I'm think I'm drowning
Asphyxiated
I wanna break the spell
That you've created
…
You will be the death of me.
-Muse
-Our Time is Running Out-
"There's a way to cure her."
"Speak."
"You won't like it."
Konan closed her eyes.
Time was running out. She could hear the girl's heart growing weaker and weaker with each passing day. She couldn't even bring herself to visit anymore—the thought of losing Ino made her sick to the stomach.
"I cannot Turn her, Anko. She has not voiced the desire to be like us."
"I know that. There's another way."
"What is it?"
"You won't like it," she repeated.
"It does not matter," the bluette said seriously. So long as Ino was okay…
"You'll have to stay away from her. Possibly forever."
"…" Now that she didn't think she could abide by. "If there is no other way..." Even as she said it, she knew there weren't many options left. It was do or die. Literally.
The last time she had seen the girl…
/ Dr. Noubu tutted and peered nearsightedly over his glasses at Ino's chart. The hospital was still cold, still way too sterile, but it reminded Ino of her humanity.
And after her run-in with the supernatural, humanity was a comforting thing.
Her stomach roiled at the memory of drinking blood even as her salivary glands kicked into overdrive at the thought of drinking some more.
The older man cleared his throat, made even more timid than usual by the presence of the striking blue-haired woman leaning cross-armed against the closed patient room door. Somehow, she was even more intimidating than the usual sandy-blonde hooligan that accompanied her, despite not having said a word the entire check-up. "Miss Yamanaka, it appears your heart has been getting a bit worse. Have you been suffering from an increase in stress recently? Any change in level of activity or diet?"
A "yes" to all those things, now that she thought about it.
"How bad is it?"
His eyes flicked nervously to Konan before he responded, "We can't really tell right now. After your blood test, we'll have a better idea, but we'll need to send a sample to the lab for a more extensive look."
Blood tests—somehow, she didn't mind them as much as she had before.
As the nurses came in and tied a tourniquet around her upper arm, she felt Konan tense and sent her a reassuring smile. When the needle pricked her skin the vampire straightened, expression murderous.
"I-is there something wrong?" one of the nurses asked.
'Mine.' Konan forced herself to relax. Just barely. "It's nothing." /
"You have my attention."
"This is the last blood Exchange. You have to give her your blood, but you can't drink from her afterwards. The blood will extend her life expectancy by shit tons without Turning her."
Simple, right? The only problem was… she had no self-control when it came to Ino. Her fangs ached at the thought of drinking from the blonde again.
Anko smiled sadly. "It's up to you, Boss. You're the only one who can feed her without her getting sick again."
She knew what she had to do.
"Sasori."
"My Lady?"
It almost literally pained her to say, "Contact the Council and tell Lord Itachi that I accept Councilman Hidan's offer."
He didn't comment but she could feel the red-head's shock through their connection. Like a proper subordinate, he merely projected, "Yes, My Lady." And that was the end of it.
For that, she was eternally grateful.
Ino started awake—someone was standing at the foot of her bed.
After her eyes had adjusted, she saw that it was—
"Konan…" The vampire nodded slowly, the golden flecks in her iris glowing in the darkness. "I haven't seen you in a long time…" She shifted, drawing back the covers and patting the spot beside her. "Join me?" The genuine excitement in the blonde's face weakened the immortal's resolve. She moved to join the girl and was instantly latched onto. "I missed you…"
The bluette flinched. Ino was making this incredibly difficult for her. Still, she couldn't help but wrap her arms around the girl, taking in her scent. "I… Missed you as well."
"Where did you go?"
Hiding with her tail between her legs… How pathetic. The immortal made an irritated sound and steeled herself. She couldn't get caught up in Ino again. She had to put distance between the two of them—both physically and emotionally. "I cannot come to see you any longer."
"… Why is that?"
"I am to be Mated."
Ino's expression went from excited to devastated in three seconds flat and she released her grip on the vampire. Hearing that… Hurt. A lot. Her heart felt as though a giant hand had reached into her chest and squeezed it, claws sinking into tender muscle and rending it like a hot knife through butter. She had thought—most likely foolishly—that the female had felt the way she had.
All the time they had spent together. All the moments she had felt connected to the immortal. All those times they had—
"Why…"
"'Why'?"
"I thought you hated Hidan."
"The Councilman is of pure blood. He is a more than adequate match," Konan said flatly.
"But do you love him?"
'Love…' She scoffed. "I love no one."
Ouch. Again. The sting faded to a dull throb and the blonde rested a hand above her breast, her heart threatening to fall out of her chest cavity. God damn it hurt.
How was it possible for anything to hurt this much?
Konan's mask was firmly in place, an unreadable façade of icy blankness. She could practically feel the hurt rolling off of the slumped girl in waves but she couldn't comfort her.
This was for the best—for both of them. And for her Coven.
Their worlds were too different to mesh.
"You used me…" Ino mumbled, barely audible despite the vampire's superior hearing.
"I… Did what was necessary." 'To make you happy,' she finished silently. They had both been happy together and that was wrong.
"You bitch!"
Konan allowed the girl to strike her across the face. It was the least that she could do. The weak blows about her torso from balled up fists were allowed as well. It was only when she felt wetness dot her skin and smelled the salt of tears that she raised a hand to stop the blonde. Ino was trembling, her bangs shielding her down-cast eyes from view.
The girl didn't resist when a long finger hooked under her chin and tilted her face upwards.
"Do not cry." That voice… So gentle. So concerned. It belied her complete lack of expression. "You are too beautiful to cry."
Her face was close—too close. The familiarity of the situation brought lust; all of that hurt and anger surged to meet it and she pulled the vampire in, kissing her with bruising force.
This was different than any of the kisses they had shared before: any gentleness and affection was gone. All that remained was carnal desire and the anguish of a broken heart.
And Konan responded in kind, their teeth actually clicking together as she ravished the girl's willing oral cavern. Ino whined as her hair was yanked and her head pulled back to reveal the pale column of her neck. The vampire's hot breath fanned out over her skin and she shuddered eagerly, expecting the sweet pain of fangs breaking her flesh.
But the immortal didn't bite.
Instead Konan pinned the blonde on her back, claws marking the girl's abdomen with long red welts as she shoved her shirt upwards so that she could have access to her bare body. Rosy nipples were nipped almost hard enough to break the skin, those claws dragging downwards and drawing blood. The sting was soothed by the pass of a warm, wet tongue.
The bluette went still, her original intent surfacing through the haze of lust that had descended over her mind. She wet her lips and swallowed hard, partially to regain control of herself and partially to wash the taste of Ino's blood from her mouth. The intoxicating smell of the blonde's sex hit her with the force of a truck and her fangs ached, but she forced herself to pull back.
As she pushed her sleeve back to reveal her wrist, clear blue eyes latched on to the newly uncovered flesh and the immortal swore she heard the human approximation of a hiss.
Well… That was interesting.
Konan bit down, filling her mouth with blood. The moment she disengaged, Ino smashed into her again, sealing her lips over the vampire's and eagerly gulping down the sweet nectar. When the last drop was gone, the blonde's tongue flicked over sharp canines.
She wanted Konan to bite her; she pulled away, baring her throat submissively and panting, "Konan… Please…" Was that her voice? She couldn't control her body. She knew what that last bite would mean, but it didn't matter at that very moment. The mere thought of fangs in her neck made her body become slick and wet with excitement.
The immortal frowned, thoughts warring with desires. What Ino thought she wanted now, she might hate Konan later for giving to her.
"My Lady… Use me as you will."
Konan sucked in a breath, completely floored for the first time in centuries. The request…
Something dark and primal twisted in her stomach and she snarled, closing her fingers around Ino's throat a little too tightly and lifting her from the bed to slam her into the wall.
"What's going on?" Anko questioned, sensing the flare of untamed energy. "Konan?"
Fuck the Council. Fuck the humanity in the blonde. Fuck pleasing others—the bluette was going to act on what was best for her and her alone for the first time since becoming the head of her Coven.
The human in question didn't even seem afraid despite the iron grip that cut off her air supply or the blood-red glare of the immortal looming over her. Her expression was curious—challenging even. As though she were egging Konan on.
It made the beast within roar.
Konan's fangs dropped and she sank them into Ino's throat as she released her grip, keeping the blonde pinned against the wall with the press of her body alone. While the girl moaned and writhed, sweet pleasure mixing with delicious agony, the vampire nudged her thighs apart and buried her fingers in wet warmth, thrusting hard and fast. Her claws tore at the girl's insides, but the wounds healed almost immediately as the immortal's final Exchange began to rearrange the very fabric of the Ino's genetic makeup.
If the blonde was to hate her, so be it.
She could hear the human male in the room down the hall shift and awaken, but that didn't matter—his memory would be erased anyway. All that mattered was the prey she had pinned down and completely vulnerable to her every whim.
The blonde did not belong in this world—any female who could keep up with each thrust of the immortal's fingers and still spread herself wider, silently begging for more, was too good for the likes of a human. She cried out in ecstasy as she was brought to the edge of release, eyes rolling back…
Ino was hers. The sentiment made her primal side thrum with pleasure.
With a final flick of her tongue to seal the wounds, Konan curled her fingers all the way inside of Ino, wringing out every last drop of pleasure along with a shrill scream as the young woman came, hard.
"Konan, what have you done?" Anko demanded. "Answer me!"
The bluette ignored her second in command, scooping up the body of the prostrate Fledgling and letting herself out into the night.
"Sasori."
"… My Lady. Anko is in a frenzy. What has happened?"
"Pay her no heed. Contact the Council again. Tell Lord Itachi that I have found my Mate."
Again, she could feel his shock and, again, he made no comment. "As you wish."
Later, she would be back to erase all indication that Ino Yamanaka had ever existed.
And the girl would be hers and hers alone.
-End Chapter-