(AN: This is a Hunger Games esque story involving Marshall Lee's past. I thought it would be interesting if his version of the Mushroom War was started by a clash between vampires and humans, and I often take that idea and roll with it. This is the best product to come out of the idea. Enjoy c:
P.S: Yes, Judy is like Fionna on purpose. I think you can understand why.)
The night Marshall Lee walked through was especially cold, making him snuggle tighter into his jacket. Vampires were considerably more tolerant of cold weather then humans, but below freezing was where he drew the line. Shivering, he walked down the forest path, his only company the occasional bird. He was amused by the cloud of mist that came out when he sniffed the air, the moisture of his small breaths fogging his view for a few moments, then becoming as invisible as the rest of the air around him. He was shoving his hands down his pants to be warmer when he suddenly heard a soft crack. Turning sharply, his eyes darted around for the source of the noise. He sniffed deeply, and the sent of perfume hit his nose. He sneezed softly and started walking in the direction of the smell. He had become a vampire only weeks before, so he was a tad clumsy with hunting, but his quiet footsteps made up for it, and the snow made a good muffler. He followed until the sent was almost unbearable, his fangs starting to descend and his stomach growling. Finally he saw her. A girl that couldn't have been much older than than him was walking on a path parallel to his. He could kind of make out her features, long blonde hair and a defined nose, but couldn't see much more than that. She was bundled in a fluffy baby blue winter coat and black snow pants. Her boots crunched loudly in the snow, but she didn't seem to care. Marshall shrugged. Her loss. He quickly sped forward and grabbed her. She screamed, not even knowing what hit her, and immediately started flopping like a fish on a hook. Surprised, Marshall was about to drop her, but he slipped on a rock covered in a thin layer of ice. The two tumbled town the hill next to it, both of them screaming this time. Marshall let go of her, rolling right into a snow bank. The girl came to and abrupt stop thanks to a large root that was sticking up from the ground, but knocked her head into the tree it belonged too. Marshall sat up, shivering hard, and brushed the snow off his face and jacket. He was even more cold than before.
"THANKS A LOT, NATURE!" he cried out. Of course, no one answered. Growling and cursing, he stood up and brushed off more snow. Suddenly he remembered the girl. He turned towards her. She was laying on her stomach, a thin line of blood trickling down her forehead onto the snow below. The delicious rusty tinted smell hit Marshall like a tidal wave, and he found himself running over to where the girl laid. He took his right glove of then ran a cold finger over the line of blood, relishing it's warmth. He promptly stuck the finger in his mouth and started to suck on it. Looking around, he noted that they had landed in Pine Gorge, a popular hunting spot for the local vampires. He looked down at the girl again and rolled her over. Her chest was rising and falling gently, indicating she was still alive. He lifted up her head slightly and took a closer look at her face. Her cheeks were rosy from being in the winter weather, and her waves of hair framed her face perfectly, which had just a hint of makeup on it. Her lips were thin and had a few scabs, probably from picking at them. On her chin was an old band-aide, half peeled off from the fall. Suddenly, the girls eyes fluttered open. The vampire and human stared at each other for a for a moment. The girl finally screamed, breaking the spell, and forced herself out of his clutches, scooting backwards until she was stopped by a large evergreen. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and her mouth was agape, letting out cries that could most likely be heard miles away. Marshall plugged his ears, the sound starting to irritate his sensitive hearing. After what seemed like hours girl stopped, breathing heavily. The only sounds now were her breaths and small animals making their way around the woods.
"WHO ARE YOU!?" she yelled, tears starting to stream down her face. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!?"
Marshall just stared.
The girl shook her head. "You can't talk, can you?" she asked. "You probably don't even know English."
"Actually, I do."
The girl screamed again.
"Oh would you stop that!?" cried Marshall. "You're going to wake up the whole state!"
"Wh-who are you?"
"My name is Marshall Lee Abadeer. What about you?"
The girl swallowed hard.
"Give me one good reason I should tell you."
Marshall scoffed.
"Give me one good reason not to rip out your jugular!"
"MY NAME'S JUDITH!" the girl yelled in fear. "Judith Fletcher. But everyone calls me Judy."
"Well Judy, explain to me what you're doing walking around in the dark woods at 1am?
Judy rose to her feet.
"Tell me why you're doing the same first." she said venomously.
Marshall frowned, taken aback by her sudden burst of courage and confidence.
"Hunting people like you."
"What are you, a cannibal!?"
"NO, I'm a vampire!"
Judy crossed her arms.
"No you're not, there's no. Such. Thing."
"Tell that to him."
Marshall pointed at an older, taller vampire who was coming out of the nearby trees.
Judy turned slowly, her face twisting in horror. But the vampire just stopped and and smiled, running a hand through his dark hair.
"Don't make faces like that," he said coolly. "it will give you these little wrinkles."
Judy screamed for what was about the 20th time that night and fell back into the snow.
"Jeez," Alex said. "Am I really that frightening?"
He looked at Marshall, who shrugged.
"It's not like you're my mom."
The pair laughed and looked at Judy, who seemed a bit shocked.
"You two... know each other?"
"Yeah, we're pretty close." explained Alex, patting Marshall on the head. "We don't let our age difference get in the way."
"Oh... so you're more than friends, then?" teased Judy.
"NO!" the two vampires cried out.
She laughed, and Marshall noticed how pretty her smile was behind the braces that covered it. Alex leaned forward and helped her up, making her smile even wider. She seemed to forget how terrified she was before. But Alex tended to have a warm vibe. It could grace even the most emotionally desolate person and make them laugh and smile as if all their problems just disappeared.
"So you weren't about to eat her, were you?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, of course not!" Marshall said nervously.
"Then why did you tackle her down a hill?"
"Um... that was a friendship tackle!"
Alex narrowed his eyes, unimpressed. He then checked twice to make sure Judy was okay, and shoved Marshall towards the very bottom edge of the steep hill.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Alex snarled, his entire mood changing as if with the flick of a switch. "You're a fledgling. You're not allowed to hunt live prey yet, especially not 13 year old girls in the woods at night."
"But my mom told me I could-"
"YOUR MOM KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT US!" Alex shouted, making Marshall jump.
He sighed, calming himself.
"Your mom is a demon. She knows nothing about vampire laws, let alone the local ones. And the number one is that fledglings are not allowed to hunt humans."
Marshall swallowed.
"That's a pretty sucky law."
"Actually, no." Alex's grip on Marshall's shoulder tightened. "It makes sure some fucking idiot doesn't leave a body out in the middle of the forest to be discovered by some jogger, and let an investigation be opened. Then some government team will come in, they'll examine evidence and become very suspicious, because they know that a body with no blood and saliva with the properties of any hematophagous animal's is not natural, considering there are none large enough to suck a human dry. Then one thing will lead to another, and BAM we'll be discovered and experimented on and protested against and attacked and most likely locked up in some kind of relocation camp. And that's the BEST case senerio."
"I wouldn't do that!"
"I know you wouldn't Marshall, but there is guaranteed to be some dumbass motherfucker who will. And that's why Dante put that law into place."
Alex stepped back.
"I hate to yell at you Marshall, but I want you to realize what an idiot you were being."
"Yes sir." Marshall said quietly.
That wasn't the first time Alex had yelled at him like that. It seemed that he got into trouble frequently, and as often as Alex would get him out of it, he would make Marshall feel guilty.
"So are you close to home?" Alex asked, turning back to Judy.
She was staring at them awkwardly, but quickly shook it off.
"Yeah, pretty close."
"Good. You should go home and forget this happened."
Judy laughed. "Who are you, the Men In Black?"
Alex shrugged. "We may as well be."
Judy smiled and stepped forward. "Well, I'm kind of interested in vampires."
"In the Buffy way or Twilight way?" Asked Alex carefully. "Either of those is highly frowned upon..."
The girl laughed in socked him in the arm. "For things at the top of the food chain, you're pretty paranoid."
"It's not like that." Marshall interjected.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Fine, young lady, if you want to know more about vampires then let Marshall walk you home."
"Why not you?" Marshall and Judy said simultaneously.
Alex raised up his hands. "I have a life? And Robbie will worry if I don't get home soon. And you know how she gets when she thinks the worst..."
Marshall shuddered, remembering the time his wife had murdered five random people because she thought Alex had been seriously hurt. "I understand."
Judy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you have fun with that."
"Oh, I will." Alex winked, and then climbed back up the hill.
"Dammit, we'll have to climb too..." Judy grumbled.
"Is that a problem?" Marshall asked.
"Not really," The human replied. "I just HATE going up hills."
"Oh... do you want me to carry you?"
Judy shot him a look. "Are you high?"
Marshall blushed. "No, I was just-"
To his surprise, the human girl trudged up the hill with the same ease the older vampire had, although she was cursing under her breath the whole way up.
Marshall frowned and climbed up himself, realizing why Judy had been complaining. It was really strenuous on his legs. Finally, he reached the top, only to see her gone.
"Judy?!" Marshall called, straining his neck looking around. He finally spotted the girl farther down the path, completely ignoring him.
Marshall rolled his eyes and ran over. "Hey, I thought you wanted to talk to vampires."
"Yeah, I meant the hotter older one." She smiled and rolled her eyes as if this were common knowledge.
"Oh..." Said Marshall, slowing down a bit.
"Dude, I was just kidding! Yeesh."
Marshall sighed. Great, she was a teaser, just like Robin. And he had a hard enough time taking Robin's jokes...
The two continued to travel however, making small talk and telling stupid jokes. Marshall loved the fact that she was into puns, and her random bursts of energy where she would run down hills or karate chop trees made him start to like her even more. Still, a hint of apprehension ate at him. She was a human, and he was a vampire. Mortal and monster, predator and prey. He really shouldn't have been hanging out with her in the first place, let alone like it. But his newborn fondness of her prevailed, and he followed her all the way home like a lost puppy. She lived in a town the woods bordered, and he saw how easy it was for her to sneak out. There was a climbable tree right next to her bedroom window.
"Thanks for keeping me company." She said, smiling. "Oh... and not eating me."
Marshall chuckled. "You're welcome, I guess... but you got me in a lot of trouble."
"OOOOOHHHH, A HOT VAMPIRE, HOW TERRIFYING!" Judy said, cringing in mock-horror.
Marshall frowned. "You don't know him like I do."
Judy sighed, another one of her jokes not taken well. "Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow."
"...What do you mean?"
"...I mean I'll see you tomorrow... dude, I know you're naive. Don't tell me you're a dumbass too."
"No, it's just... I don't really hang out with humans. It's a weird segregation thing, of sorts."
Judy frowned. "Well, that explains a lot. Ignore it, though. I like to hang out with ya, Marshy."
Her goodbye was kicking snow into his face while she made her way up to her window.
Over the next few weeks, Marshall and Judy became close. He admired her adventurous streak and overall personality, and she seemed to admire his musical talent and sense of humor. Marshall's monster friends would tease him, because a vampire hanging out with a human was extremely taboo. But Marshall made it very clear that he didn't care.