~THIS IS NOT A RILEY-CENTRIC STORY, IT WAS JUST THE BEST SUMMARY I COULD COME UP WITH- the story will have several main characters~
Hi guys! So, this is something I've been working on religiously for a few weeks now. I'm a bit ahead with the chapters on this, so hopefully updates won't be too slow! This is my highest priority story for the time being, probably until it's completely finished. This started out as a long oneshot, but I kept getting ideas and it turned into a full-on chapter fic so hollaaaaa
A/N: I am NOT revealing the pairings for this until it's revealed in the story. I'm hoping the readers are open to more than one ship, but if you genuinely don't want to read this without knowing who the endgames are, feel free to message me and I'll gladly tell you what the end pairings are going to be. :) I will say that there will be snippets/moments between several pairings throughout the story. All that being said, please enjoy the first chapter of see my castle may be haunted, but i'm terrified of you
Disclaimer: the plot of GMW would honestly be so angsty and hectic if I owned it why would anyone do that to us
see my castle may be haunted, but i'm terrified of you
Maya met Riley at a Starbucks.
Riley was the cute barista who drew little hearts next to Maya's name on her triple-shot white mocha, and Maya was the girl who wore a leather jacket and stilettos and shamelessly flirted with Riley. She had come in almost every night for six months, and Riley was always there, ready with her total before they even exchanged words.
On this particular Tuesday evening, Maya strolled in hours later than usual (sans the leather jacket and heels) wearing a simple black pullover, dark grey leggings, and plain canvas tennis shoes. Her hair was loosely braided to the side, with a mess of stray pieces hanging wildly around her face, which was even paler than usual. And, most noticeably, she had dark bags under her eyes, which also seemed a much darker shade of blue than they normally were. Riley noticed all of this immediately, and concern instantly clouded her features. She frowned noticeably as the blonde approached the counter.
Maya watched as Riley's bottom lip poked out in a pout, raising an eyebrow and looking down at herself, then back up at the brunette.
"I'm sick," she deadpanned with a shrug. Riley's lip jutted out even further in response.
"Aw, peaches, why are you here? Not that I don't love seeing your face every night," she clarified with a shy smile, "but don't you have coffee at home?"
"Trying to get rid of me already?" This time, Maya stuck out her lower lip in a fake pout, causing Riley to break out in a grin.
"Of course not!" she replied instantly. "You just don't look as... fierce as you usually do, I guess. Your fierceness levels are critically low, Maya!" Riley giggled at herself.
Maya rolled her eyes, but couldn't resist the smile that erupted on her face, despite how awful she felt. She loved their dynamic, if she were being honest. From day one, Riley had spoken to her like they had been best friends for years.
"I'll recharge my fierceness levels with a venti white mocha, thank you very much," she quipped.
"Ooh, venti tonight, huh? That rough?" Riley responded as she rang up her order.
Maya laughed humorlessly. "You could say that."
"Tell you what," Riley responded as she emphasized the last button push and returned her gaze to Maya. "I won't charge you for the extra espresso this time, okay? $5.38."
"You're my girl," Maya replied with a wink, handing her a debit card. Riley smirked and quickly swiped it before handing it back over, then disappeared behind the machinery (it may have been Maya who disappeared, since she was barely a head taller than the bar-style pickup counter, but she'd never admit it). She stood around for a total of seventeen seconds before someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun around to find herself face-to-chest with a six-foot-tall jock who she could only describe as 'meaty'. When he didn't say anything, electing instead to just smile at her hungrily (gross), she finally piped up.
"Uh. Hi?"
"Hey sweet cheeks," he replied with a growing smile. Sweet cheeks? Seriously?
"Yeah... okay," she responded flatly, her polite smile sliding off of her face. "Sorry, not interested. Nice meeting you." Before he could respond, she spun back around and folded her arms on the counter, resting her chin on them and watching Riley shuffle around on the opposite side. She dared to assume she was in the clear for a couple of brief moments, until the meathead placed himself beside her at the counter, awkwardly leaning over as he tried to catch her eye.
"Now just hear me out-" he began smoothly, but was cut off by Riley's chipper voice.
"Venti white mocha!" she announced as she slid it across the counter to Maya. Before she had a chance to let the cup go, Maya wrapped her hand around Riley's fingers as she slowly slid it from her grasp. Riley kept smiling, but raised her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side a bit. (Could she be more adorable?)
"Thanks, sweet cheeks," Maya said with another wink and blew a kiss to Riley, who dramatically caught it mid-air and patted it over her heart. Maya smiled widely at her, then turned back to the jock, whose condescending smirk was long gone. Maya smiled sweetly at him and turned to walk away, but threw her head over her shoulder as she moved toward the door.
"Again, nice meeting you!" she called as she crossed the threshold onto the sidewalk, letting the door swing closed behind her.
Still behind the counter, Riley silently relished in the agitated look on the man's face and smiled to herself, gently shaking her head as she cleaned up the mess she had made with Maya's order. She was almost constantly in a good mood, but Maya always made it a little better.
Riley huffed out a sigh as she squeezed through the back alley door of Starbucks, hauling a giant trash bin alongside her. It was closing time, thank goodness, and she was more than ready to go home to her cozy (tiny) apartment and cuddle with her cat, Bear (name inspired by a little too much excitement at both getting a pet and finding her precious childhood toy, Beary the Bear-Bear). She rolled the container to the dumpster, gingerly pulling a trash bag from the top of the pile with one hand while pinching her nose with the other. Just as she prepared to toss the bag over the edge of the receptacle, Riley heard a distinct noise come from the opposite side of the dumpster and froze. Still as a statue, she continued listening to what sounded like... slurping? It could easily just be people making out, she reasoned with herself, but the presence of the dumpster coupled with the pit in her stomach told her otherwise. Her instincts were telling her to run, but her innate curiosity was keeping her feet glued to the speckled pavement. What if it was just an animal? What if it was hurt? It wasn't a sound she'd ever heard any animal make, but she wouldn't rule out the possibility, because what else could it be? Another moment passed before Riley decided to finally say something.
"He-... hello?" she squeaked. The noise stopped abruptly, but there was no shuffling, no shadow movement, nothing to indicate that whatever the source of the sound was wasn't still there. This only added to her unease; if it had been an animal of some sort, surely it would have scurried away at the startle, right? Riley slowly turned her head, barely peeling her eyes from the corner of the dumpster, searching for something to defend herself with should she need to. She glanced down at the trash bag still clutched in her (now white-knuckled) hand, recalling the slight clanking sound she'd heard when she first picked it up. Taking the weight of the bag into consideration, she realized that there was likely a glass syrup bottle or two resting at the bottom. She was startled from her thoughts by a brief shuffling sound, swiftly extending the trash bag in front of her as if it were a shield. It was silent again for a few seconds, but the slurping noise from before resumed before she had a chance to relax.
Riley took a few seconds to rid herself of the tears welling up in her eyes, then finally took a step forward.
"Hello..?" she stuttered again, a little louder, with her voice (hell, her whole body) shaking in fear. This time, the noise didn't stop. It continued on without hesitation, compelling her to take another step closer. Maybe now was the best time to look, since whatever it was seemed to be distracted. Right? Right. Riley took a deep breath and prepared to swing the trash bag, slowly pulling it behind her shoulder before leaning to peer around the edge of the dumpster.
Try as she might, Riley couldn't hold onto any shred of courage she'd once had, nor her weapon of choice. Upon the sight of a bloody and familiar braid draped over the pale, still face of stranger, the trash bag fell to the ground with a shatter. Riley could do nothing more than emmit a loud gasp as she stumbled back from the scene, straight into the brick wall behind her. Glowing amber eyes turned to icy blue ones with a quick upward glance, and in a flash she was face-to-face with none other than Maya. Riley didn't even see her get up, much less move across the alley toward her, but here she was staring at the bloodied mouth and hair of her girl crush, and her head was spinning and she didn't know whether to scream or vomit or run. She eventually decided on a combination of all three, but her body had other plans. She found herself unable to do anything besides simply stand there, watching as Maya repeatedly muttered 'fuckfuckfuck' under her breath before swiping a sleeve across her mouth and shoving tangled strands of hair away from her face.
"Riley, look, I can explai-"
Just as Maya began to speak, Riley's body finally unfroze. Her first instinct was to scream at the top of her lungs, but instead she doubled over, emptying out the contents of her stomach (coffee, coffee, and more coffee. God, that was disgusting.) Maya reached out and retracted her hand several times before she finally settled on awkwardly patting Riley's back exactly twice, blowing out a stiff gust of air as she did so. How did she even begin to explain this?
As soon as it registered that Maya was touching her, Riley jumped up and back, stumbling over a stray box and falling over. Maya instinctively reached out a hand to help her up, but Riley scrambled back to her feet and continued stepping away from her. Maya sighed and held her hands up in surrender, cocking her hip almost boredly as she watched her. It was then that Riley realized she was retreating further into the alley rather than away from the scene, and she had left the key to the store over by the trash can. She contemplated rushing back to grab it, but a quick glance toward the dumpster revealed the blue, veiny body of the man lying in a pool of his own blood, and she just barely held back another round of projectile vomit.
Riley braced herself with one hand on the wall, one hand on her knee, struggling not to dry heave as she bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Once she stopped moving, Maya decided to try to talk to her again.
"Look, Riley," she took a careful step toward the brunette, whose eyes darted up wildly as she righted herself defensively. She was absolutely terrified. "I know this is a lot-"
"Is he..?" Riley interrupted, shifting her focus somewhere behind Maya again.
"Dead?" Maya deadpanned, glancing over her shoulder toward the unmoving man. "Definitely." she declared, looking back toward Riley with an unamused look on her face. Riley's eyes somehow widened, even more petrified than before. Maya softened a bit; she remembered what it was like the first time she had happened upon this situation.
"But hey, listen," she continued, voice warmer now. "He was already dead when I got here, I swear. Drug deal gone wrong- I didn't kill him." She took another step toward Riley, who dragged her gaze back to Maya.
"Wh- what were you doing to him?" Riley inquired almost inaudibly, voice cracking. God, she sounded so small, so naive; Maya felt like shit for letting her see this.
"I was, um... well, I was feeding."
Riley choked out a short sob, pressing a shaky hand over her mouth. She dropped the limb a second later and rolled her head back, fixing her sight on a plane in the sky as she tried to catch a full breath and quell another wave of nausea.
"What, um-" she finally continued, lowering her head back down and fidgeting nervously with her hands. "Would you care to elaborate?"
Maya took one more slow step toward her before responding, closely observing the brunette's body language. Riley didn't budge, even with a mere five feet of space between them- but she sure as hell looked like she was ready to bolt at any second.
"I'm a vampire," she spoke slowly, carefully. "Unfortunately, I need human blood to survive." Riley subconsciously brought a hand to her neck, prompting Maya to realize how scary that probably sounded in her ears. "Bu- but I'm not going to hurt you, promise," she rushed, holding her hands out defensively. She heaved a sigh, taking one last step forward and nearly closing the space between the two. "Look, I know this is a lot, I really do, but I would never hurt you. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don't... you know, feed... on living people. And even if I did, you'd never be someone I'd go after."
Riley stared at her for a long time, eyebrows bunched together, clearly pondering what she'd just heard. At first, she'd immediately convinced herself that this was some kind of imposter. But now, there was no way she could deny that it was Maya, and she wasn't sure if that made the situation better or worse. For all she knew, Maya could easily be lying to her face and planning to eat her as soon as she let her guard down. She could have ferociously killed that man to suck his blood, because hello, apparently she's a vampire (what the fuck, by the way). However, there was something genuine about her that Riley just couldn't ignore. Whether it was the pleading look in her eyes, or all of the minutes spent getting to know her these last six months, Riley just couldn't bring herself to believe that Maya, this fiery girl who drank a Starbucks latte every single day, was a stone-cold monster. Just as Maya began nervously glancing around, antsy due to the prolonged silence, Riley finally huffed out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and brushed her fingers across her wet cheeks. She started shaking her hands rapidly and bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, trying to get rid of her anxiety.
"Okay, okay," she stuttered out, momentarily stilling her movements to get a good look at Maya. The blonde simply raised an amused brow, stifling a smirk at the girl's antics. "Well," Riley finally declared, "despite all the blood, you do look healthier than you did earlier." Riley claimed suddenly. Maya looked down at herself and let out a short clap of laughter.
"Yeah, I was starving."
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