AN: Fall out from Hope switching off her humanity
And warning, this chapter is a little darker and more mature.
It had been a wild 3 days of globetrotting. Who knew the world was so large? It didn't just revolve around New Orleans, Mystic Falls or New York. She was in a new and exotic land. Ibiza. It was in the morning but she had compelled everyone to keep partying with her for hours.
Her powers were incredible. One moment she was by the bar having shots with a cute French tourist, the next she was by the bombshell blonde getting a real drink and after that she was back at the bar drinking Tequila straight from the bottle as she danced on top of it.
Everyone who didn't have the stamina of a tribrid was tired but the party was never going to stop. Not even when the DJ's hands were bleeding on his laptop. EDM all sound the same to her but she was still enjoying the bumping escalation of the rhythm.
When the beat finally dropped so did everyone else. But not from exhaustion.
"I heard there was a vampire in my town." Said a deep and low voice as she jumped off the table "And I wondered to myself who had the balls." He said as Hope located it and speed to him grabbing him by neck, slamming him against the wall "I guess I had the wrong anatomy." Duncan grinned at her as she showed her true face. 5 years later and he mostly looked the same, immortality would do that to his face but the stupid glasses were a choice. He had downgraded from playboy douchebag to a douchebag with biker fetish. Almost everything was black the leather jacket, the gloves even down to jeans with a chain wallet and boots. With a white V-neck as the only other color.
"You're town." Hope scoffed "So were just going to pretend you haven't been stalking me." She landed in Ibiza last night. And as good as Duncan's ear to the ground was he wouldn't have known she was there, unless he was actually looking. Nothing could hide from Duncan very long.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He feigned innocence turning the tables on her by putting her against the wall "I was just on vacation and happened upon a club with a vampire problem." He continued with his lie.
"Duncan Walsh and vacation sounds like an oxymoron." Hope said. Duncan wasn't the type to take a break from his crusade for a vacation. He loved the hunting and the killing too much for that "So what are you real doing here?" She asked.
"I told you there's vampire in my town." He said letting go of her neck.
"Since when is this your town." Hope asked.
"The moment I showed up." He said.
"Then I guess I'll leave." Why get into a pissing contest with him when there was still more of the world to explore? The party was dead anyway so she speed away.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Duncan sped in front of her.
"And why not?" She asked.
"Take a look around Hope." He said and all she saw where the collapsed people on the floor. A lot with bite marks. Of the 100 or so blood bags the blonde bombshell was her favorite. She was so delicious that Hope wanted to remember her name. The blonde had said it before it was either Julia or Jessica or one of the other Js. Then again Hope didn't actually care.
"I'm not going to let emotionless vampire run loose." Duncan said.
"I'm a tribrid." Hope replied.
"Your werewolf and witch sides aren't responsible for you feeding on the humans."
"Hey I compelled them to enjoy it." Everyone she fed on enjoyed a sense of euphoria from giving her their blood. It was why Jennifer was practically begging for Hope to feed on her. But Duncan didn't seem to approve.
"That isn't making the case you think it is." Duncan openly judged her.
"I really don't care." Hope replied, even if she did, Duncan didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to right or wrong.
"Of course you don't, which is why I can't let you run free." Duncan threatened her again. But she would never be threatened by him.
"Oh and what are you going to do?" She asked "Kill me?" She chuckled finding it utterly absurd and he did chuckled too.
Then he put his arms around her head and the world went blank after he snapped her neck.
"Not cool." She said regaining her consciousness.
"Had to be done." He said as she was taking stock of the change in venue. She wasn't the club anymore they were in what looked like a warehouse. And it was dark out, maybe it was the evening. She was sitting in a chair and so was he although he wasn't tied to his chair like she was.
"Are the chains really necessary?" She asked. She was still groggy, but even testing out her restraints showed they were strong chains.
"Would you sit and talk otherwise?" He asked back.
"Probably not." She admitted "But you do realize I am still an all-powerful witch and can easily break out of these." The chains were probably strong enough to keep a hybrid in place, but not a tribrid
"Did you forget the part where I am still the most powerful creature that has ever existed?" He asked "If you break those chains were going to have start all over again." He threatened.
"Fine so what do you want?" She asked wanting to avoid getting her neck snapped because he wanted to stroke his own ego.
"I want to know what happened." He said.
"You already know what happened." She replied. It was why she was in there in the warehouse with him 3 days after the funeral.
"I want to hear it from you." He said.
"My fiancé died," She answered, it was recent development. "Which was a bummer. And I lost the kids double bummer. The funeral was beautiful though, so not much of a bummer there." Looking back she wondered why she cared so much to begin with.
"Then why did you flip the switch?" He asked.
"Oh you know how it goes you feel too much, then you're a flip away from feeling nothing at all." She reminded herself of why she did it.
"So your response to feeling greatly is the healthy alternative of feeling nothing." Duncan said.
Duncan Walsh of all people, she just had to laugh.
"Oh that's pretty rich coming from you." She said
"There is a vast difference between you and I." He said
"Yeah, I turned mine off because I lost the love of my life and you turned yours off because you got the girl."
"The difference is I had a purpose and you're just lost. So lost that you are willing to use whataboutism with a self-destructive warmonger. What would Jay think about that?" He asked trying to make her feel guilty and hurt with a personal jab.
"Probably the same thing Tess thinks about you." She replied, throwing in a jab of her own. And it stung him. Being disowned would do that.
"Sticks and stones can't hurt me but words sure can." He said trying to joke it off but Hope could still see how much it hurt him. "And that was a low blow." He admitted.
"So was bringing up my dead fiancé." She replied "Only difference is one of us cares, and spoiler alert it's not the redhead." They knew a lot more about each other than just their names. Enough to hurt each other, only problem was she'd have to care to be hurt.
"Therein lies the problem, you don't care. Which is why I had to spend the afternoon healing an entire club." He informed her.
So that was why he she had woken up in the evening, he had to spend the afternoon healing them with magic.
"You could have used your blood and healed them all in 10 minutes." She suggested.
"And risk turning them into vampires I think not." He replied like it was her problem.
"Then you should have let them die instead of bitching to me about it." She said tired of his whining
"Which further proves my point, without your humanity on you're not just lost, you're reckless. I can't allow you to continue like that." He said, the conviction from him palpable.
"Oh and what are you going to do, try turn my switch back on?" She asked "Tell me a bold and passionate speech about how you're going to savior to my lost cause. While hoping that I have lingering feelings for you and you could use them as a trigger." She mocked.
"It's apparent that you still have them," He said "considering that's the second time you brought up our relationship." He gave her a cocky grin.
"It's cute that you think that it was a relationship." They spent 4 years either at each other's throats or avoiding each other, then they slept together once 10 years ago.
"I'm not here to squabble over the past." He brushed it away.
"No you're just here to switch on my humanity." It was as if the world would crumble without it. No, not the great bastion of hope that redeemed the Great Evil and kept the Demon Wolf at bay. She was too good and pure to go without her humanity. It was why she left New York, so she could enjoy her freedom away from judgmental friends and family.
"It's not my place to decide whether you get your humanity or not." He said "But I have a rule against vampires without a leash on." He reminded her.
"I'm not going to Mystic Falls." She told him. Mystic Falls was worse than New York with all of its rules in the charter and the stupid blood oath.
"Are you sure about that?" He asked.
"You may have everyone else in the world quaking in their boots at the very mention of your name. But that's because you'll kill them all without batting an eye." He had killed thousands and he would kill thousands more. "Which we both know you would never do to me. Not to your precious Hope. The girl that always breaks your unquestionable resolve and makes you settle for half measures." Mystic Falls was a living testament to that.
It was a thriving town with a noticeable vampire population that he hadn't wiped out, because of her.
"That is true. I do often find myself resorting to half measures wherever you're concerned." He admitted "Which is why I am willing to bleed, desiccate and leave you in a tomb for decades on end until you are willing to comply." He threatened. A half measure he was willing to pull off much to Hope's discomfort.
"Good thing I have eternity on my side." She replied to his threat. What was a decade when compared to forever? "I am not going to Mystic Falls."
"You don't have to. As I've said before where you concerned I am willing to compromise except when it comes to human casualties." He said
"So what I promise not to kill," She said, but he wouldn't just be satisfied with that "and turn anyone, then you'll let me go?" She asked.
"Yes." He answered "Except of course the part where I take a tribrid without their humanity at their word. I want you to show me. Show me that you can be responsible and that you are not a threat to the humans. And if I am satisfied, I'll stay out of your way." He said using his magic to free her from the chains.
"And how exactly am I going to do that?" She asked rubbing her newly freed wrist.
"By showing me how you are going to live your life without taking any. So the question is where to?" He asked.
Hope didn't want to prove anything to him. She wasn't looking for his approval, but she also wasn't looking for a fight with him. He was right in calling himself the most powerful creature in existence and Hope would probably lose and end up desiccated for a decade. So why fight when she could just ditch.
"Paris." She answered, the city of love where she would disappear.
Things hadn't exactly gone as planned in Paris. They had gone to a club and after a demonstration of restraint on her part Hope slipped the leash and snuck out of the club through a secret exit and lost Duncan. She didn't see him again until she found him on her flight to Amsterdam, which he rerouted to Marrakesh just to mess with her.
3 days later and Duncan was still been keeping a dutiful eye on her while she kept showing him how she wasn't going to kill anyone.
At the moment she was at the hotel bar flirting with a native girl, olive skinned with long black curls. And brown eyes she would die for. Petite and busty the perfect bait.
"Oh come on you know you want to." Hope whispered a temptation into her ear biting it lightly. The girl gasped as her heartbeat rose, the blood pumping into her even harder, and Hope couldn't wait to take a bite.
"What about your boyfriend?" She asked. Her reluctance was just a show, she was already melting with a couple of touches and wanted to leave with Hope already "he's been staring at us the entire night."
Duncan was in a table watching the entire show. His eyes always on her while he drank whiskey.
"Who do you want to focus on more me or him? Or both" Hope asked it is after all why she chose Amina out of everyone in the bar. She chose a girl because it was one way she knew Duncan swung. And even though she wasn't a redhead she was a true exotic beauty. One she actually knew the name of.
"He's a little young for my taste but sure why not both." Amina said. They were both women and even though Duncan had looked old for his age he still looked younger than 20. Lucky for him he still had the tall dark and brooding look going for him.
"Then come on, he'll meet us in our room." Hope said as they left the bar. She knew that Duncan had been listening in and wouldn't be that far behind. Always waiting to see what she would do.
But she and Amina never made it to the room. They squirrelled away in an empty hallway where Hope pressed her against the wall and started kissing her and breathing in her entire essence. Amina was already panting and moaning and just from the kissing. Especially when Hope went for her neck, it was a sweat spot that made Amina melt.
"Enjoying the show?" She asked. Amina was confused thinking Hope was asking her but she was asking Duncan. He had appeared while she and Amina were making out.
"I'm not complaining." He replied. He had kept his distance not joining in.
"I never took you for a person with voyeuristic tendencies." Hope challenged.
"You know why I am here." Duncan grinned and Amina's heart fluttered not really knowing what Duncan meant.
He wasn't there to join in or watch the two of them make out. He wanted to see something else. Her restraint.
"You want this right?" Hope whispered into Amina's ear, another of her sensitive sweet spots.
"Yes." Amina gasped out quivering as Hope sucked on her neck.
Hope stopped focusing on her neck for a moment. She would soon return to it but she had to do something first. She looked Amina in the eyes.
"Then don't scream" She compelled Amina.
Hope returned to her neck, but this time she wouldn't be satisfied with just giving her a hickey. Hope brought out her fangs, she punctured a vein on the neck starting to drink her blood. She had assumed right, Amina did taste delicious. Hope wouldn't mind drink every single drop of blood form the Moroccan. But she had other plans for the girl. When there was still a lot more blood left with in her Hope stopped herself. Hope wanted Amina to still be healthy enough to continue the night.
"And she is still breathing." She announced to Duncan showing of her restraint. "So I completed the Snatch and eat part of this." She said as the trade mark system for most vampires but hers had extra step "Leaving the 'heal with a little magic'." She said using her magic to close up Amina's wounds. Duncan didn't want her using her blood "And finally the erase part. Unless you don't want to be a spectator anymore?" Hope tempted stepping from Amina. Even though she looked terrified her beauty could do the job as she offered her to him.
"I'm not so sure she would appreciate it." Duncan said not taking the bait of a reluctant girl.
"I beg to differ." Hope said as she faced Amina "Tell the truth." Hope compelled her as she pulled her from the back of the wall and paraded her to Duncan "Even now you still want me," Hope whispered in her ear but she wasn't just talking to Amina "you still want us." She said looking at Duncan.
She knew he still wanted her. Over the past 4 days he had been holding himself back. Hope had been slowly breaking away his resolve. Sometime she flirted with him other times it was with other guys to make him jealous and other times it was with other girls, tempting him. Amina was the mostly likely candidate to help break his resolve. Even the demon wolf had needs and who better than the girl he still loved and an exotic beauty to fulfil them. All that seemed to be stopping him from breaking was consent.
"Yes." Amina said ignoring her fear in hopes of carnal ecstasy. Proving Hope had made the right choice in girls. Amina was undoubtedly attractive and she wasn't just looking for a good time, she wanted a wild and dangerous one.
"See she fine with it. She wants this, she wants us. She wants you" Hope tempted again taking another bite, drawing blood then exposing Amina's bleeding neck. She could see just how conflicted Duncan was at the invitation. Signs of his true face showed but he still managed to keep himself in check "Unless you only feed on vampires?" Hope asked. Duncan seemed he would be the type to try and overcompensate by feeding on the hunters.
"No, I once tried that for about a month," He chuckled "but I couldn't keep it down" He swallowed hard, poorly trying to fight against the temptation form Amina
"Then why don't you join us?" Hope asked wondering how many invitation she was going to have to give him. All she wanted was for Duncan to get blood drunk and so distracted with erotic pleasure that she could truly disappear. But no matter how many times she tried to lead him to water he refused to drink.
"I don't feed on humans." Duncan stated the fundamental flaw in her plan. As long as they had been stuck together glue he hadn't drank any blood. And Hope had thought that since it had been so long he would really be hungry. But No matter how tempted he was, how close to the brink he was he wouldn't break. He wouldn't feed on an innocent no matter how willing they were.
Hope had to change her game plan.
"Okay." She said with a sigh she healed Amina again and turned her to face her "You'll will forget everything that happened here." Hope compelled Amina completing the erase part.
"No more pawns, tricks or games." Hope said walking closer to Duncan. "It's just you and me." She said looking up at him choosing to forgo subtlety and go for the direct approach. "I know you want me." She said taking of his sunglasses. She couldn't compel him but seeing into his eyes made it impossible for him to lie to her. "I know you want this to happen." She said biting her lips and batting her eyes at him. Even the straight forward approach required a little flair.
"I do." He admitted with a hungry grin and disdain in his eyes.
"I know you don't feed on vampires" She said shifting on the balls of her feet to make up the height difference and he leaned in to "But have you ever tried a tribrid?" She asked whispering into his ear, no longer tempting him but telling him what to do as she exposed her own neck.
Blood sharing was an intimate experience. The most personal thing vampires could do together.
Since he wouldn't be feeding on a human Duncan finally faltered and sunk his teeth into her feeding on her as she gasped. It was her first time blood sharing. It was titillating and exhilarating bringing to the forefront something primal within him as he no longer held any reservation. It must have been almost as euphoric as actually drinking human blood straight form the vain for him. It made lightening fire all over her body as she made herself moan. It did arouse her physically making her hot and bothered but she couldn't find it within herself to care, but the moaning was a part of the flair.
But for him it was a part of tease, edging him on. He was so close to feeding on actual blood which magnified his hunger and his need for carnal pleasure.
Soon enough he would be more than just blood drunk things would escalate and he would end up drunk on her. And after their sexual encounter he would asleep satisfied. But unlike the last time they slept together all those years ago, he would be the one to wake up alone while she went into the wind for however long she felt like.
The sex was good. Far better than when she was a nervous and inexperienced emotionally charged teenage girl and he was just as much of an emotionally charged teenage boy that was vulnerable enough to cry as he cuddled her after.
This time it didn't end in cuddling or crying. Instead they just finished, he rolled of her and went to sleep. She had been up for the past 2 hours to make sure he was good and out. And once his sleeping became rhythmic, she carefully moved out of the bed trying not to make a peep.
She choose to forego her bra being kind enough to leave him proof of conquest and also because hooking it on might cause some noise. Fabric brushing against her skin as she put on her shirt didn't make that much noise and it was almost indistinguishable from moving in the sheets.
She tiptoed on the balls of her feet over to where they had thrown away her jeans and shoes when it started.
"I suggest being a lot quieter if you're trying to sneak out." Duncan said. He was awake and the chances of her escape had dwindled to zero "Some of us actually want to get a couple of more snoozes in." He said still resting his on the pillow. As fast as he was Hope's chance of escape reached double digits if he was still lying on the bed.
"What you not going to stop me?" She asked. Putting on her jeans, her ploy had failed but it was around 4 in the morning and she could go out and grab a bite from one of the people coming out from a club.
"Why would I?" He asked.
"To be the savior of the humanity, by making sure I don't cross to many lines with my humanity off." She answered.
"The human race was never at stake and even without your humanity control was never your problem." He said "Who cares if you kill a couple hundred people there's 8 billion of them." He said dismissive about it, not even bothering to get out of the bed.
"If you didn't care about that then why have you been have you been following me around, trying to put a leash on me?" 4 days of him hovering around like a tiger mom.
"Because I wanted to sleep with you." He casually admitted finally raising his head from the pillow and sitting on the bed
"Aw." Hope laughed putting on her shoes "that's both sweet and pathetic. Was the sex so good the first time that at the first opportunity 10 years later you had to come and find me?" She asked. She was after all newly single.
"It was okay. But you were a lot better this time around." He complimented her resting on the headboard with his arms behind his head "It makes me even more glad I had Jay killed." He said with blissful smile
"You had Jay killed?" Hope asked no longer focusing on tying her shoes.
"Yeah I thought you knew." Duncan said calmly, not understanding how bizarre what he was saying was.
"No I didn't." How could she.
"I thought you would have wanted to find out why Trevor Denzino killed your family and then you would traced the trail back to me." He said as if he hadn't realized the words that came out of his mouth.
"No I was too busy trying not to cry over my dead family to do that."
"Well now you know." He said with a shrug.
"So you did all of that just to have sex with me one more time?" She asked annoyed by his disregard and lack of understanding
"No I did all of that and had sex with you." He said continuing with his callous disregard "A week after I had Jay and twins killed. What names did you end up putting on their tombstone?" He asked casually.
Hope had wanted to name the girl Mary after the woman who raised her as a kid and the boy Jackson after Mary's grandson and the man that looked after her as a baby. Jay wanted to name the girl Robin after his after his grandmother but wanted to name the boy Aaron after his favorite football player. Hope comprised and let Raf put in Robin and Jackson on their tombstones.
"Why?" She asked.
"Don't you remember?" He said speeding off the bed and ending up close to her. Close enough to truly look her in the eyes and she could see the vicious disdain with in them. She had seen it early but she had written it off as his self-loathing nature whenever it came to her. The one girl he couldn't control his feelings for, the only one that could ever stop him from going too far "It's because you didn't save me from myself." He said with a malicious grin touching her head with his hands to show her a memory.
She was taken back to that all too familiar clearing in Mystic Falls. Surrounded by trees a bit away from the blood cauldron. There were 2 figures, a boy in black and the girl that once loved him. The lone wolf and the tribrid.
"I spared your family to show you I wasn't irredeemable." He knew killing them would have crossed a line she could never forgive "But you gave up on me all the same. You got all the closure you needed by branding me a lost cause." He said with a twisted smile "And you broke me doing it. I hated you for walking away. Leaving me to be miserable and alone. I wanted to get back at you. And since you wouldn't save me from myself. I wouldn't save you from me either. But to hurt you as much as you hurt me I had to let you come close to having everything you ever wanted. So I allowed your relationship with Jay to progress from sleeping together, to saying I love you to each other and to moving in together and playing house. I even waited until you got pregnant with his kids and he proposed. You were so close to your perfect life." He explained "But it was going to be without me so it was time I took it all away from you. That's why I killed them" He laughed in her face. While she stood there trying to process the lengths he went to, to get revenge on her.
"Let me show you what I stole." He said putting his hands on her head again. Overpowering her mind with his own and showing her an illusion.
They were in the living room of their penthouse in the evening. Hope was on the table helping the kids with their math homework while Jay was on the phone talking to work. Both Robin and Jackson were smart kids but Jackson struggled with learning because he was so easily distracted. And his favorite distraction was picking on his sister. Jackson loved his sister but boys that age where wild and only acted right when it counted. Hope wanted him to focus on his work but he was too busy poking his sister for the fun of it. When Robin got annoyed she complained to Hope and Hope told Jay. Jay had avoided helping the kids with any math because he hated math. But if Hope was stuck being the tutor then Jay was going to have to play the role of bad cop in discipline the kids. Problem was Jay decided to threaten their 11 year old son with his mother throwing him in a chamber de chasse he couldn't escape without solving for x. Even though Jay was the one making the threat he still made Hope play the role of bad cop. But it worked and Jackson stopped poking his sister. She hated Jay for making her out to be the bad guy, but all was forgiven with a simple peck on the lips.
Hope kicked Duncan out of her mind and pushed him away, tossing him to the other side of the room. For some unknown reason tears had started pooling in her eyes.
"What could have been had they not died." He said speeding up "But they did." He speed up to face her again "Now a week after they were put in the ground the 2 people responsible for their deaths are knocking boots." He whispered in her ear rubbing it in her face again. As the tears in her eyes started flowing.
Duncan was good at that. Hurting her. Making her suffer. Making her blood boil. And he had done it again. This time he had stolen everything from her and he was bragging about it. Lording it over her. The person responsible for killing Jay and the babies was right there in her face. Walking around with impunity for the rest of his immortal life. Even free to desecrate their memory further by sleeping with her and bragging about it.
That was the kind of man Duncan was. A merciless monster hell-bent on destruction and suffering. That was the kind of man she knew him to be, but she couldn't even hate him. She knew him but she couldn't loath him to her being, because she couldn't feel anything.
She was just a switch away from hating him for everything he did to her.
He did all of this because she didn't save him. But it was her job to save. But it was going to be her job to destroy him. And it was just a switch away.
AN: As always I'm interested to hear your thoughts and feedback please R&R.