh. what’s that look for?” logan asked warily. “i can hear you thinking.”

“you can’t hear me thinking,” she dismissed, pulling the car to a slow stop in front of her house. her dad’s cruiser was in the driveway. “your hearing’s not that good. c’mon, let’s see what mess he made for dinner. thank god it’s real housewives night -- i need a break from werewolf stuff.”

“me, too,” he agreed with a groan, standing and stretching when he slid out of the jeep. ellie knocked into him as they rushed up the front steps together, their shoulders bumping playfully. if anyone could distract her from her swirling thoughts, it was logan -- and andy cohen, of course.

logan had lacrosse practice on tuesday and wednesday, so they didn’t head back to the house until thursday. colt seemed on edge when they arrived, but he left ellie alone for a few hours to study while the rest of the pack talked, somewhere far off in the backyard.

once she was certain she knew the material for her anatomy exam inside and out, ellie put her books back in her bag and wandered over to see what everyone was up to. when she was still a few yards away in the grass, logan lifted his head and smiled at her.

“hey. wanna race?”

“no way, cheater. you never play fair.”

“it’s not my fault!” he insisted, which was true. logan always started out with the best of intentions, fully planning to use only his human speed. then he started losing, and without fail, he always cheated.

“actually,” colt spoke up, the sound of his voice catching her attention. ellie turned and looked at him, meeting his eyes with surprise. “i wanted to show you something. do you mind?”

for once he wasn’t being outwardly rude, so -- “sure thing.” he turned and headed back to the house. she followed him, trying to pretend like she didn’t notice the way everyone was staring as they went.

“he’s really concerned that i’m going to kill you,” colt remarked absently as they stepped back into the house. he was heading towards his office again. it sounded like he thought logan was being funny.

“well -- are you going to kill me?”

“i’m hurt that you would even ask me that,” colt said, though he was smirking obnoxiously. she rolled her eyes at him.

“you are bringing me to your soundproof room,” she pointed out.

“only because this is where your present is.” he held the door open for her expectantly, even when surprise obviously colored her face.

“my present?” this time, she walked to the chair in front of his desk and sat down. instead of taking the seat behind it, colt sat on the edge of the desk, right in front of her. their legs brushed.

he reached behind himself and presented her with an old book. “here. i was going through some things and found it. thought you might find it useful.”

ellie opened it and flipped through the pages. well -- it was in english, which was a start. most of the texts she’d found on her research tour of the weirdest libraries in california only had things to offer in latin. “what is it?”

“werewolf history.” her eyes lit up as she thumbed through the book carefully. finally, an faq for this disaster. colt hesitated, and then said, “it was my mom’s.”

ellie’s expression softened as she looked up at him. “oh. i -- thank you. this is really nice.” her teeth dug into her bottom lip. “you don’t want it?”

he shook his head. “i was born this way. i already know everything there is to know. you guys will get much more use out of it.” he looked down at where she was hugging the book to her chest, and smiled. for the first time, it wasn’t that threatening smile, but something... gentler. “she’d want you to have it.”

“well... thanks,” ellie said again, her voice slow. her expression split into an honest look of gratitude.

“you’re welcome.” he looked cautiously... pleased. “you know you can come in here whenever you want, right? and read whatever. i haven’t looked through this shit in years. if you find something you want -- then be my guest. seriously.”

“really?” she questioned, looking around at the bookshelves again. she was trying not to show how excited his offer made her, but judging by his laugh, she didn’t think she’d managed it.

“yeah,” colt shrugged. “if you guys are going to be hanging out here... i want you to have someplace you feel comfortable. no one will bother you in here.”

“right,” she teased playfully, “while you guys are having group sex.”

“oh, we’d never leave you out of group sex,” he returned, his grin stretching widely. he appeared almost impressed by her joke.

ellie laughed, looking up at him from under her eyelashes. it seemed like there was more to him than she’d thought, after all. maybe he was actually a decent person.

colt cleared his throat. he nodded at the book in her hands. “so... you think logan will like that?”

“yeah,” ellie nodded. “he’s never really had... any other werewolves who’ve been friendly to him around before. there’s a lot i’m sure he wants to talk about with someone who’s been there. i mean -- we obviously talk, but... it’s not the same, you know?”

colt nodded, folding his arms across his chest. ellie looked slowly down at the book in her hands, an unpleasant thought suddenly dawning on her.

“is that why you gave this to me? so i’d talk you up to logan?” her cheeks flushed an angry red. when she met colt’s eyes again, he didn’t deny it -- he didn’t say anything, actually, and she knew he loved arguing. ellie stood up abruptly. “ugh. just when i start to think you might actually have some redeeming qualities.”

she glared at him, planting one hand on her hip. the other continued to hug the book to her chest. “you can’t convince him to join you by trying to win me over. we’re people -- not possessions. if you want him to like you guys, try being honest for once. leave me out of it.”

colt’s eyes narrowed at her, but he didn’t stop her from storming out of his office and out into the backyard. he didn’t follow her, either.

logan jogged over as soon as she stopped on the porch. “hey, what’s wrong?”

she shook her head. “nothing. are you ready to go?”

logan looked over her shoulder, squinting into the house. “did he do something to you?”

“no,” she murmured, “i’m just tired. come on.”

she waited in the car while he said goodbye to everyone. as soon as they pulled away from the curb, logan inched closer from the passenger seat. “look, i know you hate when i do this, but you smell really upset. do you want to talk about it?”

her grip tightened on the steering wheel. “not really.”

“well -- if colt did something to upset you, i’ll talk to him,” logan offered earnestly. “what’d he give you, anyway?”

ellie sighed, reaching into the backseat for the book. she dropped it in logan’s lap. “werewolf history book. it’s mostly for you, but -- i’ll read it and give you the highlights.”

“sweet.” ellie could hear the grin in his voice as he flipped through it. she kept her eyes resolutely on the road, even when they slowed to a stop at a light. “but, seriously. what’d he say that upset you?”

“nothing. i’m just stressed out about my anatomy exam.” she glanced over at logan and found him giving her a look she knew well. it said i know you’re lying, and i also know that you hate when i listen to your heartbeat to see if you’re lying.

“okay,” logan sighed finally, when she refused to give in. “don’t tell me. it’s not like we’re lifelong best friends, or anything. two people who never keep secrets from each other. two people who swore on a spit handshake to tell each other everything, no matter what --”

“okay,” she laughed, “jesus, fine.” ellie bit her bottom lip. “but it’s stupid.”

“ellie. do you know how many stupid things i’ve said to you over the course of our friendship? come on.”

he had a point. “well... i thought he was being nice to me -- on purpose. but he just wants me to talk him up to you. i think he thinks i’ll be able to convince you to... make your decision faster.”

logan leaned over the center console. “that’s not stupid. do you -- like him or something?”

“no!” ugh. did she? “no. he totally sucks. but everyone else has been really nice to you. and at the end of the day, you should make the decision that’ll be best for you. i’ll support you one hundred percent either way.”

“i know you will.” logan smiled at her. “you always have my back.”

“damn right. so -- kelso’s? i’m starving.”

“yeah, you look like you could use a cheer-up milkshake. i’ll buy.”

“you don’t have to do that,” ellie protested, but she leaned into his arm when he reached out to rub comfortingly at her shoulder. “i’m fine. it didn’t even bother me that much.”

“i know,” logan said, even though they both knew she was lying again, “but it makes me feel better. so -- can i?”

“well... if it’ll make you feel better.” ellie smiled. “then i guess --”

her voice cut off as she turned up the street. logan abruptly sat up straighter, leaning towards the windshield. “holy shit,” he breathed, “what is that thing?”

ellie’s eyes widened in horror. in the middle of the road, chasing two screaming kids through the street, was someone she recognized only barely from school -- but he didn’t quite look like himself, his eyes glowing bright white. as they drove closer, ellie could see rows and rows of painfully sharp teeth. he had blood on his mouth.

“i think it’s a wendigo,” she gasped, pressing down harder on the gas to get closer.

“but that’s -- that’s sean, he’s a junior --”

“he’s about to eat those two kids,” ellie said frantically, helplessly watching him gain on them, “we have to stop him. if i get you close enough do you think you can hit him with my crossbow?”

“like -- like kill him?” logan asked in a panic, even as he scrambled into the backseat for her crossbow as directed. “isn’t there something else we can do?”

“no time.” she stabbed the button for the sunroof, gunning the gas as she did so. “get up there and shoot, logan. now.”

“jesus christ,” he mumbled, pushing up onto his knees on the center console, “can’t we ever just have one fucking day --”

ellie slammed on the breaks. sean from school turned at the sound of screeching tires and snarled at them both, taking a step towards the car.

“logan, now,” she pressed urgently. she saw his finger hover over the trigger.

logan grimaced. “sorry, man.”

the arrow sailed cleanly into his chest. ellie winced as he fell to the ground with a scream, twitching on the pavement. in the distance, she saw the two kids he’d been chasing run off into the night.

she put the car into reverse. “yeah, that’s definitely a wendigo. which means -- there’s more where he came from.”

“awesome,” logan mumbled, dropping down back into the passenger seat, tossing her crossbow into the back of the car. silently, ellie rolled up the sunroof. “that’s totally what i was hoping you’d say.”

when she got home, later that night, ellie took care to seal off every window and doorway with mountain ash. she knew her dad would have a long night out ahead of him -- especially once they found sean’s body, and while logan had offered to stay over, the last thing she wanted was to wait up all night worrying.

she didn’t go back to the house with him on friday, or saturday. on sunday, she dusted off the entrance to her bedroom and logan slipped into her window and dropped another thick book in her lap.

“what’s this?” ellie asked, pushing aside the schoolwork she’d been staring blankly at for the last few hours and decidedly not completing. she turned the heavy text over in her hands.

“bestiary.” he pulled her desk chair out and sat in it backwards, resting his arms against the frame. “colt said it’s like the encyclopedia you’ve been keeping, but... longer.”

ellie pulled a face as she flipped through the pages. “it’s in latin. he told you to give me this?”

logan nodded slowly. it felt like there was something he was dancing around saying. she arched an eyebrow at him, and after a minute of staring, he sighed and gave in. “mona figured he meant it like an apology. all the girls said he’s never passed out presents to anyone else before.”

she rolled her eyes, setting the book aside. translating it was going to take forever. “an apology is an apology,” she said flatly. “and anyway, he should be giving you something you want. i don’t know what he thinks a couple of books are going to do.”

logan shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “they are giving me something i want. i don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but... having friends who are werewolves has been... kind of cool.”

ellie smiled encouragingly. “i know. and i’m really happy for you. if you like spending time there -- then i want you to keep doing it.”

“yeah,” he nodded, “and i definitely will, but -- it’d be way better if you would come back with me. will you think about it?”

“logan...” she wavered, looking down at her bed instead of at the adorable pleading look she knew he was giving her. “i don’t know...”

“just think about it,” logan said again, “for me?”

she sighed heavily. “fine. now get out of here so i can start translating this thing in peace. and -- call me if you see anything weird? my dad hasn’t said anything about sean, but...”

he nodded seriously. “yeah. it’s only a matter of time.” he lifted his hand to give her a two-fingered salute, heading back towards the window. “i’ll text you, okay?”

as quickly as he came, he was gone. ellie settled into her bed with her laptop, and opened the bestiary. before all this started, she could’ve never imagined she’d spend so many hours teaching herself ancient latin, just so she could have a chance at keeping them alive -- but here she was, working her way through a centuries-old book given to her by an alpha werewolf, ignoring her calculus homework yet again.

she zoned out quickly, mindlessly flipping through the pages. hours passed before she took a breather, but eventually, she was pleased to find that she’d made her way about half-through the book, sliding off her bed to stand and stretch. she ran down to the kitchen for a glass of water -- her dad still wasn’t home.

when she stepped back into her bedroom, she heard the window slide open just as she pulled the door shut behind her. “hey, did you find anything? i got about halfway through -- jesus!”

ellie startled, clapping her hand over her heart. it wasn’t logan who’d slipped through her window.

it was colt.

he was wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and frowned at her when she shakily set her glass of water down on her nightstand. “what the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, shifting back and forth on her feet self-consciously. she was in her pajamas.

“you shouldn’t keep that unlocked,” he said instead, nodding to her windowsill. his gaze traveled slowly around her bedroom. he smirked when he caught sight of her debate team trophies.

“i don’t,” ellie answered, annoyed already, “i thought you were logan.” she walked back over to her bed and sat down among her laptop and the still-open bestiary. “you could use the front door, you know.”

he shrugged. “i didn’t know if your dad would be home. you didn’t mention he was a detective.”

ellie arched her eyebrows. “i don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

a muscle jumped in his jaw. he nodded at the book on her bed. “he gave it to you?”

“yeah.”

“i know it’s in latin, but at least you can look at the pictures, right?”

ellie rolled her eyes. she turned her laptop around so he could see the screen. “i already started translating it. i’m, like, half done. once i finish tomorrow i can actually start reading it.”

colt gaped at her. “you’re half done?”

she flushed. “i’m not an idiot, okay? just because i’m not a werewolf doesn’t mean i don’t have my own skills to contribute. logan and i wouldn’t be able to do half of what we can without me. do you know how many obscure books i’ve found and read to him, just so we could have some idea what we’re up against? do you have any idea --”

“ellie,” he huffed, drawing her up short. he looked pained. he pinched the bridge of his nose, and slowly shook his head. “i’m not -- insulting you. you just told me you translated 500 pages of ancient latin in a few hours. i’m impressed.”

“oh.” she picked at a loose thread on the comforter. “well... thanks, i guess.”

“no one ever said you aren’t an asset, you know. you don’t have to be so defensive.”

she watched as he eyed her desk chair distrustfully. he must’ve known that was where logan always sat. with a glance back at her, he slowly lowered himself into it.

“no one has to say it,” she mumbled, averting her eyes. “i can see it on their faces. everyone thinks i’m the stupid human who can’t keep up -- not just you guys. always.”

“well, anyone who’d underestimate you is an idiot,” he shrugged. “it’s unbelievably fucking obvious that you’re the pack alpha. logan doesn’t make a move without thinking about you. you staying on top of this shit is clearly the only reason he’s even alive.”

“you don’t have to butter me up, okay? logan already likes you guys. you don’t need to convince me --”

“jesus christ, can i just give you a fucking compliment?” she blinked at him in surprise as his eyes flashed red. “i’m trying to acknowledge what you bring to the table -- which, for the record, is a hell of a lot. you’re obviously brilliant. can you just let me say it?”

“...okay?” she wasn’t sure she was totally aware of what exactly was happening.

“logan is lucky he has someone like you in his corner.” his gaze was hard set -- determined. “any pack you’d be part of would be lucky to have you. including ours.”

she had absolutely no idea what to say. he had to hear how fast her heart was beating now.

“i’m sorry i fucked up saying it before. i didn’t mean to make you mad. and i wasn’t trying to win you over just so logan would join the pack.”

ellie blinked. “did you just... apologize?” she asked. this was surreal. and -- had he been trying to win her over for... some other reason? “and... invite me to join the pack? is that allowed?”

the smile that started to form on his face looked like it was pulled from him against his will. “i make the rules,” he shrugged. “i can change them whenever i want.”

ellie looked down at the book in her lap. she swallowed hard. “colt... thank you.”

the heat of his stare was making her flush. he stood and walked back to the window. “don’t mention it.” his hands slid the glass back up as he prepared to leave. “seriously -- don’t. ever again.”

on monday, they stopped by her house after school so she could grab the bestiary and her laptop. she wanted to finish translating it at the house while logan did -- whatever werewolf stuff he did with the rest of the pack.

he’d been leaning in the doorway of her room and texting while she tried to find a way to stuff the book into her purse, but, out of nowhere, logan’s gaze suddenly turned sharp. he took a step further into the room, inhaling deeply. his eyes narrowed in on her desk chair.

“was colt here?”

“huh?” ellie asked, playing dumb. “of course not. come on -- we’re going to be late.”

she and logan told the rest of the group about the wendigo. “it can’t be,” ingrid insisted, shaking her head. “california hasn’t had wendigos for centuries.”

“it was,” ellie confirmed. she pulled up the photos she’d taken of her dad’s case files, once he’d fallen asleep with them spread out across the kitchen table, on her phone and passed it around. “i’d know that look anywhere. we only barely got him in time.”

ximena whistled lowly, her eyes on the arrow sticking out of sean’s chest. “you guys did that?”

she exchanged a silent look with logan, who defensively answered, “he was about to eat two little kids.”

“hey, i’m not judging. just wondering where the hell two high school kids got a crossbow.”

ellie bit her lip, hesitant. “it’s... complicated.”

she snuck another glance at logan, unsure how much he wanted to reveal. he reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “my old foster parents were hunters. we took all their stuff before... their house burned down.”

mona grinned widely at the both of them. “awesome. how’d you do it?”

“mona!” ingrid scolded, reaching out and pushing her hard until she toppled over. “stop it. don’t accuse them of arson.”

ellie laughed, leaning her head on logan’s shoulder. “no, we totally did it." everyone in the group turned towards her in surprise. ellie shrugged. “um, i short-circuited their generator. it was a pretty convincing accident. and -- trust me, they more than deserved it.”

“awesome,” mona said again. “who’d’a thought you had it in you?”

logan laughed. he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in close. “ellie can do pretty much anything. and she’s annoyingly good at it all, too. i never would’ve been able to do any of this without her.”

colt spoke up finally. “well, this is all very touching, but i could use a drink.” his eyes landed on her. “wanna help me out?”

again, it hardly sounded like a question. she nodded, slipping out from under logan’s arm and standing. “sure.”

they walked off into the house together. ellie frowned as they bypassed the kitchen -- colt was heading towards his office. “colt?” he ignored her. “why are we --”

her voice broke off into a gasp when he pulled her inside and pushed her back against the door. ellie felt her eyes go wide as he crowded in close, tucking his face into the side of her neck. the full length of his body pressed in firmly along hers. ellie knew there was a blush rising in her cheeks. “colt? what -- what’re you --”

he ripped away from her abruptly, storming off to the other side of the room. “shit.” he was breathing hard. “jesus christ, i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to -- do that. fuck.”

ellie swallowed, taking a careful step away from the door. she didn’t say anything as colt poured himself a drink. her eyes lingered on his white-knuckled grip, tight around the glass.

“do you want one?”

she eyed the decanter warily. she really hated the taste of wolfsbane, but... “what is it?”

“what?” he looked up and followed her line of sight, shaking his head. “you don’t have to drink that. i’ll get you something... human.”

he reached under his desk. despite the tension in the room, ellie laughed when he he handed the can he’d found over to her. “spiked seltzer, seriously? you drink these?”

colt rolled his eyes. “no.” after a pause, he begrudgingly admitted, “logan said you like them.”

ellie stared at the can in her hand like she’d never seen a spiked setlzer before. it was mango -- her favorite flavor. “i... do. you bought these for me?”

the way he glanced off skittishly made her feel like she was looking at a completely different person. “don’t let it go to your head.”

slowly, she popped the tab, lifting the can to her lips. he stared at her expectantly while she took a sip. “it’s really good,” ellie said finally, after she’d swallowed. that made him look pretty pleased. colt nodded.

his free hand curled into a fist at his side. “i really didn’t mean to drag you in here like that.”

she shrugged, stepping closer to the desk separating them. colt watched curiously as she drew nearer. “it’s okay,” she assured him, “not the first time you’ve pushed me into a wall.”

he shook his head and drained what was left in his glass, setting it down on the desk with force. “you shouldn’t let anyone push you around.” colt turned his head and met her eyes, his gaze as intense as ever. “especially not me.”

ellie stared back at him. “wanna tell me what that was about, then?”

he lifted his hand to rub at his eyes. “not really. we should get back out there.”

logan raised a pointed eyebrow at the can in her hand when they came back to the group. ellie felt herself flush, especially as everyone turned their eyes first on her, and then on colt, when he sat down next to her. she shot logan a wide-eyed look of innocence. we didn’t do anything!

he looked back at her in disbelief. ellie narrowed her eyes. we didn’t!

mona broke the silence first. “just adorable, you two.”

logan laughed, reaching over to ruffle her hair. ellie swatted his hands away, leaning closer to colt in the process as she tried to squirm away from logan on her other side. but colt inched away carefully as soon as she came closer.

before she knew it, it was almost her curfew. ellie yawned, making grabby hands at logan until he reached down and pulled her up. “we should go,” she murmured, hugging each of the girls in turn. colt turned away before she could wonder what she was supposed to say to him. “this was really fun.”

“yeah,” logan agreed, “it was cool, thanks for having us again.”

ingrid smiled at him as he leaned in to hug her. “spend your next full moon here, and we can do this all the time.”

she knew she should’ve waited until they were at least down the block -- werewolf hearing meant none of their conversations were private until they were almost home -- but ellie couldn’t stop herself. as soon as they got in the car, she asked, “is that what they told you? that you have until the full moon to make your decision?”

logan’s mouth twisted. “yeah.”

“but that’s in one week! we haven’t even known them that long. they can’t expect you to just decide --”

“look, i know i have a lot to think about,” he sighed, “but... would it be the worst thing in the world? if i wanted to say yes?”

she was surprised. she didn’t think he’d been taking the offer so seriously. “i... no, of course not. is that -- what you think you want?”

logan rolled over in the passenger seat, turning to her more fully. “colt said he was going to talk to you about joining, too. did he?”

her cheeks flushed. “he told you about that?”

“he asked me what i thought. honestly, i got the feeling that he didn’t want to say anything to you if i thought it’d make you mad or -- if you thought it’d be stupid. but i said it sounded awesome, and... i thought you’d think it was awesome, too.”

ellie pursed her lips. “i didn’t think he was serious. i kind of figured he only said it because he thought i was mad at him.”

logan laughed. “ellie, the dude’s half in love with you. most of the time i swear i feel like he wants to kill me because he thinks we’re -- woah!”

she slammed on the breaks, but they were already halfway through the stop sign she’d almost just run completely anyway. luckily, they were alone in the intersection. her head whipped around to stare at logan incredulously. “i’m sorry -- what did you just say?”

logan looked at her like she was insane. “okay, i thought you knew. did you seriously think he was being so nice to you because... actually, i can’t think of any other reason he’d be so nice to you. ellie, he’s been giving you presents.”

“books,” she stressed frantically, feeling dangerously close to hyperventilating, “not, like -- not like real gifts. they’re books.”

“okay...” his voice was slow and measured in a way she recognized from every other panic-fueled meltdown she’d ever had before. he was trying to get her to calm down. “but... when we go over there, he only ever spends time with you. i seriously can’t believe you haven’t noticed.”

“i mean, i obviously noticed that, but i didn’t think... oh my god. he bought mango spiked seltzers, logan!”

“actually, he bought, like, forty variety packs and picked out all the mango ones.” logan smirked at her. “you should hear the way he goes on and on when you’re not there. he asks more questions than your dad.”

“oh my god,” she said again, shaking her head. “i can’t believe this.”

“trust me, if you could smell the way i can, you’d never doubt me again.” logan shook his head. “i thought he finally made his move when you guys left earlier, but... i’m guessing he didn’t?”

“he -- it was...” she had no idea where to begin. “i feel like i’m going to have a stroke.”

“okay, well --”

a young girl with glowing white eyes was walking up to the car. ellie screamed, hitting the breaks again as she approached. the jeep slid to a stop just inches from her. she charged forward, towards the driver’s side door.

“ellie, i don’t think --”

“shit!” she caught a glimpse of rows and rows of sharp teeth before pressing down on the gas and speeding away as quickly as possible. her heart pounded as they raced back to her house. “shit, shit, shit. another one?”

logan sighed. “we knew there’d be more. did you recognize her?”

ellie shook her head. “she was young.” someone her age had no place in this nightmare. “i can’t help but feel like this is part of the awakening. ingrid said there haven’t been wendigos in california for centuries, and now we have them crawling all over lake forest?”

“it would be awfully convenient, otherwise...” logan sighed. “we need to go back into the woods and check out that thing everything’s been coming out of. do you think -- maybe we should bring the others?”

ellie bit her lip. her heart was still pounding. “maybe. maybe one of them will know how to close it. and then you and i won’t have to spend every weekend fighting random monsters anymore.”

“now that’d be a dream.” she shut the lights off on her car and let logan walk her to her front door, like he always did.

logan stared at her under the porch light for a minute, and then pulled her into a tight hug. “i’m not joining the pack without you,” he mumbled stubbornly into her hair. ellie smiled; logan’s loyalty was a security blanket she was sure she could never part with, no matter what happened. he rested his cheek on the top of her head. “try to get some sleep, okay? let me know if you want to talk.”

the next few days at school flew by in a blur. ellie forgot to make time to panic about everything that’d happened since the weekend, so she settled for repressing it -- decidedly not thinking about colt or their wendigo problem and what she was going to do when the full moon happened in... exactly four days. she threw herself into her schoolwork, a distraction that always worked all too well for her in the past.

but it all came to an unfortunate head when she and logan went by the house on thursday afternoon. colt sat down next to her on the back porch like nothing had happened between them. “you smell stressed.”

“stop smelling my emotions,” ellie sighed, keeping her eyes trained on the anatomy notebook in her lap, even as a blush rose to her face, “you know i hate that.”

“i can’t help it,” colt murmured, lowering his mouth to her ear. “even stressed out of your mind, you smell really fucking good.”

she swallowed, looking up and over at the rest of the pack, out in the yard. logan was with them. it looked like they were wrestling. as if he was reading her mind, colt said, “they can’t hear us.”

ellie cleared her throat. “yes they can. logan makes me whisper test answers to him from across the school. hi, logan.”

logan lifted his head and grinned unapologetically at them both. he raised his hand with a wave. mona took advantage of the distraction and tackled him to the grass, pouncing on top of him.

“okay.” colt rolled his shoulders, leaning back on the porch on his hands. “we’ll talk about something pg-13, then. what’s got you so tense?”

she sighed, glancing up at logan again. “it’s nothing.”

“is it your wendigo problem?” he pushed. “because we can try to help you with that.”

“it’s --” she shook her head. “can you turn the music up? a little louder?”

colt reached for his phone and did so wordlessly. ellie leaned in closer to him, dropping her voice. “i’m supposed to get my college acceptances back this weekend.”

his eyebrows lifted. “so?”

“so... i know i’m going to have to defer them. it just sucks.”

he frowned at her. “why?”

“well -- because i wanted to go --”

“no, why would you have to defer them?”

she bit her bottom lip, looking down at her hands. “you wouldn’t get it.”

colt knocked his shoulder into hers. “try me.”

“ever since i was a teenager, i’ve dreamed about going to langston -- in boston? but... after the last few years, i don’t think i can... leave my dad. not here. not with... everything that’s happened, since the awakening. logan and i have been taking care of every single thing that’s come out of the woods for the last three years on our own. the police barely know anything about it. so if something happened to him because of what we did -- i don’t think i could live with myself.”

she drew in a breath, continuing before he could cut in. “and... logan, too. how can i leave him here to deal with all of this on his own? he can’t -- he’d die, even with you guys. i can’t go anywhere until we find a way to close the chasm. and that’s just... the way it is.” ellie shrugged, looking sadly off into the sky. “but it still sucks, knowing i’m probably going to get accepted, and that i’ll have to turn it down. and lie to my dad again.”

ellie slid the notebook in her lap shut, and put it back in her bag. “i knew you’d think it was stupid,” she sighed, when he didn’t say anything.

colt rolled his eyes at her. “i don’t think it’s stupid. i’m just processing.” he seemed to be taking great care to consider his words before he said them, which was new. “look -- i want you to have everything you want, okay? if that means going away to college... you should do it.”

she shook her head. “it’d be selfish.”

“then be selfish. i think you’ve more than earned it.”

he had a point. still... “it’s not that simple.” ellie turned to look at him and found his gaze hard set and determined.

“then we’ll close the chasm. how hard can it be?”

“well -- logan and i have been trying for three years,” she remarked, sounding amused, “so i think... pretty hard.”

“you don’t think five alpha werewolves can figure it out?”

“i mean... i don’t want to be rude, but...”

ellie laughed as colt playfully shoved her shoulder. “don’t be a brat,” he chided. “we’ll at least give it a shot.” his jaw tightened, the carefree smile that’d been on his face just a moment before disappearing as quickly as it’d come. “and then you’ll be free. you can do whatever you want.”

there was just one problem with that: she had no idea what the hell she wanted, anymore.

she drew her bottom lip between her teeth and met his gaze again. she couldn’t stop thinking about what logan had said. the dude’s half in love with you.

“do you like me?” she asked, before she could stop herself.

colt stared at her in surprise. “i thought you knew.”

ellie sighed, exasperated. “why does everyone keep saying that? how am i supposed to know? not all of us are werewolves with super-attuned powers of observation.”

colt looked over at the pack, and then back to her. “i’ve been giving you space to make up your mind. i thought that was what you wanted.”

that was... surprisingly mature of him. “logan said we only have four days to decide.”

he turned away. “the full moon is good bonding time -- for a pack. i guess in theory we could give you another month, but... what good would that do? either you want this or you don’t.”

she was quiet as she considered his point. “if we say yes... are you going to bite me?”

that drew colt’s gaze back to her. he looked confused. “do you... want me to bite you?”

logan had never asked her that before -- but then again, she’d never asked him, either. unprompted, or when she’d dared to dance around the subject, he’d always insisted that he’d never bite anyone, if he could help it. “no.”

“then of course i won’t. what do you take me for?” he sighed. “you’d be pack whether you wanted the bite or not. there are... other ways to make it official.”

ellie grinned. without looking at her, colt shoved his shoulder against hers again.

“don’t say group sex.”

she laughed. “i thought you liked that joke?”

ellie turned her head just in time to watch a shadow pass over his expression. “i liked it more when the thought of you having sex with someone else didn’t make me feel sick.” she startled, looking at him in surprise. she could feel a blush rise on her cheeks again.

“colt...” she started, unsure of what, exactly, she wanted to say. why did he always make her so tongue-tied?

“look. take your time, okay?” his gaze was laser focused when it met hers, and she knew her pulse was racing again. “if you do decide you want this... i want you to be sure.”

logan grinned obnoxiously at her when they got in the car.

“i feel like we should talk about this,” he said, in a way that definitely meant he and everyone else in the backyard had heard most of their conversation.

ellie shook her head furiously. “i feel like we really shouldn’t. really.”

they did wind up talking about it, though.

they talked about everything -- for pretty much two days straight. they talked themselves in and out of every possible situation and scenario until there were no stones left unturned.

they had a decision to make, and like everything else, they were going to make it together.

it didn’t matter -- because they were pretty much on the same page anyway, like always, but...

they still talked about it. to death.

and when they were done, they were in complete agreement.

she got into langston, early decision.

the day before the full moon, she drove over to colt’s house alone. she hadn’t told logan or anyone she was planning on stopping by, but she knew that colt would anticipate her arrival before she’d gotten there -- she knew he’d be able to hear the sound of her tires as soon as they turned onto his block.

mona answered the door when she arrived. her eyes trailed slowly over ellie’s body, taking in the short skirt she wore with a grin. “the day before the full moon? you must be feeling ballsy.”

...yeah. she knew how logan could get, close to the full moon, and he was a nice person. there was no telling what waited for her here. ellie shrugged. “is he home?”

her lips spread into a knowing smirk. “he’s in his room. upstairs, big door at the end of the hall. you can’t miss it.”

his bedroom?

she tried not to feel nervous as she ascended the stairs, slowly making her way down the hall as mona had indicated. he had to know she was here, right? and he hadn’t come to get the door, to find her -- he was waiting for her, here. anticipation tripped down her spine.

just as she lifted her hand to knock, the door swung open.

colt looked both like he’d been waiting for her and like he was surprised to see her. he stared at her intensely, raking his gaze over her legs and her chest until she shifted restlessly before him, almost feeling like she was already naked, with the way he was looking at her. he stepped aside wordlessly and let her through the door. “what’re you doing here?”

“i wanted to see you,” she said honestly, looking curiously around his room. everything felt so him; a swath of dark colors covered every surface. even his bed sheets were black. they looked soft.

he was very visibly holding himself back from... something, keeping a careful distance from where she was standing. ellie wondered about the limits of his self-restraint. she took a step closer, watching in fascination as his jaw clenched tight.

“did you make a decision?”

she nodded. whatever he read in the expression on her face seemed to placate him, because he didn’t move away, even when she got close enough to reach up and cup his face in her hands. even when she pressed their lips together in a kiss.

then he groaned, grabbing her hips and lifting her up into the air. it was effortless for him, to toss her around -- ellie’s back hit his mattress before she’d even realized it happened. she gasped, pulling him on top of her, locking her legs around his waist. his hands were already tugging insistently at her clothes as his mouth descended on hers for another hungry kiss.

“colt,” she breathed, holding tightly onto his arms, “i --”

the sound of his name pulled a deep growl from the back of his throat. ellie shivered as his hands slid up her thighs, pushing her skirt up as far as it would go. she felt his lips move from her face to her neck, sucking bruising kisses against the skin of her throat on a path up to her ear.

“you have thirty seconds to get out of these,” one hand pulled pointedly on the hem of her shirt, while the other slipped between her legs, “before i rip them apart.” with a deep breath, he lifted his head, pulling back enough to let her up off the bed. colt rolled to the edge, sitting and watching her with a smile dark enough to make her shiver again.

in a daze, she stood, wobbling ever-so-slightly on her weak knees. ellie spent a split-second thinking about trying to be sexy before she decided she didn’t care and stripped out of her outfit as quickly as humanly possible.

once she was down to just her underwear, she stepped closer. colt pulled her in between his spread legs, looking her over with obvious interest. he shook his head. when he spoke, his voice was rough -- almost awed. “look at you.”

slowly, she reached for the hem of his shirt, pulling it up his chest until he got the message and lifted his arms. her eyes widened as his sculpted torso came into view. “god, you’re hot.”

he laughed, gripping the backs of her thighs and urging her into his lap. ellie straddled him, inching in as close as she could possibly get. “look who’s talking. you’re fucking gorgeous.” without warning, colt’s face returned to that soft spot between her neck and shoulder, and ellie groaned loudly as she felt the scrape of his teeth -- they were blunt. human, but that didn’t mean her pulse didn’t start to race trepidatiously, a mix of fear and excitement squirming in her stomach.

colt kissed roughly over her skin, dotting her neck and chest with marks from his teeth. his hands anchored on her hips and held her in place as he bucked up against her, grinding the hard line of his cock between her legs. ellie moaned, twisting her hand in his hair and yanking his head up so she could kiss him. colt responded eagerly, surprisingly letting her take control enough to push at his shoulders until he laid back against the bed, enough that she could crawl on top of him.

his hands slid slowly from her legs to her back, over her ass and up again. he was holding her so tightly she knew she’d have bruises tomorrow, but the press of his nails as they dragged over her arms stayed resolutely dull. the only sign she could find that indicated he was balancing on the very edge of control was the wild look in his eyes when she lifted her head and the way he couldn’t quite seem to stop burying his face in her neck, reworking his teeth over spots he’d already claimed.

colt rolled her over until she was settled neatly among the pillows on his bed, laying in the middle of it with him on top of her. he pulled back to stare at her, and she grinned at him as she watched him observe her, there, stretched out in his sheets. his eyes were wide. “i can’t believe i’m not dreaming.”

“believe it,” she said, reaching down and hooking her fingers in the belt loops of his jeans. she tugged him closer insistently, and colt groaned again as their hips pressed flush. “i’m all yours, colt kaneko.”

there. that sound he made was perfectly inhuman, and he dropped back down on top of her heavily, reaching for her forearms and pinning them above her head. “don’t,” he warned, nuzzling into the space between her breasts, kissing in hot, insistent bursts down to her stomach. “you can’t say stuff like that.”

“why not?” her voice was high and breathy as she arched up into his mouth. regretfully, colt released her arms so he could move the rest of the way down her body, settling between her legs. his arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them wide, and she felt his teeth -- blunt, human, but again nonetheless thrilling -- sink into the crease at the inside of her thigh. her hips jerked, dragging a whimper from the back of her throat. “colt.”

he huffed, hooking a finger in the front of her underwear and yanking them roughly to the side. “i’m trying to be gentle,” he mumbled, slowly moving his mouth towards her center. his voice was shaking.

ellie squirmed on the mattress. “what if -- what if i don’t want you to be gentle?”

colt looked up at her, his eyes flashing red. “ellie...” his voice was tight. he ducked his head, squeezing his eyes shut. she worked to catch her breath, leaning down to gently brush her fingers across his face. her thumb stroked across his cheek, and when colt lifted his eyes to hers again, they were back to warm brown; he looked lost. “don’t push me. i don’t want to hurt you.”

her thumb slid down to the corner of his mouth, dragging against his bottom lip. “you’re not going to hurt me. i trust you.”

he hesitated, digging his fingertips into the sides of her thighs. ellie pushed up onto her elbows so she could see him clearly. “i want all of you, colt,” she insisted again, “i want everything.”

he exhaled heavily, nodding from between her legs. whatever nerves and hesitation he wore on his face disappeared suddenly in favor of an expression she was far more familiar with; a wicked smirk spread across his face, curving up the corners of his smug mouth with promise. ellie’s eyes lit up, though her own look of anticipation cleared for one of surprise when he gave a swift tug and ripped the panties she was wearing from her body.

colt tossed them aside like tissue paper, burying his face between her legs. ellie’s hands fisted in the bed sheets, and she did everything she could not to scream when his tongue parted her folds, flicking against her clit. “oh, god,” she moaned breathlessly, “colt, please -- i --”

he didn’t tease, and she wondered if he’d thought about this before -- if he planned out exactly how he was going to pull her apart. it felt like he must’ve, because colt was practiced, methodical in his movements. he somehow knew exactly where she wanted him to touch her and how much pressure to use to make her shake. without her having to tell him, he expertly brought her to an edge in a matter of moments, until her legs were shaking and she couldn’t stifle the sounds she was making anymore.

“colt,” she gasped, jerking on the sheets when he pulled away, “i --” a helpless noise of frustration escaped beyond her control, a wordless question in the little whine that left her lips.

he was shoving his jeans down as quickly as possible, kicking them off the bed. ellie watched as he palmed himself through his briefs, licking the taste of her from his lips, before he pulled those off, too. “i want to be inside you when i watch you come,” he explained, leaning over her again for another kiss. she sighed, tilting her head up for it gratefully and happily melting back against the mattress to let him take charge, winding her arms around him as he kissed her deeply.

it was surprisingly sweet, given how worked up he seemed to be. he held her chin steady under his thumb when he pulled away so she could catch her breath, his dark eyes searching her expression. “do you want that?”

ellie was nodding before he even finished his question. colt’s grip on her chin tightened until she moaned, “yes. yes, please.”

the sound he made when his hips sank into hers sounded like it was ripped from his chest, and ellie shuddered as he held her close, lifting her from the bed at the small of her back for an angle that had her seeing stars. “fuck,” he moaned into her shoulder, his teeth again dragging along her skin, “you’re so wet. you feel amazing.”

“colt,” she moaned, the sound a high, needy, breathless exhalation of his name. “please -- please just --”

“i’ve got you,” he promised, nipping at her collarbone, trailing kisses down her chest, “i’m gonna take such good care of you.”

he sounded unbelievably sincere, and something inside of her wriggled up happily at the words -- even if he only meant them in the context of making her come. but she didn’t think he did.

he laughed, the speed of his hips suddenly increasing. “you smell so good.”

ellie arched her back high, slipping right into his hands. “tell me.”

“happy,” he sighed, muffling a groan in her neck when she twisted her hips, “turned on.” his fingers pressed between her legs, and he thumbed roughly at her clit in time with his thrusts, his fingers drawing imprecise circles against where she was most sensitive. “and mine.”

it felt like she might’ve blacked out. like she was having an out-of-body experience, ellie was distantly aware of the way she’d screamed as she hit her peak, how desperately she was trembling in his arms. but everything else felt like a blur -- colt’s own hushed murmurs of her name, his last few groans, the way he pressed so deeply inside of her, marking her as his from the inside out.

he gathered her into his arms, nuzzling gently into her hair, behind her ear. “now you smell like me,” he murmured triumphantly, through labored breaths. “finally.”

she mumbled something incoherent into his chest, tilting her face up for a kiss. he obliged her immediately, pressing his lips against hers so softly it almost felt strange, before she realized what a gift it was, to see a different side of him.

“you should just stay,” he said finally, once she’d come back to herself enough to actually put sentences together.

ellie shook her head. “my dad’ll know something’s up if i’m out two nights in a row. it’s okay -- we’ll be back tomorrow.”

colt helped her get dressed, glancing at her in between each article of clothing as though checking her over for injuries. finally, she said, “you’re not as tough as you think you are, you know. i’m fine.”

he rolled his eyes at her. “give it time. i was being careful.” she bit her lip on a grin. in lieu of a ‘goodbye,’ colt walked over to a chair in the corner of the room and grabbed his jacket, swooping it over her shoulders like a cape. “here.”

“what’s this for?”

he shrugged, eyeing the way it settled on her frame. it was obviously too big for her. “you can bring it back tomorrow.”

she leaned in and stole another kiss, fully intending for it to be quick. but colt caught her lips and held them captive, his mouth moving so slowly and perfectly against hers it took everything she had not to just stand there forever and let him do whatever he wanted. his fingers brushed through her hair. “you should... not shower.”

ellie’s nose scrunched up. “seriously?”

he grinned obnoxiously at her. “i mean, you can if you want. but...” he raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

it sounded kind of gross. “i’ll think about it.”

colt walked her all the way to her car. she couldn’t help but notice how eerily quiet it was at the house as they stepped outside and into the street. “where is everyone?”

“pfft, with the way you were screaming? oregon, probably.” he opened the driver’s side door for her.

ellie blushed to the roots of her hair, reaching up to smack colt on the shoulder. “jerk. it was your fault.”

he grinned widely, pulling her forward by his jacket for one last kiss goodnight. “i know.”

when she drove by to pick up logan the next day, to head over to the house, he was already frowning before he even got in the car. “are you for real?” he demanded, rolling the window down and scooting as close to it as he possibly could, “you couldn’t take a shower?”

she winced. she didn’t think the truth would be very popular with him. logan eyed the very visible hickies that disappeared down into her shirt and shook his head. “actually -- i don’t want to know. but i do just want to say: gross.”

“point taken,” ellie allowed, reaching up to fuss with her ponytail. “do you think everyone else will notice?”

logan shot her a look. “do i think that three alpha werewolves, hours before the full moon, will be able to take one look at you and know exactly how you spent yesterday? do you really want me to answer that?”

she shook her head, already embarrassed. “let’s talk about something else. are you... nervous? we’ve never done a full moon not at your house before.”

logan shifted restlessly in the car seat. “a little,” he admitted. “i don’t want anything bad to happen. but... i feel better knowing you’ll be with me. you always calm me down.”

ellie shot him a smile. “i’m glad we’re doing this together.”

“me, too,” he sighed, “you have no idea. did colt say anything about... what we have to do?”

ellie doubted logan would find the group sex joke very funny. “nope. i didn’t see anything in any of the books, either.”

logan huffed. “i bet it involves blood. way too many werewolf things involve blood.”

“way too many magic things in general involve blood,” she agreed, “and fire, why does everything have to have fire?”

“i know, right?” he perked up as ellie slowed to a stop in front of the house, putting the car in park. the porch light was on, and even with her regular human ears, she could hear music coming from the backyard. “i can’t believe you told him we were coming,” logan mused as they made their way up to the front door, “you totally ruined the surprise. i wanted to see the looks on their faces.”

“technically, i never said we were coming. i just said we made a decision. and then he kind of -- assumed. there were context clues.”

“that’s more than enough detail, thanks.” the front door was unlocked. logan let her head inside first, and then pulled it shut behind himself.

they found everyone in the backyard, as predicted. mona whistled at her as she toed off her shoes and stepped out in the grass. ellie smiled sheepishly when ingrid elbowed her hard in the side and said, “stop it, you’re embarrassing her!”

ximena ran over and gave logan a giant hug, lifting him off his feet. he was smiling when she pulled away and did the same to ellie. “we’re really happy you guys are here.”

“us, too,” logan said, sharing one last look with ellie before heading over to where the other two girls were waiting. ximena walked off after him, leaving her alone with colt, who stepped up into her personal space slowly.

she was wearing his jacket, as promised. he reached out and grabbed the open sides of it, looking at it like it was something new she’d bought for herself, and not an article of clothing he usually wore every day. “hey. you’re really here.”

“i really am,” she confirmed, catching his gaze and shooting him a soft smile. “did you think we wouldn’t come?”

“kind of,” he admitted, tugging her in closer. “maybe you shouldn’t have. i don’t know how i’m supposed to control myself around you.”

she shivered, about to press her lips to his when the rest of the pack called out to them from farther off in the backyard. “can’t you two save it for later?” mona demanded, “the moon’s almost up.”

colt sighed, lightly bumping his forehead against hers. “in the morning,” he murmured, brushing his lips just once over hers, “i promise. come on.”

he slipped his hand into hers and pulled her off towards the rest of the group. he didn’t let go, even when they sat down in the grass with everyone else.

ingrid clapped her hands excitedly. “on behalf of everyone, i just want to say -- we’re so excited to welcome you two to the pack!”

ximena nodded. “we’re really glad you guys decided to stay. having you around permanently is going to be awesome.”

ellie and logan looked at mona expectantly. she shrugged. “it’ll be nice having someone who actually knows how to read.”

“ellie, are you sure you don’t want one of us to bite you?” ingrid asked. she could feel both colt and logan tense on either side of her. “because i totally could, if you wanted to -- i’d do it really gently.”

“thanks, but... i’m okay. i’m excited to be part of this with all of you -- as a human.”

colt cleared his throat from beside her. “we’re excited for that, too. for both of you.”

“us too,” logan confirmed again, “but i’m dying to know what happens now. it’s something with blood, right?”

ingrid laughed. she pulled out a tall white candle and set it in the center of the circle. “we basically just have to burn this down. ordinarily, we’d all just bite you, but...” she shrugged, looking pointedly at ellie’s already bruised throat. “you probably don’t want to risk it.”

ellie coughed, reaching over and pinching colt’s arm when he started to laugh. “we’re good with the candle.”

upon closer inspection, it’d been carved with some sort of runes. there was a divet at the top, where the wick started -- obviously meant to catch something. she had a feeling logan was going to get the blood he’d been hoping to avoid.

mona pushed up onto her knees, waving a small gold knife around. “everybody’s gotta give up a drop. come on.”

she started off, slicing open her own palm and squeezing her fist over the top of the candle. a drop of blood collected neatly in the dip, and then she passed both off to ingrid. eventually, logan passed the candle to her. ellie took the knife gingerly, turning it over in her hands with a grimace. “i hate blood.”

“here,” colt offered, pulling it from her grip, “let me.” he took her left hand gently in his, pressing the blade of the knife into the heel of her palm until the tiniest cut appeared. she shook her hand over the candle until a drop of her blood joined everyone else’s, then watched as colt did the same, his cut instantly healing, knitting his hand back together seamlessly.

“you guys are so lucky,” she sighed, pressing her thumb against the wound on her palm, “no band-aids.”

colt smirked, passing the candle back over to logan. “got a light?”

he nodded, pulling a lighter from his pocket and setting the wick aflame. he set the candle back down on the ground where it’d been. ellie leaned against colt’s side, watching it for a moment before she asked, “what now?”

everyone’s eyes swiveled simultaneously up to the sky. “should be about any minute now,” mona hummed, standing and stretching. ellie averted her eyes as she started to pull off her jacket, and then her shirt. “hope you brought something to do, babe.”

she shot a smile logan’s way. “yeah, i’ve got a book. this isn’t my first full moon.”

each of the girls started to shift. logan pulled on her arm until she turned to face him more fully. “you’ll be right here, right? in case -- in case something goes wrong.”

she nodded, squeezing his hand. “nothing’s going to go wrong. but -- yeah, of course. i’m not going anywhere.” she lifted her pinky, smiling when logan looped his through it. “i’m your anchor, right?”

“right.” he nodded, then stepped away to pull his shirt off. in the next blink, he’d shifted, all the way to his full wolf form. ellie looked over to where the girls were standing, still only turned halfway. ingrid and ximena cheered as he ran over to them, though mona first nudged him playfully. “show-off.”

that just left colt. when she turned back around, he’d already stripped down to nothing. “do you think you’re gonna recognize me?” she asked, reaching out to grab his arms and pull him close.

he nodded, brushing another extremely soft kiss against her lips. “definitely.” he shot her a lopsided smile. “the wolf likes you more than i do.”

ellie looked up at the sky -- the moon was high, the last cloud having passed over it. they were out of time. colt pulled away, and when she looked back down, he’d shifted fully, too, all the way down to a large, black wolf.

ellie stood still as he paced a circle around her, sniffing at her legs. before she could extend a hand, he leapt, knocking her onto her back in the grass. “oof.” his nose nuzzled her cheek, and then he licked a stripe across her face. “gross,” she laughed, pushing him off, “get out of here, go do alpha stuff.”

she watched them all run off into the woods with a smile. then she sat down, next to the candle, and pulled out her book, waiting for them to come back.

colt woke up before her. the amount of noise he was making, shuffling around the bedroom, was enough to pull her from sleep, and ellie opened her eyes to find him stepping into his underwear, standing next to the bed. she reached out sleepily towards him with an inquisitive mumble, and he smiled at her from over his shoulder, passing her one of his t-shirts. “put this on. trust me.”

she sighed, sitting up in bed to pull the fabric over her head. “what --”

the door banged open abruptly. logan shuffled in in his pajamas, ingrid trailing behind him. with a yawn, he flopped down onto the bed. “my head is killing me.” he rolled onto his back, dropping said head dramatically into her lap. ingrid slipped into the bed beside him with a little more grace, curling into the space colt had left. he shoved her over when he came back to bed, pushing under the sheets to somehow fold himself back around ellie’s side.

ellie shot him a confused look as he pulled her back down to the pillows. “do you guys always do this?”

ximena and mona slipped into the room, pulling the door shut behind them. they found space on the bed and curled up with everyone else, shutting their eyes. “ellie, my head,” logan groaned again, rubbing his cheek against the blanket. she rolled her eyes, pushing her fingers into his hair. immediately, he sighed with content, tucking in along her legs.

“we usually do it without talking,” mona mumbled pointedly from somewhere down the other end of the bed. colt lifted his shoulders at her in a shrug.

“she’s right.”

ellie rolled her eyes at him, but obligingly relaxed against the pillows. it was more comfortable than she’d thought it’d be, to cram six people in a king-sized bed. colt’s arm slipped around her waist, and she tilted her head towards him before her eyes slid shut again, too.

they weren’t able to get out into the woods until the weekend. ellie’s dad insisted on spending time with her for most of the week when he wasn’t working, so much so that she barely even saw logan outside of school hours, and only caught flashes of colt as he came in and out of her window for a few minutes whenever he could.

when they finally brought the rest of the pack to the chasm, pulling back the tree branches that covered the mouth of the opening, it felt a little anticlimactic. colt leaned in to peer between the rocks with a frown. “that’s it?”

“well -- it’s not awake right now,” logan answered defensively, very nearly pouting. “it’s usually, like -- glowing. with monsters crawling out of it.”

ellie shivered, wrapping her arms around her own middle. “remember the berserkers? they would not stop coming.”

logan nodded, his expression grim. “we must’ve ripped off about a hundred heads that night.”

mona grinned approvingly at them. colt turned back towards ellie with a lifted eyebrow. “i swear, you get hotter every day.”

“please,” logan interjected, before she could formulate a response, “i just ate. can we get back to closing up the portal thingy?”

mona crowded in on colt’s other side to squint between the rocks, too. she studied them for a moment, then shrugged, stepping away. “you need a witch,” she said simply, dusting off her hands. “a powerful one.”

“do you -- know any witches?” ellie asked hopefully, looking between the four of them in turn.

colt shook his head. “none that would take on this thing.”

“there is... one other thing you could try,” ingrid said carefully. colt shot her a sharp glare.

“no, there isn’t.” his voice was pointed.

ingrid frowned. “she’s strong enough to do it.”

“but it isn’t worth the risk.”

“it is if we can find her something to --”

his eyes flashed red. ellie watched as he bared his teeth with a growl. ingrid’s hands balled into fists at her side. logan stepped between them, holding out his hands. “woah,” he said, “relax. what are you two talking about?”

“a human could do the spell,” ximena explained slowly. “if they had something to channel the power they needed to complete it through.”

ellie exchanged a look with logan. “well -- where would we get the power to do it?”

mona snorted from beside her. “a pack of alpha werewolves ought’a do the trick.”

she felt her eyes widen. “and -- you guys could help me channel it?”

ximena looked nervous as she glanced at each of the remaining pack members in turn. “well... you’d need something to anchor it. anything would do, as long as it was pure... like made entirely from silver, or gold, or even mahogany. but...”

“but it could kill you,” colt spit out. “all that power would go through you to get to the anchor, and it would kill you. so it’s not worth it.”

he looked furious. her teeth dug into her bottom lip, and she reached out for him hesitantly, resting her hand on his arm. “colt...”

“no. i’m sorry, ellie, but -- no. i know you want to shut this thing down and move on with your life but i’m not going to just help you try something that we don’t even know will work on the off chance it doesn’t fucking kill you. i won’t do it.”

logan stepped up beside him, shaking his head. “i’m with him,” he said. an indignant look sprang onto her face, and he winced before he continued, “i’m sorry, el, but he’s right. if it could hurt you -- then it’s not worth it.”

“so -- what? we stay in lake forest fighting monsters for the rest of our lives? we can’t always be here to help everyone, logan!” her brow furrowed as she stared at him, imploring him to understand, before wheeling around and turning her gaze on ingrid, instead. “would we have enough power to do it without them?”

she could hear logan freeze behind her. “ellie.”

ingrid glanced briefly at him over her shoulder before nodding. “yes. the three of us could do it.”

“then we’re doing it,” she decided, setting her jaw with determination.

“like hell you are!” ellie turned her head to direct her glare on colt instead. he looked angrier than she’d ever seen him. “ellie, i know you’re not this stupid.”

for a split second, she wavered. did she really want to go through with this? was she really ready to risk everything -- to leave her dad behind? to leave logan, to leave colt?

she looked back at ingrid. “how big is the risk?”

ingrid stared down at her. “you’re pack. you’re strong enough to handle it.”

she was. she’d proved it so many times, and she was tired of people underestimating her. she could do this. ellie nodded. “how soon can we do it?”

“there’ll be a meteor shower in two days -- tuesday night into wednesday. celestial chaos is always good for magic.”

soon enough, she supposed. ellie turned back toward logan and colt and found them both glaring at her with twin looks of aggravation, their arms folded across their chests. “i’m not going to let you do this,” logan insisted, “it’s too dangerous.”

“well -- i’m doing it, with or without you, and you can’t stop me.” she frowned at him. they’d never had a fight like this before. “so i really wish you’d get on board. because -- because you’re my best friend, and -- and i need you --”

“oh, shit,” logan sighed, lifting a hand to cover his face as tears welled in her eyes. “stop it, ellie! i’m mad at you.”

“i’m sorry!” she wiped at her eyes, biting down on the inside of her cheek to stop her bottom lip from wobbling, “but it’s time, logan. we need to end this. and i want you there with me when i do it.”

he groaned. “okay, fine.” colt shot him a look of utter betrayal, even as a watery smile spread across her face. “i’ll do it, but i’m not happy about it.”

“thank you.” she turned to look at colt expectantly.

“i’m not going to change my mind,” he said stubbornly, “i don’t care how much you fucking cry about it. i’d rather have you pissed at me for the rest of your life than dead.”

she blinked. she didn’t know what to say. “colt...”

with one last look into her eyes, he turned and stormed off from the group, into the woods. the five of them stood there in stunned silence, watching him walk away.

ximena laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “he’ll come around, ellie.”

but she wasn’t so sure.

on tuesday night, logan laid sprawled across her unmade bed, watching her get ready. “what does one wear to a spell casting?” she asked, holding up two tops on hangers against her body, one after the other. “black? or... black?”

“definitely black,” logan nodded, grinning at her when she giggled, ducking into her closet to change. when she popped out, he looked uncharacteristically somber. “are you sure you want to do this?”

ellie shrugged at him. “you don’t think i can do it?”

“i didn’t say that,” he argued, “i just want to make sure you’re --” he cut off abruptly, cocking his head to the side.

a minute later, her dad knocked on the closed door of her room and then pushed it open. “hey, kiddo. i’m heading to the station. try not to stay out too late working on that astronomy project, okay?”

“of course, dad. be safe at work.” she smiled at him, proud of herself for not letting her voice waver one bit. without turning her head, ellie already knew logan was shifting around guiltily on her bed, averting his eyes. he was the worst liar. ellie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her dad, hugging him close. “i love you.”

he kissed her forehead. “love you, too.”

once he was gone, she turned back to logan with a confidence she certainly didn’t feel. “well? ready to do this?”

he sighed, pulling himself up off her bed. she tried not to think about the fact that it might be the last time they were ever alone in her life. “as ready as i’ll ever be. let’s go.”

logan was silent for most of the drive. he didn’t say much as they parked her car on the edge of the woods and walked off towards the chasm together. the rest of the girls were already waiting there for her when they approached. her heart sank as she saw that they were alone.

colt hadn’t said a word to her since he left them in the woods on saturday. part of her had been hoping he’d come around, like ximena promised, and simply show up for her tonight -- but he wasn’t here, and she couldn’t stop herself from wondering if she might never see him again. the thought was almost enough to make her want to turn back.

“hey, you two,” ingrid greeted, smiling cheerfully. “excited?”

“that’s... not the word i’d use.” logan countered, “but we’re here.”

ellie nodded at the bag she was carrying. “did you bring everything we need?”

“yep!” she pulled a heavy book out and passed it to ellie. “here’s the grimoire. and i’ve got the mountain ash for you to lay out. and the most important part --” ingrid proudly presented her with a solid gold brick. “ta da.”

“wow,” ellie said, passing the book over to logan so she could take it into her hands, “this thing must be worth a fortune. do we really have to destroy it?”

mona shrugged. “all-powerful spells don’t come cheap. what time are we blowing this thing?”

ximena checked her watch. “we should be able to get started in a few minutes.”

a leaf crunched from somewhere off to the left. it was all the warning she had that someone else was here before colt stepped out of the shadows, appearing before them all with a boost of inhuman speed. he didn’t look at anyone except for her. “i need to talk to you.”

she sighed, handing the brick back to ingrid. “okay.”

they walked off from the group, though she knew it wouldn’t do any good. surely, they were all listening from where they stood just a few meters away. colt turned and grabbed her shoulders, staring at her intensely through the dark. “don’t do this.”

“colt, i’m not going to change my mind.” she stepped closer, grabbing at the sides of his jacket. “i’m doing this whether you’re on board or not.”

“ellie,” his voice wavered in a way she’d never heard before. “please.”

guilt sank in her stomach like a stone. she shook her head. “i’m sorry, but i have to. you can still do it with us, you know.”

he only stared at her silently, his eyes studying her face seriously. ellie bravely took a step closer, tilting their foreheads together again. “you said you wanted me to have everything i want,” she reminded him, trying not to sigh as his hands finally slid down her back to pull her closer into his embrace, “this is what i want.”

colt shifted to close the last inch of space between them, his lips claiming hers in one last desperate kiss. she held him tightly as their lips moved against each other feverishly, well aware of the way time was ticking down around them. his breathing was ragged when he pulled away. “you’re sure i can’t change your mind?”

silently, she shook her head. a dangerous look crossed his face like storm clouds, but then colt nodded. “alright,” he said finally, “i guess i’m in, then.”

they all sat down in a circle in front of the mouth of the chasm. ellie waited until they were holding hands before she sealed them in with mountain ash, stepping into the empty space between logan and colt with the gold brick in her hands. the grimoire sat open on her lap to the spell they’d all studied, and she looked from the book into the empty chasm and back again. “everybody ready?”

there were nods from around the circle. above them, ellie could see shooting stars starting to streak across the sky. colt and logan each laid their open hands on her arms. her grip on the gold brick went white-knuckled as she started to read the spell from the grimoire.

as she neared the part where it was time to start chanting, the gold started to burn hot in her hands. ellie almost fumbled, but grit her teeth against the pain, forcing herself to hold onto the anchor even as everything in her screamed at her to drop it. her eyes squeezed shut tightly as everyone chanted in time.

the chasm was glowing. she could see the white light even from behind her eyelids, and ellie felt the power from each one of them run through her like a circuit; she could distinctly feel logan’s wolf, wild and familiar, and colt’s, chaotic, but feeling like home.

the brick in her hands was starting to vibrate. her voice wavered as she tried not to cry out from the pain, and very distantly felt someone’s hand tighten on her arm. the white light was swelling, glowing brighter, filling the woods -- and a force beyond her control wrenched the gold brick from her hands, sending it flying through the air.

ellie’s back hit the ground with a thud. she gasped as she fell back against the grass, and then everything went black.

her mom was there, drifting back to her as though in a memory. it was from before she got sick -- her hair was long and shiny, her voice was melodic and gentle. ellie could see herself in her childhood bedroom, tucked in bed, though it felt like she was underwater.

“ellie,” her mom said, “it’s time to wake up. sweetheart -- you’ve got to wake up. you’re going to be late.”

the feeling went back into her hands, first. they twitched in the grass, brushing the blades beneath her fingers. without opening her eyes, ellie tentatively wiggled her toes in her shoes. yep -- they all still worked.

“ellie? ellie, can you hear me? please say something.” that was logan’s voice, panicked and desperate, each word tripping out in a rush. “she’s breathing, i can hear it. her heart -- i know she is. ellie.” he rushed to slip his hand into hers. “squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

it felt like her limbs were made out of lead, but she somehow forced her fingers to squeeze.

there was a thump as a second body dropped to its knees on her other side. rough fingers -- a set she’d know anywhere -- touched her other hand hesitantly. “ellie? are you... here?”

i’m here. she couldn’t quite get her lips to move -- to make the sounds she wanted, the ones that would reassure him.

“ellie, we need you to open your eyes. can you do that?”

when they put it like that, it sounded so easy.

but she could try. ellie struggled to lift her heavy eyelids. in the process, she felt her nose wrinkle with the effort. someone beside her laughed through what sounded suspiciously like tears.

her eyes finally blinked open to stare at the night sky. the meteor shower was still going on. immediately, five alpha werewolves crowded into her field of vision. “holy shit,” logan gasped, squeezing her hand tightly in his, “you’re alive. jesus christ. holy shit, el.”

she licked her lips. the inside of her throat felt like sandpaper. “did we... do it? did it work?”

logan nodded frantically. “we did, it’s closed. it worked -- you did it. you rocked it.”

she nodded, turning her head on the grass to look for colt. “colt?”

“i’m right here,” he said, and sure enough, she focused her blurry vision on his face. “you were amazing. it was perfect.”

“cool,” she mumbled, her eyelids already fluttering shut again. “awesome.”

when she woke again, she was in colt’s room at home. she knew it without even opening her eyes; the mattress beneath her was lush, the sheets soft on her skin. she could hear logan pacing in the hallway. he was on the phone with someone -- snippets of his voice filtered in through the closed door whenever he got close to it in his rounds.

“well, it was late, so -- we slept at my house...”

“...and ellie must’ve eaten some bad pizza, ‘cause she’s real sick today...”

“...um, and she can’t get out of bed, so she’s gonna just stay here...”

“...and -- and i’ll have her call you when she gets up, sir. yes, sir.”

she huffed out a laugh, slowly sitting up against the pillows. colt was at her side before she even opened her eyes. “hey, take it easy. don’t overdo it.”

“is he talking to my dad?”

colt nodded. he handed her a glass of water that she gulped down greedily, rubbing sleep out of her eyes with her free hand. already, she felt worlds better than she had last night -- still a little bit like she’d been hit by a truck, but decidedly better than before. “i wish he didn’t have to, though. he’s the worst liar i’ve ever seen.”

ellie laughed, despite how sore it made her throat feel. “my whole body hurts,” she sighed, “i feel like i jumped out of a plane without a parachute.”

he stared down at her from the side of the bed. “you scared the shit out of me,” colt said bluntly. “part of me didn’t think you were going to wake up.”

she wiggled over to make room for him in the bed. her body protested the movement, but it was nice to feel like she had control of everything again, when she swung her arm out to grab at him. “c’mere.”

he immediately slid into the bed beside her, pulling her gently into his arms. “i don’t know what i would’ve done,” he said roughly, his voice low and filled with emotion, “if something had happened to you.”

she reached out to touch his cheek, angling his face towards hers. their eyes locked. “colt, i love you.”

the expression on his face was hovering somewhere between upset and annoyed, but then it split into an honest smile. he leaned in and kissed her. “i love you, too.”

surprise colored her face. “really?”

he laughed, reaching out to gently touch her cheek. “are you kidding? you’re the coolest fucking person i’ve ever met. smart, sexy, badass...” ellie watched with fascination as he shook his head, averting his eyes. if she didn’t know any better, she might think he actually looked shy.

“but -- you hated me when we first met!”

colt rolled his eyes at her. “ellie, i was attracted to you. you can’t even imagine how many times i almost lost my head over the way you smelled.”

she struggled to sit up in the bed, staring at him in disbelief. “seriously?”

“seriously. and then i got to know you... and you were capable, and brilliant, and loyal... it felt too good to be true. i mean -- jesus christ, you keep a crossbow in your backseat.” a sudden seriousness crossed his face. “things this perfect don’t usually happen to me.”

her cheeks were starting to protest the wide smile that took over her expression, aching even as she grinned at him as brightly as she could. “i love you so much, though,” she promised, pleased by the light that jumped into his eyes as soon as she said the words. “like -- so much.”

ellie’s arms wrapped around him, stiff and bruised but there nonetheless. she kissed him with every last drop of energy she had, as hard and excitedly as possible. he was right. for once, everything felt perfect.

the pack came to their graduation. logan noticed as soon as they got their seats, and he bumped her shoulder to point them out in the crowd to her. she looked up, easily catching colt’s eyes with the way he was already staring at her. she beamed at him, happiness coursing through her at the sight of the little smile he shot back.

“ms. wheeler?” their principal tapped her on the shoulder, stealing her attention. “you’re up.”

ellie looped her pinky through logan’s for a squeeze. “wish me luck.”

“you’ve got this, valedictorian.”

they celebrated back at the house over drinks. it was so miserably hot that they stripped down to their underwear and ran through the sprinkler for hours, until the sun went down. ellie shook her wet hair in colt’s face when he tackled her into the grass, squealing as they rolled around together. “you should really think about putting a pool in.”

“will you move in, if i do?”

she reached up and poked his cheek playfully. “you know i want to.” logan had already started bringing some of his stuff over, but it was different for him -- he wasn’t going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. “i just have to figure out what i’m going to tell my dad. and he’s... going to want to meet you.”

he sighed, reaching down and pushing her hair off her face. the tip of his finger traced over the bridge of her nose, the swell of her lips. “do you really have to go?”

ellie twisted her fingers in his hair and tugged him down for a kiss. “yeah. but we’ll still have the summer. and then it’s just a couple months until thanksgiving.”

colt tucked his face in the side of her neck, nuzzling his nose against her skin. “i hate it.”

“i know,” she murmured comfortingly, “but i’ll call all the time.”

“it won’t be the same.”

“it’ll go by faster than you think. plus, you could always visit. all of you. there’s lots of cool stuff to see in boston.”

“as long as i get to see you, the rest of it doesn’t matter.” he lifted his head and she smiled at him, warm and fond. just as she angled her head in for another kiss, a shadow fell over her face.

“can you two get a room?” mona smirked, “or just keep it together for another hour?”

“yeah,” ximena called from behind her, “the rest of us want ellie time, too.”

ellie laughed, reaching up to push at colt’s shoulders. he didn’t budge, resolutely digging his fingertips into her hips harder. “you have to get better at sharing,” she murmured, playfully bumping their noses together.”

“i won’t,” he refused, but he obligingly pushed off of her, rolling to stand and then helping her up, too.

she squeezed happily into the small space between ingrid and ximena on the day bed, grinning at logan from across the unlit fire pit. he was already smiling back at her, that goofy, overjoyed smile she’d seen on his face just a few times before. ellie cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows arching as if to say, can you believe we freakin’ did it?

he nodded back at her -- she was familiar with the gesture and the pride it conveyed. she’d seen it before plenty of times -- over harpy guts, across a field of dead berserkers, when he handed her crossbow back to her covered in disturbing black blood. it said, i always knew we could.

#ride or die #choices rod #colt kaneko #ellie wheeler #colt kaneko x mc #colt kaneko x ellie wheeler #rod logan #myfic #long post #wow i cannot believe i finished this #it felt bleak for awhile there #ummmm i hope everyone remembers teen wolf because i ripped off a lot of this from the show #and didn't explain it well lmao #i feel.....mildly self conscious about this BUT the nice thing about it being so long is that #by the time you get to the end you forget that the beginning was bad #i was gonna go harder on the wendigo subplot but i couldn't find a place to fit it in :\#logan rod #also i was stuck on that sex scene for like 2 days #and it still wound up being deeply mediocre #it kind of is like a choices book because all the characters develop completely within 1-2 weeks lmao #ANYWAY #i hope some of you like this ??#maybe if it doesn't flop i'll write more abt their friendship before this #and some of the stuff that happened afterwards #???? validate me ok #n*sfw

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