a/n: Thank you all so much for reviews and faves! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Warnings: violence, mention of domestic abuse, lethal retribution, swearing

Chapter 11: Your Time is Gonna Come

Paul stayed true to his word. Except for the whole flying up the stairs thing. He didn't warn her about that. Asshole.

He dropped her off at the Boardwalk of all places. "Don't worry, babe. It'll be alright." She gave him the finger and walked off.

Darcy didn't head back to the motel. It'd be too easy for them to find her there. She's tempted to grab a bus and get the hell out of town but the last time she did that, they lashed out at Clark. She wasn't going to give them another reason for harming the few people she actually liked here.

Vampires. Fucking vampires. It made sense if she thought about it. The amount of people who went missing in this place was obscene. That didn't give her an answer as to what she was supposed to do though. She thought falling through time had been bad but this…this was something else.

She walked until she was on the opposite end of the town, away from the cliff, and sat on a rock, staring at the beach. Darcy watched as the sun rose, eating the now cold burger and trying to figure out her next steps. They said they wouldn't eat her, that she wasn't food, but what did that actually mean? Did that make her entertainment? Fuck that. How could she trust everything they said before?

If vampires existed now, how did they hide in her time? The future was rife with surveillance. That didn't mean people didn't go missing, but they had to be smarter. Even so, it seemed impossible that no one knew of them.

The more Darcy thought about it, the more confused she was. What did they want?

She eventually moved, heading to the Thrift store. Part of her screamed to just leave, run while she could but Darcy refused to let them chase her out of this town. She was here. It was hers now too.

Darcy changed before she opened the store. She sat there, feet on the counter while she considered what to do next. They said she wasn't food, but trusting them was like trusting a shark not to bite in blood-soaked water. She winced. Maybe that wasn't the best analogy.

"How's my favourite employee?"

Darcy looked up at Sampson who was entering the store. "Hey," she greeted. She didn't have the energy to banter with him. Not today.

Sampson came right to the counter, frowning slightly at her. "What's hanging, Darce? You do not look psyched." He paused for a second. "It's not Camila, is it?"

"What? No." Darcy shook her head. "No, it's just…stuff." It wasn't like she could tell him the guys hitting on her were a bunch of vampires. She didn't know what psych wards looked like in this age and she had no plans to find out.

"What's the skinny?" He leaned against the counter, looking at her. "Lay it on me. Maybe I can help."

Darcy considered it. She liked Sampson. He was a good man, even if he seemed off his gourd half the time. "I've been seeing these men," she said slowly. He just nodded, not questioning it. "I just found out that, I don't know. They're lying. Well, lying by omission. They said I was safe with them even if no one else is. I just…I don't think I can trust it."

"That's heavy," he nodded. "They treat you right?"

She gave him a small half-smile. "Better than anyone else."

"Darce, you're a primo babe. You're gonna set the world on fire and you deserve to be treated right. I don't know what brought you into my store, don't know your history but you ever think that maybe your family don't have to be your blood? You can find it by yourself. It ain't about what you should or shouldn't do, it's about what you feel. If they apologize, treat you right and don't do it again, what's the problem? You dig? You gotta surround yourself with people who will take care of you, help you out when you're sad, lend a hand when you need. Rest of it all don't matter."

That was probably the most she'd ever heard Sampson say. It gave her a lot to think about. Blood-sucking creatures of the night would be an improvement on her actual family. God, how fucking sad was that?

"I'll think about it." She didn't want to admit he actually got to her.

He slapped the counter. "Alright, chick. Camila's coming later. Run through the bread with her and cut out early. You're vibing like I did after I spent three days up on acid." He grinned. "Good times."

"I bet," Darcy raised her eyebrows as she agreed. Somehow, that did not surprise her.

He turned to leave, no longer seeming concerned with her state of mind. It was nice to know someone trusted her to make the right decision. "Later, Darce. Don't let the man get you down."

"Damn the man!" She called back to him. She heard him laugh before he left.

By the time night fell, Darcy was a little more settled. She still felt like burning down the cave and all the trash in it, but considering that the logistics made that impossible, she would maintain staying the hell away from them.

As usual, what Darcy wanted meant nothing to the rest of the universe. As soon as the sun set, Dwayne walked in. She grabbed the first thing she could reach and threw it at his head. He dodged and it smacked into the wall behind him.

"Get the fuck out!" She hadn't seen him since they slept together. Of course, he'd show up now. She grabbed the bat she had yet to put back with the little sports equipment they sold.

He raised his hands slightly but kept moving forward. "Hey, rosy-girl."

Darcy pointed the bat at him. "I said get the fuck out."

"Just want to talk."

"No. You're not welcome here." That was a thing, right?

"Public space, girl. Doesn't work."

She scowled. Did a motel count? She already had David in there once before. Maybe she needed to change rooms. "I don't care. What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you."

"You came, you saw, now you can leave."

He moved forward as if she didn't say anything. "Didn't think you'd react like this."

"What did you think? That was I going to bare my neck and say bite me?"

He smirked at her. "I'd be delighted to bite you anywhere, any time."

She was tempted to throw something else at his head. The only thing that stopped her was that she didn't want to clean up the mess. Plus, she had a better chance of actually hitting him with the bat. "Not interested."

"Not yet," he said with an air of absolute certainty. It set her teeth on edge. "If we wanted to hurt you, we already would have."

"That's not comforting."

"Still true."

"Yeah, well maybe I'm not into that," she nearly snarled. "I didn't fucking ask for your interest."

"But you have it. We're not going away because you're afraid. You're ours."

This time she did throw something. "Stop fucking saying that!" The stapler bounced off his chest but he didn't look phased.

"When have we ever lied?"

She pressed her lips together because she knew they didn't. As much as she'd like to claim it, they withheld things but they haven't lied. At least not that she knew about. "I don't give a shit. Get out."

"Like it or not, rosy-girl, the only place you've ever felt accepted is with us. You belong with us."

She clenched her teeth tight. She wasn't sure how he knew that, but it wasn't fucking fair for him to say. She knew she was fucked up, but vampires being the only ones who didn't make her feel like shit half the time was more than she was willing to bear. "Fuck you."

He smirked. "Whenever you want."

She rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure what I want isn't a priority for any of you." He moved forward and Darcy lifted the bat threateningly. He didn't stop. He did keep out of the range of her bat though.

"On my way back, passed a man smacking the hell outta his kid. Thought you might want to, how'd you say it? Help karma?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You expect me to believe you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart?"

"No. But I will out of yours."

She exhales sharply through her nose and considers it. She shouldn't do this. She shouldn't want to do this. Sampson's advice rang in her head again. It just felt a bit much to let vampires be her friends. Why did they have to be the ones that were trying to earn her trust?

"Is that real? Or you just trying to buy my friendship back?"

"Come find out."

Against her better judgment, Darcy went. She could practically hear her mother's voice berating her for making a stupid decision. But was it really stupid to be on the good side of vampires as opposed to being their meal? Dwayne had a good point. They could have killed her plenty of times before.

He didn't lead her to the others. She would have been beyond pissed. Instead, she found herself outside of a house. Dwayne put his finger to her lips before he grabbed her hand and ushered her to a window. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulled her so her back was pressed against his chest and nodded towards the window. She looked in.

It was exactly what he said. She saw two kids, both trying to be as silent and invisible as they could at the dinner table. The husband was gesticulating wildly as he talked. She could make out the tone of his voice but not his words. Not that she needed to.

Darcy glanced back at Dwayne but he simply nodded, leaving it up to her. She reached over and knocked on the window. The entire family looked up in surprise. Darcy wiggled her fingers at them. The father scowled and got up from his seat.

The window scraped open.

"What the hell are you doing in my yard?"

"Come outside," Darcy said. "Let's talk."

"Get the fuck off my property!"

Darcy shifted and looked at Dwayne.

"Still inside," he said. Of course. It was private property.

"I can fix that." Darcy grabbed the man's shirt and yanked him towards them. He tumbled out of the window.

She heard the scrape of chairs from the rest of the family as they came to see what was happening.

The man stood up, yelling at the two of them. Dwayne grabbed his hand before he could touch either of them in his anger. She didn't even see him move.

There was a snap and the man screamed.

Darcy leans back, wondering how far she's really going to push this and whether or not he's going to eat the abuser in front of her. She wasn't really sure she wanted to see that. She was still coming to terms with the whole vampire thing.

The mother was closer to the window, hand covering her mouth as she watched them. He seemed to finally notice because he started yelling at her. "Cheryl, you're fucking useless! Call the cops!" The mother looked like she was in shock while the silent children watched with no expression at all and the longer he yelled, the less sympathetic Darcy was feeling.

Dwayne was waiting, looking at Darcy while holding the man in place. The man noticed.

"You stupid bitch! Call off your pet faggot!"

Darcy scowled. There went the last of the sympathy. "Listen, you motherfucker. You'll be lucky to be able to walk when we're done. You touch another single hair on your family's head, I'll come back."

"Did you break him?"

Darcy's attention was pulled to the window where one of the kids had moved closer despite his mother's white knuckled grip on his shirt. "What?" The man started yelling again and she glanced at Dwayne who promptly covered the man's mouth with his other hand. At least her ears stopped ringing. "What did you say?" she asked again, trying to look a little friendlier. She wasn't trying to scare the kids.

"Did you break him?" the kid asked again.

"Not yet," she admitted.

"Are you gonna? Are you gonna break his arm like he broke Millie's?"

Darcy glances at the younger girl before she tries not to snarl as she looks at the man Dwayne is holding. "Did you break your daughter's arm? What is she, like five?" The man's eyes went wide. "Yeah, okay." She looked up at Dwayne. "Go ahead. Eat him if you can stomach it."

Dwayne grinned before his face changed and he bit down viciously. She watched as the man squealed and bucked in vain, scrabbling for purchase as the fight steadily drained out of him. Good riddance. They were doing the world a favour at this rate.

The body dropped and she had a feeling Dwayne dealt with it quickly and cleanly to help mitigate the disaster that was brewing. Which reminded her, she looked over at the family who was staring at them in horror.

"What are we going to do about them?" she asked.

Dwayne glanced at them before looking at Darcy. "Could tell 'em the old man went out for cigarettes and never came home?" He shrugged.

"And make them forget?" she asked. He nodded. "You can do that?"

He smirked. "Can do more than that."

"Like what?" She asked before remembering that there was a body between them. "Never mind. First, you deal with them. Make sure they get like at least three years therapy, okay? Hopefully he didn't have any girlfriends or extra kids stashed on the side somewhere."

Dwayne looked at her. "Wait here."

Darcy glanced down at the body before she shrugged. "Sure, I'll keep lookout. If you can get invited in."

He grinned. "Watch."

Dwayne got invited in without an issue.

Darcy left him to it, taking the chance to check the pockets of the dead man. Not like he was going to use it. She tosses the keys to the mother when she gets near the window. "Check every one."

"For what?"

"To see if you can match them up with a lock. If you can't, start going through papers to find out if he's renting a storage unit, po box, or safety deposit box. Then find out why. The fucker owes you and your kids everything you can get."

Darcy watched through the window as the little one, Millie, handed Dwayne a piece of paper. He knelt down to get closer to her. They talked quietly as Millie pointed at things on the paper before Dwayne nodded and motioned towards Darcy. His eyes met hers and her stomach flipped. For a killer monster, he was surprisingly gentle. He always had been…when he was around.

It felt like ages before Dwayne finally emerged from the house.

"That was cute," Darcy said, nodding towards it. "She seemed to like you."

"Kids do," he gave a small laugh. "Used to want some. Before."

She peered up at him. "How old are you?"

Dwayne shrugged before bending down and picking up the body like it weighed nothing. "Don't keep track."

Well, she couldn't blame him for that. She wasn't entirely fond of her birthday in general. The only bonus to aging was getting the hell out of her parents' house. "So what now?"

He turned to face her. One of his hands went to her waist as he pulled her into him. He leaned down, lips moving against hers just long enough for her to try to deepen the copper flavoured kiss before he pulled back. His mouth inches away from hers, he answered. "You decide, rosy-girl. We worth it?"

"Now that's the million dollar question, isn't it?"

[tbc]