Broken Wings
Disclaimer: Seth Gecko, Kate Fuller and all the characters you recognize from "From Dusk Till Dawn" belong to Robert Kutzman, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez (aka DA MAN…guys, by the way, Sin City rocked my world!) and all the rightful owners of the movie. The characters you don't recognize from the movie, are mine. No copyright infringement is intended. No money will be made out of this. Broken Wings belongs to Alterbridge and Mark Tremonti, author of the words and music of the song. No copyright infringement is intended, as well.
Indicate dreams ; indicate thoughts ; indicate emphasis
Chapter 1
- The meeting -
Fight the fight alone
When the world is full of victimsDims a fading light
in our souls
Leave the peace alone
Now we all are slowly changing
Dims a fading light
In our souls
"I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fucking bastard"
Although it had been six years since she head heard those words, she still recalled them. Kate Fuller looked around as she sped up her pace.
She still recalled the sunbeams and how they had hit her flesh making the stench of blood in her hair and on her clothes more disgusting.
Despite Seth's words there hadn't been tears.
Not for that man…not for that goodbye.
She had been left alone and yet there hadn't been any tears, maybe because time for crying was over. Or maybe she had just run out of tears.
Six years.
Her life had changed after that night, so drastically that no one would have recognized her…if there had still been someone.
Kate, though, was alone.
She was alone, wandering from city to city.
She was alone, living in a Motor Home his father had bought for a vacation.
She was alone, sleeping during the day, gripping a cross in her closed fist, and with a gun hidden under her pillow.
She was alone, working in the seediest bars, with her eyes and ears open, constantly looking for them…for vampires, to kill them. She fought against each and any of them as if it was the first and last of their kind.
She was alone, and yet she couldn't help constantly looking for Seth. Was he still alive?
Her senses were used, after six years, to recognize them, to recognize the monsters hidden behind masks of flesh and blood, even when they were perfect, allowing them to blend among humans. To pretend they were until it was time for them to strike.
Her heart, rather, what was left of it, that kept hoping that he entered one of the bars where she had gotten used to working, and looked at her, making her feel alive, again.
She let slip a stake in her right hand, while she looked around. The Titty Twister had just been the first nest she had cleared off from vampires. There had been lots more after that.
Whole clans of vampires had been destroyed by her…and people like her.
She had quickly found out about another world, once she had started killing vampires, an underground world, filled with men and women who had dedicated their lives to killing vampires, just like her. It was a world where people were linked to one another, bound together. It was a world she used…refusing, though, to be part of it.
Because she worked alone. She stopped in a town long enough to do her job…and yet in every town, every hellhole she irrationally looked for him.
In every town, every hellhole she stopped in…she looked for Seth.
The others, the other vampire killers claimed she was as cold as ice, a bastard, even worst than the vampires she so efficiently killed.
Kate didn't smile.
Kate didn't make friends.
Kate killed vampires, without missing a beat.
And it didn't matter whether the vampires were men, women, kids or occasional partners during patrols. Once bitten it didn't make any difference.
Hesitation wasn't allowed. Feelings weren't allowed.
Kate…had left herself, her very soul in that burning hole in the middle of the desert.
And her heart had gone away in a red-blood convertible, under a Mexican morning sun, so different than that cold Canadian night. A starless night: perfect for that town's vampires.
She crossed the street, following her instincts, for some strange reason she always knew when she was being followed. If she was in that moment, and she wouldn't be surprised, they would come to her, one way or another.
Besides, she wasn't scared of humans. It had been a long time since a gun aimed at her head had had the power to scare her.
A long time since she had last screamed…or cried.
She spotted them, right away, a couple, walking not far away from her. The young woman was human, and lightly stoned.
He…the guy walking next to her, with an arm casually drooped around her shoulders was tall, dressed in a jeans and a sweater.
They both had been in the bar where she worked, but it had been him, she had really noticed. She had noticed the way he had gotten the girl drunk, the way he had played with her, dazing her with promises of pleasure, in the way he had kissed her, held her, touched her.
He was a vampire.
It had taken her just a look to recognize him, even before she had noticed his m.o. so similar to that of the many vampires she had killed over the years.
The girl was laughing, lightly hanging onto him, she had a hand in the pocket of her coat, probably looking for the keys of her apartment. She slowly got close to them, as the cold wind caressed her face and lightly ruffled her hair.
She was calm. She didn't feel a thing: no fear, no anticipation. Nothing.
Killing vampires didn't excite her.
Killing vampires didn't satisfy her.
She wasn't trying to avenge her family's death by killing those fucks.
She killed vampires because that was the only thing she knew how to do.
And she was good. She had been a fast learner and she had had a good teacher.
Kate got close to them, proceeding cautiously. As the years had gone by she had learnt to be as silent as vampires when she wanted to. She could see them more clearly, now: they were kissing, and she started to calculate the distance between them, wondering whether she would get there in time, before the vampire started feeding on the girl.
She strengthened her grip on the stake, deciding she would, just then the girl tilted her head up, breaking the kiss, offering her exposed neck to the vampire. And Kate had to stifle a groan.
Damn bimbo, she was making it all more difficult!
Kate kept getting closer, mentally counting up to ten, that was what it usually took to vampires to drop the human mask, to show their real faces, before they started feeding, thus creating other vampires.
She had a gun with her too, but she knew that she wouldn't probably have the time to use it. And besides, guns had that annoying, pesky habit to be as noisy as hell. Keeping a low profile was of the essence in her line of job.
The guy's face, a handsome face, as she had noticed that night, morphed into an ugly mask, a kind of a cross between a human and a feline when she attacked him.
No one expected such strength from her, neither vampires nor vampire killers. They didn't know, they couldn't even imagine the hours she spent training. They couldn't know how many hours she should have spent sleeping she filled with physical training, instead.
It still happened. It often happened: she would wake up with the breath caught in her throat, deafened by the beating in her chest, and the motor home, which suddenly became too big…too suffocating, almost as the womb of a big creature. A big, dead, creature.
As the years had gone by she had realized the worst dreams, weren't, as one would expect, the nightmares. Even the worst of them, were better than the dreams where she smiled, where she was happy with her family…or Seth.
Those were the worst dreams.
Those were the dreams that made her wake up, with eyes burning with unshed tears, and her body that refused to take in air…to let her breath.
When it happened the only antidote were sweat, muscles that ached for the effort she put them trough.
Kate was strong. She was strong enough to surprise the vampire long enough to save the girl. The vampire made a sound, very similar to a roar as he charged her. She moved, as quickly as she could, and the vampire missed her. She wasn't as swift as the motherfucker, but she was quick enough to confuse him.
She just had to prevent the son of a bitch who was now onto her to bite her. Not that she cared about living or dying; she just wanted to take out as many vampires as possible before dying.
She heard footsteps and cries, so the girl was getting the hell away. Well…that was good, at least one part of the mission was accomplished…now came the other part: killing the bloodsucker. First, she thought, gritting her teeth, she had to keep him away from her.
He was strong. Way strong. It had been a long time since she had met such a strong vampire.
The vampire looked at her and sneered as he got astride her; his face was a mask of excitement and anger. Yep…he was ugly alright.
The vampire's sneer became almost scornful when he said: "When I'm done with you, girlie, you'll be my bitch…but before that, I'll make sure you regret you were even born. It'll be slow. It'll be painful. I swear!"
The vampire gripped her right wrist and beat it against the cold pavement, and Kate let go of her hold on the stake, moaning, more in surprise than pain.
"I like it when you moan," He hissed: "and you're gonna do it a lot for me!"
Kate blinked her eyes open.
She wasn't afraid. She knew it would happen sooner or later.
She knew it wouldn't last forever.
Six years had been a long time for her to fight. The last six years had been almost as long as a lifetime for her.
She was just sorry she was going to die by that idiot's hand.
She was just sorry she hadn't had the chance to see Seth, one last time.
She closed her eyes, as the revolting vampire's face, kept getting close to her neck, and couldn't help shivering.
That's it, honey. She thought. End of the road…
She could feel the vampire's cold breath on her face, it was on her neck now and it was as rotten as his flesh. She tried one more time to free herself, but all for naught. He was really too strong for her.
She narrowed her eyes, wondering whether she was going to have enough time to blow her brains out before she became a bloodsucker. Her father, a servant of God, the best person she had ever met, had lasted half a hour after being bitten. How long would it take her?
She felt the vampire's coarse tongue, lick her neck for a second, before a voice…a voice she had thought she would ever hear again, screamed, "Hey! You fuck!"
Without even thinking, acting out of instinct, ignoring the frantic beating of her heart, she took advantage of the vampire's distraction, and kicked him, using his own body as a lever to get up.
She was efficient. She was as cold as ice.
She was a bastard, worse even than bloodsuckers. The stake rammed into the vampire's torso, as easily as usual; it was like plunging a burning knife into butter.
She took a step back, keeping herself away from the vampire's blood. She was panting, although she didn't even realize that. She remained detached, as she looked at all the blood, his flesh exploding sending pieces of if all around her.
"Kate?"
His voice…his voice sounded incredulous.
Six years.
She had waited for six years.
She had hoped for six years.
She slowly turned toward the voice: her heart…how long had it been since she had last heard it beating so fast in her chest? She honestly couldn't remember, and she didn't care, not in that moment.
Seth…
Seth was standing in front of her, just like in one of her dreams.
Seth.
He was dressed in black, draped in a long, black coat, looking almost like the hero of a fucking novel.
Seth, whose hair wasn't much longer than the last time they had seen each other; with just a bit of more gray on his temples and a stubble.
Seth, who was getting close to her.
Kate took a step back, while the world around her, all of her world faded to a dazzling white, before darkness claimed her, possessed her.
Her last thoughts, as Seth's arms caught her, breaking her fall, was that she hadn't forgotten about him.
Her last thoughts were of how the feel of his arms around her body was exactly as she recalled: even now it had the power to make her feel safe. She hadn't forgotten about him, she thought. She recalled every single detail.
She thought, as her eyes closed that even his scent was the same.