Light in dark times
Regina and Mary Margaret are on a surveillance case that goes to hell. With Mary Margaret wounded, Regina goes on the attack to protect her.
One moment, they were blending into the darkness, observing the Baskerville base at a distance when suddenly- lights—jeeps—rifles-dogs… Regina bolted, the instinct to run overriding all other senses.
She was gripping Regina's wrist when the doctor ran into her with a clumsy stagger right before she felt the impact of the bullet in Mary Margaret's body. It tumbled them down a drainage ditch and Mary Margaret crumpled, wet leaves in her hair, blood running into the mud. Without thought, Regina roped an arm around Mary Margaret and hauled her up against her groans of pain and broke them into an unsteady run.
"They have dogs—" Mary Margaret panted, chest heaving.
"I know"
"Tracking dogs."
"I know." Regina growled.
She pulled them deeper into the forest, weaving under trunks and brush. She ignored the slight flexing of Mary Margaret's body, struggling against her. Mary Margaret was tired, in pain but they couldn't stop, not yet.
She poured all her concentration into weaving the most confusing trail possible, deliberately tracking them into water and back out again, before heading for some underbrush. Mary Margaret's adrenaline was high, sharp in the air along with the metallic scent of her blood and Regina could only hope it could be sustained long enough for them to be sure they had escaped before Mary Margaret was overcome with either the pain or blood loss. The thought slithered into Regina and she held onto Mary Margaret tighter.
Regina slowed their pace before stopping at a thick of thin, spindly trees. The mist this deep in the woods was calming, chilling her hot skin. This close to the full moon her body ran like a furnace, and being physically in the forest, something that instinctually felt so much like home, was making her muscles jittery and her blood run heated.
Mary Margaret was shivering, huddled against a moss-coated knew she was jacket closed tightly against her body, creasing her brow at her with worry. Blood seeped down her leg, draining down her jeans.
Regina lifted her arm to wipe away the perspiration beading on her forehead before she shifted alongside Mary Margaret and gave a soft, worried noise.
Mary Margaret gave a hard shake and slumped forward. Regina caught her by the crook of her elbow and gently lowered her, Mary Margaret giving a grunt in pain.
Systematically she ran her hands over Regina to assess the damage, feeling the wet warmth of blood seeping through a hole against her side. She didn't need to see or feel the blood; she could smell the metal in the air.
Adrenaline was fading and Mary Margaret was shivering with the beginnings of shock. Regina's hand brushed against her forehead, palm placed against her side and Mary Margaret jerked as a probing finger touched the open wound.
"One shot, through and through, clean." Mary Margaret pulled out her Browning, wincing, hand shaking. Both of them shaking. "I've got full rounds. Go."
Regina snorted, cupping her hand against Mary Margaret 's side, impeding blood flow. "Thank you for the report, Captain."
"Regina you need to go," Mary Margaret pleaded and her voice hitched. "You need to go, you can make it. I've got a good twenty minutes before I'm in proper shock. They'll find me, the… the dogs… they'll find me and they'll see I'm human and I'll be taken in." She took a shuddering breath. "I've got the Browning in case things go badly. But they'll kill you, Regina. On sight once the dogs give the signal."
Regina grinned, but knew Mary Margaret couldn't see it in the darkness. "They'll try."
"This is serious you git!" Mary Margaret took a suddenly sharp breath, struggling. Regina felt an uncomfortable pang of fear, a chill biting at her heart.
"Mary Margaret, let me."
"No."
"Mary Margaret."
"God Damnit, Regina!" Mary Margaret hissed but they both froze at the sudden braying of dogs, closing in. "Run, you idiot!" She shoved at Regina's chest, but the other was immovable. Mary Margaret was shaking, full body wrack of encroaching fear and shock. "God Damnit. Please." She begged.
Regina rocked back on her heels and removed her coat, out layer damp but the lining still dry and warm with her burning body heat. She placed it around Mary Margaret's shoulders like a cape and kissed Mary Margaret's neck, pulse thundering against her lips.
"Let me." She pulled away, watching Mary Margaret flinch as the dogs howled in the distance.
"I-" Mary Margaret stopped herself.
"They shot you." They hurt you, I'll kill them. "Twenty minutes?" She stood and began unbuttoning her shirt, untucking it from her suit. "I'll be back in ten."
"Alright." Mary Margaret conceded. "Alright but don't…Don't kill them."
Regina growled and Mary Margaret lifted her head and somehow in the murky darkness, found Regina's eyes. "I mean it. Just… scare them. Drive them off. That includes the dogs. Just lead them away."
"I'll try." She conceded. But Mary Margaret 's permission to shift is all she really needed.
"Regina," there was a sharp rise in Mary Margaret's tone. Fear. "It's dark." She said quietly.
"Ten minutes Mary Margaret. I promise. You'll be safe." Her nostrils flared, the scent of Mary Margaret's blood shuttering her vision in a crimson tinted tide she struggled to keep at bay. The animal was snarling in her chest.
She slipped out of her suit jacket and stripped off tank top and balled them both up tightly. She knelt again, placing a hand against Mary Margaret's neck and breathing in her scent, placing her lips against her collarbone. Mary Margaret was still shivering, teeth clenched in pain. She lifted her shirt and placed her bundled clothing against Mary Margaret's the wound. Regina sucked in an angry hiss before pressing the cloth against the gunshot, staunching the blood flow and giving a curt nod in acknowledgement.
"I love you." She murmured into Mary Margaret's skin. The same spot on Mary Margaret's throat she always made those words as if someday, they would be physically impressed into Mary Margaret's flesh. Regina often fantasized it was one way to leave a permanent mark on her neck that Mary Margaret wouldn't object to.
"I know." Mary Margaret's hand found her and squeezed gently. "Please… Don't kill them. Promise me."She closed her eyes and she felt Regina press a kiss into her hair. "Regina—"
"I'll be right back." Regina whispered.
"Regina!" She reached, but touched nothing but darkness.
Regina was gone.
Regina concentrated on her lungs filling with air, on the sharpening input of her senses, and on the glowing moon hidden by clouds. It might not be visible, but its pull was there and the draw could bring some wolves to madness. Some-but not her.
She concentrated, hearing the low rumble of engines and rubber tires treading over branches and logs. The sharp, anxious barks and howls of tracking dogs.
They were relentless. Their hounds had scented a wolf and they wouldn't stop, their orders clear.
Seek and destroy.
Regina's perspective shifted, the bite of cool on her skin being replaced with warm fur. Dark colors being replaced with a new spectrum of light, detecting movements and shapes, localizing on all sounds in the woods.
She lifted her head, ears twitching and swiveling behind her Regina's ragged breathing a few meters behind her. Still steady. Mary Margaret's blood filled her senses and pooled inside her awakened rage.
The hunters were about to learn how it felt to become prey.
Mary Margaret closed her eyes at the first gunshot, body instinctively bracing against the onslaught of sounds. Screaming. Howling. A yelp before silence. A spray of bullets. Artillery fire. Screaming. She curled her body, pressing Regina's clothing hard into her side. The blood was clotting and the cloth drying into her wound, tacky and pulling her skin tight.
Another terrified scream—a young man—before being violently silenced and Mary Margaret's throat tightened. Oh God,Regina. No. No no no. Regina…
She closed and opened her eyes, but it was all the same. Pitch black. She shivered and felt the cold beads of sweat beginning to work its way down her neck.
Another howl, piercing in the air. Pitch black. Too dark. All too dark.
Minutes ticked by and gradually the screaming, the bullets, the howling-stopped. Only the sound of her blood in her ears, the pounding of her heart in the void. The forest was utterly silent, even the animals sensing something terrifyingly unnatural in their woods.
And in the pitch, a glint… glowing between the trees. Two wild, intelligent golden eyes slanted on a dark, triangular head.
Mary Margaret swallowed, relieved. She held out her hand. "Regina," she nodded with energy she knew she didn't have. "Please…"
The golden eyes disappeared and with a brush of cool air Regina was beside her. The clouds parted briefly, moonlight filtering through the trees and Mary Margaret caught glimpses of Regina's pale, naked body—throat—jaws—hands-coated with sheets of blood.
"I had to." Regina placed a bloodied hand on Mary Margaret's knee. "I had to Mary Margaret. I had to. I couldn't…Couldn't let them…" Regina simply shook her head and leaned it against Mary Margaret, inhaling her scent, her mate's scent. "Do you understand?" She was shivering -from the cold, exhaustion or excitement. Mary Margaret couldn't tell.
She nodded vacantly, lifting her hand and raking fingers through Regina's hair, bits of leaf on the tips. She was soothing a feral, but terrifyingly intelligent beast, she knew that. She drew in a slow, steady breath.
"Alright." She murmured, exhausted. "We have to go."
Regina watched, transfixed, as Mary Margaret cleaned and stitched herself up. The hole was small, precise. She'd lost blood. She was pale and tired but so wonderfully strong and resolute Regina felt a well of pride fill her chest. Mary Margaret's heart rate and blood pressure was remarkably steady, and Regina's senses told her there wasn't an infection in the wound site.
Regina showered. Scoured off caked mud and browning blood off her skin and watched the dark mixture snake its way around to the drain. She bundled up the clothes used as a temporary bandage for Mary Margaret, along with Mary Margaret's own bloodied clothes and dumped it into a paper bag to be burned later. Any scent of Mary Margaret's blood sent her into a feral rage and it was unacceptable. She placed the bag outside their temporary housing on the balcony, snarling at it with displeasure.
Mary Margaret was bandaged, dry and safe. But she was quiet, sitting on the bed and looking so tired and nervous. Regina hated this part. Hated how after every shift, every cell in Mary Margaret's body vibrated with nervousness.
She shut the curtains tight and walked over to the light switch, hand at the ready and waiting for Mary Margaret's signal. She knew Mary Margaret was watching her out of the corner of her eye and minutely, Mary Margaret shook her head.
"Hallway light alright?" She asked quietly and Mary Margaret gave a jerky nod. Regina made her way to the hallway, turned on the light, before making her way back and flicking off the bedroom switch. She climbed onto the bed and put her arm around Mary Margaret's body, nosing her hairline.
"Lay down." It was a calm command and Mary Margaret obeyed, stiffly folding herself and shifting on the bed, Regina guiding her. It was a slow process. Mary Margaret grunting in pain but Regina was gentle. These were the only times she knew how to be.
"Did you take the pain pills?" She asked quietly and she felt Mary Margaret nod against her.
They were silent. Only the steady inhales and exhales of their lungs. Regina's thumb worked mindless circles on Mary Margaret's hip.
"You scared me." So soft, Regina was certain only her hearing would pick up the breath of air.
She pulled Mary Margaret's hip closer to her own, feeling her warm skin and soft, cotton pants under her fingertips. And she was sorry, so very sorry… but the words wouldn't form on her lips. She nuzzled Mary Margaret's nape in apology, hoping Mary Margaret would understand the gesture, hoping she would understand her language.
Mary Margaret shifted under the sheets, turning and grunting in pain and Regina released her hip briefly before settling back down once Mary Margaret was facing her. She placed a hand over the bandage and scented for any new blood, nervous about Mary Margaret breaking her stitches.
"You can't." Mary Margaret stopped herself and Regina searched her face, illuminated by the soft light in the hallway. "You can't just." She stopped herself again and closed her eyes.
"I'm—I'm sorry, Mary Margaret." She found the words. She felt it in places inside her body she never knew existed. Never had she felt this kind of guilt before. Not of her actions, but of how it made Mary Margaret feel. Maybe Mary Margaret would understand...Mary Margaret would see if she were like her. Another. This feeling... She never knew it was possible before Mary Margaret. "I would never hurt you."
"I know that." Mary Margaret replied softly, and Regina huffed in quiet surprise as Mary Margaret's fingers brushed up against her pectorals. "I know you wouldn't. But you can't just… kill…people. Regina. You can't just…" Mary Margaret sounded so very tired, shaken to her core. Regina knew she was still clinging to the vestiges of shock.
But they hurt you. They were hunting us. But she knew Mary Margaret wouldn't understand. She wouldn't see it. Instead Regina leaned forward and kissed her. Gently, softly and Mary Margaret tilted her head back in beautiful submission—it would be easy, so very easy to sink fangs into that skin, create another creature like herself, the temptation called, the wolf begging —only for a moment before pulling away and settling herself under Regina's chin.
"I love you." Mary Margaret breathed against her neck and Regina curled a hand back around her waist, fingers testing the bandages on her side, reassuring herself Mary Margaret was safe, clean, dry and healing. I love you. Simple words, carving into Regina's skin, soothing the animal inside.
"I know." She murmured.
"You can be better. I know you can. You don't have to kill people."
Regina nodded faintly. "I'll try and be better." She lied. "You need to sleep now." She watched Mary Margaret close her eyes, and finally settle against her chest.
Maybe the next time… The next time Mary Margaret bared her throat, the next time she was in danger, Regina would turn her. Then Mary Margaret would see. Mary Margaret would understand.
Regina closed her eyes as well.
Maybe the next time.