A/N I can only apologise for the wait :) hope it was worth it and please let me know if you're still interested in this story being finished :)
Chapter thirteen
Emma closed her eyes for a second before she forced herself to open them and looked around to make sure that no one noticed.
As expected, no one was looking at the temp and she forced herself to continue inputting numbers into the spreadsheet that she hadn't even bothered to ask what it was for.
It had been two years since the day that her life had completely changed for the second time. Just when she was getting used to the idea of being a vampire she lost her best friend to insanity and girlfriend to a brutal death that she tried not to remember.
However, every time she had to drink blood to stay 'alive', when she realised that she forgot to breathe or she did something that humans couldn't, she was reminded thats he was alone.
At least every six months she moved city to make sure that both hunters and Talia couldn't find her and she didn't allow herself to make any friends or any kind of connection beyond finding work.
Overall, it was fair to say that she was more miserable than she had ever been and she didn't see how it could change so long as Talia was still around. She was too afraid to try and connect with a real person, especially in a romantic sense, since she could imagine that Talia would be hiding in the shadows waiting to kill them.
The blonde finally got to the end of the spreadsheet and she glanced over to the clock to see that it was now 17.56, she closed her eyes out of relief and tiredness. Her manager had asked her to just stay until the work was down which meant that she was here for an hour longer than she would have usually been, but she couldn't argue with an extra hour of work.
The vampire made short work of logging off her computer and grabbed her bag. The blond didn't bother saying 'goodbye' to anyone who was still there, since she was pretty sure that no one even knew her name and she didn't think anyone would even ask since this assignment was ending in a few days, just in time for her to pack up and leave for New York.
Emma walked down the street five minutes later and looked from side to side as she went. She was tired of being constantly vigilant for the last two years but she knew that it was necessary.
The longer Talia took to show her face, the more Emma thought that something was going to happen. After all, Talia had taught her everything that she knew about running so she figured that she was actually just messing with her. They had all the time in the world to play this game and she got the distinct feeling that the older vampire revelled in this. She probably saw it was some kind of romantic chase which honestly made Emma's stomach turn at the thought that the manic vampire was so in love with her.
She finally made it to her apartment building and she looked both ways before she opened the door and walked as quickly as she possibly could without using her superspeed and she made it to the small apartment that she had been living in for the last four months now.
Nothing was unpacked and there wasn't a single personal effect on display, she was pretty sure that if anyone was to see the space they would think that no one lived there (or maybe that a vampire did).
The blonde yawned out of habit and kicked the door closed and she walked over to the fridge with her eyes barely kept open. Honestly, some jobs seemed to be more mentally draining for absolutely no reason, she didn't feel like she had achieved anything that day and yet all she wanted to do was sleep.
She opened the door and drew her eyebrows together when she found it completely empty. One of the perks of having been in the clan was that she knew where to get her 'protein shakes' without the need for Talia's help. She really did feel like Rowan had prepared her to be a vampire far more than her friend ever had.
The blonde knew for a fact that she had an entire pack left this morning so she felt every muscle in her body tense as her senses went into hyper aware mode.
Suddenly, her nose was assaulted with a familiar scent that made her stomach turn and twist at the same time.
She licked her lips and slammed the fridge shut and began rapidly accessing her options.
The smell was coming from the bedroom which meant that she could easily speed out of the apartment but she had no where to go without her ticket to New York. Plus, this was all the proof that she needed to know that Talia was just playing with her for the last two years, she probably knew exactly where she was at any given moment and had just been enjoying that fact while Emma was terrified,
Talia probably knew that she was leaving for New York soon and the thought made Emma feel ill.
It was for this reason that she figured that there was no point running, it wasn't as if she was particularly enjoying her existence anymore. She wasn't entirely sure that she could deal with running for all of time anyway, so she might as well go ahead and face the music sooner rather than later.
She swallowed hard and allowed herself a moment before she walked slowly as possible to her room.
The scent got stronger and began to be mixed with blood as well and the blonde vampire started to feel her mouth water a little. She'd stopped taking the protein shakes to work after the previous year whereby someone had tried to steal one of them from the staff fridge. It was fair to say that she left that state a little sooner than she usually would have liked to. But this unfortunately meant that she was both starving and exhausted and it didn't look like either was going away any time soon.
She finally made it to the room and as expected, she found a brunette lounging on her bed. She looked nothing like she did that day when she had frantically tried to grab Emma and force her to be her own, in fact she looked damn right normal.
If Emma didn't know her, she could actually be attracted to her but as it was all she saw was the woman who changed her life change. She looked much darker than she did before they joined the clan, with a black leather jacket, tight black jeans and boots. But it was the smirk on her face that really completed the look.
Emma clenched her jaw when she saw all of the empty bottles on the floor and she cleared her throat, which forced the other vampire to tear her attention away from her phone.
"You're late," Talia said casually and then noticed the blonde narrowing her eyes at the empty shake bottles. She laughed and reached beside her to grab something that she threw at the other vampire.
Emma caught it on reflex and frowned at the protein shake for a moment.
"Don't worry, its not poisoned," Talia said with that cocky smile that Emma had once found amusing but now she just wanted to smack it off her face.
The blonde rolled her eyes, even if it was poisoned, she was far too hungry to care at this point so she just popped off the top and drank the red liquid in big gulps as Talia watched intently.
Emma finally lowered the drink and asked, "why are you here?"
Talia tilted her head and Emma shifted uncomfortably as her eyes raked over he body. It was how Rowan used to look at her, but the entire action just seemed creepy coming from Talia.
"I've noticed that you seem to be jumpy all the time," the brunette said. "I just wanted to set your mind at rest."
"You've been following me? Emma asked, still adamantly refusing to move her leges. She was sure if she wanted to she could run or attack, but her body seemed to choose being paralysed.
"More keeping tabs on you," Talia shrugged and stood from the bed. "I've been far too busy to watch after you 24/7, the order won't restructure itself."
Emma swallowed the bile rising in her throat and said, "the order?"
"Darius is more willing to listen to reason," the other woman replied with a shrug.
"You mean that you forced him to bend to your will?" Emma shot back, each word laced with pure venom.
"It's a matter of perspective."
Emma rolled her eyes, her legs still refusing to move and she said, "you still haven't told me why you're here." She was sure that she should be concerned about what Talia could be planning with the Hunters, but she was so done with the supernatural world at this point so she couldn't find it within herself to worry.
"I told you, I came to set your mind at ease," the brunette replied and walked over so that she could place her hand to her cheek.
The blonde winced and Talia frowned before she took a step back and said, "I love you Emma, I don't want you to live in fear on my account. I would never hurt you."
"You already have," the blonde said but she shook her head.
Talia's frown deepened but she shook her head before she said, "as long as you remember that you are mine, you will be safe. No hunter will attempt to harm you and I will not see you again until you are ready."
Emma drew her eyebrows together and asked, "what are you saying?"
"I'm suggesting that you make New York your last stop for a while, I remember how exhausting moving twice a year was." Talia laughed as if she was remembering some fond memories, "you could even find a real job while you're there. You'd make a pretty good bounty hunter with everything that I taught you."
Emma blinked a few times, she was trying to figure out if this was really happening and if it meant what she thought it did.
"You're going to leave me alone?" she asked with a shaky breath.
Talia nodded, "you'll be under my protection, as long as you remember that you are mine."
The blonde just nodded and her paralysed body made no attempt to protest when Talia leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss to her lips. Emma winced again at the contact and the brunette took a step away from her.
"We have all the time in the world for you to realise that you're my mate," she whispered and bit her lip as she allowed her eyes to rake over her love again.
She finally forced herself to look away and began walking away.
When the front door slammed shut, Emma felt her legs give out and she sank down to the floor as she ran her hand over her face.
She was both creeped out and shit scared, but there was something else bubbling underneath it. Emma Swan would be free, she could have the freedom she had been missing since she had been bitten just as long as she didn't take the mate she was pretty sure she would never find anyway.
S
Never in her life did Regina Mills think that the prospect of spending time with Snow White and Prince Charming would be nerve-inducing.
Giddiness at the possibility of destroying them and apathy when the inevitably thwarted her were emotions that she had spent years feeling in relation to the pair in conjunction with pure hate.
Now though, they weren't her nemeses, they were her girlfriend's parents and maybe even her friends. Somehow that made her more nervous when Emma asked if they could come for dinner that night.
She had, of course, agreed since she could tell that both Emma and Henry had been missing the idiots, but that didn't mean that she had to be excited about essentially being introduced as Emma's girlfriend to the two other most important people in the vampire's life.
She couldn't help the doubt that if Snow was really against their relationship than being Emma's mate wouldn't really mean much. Deep down she knew that she was being fairly ridiculous since Emma was hardly the type to bend to her parent's will, but that didn't stop the heavy anxiety about everything that could possibly go wrong that night.
However, the tension started falling away from her muscles as she felt two arms wrap around her waist and pull her back away from the kitchen counter and she felt her back hit a familiar body.
"I can hear you angry chopping from upstairs," Emma whispered and nuzzled her nose into the mayor's neck.
Regina shivered as her nose brushed over the tiny scars from the punctures. You couldn't really see them anymore but the former queen was very aware they were there, especially when the person who put them there was around.
"I'm not angry chopping," Regina sighed.
The sheriff laughed as she pulled back so that she was able to spin her girlfriend around to face her.
Regina relaxed more the moment she saw the blonde's smile, she was sure she would never see it again when Talia showed up but it seemed like she had forgotten about the sadistic vampire for now.
"You've met them before, Gina, you have nothing to worry about," Emma said as Regina fell back against the counter and put her arms up to the saviour's neck to pull her as close as possible so that they could still see each other.
"You know that isn't the problem," Regina sighed again and Emma just smiled more at her.
"I can call and cancel if you don't want to do this."
"You don't need to do that," Regina replied and took a deep breath, being in Emma's arms really as calming her down. If she was willing to cancel something that she so clearly wanted for her, she couldn't see her ending their relationship if Snow had a massive issue. Besides, even if the Charmings really did have huge problems, they would have made it clear to Emma way before now and probably would have refused to attend. There was also the fact that Henry had only seen his grandmother at school and hadn't seen his grandfather since Emma had revealed to them that she was a vampire.
"I'll be fine," Regina added.
Emma nodded and leaned forward to steal a kiss before she released the brunette.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"You could pick up Henry from school and get something for dessert," Regina replied.
The vampire nodded, "I'm on it."
Emma was about to walk away but she felt the brunette grab and pull her back so that she could have another kiss to calm her down some more.