TW: this chapter discusses different kinds of abuse (not detailed) as well as suicidal thoughts.
Huge thanks to SecondSeraphim from AO3 for betareading this chapter!
Chloe groaned when she heard her phone buzz. Not opening her eyes, she mumbled sleepily:
"Rach, can you turn it off?"
No answer.
"Rach?"
Jolted awake by a sudden gut feeling, Chloe opened her eyes and turned around. She was alone in her coffin. She'd gotten in with Rachel, in the wee hours of the morning, and they'd fallen asleep snuggling against each other… and Max had been a little grumpy about having to sleep alone. And now Chloe was alone. Rachel was gone. Again.
Her heart frozen with fear, the girl jerked around in her hurry to get out, but only managed to knock her head against the lid.
Ouch! Okay, chill out, Chlo, she's probably somewhere in the room. Yeah, surely she woke up earlier than you.
She checked the time on her phone: 4 pm. And while she was at it, she saw the messages were from her mom. She was gonna check that later. First, Rachel.
She opened the lid and took a look around. Nope, no sign of Rachel in the room. Now this didn't look good. She didn't go out by herself, did she? Feeling again the cold grasp of panic squeeze her heart, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, inhaled through the nose and…
Rachel was close by. She smelled her. Her natural scent, coupled with the tang of weed.
This should have been your first reflex, you idiot. You have super scent, use it for fuck's sake!
Relieved, she stepped out to the kitchen area, then through the open blast door and up the concrete staircase. As she reached the barn, she thought about her sunglasses, but quickly realized she wouldn't need them: the weather was spectacularly shitty today, and the barn was bathed in a rather depressing gloom.
There she was, sitting on a rickety wooden platform above her, her back against a rusty truck engine, staring at a hole in the ceiling in thoughtful silence while taking long drags from a joint.
"Morning sunshine," Chloe cheered as she climbed up to join her. "Thought you'd bailed on me again."
Rachel turned towards her with a cheerful yet tired smile, and Chloe was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by pink baby skin where, the night before, there had been bare flesh and bone. The face she'd known and loved was whole again for her to enjoy.
"What?" Rachel asked as she noticed the surprised look in Chloe's eyes. "Something on my face?"
"No, not at all."
"Shit," Rachel exclaimed, touching her face with mock anxiety. "Where did I put my nose?"
"Idiot," Chloe snorted as she playfully shoved her friend, who snorted in return. "How you doing?" she then asked as she sat beside her. "You been up long?"
"I think I barely slept at all, to be honest. Sure, the coffin's a lot comfier than I first thought, but… still processing all that shit from last night, you know. I kept turning and turning, then I gave up like an hour ago and came up here."
Last night, yeah. After they'd returned from their trip to Lacroix's place, while waiting for Max, Chloe had given her The Talk. And…
"Yeah, I get that. By the way, I'm surprised you took it so well, I mean, thought you'd be a little harder to convince."
"Dude," Rachel snorted, "I literally watched a Frenchman go Palpatine on your ass, survive six gunshots at point blank range, turn into a flock of bats, freeze us like pizzas, and finally turn to a fucking flaming skeleton! At this stage, I was willing to believe anything!"
"Fair enough," Chloe laughed.
"Though I still don't get why Max's mentor tried to kill me."
Chloe shrugged: "Your guess is as good as mine. Motherfucker went batshit crazy, no pun intended. You know, I'm not even surprised, I always thought it would end like this. Dude tried real hard to look cool but from the moment I met him, I knew he was a ticking time bomb. I could sense it, David was like that at first, trying to be the nice stepdad and when he'd had enough…"
She raised her hand and swiftly slapped the air. "Bang," she added. "Seriously, we're way better off without him. Lacroix, I mean."
"Have you got an idea what really happened to him? I mean, it looks like he… self-destructed or something, is that a thing vampires do when we're stressed out or pissed off? Like, we literally explode?"
Chloe hollered in rib-hugging laughter upon hearing this. It was long. So long Rachel was getting a little vexed.
"Seriously," she said once she'd managed to compose herself, "I'm glad this isn't something we do, otherwise I'd be dead again by now!"
"Okay, Einstein," Rachel retorted, "so what's your explanation?"
"You wanna know what I think of it?" Chloe asked with an impish smile on her lips. "Remember the lookout?"
"The lookout?" Rachel frowned for a few seconds then, as realization hit, her eyes opened wide with disbelief. "No, you don't mean…"
Chloe nodded, her smile getting bigger and bigger. "Yup. Looks like our fire witch really had fire powers after all."
"No fucking way!"
"And you overbaked the shit out of that baguette."
"Wait wait wait, so I… is this something we can do?"
Chloe shook her head: "Far as I know, we got many powers but fire ain't one of them. This is just you, babe."
"So if I…"
Rachel raised her hand in front of her, palm upwards, and studied it intently. So intently, in fact, that veins began to protrude on her forehead.
"Don't wear yourself out," Chloe warned her, "our powers only work at night."
"Shit," Rachel sighed despondently as she dropped her hand. "So much effort to look like an idiot!"
"Hey, don't worry about that," Chloe nudged her. "We can get some training done after sunset. Pass me the spliff?"
"Sure."
The bluenette took a drag and stared in empty space, rubbing elbows with her long lost girlfriend in awkward silence. There was so much to say… so much to ask… but where to begin?
"Rach?" she asked, finally jumping into the fire.
"Yeah?"
"A few days ago, Max and I, we… we visited Nathan at the hospital."
"Really? I guess it wasn't a social call, was it?"
"Not really, no. I was really pissed at him for… well, for everything, and I kinda tortured him a bit?"
Rachel let out a chuckle of surprise: "Oh shit, poor thing! You didn't hurt him too much, at least?"
"He's still breathing, if that's what you're asking. But I wanted to know… I needed to know who I should be most mad at for killing you. He kept saying he didn't kill you. It was Jefferson who gave you the fatal shot."
"Yeah," Rachel sighed, then she closed her eyes and her delicate features creased as she relived those painful memories. "He's right, it was Jefferson. I was out of it for the most part, but there are things that are coming back to me. Like my wild walk around town last night, I remember the forest, and I had some kind of dissociative episode in the junkyard, when I got back in control I was on the boardwalk, thinking 'must find Chloe! Must find Chloe!' and then I saw Stella Hill and I think I bit her and it happened again and I woke up in your room. Fuck, did I really bite Stella? Is she okay?"
"Oh, I guess, she didn't look too bad when we found her and took her to the hospital. I'm gonna ask Max, to be sure."
She took out her phone and fired a quick text.
"So," she said, "about Nathan… so he was right. Good thing to know he wasn't a filthy liar on top of being a psycho scumbag. Makes me even feel a little guilty to be honest…"
"He still kidnapped me, helped Jefferson take his pictures, and then he killed you, if it makes you feel better."
"That's actually a good point. There is, uh… one thing he said." She clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. "It's a little tough to ask."
"Yeah? What is it? Go on, shoot."
She took a deep breath and, with a slightly trembling voice, blurted out:
"He said he could never have killed you because he loved you, but you could never belong to him because you were with Jefferson."
There was a heavy silence.
"Is it true?"
Rachel sighed in pain again. "Yes."
Chloe dropped her head in her hands and whispered a desperate "Holy shit…"
"It's not what you think," Rachel said.
"Then… what is it?" Chloe asked with sobs in her voice.
"Look, we… we had broken up, again, and I went to him for advice for modeling, you know? He agreed to give me some tutoring, do some free shoots for my book, stuff like that, and he was so nice and supportive, and you were not there, so I… we…" she shrugged and concluded with: "Guess I don't need to draw you a picture, right?"
"Did it… last long?"
"We got back together a couple months later and I told him we couldn't… see each other anymore, outside of photo work. He was so sweet, so understanding about the whole thing, he said yeah, sure, and he kept helping me like nothing had happened, it was awesome, I really appreciated, and trusted him…" she let out a sour snicker. "And all for him to use me like a fucking doll for his sick side gig and discard me in the junkyard like a piece of trash when he was done."
Chloe looked at her. Rachel stared with woeful eyes, and said:
"I'm sorry."
"Fuck," Chloe sighed, overwhelmed by the thought of what her friend had to go through. The pain, the terror, the betrayal… this man had manipulated her to use her, his monstrosity was… unthinkable. How could she possibly blame her? So she wrapped her arms around the blonde's shoulders and drew her closer, and her heart fluttered a little when she felt Rachel melt in her embrace. It felt good.
"You don't need to be sorry," she said with a comforting tone, just before she planted a little kiss on her forehead. "I didn't know… fuck, I wish I knew… maybe I could've protected you from him… what… did he do to you? Do you want to talk about it?"
Much to her relief, Rachel shook her head. "I'd rather not," she said. "It's too… too…"
"Yeah. I know."
They remained in a tight, loving hug for a moment, until Chloe's phone buzzed. Groaning at the disturbance, she took it out, read the message, and happily announced that Stella was alive and well.
"Oh by the way," she added, "I got some messages that woke me up. From mom."
"Oh? What does she say?"
"Hi, honey, I hope you had a nice sleep?" Chloe read aloud. "I can't say I slept well myself, I had so many nightmares! Anyway, what's done is done and I hope we won't have any other problems. I'm so glad my girls are back! Are you coming over for dinner today? David is going to buy new doors after work, how about you put this super strength of yours to good use and help him install them? XO and give Rachel and Max a hug for me!"
Rachel chuckled upon hearing that: "So she discovers we have super strength and her first idea is to use us as free labor?"
"Knowing how she rolls, I'd rather think she's trying to trick me into having a bonding moment with David over a DIY session."
"Oh, the horror! By the way, you realize you just called him David? Where's Stepdouche gone?"
Chloe shrugged: "Just starting to reassess my opinion on him… I mean, his number last night was pretty badass, wasn't it? Starting to think Max may have been right and he might not be such a bad guy after all."
Rachel opened her mouth in shock: "Who are you and what did you do with my Chloe?"
"No, I'm serious! He's still a dumbass, don't get me wrong, it's just… we had a talk earlier yesterday, and he sounded really sincere about wanting to do things right this time, and Max told me how sad he was while I was gone… so, think I might consider giving him a second chance."
"Damn, Max is a good influence on you, isn't she?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I remember the stories you told me about you and her, as kids. You were the feisty one and she was the voice of reason…" she sighed. "Looks like things haven't changed one bit."
"Is that jealousy I feel?"
Rachel erupted in laughter: "Of course I'm jealous, stupid! I spend like six months in the ground and when I come back, I find that you're having a great time with your childhood crush, who wouldn't feel jealous? And I can't even be mad at her because we'd both still be stiff if it weren't for her, and damn I'm willing to admit she looks awesome! Seen how she jumped at the guy, snarling and biting, to defend you? Pure girlfriend material."
"We're not dating."
"Yet."
"She's with Victoria."
"And I'm sure it's making you mad as fuck."
"Rach, please, don't…"
"What?"
"Don't do this, it's… not helping."
Taken aback by Chloe's sudden stern tone, she backpedaled quickly:
"Oh. Sorry babe, didn't mean to distress you. I just want you to be honest with me. And with yourself."
"That's the thing, I can't! I can't because… it's difficult for me, right now. I don't know where my head is at. Last time I saw you, before you died… we had a fight, remember?"
Rachel nodded: "For me it still feels recent. We broke up."
Chloe nodded: "Another one of our 'break up and make up' phases. I remember telling you-"
"You didn't want to see me again."
"Yeah. At the moment, it didn't unphase me much, it wasn't the first time it happened, I was mad at you, I had strong words, but then I slept it off and the day after, I thought we'd just talk it out and hug and kiss and everything would be back to normal. Like always. But that time… you didn't answer my texts. You didn't answer the phone, your parents didn't know where you were, nobody did, you just… vanished in thin air. You can't begin to imagine how bad I felt, the guilt… one moment you're there, we have this fight, we break up, I tell you I don't want to see you again and the morning after, you're gone for real! I still do believe that what happened to you was my fault."
"No it wasn't! Like you said, we'd do that all the goddamn time, it's just a coincidence that this one time I got caught up with… you-know-who. Sure, I'd rather we didn't part this way, but it wasn't your fault! I promise!"
"Thanks. I needed to hear that. For real. I was such a mess, when you disappeared. I started fearing for your life, I had this gut feeling that something had happened to you, so I put posters everywhere. And as the weeks passed, nothing turned up. No body, no evidence of anything happening to you. Then I started losing hope. I started convincing myself you'd had enough of this town, and finally fucked off back to Cali… and left me behind. And I hated you for that. It all went downhill from there, and it could only end with me lying down on the dirty floor of a goddamn bathroom with a goddamn bullet in me. Somehow, I think I wanted this to happen. You were gone. My angel was gone. So what was the point?"
She paused, swallowed back a sob, and resumed:
"But then Max brought me back. My best friend who'd bailed on me when I needed her the most, and she returned to save me the second time I needed her the most. And she didn't just give me my physical life back, she… she made me feel alive again. She finally came back to me this week, and… she did nothing but show me her love and friendship. She made me smile, and laugh, like I haven't done in years…"
She jerked as she felt tears rolling down her cheeks, and she sniffled and wiped them off with the back of her hand.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this," she mumbled. "I don't think that's what you wanna hear, right?"
"Chloe… you really do love her, don't you?"
Chloe nodded sheepishly.
"Then why… why did you bring me back?"
"I brought you back because… when Max told me about what happened to you, and how you couldn't return because you'd been dead for too long, I… to be honest, I was devastated but also a bit relieved, because it meant you hadn't abandoned me. Yet… it didn't bring me closure the way it should have. It couldn't end this way between us, I felt, in my gut, that it couldn't. You were too important in my life, and I wasn't ready to let you go, I thought I was but I kept thinking about it, about how you left me just like… my dad… and if there was a chance, even a tiny chance to change things for the better, for once to have death give me something back after taking away so much… then I had to try."
"So you wanted me back for you? But, what you just said about Max… Chloe, what do I mean to you, for real?"
"I… we… first time I met you, I was in a very bad place, you know that. Just an hour before we met, I was standing in front of a goddamn train, wondering if I would step aside this time, or just let it run me over… and you were in a bad place too… together we've been through so much shit over the years. The last time I saw Max was actually the first time I felt my life was slowly going to go down the drain. Before that, we were a happy little family, and I had my best friend… all the moments I shared with Max were happy ones. I mean, except for Bongo, but that's… life, you know? But with you, it wasn't the same. You were there for me when I craved for someone to support me, and to love me… and I was there for you all the same. This is a bond… a bond I feel I don't have with Max. Yeah, she told me she had a tough time in Seattle, but I wasn't there to help her and she wasn't there for me, we each dealt with our own shit, and now, she got her life back together, she's a talented photographer, an über-cool vampire hipster, she's got a rich trophy girlfriend, she probably wanna go to college and get famous and shit… while me, I'm still the same useless gutterpunk, no future and shit, and as an extra bonus, I'm legally dead!"
She took a pause, took a drag off the joint, and sighed as she resumed, staring at the hole in the ceiling:
"I'm aware we don't belong to the same world, she and I. You, on the other hand… you've known me at my worst, I've known you at your worst, we may have gotten into more fights than I can count, but in the end it's always been Chloe Price and Rachel Amber against this shit town, right?"
"So," Rachel sneered, "if I understand well, you brought me back because I'm as much of a hopeless trashfire as you are, right?"
"No, stupid," Chloe chuckled as she shoved her playfully. "I brought you back because I can't imagine going on with my life without you. I brought you back because…"
Her throat squeezed and her eyes started to itch again, and she had to make an effort to utter:
"Because I love you."
"But you said you loved Max?"
"I know, that's why it's such a mess in my head. I didn't know it was possible, but… I think I love you both. Does that make sense to you?"
Rachel didn't answer and stared at the ceiling herself, lost in thought. Chloe began playing with her fingers nervously.
Why didn't she answer? Is she hurt? Of course she is, stupid, you just told her she's not the only one you love anymore. And you might also have accidentally called her a hopeless trashfire?
Goddammit, way to go, Chlo! Now try to make it up, say something! Anything!
"Not to mention you're hot as hell," she said with a smirk, and to her greatest relief, this made Rachel laugh.
"Even hotter than Max?" she teased.
"It's, uh, different."
"I guess it is. When you talked to me about her, you never mentioned how hella cute she was. I mean, those freckles!"
Feeling flustered, Chloe stuttered:
"Wait, is it me or are you having some kind of crush on her too?"
"Mmh… maybe… anyway, let's be realistic, you could never find anyone hotter than me!"
"Yeah, especially now that your face is…"
She shut up as soon as she heard these words come out of her mouth, but it was already too late.
"What about my face?"
Shit.
"Oh, nothing. Forget it."
"C'mon, now you can tell me," Rachel said.
"Tell you what?"
"About my face. I wasn't really paralyzed last night, was I?"
"Not really, no… you really wanna know?"
"Why? Look, last night you already told me about how you dug me out and brought my rotten body back to life, so there's hardly anything that'll shock or surprise me anymore."
"Yeah, well… your skin hadn't grown back completely, you looked like Two-Face."
There was a moment of silence as Rachel stared at her with wide eyes, and then she burst out laughing:
"Seriously? Dang, that must've been metal as fuck! Hope you took a picture, at least?"
"I got the image in my head, thought I'd sketch it while it's still fresh, it'd make a cool tat design, or I could put it on my skateboard, that'd be badass. But I couldn't take a photo, it, uh, doesn't work. You know that stuff about vampires and mirrors? Same thing."
"Oh." She mused about it for a little while, then shrugged: "Well, guess unlike me, my modeling career died for good."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay. I mean, sure it sucks to have to kiss this dream goodbye, but at the same time…" she giggled: "Dude, I still can't get over the fact that we're real freakin' vampires! I mean, can you even begin to imagine the possibilities? We could clean up this whole fucking town and literally nothing could stop us!"
"Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. Baguette kept trying to talk us down, but now that this murderous bastard is gone… we still got to be subtle though, we've already come way too close to a complete shitshow…"
Rachel nodded: "You and Max have already done so much, but the three of us, there is so much more we could do! Imagine this: no longer Rachel and Chloe against Arcadia Bay, now it's Rachel, Chloe and Max, the three Vampire Pirates against Arcadia Bay!"
She stood up as she talked and soon she was in full drama mode, standing straight with her chin high, her arms spread out and her voice booming:
"We're taking over this fucking shithole and we shall turn it into a paradise! Free from lies, free from corruption, free for us to live our lives as we damn please, and all who stand in our way shall suffer our wrath!"
Awed – and a little scared – by the passion she put in it, Chloe let out a nervous giggle.
"Yeah, err… aren't you taking it a little too far, maybe? We just want to expose bastards like Wells and Prescott, not play vampire dictators, though that sounds like a lot of fun…"
"What?" Rachel asked, turning to look at her, her eyes lighting up with a savage glow and lips parting in a vicious, predatory grin.
Chloe gulped.
"Are you opposing our goal?" Rachel asked slowly, her voice filled with menace, and she went down on all four and took a slow, deliberate step toward the bluenette.
"Rach, you're scaring me," Chloe whimpered as she started to stand up and step back at the same time. Unfortunately, she didn't realize how close she was to the edge of the platform, and she yelped as she felt herself fall and land on a thick stack of hay below.
"Oof!" she gasped.
Above her, Rachel was now crouching on the platform and staring at her, her fangs out, shaking her lovely butt like a cat about to jump on its prey.
"Rach, what the fuck-"
She was interrupted by the blonde dropping from the platform directly on top of her, and before she had time to struggle or protest, the punk was laying down on her back, Rachel straddling her and pinning her arms down.
"My first decree as Queen of Arcadia Bay," she hissed, "is that all those who oppose our noble goal shall suffer the ultimate punishment... bitten to death!"
And Chloe's confusion turned to childish terror as Rachel slowly caught the bottom edge of her shirt with her mouth and pulled it up to expose her belly. She knew what was about to happen.
She knew only too well.
Rachel opened her mouth wide and went for the bite, and Chloe started to jerk and giggle out of control as she felt the girl's teeth against her bare skin, applying not enough pressure to actually pierce her skin or hurt her, but just enough to tickle like crazy!
"Rach! Stop thee-hee-hee-heesss!"
"Do you surrender, then?" Rachel teased, and resumed tickling without giving her time to answer.
"Yea-hee-hee!" Chloe managed to utter pathetically. "I su-hu-hurrender, ple-hee-heess!"
The torture stopped. Chloe closed her eyes and caught her breath, attempting to calm down and let out the last of the giggles, when a sudden kiss on her lips jolted her and she felt Rachel's hands release her wrists and move slowly, caressingly down her arms and ribs to her waist. Confused, she didn't know what to do and did what her instinct commanded: she returned the kiss, and a moment later the two lost lovers were rolling in the hay, eating each other's lips, panting, groping and caressing each other under their shirts.
"Wait," Chloe whispered as she felt things were about to get steamy. "Rach, are you sure?"
"Yeah. Don't you want it?"
"I do, but… what about Max? You don't mind?"
"No. Look, if you love us both, you love us both, there's no point in fighting it. On the contrary, we can even make it work."
"What?" Chloe jumped in surprise.
"You heard me. From what I understand, the three of us are gonna be tight for, like, eternity, so we might as well not burden ourselves with couple and relationship issues and other mere mortal bullshit, right? After all, what's keeping us from loving each other the way we want, the three of us?"
Chloe couldn't believe her ears. "The three of us? Are you seriously talking about a… poly thing?"
"Sure, why not? Chlo, I love you, of that I'm sure, and I'm sorry if I made you doubt it at times. All those things you said about me, about the two of us, I feel the exact same way. Hell, I hated this town and my family so much, I'd probably have killed myself already if I hadn't met you. You were the only one in this town who understood me, and who felt authentic, no secrets, no bullshit, and I fell in love with you for that. And because you're super duper sexy. But let's face it, our thing has always been pure chaos. So, you dig Max, Max digs you, because it's so fucking obvious, and I feel I could dig her too, and she could be just what we need to make our couple work. Or should I say trouple?"
Chloe felt like her chest was on fire.
No way, no fucking way, this is too fucking good to be true!
"But… what about Victoria?"
Rachel let out a little laugh and winked at her: "Don't worry too much about her. Don't worry about anything, Chloe. Just leave it to me, trust me, and I'll bring you happiness like you can never imagine even in your wildest dreams."
Chloe's heart thumped in her chest so hard she felt her ribs were going explode. Her head was spinning. At this very moment, all her doubts and fears forgotten, she knew what she wanted, right now. She raised her head and kissed Rachel's lips.
"Make love to me," she murmured with a yearning desire.
Rachel kissed her back and grinned.
"My pleasure," she murmured.