Sorry about the long wait! I had a bit of a writer's block, but I'll try to update this more often. This chapter ended up being a little longer than I had hoped, but anyways...enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Originals, The Walking Dead or their characters.
Chapter 2
Daryl scowled angrily at the vampire-werewolf that had followed him back to camp. While the man had been sucking his blood, a Walker had gotten to the hunter's deer and rendered the animal inedible. His mood was soured further by Shane who informed him that his brother, Merle, had been left handcuffed to a rooftop in the middle of Atlanta.
After Shane had informed Daryl of what had happened to Merle, the former police officer turned his attention to the smiling blond stranger beside their hunter. Shane eyed the man suspiciously. He knew that, even though the man was a hothead, the hunter could be trusted. If Daryl trusted this man enough to bring him into their camp, Shane was willing to give the man a chance.
"Who are you?" Shane asked and was surprised when the man replied in what could only be a British accent.
"Niklaus Mikaelson. Friends call me Klaus." Any further introduction was interrupted by Daryl.
"No one gives a shit about this sucker right now. What are we gon' do about Merle?"
"I'm the one who handcuffed him. I'll go back if I could get some help," a newcomer spoke and Daryl immediately turned his rage on the stranger.
"The fuck you cuff him for anyway? Damn right you're going back with me," he spat as he turned to gather some supplies from his tent.
"Rick..." Shane spoke as he turned to tall brown-haired man, "you don't even know if he's still alive. What about your family, man?"
"I know, I know. But I'm responsible for what happened to that man's family. I can't just sit here," the man responded.
Nik ignored the rest of their conversation in favor of observing his new surroundings. He observed at least 30 people. He never fed off of children, but that still left a considerable number of adults who could become donors. Though he rather hoped he would be able to convince Daryl to be his primary donor. The man's blood had been delicious and his reaction even more so. Nik very much wanted to explore the possibilities that pleasured groan had brought to mind.
"'M ready. Let's go," the hunter broke Nik's thoughts.
"You can't go, just the two of you," Shane sighed, clearly frustrated.
Nik observed as a man of Asian decent, Glenn, and an African American called T-Dog quickly volunteer to join Rick and Daryl. Shane throws up his hands and shakes his head exasperatedly before agreeing to keep an eye on Rick's family.
"Take the new guy with you," is Shane's final comment as he walks away. Nik quickly realizes that he is the one being referred to and sighs.
"Very well. Let us face the dead together then," he says as he offers a polite smile to the group. Daryl narrows his eyes and glares for a moment before turning to storm off in the direction of the vehicles.
"Daylight's burnin'," he declares. "Let's go!"
****Time Skip****
The mission to retrieve Merle Dixon was a failure. Daryl had been pissed off since, but the man seemed to be temporarily content with the knowledge that his brother was still alive, even if he was short one hand. Since they had arrived back at camp, Nik had been contemplating ways of making his situation known to the group. He was currently a short ways away from camp, sitting on a tree branch about 20 feet off the ground.
"Well, hello Daryl Dixon," he greeted as the hunter came into view. Daryl's crossbow was suddenly pointed right at him and he chuckled lightly.
"The hell you doin' up there?" Daryl responded as he slowly lowered his weapon.
"Listening. Thinking. I was actually hoping to speak with you," Nik stated as he jumped off the branch, landing lightly just a couple feet in front of the hunter. Daryl's eyes widened in surprise momentarily before shifting to a guarded caution, but he said nothing.
"Very well, I'll get right to the point. I was contemplating speaking with the rest of your group about my dining arrangements. They know you better, perhaps the news would be best coming from you...or the two of us together I should say," Nik smiled.
"No." The response was immediate and firm.
"No?" Nik raised a brow, but did not prod further. He wanted the hunter to offer his reasoning behind the negative response. Daryl's jaw clenched and he expelled a deep sigh through his nose before meeting the hybrid's eyes.
"No. The entire group doesn't need to know. And I won't ask anybody else to be bitten. People are scared enough o' that as it is. I choose the people to tell, but they choose if they wanna...donate...or whatever. No one else gets bit though." It seemed to Nik as though there was something more to that last statement that the hunter was holding back and he suddenly found himself extremely curious. Deciding to push the man just a bit he prodded further.
"No one else?" he asked as he took a cautious step closer to the hunter. He repressed a smirk when the man dropped his gaze in favor of the ground before responding.
"No one...other than me," Daryl swallowed before meeting Klaus' gaze once more. The man's eyes flashed once again but not with the gold Daryl had seen before. This time the hunger was entirely different and the hunter couldn't help the shiver that passed down his spine at the sight.
Briefly Daryl thought that perhaps it was a good thing Merle was not here at the moment. The older Dixon wouldn't take the news of his baby brother being gay very well. The hunter had never told anyone for that matter. The crowd that he and Merle had been a part of would not have taken kindly to that information and he preferred to stay alive and out of the spotlight. Now though? He supposed it really didn't matter if other people knew.
Realizing the current train of his thoughts had started with thoughts of the blood-sucking vampire before him made Daryl nearly want to punch himself. No matter how handsome the man was or how...intense seemed to be the best word to describe it...the actual act of the blood sucking had been, Daryl had no reason to trust this man just yet. He would have to ignore any thoughts of potentially fucking this man into the ground or being fucked until a later date.
"I'll go round up a few people," the hunter said before turning around and heading back towards camp.
"I'll be here," came the soft reply.
- Page Break -
"Why exactly do we need to meet the new guy in the middle of the woods and so far away from camp?" Shane asked again, sounding exasperated.
"Let's just hear what he has to say, Shane," Rick responded as the small group of people followed Daryl through the brush.
"I'll listen. I'm just sayin' man. We don't know this guy and he wants to get us out here, separated. It just don't sit right with me," Shane argued.
"It ain't like he pulled you out here alone, Shane. Quit yer whining," Daryl glared at Shane before walking into the small clearing beneath the tree he'd found Klaus in before. When he didn't immediately spot the vampire he glanced up to see the man on the same tree branch as before.
"Hello Daryl," Nik addressed the hunter, but none of the others. "Are these the fine folks you've chosen?"
"Yeah," came the short response. Daryl then moved to sit on a nearby rock.
"I take it you're leaving the explaining to me then. Very well," Nik stated before turning his attention to the other people below him. Five people stared back at him, watching him cautiously. Nik noted that they were all men, most were around Daryl's age, but there was one who was older. The vampire had noticed the older man working on the RV or sitting watch atop it quite often. They should do nicely and if they couldn't be convinced he could always compel them to forget everything he was about to say.
"I suppose I should start by properly introducing myself," Nik stated and, before Shane could interrupt like Nik could tell he wanted to, the vampire jumped off of his tree branch to land lightly in front of the group, just like he had done to Daryl earlier.
"What the hell," Shane took a step back, his hand reaching for the gun on his hip.
"I've told you my name, Niklaus Mikaelson. I'm a vampire-werewolf hybrid. I'm one of the very first vampires to have been created and I am the first hybrid to be born as well. To other vampires I'm known as an 'original' and I also cannot be killed," Nik paused to look pointedly at Shane who had now drawn his gun and was taking aim.
"That so?" Shane asked, but judging by his tone it was rhetorical. Suddenly a shot rang out and Rick quickly took the gun from Shane.
"What the hell man?!" T-Dog shouted.
"Even if he was delusional we could have finished hearing him out," Dale stated.
"Guys!" Glenn drew everyone's attention back to Klaus and their eyes widened upon seeing the man still standing before them.
"I cannot die, but that still hurts," Nik growled as he opened his jacket to reveal the blood soaking a small part of his shirt near the bullet wound. The wound was through his right shoulder, just below the collar bone. "I will need to feed in order to recover," he said as he turned to face Daryl. Daryl sighed but pulled out his hunting knife and placed a careful cut on his arm. He walked forward and held his arm up.
"What the fuck are you doing man?!" T-Dog shouted.
"Seriously Daryl. You don't honestly trust this man do you?" Rick asked, seemingly the only level-headed man of the group Daryl had gathered.
"Don't bite me while they can see," Daryl whispered so that only Klaus could hear before he turned his attention to Rick. Klaus grabbed the hunter's arm and began to drink from the cut without revealing his fangs. "I wouldn't exactly say I trust 'im, not yet. But I do believe 'im. Hear him out. No more shooting." At the last comment he glared once more at Shane.
Nik ran his tongue over the cut on Daryl's arm to help the healing before he removed his mouth and turned back to the people that were gathered. He was already planning how to go about compelling Shane to forget this whole encounter and compelling the others to forget that Shane was a part of this. For some reason he could not fathom he did not want to use compulsion on Daryl though. He rather liked the idea of having someone, even in the apocalypse, who would know the entire truth about him.
"I'm assuming you all have questions after everything I did tell you. Perhaps we should take a moment to address those before we get into the point of this meeting," Nik offered. He knew humans tended to feel safer if their internal worries could be brought into the open and addressed.
"So you're a vampire...and a werewolf?" Glenn spoke first.
"Yes, a hybrid of the two."
"You said you were one of the first vampires to be created. What did you mean by that?" Dale asked.
"I was born to a witch, my mother, and a werewolf father. My youngest brother died and it devastated my mother. She never wanted to go through that pain again so she used her magic to cast a spell that was meant to breed immortality for myself and my siblings. It was successful in a sense, but we had become vampires which was not her intention. Never-the-less, here I am alive and well over a thousand years later," Nik finished with his arms spread wide as though presenting himself to them.
"I find it very hard to believe all of this," Dale stated, shaking his head.
"You may chose to believe or not believe my origins, but you cannot deny that I drink blood since you've seen me doing so. I also cannot die as you've seen when I was shot, but I'm also healed by the blood I consumed," Nik paused to lift his shirt, revealing smooth skin where a bullet hole had been just a little while ago. "As for the werewolf portion..." dropping his shirt, Nik allowed himself to slowly begin to transform. His eyes flashed gold and all of his teeth elongated. He lifted his hands to reveal fingernails morphing and lengthening into sharp claws. Once he was sure they had all seen the transformation he allowed himself to return to normal.
"Full transformations are quite painful, but when fully transformed I look like a rather large wolf."
"Oh my god," T-Dog said, looking horrified and like he may be sick. "I can't do this. I'm out." He turned to leave, but before he took more than two steps, Klaus was in front of him, hand on his shoulder.
"Before you go..." Klaus made eye contact with the man while the others looked on nervously. "You will forget all that you learned here today. You will remember this only as a meeting with the leaders of your group in order to properly introduce themselves to me and welcome me to the group. When you leave this clearing you will go back to camp acting just like normal. Now, tell your companions here that you'll see them later."
"I'll see you guys later," T-Dog waved, sounding completely calm, before he turned and casually made his way back toward camp.
"What the hell was that?!" Shane shouted.
"Ah yes, and you..." Klaus sighed before moving up to Shane. "You will forget your anger and fear long enough to have a rational conversation with this group."
"Okay, seriously. What the hell is that?" Rick asked.
"It's called compulsion. I have no intention of using it too much. This is the point in the conversation where I offer you all an out as I have just given...T-Dog was it? He will not remember learning of what I truly am. If you do not wish to help me or if you just wish you had never known the truth, I can make it so that you will not remember any of this conversation either."
"What happens if we chose to stay?" Glen asked, somewhat nervously.
"He needs to eat," Daryl stated, matter-of-factually.
"Well, simply put that's correct Daryl. I need a somewhat frequent blood supply if I am to live comfortably, similar to the way you all need to consume food. Daryl has already generously agreed to donate, but if I took the amount I needed from him he would die within a month from the blood loss," Klaus admitted while looking not at all guilty.
"Hell no!" Shane cursed under his breath before turning to move toward camp. He looked rather like a man intent on warning the entire camp.
"Keep in mind that I could easily just kill all of you and you wouldn't be able to stop me," Klaus called after the former police officer.
"Then why, might I ask, haven't you done just that?" Dale moved forward. "What not just take what you need instead of asking? Don't get me wrong, I'm eternally grateful that you haven't, but it just seems strange to me."
"A living blood supply lasts longer," Glen answered, looking to Klaus for confirmation. The vampire smiled and clasped his hands behind his back. It seemed it was time for the humans to discuss. He would offer to leave them alone, but they may as well learn that he would be able to hear them whether he moved away or not. During this exchange, Shane had stalked back over to the group and stood there listening with his hands firmly fixed on his hips.
"Of course. I should have known. It only takes a few hours after death for the blood to coagulate. Looking at this logically, he is just another survivor, a strong one at that. He needs to eat to...survive...like we do and we can't eat meat that's gone bad," Dale explained, his focus on Rick and Shane. Klaus gathered that everyone seemed to look at those two as the leaders of the group.
"How exactly would this work?" Rick turned his attention back to the vampire who was still standing with his hands behind his back.
"Well, I can survive comfortably enough on roughly two pints of blood per week. That's about as much as a blood donation. Since there are five of you, I could take blood from each of you once in a five week period and rotate through so that the blood will have time to regenerate. It would be beneficial if we could find some additional participants rather quickly, however. Your current diet is not sufficient to maintain that amount of blood donation for long," Klaus finished by making eye contact with Rick.
Rick sighed and shifted his weight to his left leg. He took a moment to meet the eyes of the other people in his group. Dale seemed to be on board. Glen looked nervous, but resigned. Daryl looked almost hopeful, like he was going to continue helping the vampire no matter what and would like some assistance. It was Shane that Rick was most concerned about. Rick knew his own answer, but he would never force his partner to do something he didn't want to. Shane swallowed and Rick saw his jaw clench as their eyes met.
"You seriously considering this, man? You heard him. If we don't drag some other poor saps into this...we can't do this for long. You just got your family back. How would Lori feel if she knew about this, huh?" Shane was nearly in Rick's face at this point. Rick didn't respond. He could tell by the look in Shane's eye that he was going to help. "Dammit.. I can't just let you do this alone. I'll help, but there's no way in hell I'm letting him bite me." He turned and left then, clearly done with the conversation.
"I suppose we'll agree on the rotation later then," Klaus called after him, a slight smirk on his face.
"Listen. We'll help you, but in exchange you have to help us. Dale said it, you're strong. Probably a hell of a lot stronger than any of us, so I need your word. If we need help fighting off the walkers, moving or lifting something, or anything else for that matter...will you help us if we do this?"
"Very well," Klaus stated, resignedly. "You have my word, Rick." The two shook hands and the deal was made.