Title: Her Tattooed Knight
Rating: M for cursing.
Pairings: Éomer/Lothíriel
Genre: Drama
Disclaimer:The Lord of The Rings is the property of J. R. R. Tolkien and his estate. This is a work of fanfiction, written for the enjoyment of myself and others. No financial profit is made by writing this.
Summary: Some knights come in leather jackets. Modern AU.
Author's Note: So, the story is as follows: I got a prompt to write about a Modern Alternate Universe story about Biker!Éomer and Rich Girl!Lothíriel. For one reason or the other I got so excited about the idea that I completely cast aside A Light that Endures and Flickers of Light and wrote like a maniac because if you don't think Éomer riding a Harley is awesome then I don't know what to tell you.
In all honesty though this turned out to be a complete self-indulgence trip, but I don't even care if it's a clusterfuck of cliches and tropes – I had way too much fun writing this to regret anything at all. So in other words this is written purely to be a light, entertaining read and you shouldn't take it too seriously. Kind of like candy in written word, if you allow such a wording. But what is the better place for that than fanfiction?
This will most like remain an oneshot, because I should be concentrating on ALTE and Flickers (but truth be told I may just have an idea of how this story would continue).
As a word of warning, the story contains some mature language.
The air outside was cool against her tears.
Loreena had forgotten how crisp the nights could be here in the dirty old town of her birth. The days could be warm – even hot – but nights would fill with the wind from the coast, and that wind was not always gentle. Her time in south had made her forget many things.
"Loreena! Don't be like that!" Dan called after her, following her out. He wore this expression on his face, the disarming kind that always got to her (though it didn't now), but with a dose of impatience to speak louder than any words. She stopped, but mostly because she feared she might twist her ankle if she walked too fast. The high heels were not really suited for running like she had.
"Loreena, I'm really sorry", Dan said, coming to a halt just behind her. Determined not to let him see her tears she quickly found a napkin and patted her eyes, hoping her makeup wouldn't smear even though it was waterproof. The last thing she needed was his friends thinking they had made her cry.
She risked a glance at him over her shoulder. The lights of the bar shined from behind him, casting contrast to the deepening shadows of the evening. In this light, Dan's dark-brown hair, cut fashionably to fall just slightly over his face, looked almost black.
"I don't want to hear it", she said, hating how pitiful her voice sounded. She tried to dig through her purse to find her cellphone. Why did she always have to buy bags that literally swallowed everything she put in them?
"Sweetie, you know I didn't mean it, not really. It's just the way of the gang. They know it's just talk", he said and she could hear the appealing tone in his voice. Usually it did the trick fairly fast, because Dan knew how to be charming, and how to make his point of view irresistible. But now she did not even feel the desire to forgive him.
Loreena turned to look at him straightly now. Dan was a good-looking fellow and he knew it. Moreover, he knew how to work them to his advantage. He knew how to dress, how to talk, how to act. In short, he was the perfect gentleman, a product of years of expensive private schools and his mother's relentless tutoring in etiquette. Well, at least she had thought him the perfect gentleman, but her idea of that type did not include talking about loved ones like he just had. She suddenly was feeling like she was looking at a stranger... even though she had known him almost all her life.
"Did you ever stop and think words might not be worth saying if you don't mean them really?" she asked. Her tears had already grown cold but she knew her eyes must be red from her outburst. It was never pretty when she cried.
"Oh, please. It was just a joke. Can't you take a joke, Loreena?" he asked exasperatedly. That was the second route, if he couldn't charm his target into agreement: try and make them feel like a child.
"Why should I take the joke when it's not only crude but it's also about things I felt comfortable to only share with you?" she asked him. Really, when she had been returning with their drinks, a distasteful joke about some of her most painful, intimate secrets on the front of his friends was not something she had been expecting to hear. Thinking of it almost brought tears into her eyes as she regarded this young man she had once fallen in love with... and whose extravagant ring she was wearing in her ring finger. Had he always been like this, or was it just something that had happened lately? And yet, even as she thought back the summer holidays and Christmas vacations she had spent here in her home town with him, she couldn't remember a time when he had been so cruel.
"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. Do come inside, will you? Let's not end the night here just yet", he tried, offering her one of those teethy smiles.
"I think it's better if I go home now", Loreena said, her voice falling softer. "And anyway I'm no sure my dad would approve of me visiting a place like this, even if it's with you."
Indeed, a place like Bob's was not really her kind of bar: bikers and girls who looked like they might be strippers and other kind of shady folk were not the people a CEO's daughter should hang out with – at least according to her parents.
"Come on, Loreena. We were having such a good time", he said, sounding vexed now. "Don't ruin the party."
"I'm sorry, Dan, but you already ruined the party for me", she told him steadily, determined not to let him get his way this time. She reached for her purse again and pulled out her cell, "I'm calling a taxi. Good night."
"Come back inside", he said, more forcibly this time.
"You're welcome to go back if you want to. I'm going home", Loreena replied, keeping steady her voice. She meant to dial the number but then Dan's hand clasped around her wrist with surprising force.
"Loreena! Why must you be so difficult!" he demanded to know, looking like she was giving him quite the headache. She tried to pull back her hand but his grip prevented that.
"Let go of me, Dan!" she half-exclaimed. In the quiet parking lot there was no one to hear that, though.
"You're coming back with me", he insisted and turned, obviously with the intention of pulling her back inside... but instead, Dan walked straight into what turned out to be well over six feet of leather, jeans, and long hair.
"I believe she told you to let go of her", came the curt order, spoken in commanding tones of someone who was used to telling people what to do.
Dan fell back, colliding with Loreena; she lost her balance and stumbled on the ground. From there the strange man looked nothing less than a giant.
"Who do you think you are? This is none of your business! Get gone before I'll make you go!" Dan tried, but his threatening tones were not very impressive, not in comparison to the intruder. Dan was half a head shorter and much skinnier, and physical qualities aside, he did not look like a man who had a legion at his command.
And then the guy in leather jacket stood straighter, and somehow it felt like he grew taller and broader.
"Pal, do you really want to start with that?" he asked and his voice was quiet, but it resonated with challenge and danger, and Dan must have sensed it too. Moreover, he must have realised he would not long last against this opponent.
He said nothing, not even to Loreena. Instead he stole away, half-running towards the bar. As for her, all she could do was to stare after him and feel like something had just come to an end. Should she feel sorry? Even if that was so, she couldn't.
She couldn't dwell on that for long, because then the giant in jeans spoke: "You all right, Little Loriel?"
Little Loriel. There was a name she hadn't heard since... since forever?
She looked up half expecting him to disappear with a puff, but he stood there still and one of his hands was extended to pull her up. When she accepted it she took note of tattoos on his knuckles and looking at them she nearly fell down again, even though he was being careful when he helped her back on her feet.
"I'm fine", she mumbled uncertainly but with a growing feeling she should remember him. So, in an attempt to recall, she took a proper look at the man before her. And boy, wasn't there a lot to look at!
He was indeed impossibly tall and broad of shoulder, and even though she wore high heels she felt tiny before him. His leather jacket had seen some use, as had his faded jeans. On his t-shirt there was what she guessed to be some rock band's logo. His long wild mane he had tied on a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and on his both earlobes there were several piercings. He had a short beard too, which looked darker than his hair, and in this light his eyes seemed black. He wasn't good-looking in the smooth and fresh way Dan was, but there was some rugged kind of charm about his features that drew her eye. He was just the kind of man her mother would have warned her about, and yet he was the first person to show true concern and care towards her on this entire night.
"What did you call me?" Loreena asked stupidly, as she had no idea of what she should say or make of this scene.
Her question brought a faint crooked smile on his face and a glint in his eyes.
"Don't you remember me, Little Loriel?" he asked... and after a moment of confusion, she remembered a gangly, wild boy from many years ago: the mop of his blond hair and the state of permanent unkemptness he insisted upon for no apparent reason... and his leather jacket on her shivering shoulders as she sobbed for her mother.
"I got lost in the park. You found me and helped me find my mother... Elijah", she remembered the incident from what seemed like another life. Now that boy stood before her as a man. And what a man he was!
"That was me", he confirmed and his smile turned gentler. "Glad to see you still know me."
"How could I forget? Especially since no one else ever called me Loriel", she said softly and looked down. Somehow, the memory of the nickname he had given her as soon as he had been able to get her to talk made her feel like crying again.
"Are you really okay? Did that bastard hurt you?" Elijah asked. Now he sounded concerned and she saw his hand hovering near her shoulder, like he was afraid of touching her.
"He just... he said some things I thought he never would", Loreena muttered. "There were some of his friends and we were spending the night with them, and he told them some things I've only ever shared with him, and..."
As she spoke, she suddenly began to feel stupid, spilling this to Elijah like so. He didn't seem like the type to be listening to silly girls and their problems. She half-expected him to laugh at her, the way Dan probably would have.
However, now he did lay a hand on her shoulder. The touch of it was gentle and comforting.
"You want me to go and kick that fucker's arse around?" he asked. The question was spoken dead serious without a hint of humour, and Loreena's head shot up in surprise. He gave her a sheepish grin, "Sorry for my wording. Got bit of a foul mouth."
"It's alright", she replied, feeling more and more bewildered. The night had truly taken a bizarre turn.
But then she had to smile, "You don't have to go and kick his... his butt. I'm not sure even that would get the point across."
"What is a girl like you doing with that kind of a moron anyway?" he asked now, frowning slightly.
"I... well, I'm marrying him the next summer. We were out celebrating my graduation", she explained, which made Elijah snort.
"No offence, Loriel, but you got some weird taste in men", he commented wryly. He dug through his pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes. He offered it to her, "Want some?"
"No thanks. I don't smoke", she said, though a wild urge went through her and for a brief moment she even thought of accepting one.
"Yeah, that's smart. Bad stuff", he said, but lit up one anyway. He regarded her, "You know, if you want to call that taxi, I could stay here and wait with you. Or if you don't mind waiting until I finish this, I could drive you home."
Rationally Loreena knew she should just pick up again her phone and call that damn taxi. But she didn't feel like being rational, not now. And looking at this tall, long-haired man before her she knew she could trust him, even as she had trusted him when she had been a little girl. Despite how he looked like she knew he was a good guy.
"A ride would be nice. I don't want to stand here waiting for a taxi", she said, and Elijah nodded, taking a whiff of his cigarette and blowing the smoke out of his nostrils.
"Damn, Loriel. The last time I saw you, you were but a little kid", he said then, considering her long and attentively. "Didn't know you'd grow to be so fine."
"I'm just surprised you still recognised me", she said, hoping it was dark enough that he wouldn't see her blush. Loreena did not know if she'd have known him, even though now that she was looking properly she was noticing things about him she had seen also on the face of the boy he had once been. Then again, those were easy to miss for the sake of the sheer volume of his appearance. She didn't think he could have been more different from the fashionable young men of her own society even if he had tried.
At her words, Elijah let out a soft chuckle.
"I'm pretty sure I'd recognise you even if you were a little old lady", he said and dropped the stump of his cigarette, which he crushed with the heel of his biker's boot. "Now, ready to go, Little Loriel?"
"If it's not too much of a trouble", she said, feeling shy suddenly. He offered her a disarming smile.
"Of course it's not, silly girl", he said and turned slightly, nodding his head. "This way."
As she followed him, Loreena couldn't but think that if any other man had lead her to such a shadowy corner of an empty parking lot, she'd have run the opposite direction – and possibly screamed bloody murder as she went. But even now she had nothing but trust for this formidable-looking man.
"Where's your car?" she asked then, glancing about. None of the old trucks she saw looked like what Elijah would drive.
"My car? I don't even have one", he said with vague amusement and at last he came to a stop beside a motorbike. Of course she should have known.
Loreena didn't know much about bikes but she recognised a piece of art when she saw one. Elijah's bike was a sleek, beautiful thing, obviously custom-made, and even in the dark of the evening the exhaust pipes seemed to give a slight silvery shimmer. The hull of it looked to be black in this light, but at the side Loreena saw a painted horse: white and silver with streaks of gold in his mane and tail, and leaping ahead fast and free.
She had to blink at the sight of the bike, even though she knew this shouldn't come as a surprise. They were bikers, his family was, and he was nephew to none else than the famous Thomas King – she didn't know why she had thought he'd be anything else.
He interrupted her thoughts by extending the helmet for her.
"Got only one of these. You should wear it", he said simply, but Loreena frowned.
"Won't it be dangerous for you?" she asked uncertainly. She didn't want him hurting himself because of her.
Elijah shook his head and one corner of his mouth lifted.
"It's okay. I'm one of the best riders of my club. It'll be safe", he said, sounding unconcerned. "And anyway if something should happen, I'd rather it was my thick skull to crack on the road than your sweet head."
Loreena didn't particularly like that picture, but she could see he'd not take no for an answer. So she put on the helmet, the weight of which was unfamiliar on her head. Elijah grinned.
"There. You look like a proper biker's bride", he said as he moved to straddle his ride. Loreena didn't know how to answer except for her blush, and again she hoped he couldn't see the colour on her cheeks. He patted the saddle behind himself, "Hop on, Princess."
"Princess?" Loreena asked, lifting her eyebrows.
"Yeah, you are. Compared to me, and everyone else on this side of the town", he said unaffectedly. She decided not to comment on that, especially because the word 'Princess' had been used in a completely good-natured fashion.
Climbing on the bike required her to take support of his shoulder. It felt hard as stone under her hand and it never faltered under her weight. There was enough of space for her behind him, but she had to sit close: there wasn't anything else than him she could hold on to.
"Hold tight. I don't want you falling and hurting yourself", he said, and as Loreena wrapped arms about his waist, he started the engine of his bike. The sound of it was like a roar of a wild animal in the night and it made her shiver despite herself. Loreena had never even sat on a motorbike.
Elijah glanced at her over his shoulder and in the faint light she could see a small smile on his features.
"It's okay, babe. You'll be fine", he reassured her. Somehow she managed an answering smile and thought nothing of the name he called her. She didn't know how he managed that but on Elijah's lips the word became a tender and caring petname.
He moved backwards the bike in order to turn it around. The way he handled the heavy vehicle was steady and sure and Loreena relaxed on her seat. She was obviously riding with an experienced biker. But then, looking at him how could one expect anything less?
When he had turned the bike and was meaning to cross the parking lot, he suddenly came to a halt. She had to peek around his shoulder to see what had stopped him, and there before them she saw five guys blocking the way. When she recognised Dan and his friends, Loreena had to groan in frustration. But then her frustration became concern, because the last thing she needed was trouble for Elijah.
He did not seem very worried, though. He gave some gas to his bike, which growled as a response.
"You want something, boys?" he asked, sounding unaffected but somehow managing to add an insult to the mere tone of his voice.
"I want nothing with you", Dan spoke up, sounding more courageous now that he had his friends around him, but she didn't need to see him to know he had also enjoyed some liquid bravery before coming out. He tried to see past Elijah and catch a sight of Loreena, "Lori, you're acting foolish. Get off that bike and come inside. You can't be thinking of going with that guy! Who knows what he might do to you!"
"Miss Delaney goes where she wants and I advise you to start and respect that. As for what I mean to do is simply to make sure she gets home safely. That is more than can be said of you", Elijah, the tone of his voice pronouncedly patient and calm. Compared to his earlier relaxed, unadorned speech, he now sounded more like a man who might inhabit her own world than a straightforward biker.
Dan looked to be fuming and trying to come up with something insulting enough, and Loreena took the chance to speak up.
"Just go back inside, Daniel. I'm fine. I just want to go home", she said in tones she hoped would console him, but instead she just saw him glaring at him.
"You come with me now!" he half-shouted and a noticeable startle went through his friends. Loreena had to shiver now too: had she ever seen him so drunk?
Elijah was apparently the only one who still had his calm. As soon as he had the bike steadily parked, he stood up slowly, his movements smooth and controlled – like a great cat just before the leap. Until now Loreena had not seen – or hadn't just paid attention – to the sign at the back of his leather jacket. She couldn't make much of the faded device, except for the fact it reminded her a bit of Anglo-Saxon art in her Art History books, but the words stood out even in the shadows: Sons of Eorl.
"It would now be a good time to start and listen to what she says", he said solemnly. Dan scowled and jerked forward, reaching his hand as though to try and grab Loreena. However, Elijah was between them faster than that.
"Get out of way", Dan slurred and tried to step past the taller man.
"You've got a problem, pal? I'm right here, if you want to settle it like a man", Elijah said, and again it seemed like he was growing larger. Far as she could see, Dan was beyond recognising the moment when it was wiser to just give up, and he'd probably have made the situation even worse had he been alone. At least couple of his friends had the good sense to realise now was the time to stop.
"Let's get out of here, Dan. It's not worth it", said one of the guys. She didn't remember his name, nor did she care to, and to her relief Dan did pull back indeed. Whether that was because some sense had got through his skull or if he was just too drunk, she didn't know.
Elijah stood silent for a little while more, making sure the less than sober party really made for the bar again, before he mounted his bike again. He glanced over his shoulder and muttered, "Sorry about that."
"It wasn't your fault", Loreena replied softly and wrapped arms about him again.
Once more the rumble of the bike filled the parking lot, and now the vehicle sped forward unhindered. They hit the road and as the bike picked up some speed, Loreena felt the kind of freedom she had never experienced before, even though Elijah wasn't even driving that fast. She had to laugh out loud, silly as that might be. This instance, riding on the highway with a long-haired biker she hadn't seen since she was a little kid, was perhaps the happiest she had been ever since coming home.
But ride could only ever last that long, and too soon they reached what was considered the better side of the town. Elijah began to slow down the bike until at last he stopped it at the end of the lane leading to her parents' home. It was still nearly half a mile's walk from there.
Shutting the engine, Elijah turned so that he could see her.
"I'd bring you all the way to your house, but I'm not sure your dad would appreciate that. Can you get home from here?" he asked, and Loreena had to wonder how could a guy like him be such a caretaker – especially towards a stupid rich girl like her.
"It's okay. Believe it or not, I've walked home more than just once", she said as she took off the helmet, which she offered to him.
"That bastard often leave you alone when you're out at night?" he asked. The mention of Dan made his voice turn dark.
"He's okay for the most of the time. He just got too drunk", she replied, feeling obliged to defend her fiancé. Even so, Elijah made a sound at the back of his throat, announcing how deeply he doubted that response.
"You know, babe, you deserve so much more than that prick. He doesn't even know what he's got", he said. There was no sign of humour on his face then, and Loreena had no idea of what she should say to that. She looked away awkwardly and bit her lip.
"Well, I love him", she managed somehow, though the words came out strained. Elijah did not seem convinced – there was a small crease on his brow, but he did not say anything.
After a moment of awkward silence she spoke again, "Thanks for everything you did for me tonight. I really appreciate it."
Her words brought a smile back to his face. To herself she thought he looked so nice when he smiled.
"You're welcome, babe. It was my genuine pleasure", he said and put on his helmet. "Well, I guess I got to go now. Take care of yourself, will you?"
"I will", Loreena replied, and only now did she realise how badly she didn't want to see him gone... but it was too late for words like that, because he had already started the engine of his bike, and it was only seconds now that he'd once more speed away from her life...
If Elijah thought the same, it did not show. Beyond his friendly grin there was nothing to imply that he might regret this goodbye.
"See you around, Little Loriel", he said, and she just about had time to murmur "see you" before he already took the road and shot into the dark. The growl of his bike remained after him for a moment, and Loreena stood there watching the rear light grow smaller and smaller, until the night swallowed it completely.
Son of Eorl was riding again.
Loreena = Lothíriel
Elijah = Éomer
Dan = OC
Thomas King = Théoden