A/N. So I just want to thank you for the reviews and messages of encouragement, here's chapter two, no goodness I'm afraid but I hope it's a decent read all the same.
Chapter Two
Tara was fed up of this shit, Pam was going hot and cold on her on an hourly basis, the young vampire had, had enough. It had been a week since they escaped the authority, relatively unscathed, considering that they were vampires and healed in minutes. For god's sake she'd even saved her maker's life. Never mind the fabulous bathtub sex. But if she hadn't jumped in front of Pam as they were making for the van, the wooden bullet would have surely pierced her maker's heart, but in a frightening coincidence of fate Tara had once again jumped in the way and took it to the shoulder, it hurt like hell, but she healed quickly enough.
Many an evening in the safe house was spent with Pam screaming at her progeny for hours, for doing something so "fucking ridiculous and suicidal", and she nearly went so far as to command Tara to never do anything so stupid again. But Tara interrupted.
"Oh, so am I just supposed to watch you die? You ungrateful fucking bitch! You would render me incompetent in saving your fine ass out of sheer pride. Just how stupid is you?" Tara had spat back, to which Pam had huffed, knowing she wad beat, but nevertheless, Tara's actions had scared the shit out of her. She could have so easily lost her progeny, and that fear translated to anger, she knew no other way.
So presently the pair were stuck at snide remarks and temper tantrums, which would be fine if they weren't sharing a safe house with other pissed off vampires and delicate humans.
Eric for one had had enough, his endless patience was finally starting to wane as antique after antique shattered around his drawing room, courtesy of a certain baby vamp trying to get a rise out of her maker.
"Enough Tara!" Eric commanded, he may have not been her maker but his words struck Tara like a command and she gently lowered a china vase back to it's wooden shelf and hung her head in respective shame. Pam was for her part both grateful and embarrassed. Grateful for Eric's help and embarrass that it was needed to keep her progeny in line. She sighed and went to Eric the gratitude she couldn't speak glistening in her eyes, he nodded curtly, and waited until Pam was by his side so he could announce his plan.
He planted a soft kiss on his progeny's forehead as she approached him, and noticed with a smile her entire being relax and soften at his touch.
'Now my children, it has not escaped our notice that there's some serious shit going on between you at the moment, and since we have nothing but time I suggest you use it to figure things out. You don't have to kiss and make up. I just need you to get along, I ask of nothing more, but we cannot hope to beat Billith with a broken family, we're in this together. Do I make myself clear?" Eric finished firmly.
"Yes Eric." Pam uttered through clenched teeth.
"Tara?" Eric eyed the baby vampire firmly with his piercing gaze.
It worked, shooting straight through Tara to pull her up right and square her shoulders.
"Yes Eric." She countered softly, honestly tired of this whole charade with Pam, she didn't' have the energy anymore. Since she was still such a baby vampire she knew at least that there was no way she could up and leave to survive on her own. It pissed her off no end to be in such a vulnerable position, but such was life... and death it seemed.
"Right." Eric clapped his hands together, his tone brightening. "Pam you have been a brilliant Maker so far..."
Tara snorted, but Eric ignored her and continued.
"But I think you need to accelerate the learning curve a little, we were blessed to form our bond in simpler, safer times. While you two may have all the time in the world to get to know each other, I will not let any child or grandchild of mine enter this war unprepared. Agreed?"
Pam nodded as did Tara, the pair eyed each other cautiously each wondering how this would work without one of them meeting the True Death in the process. Tara snarled, then sighed.
"Fuck it, how much worse can it get ay barbie?" Tara challenged her Maker.
"Oh I don't know baby, there's a million ways I can make you suffer baby vampire or not." Pam smirked and Tara let out another sigh of exasperation.
"Okay, so we're somewhat agreed, I'll leave you two to it." With that Eric turned to leave the room, before sparing a glance at Tara. "Oh, and if you break one more antique you will answer to me." He turned to Pam. "How about you start with basic vampire survival, that should keep you occupied for now." He gave his child a salacious grin before he slipped out of the room.
"Vampire survival? That's just common sense right? Avoid sunlight, wooden stakes, the bleeds ya da, ya da, ya da, just how dumb does he think I am?" Tara growled already getting pissed off at the prospect.
"Shut the fuck up Tara and listen. I need you to listen and follow me." Pam spoke with absolute authority and reminded Tara of her somewhat fierce English teacher in high school, in a flash her back straightened at the memory and she was all ears.
"Good, okay we still have four or five hours left before dawn, I want you to go and get changed into something comfortable, we're going to get reacquainted with mother nature." Pam drawled in bored tones.
Tara raised her eyebrows, clearly perplexed but did as she was told. Not minutes later Tara was back in the drawing room in track bottoms and a black cotton t-shirt, she looked cute, but she wasn't the only one. Tara's jaw gave out as Pam entered the room in baggy sweats and a hoody. A hoody! Never had Tara ever pictured her maker in such attire it was like seeing Jason in a tutu that shit just didn't happen. After a moment Tara's expression softened and she couldn't help but love her Maker again, that little bit more.
"Hey." Tara offered softly, hoping against hope that maybe this time the two of them could get it right. Maybe even get along.
"Hey." Pam replied sharply, she looked down at herself disgusted before walking past her progeny to pick up a pack of Tru Bloods Eric had left for them, then without another word she left the room.
"Or maybe not." Tara sighed and followed her Maker like the puppy she was.
Pam lead her progeny through the woods through thick bushes and loose rocks off the beaten trail, Tara followed, not a yard behind.
"Pam where are we going? Is this even safe? What if we're found?" There were a million other questions and concerns milling around Tara's head, but she thought she would be pushing it and limited herself to three.
"Hush, I know where I'm going, I'll keep you safe." Pam spoke softly, so softly that Tara stopped at the sound of it, the tones and words sounding so strange coming from Pam's mouth.
"No time for dawdling, keep up!" Pam barked not bothering to look back.
"And she's back." Tara groaned and huffed her way ahead following her Maker step for step.
Eventually the pairing came to a clearing in the woodland. Pam set the True Bloods on to some long grass and turned to face her progeny.
"Right, I know you can fight with weapons but I've yet to see you fight one on one vampire on vampire, so my little baby let's see what you've got." Pam smirked as she started to circle her progeny, letting her fangs click down, she couldn't help but growl.
But unfortunately instead of it intimidating Tara, Pam's efforts only served to turn her on, and her fangs clicked for a whole different reason.
Pam rolled her eyes, smelling her progeny's arousal, and moved to stand right behind her progeny, until she could whisper into her ear.
"Mind out of the gutter, vampire dyke. You got lucky the other week, but you and my pussy, ain't never going to happen again. Ya hear."
"Fuck you Pam… you know how I feel, how can you expect me to want to hurt you?" Tara pleaded, laying herself bare.
"Fuck feelings." Pam growled as she shoved Tara hard so hard that she fell to the floor, her progeny was back on her feet in a second snarling, tightening up, fists clench.
Pam smiled, "That's it, my child." She cooed softly, before whispering. "Fucking fight."
Tara finally let go and just went for it, lunging at Pam, fists and all going at vamp speed, but all she met was air. Pam had moved a step and Tara stumbled to balance her weight and momentum.
"Think Tara, you can't just rely on speed, in fact don't even consider it as a weapon, you're baby remember and strong as you maybe you're the weakest of us right now, use your head." Pam spoke calmly as she continued to circle her progeny Tara followed her movement, turning on the spot not willing to let her Maker out of her sight.
The pair circled each other in concert, fangs bared and growling. Pam jutted out her chin.
"Come on little one. I'm waiting for ya."
Tara made to go left but stepped right to land a firm punch on her Maker's ribcage, Pam barely flinched before grabbing Tara and throwing her long.
Tara huffed and got to her feet making to zoom at Pam again. This time she went low, but Pam went with it. As her feet were kicked out from beneath her, she flipped back diligently and was now a meter or so away, smirking at her progeny.
"You're going to have to try harder than that doll. Think girl, think." Pam taunted, watching her progeny closely as this time she was the one being circled.
Tara merely lifted an eyebrow before she made for Pam again, this time going behind her and mounting her Maker until she was sat on her shoulders. Her legs hooked around Pam's arms keeping them pinned behind her back. Tara's arms being free let loose on Pam's skull. She managed at least ten solid punches before Pam shucked her off and once again threw her progeny to the ground.
Pam cricked her neck back into place and licked at the bloody wound on her lip. She finally looked upon her progeny with a genuine glimmer of pride.
"That's more like it. Try again."
And she did, employing every trick she knew from her fighting days and went for Pam again and again. Sometimes they were successful, and sometimes not. But she never gave up, never stopped fighting.
This spirit and stamina impressed Pam and she started to relax a little, purposely softening her guard so she could feel the weight and strength of the punches and hits. She wanted to gauge her progeny's true strength and potential. After an hour or so she raised a palm signalling a break.
Tara immediately stepped back, somewhat glad of a reprieve she was starting to tire, too embarrassed to let Pam know she would have fought through dawn for the sake of pride alone. But Pam knew this, she could feel the weakening in her punches, could see Tara's movements get slower and sometimes clumsy, which meant she was either sleepy, starving or both.
"No microwave on standby I'm a afraid, but knock yourself out doll, you must be starving." Pam gestured to the pack of Tru Blood, still safely nestled in tree roots.
Tara muttered a "Thanks," before she made for the bottles, plucking up one opening it and almost draining it in a single gulp.
"You should have said you were thirsty Tara, even I wouldn't deny you a decent meal, you can't think I'm that evil surely…"
Pam spoke softly as she watched a little entranced as her progeny slowed her pace and savoured the albeit metallic taste. For a moment she looked on longingly as Tara's throat rippled with each swallow, Pam found the small movement alone, entirely arousing.
Tara was working on her second bottle when her nostril's flared, 'you have got to be kidding me. She's turned on? I haven't smelt that scent since we…' And Tara's own arousal spiked at the thought alone.
"Fucking vamp hormones." She muttered to herself, taking another deep swig of her Tru Blood, trying to keep her arousal at bay.
"Indeed." Pam drawled before reaching for a bottle herself and drinking it slowly, almost despondently, at her age it wasn't such a necessity as it was for Tara.
They spent half an hour or so like that sipping away and thinking, Tara taking in all the sights and sounds of nature, Pam trying her best not to care about her now rumpled and stained clothes. Eventually Tara spoke. "So what else are we going to cover in our basic survival training?" She asked with genuine interest, there was so much – now she thought about it humbly, honestly – that Tara didn't know about her kind and she was eager to soak up as much information as possible. She hated feeling ignorant and naïve.
"Well, I want to do a bit more defensive training, as that's your best bet being as young as you are. Then after that we'll probably need to turn in for the night I'll show you how we can literally go to ground in the soil, not the cleanest sleep but it's good to use if you're in a tight spot, also sleeping in soil masks our scent, making us harder to track."
"Makes sense I guess."
"You finished your meal?"
"Yep."
"Right then back to work." In the blink of an eye the women were standing face to face again, ready for the next round.
Pam unzipped a pocket in her pants and carefully drew out a leather necklace with a silver star pendant and a small cylinder of liquid silver spray. She handed them both to her progeny.
"So you know these won't kill a vampire but they will significantly weaken your opponent giving you a better shot at killing them if needs be, so lets try them out, I want to see what you can do."
Tara stared at the items in question for a moment, unsure as to how to proceed, sure she'd managed to lay a few savage throws on her Maker earlier, and the wounds healed in seconds. But Tara knew from experience that a silver burn was excruciating and she wasn't sure if she wanted to inflict such an agony on her beautiful Maker.
"I don't know if I can Pam." Tara whispered her eyes on the grass, embarrassed at her own incompetence as a vampire.
"Don't flatter yourself sweet pea." Pam drawled, "I very much doubt you can inflict much pain on me."
Tara remained silent as she studied Pam and planned her attack, but after a while Pam got bored. "We haven't got much time before dawn, so whenever you're ready, bring it on sweetheart." She snarled.
Tara continued to study Pam nonplussed, "It's going to take more than that to rile me Barbie so keep trying." She spoke softly, controlled.
"Okay so let's talk about your dear Mama." Pam voice was sickly sweet. "Must have been hard growing up with a Mom who didn't give a shit." Pam smirked deriving a twisted pleasure from her own words.
"Shit happens." Tara shrugged her shoulders.
"Tell me what was it like being beaten to shit on a regular basis being knocked out cold, but still fucking loving her anyway, huh?"
"We got by." Tara growled through gritted teeth her grip on the necklace tightening as she flipped the lid off the liquid silver spray.
"Oh, I can see that, you wouldn't have made it this far otherwise." Pam started to circle Tara once more and could see that her tactics were taking effect. Tara's whole body was tight, coiled and ready to go, all she wanted to do was release the spring and see what happened.
"Now tell me, what exactly did she do to you? Did she use a belt or a bat, I always favoured the bat myself. They leave wicked bruises. How did it feel to be knocked unconscious at the hands of her? Why were you such a pussy Tara, you could have taken her out I'm sure, I never pegged you for a coward…"
"Shut your mother fucking mouth Barbie, you don't know what you're talking about." Tara spat out following Pam's movement, careful to never have her back to the woman.
"Such a coward, maybe you liked it. Maybe you liked it when your Momma kicked the shit out of you…." Pam cackled and laughed at the madness of it. But no sooner had the words left her mouth than she was sprayed in the face with silver spray, some of it even settling in her mouth.
Pam screaming in anger and agony zooming blindly to where she could feel Tara was ready to grab the woman by the throat. But Tara read the signs and ducked and kept on spraying. She sprayed all over Pam over her face neck and hands, any wear that showed skin and when that became an issue Tara pushed Pam to the floor and settled on the back of her howling maker her knees digging into her spine. Tara wrenched Pam's hoody up, and used the material to hold the silver pendant safely as she pressed it into Pam's pale flesh, over and over again.
Bar a little struggling Pam was horrified by her vulnerability and helplessness, she tried bucking to through Tara off but the Vampire simply pressed harder with the silver. Her progeny herself watched, fascinated at the silver slipped through Pam's skin like a knife. She'd push it in deep hold it there for five seconds then move it somewhere else and repeat the process, then spray the liquid silver every so often just to be sure.
Sure it was sadistic behaviour but the pressure had been welling up for years now, being treated like shit by everyone who "claimed" that they loved her, besides Pam had said herself that she could take it. Though looking down at her writhing, struggling Maker, Tara was starting to doubt that.
But through all this musing Tara never stopped, she was squatting in a pool of Pam's blood and yet she didn't stop, not until she heard Pam whimpering.
"Fucking, Momma's girl." She gurgled and spat into the dirt, with a mad hatters laugh.
That was it. Something twigged deep within Tara and she let go, completely let go. Throwing the spray and pendant to the grass she laid in to Pam blow after heavy blow rained down on her skull until blood was seeping through Pam's hair.
But it wasn't enough. Tara grabbed Pam roughly by the shoulders and turned her around to face her, she resumed her seat, now on her stomach and continued to rain down fists of fury.
Pam for her part was humiliated, she hadn't anticipated such an onslaught or such unwavering strength and stamina from her progeny. Her silver induced wounds were healing slowly, but she was still essentially weak and useless. Then in one solid punch to the side of her head she was out cold.
Tara didn't notice, and for a moment or too she kept going until, one punch in particular caused Pam's head to flop to the side.
"Shit." Tara stopped and could see the damage she'd done. Worry outweighed her horror and she leant in close to open Pam's eyes, relieved to see both pupils were equal. A few light slaps on her cheek roused nothing.
All Tara could do was sit and wait.
After five minutes Pam still showed no sign of waking up, the sky was lightening and Tara realised they were running out of time. She got up and searched for a suitable resting ground. It wasn't as easy a task as she thought. There were tree roots to consider. Finally settling on a spot Tara funnelled her anxiety into her hands and dug like a maniac to make a reasonable grave for two. Steaks of orange painted the sky, there was no time. Tara went back to her Maker, picking her up to take her back to their grave for the night. She set her down softly before going back to pick up the remaining Tru Bloods and silver weapons, lest she gave their position away, she tucked them in the crook behind Pam's knees, and started to bury them in.
By the time the pair were encased in dirt Tara was exhausted. She settled against her Makers side, and was relieved to hear she was making little murmuring sounds, in her sleep.
"Thank fuck for that." Tara muttered, whispering a prayer of thanks, to whoever might be listening, she held her maker close. But dawn claimed her before she could fully process what she'd done, and the shit storm from Pam she had just induced.
TBC
A/N reviews and thoughts pos and neg are always welcome.