I do not own any Disney characters named herein and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Vamped
By LJ58
2
Kim woke abruptly this time, her eyes sharp, clear and her vision making out details as she looked around her and realized she was in a place that felt very familiar. Only it was a distant memory because she knew this was not part of her life. Not in this lifetime. Still, she was somewhere she had been before, and she knew it on a level that penetrated all reason.
She looked around her and all but sneered as a young girl wearing only a short, white linen skirt came forward holding out a tall, golden goblet encrusted with jewels that were filled with dark liquid. She took the cup and gulped down the still-warm blood, sighing in contentment.
"Adequate," she quipped as she eyed the young girl who was barely into her teens. Still yet to be seasoned to her taste, a part of her mused indolently. "Now, where is the master," she demanded.
"He has gone out this evening, Lady," the girl bowed her head as she still held the tray with the empty goblet. "He left word he would return by midnight."
"Likely tending those annoying hunters our gypsies spotted," she smirked and rose from the bed to let two preteen girls come forward to dress her in flowing, emerald silks that contrasted with her dark red mane, and crimson orbs. "He does like to indulge himself at times."
"Lady," a young male not fourteen cried as he burst into her chamber just then before her robes were closed.
"You dare," she rasped, eyeing him as the boy was flung back, pressed against the outer wall, and held there as she only stared at him.
"For…..give me…..Lady. In….trudersssss," he choked.
"What," she spat, and let him drop as her gaze left him and she looked toward the door where she only now heard faint screams and the shouts of their retainers and servants.
"Hunters, Lady," the young teen rasped from where he fell. "They burst in upon us without warning. They seek you and the master," he warned.
Her crimson eyes narrowed, and she snarled as she bared sharp incisors as she growled, "They must have lured him out thinking to take me before he could return. I will show them their mistake," she said and flowed out of the room and down the hall to the winding stairs even as the sounds of fear and pain drew closer and louder.
"There," someone shouted from below as she appeared at the top of the steps.
She looked down at the four men armed with silver, garlic, and the usual trinkets. She saw her staff and serving girls lying dead around the men who were not sparing anyone and snarled in fury.
"You dare violate my home," she seethed and rushed toward the nearest man.
The man in priestly robes screamed before his head fell from his neck, severed by suddenly long nails as he went falling to spray his blood across her face even as she smirked at the other three. One barely a lad into his teen years.
"It's the Countess," the bearded one in common dress warned. "Back-to-back, lads," he said, moving to his own. "Give her no chance," he said even as he flung holy water into the air to fall in a spray.
She hissed and recoiled, even as someone fired a silvered bolt that lodged low in her chest.
She screeched but ripped it free, her hand burning from the contact, and flung it aside to glare at the men.
"We served your fool king, and this is our reward," she screamed as she flung herself at them.
"Our king is a godly man and honors no pacts with demons!"
"So, he is a false king without honor," she snarled.
Even as she closed on the men, it was the boy that shocked her. Barely a teen, he suddenly leaped impossibly high, a glowing sword appearing in his hands as he spun, and then her head was falling away, crimson eyes flared in shock as she saw her own body fall away as the two men now drenched it in holy water, as another staked her heart turning her corrupted flesh to ash before her still-living eyes.
Then the boy stood over her head and raised his sword over her staring, silent face as that glowing sword-point came down.
~KP~
Kim gasped as she cried out, hands batting away the nightmare as she came awake with a scream of denial.
"So," the voice rasped, the shadow over her again. "It is true. You were her," he said, smiling in a chilling manner at her as he sat on the edge of the bed where she sat up now, looking around in horror.
"I…. That was….a dream…."
"No dream, my long-lost Lady Krelandra. You were her. Are her. Lost to treachery centuries past after former allies lured me away so they could divide us, and slay us. The hunters I faced were….not so capable. Regrettably, those that faced you were…."
Kim just stared at him, confusing memories swirling within her even as he spoke.
"You…. You're saying I was that….that woman? That monster. That vision was real," she demanded uneasily, crimson tears brimming in crimson eyes though she had yet to realize her eyes had changed.
"You were my bride, lady. You were my countess and together, we held the eastern borders against barbarian hordes for generations. Until a new king decided he did not care for our alliance. You were slain, and I was driven into the shadows to hide. Only now you are finally reborn. You are finally restored to me," he smiled and put a cool hand to her cheek. "And I will never let you go again," he said with genuine feeling.
"I…. I'm not her," Kim rasped, pulling away as she climbed out of the bed only to find she was wearing a long, dark gown of lace and silk that was more black and gray than anything else.
"I know you are not the lady I recall, young one. Still, you have her spirit. In you, that spirit has finally returned. And I have given you the same gift I gave her when we last met."
"I'm…. I'm a monster," Kim shuddered and ran her tongue over incisors she now felt were more than normally sharp as she only then remembered him biting her. As she now remembered the blood that he had fed her and filled her, and strengthened her. Changing her.
"Drink, and you will be strong and better capable of bearing what you must," he said, and held out a goblet.
"Is that…..b-blood," she choked, somehow remembering that last cup in spite of being unconscious at the time.
"You need it now, my lady. Once two or three nights at the least, you must drink to stay strong and alive."
"But…you killed me," she realized, remembering her death as her own blood ebbed, and new blood filled her.
He chuckled coldly.
"Did I? Do you feel your breath stir?"
She frowned, and drew a deep breath, realizing she was still breathing.
"Do you feel your heart pound?"
Kim put a hand to her chest and swallowed hard as she realized her heart still thudded, just then fast and heavy, but it moved in her chest.
"We are not truly undead as those silly tales claim. We are but a different kind of life. One with our origins long lost in the mists of time. Once, our kind filled the mountains and plains of the northlands like flakes of snow. Then the new men came. They came with fire and silver, and they came with hate for anything different than them."
"I don't understand," Kim groaned. "How…."
She found herself salivating and finally took the goblet he still held out. Unable to help herself, she gulped down the blood and licked her lips clean.
She cried, staring in horror at the goblet at the end and demanded, "How can we not be monsters if we drink blood," she demanded.
"How is it men eat the flesh of other living animals, and yet are not deemed monsters or demons," he asked blandly.
"But…."
"That is blood," he told her. "As nourishing to us as the flesh of beasts to men. How is it truly different, my lady?"
"And…those missing men? The villagers?"
"The villagers fled in fear when their drones stumbled into my realm. The workers that came fell to their deaths. I buried them, knowing none would likely come after them. Yes, I took their blood. It was necessary, but I do have some courtesy for the dead," he said. "However they die."
"I don't understand. Those tapestries," she said, staring at the nearby one with the woman on the throne."
"A different time, my fated bride," he smiled. "Still, memories that were precious to me, because they are filled with you. Before you were lost. You yet need rest. You are weary. Confused. Lay and rest and let the memories come back to you. Let your true spirit rise and all will be recalled in due time," he smiled and gestured to the bed again.
"Fated bride," she scowled, staring at the door that closed behind the stranger's departure.
She frowned, and rose from the bed, feeling stronger now. She paused and eyed the goblet that still had a little blood left in it. To her shock, she found herself taking it and draining the last sips as she licked her lips.
It did make her feel stronger. It even cleared her mind somewhat.
Only she was still confused. So many things were mixed up now. Her apparent past life warred with her own true life, and it seemed they were warring with one another for dominance. Something warned her that if the past overwhelmed her, she would lose all she was and would have been. She would lose herself completely.
She sat and stared at the dreadful tapestry of the woman that sat like a king among the dead, and shuddered.
How could she have been her?
How could she have relished such a life at all?
She tried very, very hard not to think about it.
~KP~
Kim felt lost as a haze began to cloud her mind and thoughts as the crimson-eyed shadow continued to feed her blood, and give her glimpses of the past. She felt herself being pulled in two directions and sinking at the same time as if her very spirit were being dragged down into some dark, unrelenting pit.
She tried to resist. To deny it. Only the hunger came all too often, and when it did, he was there with fresh blood, and that made it all the easier to accept what was changing her. What had changed her?
"It is time," the tall shadow with pale flesh smiled a cold smile as she rose after what seemed an eternity to her.
She eyed him, but he carried no goblet this time. No offering of blood to ease her thirst, and dull her wits and mind. And the pain that came with that hunger that seemed to have become a part of her.
"Time for what," she asked.
"For you to remember and accept your true self, my beloved. An intruder has returned to our house. You will hunt as you once did, and by claiming him, you will free all you were, and are meant to be. So follow, and let us show this world that we still walk among them," he smiled a feral smirk.
She followed without complaint, thinking only of the growing hunger that had her body aching and demanding respite. She slid along the dark corridors with silent grace, barely aware of a sound that betrayed either of their passing. Then they reached a growing light that moved through one of the chambers ahead, and she heard a strangely familiar voice calling out to someone.
She had no clear memory of Ronald just then, but just the sound of his voice stirred something that had been fading of late, and she frowned as she paused, and looked ahead as she tried to understand what that familiarity might be.
"Prepare yourself, my beloved. The hunter awaits, and you cannot let him destroy you this time. For both our sakes, you must put him down first."
"Down…first," Kim murmured, still feeling a growing confusion.
She had no idea that Ron had been communing with his master who had warned of certain shadowy threats in the dark that was not only real but could slay body and soul were you not wary. Master-Sensei did not give him much hope if Kim had fallen to one such creature, but Ron refused to believe Kim was lost.
His longtime friend and once girlfriend was better than that. Better than some blood-drinking freak that wanted to play old games.
He returned to the castle in the cavern, and began to search again, and even as he was about to consider turning back until tomorrow after another long, fruitless search, he turned a corner and saw two pale, dark shapes standing before him in the long corridor he had just discovered.
"KP," he shouted in horror, staring at the pale shadow of her former self.
"K….P," the redhead in dark gray frowned.
"Ignore his prattling, my bride," the taller shadow growled as Kim stared at Ron in confusion, trying to decipher the confusion his face and voice caused in her.
Even as Ron took a step the man was suddenly behind him, grabbing him up by his nape, and holding him like a puppy as he extended his arm to Kim.
"Now, feast, my bride," he snarled as he held the young man before her. "Feast, and wake to your true self, and know your own true strength."
Ron, for all his strength, struggled in vain as Kim slowly approached him, long, glistening incisors shining in the light of his lamp. He tried to pull free as he noticed Kim was frowning, but also stared with a glazed expression at his throat. Or the pulsing vein that all but danced in her vision as the big shadow held the boy out to him like an offering.
A goblet to be emptied.
She took another step and swallowed hard. Licking her lips as the shadowy man smiled and chortled, Ron couldn't help but whimper.
"Take him," the shadow-man demanded and now shoved Ron right into her arms. "Now, Krelandra," he barked the name, and the alien sound of it snapped the daze from her mind even as she stared at Ron who only stared back, and asked, "You in there, KP? Please say yes."
The man laughed at him, and Kim's crimson orbs rose and focused on him. Focused on his throat, and remembered another memory that ironically fused both lives.
"You….command me," she murmured as she eyed the man with a hint of disdain.
"You'll do as I say because I am the Lord, and you but the lady," he had told her.
"But, beloved, I gave my very life for you. I love you. I thought we were to stand as equals," the redhead had once cried. She remembered that moment now. "I slaughtered armies for you! I kept your lair inviolate! How am I not enough?"
She remembered laughter. His only reply was all too often laughter.
At her.
She clenched her fists, lifting Ron with ease as the sandy-haired young man whimpered as he was lifted from his feet. Only she tossed him aside in the same instant she launched herself at the lord of the castle, master of the night, and tore into his throat with a savage roar before even he could react.
"What are you doing," he screamed, pushing at her in vain since she now shared his preternatural strength this time. Only she only clung to him with powerful arms as she drained the life's blood from his veins.
She finally stopped, shoving him back to land sprawling before her, and laughed. "Laugh at me now, you vain peacock," she snarled. "I am still Kim Possible. A warrior from birth! Not a woman that crawls behind you begging favors."
He stared at her in confusion, in horror, and then looked up to see the boy lifting a strangely bright sword he had somehow produced over his chest as he cried in denial as the glowing weapon came down to spear his chest. His very body seemed to burst into ash and his cry died stillborn as Ron sheathed the Lotus Blade he had summoned before he looked back to Kim.
"Kim? Uh, KP," he asked, smiling uneasily at her. "You okay now?"
The willowy woman in a dark gray gown turned to face him, her eyes glittering with crimson fire, and only sighed.
"Ron," she murmured after a long moment.
She held up her hands and sighed.
"I don't think I can go back like this," she told him.
"But….I killed the vampire," he frowned. "Doesn't that cure you," he asked almost desperately.
Kim only shook her head.
"Oh, man. Right, that's werewolves. Crap, what about vampires?"
"I'm stuck, Ron. You have to know that means I can't go back. Not like this. You have to go. You have to go now."
"But what about you….?"
"I have to leave," she told him.
"But…where will you go?"
"Into the sunrise," she told him. "I feel it coming. It won't be long before the sun is up again."
Ron gasped.
"Ron, I don't want to be what he tried to make me, but it only leaves only one choice. We both know it. I can't live….like this. I won't hide in the shadows. Only there is no other choice. You know what GJ would do if they found me like this. I'd be just another lab experiment. Sooner or later, I'd hurt someone, or someone would put me down. We both know it. It's better this way, and…. And I don't want you to see me….go. Take the Roth, close that hole, and I will go out into the sun when it rises."
"KP, there has to be…."
"Now, Ron," she snarled, and suddenly grabbed him and seemed to all but fly. When he was set down, they were suddenly standing on the starlit ridge where the highway crew had unknowingly opened a gate to a private hell. One that claimed their lives, and hers, she knew now.
"Go, Ron," she told him quietly, looking away now. Toward the east where the sky was just beginning to grow lighter.
"I…. I can't stay until…."
"Ron. I need to know this ends here. Close that hole, and bury that tomb. Then, leave me. I…I don't want you to have to watch. I know… I know how that would hurt you. Only I have to do this. It's for the best," she told him.
"Damn it, Kim," he said, tears sparkling in his eyes.
"Tell my family…. Tell them, I fought to the end," she told him with crimson tears in her own eyes. "Tell them, I love them, and will never forget them," she said. "Just as I'll never forget you. Wherever I go."
"Kim," he said, taking the Roth's keys from his pocket, and bumbling for a moment. "I can't…"
"I'll never forget you, Ron. We had fun. Didn't we?"
"We did, Kim. Tons of it."
"Do you think it will hurt," she asked him quietly as he unlocked the car while she stared at the sky starting to lighten now as she looked toward the pale dawn sky growing over the horizon.
"I don't know, KP," he said with a ragged voice.
"Go," she told him when he started to turn back. By the time he had looked back, she had already disappeared from the ridge.
Ron stared at where she had been standing and wanted to think she might have gone back into the tomb, and that weird castle. Only he had the feeling she hadn't. She wouldn't. He knew that she had gone out to face the rising sun just as she said. She was not one to shun responsibility, after all. He knew that if he knew nothing else.
"Goodbye, KP," he croaked in a broken voice, and flew up to hover over the broken ridge, and then fired small missiles that exploded on impact and brought down more of the mountain to bury that small ridge, and the opening to that ancient lair likely forever.
As he looked down at the broken mountain ridge, the hole now buried for good, he hoped, he noted that there was no sign of Kim anywhere. She was gone.
On that far horizon, the sun was now rising in earnest, filling the sky with a light that mocked his grief.
To Be Continued….