Disclaimer: Writing fanfiction stories generally includes inherent admission as to lack of the ownership of the intellectual property said stories are based on. This case is no exception to the rule.
Summary: Sometimes a split-second decision can alter one's fate completely. And have consequences beyond one's wildest expectations. Alternative story beginning with the events of Heart of Fire.
Many thanks to Sherron and Marlana for the beta reading.
Darkest Moments
Chapter I
The curtains on the windows fell, revealing the light of the morning sun. The vampiress screamed in agony as the rays touched her skin. After the briefest moment of horror, Vicki's rational thinking kicked in again with double power. She didn't have time to lose. She tore the shotgun from Mike's hands.
"Take off your coat," she ordered in a tone ruling out any discussion as she aimed at the ceiling. She prayed that what she was doing wouldn't bring the whole construction on their heads. Then again, praying might not be the most effective strategy at hand. She didn't know how it worked for divine beings, but she was pretty sure nobody was likely to do favours to a person wrecking their house. Without giving herself much time to ponder that thought, she fired.
The deafening sound of the shot echoed in the abandoned church and a rain of dust filled the air. Partly diluting the sunlight, as the vampiress no longer trashed in agony but instead let out quiet sobs of pain.
As if from a distance, Vicki heard the sound of heavy chains falling to the floor. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that she technically now had a very hungry vampire on the loose on her hands. But other than that, all her instincts were focusing on the fact that she had a homici... er, lamicide? to prevent.
She harshly tore the trench coat from Mike's hands and threw it over the vampiress.
"It's alright Delphine. We'll get you out of here. Somehow." She tried her best to be reassuring.
III
Trying to clear her thoughts and get the situation under control, Vicki desperately looked around, as if the bare walls could offer her some much-needed advice. Finally her mind switched into high gear.
The crisis was temporarily avoided with Delphine protected from the sun but it wasn't, by any means, over. So far the vampiress was somehow holding on to her consciousness despite the sunlight, no doubt aided in that feat by terror caused by her current predicament. There was no saying however, how long it would be before she gave in to vampire sleep and it might turn out that when she did, her body would fall inertly in a position making it virtually impossible to cover with the coat.
The female vamp probably knew that too, judging by the shaking of her body as she shied from the light under the small protection she had. But with the windows uncovered, the current location provided no cover whatsoever. She was just as exposed here as she would be if she actually was outside.
And speaking of location, while they were here alone for now they couldn't be sure it would stay that way. Mendoza obviously left some of his things here so he probably intended to return at some point. Not to mention a guy like him wasn't likely to risk leaving loose ends. In other words, it was more than likely that he would come soon, possibly sometime today to check if his victim burned as he intended her to.
Of course he would need to go through her and Mike to do that but in the current situation it would be enough for him to have a moment to yank the fabric protecting her off the vampiress to finish the job. And seeing how he was armed the last time she checked and probably knew the place better than they did, allowing him to sneak close without being noticed, Vicki was pretty sure that staying here would be taking a huge chance.
But how does one get a vampire from one place to another during the day and without drawing undue attention that in this case might prove fatal?
An image appeared in her head and it was all she could do not to smirk.
"Mike, I need you to do something for me."
"What?" He eyed the cut on her palm for a second. "And if you mean…"
"I'll handle it here for a moment. I want you back in ten with a burqa. And gloves, preferably."
"With a what?"
"C'mon, Mike. I know you're not that ignorant."
"And how do you propose I find…"
"You'll figure it out. Hurry."
The detective shot her incredulous look.
"Vic, you aren't telling me…"
"I am. Now go. The faster you're back the better. In case you didn't notice, we have a situation here. It still needs resolving."
"Look, Vicki, I don't have any idea how to get…"
"Well, figure it out on the way. Or bring a good substitute; I don't care if it's not original. Just hurry back."
He stood unmoving for a second, staring at her. Finally he turned and went to the door. The last thing she heard as he was leaving was a muttered, "You are insane."
Which would have probably angered her if she hadn't thought not too long ago that it might be a valid theory to consider.
III
When Mike left, Vicki turned her attention back to the vampiress.
"Listen, Delphine. I know it's gonna be hard but I need you to stay awake as long as you can, okay? I promise, we'll get you out of here but we'll need your help with this one."
She thought for a minute about putting a comforting hand on the coat, mindful of all the lessons on comforting victims she ever had, but finally decided that the victims psychologists had in mind while offering this advice weren't hungry, tortured vampires likely to respond violently to the touch.
Instead the PI rose to her feet and went to examine the windows. She bent and picked up a cloth that used to block the access of sunlight. Then she poked at the window. While it wouldn't be perfect, she could possibly cover the windows again. Of course there was no way of telling if the heavy cloth would stick in place, hung only on two nails on each window, but that would at least allow her to proceed with some course of action.
Naturally it would also give the vampiress a chance to attack. But to be honest, with the terror she saw on her face before, Vicki wasn't sure the other female would so readily leave the cover provided by the coat even if she suspected the light was temporarily blocked. And it wasn't like Vicki never took a chance to achieve her ends before.
Picking one former curtain after another, she went to work.
III
When she was done the room was significantly darker. Just as one would expect after having the sources of light blocked off, she added in her mind. Pulling out her flashlight, she surveyed the walls of the room.
She knew that her action was, for a great part, irrational. Even if there was a light switch somewhere, it would do her no good. She might have taken the existence of vampires in stride but the unused building not being cut off if the power bills weren't paid was too serious a strain for even her credulity.
When her eyes finally rested on a switch, she honestly didn't have much hope for it working. All the greater was her surprise when after turning it on, the lonely, naked bulb in the room flickered to life. Apparently nothing really remained impossible in this world. Then again the power behind the light didn't seem all that great. If the church had its own power source, Mendoza might have gotten it running for his own purposes. Perhaps even the curtains opening needed an external power source. That would be ironic if a detail that was supposed to ensure his victory led actually to helping his victim.
Leaving those ponderings for later, Vicki approached the vampiress again.
"Okay, Delphine, hopefully you're temporarily safe now. I need you to give me your hand." The figure under the coat shook more violently for a second. "C'mon. You're not gonna tell me you like those bracelets of yours."
Nothing. For a moment Vicki stared at the coat covering the vampiress. Then she wondered how likely she would be to cooperate if given a choice between having manacles on her wrists and putting her hands into flames. The simple logic of the answer was unavoidable.
"I have everything under control for now, I promise. I won't let the sunlight touch you. And we need you out of those if you want to get out of this place."
There was a pause before a pale hand reluctantly slid from under the coat. It was still marked with burns – an obvious sign that the female vamp must have been dying of hunger as well. But at the moment, Vicki couldn't spare her blood and risk light-headedness. Not if she was to get the vampiress to some relative safety. Not to mention that if she judged by what happened to that working girl, Delphine's control wasn't as good as Henry's, if his feeding after the fight with the demon was any indication. Light-headedness might have proven a very optimistic option…
Again, Vicki forcibly made her thoughts change their course and took the cool hand, examining the lock on the shackle. Despite the bulb, the room seemed rather dark so in the end she focused the beam of her flashlight on the lock as well. It didn't look like it was going to be a long job. All the better.
III
Once she was done with the chains, Vicki looked at her watch. Mike was apparently taking his time getting what she asked him to. She desperately tried not to let frustration get the better of her.
She tried to flex her hand but a shot of pain stopped her and forced her to look down. She must have cut her palm deeper than she thought as blood was still slowly pooling on it. At this rate she'd probably need stitches. And the blood was currently going to waste.
The PI glanced at the terrified vampiress hidden under the cloak, curled into a ball for fear of the fabric being too small to protect her, no doubt. It was probably worth a shot, she decided.
Mutual interest, actually. After all, vampire saliva had healing properties and it wasn't like she could be bled out from her palm.
At least she hoped she couldn't.
With her good hand she lifted the edge of the coat, eliciting a panicked jerk from the vampiress.
"Relax, girl. You don't think I'd go through all that trouble if I intended to let you burn, do you? Look, it's dark in here now and if anything happens to the curtains you'll be safely back under the coat before the sun reaches you."
Dark, frightened eyes met hers. For a brief moment, Vicki deliberated on what survival instincts usually had to say about being in the close proximity to a frightened predator. The thought quickly got kicked out of her mind for being counterproductive. She sighed and extended her hand to the vampiress lips.
"Okay, here are the ground rules. No fangs. I'll let you have some blood but you need to drink slowly. Besides, I don't know how it works for starved vamps, but eating too fast is definitely not a good idea for starved humans and there might be a parallel. Got it?"
Delphine didn't answer. She simply put her lips to the wound and lapped at the blood. She closed her eyes with an expression of delight on her face that suddenly had Vicki half-expecting her to start purring in a cat-like manner at any given moment. The vampiress didn't bite though, so Vicki could only hope that despite the panic, the vampiress heard and understood what was said earlier.
It was that scene Mike opened the door to when he came back some time later.
III
Mike cleared his throat audibly as he entered.
"How sweet. Really, that's almost maternal of you, Vic, in a sick, completely inverted way."
"Shut up, Mike." Vicki pried her hand from the vampiress's grasp, which proved harder than expected and elicited an undecipherable whimper of protest. The mental image of a cat shoved off someone's lap had Vicki biting her lip not to allow a very inappropriate reaction for the situation. "Did you get it?"
He stepped closer and tossed a sizable plastic bag filled with fabric their way. "Don't even get me started on what circus I went through to get it."
"If you were looking in a circus first, it's no wonder you took so long."
"Watch it, Vic. Your little idea of shopping had me scurrying almost through the whole town. I don't know why you didn't just as well tell me to pick up the golden fleece on my way back. Wouldn't have made much of a difference."
"Oh poor boy. Did you get lost on the way?"
"Don't start with me right now, Vic."
"Whatever." She dug out the fabric folds of the bag and looked from them to the vampiress at her side and back. "How the hell does this work?"
"You tell me. You're the woman. I caused enough of a sensation as a guy trying to urgently buy it, this early in the morning."
Vicki swore but after a critical look she finally grasped the general principle and went to help the vampiress into the new clothing. Which proved harder than it might seem, as Delphine was barely responsive by now. Keeping a vampire awake in the morning was proving trickier than she thought.
The PI briefly wondered if dousing the vamp with caffeine would make a difference. Because the way things were, she felt Mike's "maternal" tease was proving oddly accurate. This must be how dressing a toddler felt. Finally she was done.
"C'mon, Delphine, let's get you on your feet, okay?" The look the vampiress sent her lacked not only understanding but also focus. And trying to forego cooperation was harder than it might seem at first glance. Delicate looking or not, the vampiress was heavy. "Mike, give us a hand here. We don't have all day."
III
In the end it turned out the vampiress wasn't as oblivious to her surroundings as she might seem. It was almost too bad that the fact let itself be known in a not exactly helpful way. While Delphine let them lead her without much protest, when Vicki pushed the door open to go outside, the vampiress let out a yelp, jerked back, freeing herself from Mike and backed to the wall to finally slide down to the floor, shivering.
Vicki suddenly wondered how big a chance she had at rationalising with someone who hadn't been in her right mind practically since sunrise.
"Delphine? C'mon, you know we need to get you out of here. The sun won't touch you. You are wearing your own curtain; you know that, right? Delphy?"
Slowly, very slowly, her words seemed to reach the vampiress. She was still shivering and her moves were very guarded but she unfolded herself and let Vicki help her up. Then she went with her, for the first time in over sixty years, into the sunlight.
III
While the shock at the 'exposure' to the sun lent Delphine some clarity, she was slipping into complete incoherence again as they exited the car next to Vicki's home. The PI hurried to get the vampiress inside before she dropped dead until sunset where she was standing, all the while aware of the glances Mike kept sending her ever since she asked him to drive them here.
Where he earlier supposed they were going, she had no clue. But if he was guessing Henry's apartment, he still had a lot to learn about vamp territorialism. And rational behaviour while giving people your key, for that matter. His own habit of not giving her key back being a textbook example of why one should be cautious.
She half-lead, half-dragged the vampiress up the stairs and opened her apartment. Once there she helped Delphine to her bedroom, collecting a thick blanket as she went.
"You can lie down now if you like," she gestured to the bed briefly, "I'll take care of the window."
The slight movement of the fabric might have indicated a nod and Delphine sat on the edge of the bed. Before Vicki even reached the window, she heard a soft sigh behind her. She glanced at the bed to see the vampiress, still fully dressed in the concealing attire, already lying deeply in vampire sleep.
She sighed, already anticipating the trouble undressing her while she was all but dead was going to be. But she needed to take care of the windows first.
TBC
Reviews will be appreciated.
