Times were hard for Vampire Hunters Incorporated. Not in terms of work, if anything they were busier than ever. But they were still drowning under the aftershocks of Gail and her devastating trail of destruction in their lives. Chloe was still struggling with the guilt of her actions under Gail's influence, and as much as admitting in written form that maybe things weren't entirely her fault was a big step for her, it hadn't made as big of an impact on her psyche as any of them may have hoped. Beca was fighting an internal war between her instinct to run as far away as possible and her desire to stay with her family that left her exhausted and with a sense of defeat that no number jobs saving innocent lives could relieve. Aubrey and Stacie were struggling too, Aubrey with the feeling that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't protect the people that mattered most to her from the things that were hurting them, and Stacie with the fact that no matter how much she loved Aubrey there were some things that she couldn't share with her, no matter how much she wanted to.
Given how exhausted they were, both with their internal struggles and with their workload, a day off couldn't come soon enough. Thea had enforced strict rules since taking up her position at the head of the Council that required every vampire hunting team to take a minimum of three consecutive days off a month to avoid any of them getting burnt out, and Vampire Hunters Incorporated had thus far enjoyed one day of quiet, sleeping through most of it as they finally allowed themselves to feel the exhaustion they had been fighting off. Aubrey had insisted they spend the second day together, wanting them to spend time as a family as well as a team and was grateful when she had been met with very little resistance to the idea.
It had been nice to spend time together and not worry about which case was coming next. They had actually done very little, simply choosing to put a dent in a long list of movies that each of them had wanted to watch but hadn't the time too, what with the constant threat of death from Gail and her cronies, and now as Stacie opened a bottle of wine they all found themselves more relaxed than they had been in a very long time, even if their inner battles were still raging on.
"This is nice, where did you get it?" Chloe asked, sipping the glass that Stacie had handed her.
"It came yesterday, it's a gift from Anna Marwood for helping with her son's case." Stacie smiled softly as she settled back on the couch, one of Aubrey's arms wrapped around her waist as she curled into her side.
"How was the funeral?" Beca asked, frowning softly at the mention of Anna, Tom, and the awful mess they had found themselves involved with a few weeks ago. Tom's funeral had been two days ago but neither Beca nor Chloe could attend despite their invitation to because it had been held in the morning when the sun was shining brightly.
"As a nice as funeral for an eighteen-year-old boy can be." Aubrey sighed, "Emily was there, the poor girl was a wreck…"
"Was Anna okay with her being there?" Chloe asked, feet tucked under herself as she sat in one of the armchairs next to the sofa, "It must have been really difficult for her to have her there after everything…"
"Yeah, she was actually really kind to her. Mom had used you and Becs as an example of how something that should be evil isn't always. Sometimes they're the best of us." Stacie smiled softly at Chloe who shifted awkwardly in her seat.
Stacie looked over at Beca, having expected a dry or sarcastic comment from her and found her slumped in the armchair she was sat in, wine glass slipping from between her fingers. Stacie frowned, pushing herself to her feet to check on Beca but finding that once she was standing her head was spinning.
"Bree…" She mumbled, reaching back towards to her but Aubrey didn't hear her. She too was unconscious, slipping away seconds before Stacie stood up.
Stacie dropped to her knees, unable to support her own weight as her head continued to spin. She tried to push back the encroaching sleep that was calling for her, Chloe's name dying on her tongue as she tried to check on her, not realising that Chloe was also out for the count but not before she had the time to try and make a panicked scramble for her phone.
What was happening to them?
Aubrey's head felt heavy as she slowly opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was being on the sofa, Stacie in her arms, relaxing with her family.
Ugh. Her head hurt.
Aubrey tried to move her arm so she could massage the pain away whilst her eyes focused. Tried was the operative word because despite the fact that it was stretched out next to her, Aubrey couldn't move it more than a half an inch before it met resistance. Panic started to well in her chest as she jolted out of her sleepy state, quickly realising she had been tied spread eagle with thick and probably enchanted iron chains. She seemed to be hung from the walls to her left and right so that Aubrey was stuck vertically, able to see in front of her and to her sides a little but not behind her. The room she was in was non-descript, stone walls, stone floor, nothing but her and the eerie bone-chilling silence that was only interrupted by the sound of rattling metal as she tested each one of the chains binding her.
What the hell was happening? Where were her friends?
Aubrey tugged furiously at the chains holding her down. Dammit. They were definitely enchanted; her enhanced strength was doing nothing to shift them. Aubrey opened her mouth to call for her friends, heart pounding in her chest as she realised that no matter how hard she tried no sound was coming out of her mouth. A silencing spell? Who had done this?
"AUBREY!"
Aubrey's head whipped around her as she heard Beca scream her name. She sounded like she was in agony. Where was she?
"HELP ME!"
Aubrey tried again in vain to use her voice, trying to tell Beca to hold on, that she was coming as fast as she could. Aubrey writhed in the chains restraining her, desperate to free herself to help Beca.
"AUBREY, PLEASE!"
Chloe. Her voice was coming from a different direction but sounded no less anguished and terrified than Beca's. They had her too. Aubrey had to get to them.
"BREE WHERE ARE YOU?"
Stacie… oh god. She had to get free. Aubrey could feel her wrists and ankles bruising painfully as she tugged and rattled the chains holding her, but they wouldn't give. She was screaming mutely in fury and desperation as she tried to escape when she felt a hand rest on top of her arm. Her head whipped to the left, trying to find the owner of the hand but quickly releasing they were stood behind her.
"Not so tough now are you?"
Aubrey didn't know the voice that belonged to the same person as the hand trailing lazily up her arm and that ramped her fear up, causing her struggling to become more frantic. The hand ghosted over her shoulder blade and settled around her throat, pulling her against the woman stood behind her and tightening just enough to ensure that Aubrey knew she was in danger without cutting off her oxygen supply.
"Do you hear them? Screaming for you to help them?" The woman hissed in her ear and Aubrey once again heard the people she loved most begging her for help.
"AUBREY PLEASE, WHERE ARE YOU?"
"PLEASE BREE IT HURTS!"
"WHY WON'T YOU HELP ME?"
Tears began to roll down Aubrey's cheeks as she fought furiously against her bonds, mouth forming useless words as no sound came out. She had to get to them. They needed her. Why couldn't she stop letting them down when they needed her most?
"What's the matter Wonder Woman, cat got you tongue?"
Aubrey's lips curled into a snarl as she tried to wrench herself free of the wall. If the chains wouldn't release her then maybe she could pull them from where they were anchored into the wall.
"AUBREY!"
They seemed to yell in unison as Aubrey fought to free herself from both the chains and the hand around her throat, jerking furiously. This was a living nightmare; her team needed her and she couldn't do anything to save them.
"Do you want me to free you?" The woman behind her asked the question as a taunt rather than as a genuine offer for help, "But if I do, which one will you go to first? Your fiancée? Your childhood friend? Or your new friend? Because you can't save them all."
'Yes I can!' Aubrey roared inside her head, 'I can and I will. And then I'll kill you for doing this to them.'
"No you can't." The woman chuckled, Aubrey stiffening as she realised the woman had read her mind, "You've never been able to, why would that change now?"
"I NEED YOU! WHY AREN'T YOU HERE?"
Stacie's howling voice made Aubrey's heart clench in her chest. She was coming. She was, she swore she was. Aubrey would be dead before she stopped trying to get to her.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME HERE?"
Chloe… Aubrey would never leave her. Not again. She had vowed that she never would again. God why couldn't she break free of these chains? They needed her! Why was she so weak?
"AUBREY I'M BEGGING YOU PLEASE!"
Beca's screams had been prefaced with a loud, gut wrenching screech of pain that made Aubrey's stomach twist in knots. They were in pain. Someone was hurting them and she couldn't protect them. She had never protected them. It was her job to protect them and she had failed them. This was her greatest fear; her team was in pain and she couldn't get to them.
Her greatest fear.
Wait.
Aubrey stopped struggling for a moment even as the screams of her friends grew louder, her mind racing. This was her worst nightmare, quite literally. She'd had this exact dream at least once a week in the months since Gail had stolen Chloe from them. With these same chains and this same room and the same voice taunting her as her friend's screamed and begged for her to rescue them until she woke in a cold sweat, tangled in her sheets, Stacie alert and panic stricken as she pulled her sobbing fiancée into her arms-
No.
No this wasn't the same voice. The voice had always been Gail except on the two occasions it had been her mother, but this voice belonged to neither of them. Nor had they ever laid a finger on her, never mind wrapped a hand around her throat. They were always disembodied, this was the one thing that was out of place… who was this woman and how did she know her nightmares in such frightening and scripted detail?
"Oh you're figuring it out aren't you." The woman behind her tutted, the hand around Aubrey's throat tightening as it began to cut off her ability to breath, pushing her head back at the same tight so that Aubrey's widening eyes fell upon the stranger at last as she began to struggle again, gasping for air.
She was only just taller than Aubrey, dark eyes boring into her as she struggled in her ever tightening grip, black hair cropped to her chin sporting a blonde highlight on the right side. She grinned cruelly at Aubrey as dark spots began to form in front of her eyes, lungs burning as they cried out for oxygen, Aubrey's struggles weakening as her head swam and she gulped desperately trying to take the breath she needed.
"Shame really… I hate losing a bet."
The woman suddenly let go of Aubrey's throat and she gasped loudly, coughing and spluttering as she choked on the air filling her lungs again. She slumped in the chains holding her as she fought to get her breathing under control again, glaring daggers at the woman who now stood in front of her.
"W-who are you?" She croaked, heart soaring as she realised she could speak again.
"You'll find out soon enough."
With that the woman clicked her fingers and disappeared, Aubrey falling to the ground in a heap as the chains vanished with her and the room around her shifted until Aubrey realised that she was in their office. She hadn't left the building. Did that mean that the rest of her team hadn't? Aubrey pushed herself to her knees on shaky arms, looking around as she winced at the pain in her wrists from where she had tugged so violently to try and free herself. They weren't in the office. Was she even in the office? That woman, that witch could be making her think that she was safe.
Aubrey shook her head to clear it as she felt herself begin to spiral. No. Don't let her get in your head. Treat this like it's reality until you have proof that it isn't.
Aubrey used the edge of the table to drag herself onto her feet, closing her eyes as she tried to centre herself. However much of an illusion that had been, it had been utterly terrifying and the dull aching of her wrists, ankles and throat reminded her that it wasn't all a trick of the mind.
"HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME!"
Aubrey's head snapped round as she heard Stacie screaming. Was she still in the grips of that spell? Was this still her waking nightmare?
"I CAN'T- HEL-"
No. That was very real and it was coming from the basement.
Stacie groaned softly as she came to, panic immediately flaring in her chest as she remembered what had happened just before she passed out. Her eyelids flew open and she looked around her, heart pounding as she found herself in a steel reinforced glass box that stood only half a foot taller than she was and about two foot wide so that Stacie could touch both sides at once. Around her ankle was a thick metal cuff, three inches of chain anchoring it to the middle of the floor. It seemed pointless when the actual space she had to move around in was so small. Stacie scrambled to her feet, eyes wild as she flicked her hands towards the glass. Nothing happened, her panic rising as she tried again and again, each time to no avail.
What was going on? Who had put her in here? Where was everyone else?
"I'd give up if I was you, that box was designed so that whoever we put in it couldn't use their magic."
Stacie spun around, frowning deeply when she realised that the box was in a room that she knew. This was the basement where she trained, where they had housed those who needed protection from Gail. But this box wasn't theirs, how had it gotten here? And who was the woman sat smirking at her from the table she was sat on, legs swinging as if she hadn't a care in the world.
"Who are you?" Stacie demanded, the box imprisoning her making her voice echo around her, "Where are my friends?"
"They're a little busy." The woman shrugged nonchalantly at Stacie, grinning cruelly. Stacie didn't recognise her but as the woman swung her braided blonde hair over her shoulder and played with her nails, exuding a chilling calm as she remained in complete control and with all the power, Stacie knew that she didn't want to. She just wanted to get out of here and find her friends.
"Y'know it's almost boring that I don't need any magic to have your worst fear realised." The woman sighed dramatically, "They always stick me with the dud…"
Stacie felt her blood run icy cold. Her worst fear? What was this?
"But still… I got good odds on the bet." She smirked at Stacie, "See, we're wondering which one of you will break under the weight of what you fear the most, and I think you might just have a shot at it. I'm not supposed to kill you but… accidents happen."
At this Stacie looked down, hearing an odd whooshing sound coming from the bottom corner of the box, heart leaping into her throat as water began to rush into the small, enclosed space. No. No not this.
"Let me out of here!" Stacie yelled, hammering at the glass in front of her, praying for it to smash under her hands as the water sloshed around her ankles, the water level starting to rise rapidly.
"That's not how this works…" The woman cocked her head to one side as she watched Stacie in amusement, "If I let you out then I lose the bet, why would I do that?"
Stacie could feel her chest constricting as the water continued to rush into the small space. Someone had to find her down here, they wouldn't leave her to drown… all she had to do was swim to the top and-
Suddenly the shackle around her ankle made perfect sense. When the water rose above her head she wouldn't be able to swim all the way to the top. She would drown just a few inches from the top where she could bide her time for a few more minutes.
"Please!" Stacie begged, fear overriding her desire to stay strong in the face of this new threat, "Let me out of here, what do you want?! I'll give it to you, just let me out!"
"What I want is to win the bet… are you not getting that?" The woman frowned a little, pushing herself off the table and walking over to the glass box that was trapping Stacie in her worst nightmare and standing right in front of her until the only thing that separated them was the sheet of glass that Stacie was banging desperately against, "I thought you were the brains behind this little operation?"
The water had risen to the top of Stacie's thighs, panic making her heart pound so hard she could have sworn it had broken her ribs. This wasn't happening, she couldn't- she had to get out of here, there had to be a way out.
"HELP!" Stacie screamed at the top of her lungs, still pounding furiously at the glass in front of her even as her hands started to bleed. Someone would hear her, they had to hear her, "HELP ME!"
"Scream all you want, the chances of them hearing you are pretty slim." The woman shrugged, hands in her back pockets as she surveyed the terrified Stacie, "I'm going to go now. Because that's it isn't it? It's not necessarily the drowning that terrifies you, it's dying and there being no-one around to help you. Just like Isabella."
Tears were pouring down Stacie's cheeks as she glared at the woman in front of her, petrified of what was to come and furious at her for daring to bring her into it, "Don't you dare say her name! You don't know shit!"
"Maybe not." The woman smirked, "But I do know that you're alone and that you're going to die in the most terrifying way you can imagine."
The woman snapped her fingers and disappeared, Stacie letting out a howl of despair and fear as she continued to desperately hammer at the unmoving glass in front of her.
"HELP ME! PLEASE!"
Stacie was sobbing as she felt the water lapping around her waist and still showing no sign of stopping. She hated this, she was powerless and shackled and trapped in a glass box with water pouring in. She was going to die in here with no-one to help her until it was too late. Was this how Iz had felt?
"HELP!"
The water was around her shoulders now, rising at a frightening rate as Stacie pushed herself off her the ground, trying to swim upwards but quickly remembering that there was little point when the chain attaching the shackle to the ground pulled tight. This wasn't fair, she didn't even have a fighting chance.
Stacie gave up pounding on the glass as the water reached her chin, settling instead for grabbing her leg and trying to tug it hard enough to break the chain and give her the chance to swim to the top. It wasn't budging, she couldn't get free, she needed someone, anyone to come and help her. She didn't want to die like this.
"HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME!"
Stacie's pleas became even more despairing as she fought to keep her head above the water level, kicking furiously as she strained as hard as she could against the shackle, her heart thudding and twisting as she realised she was out of time. The water was about to cover her face, she was going to die. This was the end.
It wasn't fair, she was supposed to marry Aubrey and have a long, happy future with her, to spend her golden years with Chloe and Beca and Aubrey as they reminisced about their days as young vampire hunters. I wasn't supposed to end like this.
Where were they?
"I CAN'T- HEL-"
Stacie took a last gulping breath as the water overwhelmed her, still writhing desperately as she tried to dislodge the chain keeping her anchored onto the floor. Her lungs burned as she fought the urge to breathe, panic welling in her chest as she knew she only had a minute maybe less before she would have to breathe or she'd pass out. Either one was a death sentence.
Her vision began to blur as she thrashed in the water, chest tight as lungs screamed at her for air. Stacie thought she saw a flash of blonde hair but it was too late… the world began to fade away.
Aubrey's heart leapt into her throat as she raced down the basement stairs and found Stacie frantically thrashing in the sealed glass box that was filled with water.
"STACIE!"
She leapt down the remaining stairs, grunting as she landed awkwardly on her ankle but pushing the pain to one side as she raced to her fiancée's aid. Aubrey thought she was going to throw up when she watched Stacie's struggling stop and her body go limp.
No.
Not like this.
Grabbing the heaviest thing she could find (a dumbbell she used for weight training loaded with about 10 kilos of weights) she swung it at the glass, ducking to the side as it shattered and the water rushed out like a tidal wave. Not wasting a second, Aubrey raced forward and tore the chain from the ground it was anchored into with her bare hands, her superhuman strength enhanced by the adrenaline coursing through her as her sole focus became saving Stacie. She dragged her limp body from the box, lying her flat on the floor as she started to pump her hands against Stacie's chest, trying to get her breathing and to cough up the water she had swallowed.
"C'mon Stacie please…" Aubrey mumbled, tears slipping down her cheeks, "Don't leave me. I need you… come on Stacie BREATHE!"
Stacie spluttered, eyes snapping wide open as Aubrey gasped tearfully, rolling her onto her side as Stacie expelled the water from her lungs. Her deep gasping breaths soon turned into shuddering sobs as she turned in Aubrey's arms and clung to her for dear life. Aubrey held her as tight as she dared, hushing her softly as she started to tremble, the realisation of how close she had come to losing her hitting her like a truck.
"Ugh… looks I'm losing the bet after all." The woman had reappeared, Aubrey's eyes blazing with anger as she glared at her, a growl forming in her throat.
"I'll kill you." Aubrey snarled, teeth gritted, "You and your friend, I will rip you apart!"
"Sure, sure." The woman smirked, chuckling softly, "We'll see. Two down, two to go."
She snapped her fingers and disappeared again before Aubrey could get to her feet and make good on her promise. Stacie was still sobbing, her head buried in Aubrey's neck, shaking from fear and the cold that penetrated her bones now that she was dripping wet.
"You're okay." Aubrey turned her attention back to Stacie, stroking her sodden hair, "You're okay now, I've got you."
"I-I was alone and t-trapped and my magic w-wouldn't work." Stacie sobbed, "I t-thought I was going to d-die, I thought y-you couldn't hear me, I though I w-wouldn't get to say g-goodbye."
"Never." Aubrey promised her, holding her tighter, "I would never let you go like that. I will always come for you Stace, always, do you hear me?"
"I c-couldn't- I tried-" Stacie was hysterical as she pressed herself as close to Aubrey as she possibly could. She had saved her. She had come for her. She wasn't alone.
"I've got you love." Aubrey whispered softly into her hair, "I have you and I am never letting you go."
It took a minute, but Stacie's sobs eventually subsided and she pulled back a little so she could rest her forehead against Aubrey's, a hand resting on the side of her neck as she sniffed.
"Thank you." She mumbled, "Thank you for getting here in time. Thank you for saving my life."
"You never have to thank me for that." Aubrey shook her head, "You are the love of my life Stacie Conrad. No matter what, I will always be here to save you."
Stacie smiled softly as she kissed Aubrey, so grateful to have found someone that she knew would always come and find her. Once the kiss ended, Stacie sighed softly and rested her head in the crook of Aubrey's neck.
"What the hell is going on?" She asked, exhaustion evident in her tone.
"I don't know." Aubrey shook her head, "All I know is that there are two them, and-"
Aubrey stopped, heart beginning to pound in her chest.
"Two down, two to go."
"Oh my god."
"What?" Stacie lifted her head and saw the outright fear in Aubrey's face, "What is it?"
"Beca and Chloe. Where are they?" Aubrey swallowed hard, "She said two to go, where are they?"
Chloe's head throbbed sharply as she sat up in her bed. Wait, her bed? How had she gotten here? She had been on the sofa... they were drinking wine...
The wine.
There was something wrong with the wine. It'd had knocked them all out.
Oh god. Where were they? Chloe licked her dry lips as panic started to grip her. She froze as she tasted something sharp and metallic in her tongue.
Copper.
Blood.
Why could she taste blood?
Chloe looked down at her trembling hands, her fear magnifying tenfold as she saw they were stained red, blood caked around and her nails. What was happening? As Chloe looked over herself more she realised that she was covered in violent red stains. Up her arms, across her t-shirt, down her pants. Chloe realised that it was also dried on her cheeks and in her hair.
"No…" Chloe whispered to herself, "No the potion… it was supposed to stop this…"
A terrifying thought sprang into her head. Where were Aubrey, Stacie and Beca? Why was she alone in her room covered in blood?
Swallowing hard, Chloe got off her bed as her whole body began to shake uncontrollably. What had she done? How had this happened? She reached her bedroom door, noting the way that blood was smeared on the door handle. This wasn't happening. This had to be a bad dream.
Chloe opened her door slowly, petrified of what horrors might await her outside of it. She stepped on shaky feet into the living room and almost immediately felt like the world had dropped out from under her feet.
It was carnage, furniture had been upturned and destroyed, wallpaper was torn and hung off the wall in places, glass scattered across the floor. And then there was the blood. So much blood. Chloe didn't think she'd ever seen that much blood in her life. It was on the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, the floor-
It was as Chloe's wide, terrified gaze reached the floor that her worst fears were confirmed and she let out a loud sob. Her friends, her family eviscerated and left for dead.
No.
No, no, no.
This wasn't happening.
This couldn't be happening.
She wasn't supposed to be able to do this anymore.
Chloe dropped to her knees, the carpet squelching under her as she stared at Stacie's lifeless body in front of her, Aubrey lay unmoving not more than a foot from her, their hands intertwined and lifeless eyes locked with the others. This wasn't supposed to happen. She couldn't have done this… could she?
A soft moan of pain caught her attention and Chloe's tear filled eyes flicked around the room until they landed on Beca. Beca who looked like she'd been mauled by a wild animal. Beca whose arm was barely attached to her body anymore. Beca who wasn't healing. Chloe scrambled over to her, tying to pull her into her arms but Beca pushed her away, eyes wild with fear.
"No… please… no more…" Beca whimpered, shaking her head furiously, "I can't take anymore…"
"Beca…" Chloe bit her lip tears pouring down her cheeks, "Beca I- I'm sorry… I don't- I don't remember-"
"Chlo?" Beca's fear filled and pain dulled eyes began to brim with tears, "Is that- are you back?"
"Back?" Chloe frowned, chest tightening as a horrifying realisation began to grip her, "W-what do you mean back?"
"I knew that wasn't you…" Beca smiled softly, "I knew you would never… I knew."
"Beca I- did I really do this?" Chloe sobbed, shoulders sagging because even without asking the question she knew the answer.
"S-someone drugged the wine…" Beca spoke through gritted teeth as pain rolled through her in waves, "When I came too you were- you had- Stacie was trying to fight you off but you were so strong…"
Chloe squeezed her eyes tightly shut, shuddering sobs racking her body. No… god no, please… this had to just be a horrible dream.
"We tried to stop you, we got you off of Stacie but…" Tears were pouring down Beca's cheeks as she clutched her mangled arm. Now lay on her back, Chloe could clearly see where she had ripped into Beca like she was made of tissue paper, "It's like you turned into a wild animal Chlo… we couldn't reach you… we tried, we tried so hard-"
"Becs I'm sorry…" Chloe sobbed, "I'm so so sorry… this wasn't supposed to happen, the potion was supposed to stop this, why didn't it work?!"
"I don't know." Beca shook her head bitterly, "Stacie would've… but now…"
Chloe's head dropped into her hands as she sobbed heavily. She had killed two of the people that she loved the most and the third had been left mangled and in agony. She had done this to them, just like she had always feared she would. This was all her fault… she should have never ever come back here.
"Chloe… I-I need you to do something for me…" Beca mumbled, wincing again as every twitch her body sent a fresh new wave of agony through her.
Chloe lifted her head, wiping furiously at her cheeks as she moved closer to Beca. She had no right to be upset over this, no right at all to feel sorry for herself. How dare she when she had done this to them.
"Of course Becs, anything."
"I need- I need you to kill me."
Chloe's eyes widened, a cold sense of fear and dread spreading through her. No. She couldn't do that. Not to Beca. Not deliberately. No.
"Beca I-" Chloe shook her head furiously, her hands trembling as she cradled Beca in her lap, Beca letting her as she felt the exhaustion of her injuries descended upon her like a lead blanket, "I can't…"
"Please Chlo…" Beca looked up at her with pleading eyes, chewing her bottom lip as tears continued to pour down her cheeks, "I won't- I won't ever heal from injuries like this… I'll be in agony for eternity… please don't do that to me… don't leave me like this…"
Chloe gasped softly, body trembling as she tried to process what Beca was saying. She had hurt her so badly that no matter what happened or how long Beca rested for, she would never recover. She was so badly damaged by Chloe that Chloe was going to have to kill her as an act of mercy. This was worse than any nightmare Chloe had ever had, this was a living hell.
"Okay."
Chloe's voice was small as she looked down at the whimpering Beca in her arms. She was in so much pain. Pain that she had caused. How could she have done this to her?
"I'll do it."
"Thank you." Beca whimpered, "Thank you…"
Chloe said nothing as she reached behind for one of the shattered table legs, sniffling as she rested the point of it over Beca's heart. She bit her lip hard and screwed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to find the strength to do this. To knowingly and wantonly kill Beca. Her eyes opened as she felt a hand clasp hers and she looked down at Beca who was smiling softly at. How could she still smile at her like that after everything she had done?
"It's okay." Beca whispered, "It's okay Chloe. It's time."
"Chloe!"
Chloe's head snapped up, eyes wide as she heard a voice that shouldn't be able to hear right now. What was happening? Had she finally snapped?
"B-Bree?"
Crouching in front of her was a woman she knew to be dead. A woman who had been her best friend for so long Chloe could no longer remember a point in her life when she wasn't in it. A woman who lay torn apart not more than a foot from her right now.
"H-how?"
"Chloe, what is your worst fear?" Aubrey asked, an urgent look on her face as she cupped Chloe's face in her hands. She had seen the spell being worked on Chloe, could see the illusion she was being faced with as she cradled a dying Beca in her arms. She knew that even if it wasn't real, even if it was a trick being played on her, Chloe would never recover from killing Beca.
"What?"
"What is it that scares you the most?"
What was Aubrey getting at? Why was this important right now? How was she even here?
"M-me." Chloe stammered, "I am terrified of myself and what I could do to-"
Chloe froze and looked around her, features creasing into a frown. This. This was the thing she was most afraid of.
"Is- is this real?" She whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks once more.
Aubrey moved one of her hands from Chloe's face and took the stake from her hand before lifting it and pressing it against her chest, "Do you feel that?" She asked, Chloe gasping as she felt Aubrey's heart pound against her hand. She nodded.
"That is real. I'm not dead. I'm okay. This is not happening Chloe."
Chloe shut her eyes, a shuddering and heavy sigh of relief escaping her lips as she focused on the beat of Aubrey's heart. Faster than normal, fuelled by fear and adrenaline, but unmistakeably reminding her that she was okay. She was alive.
"I really thought I had a sure thing with unstable Red…"
Chloe's eyelids flew open and fell upon the tall stranger who stood smirking in the corner, arms folded over her chest. Aubrey's nostrils flared angrily as she realised that there was yet another one of these women that were torturing herself and her team like this. Who the hell were they?
"Well, it looks like your pint-size friend won my sister the pot. She'll be gloating about this for days." The woman rolled her eyes, flicking her bangs from them with a twitch of her head, "Guess I'll be seeing you for the finale then."
She clicked her fingers as the others had and vanished, Chloe looking bereft and utterly confused as she shook her head, turning to look at Aubrey again.
"Who… what… what is going on?" She asked.
"It has something to do with the things we fear most, and there's a team of them. That's all we know." Aubrey's jaw was clenched tight as she gently helped Chloe to her feet, leading her over to where Stacie was leaning on the door frame, exhausted and shivering as she smiled softly at Chloe.
Chloe looked the sodden Stacie up and down, concern creasing her features, "Stace… what happened to you?"
"It's nothing." Stacie shrugged a little, sniffing softly, "I'm okay."
Chloe knew she was lying but was honestly too exhausted herself to pry right now. She realised to her relief as she gently rested her head on Stacie's shoulder, not giving a damn about her soaked clothes right now, that the blood stains that had covered her had been part of the illusion, that their apartment was still in one piece, and all the fight and fear had left her body, Chloe now simply drained after the hell she had experienced.
"I don't know where Beca is, but I- I know there's only one thing that truly terrifies her." Aubrey pursed her lips as looked to Chloe and Stacie, "And there's only one place we haven't checked…"
"Hello little one. Did you miss me?"
Beca's heart clenched tight as that frighteningly familiar voice purred in her ear.
"No." Beca whimpered, "No you're dead. I killed you, I watched you burn until there was nothing left… you're dead."
"Oh Rebecca…" Gail tutted, Beca feeling her arms wrap around her waist. She couldn't see. Why couldn't she see? "Didn't I tell you that it wouldn't be the end? You will never be free of me."
"No!" Beca grunted as she tried to rip herself from the vice like grip that Gail was holding herself in, "No you can't do this! I'm finally free, you can't-"
"Oh I can." Gail chuckled, Beca hissing in pain as the grip around her waist continued to tighten, slowly crushing her ribs, "I can do whatever I want to you Rebecca. I've proved that to you on so many occasions."
"Stop." Beca begged, the crushing weight of the pain of her past that had smothered her in the last few months having left her a shadow of her former brave and badass self in the face of the woman that was single-handedly responsible for it all, "Please… just leave me alone."
"Oh you haven't gotten pathetic on me have you little one?" Gail sighed dramatically, releasing Beca's waist. Beca tried to flinch away as she felt Gail's fingers trail along her cheek and wipe the tear from it. She couldn't see. She couldn't move. Why was this happening?
"Maybe one of our old games will bring out the little rebel that I love so much hm?"
"No." Beca would've shaken her head if she could, "Please… it's been two hundred years… I- I just want to be free…"
"Never." Gail hissed in her ear, Beca feeling the back of her t-shirt being ripped upon as cold dread spread through her.
No.
Not this.
Anything but this again.
"Now let's see… last time it took… ooo what, forty two lashes to break you? Do you think you can go longer this time?" Gail mused aloud, Beca's jaw clenched tightly as she knew her pleas for mercy would fall on deaf ears, "Of course, you won't be able to fall to your knees when the pain becomes too much, I won't be able to tell when you've had enough… let's see if I can figure it out from your screams."
Beca's jaw clenched tighter as she felt the hauntingly familiar sting of the whip across her back. This wasn't happening to her again. This couldn't be happening to her again. How had she even got here? Beca didn't remember anything… what had happened to her before she found herself here?
"You're being so pathetic Rebecca. What happened to the little vampire that could?" Gail taunted her as Beca whimpered and sobbed. Why bother fighting it back? Why bother being brave? She would never escape Gail. No matter if she fought or surrendered, Gail would always have her right where she wanted her.
The intense burning pain continued to magnify as Beca began to scream and beg for mercy. She just wanted to be free. She wanted to know what peace felt like. Just for a moment, she wanted to know what it was like when life was quiet. Gail would never stop. She would never be free of her. Beca would always be looking over her shoulder.
"Beca. Beca listen to me."
"No!" Beca wailed, heart clenching, "Please just stop! Please stop using the people I love to torture me… beat me all you want, just don't use Chloe against me anymore…"
"Becs I'm here. I'm here and she's not."
"STOP IT!" Beca roared, the pain in her back crippling as the whip continued to crack across it, "NO MORE!"
Arms slid around her waist again and Beca sobbed loudly and in anguish. Why wouldn't Gail stop using them against her? Why was it two hundred years later and Beca still finding herself at the mercy of the same cruel tricks? Why, why, WHY wouldn't she just leave her alone?
"I know what frightens you Beca."
Chloe's voice was almost gentle as Beca felt Gail's forehead press gently against her temple, her arms holding her loosely. Why was she doing this to her? Why was beating her not enough for her?
"I know you're terrified that we didn't really get rid of her. That you'll never be able to free yourself of the hold she's had over you even if she is gone. That you're so damaged by all the pain that she's caused you, you'll never be okay again. I know these things because I feel them all too."
Gail might be using Chloe's voice, but Beca knew that her words weren't as gentle and sympathetic as her tone suggested. She would be thinking of new ways to torture her as she spoke.
"This isn't really happening Beca. No-one is hurting you. She isn't here. Gail is dead and gone, I promise you she is. What is real is the feeling of my arms around your waist, my voice in your ear, my head against yours. Please Beca. You have to come back. This is a waking nightmare, nothing more. I'm here. Come back to me."
Beca wept as Gail continued to lie to her, hating her with every fibre of her being. But as she felt her body shift against her own, Beca felt a primal response telling her that the voice wasn't lying to her, as if some kind of sense memory that she had long since buried of sleepy Sunday mornings in bed had burst its way to the fore.
"Chloe?"
"Yeah. I'm here."
Beca felt Chloe's head nod as it pressed against hers. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her back still feeling as if it was on fire as she remained blind and immobile.
"She's here. Gail's here. She won't let me go." Beca choked.
"No." Chloe shook her head, Beca feeling her hair gently tickle her shoulders, the familiar smell of Chloe's shampoo wafting around her, "No she isn't. This is a trick, an illusion, the living manifestation of your worst nightmare. I'm here. You're here. But Gail is gone. I swear to you, she's not here."
Beca gasped softly as Chloe's hand pressed against her back, bracing herself for the searing pain she expected to feel against her bare skin. Instead she felt the soft brush of Chloe's fingers through the back of her t-shirt. How? Her back… it was… Gail had…
"See." Chloe mumbled softly, "It's just an awful trick. You're okay. I've got you. Come back Beca."
The darkness lifted from Beca's vision as she slumped against Chloe, trembling as she lifted her arms to rest on top of hers. She was in the rooftop garden of their home, Chloe's arms were around her waist, and Gail was dead. She was really dead. Beca's legs went weak but Chloe's arms tightened around her waist in response, holding her trembling body upright.
"I've got you." She mumbled again.
"Well this isn't exactly how I wanted this to end."
Beca stiffened, turning to face the strange voice coming from behind them. A heavily tattooed woman with short hair was grinning nastily at them, an eyebrow raised. In the corner of her eye, Beca spotted Aubrey and Stacie move closer to them and felt a fleeting sense of relief that they were all here together.
"I was kinda hoping you'd jump off the roof, but you can't have everything." The woman shrugged, a growl coming from Beca as her hands clenched into fists. How dare she use Gail against her. Who the hell was she?
"Looks like our funs over ladies." Another woman appeared from the shadows, unfamiliar to all of them as the three strangers that had taunted the team earlier that night reappeared alongside the two already sneering at the fear-fatigued vampire hunting team, "Such a shame really, I was enjoying the show…"
"Who the hell are you?" Aubrey snarled, in no mood for any more games. These women had hurt her family beyond any comprehension tonight and she was ready to tear them limb from limb for it. She looked the woman who had emerged from the shadows up and do and quickly realised she matched the description the honeymooners had given them. This was Alice.
"Oh I'm sorry, that's incredibly rude of us." Alice chuckled as she shook her head, "I believe you've been becoming acquainted with my sisters, this is Charity…" She gestured to the woman who had been with Aubrey, "Serenity" the woman who had taunted Stacie, "Veracity" the one that had laughed as Chloe fell apart, "and Calamity." the one who had brought Beca's worst enemy back to life.
Beca scoffed loudly and shook her head, "I really need to find out where you guys keep getting your names from, are you kidding me with this shit?!"
"Mom always said you were a judgemental asshole." Calamity raised her eyebrow again, a chill running down Beca's spine.
Moments from the last year raced through Beca's mind as realisation hit her like a sledgehammer.
"Gail? Really? Doesn't exactly strike fear in the hearts of men does it? You taking a leaf out of Chicago's book of dumb names?"
"More than three, I don't know the exact number. But she's making more. Not just doppelgangers, all sorts of beings. You guys are screwed."
"Do you really think this will be the end Rebecca? Surely after so long, after everything we've been through together, you're not this naïve?"
"No…" Beca whispered, "No, this isn't happening."
"What's the matter Rebecca? Aren't you glad to be seeing our mother's legacy living on?" Alice sneered at Beca who had gone a deathly shade of white, held up only by Chloe's arms that were still around her waist as the rest of her team came to the same realisation.
"As much as I would like to stay and watch as you try and wrap your tiny brains around this, we have to go. We're very busy y'know." Alice smirked, "But we'll see you again very soon. You'll pay for what you did to her, in the most painful and excruciating ways we can think of. This is just the type of the iceberg."
With that they vanished, leaving Vampire Hunters Incorporated to process this new information. Beca slipped from Chloe's arms and onto her knees, trembling and too shocked to cry as she heaved the contents of her stomach onto the floor. This wasn't real. This wasn't happening. No-one spoke for a long time, Stacie shaking in Aubrey's arms as the cold of the night gripped her soaking wet body. None of them knew what to do, what to stay, what the hell happened now.
"She said it wasn't over." Beca mumbled, breaking the silence, "I thought she was just posturing… I- I should've known…"
"We all should've." Aubrey shook her head, "We got so caught up with Gail we forgot about the potential of her offspring."
"N-no." Stacie shook her head, teeth chattering with the cold but a determined look burning on her face, "S-stop it. Both of you. We c-couldn't have seen this. They just t-tried to tear us apart with the things that scare us m-most. They don't get to do that. They don't g-get to come into out home and do that to us. N-no-ne blames themselves, do you understand me?"
Aubrey rested her head in the crook of Stacie's neck, sighing softly, "Okay baby." She mumbled, "No-one blames themselves. We'll do what we always do, we'll fight with everything we have."
"Why?" Beca looked up from the ground, a hollow despair in her eyes, "This is never going to be over. We are never going to win."
"Beca…" Chloe frowned softly, putting her hand on Beca's shoulder.
"No." Beca shook her head, jerking away from her, "Nothing any of you can say is going to make it any better. She's dead and she's still wreaking havoc in our lives. I am never going to be free of her!"
Tears poured down Beca's cheeks as she shook her head bitterly, not pulling away this time as Chloe knelt behind her and wrapped her in her arms again. Beca was right, there was nothing they could say to fix this. So instead she would settle for holding her until things seemed a little less terrifying, a little less hopeless.
It was another long while before anyone moved again, Aubrey moving Stacie's still wet hair from her face, concern in her features as she saw the blue colour her lips were turning.
"We need to get you inside and out of those wet clothes before you end up with pneumonia." Aubrey sighed, "And I need to call your mom, the Council needs to know about this immediately."
Chloe gently pulled Beca to her feet and they headed towards the stairs and the warmth of the inside. Beca leant heavily against her, dull despair weighing on her as she sniffed numbly.
This was never going to be over.
Their long day didn't end for another few hours as Thea raced over immediately when Aubrey called her. They had relayed the information as best as they could, still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened. When they finally headed to bed the sun was beginning to rise and they were feeling weary and disheartened. Stacie and Aubrey had gone straight to bed, too exhausted to try and make any more sense of this today. Chloe had retreated to her room too, curled up under her duvet as she stared at the ceiling.
She couldn't believe that they were still fighting Gail. Sure, the witch herself was long gone but her daughters seemed at least as powerful as she had been, and that was terrifying. There were five of them. How were they supposed to deal with five Gails?
A knock at her door pulled Chloe from her spiralling thoughts. She frowned softly, sitting up a little.
"Come in."
The door opened and Beca stood in the doorway, shuffling her feet a little as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Hey…"
"Hey Becs. You okay?" Chloe's frown deepened as she watched Beca shift her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Um… look, this is dumb and feel free to say no but… can I- can I sleep in here tonight? This morning I guess… whatever time it is…" Beca swallowed hard as she looked at the floor.
Chloe said nothing, instead pulling back the duvet and patting the space in the bed next to her. Beca smiled gratefully as she shut the door behind her and clambered into the bed next to Chloe. After a pause, Beca moved closer to Chloe, head eventually resting on her shoulder as she sniffed softly. Chloe shifted a little and wound her arm around Beca's shoulders, pulling her close as Beca let out a deep, shuddering sigh.
"Thanks." She mumbled, "I just- I needed- I just want one night where-"
"It's okay." Chloe smiled softly as she pulled Beca a little closer, "Me too."
"Thanks." Beca sighed again, "For everything today. I- I'm glad you're here, home with us."
"I'm glad you're here too." Chloe squeezed her shoulders gently, "We'll figure this out Becs. Somehow we'll figure this out."
"I wish I could believe you." Beca's voice was small, "I really do."