Title: Nightmare (Ch 1 of ?)
Fandom: My Babysitter's a Vampire
Rating: Teen
Characters/Pairings: Ethan/Rory
Warnings: Uber-angst, a little orgasm, and unladylike language.
Word Count: 3,360
Summary: Rory has nightmares about the night he died. Ethan's dreams about the night end a little differently.
Notes: I do not own MBV; it is Canadian…which means it should be way gayer anyway.
The music is so loud he can feel it thrumming beneath his skin. Each thundering boom of the bass sends electric fire shooting through his nerve endings until he doesn't know where the music stop and he begins. Someone put something in his drink but he doesn't care. If he knew who he'd ask for more, because he's not the blonde kid with the dorky glasses anymore, he's molten honey. Hot, sticky, and sweet.
When the gorgeous guy with ice cold blue eyes appears out of nowhere and asks him to dance he just smiles slowly. They don't really dance, the guy leads him off the floor and deep into the house, but he still doesn't care. The guy's hand is cool against his skin, but it's okay he feels a little hot anyway.
Suddenly they're in the basement, he doesn't remember going down any stairs, but they're downstairs anyway. The guy flops into a beanbag chair and pulls Rory into his lap. One of those cool hands tugs his collar away from his neck and suddenly there's a pair of cold lips pressed to his shoulder. Man if only Ethan could see him now. The world lurches around him, jumping like film out of track. He loves Ethan. And even if Ethan doesn't really know he exists he can't just forget about him for strange guy.
"Wait, stop." The words come slowly, building up in his chest like bubbles at the bottom of well. They rise to the surface and pop, the cool lips pull away.
"Don't worry about it nerd, we're not going to make out, I'm just hungry." The words are the coldest thing yet. They slice through the enveloping warmth he's felt all night and it drains away leaving him naked. He tries to get up, get away, but everything feels so heavy and the arm around his waist is like a steel band cutting into his stomach.
Suddenly twin needles of fire stab into his shoulder. His body jolts and shudders at the sudden pain. A dry, ragged sob escapes his throat. Scalding tears well up in his eyes. The teeth don't withdraw they clamp and gnash against his skin. Somewhere under the fire he hears a sickening crunch and a wave of nausea sweeps through him as the guy bites through his collar bone.
Just like that it's over. The guy stands dumping him in the floor. A silent scream shreds his lungs as his ravaged shoulder strikes the floor. He twitches again and struggles to draw a breath. Inside his chest his heart is fluttering weakly against his ribcage like a dying bird. And then it stops. He lays there waiting for it to start again. When it doesn't he falls into darkness.
Rory wakes panting, his t-shirt plastered to his body by cold sweat. It's been nearly a year since he became a vampire, but it still seems like every time he closes his eyes the nightmare is there waiting for him, waiting for him to fall asleep. The vampire who had killed him is dead, trapped in the Cubilae Animus, but he still sees those crystalline blue eyes in his sleep.
Outside the sun has just barely began to kiss the eastern sky. Groaning he tumbles out of bed and makes his way down the hall to the bathroom. He splashes cold water in his face and looks up into the mirror. A framed picture of a wildflower meadow from the wall behind him stares back at him.
Back in his room he strips to his briefs and slathers every inch of skin with sun screen, even the narrow strip of naked scalp down the centre of his head. When he's done rubbing the lotion into his cheeks he pulls some clothes out of the closet and pulls them one without looking. He can hear his parents sleeping in their room down the hall. For a brief moment he considers knocking on their door and telling them everything. He's tired, scared, and alone. But his mind conjures a look of stark horror on his mother's face so he pushes a pair of sunglasses on his nose and moves to the window.
The sun is poking over the horizon now and the sky is painted a rosy pink. Rory hunkers on his window sill for a moment, staring out across the town of White Chapel like a fledgling gargoyle. It's going to be a beautiful day; the trees are just beginning to change colors. The air holds the barest hint of a chill that will be long gone by noon. Still he doesn't enjoy it. He can still feel that cold, empty ache in the pit of his stomach. There's only one person he's ever known who can make that feeling go away.
Reaching behind he closes the window and launches himself into the air. For the briefest moment, no more than a second, he is falling then the air catches him. The moment he's aloft he can feel the strain of flying. He hasn't fed in a few days and even then he went to bed hungry. He shouldn't even be flying but its one of the few perks to being dead so he does it anyway.
Ethan has his own nightmares.
He's inside the mansion on Edgewood. The party is over the vampires are gone. The floor is littered with plastic cups and other debris. The place is deathly silent and he has a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He watched the house for hours, even after Sarah had disappeared and Benny had gone home to sleep. But he didn't see Rory leave.
He calls his name as he searches every room. Finally he finds himself staring down into the black pit of the house's basement. Every horror movie he's ever seen tells him the basement is not somewhere he wants to be but he goes down the stairs anyway.
He stops at the bottom, his breath catches in his throat. The world lurches for him too, the film jumps the tracks. Rory is sprawled in the middle of the basement floor. A pool of blood is spread out around his head like a gory halo. His shredded shirt is a gruesome stain against his pale skin.
Ethan takes the last step into the basement and crosses the floor. He kneels at the edge of the puddle. He's breathing now but each breath trembles and shudders threatening to turn into a sob at any time. Rory's face is clean despite everything else; his hair is still soft and golden except where it hangs into the blood. He almost looks as if he were sleeping.
Ethan reaches out and brushes his fingers over Rory's cheek. He doesn't know why but he feels the need to touch him. Rory's eyes fly open, wild with terror, for a moment he struggles feebly as Ethan tries to calm him. Finally he falls still, his breath coming in harsh pants, his fear glazed eyes locked on Ethan's face. His lips are barely parted but Ethan can see the bright gleam of fangs.
Ethan reaches over and brushes the hair of Rory's face. His eyes flicker shut and his breathing slows, becomes less labored. The moment of peace lasts for mere seconds. Then he spasms and rolls onto his side curling into a fetal positions as hoarse screams tear themselves from his throat. Ethan grabs his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"My stomach is ripping itself apart." Rory manages to whimper. Ethan sits back on his heels and stares down at his friend. Its hunger pangs. Rory can't complete the transformation without human blood. If he doesn't transform he'll die. The thought process is over as soon as it begins. Ethan puts one hand on the back of Rory's neck; his fingers splayed out to cradle his head, and presses the other wrist to his mouth.
For a moment Rory doesn't react, his blue eyes stare at Ethan helplessly. Then Ethan feels his fangs sink in. The sensation is like having a soft electrical pulse driven into his skin. Without rhyme or reason the pulse shoots straight down his arm, through his chest, into his stomach and to his groin. It is so truly alien that for a moment he nearly rips his hand away from Rory's mouth but a pleased moan slips out against his skin and another jolt of electricity shoots through his body. It's like nothing else he's never felt and he wonders if this is what sex is supposed to be like or if it's something that nothing human could ever compare to.
The tingling jolts are coursing through his body one after another now and he's pretty sure his head is going to fly off. Every nerve in his body catches fire at once but the heat of the flame is concentrated in his lap. A strangled shout escapes his lips and for a moment the room disappears within a white haze
Ethan is awakened by his own shout and the buzz of pleasure that causes his muscles to clench then release into liquidity. He lies in bed panting, feeling sticky warmth oozing in his boxers. He's lost track of how many times he's had the dream since that night, the night he turned Rory into a vampire. But every time he wakes up feeling sick with a rush emotions, the forerunner being guilt.
"Are you alright, E?" Ethan stifles a scream as he sits up to find Rory sitting on his window sill. The guilt is tripled by the presence of the subject and it doesn't sit well with him.
"What are you doing in here?" He hisses throwing a pillow at Rory's face. The vampire catches it and holds it like a teddy bear wincing like a puppy who knows the kick is coming.
"I was bored." He manages to stammer, struggling to sound nonchalant.
"So you broke into my room?"
"You invited me in." Rory protests weakly. "I was going to wait outside until you got up but I heard you say my name…." The guilt comes back and squashes his irritation flat. He's only angry because he'd been caught and Rory was the last person in the world he should be yelling at.
"I'm sorry." He groans scrubbing at his face. "You scared the crap out of me."
"I was only here for like a few seconds before you woke up. I swear I was going to leave but…"
"No, really it's okay." Ethan shakes his head. "I'm going to go take a shower. Just stay here and be quiet, okay?" Rory nods quickly but he still looks kicked. Ethan doesn't have time to make any further apologies. The warmth in his shorts is growing cold rather quickly and he wants to dispose of it before Rory catches a whiff. The last thing he felt like explaining at that time of morning was why he had had a wet dream involving Rory.
The moment the door closes behind him Rory lifts the pillow he's been holding to his nose and inhales sharply. Ethan's scent floods his nostrils completely obliterating the empty feeling the nightmare always brought. He had loved Ethan before that horrible night, but now Ethan was the only thing that could make him feel okay again.
In the shower Ethan scrubs at his skin until its pink but the dream clings to his skin stubbornly. He's never told anyone about the night Rory turned, that he came while his dying friend sucked on his wrist. It's not even the fact that I was gay that bothered him, and it was totally gay, it was the fact that Rory was doing something so simple as struggling to survive and he got off on it. And even worse he kept getting off on it.
At the last moment Ethan realizes he hasn't brought any clothes with him into the bathroom. Groaning he wraps the towel around his waist and stares at the bathroom door. Before that night he didn't mind being naked around Rory. He didn't make a habit of it. But if Rory was in the room when he needed to change his clothes he didn't make a big deal about it. But now, now things were different. They had experienced something so intimate together that Ethan felt overexposed unless he was fully clothed in the vampire's presence. Something that he wasn't even sure Rory remembered.
When he opens the bedroom door Rory is still sitting in the window, the sun has climbed higher in the sky and it throws light down on the crown of the vampires head. His hair is bathed in luminescent gold, each strand shimmering with its own inner light. Ethan pauses just inside the doorway and stares his heart thundering against his chest. It isn't the first time it's happened. It happens all the time. Suddenly he'll look at Rory and the boy is transformed, his awkwardness burned away to reveal a radiant creature. Each time it happens a curious warmth squeezes his chest tightly.
Ethan's fingers twitch at his side, itching to reach out and rake through the soft flow of Rory's hair. He shakes his head and clenches his fist so tightly his nails dig painfully into his palm. He can only describe it as a disturbance in the force, a snag in the fabric of his life that he doesn't fully understand and is too frightened to explore. He carefully keeps his eyes on the floor as he crossed the room to grab a pair of boxers out of his dresser.
"You've changed your body wash." Rory comments idly. Ethan jumps dropping the boxers back into the drawer.
"Um…yeah." He says retreating to the safety of his closet. He closes himself inside it before he drops the towel and begins to pull the clean boxers up his legs. "Hatchet came out with a new chocolate scent. I was kind of worried it would make me smell like food. Do I smell like food to you?"
"You always smell like food to me." Rory replies. Ethan stops with his pants unbuttoned around his hips and stares at the closet door. In the mirror his reflection blushes, the furious red spreading from his cheeks to his chest. "It smells good though." Ethan shakes himself and buttons the jeans then grabs a t-shirt off the hanger and pulls it forcibly over his head.
"So how did you get bored at six in the morning?" Ethan asks as he opens the closet and steps out. Rory's still sitting in the window but the sun has fallen behind a cloud and he no longer seems like a creature formed of molten gold and ivory, still the strange squeezing warmth refuses to leave its nest within Ethan's ribs.
"I was…I had…." Rory stammers Ethan's pillow is still clutched tightly to his chest. "I had a bad dream." He finally admits sighing.
"Oh." Ethan's voice is soft. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really. I'd kind of like to forget it ever happened." Rory says shaking his head.
"Well, I was thinking of working on my powers today. Do you want to help?" Rory stares at him for a moment, his expression unreadable, then smiling he sets the pillow aside and nods. Ethan grins. "Alright I've been reading about it on the internet and what I can do is called telemetry." He explains sitting down on the edge of his bed. "All I have to do is touch something and I get a psychic impression about it. The only problem is it doesn't work all the time." He says sighing. "I think if I practice I can get better at it, maybe even start to unlock other powers."
"Cool." Rory says grinning. "What do I do?"
"Well I've really only had my stuff to work with and I never can tell if I'm picking up and impression or just remembering something. I thought maybe I could use something of yours." Rory suddenly looks uncomfortable but after a moment of silence he unclasps his watch from his wrist and hands it to Ethan.
Ethan takes the watch and holds it in his hands, focusing on the feeling of the cool metal against his fingers. For a moment nothing happens, he tightens his focus and rubs his thumb across the smooth quartz of the watch face. Suddenly the world pulls away, his stomach plummeting at the sudden sense of vertigo.
When the world settles back around him he's standing in a bathroom. Rory is huddled over the toilet sobbing quietly; the water is cloudy and pink. Ethan's stomach plummets again as he realizes where he is, when he is. He struggled against the vision but he's stuck tight, trapped in the aftermath of Rory's transformation.
He hears the creak of a footstep at the top of the stairs in the other room. Rory spins around to face the bathroom door. His face is tearstained, his eyes wide with panic. Turning he huddles in the space between the wall and toilet, making himself impossibly small. Ethan feels his panic and looks for a place to hide but when he reaches out to touch the bathroom door his hand goes through it. He's a ghost in a memory.
"This should be the last one." A voice accompanies the sound of footfalls on the stairs. Rory whimpers and Ethan turns to look at him. His bottom lip is trembling and his pupils have spiraled down to pin pricks. Ethan wants to go over and touch him, comfort him. But he can't.
"You think he's still alive?"
"No way, I drank the little runt dry." Fire erupts in Ethan's stomach and he walks through the wall into the other room. This is the vampire the killed Rory. "Jesse said not to even bother feeding him; he's too pathetic to turn." Ethan stops, shock stealing the fire. He knows that Rory is in the other room listening. Turning he goes back into the bathroom. Rory is still wedged in the corner but now his hands are pressed against his face, his shoulders shake. "He's not here."
"Maybe someone already threw him out?"
"I guess. I didn't want to touch him again anyway. He cried like a little bitch the whole time." The vampire chuckles, the vision glitches as Ethan's pulse speeds. He turns and runs into the room with the vampires. They're frozen suspended in time.
"He wasn't just some little snack for you to throw away when you were done. He's my friend." Ethan rushes forward and tries to push the vampire but he goes right through. Spinning he glares at the creature that murdered Rory. Recognition dawns on him. He remembers this guy. During the week around Rory's death he had killed so many vampires it was hard to keep track of them all. But now that he's standing face to face he remembers this one, remembers shoving a sharpened pencil through his chests, remembers watching the look of shock as fire consumed him from within. Satisfaction stole some of the edge from his anger. Ethan walks around and gets in the vampire's face.
"I killed you. You're dead and he'll live forever. Who's pathetic now?" The vision flickers and fades. The world falls away again before coalescing into Ethan's room. Rory's watch falls from his nerveless fingers clattering against the floor. He stares down at the watch for a moment then looks up to Rory. But the window sill is empty.
A/N: I haven't really felt like I was doing Animal justice for a while now. In my head it is a thing of epic beauty, but what I've been posting feels half finished, incomplete. So I'm giving it another go because I think the story in my head is worth telling. So over the next few days the old chapters are going to disappear and new chapters will pop up as a finish them. I hope I am able to keep enough of what you loved about the old story and make it even better.