Universe: Young Justice Character(s)/
Pairings: OTTeam, and extra-healthy dose of M'gann/Artemis/Conner
Rating: High T
Genre: Not-Really-Horror/Sci-Fi (more creepy/happy than horror, nothing graphic)
Summary: They're not vampires. Really.
Notes: This is really an OTTeam fic that goes through how each of the team is "turned" into "vampires." Artemis was the first, though the story started with Dick/Wally.

Unexpected continuation of the Bonds of Blood AU. Chapter I. Bonds of Blood not necessary reading at all. Chapter III upcoming!

For Melon for Christmas, her prompt: continue the vampire AU, theme "dawn"


The strip of pink crawls up the morning sky beyond the restless waves outside Happy Harbor. Robin already feels a warmer wind rustle his hair, and the brunette blinks away the multicolored stars that always accompany the sunrise. Colors thicken and saturate unnaturally: for a few minutes each morning the world takes on a cartoonish quality as his night vision fades.

He always enjoys it.

Twin howls arrive on the breeze. At the edge of the cliff, Conner and Wolf arch up and back, crying at the silver-spun moon sinking in the sky, fading into the dawn. Zatanna tosses a pebble at Conner and teases him again for "getting the lore" wrong. He knowsthat, of course, and the Kryptonian smirks and retorts with something about irony.

They aren't vampires. They aren't. Really.


Six Weeks Ago

Artemis eased the door to her room at Mount Justice shut behind her, blinking blearily into the darkness in the hallway. She was so exhausted from a long night of patrol she couldn't even bring herself to take the Zeta Beam home. As her feet padded silently toward the kitchen, she cocked her head, listening carefully for any indication that her friends were still around. She was pretty sure that Robin, Wally, Zatanna, and Aqualad have gone home for the night, but Conner and M'gann are around somewhere …

She just really didn't feel like throwing on a robe over her thin white tank top and pink panties to grab a drink of orange juice from the fridge at 3 am.

The door to M'gann's room was closed, and Arty pressed one ear to it, listening for the soft, even breathing of sleep. What she got instead were giggles and low whispers of sweet nothings, which was, augh, TMI. Both her ears burned hot with embarrassment - she really shouldn't have done that, for so many reasons, and frankly, she got what she deserved.

They'll probably be busy for the next ten minutes, at any rate.

She resumed her walk down the chill hall to the kitchen, trying to shake off a sudden tug of loneliness.


Never alone again. The morning sun bleaches the crowd of six perched above the ocean an unearthly white. A wave of intense - almost inhuman - affection washes over Dick as he watches his friends chatter aimlessly. He could easily eavesdrop from the fifty feet that separates them, but he tunes them out and draws a final drink from the deer they'd had the night before. It's blood is tepid now, bland - the adrenaline and other hormones in it have broken down. The animal is no longer afraid, and it hasn't been for hours.

Too bad.

The last bit of thick burgundy dribbles over the brown, brush-like hairs on its neck and then the backs of his porcelain hands. The brunette tuts in annoyance; a flash of pink tongue wipes it away.

He tosses the deer's body over his shoulder effortlessly, but it's still an awkward lug to the edge of the forest. The gray rubber of his tabi shoes squeaks against the damp green of the spring grass as slides his way down the tiny hill. Robin walks until he hits resistance, an invisible wall, and dumps the carcass at the edge, near the other four they'd hunted last night.

Dick sighs away his frustration - deer are never quite enough. He idly wonders who'll be by to pick the bodies up, to take them beyond the the shield while the seven of them remain trapped.

"Quarantined."

Because really, they aren't vampires.


The white tile of the kitchen cooled Artemis's aching feet. She pulled open the fridge door and propped it open on one hip: the pale light blanched her features as she sleepily pawed past the bread and celery for the O.J. The blonde rubbed her eyes, twisted off the top and automatically brought the jug to her lips.

... Augh. Whoops.

She hated doing something so ... Wally.

Well, I'll just finish off the whole thing. That's okay, right?

Tilting her head back, she started on the rest.

"Artemis!"

The soft squeak of her name behind her didn't distract her, but when she turned around she almost choked.

Megan stood in the doorway, dressed in something she couldn't have seen on prime time. Sputtering, Arty spun back toward the safe contents of the fridge, drawing one arm across her lips, damp with orange juice, and hurriedly grabbing the lid of the open O.J. Some of the orange drink spilled out in her fluster.

"Oh, sorry!" M'gann was at her side with a towel, wiping up the little that had spilled on the floor, on the shelves of the fridge. Artemis leaned into the chill of the refrigerator a farther to stem the tide of heat and pink flushing her cheeks. She fumbled with the lid of the bottle.

Megan smiled up at her. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just saw the light, and ... I thought I had left it on."

Artemis continued to wrestle with the lid to the bottle awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with the beautiful girl and what apparently passed for coverage. M'gann glanced down.

"Oh, I guess this is weird?" She brought her palm to her forehead in her trademark gesture. The lacy red thing melted away into a turquoise t-shirt and a pair of tiny panties with dark purple stripes.

"There! Now we match. Better?"

Not really, Artemis thought, but she bit her tongue.


And Dick won't complain; none of them will. They won't for M'gann's sake, mostly.

There are worse places to be stuck, anyway.

"Woohoooooo!"

Robin turns back in time to see Wally crawl up onto Conner's shoulders to a standing position. He balances there a moment, Conner's hands resting gently, unnecessarily, around his ankles, fingers tapping a rhythm along his legs. The flat, paper-white skin of Conner's fingers blends into the matching color of Wally's calves depending on the angle of the light - when they all hold hands, sometimes they can't tell where one of them begins and the others end.

The redhead grins like a villain, shakes him off, and launches himself over the cliff. Wally curls into a ball, spinning his way to the blue below, bringing the last of his shout with him.

Dick hears another shout when his best friend resurfaces, but it's not from the shock of the chilly ocean. In fact, the water is probably quite cozy, because a 30 degree body temperature makes the whole world feel balmy.

32.3 degrees to be exact. They are literally frozen in time, and all of life is eternally warm.

But this makes the day too hot, and Robin already feels sluggish as the top of the sun peeks over the horizon. The urge to join Wally in the water is overwhelming.

So he does.

The cape and tunic litter the path back to the cliff. He's no longer allowed his belt or gloves, but the trinkets aren't really necessary anymore, anyway.

Artemis catches his sprinting approach from the corner of her eye, and a feral smile spreads across her face as she backs up and crouches down, cupping her hands in front of her. Dick's grin matches hers, and the shoes come off before he plants a foot in her palms, and she's lifting him up; he's catching her shoulders; he's backflipping over her head; he's soaring over the cliff.

His mask is the last thing to come off before he flies over the edge.

The acrobat smirks at them all as he executes a perfect swan dive, until he chokes and flails at nothing. A tug at his leg leaves him dangling awkwardly mid-air, one ankle held by invisible hands. Laughter ripples through the little group and below. Dick folds his arms and glares at a grinning M'gann. Zero regret. She smiles broadly as she drops her hands, and he drops too.


Arty'd finally gotten the top to the O.J. on. "I ought to put this ..."

"Sure, just a second ..." Megan had begun pulling ingredients for fresh spaghetti to the front of the shelves. " ... I don't want to forget that I have these ..."

M'gann was so beautiful. Long, lithe limbs brushed past Arty's a bared waist, and she smelled like ... irises in the snow, somehow. Perfect red lips flashed a gentle smile up at the archer. Megan clapped her hands once as she finished, and she stood at her full height.

"There, all done," she chirped. Her breath was sweet and cool, ghosting over Artemis's temples as the Martian sighed in satisfaction.

Artemis was just so tired, that's all. That's how she found herself leaning into the Martian's shoulder, gray eyes fluttering closed. M'gann's skin chilled the archer's flushed forehead; the feel of the cotton Miss Martian had mimicked for her tee was softer than real cotton, and, somehow, it pulsed with life.

The light from the fridge spilled over them and tapered softly into the dark of the room. M'gann's hands rose behind Artemis's head, like maybe she wanted to hug the girl with the long blonde hair but wasn't sure if that was what she should do.

"... Artemis?" She gingerly brought a hand to the back of Arty's head, and when the smaller girl didn't move away she wrapped her other jade arm around her shoulders. "Arty...?"

Megan's whisper was answered with a tiny, almost imperceptible sniff.

"Arty, are you okay?"

Arty wasn't crying.

But tears of frustration and exhaustion clung to the corners of her eyes, and she furiously tried to blink them away as M'gann pulled back to look at her. She wasn't crying, and she totally wasn't going to, because the next thing she knew her lips were pressing so, so softly against M'gann's crimson pair. Artemis wasn't entirely sure who had kissed who -

"M'gann - I'm so sorry I - you're with Conn - and I - I hope that wasn't me because I wasn't going to -"

The ketchup bottles and condiment jars rattled as she stumbled back into the fridge door behind her in embarrassment, jug of O.J. still dangling from one hand. Megan's eyes were open wide in surprise.

"I -" M'gann knitted her eyebrows and sucked in a breath and carefully leaned forward to kiss Artemis again.

Artemis felt like she'd been tossed off a cliff.


Rushing wind and the shock of impact - Robin slides past Wally in the sparkling, ice-cold water. Invigorated, he heads toward a coral reef below. The brunette's lungs ache to breathe, but he chases away the residual panic - Dick hasn't drawn a breath in weeks. Old habits die hard. Colors bleed away in the depths and then flood back as his sensitive eyes adjust.

A flutter at his feet and he grins, chasing a flounder as it dives into an arm-sized crevice in the reef. An eel defends its home against his invasion, razor-sharp teeth scraping ineffectually over his pale, impenetrable skin. He grows tired of pawing for the fish with the thing in the way, and so he coolly reaches over and snaps its neck. Robin pulls it out and, expressionless, watches it float to the sea floor below.

He peers into the darkness beneath the rock now, listening for the ruffle of sand, watching for a flutter of fins. The flounder is nowhere to be found. The acrobat huffs sadly and drifts toward the deep navy behind him.

The smack of Wally horsing around in the waves 70 feet above him. It looks like Conner, Zatanna and M'gann have joined him; he can just make out M'gann stretching, stretching farther than her arms should allow, to dunk Zatanna underwater. She is much more open with her shape-shifting now, and it doesn't unnerve them at all anymore. In fact, they love it: they love her; they live for her; they'd die for her.

And they'd kill for her, if she asked.

Sometimes it seems like she never would.


Artemis blinked rapidly as Megan pulled away, lips pursed thoughtfully, tilting her head like she was considering something or … oh god, talking to someone.

The blonde swallowed and tried not to panic. Could this … could this get any more awkward? She wanted to run to her room, hide and never look M'gann in the eye again, but she was trapped between the fridge door and the redhead. She used the the jug of O.J. she gripped way too tightly as an excuse to look away from the beautiful Martian, but even once the container was back on the shelf she still couldn't let go, steadying her shaking hand around its handle.

M'gann reached over and gingerly wrapped her fingers over Artemis's on the bottle.

"You … you like Conner, right Artemis?"

Artemis's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

"... and you like … me?" Megan's voice had a hopeful smile in it.

The archer's blush spread from her cheeks to her collarbone. Slender green digits lightly pried Arty's fingers from the jug's handle and wrapped them in her palms.

"I was wonder - … would you …?" Megan began nervously, a waterfall of words spilling from her mouth. "I mean, I - we believe on Mars that there's room in your heart for more than one person, and I ... just never really thought because I hear it's sort of rare here, and I guess I … should get to the point, which is that I was talk - talking to Conner, and I don't want to assume anything but …"

M'gann's anxious ramble drifted to a stop. Arty was still staring at the O.J. The taller girl chewed on her lip, collecting herself.

"... would you … would you like to …?"

She didn't get to finish her whispered question because the O.J. bottle tumbled on its side, and Artemis's arms were wrapped around her neck, and her mouth was molded to hers, and M'gann's words were muffled into a joyous squeak as she lifted them both up and floated them back to her room.


The low, drawn-out keen of humpback whale maybe three miles away distracts Robin. He shuts out the the cacophony above, and silence, peace settles over him. His lashes shutter closed against the blue abyss.

He'll have to ride a humpback whale someday.

His yearn to wander away from the harbor, to breach the barrier, is acknowledged by a soft, cool brush against his mind. Kaldur emerges from the darkness ahead, and Robin flips and wiggles joyfully over to the Atlantean, meeting him halfway. They clasp hands in an elaborate greeting, smiling brightly.

Neither death nor fear plague the leaders now.

Robin tilts his head in a silent question, and Kaldur shakes his sadly. The Atlantean has explored the edges of the shield in the ocean for days, weeks. No way to break through or dig under. The quarantine is decidedly hardest on the blonde, silver-eyed boy. They are all painfully aware of how much he misses the beautiful waters of the tropics and the brightly colored fish.

Dick sighs, but Kaldur shrugs lightly. They are nothing if not patient. All the time in the world.


None of the three qualified as inexperienced at this point in their lives. They were still shy, though, and each touch, each boundary was carefully negotiated between the broad-shouldered boy and the two beautiful girls. Flesh and mind meeting, intertwining - each so grateful that mis-communication was almost impossible. And Artemis was such a welcome addition, her distinctly human experience clarifying and articulating all that Conner and M'gann had played at physically - but not completely understood.

Now the slide of fingers over skin, the touch of tongues in-between lips molded to each other's made perfect sense. In turn, they showed Artemis the sheer joy of sharing all they had - all of it, everything - mentally blending together in a sea of sensation and emotion and laughter.

The archer reclined, her back to Conner's bare chest, M'gann's breast against hers. The turquoise tee had faded into soft jade skin away long ago, and Artemis reveled in the flutter of two hearts beneath her palms as she traced M'gann's form. The Kryptonian was so warm behind her, and the press of M'gann to her front so cool. Her thighs shivered between them, fire and ice, fire and ice.

Artemis was the one melting.

Conner's thumb played shyly beneath the strap on Arty's panties at her hip as he leaned over her shoulder to place soft kisses along M'gann's neck. They traced down over her collarbone until he reached the juncture where Artemis's jaw rested against the Martian's jade, freckled shoulder, and, after a pause, he continued up to the blonde's ear. Artemis cooed in pleasure and playfully nipped his jaw, skin like solid rock wrapped in soft satin.

He pulled away, chuckling, and M'gann brightened at the sharp pleasure of the act. Arty grinned wickedly and leaned forward, tenderly capturing M'gann's cheeks between her palms and her lower lip between her teeth. She pressed down, sucking and the biting lightly, pausing so the feedback of M'gann's experience could wash over her.

She was not disappointed.

Megan squirmed and grinned and mimicked Arty, brushing her tongue over the blonde's teeth as she backed away to claim the archer's lip. A sharp prick followed, though, and Artemis hissed instinctively.

The three stilled at the painful sensation. Artemis sheepishly brought two fingers to her lips, and a thin trail of red ran over the tips. She shook her head at Conner and Megan's worried glances.

"I'm fine -"

"I'm sorry," interrupted M'gann, "that's never happened with -" The redhead glanced at her Boyfriend of Steel, and Arty's lips twisted into a smirk.

"No, I'm sure it hasn't," she mused. The archer flashed a reassuring smile, and a teasing note slipped into her tone. "It's okay … some people even like it."

Megan and Conner's frowns deepened at Artemis's bravado: they hadn't recognized any real pleasure in the moment. Artemis scowled in frustration that they wouldn't let anything slip by.

"Maybe … just not so hard next time?"

Brown and blue eyes sparkled in agreement, and they drew the human girl back into their embrace. Her palms tingled as they pressed against her friends' bodies.

They drowned in affection.


By the time Dick and Kaldur get back to shore, Wally's the only one still in the water. Aqualad and Robin rise above the waves behind him just a few feet away.

The acrobat presses against the older boy's chest behind him, leaning his shock of raven hair back against one broad shoulder. The tattoos on Kaldur's arms glow as he wraps his fingers gently around Dick's waist, sliding them into the grooves of his hipbones. His gills don't flutter anymore, but he breathes for Dick, because he knows that Dick loves the soft brush of them against his cheeks.

A wave of salt water falls over their heads and interrupts their repose, though, and chants of "Race! Race! Race!" drift down from the cliff. They catch Wally's eye; all three grin and make a swimming sprint toward the cliff. Kaldur and Dick immediately gang up on Wally because - even though they're all lightning fast - he is still justthat much faster. Perhaps because of his powers, perhaps because break-neck speeds have been second nature for years.

At the rocks at the base of the cliff Dick grabs Wally's ankle, and Kaldur lunges for Wally's swimsuit, pantsing him along the way up. Wally squawks indignantly and falls backwards into the water. Dick is just ahead of the redhead when the speedster shuttles back and up out of the waves, playfully stepping on the brunette's fingers as he passes. Dick growls and grins and bites his best friend in the calf, hard. He tastes of deer and rabbit - when had he gotten hold of a rabbit?

Wally squeals but not in pain - no, everysensation they have now is a gift to be savored. He slips but takes Dick down with him, and by the time they pop back up, Kaldur's at the top of the cliff.

They laugh and climb up the mountain into the hot summer sun at a more leisurely pace. Artemis and Kaldur, in particular, are already feeling the heat, but all of them wait patiently for their friends. Wolf lets Artemis hop onto his back so he can carry her in, and Wally and Dick slide under Kaldur's arms.


The next day, Artemis was sick.

She brushed away M'gann's concerns. It was just the flu; she'd just patrolled too hard. The archer didn't enjoy being fussed over, and even more importantly, she wasn't looking forward to days and days of M'gann's chicken soup.

To be fair, the third try was really quite edible.

Conner and Megan drifted in and out of Arty's open room, but she made herself scarce when the convulsions started. Strange cravings, a change in her pallor, a tumbling temperature. Artemis downplayed them: anemia - iron tablets seemed to help - not enough sun, exhaustion.

M'gann didn't press the issue, but she knew something was wrong. Conner would find the redhead up at all hours, anxiously searching the internet for diseases that could explain the collection of symptoms that Artemis couldn't completely hide.

She couldn't find one.

The blonde still resolutely deflected M'gann's pleas to see a doctor, swearing the taller redhead to secrecy - not to tell even her mother, so she wouldn't be kept out of a mission.

M'gann frowned but swore to her.

At night, memories of Martian fairytales, of monsters, snippets of childhood ghost stories surfaced in the back of the redhead's mind. They formed no cohesive whole, though, and the ridiculously impossible was not worth chasing down, right?

The knot in her stomach grew tighter each day.

Then Megan and Conner were called away on another mission, and with reluctance she left Artemis behind. The archer seemed to be feeling better at last anyway. She'd only be gone a day and a half.


As they enter, wet clothes are tossed away in the war room and along the halls to the showers, where cool water rinses away salt and sand as lathered hands run through hair and down sandy legs. Soap bubbles float aimlessly around the room until one of them chases the rainbow spheres down and crushes them between the clap of their palms. Cotton pajama pants and long t-shirts replace fluffy towels in M'gann's room.

They've long since pushed other beds into her room, and it's a comfortable, cool tangle of legs and arms as they settle in for sleep. Artemis shoves Wally against the wall so that she can slide in-between him and Zatanna, who is curled up next to M'gann, curled up next to Kaldur, curled up next to Conner, and Dick's slight form flops bonelessly across them all. Wolf noses his way under their knees and hums as their toes gently massage the top of his ribs.

They talk about what movies they want to watch tomorrow, and what they think their mentors will bring them for dinner. Zatanna wants to try zebra one day, Conner tiger, and they giggle as they imagine the mayhem they could cause if they got into the zoo. They discuss video games and the little outside news they're allowed. They look forward to their first winter.

They think of fish for Kaldur: clown fish and Sergeant Majors. A barracuda slips from mind to mind in their telepathic space as they connect the corners of the oceans they've built in their imaginations. Zatanna's coral-filled green-blue sea blends into the dark depths of Conner's lonely ocean, dotted with the glowing lights of toothy angler fish. A herd of dolphins plays above the water in M'gann's mind. Wolf chases them as he skips impossibly across the surface.

Dick nips at Wally to get him to get rid the weird floating labels that clutter the ocean floor on his side: Wally's only ever been to the aquarium … and seen Finding Nemo.Kaldur chases away another cartoon fish that doesn't actually exist in the wild.

Everyone vows to take Wally scuba diving for hours on end when they get out of there.


M'gann returned to Mount Justice to find Robin and Wally trash talking each other over the gaming system, which wasn't odd in and of itself, except that their mouths weren't moving.

The pair flew to the Zeta Beam seconds after she arrived like excited puppies, stumbling over each other to help her with her groceries, with her bags. She heard a chorus of voices from the ocean: Artemis, Kaldur, and Zatanna. They called to her from far beyond her normal range. They had missed her, so much, and were coming to see her right away.

Good humor, puns, and snark flowed from her friends as they asked about the mission and put away the the food and her suitcase. Wally and Arty bickered; Kaldur smiled magnanimously; Robin and Zatanna flirted. On the surface, everyone was unchanged.

But M'gann avoided their eyes with glittering red pupils, pretended to ignore the smell of iron that rolled off them, the taint of blood on them. Goosebumps crawled up her arm when Wally turned down a candy bar, subtly licking a coat of red liquid off his too-sharp teeth. She drew back from their contact, icy skin much colder than her own, and she knew that they - not the least Artemis and Kaldur - should not have that pallor.

She ran to contact J'onn and wait, trembling, for Conner's comforting embrace.


The sun is high in the sky when they drift off slowly in the others' embraces, eyes with a soft red glow winking closed, leaving darkness behind. They go to sleep happy, content, peaceful. The room settles, quiet as death itself.

It was M'gann's doing, but not her fault. She didn't know.

But they will always have her to thank.