I had intended for this to be the final chapter before the epilogue. It ended up being a very long chapter with a lot happening so i've split it into two. I'll post that one up in due course. This chapter draws inspiration from S3 ep 8, the character of Joseph Wyatt is my own as are all errors. Thanks to those who continue to read and review. Love to hear your thoughts.
Beautiful Chaos Part Two.
Elizabeth is pale. She feels so very cold and light headed. Joseph keeps hold of her almost territorially while they wait for Mitchell to show up.
"He won't make it in an hour" George tells him.
"Then he's going to have to try harder isn't he?" he looks at Elizabeth and gives her a little shake. She swallows down a whimper and closes her eyes.
"She won't last an hour!" Nina hisses to George. George already knows this. She's gone an alarming grey colour and he hopes that Mitchell can get here in time.
"He's here" one of Wyatt's minions announced a little while later. George closes his eyes as a mixture of relief and foreboding clash. He watches Wyatt drag Elizabeth across the room to the window and look out. He then looks at George and his expression is triumphant.
"You see, he can achieve anything if he puts his mind to it" he tells him and George barely refrains from rolling his eyes.
Mitchell pauses in front of the door and stares at it with some trepidation. He lifts a hand to knock but pauses when the door is thrown open instead.
"Finally!" Wyatt exclaims. Mitchell regards him coolly but doesn't respond. The two men stare at each other.
"How long has it been Mitchell?" he asks in a hearty tone.
"Not long enough" Mitchell replies neutrally. His eyes flick to Elizabeth and he frowns slightly. She's very pale and barely holding on. The scent of her blood coats him like a mist. It's been a while since he's tasted blood; he knows exactly when the last time was.
"Why don't you let the girl go Wyatt? I'm here now" he requests, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. Wyatt takes a step back, dragging Elizabeth back with him.
"All in good time my friend, all in good time" he promises. With his other hand he indicates that Mitchell should come inside. He takes a slow, reluctant step inside, his eyes taking in the interior, his heart remembering happier times here. A lot of it had been tense, paranoid and remorseful but there had been times when he'd been able to smile and to feel something other than paralysing guilt. She should be here; she was part of those happier memories.
He walks into the main living area and he sees George and Nina flanked by two tall well-made vampires that he's never seen before. George looks slightly confused but Nina looks mad enough to rip a few heads off. The look she shoots Mitchell is poisonous. He knows that she's blaming him for this and why not. He has tried to stay out of trouble but it has the unerring ability to find him, no matter what.
"I've been hearing rumours that you've been on the straight and narrow, apart from that little slip in Bristol that is" Mitchell turns when he hears Wyatt speak and he watches him drag Elizabeth behind him as he walks past him. It irritates him beyond measure to see her being treated like this but if he shows just one inkling that he cares then Wyatt will use it to his advantage.
"And?" he watches him come to a stop in front of him.
"You almost succeeded in getting the Bristol chapter off blood before that unfortunate…ending, that got a few people interested back home" he regards Mitchell and then he frowns.
"But you look like hell my friend" he looks at Elizabeth and he smiles.
"You know, I'm really surprised, given your reputation, that you haven't had a taste of this one…she's absolutely scrumptious" Mitchell tenses as he pulls her up against him and buries his nose in her hair and inhales deeply. He then lifts his head and looks at him. His eyes darken and his smile is wicked.
"You should have a snack" He pushes Elizabeth at him. She staggers and falls into his arms. Her legs give out completely and it takes all of his strength to hold onto her without falling himself. He lifts her and her eyes open wider.
Oh God, the scent of her. Back at the hospital I wasn't sure what it was but right at this moment it surrounds me, I can almost taste it. Oh God how I want to taste her.
"Mitchell…no…you have to fight it" George's voice is belligerent and Mitchell raises his head and looks at him. He notices that Nina is staring at him with wide eyes too and it's then that he realises that his eyes have scorched black and he can feel his fangs erupting. He looks back down at Elizabeth. Her blood is fresh; he can hear it pumping through her veins, in tune with her heartbeat. He can have one sip surely? It's been so long since he's had a taste, so fucking long.
"Oh you know you want to" Wyatt's voice was low, goading and Mitchell swallows, still staring at that butterfly pulse fluttering in her neck. He wants to, oh God he really wants to. Isn't this what he had dreamt of at the hospital, all that he could think about whilst locked up in that hell hole?
Just a taste.
"Please Mitchell…you're more than this" George whispers and he looks at him again. He takes a deep breath and he lifts Elizabeth closer to him in a parody of what Wyatt had done earlier. He inhales the scent of her and the overpowering scent of blood is dizzying. He feels close to swooning. He closes his eyes and drags the demon kicking and screaming back into the shadows.
"Elizabeth" he whispers against her ear and she moves very, very slightly.
"Back pocket" he feels her arms slowly go around his waist beneath his coat. He tenses very slightly when she locates the broken broom handle and pulls it out of its hiding place. Surreptitiously she passes it around beneath his coat and slips it into his hand. He slides it up the sleeve. He turns his face to her neck.
A taste, surely he can handle just one taste?
He inhales her enchanting scent and then lifts his head and fixes Wyatt with an intense stare. He watches him walk towards them and his arm tightens protectively around Elizabeth's waist.
"I'd rather not at the moment" he tells him quietly. He looks back down at Elizabeth. Her eyes are open and she's watching him. Wyatt pulls a face and reaches for her but Mitchell tugs her just out of reach and he smiles.
"But it doesn't mean that I won't later" he adds on and feels her needle sharp look of shock.
Wyatt smiles all too knowingly.
"I knew it was too good to be true, you being on the wagon and all of that, not you, Big Bad John!" he widens his eyes expressively and Mitchell just rolls his. He looks at Elizabeth again; his gaze seems to sweep across her face, disinterested and dismissive. He lifts his head.
"I just can't be bothered to fight anymore, it's too much like hard work" he looks from George to Nina.
"I mean, I'm fighting against so much these days, my nature, the blood, the hunger and then there's the pettiness of humanity to factor into it and I wonder, why the fuck do I bother?" He strolls towards George and he pushes Elizabeth down onto the sofa beside him.
"This is what I meant about letting me go, letting me disappear into the ether, then you wouldn't have vampires like Joseph Wyatt on your doorstep, making demands, hurting decent people, it's just less…complicated" he turns his head and he looks at Wyatt.
"How long has it been since we last saw one another?" Wyatt asks him. Mitchell shrugs carelessly.
"Can't remember…fifty years? Sixty" Wyatt grins.
"I suppose you get to our ages then a decade here and there doesn't matter" he goes to Mitchell and slings an arm across his shoulders. His smile slips from his face and he drops his arm.
"The boss will be relieved to hear that we have you contained, after all the trouble you've caused us, it's a big relief to have you come quietly" he then looks at George.
"Do you know how we realised Mitchell was where he was?" he asks him. He takes a couple of steps towards George and then pauses. George shakes his head.
"No" he replies quietly. Wyatt glances at Mitchell over his shoulder before returning his attention back to George.
"We had an informant. One of yours…a werewolf, can you imagine that, a werewolf informing on a vampire?" he chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief.
"Really?" Mitchell asks, genuinely curious now. He looks at George who looks just as baffled.
"Who would do such a thing?" he wonders. Wyatt looks at him again and his grin widens.
"Haven't you guessed? At the hospital…." He begins to laugh as horror crosses both Mitchell and George's faces simultaneously.
"Daniel" George whispers.
"Why would he inform on me and then try and kill me?" Mitchell demands. Wyatt turns to look at him.
"He's a werewolf, I suppose it was in his nature but he's not our problem now, actually he's not anybody's problem" he turns back around and looks at George and Elizabeth.
"You did us a favour George" he tells him in a low tone. Beside him, Elizabeth lifts her head. She frowns.
"A favour? What are you talking about?" She turns her head and looks at George who doesn't look back at her. In fact he looks a little on the uncomfortable side.
"We found him, in a rubbish skip on the hospital grounds, probably ready to go into the incinerator no doubt" Wyatt tells her.
"What are you talking about?" Mitchell demands and Wyatt looks at him and laughs out loud.
"I'm talking about the fact that he's dead with his head caved in!" he announces almost gleefully. George lifts his head and watches his friend join the dots. He can see him remembering that night in the isolation ward and Mitchell then looks at Elizabeth.
"You're making that up" he tells him and Wyatt slowly shakes his head.
"No. We found him and we got rid of him properly this time, no one will ever find him" Mitchell looks at Elizabeth. Her eyes are filling with tears.
"That was me" she whispers.
"Beg your pardon?" Wyatt enquires and she looks at him.
"I killed him" slowly she gets to her feet. George copies, grabbing her arm to pull her back down onto the sofa but she pulls her hand away.
"It was the night of a full moon and that coward had Mitchell in a straitjacket and he was going to tear him limb from limb" Mitchell takes a step towards her and puts his hand on her shoulder.
"Elizabeth, it's okay, you were acting in self-defence" She looks at him and her expression turns fierce.
"Whatever he was, he was essentially a human being. He was a bully, an arsehole but he was fundamentally human and I took his life" she reminds him.
"He would've killed you. He was going to kill me and he would've killed you too for sure" he tells her. She sighs raggedly.
"It doesn't change what I did Mitchell" she confesses and he looks at her, into her tragic blue eyes.
"I know but after a while you learn to live with it, you have to" Her neck is still bleeding sluggishly and his eyes track down to the flow of blood. He looks at George.
"She really needs to get to a hospital" he tells him. Wyatt frowns.
"I thought you were saving her for later?" Mitchell removes his hand from Elizabeth's shoulder.
"You'd like that wouldn't you but let me tell you something. Elizabeth has shown me nothing but kindness and compassion since we met. She looked after me in that hell hole, she saved my godforsaken life in that isolation ward when she really shouldn't have because in truth, Daniel would've done the world a huge favour tearing me apart" his expression turns fierce.
"Where are you planning on taking me? To South America probably where I'll spend my days being an attack animal for whoever wants me, to be at the beck and call of every vampire psychopath and murderer with an axe to grind. I made a terrible mistake back in Bristol, and every day that I'm here, I'll pay for it in some way. I won't ever forget and I fucking well won't celebrate it but I'll find a way to repent even if it takes the rest of whatever time I have left here but what I won't be… I won't be your puppet, yours or your boss's" he snarls at him and Wyatt's eyes widen in shock at the ferocity behind his words.
"You act like you have a choice in the matter Mitchell" he smiles coldly. Mitchell rolls his eyes.
"Ahh. Choice…such a grand word don't you think?. People makes choices every day, what to wear, what to eat, where to go on a day out and some even make the choice of who to kill and who to save. Back then I wondered whether I truly had a choice in what I became. In France I was already killing for King and Country and afterwards? It was because it was part of my nature, because I couldn't really help it and because I just loved it too much" Mitchell turns more fully to look at him and George notices that he makes a peculiar straightening motion with his right arm. His eyes widen marginally when he sees something drop into Mitchell's hand.
"Maybe when I made my choice back then, I thought I was doing it for the right reasons but I really wasn't. I should've died with my men back then, I realise that now but I was too swept up in the glamour of eternal life, the blood, the chase and all of that but what I wish I'd realised back then was that this life isn't all it's cracked up to be" he places an almost brotherly hand on Wyatt's shoulder. He sighs.
"I just want a quiet life away from all of this drama…all this…crap" He watches Wyatt's eyes widen as he rams the broken broom handle into his heart "but you people…you just won't leave me alone" Wyatt gasps as Mitchell gives it a single, vicious twist.
"Mitchell!" George exclaims in shock as Wyatt begins to crumble and fade. Mitchell takes a quick step back as he collapses into dust, his clothing dropping to the floor in an undignified heap. He then lifts his head and he glares at the other vampires present who are witnessing what just happened in stunned disbelief.
"I'll let you leave on the condition that you leave me and my friends alone" he tells them in a defiant voice. He watches how they look at the pile of clothing that was once Joseph Wyatt and weigh up their options. He knows that this will get back to those higher up the vampire food chain and if they were pissed off at him before, they're going to be volcanically furious now. He refuses to be scared. He wasn't lying when he said that he wants a quiet life, he does. He wants to be left in peace. He watches as they quietly, almost meekly leave, no doubt with a story to tell.
"Mitchell" George murmurs and takes the stake out of his hand. Mitchell has turned pale and he's beginning to shake.
"Oh God…Oh Christ…." he breathes.