Author's Note: I was literally half-way through writing this when I received my 200th review. You guys are seriously so amazing; I'm not sure if it's my writing, or the concept of Vampires, in general but I'm so glad that you guys are enjoying this, regardless; pretty much every chapter that I write still feels like one of the first few, so I hadn't even realized I was thirteen chapters in, but I love that you guys love it as much as I enjoy writing it. I was going to wait to post this until tomorrow, but... feed me in reviews, and I shall feed you in updates (with high word counts)! Let me know what you think! :D
Chloe thinks she's misjudged the severity of Emily's condition.
She understands that their newest Bella is sick, and she understands that Beca is wildly concerned for her – but it hadn't really sounded all that much different from an ordinary human hangover, to Chloe, when Beca had first explained it to her.
Now, Chloe is reconsidering.
As Aubrey had predicted, the Bellas had swiftly requested to be fed, too, once they'd spotted Chloe with her pancakes – and, for someone who doesn't actually even eat all that regularly, the group decides pretty quickly that Beca is supremely gifted in the kitchen. Still, once they've cleared their plates, the girls don't really have that much of a reason to stay, so they offer thanks to Beca and farewells to Chloe and Aubrey before departing.
(Normally, Aubrey demands that they help to clean up, but Chloe suspects that Beca already took care of that for them; the living room had definitely been a disaster, last night, and the kitchen had definitely been even worse, but now they're both nearly spotless, with the obvious exception of Beca's breakfast mess, and Chloe knows that the rest of the girls had been far too drunk to handle it, themselves.)
Still, after they leave, Chloe feels like it's probably only a matter of time until Beca takes off with Emily, too.
And Chloe sort of really hates that.
She's enjoying Beca's company, and she's enjoying that Aubrey is enjoying it, with her; she doesn't want Beca to leave so quickly – especially because Chloe only vaguely even recalls spending time with Beca the night before, in the first place.
Chloe mostly only remembers Beca 'vamping out' and carrying her into bed, to be truthful, and the redhead is more than a little furious with herself for failing to remember the rest.
Still, she knows that something significant must have happened, because Aubrey's been suspiciously… welcoming of Beca, this morning, and hasn't sought to escape the Vampire Queen's presence even once, so far. Chloe is impressed, and she has every intention to interrogate her girlfriend as soon as the house is clear – but, for now, Chloe doesn't actually want it to be clear.
Which is actually pretty fortunate, because they're drinking second cups of coffee at the kitchen table and chatting amiably with Beca when the Vampire Queen flinches abruptly and snarls violently beneath her breath, and Chloe can only blink and bemusedly place her coffee mug back on the table as she stares toward Beca's suddenly-empty chair. She swears Beca had been right across from her literally, like, a second ago, but now she's gone, and the chair is upturned on the ground, and Chloe's mind isn't so quick to process how or why.
"What the aca-hell was that?" Aubrey breathes in frustration, with a bemused shake of her head.
"Um…" Chloe tries, and swipes her tongue across her lips. "I think- maybe that's the crazy-speed thing?" She suggests tentatively.
"But why – "
A pained echo of a scream interrupts Aubrey's inquiry, and Chloe startles, but realizes swiftly that the noise is emerging from Aubrey's room.
"Emily," the blonde whispers anxiously, and rises just as quickly as Chloe does to go and investigate.
When they find Emily and Beca, though, Chloe's heart feels like it's breaking apart, and she grasps her right hand around Aubrey's wrist as a gasp scrapes through her lungs and throat.
Beca must have thrown blankets over the windows to block out the small traces of sunlight creeping through the blinds, because the whole room is dark but for the light flooding through from the hallway. Emily is twisted between the powder-blue sheets of the guest bed, and all Chloe can really see of her is that she's just- writhing.
Beca is straddling Emily's waist and holding the younger Vampire's arms above her head, with silver eyes that Chloe knows had not been present in the kitchen boring through her sired's lit-up bronze.
They're both vamped out, at the moment, but if Chloe has to guess, she doesn't really think that Emily has that much control over it, right now; Emily is growling and groaning with intense ferocity, and Chloe thinks she sounds a little bit like a wounded dog.
Still, as Beca locks her gaze onto Emily's, the girl calms almost instantly, despite that she still looks severely injured; Emily's limbs still, and her body follows shortly after as she pants quick, heavy breaths through her mouth that Chloe knows neither of them actually even needs.
"Calm down," Beca insists softly.
Her voice is the same, sensual purr that Chloe remembers from last night, only it isn't; there's something hypnotic laced in there that wasn't there, before, and, even though Beca isn't even looking at her, Chloe feels her own heart being soothed by it, too.
But Emily is still, now, so Beca carefully removes herself from the mattress, navigating with intent focus around Emily and moving toward a cooler placed at the foot of the bed that Chloe hadn't really noticed, until now.
"It's alright," Beca tells Emily, with that same, soothing tone. "You just need to eat, right?" She inquires knowingly, lilting her head slightly to the side as she keeps her eyes trained on Emily's – and if Chloe has ever seen Beca look the part of an animal, she thinks this must be it.
Chloe observes intently as Beca removes a bag of blood from the cooler – which she now thinks must have been how Luke transported the blood that Beca told them about earlier – and she watches as the Vampire Queen moves to offer it to Emily.
"Just eat, Em," Beca instructs, low and captivating, while patiently holding the bag to Emily's mouth. "Here," she tells the girl. "Eat," she whispers calmly, and Emily nods in instant compliance while leaning forward.
Part of Chloe wonders what Aubrey's thinking about watching Emily feed, but she can't really turn to check, and all she really feels is the aching desire just to hear Beca talk some more. It's crazy, and this is definitely unnatural, but Chloe listens eagerly for her, anyway, and she inhales in sharp unison with Aubrey when Beca doesn't speak, but, instead, leans forward to sink her teeth into Emily's neck with no warning or preparation – for them or for Emily – at all.
Emily grunts softly, but her extended fangs are buried in the bag of blood, greedily suckling against it, and Beca just hovers over her for what Chloe thinks must be at least around thirty seconds before detaching.
When Emily has drained every drop of the blood in the bag, Beca takes it from her and soothingly strokes the girl's hair until Emily falls back asleep, leaning her cheek into Beca's gentle hold.
It only takes a moment for Beca to gather herself, swinging her neck around in a slow, wide circle until her teeth have returned to something resembling human, and her eyes are that beautiful, steel blue that Chloe is so blindingly familiar with. Beca shifts to look at them with hesitance in her gaze and fear itching at the corners of her frown, but she gestures toward the door until Aubrey and Chloe both nod their understanding and shift to leave.
Beca follows closely behind, fingers buried in her hair when Chloe and Aubrey both turn to look at her, thousands of questions eager to trip off the edge of their lips.
Aubrey beats Chloe to the punch, though, and Chloe is almost relieved – only because she isn't quite sure which question might have escaped her first, and she's really just grateful that she has a moment to get her aca-shit together.
"Did you just hypnotize us?" Aubrey demands instantly, hands curling around her hips and eyes narrowed with the beginnings of fury.
"Woah," Beca frowns, and peaceably offers her hands in surrender. "Firstly, Posen, we don't call it that, and it's a little offensive, actually," Beca huffs in mild aggravation. "It's called compulsion, and, secondly, I only intended to use it on Emily," Beca sighs softly and lowers her head. "She just wouldn't- be still," Beca swallows roughly and cringes. "I just needed to feed her, okay? I'm- I'm pretty old, you know?" Beca hesitates briefly, and shrugs, meeting with first Aubrey's eyes, then Chloe's, with fond exasperation layering through that stunning blue. "A Vampire's powers grow stronger, as they age, which means that my compulsion is- extremely powerful," Beca explains slowly. "I try not to use it – particularly when I'm around humans – but sometimes it's just necessary. I'm sorry," she murmurs sincerely, eyeing Aubrey with regret and, Chloe thinks, just a little bit of shame. "I didn't mean to affect you, that way, and I apologize for it – but Emily needed it, Aubrey," Beca pleads softly, like she's begging a forgiveness from them that Chloe thinks she shouldn't truthfully even need to ask for.
Aubrey lowers her arms from her waist and frowns back at her.
Chloe knows this expression, on Aubrey; it means she's debating on whether or not Beca can be trusted, basically, and Chloe isn't sure how, but she knows that they can trust Beca; Chloe knows it with every fiber of her aca-loving being, and she won't let Aubrey convince herself otherwise just because of something that Beca can't even help.
"Emily looked– I mean, I know you said she was in bad shape, Beca, but that was…" Chloe trails off with a fearful, worried swallow. "You're sure she'll be alright?"
"She'll be fine," Beca nods and replies quietly. "She just needs a couple of days, to get everything in her system evened out, you know?"
"Why did you bite her?" Aubrey asks tentatively. "I get- I get why she needs food," Aubrey slowly nods her understanding, "and I get why you had to force her to eat. But why…?" She trails off expectantly, eyeing Beca more calmly, now, but with blatant confusion, too.
"I was giving her my venom," Beca explains carefully. "Hers is weak, right now, and it's eating blindly at anything it can find; it's eating through the blood she's ingested, because now it's tainted with the alcohol. I made Emily," she tells them deliberately. "Her venom is the same as mine, so I can give her more when hers is failing," Beca shrugs a little, but watches them with uneasy eyes, like she's just waiting for one of them to bolt.
Chloe won't – Chloe doesn't think she even could, to be honest – but she can't guarantee the same of Aubrey.
Still, Aubrey surprises her, and Chloe just thinks that she loves the blonde impossibly more for the clear effort she's investing in simply trying to understand.
"It sounds like AIDS," the blonde murmurs distractedly.
Beca snorts, then raises her brows in clear amusement, and Chloe could just cheer, she's so happy; it's only been for the duration of this morning, she knows, but Chloe hates this sad, fierce worry in Beca, and she's glad to see traces of the smirking brunette she's come to know – even if it is just a little.
"You're not entirely wrong," Beca shrugs and answers earnestly. "AIDS attacks the healthy cells in humans, too, in sort of the same way – only, our venom is also what keeps us alive, so it isn't exactly a disease; Emily's is just confused, if that makes sense. Mine isn't," Beca shakes her head. "Giving her my venom will help her heal more quickly," she explains softly.
"How long will it take?" Aubrey frowns.
"Ideally?" Beca inquires tiredly, and shuffles her fingers through her hair. "Two days, maybe three."
"Will she be in this much pain that whole time?" Chloe frowns and looks toward the now-closed door of Aubrey's bedroom with worry in her eyes.
"No," Beca shakes her head. "At least, she shouldn't. It'll be about a day like this, and then she'll sleep, mostly."
"Have you- Have ever been like that?" Aubrey ventures carefully.
Beca chuckles dryly and shakes her head. "More than I'd like to admit, Posen. You'd think once would be enough, but…" she shrugs, "it took a little longer, for me. I wish I'd known what I was doing to my sire, though, because I might not have even been capable of acting this way, if I knew."
Her voice is a little wistful, and very soft, and Chloe wonders so many things about Beca's life right now that she doesn't even know where to start, with her questions.
"Emily told us that you and Luke were sired by the same woman," Chloe tells Beca with a concentrated furrow of her brows. "Does that mean that you and Luke share the same venom, too?"
"No," Beca scowls, and shakes her head. "We were- sort of sired by the same woman," she amends gently. "But Emily– She doesn't know as much as she thinks she does, and I'd like to keep it that way," she murmurs quietly.
"What do you mean?" Aubrey frowns, but gestures them down the hallway and toward the living room, where they each lower themselves into the same couch.
Chloe tries not to feel hopeful about it, much, but it can't really be an accident that Aubrey chooses to sit on Beca's opposite side, instead of next to Chloe, can it?
Beca sighs and leans forward, elbows balancing her weight across her knees.
"I mean," the brunette offers slowly, "that if you'd like to be technical, Posen, I was sired by two people. Luke's sire– Her name was Alessandra," Beca swallows and whispers painfully, "and she was mated to a man who was fundamentally- opposite in his beliefs," she runs her fingers through her hair again, before resuming her position. "Lessa's mate tried to kill me," Beca shrugs sloppily, even though the thought of anyone trying to kill Beca makes Chloe's heart rage against her chest in some massively foreign kind of fury. "He believed that it's a Vampire's right to take human life, when Lessa always believed that it was unnecessary and cruel. So," Beca determines with a blasé tone that doesn't quite stretch through the scrunched, contemplative features of Beca's expression, "when he tried to kill me, she turned me, instead; because I already had his venom in my bloodstream, it technically meant that I was sired to them both. Luke- doesn't have his blood," Beca tells them cautiously. "So, if Emily or I ever need to share venom, we can only do it between ourselves."
"How does that work, though?" Aubrey frowns curiously. "I mean, realistically?" She presses softly. "You and Emily are- extremely close," she rationalizes softly. "How does it work, when you're sired to two people?"
"Most of us shy away from doing it. It's- confusing," Beca struggles. "For pretty much everyone involved," she rolls her eyes tiredly. "Lessa could feel my emotions, and Vasidius could feel them, too; I needed to be around both of them, equally as much," Beca bites her lip and shrugs. "That's how it works, you know?" She pitches self-consciously, and flicks her gaze between Chloe and Aubrey's before lowering them to the floor. "You need to be in physical contact with your sire, and you're emotionally drawn to them, too. So, they split my time between them."
"Are they– I mean, you talk about them like they're… gone," Chloe tries softly, reaching her hand out to hold desperately against Beca's thigh.
She can tell that this is hard for Beca, and Chloe is so, so devastated by that, but she also thinks that this might be the only time Beca is open enough – or vulnerable enough – to share it with them, and she isn't sure she's willing to sacrifice the opportunity.
Chloe wants to know more.
Chloe wants to know everything.
"They are," Beca shrugs, carefully careless, which Chloe thinks just defeats the purpose, to begin with – but she doesn't say so. "Vasidius challenged Lessa, and he- he won," Beca swallows again.
"Challenged?" Aubrey inquires with a frown.
Beca nods, sighs, then patiently explains, "Lessa was Queen before I was. Traditionally, anyone who opposes the present reign can challenge the King or Queen to a duel – and whoever wins gets to take the position."
"How do you win?" Aubrey asks curiously.
Chloe knows it's Aubrey's desperate need to understand everything – particularly everything that is in any way related to Beca – that's fueling her, right now, but Chloe isn't exactly sure that that's the best question for her to ask.
Beca turns to look at the blonde with a blank, heavy stare, before replying softly, "It's a duel to the death. You can only win once the opponent has been killed."
"He killed her?" Chloe gasps instantly, and disbelievingly.
She knows it probably sounds a little dramatic, to Beca, but Chloe isn't used to Vampire traditions; the notion of killing someone to achieve rulership is something that only exists, for Chloe, in history textbooks and dialed-down fairytales.
Beca shrugs and taps her fingers against her jawline. "Yeah," she rasps quietly. "Vasidius killed her."
"Wouldn't that mean he became the King, though?" Aubrey asks, a frown settling deeply in the lines between her eyes.
"Yeah," Beca nods agreeably and abruptly rises. "Vasidius was our King. Until I killed him."
Chloe just knew this line of conversation was a dangerous one to tread upon; she can't even blame Aubrey – even though a tiny part of her wants to – because Chloe had been as eager to learn more of Beca's story as her girlfriend had been, too.
Still, Chloe thinks they've made a mistake, here.