In honour of Halloween, the intro to Old Habits, written on another Halloween.
Characters belong to whosoever the law says they do, in most cases not mine and I'm content. No profit but the fun of it.
Old Habits
If only she hadn't had such a smile he might have let it end there, with Blake dead at his feet and the smell of blood heavy in the air. But Servalan had such a smile, a smile that pulled at his past, the same past that had been stalking him too closely in recent months.
They were all around him now; and though none of them were suitably armed for the moment the trees around the base would provide plenty of appropriate weapons, if they realised it. But then so much time had passed that they probably wouldn't unless he helped them to. Yet there was a way. Here and now he could break the habit of life and survival and let it end.
But she had such a smile, as she stood in that doorway, a gloating smile that reminded him of old foes in other battles and called to allegiances that she could neither know or understand.
Behind him he could hear the others dying, but they were not gone beyond his reach just yet. Old memories stirred, whispering into his mind. Didn't he owe them something else? Some choice? He could do it, the memories reminded him that he could also put new habits aside and resume past ones, take up the threads of the past and the opportunities offered by older ones. All it would take was for him to allow the memories of the past to take hold, to break down the walls that held them back and let long buried skills resurface. Already he could feel the barriers weakening, feel the shape of the things to be done. Around him the world was shifting, form and shape smudging as light brightened. All he had to do was remember.
But that would only be the beginning, he knew that. Old habits were tenacious and if he let them back…
Avon held Servalan's eyes for a moment longer, seeing the greed there and the triumph of her smile, and made his choice.
He felt his own smile harden as he let the barriers drop. Around him the world shattered into corridors of light and shadow, all vibrating to the swing of the pendulum of time's clock. As the last barrier fell he remembered how and watched as the lance of his mind reached out and grasped the swinging weight.
Time stopped.
With a sigh he relaxed and let the gun fall, then he raised his hands and rubbed his eyes. At his feet Blake still laid, strangely tidy, unseeing eyes fixed on him as they had been in those last moments. Avon turned away.
Behind him lay Soolin, yellow hair spilling brightly across the drabness of the floor. Slowly he reached out and turned her over, his hand cupping her cheek as her head rolled. Her blood was still warm and her heart was only just still, the echo of the muscle power still fading, reassuring him that her life force was still contained. Carefully he brushed the hair away from her neck and traced the vein with a hesitant finger. Once he did this there was no going back. He turned and looked at the body of Blake with a weary sigh and a frown, but what did that matter when the Rubicon was already crossed? There would be no going back now anyway.
It had been a long time, and he was rusty, and despite the growing surge of memories the way was only half recalled, but he concentrated and let instinct have its say. Light flared multicolored and he felt the pull of the universal field, shape shimmered his own flesh taking on a glow that had no place in this mundane room. His blood rang in his head like a bell and the last shadows of his self imposed restraining field slipped away. It was suddenly all too easy and he he smiled again feeling the long forgotten sensation of his fangs descending, pressing against his lip until he adjusted the angle of his mouth.
Avon sighed in remembrance, and then he bent his head to Soolin's neck.
Her flesh grazed easily and the vein was soft, he pulled back sharply as he felt the blood seep over his fingers and into his mouth, burning his tongue as it flowed. He saw her stir, her eyes flicking open, saw the surprise and then the question in them and raised his hand.
"There is no time. You have a choice to make, and it must be made quickly, die now as a human or live again as something…" .
The words trailed away as he saw her eyes widen as she took in the sight of her blood on his lips, the fangs just visible as he spoke.
"Be quick, " he urged her, "I would give you longer if I could, time to understand what you are deciding but I cannot hold you here for long. What is it that you want, Soolin? To die or this…" he smiled again to let her see the length of his fangs.
Beneath his hand he felt her sigh, then she swallowed convulsively.
"Live." There was no doubt in her voice.
Avon nodded and raised his hand, puncturing his wrist in one smooth movement, and then he let his blood mix with hers on his fingers and held one finger out to her. She watched him for a moment, then her eyes flickered to his finger and she raised her head and swept her tongue over the tip. The taste was iron and it seeded liquid fire in her veins, a fire that drove away all pain and weakness.
Slowly she got to her feet and watched as Avon moved to Dayna and bent his head to her neck. Around them the troopers stood unmoving, caught in the fragment of a second. Soolin thought about that as she moved across and looked down at Blake's body. 'Why', she wondered, 'had he not gone to Blake first. He had looked truly shocked at what he had done, so why had he left Blake dead on the floor.' Behind her she heard Dayna climb to her feet and stretch, then heard Avon move on to talk softly to Vila.
Now Dayna was at her side, looking as uncertain as she herself was feeling. What had they done? They wouldn't know until they knew what, exactly, Avon was; but as they exchanged a look they both admitted to themselves that they had a pretty good idea of the answer to that.
Vila was getting to his feet and Avon had moved to Tarrant.
Soolin wandered past Blake and the troopers to the corridor beyond. Servalan was there as she had half expected she would be. Frozen in this timeless moment her smile was openly predatory her large eyes luminous with treachery. Soolin wondered if Servalan had sensed something in Avon that they had missed, if the scene being played out between the heartbeats of time would have surprised her.
Tarrant was now on his feet and Avon had moved to the woman he had shot.
"Well I said I wanted to live for ever." Vila sounded chirpier than he had done for a long time. "Don't know why Avon made us wait so long."
He turned and grinned towards Avon, now helping the unknown woman to her feet.
"Explains a few things I suppose."
"Does it?" Dayna's voice was dry, "about what exactly?"
"About him." Vila jerked his head towards Avon who was now bending over the man crumpled in the corner. Vila frowned in sudden seriousness,"I wonder if Cally said no, or if he can only do it with humans?"
Dayna's brows rose at that and then she shot a searching look at Avon.
"You're right Vila, that might explain a few things."
"But not about Blake." Soolin said.
"What about Blake?"
Tarrant was now standing close to her looking around him in confusion.
"Well Blake's still dead. Avon told me he didn't have a lot of time, that he could only hold us here for a short time, and Blake was shot first. So why didn't he start with him?"
"Because he thinks Blake betrayed us." Vila said it as if it was obvious.
A nervous look flitted across his face.
"Who's going to tell him he got it wrong." His eyes widened, "I mean, can we tell him anything any more? That he doesn't want to hear I mean."
"Why wouldn't we be able to?" Soolin demanded.
"Well, you must have heard the legends."
"Which legends are those?" Tarrant asked with a wide smile,
"Well you know…. About them… people like Avon, well I think people like Avon."
"Vila you're gibbering again." Dayna drawled, "What do you mean?"
"If they make you one of them, then they are your master, you have to do anything they want." He closed one eye in a wink, "And I mean anything."
Soolin's brows rose into her hairline.
"Really? Well we'll see about that." Then she smiled slightly, "Might be interesting to put it to the test though."
The look she exchanged with Dayna hinted that she didn't propose testing it with a gun.
Both women turned to look at where Avon was standing alone, staring at the wall as if he were seeing through it to the forest beyond. His fangs were still just visible against his lip and the man Deva was staring at him in apparent horror at what he had agreed to.
"Avon." Soolin called to him.
He turned his head slowly and stared towards them with slightly narrowed eyes but still apparently looking beyond them.
"There are more of them on their way," he said, "it would be better if we left."
"And leave them like this?" Dayna indicated the frozen troops.
Avon shook his head slightly and moved across the room to join them, wiping his bloodied fingers as he came. Behind him the man Deva and the unnamed woman stayed huddled by the far console as if unsure of their welcome and apparently unwilling to risk attracting Avon's attention.
Soolin watched them and wondered if Vila had been right about this master business and she squared her shoulders as Avon approached, that was not a game that she intended to play.
"Once I leave here time will reassert itself," he said dismissive, "we will simply have vanished."
He smiled.
"Servalan should enjoy trying to explain that."
His fangs still showed long and sharp and white against his blood reddened lips. They were strangely elegant and Soolin wondered if she would have them too; a surreptitious running of her tongue over her teeth told her that for the moment she didn't.
Vila was watching Avon warily.
"What about Blake?" he asked.
"What about him?" Avon sounded weary.
"Well aren't you going to give him the same choice as you gave us?"
Avon went and stood over the body of Blake, looking down at in silence, his fangs disappearing as he did so. After a moment of silent contemplation he looked up at Vila and smiled.
"I don't need to."He prodded the prone figure with his toe."Games' over Blake, get up."
For a moment nothing seemed to happen then the staring dead eyes glowed briefly red before Blake raised his head.
"Arlen?" he questioned.
"I've stopped time." Avon said as he turned away, "now get up and explain yourself."
The others backed away in shock as Blake did as he was told, wincing theatrically as he flexed he blood smeared stomach, but Avon wasn't watching him. For a moment he stared at Avon in silence.
"I told you," he said eventually, "I was waiting for you. I knew you'd come sooner or later."
"Did you?" Avon said without expression.
"Yes." Blake climbed to his feet, "As I said, I've always trusted you, from the very beginning."
Soolin caught some fleeting look on Blake's scarred and stubbled face that made her ask.
"And when exactly was that? The beginning I mean."
Blake gave her a smile as cold as any Avon could produce,
"Oh, we've known each other a long time," he said. He shrugged, "On and off, mostly off, but even so a long time."
"Exactly how long?" this time she questioned Avon,
He smiled slightly, the smile suddenly strange without the flash of fangs.
"About two thousand years."