DONE! WHEE!
TITLE: In The Shade
AUTHOR: Sanguinary
COPYRIGHT: August 29, 2002
DISTRIBUTION: Anklebitters. Ask if you want it anywhere else.
RATING: PG 13
CATEGORY: Horror, Vampires, Slash, AU
SPOILERS: TTT and RotK
DISCLAIMER: None of J.R.R. Tolkien's characters belong to me
FEEDBACK: If you liked it, drop me a line: Sanguinary_515@hotmail.com
SUMMARY: Merry isn't right. Sam worries. Pippin pays the price.





Days passed as they always had in Middle Earth. Sam found other things to keep his mind off his betrayal of Frodo. He visited often with Merry, watching the young vampire as he learned to adapt to his new world, and Pippin. Pippin seemed to find himself the odd one out, being as he was the only of their tight group that still had a pulse. This had led to some uncomfortable situations when Merry and Sam were forced to feed. Sam chose to eat farther away from the castle and prey on small animals. Merry, however, was content to feed in the castle, killing the larger hunting hounds and cats. Pippin tried to hide his disgust at the feeding but Sam could always smell it radiating off Pippin in waves, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Frodo rarely strayed from the storage room where he slept. Sam caught glimpses of him every once in a while as Frodo hunted in the city. The sudden explosion of missing and mutilated pets had the guards working twice as hard to keep the city safe. Luckily for the Hobbits, the Men rarely paid attention to their going about through the city. But all it would take was one mistake to get them all killed.

Which was why Sam was keeping an eye on Merry.

Something queer had happened when Merry changed over. Something wrong. Sam first got a glimpse of this when he encountered Merry in the garden two nights after his transformation.

Merry had been sitting on one of the marble benches, a tiny bird in his hands, "Everything's different." He had remarked quietly to Sam, "Realer. Newer."

Sam remembered staring at the sky and thinking how strange the moon seemed now. Its pale glow had replaced the golden warmth of the sun and Sam missed that light dearly, wishing he could see it one more time. But that way led towards death. Though he no longer had anything to exist for, he still couldn't bring himself to end the mockery of his existence yet. "You get used to it."

"Do you?" Merry had stared eagerly into Sam's face, "You shouldn't. It should always feel like this with everything so fresh and bright." Merry suddenly crushed the bird in his hand. It screamed, a last, shrill cry for help. Blood oozed, streaming down Merry's knuckles. He licked it off, obviously enjoying the taste of blood and the bird's pain.

Sam had watched, disgusted and yet hungry. Not for the first time, he wondered if the path he had chosen had been the right one. Would things have gone better if he had left Frodo to die at the base of Mount Doom? Merry would not have become this if he had…

No. He couldn't have let Frodo die then, he still couldn't let him die, even knowing what his choice had come to. Sam loves Frodo so much that it is no longer an emotion. Its just part of Sam, like his hands and feet.

Like his fangs and red eyes. For better or worse, it's part of who he is.

But he still couldn't help but think he made a mistake with Merry. He was proved right this night.

He had been coming back from his feed when the overwhelming scent of blood smacked him in the face. The scent was tantalizingly familiar, putting an edge on the mild hunger that Sam had been feeling. He knew the scent as if it were his own.

"Pippin."

Sam ran towards the aroma of freshly spilt blood, hoping that Frodo hadn't lost himself to the hunger again. There were Men in the city who were beginning to become suspicious of the Hobbits. Merry's strange behaviour coupled with Sam's own inability to go out into the light had caused Aragorn to take another look at his little friends.

The scent grew stronger the closer he came to the twined hedges that marked the entrance into the garden. Sam looked down the garden path and spotted two familiar shapes locked in an embrace.

They looked like a pair of lovers taking comfort in the darkness. But Sam could tell that the low murmurs and heavy breathing were not those of love. Sam rushed towards them. "Merry Brandybuck!" Sam shouted, shoving the vampire away from his gasping cousin. "What have you done?" Sam cried angrily and slapped Merry's face.

Merry hissed in pain and leapt at Sam. Sam easily dodged the larger Hobbit, "You may be bigger than me, Merry, but I'm still more than a match for you. You're not used to your new body. I've lived in mine for near six months."

Merry tried once more but Sam tripped him up, sending him crashing into the cold stone floor. While Merry groaned, Sam walked over to Pippin to see how much damage had been done.

Pippin's wrists and throat were covered in bite marks, some shallow, others deep. He was still awake but looked in too much pain to do much of anything. There wasn't much blood left in Pippin's veins. His blue eyes fixed on Sam and pleaded silently for help.

Merry rose unsteadily to his feet and pushed his body between Sam and Pippin, "I tried to make Pippin one of us but... I don't know how you made me. And Pippin wouldn't tell me. I know he saw you make me but nothing I did would make him speak."

"Trust a Brandybuck to test the waters with both feet." Sam looked at Merry with disgust, "You may have killed him forever if I hadn't come in and you may still if you don't let me near him. Stand aside Merry, I'll not stand by and watch another of my friends die. I'm damned already, I may as well finish what I started."

Sam stepped towards Merry and this time Merry moved quickly out of his way. Sam crouched down beside Pippin and leaned Pippin's head back. The youngest Hobbit was dazed. Sam opened his wrist and pressed it to Pippin's pale lips.

Pippin gulped greedily from Sam's bleeding wound. Soon, Sam was forced to stop him, lest he be drained empty. Merry paced back and forth the entire time but never came close, afraid of Sam's wrath.

Sam lifted Pippin and carried him into the castle. Merry followed, snarling like an angry house pet but Sam paid him no mind. "Where are you going with Pippin?" Merry asked indignantly.

"I'm taking him someplace safe to sleep the day away. As for you, I suggest you get back to the hole where you sleep."

"I'm coming with Pippin."

"No you're not. He's going to rise without you hovering over him. Now go or I'll make sure that Pippin doesn't rise at all."

"You don't have that power." But Merry sounded uncertain.

"I do so, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and I have the power to kill you as well if I wished. Now get out of my sight before I kill you sooner rather than later!" There was anger in his words, anger disguising the pain he felt saying them. They had once been great friends, Hobbits who understood each other. Merry had been there when Sam had longed for Frodo, had given understanding and helped him put his feelings where they couldn't be seen. Sam had been there through Merry's realization of his feelings for Pippin and had guided Merry on the path with Pippin that Sam had been unable to follow with Frodo. But now, there was a gap that neither of them could bridge.

Merry snarled once more but retreated down the hall, disappearing into the darkness. With a sigh of frustration, Sam walked to his own hideout, far from the assigned bedrooms given to them by Aragorn as it wouldn't do for any of the Men to be questioning why the windows were covered with heavy drapes and why the scent of death lingered. The small stone room had been a bedroom at one time and, with some blankets Sam had scavenged, he had turned it into his hideout. Sam sat on the blankets, nestling Pippin's head in his lap.

Pippin was slow to die. Whether that was due to Merry's botched attempt at turning him or whether it was because of the strong life force within Pippin, Sam wasn't sure. But he held Pippin's head and tried to reassure the young Hobbit, not even a full adult yet. Never to be a full adult.

And, as Pippin drew his last breath and died in Sam's arms, something within Sam flashed. The epiphany hit hard and fast, leaving Sam gasping for air as he realized what he had to do. He stood and wrapped Pippin in the blankets. "Sorry, Pippin." Sam picked up a sharp object beside his bed, "Forgive me for not teaching you what you need to know." He pressed a kiss against Pippin's forehead and left the room.

Sam walked through the corridors with a purpose, his eyes fixed on something only he could see. Determined, he pushed open the door to the storage room where Frodo slept.

One look inside revealed that Frodo was out, possibly hunting. Dawn was coming fast so all he had to do was wait.

It wasn't long until he saw a shadow appear at the hole beneath what had been Merry's bed in the House of Healing. Frodo dropped down through it and landed on his bed of rags. It was only then that he noticed the intruder.

"Sam!" Frodo hissed and turned to bolt.

"Wait! Please don't go. Not yet."

"What are you here to do? Apologize?" Frodo's voice was stronger than before and his words were strung together in the proper fashion, "No apologies Sam. You made your choice."

"I know. And that's why I need you to do it." Stepping forward, he pressed the sharp weapon into Frodo's palm.

"What's this about?" Frodo looked at the wooden stake Sam had placed in his hand.

"You killed Gollum in the Dead Marshes." Sam unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall open. "I want you to do the same to me."

Frodo looked incredulously at Sam, "This makes no sense."

"I killed you, Mr. Frodo. I drained you and made you into what I knew you'd never accept being. I broke my promise to you. I did a lot of wrong and I can't apologize for it because you won't accept it... I need you to do this for me, for us. If you destroy me, I'll have paid my debt to you. I know you hate me and I can't stand to go on with you feeling that way."

"I won't, Sam."

"You have to. I did what I promised I wouldn't do." Sam touched Frodo's shoulder, dreading what was to come but knowing it was necessary, "I need you to do it. I can't ask for forgiveness but I can ask you to do this."

"There's no way that I'll kill you."

"Why not? You hate me."

"I don't hate you, Sam."

"Then what do you feel?" Sam could feel his frustration mounting. "All I know is that I betrayed you and now you hate me for what I did. But if you don't hate me, then what do you feel?"

"I don't... I can't..." Frodo tried to find the words but they wouldn't come and he dropped the stake onto the floor. "I won't hurt you. I don't hate you but I can't forgive you. Not yet."

Sam knew his disappointment must have shown on his face because Frodo wrapped his smaller hands around Sam's larger ones. "Give me time. I know you didn't have a choice. But you broke your promises twice and it hurts. It hurts me. It hurts us all."

"I'm sorry." Sam bit the inside of his lip, trying to keep the tears away, "I've been so selfish..."

Frodo shook his head, 'Sam, you know that's not true. If there's anyone less selfish than you, I haven't met him yet. And I love you because of it." He kissed Sam's lips and pressed their foreheads together, "I could never stop loving you, no matter what happens."

The tears that Sam had been trying vainly to hold back came loose and streaked down his cheeks.

Suddenly the door burst open and Gimli leapt in, brandishing his axe. Legolas, with an arrow notched in his bow, at his back. They stared in open amazement at Frodo, who had been presumed dead, but their faces hardened as they noticed the bloody tears trailing down Sam's face. Evidently Aragorn was acting on his suspicions.

"Mordor-spawn." Gimli hissed.

Sam's hopes burst as he looked up at the wooden arrow pointing towards his chest. "On your feet." Legolas demanded.

Frodo and Sam had no choice but to comply. As they walked out of the room, Sam wondered what would happen to them. And what would Pippin do when he woke alone?

It seemed the harder Sam tried to make things right, the more they became terribly wrong.

~fin~