if you want to get out alive
hold on for your life
Elliot couldn't have even hedged a guess at the time passing; her rage at Hugo for spilling their purpose in being there had diminished to a vague irritation at him once it became clear that Newlin and his gorilla buddy weren't coming back – apparently they were more interested in Jason than the three of them right now.
For a while she and Sookie had traded ideas as to how in hell Newlin could know the other Stackhouse but both had come up blank; Jason was sweet-natured, his biggest crime not calling girls back after one-night-stands, and what connection he could possibly have had with the Reverend was beyond anything either of them could come up with. Elliot's thoughts weren't exactly clear at any rate; she was drifting in and out of sleep as her body protested its exhaustion coupled with the lack of food for what felt like almost an entire day and her train of thought got lost far too easily.
She didn't sleep exactly but every now and then she'd jerk back into real consciousness after realising she'd been close to giving in to it. The want to lie down on the hard floor, curl up and just let go was almost overwhelming but, tired as she was, Elliot was far too proud to let any of them witness her nightmares so she remained bolt upright, fists clenched and eyes too wide in an attempt to keep herself alert.
Hugo was getting more and more wound up with every minute that passed, going from sitting in the corner with his head in his hands to pacing to kicking boxes to shaking at the mesh. He was beginning to really grind against Elliot's nerves because if he would just sit the fuck down they could all be a little more rational about this but apparently rational was not a word he understood.
"HEY!" he bellowed, yanking on the mesh and peering through to the empty room beyond. "Hey I need to use the bathroom! HEY! Come on LET ME OUT OF HERE!" He shook again the mesh again, his words tinged with a raw desperation but Elliot only scowled at him.
"They're not coming, save your breath," she snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose and setting her elbows on her knees. Sookie, who had the patience of a saint, stood up and held out the now empty water bottle.
"Here," she said, ignoring Elliot's expression as her head snapped up because seriously, that was gross. "We'll turn away," the waitress promised calmly. Elliot was halfway to doing so when Hugo lashed out, sending the bottle to smack against the opposite wall. She flinched so hard the box she'd been sitting on skidded a few inches and Elliot was on her feet, sucking in a deep breath and calming herself because Hugo was just angry, it had just been for a second and he wasn't going to do it again.
Sookie berated him and Elliot quickly grabbed the bottle, stuffing it inside one of the boxes on the shelf because if it was thrown again she might lose it herself. "Just...sit down," Sookie appealed to him and Elliot turned towards them with a frown.
"Seriously – getting pissed off isn't helping anything; I doubt they can even hear us fr-" She cut herself off as Sookie grabbed Hugo's arm and stiffened, her eyes going wide as her jaw slackened. For a long moment she seemed unaware of anything else in the room and Hugo watched her with undisguised alarm before she wrenched away, horror and fury warring across her features.
Hugo pulled away from her himself, looking stricken, but Elliot's attention was on Sookie.
"You." The telepath looked more disgusted than anything else by this point and Elliot took a step closer, suddenly nervous. "You're the traitor."
"What?"
Hugo was staring at the blonde and she at him while Elliot gaped open-mouthed between the two. He didn't deny it.
"I don't-" Elliot was shaking her head, not angry so much as numb right now because Hugo? She couldn't comprehend that it could possibly have been him – he was so...so unremarkable. He was quiet, pleasant, polite – she'd had all her targets pinned on Stan, the one with the motivation, the anger, the streak of viciousness. Never – never – had she thought that it might be Hugo.
"It was him all along," Sookie was telling her quietly, shaking her head. "He told them we were coming, that's how they almost got us at the airport – he was listening when we decided to come here."
"But..." Elliot shook her head again, turning a startled gaze onto Hugo, who was watching her warily. "Why? I thought you loved Isabel, I thought – I thought you were on our side."
Hugo was silent for a moment in the wake of the revelation and the question, shaking his own head, defeat personified with his gaze on the floor. He paced for a few seconds in silence before folding to sit himself on a box in the corner, running a hand through his hair and letting out a shaky breath. When he finally looked up his gaze landed on Sookie. "I used to be just like you," he told her flatly. "I thought I was a real emancipated thinker, especially when Isabel took me to bed."
His mouth twisted almost ruefully and he drew his knees up, hunching his shoulders slightly. Elliot began to pace up and down, sensing that this was a conversation more directed at Sookie because she would be the one more likely to understand – or so he seemed to think. "And the sex was...amazing. The best I ever- well. You know. It's addictive, isn't it? To be desired by something that powerful." Here his eyes flickered from Sookie to Elliot, who flushed.
"I haven't had sex with Eric," she said quickly, shaking her head at once as Sookie frowned.
"I'm no addict." And the blonde clearly resented the suggestion, which Elliot could understand. She and Bill seemed very much in that faze of sweet-eyed, honey-coated love that Elliot had had a few years back, before everything went to shit. The kind of love that almost hurt it filled you so much, the sort that sat in the bones almost as a deep ache of need for one another, just because being with him, or her, was the only thing in the world that seemed worth it any more. Sookie and Bill were in love, they were not addicted, and Elliot was certainly not either of the two.
In fact she didn't even know what Eric was to her and she didn't like to dwell on it too much because it made her feel flustered at the fact that she didn't know because she should.
"No," Hugo allowed, jerking his head dismissively. "I guess you wouldn't know how your life changes to suit them. You start missing work, can't get up in the morning, can't stand to leave them after dark." Elliot had gone still and could sense Sookie's growing disquiet though the waitress remained silent. Elliot was struck, however, because Hugo had something of a point. She had missed work for Eric, and she had stayed up too late because of him, slept longer in the morning because of the late night. She'd never slept much anyway but he'd disrupted her sleeping habits yet more and what was worse was that now it wasn't even that Eric's threat was keeping her in place because they had, somehow and somewhen, moved beyond that. She helped him because she wanted to, because she liked being near him and Hugo's words were suddenly making her feel quite sick.
"Before you know it you're somebody you don't even recognise."
Elliot turned slowly to look at the man as he spoke, her skin pale beneath the bruise colouring her jaw. She had changed, hadn't she? But...for the better. Elliot knew that. She'd changed for the better because she wasn't so flighty anymore, she wasn't so scared. She'd found a small semblance of a life, drawing it around her like some kind of armour. Hell, she'd even laughed. And while it couldn't be attributed to Eric, precisely, he did make her feel happier and it wasn't something she'd been for a long time. Even so, Hugo's words sat uneasily with Elliot and she focused a sharp gaze on him as she pushed the thoughts away.
"So you went to the Fellowship because you can't control yourself?" Sookie surmised, her voice laced with disgust. Her expression matched the tone, her eyes unsympathetic on the man before her.
"I begged her to turn me," Hugo confessed bitterly. "It was the only way we could be together as equals but see, they don't want us to be equals. No. She's just been using me." He paused, nodding imploringly. "Same way that Bill's been using you and Eric's using you." His gaze swung, again, between the two and Elliot's fists clenched. She wished she hadn't heard a word he had to say; there was no denying that there was, somehow, a faint line of truth in what he said and she hated it because there was no denying that Eric had only shown any interest in her because he'd wanted to use her ability. When it came down to it, she wasn't even sure that that wasn't all he cared about.
Sookie's jaw clenched. "You don't know Bill," she said firmly. "Or Eric," she amended after a very brief glance at Elliot, but from her tone it was clear that the blonde was not the Viking vampire's biggest fan.
"I know he and his friends are having you do their dirty work," Hugo burst out, flinging out a hand that made Elliot flinch ever so slightly, despite the fact that he wasn't even close to within hitting distance. Pull yourself together. "I mean, a telepath's gotta be a real trophy for a vampire, and I saw what you can do – you threw Gabe clear across the room and he's at least twice your weight so don't-"
"Shut up," Sookie and Elliot both snapped at once, the former angry, the latter not wanting to hear it.
"All they care about is their own kind, okay?" Hugo ploughed on, gesturing somewhere beyond their makeshift holding cell. "That's why I joined the Fellowship."
Elliot found herself taking a step towards him, spreading her own hands to indicate all around them. "If the Newlins care so much about you then why the fuck are you still down here, huh?" she demanded of him. "I don't see them running to help you out and they won't."
"Face it, Hugo," Sookie added, her voice high. "You're nothing but a fangbanging traitor to them."
Hugo drew in a breath of anger and rose fluidly to his feet. "Gabe? Gabe they know everything," he called out, making his way over to the door and wrapping his fingers into the mesh once again. "You can let me out now." For a few long seconds they all waited tensely but nobody came. "Hey? Anybody! Come on let me out!" Hugo wrenched fruitlessly against the mesh before leaning his forehead against it once he realised that nobody was listening to him, slumping with defeat.
"Oh yeah, Newlin's right-hand man," Elliot snarled, shaking her head. Hugo glanced to his side long enough to spare her a glare before his head rested against the mesh again. He had, it seemed, finally accepted what Elliot had that morning; nobody was coming for them.
Sookie sighed and her head and shoulders dropped, her gaze on the floor. Eventually Hugo retreated back to the box he'd been sitting on and Elliot sat on the floor, her back braced against the wall. None of them said anything; it had all been said.
Elliot tried in vain to keep her thoughts from dwelling on Hugo's words, her head rolling back against the stone bricks as she dozed lightly, coming to every few minutes as she tried to keep herself away from any deep sleep that might have made her dream. Somehow, the constant drifting and waking only made her more tired than before and she jerked suddenly when the door opened, staggering blearily to her feet, disorientated and by now slightly shaky from the lack of food , water or real rest.
Gabe shouldered his way into the room and Hugo nearly sagged with relief. "Gabe," he said at once, on his feet and moving slightly closer to the mesh before he paused as the other man stepped under the light. "What happened to your face?"
His lip was bleeding, his jaw sporting similar bruising to Elliot's own and she felt a savage twist of pleasure as her eyes flickered over it.
"Listen – they know everything, which never would have happened if you hadn't kept me down here with a goddamn mind reader," Hugo said quickly, his every word a protest as Gabe unlocked the door. Elliot's heart began to hammer; she didn't want to be anywhere near Gabe – he scared her witless and she'd been in his presence a grand total of once but he stepped inside and she was frozen with her back against the wall, her heart beating a tattoo against her ribs. "I hope the Reverend knows that I'm gonna need protection now."
Sookie had also backed up as Gabe entered, her arms crossed protectively in front of her. Gabe didn't say a word; he simply pulled back an arm and let his fist fly against Hugo's face. The man dropped to the sound of Sookie and Elliot's twin gasps as Gabe leant over him. "You want protection you fangbanging sack of shit?" he snarled, landing another blow. "How's that for protection, huh? Here's a little more protection for you." He moved to strike again but Elliot had jerked out of the terrified stupor his presence had landed her in and she threw herself forwards with a wordless yell.
"STOP IT!" Sookie shrieked as Elliot landed on Gabe's back, wrapping her arms around his thick neck as tightly as they could go, which wasn't very tight in her current sorry state. Sookie darted forwards just as Gabe turned and rammed himself into a wall, slamming Elliot against the shelves and staggering so that all three of them collapsed on the floor in a tangle of limbs and boxes.
"You think you can make an asshole out of me?" Gabe demanded, grabbing for whoever he could reach. Sookie screamed as he latched onto her and Elliot swung at his head with her fist. Gabe grunted and lashed out, catching Elliot on the side of her head and sending her sprawling into the floor with her ears ringing and her hand feeling like seven hells. For a second she lay there, the lights swimming hazily above her, head throbbing and every bone she possessed aching with power that should have been there to help her but wasn't because she was too damn tired and burned out to do anything damn well useful. Sookie's screams dragged her back into reality and with a groan Elliot gained her knees, blinking blearily.
"Yeah show me how you scream," Gabe was snarling, Sookie's dress a whirl of colour as he pinned her down. It took Elliot another moment before his intentions became quite, quite clear through her hazed thoughts and her rage burned red hot. He let out a scream of genuine pain as he was yanked backwards by nothing, banging against a wall and flinching as marker pens, lamps and boxes flew at him a second before Elliot did, drawn by power which had never made her feel so alive as it did right now, despite the bone-deep exhaustion that had set in hours ago.
"I will fucking kill you!" she screamed at him, landing on his chest and swinging her fists and legs and battering what of him she could reach before he'd overpowered her, his knee catching her ribs as he flipped her over and slammed her shoulders into the ground.
"What the fuck are you, you fangbanging little freak?"
Sookie was yelling from somewhere in the room but Elliot couldn't focus on anything but her hatred, burning through her very blood, for this man. Every blow she landed made him wince more than it should have, her curse lending her whatever it could before she passed out, as she would eventually – she always did. All Elliot knew was that if she was going to die today she was damn well going to die after beating as much shit out of this bastard as she could.
His fists were bigger than hers and he hit a lot harder but anger softened the blows, the bruises merely adding fuel to the fire that was all she could feel as she hammered against him. Life had become nothing outside of the screaming mess of whirling limbs and blows that either landed or went astray, the words spewing forth from Gabe's mouth and the need to hurt this man like she'd never hurt anyone before.
He managed to swing a right hook that snapped her head to the side and Elliot could see nothing for what felt like a long time, whiteness surrounding her in a nothingness of sweet, blessed silence – even Sookie's screams had stopped and then everything came back; cold air against abused skin, cuts and bruises, aches deep inside her bones and a killer headache that made her want to cry out.
Elliot opened her eyes, surprised to find that they were closed in the first place, and pulled herself upwards. The motion made her want to heave and everything lurched for a moment before the sounds returned and life was in full technicolour all over again.
Sookie was gasping on desperate, sobbing breaths and threw herself towards Elliot, who flinched away and rolled to catch sight of Gabe – and...
"Godric?" she questioned dumbly through a mouth that did not want to move. She could taste the copper of blood over her tongue, the alien feeling of a swollen lip against her teeth. There was not a single part of her body that didn't hurt but none of it mattered because they'd found him; he was here and he was staring at her. His face was pale under the lights and his expression was unreadable but as she spoke his name his fangs gleamed in the ghost of a smile.
AN: TA DA! HE'S HERE GODRIC IS HERE! I am way too excited about this fact but oh my gosh I really do have a lot a lot of love for that dude. I stayed up stupidly late to write this (and almost regretted it when I had to get up for work...almost) so please go easy if it's a bit crappy...hopefully the fast update makes up for it. If not...I'm sorry and if I could give you chocolate I would. (I'm keeping Godric for myself though, notevensorry)
Elliot is...not doing so well. Things do tend to get worse before they get better, though so...*rubs hands evilly*
The title is the same as a song by Three Days Grace. The next update will probably be up this weekend because I'm not doing anything so I'll have tonnes of time to write. Please shoot me a review to let me know what you think and thank you times a million, as always, for reading and coming this far with me. :)
