"I was afraid that you'd go back to who you were before. The Riddler. And I like who you've become," she tells him.

"Who's that?"

"Ed Nygma. The Ed that you were before." Before The Riddler started hijacking your body. "My friend."

My bloodbag.

And now she had lost him once again. That cocky asshole with a penchant for possessing her sweet Ed's body came sauntering into her office one night, his seemingly ever-present disco vampire companion, Oswald, in tow.

And no, she was having none of it.

Before she could take care of her little Riddler problem however, she had a bitch to kill and reluctantly joined forces with Oswald briefly in order to accomplish this. What happened to The Riddler while she and Oswald were out and about? Fuck if she cared.

The bitch in question - Sofia Falcone - was easily found shooting holes into Lee's previous bloodbag so that she could more easily drain him of his life force. Damn, she was lazy. And cruel. Sofia had barely even attempted seduction - or anything - to ease Jim's pain while he was being forced to provide her with sustenance.

Despicable.

Lee staked her in the back before she could even turn around, cold as death herself.

And just as Sophia withered and crumpled beside him, Lee crouched down and took Jim into her arms. She had to forcibly turn his head away from Sofia's husk - it was the only way she could get the look of utter terror to disappear from his face.

"Lee?" he asked, feebly reaching up to touch her cheek.

She stilled his hand.

"No, Jim. You're not mine to feed on anymore."

He looked sad, devastated. "So this is it, then?"

Lee realized that he thought he would perish. Like she'd ever let that happen. "No, Jim."

She cradled his head, stroked his hair gently, and gave him the aftercare he was used to following a feeding. And Jim was content - if only for the few fleeting moments it took for her to restore his life.

And then she found The Riddler.

Wily little bastard was holed up underground in The Riddle Factory, (his own little roving "secret club"). Frankly, his "secret club" was not so secret to The Queen of the Narrows, especially since he had set up shop smack dab in the middle of her territory this time.

And she was having none of it. None of him.

Sofia's death had secured her position as Queen - a fact he couldn't help but snark about when she first arrived at his venue of torture, entertainment, and death. And, oh yeah . . . he demanded that she call him "The Riddler."

Lee wasn't going to do that. Her Ed was in that body and she knew what she wanted. She wanted HIM. Fuck The Riddler.

So "Ed" it was, no matter how angry it made that trespassing soul each time she spoke his name because she knew her sweet Ed was in there - and she was getting him back. Even if she had to beat this dick at his own game in order to do so . . .

"You're going to tell me the answer . . . Because deep down you want to," she boldly told that green-clad bastard, hoping Ed could hear her.

And he did. Ed came through for her, providing her with the correct answer right under that asshole's nose. He was such a prideful creature that it had just slipped by him. Unnoticed.

"Well played," The Riddler said when she answered his first riddle correctly, before giving her a thinly veiled threat. "But we're only halfway through and I assure you, you will not stump me."

Oh no? We'll see about that.

Lee began her riddle.

"What three words are said too much, meant by few, but wanted by all?"

The Riddler laughed at her - at her riddle. One so easy a simpleton could get it.

She could tell he was stalling so she demanded, "So what's the answer?"

He faltered.

She got into his space.

He couldn't do it. The Riddler couldn't let himself answer the simplest of riddles. . . And so he told her, "You're trying to awaken a love that isn't there."

Yeah. Ed's.

"If it's not there, then say the words," she pressed, stepping even closer, feeling the proximity of Ed's body, craving it. The Riddler stared at her blood red lips as she stared back at his. Lee could tell that he was scared, terrified of what was passing between them.

Had he somehow developed feelings for her? Or were Ed's just bleeding through?

It didn't matter. The Riddler promptly closed himself off, refusing to admit to anything.

And she closed down his precious club, commanding her minions to destroy his props so he couldn't set up shop anywhere else.

Lee had been hoping that after losing his livelihood that that malevolent spirit would finally leave Ed's body - leave him in peace. But that didn't happen. She knew because he hadn't come back to her yet. And Ed always would, like the precious little bloodbag that he was. He knew where he belonged.

Lee sighed. She was going to have to go back to Plan A, the more brutal, more risky plan. The one that could end in her losing Ed for good. . .

Discovering The Riddler at The Riddle Factory deep within The Narrows had presented a nice alternative to Plan A this time. Taking away what she thought that scumbag was living for was much safer than her original plan. But Plan B had failed. Robbing The Riddler of his old haunt, The Riddle Factory, effectively preventing him from performing the most hideous of entertainments upon unsuspecting innocents, hadn't broken him, hadn't set her sweet Ed's body free. Not at all. She had obviously underestimated his connection, his devotion to Oswald. She realized now that he hadn't kept coming back from the dead to torture and entertain people like he had in life. He kept returning for something else . . .

So to Oswald's she went. Because as soon as he took control, that bastard would inevitably give himself - and effectively Ed's body - over to that disco vampire as a bloodbag. Always.

And it irked her to no end. Ed was hers no matter who possessed his body. She didn't give a shit if The Riddler had been Oswald's lover when he was still alive, he was possessing her bloodbag.

And she was having no more of it.

"Oswald!" she yelled out, easily breaking into his self-proclaimed "fortress."

No answer. But she saw light flickering in the stairwell leading to the dungeon. He was down there. The Riddler. She could feel it in her bones.

And she was right. He was.

When she got to the bottom of the stairwell, she stood silently, just watching him, his green suit glowing eerily by torchlight. Oswald must have planted one of his men inside her operation who had then gone forth and saved The Riddle Factory's props from her decreed destruction because there they were, displayed in all their glory. In pristine condition. She saw The Riddler reach out to the slowly moving wheel of misfortune and give it a small tug. It went faster. He stood back and crossed his arms, just watching it. Poor bastard must miss The Riddle Factory. Good.

"I need your help," Lee called out clearly, walking over to him.

Turning away from the wheel he replied, "Why would I help you?"

Stepping even closer to The Riddler, Lee told him what she suddenly knew to be true as he stared at her, his tortured brown eyes flickering in the light. "You love me. You've loved me all along."

Because Ed does.

Suddenly, The Riddler grabbed her and held her close, stake to her heart, breathing heavily down her neck. Oswald let his bloodbags carry stakes? That was bold. He must really trust this Riddler.

"You're wrong. That was Ed."

Oh no, I'm not. Just wait.

The stake faltered. The Riddler almost lost his grip on it as he clutched her even closer, breathed in even heavier. Her scent. The scent of seduction. It had always worked so well on Ed - she saw no reason why it wouldn't work on The Riddler, too.

His palms became sweaty. She easily withdrew the stake from his hand and threw it to the floor, turning to face him. She grabbed the back of his neck . . .

. . . and once she made eye contact, she knew it was over for him.

She pounced, her lips grinding into him as his hips ground into hers, expressing his arousal. His hand found its way deep into her dark hair, his tongue into her mouth.

It was so easy to get him prone on the floor . . . So easy to make his eyelids flutter with pleasure at her every touch. And as he began to lose it, groaning and bucking beneath her, she knew it was time.

"Come back to me, Ed." She whispered a silent prayer.

Then she bit into the tender flesh of his neck. Ed's sweet sweet blood gushed into her mouth as The Riddler's eyes flew open. She grabbed his head hard, and held him down even harder as he began to convulse beneath her, his throes of death commencing. The Riddler could sense it was going to be different this time and begged for his life.

"Please," he breathed faintly. "Oswald . . . Please."

Lee broke away from the steady stream of blood at his neck to say firmly, "No. Oswald doesn't get to have you anymore. This body belongs to me."

She ducked her head back down to his neck as tears started to pour from his eyes. She could feel them as they hit her cheek, dripped down it, and mingled with the blood she was draining from him.

No. She was not going to let herself feel compassion or guilt over this asshole. She didn't care how much he missed Oswald, if she decided to let him live, he needed to find another body to violate and leave her sweet Ed alone.

And she had been planning to kill The Riddler all along, to fully exorcize him this time, not just let him leave Ed's body without consequence. She had had enough. But as his motivation for repeatedly possessing Ed's body began to sink in, she found she just couldn't kill him for that - she wasn't that cruel. So instead, she would show that meddling spirit a small mercy and let him live.

Yet still, she needed him to understand something.

She was having no more of it.

And neither was Ed.

She pulled away to watch all of the color drain from his face to make sure he was truly dying and to bid a forceful adieu to that troublesome spirit - hopefully for the last time.

"Get out!" she screamed, and soul of The Riddler departed Ed's body at her command. And then she said to his ghost, "And stay out!"

Lee hoped The Riddler truly understood just how close she had come to ending his incorporeal life, and that true love or no, she wouldn't be showing any mercy towards him if he ever fucked with Ed again.

Ed's revival was glorious, the light slowly coming back into his eyes, so different than The Riddler's. His head was in her lap as a small, soft smile crept across his face. She leaned down to kiss him, and though he was weak, he drank of her bloodstained lips hungrily.

As they parted, Ed said, "I love you. I don't ever want to leave you like that again."

"I know," Lee replied. "But it's not your fault. It's never your fault."

"But I feel so weak," Ed said. "Powerless to his whims."

"Apparently his connection to Oswald is stronger than I thought. I think it helped him to overpower you each time."

"Is our love that strong?" Ed took her hand and shook it gently, glancing down briefly before looking back up into her eyes again. "Or am I just fooling myself? Am I really nothing more to you than just another a bloodbag? One that succumbs to your charms so easily because of how much you captivate me?"

It hurt her to hear him say those words. How could he ever doubt her? Especially after what had just transpired?

"Ed, I just risked killing you to get you back." She paused. "Again."

"Yes, but it was my life at risk - not yours. Did you even stand to lose anything?"

"Your life was at stake, Ed. That's what I risked losing."

Tears clouded her eyes at the mere thought of it, at how close she would always have to come to losing him just to free him of that intrusive bastard. Those few tense seconds when she never knew if she had gone too far, wondering if he would actually come back to life, were always pure agony.

"Your life is my life, Ed. You sustain me, yes, but I could pick anyone to feed from. You're . . ." She found herself at a loss for words and looked down at her hands.

He was not merely a convenient source of blood for her - most certainly not. How did he not see that? And how could she possibly express to him what he meant to her?

Ed stayed silent for a bit and didn't press her to finish. Instead he changed the subject.

"Tell me something."

"What?"

"When you die -"

"I'm never going to die."

"When you die," he repeated himself. "Would you possess someone just so you could be with me again?"

"Never," she replied without a second thought. "I would never do something so reprehensible. Not after the way I've seen you suffer. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Ed said nothing. Yet there was this look on his face . . .

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," he said. "It's just that apparently you don't love me as much as The Riddler loves Oswald."

Stunned, her mouth dropped open.

But then his lips quirked up and she realized that he had been kidding.

"You," she said, batting him softly on the shoulder.

"Me," he replied.

Then she bent down over him and their lips met once again, curtained by the fringe of her dark hair. A few words escaped Ed's mouth between light and gentle kisses.

"It's okay, Lee. At least now I know that you love me."

She pulled away and stared into the depths of his sincere brown eyes as she realized something else . . .

. . . she had never actually told her dear, sweet Ed that she loved him.

Even though she did.

FIN

The plot bunny for this was inspired by QueenofNarrows' Halloween prompt list. I asked her to do a Vampire AU for Halloween for me for Nygmakins ... and then the next thing I knew, this fic of my own happened! Also, thanks to Doomed-copper for the content beta on this piece!