#² ． vampire． 〝 living out of a suitcase is better than dying. 〞

[petrovanity]

i’ve been thinking a lot about the concepts of “no humanity” and “no emotions” in tvd and how people who turn off their humanity are usually incredibly destructive, impulsive, and glib. they aren’t really emotionless because they have a lot of negativity and resentment. they are ambivalent to the suffering they cause but they are not ambivalent to others’ attempts to change them; they are very protective of their new state even if it is not something they chose for themselves (like elena).

it got me thinking – what if that’s what “true vampirism” is? like shutting off your humanity is literally shutting off the “human” parts of you that make you thrive as a part of a social species (like craving connection, acts of service, etc), the parts of you that you carried over after death. when you shut off your “humanity,” all that’s left is your “vampirism.”

and by comparison, vampires are a solitary species. they live alone and feed alone. they’re powerful enough that they don’t need each other to survive. their nature is to be individualistic and to take what they want when they want it. anyone who gets in their way is a threat that needs to be scared off (much like an animal scaring a competitor away from a food source or an animal being territorial). anyone who threatens their lifestyle and vampiric needs is seen as threatening their life and that’s why humanity-less vampires are so vicious towards those who try to re-instate their humanity.

the switch disappears as they get older because their vampirism merges with (or overpowers) their humanity over time.

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 10x02 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (part 1) Enjoy! =)

Cut to - Munich, Germany. Elena is in one of the lab morgues. She is leaning against the freezers, writing in her diary.

 Dear Diary,

Today will be different. I will start fresh. Be someone new. New year, new life, new diary. I’ve come all this way, thanks to my father, but I need to step out of his shadow, and make it on my own. I have to stop doubting myself… As that cute guy Sam told me, I was chosen for a reason. It’s time I start believing in myself and become the Elena Gilbert I always wanted to be. Away from Mystic Falls, the drama, the supernatural, the pain…  

But, just between us, I feel like something is off… I mean, I’m glad to feel different, it’s just that in a weird way, I don’t feel quite like myself… Maybe it’s because the nightmares have come back… They are so vivid, as if I were living through it once more. The freezing water, the air escaping my lungs, the despair of knowing they were with me. That horrible feeling, over and over again… I thought I had healed, as much as one can heal from something like that, but I can still feel her hand slipping away… At times I think my dad blames me for letting her go. If he only knew the real reason both of us survived, maybe he wouldn’t resent it so much. Regardless, I will forever be thankful to Stefan for saving us that night. Although he still blames himself for not being able to save my mother, there was nothing anyone could have done.

Okay, enough about the past, I need to move on, build a new life for myself, and maybe, even find a new love… No vampires this time! Whatever comes, I’m living my life to the fullest! Letting myself be free… No fear, no guilt, no insecurities… Project Munich, here I come!

 Suddenly, she hears a noise. If it weren’t coming from one of the freezer drawers, she wouldn’t be startled, but since it clearly is, her heart starts pounding. She approaches cautiously… 

Before she can even grab the handle, the drawer slams open…

SAM: Boo!

ELENA: Oh my god, Sam?! You scared me half to death!

SAM: (Smirking) Good thing it was just half way. Wouldn’t want you dying on me.

ELENA: Well, what if I had a heart condition?! I could have!

SAM: A heart condition, or died?

ELENA: Well, both… But you know what I mean! You are so weird!

SAM: This coming from the girl leaning against body freezers in the middle of the night…

ELENA: At least I wasn’t lying in one of them like some kind of zombie!

SAM: It’s surprisingly relaxing…

ELENA: (Mocking) Being a zombie or lying in the freezers?

SAM: I suppose, both… (they crack up).

ELENA: Anyway, what are you doing here?

SAM: I like to come here to think… It’s quiet. You?

ELENA: Same… Guess we’re a couple of weirdos…

SAM: A little eccentric is all. (They smile in complicity). I will confess though; I do have an alternative motive…

ELENA: Oh, god. Please don’t tell me you are a psycho killer. I’ve dealt with enough of those…

SAM: I’m not going to ask why, but I do want to ask you something…

ELENA: (With a suspicious face) Uhm, okay… what?

SAM: Do you like picnics?

ELENA: That question isn’t helping your psycho case… But, yeah, I do. Why?

SAM: How about you and me, tomorrow… Wine and cheese in the main garden?

ELENA: (Kittenish) Are you asking me on a date?

SAM: Depends… is it a yes, or a no?

ELENA: Depends… is it red wine, or white?

SAM: Red, of course! What kind of a psycho drinks white wine?

ELENA: Plenty… And, you literally just met me, so there is a risk I might actually be one of them.

SAM: (Flirtatious smirk) I’m willing to take the risk, if you are…

ELENA: What the hell! Life is too short to play it safe.

SAM: I like the way you think. It’s a date then!

ELENA: It’s a date.      

SAM: Huh, I totally thought that was going to fail…

ELENA: You never know until you try, right?

SAM: (Smiles) I guess you don’t… Listen, it’s really late, do you want me to walk you to your dorm? I know this place is infested with military, but what if you run into a ghost? Pretty sure they would be clueless about how to handle that.

ELENA: (Laughs) Neither would you. But, you are not nearly as scary as they are, so I’d rather take my chances with you.

SAM: (Teasing) I happen to be a paranormal aficionado; I know how to handle a ghost.

ELENA: Oh, really?

SAM: I’ve seen all Ghost Busters movies a million times! I know what I’m doing!

ELENA: (Sarcastic) A Ghost Busters fanboy, that’s very comforting… (As they are walking out) Oh! And don’t think that just because I agreed to go on a date with you, I won’t get you back for the near heart attack you gave me … I happen to be a real horror movie aficionada; better watch your back…

Cut to – Mystic Falls Town Hall. Matt has been officially sworn in to take office as the new Mayor of Mystic Falls. Although he is worried about Edward’s abrupt decision, especially knowing the context behind his un-rational behavior, he can’t help but feel proud. This is what he had wanted all his life. And, given Edward’s current psychological condition, this decision was probably for the best.

 COUNCIL SPEAKER: Mayor Donovan, I speak on behalf of all my colleagues, we welcome you to this body of representatives with open arms, and ensure you that you have our full support, respect, and commitment.

MATT: It is my honor to have been entrusted with this duty. I will work day and night to rightfully serve our town, my home town. I will forever be grateful to Mayor Powell for believing in me, and giving me the opportunity to give back to the people that have built this town from scratch. In my first order of duty, I hereby announce the newly appointed Chief of Police, Sheriff Jackson. A woman of honor, courage and morals. I am certain she will serve this town with honor, loyalty, truth, knowledge and commitment. Please, give her a round of applause.  

SHERIFF JACKSON: Thank you, Mayor Donovan. I wear the badge with pride. I am humbled and honored to be given this responsibility. Trust that my team and I will follow the example you gave to us, and will serve and protect this community with the same passion and commitment you did. We might be in different offices now, but we will always be family.  

MATT: Always! Thank you, Sherriff Jackson. I have no doubt that you will surpass both mine and my predecessor’s accomplishments. In closing, I’d like to say that although we face many challenges ahead, I’m confident that we can overcome any obstacle by working together, always prioritizing people. Mystic Falls is a town built by its citizens, for its citizens. It is our duty to ensure the wellness and prosperity of all. Once again, thank you. Time to get to work! (They applaud).

Cut to – The Mikaelson mansion. Abby and Klaus are talking about Hope settling-in at the Salvatore School, among other things.

 ABBY: Hope looked so happy... And her dorm room is amazing! At the main house and a single! How lucky was she!

KLAUS: I had to “persuade” Alaric to make sure she was given the best accommodations.

ABBY: (Smiles) I’m sure you did…  

KLAUS: And how is Bonnie settling in her new home? I honestly cannot comprehend how she could voluntarily agree to spend day and night with Damon Salvatore. Are we certain he is not compelling her?

ABBY: (Smirks) You know he can’t, although I kind of wish that was the reason (they laugh). From what she told me this morning; the house is beautiful. Guess we’ll have to wait and see, if she ever invites us over.

KLAUS: She will, love, give her some time. They just moved in together, they need their privacy.  (Suddenly, the door opens, in come Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, Freya, Marcel, and Danae, suitcases and all). Uhm, excuse me, what is this unexpected visit about? Our family reunion isn’t until spring…

ELIJAH: Lovely to see you too, brother. Do pardon if our sudden arrival interrupts your tea time, but we are in a bit of a pickle. We have been cursed out of New Orleans; and, the last time I checked, this was also our home.

KLAUS: I am gone, for not even a month, and you somehow manage to get yourselves thrown out of what is rightfully ours? How exactly did that come to be?

MARCEL: Why don’t you ask Kol…

KOL: Oh, come on, Marcellus, it’s as much your fault as it is mine. And, don’t act so innocent, Elijah. You had your hand in this too.

ELIJAH: (Fixing his cufflinks) Maybe a little…

REBEKAH: While you boys decide who is to blame, I’ll go settle down in my bedroom.

KLAUS: You can’t. We turned it into a games room.

REBEKAH: (Indignant) Excuse me?!! How dare you!? Why my room?! Why not Elijah’s or Kol’s!?

KLAUS: Yours was better fitted for the purpose. Nothing personal, love.

REBEKAH: Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t… (Turns to Abby) And definitely nothing to do with you, right?

ABBY: (Sarcastic) Of course not, I wouldn’t dare! This was all him!

KLAUS: (Smirks) Traitor…  Anyhow, dear sister, there are plenty of other rooms you can choose from.

REBEKAH: Whatever. I’ll go find myself a room you two haven’t ruined, yet.

FREYA: I’m coming with. You people forget I’ve never been in this house!

DANAE: Really? I thought you had. I mean, even I have stayed here.

FREYA: And, thanks for rubbing that in, my love.

DANAE: No ill intentions, hon. I’m just surprised.

FREYA: (Sarcastic) Guess being a Mikaelson didn’t grant me the privilege, but being Klaus’s best friend’s girlfriend sure did.

KLAUS: Oh, don’t be so dramatic, sister. You are here now, are you not?

REBEKAH: Forget him, sis, this is our house too. We’ll give you the grand tour. Once we get dibs on the best rooms (they leave).  

KLAUS: So, dear brothers, care to explain to me exactly how you got yourselves into this “pickle”?

ELIJAH: We will. But we are going to need something stronger than tea…

ABBY: Oh, it’s not tea. We just pretend it is, so we don’t feel like we are day drinking.

KOL: Who cares about that! We are vampires, love; we can do whatever we want!

KLAUS: KLAUS: (Sarcastic) My loving brother Kol, can we please go back to the topic at hand? I’d like to know exactly how long I can expect to have you all around.

ELIJAH: It is going to be a while…

MARCEL: If not forever.

KOL: (Mocking) Look on the bright side, Marcellus, you’ll have time to get to know Mystic Falls. Despite what some believe, it is quite the charming little town… And, our home sweet home, for now… Better get used to it.

Cut to – Pietro’s mansion. Him and Darius are having a “secret” con-call after their board meeting.

 PIETRO: I’ve had just about enough. We need to retaliate for this. You didn’t see the aftermath, this place looked like a slaughterhouse.

DARIUS: Courtesy of your ripper brother, I presume?

PIETRO: Not sure which one of them did it, or if it was the three of them, but I had to get a professional cleaner.

DARIUS: You should really consider getting video surveillance, clears these types of doubts right up.

PIETRO: Never, those things give me all sorts of peeping Tom vibes. Anyway, I’m sorry about your witch friends, I’ll make it up to you.

DARIUS: I warned you not to play games. Now we’ve lost a coven of very talented witches, three potential recruits; we are clueless as to where the others are, and made the rest of the board members believe everything was going according to plan… (Sarcastic) Kudos!

PIETRO: Don’t you dare give me attitude about this, you have messed up worse than I have.

DARIUS: True; fair enough. Let’s not enter into panic mode, it’s a minor misstep. We’ll find them soon enough. In the meantime, as per Augustus’s orders, it seems like I have to find a replacement for Kai…

PIETRO: That was certainly an unexpected surprise. I thought he would be pleased with his progress.

DARIUS: I’m beginning to think Augustus feels threaten, more so after I shared Kai’s recent achievements.

PIETRO: Did you sense something was off with him during the call?

DARIUS: Well, the Augustus I know would have had Kai killed if he wanted him out of the game, not fired.

PIETRO: And it’s strange that he was willing for this Tamara thing to take more time, as long as Kai was off the task.

DARIUS: (Teasing) Maybe he’s starting to like his hostage situation; Stockholm syndrome type of thing?

PIETRO: (Smirks) Perhaps… Regardless, both Kai and Katerina would have been excellent for the field battle; they have stamina, and are surely gifted in terms of the supernatural.  

DARIUS: I know. But there are plenty of fish in the sea. From what Veritas showed us with the Munich project, and the “gadgets I’ve been working on with Kai, soon we might have even stronger pawns to play around with.

PIETRO: Hey, I had a lot to do with the Munich project. I’m not letting him take all the credit! I led that project for years, set all the ground work, and the money.

DARIUS: Don’t be so defensive, my friend. We all know you did an excellent job. But, you have to give him some credit, Veritas is hardcore when it comes to discipline. As soon as he brought in the military, voilà!

PIETRO: (Snarky) His leading style borders on dictatorship, I prefer a motivational approach.

DARIUS: I’m with you on that. He sure as hell can scare the shit out of anyone into doing anything. Just ask Aletheia…

PIETRO: He is the oldest vampire in existence, and a psychic one, nonetheless; of course he can. I’m not ashamed to admit it; he has almost made me “piss my pants” once or twice.

DARIUS: I can say the same. You know, it’s truly fascinating that the so called “Originals” are oblivious to the fact about their true origins… I’m sure Veritas would have a blast with them, if they ever manage to figure it out.

PIETRO: Oh, I’m sure they will, if not for their wits, definitely once our plans unfold.

DARIUS: I call dibs on first row seats!

PIETRO: I want the full behind the scenes experience! (They laugh).

DARIUS: Well, I have to run now. I need to go fire my star employee and the Russian spy…

PIETRO: Good luck. We’ll talk soon.

Cut to – The Bamon home. The gang is in the “Batcave” planning their next move.

SAGE: (Starting to worry about Pietro’s retaliation for their escape). We are 100% sure this place can’t be found, right? I’m not very familiar with the witch stuff; or the vampire stuff for that matter; I’m a newbie.

BONNIE: Don’t worry, there is no way anyone can find it.

SAGE: Not even that Darius guy?

BONNIE: Especially not him.

SAGE: Can’t they track your cellphones?

BONNIE: Not while the house is cloaked. Beauty of magic.

SAGE: This magic stuff is really cool!

BONNIE: You ain’t seen nothing yet… But, fair warning, it can get a little weird…

CAROLINE: (Teasing) Just a little? (They laugh)  Don’t worry, you are in good hands.

SAGE: Sorry; freaked out for a moment… Pietro can be quite vicious when he’s angry, and I’m sure he’s fuming right about now.

DAMON: Don’t be scared, Stefan and I got years on him. Now, back to the mission at hand. How are we going to break into this place without Kai?

STEFAN: What if we give our brother a taste of his own medicine? He can be our way in.

DAMON: I love when your mind goes devious, brother. What exactly are you thinking of?

STEFAN: There is an upside to having an Original vampire in town, and one who just happens to be in love with Bonnie’s mom… I’m betting he’ll do just about anything to get on your good side, Bon.  

BONNIE: Stefan, you are a genius! 

And, he does owe me big time! But, let’s avoid the whole “being in love with Bonnie’s mom” thing; still freaks me out.

STEFAN: Not another word on that, Bon.

DAMON: Ah, blackmail, deceit, and compulsion, my kind of tactics!

BONNIE: I’ll call my mom to invite them over for dinner, then we’ll guilt trip them into their part of the plan.

SAGE: Bit lost again, what’s an Original vampire?

CAROLINE: Oh, Sage. There is so much for you to learn about the vamp world. Stick with us, and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

SAGE: That would be amazing! Been pretty much self-taught since I was turned, which was literally just weeks ago.

CAROLINE: I know firsthand how important it is to have a mentor when you are new at this. We got your back.

SAGE: Thank you, I’ll take all the help I can get.

CAROLINE: We’ll help you with the supernatural, you’ll help us with the Science; win, win. The sooner we get these guys, the sooner we can go back to our normal lives.

SAGE: Deal! To be honest, I was thinking about fleeing back to Germany the moment I got away from Pietro’s claws. Forget all this craziness and just return to being a student, with a new blood craving. But I think academia is pumped up to be more than it really is. What good are all the fancy titles without being on the battle ground? I’ve done my fair share of studying, it’s time I apply my knowledge for the common good, and this seems like the perfect cause to do so. Now that we know they are okay; I have no reason to go back. (Turns to Bonnie and Damon) Don’t panic, I’m not planning to stay here. As soon as we take care of this, I’m going back home to NYC; I really miss it.

BONNIE: (Smiles) We’re not panicking. And you can stay here for as long as you need.

CAROLINE: Okay, just so we are all aligned. We’ll get Klaus to compel Pietro, but how exactly are we going to get to Pietro? We can’t have Klaus show up at his house and be like: hello, I’m going to compel you now…

STEFAN: We’ll make sure he’s alone and lure him outside. Then Klaus, Damon and I, will take it from there. Three against one, should be a piece of cake.

DAMON: Sounds like a plan. Now, on to a crucial matter. (Turns to Bonnie) First time having my mother-in-law over for dinner, what should be the menu?

BONNIE: (Smirks) Whatever you want will be perfect.

DAMON: How about Italian? Play it safe...

BONNIE: Ooh, gnocchi arrabbiata?

DAMON: Perfetto!

CAROLINE: (Giddy) Aw, I love domestic Bamon!

DAMON: Don’t think you are just going to stand and watch, you are all helping!

The only one that gets a free pass is Bonnie, she has somewhere to go.

BONNIE: Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that…

CAROLINE: Bon, are you sure you don’t want one of us to come with you?

BONNIE: I’m sure. Thank you, Care. I’m gonna head out now before it gets late. I won’t be long (kisses Damon). 

I love you...

DAMON: I love you too. Head message me if you need anything.

BONNIE: I will (she leaves).

STEFAN: (To Damon) Are you okay?

DAMON: I’ll be fine when I know she’s fine…

CAROLINE: I still can’t believe he’s back! He better have a damn good explanation, otherwise I’m going to send him right back where he came from!

DAMON: You and me both, Blondie... 

Alright, I need to keep my mind busy, so let’s get to work. Making gnocchi is a mission on its own!

 TVD 10x02 (part 2) coming soon. Hope you stop by, read, and enjoy! =)

[theladysexpistol]

I saw your request for requests! Can I have a Kakyoin X Reader? Anything fluffy would do it ^^

Don’t get me wrong part 5 is probably my favorite part in jojo (so far) but I’m so excited to get a request for a different part! Especially for my favorite character in Stardust crusaders! 🍒

I hope you don’t mind me doing a part 4 Kakyoin? My irl Jojo friends and I have been talking about Kakyoin in part 4 a lot lately so he’s on my mind 😬

This got much longer than I intended - sorry, not sorry?

Side note I’ve been using Kakyoin’s theme in my homebrew dnd campaign. why is Kakyoin’s theme still the best Jobro theme to exist ever? 🤩

~~~

   Bright, midmorning sunlight filtered into the kitchen of your small city home. You were cooking to get your mind off the absence of your husband, but you weren’t as successful as you would have liked. Your hands were trembling.

   Of course, you trusted the word of Noriaki Kakyoin, the man you had chosen to spend the rest of your life with, as well as that of Jotaro Kujo, his best friend. But the bombshell the two of them had dropped on you, along with everything else they had decided to explain, had your head spinning. Kakyoin had probably wanted to spend a little more time with you, to ease your worries further; but Jotaro had insisted it was urgent. And that, it was, you had to agree. But the thought of either of them getting hurt - or worse - wouldn’t leave your mind.

~

   You had basically grown up with Jotaro, only a few streets away from his home. You both attended all the same schools. He had always counted you among his small group of friends, on account of how you neither fawned over him like most girls nor were you interested in fighting him in a vain attempt to become popular like most boys. Several of his fan girls did not like you because of this, but it never bothered you. In fact, you found some entertainment in watching him groan even after being pushed aside by his groupies.

   But the transfer student that Jotaro returned with from a long, unexplained absence in the middle of your third year of high school was another story.

   Both of them were covered in bandages under their uniform, and both avoided any questions as to their condition. You and Kakyoin hit it off immediately, and in fact your feelings for him emerged quite quickly. The two of them became your closest friends, but there was alway something there, something you could feel but could never quite place, something that the two of them had in common that you didn’t have.

   When all three of you graduated, Jotaro left to study marine biology abroad. Suddenly you were spending more and more time with Kakyoin, and your silly childhood crush blossomed as you fell in love with him. By the time Jotaro returned to see the two of you in Japan, he was more irritated than ever.

   “Good grief you two, I was hoping you would’ve gotten together by now.” he had said. It had been mortifying, but in a way it was a blessing. After all, that was how you and Kakyoin had gotten together. Even as Jotaro dated, then married a woman he had met in America, had a beautiful baby girl, and continued his studies, you and Kakyoin remained together.

   Kakyoin had informed you when Jotaro returned to Japan from New York where he had been visiting his ailing grandfather, but that he would not be able to visit the two of them for some time as he was investigating a series of odd family events in a small town called Morioh. You were disappointed but thought nothing of it; until Jotaro showed up in your living room.

   “I’m going to need your help,” he told Kakyoin. “I can’t handle a serial killer-Stand user alongside a handful of high schoolers and a manga artist.”

   “A what?!” you exclaimed. Both men looked at you after your outburst as though they had forgotten you were there. “Stand user? A serial killer? Jotaro, you’re the strongest person I know but this still isn’t your responsibility... shouldn’t you go to the police?”

   Per habit, Jotaro sighed, tugging his hat over his eyes. “Good grief... I forgot you don’t know about Stands.”

   Kakyoin smiled, but you could tell his smile was strained; forced, on your behalf. “You’re not usually one to slip up like that, Jotaro.”

   “Both of you! Tell me what’s going on!” you demanded, getting frustrated. They were both acting as though this was nothing, as though they dealt with serial killers normally!

   Finally, after some more frustrated convincing, the two of them explained everything. Dio, and Jotaro’s mother, the involvement of Jotaro’s grandfather and Avdol and Iggy and Jean Pierre Polnareff and their absence from school as they traveled to Cairo in order to put an end to their suffering. They explained how all along they’d had spirit guardians called Stands at their sides, and how their Stands had watched over you, too. Tears pooled at your eyes as they explained how Kakyoin had nearly fell to the same fate as Avdol and Iggy at the hands of the vampire, but by some miracle he had survived. But before you could fully comprehend everything they had told you, the two men had left for Morioh.

~

   Honestly, it was all unbelievable. If it hadn’t been Kakyoin and Jotaro, the two people you trusted most in the world, who explained all this madness to you, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. But the existence of Stands made sense; that was the thing they had always shared, that unexplainable presence you sensed between the two of them. So you had to believe the rest of it; and Stands, they sounded wondrous; but dangerous in the wrong hands. And the two of them had just willingly returned to Morioh to hunt down a person using their Stand to deliberately kill people.

   The more you thought about it, running through every event they had described to you in detail - on top of Jotaro’s young relative Josuke - who was technically his uncle? God, it was all confusing - the harder you trembled. Kakyoin, the most precious person to you in the world, had almost never survived. You imagine every happy moment he had brought you - your wedding, meeting Jotaro’s daughter, buying the house together - and it’s almost too much to bare.

   A face full of smoke breaks you out of your revere.

   “Shit!” you exclaimed, having become so lost in your thoughts and your worry that you burned what had been cooking on the stove in front of you. All the pent up frustration and emotions are released upon this mistake, like popping the cork off a bottle of champagne. You collapse in the kitchen in tears. Kakyoin had left about a week ago, and yet you didn’t think you could stand another moment away from him.

   You sat there on the kitchen floor for who knows how long. At some point, the soft ringing of the telephone caught your attention. You weren’t sure how long it had been ringing for, so you pulled yourself together the best you could and picked it up without looking at the number. “Hello?”

   There was a familiar sigh on the other line, before the one voice that would normally fill your heart with warmth answered. “It’s so good to hear your voice. I hope you’ve been all right.”

   But now, it just filled you with worry and longing, and you struggled to keep your voice from cracking. “Noriaki, I can’t stop thinking about everything. I can’t stand this, knowing where you two are.”

   “I’m so sorry,” he replied, sounding disappointed. “But I will be okay, I promise you. Josuke, he is Joseph’s son that Jotaro told us about; he and his friends are quite talented Stand users. They want to protect their town. It reminds me of Jotaro and myself, on our journey to Egypt.”

   You could hear the smile in his voice. It was the first thing that soothed your worried heart.

   “Noriaki,” you said, after the two of you had talked for some time; mostly listening to him talk about Morioh, and what a wonderful city it was, potentially for raising children; once this mysterious serial killer was taken care of. “Let me come visit you. Just for a week, and I’ll stay safe, I promise. I feel like I’ll feel better once I meet everyone, once I see the city for myself. It’s just that... well, ever since you told me how close to death you had been before we even met, it’s all I can think about. You, dying, against this horrible person.”

   “I’m sure they don’t even hold a candle to Dio,” he gave a bitter chuckle, as if knowing what a terrible thing a joke like that would do to your heart. “I’ll... let me think about it and talk it over with Jotaro, okay? You can’t see Stands. That’s what makes this guy so dangerous.”

   Your heart clenched. “Okay.”

   “I love you.”

   You hung up the phone, and immediately went to your bedroom with a suitcase. As soon as the idea had came to your mind, you were already set. You weren’t going to give him time to think it over. Before leaving for the train station, you only emailed Jotaro of your plans.

   And when you checked your email on the train, you were unsurprised by his short reply. It honestly made you smile a bit.

   Good grief. I’m not sticking up for you.

~

   The train arrived at Morioh Station early in the morning. As you descended the steps to the station, you could see several students of differing ages all waiting for the bus. You were immediately charmed by the quaint, peacefulness of the town.

   And then you remembered the dark secret lurking in the shadows of the cheery buildings, and fear gripped your heart once again.

   Making your way toward the taxi stop, you were careful not to accidentally bump into anyone. It was honestly even more terrifying than you could have imagined, the idea that any of the people around you - laughing and smiling to their friends or dressed in a fine suit, speaking loudly on the phone as they headed to work for the day, even the friendly gentleman driving the taxi that came to take you to the Grand Hotel - could be the one killing innocents with a spirit they couldn’t see. You wondered what their victims knew in their last moments, what they felt as they were killed by an unseen enemy.

   You could practically hear your heartbeat in your ears as the hotel loomed over the city street. You just had to get there. Kakyoin would probably be furious with you, but you would be safe. Jotaro knew you were coming. He’d know not to let Kakyoin leave.

   You bounded up the steps of the hotel so fast you nearly forgot to pay the taxi driver. The Morioh Grand Hotel was beautiful, living up to its name; it would almost be romantic if your husband wasn’t staying there in order to catch a murderer with supernatural powers.

   The woman at the front desk, prim and well-dressed, greeted you immediately. “How may I help you?”

   “Ah, I um- I’m waiting to meet someone here... you haven’t seen two men, one with a white hat and the other with ginger hair leave, have you?”

   The receptionist looked as though she were about to explain “We can’t give away details of our guests, for security reasons you know.” when someone called your name indignantly. You turned to find just who you were looking for, a bewildered-looking Kakyoin and an exasperated, but amused, Jotaro.

   Kakyoin swept you up into a tight hug, before planting a kiss on you. Despite obviously being frustrated that you had made your way to Morioh on your own, it was also clear he was just as relieved to see you as you were him.

   “I should be furious right now,” he mumbled into your ear. “But I’m glad to see you.”

   “One week, Noriaki,” you whispered back. “Give me one week. That’s all I need.”

   When he pulled away, you beamed up at Jotaro. He mumbled something under his breath, something that wasn’t hard to take a guess at, before Kakyoin spoke up again.

   “I hate to be the paranoid husband but... I’d prefer it if you didn’t leave the the hotel by yourself,” he gave a sigh. “I want to keep you as far away from danger as I can.”

   “There’s a simple solution, you know,” Jotaro said with a smirk on his face and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he continued walking toward the door to the hotel. Presumably, the two of them had been leaving to meet with Josuke and the others. You grabbed a hold of Kakyoin’s hand, intent on going with them to meet these other Stand users. “Make sure they never leave your side.”

~~~

[A/N: This fic is already so super long I know... I just wanted to add that after I wrote all the stuff about the reader being scared that any of the people they passed on the street being the killer... well I was this close to putting in a Kira cameo at the end where he noticed that the reader had such beautiful hands, with a beautiful golden ring holding an emerald in the center (kakyoin, emerald splash, obviously) but decided against it because this fic WAS supposed to be fluff... probably a little more angst than you were expecting but i hope you all liked it! i spent my entire shift at work today imagining what i was going to write!]

[rokutouxei]

the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ]

CHAPTER 19 OF 22

-Sweetness of the dagger in the heart, up to the hilt Like a remorse. I'm not sure of dying.

- "Midnight Elegy", Léopold Sédar Senghor

--

interlude i

 --

It tastes a little more bitter than she thought it would be.

And she knows it’s not because of the leaving itself, but something else, that one thing she hadn’t dared address due to her overlapping fears. But time does not stop for anyone, so she is, instead, here. Standing in front of an open, semi-filled suitcase.

Going away for a year means packing enough clothes to last her through all the seasons, things she can style and re-style over and over efficiently. So she’s bringing her favorite clothes: a maroon turtleneck, her favorite plaid plants, the white blouse she wears all the time in the summer, her coat…

Her hands ghost over the fabric of the folded yellow dress she’s about to pack in but—

Something about yellow doesn’t sit right with her anymore.

Whatever. She doesn’t have to put it in yet. Or ever. Besides, it’s not like she’ll be done packing today, there are still some clothes in the laundry she ought to bring with her, and stuff she brought for repairs, and—

She’s just not ready to go quite yet.

So when Dazai invites her to join him and Arthur on a road trip, she says yes without thinking.

It’s a good deal, anyway—she only has to split the costs of gas and food, and Dazai and Arthur are shouldering the rest of the costs. (Where they got the money, she doesn’t know.) They said it’s their little treat, to wish her good luck with her trip abroad. They’re going south to a little-known beach destination. But it’s not just the three of them; Isaac’s not on campus right now—due to a conference or a seminar of some sort—but he promised he would follow them to the area once it was over.

They were set to stay for three nights. Arthur and Dazai promise that while they’ll be staying in the same hotel, they’ll get a suite that assures that both she and Isaac have entirely different rooms from theirs. She makes a face at them that makes them laugh, but soon enough, they’ve piled into Dazai’s rented car and are on their way three hours from campus.

It’s two weeks before she’s leaving for her exchange program and time feels slow.

They get there late in the afternoon, the sun just about to set; just in time to relax a little before the dinner buffet opens. At the latter end of the trip, Dazai had begun to sing praises non-stop about the food. Arthur also kept mentioning the view. Which would be exciting, if they weren’t being so handsy with each other that it was hard to figure out if they were talking about the resort or each other. The suite they had gotten with three rooms and a shared living space was rather beautiful, with a balcony that led right into the beachside.

Arthur and Dazai stumble backward onto their shared room with their mouths locked onto each other, and she exits the door at the back to look out the view.

She’s moving to a town by the seaside in fourteen days, and she’s lived in the city for so long it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a place like this for longer than a vacation. The sharehouse she’d managed to get for herself was only a train ride or two to the beach, as well, so this kind of view, with the endless sea, the deep orange-red of the setting sun—is soon to become common.

It fills her with delight and—

Also fear.

But there’s not much time to think about it because soon, it’s time for dinner, and Dazai’s put on an Aloha shirt with a questionable design and—oh dear, Arthur has too. The linen blouse she’s got on has nothing in comparison to the loudness her friends are wearing, and somehow it’s just right.

Dazai is correct in saying that the food is good, and they stuff themselves to bursting with all the seafood and vegetables they can muster. She hadn’t imagined there would be this many kinds of edible seaweed, and how delicious they can be with the right mix of a salad. Then, there’s even a little song and dance presentation by a local cultural group—the kind that invited the audience to join in. Of course, Arthur and Dazai join in. She takes all the videos and photos she is physically able to, two phones in her hands and a camera on the table.

For a good portion of the three hours they spend half-eating, half-talking at the cafeteria, she forgets all that she is worried about.

Like it’s getting taken away by the sea.

The next morning, the three of them join a little tour group to go snorkeling at a nearby island. She admits to not being the most proficient swimmer—and also to a little fear of the open ocean—so Dazai and Arthur take turns to hold her hand and be by her side. They point at beautifully colored corals and swarms of fishes dashing in between their legs. The sea is not that scary when someone you know will not leave you is by your side. That no matter how far you go from the shore, you are still anchored down. At some point, Arthur gets stung by a jellyfish he’d missed to evade, and whines about it on the boat all the way back—Dazai promises to kiss it better. She pretends to be seasick. It’s all in good fun.

She doesn’t catch Dazai looking carefully at every expression she makes.

One group of tourists also in the same resort come knocking at their door around lunchtime, once they’ve gotten back. The group asks them if they’d like to join them in a little grill party because they’ve ordered too much food. Arthur offers to bring soda and alcohol in exchange, and so for a good portion of the afternoon, they’re sitting by the beachside under the shade of umbrellas munching on some grilled seafood and meat. It’s a large group that both Dazai and Arthur socialize with easily, while she guards their little spot. A young woman with dark black hair and stunning brown eyes tries to seek her company, but she politely declines, and she shuffles off back to the crowd with a little disappointment.

She’d rather be with someone else. But it’s all for the better that he isn’t with them, anyway. She knows that.

Isaac arrives later that day, the shadow of a storm in his eyes, just shortly after they’ve eaten their dinner. With one look, it becomes obvious to the three of them that Isaac will be severely overdressed. He looks great in it, sure, but a neatly-pressed button-down shirt paired with slacks and matching dress shoes aren’t exactly what you wear to the beach.

(“Of course that’s what he has, Arthur, he came from a conference.”

“Conference schmonference. What kind of man doesn’t have at least one pair of shorts and a T-shirt when he’s on a trip.”

“It is not professional, and I will not be wearing my sleepwear to the beach, Arthur.”

“Now, now, boys,” Dazai says, but she knows by the tone of his voice that he’s not up to any good, either. “I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out for our dear Isaac here.”)

The four of them end up watching a movie that night—Enola Holmes, her insistence—and maybe they watched another one, but she was asleep by the tail end of the first one to have even noticed. It is Isaac who carries her to bed. He’s only been here for a few hours at that point, but—sometimes she gets so deep into her head that she doesn’t notice how obviously it shows; in the bags under her eyes, in the way she holds herself upright—or not at all. And her friends are her friends for a reason.

The next day, they get into action.

She’s just gotten out of bed when Arthur comes back into the suite with a handful of flyers, saying that there’s going to be a surfing instructor down the beach. After some bayside breakfast—room service, because they can; she is so suspicious of Arthur right now, how many of the hotel staff had he seduced to get all this lavish treatment?—and a bit of rest, the four of them make the trek to the instructor’s place, nearby where the seaside shops are.

She and Arthur elbow each other all the way to the seaside, carrying their rented boards whispering to each other about how the instructor is “admittedly-actually-not-that-bad-and-maybe-if-I-were-a-little-less-sober-pretty-attractive.” Dazai and Isaac hang out by the beachside, having bought a pair of the most delicious in-season mango shakes they have ever had, lying on some reclining chairs.

Surfing, as it seems, is not as easy as it looks like, and the grace that comes with riding over waves taller than you is one that is learned by falling over and over again. It doesn’t take long for her to get soaked, sinking into the water with each unbalanced stance, the sea overpowering her. But she comes up laughing anyway. It is nice to feel small when the world is daunting. Arthur is there for every wave that crests. He watches her break the surface, grinning as she gasps for air with the stupidest “I fucked up again!” acceptance smile filling her face.

After the hour and a half they spent with the trainer who was a little too patient with her to be entirely uninterested, not giving up on her even when all hope seemed lost (she got to do it at least twice; that counts, doesn’t it?), she and Arthur head to where Dazai and Isaac are. They only turn for a split second to grin at each other, their cheeks pink from sunburn, when they both hear the unmistakable sound of Isaac yelling “DAZAI!” with as much shock and disappointment he can muster before—

Well, before the sound of the crashing waves get to him.

She sees it in slow-motion, Isaac heading face-first into the ocean.

And then there is only a smug-looking Dazai—who has the audacity to say, “Oh no, are you okay, Ai-chan?”—before throwing the spare (now, apparently, rather purposefully-brought) towel onto Isaac’s dripping form. And it’s silly because they know, they saw, but they pretend they didn’t, she and Arthur rushing in to ask, “What happened?”, trying to not reveal the snicker rising up their throats.

Dazai’s version goes like this: Isaac had taken a misstep, because he wasn’t paying attention, and had tripped over Dazai’s foot, which caused Dazai to jolt and accidentally push Isaac into the just-cresting wave.

Isaac’s version goes like this: Dazai pushed him into the water.

And that’s how the four of them end up heading to the seaside shops nearby, Dazai “apologizing” by giving Isaac an Aloha shirt that greatly matches all of that which he had brought with him on the trip. (He gets her one too as an added excuse that it’s a “group souvenir.”)

When Isaac frowns at himself in the mirror, donning the green shirt adorned with pines and waves, bright yellows and browns and oranges—she comes up to him and says, “thank you for joining us,” which in Isaac speak already means all she wants him to know.

The way Isaac sighs is full of friendship.

They find a small shack nearby later to have some late lunch: local delicacies of chicken and shrimp. Dazai hums a song excitedly as he prepares to scarf down on his food, and the lovely owner of the small place points them to a nearby karaoke parlor—which was, coincidentally, empty of customers.

Isaac is just about to say “please don’t” when the three agree to go spend some time there before taking the walk back to the resort.

Dazai and Arthur sing love songs to each other so fervently it’s hard to figure out if they’re being serious or are just good actors. She belts out all her favorite songs until her throat feels hoarse. They even got Isaac to sing, much to his chagrin. The owners of the parlor were thoroughly amused. It is only five too many songs later, the sun about an hour from setting, when they begin to walk home.

The beachside here allows visitors to take shells they would like to pick up, but ask they only pick a reasonable amount of—well, one each person. So she’s walking with her head down, Dazai next to her, looking for her most precious single shell to take back with her to the university.

Arthur and Isaac are walking ahead of them, meters out of earshot. As she gets up from inspecting another shell on the beach—not quite what she wants yet—Dazai turns to her with a serious look on his face.

“How’s your head?”

She could pretend to not know what he meant about it—and, she had actually hit her head on a beam earlier, but only lightly—but there is no escaping when Dazai puts on that tone of his voice.

Instead, she answers, “Is this what this is all about?”

Dazai shrugs. “And if it is?”

“Then I love you,” she adds, to which Dazai grins. He pats her gently on top of the head before she crouches back down onto the sand, brushing away to reveal a white shell streaked with purple.

Dazai looks away from her and up to the wide horizon; the sun reflecting its orange light onto the water. “I really think you ought to talk to him about it.”

“I don’t know if I should,” she admits, clutching the shell in between her fingers, observing its shape. “I mean at this point, what else is there to say?”

“Do you not want to tell him about this?”

“No,” she says, rather surely. Even if she doesn’t know which this she is referring to.

Dazai remains quiet for only a moment. Just enough for her to take another look at the shell in her hand and put it back down onto the sand. She wants to take it with her but it doesn’t feel right, not this one. It feels like it belongs to the sea. She stands up and begins to walk once more. Dazai follows a step behind her.

“Isn’t it unfair that you want him to reach out to you but you’re not willing to do the opposite?”

“I—”

When Dazai calls out her name, she knows he is serious. He rarely calls out her name—and when they first met, it was because they kept forgetting each other’s names. Now, when the syllables of it fall out of Dazai’s mouth, she knows he is serious. Her heart feels tight, like it has curled instinctively into itself as a response.

She looks up at Dazai with a face like she’s pleading, begging, asking him to make it better.

And Dazai asks:

“Are you more scared of the uncertainty? Or the rejection?”

--

The four of them wake up early the following morning to catch the sunrise on their last day at the resort. It’s not much—the sun is on the wrong side—but there’s something about coffee (Arthur’s blend; a recipe he wouldn’t dare tell anyone) in the early morning while watching the sky turn blue. They share that quiet, companionable silence that’s nothing but comfort.

She’s a hundred percent sure that she’s going to miss this.

They stay only long enough to have breakfast and finish packing up before they all pile into the car and make the drive home. Arthur’s got full control of the AUX cord (“Boyfriend rights!” “You are not his boyfriend though?” “Basically-boyfriend rights!”) and they get to listen to him belt every single lyric out in the small, enclosed space. They arrive at the campus a bit past noon, and they have one last lunch together before they go their separate ways. Dazai drives them back to their places. And when he lifts her little duffel bag out of the trunk and handed it to her, he makes sure to give her a look.

The kind that said, “you know what you have to do; so stop being afraid of it.”

The truth is, she thinks, as she’s climbing up the stairs, she’s not that scared of doing it at all. She’s scared that it won’t mean the same to him as it does to her. That it will all hang in the balance and it will be worth more to her than it will be to him, and then they will be separated just like that.

So what is it? Is she scared that he will deny her? Or is she scared that she doesn’t know how he’ll react?

Theo is a great friend. Theo has always been a great friend. Sure, he’s been a little rough on the edges, and sure, maybe he was mean to her in the beginning, but—all those insightful conversations, all the time he didn’t hesitate in lending to her when she wanted company, wanted a friend… Theo has been nothing but good to her. Sure, they’ve had fights, and maybe they don’t agree in all the things, literary or otherwise, and maybe there were things she knows he can improve on but—

He has been good.

And she knows if she lets him, he will continue to be good to her.

She just doesn’t know if he wants to do it any longer.

Once she gets to her room she sorts her laundry into the proper baskets, and brings them downstairs to the coin laundry machines to run them. She spots the little hardbound e.e. cummings book on her counter and ignores it. She drops the clothes onto the machine and pours detergent, closes the lid, and lets it spin. When she gets back upstairs, she closes the door with a gentle click. Heads to her bedroom to take a nap while the machine runs and—

Finds the yellow dress she’d left behind while she was packing for the trip, the one she didn’t have the heart to wear. The one she didn’t want to.

But what does she have to lose now? When there are only days, only hours? And the words that are left unsaid only keep growing?

She checks the time on the clock on her wall. Thinks about what Dazai has told her. What the four days away from the only city she’s ever known has told her.

She takes another look at the yellow dress.

Thinks of him.

Thinks of the rooftop waiting for them.

[dlwritings]

Call Him Hers | Dean Winchester | pt 8

series masterlist found here

general masterlist found here

pairing - Mark-of-Cain!Dean x plus-size!reader word count - 3,100 warnings - language, violence, knives

summary - Just when they think they’re good to head home, (Y/N), Charlie, and the Winchesters find a piece to the puzzle they didn’t realize they were missing.

(previous) (next)

(Y/N) and Dean woke up to a knock at their door. Neither of them got up even though they were both awake. Dean pulled her closer to his chest and nuzzled his face in her neck. She sighed contently and wiggled closer to him, too drowsy to notice the morning wood Dean was sporting. When the knocking persisted, she sighed and pushed herself out of bed. Dean quickly adjusted himself in his boxers as he sat up and watched her walk over to the door. Sam and Charlie both burst in, and (Y/N) jumped back. “Jesus,” she mumbled. “What’s going on?”

“There was another kill,” Sam said. “We missed something.”

“Fuck,” she said, waking up quickly. “Was it another vamp?”

“Either that or a human decided to try sucking their friend like a juice pouch” Charlie said. (Y/N) gave her a look that silently said, Really? and Charlie just shrugged.

“So what’s our play?” (Y/N) asked, walking over to her suitcase to pull out some clothes to wear for the day.

“I say one of you stakes out the pool house again, see if we missed something,” Sam said. “I’ll check out the morgue, Charlie’s gonna talk to the police, and then one of you can snoop around Chris’ place.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “I’ll go to Chris’.”

Everyone moved quickly, trying to make up for the time they lost sleeping. (Y/N) was mad. She thought killing Chris was her ticket out of town, but now she was right back in. All she wanted was to head back to the bunker and forget that this trip ever happened. Instead, she found herself hotwiring a car and heading off to Chris’ house.

Chris was single and had no kids. It made sense that he would become a vampire for some sense of family. Then again, he had said the same thing about her. She shook the thoughts out of her head as she pulled up to Chris’ house. She got out of the car and moved quickly to Chris’ front door. He lived in a shabby area of town, so there weren’t any neighbors with prying eyes. She used her lock pick to get inside and shut the door quickly behind her.

Her footsteps echoed through the house, and she got a weird feeling being there. She pulled her gun out of her pants and held it at the ready, walking silently and checking around corners. She found Chris’ Macbook and logged on, hoping he had it connected to his phone. He did, so she was able to see his text messages. She saw the person he had been texting when they were at the pool house, and she felt her stomach drop. Just as she fumbled for her phone to call Dean, she heard someone behind her. She stood up and came face to face with Bryan.

“You know, you weren’t exactly the one I hoped I’d find here,” he said, circling her with a taunting smile. “I was really banking on one of those Winchester boys.”

“Chris said the rest of his nest died,” she said, gripping her gun tightly. Bryan eyed her gun and raised his eyebrow.

“Why don’t you put that down, and we can talk,” Bryan said. She considered ignoring him, but she knew her gun wouldn’t do her any good anyway. She wasn’t carrying vampire poison bullets. What an idiot. She put her gun down and slid it towards Bryan.

“So the rest of the nest,” she said, holding her hands up. “Not dead?”

“Nope, the others are dead,” Bryan said. “But I’m still kicking. I told Chris to tell you all we were gone.”

“So what’s your MO?” she asked. “You live here. You can’t kill the whole town.”

“See, I always told Chris not to go after the locals,” Bryan said. “I always go after the tourists. I stock up on their blood until the next round comes again. When I’m out, I take a little trip with the wife and pick up some outsider blood. Going after the locals draws too much attention. Chris was a newbie. He didn’t get it.”

He circled her, and she made sure she never had her back to him. “I’m just trying to live my life, (Y/N),” he said. “I’ve always just been trying to live my life.”

“You’re killing people,” she said back.

“It’s what I do,” he said with a shrug. “We’ve all gotta live.”

“Monsters like you don’t get to live,” she said back.

“You know, you’re really intimidating when you have no way to defend yourself,” he said. She clenched her jaw. She had an angel blade in her coat, but she wasn’t sure she was fast enough to get it out and gank him with it. He was stronger than Chris had been, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold her own if he decided to attack. “I’m sorry this had to go down like this,” he said. “This wasn’t my intention. After Amanda, I was going to tell Chris to stop. But then, once he stepped in-”

“He?” She hated when people played the pronoun game.

Right on cue, footsteps were heard, and Shawn walked into the room. She opened her mouth to say something, but Shawn blinked and revealed a black set of eyes. She immediately reached for the angel blade, but Shawn whipped her against the wall. She tried to stand up, but Shawn flicked his wrist, and she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. “That’s a sprain,” Shawn said, walking closer to her and crouching in front of her. “I can make it a break if you don’t cooperate.” She spat in his face, and Shawn clenched his jaw in anger.

“Shawn wasn’t always like this,” the demon said, wiping his face and standing up. “I know you’re wondering. No, I got in here long after he cheated on your sorry ass. Demons love possessing people who are already douchebags.” He grinned a moment. “Even now, Shawn’s just laughing it up. He always loved seeing you in pain.”

“So why’re you here?” she asked, still trying to figure out how to get out of the situation.

“Well,” he said, “when I heard there were vampires in Dewey, I thought it was perfect. Because, you see, I knew you’re from Dewey, and I knew you’re all buddy buddy with the Winchesters, and I also knew you and the Winchesters have this, this savior complex. You just can’t turn down a hunt.” She clenched her jaw. “You’re their achilles heel, (Y/N). Dean may not have the hots for you, but he and his brother would die for you in a second. So now, we bide our time and wait for them to find you.”

“What do you do when they find you?” she asked.

Shawn smiled. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Bryan fished in her pocket for her phone, and she reached out her leg (the one without the sprained ankle) and kicked him hard in the shin. It was a dumb idea, she knew, but she was running out of options. He kicked her in the stomach, and she groaned and wrapped her arms around her torso. Bryan got her phone out and harshly slapped her ass just because he could. He handed the phone to Shawn who swiped and unlocked it. She cursed herself for never giving it a password. Another rookie mistake. He scrolled through her contacts and called Dean, smiling as he put the phone on speaker.

“You find anything?” Dean asked as soon as he picked up.

Shawn scoffed. “Not even a hello, Dean? Where are your manners?”

Dean was silent for a beat. “Who the hell is this?”

“I’ve got (Y/N) here,” Shawn said, avoiding Dean’s question. “(Y/N), why don’t you give your hubby a little hello?” She clenched her jaw and sighed.

“I’m alright, Dean,” she said, knowing he probably cared about that more than anything.

“Now,” Shawn said before either she or Dean could say anything else, “I’m here at Chris’ house, and I’ve just been dying to meet you and your brother. So I’ll send you the address, you boys can meet us here, and we’ll let (Y/N) live another day.”

“He’s a demo-”

Bryan stepped on her wounded ankle, and she shouted out in pain. “You keep your hands off her!” Dean shouted on the other end of the phone.

Shawn laughed. “Well then you boys better hurry.”

Dean hung up the phone and immediately called Sam. “What’d you find?” Sam asked when he picked up.

“A demon’s got (Y/N) at Chris’ house,” Dean said. “He’s asking for us.”

“Both of us?” Sam asked.

“Yeah,” Dean said. “I don’t know what the game is, but he’s threatening to kill her. We gotta go.”

“Okay, let’s just think this through-”

“No Sammy!” Dean shouted, jogging to his Impala. “There’s nothing to think through. Whatever they want, we give it to them, alright? Nothing is happening to her because of me. Where are you?” Sam rattled off the address.

“I’ll call Charlie,” Sam said. “We can have her bust in after us and catch ‘em off guard. They didn’t ask for her?”

“No,” Dean said.

“Okay,” Sam said. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Dean was glad (Y/N) was able to get out part of the word demon so he knew what he was walking into. When he pulled up to where Sam was, he also jogged around to the trunk to get out the demon knife. “I told Charlie the plan,” Sam said. “She’s already on her way over.” Dean didn’t respond, too focused on getting the knife and getting back in the car to get to her as quickly as possible. When both brothers were in the car, Sam said Dean’s name.

“I’m going to break your jaw if you keep talking,” Dean said.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Sam said. “She can hold her own. You know that.”

“They were doing something to her, Sam,” Dean said. “She was screaming. I don’t like this.”

The rest of the drive was silent.

(Y/N) jumped when she heard someone kick down the front door. Dean was holding the demon knife while Sam had an angel blade. Dean went to charge at Shawn, but both men were immediately thrown against the wall. Bryan laughed as he watched them struggle. (Y/N) wished she could do something, but she felt utterly useless. “You alright, (Y/N)?” Dean asked with a strained voice.

“‘M fine,” she said back.

“How cute,” Shawn said sarcastically. “Dean really does have a sweet spot for you.”

“So what do you want with us, huh?” Sam asked. “You working for Crowley?”

“Crowley’s a coward,” Shawn said. “90% of the time he’s so far up your Winchester asses, he can’t find his way out.”

“So what’s this about?” Sam pressed.

“Frankly?” Shawn said. “We want you, dead.” He pointed at Sam with a smile. “But Dean, well, we want him back.”

“You sound like a whiney ex,” (Y/N) said. Bryan kicked her again -this time in the face- and she had to spit blood out of her mouth.

“Stop fucking touching her!” Dean shouted with as much strength as he could muster.

“The power that mark gives you is unparalleled, Dean,” Shawn said, walking closer to him. “So I’m going to take you back with me, and you’re going to go back to doing our dirty work.”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Dean said, “my eyes haven’t been black for almost a year. Why the hell would I work with you?” Shawn’s smile widened as if he was hoping Dean would ask that.

“Because,” Shawn said slowly, “if you don’t go with us-” He walked back over to (Y/N) and lifted her head by her hair. She whimpered and closed her eyes. “-what do you think is gonna happen to your girl over here? Hell, she almost makes you weaker than Sammy.”

“It’s okay,” she breathed out, looking at Dean with tears in her eyes. “Don’t do-” Shawn lifted her up and pinned her to the wall with his hand, squeezing her throat tightly. She could feel her eyes rolling back, but she tried to stay awake. She needed Dean to stay strong. Her life was not worth him going to the dark side again.

“Stop!” Dean shouted. Shawn turned to him again, and just then, the door burst open and Charlie charged in. Shawn dropped (Y/N) as Charlie took a few steps towards Bryan and sliced his head off with her machete. While Shawn was looking away, (Y/N) used all her strength to kick him in the nuts, hoping that was a pain he’d still feel. It did enough for him to lose focus and drop Sam and Dean. While Dean immediately rushed to (Y/N)’s side, Sam grabbed his angel blade and stabbed Shawn in the chest.

(Y/N) was slumped to the ground. She was still slightly gasping for breath, but mostly her throat was sore from the tears she was trying to hold back. “Hey, hey, are you okay?” Dean asked, crouching in front of her and putting his hand on her chin.

“S’just my ankle,” she said. Dean looked down at her foot.

“Does it hurt when I do this?” he asked, gently pressing her ankle. She hissed.

“Well it doesn’t feel good,” she said through clenched teeth.

Neither (Y/N) nor Dean were paying Charlie and Sam any attention, so they were oblivious to the way they were silently watching the pair talk. Dean stroked (Y/N)’s hair and hung his head. “I’m so sorry this happened,” Dean said.

“It’s no big deal, Dean,” she said.

“You were in danger because of me,” he said. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

“I know what happens when I talk to a Winchester,” she teased. “I know what I signed up for.” Dean frowned, and she reached out and put her hand on his cheek. She lightly scratched his beard like she had last night, and a small smile appeared on Dean’s lips. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m okay.” Dean sighed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Charlie and Sam shared a look that went unnoticed by Dean and (Y/N).

“Alright,” Dean said. “C’mere.” He lifted her up and carried her in his arms..

“Dude,” she said. “Put me down. It’s a sprained ankle not a broken leg.”

“Would you just shut up and let me take care of you?” Dean asked. (Y/N) huffed but zipped her lips, knowing that she’d lose the fight in the end. Dean smiled and kissed her forehead again. He brought her into the Impala and helped her into the front seat. Charlie and Sam got in the back. They drove back to the hotel to pack up their stuff and check out. A part of (Y/N) was a little bummed she wouldn’t get to say goodbye to Nicole, Stephanie, and even Jennifer.

What a weird existence.

Dean insisted that she stay in the car while he go pack up their hotel room. Frankly she was feeling tired and didn’t care enough to protest. She knew she’d fall asleep on the way home, and she could already feel her eyes fluttering closed.

When Dean checked out at the counter, he ended up running into Jennifer. “Hey!” she said. “Where’s (Y/N)?”

“Oh, she slept pretty bad last night,” Dean said. “She’s in the car, probably knocked out already. We’re actually heading out.”

“Oh, I’m bummed I didn’t get to say goodbye,” she said with a genuine frown. “Would you tell her it was good to see her?”

“For sure,” Dean said. “It was nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she said. Just as Dean turned away, Jennifer said his name again. “(Y/N) really loves you, you know that right?” Dean furrowed his eyebrows. What was she getting at? “There’ve been rumors going around,” she said slowly, “that your marriage isn’t-” Dean cut her off with a sigh, not in any mood to have this conversation. “I’m not saying I believe one thing or another,” she said quickly. “I’m just saying, whatever you have seems pretty real to me.”

He felt his shoulders drop a bit, growing a bit less defensive. He knew the tips of his ears were turning pink. “Have a good one, Jennifer,” he said. Jennifer gave him a small smile and a nod, then waved as he walked away.

When Dean got back in the car (Y/N) was already asleep. He hated the feeling in his chest when he saw her. Hated how much he ached for her to be his. Hated how he couldn’t count the number of times he had fucked up his chances with her. Hated that, no matter how many times he told her he loved her, she’d never really believed him. And sure, he allowed himself to imagine scenarios in which he told her how he felt -really told her- but the vulnerability scared him. Just like the vulnerability he felt when he held her as they slept. The idea of that kind of vulnerability scared him. He knew who he was with this mark, and he wasn’t a good man. Even if she believed that he truly felt that way about her -which, knowing her, she wouldn’t really- why would she want him?

Sometimes, he swore she loved him the way he loved her. When Chris was trying to hurt her at the pool house, all Dean could feel was the hope of her returning the feelings he had for her. And he wasn’t oblivious to her lingering glances, but -not to sound conceded- a lot of girls looked at him like that. There were never real feelings behind them. He guessed he was just alright to look at. But he didn’t want that to be why she was looking at him. He wanted her to have something more behind her stares.

Maybe it was just time he grew the fuck up. Life was short, and today was just another reminder of that. What would he have done if she had died and he never told her how he felt? He wasn’t sure he’d ever be the same. Dean wasn’t good at love. Didn’t know how to accept it. Didn’t always know how to show it. What he did know was he was dying to truly call her his.

----- ----- ----- -----

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[tvandenneagram]

The Vampire Diaries: Katherine Pierce – Type (cp)6w7

Katherine is reactive, suspicious, self-serving and dishonest. Ultimately, she wants to find a source of security, because this was taken from her. She is always concerned with her own safety and will hurt others

Katherine has been typed as a 3 and an 8, however, I think that her core motivations are more in line with type 6. She is constantly seeking stability and security, rather than success or power. Katherine is a counter-phobic 6, meaning she faces her fears head-on and may come across as more aggressive than a phobic 6. This is one of the reasons she may seem like an 8.

In her backstory, she was abandoned by her family when she got pregnant out of wedlock. After this, she was seeking a source of security and was trying to survive. We can see this as she somewhat uses Elijah, Stefan and Damon to help her reach her goals.

Katherine has also demonstrated throughout the series that she plans for all situations and is able to think many steps ahead of her adversaries. Katherine is the definition of a survivor and is very resourceful. A large part of the reason for this is because she is able to plan her moves so carefully and anticipate what her enemies will do next. For example she successfully evaded Klaus as she became a vampire so he couldn’t use her blood in the sacrifice. She also survived Silas’ attack on her and only died when she was given the cure. 

Katherine is very self-centred and will do questionable things to ensure her own safety. She has no problem betraying others to save herself, as her ultimate priority is her own safety. As she has disintegrated to 3, she thinks she cannot trust anyone and relies only on herself. This is also why she can seem extremely disloyal in her relationships.

At her core, Katherine wants a support system and a home. She does not want to be alone, however, she finds it hard to trust others and is often suspicious of their motives. Katherine uses people instead of letting them in because it easier than letting people in. We can see that she wants to let others in, especially with Stefan, but it doesn’t work because she is dishonest and unreliable.

Tri-type: 6w7 (cp) – 8w7 – 3w2

Some quotes to describe Katherine’s motivations

"My freedom?... That’s where you're wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb, where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town."

"Living out of a suitcase is better than dying so you can have you blood spilled over a silly little rock."

"Life is too cruel. If we cease to believe in love, why would you want to live?"

“Does it matter? He wants it, and I have it. It's leverage, Damon. Always stay one step ahead of your enemy."

"Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it just keeps trying to fight its way back in."

" I'm a survivor. Staying alive is my specialty. "

" Look. Maybe I don't want to die a sad, lonely 538-year-old. If I have to bow out, knowing that Stefan still cares might not be the worst way to go. "

"To tell you that you're right. I've spent so much time running and lying just to survive that I don't-- I'm starting to believe my own lies. I don't even remember who I was when we first met. And I want to find out."

[armysantiny]

The Death of Me - YS

-vampire!reader, vampire!au, angst(?), fem reader

He had always known what you were - a vampire, a creature of the night - but it never fazed Yeosang all that much, you were one of their closest managers after all. Yeosang was the one who helped you reveal your vampirism to the boys and your co-workers, his humour breaking the news better than anything you could have thought. Out of everyone in KQ, you were the only one he trusted to call at 2 am when the morning's news of another vampire staking plagued his thoughts again. He knew it couldn't have been you, but still, what if it was? Seonghwa was who comforted him, holding the younger male and whispering nothings of 'Y/N Noona's going to be fine, don't worry~'

"Up late again Sangie?" You asked him in the morning, sipping on your flask of AB - like it was coffee- as the group stretched. He nodded as he stood up straight, Hongjoong beating him to the punch by pulling you over to the side. As the leader of the 8-member boy group, he was concerned for Yeosang's well being.

"What's the matter, Hongjoong-ah? You look concerned - is it because of Yeosang?" The sigh and nod from the male told you all you needed to know. He had pleaded with his manager a while ago to let you stay with them at the dorm for a few days, to which his manager agreed; it would probably do both parties some good. If the 'experiment' of sorts did work, you'd most likely start moving in with the boys after a while.

You scrolled through your phone as you popped out for some air, walking towards a convenience store. Putting your phone away after you stepped foot inside the brightly-lit store, you trailed the drink isles until your regular drink was nowhere to be found. Sighing, you decided to leave, only stopping where you were when something in the corner of your eye caught your attention. The store clerk was wearing a badge. A blood drop badge at that. Relief coated your face as you made your way over.

"How can I help?" They asked first, seeming particularly cheerful,

"Do you receive any AB donations? I'm on a work break right now and I kinda forgot to bring some with me" You asked - and admitted as the youthful-looking male in front of you blinked in confusion first before nodding in realisation. Nodding and sweetly asking you to stay put by the counter, he ran into the back to see where his manager had placed the box labelled 'AB'. In the meantime, you fiddled with a mirror you kept in your pocket, fixing a few stray hairs that fell in front of your face.

It had two hours since you left and Yeosang - and the other members - hadn't seen you since. You'd gone home for the rest of the day on your manager's advice, nursing a red moon craving and forgotten to inform your boys of the changes. Jongho had been keeping an eye on his hyung and had also been watching his phone throughout the day, just in case. While the other members had extra practise and things to do, Yeosang and Jongho were Scot-free for the rest of the evening.

"Hyung, let's just call Noona instead. Worrying like this can't be good for you at all." Jongho insisted, bringing his phone out of his jacket.

"Ok - you do have a point. She could've just been at home." The older agreed, looking for his phone which had been on charge. Unlocking the device, his eyes enlarged in horror as he read the breaking news headline that popped in his notifications. A group of vampires had been surrounded and brutally murdered, stakes driven through the heart as a 'calling card' of sorts. His hands were shaking as his feet remained plastered to the floor. It didn't help that one of the victims looked like you - almost too much like you.

"Hyung! What's wrong?!" The maknae's voice snapped Yeosang back to reality, as Jongho pulled the phone away and took a read of the article himself. Exhaling sharply, he exited the page in a heartbeat and wasted no time in searching for your number.

Red moon cravings weren't fun. Not at all - the uncontrollable red eyes, overwhelming senses, animalistic instincts; you had all the symptoms. But they had started to settle down and you were more than glad, especially when the phone started to ring. You answered it immediately, already knowing who was on the other line.

"Yes, hello?"

"Oh my God - Noona, you're okay?!" You heard Yeosang cry out in relief, a faint 'told you hyung!' and laughter emanating in the background.

"I'm fine Sangie - is Jongho with you as well?"

"Uh - yeah, yeah he is. Do you want me to put him on?" He asked, waiting for your reply at the other end of the line. There was nothing for a while, and he was starting to worry again - what was happening to you on your end?

"No, no, it's perfectly alright. Hold on - it should be the end of everyone's schedule, right? I'll pick all of you up, then we can go to the dorm. Sound good?" Yeosang hummed contently in agreement with your offer, hanging up the call with a weight lifted from his chest. You were alright, thankfully.

Driving through the streets of Seoul to pick up the boys in your mini-van, you switched off the radio and tried to take your mind off current events. Eyes sinking from brown into a deep red hue, you ignored it and continued to drive towards the entertainment building. It wasn't as if you'd had any personal connections to the victims, but as of quite recently, just hearing about the death of your kind had a tendency to set you off - intentionally or not. As KQ came into view, you parked up in the parking lot and stepped out, leaning against the door as you called your colleague, letting him know that you were ready to pick the members up.

"Hey, boys - ack!" You were cut off when the boys jumped you and engulfed you in a group hug, "I love you guys too~, now come on - we've got a dorm to be going to." They let you go after a while, bright smiles on all their faces. All piled into the vehicle, chatting amongst themselves the second you shut the door. Walking to the driver's side, your hand stopped at the handle when a searing cough ripped through your throat and chest - a blood craving taking hold. Although it had mostly gone unnoticed, Hongjoong, Yeosang and Jongho had spotted what happened and watched your behaviour with caution from their seats on the mini-van.

On the drive back to the dorm, you'd reached for your blood replacement tablets repeatedly - they were almost finished by the time you all collectively reached the dorm. As the Ateez boys left the mini-van, Hongjoong and his two younger group-mates, helping take your suitcase-worth of clothes inside and upstairs to the apartment.

"Alright. I'll be sleeping in the living room - my clothes can stay here." You announced as soon as you kicked your shoes off and set them aside, moving your suitcase to a corner of the room. It was late at night, so there wasn't much in the way of chatter as the boys dragged themselves to their rooms. Making yourself comfortable as you laid on the couch, you closed your eyes in a futile attempt to get any sort of sleep. Which, of course, didn't work - a desire to satiate that burning thirst stopping any rational actions. Getting back up, you found and opened your suitcase in the dark of the Ateez dorm, taking out what was considered the wine-bottle equivalent of blood.

"Noona? What's going on?" Yeosang's tired and raspy voice came from the entrance of the hallway, ruffling his hair while he squinted as he tried to make out your silhouette in the dark. His question pulled your attention away from the bottle and now the glass that was in your hands, setting it down on the table in the current dim lighting of the living room. In a wordless exchange, you patted the empty space beside you - inviting the awoken male to sit with you. Yeosang took the invitation and sat down, a comfortable five minutes of silence passing between you both.

"...Yeosang, you do know it's three am in the morning, right? What's keeping you awake?" You asked, after watching how his eyes would start to close every so often, only for Yeosang to open them sharply.

"I think it's all the news going around - my mind won't let my rest at all." He admitted, looking at his hands. Sighing as his thoughts ran freely, Yeosang picked up the AB bottle and observed it, a simple question popping in his mind that just had to be answered.

"Is there a difference?"

"Difference in what, Yeosangie?" He held out the bottle, indicating to clearly labelled blood type before placing it back on the table. Didn't blood just taste the same?

"Blood types Noona. Is there actually a difference?"

A few hours after you'd explained how blood types were different and how they affected personal taste, you'd found Yeosang fast asleep, head resting on the couch. With no real use for your blanket anymore,  you covered the younger male with it and placed the pillow behind his head, moving his dyed-blond hair out of his face. But you stilled when the scent hit you - rich vanilla and caramel. Maybe it was because of the red moon, but self-control stopped being a thing you had once your gaze travelled to his porcelain perfect neck.

Yeosang's eyes awoke to your fangs grazing against his skin ever-so-slightly, just enough to startle him. That self-control which had gone out of the window made a sudden return and the realisation of the current situation had you spiralling back in fear of yourself. Eyes quivering in terror as you scrambled away, your breathing was heavy and uneven as you held your head in your hands. Were you really about to bite down into the male who you were the manager of?

'I'm a monster...I almost bit him. Why couldn't I stop myself? How could he ever trust me agai-'

"Noona! Calm down, you're shaking!" Yeosang had rushed over to your side, his hand rubbing your shoulder as he tried his hardest to get you to look at him. Breath hitching in your throat as his scent hit you once again, you shook your head at his pleas to look at him, looking away with your head hung, ashamed at your actions. During this exchange, the other members had started entering the living room as they awoke, only to be shushed by Yeosang before they ended up asking any questions that would make you feel worse than you already were.

Could you really control yourself around the members?

Everyone was lively and chatty during breakfast in the dorm - you'd offered to make scrambled eggs and pancakes to try and forget earlier's mortifying experience. Plating everything as you hummed, the boys thanked you gratefully and immediately got stuck in with their breakfast. As much as your vampirism meant food didn't taste as flavourful as it would, watching people enjoy your food made you feel just that little bit more normal. Just that little bit more, human.

A week had passed since then, and Yeosang could tell something was wrong - they all could. As their manager, you were perfect, but once work had ended, it was more than clear that you weren't in good shape. But you already knew this; you were doing this to yourself after all. You hadn't been feeding on purpose - not since you almost bit down on Yeosang. All your senses were dulled, mellowed and nothing felt the same. Zoning out for long periods had quickly become a regular occurrence.

It then became two weeks without a single drop of blood and Yeosang had seen you suffer for long enough. Conveniently, it was his off-day and he was determined to get you to have something. Finding you in the dorm kitchen with a book in hand, reading while a cough ripped through your throat every so often, the 20-year-old sat down and rested his head in his hands, watching you with concern in his eyes. You looked so...weak and fragile - and it broke his heart.

"...Yeosang? What - what do you want?" Your voice was hoarse, throat was dry and it made speaking all that much harder.

"Noona, when was the last time you fed? At all?"

"Uh - two weeks ago, I think. Why do you ask-" Yeosang cut you off by pulling you into a hug, moving his head to the side and bringing your face into the crook of his neck - where you could smell the scent of his blood as it flowed - more intensely than you ever had. You couldn't do it...you wouldn't do it. Not to him.

"I know you're hesitating. Please, please just do it. I trust you Y/N, and you can't be doing this to yourself anymore. It's not healthy." He wrapped his arms around you tighter, his pleas making you sigh in defeat. He was right, you knew he was; you'd most likely collapse without blood if you kept this up any longer.

"Thank you Yeosang - and I'm sorry." Sinking your fangs into his neck as softly as you could, you lapped at his blood feverishly, drinking your fill. His grip tightened and his breath shallowed as the blood left his body, but it was worth it. Stopping before you took any more, you cleaned the fresh wound and helped the younger male to the couch. With an airy giggle, Yeosang held onto you and tugged on your arm, pouting as he asked you to sit with him with his eyes. Complying, you sat with him as he laid his head on your shoulder.

"That hurt less than I thought it would - do you feel better Noona?" Even after having his blood taken from him, he was still thinking about your well being - how is he so lovely? Simply smiling, you nodded as you wrapped an arm around him.

"Much better Sangie. Thank you."

"Then you can feed on me more often!" He offered - well, more so stated, "Or I'll have to make you - depriving yourself isn't a good choice." Yeosang promised, dozing off as he spoke, a pleased a smile donned on his face.

"My God - you're going to be the death of me Kang Yeosang."

[divine-bangtan]

Solidarity • II (m)

BTS x reader, reincarnation!au, supernatural!au, angels and demons!au, slow burn, smut, angst, violence.

Summary: A few weeks away from your 22nd birthday, there are a number of things one would expect to have on their mind. Partying? Oh yes. Drinking? Most definitely. Being told by seven strange men you are the reincarnation of a powerful goddess and the key to winning a demon war? Uh…come again?

Pairing: OT7 x reader, Goddess reader x demon Prince Taehyung, goddess reader x vampire Prince Namjoon, goddess reader x warlock Yoongi, goddess reader x incubus Seokjin, goddess reader x angel Hoseok, goddess reader x shapeshifter Jimin, goddess reader x werewolf Jungkook.

Warnings: Violence and gore.

Word count: 3.8k

Masterlist

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Chapter Two

Blood. Your hands were covered with blood. There was so much of it that even the copper smell made your head spin, crimson rivers ran down your arms dripping to the marble floor in a puddle, soaking the white dress you were wearing. Was it yours? Surely not, there was so much of it, too much. A sharp, stabbing pain manifested in your left side as you tried to step forward, causing you to gasp and stumble backwards clutching the danger embedded in your flesh. You found purchase as you slumped down against a marble staircase, barely feeling the stone digging into your soft flesh, but it was nothing compared to the pain you were in right now.

With trembling hands you tightened your grip on the dagger, breathing in sharply before yanking it out. The clang of metal on marble rang out through the room as it hit the floor, coupled with your ragged, desperate breaths. Finally, you could breath.

Suddenly, an iron like grip closed around the column of your throat from behind, savagely choking you and cutting off any air you had managed to take in. Immediately your hands came up to claw at the grip that seemed intent on snapping your neck, nails digging sharply into the flesh.

“Plea-” you tried to say, yet your voice only came out as a choked whimper as the stranger tightened their grip. “Fear smells good on you, sweetheart.” A deep voice drawled, coming from your attacker behind you. Before you could even register what was said, he dragged you backwards, tossing your somewhat limp body against a wall. Immediately you produced a raspy gasp, followed by a sob of pain as you sunk to the floor, painting the wall crimson red. The pet name sent cold shivers up your spine, it sounded disgusting coming from his mouth. That was the name your lover called you, him and only him. 

The room was blurry and you couldn’t see what he was doing due to the hot tears that rolled down your cheeks, but the sound of the voice haunted you in the next few moments that passed. You knew that voice. Confusion turned to panic when you heard the sound of metal sliding on marble as he picked up the dagger, footsteps coming towards you in a painstakingly slow manner, as if he was intent on tormenting you. 

No...you pleaded internally when his face came into focus, betrayal now being the main cause of your pain. Your eyes flickered down to the silver dagger which was gripped tightly in his hand, small drops of blood falling to the white marble floor. Fear now spread though you like wildfire when you realised he very much intended to use the knife on you again, and you tried to scurry backwards, away from him. However, the wall behind you prevented you from going anywhere.

Fight back...you have to fight back you tried screaming at yourself, but you were so tired, your heart was thrumming in your chest just from the effort of breathing alone. You hardly made a sound when he seized your neck once more to hold you still while he buried the blade into your flesh again.

“Why?” You managed to choke out, doing your best to glare up at him from where he crouched over your form.

“Because you have something I need, and you weren’t exactly going to just give it to me, were you sweetheart?” He explained, not a shred of remorse in his voice. 

“I trusted you!” You cried.

“Well, that was your mistake.” He drawled, releasing your throat and looking at you as if you were pathetic while you coughed and spluttered. “Always trusting everybody, treating everybody as if they were equal and dying to be just and kind and...good. Well let me tell you something my sweet thing,” he continued, stroking a finger down your tear stained cheek. “Everybody, even you possess a little bad in them too. Some of us are just dying to be cruel and evil and powerful. You’re not a saint and you know it, yet you lot are so arrogant and full of yourself, thinking that you are, that you’re better. You’ll see, I’ll finally make you all see.”

He resumed his punishing grip around your throat, eyes rolling back into his head. No. This can’t be possible, you’d only ever heard of this in legends and history books. However, as you felt your essence begin to drain your worst fears were confirmed. He was siphoning. 

Your eyes fell closed as the life drained from you, you were so tired and internally begged for this to end. However, a small part of you knew what would happen if this went on, if he lived to gain more power.

With all the strength that was left within you, your hands reached upward and closed around the hilt of the blade, and you tore the dagger from your chest. You paused for fleeting second to grimace in pain, before turning the knife and plunging it deep into his chest while he was distracted. He groaned loudly, immediately slumping backwards hissing in pain. He snapped out of his trance, and when he realised what you had done he roared in fury. But it was too late for you, you were too weak, had lost too much blood, it was him or you. 

You raised a bloodied, shaking hand and pointed it at him, delivering a blow to his chest that sent him fifty feet across the room. If you had more strength, it would have been fatal, however, it wasn’t, you were too weak for that. But you knew the others would take care of what you couldn’t. They were close, almost here, you could sense them. You could sense him. So with your last breath, you swore to the writhing man in front of you, 

“I will return one day to finish this, mark my words. You will never win, Seungri.” 

***

All of the muscles in your body were suddenly tense and on high alert as you sat bolt upright in bed, heart beating a mile a minute. You clutched at your chest, letting out a shaky breath from the gasp you had taken a few seconds ago. Slowly your breathing began to even out as your heart returned to a steady beat, however, not once did your hands stop trembling. You felt a drop of sweat run down your neck, and it was then that you realised your skin was hot and clammy.

What was that? It was so...real.

You pushed back the now suffocating covers from your legs before swinging them onto the floor which was cool against your skin, making your way over to the window to let some air in. The room felt stale and you couldn’t stand it. As the refreshing breeze hit your skin, you sighed in relief, finally feeling like you had regained some clarity to your jumbled haze of thoughts. 

God, you probably looked a mess, you thought. That was just about the worst night’s rest you’ve had yet, and you’ve had some pretty bad ones recently.

You rubbed the tiredness from your eyes for a long time until stars began swirling beneath your eyelids, and you thanked the heavens for the day off you had today. An accident such as the one that had occurred only yesterday was definitely not something you wanted to repeat. And despite the still warm flush across your skin you felt a cold shiver at the thought. 

You relinquished one hand to feel for the chair in your bedroom, and you dropped yourself into it once you had found it, but not before stubbing your toe in your stumbling. 

“Definitely not a morning person…” you grumbled to yourself as you rubbed the tender appendage . Your other hand finally stilled and dropped from your face onto the desk below, and you waited a moment until the blurriness subsided to assess your horrendous appearance. You blinked a few times, and then gasped at what you saw.

Your entire mirror on your vanity was cracked, nearly every inch shattered in glinting lines like a spider’s web, and you found yourself blinking even more in utter confusion. How? You had woken multiple times during the night tossing and turning before falling asleep, only to have your dreams sundered into a chilling nightmare, and the mirror was perfectly fine each time you had stared into it awaiting the tresses of sleep. Surely there was some kind of scientific explanation to this, after all...it was an old mirror. However, there was a tiny thought tugging at the back of your mind, telling you it was exactly what you thought it was.

A rapt knocking at your door snapped you out of your wandering thoughts, causing you to tear your eyes away from the broken glass. “It’s open!” You called out to your roommate. Less than a second later the door was flung open, and you took in the suitcase sitting next to Isabella. 

“You’re up, finally! I came in here earlier hoping to see myself off while last minute packing but you were out cold. You were sleeping like the dead,” she teased. Her particular choice of wording made you flinch slightly, however, she was too busy checking the time to notice.

“Right, sorry, where are you going again? All the university students have holidays now, don’t they?” You frowned, realising your mind had really been elsewhere the last few days causing you to forget things such as this.  The younger students were all free for a few weeks, which was precisely why you weren’t working today.

“Uh huh, I’m off to the coast for a...family thing,” Isabella said glancing back at her phone once again, before rushing towards you and engulfing your frame in an attack like hug. “But I have to go like...now cause I ordered a ride and it’s he- what happened to your mirror?!”

“Oh! I u-uh, I knocked it over earlier. It’s fine, n-no big d-deal,” you floundered, avoiding the now all too scrutinising and suspicious gaze you could feel burning into you.

“That’s strange. I didn’t hear an-” another text popping up on her phone cut her reply short. “Ah! Gotta go! But I was gonna say if you want to use my scooter while I’m away it’s all yours, I know the train sucks. Look after yourself and I’ll see you in a week!” With that, she was tossing her keys towards you and rushing out the door, overpacked suitcase in tow.  She was notorious for taking practically all of her belongings with her when she travels, and you shivered at the memory of a whole container of vitamin E cream exploding inside her suitcase. Shaking your head and laughing, you turned in your chair back to the mirror.

An unfamiliar face stared back at you, jagged and disjointed from the broken shards of glass, and you realised it wasn’t your reflection. 

It was the man from the nightclub, looking right at you. 

You gasped loudly, flinching backwards, and once again when the mirror shattered even more. Fearing that glass would find its way into your eyes, you squeezed them shut the moment you heard the cracking and splintering. There was silence hanging heavily in the air as the following seconds ticked by, and slowly your eyes pried themselves open again once you deemed it safe to do so. 

Upon seeing only your own reflection, you let out a heavy sigh of relief, tense muscles relaxing. He was definitely not someone that you fancied coming face to face with, however, at least if you did see him then perhaps you could get an explanation from him. That was the one thing that constantly plagued your mind...why? First the nightmares had come. Then you saw him, a complete stranger, and he seemed to know you. Not simply recognise, no no it was more than that, he knew you. It had you feeling like some kind of helpless little kid, afraid of the dark, seeing strangers and being constantly being left out of the loop, you understood practically nothing about this. Then things had gotten weirder, like your sudden inability to be burnt, and then the mirror? 

You needed answers, because without them you were pretty certain you’d soon go insane. Luckily you had an idea of where you just might get them.

***

So maybe you were insane. What other explanation would you have for the fact that you’d driven an hour out of the city on a borrowed scooter, face chapped from the wind, because you were looking for a road you had only seen in a dream?

For god’s sake, you weren’t even certain this road actually existed and cursed yourself for not checking beforehand, but you had a strange sense of faith in yourself as you continued onward with determination. Buildings slowly became more and more scarce, trees taking their place the more distance you covered. 

Finally you were in thick forest, and you slowed down as you were approaching a crossroads. Shit. You had no idea which way it was, left, right or straight ahead? This wasn’t part of any of the dreams you’d had, and suddenly you felt completely foolish at the idea of coming all this way only to turn around and go back home. 

Upon further inspection, you noticed the road to the left was far more unruly and overgrown, covered in branches and much less used than the other two. Shrugging, you set off down this path, trusting your gut instinct. 

After a few minutes your entire body felt like it had been doused in cold water, shivers travelling from the back of your neck all the way down to the base of your spine, and as you rounded the corner you knew why. 

Out of the trees came an all too familiar, towering stone wall, topped with iron spikes that practically screamed keep out...or was it to keep something in? Oh God, you thought to yourself. Perhaps this was a waste of time after all, there was no way you were going to scale that wall. The closer you got, the more your neck craned backwards to look up at the top, and slowly you felt your earlier sense of hope ebb away. 

Suddenly you remember that further along the road there might be a gate, if it was locked then you weren’t sure what else you could do, but you had to at least try. You increased your speed with renewed fervour, not quite deplenished of hope just yet. Beyond that wall were the answers you were seeking, you were sure of it, but you also couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that there was more awaiting you there.

As the tall, ominous iron gate came into view, your excitement and hope grew within you, you were so close. Deciding the scooter was safer situated underneath a tree, hidden away, you veered off and parked it before taking a deep breath in preparation of braving the entrance. Now that it was right in front of you, the intimidation set in hard. You’d been so desperate to find out what the hell was going on with you, that you hadn’t really thought about what your answer might actually be. About what was actually behind the gate. Regardless of whatever awaited, you still put one foot in front of the other, speeding up your steps as rain began to pour.

“Just what I needed right now,” you grumbled to yourself, tugging the hood of your jacket up over your head before your hair got drenched. Before too long you were under the shelter of the stone arch that covered the entrance, solid dark bars right in front of you. You swallowed your nerves, as it was time to find out if you could actually get in or not. Looking at the metal latch which was very likely locked tight, you decided to bite the bullet and reached out to test it.

However, before you had even touched it, the right side of the gate unlatched and slowly swung open with a protesting groan. Momentarily you stood on the spot, shocked. “Huh, just what I needed right now,” you remarked. 

The long driveway that stretched out before you was lined either side with lush lawns and gardens, however, it seemed totally deserted. Cautiously you moved forward after you were certain nobody was around, looking up at the impressive building. Whoever owner this must be very wealthy, but that’s not why you were here. For a place this big, surely there had to be someone around? If it weren’t for the immaculately kept garden, you’d assume this place was deserted. 

Right as the thought passed through your mind, several men dressed head to toe in black rounded the corner, patrolling the grounds and your eyes fell to the rather large guns they were holding. You ducked behind a hedge before any of them could spot you, because if they did they had no idea who you were and would probably shoot at you. Great. You were just a random girl who’d waltzed in here, about to start making all sorts of demands and asking all sorts of crazy questions. This was a bad idea, a very bad idea. 

You glanced over to the open gate, deciding you had overstayed your welcome and it was time to leave. A couple of weird things happening was better than being turned into swiss cheese. Waiting until the finally disappeared from view, you deemed it safe to quickly  make your way back toward the still open gate. 

You didn’t make it very far before someone grabbed your arm roughly, and you yelped in panic as you were shoved face down into the grass.

“What are you?” Someone demanded harshly, still pinning your hands behind you painfully.

“What? I-I’m (Y/N), I was just leavi- ow!” you squirmed pathetically when the painful grip around your wrists only intensified, and a strong knee dug into the middle of your back, pushing you further into the grass. 

“I said,” the man repeated, and you froze when you felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of your head. You were in way over your head now. “What are you? I don’t care who you are. Humans can’t get in here.”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am human.” You pleaded desperately, tears starting to prickle in your eyes, both from the pain and fear.

“Oh of course, and I’m the fucking Easter Bunny. Quit lying, now what are you? Or shall we find out the hard way and see if you can heal yourself after a silver bullet in the head, hm?” He said, almost sounding bored.  After a while when no words came out of your mouth, he moved off you so he could flip you onto your back and look you in the face, pulling your hood down with an impatient growl. 

The moment your face was exposed and your eyes locked, the scowl was completely wiped from his face, only to be replaced with...surprise? He stared at you for what felt like forever, blinking in disbelief, until suddenly he stood and pulled you to your feet. 

“How?” Was all he said, shaking his head slightly. 

“I don’t know what you mean, but I really should go,” you said hurriedly, taking his inaction as an opportunity to turn and start to run for the gate life your life depended on it because, well, it did. Once again though, you were stopped. “Let me go!” You groaned, trying the peel his strong fingers off your arm as you were pulled toward the mansion, feet dragging on the grass. 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You need to come with me, so quit squirming,” was all he said, and you relented on your obviously useless attempts at getting him to release you. He lead you up the stairs toward the large front door, which he opened with one arm easily. Show off.

You gasped in awe when the two of you entered the entrance hall, and the small sound catching the attention of a blonde man leaning against a pillar. 

“Jungkook? What are you-” he stopped mid question when his eyes landed on you, widening as well. What was it about you that made everyone so surprised?

“Not now Jimin, Taehyung needs to see this. Trust me, I’m as confused as you are,” the man you now knew to be called Jungkook retorted, effectively silencing the other man called Jimin. He fell into step with the two of you as you made your way further inside, and suddenly your cheeks heated up as he walked directly beside you, staring intensely. 

Instead of looking at either of them, you settled for looking around the room as it passed, noticing expensive looking paintings and sculptures lining the various doors. This man must be very very rich indeed.  Was everything in here a work of art? Even the two men you were with were unfairly attractive, and you suddenly felt very out of place in your simple attire.

There was no time for you to prepare yourself for whatever was about to happen as you were suddenly passing through another pair of doors at the top of the marble stairs, and being led into another long room. You peeked around Jungkook to see a number of people standing around a table at the end of the room, up a few more stairs, in the middle of a heated discussion.

“Taehyung,” Jungkook said loudly, causing them to all fall silent. Your eyes fell on the man closest to you and you shivered at the sight of him. His back was turned to you, and upon hearing him interrupt all the muscles in his body went taunt. Slowly he turned, and your heart began hammering away in your chest, he was probably the most breathtaking man you’d ever seen in your life. Also the most intimidating. 

He had an expression of mild discontentment on his face, opening his mouth the begin questioning Jungkook for the reason of his disturbance. Before he could ask, however, the hand that was still gripping your arm pulled you forward before letting you go to stand on your own. All the anger on Taehyung’s face subsided immediately as he regarded you, melting away to be replaced with pure, raw relief and happiness. He sighed heavily, suddenly descending the stairs and moving towards you swiftly, everything else forgotten. 

Before you even realised what was happening, his warm, large hands cupped your face and he pressed his lips to yours in a desperate kiss that took your breath away and made you feel a little dizzy. After what felt like forever, he pulled away gently.

“Darling, I thought I’d lost you forever.”

Tag list: @self-righteous-dumbass @sugasheart @jessilliam-caronday @yikesskaina @wonzigyumin @diorluvs @xxqueenwxtchxx @irissilujm @sweetcrvture @mrcleanheichou @youtube-obsessed-duh @sarahkriswugirl @bangtanlove16

[linneawritesstories]

My Home is my Castle

Based on a prompt by @givethispromptatry​

“Are you sure you wish to live here?” His guide frowned up at the gray stone before them. “This place is said to be full of ghouls and demons.”

“Oh, yes! I’ve always wanted roommates!” He laughed and patted the man’s shoulder as he took his first steps up the castle’s cobblestone walkway.

There are a variety of ways to get a fresh start. Purchasing a purported haunted, cursed castle off a Craiglist ad for cheap was not a common one, but it would work well enough for him.

His guide met him at the local gas station, the only one in the area. Colby stepped out of his truck to shake the man’s hand and learned that his name was Edward. Call him Ed.

Now, Ed was born in this little town and lived there for the entirety of his 55 years. “It’s a bit out of the way,” he warned, pointing out the castle on a map for Colby.

“That’s all right,” Colby replied. He’d known that when he bought the place, though today would be the first time he saw it in person. There had been little effort in the ad to disguise the disrepair it was in, so his expectations were low.

Ed grunted and chewed on his lip. “It’s up a long, winding road. Ain’t no phone service up there, so won’t be anybody to help you if you need it.”

Read on my website, or click below to read more!

Colby shrugged.

Ed sighed and climbed into his own truck, motioning for Colby to follow him. The progress was slow. The road was long and twisty, made of dirt softened by the recent rain. Ed was cautious, and three times they had to stop to pull branches and felled logs out of the road. Colby noticed the way Ed’s eyes darted to the tree line as they worked together to roll a log to the side. Colby recognized it, that edge of fear. The fear of someone who doesn’t know what is out there but suspects he would not like it.

Ed was quick to get back into his truck.

The lights of the town had long since disappeared behind them. This deep, the trees seemed like impenetrable walls on either side, blocking out the watery sunlight. Without warning, the road opened up after a turn. The trees fell away behind them and they were rolling over tall, thick grass that spread out to either side and devoured the road. This was the first of the castle’s defences, meant in the old days to keep enemy soldiers from sneaking up to the castle walls undetected and depriving them of cover.

And there was the castle.

It was small, as castles went. But a small castle still made for a large house. The advertisement said that there were seven bedrooms, plus an additional, smaller room that could be used as a bedroom or an office. There was a dining room, a small ball room, a kitchen, and several primitive bathrooms. However, there had been no actual photos of the interior provided, so Colby would be walking into a surprise.

He parked his truck next to Ed’s in a spot where the grass was shorter and patchier. There was no proper parking area, as the place had been abandoned for so long.

Colby hopped to the ground without bothering to lock the truck. If what he’d heard was right, nobody would come near the castle. It was in no danger of being stolen. Unless, of course, the faeries made off with it.

But that was silly.

Faeries couldn’t drive.

Ed hovered near his truck, trying to appear casual by leaning his arm against the side. But his arm was tense, and there was a sheen of sweat over his bald head. The fear rolled off him.

He had been the only person willing to escort Colby to the property. Even the realtor hadn’t been able to hide her distaste for the place. “There’s just something about it,” she'd said over the phone, and Colby could hear the shudder in her voice. “It’s eerie. I’m not surprised people think it’s cursed. Our photographer wouldn’t even go inside.”

Colby held out his hand for Ed to shake. “Thanks for the escort,” he said, giving Ed’s meatier hand a firm squeeze. “Appreciate it.”

Ed’s dark eyes held worry. “You sure you want to live here?” he asked. He eyed the grey stone before them, from the crumbling wall that acted as a fence for what had been the outer garden to the sturdier walls that made up the main structure. “They say the place is haunted. Full of ghouls, demons, maybe vampires.”

“Do you believe in monsters?” Colby asked.

Ed shrugged and rubbed the sweat from the top of his head. “Not unless I’m standing here, I don’t. ‘Cept human ones.” He shrugged again. “But there’s something about this place that brings out the superstition in me.”

Colby laughed and went to his truck bed, lifting out a suitcase. That would get him through the night. He could unload the boxes and go shopping for supplies tomorrow - it looked like dark fell early around here, and he wasn’t eager to navigate the road on his own in the dark.

“I guess you don’t believe in monsters, seeing as you bought the place,” Ed remarked.

Colby set his suitcase by the wall and went back to pull a cat carrier out of the back of the truck. He laughed again. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he said with a grin. “I always thought it’d be kind of fun to have roommates.”

Ed eyed him as though Colby was confirming a suspicion that he wasn’t quite sane. “Well,” he said, pulling his truck door open and hesitating for another moment. “There is an apartment with a vacancy, if you change your mind.”

“Thanks, but me and Popcorn will be just fine.”

The look of judgment sent his way made him raise his eyebrows. Then he realized he was being judged for what he named his cat.

Despite the look, Ed didn’t comment. Instead, he heaved himself back into his truck with a sigh. “Well, I’ll see you around then,” he said in a tone that made it clear that he doubted he would.

“Yep. Thanks again, Ed.”

Colby watched Ed’s battered pickup pull away and disappear into the trees. Then he picked up Popcorn’s cat carrier and his suitcase and turned toward his new home. “Well, Popcorn, guess we’d better go see what we’ve got to work with.”

The situation wasn’t as dire as Colby feared. The house was wired for electricity, though it was outdated and did not work. It would be expensive but not impossible to get it rewired. Assuming, of course, he could convince any of the locals to even come out here to do it. Hm. That might be a challenge. But if it was impossible, he would get by just fine without electricity. He had done it before.

The plumbing worked, though he found a nasty surprise in one of the bathrooms. He closed the door quickly to avoid releasing the possum family into the rest of the house and made a mental note to beware of wildlife while he was looking around.

He didn’t want to let Popcorn loose to roam the house until he was sure it was sound.

He found the cleanest bedroom and stripped the bedding off the bed. He had a sleeping bag for tonight, and he could buy a new mattress and bedding tomorrow. Once he made sure there were no holes for Popcorn to escape through, he let her out of the cat carrier to explore the room.

She went straight under the bed and stayed there, which was to be expected. Just because he liked new places didn’t mean Popcorn shared his opinion.

As night fell, Colby set up candles from a box he’d found in the kitchen. There was no lighter included, but he had his own. He sat cross-legged in the centre of the big, barren bed, and he had to admit that the eerie glow cast by the dozen candles around the room gave it a creepy ambience befitting of a haunted castle. He tried to keep still, but it was hard not to squirm in excitement.

Ghouls, demons, and monsters came out at night.

He didn’t have to wait long. Old buildings like this were never silent, but the mundane creaking of wood and whistling of wind was overshadowed by loud, rapid footsteps on the upper floor.

Colby’s face split in a wide grin and he leapt from bed to floor in one smooth motion. He reached into his suitcase for his axe and darted into the hall to meet his roommates.

The dying screams of the possum family told him where to go. He darted through the open doorway to find the creature crouched on the floor, blood dripping from its teeth as it gulped down chunks of possum.

Colby paused in the doorway and leaned on his axe. “Hey there, roomie!” he said as the creature’s head whipped toward him. Hm. His research hadn’t indicated that a werewolf had taken up residence, and yet here one was, glowing amber eyes, bristling grey fur, and long dripping snout and all.

Werewolves weren’t solitary, but Colby didn’t smell any other wolves nearby. A wolf without a pack had nobody to keep it sane.

Too bad, Colby thought. He brought the axe up as the werewolf gathered itself and lunged for his throat. There was nothing human in its eyes. Putting it down was the most humane thing to do.

He severed its head with a thwack, making an expression of distaste as the head thumped to the floor and rolled.

It was normal for a werewolf to regain human shape upon death. This one did not, which confirmed for Colby that it was beyond saving. Too bad. Werewolves had strong family values and made good company.

He smelled rather than heard the approach of his next potential roommate. He glanced back at the hallway to find it empty. Good thing he thought to look up.

Colby braced the now bloody axe on his shoulder as he smiled at the woman clinging to the ceiling. Her pale, bloodless face and dark eyes betrayed nothing but curiosity. Her teeth were almost as sharp as his own, but he had more of them. “Huh, a vampire an a werewolf in the same space,” he commented, looking between her and the crumpled body in the room behind him. “That’s a first.”

The woman’s beautiful, lifeless face took on a pout. “I was here first,” she said. “He was an invader.”

“I see.” He tilted his head. “Don’t vampires need to be invited in?”

She hissed in annoyance. “I was, a long time ago. As long as I don’t leave, I can stay without invitation from the new owner.” She eyed him. “You are the new owner, are you not?”

“That’s right. You’ve got good ears, to hear that even though no one will set foot in the place.”

She shrugged.

Colby drummed his fingers on the handle of his axe and eyed the vampire thoughtfully. He’d told Ed the truth - he did think it would be kind of fun to have a roommate. Life got lonely when you were immortal. Maybe she thought the same. Or maybe she was waiting for him to turn his back so that she could eat him. Never could tell with vampires.

He pointed the axe at her. “I don’t mind if you stay, but it’s gotta be on my terms. No trying to eat me or any guests I bring by, or I’ll chop your head off like I did your friend over there.” He pointed at the bloody corpse with the axe.

She hissed at him again. “He was not my friend,” she said, insulted. “I planned to eat him, but you got here first.”

“I see.” He waved for her to go ahead. “By all means. Just clean up when you’re done.” Would save him from having to do it.

The vampire looked wary, but she dropped to the floor. She was formless and silent, which explained how she had snuck up on him earlier.

It was the scent of blood and dust that gave her away. All vampires smelled like that.

“You got a name?” he asked as she picked her way around him.

She hesitated before answering. “Lois. And you?”

“Call me Colby.”

“It’s not your name?” she asked. It must have been the phrasing that caught her attention.

Colby shrugged. “I’ve had a few names.” He glanced away as Lois knelt next to the fallen werewolf. He wasn’t squeamish, exactly, but there was something about watching a vampire lick blood from the stump where a head should be that turned the stomach.

“I suppose the cat is yours?” Lois asked.

She could smell Popcorn, either on him or in the halls when he’d carried her up. “Yep, and don’t you eat her,” Colby warned.

She rolled her eyes. “Tell that to the ghoul.”

“Where can I find him?”

"Attic, usually, though he may have come out for the kitty.” She paused, then answered his unspoken question with reluctance. “I’ve claimed the basement.”

“And the demon?” he asked. He was already moving down the hallway. Despite his attitude, he was worried about Popcorn.

Her eyes narrowed, but he didn’t feel the need to explain that he could smell smoke and sulphur clinging to the air, telltale signs that there had been demons about.

Lois’ lips moved as though in a sigh, but it was all pantomime. Her lungs were long since dead and could not longer draw in air. “He crawls down the chimney every couple days. We’re kind of... seeing each other.”

“Gotcha,” he said, though he could’ve done without the mental images drawn by that last bit of information. “Enjoy your meal, Lois.”

He could hear her slurping as he walked back to his room.

The ghoul hadn’t managed to gain entry, but it was clawing ineffectually at the protection spell Colby had placed upon the door.

“Excuse me, sir, but that is my room,” Colby said. As he spoke, the ghoul turned its head toward him. It had sunken pits instead of eyes, but Colby still got the impression that it was looking him over. It leaned in closer - it had to be about seven feet tall, its limbs elongated and gaunt. But he felt no hostility, so he allowed its inspection without complaint.

“Who?” it asked in a garbled voice.

“Colby. I own this place now,” Colby replied.

“Live... here?”

“Yep.”

“I live here.”

Colby smiled. “No problem. Just don’t bother my cat, and I won’t bother you,” he said. He had no intention of kicking out any of the inhabitants that weren’t inclined to kill him.

The ghoul looked at Colby, then at the door. It seemed to sigh. “Understood.”

“Great.” Colby dared to approach in order to open the door. The ghoul took a step back to let him by and didn’t charge through the opening, which was promising. Even when Colby paused with the door partially open. “What can I call you?” he asked.

The ghoul looked at him for a long moment. Colby didn’t mind waiting for it to come up with a name it liked.

“Abe,” was what it settled on.

“All right. Good night, Abe.”

“...Good night.”

Popcorn was still hiding under the bed, which was understandable, so she didn’t come out to greet Colby as he closed the door. He flopped out on the bed with a heavy sigh. Hopefully he’d met all the castle’s inhabitants, and tomorrow he could start fixing up the place without any of them trying to kill him. He knew he was the interloper here, human ownership rights or not. He had no intention of bothering them more than necessary in the years he lived here before he moved on.

And he would move on, someday. Moving ever onward was the fate of an immortal.

If you enjoyed this story, you may also enjoy my ghost story, "Poltergeist."

[binary-colour]

Falsettos UK time

So I just went to see the UK production of Falsettos last night and kind of wanted to word vomit all my thoughts and key parts of it onto a post so that I can preserve the amazingness in my mind for as long as possible.

Basically, I’ve been obsessed with this show for a while now and it lived up to every expectation possible. The cast were incredible, the singing was outstanding and my mum sobbed solidly through the second act.

FYI - we had the male cover Matthew McKenna as Whizzer (I was a bit worried at first but he was incredible)

This is v v long so read at own risk ig. Also, spoilers!

Four Jews was portraying Jason’s birth (like, the ‘slavery’ was Trina going into labour). It worked really well actually, especially for people who had no idea what the show was about (ie 90% of the audience lmao) It was also Trina in it more than Jason, but there was this hilarious bit when they did the ‘I’m Mendel!’ etc. section and Trina went ‘I’m-‘ and got cut off Also Whizzer piggybacked Jason, my heart

Tight Knit Family - as you’d expect I guess, Daniel’s voice was 👌 Also Marvin did ‘friend’ in airquotes and Whizzer did this mega eye roll lmao

Love is Blind - I guess there wasn’t much else different, just that they all stood in the photo frames when Trina sung about them which was a v nice touch ¯\_(ツ)_/

Thrill of First Love - Whizzer was,, a lot more argumentative than I expected I guess? Like, almost a bit aggressive? But overall it was great, they were so snarky and less sexual than the revival (which my asexual ass didn’t mind) apart from one reaaaach. They also had v good chemistry to say it wasn’t Oliver performing.

Marvin At The Psychiatrist - the staging was pretty similar to revival. Whizzer was watching from the top and he made all these offended faces when Marvin and Mendel were talking about him (when they said he was ‘smarmy’ he did this Offended Gay expression it was great). Then Trina started unbuttoning her shirt in Pt. 2 and Mendel got really flustered, it was wild. Everyone was dying from laughter. Also, ‘it’s queer Mr Marvin… sorry, it’s strange Mr Marvin’ deserves its own shoutout

My Father’s A Homo/Everyone Tells Jason to See A Psychiatrist - Elliot is a star, what more can I say. His voice is soo good as well. When Whizzer arrived Trina and him did this 😒 face at each other.

I’m Breaking Down - I thought no-one could come close to Stephanie’s iconic performance in the revival, but Laura rocked it. She was setting the table for Mendel coming, and it had this mega chaotic energy where she threw the bananas around and screamed ‘shIT’ when they fell onto the floor. For the ‘fulfill his needs’ bit she really aggressively ripped the top of the banana off and peeled it lmao. Also, she was drinking from the wine bottle for one of the choruses and humming, it was amazing. 

Jason’s Therapy - Jason was definitely the most mature one in this scene haha. After Mendel did his first dance sequence, Jason just put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and sighed before he said the ‘is this therapy?’ bit.  Marvin and Trina sat drinking at the side of the stage the whole time lmao. When it was the second ‘is this therapy?’ line, they both held up their glasses for the ‘yES!’. Also, for the final bit Marvin, Trina and Whizzer all came on singing into glasses and slapping their legs with plates lmao.

Marriage proposal - I saw a few people saying that this was a bit ~creepy~ rather than cute, and I guess I see what they mean? But they didn’t do the weird vampire wrist grab like the revival, so I guess that’s a plus. Trina was very confused the whole time, bless her, and for the ‘start to cry’ she was like ‘I’m not??’ and then Mendel starting blubbering. Plus, Jason sang the ‘biblical times?’ first one rather than Trina, and Marvin did this Super Sassy ‘bIbLiCaL tImEs’ that was hilarious.

Trina’s Song/March of the Falsettos - This was staged as a nightmare sequence, which brought some sense to the madness of MoTF. Like, when she woke up she continued with the song, it worked really well. I also really liked that they reenacted the wedding scene from 4 Jews as part of it, it really showed Trina’s fear that something bad would happen again.

The Chess Game - Wow, this was... intense. Whizzer was super snarky, so Marvin got mad at him pretty quickly. It was so funny though, especially when it was Whizzer saying the ‘move a pawn’ bit and he sat in his chair like Marvin and acted all stern. Marvin was drinking solidly, so when Whizzer ‘won’ and knocked over a ton of pieces he lobbed the board off stage and hit a few things. Whizzer backed off pretty quick looking scared and Marvin was apologetic until the ‘Whizzer’s supposed to make the dinner’ bit, when he got Whizzer’s suitcase and packed it for him on stage before throwing it at him.  Also, the ‘this had better come to a stop’ was targeted at the liquor bottle.

Making a home – Mendel came on with only a house plant and it got kicked out of the house anyway lmao I relate. The dog bit Jason’s chessboard rip.

The Games I Play – this was performed so well my mum almost cried. It was much softer than any other version I’ve heard and more… spoken? But the notes at the end were belted and spot on, but he still had the slight tremor like he was tearing up. Your heart really went out for Whizzer, especially as the Motel projected on the screens on his side were mirrored by the homely ones on the other.

Marvin Hits Trina – Marvin didn’t tear up the invitation but he did hit a lot of stuff. Mendel also seemed a lot less angry at him when Marvin first came in then the revival – I guess Marvin was somewhat drunk in this. He also looked MAD at Whizzer whenever he sang his bits, apart from when Whizzer chokes up a bit when he says he doesn’t love him, and you see Marvin falter a bit then before he shouts at everyone. The lights went red when he hit Trina, which really added to the effect (although they were a bit late whoops)

I Never Wanted to Love You – Jason was crying and hugging Trina after Marvin hit her, and Mendel came and surrounded them in this big ~protective dad~ way. Marvin looked genuinely sorry as well, which was nice I guess.

Father to Son – The staging of this was really simple – they were just sat on the floor centre stage face-to-face. But it was so heartfelt, and Marvin looked like he was going to cry for most of it. And at first, Jason was a bit hesitant to hug him after what happened before, but you could see how relieved Marvin was when he did.

Falsettoland – Mendel pointed at the audience for the ‘homosexuals’ and ‘mother with children’ lmao. The tiny band was the wedding ring too. Whizzer was introduced back on with ‘homosexual’ and he did this offended ‘really’ gesture it was great. No Nancy Reagan punchbag unfortunately, but the lesbians came on holding signs saying Love Is Love <3. Marvin and Trina seemed a lot more friendly in this too, which was a nice touch!

Year of the Child – Mendel was Too Scared to really disrupt the arguments haha. Trina was fierce, Marvin suggested the caterers really sheepishly and she basically bit his head off it was hilarious. And when the lesbians arrived with the food, she literally said off-mic ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ to Marvin. At the end, Jason ran off because they were all too ~excited~ and the last part of the song was spent looking for him lmao.

Miracle of Judaism – ‘Jo… what’s the name of that bitch?’ im dead

Baseball Game – Jason had a pretty good swing before Whizzer even arrived to be honest. The lesbians fully got up and yelled at the umpire it was great. Mendel got up to sing his bit, and Marvin and Trina just sort of led him to sit back down and apologised offstage. Whizzer kept teasing Marvin back about the hairline comments, and Marvin just mournfully rubbed his head like ‘I know.’ It was hilarious.

A Day in Falsettoland – Charlotte and Cordelia were the patients and they were both amazing. Mendel wasn’t even sorry about the name. Charlotte literally spat the food back onto Cordelia’s plate, she didn’t even hide it lmao. ‘Maybe in a mile I’ll be okay.’ ‘a mILE?’ Same Mendel. Also, Trina runs with weights? Raquetball worked really well to say there was such little space on stage. It was nice to see the softer side to Marvin and Whizzer’s relationship, the occasional kisses throughout the game.

Everyone Hates His Parents – it was pretty similar to the revival, except Mendel and Jason both did a mega cartwheel?! I was shocked, it was perfect. Also, Trina cried ‘you’re killing me!’ to Jason after he said he didn’t want the bar mitzvah, which made the ‘kill you mother’ verse a bit more understandable lmao. Also, Trina kept giving Marvin these ‘seriously?’ looks during that whole song.

What More Can I Say - this was so sweet, so Domestic. Marvin was like this happy puppy. Whizzer basically fell asleep reading, and Marvin was taking his glasses off and putting the book aside, it was v sweet

Something Bad is Happening - lovely singing from the lesbians, extra runs! They were So Good together. When Whizzer collapsed (it was a proper keel over too), Marvin lifted his head and shoulders into lap and sang it straight to him. It was v sweet and sad, Whizzer was crying and apologising to him :’(

Holding to the Ground - this is such a beautiful song, and Laura sounded incredible. They were setting up the set behind her, but there were sirens and a heart monitor came on when they helped Whizzer into the hospital bed.

Days like this - Marvin brought this awful cheesy card, and Whizzer just held it up to the audience like ‘what’. But he kept reading the on Trina and Mendel brought and showing it to Marvin. The Whizzer/Trina solidarity was v sweet, he kissed her cheek and things when they arrived.

Cancelling the Bar Mitzvah - Jason started properly crying into Trina who cried as well. It was so raw and emotional, you really felt their fear for what is happening. My only qualm was that they cut part out?? It’s one of my favourite lines, when Mendel sings the ‘becoming a man’ bit :s

Four Unlikely Lovers - now this was heartbreaking. Marvin went and cried at the end of the hospital bed at the beginning, and he sobbed at Whizzer’s ‘our bed’. They were really sweet though, always kissing foreheads or holding hands and things - I don’t think they let go all song. Cordelia and Charlotte also came in holding hands <3

Side note! Whizzer seemed in a lot more pain in this!! Which made me really sad 

Something Bad (reprise) - Jason was watching Charlotte sing it instead of Marvin, I guess it was almost like her preparing him for what was going to happen to his Dad too?!

You Gotta Die Sometime - this was sooo well sung, it was pretty soft and then he started breaking down at end instead of belting the note :’’( Until Jason came in and he was like ‘um where’s your parents??’

Jason’s Bar Mitzvah - it had such a nice tight-knit ( ;) ) feeling to it which was really bittersweet. Mendel came in hiding balloons v unsuccessfully behind his back. The took the photo again, which was great (although not bitter they didn’t use the camera effect in that for the line in Everyone Tells Jason to See A Psychiatrist or anything). When Jason sung the prayer, he waved away the book and stood on table v proud. Then Jason sort of beckoned Whizzer over, which made him collapse onto the floor and Jason was taken off screaming for him. It was heartbreaking.

What Would I Do - the one that finally broke me. It was so so sad, Whizzer was still alive collapsed in bed so they sung it to each other and held held hands until he flatlined at end. On stage. My God.

At the end, the rest of the family all crowded around the bed and surrounded Marvin (who was properly sobbing). Mendel blew the candle that had been lit for the Bar Mitzvah out, and the photo they took came up on screen.

So, conclusion, see this show NOW before it ends its ridiculously short run. Honestly. You won’t regret a penny.

[petrovanity]

“ for the last time, give this up. this is a bad idea. ”

“You are funny you know right? I mean one person who could understand bad ideas is you i thought that you would support it , why should I give it up? it is one idea that can exterminate our issue once and for all “  @elenaloveablekotsala​

❝        i support bad with a   purpose.   this is bad as in  stupid.      klaus will see your plan coming from a mile away.     he has your   brother ;     he knows you and your army of teenagers aren’t going to play nice.        ❞

[teamkaiforever]

BATTLE SCARS                          - PART I

Kai Parker x Reader word count: 4 343/ reading time: 16 minutes summary: Almost a decade into the future after Kai is left in a new Prison World, Reader is trying to get him back to the real world with the help of some of the most powerful witches history has ever known. *gif by me ________________________________

Having her world crash and burn before her eyes for the third time in a row these past few years was the last thing she had thought would happen. Thought hadn’t crossed her mind that it would be her friends, people she considered family, who caused it again. Especially since they knew how hard it was for her to make it through these past few years without him. A tear silently rolled down her cheek, her eyelids fluttering closed for a second. For four years every time she closed her eyes, she was right back at the wedding fiasco; his lifeless body laying on the ground before her, though his head was across the floor after Damon had killed him. A few seconds, she had only been a few seconds too late back then and it had happened again. The love of her life was back, against all odds, and she had lost him because of her friends who thought they were doing what was best for them and the people of Mystic Falls.

   ���How could you?” she opened her eyes, looking at her best friend and distant cousin Bonnie. “You know what he means to me –“

Bonnie took a few steps towards her, reaching to touch her hand but she pulled away. “I had to. Kai… he was too far gone this time. He tried to kill Lizzy and Josie and then went after Alaric –“

Lizzy and Josie, Y/N thought. Four years they had been the closest link to him she has had and now they were the reason he was gone again. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to blame them because it wasn’t their fault. “Kai never would’ve gone after them if the two idiot heroes hadn’t decided to bring him to the Armory! You are a witch, same as me. Don’t tell me you’ve never felt the magic there! Witches literally siphon it without trying. What did they think was gonna happen bringing a siphoner there?!”

     “We needed the dagger to kill Cade –“ said Bonnie.

     “And you got it! You got the freaking bone dagger! Why did you have to take Kai away and lock him up?!” Y/N jumped up to her feet, the lights all around them flickering more and more with each second. “We were leaving anyways. I was at the bar with him. I – I went to the bathroom, left him alone for 5 seconds and you—you took him away!”

     “It was for the best –“

     “Send me there.”

     “No.”

     “Please, Bonnie. I – I need to see him. One last time.” she pleaded. “I have to at least say goodbye to him.”

     “You want me to send you there so you can get him free –“

     “Bonnie –“

     “I won’t let that happen. He is where he deserves to be –“

Y/N grabbed Bonnie’s wrists. “Send me there, Bonnie Bennett –“

     “No.” he friend repeated. “There is no way I will unleash him on Earth after putting him when he should be. You are better off without him! Look at everything you’ve accomplished during those four years – you graduated college. Got a job you love. There was even this guy who seemed to be turning into something more. You have friends who care about you more than anything and then he came back –“

Y/N laughed. “Friends who care about me more than anything?” she put air quotes around the words. “Really? If that were true, I’d be in a car across the country with Kai right now. Or at least I’d have some closure after they allowed me to say goodbye this time. Oh wait – neither of you thought Kai and I deserved that! You always know best. Is that it?”

     “Please Y/N –“ he friend pleaded with him. “You have to understand why I did what I did.”

     “I understand. I understand you always saw Kai as a threat even though I know he never acted against you until you fired the first shot, wanting to leave him in 1994 when you sent Saint Damon back.” Y/N snapped, taking a step closer. “I understand that him stabbing you and leaving you there alone hurt like hell and I don’t blame you for wanting him to suffer. But what you went through is nothing compared to what he went through.”

     “Did you really just –“

     “Just listen to me and do something you should’ve done a long time ago. Put yourself in his shoes. Imagine being born in this family where everyone has powers but you. Then discovering you are something special, something that happens so rarely in the coven and instead of your family accepting you for being different… labeling you as an abomination –”

     “Y/N –“

     “–over something you have no control whatsoever in the first place! Imagine your parents deciding you are not fit to be a leader because you are different. Imagine the people who are supposed to love you no matter what replacing you with another set of twins and isolating you. I would’ve snapped. Anyone would’ve and I am in no way excusing his actions, but I understand why he did what he did.” Y/N wiped a tear from her cheek, noticing a slight change in Bonnie’s eyes.  “Now imagine being sent in a magical prison by your own family, being forced to relive the same day over and over again. Spending 18 years completely alone. Not a few months. Two whole decades!” Y/N crossed her hands on her chest, feeling tears dropping to her arms. “How do you think he felt? No PTSD from the way he was being treated? For being abandoned? No nothing?!” Y/N shook her blinked fast, trying to stop the tears. Bonnie stared at her feet for a moment and looked up at her with the same defiance as ever. “None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t fired the first shot.”

     “He murdered his siblings! It was his punishment –“

     “Spare me. Okay? Damon has done worse and at the time, you thought he had killed a pregnant woman. Yet you sent him back?!” Y/N shrugged her shoulders in confusion. “You forgave Damon for nearly killing you. Forgave him for every stupid thing he has done to you. To all of our friends. Remember when he nearly killed Caroline? When his obsession with getting Katherine back resulted in Grams dying –“

“Stop–”

“ – and all the Tomb vampires being unleashed? And Kai? What about him? He knows he has made mistakes but he tried to make up for it. Bonnie, he nearly died to try and get you out of 1994! Meaning Liv almost died. Jo almost died. Every single Gemini almost died and he was willing to risk it just to get you back to your friends! I was there! Did he get a thank you? No. Then, when he tried to make it right again and help you and tweedle Dumber, you stabbed him in the back and left him alone. You left him alone!!!”

Y/N shouted, her scream colliding with a magic blast so hard all the windows and everything made of glass shattered around them in pieces. Her anger and every single emotion she felt was more than she could control this time. To find what your heart and soul has yearned for all your life, to lose it repeatedly, get it back by some spectacular miracle, and have it taken away by people who are your family? This betrayal hurt more than she could’ve fathomed.

     “I can’t stay here.” she whispered more than herself than to Bonnie, who was just getting up from the floor. “I won’t. There is nothing left for me. Not anymore.”

      “Where are you going?” her friend asked, watching Y/N run around her spall apartment; tossing clothes in a suitcase without even looking. “Talk to me.”

Y/N glared at her. “You know where.”

     “Do you really think running away to New Orleans will fix things?”

     “I’m not running away. I am leaving behind the people who left me behind on the most important decisions about my future. The Mikaelson’s might be dysfunctional but at least they stick together no matter what.”

Bonnie ran her fingers through her hair and reached in her pocket, pulling out the Ascendant. No part of her wanted to lose her friend after all the losses they had suffered.  “You saw good in him, and there might be still some good left if he is capable of carrying for you in any way.” she thought back to what Kai had told her a little before she had left him. “I um, I’m sorry for putting you into so much pain. I’d hate to lose the only family I have left –”

Y/N’s eyes widened at the sight at the Ascendant. “Is that –“

    “The Ascendant?” Bonnie waved it before her for a second. “Yes. You are right. You both are.” she said quietly. “You deserve to at least be able to say goodbye to him this time.”

Y/N’s lips twitched for a second at the thought of seeing him again. But how does one say goodbye to the person they love the most and then leave them behind to be stuck in a magical prison for all eternity? Alone? Even when she had said she just wants to say goodbye, a part of her knew she wasn’t being honest because deep down she knew – being trapped for all eternity with him would be less of a hell-ish experience for the both of them than living her life in the real world while he is there all alone. Saying ‘yes’, being sent there… it would be her only chance to get him back. But what if her friend was tricking her? What if… she could get him out on her own?

     “Thank you, Bonnie.” she gave her friend a small smile and raised her hand in the air, pulling the Ascendant towards her with magic. A second later she muttered ‘Motus’, making Bonnie’s body fly against the wall before she fell down on the ground unconscious. Her fingers wrapped around the Ascendant and she smiled to herself, hardly being able to believe the key to getting the love of her life back was literally in her hands. “I’m gonna get you back. I promise. However long it takes.”

A FEW YEARS LATER

Y/N took a shallow breath, her lips moving almost silently as she muttered the spell while she held the Ascendant with one hand and allowed drops of her blood to fall down on it from the other. Sage burned around her, candles lit all around the small bell tower at the church where she and one of her closest friends were using as a space to practice magic in the Quarter.

It had been almost a whole decade since she left Mystic Falls behind and even though when she had arrived in New Orleans, things hadn’t been exactly how she had thought they would be, this had been the best decision she has ever made. Walking into the compound that day, she had found the Mikaelson’s in crisis and her plans to ask Freya for help, had been put on hold for a while. Though helping her friends never stopped her from trying to get Kai back.

At first she had tried on her own, again and again. Failing every single time. Later on Freya had joined her, telling her what she had known about spells resembling the Prison World spell. Years went by, barely sleeping, barely eating while she used every drop of her power to get to him. Holding onto the moments they had shared – remembering his smile, his eyes in complete detail. Making sure to retain every single imagine in her mind and not let any of the memories they had shared slip away.

As the first decade ended, a part of her felt completely shattered.  There was no sense as to why she couldn’t go to the Prison World, why she and her best friend Freya Mikaelson couldn’t find their way in despite their tireless efforts. Her blood was supposed to be enough for the spell to allow her to at least see him and get a message that she hasn’t forgotten even for a second about him or how she felt about him. But it seemed nothing worked the way it was supposed to. All those eclipses, comets… and nothing.

    “How long have you been at it this time?” Freya asked.

Y/N opened her eyes and looked at her friend, leaning against the wall. “About the same time you’ve been trying to get the Hollow out of your siblings. I just… I don’t understand –“ she glanced between her friend, who took a few steps towards her, and the Ascendant. “It’s supposed to work! I am a Bennett, sort of, but it should be enough for me to at least get a message to him. I–”

Freya took the Ascendant from her hands and left it on the table. “It’s not working because you are exhausting yourself. You need to rest, gather up your strength –“

   “I can’t!” she grabbed the Ascendant again. “Freya, I – I spent four years mourning him. Acting as if I were getting better, convincing everyone else but myself and when he came back to me and I finally felt whole again, I lost him all over again. I don’t even know if he is alive in there.”

   “He is.” her friend said reassuringly. “From what you told me, he was free from Hell before it got destroyed by your friends –“

   “They are not my friends.”

   “– and destroying the dimension shouldn’t have had any effects on him in the Prison World. He might be desiccated but other than that, he is alright. I feel it in my heart.” she smiled reassuringly. “I um, maybe we should ask Vincent for help.”

   “Vincent? You want us to ask Vincent for help about how to let out a vampire/witch hybrid out of a Prison World after he massacred his entire coven and tried to kill two little girls?”

Freya glanced at her shoes. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound like the best idea. But yes?”

Y/N rolled her eyes in frustration and sighed. “He will try and kill him – wait.” she studied her face. “All this time and you never suggested that. Why are you suggesting it now?”

   “I –“ Freya smiled nervously. “I spoke to Keelin. It’s been such a long while she I last saw her and actually could touch her, I just want to go be with her. Just for a couple of months. But I don’t want to leave you doing this alone and unprotected. New Orleans is not safe –”

Y/N’s lips curled up into a smile. “I won’t be doing this alone and I certainly wouldn’t be unprotected. I have Hayley and Hope is a phone call away. Maybe she has some wild idea about how I can get him back.”

   “Oh, Hope has wild ideas.” Freya laughed; Y/N looked at her confused. “She got suspended for helping one of the Crescent boys at the School turn into a hybrid.”

   “Yep, that would do the trick.” she laughed, her eyes widening a little. “So um, Hope is coming home?” Freya nodded; Y/N felt a spark of hope at the thought. “Maybe she overheard something or learnt something we haven’t figured out on our own –“

Freya sighed. “Y/N, I – Kai wouldn’t want you to spend your life trying to get him back. He’d want you to live it.”

    “This isn’t for me. It’s for him.” she sat at the stairs, hiding her face in her hands for a moment. “His family rejected him for being an abomination, for something he had no say about whatsoever. Sounds familiar?”

      “It does.”

      “You told me about your time with Dhalia. How you longed for a real family. He never had anyone until we met and all he ever wanted was a family too. He found that with me and I can’t abandon him. What he and I have is… something that time cannot erase. Nothing can.” she pulled out her necklace. There was only one thing on it – one of Kai’s rings, which he had given her all those years ago. As long you have this, I will always be with you. he had said. You will never lose me. I promise. “And a part of me is trapped there with him. I have to get him out. Even if it kills me –”

Freya sat next to her, putting her arm around her shoulder.  “There is nothing we wouldn’t do for the ones we love. But you need to rest, gather up your strength and tomorrow we try again. Also, I believe Hope would really want to see you.” she got up, holding out her hand. “Come on.”

    “I have some cleaning up to do here.” Y/N got up, starting to pick up her things. “I’ll catch up. Promise.”

Freya stopped at the exit, muttered an ‘okay’ and left her to pick up her stuff. Only going after her to meet up with Hope and Hayley wasn’t Y/N’s first intention. Day in, day out she had been doing everything in her power to get the love of her life back. Giving up just wasn’t in her blood, neither was waiting or patience and the constant thought of him being alone there, possibly dead, wouldn’t let her rest.

    “One more time.” she said quietly to herself, making another cut on her palm. “I can go see Hope afterwards –“

Blood dripped down the Ascendant and she started the spell allowing all her love for him to enhance her magic. Memories of the two of them together flooded her mind from all directions – his smile, his eyes; the way he always looked at her when they were alone and even when they weren’t. The feeling of his lips against hers, their bodies colliding… For a moment, she felt almost happy, then the world spun around her as she remembered how they had both been cheated out of their happy ending and she stumbled, falling on the ground.

Instinctively her hand reached towards her no doubt bleeding nose and that’s when she noticed it – the cool breeze, the street lights. She got up, took a few steps down the dark street and froze in place seeing the clock tower. Mystic Falls. Almost a decade away and she was back home, not exactly home home but close enough. Everything looked exactly the same as she had last seen it –

    “Oh my God – I did it.” she smiled to herself, feeling tears run down her cheeks. “I DID IT! I’m here –”

Y/N jumped up and down like a little kid, barely able to contain her happiness in that moment. Might’ve taken her a decade but she had done it and she was about to see him again. Kai, she smiled wider. Her footsteps echoed in the empty town as she ran down the street, and another and another quite literally running towards where she knew he’d be. Like her heart was pulling her towards him, his ring around her neck glowing brighter with every second. She wondered what he’d look like, if he had changed or not. Would he pull her into his arms and never let her go, or think she were a hallucination like the countless ones he told her he had during his time in Hell?

She turned down the street and stopped in her tracks, realizing she was standing in front of her house. Nearly a decade since the last time she had seen this place, she had almost forgotten what it looked like. The large windows with the light blue flower curtains, the lights gleaming from the inside and the figure walking around, pacing. She ran up the porch and went inside, stepping into the living room and instantly looked for him but he wasn’t there. His footsteps up the stairs echoed in the empty house and she fought the urge to go after him.

He had been all by himself for so long, it would be such a surprise for him to find her there. She could almost see the look on his face when he sees her waiting for him downstairs. Meanwhile she looked around her old house. Seeing Kai’s things there felt so right, like that’s what her life was meant to be and once again she felt her heart being ripped out of her chest at the thought how she had been so close before she had been denied all of this.

As she looked around, she couldn’t help but notice the papers covering her usually completely clear desk and the wooden box with an unlocked lock on it filled with more papers, each folded like a letter with her name written on it. All except one. Her lips curled up into a smile at the sight of Kai’s writing and her eyes widened a little seeing the date. Same date as the day in the real world, the ink still wet on the paper –

Y/N, I miss you.

It has been almost 10 years since I last saw you and just like every day since I got free from that bar Bon Bon had me chained up in, I’ve been trying to get back to you. Obviously, I am still here but I will never stop trying. Not until you are back in my arms. That is all I want; to hold you in my arms again, to tell you how much I love you and every little thing about you. Because I do. I love everything, starting with the way you crinkle your nose when you are about to tell a lie to the way you nervously run your fingers through your hair and look away when you feel anxious or nervous about something. I miss this. I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts.

There is nothing more painful that I can imagine than being without you and now… I feel like I am back in Hell, only not Cade’s hellfire version but the real Hell. A world without you. This house, your house, is the closest thing to being with you I have. It’s the only place in this God forsaken town that feels like home. That’s why I chose it and moved in, like we talked so many times. I would love waking up next to you every day, and sometimes I think that’s exactly what happens. I can almost see you smile, feel you snuggle towards me… Hear you say my name.

You are the only thing keeping me from shutting it off or trying to kill myself again – I am not entirely sure I’d come back this time, if the rules are the same. You are not even here and you are still my anchor to humanity. How is this possible? Perhaps because you are everywhere in this house. And the single hope that one day, just one day I might find my way out of here and be reunited with my heart and feel whole again is enough. For now …

God, what wouldn’t I do to see you right now for real, not just as a hallucination. To know that you are okay and you are happy, living your life. But I know you well enough to know you, my little witch, are doing everything you can to get here and get me out.

Y/N smiled through tears.

Maybe one of us will succeed. Until then, I will keep writing those letters until I find a way to send them over to you. To let you know I am… okay. I’m alive. And I love you. I haven’t stopped loving you for a second and I will love you forever regardless if we get to be together again. I will love you for all of eternity, Y/N.

     “You remember this, don’t you?” she heard her own voice, followed by her laughter. “Come on, Kai. Just one more time. You know how much I love seeing you do this. Please?”

    “Argh, you and those puppy dog eyes.” Kai said. “No. No stop it.”

    “Please?” she smiled. “For me?”

Kai sighed. “You are such a child. I just… Come here.“ Both of them laughed on the small screen, falling on the ground a moment later. “Why am I still in love with you?”

Y/N tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his lips towards hers. “Because you and I were made for each other and you love it when I am being silly – “

     “I love you. Period.” he said in sync with video-him. “I will love you forever.”

Y/N wiped the tears from her cheeks, left the letter back in it’s place and took a few steps towards him unable to find her voice. There he was, walking down the stairs with his phone in his hands, smiling at the screen though his smile was a little different than the sunshine smile she was used seeing on his face. There was happiness in it but also sadness and the weight of a broken heart. He was wearing similar clothes he had when she had last seen him – grey jeans and a dark grey t-shirt and the way he moved when he moved down the stairs towards her. No one should look that good going down the stairs, she thought, feeling her heart stop. Seeing him again, being in the same room as him… for the first time in years she felt whole again.

All this time that had passed and even though he shouldn’t have aged, and technically he hadn’t, he looked older. His hair was messy, dark circles lurked under his eyes; his skin was paler than usual and his eyes? His eyes were red and puffy as if he had been crying, filled with so much sadness and pain, her heart broke. All she wanted to do was to wrap her arms around him, heal every battle scar on his soul/heart and never let him go.

    “Kai?”

Time seemed to stop around her. Barely a heartbeat passed before he took a step towards her and walked straight through her. Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion and she turned around, trying to get his attention again when she noticed the blood dripping down from her nose and onto the carpet.  Instinctively her hand reached towards her nose and she wiped it as best as she could, trying to take a step towards him when she fell on the ground.

________________________________________ MASTERLIST- SMUT ‘17 /  MASTERLIST- SMUT ‘18 MASTERLIST- FLUFF ‘17 / MASTERLIST - FLUFF/ANGST ‘18

[momorabu]

Code Realize Playthrough - Chapter 6: Negotiated Solution

The very much delayed playthrough of Chapter 6 of Code Realize was finally completed~! This was quite a long playthrough so I’m very much sorry for the delay. (Realised that I haven’t been playing the game for almost 2 months so yikes~)

This chapter’s spotlight is on my favourite Fran (at the moment XD)~! I really like that he had alot of scenes this time as I’ve been enjoying them very much~ <3 Fran was so cool this time even though he may seem to be actually quite dangerous... O////O” Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the many sides of Fran, even if only a tiny bit was revealed. It made me even more interested to learn more about him and like him as a person~ +W+

The story started with a dream. Someone was running through the wasteland, running away from a land of corpses. It was Fran, and as he flung off his mask, he cried out wondering what had he done. Fran had seen a small child reaching out for help, but ended up dying on the spot, and knew that this hell that he was in, was created by none other than himself. Fran screamed... until he awoke from the nightmare.

(This part probably revealed abit on Fran's backstory. Poor Fran on having to carry this guilt in his heart...) 

Back to Cardia's point of view, Delacroix II had joined them and came to live in the mansion, and it had been a week since then. But both sides had yet to warm up with each other since... just before that they would still in a kill-or-be-killed situation with him ^^; As Saint had told the others that he would be helping them with the living expenses, they're not in a rush to earn money currently, but still they decided to find a source of income somehow. Cardia wanted to start a side job at home, but since she had to keep wearing her gloves, she can't do very detailed work and thus felt abit discouraged. Also, she wondered when would she be able to get rid of her body with this poison in it, thinking back to her limited past where people had attacked her and used words harshly that penetrated her heart. (Aww... Poor Cardia TWT)

During breakfast time in the morning, Impey remarked that he was glad that everyone seems to be satisfied with the breakfast he had made since he found it limiting to make them since they could only use preserved food for now (in order to cut down costs). Saint encouraged him by telling the meals were far from boring for him, but Impey wanted to provide more variety of dishes, claiming himself to be a genius chef. Saint decided to diss him that he thought that he was supposed to be a genius engineer rather than a chef ^^; Impey was worried about Van getting sick of his cooking since the latter hasn't been eating much. Van assured him that they're delicious, in fact still too delicious to the point that he still couldn't believe that Impey was the one who made them ^^; (That sounds more like an insult than a compliment ^^;) 

Saint had noticed that the decrease of Van's appetite started when Delacroix II came to the mansion and wondered whether he was worried about him. Though Cardia was worried about them too, she knew that she can't just jump into the issues that were between them, and started to guess whether it's a bad idea to invite Delacroix II to stay with them... Saint pointed out that Delacroix II did not join them for breakfast again, wondering whether he's alright, but Cardia assured him that he's eating since the plates were always clean when she went and retrieve the food she left for him. 

Just then Impey noticed that Fran was being weirdly quiet too with a serious expression, and asked him whether he had a stomach ache. Fran noticed that he was being called upon, and tried to assure the others that he's alright, but from the looks of it... it's not that convincing =w=" 

Lupin had been running around to different places so it’s sad that the other guys haven’t been seeing him much, nor he was able to join them at the table for meals frequently TWT Cardia remembered that the last time they all had a meal together was during the time they began to chase after Delacroix, which is probably quite a long while ago by now.

Seeing that everyone seems to be in low spirits, it’s up to our grand chef Impey to create a feast to make everyone happy~! Van thought it’s a good idea and wanted to cook too, but Van’s cooking skills... seems suspicious ^^;

Impey wanted to invite Delacroix to join them for the party too, and had given the name - Dora-chan~ (I know the translation was “Delly”, but I preferred the original / voiced version so shall call him Dora-chan / Dracula instead ^^;)

Suddenly, Lupin returned to everyone’s surprise, and Fran was curious on what he was up to for the past few days, to which Lupin revealed that he’s dealing with something, and managed to come up with lots of funds for them~ It was a lot of money, which Lupin said that these were his “handling fees” from stealing from the rich.

(Apparently, it’s really a large amount of money if Impey said that they could buy themselves an airship OWO”)

Of course, Cardia wanted to know whether this money was gotten honestly (since she wasn’t comfortable with capturing Dracula the last time they could earn from it ^^;). Lupin assured her and revealed that he had actually stolen the money from an evildoer, though most of the money he had already given away to the poor and only kept a small part of it for himself. Of course, this amount of money wasn’t to be spent on lavish stuff, so they better spend it more carefully in case they ran of money again ^^; 

Interestingly, Saint asked Cardia out to accompany him for some shopping in the afternoon~ OWO (I think this may be the first time I get to see Cardia spend some alone time with him +W+)

After breakfast, Cardia went to bring breakfast to Dracula, but he isn’t in his room, so in the end, she just left his breakfast by the door. Suddenly, she heard a laughter, and peeking to look outside the window, she saw Dracula laughing happily while playing with Sisi. She felt at ease after seeing that he was able to laugh, and remembered how everyone had paid attention to her when she first laughed, she thought that perhaps this was the feeling that everyone had felt the last time.

(Aww, Dora-chan is so adorable here~ ^/////^)

Cardia headed down to approach Dracula, who was still in the midst of talking to Sisi and did not notice her approaching. But after Dracula noticed her, he quickly took a step back and was cautious against her.

(It would be good if Dora-chan was always so happy and smiling like this~ >////<)

Cardia tried to have a chat with Dracula nevertheless, by talking about Sisi since Dracula seems to be quite fond of him, and answered his question about why Sisi had a mechanical leg. After knowing that humans had mistreated Sisi and made him like this, Dracula thought that humans are heartless and evils, but Cardia tried to explain to him that not all humans are bad. (Not sure how much of Cardia’s words would be absorbed by Dracula though ^^;)

Lupin turned up soon after since he was looking for Dracula earlier on, and performing a magic trick, he made a suitcase appeared, which Lupin said was a gift for Dracula. Dracula opened the suitcase and was surprised to find that it contained the treasures of the vampires which he was planning to take back. Lupin had gone through the trouble to steal them back for him since in Lupin’s words, he never stole for himself, so he decided to steal these back for Dracula since the owner of these items were making dirty money anyway~

(Lupin, you look evil when you said it like that ^^;)

Dracula asked Lupin why he is doing this for him since he could not repay him (and Cardia caught him silently accepting the suitcase by pushing it behind him with his foot ^^), and Lupin assured him that he’s not going to take the treasures back from Dracula since he already had his own “reward” by stealing other stuff from these owners (and his handling fees ^^;).

(It’s cute how Dracula blushed later on and said that he’s not going to thank Lupin for doing this XD He’s really such a tsundere ^/////^)

(Apparently, Dora-chan doesn’t like the nickname we had for him, aww~)

Dracula affirmed once again that he won’t thank them while blushing before running off, so Cardia decided to thank Lupin on his behalf~ (Dracula is seriously so adorable that I just can’t be mad at him ^^;)

In the afternoon, Cardia went with Saint on a shopping trip just as what was promised earlier on, to get groceries for the feast later on as well as other stuff which the other members had requested. 

(Saint is such a gentleman to carry all the stuff by himself, other than two apples for Cardia to carry ^^; Somehow this was part of his ego and he would like Cardia to let him have his moment of glory.)

Suddenly, Cardia was shocked by the headline shown on the newspaper - which reported on their attempt to kidnap Finis on the train and stated that the government would be stepping up on their search efforts to capture Fran since the article had portrayed him to be a violent terrorist. Saint was serious as he told Cardia that they should come up with countermeasures. And thus, they decided to head back...

But Saint started walking in the opposite direction?! Cardia was confused but Saint got close to her and whispered that they’re being followed, and guessed that the people seem to be from Twilight. He decided to let them follow them abit longer and somehow... it seems like this was the time for hands-on training according to Saint ^^;

(Okay, at least Saint will still protect Cardia if anything would happen wrongly here ^^; How reassuring~)

(Seriously I’m just randomly choosing whatever that sounds right for me ^^; Cardia’s answer sounds right to me, but...) 

(Apparently, Twilight had attacked them in the middle of the streets so the answer doesn’t work in such a scenario D: So... did I even choose the correct option? o.O)

The two of them retreated into the alleyway, with Saint teaching Cardia that sensible tactics were no longer effective if the enemy threw their common sense out of the window. They ran until they saw more Twilight soldiers in front of them blocking their way, but Saint wasn’t surprised at all as he had already suspected that they had laid a trap to lure him and Cardia away from the main street. 

Cardia was brave and told Saint to run away while she buys them some time since she still had the smoke bomb that Fran had given her in the pocket. But of course, Saint isn’t someone who would run away and desert a girl by herself. He’s confident of his combat skills anyway XD

(I thought I was supposed to feel awed by Saint instead at this time, but Cardia impressed me more instead~ She’s so cool~ XD)

However, a new presence appeared and that seems to scare the Twilight soldiers enough that they quickly retreat. And who was to appear at this time other than Sholmes~!

Cardia was cautious of him since she still remembered that Sholmes was in their way when they were planning to capture Finis. Saint’s words to Sholmes were very sarcastic, accusing him of following them... which was actually correct I’ll say XD

(Kind of feel bad for Sholmes for a moment here since it seems like Cardia doesn’t appreciate of him rescuing her =w=“)

Actually, Sholmes was very interested in Twilight and wanted to follow them, and also ended up following Cardia and Saint. He had also heard about the treasures that were said to be owned by vampires were stolen, and suspected that they were stolen by Lupin. Cardia tried to cover up for Lupin, but in Sholmes’ eyes, she was such a bad liar. 

(Sorry Saint, but Cardia is just too honest and upright as a person~ It sounds as if he’s going to teach Cardia to lie XD)

(Saint showing his gentleman side again +////+ Aww, I just like these small details of gentleman actions~ ^////^)

Seeing how defensive they were against him, Sholmes had to assure them that he doesn’t intend to do anything other than confirm the facts. Even though Sholmes told them that they won’t be enemies for now, Saint caught onto that and asked him whether that would mean that they would become enemies in the future. And turned out... Sholmes told them that they would be enemies starting tomorrow morning D: He had been requested to help the Scotland Yard and the military to capture Fran, and the government was really serious about it, that Fran might even be killed if it was necessary as decided by them. 

Sholmes’s and Lupin’s views on justice were opposites, and Sholmes had seen Lupin's acts as crimes, and even felt that chaos would be created if the mass had followed his ways. Therefore, if Sholmes had decided to seriously come after them, he was confident that he would soon uncover their location and schemes in no time, even suggesting them to leave Britain. 

(Saint, your “another option” sounds like you’re planning on just killing Sholmes D: That sounds scary ><”)

Though Lupin and Sholmes’ views on justice were different, Cardia felt that they have something in common. Saint shared her views too and felt that both Lupin and Sholmes were very responsible for their actions, and were also very confident in themselves. But... it’s best not to mention this to Lupin since he still seems sore about Sholmes after being toyed by him on the train ^^;

(From Saint’s words, Lupin’s ego seems to be pretty deflated after the train incident ><”)

By the time Cardia and Saint made it back to the mansion, it was already sunset. They talked about what that had happened to the others, and Lupin’s expression turned grim when he heard about Sholmes joining the opposition and would be capturing them. 

(Haha, it’s obvious that Lupin was very bothered and troubled that Sholmes is on the opposite side, but he doesn’t want to admit that he’s bothered by it ^^;)

(Hoho, is that so, Lupin?~ XD Poor Lupin’s ego must be shaking by now~)

The group then went onto their most important topic - Fran's wanted notice. They realised that their current location could be easily found if both the military and the Yard were actively looking for them, together with Twilight hot on their trails. Impey talked about whether they should escape from London and hide somewhere, but Lupin decided not to since it would interfere with their search for Isaac.

Suddenly, Fran proposed that he had an idea. He knew that the Twilight was specifically looking for Cardia only, and the government is not involved in that portion. Even though the Queen's guards were the ones who kidnapped her in the first place, Fran deduced that it was Finis using them for his own purposes, since after they've failed to capture her, there aren't any more investigations afterwards to look for her. This would mean that the government was only after Fran, to which Saint wondered whether Fran had wanted to turn himself in in order to divert the government's attention away from them.  

(Of course, Cardia doesn’t want to hand Fran over so easily T////T)

Cardia voiced out on her discomfort on handling Fran over, which Impey agreed with her too. But Fran assured them that he’s not surrendering himself to be captured as there’s “something” he needs to do, and what he was planning was to negotiate with the government to get them to stop chasing after them. Van had thought that the idea sounds ridiculous, but Fran assured him that he knew that they had a good chance to win this negotiation, and that would mean that they would be able to get Victoria, the Queen on their side if they succeed. 

Fran explained that the Queen had wanted certain knowledge that he has, and she feared that this knowledge would be leaked to other countries. (Apparently the knowledge that Fran knew was very important to the point that it could even turn the whole international situation around and place Britain in a difficult situation if it gets leaked out OWO”) Therefore, Fran planned to use this as a bargaining chip, to ask the Queen to guarantee their safety and freedom in exchange for not spreading the secrets to other countries. He also planned to let her know that Twilight was after them as well so that the Queen could help to restrict Finis’s actions later on. 

But, Fran would not reveal what this important knowledge was about, though Van ultimately agreed in the end. Cardia realised that this plan was not something that could be done easily, since if not, Fran would have done it a long time ago, and won’t have to resort to running away from the government instead. Fran gave a weak smile and told Cardia that she’s right, and revealed that if the Queen doesn’t agree and decided to capture Fan instead, he would end up locked up in the research lab forever and ever. Even though Lupin was worried about Fran carrying out this plan since Fran would be in the most dangerous position, but Fran insisted, saying that he didn’t want to cause trouble for them. 

Fran was serious and he cautioned the group that they would be going up against the most powerful people in the country - Queen Victoria and Finis. If they missed the opportunity to negotiate, Fran knew that they would be swallowed up their power, since Twilight, the military and the police would be closing up on them the more time had passed for them, and thus Fran felt that they had to make the first move before they catch them. He would need everyone’s help to make this operation a success and Lupin did not hesitate at all as he agreed to help him. Fran smiled as he thanked everyone for their help, but Cardia noticed that his smile seems forced.

The next night, Cardia was reviewing the emergency first aid methods and gun construction plan that both Fran and Van had taught her since she felt that she could be of help if she knew this knowledge, as they would help her to make calm decisions.  She looked out of the window and saw that Fran was in the yard, sitting there silently without moving. Cardia decided to join him, as there’s something she wanted to tell him.

When she approached Fran, he was surprised and almost dropped his book when he finally noticed Cardia was close to him. Fran gave a weak smile and said that he was deep in thought and didn’t realise that she was there. 

(Fran was surprised that Cardia was still studying late in the night, and worried that she would overwork herself. I wish someone would care for me like this too~ ^////^ Though I’m probably playing games late in the night rather than studying ^^;)

Suddenly, Cardia thanked Fran for thinking about everyone, since if his suggestion really worked out, it would guarantee safety for everyone, and then they would be able to continue on their search for Cardia’s father. But Fran showed a sad expression and said that he’s only doing this for his own safety actually. He doesn’t want to be thanked as he thought that he’s a terrible person. (Aww~ TWT)

Cardia doesn’t understand why he’s saying that and assured Fran that she had thought of him as a very respectable person since she really wants to make him smile seeing how sad he was. (I really like how these two seems to be supporting each other emotionally somehow~ ^/////^)

She started to give Fran lots of praises, saying that he’s very kind, considerate, smart and courageous. That finally made Fran showed a gentle smile as he had never heard anyone said that about him before. 

(It’s a beautiful expression, but it seems so sad at this moment as well T/////T)

In the end, Fran decided to call it a night, but he still stayed there, explaining that he still wants to sit here and think for a little longer. Cardia was still worried about him, but she knew that she should not step in any further to ask about the reason why he seems so sad, or what was he thinking... Thus she decided to stay with Fran and sit with him, even if she could not give any reason. 

(The last few moments of this scene is so cute seriously~)

After a period of time, Lupin announced that he had gotten the information he could gather for the plan. First, they would need to find a way to meet Queen Victoria if they want to negotiate with her. Cardia suggested on sending her a letter, but since the guys aren’t sure whether the letter would really get delivered to her (it might be intercepted by the messenger), they decide on another way to make themselves look strong., especially since what they would ultimately be doing was to blackmail her.

(Poor Lupin had been working overtime TWT)

So Lupin’s plan was to raid the palace and confront the Queen in person! That came as a shock to Impey as he remarked that Lupin was crazy to suggest that. However, Lupin was serious and even showed the blueprint of the palace for the rest of the group. He continued on talking about the plan and pointed out that they would be able to see her when she makes a public appearance during a knighting ceremony. There would be a large amount of the security at the event, and alot of the public would turn up to watch this ceremony. (It was also noted that Van was given the “Most Excellent Order” title at this event~)

Therefore, Lupin planned for the group to burst into the ceremony, and make the Queen promised in front of everyone that the government would not lay a finger on Fran and them anymore. Lupin was pleased with his plan and remarked that he wanted to make it a grand entrance to make everyone believe that Fran had a powerful back up +W+ He also planned to use the civilians attending the event as hostages, but Fran immediately rebutted that idea, telling him that they would become actual terrorists if they do that D: (Please don’t end up being actual criminals guys OWO”) Lupin grinned and assured Fran that he’s only doing it just to trick the Queen and “persuade” her to make their desired decision.

(Cardia is starting to doubt Lupin’s terms of “gentleman” ^^;)

The group planned to start this operation five days later, and thus started to prepare for the operation. First, they use an automobile to carry the Ornithopter into an alley near a hotel in the city for them to be used later in the plan. The Ornithopter would be used to help them land in front of Queen Victoria at the beginning of the ceremony. 

When the group began to depart for the hotel some distance from the palace, which they would stay on standby before the plan starts, Dracula was shocked that he was the only one requested to stay behind and asked to house-sit ^^; But reluctantly, he agreed to stay, since there’s no other place he could go either, and would take care of Sisi instead. Even though Cardia had the option to stay as well, she decided to go with the others since they had felt that her skills would be of good use during the plan and that she was also glad to be of help to the others. 

(Bye Bye Dora-chan, please be a good child at home~)

On the day of the plan, Cardia could hear fireworks going off while noticing Fran who was looking out of the window anxiously. It seems like the ceremony was about to start, and Fran was sure that he had to make this plan work, for everyone’s sake. Impey tried to make Fran more relaxed, and even Van voiced out that he would be coming along with Fran to help him. Cardia’s role was to stay here at the hotel and wait with Impey, as well as helping with the escape on the Ornithopter if anything happens. 

However, Lupin started to feel that something was weird since it had gotten really quiet at the hotel. There aren’t any footsteps above or below them, and it seems that they were the only ones alone in the hotel right now. 

(I’m the same as Impey, how could they even know all this just by noticing whether or not there are footsteps OWO”)

Suddenly, they heard a high-pitched mechanical squeal from outside, and soon Leonhardt’s voice rang through the hotel. He demanded the group to surrender and alarmed them to the fact that they were currently surrounded by two hundred soldiers. Saint guessed that the government must have known of their plan, which Lupin was surprised that he’s being traced since he was always so careful to cover up the traces. Van did not doubt Leonhardt’s words at all and felt that it would be trouble for them if they were really surrounded by two hundred soldiers. 

Fran announced that they would have to change their plans. He volunteered to draw the soldiers’ attention while the group get out of the hotel. If he gets caught by the army, Fran planned to tell them that he was the one who threatened the group to shelter him and act with him, so that they won’t be blamed and convicted of their actions. 

Even though Fran assured that he would be fine and he would negotiate after he had been captured...

(I just can’t let Fran sacrifice himself TWT)

When Cardia refused to let Fran sacrifice himself, Fran was shocked and remarked that this was the first time he had heard her raising her voice. The rest agreed with her too, with Van telling him that Twilight might come and snatched Fran away from the army too, and landing in Twilight’s hands would be bad news as they could hide Fran from the government and also torture him to extract information on Cardia’s whereabouts, so that might end up being bad news for the others instead.

Suddenly, Leonhardt’s voice rang once again, this time boasting that he’s going to revenge Lupin on what he had did last time. (It seems that Leonhardt was more upset about Lupin instead ^^;) Saint concluded that what they should do now was to make sure that none of them gets captured since if that happens, all of us will be placed at a risk as a consequence.

(Impey’s joke doesn’t go so well with Cardia ^^;)

Fran thanked everyone and decided that they shall just have to force their plan forward at this stage. They would split themselves into two teams - diversion team and negotiation team. The diversion team would aid to divert the enemy’s attention, while the negotiation team would take this chance to get through the guards towards the Ornithopter, which they would go straight towards the ceremony and barge in from the sky to speak with Victoria and start with the negotiation for their safety. He assured that he would help to get the diversion team out if they get caught. Even though this still sounds like a crazy plan to Impey, it’s the only choice they have right now. 

(Saint sounds overly positive about this situation ^^;)

Leonhardt got impatient since there had not been any movements from them and demanded once again for them to surrender. He obviously was pinpointing towards Lupin this time, that Lupin could sigh and wonder when did Leonhardt’s priority changes to capturing him instead ^^; 

As Van loaded his shotgun and was reaching to open the window, something flies into the room suddenly and broke the window. Cardia realised that tear gas started flowing through the entire room and the group quickly escaped from the room, but what waited for them outside the room were...

Lots and lots of soldiers! D: Lupin didn’t think that Leonhardt would be this efficient and turned out that he was right, the person who had planned for this was none other than Sholmes, who showed himself and thanked them for falling into his trap. Sholmes explained that he was hired by the government to assist them in the investigations, so that would mean that they were enemies now since Leonhardt had requested him to arrest both Fran and Lupin. Sholmes even helpfully explained how he had managed to predict Lupin’s moves based on his previous crimes, thanks to the large number of criminological statistics he had remembered in his brain. He dissed Lupin’s plan was lacking in originally as ultimately he viewed the “greatest thief of the century” as a criminal simply.

Van was about to shoot at Sholmes, but Fran grabbed the barrel and lowered it. Fran then stood forward and talked to Sholmes, telling him that he just can’t be caught at this moment. Sholmes told them that they won’t be able to escape, since all of the exits had been blocked, including the hallway, the hotel lobby and even the streets as well. Fran was not scared at all as he simply threw a test tube from his pocket at his own feet. That causes an explosion and opened up a hole in the floor as the group fell to a storey below them.

(Hehe, weirdly I’m enjoying this moment XD)

As the group ran towards the hotel’s exit, Lupin asked Fran whether what he had used just now was a bomb that explodes in direction of its impact and remarked that it would be a pretty handy gadget for him. 

(Saint looks like he’s enjoying this way too much, how can he remain so calm at this time? ^^;)

Lupin suggested that the group to continue with Fran’s plan, with him, Van and Saint being the diversion team and would handle the enemies around the hotel. (Van is suddenly not threatened by two hundred soldiers anymore OWO”) Cardia would be going with Fran, which Saint remarked that he was surprised that she agreed since he had expected that she would stay behind. 

However, their conversation was stopped suddenly due to the appearance of Twilight, who started to attack them. Van quickly defended and guessed that Twilight would have easily found out where they were by tracing the police and military. As Van was about to attack Twilight, Saint stepped forward and stopped him, saying calmly that he would take over instead. He told the others to go ahead since Van would be required to stop the army’s soldiers instead. Even though Cardia was worried about Saint, Van assured her that he would be alright since he could tell that Saint was actually highly skilled OWO” (When can we actually see Saint in actual combat though?)

The group finally reached where they had concealed the Ornithopter, and...

Met up with tons of soldiers again. (Seems like Sholmes had seen through this part of their plans yet again D:) Leonhardt finally showed himself and told Lupin to surrender. He didn’t even mention about Fran though... ^^;

(Lupin dissed exactly what I had in mind at this moment XD)

Impey was anxious and wondered what they should do, but Van was calmed as he told them that they could only do one thing since the enemies had already seen through their plans, and that would be to... defeat them by force!

(Yes, even though Van was considered a hero, he seems just like a bad guy here, which is soooo cool~! +W+)

Van shot at the army and managed to clear a path, urging the remaining of the group to run for the Ornithopter. Fran took Cardia’s hand (>////<) and together with Impey, three of them managed to get onto the Ornithopter in the end. Leonhardt did not want them to get away though and grabbed onto the side of the Ornithopter as it lifted off. The Ornithopter started to lose balance, and thus Fran had to put Leonhardt to sleep to get him off the Ornithopter, by hitting his face with a test tube ^^; Poor Leonhardt fell to sleep and fall off from the Ornithopter onto the ground (Hope he didn’t injure himself while doing that, yikes D:)

(Yeah~! Finally, they managed to head off in the end~! ^^)

As he drove the Ornithopter, Impey proudly declared that he had upgraded it to have the horsepower to carry three people compared to before. However, a military airship showed up before them in the sky and started to shoot at them. Fran was sure that the ship was Twilight’s work to prevent them from meeting the Queen, and it was without the government’s direction since they would definitely find it too dangerous to shoot at them in London where there are lots of normal civilians on the ground below. This was the time for Impey to get it together and get them through the attacks and to the Knighting Ceremony.

(Even though Fran’s pleading doesn’t work, Cardia’s works magic +W+)

Impey managed to get the group over the palace and down they crashed into the middle of the knighting ceremony.

The civilians attending the Knighting ceremony quickly noticed that Fran was there. Cardia noticed that there’s a woman standing on a stage in front them, and she was surrounded by soldiers. The woman smiled, but at the same time, she radiated so much power that Cardia could even feel that tension in the air was almost palpable. 

(Impey was pretty much sick of them facing large troops of soldiers yet again by now =w=“)

Fran wasn’t scared though and took a step towards the Queen with a determined look. He bellowed at the soldiers, warning them that it would not be wise to shoot him. Cardia noticed that he was very serious, and even his gaze was coldhearted, which was definitely not like his usual self. If Cardia had not known about Fran was like usually, she would even believe that he is an actual terrorist right now D:

Fran announced that he had planted bombs all around the ceremonial grounds, and in his hand was a radio switch that controlled their detonation. Impey noticed that the switch was a toy that Fran had requested him to make for him earlier on, and knew that the switch actually doesn’t do anything. Cardia listened to Impey’s whispers and began to worry, since if the lie was seen through, she was sure that they would end up being executed. He requested to have a word with the Queen alone, wanting the guards to stand at a distance away from them instead. 

The Queen agreed, saying that she doesn’t want to land her citizens in danger, and thus the guards retreated to a distance away, leaving just Cardia and Impey being the only ones near enough to overhear their conversation.

Queen Victoria seems really relaxed as she asked Fran when had she last met him, and that was two years ago. She smiled and remarked that she was delighted to see Fran trying so hard, and talked about how he had respected her alot two years ago, and the current him was just a spoiled puppy that won’t do what was being told. Fran was pissed and asked her how could she say that so casually after doing what she had done in the past.

Moving on, Fran told the Queen that he’s here to negotiate with her. He wanted the Queen to retracted his wanted status, guarantee his safety from now on, and also to grant him pardon for what he was doing now as well. However, the Queen was not threatened at all and told Fran that she would forgive him if he agreed to work for Britain again. But Fran was stern as he vowed to never assist the Queen again in her ambitions and thus the Queen calmly told him that the negotiation was off and he would have to die with his companions. 

Fran started to bellow at the Queen that she doesn’t have power in this situation and it was him instead. He told her that he’s prepared to release the secrets that she desired to other countries, revealing that he had given copies of this information to a number of compatriots who would release them if anything were to happen to him. Victoria started to get more interested and wondered whether it was due to the influences of his friend that changed him. 

(Taking this chance to show the Queen’s portrait in different poses~)

The Queen looked over at Cardia and asked Fran whether she was his friend too, remarking that she found Cardia had a very similar feel to Finis. That caused a reaction from Fran, which was caught by the Queen as she expressed a strong interest in Cardia instead. She told Cardia that she would want to keep her if she’s related Finis’s secret, and Impey immediately stood in front of Cardia protectively. (I think this is the only moment up to now that I actually felt Impey can be kind of manly XD)

Fran spoke to the Queen once again, warning her that he could easily burn up this entire place, but the Queen was stern and told Fran that she knew that this was a lie, saying that he can’t trick her with just a toy like that. Fran showed a surprise face, which the Queen observed and knew that she was right. That made the situation really bad for Cardia’s side D:

The Queen dissed that Fran was no good when it comes to negotiation since she’s good at it is in the politics, telling him to focus on doing research instead as a scientist. However, Fran doesn’t back down and showed a serious look instead, while Impey stepped back with Cardia.

Fran silently took out a single test tube and threatened the Queen that if he dropped this liquid explosive onto the ground, it would cause an impact that both the Queen and him would both die. 

(Cardia could see that Fran was serious about this... Oh no D:)

Worrying about Fran, Cardia broke free of Impey’s grasp and ran towards him, which gave Fran a shock as he told Cardia to get away from him. But Cardia was stern and told Fran that this isn’t the right thing to do since no one would want him to sacrifice himself. Even though Cardia was still worried about Fran’s feelings, she felt that part of her mind was calm and could understand about the current situation. What they could have now as the last bargaining chip was Fran’s information, which Fran had threatened that he would release it to other countries, but it was a lie which Cardia was worried whether the Queen would look through that as well...

But, suddenly, the Queen sighed and told Fran that she’s satisfied when she knew that Fran would definitely not become an enemy of the state. She doesn’t know whether Fran was lying about whether he would release the confidential information, but she knew that if that really happens, Britain would be over. She decided to let him off, wondering why had he decided to stay in London since he could have easily fled the country long ago, and knew that staying behind to help his comrades isn’t his only reason in doing this. Fran remained silent and stared at the Queen instead, and thus the Queen left leaving a warning to him, telling him that she would be keeping an eye on him, and he better not cross her ever again. 

The Queen announced to the public that the charges placed against Fran were all false accusations, and thus she shall proclaim his innocence and guarantee his safety. She was stern as she claimed that anyone who dared to harm him or his companions without her consent would be considered an enemy of the country. 

With that, the incident finally came to a close and the group gathered once again back at the mansion, even holding the party that had been put on hold ^^ Saint thought back to how they had gone through with such a reckless plan even though he knew that they had no choice at that time. 

Saint remarked that the members of Twilight were really going for the kill when they attacked him, while Van wasn’t pleased that Lupin had come to help him, saying that he could continue to fight them (but Lupin knew that Van was running out of ammo at that time XD). Cardia told the others that Fran was really courageous and was amazing at that time, while Fran gave a weak smile and revealed that he was actually so nervous to the point that he can’t even remember what had really happened at that time. Cardia remembered that Fran was different when he came face-to-face with the Queen and wasn’t like the usual kind Fran she had known. She went quiet as she remembered how angry and sad Fran seems to be at that time, which Fran noticed and asked her why she had suddenly become silent. 

(Seeing Fran’s worried expression is bad for my heart TWT)

Impey decided to bring up the mood again and announced that Dracula had come to join them at the party, which was really rare. Dracula blushed and said that he’s only here as it was his responsibility to care for Sisi and to ensure that he has food. 

(Yeah~ I get to see Dora-chan’s cute blushing face again~ ^^)

Cardia laughed as she noticed how similar Sisi and Dracula were when they eat and looked over at Fran. She asked him whether they could relax a little since they’re now officially protected by the order of the government, but Fran said that they still have to remain defensive since he doesn’t know when the government might turn their backs on them again. Also, Fran highly doubted that Twilight would give up on capturing Cardia, but Lupin assured him that Twilight doesn’t know where the mansion is so they won’t be able to trace them here. 

Therefore, the group finally get to focus their search for Isaac (Cardia’s father if anyone had forgotten ^^;), to which Fran told them that he actually has a promising lead. 

(Haha, when are we going to ever find Isaac? XD)

(Saint sounds like he could live for very long OWO”)

Suddenly, the group stopped talking as they were shocked to hear the doll bell rang. Fran was sure that this visitor was definitely some sort of uninvited guest, and that guest was none other than...

Sholmes~! (It’s kind of expected for him since he could easily trace them down... ^^;) He saw that the group was in the midst of a celebration and felt that he had appeared at the right time, while Lupin was shocked to see his appearance and wondered whether Sholmes had come to capture them. Sholmes assured them that he would not do that as he prefers to keep his work and private life separated, saying that since they were no longer criminals, he won’t have to arrest them anymore. 

(Weird that Sholmes came all this way just to say this... o.O)

Sholmes revealed that the Queen was openly chastising Twilight, even though this won’t be publicized, since Twilight had caused damage to London when trying to shoot Cardia and the others down, and that had angered the Queen enough to restrict Twilight’s activities for quite some time. However, Sholmes was certain that Twilight would still continue with their activities, just that they would be more subtle about it so as to avoid being tracked down by the government. 

(Van, you don’t sound embarrassed when you heard about this news XD) 

Lupin demanded to know how Sholmes had managed to find this mansion as he was very sure that he covered up his tracks. But Sholmes coolly answered that Lupin had actually left traces everywhere for him to trace XD Saint decided to invite Sholmes to the party instead, though in exchange he had to keep the location of the mansion a secret, which sounds like a bribe, Sholmes took it anyway XD

(It was all too easy that Lupin just had to diss XD)

Seeing at how Fran was laughing and no longer has the frightening seriousness or dangerous aura like how he had confronted the Queen, Cardia decided to relax and enjoy this very moment at the party with everyone else.

(Saint was very interested and wanted to visit them again, but Lupin shooed him off instead ^^; Poor Sholmes was very unwelcome here I guess ^^;) 

[ayearofpike]

The Midnight Club

Pocket Books, 1994 211 pages, 9 chapters + epilogue ISBN 0-671-87263-X LOC: PZ7.P626 Mi 1994 OCLC: 28710742 Released February 1, 1994 (per B&N)

Orphaned, riddled with tumors, and unresponsive to treatment, Ilonka Pawluk has no place to go but a hospice run by a wealthy philanthropist. She refuses to give up hope, though, and in that vein she, along with a few others, found a late-night storytelling society. It helps (or maybe it just hurts more) that she is attracted to one of the other members, by a sensation that she has known him before and for longer than either could think possible. And he feels it too. WIth him, even as they race toward death, Ilonka gains new appreciation and understanding for life.

That sounded so corny, I know. But this one is not like anything else Pike has ever written. Well, there’s the connection to Eastern mysticism through a wise elder and the concept of reincarnation. But: no monsters, no villains, no aliens, no time traveling, and no murderers (unless you count cancer or suppressed immune systems). In fact, there’s not a lot of plot going on at all. It’s just a slice-of-life narrative, even as it comes at the end of one.

I have to wonder whether Pike wrote this out of obligation to somebody he knew or met. He’s mentioned being inspired by a Pike book club in a terminal ward, but I feel like it goes deeper than that. After all, the book is dedicated to “Ilonka,” and the story kind of goes out of its way to make sure we know she’s Polish by birth, even though Ilonka moved to the US as a baby and is wholly Americanized. Unless I’m misremembering, this is only the second character Pike has written who isn’t born in America or England, and he hasn’t even gone outside the country for a new person since 1988. Why all of a sudden does origin matter so much, if he’s not making a direct nod to someone he knew? Since Pike started answering questions on Facebook, he’s talked a lot about his process, but whenever this book comes up he says it’s a longer story that needs its own post. Which I have not yet seen. So I just have to speculate.

There’s nothing really wrong with the book itself. It maybe doesn’t devote enough time to thinking about mortality, but it’s also kind of more about exploring reincarnation and what lies beyond where we are and what we know. Still, if you jumped into this expecting space vampires or murderous vengeance, you might be disappointed. It certainly isn’t anything we’ve come to expect from this dude. Basically, five characters with terminal illnesses sit around a table and tell stories until nobody is left. In order of disappearance, we’ve got:

Anya Zimmerman, who battles bone cancer and has already lost a leg to it. She tells one story here, about a girl who makes a deal with the devil to split her into two bodies so that one can drink and party and bone and be irresponsible while the other stays in school. Of course, it doesn’t work out the way she hoped — in fact, both halves spiral down and out of control — and the only way out is to kill her selves.

Sandra Cross, who has Hodgkin’s disease but otherwise doesn’t belong. Ilonka says that the others were already friends, and they let Sandra “come along for the ride” (28) when they started meeting separately. It’s revealed that she has never told a story at The Midnight Club, and she still doesn’t until one night they get drunk and her entire story is about boning a dude she just met in a park.

Kevin, the object of Ilonka’s affection, dying of leukemia. Hey, I forgot to put his last name in there — but that’s because Pike never mentions it. Another shameless self-insert? Certainly another reason for me to suspect that he’s writing a more personal story. Kevin’s ongoing story is about an angel muse who is confined to the Louvre, but leaves it and gives up his immortality when he falls in love with a human woman. Of course they don’t know how to be with each other, and they fall apart, but fate brings them back together at the end of her life, where they remember the love that they shared.

Spencer Haywood, who tells everyone he has a brain tumor. Spence’s stories are a lot more rage-against-the-machiney, with one about a disfigured war vet who snipes civilians off the Eiffel Tower and one about a young magician manipulated into murdering his school by locking the gym during a big basketball game and setting it on fire.

And finally, Ilonka, whose cancer is never specified but it’s somewhere in her abdomen. She doesn’t make up stories, she says; instead, she tells tales of her past lives. One is about a woman in Egypt whose best friend’s daughter is murdered and how they comfort each other, and the other is a girl in caste-heavy India who insists upon marrying below her grade and endures ostracism for true love. Both times, she has a strong feeling that Kevin represents the partner of her personage, but she doesn’t tell him that.

Ilonka’s story at the first session includes a bit about one character packing the dead girl’s overnight bag, which gives the other hope that her spirit came back for her things. This gets them thinking about whether there is anything after death. They make a pact that the first one who goes will try to send the others a sign, though they’re not going to specify what just in case someone pulls a trick. Ilonka actually feels a little guilty, because she’s feeling better. She’s avoiding medication and focusing on natural remedies and thinks that she’s healing, enough that she asks the hospice director to schedule an MRI. It’s kind of against the hospice rules to seek treatment beyond just pain management, but he plays along. 

Her conviction that she’s not dying isn’t enough to try to get Kevin’s girlfriend to leave him alone. She basically scares the girl off with talk of his death, and then confides in Anya that she’s worried about her motives. Anya, in turn, tells Ilonka about the only time she was in love, and the stupid mistake she made in cheating on the dude, upon which he broke a statue she was sculpting for him and walked out forever. Anya still has the statue, and she shows it to Ilonka. Spookily, the only thing that he broke was the girl’s leg — the one Anya is now missing.

The story session that night is the one with the wine, and Ilonka doesn’t enjoy drinking at all. In fact, she barely makes it back to her room before blacking out, and when she wakes Anya is dead in her bed. There are a lot of signs that she planned to die, but no way that she or the hospice director can determine she might have done it. So Ilonka goes to pack up Anya’s bathroom stuff — but it’s already gone, just like the girl in Ilonka’s story.

Ilonka doesn’t have a lot of time to worry about this, because all of a sudden this rumor starts flying around that someone was misdiagnosed and is not terminal. Since she’s the only one who’s seen a doctor recently, she knows who the lucky person has to be. She goes to tell Kevin, and then Sandra — only Sandra is packing a suitcase and singing. I told you she didn’t belong here. In fact, Ilonka’s tumors have gotten bigger and spread to other organs. So she freaks out and has to be sedated, and wakes up in her room around midnight.

And Kevin is there. He finishes telling her his story, and she confesses her love to him. And I guess part of him knows, as he’s always felt at home and relatable when Ilonka tells her stories, like it’s stirring some deep-seated memory. He says he loves her back and that they should make love right there and then. Of course neither one of them is in actual physical shape to do the dirty deed, but there’s lots of kissing and holding and sleeping (mostly implied) and then they wake up in each other’s arms and then Kevin dies.

Nothing to do now but get worse. So she does, and Spence does, and he wants to see her one more time. Which is where he confesses that he’s gay and is actually dying of AIDS and not a tumor. He talks about his lover, who has already died of the disease, which ... how old is Spence? I’m running into Pike’s timeline inconsistencies again. If he and Carl met when Spence was 15, but Carl is already dead and Spence needs a fake ID to buy wine, then this shit progressed quickly. Given the sequence of events, I’m not sure Spence should blame himself for Carl’s death, but he does — and it’s that blood on his hands that allowed him to smother Anya when she asked him to. He flat-out denies taking Anya’s stuff, though, and figures it must have been Kevin, because he’s pretty sure that Kevin saw the parallels in Ilonka’s stories before she said anything. So, not a sign, just a dude doing what he thought was right because of a literary allegory.

But then Anya’s ex shows up. Ilonka directs him to the packed box of her things, and the first thing he pulls out is the statue. Which is suddenly and mysteriously whole, like it was never broken in the first place. That’s got to be the sign, only Ilonka’s the only one alive and conscious to think so. (Spence has fallen into a coma and dies within a day.) In fact, she’s the only one Anya ever told about this guy and her regrets. Would anyone actually believe her anyway? We never find out, because Ilonka shortly follows her friends into that world beyond life.

Our epilogue shows a young space traveler named Eisokna and her new husband Karlen, off to colonize a planet in the Sirius system. She confides in him that though she loves Earth, she feels that everything is good with her and the planet and she is ready to leave. Does she know about the past lives? Who gives a shit?

I’m not sure how deeply or fully The Midnight Club really gets into the end of life actually being a rebirth. It feels like there wants to be a little bit more, only there was no way the publisher was going to let sexy-lizard-teens guy stretch out on existential metaphysics. If this really was a personal story, I can only imagine how hard Pike must have pushed to get it out, considering how different it is from everything else. Maybe he’ll actually talk more specifically about it in the not-too-distant future, like he’s been promising for six years.

[witchesofmysticfalls]

Katerina - 3

Katherine has run all night but she finally found the cottage Trevor instructed for her to got to.

"Help, please help me." Katherine begs as she rapid pounds on the door.

An old woman opens the door slightly ajar.

"Please, help me." Katherine begs the old woman, panting from all that she's run.

"I don't invite strangers into my home." Says the old woman. Katherine begs once more. "No, Trevor. He said that you'd help me." Rose is inside and overhears the conversation.

"Damn him. Always making promises I don't want to keep." Rose retorts she appears at the door. She looks at Katherine, when she saw how disheveled Katherine looked she quickly changed her tune.

"Let the girl in."

The old woman opens the door wider, and allows Katherine to enters. Rose goes over to the woman and compels her.

"Bring her water and something to eat." She orders and the woman complies.

Katherine looks at her. "You must be Rose. Thank you. Trevor said to show you this." She shows her the moonstone.

"To prove I am who I say and that you'd help me to freedom."

"You stole this from Klaus?" Rose asks shocked.

"It was to be part of the sacrifice ritual, so I grabbed it and made my escape."

"People do not escape from Klaus. Everyone who tries ends up back in his grasp and anyone who helps them dies." Rose exclaims.

Katherine continues to breath heavily. "I know the risk you bring on yourself by giving me aid."

"I'm risking nothing. At nightfall, I'll bring you back to Klaus and beg him to show us both mercy."

She catches Katherine and pushes her in an empty room.

"No! No!" Katherine yells as Rose closes the door on her.

PRESENT DAY MYSTIC FALLS

"Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus, did she?" Elena asks with an eyebrow raised. Katherine pouts. "No, but not because she had a change of heart."

ENGLAND 1492

Rose enters the room in which she is holding Katherine, with rope in her hands. Katherine lays across the bed.

"It's nightfall. Time to go." Katherine breathes in heavily which makes Rose frown, she grabs Katherines arm which covers her stomach and sees that Katherine is hurt, blood covering her dress.

"When did this happen?" Rose asks confused.

"In the woods, I tripped." Katherine lies.

Rose scoffs. "It's a lie, I would have smelled it." She finds a knife in Katherine's hand and takes it away.

"I'd rather die than go back to Klaus. Please, just let me die." Katherine begs. "If you die then Trevor dies with you." Rose tells her.

She bites her wrist and puts it to Katherine's mouth, forcing her to drink the blood. "No. No!" Katherine screams as she tries to fight Rose off but can't.

Her wounds heal, leaving Katherine in shock as Trevor arrives.

"Where is she?" Trevor demands as he barges in the room. Rose rushes over to him and leaves Katherine alone. She pushes him against the wall.

"You have set us both on the path of death. I only hope Klaus sees the honor in returning that girl to him."

"He will sacrifice her." Trevor argues.  "Then so be it!" She yells at him. "I love her, Rose." Trevor admits, making rose speechless.

"He'll kill you. He won't stop until he has all of our heads." She says, trying to reason.  "Then we shall run until we die."

They hear a noise in the room. They rush in to see what's happened and find Katherine hanging from the ceiling by a rope. Dead.

PRESENT DAY MYSTIC FALLS

"You killed yourself?!" I exclaim in shock as I sit up against the wall.

Katherine tilts her head at me. "Klaus needed a human doppelgänger. As a vampire, I was no longer any use to him."

Elena frowns. "But it didn't work. You didn't really escape, you've been running from Klaus ever since."

Katherine sighs, "I underestimated his spirit for vengeance but living in a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock." Elena looks away ill at the thought of the sacrifice.

Katherine pretends to care. "What's wrong? Afraid I'm right? You don't want to die? There's another way out."  Katherine cuts her wrist with her nail and bleeds.

"Better hurry" Katherine teases.

"Your opportunity is going, going, going and gone. I made the other choice."

ENGLAND 1492

Katherine wakes up in the cottage, gasping for air.

"What did you do, Katerina? I would have helped you live." Trevor says in pure disappointment at her.

Katherine stands up, rubbing her neck. "You would have helped me run. That was never going to be enough."

"It was enough for me."

"Do you not see, Trevor?" Rose says as she makes her way to him. "She used you to help her escape and me to turn her. Klaus will see our role in this."

"And for that I'm sorry." Katherine apologizes.

"As am I....for this." Rose says before She rushes over to Katherine with a stake but Katherine grabs the old lady and pulls her in front of herself for protection. Rose stakes the old lady on the shoulder and Katherine drinks the old lady's blood.

Katherine looks up at them both, blood on her mouth. "Please understand." "You have just signed our death sentence." Rose says.

"Better you die than I."

She throws the old lady into Trevor's arms and leaves with her new super speed.

PRESENT MYSTIC FALLS

I pace and point an accusing finger at Katherine. "Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them. Trevor just got killed." I exclaimed.

"I never thought he would last that long." Katherine comments as she opens the book. "You don't even care that you ruined their lives." Elena says.

Katherine narrows her eyes at her. "I was looking out for myself, Elena. I will always look out for myself. If you're smart, you'll do the same."

[kayliemusing]

Survey 7

1. First thing you wash in the shower?  - Hair 2. Are you more of a coffee or alcohol drinker? - Neither. Blah! 3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? - I’ve never been kissed. 4. Do you plan outfits? - No 5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?  - I’m feeling a little tired, but overall really good because I finally wrote a piece I’m proud of. It didn’t feel like pulling teeth for once.  6. Whats the closest thing to you thats red? - My blanket! 7. What would you do if you opened your door and saw a dead body?  - Scream 8. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?  - Last night I had this weird dream that I was watering brown grass and the water was making it go green. That was it. That was the dream. 9. Three of your current feelings right now? - Tired, content, proud/relieved 10. What are you craving right now? - Nothing really. I feel okay. Earlier I was craving some kind of candy. 11. Turn ons?  - Hands, jawlines, toned backs (I know it’s weird but have you seen a nice back? great eye candy), confidence, kindness, humor. 12. Turn offs? - Offensive jokes, Rude to food workers/retail workers or rude in general, arrogance 13. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? - Cabbage 14. When was the last time you cried? Why?  - This morning listening to worship music. I know it sounds tacky to other people, but I was just feeling really grateful to God at the time. 15. If you could be a superhero, who would you want to be? - I guess Wonderwoman because I like her outfit. lmao. I don’t really watch/know a lot about superheros. I watched Wonderwoman and enjoyed the movie and she’s insanely beautiful, so that’s my choice. 16. Did the one person who hurt you most in your life apologize? - No 17. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? - Lick it, how do you bite it?! It’s so cold!! 18. Favorite movie ever? - I don’t think I have favourite movies. I’m not a big movie watcher. So I have a few I like but I don’t know if I’ve ever had a favourite movie. I think closest to my favourite movie would be The Greatest Showman though or A Christmas Carol (2009) because that one makes me feel happy and content. 19. Do you like yourself? - Self love is something I struggle with the most in life. As of right now, no. I have a lot of self loathing and I don’t know why. There are things I love about myself like that I’m kind hearted and that I pay attention to small details and that I’m self aware. But I could list a million things I hate about myself, and like three things I like. 20. Have you ever met a celebrity? - No 21. Could you handle being in the military? - No way! 22. What are you listening to right now?  - I can’t listen to music while I do anything else, because I can’t multitask. So I’ve been sitting in the quiet. But I was listening to music earlier and I think I was listening to Ahay by Of Monsters and Men. 23. How many countries have you visited? - I’ve never been outside of Canada. 24. Are your parents strict?  - No, but they had boundaries and rules. 25. Would you go sky diving? - See, I like the idea but I would never go through with it so no. 26. Would you go out to eat with a stranger? - No, that’s so awkward and I’m bad at conversations that goes past “Hi, how are you?” with people I don’t know. 27. Whats on your mind right now? - Nothing for once. I guess writing, like always but mostly that I’m proud of myself for spitting something out that I really enjoyed writing. I missed that, because I���ve been struggling with my writing. 28. Is there anything you want to say to someone? - Not really.  29. Have you ever been in a castle? - No 30. Do you rent movies often?  - No 31. Whats your zodiac sign?  - P i s c e s 

32. When was the last time you had sex? - Haven’t had that yet. 33. Name five facts about yourself. - I’m a Writer, surprise surprise since I never stop talking about it on my surveys - I love Taylor Swift (another great surprise since I ranted about her yesterday) - My favourite band is Of Monsters and Men - My favourite writer is Richard Siken - I was born in March 34. Ever had a near death experience? If so, what happened? - No 35. Do you believe in karma or predestiny?  - I do believe in karma.  36. Brown or white eggs? - I think they taste the same, so both. 37. Do you own something from Hot Topic? - No 38. Ever been on a train? - Yes 39. Ever been in love? - No   40. If you were paid 1 million dollars to spend the night in a supposed haunted house, would you do it?  - Yes, because I don’t believe in ghosts 41. If you could trade places with any person living or dead, who would you trade places with? - I’d love to be Taylor Swift for a day so I could check out her house and see her kitchen, and write a kick ass song.  42. If you could shorten your life expectancy by 10 years to becopme more attractive, would you do it?  - No 43. Whom do you admire and why? - Taylor Swift. I admire her as a writer, of course, but I also admire her as a person and business woman. She’s so clever and quickwitted, and she’s so kind and generous. But also, I’ve seen how people have tried to tear her down her entire career literally for just existing and being a successful female artist and she’s always gotten back up and come back with a bang. I just love that devotion to her craft - that it’s basically stayed the same since she started: writing music. 44. What was your favorite bedtime story as a child? - I loved anything Robert Munsch 45. You’re walking down the street, you come across a burning building. A woman says her baby is trapped inside, what would you do? - I would panic first of all, but I would call 911. If it was safe enough or I thought I could make it, I would save the baby but I’m not going to deny that I would probably be panicking and too afraid to go inside. 46. If you could choose the future profession of your son or daughter, would you? - I don’t really care what they do as long as it’s not mlm. 47. What was your best experience on drugs or alcohol? - Haven’t done either. (I’ve had wine before obvs, but have never been able to stomach more than half a glass.) 48. What was your worst experience on drugs or alcohol? - Same answer as the last. 50. As your walking down the street you find a suitcase full of money sitting next to a parked car, would you take it?  - Probably not because I’m assuming it’s blood money or stolen or John Quinones is hanging out in the distance with a camera crew ready to shame me.    51. If you found that a close friend has AIDS, would you still hang out with them?  - Yes, because it’s not leprosy and it can’t jump off of them   52. In front of you are 10 pistols, 5 of which are loaded. If you survive you’d receive 100 million dollars. Would you be willing to place 1 to your head and pull the trigger? - That’s a solid nope 53. How old were you when you lost your virginity? - I haven’t yet 54. Do you believe in ghosts, werewolves or vampires?  - No, but I’ve always found werewolves fascinating. 55. If you could live forever, would you want to? - I hate the idea of dying, but I’m going to say no because I feel like living forever would be lonely and painful, and I’d like to go to heaven and live a better life there. 56. Which fictional movie character most resembles who you are? - Probably Cher from Clueless when that guy slung his arm around her shoulders. “Ugh! AS IF!”  57. If you could go back in time, which time period would you visit? - I’d like to either visit the 80′s bc I feel like they were iconic, or the 1830′s-ish because I love the detail they put into architecture and furniture. Probably would hate the Polio thing, but beggars can’t be choosers. 58. If they were to televise a live execution, would you watch it?  - No, I mostly disagree with capital punishment. Even if the person was horrendous, I don’t believe in celebrating death. 59. If you could be the president of the USA, would you be willing to do it? - No because the internet would hurt my feelings and I would cry during debates 60. If you could choose the sex of your unborn child, would you want to? - I think that would be cool, yeah. Then you could know what you’re getting.  61. Would you rather live longer or be wealthy?  - Wealthy thanks.