#i remembered that at one point clair did fence and I was like lets explore that

[donvampire]

I do not consider myself an experienced writer, but I have written a thing for this discord chat where I made the title Vampire literal. Aka I turned Clair into a vampire for angst and out of boredom. ANYWAY. I wrote a drabble?? Short story?? about Clair’s home life and I think I did pretty good so I want to share.

Trigger warnings: minor blood

The night life was much brighter and louder than anything that happened in the day time. Drug deals, gambling, gun fights, and Clair was in the center of it. Being the son of the largest crime lord in the city was never a boring role. Except for the beatings and constant pressure to which he always faced every damn day. He found solace in the quiet things surprisingly. Taking apart a gun and putting it back together was calming. Firing said gun while imagining his father’s face on the target was extremely calming.

There are perks to being a Leonelli. Constant respect and fear came your way. People stood off to the side to make way for Lorenzo and his son, Clair, bowing so low their faces almost were slobbering all over Clair’s shoes. He sneered, hating how these people would bend over backwards for him and his father just to get in their favor. It was sickening. Clair wanted to throw up.

These so-called nobles with sticks so far up their asses would give fake smiles and kind gestures, only wanting to get higher in the ranks. Or to get into Clair’s pants you never know. Marrying the heir to the Leonelli family does seem like a good life. If you liked having live grenades thrusted into your face when you say something Clair does not like. Or having your hair pulled and gut kicked. Maybe even a gun to your head as well.

Clair was not the best bachelor.

Which was fine. The last thing on his mind was marriage.

The first thing that Clair was focused on was being better than his father ever was. That approval he longed for to the point where he even changed his appearance in hopes that Lorenzo will finally notice him.

He toyed with his lip ring, which he got before the dye in his hair, looking out the window as he watched the sun rise. He would have to close his blinds soon. Sun + vampire = death.

He ran a tongue over sharp canines, lost in thought. The suit he wore to an event was discarded on the floor in a crumpled heap of clothing, forgotten. Replacing the suit was a simple outfit, something his father would hate no doubt. But he shrugged to himself, not really caring at this point. If Papa had a problem with it then he would show it with either his fists or his words.

It was usually his fists.

At least bruises heal fast.

Speaking of bruises, Clair poked the one on his arm, hissing a bit as he did so. The pain was a reminder of his failure. What failure? Clair was not sure at this point. Everything he did never lived up to harsh expectations. Each failure muddled together into one, shaping into the boy known as Clair Leonelli. Lorenzo’s mistake. He giggled at that. It fit him.

Now the sun was peaking over the city, shining its bright light, its poison, and Clair, reluctantly, closed the blinds. Now he was in his dark room, sitting there with his forehead pressed against the covered windows, glaring at the cracks of light passing through. It burned his skin, but he ignored it, these scars will heal.

Letting out a long sigh, Clair got up from his perch next to the window and stood there, considering opening it up again, letting the sun burn him into a pile of ash that would be swept into a dust pan, and then dumped into the trash. He giggled at that thought too. It sounded absurd and stupid. Eventually he flopped onto his bed, purple eyes glaring at the ceiling, the days events passing through his mind like a haze of fog over the city. Soon it would be loud, the humans waking up and basking in that cursed sunlight, ready to start their trash lives.

He envied them. Clair would never admit that out loud, his pride made him choke on the words. But oh, how he envied how these people that can walk around the city without constantly having to look over their shoulder, searching for any kind of threat. He hated out these humans can live without someone breathing down their next, forcing them to be something they are not.

He envied how free they are. While Clair was stuck in this cage and his father held the key, dangling it in front of him, just within reach. But barely.

Ears twitched as he heard faint footsteps coming down the hall and Clair made himself scarce, cleaning up the clothes, tidying his desk, and throwing himself back in bed, pretending to be asleep. The door opened, then there was silence…a grunt. Then the door closed, and Clair let out the breath he had been holding and he slowly sat up, staring at his door as he listened to the footsteps walk away from his door and back down the hall.

Purple eyes blinked as he tossed the blankets off his body, not feeling the need to sleep. He was not tired. That rush of adrenalin made Clair want to get out, explore. Which was something stupid and may lead to death.

Again. Sunlight + vampire = death.

A hand brushed through his blue bangs, messing with the already messy hair. Clair never bothered to brush it. He did before but now it was too much of a bother and Lorenzo made no move to hide the disapproving look on his face every time Clair came out of his room, looking like he just rolled out of bed.

Clair considered these small changes, not only a form to get approval, but a form of rebellion against the current head and CEO of Company Vita. Even if these things are minuet. Piercings on his lip and in his ears was first, as stated before. A smile on Clair’s face when he first came home with them and a sneer on Lorenzo’s. No matter how many times the older man shouted at Clair to remove it, Clair kept it in, the smile never faltering. What was done was done no matter how much Lorenzo wishes to change it.

He liked this feeling. This small freedom. So, then he pressured Giovanni to take him out again.

Clair blew air on a lock of hair in front of his nose, watching it as it fell back into place. He snorted, thinking about how pointless everything was. He glanced around his room, looking for something to do. His desk was covered in papers, work given to him by Mauro (which he had yet to finish. Why does he need to know this information anyway? It was boring). Clair huffed. His desk was out of the question. Eyes moved over to the books, and he wrinkled his nose. Reading was never really a past time for him.

He then realized how sparse his room was. Nothing in here belonging to him. It had little personality, only logic, things that were considered essential and not distracting, which is something that Clair longed for at this moment. He doubts homework and books will be of use, only to make his mood worse than it was now. He glanced at his clock. It was now nine in the morning and he clicked his tongue. It was still so early. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood. He began to pace, the urge to do something gnawing at him. He paused mid pace, eyes staring at the epee sword leaning against the wall, tucked away in the corner. Before he knew it, he was holding the fencing blade, a familiar weight in his hand. He wanted to dance. But this room was too small, and he would eventually knock something over. He sniffed, listening, waiting. Silence. He grinned.

Clair ran over to his door and slowly opened it, poking his head out, glancing around. His grin widened, and he slowly slipped out of his room, closing the door behind him, his epee sword sheathed and tucked under his arm. Clair then quietly sauntered over to the fitness room, a place he barely visited now-a-days, for his father found fencing to be distracting since Clair enjoyed it. He was always begging his father for more lessons, more practice. Clair wanted to be good.

However, Lorenzo must have gotten annoyed at one point and stopped the lessons entirely, which lead to Clair practicing in secret, sparring with Giovanni every now and then. Lorenzo’s voice echoed in Clair’s mind as he walked down the dark halls of his home which he considers a prison.

Focus on your studies. Surpass me.

One day you will be the king of darkness.

What a load of bullshit, Clair giggled to himself as he stepped into the room, glancing around. No one was here.

Good. Clair unsheathed his sword and began his complicated dance, imaging that he was hitting targets that looked like his father. He smiled as his thrusted his forward, through a target, through Lorenzo’s face. What a marvelous feeling. The rush, the freeing feeling, it was intoxicating. He kicked the target off his epee, twisted the blade in his hand before tossing it to his other hand. He liked to be experienced with both sides of his body. Call it a precaution.

At one point, Clair got lost in the rush and stumbled, falling on his hands, skinning them slightly. He cursed, sitting on his knees, glaring at the angry red wound on both hands, blood dripping down his arms.

Great…how was he supposed to explain this if these scrapes don’t heal within the night (technically day.) With his hands like this, it would be wise to call it a day, and head back to his room so he would not get caught. But Clair was stubborn and the opposite of wise. He sucked it up and gripped his sword again, continuing his dance, brows furrowed in concertation. His sword felt heavy in his scraped hands, but he ignored it. Clair was bored, and this was the one of the small things that gave him comfort in his miserable life. He will not let a few burns on his hands stop him.

Eventually Clair was leaning against the wall, panting, a thin layer of sweat covered his face. His hands were still bleeding, the hilt of the blade rubbing against the irritated skin, making it worse. Clair saw the blood staining the hilt and sighed before angrily throwing his blade across the room. The sword landed with a clang and slid to the wall. Clair then sank down until he was sitting on the floor, eyes narrowed at his bleeding hands.

His mistake. He can never do anything right can he. He chuckled to himself, and he rested his head against the wall, closing his eyes. He felt the sting of pain dancing along his finger tips from overworking himself.

Why did he ignore the pain and continue? Did he want to prove something to someone? That might be the answer. Or maybe, he wanted to prove himself wrong. That he was not a mistake, a failure.

That he was just Clair, son of Lorenzo. The heir to the title of Vampire of Company Vita.

He opened his eyes and looked over at his sword. He sighed and stood up, grabbing his sword on the way out of the room. It was time for bed.

#my writing #heat guy j #[self] #i remembered that at one point clair did fence and I was like lets explore that #I think i did okay

[onlysarah235678]

A Little Bit Part 9

Pairing: Billie Dean Howard x female reader

A/N: Finally dinner time, I’m starving! Just FYI, the next chapters will definitely take longer. Classes start tomorrow! As always thank you for reading, and thank you to illuminated-blue for her beautiful gifs. Enjoy!

Warnings: abundance of domestic fluff, brief mention of death, jealousy if you squint, and vague mention of domestic violence (only one sentence).

You and Milo arrive at Billie’s a little before 8pm. You took him shopping with you because you didn’t want to waste time going back and forth. He just slept in the back seat while you practically ran up and down the aisles to get back to him. Of course, in your hurry, you forget something and have to run back inside. Milo didn’t seem to notice because he was still exhausted from the exciting day and his pain meds.

You lead Milo out of the car and to the front door, grocery bags on one arm, Milo’s leash wrapped around the other. You take a deep breath before ringing the doorbell and taking a small step back. You look down at your clothes that you’d grabbed after your shower and you were regretting your choice. You were going to be sweating by the time you finished making dinner.

You hear the faint sound of heels tapping against the hardwoods a few seconds later. You smile at the idea of seeing Billie after so long. Well at least it felt like a long time. Milo looks up too with his tail wagging as he prepares to explore a new place.

When Billie opens the door, she smiles at the sight of you and Milo looking cute as always. You’re fully loaded up with grocery bags, your dog, and flowers that you’re already handing to Billie with a shy smile. She smiles wider as she takes them from you with an appreciative smile, smelling them as she moves out of the way so you can step inside.

“For you. I know it’s kind of cheesy, and not as cool as what you gave me, but I saw them and thought of you.”

Billie’s appreciation just grows at your explanation of the roses that you’d brought her. As you walk through the front door, Billie tries to take some bags from you, but you hold them away from her with a smile. You just take off your shoes and Milo’s leash before telling him to stay as you move some things to your free hand.  You follow Billie through the house into the kitchen where you place all of the bags on the counter. You watch as Billie moves to find something to put the flowers in.

“You’re too sweet. I love them.”

You smile as you look behind you for Milo. You realize that you told him to stay and you call for him before turning back to Billie. You take a closer look at the medium as she’s pulling out a vase from one of the cabinets.

She’s wearing a white lace dress with her signature pearls, and upon closer look you realize that her dress is covered in flowers.  

“How do you always look so good?”

Billie’s response is to chuckle before she walks back over to you. She puts the vase and flowers down carefully before taking a good look at you. It makes you want to squirm, but you resist somehow before she’s meeting your gaze again with a smirk. You always look cute, but tonight she finds you irresistible. She says this to you, but before you can respond or rather argue, she’s leaning in to silence you with a kiss. You can’t find it in you to really care and you kiss back. When you break away, you’re smiling as you look around the kitchen while Billie puts the roses in the vase.

The kitchen is nice. You saw it the last time you were here, but you don’t remember it very well. You hadn’t exactly been paying attention to interior design the last time you were here. You quickly steer clear of those thoughts and hurry to turn back to Billie as you take off your coat and get to work on cooking.

“How was your day? Did you finish recording?”

Billie nodded as she finished up with the flowers before heading toward the fridge for drinks. She watched as Milo wandered around the living room nose to the ground as he went. She placed a bottle of wine she’d picked up for tonight on the counter near you before responding.

“We’re all done. The only thing left now is promotional interviews. Wine?”

You consider what Billie’s saying before you nod in agreement. You’re much more relaxed than the last time you were here, but you wouldn’t mind a little alcohol. You thank her as she pours you a glass before handing it to you.

“That’s great news. Congratulations.”

You keep an eye on Milo as you get everything together to start cooking. You practically ordered Billie to sit down and smiled when she just rolled her eyes and muttered a ‘yes ma’am’ under her breath. You could get used to bossing Billie Dean around, but you don’t dwell on that dangerous thought before you start chopping up the ingredients.

The way Billie’s kitchen was set up, you could stand by the stove and cook and be able to look up and see the blonde watching you. It made you feel nervous, but you focused on your conversation and the food. You’d made this dish dozens of times before.

“How are the kittens doing?”

You had to ask because well it was your job and two, you were surprised to not see at least Bit yet. A brief look to Milo reminded you that maybe she was staying away for a reason. You look back to Billie just in time to see her smiling as she thinks about how her gang of kittens is growing.

She still hasn’t named any of the others, and she probably wouldn’t at this point. She didn’t want to get any more attached to them than she already was because she couldn’t keep them all. She mostly just called them little one and mister (for the couple she decided were boys). She tells you this and you laugh before shaking your head.

“You have at least two boys, including Mickey.”

You say this with a shrug because you really can’t tell yet. Everything is so small it’s just guesswork. Billie knows this, but she also likes guessing with you based on what you’ve both observed. They were all developing their own personalities and it was adorable to watch them all interact. Bit mostly just supervised and she was spending more time away from the kittens now that they were on solid food and formula.

Billie briefly tells you about how that’s going before Milo walks into the kitchen to stand next to you. You don’t notice him immediately and you nearly trip on him when you move to grab your drink. He isn’t allowed to stand in the kitchen at home, but he often breaks that rule. You try to enforce that now see if you have any luck.

“Milo, no. Go sit over there.”

You point toward the edge of the kitchen, close to where Billie’s sitting and Milo just looks at you with his big eyes and whines. You stare at him and he stares back before you sigh in defeat. If you had been looking, you would have noticed Billie smirk at the fact that you were such a softy for your dog. You decide to try one more time and luckily Milo listens.

“Milo, go say hi to Billie. Say thank you for letting you visit.”

Milo finally retreats with a wag of his tail to go greet the medium. Billie just smiles as she holds out her hand for him to sniff before she pets him. He starts to pant after Billie begins scratching his ears and you laugh before speaking up.

“Thank you by the way. For letting me bring him.”

Billie just smiles before looking down to Milo’s tongue sticking out of his mouth as he pants happily. “It’s no problem at all. He’s sweet.”

You smile at this not having to agree with her before you finish up chopping the onions.

“So... a fence? Has he done anything like this before?”  

Billie’s question makes you groan before you admit that Milo has always been a little over enthusiastic at times. He forgets commonsense in the face of his favorite toys, specifically frisbees and any type of ball. A couple times when he was younger, he had run into multiple trees trying to chase down an errant tennis ball.

“It’s not his fault. He’s just so…”

“Eager?”

You nod before looking back over to Milo who was now lying at Billie’s feet. You smile before you reach out for the next thing to cut. You don’t notice Billie frown as she sees the long scratch on the back of your hand.

“How’d that happen?”

You look up to see what Billie’s talking about, and you follow her gaze to your hand. You laugh slightly before you mention the cat and by association, the owner that you saw today.

“Oh, it was that cat I told you about. His owner’s the one who was bothering me.”

Billie’s frown deepens at this and she raises an eyebrow in question as she recalls what you’d told her this afternoon.

“The one you called a bitch? I thought you said it was fine?”

You pause, your silence deafening before you eventually try and shrug it off. You hadn’t counted on explaining the Claire situation to Billie Dean. You honestly had hoped that she wouldn’t ask about it because you didn’t want to explain why you couldn’t get someone who was barely drinking age to leave you alone.

“It was fine after she left, yeah.”

You sigh at your stupid answer before looking to Billie to see if maybe, just maybe it worked. The way that she’s eying you makes you realize that no, it did not work.

“What is it about her that bothers you?”

You sigh again before you look away from her briefly to try and locate a pan to start cooking in. You don’t want to just start opening things randomly so you ask, hoping to change the subject.

“She’s just very…suggestive. Where are your pans?”

Billie looks at you for a second before she gestures to the cupboards behind you. You find one and then a spatula with her instruction before you hurry to keep yourself busy. You don’t see Billie try to put together your meaning as you remind yourself of the recipe you knew by heart.

“Suggesting what, exactly?”

You try not to curse yourself, or look like you’re cursing yourself as you look back to Billie who’s watching you intently. She has a cigarette in her hand which she got from somewhere, but it’s not lit yet. She’s just holding it between her fingers, twirling it as she waits for your answer.

“Y/N?”

Whoops. You’d been staring longer than you thought when you manage to break your gaze away and back to Billie’s face. You don’t notice the slight worry in her eyes as you shrug again, but give a more acceptable answer this time.

“She just flirts with me all of the time, but I tell her no because well I don’t like her, she’s too young for me and well. You know…”

You trail off as you look Billie up and down again as if to make a point. Billie doesn’t say anything immediately. She just sighs as she puts down the cigarette that she was never going to light. She reached for it before remembering that Milo was here. She didn’t know if you’d want him around the smoke.

Finally, Billie nods before mentioning what she’d planned on waiting to discuss until at least dinner.

“Well, I guess that’s a good segue way to what I wanted to talk about tonight.”

You can’t help but stiffen at the way Billie says this. It doesn’t sound like good news. It sounds serious and you don’t like that. Billie must notice because she moves to stand up and walk over to where you’re becoming increasingly more anxious.

“Don’t worry, dear. It’s nothing bad. I was going to wait until dinner to mention it.”

You nod before mentioning that it will be done in about 15 minutes. You move to go grab ingredients for the next part, but Billie stops you. She’s holding your hand, and you instinctually squeeze hers before looking to her nervously.

“Y/N, it’s really not bad news. I just wanted to talk about an interview I have next week.”

You just nod as you think about what this means. You find your thoughts interrupted again when you feel Billie’s lips on your cheek.

“Trust me.”

It’s not a question but you nod because you do trust Billie. You trust her a lot and you allow your faith in this trust and her reassuring smile to calm you down.

“Of course.”

Billie smiles before kissing you one more time, this time at the corner of your mouth. She sees your cheeks darken and smirks at her success before she moves closer to you.

“So, how can I help?”

Bit doesn’t show up until you and Billie are sitting down to eat. You nearly trip on her before you see her tail disappear under the table. You look around for Milo who of course is sniffing around for her, but you stop him.

“Milo, wait! Don’t eat Bit, please.”

Billie turns when you say this and watches as you hold Milo back. She looks around for Bit before grabbing the cat from underneath the table. She protests of course with a loud meow that catches Milo’s attention. His head tilts to the side as he looks at the cat. You hold him back but let him sniff Bit from a distance. She hisses and Billie lowers her to the floor and watches as she runs away. You loosen your hold on Milo and he just turns his attention to your food instead.

He’s’ clearly more interested in your food, so you just tell him to sit in the other room when you and Billie sit down again.

“That could have gone worse.”

Billie just laughs as she nods in agreement. She’s honestly surprised that Milo didn’t really pay much attention to Bit. She would have thought that he’d try and chase after her, but then again if he goes to work with you every day he must be used to seeing cats. She asks this and watches as you go to nod but then change your mind last minute.

“Ah, I mean it depends. He’s very food motivated, but he also likes chasing rabbits. I don’t know if cats are the same, but as long as we have food to keep him here it should be fine.”

You both look to Milo who is just staring at the two of you, or rather your food. You just roll your eyes before shrugging and hopefully doing a better job of reassuring Billie.

“He’ll be fine. I promise.”

It’s almost half an hour before Billie brings up the interview again. She’s enjoying your company and doesn’t want to make you worried or ruin the mood by getting too serious. You had just been telling her about your high school graduation party, after a lot of coaxing, and she could tell you were still a little embarrassed. She didn’t want to make that worse.

“Is something wrong?”

Billie looks up in surprise at your question and then at the fact that you ‘re shooting her a worried look. She must not have been hiding her feelings as well as she’d hoped to. Billie just shakes her head before she smiles at you. You finish up your food as you watch her carefully, hoping that she’s not about to lie to you.

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just going to ask you something.”

You do your best to not show how tense you immediately become and just smile before nodding in response.

“Okay, what’s your question?”

Billie takes a second to look around the room before answering. Milo is sleeping and Bit has not come downstairs since her brief forced meeting with the dog. She sighs before looking back to where you’re waiting for her to ask whatever is on her mind. Billie tells you about the interview she has next week and how she’s kind of looking forward to it. She’s worked hard on this season and wanted to do it justice by making sure the word got out. Eventually she mentions what she expects to be asked.

“Since it is very likely that they will ask me about us, I wanted to ask you what I should say.”

You frown slightly as you consider this. You’d only been thinking about where this relationship was going and how long it would be just between the two of you since you met the medium. However, now you weren’t sure what to say. You wanted to say that you’d love for people to know. Well maybe not because with this came a lot more harassment, at least you assumed so. You really just meant that you’d love for people to know that you were lucky enough to be with Billie Dean Howard.

Sometimes you still wondered how this even happened to you.

You don’t realize how long you stay silent until you hear Billie sigh. You look just in time to see her frown disappear before you open your mouth to say something, anything that won’t make her think that you’re not ready for this. You are and you plan on telling her that, but Billie beats you to it.

“I don’t mean to put this all on you. I just wanted to make sure that you were, um sure about well--.”

Billie trails off as she becomes uncharacteristically flustered. She’s beginning to think that she’s jumped the gun and made you uncomfortable by bringing up the nature of your relationship too soon. Hell, it had only been a few weeks since she met you. Even though it felt like longer, Billie knew that it had been a very short time to have such a discussion. If she weren’t in the public eye, she doubted that they’d talk about this any time soon.

You came to Billie’s rescue after watching her second guess herself. You smiled and couldn’t help but feel a little surprised by the fact that Billie was stumbling over her words. Normally calm and collected Billie was worried.

“It’s okay. I know what you mean, and I’m sure if you are. I don’t mind people knowing how lucky I am.”

Billie nearly rolls her eyes at this but something catches her attention. She listens for a second before she’s leaning back in her chair and waiting for Bit to appear.

“You’re such a charmer, Y/N. I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one.”

You smile widely but you’re prepared to argue when you hear a soft thud behind you. You miss Billie standing up as you turn to see that Bit is leaving a kitten that she’d just placed behind you. You frown as you watch Mickey squirm and react to his rude awakening.

“Bit, you little…”

You turn back to see that Billie’s already walking past you to retrieve the kitten. You’re about to stand up when you spot Milo out of the corner of your eye. He’s yawning cavernously before he sniffs the air around him. He looks up and sees Mickey lying in the middle of the floor in front of him and he’s already on his feet to investigate. He doesn’t make it before Billie swoops in and picks him up to check on him.

“Milo, sit down.”

Milo doesn’t listen immediately; he’s standing at Billie’s feet staring at the kitten in her hands. You reach out to get his attention and he turns as you scratch his head before sitting down. His tail is wagging but you don’t pay him any mind as you get to your feet to sneak a peek at the kitten.

“How is he?”

Billie just sighs before shrugging as she mentions how not much has changed since you saw him yesterday. He still hated his medicine, but luckily he took it without much struggle. He was spending more time away from his siblings when possible and he actually didn’t even sleep with them last night. You frown in confusion but don’t get a chance to ask before Billie explains with a slightly guilty expression.

“Well, I was worried about him being squished, so I let him sleep with me.”

You try to imagine how this worked without Mickey being in danger, but you weren’t as subtle as you thought and Billie just laughed.

“I had him wrapped up in his own bed on the ground. I didn’t want to risk him falling.”

You nod in approval as you think about this, and then you smile at the sight of Mickey on his back with his little legs outstretched. He looked completely at home in Billie’s arms and you loved it.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t get over how cute he is.”

Billie smiles as she watches you fawn over Mickey before turning to Milo. He was still focused on Mickey from where he sits beside you. You eventually notice where Billie is looking and you turn to Milo too before speaking up.

“Oh, Milo. Right. I can make him leave, if you’re worried he’ll-.”

Billie cuts you off with a shake of her head as she smiles before turning a little so Milo can get a good look at Mickey who is still sleeping. He perks up a little and his tail starts wagging faster as he stands up and moves forward to sniff the kitten. You grab his harness in case you need to pull him away quickly, but he just whines as he tries to get closer to Mickey.

“Milo, no, wait.”

You’re relieved when he sits back down and just shifts impatiently while Billie shifts Mickey so he’s in her hands. She holds him in front of Milo and you’re not super stressed at all as your dog leans forward to inspect the still-unaware Mickey.

When Milo just licks him once before turning to you to be let go you nearly sigh in relief. You loosen your grip on him to see what he plans to do, but Milo just turns away and heads to the table that you’ve abandoned in search of food. You hurry to grab him and steer him away from the table as Billie laughs at your dog’s lack of interest in Mickey. She decides that she needs to run him upstairs and put him back to bed. It’s getting late after all.

“I’m going to take him back upstairs, don’t touch anything. I’m cleaning.”

You stop short of picking up your plate as Billie says this and you turn to see her shooting you a serious look. You can’t help but argue, your damn need to clean up after yourself temporarily overriding your desire to just listen to whatever Billie tells you to do. You watch her start up the stairs before you manage to speak.

“But, I—you cooked I don’t mind! I like cleaning!”

This is kind of a lie, but it doesn’t matter anyway because when Billie turns around on the stairs and shoots you a look you give up. You just nod before deciding that you’re not going to risk disobeying. Milo paws at you and you realize that you have something else to do anyway.

“Don’t touch, I’m serious, Y/N.”

“Okay, I’ll just go…walk Milo really quick.”

You see Billie smile before she disappears and you just turn to Milo before heading toward the front door.

“Come on Milo. Walk.”

Of course he jumps up and runs to the door to grab his leash. You slip on your shoes before reaching for the doorknob. You pause as you think about the likelihood that you’d been followed here. You ignore Milo’s whines as you decide that it doesn’t matter. You’re serious about not feeling the need to hide anymore. Still you take a deep breath before you open the door and let Milo go out first. You look around quickly before just following Milo wherever he wants to go.

Billie Dean sighed as she watched Mickey get situated next to his siblings and Bit. Bit was grooming herself and not paying her any mind as she tried to figure out what to do next. She usually shut them in here for the night, but she didn’t want to do that yet, She hadn’t even medicated Mickey yet which of course she had remembered after getting him settled. She decided to go ahead and do that now since it was almost late enough.

It was nearing 11pm and although she knew that you had work tomorrow, she was trying to figure out how to drag this evening out. Billie had been thinking about how tonight would end ever since you agreed to come over. Honestly she’d been thinking about it for much longer than that, but she would never admit it. She didn’t want to rush you, but she definitely was ready to take the next step with you. Whatever that was.

Billie goes back downstairs and heads for the refrigerator to grab Mickey’s meds. Once she has them, she heads back upstairs and sneaks into the laundry room. She picks Mickey up again smiling sympathetically as he mewls at being disturbed before giving him his medication slowly. His face scrunches up and he makes a noise that is somewhere between a hiss and a whine and Billie’s heart melts. She kisses his head before putting him back with the other kittens. She is grateful that she only has to give this to him a few more times.

When Billie gets back downstairs, she grabs some of the dishes on the table and brings them to the kitchen. She is glad that you insisted on cleaning as you both cooked because now there were only a few things to clean up. Billie is still washing dishes when you and Milo come back. She doesn’t hear the door shut and she’s humming under her breath when you sneak up on her.

“Hey, did you know that--.”

You trail off when you see Billie jump and drop a fork in the sink. You open your mouth to apologize, but the medium is spinning around to shoot you a bewildered look.

“Y/N! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

You raise your hands in surrender before attempting an apology. You smile slightly as you watch Billie shut off the faucet without looking away from you.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to sneak. I thought you heard me.”

It took Billie a few seconds to calm her racing heart, but once she saw your smile and flushed face her fear melts away. She sighed before she reached into the sink to grab the fork she dropped. She places it in the dishwasher before closing it and turning back to face you.

“You’re lucky I didn’t stab you.”

You just laugh before you reach out for her with a questioning look. Billie just sighs again before letting you pull her into a hug. You’re cold to the touch from being outside, but she only holds you closer as she starts rubbing her hands up and down your arms to warm you up.

“You’re so cold. How far did you go?”

You smile as you pull away slightly to look around for your dog. He’s sitting on the carpet again in the living room and you roll your eyes as you mention your little adventure around Billie’s neighborhood. She listens as you tell her about walking down toward the end of the street and then being dragged toward one of the biggest houses you’d ever seen. There had been a party going on apparently and the smell of food was all Milo needed to decide he wanted to go that way.

“I had to drag him back here, so now he’s mad at me.”

Billie laughs at this before she pulls you back towards her while you’re sneaking another peek at Milo who’s now licking his paws. You’re a little surprised and you let out a sound that makes Billie smirk as she shoots you a questioning look.

“You’re sure about this, Y/N? You’re okay with telling the greater LA area about us?”

You can’t help but laugh at this, not even thinking about how many people this includes as you nod in agreement. You don’t really care about any of that at the moment and Billie seems to realize this as you move your hands up to her shoulders. Since Billie’s taller than you, especially with her heels, you have to stand on your tiptoes to reach her lips. You feel Billie smile at this, but you ignore it as you hold on to her tighter.

Billie responds by digging her nails into your hips as she pushes you back against the counter. You groan and retaliate by tangling your hand in the medium’s hair and pulling. You can’t help but smile in victory as she hisses against your lips. However, Billie doesn’t let this bit of smugness slide, and she pushes her hips against yours as she kisses you harder.

You moan and roll your hips against Billie’s as her tongue slides against yours. She kisses you until you feel like your knees are going to buckle, but she pulls away before that can happen. That said, Billie’s mouth on your neck didn’t make you feel any more stable. You curse under your breath shivering as Billie’s nails scrape against your neck when she moves your hair. Now that it’s out of the way, Billie’s path down your neck was long and torturous. You didn’t realize that your grip on the medium’s hair had become painful until she hisses and bites down on your pulse point.

“I know you like my hair, but you’re going to pull it out if you’re not careful, dear.”

You let go of Billie’s hair like it burnt you before you apologize. You feel your face flush slightly at the fact that Billie of course knew you were obsessed with her hair. You weren’t exactly subtle, and her hair was just—you’d kill for it. You didn’t get far with your apology before Billie cut you off with a look that effectively shut you up.

“Oh god. I’m sorry, I was just--.”

“Y/N. You don’t have to apologize. I liked it, just maybe a little bit less.”

You blush harder before just nodding in agreement. You look back up to Billie to kiss her again, but you instead find yourself being lifted onto the counter. Your eyes widen as you look around for a split second to regain your bearings. You let out an impressed noise as you smile at Billie who is looking awfully smug. You choose not to comment on this for now and lean back in to meet her lips, but again you’re stopped. You barely hold back the annoyed whine when you see Billie moving away and turning to something else completely.

“What-?”

You turn to where Billie’s looking and immediately move to get off the counter. Milo’s moving towards you but he’s staring at Billie in a way that puts you on edge. It’s a little embarrassing and you don’t want to explain it, but you can’t just write this off. Can you? You sigh as you step around Billie to redirect Milo back to the living room. It’s not his fault that he’s so protective of you. He doesn’t know the difference between what your ex had done and what Billie just did.

“Hey, Milo. No, it’s fine. Go sit.”

You’re relieved that he listens to you and seems to relax as you scratch him behind his ears. He wags his tail before circling once and sitting back down on the rug. He’s still able to see you which makes you a little nervous, but you don’t get to say this before Billie speaks.

“Is everything okay?”

Now Billie’s never had a dog before, but she knows enough about their body language to realize what had just happened. She just wasn’t sure why. Milo hadn’t been anything but sweet and well-trained around her, but this was something completely different. This wasn’t something that just happened unprovoked.

Billie looks to you to see you smiling slightly, nervously. You don’t want to tell more than you have to at the moment. So you just nod and try not to blush too hard.

“Yeah, he’s fine. He just…didn’t know what we were doing.”

Billie watches you blush but doesn’t comment on it. She’s not sure she believes all of what you’re saying, but she doesn’t bring it up. She can tell how tense you already are, and she knows that she has nothing to do with it. She wants to continue what she’d just started, but she didn’t want to just pretend like this didn’t happen. She wanted you to make the choice.

“Well should we leave him be and take this somewhere else?”

You feel your heart start to race at the question and the possibilities. Of course. You want to say that, but you look back to Milo before trying not to sound too obvious.

“Is it okay for Milo to stay here? Any chocolate or onions lying around?”

Billie laughs before she shakes her head and takes a quick look around the room. She doesn’t spot anything that sticks out. She doesn’t have a lot of clutter around her house because she’s not really around long enough to accumulate it. She decides that things are safe enough down here, and the cats will be fine upstairs.

“Nothing of the sort. He should be fine.”

You nod before you reach out to grab Billie’s offered hand with a smile. You say goodbye to Milo watching as he just wags his tail before you follow Billie upstairs. You can already feel your heart rate begin to pick up again as you reach the top. You thought you hid your nerves well, but you should have known better. After all, Billie was very good at picking up on different energies. This thought reminds you of something you’d been meaning to ask her since it occurred to you during dinner.

“Billie?”

You say her name as you follow her into her bedroom. It’s dark so you can’t really see anything but a bed in the middle. The room is illuminated when a lamp is switched on and you take a moment to glance around. It’s as tidy as you thought it would be and just from standing in it for five seconds you can tell it’s distinctly Billie. The way the room is decorated and the faint but familiar perfume lingering in the air has you smiling. You don’t realize you’re being watched until you hear Billie laugh.

“See something you like?”

You nearly laugh at this but instead just walk towards the blonde who’s already sitting on the bed. You shrug as you sit down next to her with a grin.

“Nothing more than you, Billie Dean.”

This makes Billie smile and you turn to her so when she reaches out for you, you’re already moving towards her. Your lips meet again and you quickly pick up where you left off downstairs. Your fingers are tangled in Billie’s hair and you gently tug her forward so you can feel her against you again. You groan as Billie practically pulls you into her lap before her hands fall to your hips. It isn’t until you feel Billie’s hands move between the two of you and to your shirt that you pull away.

“Billie?”

You watch anxiously as Billie’s hands stop moving and she shoots you a concerned look. You’re tense again and she’s not sure what to make of it. She has her suspicions but she doesn’t say any of them as she waits for you to talk to her.

“Yes?”

You shift slightly but don’t dare move as you sigh before looking to Billie with a frown.

“I have a potentially mood-killing question.”

Billie had been expecting you to ask something related to what you were doing. She knows you mentioned having an ex, but she didn’t know how far you may or may not have gotten with her. This is the last thing on Billie’s mind when you finally gather the courage to ask your question.

“Is he here?”

Billie frowns in confusion and her mouth is already opening to ask ‘who’ when it dawns on her. She feels you tense even more as you look around the room quickly. She sighs before she shakes her head. She’s telling the truth because she knew that the moment you got here that it was just you and Milo. She says this to you and expects you to visibly relax, but you don’t. You sigh before shaking your head at the nerve-wracking thought that keeps plaguing you.

Billie nods again before her hand comes up to your cheek. You sigh as you lean into her touch before frowning again.

“No, Y/N. He’s not. He hasn’t been all night.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sorry I had to ask. I’m just—still having trouble understanding this.”

Billie can only nod because she’s not sure how you’re dealing with what she’d told you. You hadn’t mentioned it since that first time and she didn’t want to push you. So the subject of your father had been tabled for now. Billie watches as you fail to come up with something to say.

“You don’t have to apologize, Y/N. This isn’t something that makes a lot of sense.”

You nod in agreement before doing your best to calm down. You focus on Billie’s touch again and move as close to her as possible. Her hand drops to your waist as you pull her into a hug. She frowns as she struggles to form a response. She doesn’t make it before you pull away with a smile.

“Thank you for understanding.”

You lean in and kiss her in thanks, but you get a little carried away. You’re very conscious of the fact that you’re surrounded by Billie, her touch, taste, her smell, and you can’t help but want more. You’ve only been waiting to have Billie Dean like this since your little encounter at work.

Just the thought of it makes you feel hotter and you shift impatiently on top of Billie. She can tell you’re getting worked up again and pulls away before things can go too far. She waits until she has your attention before asking.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight, Y/N? We don’t have to.”

Your frown disappears and you sigh before nodding in answer. You’re very sure that you don’t want to wait anymore. You know that she doesn’t want to either, but she’s also more aware of your other emotions. You don’t want to think about those right now. You have the answer you needed to be comfortable enough to do this tonight, and you really, really want to do this tonight. Billie being so sweet and listening to you worry just makes the idea of waiting harder.

You nod again before kissing Billie once in thanks. You’re still so surprised by how Billie’s always so thoughtful and you appreciate that more than you can put into words. You just aren’t used to having someone take care of you like she does. You try to say this, but fall short as you squeeze her hand that’s still at your waist.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re sweet, but I’ve been thinking about this too long to wait, Billie.”

Your smile turns into a smirk as you see Billie’s eyes widen slightly at your words. You hold back a laugh as the medium just nods before leaning in to kiss you once, twice.

“You’ll tell me if you change your mind?”

You just nod before meeting her lips again in an insistent kiss to tell her that you’re certain this is what you want. You feel her hands tug at your shirt again and you groan as she shoots you a smile.

“Okay, well let’s get this off of you, sweetheart.”

Part 10

#american horror story #ahs fic #ahs #my fic #ahs murder house #ahs imagine #billie dean howard x reader #billie dean howard imagine #billie dean howard #a little bit

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Beauty Chooses II- Chapter 9

My thanks to @statell​ for making my stories flow.

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Nine-Recovery and Truth

Each day Jamie had more and more strength and focus. I would leave him to check on the others and take one of the horses out for a ride. When I returned, and after a hot shower, he would breathe in the aroma of my shower gel and cuddle me to him.

“Ye miss bein clean and perfumed, do ye not?”

“Yes, that is the only thing I really miss about 1745.” I looked in his eyes, “I got used to it Jamie and it didn’t bother me that much.”

“If we go back lass, I’ll build ye a proper bathtub so ye can use it daily if ye want.”

I had not spoken yet of going back. Jamie was still weak and I wasn’t sure how the conversation would go. I was pulled back to a time and place that was beautiful and I wanted that. I was tempted to stay in this time because my family, Joe and Baritone, were here and it was safe. It didn’t seem possible without identification for the adults and no birth record for Faith. Four adults don’t just materialize without a history, so it seemed impossible to stay in this time. The only way it was working so well was because we were out in the country with lots of land between us and the world. I wanted to wait until I had made up my own mind and avoided the discussion once again.

When Jamie fell asleep in the afternoon, Joe asked if I wanted to see Fiona and I jumped up from my chair and was pulling him and Baritone out the door. I was so excited to see her and tell her all that had happened. When we walked into the B&B, the smells brought me back and my eyes burned with tears. I searched for her, finally seeing her wide eyes and open mouth, staring at me. I ran to her and embraced the woman who taught me so much.

“Claire…what’s happened…how are ye back lass? I am so shocked!”

She hugged the boys and pulled us to a couch to get her answers. I explained, in short form, how we got back, a bit about Jamie being kidnapped and forced to fight in the uprising and how Joe saved his life.

“Excuse me Claire but did ye say the Dunn Bonnet is here, in this time, now?”

“Yes, he is at Lallybroch, recovering. Fiona, are you alright?”

Her flushed face and rapid breathing was concerning to me and I held her hands while she tried to answer.

“The Dunn….the Dunn….here…now.”

“This is just a bit of hero worship I think. He is larger than life Fiona. You must meet him,” Joe said chuckling.

“Claire, if you could set a date, I will contact my sisters and tell them he will be here. It would mean so much to them after spending their adult lives at the stones twice a year for his benefit. Would that be possible?”

She almost whispered her last question and I felt the enormity of Jamie’s influence on all their lives. It rocked me to the core. “Of course I will, I can call you with the date.”

We spent a glorious hour catching up and I promised to bring Jamie and Faith as soon as I could. I clung to her as we left, hoping to spend more time than just quick visits. She was very special to me.

I thought about Master Raymond on the way back to Lallybroch. Joe told me about restarting his heart after his trip through the stones, his torture and most of his skin burned off. If he knew that would be his fate then he walked taller than anyone I knew, except Jamie. We were unable to find any information about him and I was so sorry I would not have the opportunity to thank him.

The days passed, Jamie continued to recover, the weather was warm and beautiful, and the household was happy. Murtagh had repaired the entire fence and fortified a sectioned off pasture for the horses to enjoy the days outside. When Jamie walked to the barn, he would hug Donus for so long I feared my throat would rupture from my choking heart. Soon after, it was Jamie’s duty to tend the horses, always with the company of Murtagh or me, just in case.

Misses Crook still had not risked a ride in the jeep, so we left her behind with a resting Jamie when we went exploring. I always felt bad for her. When we had returned alive and well so many times, I begged her to take a ride with me and pulled her to the jeep. She looked up at the seat and then at me. I was quick to start the jeep and pull it around to a large rock, then I assisted her climb into the seat. She giggled a couple of times and I thought I heard some excitement in her voice. Once she was buckled in, I started slowly and watched her for a coming meltdown. She was doing fine, so we drove around the estate so she could see other farms and automobiles. She handled it so well I pulled off the road and dropped it into four-wheel-drive so we could bounce back to the house. She had so much fun, laughing and pointing, which was evident by her hair coming undone and flying around her face.

She was teased mercilessly by everyone for being so brave. Only Jamie was quiet and thoughtful, I wondered what was troubling him. Later in the evening, I asked him.

“I dinna need an automobile,” he said slowly to get the word correctly. “I have Donus to take me.”

“The druid sisters performed the ritual at the stones twice a year since they were eighteen years old. For you, Jamie, for your promise. They kept the stones open so we could be together again. They are standing by to fly halfway around the world, some of them, just to see you.”

“I know of no one in this century Claire, I think ye have it wrong lass.”

“Your story, well our story, has been passed from mother to daughter for two and half centuries. The ritual was required on every solstice to keep the stones open until one day we would find each other again.”

I knew he didn’t fully believe, but he saw how I was shot out the stone right after watching Master Raymond melt into it. I hoped he would feel gratitude at the very least and want to meet the sisters based on that.

“You will need to take a ride to see the sisters Jamie.”

“I’ll no be goin then.”

He walked away before I could utter a strangulated word. He was scared of the jeep I figured, and the sisters were getting impatient. I would have to trick him with my Ace in the hole, Faith.

I called Fiona with a date to meet the sisters in eight days. She was thrilled and hurried off the phone to dial the string of sisters waiting for the call. Jamie would eye the beastly jeep each time he walked to the barn but had no change of heart.

On the day we were to meet Fiona I packed a picnic lunch so Jamie and I could take Faith into the fresh air and enjoy a day in the sun. We ate while our beautiful daughter walked from one to the other handing us food and squealing in delight when it was eaten.

I sighed deeply and told no one in particular that I was worried about Faith on the drive to Edinburgh.

“I do hope you don’t fall out of the jeep sweet one. You must remember to hold on tight, especially around corners. Alright?”

I started to get up, telling Jamie to have a lovely nap and then picked Faith up and walked toward the jeep. He was in front of me in seconds like a human wall blocking my way.

“Jamie please, we have to go.” I tried walking around him and he jumped into the jeep, arms out for his daughter. It took all my strength not to click my heels as I moved to the other side and climbed in. I said nothing, knowing Jamie would calm down after a few minutes of driving if he was not dead yet. He held Faith to him and spoke soothingly to her, thinking she was as scared as he was. When the jeep hit a pothole, Faith squealed with delight and laughed uncontrollably. There is something about a baby’s hysterical laughter that breaks the bonds of fear. Each time the jeep bounced Jamie and Faith lost themselves in giggles.

When we walked into the B&B, the living room was packed with sisters. On the couches and chairs and taking up most of the floor. You could hear a pin drop as Jamie stood in front of them. Fiona rushed out with a chair for each of us and I nursed Faith while the questions were respectfully asked, one after the other. Jamie was generous with his answers and even teased some of them because of their questions. It went on and on. The hero-worship in the room was palpable and guests would hush as they walked through, sensing someone great was in the room. Faith slept in my arms while I also answered questions about Master Raymond and how I got us back to this time. I told every detail about my passage and honestly admitted I would not have made it without the aid of our parents who came from the other side to assist me. “I could feel the hunger and desire to feast on flesh and heard the screams of the damned.” There was a warning in my answers, not to treat the stones as benevolent portals to another world.

Jamie let each sister touch him before we left, and I hugged Fiona as she thanked us. She was the last to hug Jamie and her eyes were shining brightly when she let him go. It was a fairly somber goodbye, and as we headed back to Lallybroch there was little talking.

“Sassenach, there needs to be more bouncing.”

“I looked at Jamie and Faith, both bored with the ride back. I engaged the four-wheel drive and took the uncivilized way home, across the fields, through the washes, climbing hills and dipping suddenly like a roller coaster. It was the most fun I ever had in a vehicle.

Faith and her father slept deeply for the next two hours making me hope for some peace to join my husband when I felt hands on both sides of me. Joe and Baritone kidnapped me for a walk in the woods. It was delightful as I pointed out where Jamie and I slid down the hill with bad men at every door waiting to take me into the hills. My tree where Jamie found me nearly frozen to death. We walked to the Grant house, nearly crumbled to the ground, showing only the chimney and one wall. We sat on an outcropping of rock, Joe passed out cans of juice, and the three of us spent time together like the old days. It was wonderful.

Returning to Lallybroch we could smell the rich aromas coming from the kitchen and quickened our pace. When we were all enjoying a lovely meal that Misses Crook made, I asked Joe how he was able to make all the improvements to the house in only two years. He sat back and smiled at Baritone rubbing his full stomach.

“My boy Baritone is in the big leagues, you know? He does half the shows and makes triple the money now that he’s in print. When my residency started he got bored from too much time alone, so he took over the improvements.”

My mouth hung open because I never knew Baritone could do half of this work. He was laughing with his hands up like he wanted to stop me.

“I hired a lot of it out, especially the windows and the painting, so don’t worship me quite yet. I started staying here when the bathrooms were being built and I’d lay on the only bed and wonder where you were in the house. It was a trip.”

I was very touched by that comment and my heart grew for this man if that were even possible. I thanked him for his hard work and for thinking of me.

By August, Jamie was riding Donus, slowly, and his face looked boyish again, grinning and speaking his special language to the horse. I watched his hair blow in the wind and let his ice blue eyes pierce my heart shooting sparklers into my core. I wanted him, in a big way. If he could ride Donus then he could certainly ride me. I put a plan together in my head and disappeared to my bathtub filling it with COCO bubbles that turned the volume up on my arousal. It was time to be a girl again, and that started with shaving everything, something I hadn’t done in two years.

I looked at my body in the mirror and saw my flat stomach had returned but my ass was a bit more fleshy as were my boobs. I covered myself in body oil and blew out my hair before retrieving my shortest shorts and the tight sleeveless shirt that went with them. The shirt stopped several inches above the shorts and the lower globes of my ass hung out. It looked like bumming around in sleep clothes while pulling the eye to all that’s important. At least that is what the saleswoman told me. I had nursed Faith to sleep and pulled the quilt almost off the bed, laying back I pretended to read my book.

“There ye are Sassenach, I’ve been lookin for ye, to ah… see about a walk tonight. But, ah, I see yer readin and ah… probably ready for bed.”

“Hmm?”

“Nothin mo chridhe. I am goin under the water. What is that smell, it’s so good and reminds me of somethin.”

I dared not look up at him or he would have seen my arousal and I was pretty sure his interest was piqued. When the water turned off, I watched him walk through the bathroom with a towel on his head. I was stuck on his expansive chest, thick thighs and flat stomach. Jamie Fraser there is little you can do to stop me tonight. When he dropped into bed, I felt him lean over and look at my book.

“Sassenach, what are ye readin?”

I had a moment of panic that the book was upside down and quickly closed it and fake yawned. Jamie was laid out naked next to me and I thought I might combust looking at him. Obviously, this would need more than a hint.

“I can’t sleep in this heat.” I used my best complaining voice and pulled the little shirt over my head. Then I got up to open the window and stood there filling my lungs with the cool night air. I was praying that Jamie would get stuck on my butt and turned around piling my hair on my head like I was still heated. Jamie was mute and looked like a fourteen-year-old seeing boobs for the first time.

“Leave it, lass,” he croaked. “If it gets cold in the night I’ll close it.” He patted the bed beside him and I exaggerated the swing of my hips walking back to the bed, feeling my breasts move with each step. I swung my leg over Jamie’s body to land next to him and stretched languidly. I felt like I was back in that barn with Jamie, a virgin, trying to lure him to me. He was staring at me but not making a move to touch me, so I ran my hand down his leg and back up his inner thigh.

“Goodnight love.” He turned out the light and exhaled a ragged breath. I gave up in frustration and closed my eyes to sleep. It was sometime later I felt his warm hand move up my stomach and cover my breast. I didn’t move even when he turned the light back on, very low. I took a deep breath and stretched but kept my eyes closed. He continued to touch me; I could not quiet my pounding heart any longer, so I looked at him. He was watching his hand move over my skin like a starving man.

“Wake up love, I need ye.”

His mouth came down on mine and moved quickly to my breast as he pulled my shorts off and pushed my legs apart. He kissed me again and moved between my legs, pushing into me with a grunt. I felt white-hot pain as he moved in and out, heard his loud breathing in my ear, and then he stiffened for thirty seconds, dropping back to my side.

I couldn’t believe it. My Jamie was the most generous lover before and never pleased himself before pulling at least one orgasm out of me. He laid next to me like a lump and did not reach for me. I rolled to my side and swallowed the hurt that was growing exponentially. When I heard him snoring I lost it.

For the next several days I went into my head and stayed away from everybody. If Jamie spoke to me, I gave one-word answers and left the room. He would ask me what was wrong, and I ignored him. The hurt had not left me, so I took long walks in the evening and tried to imagine what had changed him so much. On one of those nights, Joe snuck up and fell into step with me.

“Care to share Pet?”

“No.”

"C’mon, I can’t pretend to sleep over so I can listen to you talk in your sleep. I doubt Jamie would appreciate me laying on the floor while you two got into bed.”

“He wouldn’t notice anyway.”

“Is he still too weak to take you to the stars?”

“He rides Donus for hours and hardly naps anymore.”

“Has he tried?”

“He is very capable but he …”

The silent minutes ticked by as I tried to think of a way to explain it.

“Is it safe to say it’s different now and you don’t like it?”

“Yes.”

“You know Pet, that part of a man, ejaculation, is controlled by the ancient part of the brain. For thousands of years, the way humans had sex was quick, sometimes brutal, and done, rollover, or walk away. It was even selected for in evolution. Those that were quick lived another day.”

“Are you saying Jamie has de-evolved into a cave man?”

“Kind of. He suffered wounds I have never seen before, left for dead on a battlefield he wanted no part of, and was left at Lallybroch, for how long no one knows. And then he expired, luckily within seconds or minutes of us finding him. I’m not sure what that does to a man, but my guess is it’s really big. Jamie is not the same man right now but maybe he could be. It’s obvious he still loves you. My guess is he will remember in time and those skills in lovemaking will come back to him. Or, you could teach him.”

“Teach him?”

“Well, you were the little hussy that took his virginity. How did you show him then?”

“How do you know I taught him anything?” I was feeling defensive. “Maybe he learned it from porn.”

“Not in 1743 Pet.”

I felt empty inside and turned around to go back. I just wanted to be alone, but Joe’s suggestion was bouncing through my head like a pinball. When we neared the house, Joe pulled my head to him and kissed my temple.

“Good luck Pet,” and he walked to the back of the house where his bedroom was.

I closed the house up and turned all the lights off before going upstairs to Jamie. I took my time in the shower and moved over him naked to take my place for sleeping. He was awake, waiting for me it seemed. The second I was laying down he pulled my hips and to get on top of me. I pushed his hand away in disgust and his persistence made something in me snap.

I rolled toward him, pushing him onto his back and straddled him. He stared at me and I moved my hands up my stomach and cupped my breasts, squeezing them and pinching my nipples. With him under me, even with my hurt feelings, I felt the heat coming and moved my pelvis side to side feeling him grow under me. He was transfixed watching my finger in my mouth, shiny with saliva, slip into my fold and move against my clit. I was breathing heavily, getting closer to the prize when he grabbed my wrists and shoved them behind my back.

I watched him suck on my nipples and felt his hand under me.

“Release me please, let me show you.”

I pressed his fingers into me, slowly, and he watched me react to the stimulus. I knew he was ready and so was I. When I moved to put him inside of me, he flipped me to the bed and finished in under a minute. He was asleep before my head cleared.

This was unacceptable. I got up and walked to the barn where I leaned against Brimstone and cried. When I started yawning, I laid down on hay bales and fell asleep feeling tears continue down my cheeks.

Jamie opened the barn door at six in the morning and I jumped up startled. He looked so innocent and happy to see me, but I was too full of his brutish behavior from seven hours ago. I walked past him without greeting and went back to our room to lay down. I held my stomach and rocked myself back to sleep.

Jamie continued to talk to me, and I continued to give one-word answers and avoid him. I would read in a chair until he fell asleep at night and then sleep in the barn. There just wasn’t another room in the house where I could hide from him. So he startled me awake every morning to receive my cold shoulder. It was starting to affect him. He pretty much stopped talking to any of us and went through his day robotically as my heart broke even more. When Joe couldn’t pull him out of himself at dinner I found him holding his bedroom door open and pointing into it after dinner.

I was done being shy or modest with Joe. My husband was hurting, I was hurting, and neither of us knew what to do about it. I told Joe what happened and that I stopped sleeping with Jamie because I didn’t like being raped.

“I’ve hardly spoken to him this week and he finds me sleeping in the barn every morning, so I suppose he’s sad about that.”

“When you see him do you feel happy, in love?”

“For fleeting seconds and then I remember and my heart turns to stone. The last few days he has seemed so lost that I hurt for him, no matter what he’s done. If I’m nice to him he will hurt me again. I don’t know what to do,” I said miserably.

“The first thing you do is stop the progression of hurt, Pet. Jamie has an issue right now but you two love each other and it’s not a normal love, it’s enviable. I have a friend in his psych residency. Give me some time to speak to him about this and we can formulate a plan to keep you safe and loving. Don’t cry Pet. Put your faith in eternal love and remember to call me an idiot every now and then. It’s been awhile.”

I hugged Joe for all I was worth and felt better after my honest disclosure. Joe was the smartest man I knew, and he was going to help. I bounced up the steps and ran smack into Jamie hearing him gasp. I wrapped my arms around him and suggested we take a ride this morning. He looked worried and I pulled him to a couch.

“I’m sorry for being so cold to you this week Jamie. I am working out stuff in my head and I didn’t mean to hurt you. Can we enjoy some time alone to relax and reconnect, so I can tell you how proud I am of you, and how happy I am to be your wife?”

“Aye, lass, thank ye.”

Misses Crook had stopped Glavia from leaving the kitchen when she saw Claire and Jamie talking together. She pointed to the back staircase and prayed for the lovers under her charge.

I walked into the barn an hour later and Jamie looked up at me so sweetly. His smile made him look ten years younger and I remembered him before Culloden. His excitement was contagious, and we mounted the horses for a fun ride through the woods. We were approaching the stream and he suggested letting the horses drink a bit. The cool water on my face felt amazing.

“Time to go Sassenach, I want to show ye something.”

I smiled at his happiness and watched him swing up on Donus without the use of the stirrup. I giggled at that feat.

“Why didn’t you mount Son of Satan like that when he kept moving away from you?”

“Who?”

“The red horse you broke for Murtagh..” It felt like the air was suddenly sucked out of my lungs watching Jamie’s confusion. He didn’t remember.

“Come lass. Ye must see my surprise.”

I could hardly believe what was happening and my head spun until he told me to look up. There in front of us was the remains of the cottage. He described who built it and why, like I had never been here before. He remembered none of our time here and I clutched my saddle to stay on Brimstone. I turned toward home and pushed Brimstone into a trot. I was done with this excursion that broke my heart. I needed to speak to Joe.

Jamie was looking hurt again as he rode next to me and I apologized for leaving abruptly and said I wasn’t feeling well. His hurt turned to concern and pushed Donus into an easy lope with Brimstone happy to follow.

“I’ll put the horses up. You go see Joe and let him doctor ye.”

Normally I would have kissed him in that moment. Instead, I smiled and thanked him. Once out of sight I ran to Joe’s room and pounded for him to let me in. He opened the door and I rushed past him speaking a mile a minute.

“He doesn’t remember Joe, he just took me to see places we have spent enormous amounts of time at. He was showing me for the first time. He doesn’t remember Murtagh’s old horse that he broke.

My voice was losing its volume like I didn’t want to say the words. I sat down, shaking from the shock of it, and looked at my feet.

“He told me a month ago that he loved who I was in 1745 and he loved the woman I was here more. How could he know that if he didn’t remember me then?”

Joe told me to stay put and a minute later he placed a glass of whisky in my hand, toasted me, and threw his back watching me to do the same. He poured us another and sat on a chair across from me, thinking.

“Poor Jamie.”

“Why do you say that?” I was terrified asking the question.

“Okay Pet, all the pieces are falling into place. It’s not a terrible thing, although it probably feels like it to Jamie. It might explain the changes in intimacy as well. Have you heard of battlefield PTSD?”

Joe explained his theory that Jamie had large gaps in his memory caused by trauma, both physical and emotional. Under perfect circumstances, some of his memory would come back over time but he required a stress-free, healing environment. In short, he needed to be loved and free to heal his mind.

“That means sleeping in the same bed Pet. No talk of going back for an extended period of time, I would say at least a year. I’m sorry, I know you want that life again, but it will have to wait, it’s too risky.”

Later, I wandered around the house letting the reality sink in before finding Jamie. I wanted to present a calm port in the storm to him and put my hurt feelings away. They didn’t belong here anymore.

He was sitting on the side of our bed staring into space when I walked in. Something he did a lot of since his recovery. I wanted to cry at the way he looked at me. A mixture of happiness and fear I would not love him anymore. The stupid tears came; I pushed them away and sat next to Jamie.

“Joe says I will be fine once I rest a bit and I was wondering if you would rest with me, so I know you're here, next to me? Sometimes I wake up afraid that you’ve gone away and I can’t go back to sleep.”

I sobbed and he held me close, leaning us back to lay down.

“I am here always Sassenach, right next to ye. Sleep in my arms lass.”

Jamie held Claire while she slept. He knew there were things she didn’t tell him but decided not to press her. Things between them had been strained and cold for the past two weeks and he did not want to risk that again. So he let it be. When she started to mumble, he was still awake and heard every word.

“hurt me… brute hurt… cottage…so old now, remember me.”

He burned the words into his memory hoping to understand them in the future. One thing was clear, someone had hurt the Sassenach and he felt that burden deep inside.

When the September winds blew, we all spent less time outside and our evenings were spent together playing with Faith, reading, or sewing. Baritone was gone for extended periods when he had a show and Joe was acting a bit restless, maybe from missing Baritone. Laying on the floor with Faith one evening it hit me like a smack in the face. I asked Joe to talk with me and we went to his room where I started pulling his drawers open and pulling suitcases from the closet.

“Pet? What’s got into you?”

“You are leaving and I am helping you pack sweetheart. Now, which drawers are yours?”

“You aren’t the boss of me,” he said playfully, “so come sit and talk.”

I looked at him with all the love I felt and recalled the huge sacrifice he had made when we came here, so needy, so sick, so lost without him.

“I don’t know how you will resume your residency at Oxford, but I know for certain that it’s time you do. You have been my hero these past months. You saved Jamie’s life, you gave me strength and stability, you provided everything we needed. It’s time for you to go now.”

He touched my cheek and just looked at me for a minute, then he slowly shook his head yes.

I did what laundry he had while he packed his clothes, medical equipment, and books, putting one book back on the nightstand, like a promise he would be back. He made flight arrangements for the next day and then sat down and exhaled.

I sat in his lap and put my head on his shoulder. He told me the jeep was mine because he bought it from the rental company months ago. He had opened a checking account in my name and loaded it with fifty-thousand dollars asking if I wanted more. He had started these preparations knowing he had to return to his program. No wonder he was restless.

The next day I clung to Joe at the kitchen door where a taxi was waiting. I cried and hugged him one more time, and then we all waved goodbye. He looked straight into my eyes as the taxi pulled away making me cry again. I had left Joe once, at the stones, but since the day we met, he had never left me. Jamie pulled me into a hug, reminding me Joe was only a couple hours away and we would still have Baritone for long visits. I looked up and smiled at his sparkling eyes determined to lighten the mood.

“Suppose you show me what you have been working on in the barn?”

“Not yet, give me one hour and all will be ready.”

Jamie had locked himself away in the barn asking everyone but Murtagh to stay away so he could surprise us. I hadn’t seen Murtagh in two weeks because he was helping a neighbor build a garage. He came back for Jamie’s project and I was anxious to see it. I got lost in playing with Faith’s toys until I heard Misses Crook calling me.

I stood in the kitchen and looked at a large ancient wagon. There was a box seat build from new wood with a foot platform, just like the carriages of our time. Jamie walked Brimstone out of the barn and Murtagh attach the yolk and side rails pulling the long reins over her back and winding them onto the hand break. I could not believe my eyes.

“What’s he doin with that thing?”

“I don’t know Misses Crook, but I think we need Glavia to see this.”

Now we were all standing at the window watching Jamie and Murtagh smile excitedly. Jamie opened the door and asked us if we wanted to take a ride. He took his precious daughter and she picked up on his excitement making her smile. We came around the wagon which was full of straw and Jamie told us to hop in, we were going for a ride. Murtagh was driving so we piled in. None of us could see over the side of the wagon so Jamie whistled to stop Murtagh and jumped out. The hammers came out and the top two boards were pulled off the wagon opening up the view.

Jamie pulled me to his chest and Faith stood between my legs as we lurched forward. It didn’t take long for the wagon to bounce into holes in the terrain as it rambled along. Faith laughed nonstop and got the rest of us going, even Murtagh. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time we spent rolling along the countryside laughing and waving at anyone we saw.

It was getting dark when Murtagh pulled into Lallybroch and set the brake. We all piled out while Jamie and Murtagh unhitched the wagon and freed Brimstone. I hooked my arms around both of their necks, kissing Murtagh on the cheek and Jamie on the mouth.

“That was an exceptional surprise you guys. Thank you.”

The following weekend I decided on a surprise of my own and slipped away in the jeep to purchase what I hoped would be something to give lasting pleasure. I tried to find movies that would show the succession of time and found Marie Antoinette, Napoléon and the French revolution, the American Revolution, Gone With The Wind, and several old westerns showing the lawless towns and the Indian plight. It will be a long winter, and this would keep everyone busy and learning some history. I picked up porterhouse steaks and vegetables for grilling on the way back. Baritone would be home tonight so we would celebrate his return while the poor man will push his plate away.

Returning home, I set Jamie and Murtagh on the project of digging a pit to cook food over setting a bag of charcoal and a grate from the stove where they were working. I checked twice, shaking my head side to side and showing how much deeper it needed to be. They were being funny and mock complaining, but I know how to make an ancient Scot happy, put a shovel in his hands.

I showed Misses Crook how to prepare the vegetables for grilling and we had a pile of broccoli, large carrots, Onions quartered, and full Portobello mushroom caps ready. We wrapped large potatoes with butter and foil to be set down into the coals thirty minutes before the steaks.

I heard a commotion in the kitchen and ran in to welcome Baritone home. I sat in his room while he unpacked, and we gossiped about the shows and everyone I remembered. I knew he missed Joe, but he would be joining his love in London next week and be just as bored as he was here.

We feasted that night and enjoyed the last of the Indian summer. I wished we had a large table outside and Baritone asked me how long? How wide? I wondered if he could make a large picnic table and changed my wish to a table outside next spring.

We would all need warm clothes, jackets, scarves, and gloves so Baritone and I spent a day in Edinburgh buying out the thrift stores. Fiona had been collecting warm clothes from her vast network of friends in Edinburgh, so we stopped there on our way back. It was a Saturday afternoon and the sky was dark with fat clouds. She had a roaring fire in the main room and treated us to hot cocoa and a talk. While Baritone made trip after trip with all the clothing, Fiona took my hand and looked into my eyes.

“Have faith dear Claire. The sadness ye feel will no last.”

Was it that obvious I wondered? Jamie must see it too and that was unfortunate. I waited for him to mention something that would tell me he had gained some of his memory back, but it hadn’t happened yet.

Misses Crook and Glavia plowed through the mountain of clothing while I pulled pieces for Jamie and Murtagh. The blankets would be used to fortify Misses Crooks two dresses, and there were so many cute outfits, coats, and boots for Faith I was delighted. It was all thrown into load after load of wash as the snow started to fall outside. Everyone was at the big window in the parlor watching the heavy flakes fall like a silent blanket of white as far as the eye could see.

[sorceress-coffee]

Waka Chaka

AO3 Link

I was excited about our trip to the museum today, Mr. Strickler’s classes had been invited to the new exhibits that opened. We were all standing in a group on the steps of the museum, while Ms. Nomura, the museum curator, was telling us about the exhibit.

 “I know contemporary media might lead you to believe European history is full of swords, sorcery, and scandal. I assure you the truth is far more interesting, and there’s no better place to start than Renaissance Era pottery.” She exclaimed. I could instantly tell what her favorite pieces of the museum were. Eli and I were the only students that were excited to hear what Ms. Nomura had to say.

 Mr. Strickler interrupted her at the groans of his students, “Since we have limited time, Ms. Nomura, perhaps it’s best if they explore the museum on their own. Don’t you think?”

 I was pulled in by a sudden rush of students, past Mr. Strickler and Ms. Nomura. I sighed following Jim and Toby around for a while before stopping at the Renaissance Era pottery exhibit that Ms. Nomura had mentioned. Walking in I found Ms. Nomura rearranging one of the exhibits. “You were right, this is an incredible place to start,” I comment, smiling, looking over the artwork etched into the pottery.

 Ms. Nomura smiled and walked over to the piece I was admiring. “That is a midnight vase, depicting monsters that were rumored to awaken at midnight and hunt humans.” She explained, pointing to the different markings that look like paintings of trolls. She stepped closer to me and stiffened, eyes going wide as she turned to stare at me.

 I frowned in concern, “Ms. Nomura? Are you alright?” I asked she seemed to be in shock.

 She coughed stepping back, rubbing her nose slightly, “Sorry, I seem to be sensitive to you perfume,’ she explained, sneezing into her arm. “If you’ll excuse me.” She turned, heading over to Mr. Strickler to talk to him.

 I was left very confused; I wasn’t wearing perfume. The only thing different from my normal body wash was Draal scenting me last night. I wondered if humans could smell it too. I walked off to find Jim and Toby, running into Toby first, “Hey Tobes, do I smell funny or something?” I asked.

 Toby gave me an odd look before sniffing near me. “No, what did you forget to shower or something?” He joked, walking around the museum with me.

 “No,” I snickered ruffling his hair, “I think the curator might be allergic to me, she said she was sensitive to my perfume but I’m not wearing any,” I explained as we passed Eli trying to talk a group of students into believing monsters existed again.

 “That’s weird,” Toby began, cutting off when Eli mentioned having photographic evidence. “Hey Eli, can we see?” Toby asked, taking his phone before Eli could answer.

 We looked at the photo and saw a flattened, definitely troll related monster in a selfie with Eli. “Oops!” Toby said, deleting the picture before handing it back to Eli. “Darn these stubby little fingers, gotta go!” He yelled, dragging me along to find Jim.

 We found Jim flirting with Claire over by a case holding a gown. “We have a problem,” Toby told Jim quickly.

 Jim glanced between us and Claire. “What kind of problem?” he asked.

 I quickly pulled Claire away, asking her about the play and how rehearsal was going.

 Toby gave Jim a quick rundown and we left him to flirt with Claire for the rest of the afternoon.

 Once out of school, we left for Trollmarket to let Blinky and Arrrgh know what we found. As we entered, Draal was at the steps waiting for me.

 Jim jumped back, not expecting to see Draal, “D-Draal! The um… Sun is out, so… uh, yeah,” he said quickly.

 I rolled my eyes, having had enough of skirting around Draal and Jim, especially since Draal was now courting me. “Relax Jim, Draal’s meeting with me. We’re training.” Draal looked at me surprised; having known I was nervous about letting Jim know.

 “You’re training with him?” Toby asked, stunned. “But he hates Jim!”

 Jim looked between us, obviously still on edge with Draal around. “Toby, it’s fine.” He remarked quickly, trying to calm his friend.

 “How can you be fine with this? You’re fighting him in two days!” Toby remarked.

 “I trust River, that’s why. If she trusts Draal, that’s good enough for me.” He smiled, clasping my shoulder before looking to Draal. “Can you hold off on training? We need to talk to Blinky, there’s a troll related problem on the surface.” Jim asked, trying to be civil.

 Draal eyed him for a moment before nodding, “Very well. I will accompany you.”

 Toby glared at him; arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, I trust River, but I trust Draal about as far as she can throw him.” He remarked, clueless.

 “Then you must have a great deal of trust in me fleshbag,” Draal smirked heading down the gem steps to Trollmarket.

 “Wait, what?” Jim asked, looking to me in shock. “You can throw him?!”

 I shrugged, “I’m not exactly human, remember? My skill set is very different.” I said, following after Draal. Toby and Jim following behind us, into Trollmarket.

 Looking around I realized the trolls were staring at me as they had when they saw us for the first time in Trollmarket, complete disbelief. My face heated slightly, realizing this was their reaction to Draal scenting me.

 Jim and Toby were looking at the Trolls confused, “What’s going on? Everyone’s acting strange?” Jim asked.

 Draal took notice, growling as he slammed his fist against the ground, causing the trolls to look away quickly and resume their activities. “It’s not your concern, fleshbag.” He led us into Blinky’s library quickly.

 Arrrgh looked up confused seeing Draal enter with us. Sniffing the air, he shook his head with a small smile. Well, that’s one less troll I had to deal with giving me strange looks. Blinky turned, sniffing the air, jaw-dropping as he looked to all four of us, “You can’t be serious!” He barked out.

 I winced, stepping closer to Draal who gave a low growl. Blinky waved him off, huffing as he handed Arrrgh a smelly bag, most likely filled with socks. I tilt my head in confusion at the exchange. Arrrgh just grins saying “Bet,” not needing to explain further.

 Draal huffed, leaning over me slightly. He was irritated, realizing that Arrrgh and Blinky as made a bet concerning us and courting.

 “Okay, what is going on?” Jim asked, looking between the four of us.

 “Don’t you have something to discuss with Blinkous? Or did you stall our training to waste time?” Draal growled out.

 I walked to Blinky, explaining the photo Eli took. “It was small, green, and slimy, and it wasn’t a dead cat.”

 Blinky frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. “I may know the creature that met its untimely demise in front of your friend’s home. The sun is setting soon, we should go check, just to make sure.” He stated.

 “How bad is it Blinky?” I didn’t like his expression; Eli was a friend and I had a sense he was in danger.

 Draal nudged my arm, “Why don’t you go with them? You’re worried about the fleshbag, we can afford to take a break from training tonight.”

 I smiled and nodded quickly. “Thank you Draal.”

 “Let’s hurry, we don’t have time to waste,” Blinky said, rushing Jim and Toby out of the library, Arrrgh right behind them.

 “I’m right behind!” I called, hugging Draal tight when they were all out, “Thank you Draal, Eli’s a friend. Stupidly oblivious to danger too.”

 He snorts, nuzzling my cheek, “Sounds like you. Hurry, if this is what I think it is, his life could be at risk.” Draal nudges me to the door. “Keep your guard up.”

 I nod and quickly take off, catching up to the others quickly as we head out of Trollmarket and into the suburbs of Arcadia Oaks.

 Toby led us to Eli’s house, pausing as we neared the green smear in the road. “Voila!” He said as Jim grabbed a stick and began poking it.

 “Not voila. Goblin.” Arrrgh stated.

 “Goblin?” Jim asked pulling back.

 “Ruthless tricksters,” Blinky began to explain. “Petty street vandals who leave a wake of destruction. This is not good.” He stood up, hand on his hips.

 “Well, justice was served. We should get back and train for Draal.” Jim said, tossing the stick.

 “Oh, no, Master Jim. Where there is one, there are many. And, as for the unfortunate soul who ran over this small fellow, may Skaargen’s swift blade have mercy!” Blink spat in two of his hands, rubbed them together, and hit one over his chest.

 “And why is that?” I asked, worried for Eli.

 “Naturally, goblin payback is ten-fold,” Blinky stated.

 “There’s a delivery note on the door! What if, the goblin got ran over by the delivery truck?” Toby asked, thrusting the not out to us.

 Jim took the note reading it over. “If the delivery driver is coming back at eight, we will be here. I’m not gonna let some poor guy become goblin chow on my watch.” Jim stated, determined.

 “Master Jim, answering the call!” Blinky threw his hands up, grinning.

 “So cool. Stakeout!” Toby was bouncing with excitement, “Past my curfew!” he yelled, throwing his hands up.

 Blinky and Jim were hiding behind a bush, watching the front of the house, Arrrgh and Toby were staking out to the left, behind a fence, and I was on the right, sitting up in a tree for a better view, keeping my guard up as Draal had instructed. It was well past time for the delivery driver to show.

 “Hey, Tobes, all clear. How’s it going over there?” Jim’s voice called through the walkie talkie hooked to my belt.

 “All good in the hood, Trollhunter” came Toby’s out of breath voice, “except that I can’t stop moving. My love of stakeouts is being ruined by my overwhelming need to obtain swag. Other than that, nothing unusual.” Toby’s voice came through, Arrrgh in the background calling Toby unusual. “War hammer, to Midnight, how about there? Out.”

 I rolled my eyes at the walkie talkie before grabbing it, “I’m assuming you mean me,” Looking up I spot the truck coming down the street. “The truck is pulling up, out.” I looked around see movement, grabbing the binoculars I began to survey the area, we were surrounded. “Jim, they’re everywhere!” I called quickly, pressing further against the tree as the goblins broke the street lights.

 “Stay down and don’t make a sound,” Blinky called, whispering, “in their frenzied state they’ll attack anything in their path.”

 The Goblin charged and began to attach the truck.

 “Unexpected, their dispute isn’t with the driver at all, but rather the transportation that had flattened their kinsman,” Blinky called. “You must not be afraid Master Jim!”

 “I thought the first rule of troll hunting was to always be afraid,” Jim stated, confused.

 Arrrgh’s voice met the fray, “Trolls, not goblins.”

 “Goblins crave the pheromone of terror,” Blinky explained, “an odor you appear to be releasing quite generously.”

 “They smell fear?” I asked. Staring at the little green terrors, trying to keep calm.

 “Oh, no, I can smell it too!” Toby rang over the walkie talkies.

 “Then stop, or they will eat you!” Blinky whisper shouted as Toby let out another scream, catching the goblins’ attention. “Run!” Blinky yelled.

 I jumped out of the tree quickly running after everyone, lance at the ready. Arrrgh grabbed Jim and me as we ran and threw us on his back, out of the goblin’s reach.

 Toby’s chubby tracker began to beep, alerting him to a free t-shirt as a goblin jumped up and grabbed him, pulling him down. “Toby!” I yelled, Jim grabbed his legs and I used the blunt end of my lance to knock the goblin off of Toby.

 We ended up running for Toby’s house, jumping off of Arrrgh’s back, I took a defensive stance as Toby struggled to unlock the door. As the goblins began to climb into the backyard, I bared my teeth in a snarl, ready to fight. Toby finally unlocked the door as the goblins closed in. Toby, Jim, and Blinky ran in. Arrrgh grabbed me by the hood of my jacket and dragged me in before forcing himself through the doorway.

 We headed upstairs and Toby sat on his bed, stress eating. I sat with him, stealing the apple on top.

 “I’m sorry master Jim, but your town is infested!” Blinky exclaimed, grabbing Jim’s shoulders.

 “Okay, trolls, I can deal with because, at least, trolls stay underground. But goblins? I don’t even have the bandwidth to-” Jim began before Toby interrupts him.

 “Jim, we gotta get my chubby tracker back. As long as they’ve got it, they’re just gonna get stronger and faster.” He said, picking through the snacks.

 Arrrgh took the bowl away from Toby. “Must find the den.” He explains before eating the bowl.

 “Yes, and eradicate them at once before they seek their revenge.” Blink stated gravely.

 “Revenge?” I asked, biting into the apple.

 “On you three,” Blinky says, “and they now know where Tobias lives.”

 “So, we find their den, you must have some idea,” Jim states, plopping on the bed next to me.

 “Haven’t the foggiest.” Blink states before Chompsky’s chattering caught his attention, he kneels to peer inside the dollhouse. “Great Gronka Mora! What is the gnome doing in this dollhouse?!” He asks dramatically, pointing to the dollhouse as he backs away, yelling.

 “You told me to take care of the gnome, so we’re taking care of it,” Jim stated.

 “This is in direct violation of rule number two!” Blinky starts to lecture.

 “Not really, the rule only states he has to finish the fight, how he finishes it isn’t stated, so it’s really up for interpretation,” I speak up quickly.

 “And rule number one is to always be afraid, except if you’re around goblins ‘cause they smell fear.” Jim stand, throwing his hands up as he begins pacing. Going off on how he doesn’t understand the rules.

 Blinky sighs, “I can only advise, not make your decisions for you. You are a human; you are learning the rules in your own way.” He nods. “Arrrgh and I will seek out this den, wherever it may be.”

 “Wouldn’t it be easier to track the chubby tracker and monitor where they’re staying the longest?” I speak up, all four boys turning to me, stunned.

 “Why didn’t I think of that?” Toby whacked his head.

 Jim grins, “you need to come on more missions River!” he says, getting the tracking info from Toby.

 “Sure, be we need to get some sleep. We have to go to class in a few hours.” I said standing. “good night guys!” I said, walking home with Jim, we crashed on the couch, deciding it would be better in case the goblins tried attacking tonight.

 After school the next day we had tracked the goblins to the museum, once the sun was down, we headed over to check it out. Toby pointed to the roof, “check it out! They’re already here! Let’s go,” he said quickly, not wanting to go inside.

 We were about to turn when I spotted Ms. Nomura walking into the museum. “Oh, no! It’s Ms. Nomura! She has no idea it’s infested; we have to help her.” I said quickly.

 Jim nodded as Toby went on a tangent of what goblins could do to her. We snuck in through an open window, staying low as we went through the museum looking for her. We ran into a couple of goblins patrolling and quickly hid behind a display. Jim and I were watching the goblins as Toby began to whimper, whacking at my arm. He began to stutter, saying Ms. Nomura’s face was ugly and troll-like. I rolled my eyes at him, thinking he was stressed from the goblins walking around.

 Right as the goblins were leaving, Toby’s phone began to go off as the chubby tracker app alerted him to another free item.

 “Turn it off!” Jim whispered yelled to Toby.

 “I’m trying!” Toby yelled back, quietly.

 As I looked behind the pillar to see the goblins, I felt a presence behind us.

 A low chuckle sounded from behind us. “I knew I detected the stink of teenage flesh.” I whipped around to see Ms. Nomura had turned into a troll. Toby and Jim screamed, taking off running. I snarled quickly following after them into a curtained off room, lance out I took a defensive stance. “but a human Trollhunter and a witch, that I’ve never tasted.” Nomura snarled, closing in on us.

 I swung my lance down, forcing her back so Jim could armor up. “Then let’s see how you like the taste of Daylight.” Jim taunted, pulling the amulet out, donning the armor quickly. He slashed daylight at her and she caught it easily, cackling at Jim’s effort. “What are you?” He asked, stunned.

 “I’m what kills you!” She snarled, using the blade to slam Jim into the floor.

 “Get away from him!” I yelled, lunging at her, blade dragging on the floor before sweeping up throwing her across the room.

 Jim and I switched back and forth as she charged, easily taking us both on. She slammed me into a stone structure hidden in the room, knocking the wind out of my lungs, I groaned collapsing to the floor. She turned on Jim, stalking forward and the goblins flanked her. A tapestry had fallen on Jim during the fight. He groaned, sitting up, facing Nomura as she cackled.

 “This was fun. Now, you’re history.” She sneered, blades poised to strike, kicking Daylight out of Jim’s hand. “All that fancy armor and you’re just a scared little boy.” She cackled.

 Toby was helping me to my feet, I screamed as Nomura made to strike, trying to rush forward.

 Jim smirked, grabbing the tapestry “Arrogance gets you killed!” He yelled, pulling the tapestry out from under Nomura’s feet, causing her to land on a goblin, killing it. The other goblins began to snarl, attacking Nomura for killing their kinsmen.

 “Let’s go!” Jim yelled, helping Toby stabilize me, getting us out of the museum quickly.

 Next thing I know, we’re being arrested.

#Trollhunters #trollhunters draal #draal the deadly #DraalxOC #DraalxRiver #River Marie Lake #River Marie Wyllt #trollhunters oc #trollhuntersoc #river of arcadia #episode 5 #waka chaka

[mournfullpursuit]

Safety blanket chapter 5: Something in common

Leon s Kennedy X F!reader

Word count: 2,788

Author notes: this took way longer to write than I thought it would but yeah I did it, it’s here.

Also bolded and italic things are inner thoughts just to clarify.

You stared at the syringe for what felt like an eternity. Many said that Umbrella itself was just a front and they actually made bioweapons to sell to the military, you remember hearing about after the arklay mountains incident. You had found a radio when you were wandering around that had mentioned many things about Umbrella and that they may be responsible for whatever was happening in Racoon city.

Many still didn’t really know what was happening inside Raccoon city. Your hands began to tremble as the syringe shook in your hand. You looked at it more closely looking for clues on what it was. All it had was the umbrella logo and had a green circle on it with the letter v under it. You had no clue what this was or what it could do. If it was a blessing or a curse you had no way of telling, you just had to hope for the best. Your thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like footsteps in which you stuffed the syringe back into your pockets. You didn’t know if it was Leon or not so you kept your guard up.

“(Y/N), I found some supplies that could help-”, he cut himself after he noticed you’d been crying, “hey are you ok?”, he asked you

“Oh yeah I’m uhh fine, I was just thinking about things”, you said looking down sadly

“Was it about Maria?”, he looked at you still with immense guilt.

“Oh no it was about what happened on the day...the day raccoon city became this hellhole”

“Oh”, he said sadly, “well I found you some herbs”, he smiled at you. He then walked towards you and bent down on his knee and gently grabbed your foot.

“This may hurt a little bit because i’m probably going to have to touch the bruise, he said nervously, “if it hurts to much just tell me”

“It can’t hurt as bad as it already”, you said smiling at him, “besides I’m a pretty tough cookie”

Leon nodded and grabbed out some bandages before grabbing the herbs and grinding them up and placing them on some of the bandages. You quickly realized what Leon was doing.

“You're making it into a poultice aren’t you?”

“Huh?” He looked up at you confused, “yeah I learned it in first aid training at the academy”

“Oh um my mom.. before she met my dad used to be a nurse, after my parents got married they moved away into the country where they took up that lifestyle”, you said reminiscing about your parents, “they were to far away from any hospital so my mom just helped my dad with farm life, she did know some herbal remedies though”

“So I take it you're not from this neck of the woods huh?”he said, starting to wrap the bandages around your ankle.

“Nope I grew up in a county not really that far from here, I just moved here about 2 months ago before all this happened, I had recently gotten hired as a phone operator”

“A phone operator?”, Leon looked at you as if he were about to laugh

“Oh haha it’s not like I wanted the job, I wanted to be a nurse kinda like my mom, help people or something like that, I guess”

“I guess I can relate, I joined the force to protect and serve, I guess that might never happen”

“Hey, if we ever get out of here i’m sure you can work for another department”, you said smiling at him, “besides I think you're a pretty good co-”, You didn't finish your sentence because of the stinging sensation and pressure on your ankle causing you to grimace making your head reel back while you shut your eyes.

“Sorry”, Leon flinched by your reaction

“It's fine”, you gritted through your teeth, “itll feel better when you're finished”, you said, staring at him urging him to continue wrapping up your ankle. He continued to grimace and your leg strained trying to not kick Leon in the face. Your fingers dug into your legs and teeth still gritting.

“That should be good”, he said making sure you were ok

“Great”, you huffed out still recovering from the the strange burning sensation you had just felt, “I don't think it was supposed to hurt like that”

“Well did add some first aid spray to it”, Leon said rubbing his neck embarrassed, “are you ok?”

“Yeah I should be fine now, thanks”, you said getting up expecting your ankle to hurt way more than it actually did, “Huh that did work, thank you Mr Kennedy”, you smiled at him teasing him

“Well all in a day's work I guess”, He said laughing, he quickly looked back to the statue in the middle of the station. “Guess it's back to work”.

“Hmmm,”, you looked at him confused at what he meant.

“Oh umm before you got here, I was looking for these medallions for that statue over there”, he said point at it, “there’s apparently a secret way out if we find all three, I’ve found two we just need one more”

“I can help”, you said walking towards the statue, “it might be easier if there’s two of us”

“I don’t know, your ankle still is Hurt, I don’t wanna push you past your limits”

“Well I’m bored as hell and want something to do”, you pouted at him, “please let me help”

He hesitated for a moment before looking back at you, “fine you can come along but if I see you grimace even for a second I’m being you back, got it?”

“Yes sir”, you replied smiling at him, as you two prepared to go find the last medallion.

Leon handed you the shotgun again and scolded you not to waste too much ammo. The moonlight only added to the eerie atmosphere of the station. The sound of thunder caused you to jump and fall into Leon.

“Sorry”, you yelp out, “just got spooked by the thunder”, you said laughing embarrassed. Leon just rolled his eyes. You two continued exploring, searching for the last medallion. Leon stopped causing you to run into him.

“Leon what-”, he then shushed you, putting a finger to your lips. Everything was still for a moment until you heard a groan. Leon pulled out his gun and quickly fired. The zombie went down. Your face dropped as it reminded you of Maria but quickly snapped out of your thoughts and kept going. You were walking down a long hallway when you suddenly heard a helicopter crash.

“What the hell was that?”, you asked sheepishly towards Leon.

“I don’t know, wait here”, Leon went to check and quickly signaled you that it was safe. You walked over and saw the helicopter. You noticed the few sparks flying from it. You then noticed a pilot slumped over, your face grimaced due to his demise. You two were then startled by a woman's scream.

“Leon!”, Leon looked over towards a door that led outside, and quickly opened it, “Claire!, hold on I’ll be right there”

He quickly ran outside while you still stood in the hallway very confused and dumbfounded. you to go outside to find Leon talking to a woman.

“Claire, it’s so nice to see you”

“How’re you doing?, that helicopter just came out of nowhere”, you slowly walked down to see them and warn Leon as you saw the helicopter light on fire.

“Yeah i’m in one piece”

“i’m guessing you don't have a key in one of those fancy pockets?”, you interrupted their conversation by pretending to clear your throat, tapping your foot anxiously.

“Oh umm hi”, you said to the woman awkwardly with an even more awkward wave.

“So this uh (Y/N )'', Leon said to her, “I kind of saved her'', he said rubbing his neck embarrassed.

“I’m Claire, Claire Redfield”, she said to you with a smile

“(Y/N) (L/N), nice to meet you”, your conversation with her was interrupted by Leon.

“So how are you doing?”

“Oh you know just surviving”, Claire said leaning on the fence

“That's good”, Leon chuckled out,there was something about Claire that made Leon act a little differently, “any luck with your brother?”

“No not yet”, she said looking down at the ground

“Claire don’t lose hope..i’m sure we’ll find him”, as he said that the helicopter exploded causing you to tense up.

“Dammit. You know what that means”, he said towards Claire

“Yeah.. Dinner. Time.”, Claire said looking behind her noticing a zombie getting up.

“Claire, I think you should go”, Leon said to her as you just stood there feeling very out of place.

“Don’t worry about me Leon, take care of yourself”, soon zombies were swarming the gates by Claire.

“You need to go, now!”Claire began to walk away and quickly turned around back towards you and Leon.

“Hey...Lets get through this”, She said to Leon then turned her eyes towards you, “All of us”, she then walked away from the gate and soon disappeared leaving just you and Leon.

“So uhh who was that, well I guess I should say how do you know her”, you asked him

“I’ll tell you later we should go”, he said leaving the gate and going back into the station, “come on” he said motioning you to come back inside.

You didn't know what it was the way he spoke to Claire but it made you feel something, you couldn’t describe it but the way he said those words made it feel like he cared about her, he hoped he felt the same way about you.

“(Y/N)!”, he shouted out you getting your attention, quickly tearing you away from your thoughts and quickly running back the stairs, he looked down at your ankle, “hey be easy its not fully healed yet”

“Yeah, yeah I know”, you said rolling your eyes heading back inside, “so where's that madallion you were talking about?”

“Well we still have to find it”,he said turning towards you, “it should be around here somewhere, we’ll just have to look for it”, he sighed out.

You two continued walking around the station looking for the medallion, Leon did explain a few things to you when he knew the area wasn't zombie infested. Most of the time it wasnt. Apparently he met Claire when he was heading to Raccoon City and needed to fuel up his car. After seeing a sheriff get killed he fought his way out as he described it and then met Claire. They drove into town together before getting seperated. That was the abridged version he gave you. You finally got to a room that had the medallion but it took you two a while to figure out a way to get out. Leon told you to stay back a few paces. Before throwing a grenade allowing you to finally get it. While you didn't mind the station you knew you couldn't stay here for long so a tiny part of you was excited.

“We just gotta put all three in the statue then we are out of here”, Leon said excitedly, “We just gotta figure out how we're going to get Marvin out of here”, your blood went cold when he said that. Leon said he was attacked by someone he considered a friend that had turned. Maybe Leon was a little too hopeful about this, you knew deep inside Marvin wasn't going to make it.

“Leon, h-”,you tried speaking words but you couldn't, your heart wouldn't let you tell Leon the truth.

“Huh”, he looked back at you confused. Your heart was pumping hard and fast, you hoped he didn't hear you now what, what could you possibly say now.

“I’m just excited to finally get out of here”, you said to him with a shaky smile on your face. He could tell you were hiding something.

“Is something on your mind?”, he turned around and fully looked into your (E/C) eyes, his pretty blue eyes staring into your soul. Your heartbeat once again quickend causing you to sweat nervously. You never were a good liar. You thought of something that had been bugging you for a while.

“It's just my parents”, you said looking down at the ground, “I hope they're safe, and know I'm safe”, you put your hand over your heart and smiled softly thinking about them.

“Have you been able to contact them at all?”, he asked you sadly, you could tell Leon cared about your well being which made you happy.

“No and i’m kind of glad I haven't”, you said looking up at him, “knowing them they would drive all the way down here to find me and the last thing I want is for them to get stuck in this mess”

“I’m sure they're fine, I knew nothing that had happened in this city til I got here”, his words made you feel a little better about everything, “let's go see how Marvin is doing”, he said smiling at you. Something about that smile made you feel safe.

You went back to the reception area and headed towards the statue. You noticed Marvin laying there looking very lifeless.

Please not yet

Leon placed the medallions into the statue and watched as it turned into a staircase, you were mesmerized by it. You looked over to Leon who looked very excited as he pushed the door open, he quickly turned back to Marvin. Your face dropped slightly.

“Lutennent Branagh! Marvin!”, he said walking towards him, Marvin still wasn’t moving

Leon please don’t

You reached for the shotgun Leon gave you , not pulling out but to be able to grab it if necessary.

“It’s time to go”, Leon was closer to him now he reached for him, “Hey Marvin”

Marvin immediately jumped up and growled causing you to flinch, Leon seemed unfazed. Marvin hasn't turned..yet. You put your back towards your side, no longer reaching for the shotgun. It hurt knowing he wasn’t going to make it. Marvin breathed heavily for a few moments.

“We need to get you to a hospital right now ,both you and (Y/N)”, Marvin looked up and saw your eyes realizing you knew what he was going to say, you simply nodded at him

“No..no..I”, he stopped for a second, “Save yourselves”, he said standing up. Leon still tried to get Marvin to come with him.

“Come on, I’ve got you-” he cut off by Marvin

“GO!”, he yelled at Leon, you just stood there staring at the two of them.

“Look we can still make it out of here, if you give me-”, Leon was cut off and taken by surprise as Marvin pulled out his gun.

“It’s too late”, Marvin said with a sadness in his voice . You placed a hand on Leons shoulder causing him to jump as you startled him a little

“Leon we have to go”, you told him, looking him in the eyes, you pointed towards the secret exit, “come on”, he looked back towards Marvin.

“I tried Leon..but I couldn't stop it”, His voice was shaking slightly, “We can’t let this thing spread, it's on you now, both of you”, he said looking back at you, your eyes became wet as your vision blurred slightly from the tears forming in your eyes. You probably would have sobbed but you had been through enough that it didn’t faze you. You were used to death and getting left behind, you were numb to it now.

“Listen to (Y/N), and just go!”, Leon finally gave in.

“I understand”, he said defeatedly, he stood for a moment before heading towards the statue. Marvin removed his bloody hand from his wound.

“I’m sorry”, you whispered to him, “I wish I could of helped you”

He looked up at you and gave a sad smile, “just promise me you’ll look out for each other”

“We will, I promise”, you smiled at him one last time before joining Leon by the statue. The statue closed back up and you saw Leon Look back towards Marvin before the statue completely shut. You just stared forward.

“I won’t let you down, Marvin”, Leon said to himself before continuing down the stairs.

“I guess we have a lot in common now”, you tried to joke but you could definitely tell Leon wasn’t up for your sense of humor right now. So you sulked down awkwardly realizing how much it hurt Leon to leave Marvin behind. It’s a tough lesson that always came back to haunt you, Not everyone can be saved.

#leon kennedy x reader #resident evil

[angelic-writer]

Red Mansion Drabble - Sinking in the Red

We could all hear our shoes against the nicely maintained pavement as we walked down the garden path, passing by multiple flowers and plants. For a supposedly abandoned mansion, the place was really clean. You would expect wilted plants when you go into an abandoned garden, but this one... It was brimming with life. It would’ve been welcoming in a normal setting and indeed, it would have been if the sky wasn’t tinted blood red.

Chris hadn’t said a word to me since we found the key. He had his hands in his pockets and he had a serious look on his face, his lips pursed together and his eyes narrowed, focusing on what’s in front of him. I knew that look anywhere. It’s uncommon for him to take things seriously, but when he does... It’s quite refreshing.

We eventually reached an outdoor swimming pool. The sky’s reflection in the water was eerie, creating an entrance to some sort of mirror dimension. Well, another one, considering where we are.

“Hey, Trilbs?” Chris suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“...I’m getting a sort of weird vibe from this place. Stay close to me, alright? Our salt is pretty limited. And don’t let go of your cross, okay? You don’t know what might happen.”

I just nodded and followed along. I felt foolish for following him around like a puppy, but we all knew what happened when we were left alone. I shivered, thinking about him laying on the floor of the living room, his shoulder bleeding profusely.

My mind went back to me desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood, keeping him awake... Thank god he’s still here with me.

“Hey, Trilbs. You okay?”

“Oh! Yeah, I’m okay.” Dammit, he must’ve saw the look on my face.

“You sure? If you’re thinking about what happened earlier, well... It’s okay. I’m alright now. It’s a good thing you came there when you did, otherwise I would’ve...”

I kept my mouth shut, clutching my bloody sleeve. I just can’t act normal around him, can I?

“Don’t worry. If anything tries to jump me again, I’ll give you a call...” That smirk. That goddamn smirk of his. “And then, you can come to my rescue.”

My cheeks instantly reddened. There was something about him that just made me turn red like that. Sure, I’ve had past lovers before, but he was still able to make me embarrassed. Him making small talk like this... It just made me more motivated to get out of this hellish place with him.

“Alright. Just... Be careful.”

“Okay. You want to come with?”

I looked around. I didn’t know what it was, but something seemed off. “Hmm... There’s something strange about this pool. You go check out that shed over there and I’ll look around this area.”

“Huh?” Chris was shocked. “But we all know what will happen when we’re alone. At least have your gun ready or- Let me stay with you.”

“Chris, I’ll be fine. It’s you that I should be worried about.”

His smirk grew wider. “Heh, I think you should be the one to give me a call.”

“Quinn, I can handle things myself! I’m not some damsel in distress!”

“Okay, how about this? If anything tries to sneak up on you, yell for me and I’ll go and kick their arse!”

I felt my chest swell. Chris had always been protective like this. During missions, he would always stick by me, but he knows that I’m capable. Still doesn’t stop him from accompanying me, though.

I sighed. “Alright. Meet me back here when you find something, okay?”

“Okay. Love ya.” He gave me a playful peck on the cheek before he went to the small pool shed.

“Love you too.” I whispered back, my lips curling into a small smile. Well, let’s see what this pool has to offer.

I began to walk around, examining it to see if there was anything off. There was a sign hanging on the fence that said “No running by the pool.” Standard pool rules. I clutched my cross just in case I needed protection from... the people in the house. Looking into the water to see if there was a bottom, my mind went back to my days in Defoe Manor where I found...

I shook my head. No. I must not think about that. Luckily, I didn’t see any shadows. In fact, this pool seemed to be bottomless. If I fell in there, there is a chance that I would not have anything to give me a boost. Luckily, I’m a pretty good swimmer so it shouldn’t be a problem.

After walking around for a while, I spotted something on the ground. I crouched down to get a better look. It was a sapphire necklace, but due to the red sky, it was almost blackened. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I need to show this to Chris when he gets back.

“     H     E     L     P         M     E     .     .     .     “

Huh? What was that?

I looked up to see the silhouette of a woman for only a second before she disappeared. I blinked. Was... what I saw real? Well, given my past experiences with ghosts, I shouldn’t have reason to doubt myself.

I looked up at the sky. To the clouds twisting into some dreadful mess of unknown proportions. I don’t know how long we had been there for, but I’m hoping not too long. I wonder what the Ministry is going to think about this. Would they classify me and Chris as missing or worse... think us dead?

I thought about Claire and how she was reacting to all of this. She must be really worried...

“Y o u...”

My eyes widened. That voice...

“Y o u  w i l l  p a y  f o r  w h a t  y o u ‘ v e  d o n e . . .”

Before I could even open my mouth to call out to Chris, I felt something push me. Before I knew it...

The water enveloped me with a sense of sharp coldness that made me freeze and nearly let out all the air in my lungs. It felt like being plunged into a frozen lake, only I couldn’t feel any ice when I fell in. I quickly checked my surroundings. The surface was still near me. I can still make it.

I started to swim back up, but... I wasn’t going towards it. In fact, it looked like I wasn’t moving anywhere. Despite me moving my arms and legs, I couldn’t swim up to the surface. Is this some hallucination? What’s happening?!

I then realized something horrible... It wasn’t like I was frozen in place. Something was pulling me down.

I looked down and noticed shadowy hands gripping my legs. Panic overcoming me, I began to shake them, trying to get them to let go, but they only tightened their grip on me. Their long, sharp nails dug into the fabric of my pants and into my skin. I tried to get them off, but they had an iron grip on me.

My lungs were burning. My chest was aching. My head was pounding. I need... I need to get out of here. I need to get air.

That’s when I remembered the cross that I had in my hand. I was still holding it when I fell in the water. Immediately, I held it out. The shadowy figure flinched and loosened its grip on me. I kicked it off and began to swim back up. This time, I was making significant progress. Finally!

As I was doing so, I saw Chris above the water. He saw me, his eyes widening with terror, and he immediately reached his hand out to grab me. I did the same. I was about to touch his hand when I felt all four of my limbs being grabbed and forcefully pulled me down, away from Chris. NO!! What now?!

I glanced over and saw the long-haired figure from before. His glowing, red eyes, his sharp, white teeth... curled into a vicious smile.

“Y o u  w i l l  n o t  e s c a p e  m e . . .”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. My lungs have reached their breaking point. At this point, I couldn’t escape my inevitable fate. I let all the air out, watching the bubbles float to the surface and allowing the water to flow into my mouth and into my throat. I coughed and gagged, trying to expel it, but that only let in more water as it reached my windpipe. My chest spasmed as I flailed my body around like a drowning prisoner. Well, I am a drowning prisoner.

He continued to pull me down the bottomless pool as I struggled against him. My vision began to fill with spots as my lungs continued to fill up with water. The pain was so unbearable. I stared helplessly at the surface that was now growing out of my reach. I was so close... I was so close to freedom only for it to be taken away from me. And now... I’m going to die.

A hand softly stroked my face as the figure whispered to me.

“D o n ‘ t  w o r r y.  I t ‘ l l  a l l  b e  o v e r  s o o n . . .”

At that point, I stopped fighting. What’s the point? I’m going to die, anyway. The pain slowly started to fade as my world went dark. My body was getting numb. I felt myself slowly starting to sink. Is this the fate I imagined myself in? I don’t know. At least, I finally found peace.

I thought about Chris and our promise. The promise to get out together. The last thing I felt before slipping away was guilt.

I’m sorry, Chris. I couldn’t keep our promise...

-----

I explored the small shed, trying to look for any clues. I checked the lockers. All either empty or locked. I tried the showers to see if they worked. Nothing. I tried the door that read “Pump Room”. Locked. Welp. Looks like I’m gonna have to get Trilby to pick these locks. For normal people, they would have given up by this point. But, Trilbs and I aren’t normal people. I mean, we work at a supernatural government agency for god’s sake.

I took my cross out and held it out to see if there was any reaction. There were none at first, but when I walked over to the third line of lockers, one of them started to shake. Then, the one at the far end burst open and a couple of items fell out. I chuckled. Guess I must’ve exorcised some sort of demon. I was never a religious person, but if using these crosses are what we have to do to get out of this strange mansion, then I guess I’ll go along with it.

I checked the contents on the floor. There was an empty box of cigarettes and a small lighter. It had a dragon carved into the metal with fire shooting out of its mouth. Huh. So, one of the people who used to live in the mansion was a smoker. I mean, I’m not gonna judge them. Trilbs and I both smoked at some point in our lives.

I pocketed them in case I needed to show him the evidence. I was about to walk out when...

“You really shouldn’t be smoking in here!” I heard a young woman say. I looked around to see who was talking, but nothing.

“Pfft! Where am I supposed to smoke at? Mr. Fancy Pants’ room?” An older, more gruffer voice replied.

“Well, I’m sure Eric will not appreciate you smoking in the pool shed. You know, the place where people change into their swimsuits! You should really consider the people around you, especially your family. Besides, smoking kills.”

The older voice chuckled and I heard a clicking sound. “Alright, princess. Don’t need to tell me twice.”

“Allan! I told you not to call me that!” The female voice retorted.

“What? It’s fun. You should really open up more.”

“Yeah, I guess...”

Huh. So, the male voice is Allan. Who was the woman that was talking to him, then...? As I thought about it, I suddenly got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Like something... was gonna go wrong.

“Y o u . . .  Y o u  l i e d  t o  m e . . .”

Oh god... That voice. I knew it! It was-

I suddenly felt a vibration like a loudspeaker being turned up to maximum volume.

“Y O U  W I L L  P A Y  F O R  W H A T  Y O U  D I D  T O  M E,  Y O U 

W H O R E!!!”

And then...

I heard a splash. Did... Did something fall in the pool...?

My eyes widened. Trilby!

I rushed out of the building to the pool where Trilby was nowhere to be seen.

“Trilby!!” I shouted. Nothing. I kept calling out to him while I frantically searched for him. All the while, I was thinking ‘What is wrong with me? What am I doing? I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off of him!’ I gripped my hair. ‘This is all my fault! Goddammit!!’ I suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the water. Trilby hat, black, fingerless gloves, a hand reaching out to the surface, desperate blue eyes... Trilby!

I immediately reached my hand into the water to grab him, the coldness shocking me, but I didn’t care. He did the same, extending his hand towards me. He was so close. Just as he was about to grab my hand, I saw a figure grab his arms and legs and pull him back with an inhuman force. I practically screamed. I know, horror movie cliche, but the sound just came out of my mouth.

It was when I saw the bubbles come up that I decided, ‘No. I’m not gonna let it end like this!’ Taking a deep breath, I dove in.

The freezing temperature of the water enveloping my whole body caught me off guard, but that’s not gonna stop me. I swam down, and down, and down... Jesus, how deep is this thing?!

I continued down this abyss until finally... I saw a figure slowly sinking. I knew who that is. I swam down to Trilby and wrapped my arms around him. His eyes were closed, he wasn’t responding when I shook him... Dammit, he’s been under for too long! I gotta get him to the surface!

I started to swim back up when I felt something pull on my trench coat. I looked down and saw a young boy with short, blonde hair gripping onto the ends of my coat. He was giving me puppy eyes and saying, “D o n ‘ t  l e a v e  u s . . .”

I kicked him off and continued to swim back up. As I did so, multiple hands were coming up to try and grab me. Luckily, I was prepared. While I held Trilby in one arm, I held out my cross in the other. That seemed to do the trick. The hands retracted into the dark and I continued to swim upwards, hoping that Trilby can still be saved.

Just as I was getting near the surface, something pulled me down, causing me to whirl my head around to see what did it. It was the figure. Long hair, red eyes, sharp teeth curled into an evil smile... It was clear that he wasn’t gonna let us go. I felt something in me snap. I promised Trilby we would get out. That we would get back to our own world. Nothing... Nothing is going to stop me from protecting him!

I pulled out my handgun and shot the figure in the chest. He recoiled and put his hand on the wound, the blood spreading in the water. He gave me one last glare before he sank into the red. My blood lust satisfied, I finally broke the surface and laid Trilby down on the ground.

“Trilby? Hey, Trilby!” I called out to him as I tapped his face, hoping to get a response. Nothing. I put my ear to his mouth to see if he was breathing as well as put my fingers on his neck. I couldn’t hear and feel anything. Oh shit!

Okay, Chris. Deep breaths. Remember what the Ministry taught you. You can do this. Loosen the tie around his neck, unbutton his waistcoat and his shirt (That makes it easier for me to get to his chest), tilt his head back, pinch his nose shut and breathe into him. He had drowned, so I gave him initial mouth to mouth resuscitation. Then chest compressions with two breaths.

I must’ve did CPR on him for 30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity to me. After those agonizing seconds, Trilby started coughing and gasping. I turned him on his side and rubbed his back as he coughed the water out.

“Shh... Hey, you’re okay. It’s okay, just take deep breaths...”

Soon, he was breathing heavily. He slowly opened his eyes as he groaned. “C... Chris...?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay? Can you breathe okay?”

He only nodded in reply. I breathed a sigh of relief and picked him up bridal style. He was shivering in my arms. I need to warm him up.

-----

Nothing.

That was what I felt when I lost consciousness. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t do anything. I thought, that’s it. I’m dead. Despite my second chance at life, I still died. What was the point of giving me another chance if I was gonna die anyway? That was what I thought at the time.

I then started to have feeling in my body. I felt myself being pulled up. I felt the cool air in contrast to the water. I was being laid down on the ground. Someone was tapping my face. I heard Chris’ voice.

I wanted to say something back, to tell him to not bother, but I couldn’t. I felt his fingers on my neck. He’s checking my pulse. What’s the point? I’m already dead. I felt my tie become undone and my waistcoat and shirt being unbuttoned. What are you doing...? It’s too late for me, Chris.

My head was being tilted back, my nose was being pinched shut and... I felt his lips on mine. I felt a surge of hot air go into my lungs. Mouth to mouth... Heh, who would’ve thought that those classes the Ministry taught us would come in handy. But he should know that there is no hope for me.

After a few moments of him breathing into me, I felt him put his hands on my chest and started pushing, rather forcefully. I wanted to get up and slap him in the face because OW! That really hurts! But, I really couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even force my body to move. I decided to stop trying. I might as well wait to see if Chris could actually save me. He’s just stubborn that way.

For half a minute, I endured Chris pushing on my chest brutally (Curse his demon hunter strength.), though I felt something coming up my throat. After a couple of, admittedly, good pushes, I felt water come out of my mouth. I started coughing and gasping. Chris turned me over on my side and rubbed my back as I retched out the water.

Soon, I was able to catch my breath as I regained consciousness. “C... Chris...?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay? Can you breathe okay?”

I was heaving, but I nodded. Chris sighed in relief and picked me up in his arms. I shivered violently and rested my head on his chest as he carried me back to the house.

I do not know what happened after that. I might’ve lost consciousness again, but I slowly came to in front of the fireplace. I noticed that I was laying on the couch and I had a blanket wrapped around me. Chris was sitting by me, nervously looking down at the floor and tapping his foot, though his eyes lit up when he saw me waking up.

“Hey, Trilbs. Are you okay? How are you feeling?” He said softly, giving me a comforting smile.

“Mmm... ‘m a lil’ tired...” I mumbled.

“Hey, it’s alright. You just get some rest. I’m not going anywhere.” Chris said.

There were a few minutes of silence between us. I looked around at my surroundings. There was my hat hanging on a coat rack along with some of my other clothes. There was my waistcoat, my tie, my... shirt and my pants?

I realized what just happened and my cheeks went red. Oh god... I’m practically naked under there! Goddammit, Quinn...

“Trilby... You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but... What the hell happened out there? I heard a splash and I went outside, but you weren’t there. Then, I saw you in the water... I-I thought you were gonna...”

He had a frightened look on his face and he was shaking. I couldn’t keep this to myself... If we’re gonna get out of here, I have to tell him.

“I... I heard someone behind me. They said that I would pay for what I’ve done. But before I tried to call out to you, they pushed me and...” I shivered and gripped my arms tightly. “No matter how hard I tried to swim up, the figure and... some creature kept me under until I...” I felt my throat close up as hot tears started to form in my eyes. “I-I thought I was... gonna die...”

Chris pulled me close and rubbed my back as I tightly hugged him. “Shh... It’s okay. You’re alive. It’s okay...”

“I-Is it because I...?” I began to say, but Chris shushed me.

“If you’re telling me what I think you’re saying, then no. It’s not that.”

“But... I deserve it, right? I killed someone.”

“While being possessed. You didn’t do this of your own volition. Something used your body to kill a person. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Still! I did it anyway and now I’ll have to live with it for the rest of my life! I thought I finally found peace when I thought I died. I thought I could finally rest.” I gripped the back of his trench coat. “Why... Why did you bring me back? Why didn’t you just leave me to die?!”

“Hey, hey, Trilbs... Shh, calm down. We made a promise, right? We promised each other that we would get out together. I take that promise very seriously. I’ll always do everything I can to make sure you’re alive and safe.”

We kept still in our embrace, me crying my eyes out as Chris comforted me. I don’t know what prompted me to do it, but I found myself kissing Chris. I guess I must’ve been so scared of death that I just wanted some form of comfort... even if it’s for a little bit.

Luckily, Chris returned the gesture. After a few minutes of bliss, we pulled back. We have more important things to worry about. We can finish this when we get home.

“Trilbs, I found something while I was looking in the shed. Here.” He pulled out what looked to be a soaked, empty box of cigarettes and a lighter. “Sorry that they were soaked. I forgot that they were in my pocket when I jumped in.”

A soft chuckle escaped my lips.

“Also, I found this in your pocket.” He also showed me the sapphire necklace I found earlier. “Do you know what these could mean?”

“Hm... I have no idea, but my theory is the necklace must’ve belonged to one of the people that used to live in the manor.”

“I’m in the same boat as you. Actually, I heard some people talking while I was in the shed. It was a man and a woman and I heard her call him Allan.”

“Allan...” I saw that name before. It was on a family portrait in the foyer. “So, could this mean...?”

“Yeah. I think I know how to appease them.”

“Tell me.”

#chzo mythos #chris and trilby #quinnby #red mansion #chris quinn #trilby

[sorceress-coffee]

Trollhunters Episode 5

Changelings! Thank you for reading!

Episode 1 

Episode 4.2 

Episode 6 

I was excited for our trip to the museum today, Mr. Strickler’s class had been invited to the new exhibits that opened today. We were all standing in a group on the steps of the museum, while Ms. Nomura, the museum curator, was telling us about the exhibit.

“I know contemporary media might lead you to believe European history is full of swords, sorcery, and scandal. I assure you the truth is far more interesting, and there’s no better place to start than Renaissance Era pottery.” She exclaimed. I could instantly tell what her favorite pieces of the museum were. Eli and I were the only students that were excited to hear what Ms. Nomura had to say.

Mr. Strickler interrupted her at the groans of his students, “Since we have limited time, Ms. Nomura, perhaps it’s best if they explore the museum on their own. Don’t you think?”

I was pulled in by a sudden rush of students, past Mr. Strickler and Ms. Nomura. I sighed following Jim and Toby around for a while before stopping at the Renaissance Era pottery exhibit that Ms. Nomura had mentioned. Walking in I found Ms. Nomura rearranging one of the exhibits. “You were right, this is an incredible place to start,” I comment, smiling, looking over the artwork etched into the pottery.

Ms. Nomura smiled and walked over to the piece I was admiring. “That is a midnight vase, depicting monsters that were rumored to awaken at midnight and hunt humans.” She explained, pointing to the different markings that look like paintings of trolls. She stepped closer to me and stiffened, eyes wide, staring at me.

I look up, seeing her expression, I frowned concerned, “Ms. Nomura? Are you alright?”

She coughed stepping back, rubbing her nose slightly, “Sorry, I seem to be sensitive to you perfume,’ she explained, sneezing into her arm. “If you’ll excuse me.” She turned, heading over to Mr. Strickler to talk to him.

I was left very confused; I wasn’t wearing perfume. The only thing different from my normal body wash was Draal scenting me last night. I wondered if humans could smell it too. I walked off to find Jim and Toby upstairs. I ran in Toby first, “Hey Tobes, do I smell funny or something?” I asked.

Toby gave me an odd look before sniffing near me. “No, what did you forget to shower or something?” He joked, walking around the museum with me.

“No,” I side ruffling his hair, “I think the curator might be allergic to me, she said she was sensitive to my perfume but I’m not wearing any.” I explained as we passed Eli trying to talk a group of students into believing monsters exist.

“That’s weird,” Toby began, cutting off when Eli mentioned having photographic evidence. “Hey Eli, can we see?” Toby asked, taking his phone before Eli answered.

We looked at the photo and saw a flattened, definitely troll related monster in a selfie with Eli. “Oops!” Toby said, deleting the picture before handing it back to Eli. “Darn these stubby little fingers, gotta go!” He yelled, dragging me along to find Jim.

We found Jim flirting with Claire over by a case holding a gown. “We have a problem,” Toby told Jim quickly.

Jim glanced between us and Claire. “What kind of problem?” he asked.

I was busy distracting Claire, asking her about the play and how rehearsal was going.

Toby gave Jim a quick rundown and we left him to flirt with Claire the rest of the afternoon.

Once out of school, we left for Trollmarket to let Blinky and Aaarrrgghh know what we found. As we entered, Draal was at the steps waiting for me.

Jim jumped back, not expecting to see Draal, “D-Draal! The um… Sun is out, so… yeah,” he said quickly.

I rolled my eyes, having enough of skirting around Draal and Jim, especially since Draal was now courting me. “Relax Jim, Draal’s meeting with me. We’re training.” Draal looked at me surprised; having known I was nervous about letting Jim know.

“You’re training with him?” Toby asked, stunned. “But he hates Jim!”

Jim looked between us, obviously still on edge with Draal around. “Toby, it’s fine.”

“How can you be fine with this? You’re fighting him in two days!” Toby remarked.

“I trust River, that’s why. If she trusts Draal, that’s good enough for me.” He smiled, clasping my shoulder before looking to Draal. “Can you hold off on training? We need to talk to Blinky, there’s a troll related problem on the surface.” Jim asked, trying to be civil.

Draal eyed him for a moment before nodding, “Very well. I will accompany you.”

Toby glared at him; arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, I trust River, but I trust Draal about as far as she can throw him.” He remarked, clueless.

“Then you must have a great deal of trust in me fleshbag.” Draal smirked heading down the gem steps to Trollmarket.

“Wait, what?” Jim asked, looking to me.

I shrugged, “I’m not exactly human, remember? My skill set is very different.” I said, following after Draal.

Toby and Jim followed behind us, into Trollmarket. I looked around and realized the trolls were staring at me in a similar fashion that they had when the saw us for the first time in Trollmarket, complete disbelief. My face heated slightly, realizing this was their reaction to Draal scenting me.

Jim and Toby were looking at the Trolls confused, “What’s going on? Everyone’s acting strange?” Jim asked.

Draal took notice, growling as slamming his fist against the ground, causing the trolls to look away quickly and resume their activities. “It’s not your concern, fleshbag.” He led us into Blinky’s library.

Aaarrrgghh looked up confused seeing Draal enter with us. Sniffing the air, he shook his head with a small smile. Well, that’s one less troll I had to deal with giving me strange looks.

Blinky turned, sniffing the air, jaw-dropping as he looked to all four of us, “You can’t be serious!”

I winced, stepping closer to Draal who gave a low growl. Blinky waved him off, huffing as he handed Aaarrrgghh a smelly bag, most likely filled with socks. I tilt my head in confusion at the exchange.

Aaarrrgghh just grins and says “Bet,” not needing to explain further.

Draal huffed, leaning over me slightly. Irritated realizing that Aaarrrgghh and Blinky as made a bet concerning us and courting.

“Okay, what is going on?” Jim asked, looking between the four of us.

“Don’t you have something to discuss with Blinkous? Or did you stall our training to waste time?” Draal growled out.

I walked to Blinky, explaining the photo Eli took. “It was small, green, and slimy, and it definitely wasn’t a dead cat.”

Blinky frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. “I may know the creature that met its untimely demise in front of your friend’s home. The sun is setting soon, we should go check, just to make sure.” He stated.

“How bad is it Blinky?” I didn’t like his expression; Eli was a friend and I had a sense he was in danger.

Draal nudged my arm, “Why don’t you go with them? You’re worried about the fleshbag, we can afford to take a break from training tonight.”

I smiled and nodded quickly. “Thank you Draal.”

“Let’s hurry, we don’t have time to waste,” Blinky said, rushing Jim and Toby out of the library, Aaarrrgghh right behind them.

“I’m right behind!” I called, hugging Draal tight when they were all out, “Thank you Draal, Eli’s a friend. Stupidly oblivious to danger too.”

He snorts, nuzzling my cheek, “Sounds like you. Hurry, if this is what I think it is, his life could be at risk.” Draal nudges me to the door. “Keep your guard up.”

I nod and quickly take off, catching up to the others quickly as we head out of Trollmarket and into the suburbs of Arcadia Oaks.

Toby led us to Eli’s house, pausing as we near the green smear in the road. “Voila!” He said as Jim grabbed a stick and began poking it.

“Not voila. Goblin.” Aaarrrgghh stated.

“Goblin?” Jim asked pulling back.

“Ruthless tricksters,” Blinky began to explain. “Petty street vandals who leave a wake of destruction. This is not good.” He stood up, hand on his hips.

“Well, justice was served. We should get and train for Draal.” Jim said, tossing the stick.

“Oh, no, Master Jim. Where there is one, there are many. And, as for the unfortunate soul who ran over this small fellow, may Skaargen’s swift blade have mercy!” Blink spat in two of his hands, rubbed them together and hit one over his chest.

“And why is that?” I asked, worried for Eli.

“Naturally, goblin payback is ten-fold,” Blinky stated.

“There’s a delivery note on the door! What if, the goblin got ran over by the delivery truck?” Toby asked, thrusting the not out to us.

Jim took the note reading it over. “If the delivery driver is coming back at eight, we will be here. I’m not gonna let some poor guy become goblin chow on my watch.” Jim stated, determined.

“Master Jim, answering the call!” Blinky threw his hands up, grinning.

“So cool. Stakeout!” Toby was bouncing with excitement, “Past my curfew!” he yelled, throwing his hands up.

Blinky and Jim were hiding behind a bush, watching the front of the house, Aaarrrgghh and Toby were staking out to the left, behind a fence, and I was on the right, sitting up in a tree for a better view, keeping my guard up as Draal had instructed. It was well past time for the delivery driver to show.

“Hey, Tobes, all clear. How’s it going over there?” Jim’s voice called through the walkie talkie hooked to my belt.

“All good in the hood, Trollhunter” came Toby’s out of breath voice, “except that I can’t stop moving. My love of stakeouts is being ruined by my overwhelming need to obtain swag. Other than that, nothing unusual.” Toby’s voice came through, Aaarrrgghh in the background calling Toby unusual. “War hammer, to Midnight, how about there? Out.”

I rolled my eyes at the walkie talkie before grabbing it, “I’m assuming you mean me,” Looking up I spot the truck coming down the street. “The truck is pulling up, out.” I looked around see movement, grabbing the binoculars I began to survey the area, we were completely surrounding. “Jim, they’re everywhere!” I called quickly, pressing further against the tree as the goblins broke the street lights.

“Stay down and don’t make a sound,” Blinky called, whispering, “in their frenzied state they’ll attack anything in their path.”

The Goblin charged, and began to attach the truck.

“Unexpected, their dispute isn’t with the driver at all, but rather the transportation that had flattened their kinsman.” Blinky called. “You must not be afraid Master Jim!”

“I thought the first rule of troll hunting was to always be afraid.” Jim stated, confused.

Aaarrrgghh voice met the fray, “Trolls, not goblins.”

“Goblins crave the pheromone of terror,” Blinky explained, “an odor you appear to be releasing quite generously.”

“They literally smell fear?” I asked.

“Oh, no, I can smell it too!” Toby rang over the walkie talkies.

“Then stop, or they will eat you!” Blinky whisper shouted, as Toby let out another scream, catching the goblins' attention. “Run!” Blinky yelled.

I jumped out of the tree quickly running after everyone, lance at the ready. Aaarrrgghh grabbed Jim and I as we ran and threw us on his back, out of the goblin’s reach.

Toby’s chubby tracker began to beep, alerting him to a free t-shirt as a goblin jumped up and grabbed him, pulling him down. “Toby!” I yelled, Jim grabbed his legs and I used the blunt end of my lance to knock the goblin off of Toby.

We ended up running for Toby’s house, jumping off of Aaarrrgghh’s back, I took a defensive stance as Toby struggled to unlock the door. As the goblins began to climb into the backyard, I bared my teeth in a snarl, ready to fight. Toby finally unlocked the door as the goblins closed in. Toby, Jim, and Blinky ran in. Aaarrrgghh grabbed me by the hood of my jacket and dragged me in before forcing himself through the doorway.

We headed upstairs and Toby sat on his bed, stress eating. I sat with him, stealing the apple on top.

“I’m sorry master Jim, but your town is infested!” Blinky exclaimed, grabbing Jim’s shoulders.

“Okay, trolls, I can deal with because, at least, trolls stay underground. But goblins? I don’t even have the bandwidth to-” Jim began before Toby interrupts him.

“Jim, we gotta get my chubby tracker back. As long as they’ve got it, they’re just gonna get stronger and faster.” He said, picking through the snacks.

Aaarrrgghh took the bowl away from Toby. “Must find den.” He explains before eating the bowl.

“Yes, and eradicate them at once before they seek their revenge.” Blink stated gravely.

“Revenge?” I asked, biting into the apple.

“On you three,” Blinky says, “and they now know where Tobias lives.”

“So, we find their den, you must have some idea,” Jim states, plopping on the bed next to me.

“Haven’t the foggiest.” Blink states before Chompsky’s chattering caught his attention, he kneels to peer inside the dollhouse. “Great Gronka Mora! What is the gnome doing in this dollhouse?!” He asks dramatically, pointing to the dollhouse as he backs away, yelling.

“You told me to take care of the gnome, so we’re taking care of it.” Jim stated.

“This is in direct violation of rule number two!” Blinky starts to lecture.

“Not really, the rule only states he has to finish the fight, how he finishes it isn’t stated, so it’s really up for interpretation.” I speak up quickly.

“And rule number one is to always be afraid, except if you’re around goblins ���cause they smell fear.” Jim stand, throwing his hands up as he begins pacing. Going off on how he doesn’t understand the rules.

Blinky sighs, “I can only advise, not make your decisions for you. You are a human; you are learning the rules in your own way.” He nods. “Aaarrrgghh and I will seek out this den, wherever it may be.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to track the chubby tracker and monitor where they’re staying the longest?” I speak up, all four boys turning to me, stunned.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Toby whacked his head.

Jim grins, “you need to come on more missions River!” he says, getting the tracking info from Toby.

“Sure, be we need to get some sleep. We have to go to class in a few hours.” I said standing. “good night guys!” I said, walking home with Jim, we crashed on the couch, deciding it would be better in case the goblins tried attacking tonight.

After school the next day we had tracked the goblins to the museum, once the sun was down, we headed over to check it out. Toby pointed to the roof, “check it out! They’re already here! Let’s go,” he said quickly, not wanting to go inside.

We were about to turn when I spotted Ms. Nomura walking into the museum. “Oh, no! It’s Ms. Nomura! She has no idea it’s infested; we have to help her.” I said quickly.

Jim nodded as Toby went on a tangent of what goblins could possibly do to her. We snuck in through an open window, staying low as we went through the museum looking for her. We ran into a couple goblins patrolling and quickly hid behind a display. Jim and I were watching the goblins as Toby began to whimper, whacking at my arm. He began to stutter, saying Ms. Nomura’s face was ugly and troll like. I rolled my eyes at him, thinking he was stressed from the goblins walking around.

Right as the goblins were leaving, Toby’s phone began to go off as the chubby tracker app alerted him to another free item.

“Turn it off!” Jim whispered yelled to Toby.

“I’m trying!” Toby yelled back, quietly.

As I looked behind the pillar to see the goblins, I felt a presence behind us.

A low chuckle sounded from behind us. “I knew I detected the stink of teenage flesh.” I whipped around to see Ms. Nomura had turned into a troll. Toby and Jim screamed, taking off running. I snarled quickly following after them into a curtained off room, lance out I took a defensive stance. “but a human Trollhunter and a witch, that I’ve never tasted.” Nomura snarled, closing in on us.

I swung my lance down, forcing her back so Jim could armor up. “Then let’s see how you like the taste of Daylight.” Jim taunted, pulling the amulet out, donning the armor quickly. He slashed daylight at her and she caught it easily, cackling at Jim’s effort. “What are you?” He asked, stunned.

“I’m what kills you!” She snarled, using the blade to slam Jim into the floor.

“Getaway from him!” I yelled, lunging at her, blade dragging on the floor before sweeping up throwing her across the room.

Jim and I switched back and forth as she charged us, easily taking us both on. She slammed me into the stone structure hidden in the room, knocking the wind out of my lungs, I groaned collapsing to the floor. She turned on Jim, stalking forward and the goblins flanked her. A tapestry had fallen on Jim during the fight. He groaned, sitting up, facing Nomura as she cackled.

“This was fun. Now, you’re history.” She sneered, blades poised to strike, kicking Daylight out of Jim’s hand. “All that fancy armor and you’re just a scared little boy.” She cackled.

Toby was helping me to my feet, I screamed as Nomura made to strike, trying to rush forward.

Jim smirked, grabbing the tapestry “Arrogance gets you killed!” He yelled, pulling the tapestry out from under Nomura’s feet, causing her to land on a goblin, killing it. The other goblins began to snarl, attacking Nomura for killing their kinsmen.

“Let’s go!” Jim yelled, helping Toby stabilize me, getting us out of the museum quickly.

Next thing I know, we’re being arrested.

#Trollhunters #trollmarket #Draal #DraalxOC #OC #original character #River Marie Lake #River Lake #JamesLakeJr #TobyDomzalski #Blinky #Blinkous #Aaarrrgghh #goblins #nomura #gnome chompsky #Fanfiction #ClaireNunez #stricklander #strickler #mr strickler