Rey was a bit surprised by his command, but his arrogant look at his drunk attitude made her realize she didn't want to give him what he wanted. Something was off about him, a mixture of the injury and her blood, perhaps, but she took a step back, wrapping her arms defensively around herself. He was so beautiful it was difficult, but Rey managed it, employing her old defenses.
"You're not afraid, are you?" He asked, coming forward. He moved like a predator, and she hated to say it, but she was entranced. She wondered if he wanted to kill her or have sex with her.
Maybe he couldn't tell the difference right at that moment in time.
He stood up, a bit wobbly.
"No," She said, taking another step back as he took another step forward. He seemed intent on it, and his lazy smirk seemed to indicate that he might not be so easily put off.
"No you're not afraid, or no you won't take your clothes off?"
"No," She repeated, her features hardening against him.
He laughed, though she could tell even then he was wobbly. She became further convinced that something wasn't right. She wondered if it was the injury, or something else, but when he took another step, Rey felt something flinty strike up a spark within her. She pushed back against him, drawing from unknown place deep down. He felt it, like a snap of lightning, and he buckled down to his knees as she used this strange new energy to push him down into a more submissive position; his knees connecting harshly with the floor. He groaned out in surprise, and pain, looking up at her in shock before he wrapped his arms around his middle and crumpled in on himself.
Rey was shocked, and encased in ice. She couldn't move she was so stunned at what she had just done. She looked at her hands, before she looked down at Ren, who was groaning in pain before he flopped back onto his back, his hair falling out of his face. She leaned down carefully, looking him over.
"Are you going to behave?"
"It passed," He groaned out, still in pain.
"Good," She said, leaning down to him. He seemed to be in more pain now that her blood had passed through him. "Ren, you need help. Tell me there's someone I can call,"
"She doesn't have a phone," He said, talking from behind his teeth. "Her card is in my wallet,"
"Who doesn't have a phone?" Rey asked, though she had thought many times in the last few weeks that she would've liked to get rid of hers.
She stood up, finding his bill fold in his jacket. She began digging around, though she looked to him to find out more information about what she was looking for; he didn't seem in the state for it. She picked up the necklace he'd ripped from her before she kept digging around, through business cards and credit cards. One of them drew her eye. It had a symbol of a hand holding a knife, and the card was white with stark black lettering. It read: Phasma Oddities. Rey might have been operating on assumption, but it was vastly different than the other cards he kept, and she had to think she might know how to help him. When she flashed it in his face, he gave a brief (but pained) nod of recognition.
"Can you get up?" She asked, realizing she might not have the fortitude to get him back outside. She didn't have a car, and she wasn't sure he'd brought his, considering the state he was in.
He nodded, and in a very unsteady fashion, stood up. She tossed his jacket over his shoulders, shoving the wallet back into his inner pockets. He had to use her as a crutch, and she quickly hailed a cab. She was thankful for the time of day. She was able to convince the cab driver that he was just drunk, and that the black substance was something that had gotten spilled on him in the bar. The cab driver muttered that it was a little early in the night to be so wasted, but Rey just gave him the card and pointed to the address. The man shook his head, clicking his tongue before he handed the card back to her.
Ren snoozed, his head somehow finding it's way to her lap. She watched him carefully, trying to gauge whether or not he was dangerous anymore. He certainly didn't look it, sleeping away a bit angelically. She didn't know if he was sleeping, or if he was just unconscious. She noticed that the strange wound had started to bleed again, and she hoped the cab driver wouldn't tell his friends about the weird fare he'd gotten. Rey had dragged her purse with her, and she dug around in it, trying to find something that she could use to wipe away his inky blood.
She had nothing, so she was extremely appreciative when the cabbie pulled up in front of a small store front. It looked like no one was there, and Rey was quickly realizing that this might have been a fruitless venture. She had to yank Ren out of the cab after throwing one of his credit cards at the driver. She barely got it shoved into her pocket before she found herself acting as a crutch for a very drunk-seeming and heavy vampire. The cabbie drove off quickly, probably irritated that he'd had to go so far out of the circle of people stumbling out of bars looking for a ride home. Rey noticed the old style neon sign that moved, a hand sliding out a deck of cards.
Rey almost dropped Ren, though he managed to keep himself up right and they stood, Rey feeling gravity and Ren's weight pushing her down as she knocked on the door. She thought she wouldn't get an answer, and she thought her and Ren would go tumbling into the bushes just as the door swung open. Rey was already stunned by the woman, who stood taller than Ren himself. She had an intense blue gaze, and her hair was a cornsilk blonde, cut into a short bob. She had a brightly colored scarf wrapped around her head, and wore the broom skirt and linen top that Rey supposed came with her profession. She looked at Rey curiously before taking in Ren, releasing a puff of air that could be considered irritated.
"Bring him in," Rey heard her accented tones and knew she wasn't American.
Rey struggled with him before Phasma reached out to help her drag him across the threshold. He had completely lost consciousness at that point, and Rey watched his head dangle back as he was dragged in the direction of a spot where he could be put down. He was slung across a medical table in one of her back rooms, and Rey wondered how often she dealt with this sort of thing. She had to know he was a vampire, as she didn't blanch at his strange injuries at all. She pulled back his shirt, which had already been unbuttoned, taking in the damage with the eye of a woman who had seen a good deal of oddity. Perhaps that was where she got her name from.
"What caused it?" She asked quietly as Phasma began pulling out strange little bottles full of potions and poultices she could only begin to guess at.
"This?" She asked, pointing to the wound. "It's called Sunlight," She laughed a bit. "Not without a bit of cheek. It's used by hunters,"
"Hunters?" Rey asked, looking at her with wide eyes.
"Yes, witch, you should know," She said, regarding Rey with a steady gaze for a few long moments before she went back to doing what she was doing.
"Witch?" Rey looked at her, obviously at a loss for full sentences.
"I see," She said, beginning to work on the wound. "You're not aware of what you are,"
"I'm not a witch," She said, flatly.
Phasma only looked at her blankly, continuing on with her motions.
Up until then, she had considered it only as a religion, and nothing more. She knew little about it, but she couldn't imagine that this very tall woman was being serious. She was able to scoff at it, even though the ridiculousness of scoffing at it didn't go over her head. There they were, tending to a badly wounded vampire, after all. Phasma could only shrug her shoulders and continue on with her work. She could only assume they were acquaintances, or maybe friends, otherwise...why would this woman bother to help him?
"How do you know him?"
"Oh, we're old friends," She said, and Rey was sure she hadn't missed the sarcasm.
"He seems to have a lot of those,"
"Well, sweetheart, you tangle with a vampire and that's what you get," She said, though she was distracted and focused on what she was doing, Rey couldn't miss the sharpness in her tone.
Rey decided it was probably better to leave the woman to her work, as a few barked orders and harsh sentences would put even the strongest off of trying to have a conversation with her. She was curious, but she got the definite feeling that Phasma liked to be alone when she was working (if that was even her name). Rey found her way back out into the shop area. It was full of tarot decks, books about tarot and other items, like tea leaf reading and palm reading. There were stones of every shape and size, and Rey took a moment to dig her hand into a bag full of smooth hematite. There were candles of every color, and an entire wall full of potions. There were some of them for love, some of them for luck, and really any under the sun a person might think of.
She came upon a small curio cabinet full of figurines. One in particular stood out, a small fox with obsidian eyes, gleaming curiously out at her. It was carved in a sitting position, with a tail wrapped proudly around it's front. Rey didn't know why it called to her so, and she reached out to pick it up. She examined it's glimmering eyes, twisting it around in the low light.
"A fox," She heard, the woman's voice booming behind her.
Rey gasped, nearly dropping the thing. She managed to catch it before it slipped out of her hands.
"Seen as a guide, revered for it's wisdom," She said simply. "Interesting you should pick that one,"
Rey quickly put it down.
"I was just interested in how it was made," She said, turning to look at the woman. She didn't know how long she'd been wandering the shop.
"Your friend will be fine," She said. She plucked the fox up and handed it to her. "Take it with you,"
"Can I come see him tomorrow?"
"He can't stay here," Phasma said, watching as Rey gently took the figurine from her fingertips.
"Why not?" Rey asked.
"They'll find him here," She said simply, digging around in the back of her shop for something. Rey didn't know what.
"Take these with you," Phasma handed her a deck of cards with strange illustrations on them, painted in thick, shining black ink. "They'll keep you hidden for a time, until he's healed up,"
"What, you mean for me to take him with me?" Rey carefully took the cards, wondering what the hell she was meant to do with them. "Why can't you just use these here?"
"This is a sanctuary," Phasma said simply, as if Rey should already know. "I'm not allowed to use magic here. That doesn't mean that hunters aren't allowed to try and kill him,"
"That kind of defeats the purpose of a sanctuary," Rey said quietly, shoving the cards into her bag.
"Call a cab," Phasma said. "I'll help you get him out of here,"
The next hour or so was focused on getting Ren out of Phasma's shop. She called another car, this time she called a number on Ren's phone that was designated as driver. She knew how well it had gone last time, but she didn't want to risk pooling him into a cab again. He was even more unconscious than he'd been before, almost stony in his sleep. The effect of her blood had worn off, and Phasma had healed the burning flesh and prevented it from going any further. Phasma gave her the cards, and a small vial full of something that smelled awful. She had strict instructions to make sure that she packed it in the wound for the next couple of days. She also warned that Ren might sleep for a long time, though Rey didn't know what a long time was when it came to a vampire. When they were prepared, Phasma told her to come back when she was ready.
When the driver came, Rey gave him instructions to take them to a hotel. She hoped that Ren had stayed in hotels around the city, but the driver took them out of the limits, directing the car into the hills where a resort laid, sprawled out across the mountains. The night was lit up with a bright, half moon, limping across the sky. It got darker as they got father from the city, the usual fog of the pollution lightening a bit and allowing Rey to see the stars. Ren barely stirred.
Rey got out of the car while the driver dealt with Ren. She rented the room with one of his credit cards, finding it was rather freeing that she didn't have to worry about it declining while she booked the room. Once it was done, they sneaked Ren in with all the hopes that he wouldn't be noticed by the staff. Thankfully, they seemed unaware of the fact that he wasn't walking, and they were dragging him. The two of them managed him, but not as effectively as Phasma had. When they were in the room, Rey gave the driver instructions to leave them. She would call if she needed anything.
They flopped Ren onto the bed like a heavy sculpture, and Rey began the process of pinning the cards up, as Phasma had said. Rey watched as each one disappeared, the symbol painted there in burning itself onto the hotel wall. She hoped that it wouldn't stay, but she realized they would likely just charge Ren's card if there was damage. The thought of it gave her a bit of glee. She had to pay back the man who had caused her to miss class, again.
Ren laid on his back on the bed, unmoving. She thought for the moment that it was better to let him rest, though there were times when she wasn't sure that he still lived. She wasn't even sure she could call him living. Rey found herself exhausted, and she was glad that there were two beds. She took her shoes off and slid into the sheets. It was more comfortable than her futon at home, and she fell asleep almost immediately, despite the fact that she might have been in danger. 'They' might have been in danger.
Rey had strange dreams. She dreamed about the shadows that haunted Luke's ranch. She dreamed about Ren's bizarre golden eyes and the look on his face when he'd told her to take off her clothes. She dreamed about the pulse of power she'd experienced when she fended him off. All of these dreams kept her from really sleeping very well, and when her phone dinged at six am, she was easy to pull from sleep. Foolishly, in her sleepy state, she thought she would see a text from Rose, or maybe from Poe, but there was another message there from 'missing'. Rey read it, carefully:
No voice divine the storm allay'd,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,
We perish'd, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm'd in deeper gulfs than he.
Rey couldn't work out what they were trying to communicate to her in her state, and she decided instead to turn her phone off completely. She hadn't brought her charger with her, and it would die soon anyway. Ren's phone dinged almost incessantly until she reached over and turned it off as well. Ren wouldn't be able to answer. She wasn't sure he would ever be able to answer at all.
She fell back asleep, unable to keep herself from doing so.
Rey was beginning to keep a more nocturnal pattern. When she woke up, she found that the sun was going down, and she was disappointed that she missed it. She felt safe with the strange cards that Phasma had given them, but in all honesty, she could have just placed a target on them. Still, Rey didn't know why Phasma would help him if she was just intending on pointing an arrow at them.
Rey pulled the curtains back. They were up on the topmost floors, and she could see people laying out on rooftop pools, and then down at the big pool where it seemed most people gathered. She wondered if the water was heated, since it had been so chilly in the previous weeks. She turned to look at Ren. He had shifted himself into a more comfortable position, but she could tell that he might have been uncomfortable in the clothing he was wearing. Maybe she was toying with fire, but she carefully made her way over to him. Phasma had said to use the foul smelling liquid twice a day.
Rey watched him, the slow rise and fall of his chest making it quite obvious he wasn't human. It was so slow, he went for minutes at a time before he would suck in a breath of air, as if it were habit over real need for air. She unbuttoned his ruined dress shirt all the way, pulling it from his trousers. She balled it up and tossed it into the trashcan, sure that there would be no saving it. She looked at his wound, finding that it seemed a good deal more "human" than it had before, lacking in the strange quality it had when he'd showed up. There was pink scar tissue, healing quietly while he slept.
Rey pulled out the jar of drops, dripping them into the wound on his face. It twisted his brow and marred the side of his face. It picked back up like a forgotten trail at his chest. The drops didn't seem to cause him any pain, but Rey noted that they acted like super glue, bringing the flesh together. It was as if the drops were helping the vampiric flesh heal where it couldn't.
While Ren slept, he looked almost boyish. She reached up, brushing his dark hair away from his brow. Her fingertips brushed the slope of his nose before tracing the line of his lips. He didn't stir. She felt a bit devious, and wondered what it would be like to let her fingers drift down the rest of him, but she kept herself from doing so. She tugged his shiny dress shoes off and lifted the down blanket, draping it over him and hoping that it would keep him warm enough.
Rey needed to get a charger for her phone. And perhaps his. She needed to email her professors and tell Poe that she would be missing classes for a few days. She wondered if she should feign some sort of illness. She considered leaving him there, but it felt wrong when he was completely defenseless. She stopped at the desk and asked if there was a store, and of course, there was. It was over priced, but she had Ren's credit card. She bought a multi-use charger that looked like it would fall apart after a few uses, but it would suffice for now.
She bought Ren a new shirt, though all she could find were beachy, touristy shirts that she was sure he had never worn. She also bought herself a swim suit, since she thought it seemed like a good idea to leave the room sometimes. She would get dreadfully bored, and she would probably also get cabin fever.
She found her way back up to the room with her purchases in hand, unlocking the door with the card key. Ren was still in the same position, but as the sun had mostly gone down, she opened the curtains to reveal the full scope of the city lights below, down in the valley. It was beautiful, and it somehow made everything seem so far away. The room was huge. She hadn't realized it before, but it had an entire sitting room decorated with champagne colors and warm tones. There was a full kitchen, and a mini fridge stocked with water and snacks. The bath tub was also huge, and it had jets. There was a separate shower with more than one shower head, and Rey was sure that an entire team of people could fit into it.
Rey began looking around in the fridge before she decided to pick up the room phone and order room service. Everything on the menu was far more expensive than what she was interested it, but she finally found a chicken sandwich that seemed reasonable and not as rich. She took a moment to plug her phone in, turning it on and checking her messages. She sent one to Poe, letting him know she would be out. He promised her he'd catch her up and hoped that everything would clear up.
She heard something shift in the bedroom, and turned around to find a shirtless, barefooted Ren standing behind her. He still wore his tailored pants and his expensive belt, both of which hung low on his hips. She gasped in surprise, stepping back a bit.
"You scared me," She said.
He looked hungry, and she realized she recognized the look. He took a few steps towards her and, thankfully for her, the room service she'd ordered came. His advance was disrupted by the knock on the door. They both looked, and when Rey looked back, he was gone.
"Ren?" She asked, thinking that he had gone back into the bedroom, but after doing a sweep of the apartment, she realized he was completely and totally gone.
She realized that she'd just unleashed a hungry, injured vampire on an unsuspecting hotel staff. When she opened the door for the room service, she was a bit shaky. The waitress was friendly, and Rey realized she didn't have any cash to tip her with. She frowned, apologizing, but her mind was on bigger things. She took the food in hand and found she wasn't hungry anymore. She knew it was unlikely she would be able to follow Ren, he was too fast... almost invisible when he wanted to be.
Rey sat down, wondering if she should leave him there. She was honestly concerned that he might hurt her, but she didn't know if there was some part of him that would stop himself from doing so. She hoped that there was, but having dealt with him while he was hungry was an entirely different experience. Rey realized she didn't feel as helpless as she had before. She wasn't sure how to call up the strange new power, but she was sure that if she needed to again, she'd find a way.
She hoped that Ren would be able to stop himself from killing anyone, otherwise their stay at this hotel might be cut tragically short. Rey kept herself to the living room, watching Ren's phone blink with lights. She was curious to see who was contacting him, but she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to know what he was doing.
She thought that with his job, it was unlikely it would go unnoticed that he was missing. She kept all of the lights on in some idea that it might keep her safer. She tugged a pillow off of the plush couch and sat in silence with it clutched against her chest. For one moment she looked down, and when she looked back up again, and he was standing there as if he'd never gone anywhere at all. He was splashed with blood, and Rey had the sinking feeling that whoever had been the source of it likely hadn't survived. His lips were stained red, and she could see where he'd lazily tried to wipe the blood away from his midsection.
Rey leaned back into the couch, having the distinct feeling that she should leave, but she was frozen in place. She had seen how fast he was.
It hit her full force, seeing his pale frame splashed with blood and his eyes glowing that strange, preternatural gold. He was nothing but a monster. He had been right. Something in her changed, however. She realized that she had nothing to fear from him. She stood up, coming to a pause in front of him. She reached up, pushing his hair out of his face, her fingertips carefully tracing the ridges of the wound that was now a scar. She wondered if it would ever go away. He leaned into her touch, his eyes dropping closed as her fingertips worked their way down to his chest.
Rey was sure that he belonged to her. It was not the other way around.
you guys, these two have so many problems. so many. guest starring phasma. and shirtless kylo ren splashed with blood.
who called the witch stuff? or did i just come at you out of left field like a spider monkey?
bit of poetry is from william cowper's 'the castaway'
