Love Me Apoclyptic
Chapter Five: The Stakes Have Risen
Blood blood blood pour more through my veins I'm not that innocent
-Blood, In this Moment-
Regina's foot stumbles on the curb when she appears where Emma told her to be. She's still struggling to pull a sweater on over her head, having gotten dressed as quickly as possible, forgetting she could dress herself with magic in the rush.
"Emma-"
But Emma raises a finger to her lips to shush her and when Regina snaps her jaw shut, she then makes a come closer motion with her hand. Regina obediently follows behind, befuddled by Emma's calm and collected actions. It looks like she's trying to sneak up on some deer right now, half crouching, steps careful.
Regina's glad she wore flats and not her heels. They would have been too loud for this. Emma leads them around the corner to where the street ends. They're in the part of town not many people go to and for good reasons. This is the neighborhood where the Queens of Darkness roam, the place they call home.
They enter the woods, going even slower, careful not to snap any twigs or crinkle any leaves. Emma makes a motion for Regina to pause and she does, wondering what this is all about. She had rushed here to take care of a vampire, and not go sneaking into the woods. Emma carefully edges over to a bush, holding her breath captive in her throat. There are noises coming from behind the bush and as Emma brushes the leaves back Regina can make out the form of a thin woman with mismatched hair digging into something, lost to the world around her.
Something hot twists in Regina's stomach and her hand comes up to her mouth as the scent of blood permeates the air. It's thick and cloying and not human. And that's because as the woman shifts closer to the light coming in from the lamp post a few feet away, the thing she's hunched over becomes clearer. It's black and white spotted coat is caked with blood, like a curtain draping down its neck. It's lifeless eyes stare back at Regina and the look of horror on her face only doubles.
Emma lets the leaves gently drop back before she backs away, hands out, eyes never leaving the bush. Regina stands frozen where she is until Emma grabs her by the elbow and redirects her towards her parked police car a block away.
"What is Cruella doing?" Regina demands, voice tight with effort to restrain her disgust and to keep quiet.
"I think it's obvious. She's gone full vamp," Emma explained patiently but that is only a facade because panic settles in the edges of her skin, makes them tighter.
"Are you sure?" But Regina knows Cruella; her frenemy would never do that to one of her beloved dogs if she were of sound mind. Would never kill it and drink from it's neck. The imagery-Cruella face deep, neck veins pulsating as they were filled with other life source- is one that sticks with Regina.
"I was doing my night rounds when I saw her running across the street, covered in blood, chasing down her dogs. She didn't move like a human," Emma said and its clear the trauma of that sight has on her as her hands twitch over her gun, as she looks on for Regina's opinion. "What do we do with her?"
"We obviously have to take her in! She can't be left loose like this!" This is Regina's worst nightmare, having an outbreak right inside what was meant to be a safe haven. She curses Hook's name to high heaven, because if it hadn't been for him, this would not have occurred. She's sure he's responsible somehow for Cruella changing, she just doesn't know how.
Emma nods her head stiffly. Holds out her hand for Regina to grasp. Regina forgets for a moment that they combine their magic like this and thinks Emma needs comfort, something to raise her mettle. She is about to scoff because she's clearly not the type to be soft and comforting when she recalls with a flush the true reason for this and slips her hand into Emma's clammy one.
"You got a plan?" Emma asked hopefully, "because I kind of don't want a repeat of the last time."
The last time meaning the loss of those three children's lives. Regina regrettably does not have much of a plan. "We should make an air bubble around ourselves to prevent contamination by air. It might not be airborne completely but why have the risk."
"Right," Emma nods her head and summons up an air bubble around her head just like Regina does around her own head. The bubbles are clear and round and muffle a bit of the outside sound. "Now what do we do?"
Regina knows Emma is looking for guidance but she certainly does not know, not having expected this thing to happen to her town. She'd always worried more about breaches from outside, not attacks on the inside. "We need to take her down as none violently as possible so we can have her turned over to Whale so he can keep an eye on her. I won't have any citizens of mine lost to this damned curse."
"Good," Emma nods her head. "Because here she comes."
Cruella stumbles out of the bushes, fur coat hanging off my shoulder like she's drunk, and the front of her thin dress covered in blood as is her lower face and neck. She wipes at her mouth, eyes immediately spotting them. "Well, who do we have here? The Savior and her little Queen? A delicious snack for me. Thank you for waiting." She flashes razor sharp teeth at them.
"Cruella, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Come with us quietly and no harm will come to you. You are not in the correct state of mind," Emma said, hand outstretched in warning.
"And pass up on tasting you both? I don't think so." Her grin was too wide, too wrong.
The curse truly was monstrous. Cruella had dispatched so many dogs and she still wasn't sated. And now her hunger had turned to humans.
With a snarl she launched right at the both of them. "Emma, stand back!" Regina whirled Emma to the side and held out her palm which was on fire. Cruella hissed and lingered back from it. Fire was an effective way to keep her back; these beasts could burn in it all too quickly. "If you come any closer, I will fry you."
Cruella hissed and snarled in frustration, edging and circling around them. Regina would only increase the intensity of the flames when Cruella got too close. "Emma, you need to cast a knock out spell, and now," the mayor whispered out of the side of her mouth to Emma who nodded her head and concentrating a second on the correct spell, sent it blasting forwards. Cruella dodged it, baring her teeth in laughter at Emma's failure.
"You're going to have to move faster than that if you want to hold me."
"Then maybe this will hold you." Regina lifted both hands up and a circle of flames sprouted around Cruella. She won't lie- this type of spell nothing too hard for Regina, is draining her because of the lack of sustenance in her body. Black spots dance in front of her eyes. The vampire panicked, snapping her teeth at the flames but being forced to rear back into the center of the shape in order to keep her skin from sizzling. Emma didn't wait to be prompted again. She aimed her spell a second time and it caught Cruella right in the face. The vampire fainted and as soon as she touched the ground, Regina extinguished the fires.
"Well, I was...expecting more of a fight to be honest," Emma commented as she bent down to peer at Cruella's sleeping form.
"You should be grateful it wasn't worse," Regina sniffed. "I swear, sometimes your sense for adventure leads us into these situations."
"I wasn't asking for an adventure!" Emma defended. "I'm just saying, we were both prepared for worse and then it wasn't that bad."
"Always be prepared for the worst scenario. It's what makes a good leader."
Emma rolled her eyes. She already knew that, thank you very much. It was too late for such life lessons.
"Let's get her to Whale and a new cell in the hospital and then we need to come back here and do damage control. See if anyone else was involved in her little rampage."
"Got it, boss." The two women lifted Cruella's limp body up by an arm each.
When they had the newly minted vampire secured under Whale's care, the two women went back to Cruella's residence.
"Ugh, this place is a mess," Emma grumbled, holding a hand up to her nose because of the smell of decay and blood. Almost all the rooms were a mess. Chairs and tables flipped over, gouges on the walls and dog carcasses drained of life everywhere. Emma's flashlight highlighted the gore and she had to try really hard not to be squeamish about this.
"This doesn't offend your sensibilities?" Emma asked because they had to wade through a sticky pile of blood to get to the next room over.
"I've seen worse. Done worse," Regina hesitantly answered as she surveyed the damage. Was this all fresh? Or had some of these come from earlier down the week? When had Cruella even got infected? Hook hadn't mentioned ever crossing paths with her and he had been locked up during the time her incubation period would have begun. So then how? How was she ill?
"Look around for anything that could be a clue," Regina instructed and they split up, with the mayor taking the top and Emma taking the bottom floor. They browsed around for hours until the early dawn light comes in through the windows signaling that it's time to end their failed search.
"Nothing?" Emma asks as Regina descends the stairs, those black spots still in front of her vision. So she takes her time coming carefully down least she fall.
"Nothing. You?"
Emma shakes her head. "Nothing to tell why and how she became a vampire. Should we talk to her friends?"
"I think it's a good idea to speak to the rest of the Queens of Darkness and the sooner the better." They exit the house and Regina leads the way over to Emma's cruiser, the sun pounding down on her head, making it hurt. "She's close with them so they might be able to tell us if they noticed anything weird about her. And, we also have to check them for symptoms too."
"You okay there?" Emma asks, noticing how Regina's steps don't seem so confident or powerful anymore.
"I'm fine," Regina insists but her not being fine is slowly becoming too obvious. She's tired, frazzled and she needs more sleep and less stress.
The days events, the usage of her magic, the sleepless nights, and her empty stomach, everything catches up to her under the burn of the sun and she feels her eyes tip into the back of her head as her body drops down.
"Regina!" comes Emma cries through thick smoke and then Regina sees black.
She wakes up some moments later in her own bed, disoriented as to how she got here. She sits up but a hand on her shoulder stops her.
"Slow down there." It's Emma, and her hand is warm and soft on Regina's shoulder.
"What happened?" Regina asks in a dry voice though she does lay back down.
"You fainted. Is...is everything okay, Regina? You look a little pale lately," Emma asks softly and Regina scoffs but it doesn't come off as derisive but like a sad little sound.
"I'm fine. Just a bit stressed about the vampire out break is all."
"Then let me handle things for once," Emma insists. "You rest up here and let me interrogate Cruella's friends."
"Emma-" Regina begins to protest and sit up again but Emma shoves her down more forcefully this time.
"No, stay here. Get some rest. You look like you need it."
Regina frowns. She does not need it; she's fine. But the part of her that she doesn't throw on as a facade knows that rationally she needs this rest. So she grumbles and makes a big show of it, but does lay back down, her eyes already heavy and ready to pull her into slumber.
"I'll let you know when I'm done, and what sort of information I've gathered. Don't worry. If it's one thing I'm good at, it's sniffing the truth out of people."
"I do hope so. Don't make me regret leaving this up to you," she mumbles out, body already waiting to slip into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness and Emma smiles at her.
Then she leaves and Regina turns on her side, snuggling deeper into her bed sheets and closing her eyes.
She dreams of vanilla cookies, so close, their scent so strong, that she can smell them. That night she wakes up so thirsty it hurts. It's like hot needles and broken glass down her throat trying to dig their way out- it hurts to swallow- and she claws at her neck trying to subside the pain until she can stumble over to the sink. She turns the tap on full blast and drinks and drinks so desperately, lapping at the cool stream feeling much like an animal. She's all but ready to suck the faucet dry, hand in a death grip on the handle, pushing up to increase the stream but there is no more it can go. And it all feels so good that she can't help but make happy noises as it slides down her throat, assuages that pricking sensation.
After what seems like hours she finally pulls free, stomach heavy with water and she pants trying to regain her breath. There is water down her neck, wetting her shirt and pooling around her feet where it has dripped down.
A light going on startles her and she squints at it's harshness that dares to rip away the comfort of the night. "Henry? What are you doing up?" because it's three in the morning and he is up, having flicked on the night stand lamp in the room over.
"I heard running tap water and thought I left it on." He's wiping the sleep from his eyes, confusion on his face as to what his mother was doing in the dead of night.
"Oh, no, it was just me." Regina offers a sheepish grin. "I was just thirsty. Really thirsty."
He gives her a long look, the clock on the wall ticking away the silence. There's suspicion on his face. "Are you okay?" he imparts at last and Regina grits her teeth in what she hopes is casual, hands clamped together in the front.
"Of course I am sweetie. Just really dehydrated."
He doesn't mention how scared he had been. Scared when he'd come down in the dark, seen someone bent over the sink, making animalistic noises as they feasted upon the water. Doesn't mention how Regina's eyes glimmer oddly in the night. "Okay," he nods his head and goes back upstairs, thinking he can blame all this on a sleep fuzzy brain.
Regina waits there a moment longer before she grabs a towel and mops up the mess around her, retreating upstairs when its all done. But if she thinks sleep will come easy to her she is wrong because she twists and turns in bed, the water sitting heavy in her stomach like it doesn't belong there. And when she finally drifts off to sleep, its fitful and painful and she wakes at dawn, aching all over. There's a soreness to her body she doesn't understand, doesn't know how it got except maybe for exerting herself yesterday when she hasn't eaten anything.
But as she trudges down to the kitchen and thinks of making some scrambled eggs her stomach clenches in rebellion and she knows nothing will go down. She really needs to visit Whale and soon. Stress is doing a real number on her body and she can't afford it to when she needs to be strong for her constituents. So she brews herself a strong cup of tea and waits for Henry to come down. He bounds down the stairs and immediately pounces onto his cereal.
"Good morning, Henry," she says as she settles down by him. "I hope you got enough sleep. Sorry for waking you up."
He shook his head, quickly swallowing down his mouthful to speak. "It's fine. I was just worried. Do you feel okay?"
"Why wouldn't I?" she gives him a full smile, trying to convince him she's totally fine.
He shrugs. "It's just after you collapsed yesterday, and then your screaming this morning-"
Regina's lips drop. "Screaming?"
"Yea, you were screaming a bit. I dropped by to see if you were fine, but by the time I came you were already back asleep." His eyes stay on her face, bullying her into telling him the truth but Regina shrugs and acts unaffected. "It must have had to do with some unpleasant past memories surfacing. They were intense."
He chews slowly on his next spoonful, gaze on her until Regina was forced to get up from her seat, uncomfortable with keeping things from him. He knows she said she wouldn't keep things from him, but in this case she can't tell him the truth about vampires being in their town because she doesn't want to scare him. Usually he is fearless because he knows Regina and Emma can always find a solution to something, but he actually fears the vampires because...well, it's not a story this time.
"Do you want a banana with your lunch today?" she asks, making it seem like she left so she could get this for him. She's already looking around the fruit bowl.
"No thanks, mom," he responds with and goes back to his breakfast. "You should eat it. To keep up your strength."
And Regina wonders if that's something else he has noticed too.
When he's off to school, Regina dresses for the day and meets with Emma at Granny's to discuss what can be done next about Cruella.
"Clearly, we have to keep her in quarantine. And then do regular check ups who she's been in contact with over the past weeks," Regina states while she watches Emma scarf down a full breakfast, whole slices of greasy bacon and sausages going down like nothing. It's kind of...disgusting, though Regina is fascinated by the way Emma's throat bobs with each swallow. It's such a nice neck too. Soft, tempting, and descending down into collarbones that have a pop to them. They make Regina want to run a tongue over them.
"Regina? Regina?"
Regina jerks back to reality realizing she's been absentmindedly staring at Emma's neck. "Sorry, I'm still out of it since yesterday."
Emma frowns at the lie but says nothing on it, instead repeating. "I said do you still think the virus is airborne?"
"Uh..." Regina trails off because her throat is burning like you wouldn't believe and she's so damn thirsty again. She grabs the glass of water by Emma and tips it back, not stopping until it's all empty. She sets the glass down heavily, breathing out heavily. Emma's brow is up while a forkful of food hovers in midair. "Um?"
"I was...thirsty," Regina concludes, suddenly embarrassed by her behavior. She shoves the empty glass back to Emma, thirst slaked for now. "But back on topic, I'm not sure if the virus is airborne. I thought it was, and then you were fine even though you were exposed to Hook. But for safety's sake let's not take any chances.
Emma nodded her head. "Got it." She finished the last bite of her meal and shoved the empty plate away. "Shall we visit our prisoner?"
They both stood up to go see Cruella, Regina's legs aching with the motion. Even sitting was painful and she wondered why the hell did she feel this beat up when she hadn't even really fought Cruella yesterday? Were her muscles atrophying due to lack of food? She really should see Whale and soon. She'd schedule an appointment for tomorrow.
"Now, tell me what you found out on the Queen's of Darkness." Regina had slept through the whole day yesterday so she'd missed any opportunity she'd had for Emma to relay information back to her.
"They've all had regular contact with her over the past two weeks, though they stopped seeing her around three days ago."
Regina nodded her head. "That's when the changes must have really erupted and then finalized." Regina was beginning to sweat under her light blazer; since when was it this fucking hot outside? She pulled on the collar of it to get some fresh air but all it did was make her hotter. So she rolled up the sleeves; that didn't help either.
"I asked them if they had noticed Cruella acting out of the ordinary," Emma went on, pulling out a pad on which she had taken some notes on. "They said she seemed a little sick for a bit. Like she had caught the flu. Mal was the first to notice it; said she gave some herbs to Cruella to keep up her strength. Ursula said she'd come over to Cruella's house to help her out until she got better, but then Cruella stopped wanting to have guests, saying she was busy redecorating or something. They didn't pry, figuring it was some petty villain scheme Cruella didn't want anyone sticking their tail or tentacle into."
Emma's words were beginning to swim in Regina's ears and the street was suddenly tilting sideways. Was it supposed to do that? She felt like a drunk, trying to learn to walk. And the sun's glare was so fucking strong! It made everything glow in a damned white light. It hurt her eyes.
"Do you think they have a chance of being infected? I asked if they felt any of the symptoms you'd given me a list for, but they said nothing had occurred yet. Which, I guess makes sense given it takes two weeks for someone to turn into a vampire. Also, they want to know what happened to Cruella, and why we're asking all these questions." When Regina didn't say anything, Emma looked up and finally noticed how bad Regina looked.
The woman's leg buckled and Emma caught her just in time, slowly lowering her to a nearby bench. "Regina, what is going on? You look terrible."
"I...I don't know," she muttered out, barely able to see Emma's face for all the blinding light. She reached out a hand blindly and grabbed Emma's face. "I think...I need to go home."
"Did Cruella hurt you yesterday? Did she do something to you?" Emma asked, slightly panicked and already lifting Regina up and hobbling with her to the car they'd been trying to get to. It was only a block away.
Regina shook her head. "No...just stress."
"Stress doesn't do this to someone, Regina. Are you sick?"
But answering Emma's questions was getting to be too much. She just wanted to go somewhere cool and dark where she could stop the burning of her skin and the brightness of the day. They finally got to Emma's car and she dropped Regina into the passenger seat before rushing over to the driver's side and peeling out of the street quickly. She knew she could poof them over much more quickly, but she didn't want to risk it with Regina in this state.
In the car it was slightly darker and cooler and for that Regina was relieved. The slight delirium she had fallen under decreased and she began stripping off her blazer.
"What are you doing?" Emma declared as Regina now took to unbuttoning her shirt.
"I'm hot. And I need to cool down."
"Then don't undress! I'll turn the Ac on!" Regina completely missed the flushed expression on Emma's face as she fumbled with the car's buttons. Within moments cool air was blowing in and Regina plastered herself to the vents, letting the cool air waft over her. She couldn't help the relieved groan that left her mouth. Finally, some respite. She stayed in that position the whole time, even flapping open the top three buttons of her shirt to get more cold air under.
Emma kept having to tear her eyes away from how Regina's cleavage almost spilled out of the open gap.
When they arrived at the mansion, Regina was feeling better. Gone was the hot flash. Maybe it was menopause after all, and coupled with the stress, it was making her feel weird and out of control about her own body. Still, scheduling that appointment with Whale would be a good idea.
In the cool shades of her mansion Regina was able to retrieve her bearings and immediately opened her fridge to get some cool water. She was parched.
"So...uh, you gonna be okay?" Emma scuffed the floor with her socks, clearly worried over Regina. That had been quite a scare. Emma had never seen Regina so out of it before. What had brought it on?
"Yes, I'm fine now," Regina said after she had drained her glass in one go and went to replenish it. "Just a hot flash, I believe."
Emma nodded her head, considering Regina's words. "You should go see Whale about it-"
"I know," Regina cut in impatiently. "But time has been tight recently given all we have to do. Leave me your reports on the Queen's of Darkness and let me handle what comes next with them. We can't let them know vampires are loose in this town."
Emma obediently handed over her notes to Regina but still stayed there, rocking back and forth in place.
"Yes?" Regina arched her brow impatiently. What more could Emma want? Regina needed to go and shower, her skin gross and sweaty and muscles aching from her hot flash.
"I...just don't want to leave you alone when you're not feeling so well-"
"Emma, I assure you, I'm fine now. And if I need help, I'll let you know." Regina hated calling out for help and most likely wouldn't, but she had to say that to make Emma leave her in peace.
A brief thought cut through Regina like ice. What if she was...becoming a vampire? She had a sudden loss of appetite and the sun had weakened her...but why would she have these symptoms? She had barely interacted with Hook and she hadn't stepped foot out enough into the outside world to catch anything. Because if Emma had been outside and she hadn't gotten anything, than neither should Regina. It wouldn't make sense.
Maybe she was malingering? Assigning these symptoms to herself because she was so obsessed with them? What if she was so stressed from thinking about them that she was somehow convincing herself she was sick? It could be a possibility.
Reasoning made her feel at peace once more.
Emma frowned, sensing the lie but didn't let on that she knew. "Be sure that you do. Or else I'll come by to check on you." Then Emma went off to finish her police patrols while Regina sipped on her glass more slowly now, glancing over the notes.
Emma may have said the Queen's were symptom-less but Regina knew better. It was time she paid them a visit herself.
A/N: This story doesn't take place during any particular season of the show. But it is definitely after season one, and though Regina's curse is broken, her magic still protects the town. The Queen's of Darkness are here, Elsa and her Frozen team are not, and neither are Rumple and Belle.