I've had this idea for a while, but I've never completed something until now. So, here it is. I probably won't update this fic as much as I do the others, but hopefully nobody minds. Also, on a side note: I know the vampire symptoms aren't the same as the Supernatural ones, but it was easier to use more Vampire Diaries-esque vampirism rather than Supernatural. Hey, at least they still die the same?
Pairing: Roy/Artemis, Wally/Dick, slight Roy/Jade
Rating: T for violence and language
"Roy?" Her voice is panicked, scared, and Roy can't help but feel the same. "Roy…what happened? What did I do?"
His grip on her arm never lessens, but he knows for a fact that if she wants to get out, she can. "Artemis," he pulls her to a stop behind a dumpster and stares at her, "I need you to trust me."
"Trust you?" She's near hysterics, tears dripping down her face. "I—did you see what I-I did? Roy I think I killed him-,"
"No," he tells her, pressing the blonde against the wall. The sun will be coming up soon and if they don't hurry she'll…
"No," he repeats, pressing their foreheads together. He sees the blood on her cheeks, mouth and chin, and God; it's in her mouth, too. He squeezes his eyes tight, trying to keep it together.
She stills, and Roy opens one eye. But before he can ask her what's wrong, she's speaking, pupils dilating, veins popping out under her eyes, purple against her pale skin. Her eyes are fixed on his neck.
"Roy," it's barely a whisper, and the redhead has to focus to hear her. "Roy I can smell it…"
"No-!" Before he has a chance to do anything, her mouth is pressing against his skin, sharp teeth pierce the skin, and Roy has to hold back a moan; has to stop her before she fucking drains him—before the other's find them—
"Artemis-," his voice is strained, desperate, and he grips the blonde hair at the back of her head, tugging her backward with all of his strength. She releases his neck with a pop and Roy tries not to wince.
It takes a few seconds for the bloodlust to wear off, and a whole lot of tugging from Roy, but finally her eyes go back to normal, and her fangs retract. And the sun's coming up, Roy thinks, but doesn't say. When she sees the holes in his neck and the new blood on her face, tears drip down her cheeks again.
"Oh G-," she chokes, gags really, and her eyes bug out of her head. That's right. She can't invoke God's name.
"What's happening to me…?" she cracks her head against the wall, and Roy moves his hand from her head before it hits the wall. "Roy-, Roy you have t-to kill me!" She's sobbing again, big fat ugly tears dripping down her face, mixing with the blood there. "You have to stake me."
"I won't," he murmurs, wiping as many tears away as he can, and Jesus, if Jade could see them now she'd kill him. He promised that he would keep her sister safe. And he's failing. Thoughts race through his head a million miles a minute. He can't bring her home; Lian's there with the sitter. He can't take her to the others, they'll kill her.
"I won't kill you," he exhales sharply, eyeing the rising sun. "We've got to get you somewhere safe and we'll figure out what we'll do after that."
He's a hunter, which is something he thinks about all the time. And now, more than ever, he should be staking Artemis himself, burning her body, but… he glances back at her, sees the way she stares at the ground as he pulls her along and he can't kill her.
But the others can.
"I don't want to die, Roy," she cries, keeping pace with him. "I don't want to go to Purgatory; I don't want to be soulless…"
Roy finds a warehouse, and manages to break the lock on it with the butt of his gun. He shoves her into the building, following close behind. "You won't go to Purgatory," he says, but doesn't believe. She's a monster now.
"What if you let me go? What if you let me go and I run to Peoria and talk to the other vampires? The ones who drink animal blood. Please Roy—please."
He pulls her to him, knowing he should let her go, knowing he should at least let her try. But he knows what vampires are like. He's witnessed them, he's…he almost became one. And although the Winchesters found that thing that would turn her back to human, it's not like it would work anymore. She's fed. On you, he thinks.
Her hair is soft where it tickles him on the neck and her body spasms when he shoves the plywood through her heart. He holds her tight, ignoring the moan and cries coming from her. She's paralysed for the time being, and he texts Dick their location.
"Why?" She cries, blood bubbling around the wound in her chest. "Roy-,"
He ignores her and waits.
The others show up twenty minutes later, and it's Wally who has the machete. Roy thinks that it'd be better if Wally did it. He and Artemis were always close, and the way she's looking at him, at Roy he knows he could never do it.
The other redhead in the group stares at Roy, her eyes shy and unknowing and innocent despite all the things she's seen. M'gann nods at him, smiling slightly. He doesn't return it.
Dick and Wally drag Artemis away, around the bins in the back of the warehouse, and they can all hear her cries, her pleads, "Please don't! I'll drink animal blood, I'll do anything please don't kill me G-," she gags, but starts up again, "Please don't kill me! Roy! ROY-!"
Conner, Kaldur and M'gann stare in silence at the flames that rise higher and higher, and Roy stares at Wally and Dick walking towards him, knife bloody.
"You killed her," Jade says, but it isn't an accusation. She would have done the same; done it in a heartbeat. She wouldn't have given Artemis false hopes.
She brushes Lian's hair back, and the three year old snuggles back into her mother. "I can't stay long. I just wanted to know what happened. Your version of the story, not Crowley's or Father's."
"You never stay long," Roy eyes his daughter, smiling slightly when she takes his finger and kisses it. "She would have stayed forever."
"I know," Jade murmurs, pressing a quick, chaste kiss to her daughter's head. "But she's dead. And I'm not her."
"No," Roy agrees, shaking his head and taking Lian into his arms, "You're not her."
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Wally asks Dick, massaging the younger man's shoulders. Dick brings his pillow closer to him, sighing at the way his boyfriend's hands feel. "I think in the long run we'll regret it. But she's…she's got another chance. And so long as Roy doesn't find out for a while, I think we're safe."
Wally nods, dropping down onto the bed next to Dick. "I hope she does the right thing."
Their hands meet and lock, and Dick nods. "Yeah. Me too."
