Disclaimer: I only own the plot and any characters you do not recognize unless otherwise specified.
Summary: Abby found him in that horrid place, Danica always after him, and his own will to resist the urge to drink quickly waning. But Vanya was the one who had saved him. She took him from that place, and nurtured him, slept in the same bed for comfort and warmth and finally fell in love with him, and forever would he be grateful for that.
"So where is this place?" asked Vanya as she leaned over Sommerfield's computer and searched the archives.
"Just outside of town, we do a clean sweep, no leftovers." Replied Abby as she strapped her favorite silver dagger inside her boot and loaded her bow with arrows.
"Okay, but you say that every time and every time there are stragglers." Replied Vanya with a shake of the head and a shrug.
"Not now Vanya, just load up." Remarked Abby as she finished suiting up and headed off to finish her play list, she was feeling a little heavy metal tonight.
Vanya sighed and exited her computer program before grabbing her favorite, and deadliest, weapons. She knew that she and Abby should get along better, they went out there and trusted each other with their lives, but their relationship just seemed to work.
"I wanna go too." Whined Zoë, Sommerfield's daughter as she saw the two passing women armed to the teeth.
"Not tonight, Fairy." Answered Vanya as she ruffled the girl's hair affectionately. She had a soft spot for the munchkin that she called Fairy, and her mother. They, along with Hedges and Dex and Abby, had become her family, even if they didn't always get along or agree.
"Boo." Grumped Zoë as she trailed the redhead.
"Fairy, stay inside." Warned Vanya as she and Abby slid into the SUV and revved the engine.
Zoë waved goodbye forlornly as she watched the large, blue vehicle pull away, taking two of her favorite people away with it.
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"So, clean sweep…" started Abby.
"No leftovers." Finished Vanya with an eye roll, Abby's love for a clean sweep was starting to annoy her, she knew that it was best for her, Abby, Dex, Sommerfield, Zoë, and the rest of the world that they took out the vamps quickly and efficiently, but sometimes there were just too many to get them all before they escaped into the sewers.
"This it?" asked Vanya as they came upon the seemingly deserted warehouse just outside of town.
"Yeah, that's it." Replied Abby with a nod as she slid her headphones into her ears and blasted the stereo. Vanya smiled to herself as she shut off the engine, grabbed her lucky pistol and the pair of deadly women walked through the dark towards the vamps.
"Where are these suckers?" asked Vanya as she and Abby stalked through the halls of the warehouse.
"Dunno, we should have found some by now." Replied Abby, the hair on the back of her neck starting to stand on end, she wasn't liking this.
"Look." Whispered Vanya, pointing towards the ceiling and Abby looked at her quizzically, not understanding what her counterpart was pointing to.
"The windows, in the day it would let in too much sunlight, they're underneath."
"Underneath, there isn't an underneath." Abby shook her head, they had just chosen the wrong warehouse, there were several within a couple of miles, and the computer had been wrong before. (Only once mind you, but still, it counted.)
"Look, trapdoor." Said Vanya in triumph, her finger pointed towards the floor this time and Abby shook her head, a small smile on her face as she followed the redhead towards the aforementioned trapdoor, Vanya seemed to see things that she always overlooked until the last minute, it was like she looked specifically for the unexpected.
Vanya jumped blindly into the dark hole in the floor, Abby following her. The pair stood stock still for a moment, in case it was a trap, but when nothing tried to attack them, they started down the corridor and then down a ladder to the real level that was lit dimly.
"Told you."
"Shut up."
They split when they reached a fork in the hall and Vanya went to the left. She kept every sense as open as she could, her hand gripping the worn handle of her lucky pistol.
She came upon a catwalk situated above a large table where several vampires sat. They were playing cards! Vanya was already annoyed, she knew that vamps tried to be like humans, but they weren't and it annoyed her to no end that they acted innocent.
She counted silently in her head…eight…enough for her to get into trouble but not so many that she'd need backup. So she cocked her pistol, and leapt from the catwalk down onto the table, scattering cards and poker chips everywhere.
"Hey, miss me?"
She heard several hisses of annoyance and then gave a yelp of surprise when her legs were swept out from under her.
"Ouch, what the hell?" she growled as she rolled off the table and landed on her feet, lifting her pistol and firing off several shots. Three vamps went down in ash. But the other five were on her like a swarm of flies and she felt the sticky blood run down her neck as she hit the floor. She wasn't sure what she had been hit with, but it hurt like a mother.
She rolled onto her back and kicked the vamp off of her, firing two more shots and two more went down in ash.
"Get off me!" she shouted as she twisted and turned when the remaining vampires all grabbed her and started to rip at her.
She shot two more but the last one was obviously the eldest, yet no idiot. He hit her, tossing her into the card table and ran, he needed to warn his sister.
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Abby listened silently for any sign of her undead quarry, but found nothing. She had obviously taken the dead end and she was starting to turn around to help Vanya when she saw the light in front of her. She decided that Vanya could take care of herself and headed towards the light, bow aimed and ready.
She reached the door and very gently pushed it open. She came face to face with what she guessed were at least a dozen vampires, and all of them were ready to attack.
She shot the first three that came at her and managed to dispatch five more with her stake and a few well-aimed punches. This left her only four to deal with.
One flew at her and she tried to side-step but the bitch brought her down as well by snagging onto her wrist and Abby rolled around the floor with the undead woman, trying her best to reach her weapons and keep the vamp from biting her.
"Get…off…of…me." She growled low as she finally got a hit in and sent the vamp flying backwards into the far wall. The other three didn't pause and came after her. She dodged a few punches but received a few as well, but she had to get to that door, she just knew that there was something about it that was special.
She finally dispatched of the vamps and waited a moment to catch her breath before barging in the final door, but what she found she did not expect.
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"Oh King, baby, don't you wanna play?" purred Danica as she stalked around her very favorite plaything; a teasing smile on her lips but it didn't reach her cold eyes.
"Go to hell." Spat the man named King as he tried his best to shrink away from the woman stalking him like he was her prey. He was so tired of Danica and her games.
"Oh King." She gently ran her fingers across his scalp, and if it had been anyone else King would have reveled in the touch but since it was Danica he was revolted, her touch disgusted him.
"Don't fuckin touch me, bitch." He growled as he jerked his head away from her hands and she groaned. She hated it when he played hard to get. Her reflexes were so fast that she managed to grab the side of his head and snap it against the nearest wall before he could even grab another breath.
He swayed on the spot for a moment until he hit his knees on the hard concrete floor. Danica licked the sticky blood from her fingers.
"Now Hannibal, you should play nice." She purred as she finished his blood. King looked away, revolted. He may be a vampire, but he hadn't become one by choice and what he had to do to stay alive, the people he had hurt because the thirst always won out, his soul couldn't bear the thought.
She grabbed his head and wiped some of the blood off the wall. She held it under his sensitive nose and he tried his best to get away from it, get away from the delicious smell and what it did to him, the demons inside that it woke. But her grip was too strong, she had been feeding, but he, on the other hand, had taken only what he had to, but his soul still felt it was too much.
But the sticky red substance smelled so wonderful, it made his mouth water, and he didn't want to drink it, but the thirst would always win and before he could stop himself he ran his tongue across one of Danica's fingers.
She smiled wide at him and offered another but he pulled back, already revolted with himself and his weakness.
Danica growled low and her eyes flashed before she jumped him, shoving him to the ground with her knees, landing on top of him, she was straddling him, oblivious to the noise outside. She had him pinned and even though she was a relatively small woman, that he could have easily overpowered if he were up to full strength, he wasn't and so she was winning.
She placed the blood under his nose again, but he was determined to be stronger than the thirst and just as she started to force feed him, a large slam was heard and the door swung open.
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"Abby!" the woman in the door spun on her heel, her bow in her hands and caught sight of her partner. Vanya was perfectly all right, no one was chasing her, she was merely alerting the brunette to her presence.
"Not now Vanya." She replied as she aimed her bow right at Danica. The second woman entered the room and was enough of a distraction that Danica leapt to her feet, swung out and hit Abby, hard.
"Abby!" shouted Vanya as she looked over for reassurance that her colleague was okay before turning to a fleeing Danica and aiming a shot. Judging from the look on her face, Abby guessed that she had missed.
"You okay Whistler?" asked Vanya as she helped the other woman off the floor.
"I think so." Nodded Abby, feeling the lump on the back of her head.
"Good, we got stragglers."
"I know, I saw." Replied Abby as she fitted her bow once more and aimed it over at the man who had yet to move from his place on the floor. She pulled the arrow back, but never got a chance for release.
Vanya reached out as quickly as she could and snagged her counterpart's wrist.
"Wait."
"For what?" asked Abby, exasperated, as she turned to look over at the redhead next to her. Vanya didn't say a word, her dark eyes trained on King's still form.
"If your going to kill me," his voice gravely from misuse, rang through the room, "then just fuckin do it already, I'm damn tired of this life, if you could call it that." He had yet to move or open his eyes to see his would be murderers.
"That's what." Remarked Vanya and Abby rolled her eyes, Vanya had a gift for the odd and unforeseeable.
The redhead crept slowly towards the still man, in case it was a trap, but her heart told her it wasn't.
She reached his side and slowly reached out, when her warm skin made contact with his he hissed. She took a step back, but remained silent. She gently repeated the gesture and he melted, her skin against his felt so good, so warm, so…right. He opened his dark brown eyes and dragged them across her pretty face. She wasn't gorgeous, but she was very pretty, her eyes almond shaped and chocolate brown. Her hair was a deep auburn and shimmered, even in the dull lighting of his concrete cell. Both halves of him, human and vampire alike, were at ease with her there.
"You're coming with us, we're not going to kill you." She murmured quietly and he could swear that he had heard her wrong, he tried to tell her that having a vampire as a house guest wasn't exactly an experience that she'd want, but he couldn't get himself to protest.
She helped him sit up and then slowly stand, draping one of his arms around her shoulders. He could smell every ounce of her, the blood, the sweat, the citrus perfume, and finally something feminine and just…her. She smelled wonderful and he could feel his thirst kick in.
"Bite me, and I'll stake you." She warned, as though reading his mind and slowly, with Abby trailing behind them, they made their way through the tunnels and up the ladders and into the night.