Title: A Matter of Style
Rating: M (for adult language and some intense violence)
Plot: 1888, Whitechapel District of London. Temperance Brennan, a young woman of science, tries to come to grips with her new reality and her mysterious companion, Seeley Booth, as he explains to her the rules of her new life.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Bones, however, I do own all originals and loathe them each with the intensity of ten thousand suns.
Author's Note: I have no idea where this came from, but I have always wanted to do something creative and interesting with Temperance and Seeley. So, what better way to do something cool than stick them in 19th century London? Granted, this is very much an alternate universe and one I might return to, I like to think of this as a taste of that or a one shot. Not quite sure what I would like to do with it, to be honest. There is, of course, a fun twist, but I'll let you read the tale instead of out and out saying it. Oh, and as always, reviews are love.
A Matter of Style
"While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die." - Leonardo da Vinci
Temperance Brennan watched from a distance as the last patron shuffled out of the Ten Bells. Glancing over to her new and equally strange companion, a vivacious gentleman who called himself Seeley Booth, she smiled softly. "The first is always the most difficult, I am afraid." Seeley whispered with a hint of remorse in his tone. "But, once you have taken your first...it does become increasingly easier." he explained, resting his hand on her shoulder. Temperance smiled, weakly, and directed her attention back to the Ten Bells.
"How does this work?" she asked, trying her best to conceal her confusion about her situation. She could hear Seeley choke back a faint laugh and felt herself become flush with embarrassment. "You should not be so quick to find amusement." she remarked with a bite to her tone. Seeley threw his hands up in defeat. "I will not be made a fool of. I'll have you know that now rather than later, it is a mistake that many men have made and it only adds to my hatred of them." Temperance made sure there was enough sternness in her voice that Seeley would not think that she was only toying with him and that she was anything less than a woman of her stature.
There was an awkward moment of silence between the two as Seeley shifted his weight and mulled over her inquiry. "I should like to remain on your better side, so allow me to explain how this is. You must feed." Seeley said breaking her concentration from the small bar. Temperance felt a sudden sense of confusion as her new friend ushered her along. "You must do this at least twice a week. You will know when it is time to feed because you will feel an ache like none you have ever felt in the bottom of your stomach." he explained.
"Twice a week," she replied, "and if I don't...what then?" Seeley looked down at her with his cold hazel eyes. Temperance could feel him looking her over, inch by inch, and felt a chill as she realized that she might not want the answer that was lurking on her companion's lips. "On second thought, I should not be asking such things right now. Pray I never find out. I am curious, though, to learn more about this condition we now share." She knew that she was rambling now and she tried to cover it, but it was to late. Seeley was battling a smile playing at the edge of his lips.
"Twice a week," Seeley re-iterated, "and I do not believe that you are ready for what might become of you if you do not follow that creed to the letter. Pray, indeed, that you do not find out. A woman as delicate and lovely as you would surely wish to avoid such an awful fate." As Seeley spoke she could feel her spine tingle with fear of what he might have said, but she was thankful for his discretion. "You must also sleep in a casket - deplorable, I know - and in the earth of your homeland. You will find this to be the most comfortable of the options. You can, of course, sleep in a bed but you will not awake feeling quite as rested as you would from your casket." Seeley returned his attention back to Temperance and she felt herself become flush once more.
She knew what she would have liked to have asked him next, but the sounds wouldn't remove themselves from her throat so she offered him a weak smile. Seeley seemed to understand her inability to articulate her feelings, a relic from the time when he was still a newborn she mused, and this afforded her a small comfort. "Casket," she finally managed to choke out, "where might I be able to locate one? I fear it would be an odd request coming from a woman such as myself." He chuckled. "I do not find this to be amusing." she shot back, her tone stern and aphoristic.
"Oh, but it is a slight bit amusing. You must confess to that, Ms. Brennan. Alas, I would ask that you direct your attention to the north." he raised his right hand and pointed. Temperance followed the direction he was pointing and noticed that she was outside of the Whitechapel Cemetery. Temperance scoffed and Seeley chuckled once more. "You should learn to take ease lest you desire to be finding yourself in an early grave." He continued to chuckle at his own cleaver jest now, but she didn't see the humor in the situation.
She wanted, in that moment, to drain the life out of the man standing before her but she fought it back and attempted to compose herself. "You're asking me to sleep in a casket, in the cold earth, in the cemetery? Are you daft, Seeley Booth?" There was a long silence as he amused himself with the question. Temperance rested her hands on her hips and fumed. "I demand that you answer me." she spoke directly at him.
"Is it a matter of style?" he asked, his tone playful. Upset with his inability to take her seriously, Temperance shoved Seeley, almost knocking him from his feet. "Wow, that's quite a bite from such a little creature." he teased. Temperance felt herself welling with anger, but fought to quell it. There would be time for this later. "Yes, I expect you to sleep in the cold earth, in a casket, in a cemetery. I know I am asking a lot of you but it's what we do. What our kind has done for centuries now. I don't make the rules, Temperance. I only follow them."
As she shifted her weight he drew closer. She wanted to back away from him, but she found herself enthralled. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. Holding out her hand, he took it, and led her through the massive archway. Inside, her eyes caught the reflection of the moonlight cascading off the crumbling headstones that dotted the crawling shrubs and organic life. Something awoke within her as she allowed him to lead her through the decay. "Is this where you call home?" she inquired, intensely curious. Seeley nodded with a slight tilt of his head and directed her attention to a single headstone. Silently she mouthed the name etched in the stone, 'Seeley Booth'.
"I have not been alive in quite a long time, as you can see." Temperance nodded and spun around and rested on the headstone. "You must know that this was not my intention, to do this to you, but when I saw you I was enthralled with your beauty. You brought back memories I had felt were once lost. I had to have you, to make you my own, I hope you can find it in your to forgive my transgression." he explained, looking down and studying his hands.
There was an ache in her stomach that was alien to her and before she knew what she was doing she clutched at her stomach and moaned. Seeley's attention shot back to her. "I don't feel so well." she said aloud. "Is this the hunger you speak of? This feeling of being eaten from the inside? Because if it is, it is most unpleasant." Seeley could only nod as Temperance stood up, feeling lightheaded, and almost fell back. In an instant he was there behind her, waiting to catch her from her fall. "Thank you," she smiled softly, "but I can stand upon my own."
This didn't seem to bother him because he continued to stand silent behind her. She turned to face him and drank from his eyes. "You must feed." he said in a wry tone. She knew that he wouldn't lead her wrong in that moment and looked to him for direction. "I do not know how you feel about the sex of your victims, but women are much easier to take than men. This is not to say that taking a man is a bad action. The choice is yours, and yours alone, but in the experience I have accumulated over the last three centuries I have found women to be...weaker prey." Seeley spoke soft and with ease. She knew he meant well, but that didn't stop her from being offended by the thought that her own sex was an easier prey than his.
"You watch your tongue, Seeley Booth." she snapped. Seeley threw his hands in the air once more to show his defeat. "Now, direct me on how this will be." she said walking along the crushed path to the gateway. "I should decide to take a female victim tonight, as my first, and I should like you to show me how to do so." The request came out easier than she had expected that it would. This brought a small smile to her face, the first real one that had decided to show itself since she had awoken this evening to the shock of a mysterious man looming over her.
"Oh, it's quite simple." he offered as he allowed her to walk ahead of him. "You find a youthful woman, one that's alone and easy to take, and then you lure her in with your charms. Once you have done this you...well, I'm sure you remember how I took you." he let his voice trail as the two of them walked along the misty cobblestone street. She could hear the soft echoes of his feet against the stone and the loud, sharp, almost brutal click of her heels on the same stone. "It's as simple as that, my delicate creature. Nothing more and nothing less."
Temperance allowed herself to trust that Seeley wouldn't lead her astray and scanned the streets through the mist. It was late and there wouldn't be too many women walking alone along the streets of Whitechapel, not now considering the stories being spread of a man taking women in the night and doing terrible things to them, so she knew her choices would be limited. "Where do we look?" she inquired as the two of them rounded a turn. Suddenly, as if by an arcane magic that escaped her logical mind, she heard the faint sound of beating. "What is that?" she asked Seeley. Seeley smiled and directed her to move along, to follow the beating, and she would know what it was.
As the couple drew closer to the sound, she noticed that she could smell something sweet in the air. Tilting her head slightly, she was able to trace the smell to a young woman in a blue dress about two hundred feet ahead. Looking behind her she noticed that her companion had vanished. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, she approached the young woman with a wide smile. "Hello, miss. Are you lost?" the young woman asked of her. Temperance smiled and tried to find something to say to this woman, but nothing would come out.
"Yes, I was wondering if you might be able to direct me to the Ten Bells?" she asked, finally. The young woman thought about the request for a moment. "I'm afraid I was heading there and became lost along the way." Temperance explained, lulling the stranger. The young woman continued to consider the inquiry, but as she did Temperance could almost taste the woman on her lips. Taking a deep, shallow, exasperated breath, she drew in close and wrapped her hands around the woman's frail neck. Instinct took over as she thrust her against the wall, cocking her head, and sinking her new razor sharp teeth into the delicate neck skin of the woman. The young woman tried to scream, to fight Temperance off, but it was no use. Moments later her body went limp.
Drawing back Temperance brought her hand to her mouth and cleared some of the red liquid that now painted her lips and the edges of her mouth. "Well done." Seeley's voice echoed from behind. She spun around to find him standing several feet away. "You rushed it a bit, but for your first kill...I would dare say that you handled yourself better than most newborns do." Temperance felt herself well with satisfaction and a warmth wash over her unlike any she had ever felt before. "Come, I have much to show you and much to teach you of your new life."
And with that she took his hand. It wasn't a life that she had chosen, but a life that had chosen her. She was a woman of science, but in this moment she realized that her science had failed her. She had become the impossible, the un-natural, the unreal. None of this mattered to her, though. She now had lifetimes ahead of her to reconcile what it all meant and would come to mean to her.