Penny Dreadful, oh beautiful series! I can't describe how much I enjoyed the first season! This piece was written for the Hurt-Comfot bingo on LiveJournal. The prompt was "Hazing", hope you can all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I am not the owner of the characters neither of the series.
Misty Night, Foggy Mind
London was as it usually was. Gray, as if a dense mist enveloped it completely, giving the city that air of mystery that belonged to it.
Vanessa sat on her usual bench in front of the church after leaving it. The priest was right. All the power she had, everything that made her special… Was the fault of that damned devil that lived inside of her. She couldn't be normal. How could she live the life of an ordinary English woman? Who would marry her after everything she had done? No. She was deeply immersed on the supernatural world, that was what she did, there was no place for her on the normal world.
She sighed, closing her eyes. She needed to know how to control it, to use its powers on her favour, and not the contrary.
"Miss Ives?"
The seductive voice sounded like a velvety purr on her ears. God, she had just told him she couldn't have anything to do with him. The pretty boy really had never been rejected before, had him?
She slowly opened her eyes to stare at him.
"Did you follow me here, Mr. Gray?"
"No, no, I did not. Please do not think so lowly of me."
She didn't answer, just kept staring at him. She had already told him everything she had to, there was nothing left to say.
"May I sit next to you?"
Vanessa sighed.
"Mr. Gray, I told you…"
"Please, Miss Ives. Allow me at least that."
She slid swiftly on the bench to open space for him. Dorian sat next to her and stared ahead, not really taking in the massive church building in front of him.
"I cannot understand what happened. What could have I done for you to run away from me like that, and then reject me as if… as if…"
"You did nothing wrong, Dorian. I explained, did I not?"
"We all have our demons, Miss Ives."
She chuckled lightly.
"I'm confident your demon is nothing like mine."
"I saw you at the party, remember? I can handle it."
"You can handle it?" her laugh was a dark and sinister one. "That's just brilliant. You might be able to handle it, sweet boy Dorian, but I cannot. Did you ever have your mind and body stolen by an evil so great nothing else compares?"
His silence was enough answer.
"Your mind hazed by a cruelness, a raw, incontrollable power. I am not myself. Sometimes he lets me hear the horrible things he say to the people around me, see the dreadful things he does to the ones I love."
"I… I…"
"You have no idea what to say, have you? I understand that. What is there to say? Your world is not so big to include the one I live in."
"But I want to include it. My life's goal is to experiment everything, to know all there is to know in this planet of ours."
"That is impossible, dear Dorian."
The shadow of a smile crossed his face.
"The way I behave, is a choice. I chose to have this young life forever. I am not as young as you judge me to be."
"I know there is something about you I do not understand, and that is your appeal, why I feel compelled to you."
"No, that is not it. We feel compelled to each other because we both have things to hide others cannot know about. Ours souls are alike, you feel it just like I do, since we first laid eyes on each other, do not even bother denying it."
"Mr. Gray, please. I explained. This connection we have unleashed the demon, and I cannot allow it to take over again. It is over between us."
She got up and walked slowly away. Dorian just watched as she disappeared into the foggy night. He hid his face with her hands, trying to sort that all out. His mind seemed as foggy as the weather, even worse as far as he was concerned. He couldn't remember ever feeling like that, ever wanting someone so badly.
Was she right? Was he never rejected before and that was why he felt so lost? His feelings were too intense to be just that, though. Maybe… maybe he actually loved her, as he never really loved anyone before, because she would have been able to understand him like no else would.
Regaining his composure before tears began to form, he stood up and walked away in Vanessa's opposite direction.