Warning: Mentions of violence, blood and gore!

Douglas Palmer was beyond furious. He had been so close, twice! And both times he had been forced to leave. He knew it was probably a terrible idea to have gone back but he had anyway. It had been way too long since his last meal and he was beginning to get agitated. For years, he had held back from making his fantasy a reality and he had only recently just decided to take the plunge. The yearning was too great for him to succumb but now that he had finally gotten the chance to taste the blood of children, he was hooked. Not only was he not able to kill tonight but he had to deal with a rather unexpected visitor. He never saw her face but he had an idea of who she was. He couldn't help but laugh to himself quietly. His little pawn was trying to fight back. However, his excitement was short lived when he realised that was the case, she too was after him but all he needed to do was make sure she too was guilty which was why he incriminated her further when that cop tried arresting them. He remembered the flash of agitation in her eyes. She knew exactly what he was up to.

Despite the extra worry, he wasn't too concerned about her. He would only begin to worry more if she started to turn up a lot more. Other than that, she was just someone he could mess around with but that police officer, now he would be a problem, he'd need to have a word with him. He'd have to admit though, his blood tasted pretty good for adult blood. There was something strange about it though. It almost felt alive as the warm thick liquid was smothered across his tongue and slid down his throat.

The cab ride back to Treasure Island was awkward, for the driver anyway. The glances in the rear view mirror made that clear but Douglas just minded his business and let the thoughts swirl in his brain as he lightly held a bouquet of flowers. He'd seen them at a store during his escape and his eyes lit up slightly. They were perfect. He'd been meaning to look for these kinds of florets for a page in his flower pressing book, a small hobby he liked to do in the meantime. He had chosen a variety of colours but most included red.

However, his slight excitement changed when he felt a peculiar sensation in his body. It was painful and felt like something was moving inside of him. He felt a sweat begin to cover his forehead and he tried his best to keep his moans of suffering to himself but it was beginning to get worse and worse as time went on. The driver peered through the rear view mirror with a frown, confused by the sudden change in his customers' behaviour.

He watched the man squirm in discomfort. It seemed like his body was vibrating and it wasn't long before the driver noticed something odd about the rider's appearance. It was like he was warping and shaping into something completely different, something non human. Not liking what he was seeing, the cab driver quickly pulled over as soon as he was able to, which was in a small lay by just off of the Yerba Buena Island entryway.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the driver attempted to sound stern but the shake of the car and the animalistic snarling coming from the back was too frightening, proving it futile to even try to intimidate his passenger. However, he gained no response from the stranger and through the overwhelming feeling of fear and desperation, he raised his voice this time except once again. His request, yet again, went unheard as the stranger continued to writhe around and moaning out more loudly. It wasn't long until the driver also noticed the guy was muttering things, in an entirely different voice. He could tell it wasn't the same due to the alarming deep growl of the voice. The hissing raspiness of it made his skin crawl but it seemed no matter what he said, the man wasn't going to listen so in a last effort he thought the best idea would be to press the button of his car's horn.

Oh, how wrong he could be.

The passenger immediately began to scream in agony while his body began to warp and jitter manically and as the driver watched in horror, it was abundantly clear that something was wrong with this guy and it wasn't the normal kind of wrong. After a mere few seconds, the driver quickly detached his hand from the car's horn, afraid of what he might have done to the man regardless of the terrifying face he could make out, bouncing in and out of his client's body just seconds prior.

Once the blaring of the noise stopped, so did the man, the two in unison. Everything was still and silent. The cab driver stared at Douglas with wide eyes, unblinking and full of fright. A tightness in his back and chest were starting to form as he tensed upon the sight of the now hunched over and slightly shaking man who was breathing heavily.

"Hey man. I-I'm sorry about that, I didn't k-kno-," a slight shift of the man's head made the driver stop talking immediately. It took him a while to realise but the stranger was staring right at him, through the gaps of his floppy, sweaty hair. It was almost unnoticeable but he could make out the glint of anger that shone through the blue eyes behind those thin rimmed glasses. The glare made the driver's heart skip a beat, a heart wrenching feeling washed over his chest region. He moved his hand to the door handle clumsily, something in his head screamed for him to leave, to get out and run but it was like he was frozen in place as he watched the stranger lift his head more to reveal the angered face. Teeth bared and clenched tightly together and not a second later the man let out a hideous roar that seemed to reverberate within the car. The windows shattered before the screaming man lunged forward before the driver had a chance to open the door.

The car shook violently, blood spattering over the dashboard, steering wheel and seats. Staining everything red in seconds. Screams of distress, pain and pure fear were drowned out by the cars on the nearby highway bridge in the early November morning.

Once the deed was done, the drivers side door swung open and Douglas' body reappeared as his last foot touched the ground, glass crunching under his boot while the dark red, viscous like goo retreated back into his body. The tall man sighed out deeply as he smoothed back his sweat drenched brunette hair before turning around and peered back in to search for his glasses, eyeing up the remains of the cab driver, his two hands and both of the lower parts of his legs along with his feet were left sprawled about the front of the cab. Douglas eventually found what he was looking for and made a noise of dissatisfaction when he realised he was unable to reach them unless he wanted to be smeared with blood, which wouldn't help at all in his case and so he stood up and walked round to the passenger side door. He opened it gently, his eyes settling on his glasses and then they moved to the crumpled up, destroyed Snapdragons. Anger rose up in his body as he smacked the roof of the car.

"You ruined my Snapdragons!" he yelled out. To anyone watching, they would consider him a mad man… well he was but he was good at hiding that side. He wasn't sure how was supposed to hide this freak of nature that had somehow latched onto him. It had to have been that cop, well whatever just happened confirmed his suspicions of the blood anyway. It was the cop. He gave him this… this thing.

Who cares, that guys blood was calling to me

Douglas paused a moment when he heard it respond. That didn't just happen did it? Hearing a voice and it's voice in particular actually scared him a little. The voice was frighteningly deep and raspy.

"I don't understand? Where are you?"

Inside your body ~

"What are you?"

Something not of your world ~

"Really? You don't say,"

I don't like that tone…

The creature's teasing suddenly dropped and he sounded rather threatening. It appeared it couldn't quite fathom sarcasm which made a bit of sense to Douglas however he made sure to keep a mental note to not be sarcastic any longer in hopes that it may prolong his life a little more. He decided to change the subject, something the creature said earlier perked his ears.

"What did you mean when you said the blood was calling to you?" Douglas questioned as he cleaned his glasses, putting them on and picking up the bouquet before making his way down the road toward Treasure Island.

Apparently, I love blood. The first thought I had when I awoke in your body was blood ~

The voice seemed to have cheered up upon hearing the word blood and it got Douglas thinking. What if the reason this creature was so infatuated with blood was because of him? He assumed this thing was like a part of him now, attached to him so maybe it gained a few of his preferences along the way. To test out his theory, he questioned it again.

"What kind of blood do you prefer?" the bespectacled man asked.

That guy's blood was good along with his brain but he didn't satisfy me. Why? ~

"Oh it's just I think I might know the kind you'll just love!" Douglas grinned, maybe this thing wasn't such a bad thing after all however it seemed to have increased his yearning for children and their gore. Not only that, he felt strong, god like, as if he had ichor running through his feeble human veins.

"My name is Douglas, a pleasure to meet you…," he hesitated when he realised he didn't know the thing's name. "What do I call you?"

Hmmm, let me think… we shall go by the name of Bloodlust ~

"Can you take this seriously?! You could've been caught or worse killed! You were way too reckless!" Eddie said as he followed (Y/n) up the stairs in a huff. He saw all the bruises beginning to blossom and he didn't hesitate to have a rant once Venom dropped them outside his apartment.

"Christ Eddie, you sound like my dad. I'm right here, aren't I?"

"That's not the point, we didn't make any proper plan beforehand and you just… ran off and expected me to wait there for you,"

Eddie is right. You were foolish.

The Symbiote added his say into the mix making (Y/n) turn around sharply to glare at them, she didn't say anything and things were awkward before she slapped at the door vigorously a couple times to tell Eddie to hurry up with the keys. When he realised, he fumbled about in his pockets before pulling them out and inserting the key.

"We are not done with this. We need to work together on this and that was not working together!" he yelled at her in a hushed tone as he shut the door after she walked in. She didn't answer however and went straight to the coffee table to retrieve the TV remote and put the news.

"We have another update on the killer (Y/n) tonight and there's a bit of a twist, the family that was attacked last night was attacked again in the early hours of this morning however a brave cop entered the scene in the nick of time, not only that but he gained some potential new evidence. He believes there is not one killer but two!"

(Y/n) stared at the screen with an unamused, dumbfounded look. They couldn't be serious, she was literally fighting him and saved the family, they saw her and heard her. Why wasn't the woman she saved going to vouch for her? It was then that the woman appeared on screen with her two boys at her sides, the reporter's mic just visible on screen.

"So Ms. Summerville, could you tell us exactly what happened?"

(Y/n)'s eyes lit up with hope, anticipating the woman's words.

'Do me justice, please. Tell everyone they're lying,'

"Well it was all a blur but I had heard a noise and got up to check and there were two figures standing in my living room. One male, one female. I quickly got my boys up although it wasn't hard since they were already too frightened to sleep. I got them out and as I opened my front door, there was Detective Mulligan. He had seen them go in through the window after killing those two officers… I'm very sorry for their families, my deepest condolences,'

The young woman's face twitched in agitation.

'You. Have. Got. To be fucking, Kidding me!' (Y/n) screamed in her head, her widened enraged eyes glared deeply at the blonde haired woman. Even the boys were frowning up at their mother in confusion. Suddenly, the remote was snatched out of her hand and the TV went black as she turned to face Eddie, her jaw clenching, stunned by his audacity.

"Eddie." she stated his name in a warning tone before she tried to reach for the remote but the taller man held it up high. The young woman's eyes flashed with annoyance as they met Eddie's brown ones who stared back at her with a hard look as if challenging her. "Eddie…" she said again, much more slowly. "Please give me the remote,"

"No. You are going to shut up and listen to me,"

"How can I listen to you when my name is still being shit on? I helped that woman and I'm still the main suspect. I was fighting him in front of three witnesses and the one that had the most chance of being my alibi or to prove that I'm not the killer! Not only that, the police are also lying! How am I supposed to clear my name if they keep making it harder!" her voice broke slightly near the end, and Eddie heard it, it saddened him to hear her almost sound like she was losing hope, especially when she was so motivated before. Up until now he could understand the police and their decisions but after tonight… he was angry, he knew they could be scummy though, he should've anticipated it. He could go to Peter and try aiding him but that would be too risky, too suspicious and he couldn't allow (Y/n) being found out. He chucked the remote on the couch, (Y/e/c)'s moving to follow it but her vision was blocked by his hand. She looked up at him and while he moved his hands to gently cup her face to make sure that her full attention was on him.

"I know it's hard but you have to. Your mind is all over the place right now but just hear me out, okay?" he asked with pleading eyes. Hers looked tired, fed up. She wasn't going to have a good day today and he knew that. "You can't watch the news. It won't help you, it'll only make things harder. They lie and twist the truth all the time. Can you promise me that?" the (Y/h/c) slowly nodded, a pout on her lips. "Secondly, I need you to work with me on this. No running off on your own. This guy is dangerous (Y/n), and I don't care if you get a few hits in, you still know barely anything about him. Do you know how scared I was when I saw that he came out first and you didn't? It was terrifying," he paused briefly, staring deeply into her exhausted, glossy eyes before sighing reluctantly. "You know I consider you my friend, right?… I don't have many of them, well, none really, so I'd like to keep you if that's alright with you," his smile seemed a little embarrassed but it seemed to cheer the younger woman up massively, a small, shy smile appearing.

You're such a sap!

Venom laughed at Eddie.

"Shut up!" The reporter snapped back without thinking, earning a questioning look from his companion. He chuckled nervously as (Y/n) brought her hands up to remove his hands from her face.

"Is he winding you up?" she asked but Eddie didn't answer, the answer was obvious anyway. She hummed with a smile before giving the taller man a hug. "Thank you, Eddie. I consider you my friend too. And you, Venom," she pulled away but not completely, instead she stood on the tips of her toes and planted a small kiss on Eddie's stubbled face. She took a step back and yawned. "Don't know about you but I'm heading to bed," she said, moving to the couch and flopping onto it.

Eddie turned to observe her, he was still in a bit of shock after that little sign of affection. It made his heart warm and he felt something he hadn't felt in him for a while. He'd originally felt it with Anne but now he was feeling it with (Y/n). It was only small though. He was already starting to get over his ex-fiance but to him, he thinks meeting (Y/n) had helped a lot.

You better be getting over Anne because I am. I've never felt your heart beat this fast around her. You really are a sap.

"You are as well apparently," the reporter rolled his eyes in annoyance as he grabbed a blanket and draped it over the softly snoring (Y/n).

Why is she sleeping like that?

"Maybe she finds it comfortable?" Eddie said as he made his way to his room.

It does not look comfortable so how would it feel comfortable? The Symbiote questioned Eddie further. It found humans incredibly peculiar at times.

"I can't answer you that. Ask her in the morning maybe? Now can you please be quiet. I'm shattered,"

Sap!