AN: Hey, guys! Yes, I'm alive- I know, I know, I haven't posted on my Amigas story in over a month. Well, it's being re-written! So, yeah, I'll go into more detail over there when I'm finally done, but just bear with me on this.
Anyway, this is my contribution for Halloween- very, very late. This story is inspired in no small part by ColonelDespard's fantastic story The Sleep Of Reason, and by a rather infamous conversation on the Abaisse about Marius and his vampiric traits. So, here we go with a three-shot- I love vampires, so hopefully I don't disappoint.
They did not simply live in the darkness; the darkness was their dwelling, true- the place where they flourished, where they thrived, the place where they consumed all light in their path, the place where they stole life, extinguished it entirely or worse. But the darkness was more; they were the darkness themselves. It had become a part of them over the many long years; a part of their essence, their very core, their very being. They consisted of darkness; it had invaded their minds, crept into their hearts like a foul shadow intent on destroying all purity, and it had taken them.
They were the darkness, and their enemy was light; and that was why when she saw him, she knew immediately that he had to be eliminated.
Where she was death, darkness and decay, he was the exact opposite. He exuded warmth, the type of light that she had never known before, he was mere flesh and bone and blood but he was so much more, he was joy and he was warmth and he was life, and the moment she saw him she despised him more than any being that she had ever known.
She stalked him for about a week- he wasn't one she could just kill quickly and forget, no matter how she wanted to. As much as she hated him, she knew that he was special, and she needed to observe him.
His friends did not appeal to her- the only one that even remotely stood out was the one with a halo around his golden head, the youthful angel whom she was afraid would burn her skin if she even tried to touch him. She left him alone. While her target was Life, his friend was Hope, and while she despised Hope as well, something held her back from him. Whether it was the natural instinctive knowledge that touching him would lead to all sorts of trouble that she wasn't prepared for or a distant memory from long ago, back when her skin was pink and blood still ran through her veins, of a little curly headed child with bright blue eyes sitting on her lap who answered to the name of Hope, she was unsure. But she let him be, all the same.
Her opportunity did come, just as she knew it would. It came in the early hours of morning, when the streets were nigh deserted and the shadows came to life. The boy, out for a night with his friends, was stumbling home drunk. Wandering the streets alone and drunk at night was a particularly bad idea, as the boy would soon learn, but through her watching she had seen that wiser heads had abandoned the group near midnight. And so alone he was- and there were no prying eyes to see her as she stepped out from the shadows, almost like an apparition.
The boy was clearly shocked; his wide green eyes, slightly glazed from the effects of the drink but nevertheless alert, met hers intently for one moment and she was suddenly terrified that he would not follow, and somehow she did not think, that after making such eye contact, that she would be able to pursue him. This wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to feel for her dinner. They were nourishment; essential for her life, and nothing more. Still, she used the eye contact, the sudden familiarity to her advantage; and she connected with him, forced her way into his mind- she took control.
With one fluid, sudden movement her hand extended out, reaching towards him. Ever so slowly she beckoned him, and as she backed into the dark alley there was no question of whether he would follow. He was completely under her spell now, and she felt the rush of adrenaline which was so familiar to her; the type that comes when you're about to get a good meal.
"What is your name?" He murmured, the quiet of his voice not masking the evident slur, undoubtedly heightened by the effects of they hypnotism he was under.
"Elisabeth," she breathed, and he pulled her close to him, his hand on her waist, and she allowed him to as she saw his sweet neck growing closer and closer, and it was all she could do not to end it right there.
"You are beautiful," he said, and she smiled, pressing her body up against him and leaning her head into the crook of his neck. She could feel his pulse race, she could hear his heart beating in his chest- a slow, rhythmic sound that she allowed herself to be lost in as she leaned her head in closer and closer, for the perfect bite. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Suddenly she was aware of a presence behind her, but it was all too late. Strong hands seized her shoulders and heaved her back, away from the unwitting student's beautiful throat. She was flung into the wall of a building behind her, and she gasped at the impact.
"Leave him," growled a voice, and looking up she immediately recognized the pale, dark haired man as being one of her kind. Her eyes narrowed challengingly, and he hissed. "He is mine," snarled the vampire, and the look in his eyes made it clear- he would fight her for it, and based on his size and the way he had hurled her into that wall, she knew who the winner would be.
"Fine," she hissed, and within seconds she was gone, slinking back into the shadows whence she came to look for her next meal somewhere else.
The new vampire then turned on the student. Through very minimal work, he was easily able to terminate the female's connection with him and replace it with one of his own.
"Courfeyrac," he said to the man, ignoring how uncomfortable he felt being in control of his friend like this, "you ought to be home. I'll escort you there."
With a dazed nod, Courfeyrac allowed the other man to lead him back to his apartment- unseeing and unhearing except for the darkness that a vampire's possession brings.
The next morning, Courfeyrac woke to find that he had no memory of what had happened after leaving Bossuet, Grantaire and Joly at the Corinthe, and Marius asleep on his couch.
"Marius," he murmured quietly, shaking his friend's shoulder. "Marius, wake up now. Come Marius, I know that you're in the habit of sleeping until God knows when, but this is important. Wake up!"
After several failed attempts to rouse him, Courfeyrac was finally forced to resort to splashing cold water on his friend's face, waking him with a jolt. "Courfeyrac!" Marius exclaimed, shivering as he attempted to wipe the water from his eyes. "Why-"
"Marius," said Courfeyrac, an uncharacteristically perturbed expression on his face. "I'm sorry to wake you so suddenly, but this is in fact rather important. I- don't suppose you have any idea what happened last night?" He couldn't help but smirk a bit at Marius's gawking expression. "I know I had a bit of fun last night, but I can't say I remember drinking so much that I wouldn't remember. And I know you have a habit of getting a bit confused at times, but it seems that this is in fact my apartment instead of yours, and I am quite curious as to how you got here."
And so Marius rather awkwardly explained the entire story- how Courfeyrac had appeared outside of his apartment, staggering drunk, and how Marius barely had a bed of his own and so he clearly couldn't allow Courfeyrac to stay at his place, and thus escorted his friend back to his own apartment before passing out of his couch. Courfeyrac, having no memory of the events in question and thus no reason not to believe Marius's claims, simply nodded his understanding.
When he noticed the two small imprint marks on his neck- marks that looked almost as if they were from teeth, which didn't seem to have broken skin but only just- he didn't say anything. Having worried poor Marius so much last night, he certainly didn't want to cause him anymore trouble by bringing up two mysterious marks. After all, he severely doubted that Marius would know anything at all about them.
AN: There'll be two more after this- so, more Vamparius, yay! And no, Courfeyrac is not a vampire now.
Love and Fangs- Lydia