Preface

And the winner is…

You voted and the new story won by a nose. I have to say I was surprised and now I'm a little nervous because, like I mentioned this one is way harder for me as a writing challenge. It's, as you about to find out, a complex concept.

This story all started as a conversation with my favorite beta, atavares. We thought it would be fun if Cameron were the older woman in an AU story. That led to lots of random ways that would work in alternate universes and vampire Cameron came up as one of them.

And yes, who doesn't love the idea of vampire Cam? Seriously. It's hot.

But just writing a traditional vampire story—God vs Satan and the forces of good and evil, blah, blah—as House MD seemed a cheap win and very unHouseian. I mean, the show is all about science being superior to all else in House's life. I love that about him. I didn't want this to be an 'oh and now House finds out he's wrong and supernatural things go bump in the night,' because I don't believe that and, though I enjoy reading those things on occasion, it's not how I like to write House. But the idea was so hot, I couldn't leave it be.

What if it was all just some reasonable mutation or disease? Something that man believed could only be the devil until science proved it was just a disease. What would that revelation trigger? How would vampires use the information to adapt? Would they want to adapt at all? Would they want to treat it? Cure it?

For the shippers amongst you, this story is Cameron/House but it's also, in many, ways Stacy/House. I borrowed those dynamics because they work and because of how the story was birthed it couldn't be void of those two dynamics or the major angst surrounding both of them. So you'll be happy to know, House still comes out very House like in this universe. Though not an exact clone of canon. But you'd know him by his snark and his limp in either.

One more reminder — My life is insanely busy right now, so this is going to be a slow burn. If you don't think you can live with that, you know the way to the back button. But I've also never left a story unfinished, and I don't plan on starting now.

Atavaras is also busy with cool new life things and now lives in a really different time zone, but she's agreed to make the attempt with me as well. So here's hoping we find the time! Thank you for giving it a go and if nothing else, thank you for the hours of work you put in like two years ago when we spent countless hours just brainstorming this thing. :)

And, though I haven't seen her around of late, thanks to like-waves-on-the-beach. Two years ago she was right in the thick of this too helping try to give me some credible medical information to base this 'science of vampires' on.

So, before we get started some things you should note. There will be quite a few triggers in this one. The list makes this story seem really violent and scary, but it's not a rape fest or anything so awful. But, as with many stories in this genre, these concepts and situations will be touched on with varying degrees of detail and I don't want to screw any of my readers over. This list might grow or shrink as a write. I'll do my best to warn you if new things are added.

As of right now, based on my current outline, we have or could possibly have:

Violent sex (consensual)
Non-con sex (more seduction based than clearly rape type)
Rape
Blood fetishes
Prostitution
Mind control
Child abuse
Lost of child
Persons unable to control violent urges cause them to hurt their loved ones
Drug abuse
Murder
Character death

Now I am going to stop calling them vampires.

Make sure to read the dates carefully, lest you get confused. There are multiple timeframes and settings swirling about.

Thank you all! Let's get this thing started.