...And so my obession continues, this is a new record in how quick I am with my fanfic, writing is my life, any writing whether trying to get noticed by agents or by daydreaming an ending I know won't happen for this pair that we love. It's a BIG chapter with a lot of drama, hope you likey, R&R and enjoy!
It turned out that Vaughn was the well of information that George had been searching years for so like McNair Senior before him he became a temporary lodger and like McNair Senior Nina was unsure. It took a while for him to realise that Nina Pickering would never be 100 per cent satisfied with anything. Those from broken homes were forever mending their esteem, their relationships, their own house. There was always a need to try to fix things, George knew that and gave her clemency over betraying the group because of it.
As well as the startling fact that he simply couldn't be without her, ever regardless of the fear and self-loathing that the last year brought. Despite at times being so high and mighty she could live on Mount Everest. Nothing felt as lonely as the moments prior to changing to the werewolf but then Nina was turned as she would hold his hand before the Lycanthropy would steal the reason why.
For that alone he would die for her...
...But that didn't excuse the point of arguments.
George, he's six months old! He's starting to grab at things, I don't want him to be in the wild, what if there's nettles nearby, tents are not warm George...What is Vaughn planning – Wolfstock?" Nina leaned against her bedroom wall and crossed her arms while her fiancé was shoving clothes into a holdall bag.
"I'm not doing yours, you now I hate packing...we're doing this, think of it as brownies!" George wrinkled his nose trying to be diplomatic but he really wanted a pint down the pub.
"I never went, I didn't have the fingers to sew and the uniform loos awful...Can't we just google it?" Nina muttered as she pulled her own bag from the wardrobe.
"Oh yeah I'll go on ask jeeves shall I? See if there's a network for werewolves...Furbook, !" George chucked a t-shirt into the bag and began tapping his fingers in mid-air. Nina made half a grin.
"You're an idiot"
"Correction...I'm your idiot and your my nag...my sexy wonderful, relentless, unrepentant...nag" George teased as he pulled her close to him.
Nina pouted but kissed him anyway, her post-baby body making her awkward and shy. George tugged at the spaghetti strap of her pyjama top and kissed her shoulder possessively and pulled her into a tighter embrace. He arms swarms under the top across her navel and up her back and tried to lead her to the bed. A protest ushered another kiss but she shook her head and pulled away.
"I'm going to check on John"
"He's away with the fairies, when the head hits a pillow we are out for the count, he's a Sands boy alright" George was refusing to give way from seducing his girlfriend without a fight so he playfully pecked her until she relented.
Alas Maternity won as it always would but he followed her to the door and leaned over.
"There's a lake near the camp, we could try a little...skinny-dipping, after the full moon obviously. I don't think the doggy-paddle would be romantic enough would you?"
Nina bit her lip then swiftly left the room and John's murmur became a little wail. George huffed then carried on packing, taunting himself as he started to sing.
"Night swimming...deserves a quiet night!"
In the plain between worlds two lovers were wrapped in each other in sweat and heat, matted hair. Frantic kisses and touches as limbs intertwined with limbs as Annie and Mitchell awkwardly made love in a low hammock. A new illusion of purgatory brought them to St Lucia; they both knew the island so the couple didn't really know whose dream it was.
Mitchell cupped Annie's face, his face and shoulders glazed in perspiration, panting heavily he kissed her gently as his energy was all but spent.
"I don't need to move on if it's without you, this is my heaven being here with you...I don't mean because of just now but..." Mitchell grinned bashfully and hoped he didn't project the remark as something shallow. Annie lay beneath him, smiling as she kissed his wet brow as he sank in for a hug.
The hammock swung from side to side as she shifted her body to lie beside him.
"When I died the whole idea of heaven was shattered, the way we see it makes it like a celestial version of Blackpool illuminations. I don't need any of it now I have you" Annie held his head with two hands and combed her fingers through his curls.
Mitchell was drifting off to sleep but Annie's last remark hit home that something was amiss. Vampires were not supposed to know paradise like this and he wondered if heaven was not what you saw but how you felt. Or in his case how Annie was making him feel.
"There's a loophole somewhere...I don't remember purgatory being like this" She said.
Time was irrelevant but they stole it through slow-dancing, dining then a stroll on the beach. Hand-in-hand. Purgatory was present only by the clouded sky and a cold wind blowing.
"So...George trusts this guy Vaughn?" Mitchell quizzed as she learned of the new pack.
"Not completely, he's been hurt too much to trust completely. But he's quite the eager beaver with this bloke. Like he's searching for approval, like from a Dad" Annie shrugged
"That's not good...he might be the tipping point though, it could be what George needs" Mitchell replied as they both sat down on the dune. Annie wrapped an arm around his raised knee and tapped her fingers.
"Peace of mind it was he needs...you have to face him Mitchell" Annie pleaded with a heavy heart.
"I'm stuck here to find redemption, not resurrection darling'" Mitchell shook his head before brushing back Annie's hair from her face.
"No your here via assisted suicide...God I'm sorry, I just would have loved doing all of this still living. You and me going out, lazy Sundays in...maybe a kid" Annie's remark was scathing but then it turned to an insecure daydream.
"Maybe a kid? How about five or six? With you as their Mot there wouldn't have been just the one! I am an Irishman after all" Mitchell chuckled Annie gawped flirtatiously at him.
"What, West-Indian families are not like that then? You ever see Jamaicans with just one child?" Annie giggled.
"Good, great minds think alike, in the next life we'll find each other and have a dozen!" Mitchell took Annie's hands in his and tipped them back and forth. Annie's smile fell and so did her eyes, Mitchell stopped playing once he glimpsed her sadness.
"You think we will...you'll think we'll find each other?" She asked softly as she tried not to cry, Mitchell took her in his arms again and nodded.
"Of course we will"
The comforting kiss was disturbed by a shadow that crept up on the happy couple. Mitchell and Annie sat upright as they faced a young woman wearing a white bikini, white caftan and bleach grey shorts. Her blond hair was partially plaited and beaded.
"Ah sorry, didn't mean to make you jump, didn't expect to see people up here today...I'm looking for someone"
The pair looked around warily as this girl appeared from nowhere, they stood up holding reach other's hand.
"No, no I'm sorry, we haven't been here long but we haven't seen...anybody"
"He's probably seeing to business...I'm Gaby but the way, nice to get away somewhere isn't it?"
"Gaby, I'm Annie this is Mitchell, it's so nice to meet up with another girl!" Annie gushed; Mitchell placed his hands on his hips and just smiled.
"Ah yes it's lovely, are you two together so nice, young love eh? Nothing like it" Gaby cooed, Mitchell squinted as he saw what looked like bits of flower pollen float around her
Annie hugged Mitchell and he hugged back they smiled in the way lovers do when proudly making that first acknowledgement that yes they were in love. Yet Mitchell was still perplexed about this 'Gaby'
The girl small-talked out of the dunes and back down the passage towards their hut, Mitchell simply kept silent but remained chivalrous as he took Annie's arm. He noticed Gaby's caftan was ribbing at her spine and saw the flecks were getting bigger almost looking like tiny...
"Gaby, there you are! We have a lot of work to...Oh I guess not" Called out a six-foot Adonis figure wearing nothing but white trousers and a blue-coloured necklace. His bulging left bicep even had a tattoo
...It was of a sword.
"Mike, what kept you? I've made friends. This holiday is exactly what we needed!" Gaby shrilled as she flung her arms over him. She leaned against him rather like a friend than a lover.
"We work a lot...and we'll work even harder should you-know-who know about you-know-what!" Mike said sternly, Gaby forcefully kissed him on the lips.
"Relax sweetheart, I can handle this" She seethed quietly
"...We have a crisis at work you see, someone who was supposed to be promoted to other things has left us dangling over what to do. He keeps changing his mind on a whim, it's undermining us" Gaby explained with exasperation.
"We feel rather stupid, see the boss isn't happy...we've been working so hard for so long and along comes Mister Indecisive." Mike added
"Sounds like a handful, maybe he wants another job" Annie shrugged
"He can't do that without due process, He's poor at deciding on things" Gaby sulked
"We should be getting back, we have...things to do at home, don't we honey?" Mike chirped
"How long have you to known each other?" Mitchell croaked to which the couple roared with laughter.
"Far, far, far too long...feels like millennia!" Gaby feigned a hearty chuckle, Mitchell noticed.
"We're like that sometimes, turned out well in the end though." Annie beamed with pride at her beloved.
"Yeah I imagine you have so much hope and expectation...breaking away to find love...It's a lovely thing, though can be quite messy" Gaby nodded
She was pulled away by Mike, Mitchell watched as the two argued further up the road.
"Well that was weird, didn't expect to meet people here" Mitchell squirmed uneasily in the wicker chair as Annie brought out some ice tea.
"You'd be surprised, I met quite a few characters while trying to find you" Annie raised her eyebrows and poured the jug, laughing and shaking her head as she thought of Vinnie.
"And..."
"Nothing, very helpful, very colourful I think one met his maker through McNair but he didn't seem peeved about it" Annie shrugged, her lover knowingly smirked.
"So would you say they were placid?" Mitchell asked prompting Annie to laugh out loud.
"Oh, most definitely not...!" Annie snickered
"Was they Handsome, pretty?" Mitchell persisted with the teasing even though he knew the mystery man; he had known him for a very long time.
"I would say unconventional but my God those eyes were blue, I'm talking the Newman/O'Toole league here" Annie said thoughtfully. Mitchell frowned as she became a little too exuberant.
"Vinnie you little shite I wanted you to leave her alone" He mumbled and sulked in his jealousy.
"Vinnie, you mean you know him?"
"Of course I know him, you don't forget a bloke like Vinnie – we fought against Nazi Germany together...he wasn't all there in the head though" Mitchell grimaced, Annie Kneeled in front of him and tucked his hair over his left ear. Mitchell grabbed her hand and placed it against his face.
"You didn't answer my question...You set him up to help me didn't you?" The girl grinned
"Wish I bleedin' hadn't now, back in the forties women were fawning over the eejit, proving that looks weren't everything. He could jitterbug better than anyone I'd ever seen – of course you'd fall for him!" He groaned childishly.
"You are jealous, you are jealous" Annie chirped, Mitchell was about to reply when Annie swooped in for a kiss. Then pecked out her innocence while making butterfly kisses.
"You have...nothing...to be jealous of...he's a friend, a likeable guy...but I'm sorry you're mine and you're stuck with me!" As Annie played on Mitchell stopped sulking and smiled into the kisses. But desire took over as he noticed she was rubbed his knees and thighs.
When she leaned in again he held her close to him and made the kisses linger, the playing was over. Running his hand against her neck he snaked the other under her t-shirt and kneeled down beside her.
They made love there on the patio. Annie would hold him close and then leave again after assuring Mitchell that Vaughn really was on their side. Later he would drink his ice tea and glance at Annie's cup. Feeling nervous over George's expedition, he would be vulnerable out there...
"Hello again, thought I'd come by and see how you were finding the place?" Gaby returned and once again making nice a little too bombastically than Mitchell liked.
"Yes we are- that is I mean I am it's lovely yeah...So you're a rep of some sort, a holiday rep for purgator?" Mitchell looked about him
"Ha-ha, no I'm a long, long way from my real job – I'm really skiving see this rogue that I lost will get me in a heap of trouble with the governor, the big cheese, my boss. He, he's not very happy"
"You're quite the jobs worth aren't you, I'm sorry I don't mean t be rude, he should be happy to have people so dedicated?" Mitchell mused as he leaned over the front gate. The girl had white clear shades on; the pollen was back and a dozen shiny clips in her hair, almost in a triangular or circular fashion
In fact it looked a lot like...
"Not today, he's not happy that this one little rascal had turned our work ethic upside down, he's letting emotions effect the transition...it's not looking good"
"Ah so he's a frisky rebellious soul, nothing wrong with that" Mitchell smile but Gaby's eyes seem to sparkle when he uttered the word 'soul'. The wind picked up and she leaned into his space.
"Rebellion is no good in a place like this, it's dangerous, if we don't sort him out they will be...others who will" Gaby whispered anxiously.
"I'm sure he knows that..." Mitchell stammered Gaby looked sullen almost admitting defeat to something.
"He hasn't got the first idea about it" She sighed.
The gravel of the car park crunched and skidded beneath their feet, it was a long drive, two Saabs, two jeeps, one camper van and a beetle sped down the motorway. George had to forsake the Morris Minor for a baby-friendly car – It was a tough deal.
"Please give this a chance, or a smidgen of an open mind Nina I'm all out of ideas. If we need play carry on camping to keep Johnny safe then we're gonna carry on camping" George sighed wearily as he took the bags and followed a dishevelled Lisbeth to the forest clearing.
The pathway was narrow and the area was glistening in the green gloom of the trees. Nina had Johnny in a hassock and shook his hand.
"Yes Daddy, anything you say Daddy but if they start seeing coomb bya my lord – we're going home, yes, without a moment's thought yes. Daddy can walk home after getting his first camping badge, yes!"
"Alright, alright I get the message!" George moaned the couple were pleasantly surprised as they found pagoda tents and two large camp fires, three port-a-loos and a caravan at the back.
"Christ what's this, Pontins for werewolves, is Captain Croc coming or are we gonna have our own mascot?" George quipped in awe; Nina conducted a complete emotional U-turn and ended up squeezing against her fiancé's shoulder.
The songs on hand were thankfully not of the hippy, religious variety but mainly good 'uns like The Kinks Autumn Almanac, Cat Stevens Sing out, George was overjoyed at the kinship.
Later that evening the couple lay together under their canopy, their son snug and asleep in his Moses basket.
"I'm surprised Annie didn't follow us, she would have liked all this I think, being out and about after..." Nina was stroking George's back when he suddenly went rigid; he lay back and looked at her, stony-faced.
"Annie's with Mitchell honey"
"What, how Mitchell's dead, don't do this to yourself Mitchell's dead"
"There dead, dead and then there's dead – Mitchell's just dead, between worlds, in purgatory" George warbled as he placed his hands together, Nina shot up.
"You know this how? Why would Annie want to be with him after everything?" Nina growled
"...Because they love each other, have done for as long as I've known them, I've denied my friends many things but I can't get in their way over this I won't" George said sternly.
"What Mitchell did was inexcusable, I don't believe he loved Annie I don't believe he could love anyone!" Nina spat, ferocious in her whispering as her son slept beside them
"You don't know him like I do, you see nothing but fangs and black eyes and bloodlust but for twenty-four years he was human, I knew him as he once was, so does Annie..." George sat up and became the man he knew he could be once his back was up...and his back was up.
"What and I don't, I never saw past his selfish self-destructive ways because of being so in love with you?" Nina crossed her arms defensively.
"No offense sweetheart but I don't think you ever did see him, you see whatever you want to see. Herrick is a sterling example" George mocked
"Don't you dare bring that up, we almost lost John because of that bastard!"
"Mitchell could have protected us from all of that, that whole squad would still be human instead of now being vampires, quite possibly working for Wyndham" George stood up and took Nina outside.
"Are you seriously selling Mitchell as a necessary evil? SERIOUSLY Are you saying that because they're dead that Annie and Mitchell know more about love than we ever could?" Nina roared
"We would have had our brains crushed and dried out all for the sake of a sick science if it wasn't for him...You forget far too easily Nina!"
"What about you with him and the box tunnel twenty unless – you knew all the time didn't you?"
"I befriended the human remnant of Mitchell that fiend in the tunnel wasn't him, it was poisonous and dark but I've known darker. 'Uncle Billy' had human farms...for his faction he collected humans to feed off of. This is why no matter what I needed Mitchell!" George screamed his rage and his grief at the indirect cause of it all. Nina was devastated to realise he hadn't forgiven her.
"You need him more than me it looks like" She lamented then sobbed and headed for the lake.
By midnight everyone was in bed, waiting for the full moon that would come the next day. Nina was still missing, George eventually found her on the jetty. Silently he sat beside her and shook his head.
"I could say it a thousand times over, more than there are stars up there, I could prove it in every way imaginable but I don't think you've ever believed it." He said quietly.
"Believe what George"
"That I would die for you, not just as in you and Johnny...But you, you had a right to hate me and be sick at the thought of me once I scratched you and that's okay, you were entitled to that"
Nina began sobbing but listened in.
"Herrick told a lie, the worst possible lie I've ever heard, he said you were dead and like that my world imploded. Mitchell was at my side and at that moment I didn't care...all I wanted was you" George started crying as Nina leaned over for a hug.
There's no choice with you and Mitchell, my life began when he befriended me after my attack when I was so scared I'd never befriend anyone ever again. It started with Mitchell but my life is gonna end with you and our boy" George sniffled. Nina kissed him passionately, his relief came in waves.
They tore each other's clothes off and lay against the jetty, Nina then stopped and stood up before discarding the last of her clothes, she jumped into the lake.
"Well come on then" She said shyly, George smiled then dive-bombed in after her.
...It would be a very cold anxious walk to their tent.
It turned out that Vaughn and Lisbeth although not married had adopted a ward; Ava was a teenager, a completely normal human who had werewolves as foster parents. She was appointed baby-sitter as the day of the full moon drew on.
The transformation began and George was at peace with it at last as he now had his very own pack, he was determined to bring Tom next time but the boy would always visit his father's grave. George was assured guards were all around them but he heard cries and thuds.
His heart stopped as his saw Wyndham with a vampire posse of fourteen strong holding ropes, leashes and nets. Bending over in agony he took Nina's Hand and grabbed the Moses basket with his crying boy and ran up the pass. He screamed the girl's name, Nina began to howl it.
"AVA!" George was in excruciating pain as the girl raced towards them with three bewildered children...Three perfectly normal children.
"Ava don't be afraid of me, we're not Lycan yet, take our son...hide him, in the gully go!" George urged, however he didn't bank on the girl being pounced on. George and Nina cried in protest.
Wyndham was right behind her.
"You're lucky I've already dined, I still like the snapping sound of a broken neck though...You're coming with me Georgie-boy" Wyndham snarled.
An unrecognisable Vaughn raced towards them but Wyndham knocked him out cold.
"You do realise if you were a dog you'd be put down now?" A vampire hissed at him
George had tears in his amber eyes and could barely communicate, he cupped his fiancée's check with his gnarled hands then ran blindly at the vampire who had his son and Nina followed behind. They were greeted by nets and chains. The camp was set alight; Ava and Vaughn were left to live.
Many were not so lucky...Including Lisbeth.
Meanwhile in the illusion of paradise Mitchell heard a crack of thunder and heard Annie sobbing in the wind. He had such an awful sense of dread and began to run screaming out their names.
"George, Annie, ANNIE!" Mitchell yelled and he ran into a white-out not knowing what would be on the other side...Back to his friends he hoped
Oooh yes very heavy on the drama...Phew!