So this story was supposed to be a one shot for Halloween, but I always get too carried away with these things. The next part will be up soon, the rough draft is already done. I just wanted to have something up for today. This was named because I sort of found my inspiration from the Fall Out Boy video for this song. So even though this is last minute (where I am) Happy Halloween everyone, I hope you guys enjoy!
"Fuck!" Puck shouted, collapsing to the floor in a heap.
"PUCK!" Finn yelled, retreating back to help his fallen friend. "Rachel he needs help!"
Rachel crouched behind the over turned couch and looked over her shoulder. Puck was curled into the fetal position, jaw slack and eyes tightly closed. The dim red glow of the emergency lights overhead provided just enough light for the slowly pooling puddle of blood to gleam hauntingly around his body. Finn was crouched next to him, the knees of his cargo pants slowly staining red as he clung desperately to Puck's shoulder. From her vantage point, it looked like one of the Leeches got a hold of one of their stakes and slung it back at him. It didn't pierce anything, but it looked as if it had cut a good chunk out.
There was a chorus of cackling laughter that slowly dissipated as the Leeches made their escape, rushing down the corridors of the empty University.
"Fuck." Rachel grunted, lowering her crossbow. "We lost them. Alright, stay with him. I'll go get Brittany and Mike. Keep holding the wound and don't move a muscle okay?" Rachel instructed. Finn nodded hastily as Rachel stood up. Scanning the common room for any sign of one of the blood suckers, she raised her crossbow and hastily ran back the way they had came from, leaving her two friends for the time being.
Ohio State was thankfully a small school. The common room where Puck had fallen shared a building with the infirmary that their operation had set up as base for the night. The sound of her boots thudding against the carpeted floors was thankfully the only thing she heard as she navigated her way to Health Services. It was a bit difficult to remember the exact way back in the glow of the emergency lights, the vampires knocked the power out once they realized they had hunters on their tail, but she figured it out nonetheless.
Knocking on the door rapidly 4 times then following with a slower 3 to let everyone inside know that it was one of their own coming in, Rachel opened the door and walked into the room.
Mike was leaning over a cot, prodding a squirming Santana with a syringe, his head lamp illuminating a deep gash on her knee.
"You're a real sadist, you know that Chang?" Santana growled as Mike finally pierced her skin.
"You haven't had a tetanus shot since '03, Lopez. It's not my fault you're the one who tripped and fell on a fucking nail." Mike shot back, pulling the needle out of her skin and disposing it into the waste container mounted on the wall next to them.
Brittany, Artie, and Mercedes were on the opposite end of the room, huddled over a wooden table with flashlights pointed at a set of blue prints of the student center.
"Brittany, Mike!" Rachel called out, focusing everyone in the room's attention on to her.
"What's up Rachel?" Brittany called first, making her way over.
"Puck's down. Severe shoulder wound. We need help getting him back here." Rachel explained.
Mike immediately hopped up, grabbing the canvas messenger bag filled with medical supplies lying at his feet and draping it over his shoulder. "Alright. Mercedes, do me a favor and disinfect Santana's wound. How far away is he?"
"Not far. We didn't make it past the common room." Rachel said roughly.
"Alright, lead the way." Brittany said gesturing for Rachel to get a move on. Rachel immediately turned and left the room. As the group entered the hallway, she heard the click of Brittany loading her gun behind her.
It wasn't long before they were back in the Student Center. Brittany and Mike immediately sprinted to Puck and Finn's side.
Finn stood up and moved over to Rachel's, giving Brittany and Mike room to work on Puck.
"Have you heard anything from Blaine's team?" Finn asked Rachel, a hint of worry in his voice.
Rachel shook her head. "No, but Santana was back there getting treated for a nasty cut. I think they're alright."
"Good. Okay, lets set up guard. I don't think they'll come back but we better be safe." Finn said, slightly relieved.
Rachel nodded and pulled her bow up to eye level, moving around her friends in a slow circle. Finn did the same, pulling his hand gun out and moving the opposite way from Rachel in a slow practiced dance. They listened to Puck groan and Brittany whisper soft reassurances as Mike stitched him up on the fly, all a part of a routine the group had perfected a long time ago.
3 years ago, if someone had told Rachel Berry she would be team captain to an underground group of vampire hunters, she would have laughed in their face and then proceed to outline her detailed life plan.
A lot of things had changed over the span of a few years.
It was a chilly January night when her entire life plan was dashed for a new one of vigilante monster killing. Her and her fathers were walking out of the Opus Theater in Columbus after witnessing an invigorating performance from the one and only Patti Lupone. The tickets were a birthday present from the two men, a special sweet 16 gift. For an entire month she had looked forward to that night, dreaming restlessly of getting invited backstage and meeting the singer before the show and other ridiculous things.
Her father Hiram had insisted that Leroy pay up for the valet service the theater offered by their front door, but Leroy refused citing Ferris Buheler's Day Off as evidence that their car would be taken for a joy ride. However ridiculous that was, Hiram swallowed back his argument and allowed Leroy to park in the sketchy looking lot almost 6 blocks away. As long as Rachel wasn't upset by anything he wasn't going to be either, it was her day after all.
When they had parked the sun was still out and setting slowly behind skeletal trees, but that was long ago. The concert had lasted several hours and it was almost midnight as they walked through the streets of Columbus in the chilly dark. As they made their way back to the car they passed countless drug dealers and prostitutes. Leroy and Hiram kept Rachel huddled between them in attempts to protect her innocence from the sights and sounds of the illicit things around them. Finally they reached the parking lot, their silver Jeep one of the few remaining vehicles parked within it.
The last thing Rachel heard before everything went black was the blood chilling sound of laughter and her fathers screams. It was all too quick. Before she could even process what was happening, there was a sharp pain at the base of her neck. One second she was in the parking lot, the next she was in the back of a moving van with a horrible headache and fading in and out of consciousness.
She had finally come to in an empty warehouse with her wrists tied with rope around a pole, and a gag shoved in her mouth. Every now and then she'd hear the distant sounds of footsteps and voices echoing off in the distance. Later she'd learn that they were discussing whether to turn her or 'drain her' (vampire slang for turning her into a buffet for their gang). Escape was futile. Her voice was completely muffled by the gag and the ropes where so tight that her hands were going numb. She had quickly gave up on struggling in hopes to conserve her strength for a chance where she might actually be able to get away.
She didn't know that her captors where not of the mortal variety until later (she wasn't sure if it was hours or days at that point), when one of them finally approached her with glowing red eyes and a feral smile splitting his face. The jolt of fear that ran through her only lasted momentarily as Santana and Mike burst onto the scene, immediately staking her attack in the heart. In mere moments the floor was filled with the sounds of gun shots and fighting as more people flooded into the warehouse. It was Brittany that had saved her, cutting her wrists free and carrying her to safety outside.
Rachel had been expecting police vehicles as the situation was seemed like a planned sting, but instead she was met with more unmarked vans. For a moment she was terrified that she was being taken hostage by a rival gang (and technically, she kind of was) but Brittany had reassured her that she was with the good guys.
Brittany had brought her immediately to the mansion she now called home, and set about taking care of her. She had explained what had happened, how she had been kidnapped by a gang of vampires and that Brittany and her friends were basically a group of Van Helsings and Buffys.
Rachel had thought that Brittany was absolutely insane at first, and wanted to leave. She demanded to see her fathers and be let go. For about a day, she had been mostly ignored. Brittany and Mike would come in regularly to check up on her and make sure she was fed and given proper access to the bathroom. Even though these captors were more humane, she was still a prisoner.
Finally, a man walked in. He introduced himself as William Schuester, the head of the 'Organization'. He explained what Brittany had earlier with more eloquent terms in a well practiced introduction speech. When Rachel refused to listen and demanded to know where her fathers where, Will agreed with a heavy sigh. He, Brittany, and Mike drove her out to the coroner's office in the city. With Schuester's fake FBI badge, Rachel was allowed to see the bodies in order to identify them.
When Rachel laid her eyes on her fathers corpses she immediately knew that everything Brittany and Scheuster had told her was true. Their eyes were both opened, lifeless but still managing to carry over the sheer look of terror they had in their final moments. Their skin was both ashen, Rachel still wasn't sure whether to attribute that to the coolness of the Morgue or the loss of blood. But the sight of their necks, ripped open as if animals had got to them, was what really made her believe.
After telling the morticians that those were in fact her fathers and then proceeding to vomit in the parking lot, she pledged her allegiance to Scheuster's group in order to avenge her fathers death. The fact that the gang that was responsible was extinct wasn't good enough, Rachel wanted to purge the earth of the beings.
Somehow, Scheuster used his endless amount of resources to finagle his way into a foster parent position for Rachel. With both fathers dead, Hiram's family line all long gone and Leroy's disowning him once they found out about his sexual orientation, there weren't many questions asked and Rachel was happily placed in his care.
Santana and Puck immediately started training her. They taught her how to fire several types of guns and how to wield various other weapons. They showed her how to fight using mixed martial arts, and most importantly they taught her how to kill Vampires.
Schuester was rarely around, preferring to keep himself scarce. No one knew his exact location, and the only times he really showed his face where when a new member was added to their group. Other than that he lead the group from afar, footing the bills for the cost of living and missions, providing them with top of the line weapons and medical supplies, covering them from the authorities and other vampires, and sending them out on missions all over the country.
Over the years Rachel had earned the respect of her teammates by saving each of their lives more than once. Rachel had always thrown herself completely into whatever she started, and now that she was a vampire hunter she set out to become a master. After her fifth mission, when the groups long time 'Captain' Jesse St. James had been viciously killed and Rachel had stepped up to the plate and successfully lead the group to victory, it was unanimously decided that Rachel take his place.
Vampire hunting was Rachel's life now. She abandoned her dreams of Broadway lights long ago for a future of bloody hands and an almost certain early death. There was no going back now, she was Rachel Berry after all and Rachel Berry always finished what she set out to do. Unfortunately for vampires everywhere that was to eradicate all of them.
"Alright, Puck you're going to be just fine." Mike said, leaning away from Puck's body. He wiped the sweat away from his forehead with a bloody hand, leaving a dark red smear in it's wake. "Finn, I'm going to need you to help Brittany and I get him back. Rachel, you're going to have to cover the four of us."
"Of course." Rachel said. Finn holstered his gun and moved to help Mike get a quietly groaning Puck off the ground. With Mike supporting Puck's torso and head, Finn holding up Puck by the ankles, and Brittany gingerly supporting Puck's injured shoulder the group set off at a steady jog with Rachel leading the pack.
They were almost back at the infirmary when Rachel heard a soft whining. She stopped immediately, raising the bow up.
"What's going on?" Mike whispered.
"Not sure." Rachel said. "I think someone's hurt. Was anyone with Blaine supposed to be down here?"
"No." Finn answered immediately.
"Okay. Brittany, pull your gun out and back me up. Mike, Finn, you're going to have to get Puck back on your own while we check this out." Rachel ordered. Brittany complied, gently helping Mike adjust into a new position and moving to stand next to Rachel. With a quick nod the two men were off.
"Do you think it's one of us?" Brittany asked quietly, removing her handgun from her shoulder holster.
"Don't know." Rachel said, listening carefully for the sound again.
Brittany's eyes widened in shock. "Did you hear that? I think it's coming from over there." Brittany said, gesturing with a head nod over to a row of vending machines.
Cautiously, Rachel and Brittany approached the machines with their weapons at the ready. The noise slowly grew louder as they grew closer. They passed down the row without seeing anything, and looked around in confusion. The noise was definitely coming from somewhere around the machines, but the source wasn't identifiable.
"Rachel, look!" Brittany said, holstering her gun and rushing over. Rachel watched as Brittany bent over and tried to squeeze herself between the small space between two of the machines.
"Brittany what are you doing?" Rachel asked. Before Brittany could answer, she saw the source for the noise.
Brittany was gently pulling out a girl from the small space between the machines.
"Shit." Rachel said, lowering her bow and rushing forward. "Is she alive?"
Brittany placed a hand against the girls neck to feel for a pulse. After a moment she frowned and looked up at Rachel."I can't tell."
"What?" Rachel asked, brow furrowing in confusion.
"I...can't tell?" Brittany repeated, questioning herself. "I- it feels like she's breathing but I can't get a heartbeat."
Rachel studied the slouched over girl intently for a moment. "Alright, go get Mike. Get him here as soon as possible. I'll stay with her."
Brittany nodded and immediately hopped to her feet, bolting out of sight. Rachel crouched down and took her place. The girl was still half lodged between the machines, her legs tucked behind the back and her torso in the middle in an uncomfortable L position. She had stopped groaning in pain, so Rachel did her best to pull her free without hurting her or breaking anything.
"You must have been an expert hide and seek champion when you were a kid, huh?" Rachel muttered quietly once she had pulled the girl free.
She took a moment to examine her appearance. She was pale, her skin almost glowing. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was lolled open. She had messy golden hair and a bone structure that Rachel would have taken a moment to appreciate if she weren't in such a high tension situation. She was absolutely beautiful, even in limbo.
Rachel brushed the choppy short strands of hair away from her neck and felt her stomach churn at the sheer number of bite marks that littered the porcelain column.
"Shit." She mumbled, positioning her fingers at the girls pulse point. She knew it was useless. Those bite marks gave her one of two sentences. She was either dead or in the process of turning.
Rachel watched the girl intently as she waited for Mike and Brittany. She couldn't exactly get a pulse, but felt a few pumps that might have been her imagination. Brittany was right when she said the girl seemed to be breathing, her chest was rising and falling slowly. The girl was either fighting helplessly for her life, or she was already something inhuman. Rachel desperately hoped it was the former.
"Relax." Rachel whispered soothingly, cupping the girls head in her lap and stroking the sweaty locks of hair. "Let go, it'll be easier if you just let go."
At that, the girl took a sharp inhale of breath and tore her eyes open. Rachel froze in terror, unsure whether she would have to fend off a newly turned vamp, but relaxed when she saw the piercing green eyes looking deep into her own. They were hypnotizing, an emerald with a few splashes of gold and rust. They were too beautiful, too soulful to be anything but human. They carried too much emotion to be the hardened crimson of a vampire's.
It was only for a moment, then the girl softly exhaled and shut her eyes. Rachel resumed running her fingers through tangled yellow locks and whispering soft assurances. She was pretty sure the girl had passed on but she couldn't bring herself to stop.
She hadn't even realized Mike and Brittany had arrived until Brittany was pulling her away from the girl. Mike quietly examined her, checking for that nonexistent pulse and examining the puncture holes that littered her neck.
"She's turning." Mike announced stoically from the floor. He moved his hand to his belt to pull the wooden steak he kept sheathed there.
"No." Rachel said. "There's no way."
"Her heart isn't beating, but she's still breathing. And look at these bite marks." Mike said, pointing at a particularly nasty one that was framed with thick pulsing black lines. "There's no way she'd still be breathing. It's reflexive. She's a vampire, Rachel."
Rachel bit her lip and shook her head. "She looked at me." Rachel insisted. "Her eyes were human. Mike, she's dying please do something."
"Rachel..." Mike whispered, but stopped at the stern look Rachel shot him. With a huff he pulled a penlight from his pocket and checked her eyes.
"Well...they're still green. That doesn't mean they won't change once the process is finished." Mike said, letting her eyelids snap back shut.
Rachel looked over at Brittany who was keeping lookout for the two of them. Even though what Mike was saying made sense, she couldn't bring herself to believe him. Those eyes...there was no way.
"Finn and Blaine are coming up." Brittany announced.
The two boys ran up to the group at a frenzy. "Come on!" Finn yelled.
"We have to get out of here." Blaine explained, only slightly calmer than Finn once he got to the group. "We had to resort to Plan B."
Plan B was to do as much damage to the base as possible and retreat. It was a horrible escape plan, one the group hadn't had to use since Rachel had taken charge.
Rachel looked from Blaine to Finn, then to Brittany to Mike, and finally her eyes landed on that face.
"We're bringing her. No questions. No arguments." Rachel ordered, slinging her bow over her shoulders.. "Let's go."
She bent over and picked the girl up in a fireman's carry. Blaine and Finn already started heading for the exit, but Brittany and Mike remained motionless as they gaped at her.
"I said no questions, let's go!" Rachel shouted desperately at them, moving to follow Blaine and Finn. They broke out of their stupor and followed, rushing to make it outside.
Two vans were waiting for them outside, one with Kurt behind the wheel and the other with Sam. Rachel, Brittany, and Mike were the last ones out of the building and once they were safely inside of Kurt's van along with Blaine, Finn and Santana, they sped off into the sunset.
"We have a survivor?" Kurt asked once the campus for Ohio State was long behind them and a semblance of calm settled over the passengers.
"No." Mike said, before Rachel could answer. "She's turning."
It was a miracle that they had made it home without Santana or Finn killing anyone. Calming down that shit storm was harder than dismantling an atomic bomb. Luckily enough, Brittany had managed to calm Santana down before she shot Rachel and the girl (who had somehow managed to remain unconscious during all of this).
When they arrived back at the mansion they had immediately restrained the girl in the guest bedroom. They handcuffed all of her limbs to a wooden chair in front of a large port of bay windows that would be torturous to her if she was in fact turning. Rachel didn't want to do it, but Finn and Santana insisted and she knew it would be the only way to keep her group calm.
Rachel left Joe, the newest member of the group who held down the fort for this mission, to guard the room and called a group meeting in the main living room.
"This is so unlike you!" Finn yelled immediately, setting the tone for the discussion that was supposed to be taking place.
"I've seen a lot of people in this group do incredibly idiotic stuff, but I'd never think you would do something like this." Santana added, folding her arms across her chest.
Before Rachel could defend herself, Mercedes interrupted.
"What the Hell is going on?" She asked, annoyed.
"Rachel brought a vampire back." Kurt explained calmly.
The entire group that hadn't been in their van exploded into uproar. Puck, who was still very much out of it from his injury, was slamming his fist against the table and shouting incoherently. Sam, Tina, and Artie were exchanging looks and shaking their heads in disappointment. Mercedes was shouting something that resembled Santana and Finn's earlier sentiments. Blaine, Kurt, and Brittany were the only ones that seemed to remain calm. Mike had moved over to Sam, Tina, and Artie to exchange a quick explanation.
"EVERYONE!" Rachel yelled, trying to get control of the situation. "Please listen."
Everyone quieted down and focused their attention back on Rachel. Rachel examined the groups various expressions of calm disinterest, to curiosity, to blind fury.
"Brittany and I found her crying, hiding behind a row of vending machines." Rachel said, trying to set the scene. She wanted them to see it from her perspective. "She wasn't conscious, she probably wasn't even alive when we found her. Nonetheless, she was breathing so I sent Brittany to go get Mike.
"When I was alone with her I examined her myself. I found the bite marks, I checked myself to find out that she didn't have a pulse. She was still breathing though, so the best I could hope for was that her heart was beating at a snails pace and she was still hanging on. I held her, trying to soothe her. When I told her to let go, that it would be easier, she opened her eyes and looked right at me. Goddammit, she looked right at me with eyes that were completely human!" Rachel explained.
"When Mike came back and declared that he was turning, I couldn't believe it. I refused to. Vampires don't look at you like that." Rachel said.
"So because this girl had some gorgeous baby blues you decided to risk all of our lives?" Santana bit back. Rachel held her tongue from telling her they were actually a vibrant green.
"No." Rachel said. "I...she was so helpless. She was in pain, struggling to hold on to something that had already slipped away from her without her even realizing. I wasn't going to leave her there to either struggle on her own with the clan that had turned her extinct. And even now, knowing that we had failed the mission, I still probably wouldn't have left her. She had escaped somehow from that nest, hiding behind a few soda machines. She didn't want to be there, and I wasn't about to let her get corrupted by them!"
Finn scoffed. "She's already been corrupted."
"You don't know that!" Rachel shouted. "She's not even fully turned yet. We don't know anything about who she is!"
"She isn't anyone!" Mercedes shouted. "She's a vampire. She's soulless."
Rachel clenched her fists. "She's not!"
"Just because she had pretty eyes does not mean she has a soul." Santana repeated with a roll of her eyes.
"She's innocent! She hasn't killed anyone yet. Goddammit, she hasn't even drank any blood! What if there was a way we could help her? Do you guys have no compassion?" Rachel asked.
"The most compassionate thing we could have done would have been to stake her in the heart." Sam pitched in, an overly large frown marring his face.
"I am not backing down on this." Rachel said. "We are not doing anything to harm her until she gives us reason to."
"And what's enough reason to?" Kurt popped in, his voice curious but neutral.
"Attacking one of us, threatening one of us. Being violent to any of us." Rachel said. "We have her locked up in the East guest room, right in front of the windows and tied down to a chair. She's a newly turned vamp that hasn't had any blood. She's not strong enough to be an actual threat to any of us"
Finn frowned and ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. "She's going to try to hurt us though. You know she is."
"None of us know anything." Rachel argued, trying to remain calm. "But I swear, the second she does something to compromise the safety of this group, I'll terminate her myself."
"We keep her locked up. We don't feed her. Everyone carries a stake and holy water with them at all times in the house." Santana said. "And we have her on double guard duty. Someone in the room with her at all times and someone outside the door. If she can even use the restroom, she's to be escorted by at least three of us."
Rachel nodded. "Okay. That's fair."
"I'm not done!" Santana interjected. "And you have to call Schuester and explain this situation to him. We'll follow your rules until we get a hold of him, then we do whatever it is he says."
Rachel sighed. That wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to, but even without Santana's stipulations she knew she'd have done it anyway. "Done. Does everyone else agree to these terms?"
Everyone reluctantly agreed with slow nods and quiet yeses.
"Alright. Everyone go get some rest. We'll talk about what went wrong on this mission later." Rachel said sternly. Her group had still managed to fail, regardless of the new girl, and she didn't want them to forget that. It was something that they would have to take care of eventually. "Mike, Brittany, Santana, come check on her with me." Rachel said.
The four of them made their way back to the room to find Joe waiting outside the door with a fearful look in his eyes.
"What's going on, Joe?" Rachel asked nervously.
"I...she's really sick in there. I wanted to go help her but you have the key...and-"
A pained wail interrupted from the other side of the door causing Joe to finish his sentence with a whimper.
"It's alright Joe. Mike...I think you should take him down to the kitchen and tell him what's happening." Brittany said with a wide smile. Brittany's smile was one of the most calming sights on the planet, and no one could really refuse anything when faced with it.
Mike nodded and wrapped a reassuring arm around Joe's shoulder as he guided him down the hallway.
"You didn't even tell the kid there was a fucking vampire in there?" Santana hissed. Brittany placed a hand on her shoulder gently.
"I realize that was a mistake, but I didn't want to scare him." Rachel said.
Santana rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You keep making those today."
Rachel frowned and fished the key to the room out of her pocket and thrust it into the door. She let Santana and Brittany in first before shutting it behind her.
The girl was squirming in her chair and whimpering quietly. The first rays of the rising sun peeked through the window and shone across her face, causing the obvious discomfort.
"Brittany, can you close the blinds?" Rachel asked quietly. Brittany nodded and ran forward to close the blinds as Santana and Rachel walked around to face their prisoner.
"What's happening to me?" The girl asked in a frail voice as soon as the blinds where shut. Her skin was pale, and the blackening lines of her veins were showing under her skin from the combination of vampire bites and sunlight.
"What's your name?" Rachel asked gently, stepping close to Quinn. Quinn cracked an eye open and looked up at Rachel, flinching from the pain she was in. Rachel took a small amount of comfort from the way green eyes sparkled.
"Quinn." She said quietly.
"I'm Rachel, and this is Brittany and Santana." Rachel said in the calmest voice she could muster up. "I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're in the ending phases of turning into a vampire."
Quinn grunted. "What the fuck?"
Santana scoffed and stepped forward, playing the bad cop in this routine. "You're a vampire blondie, and this one over here was stupid enough not to kill you. I'm sure you agree with me when I say that would have been the smarter option."
"I don't believe you." Quinn groaned.
Rachel opened her mouth to talk but Santana beat her to it. "Fine. Whatever. We'll open those blinds back up and let you fry. Better yet, why don't we just put her outside?"
"Shut up Santana." Rachel growled.
"Whatever. I think Britts and I should take the first shift." Santana said. Rachel frowned but acquiesced. She had a phone call to make anyway.
The day had passed, and it was Rachel's turn to stand guard outside the slowly opened the door to the Quinn's room (more like cell), flinching when it squeaked way too loudly. It was night time and she was on strict orders from Schuester not to go into the room under any circumstance, as the threat of sunlight wasn't there to deter Quinn.
Fuck that.
Schuester had allowed Rachel to let Quinn stay as long as she was kept in her restraints. Rachel was also on "probation" and wasn't allowed to go on the next mission. In Schuester's eyes, it was her compassion for Quinn caused the mission to fail.
She closed the door behind her with a quiet thump and looked up. The window was wide open, basking the room in silver moonlight. Quinn sat in the chair, unmoving despite the time of night.
"Hey." Rachel whispered loudly as she slowly approached the chair.
Quinn whined helplessly. "Please don't hurt me anymore." She pleaded weakly. Rachel cringed, it had only been a day but Quinn hadn't been stubborn throughout. She knew that Santana and Finn must have been awful to get Quinn to plead.
"No it's me, Rachel." Rachel said, coming around to face Quinn.
Quinn's eyes where closed, and her head lolled to the side weakly. There were thin but deep burn marks covering the parts of her arms and face that were exposed, and black branches of veins shone through pale skin.
"Oh." Quinn mumbled weakly.
Rachel was immediately outraged by the sorry state Quinn was in. It was enough to keep her threatened by the sunlight, but to actually use holy water on her?
"What did they do to you?" Rachel asked, stepping forward and dropping to her knees in front of Quinn. She brought her hands up and cupped the cool porcelain skin of her face tenderly, careful not to touch any of her burns, and tilted her chin up.
Quinn kept her eyes closed but smiled faintly, two sharp incisors peaking under her top lip. "You won't let them kill me, so they did the next best thing."
Rachel fumed silently. She gently let Quinn's head go and stood up, rummaging through her pockets.
"I need you to open your eyes and tilt your head up." Rachel instructed gently.
Quinn didn't listen, just sat quietly almost sleeping. Rachel wasn't sure if she was being defiant or just didn't have the energy.
She popped the cap off the small container in her hands and reached out to tilt Quinn's chin up again. "Please open your eyes for me. I need to see you."
At the sound of the cap popping off, Quinn's body tensed. Reflexively her eyes opened revealing bright emerald eyes, slightly cloudy still strikingly human.
"What are you doing?" Quinn asked, terrified. Rachel cringed at the fearful look in Quinn's eye, guilt building in her gut.
"Shh, no Quinn. I'm not going to hurt you. Open your mouth." Rachel said, lifting the vial with her free hand.
"What is that? Please no more water." Quinn begged as her eyes locked on to the small white bottle with trepidation.
Rachel brought the vial up to Quinn's lips and squeezed. As the liquid spilled into Quinn's mouth her eyes rolled back into her head and a moan of appreciation escaped her lips.
Rachel studied Quinn's face intently, looking for any signs of the monsters she had grown familiar with over the past three years. Fortunately, Rachel could only find the desperation of a woman deprived of fluids for 24 hours.
Quinn stopped sucking at the vial and let it go, gasping in desperation as Rachel pulled the vial away.
"What was that?" She asked.
Rachel pocketed the bottle. "Chicken blood. I'm not exactly sure why, but in medical storage there were a bunch of Glucometers. I guess they come with these to help make sure they're reading blood sugar levels correctly." Rachel said. "You can thank diabetes for this one."
"Why would you give me that?" Quinn asked. "I thought drinking blood made me a monster?"
Rachel detected the defiance in Quinn's tone but ignored it.
"Killing is what makes vampires monsters." Rachel explained.
"I didn't want to become this." Quinn said gravely.
"I know." Rachel said. "I'm trying to help you."
It was obvious the blood sample, however small it was, was working it's magic. The wounds were still open, and the web of black veins still shone through her skin, but Quinn seemed to regain some strength.
"Help." Quinn huffed, pulling at her wrist straps. "This is very helpful."
Rachel's shoulders sank. "I didn't know they would do this to you. I'm sorry."
Quinn stared at Rachel intently. "I thought you were their captain?"
Rachel sighed and sank to the ground, a few feet away from Quinn, crossing her legs. "I am. That doesn't mean they can't overturn my decisions if that's what the majority wants." Rachel said.
"I'm still alive." Quinn said. "So obviously they haven't done that."
"And I'll make sure that remains the case." Rachel promised.
"Why?" Quinn asked.
"Because you...you're different. I can tell, just by being near you." Rachel explained.
Quinn frowned. "You don't know that."
"I do." Rachel argued. "I know in my heart. And besides, you've been deprived of human blood for at least 24 hours now. At this point, you should desperately be trying to go for my throat."
Quinn looked shocked. "I...haven't had any human blood though."
Rachel nodded. "Right. And maybe, maybe if you don't drink it ever, you could be different."
Quinn frowned, a flash of anger passing through her eyes. "So I'm an experiment?"
Rachel was taken aback by Quinn's question. "No Quinn, I-"
"And what if I fail your test? Are you going to put me through this Hell just to kill me if I fuck up?" Quinn asked, bitter. "Because honestly, I would have rather you have done it back there."
Rachel struggled for a response but couldn't seem to find one.
"Right. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this." Quinn said. "Please, just leave me alone."
Rachel watched as Quinn shut her eyes, still looking incredibly human. After a moment she stood up and walked out of the room, locking the door behind her. As she turned to walk back to her room, she could have sworn she heard the quiet sound of sobs.
Dropping the empty vial of chicken blood into the trash can as she entered her room she wondered idly if she had ever seen a vampire cry before.
The next few days dragged on relentlessly. Schuester kept up the order that if she was so adamant on keeping a vampire as a "pet" she obviously didn't have the heart to kill any, and was kept home to guard Quinn while the group left to take out a hive in Cincinnati.
While she was relieved that Quinn was left in her care, sitting at home all day was not something she particularly enjoyed.
On top of all that, Quinn hadn't talked to her since that first night no matter what Rachel did. Despite providing her with a regular stream of chicken blood, nailing blankets over the windows in Quinn's room, and finally freeing her from her restraints, Quinn remained silent. Rachel constantly prodded her with questions, offering if she wanted to go for a walk during the nights or showers, but Quinn never responded.
Rachel was at her wits end. So finally, after three days she made a bold decision.
As soon as the sun set Rachel crept quietly up to Quinn's room. She unlocked the door and threw it as wide open as she could.
She stood at the threshold and observed as Quinn sat on the floor, hardened fingernails digging intro the floorboards and drawing random designs. Flowers and sail boats and butterflies. Freedom.
"I'm going to leave this door open." Rachel said. Her voice caught Quinn's attention. She abandoned her floor scrawlings and looked up, an eyebrow arched over confused green eyes. Still shimmering. Still alive.
"You can run away if you want." Rachel said weakly. "Or, you can come downstairs and watch Intervention with me. Or take a shower. Or whatever. And if you do leave, you can come back."
Rachel knew that it was very unlikely Quinn would ever return but she wanted the option on the table.
"What are you going to tell the others?" Quinn asked quietly, voice raspy from days of not speaking.
Rachel sighed, dejectedly. "I'll tell them that you escaped."
"And when the 'hows' and 'whys' start coming up?" Quinn asked.
"I'll tell the truth. I left the door open and you got away." Rachel said.
Quinn watched Rachel carefully with guarded eyes. "Is this a trap? Are they all waiting by the front door with stakes?"
"No, of course not." Rachel said. "I get that you probably don't trust me, but do you really think if I wanted to kill you it wouldn't have happened already? I don't need my 'team' to trick a baby Vamp into a death trap."
Quinn huffed, a noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. She looked back down to the floor and ran her fingers carefully over the etched out shape of a bird.
"I know you're going to leave." Rachel said quietly as she watched Quinn.
Quin laughed. "Yeah, you're right about that."
Rachel ignored her and continued. "I just wanted to apologize. It was never my intention to hold you hostage. When I found you, you were this helpless newly transformed vamp and you were still incredibly human. We had just taken down the nest that had turned you. I had a few choices. I could have left you to suffer on your own, with no one to help you acclimate to your new body and powers. At the time I had assumed they were dead.
I could have killed you, too. But why do that? You hadn't done anything wrong. You were taken against your will and forced into this. You weren't a criminal like the rest of them. I couldn't bring myself to kill you. So I wanted to help. But not like this. Keeping you prisoner was never my decision and it's an order I can no longer follow."
With that, Rachel turned around and walked away from the door. She didn't want to watch Quinn leave, or listen to whatever response she would come back with.
For some unknown reason, Rachel felt connected to Quinn. It had been there that night when they made eye contact for the first time, and had only seemed to grow as the days passed. Even though Quinn was distant from her, she couldn't help but care.
Rachel didn't think she had anything like that left in her after her fathers died.
With a dejected sigh she flopped down on the couch and let her body sink into the cushions. She picked the remote up from the coffee table and with a quick flick of the wrist she turned the television on and dropped it onto the cushion beside her. Somehow, she found herself lulled into a shallow sleep by the dim glow and mumbling voices coming from the TV.
She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been resting, anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, but she jumped up in shock when she felt someone sit on the couch beside her.
"Who's there!?" Rachel shouted, hopping to her feet immediately into combat stance. Her jaw dropped when she saw Quinn looking up at her from the couch.
"I thought you were watching Intervention?" Quinn asked quietly.
Rachel exhaled deeply, slowly sitting back down onto the couch as a tidal wave of emotions passed through her. She was surprised that Quinn had decided to stay, happy and excited as well but also confused.
Instead of pushing her luck she just positioned herself a respectful distance away from Quinn and stared straight ahead.
"Paranormal Witness is better. It's more ridiculous." Was all she could bring herself to say.
Quinn just shrugged. "Whatever you say, Captain." She said.
Rachel couldn't fight the victorious smile that took over her face. Quinn was staying, that's all that mattered.