I don't own OUAT.
Thank you for the reviews and everything! I really appreciate it.
Warnings: there is one scene where a vampire is after a person/ uses its hypnotic powers. It kind of reads like a scene where an intoxicated person is felt up or kissed. It is in the scene where Regina is at Granny's so you can either skip it or just not read this chapter if that stuff triggers you
She hums in the back of her throat, moving closer to the pleasant scent of apples and cinnamon. There are vague images from a dream she hardly remembers, the colour of ripe apples that she wants to get in her mouth and-
Emma slowly opens her eyes as the sun burns them, grumbling a little, still thinking of the colour red when- she thinks she is still dreaming (not this again) at first when she is faced with Regina's lips weirdly close to her. In fact, the last time she was close like this was probably when Henry was stuck in the mines and –
Then she realizes it is real, holy fucking Hell that is Regina's breath on her tingling lips and Regina's hand holding hers , keeping it trapped on the bed and-
Any of her issues or instincts kick in and she yanks away. That would not have had any consequences, apart from the sight of Regina like freaking sleeping beauty replaying in Emma's mind like popups, were it not for the small fact that they were handcuffed together. Which leads to the following chain of events: Emma yanked, Regina's body was pulled forwards, brown eyes flew open-
Emma's heart has about one second to calm its racing before Regina's falling body is pulling her along. She hisses at the pain that flares in her knees and the sound they make as they collide with the floor. She rests her head on what is beneath her, groans softly. " Ouch".
" Miss Swan- " Emma yanks her head up before Regina can finish what is probably a hour-long lecture on- what? Forgetting you are handcuffed to the woman you will definitely stake a freaking vampire for- as she realizes Regina fell.
It is only when Regina's mouth falls open a little, her cheeks flare red and she gets that familiar I-will-destroy-you look in her eyes that Emma realizes that she probably should not have slid her hands over Regina's body without asking for permission first.
"Uh- I was checking for- " is as far as she gets before the handcuffs explode, she is catapulted backwards and lingers in the air for a moment before landing on her ass. Great, more bruises. Regina's anger is honest to god a physical thing for a few moments, this electrical force that sounds like thunder and makes Emma's hair static.
Emma swallows. " Sorry. I thought you might have been hurt".
It is odd how sometimes, Regina's anger fades so quickly. She had been staring Emma down with unforgiving eyes two seconds before, a mixture of evil queen and cornered animal. Now, she just rises her eyes to the Heavens like she is asking God 'is dealing with this idiot my karma?'.
Emma decides it is safe to approach again- or well, her legs decide that for her. " Are you?".
" I might be a witch Emma, but it is not currently within my abilities to read your mind" she says drily.
" Injured. Are you injured" Emma says, reaching for 'her' spot on Regina's arms. A memory not unlike this one flashes through her mind; Regina in that cell, crumbling, her legs moving her forward without permission then too.
" I collided with the ground, not narrowly survived another attempt at my life"
" Well, your sarcasm seems to be in prime form, so you are probably okay" Emma returns with a small eye-roll and a grin. She still subtly tries to check for injuries though, because Regina is the kind of prideful, independent woman who would never admit she was in pain. And yes, Emma admires Regina's independence and strength and spirit, but she does not want Regina to walk around with a concussion or whatever just because-
The door opens, revealing a smiling Henry with something that will always get Emma's attention: a plate with breakfast.
" Hey moms" Henry says, walking over to where Regina is to kiss her on the cheek, then allows Emma to briefly throw an arm around him. He moves away when she tries to snatch a sausage. "Ma! Mom has to eat first, she needs all the strength she can get".
" Don't I need strength when I will be the one protecting her?"
" They're sausages, not the source of super strength dear".
Emma just gives Regina her 'you are lucky I like you even when you are an asshole look'. Then she quickly steals a sausage when Henry isn't looking. Only to bite air when it suddenly vanishes and appears in Regina's hand.
"Regina!".
" I believe this is mine"
"You just stole that from me!".
" After you stole it from the plate our son made for me".
" Moms. Stop the bickering. You can continue after we have found a way to save mom".
Emma shrugs. " If he tries to take Regina, I could just punch him in the face".
Cue rolling eyes from Millses. " Emma, it is a vampire" Henry says
" Hey okay, your mother tried to punch the dark one in the face okay. That is a step up from vampire, so I am sure –".
Henry just talks over her. 'Rude' she mutters. He hands the plate to Regina. Then gets a notebook from somewhere and looks at the both of them. " So I did some research while you were sleeping- " Emma squints her eyes in suspicion as he smiles sneakily. She makes a mental note to ask him about it later. " and there are several sure ways to get rid of vampires".
" Garlic, stakes, sunlight" Emma immediately says, sitting down on the floor. Henry sits down next to her. Regina looks down at the floor like it is a tarantula, starts to walk to the bed before Emma mouthing 'afraid of a little dirt?' makes her eyes flash with that familiar fire and she sits on the floor as well.
Emma nearly jumps out of her skin when Regina leans in briefly to whisper "my floors are not dirty, my dear". And then just sits there, with this smug cat-ate-the-canary look. Gods, she is insufferable.
" Ma, focus!" Henry throws balled-up paper at her.
" I am".
" No, you were not. You were staring at mom". Emma is like 99.9% sure he just muttered 'like usually'. And what is that even supposed to mean?
" So you were telling us about the destruction of this- " Emma admires the dangerous look in Regina's eyes. She misses that look sometimes. " creature".
" Yeah. Ma already told us about the obvious ones". He arches his eyebrow , all Regina-like. "But before she interrupted me , I was going to add less obvious ones".
"Why do we need other ones though? Can we not just stake him or trap him somewhere sunny?".
" We need other options. We have to have back-up plans ma or we will lose"
Emma is about to say something, when the finger in her side clearly communicates 'shut up'. She throws a quick glare Regina's way, then smiles at Henry. " Okay Henry, stun us with all the intel you have gathered'.
"Thank you" he glances at his notebook. "So-".
"Ouch!".
" MA" Henry groans in annoyance.
" That wasn't me! Your mother hit me".
"Because you were yet again attempting to steal my food".
"I haven't had breakfast yet! And you never finish your plate'.
"Oh for- " Henry rolls his eyes. " You share fries every time we go to Granny. Why is this different?".
Regina looks ready to argue that it is completely different when she sights, there is smoke and then there is a plate with sausages and eggs and bacon that she offers to Emma. Who immediately takes it with a grin. " You are the best".
" You are such a child".
Emma hums. It may be agreement. It may be 'this is so good'. Regina rolls her eyes but cannot keep a smile of her face as she turns back to Henry. "What have you had for breakfast, dear?".
" Same thing you, but I would love some more"
" Your mother is a horrific influence " Regina tells him, but the smile she sends Emma's ways contradict her words. (that, or she must really like it that Emma is such a horrific influence). One gesture later and Henry has a plate in his lap.
" I am just going to start before ma finds another reason to interrupt me. Vampires are nocturnal creatures. They have a loathing of the sun, which if it does not burn them at an accelerated rate, at the very least saps their strength. There are various kinds and various legends about them. Some of these legends cite holy water as being a weapon against them, as well as garlic. Sometimes they have an obsession with counting things- " Henry glares impressively at Emma when she snorts " and there are quite some stories where they can shapeshift- into animals but also into immaterial things like fog. The can invade dreams and hypnotize people. They are as strong as five Olympian bodybuilders. They survive on a diet of blood and another person can become a vampire after their blood has been consumed several times- leading to them becoming more and more under the vampire's control- and they have consumed the vampire's blood once. Silver crucifixes are also supposed to help".
"I knew most of that" Emma snorts. " apart from the counting thing".
Regina ignores her. " It is good that we know exactly what will weaken it".
Henry grins. " That is not all".
" It isn't?".
" It is not?".
"No" He looks at Emma." When you talked about how the fairy tales were so different than the ones everyone knows from the brothers Grimm, I realized that you were right. This Dracula could be different. He could be immune to sunlight and garlic or have strengths we have never heard about".
He stands up, walks to the bed and removes something from beneath it. The book looks to be bound in skin, the litters are the exact shade of old blood and there is a strange buzzing coming from it. Emma grimaces as a sense of vertigo grows when the book comes nearer. She glances at Regina, who isn't moving as Henry approaches with the book.
He sits down again and opens it. "So I went to ask Belle for help. And she gave me this" He gently nudges it forward. " It is an expansive history of the creatures of the enchanted forest and the surrounding areas".
He flips a few pages, turns the book around. 'blood-sucking creatures' it says atop the page. "They do not have an entry for 'vampires', but I am sure they are in there somewhere".
Emma grimaces again. That sense of vertigo is only getting worse. The last time she felt like this, she was drunk and dared to spin around five times and try to score at beer ping pong again. Then Regina briefly touches her hand. " It is the book, there is a spell woven between its pages. I suspect the owner was not fond of magic users".
" That is a shitty thing to do".
" Indeed". There is a sudden flush on Emma's cheeks, the smell of a meadow oddly enough, the taste of strawberries and that vertigo slowly lessens. Regina's magic, although it has never felt like this before.
Regina pretend nothing has happened as she looks at Henry. " You have done very well, my little prince" she praises.
He sighs. " Yeah well, there is just one thing".
"What?".
" What is wrong, sweetheart?".
" There are like two hundred pages about blood-sucking creatures and it is really old English. The information about Dracula is in there somewhere, I know it, but it will take me some time to find it. And because the index is a mess- " he scowls " it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Without magnets. And with a timer and a guy standing ready to blast your face off".
" Can we copy the pages and divide the work? " Emma offers. Both Henry and Regina glance at her. Then at each other, then at her again. Their identical expressions are a mix of endearing and freaky. " That is a good idea. Mom?".
She frowns as she looks at the book. " Magic will not work on it".
Emma shrugs. " So we will use a photocopier".
Henry jumps to his feet ( after pushing the plate to the ground) . "Great! I will go to the library while you get this" he hands them a short list.
"Henry, I am not allowing you to be on your own when there is a vampire on the loose".
" Kid, no way. I am going with you".
Emma and Regina glance at each other. They do the thing where Emma smiles first and then Regina starts to smile and just looks at her with this sad-happy expression.. Henry is pretty sure that he could leave the room and they wouldn't notice. Okay, maybe they would notice him leaving ( he knows he is really important to them). But there could be an earthquake and they would probably not notice that.
" I will be fine".
" Henry, we don't know whether Dracula- " Emma pauses for two seconds, is-this-my-life-now" is immune to sunlight or whether he can just like wear sunglasses and coats and gloves and not turn into a pile of ash. He might attack you".
" I will wear a lot of garlic. And take the silver crucifix. And a stake".
Regina glances at Emma. " I have a compromise" she turns to Emma. " What if we walk him to the library and leave him there with miss French, then continue to purchase the items that are on his list?".
Emma nods. " That seems fine".
When they turn back, Henry is already collecting their plates. Regina waves her hand and they disappear. " We should not be wasting time" she explains when Henry glances at her.
Emma starts to reach for the book, only to be stopped by Regina briefly touching her bicep. "It is really heavy. I am not letting him carry it".
" The warding will make you nauseous and dazed again. It is rather strong magic".
Henry smiles. " Good thing you guys have a magicless kid then, huh?
Regina thinks of Henry's eyes, bitter and pained, when Emma lost control of her magic. " We are very fortunate to have a son like you " she says, trying to communicate how special she thinks he is.
He grins at her. "I am pretty fortunate as well".
Emma feels so very proud of their kid sometimes. Times like this, when he says something that makes Regina beam are definitely part of 'sometimes'. He is kind and smart and pretty awesome ( even if he is also a little rebellious and seems to have inherited her disregard for the rules).
He picks up the book while Emma picks up a crucifix and hands Regina some garlic. That is placed in her pocket. When Emma chooses several stakes and offers one of them to Regina, she merely lights a fireball and smiles slowly. " Well, I think we can be pretty sure that fire works" she says, then attaches the stakes to her belt.
They quickly drop Henry ( + a shitload of garlic, a wooden stake, another crucifix ) off. There is a quick discussion – Emma, we are not handing Henry a flamethrower. Why not? It will work as well as your fireballs- they glance at the paper together.
-a bag of sunflower seeds
-resistance spell ( Mr Gold has the recipe/ ingredients and Belle said she would talk to him)
-Hawthorn branches
- Iron/Salt
It is some hours later that Regina finds herself at Granny's. After a brief discussion, they decided – or Emma decided: 'you look like you are going to faint, you should sit down- that Emma would pick Henry up and then come to Granny's with him so they could have a debriefing.
Regina has just received her usual order from a smiling Ruby when she turns around and her chest pretty much brushes against the chest of the person that had sneaked up behind her. She scowls, already opening her mouth to rebuke this person when she looks up and-
Her thoughts are muted- the they were entering your personal space without permission, that is impertinent hardly registered by Regina's mind- her muscles relax like she is sinking in a warming bath and when the woman smiles with those red lips Regina feels almost exactly like when she had her first kiss.
A nail scratches beneath her chin, little shivers erupting immediately. Regina can feel her skin goose bump. Whatever part of her brain is not drowning in endorphins, whispers pull yourself together but the majority of her is spellbound. That nail forces her chin up and she stares at deep red lips that move. Her eyes slowly move upward and – she can feel her limbs freezing. She tells her hand to move and- what? Slap this impertinent enchanting, lovely – but it won't obey. Somewhere , deep beneath the shivers that are worse now and the smile she does not want but she still has and the sighs she is only half-aware are coming from her mouth, there is that same feeling she used to have when she was Leopold's queen.
For one second, the eyes make her think of a beautiful smile – 'see? That's a start'- and she can feel her fingers wriggle. Then lips are pressed against her ear and she can feel the woman inhale, then moan. " You smell delicious. It must be the- " Regina can feel the nails tapping at her pulse point" magic in those veins of yours".
Regina can still barely move. She can open her lips- though it is agony- and even release a shaking 's-stop ' but no more than that. The part of her that is aware that – no matter how good it all feels- that this is wrong is slowly quietening. The woman chuckles against her ear and Regina can feel her arms on Regina's hips when her knees buckle.
She glances over the woman's shoulder and sees Emma Swan. She has not seen Regina – looking instead at Henry that is animatedly telling something- but the sight of Regina's family is enough to push through the rush for a moment. She feels like there are spider webs and dust in her brain that is now being cleaned and grabs the woman's hands. She digs her own nails in, then concentrates really hard.
The woman hisses as Regina's fingers heat and heat and heat until they're the temperature of boiling water. She doesn't want to hurt the woman- there is a curious absence of the vengeful anger she once had- but she is not going to just let herself be taken either.
" Get off me" she somehow manages to growl.
"We do love fiery women" is all the vampire says, throwing her head back and laughing. Her eyes glow for a moment, Regina's fingers do the opposite and freeze. Her breath snatches, she forces her limbs to obey but moves like a rusted robot and -
She can hear Henry's furious-afraid "MOM" , feel the rush of magic that comes from Emma, see the blur of Red that is Ruby –
First it looks like the woman's Iris is being swallowed by her pupil, then like there are blood vessels bursting/exploding. Those enticing lips press together, then open and Regina cannot blink as the teeth elongate into needles- tiny stakes- anything that is wickedly sharp.
There is most disconcerting mix of revulsion and pleasure when those teeth sink into her skin. Her body is wrecked by tiny shivers , accumulating until she can feel herself fall into strong arms. Her eyes water at the pain, then roll back at the pleasure. She wants to gag at the smell of blood, wants to inhale more of the woman that is still holding her. Her stomach is a mess, desire and revulsion playing tug of war inside it.
The woman pulls back, blood dripping from her lips and smirks " Catch, little saviour" she sing-songs, kisses Regina fast and hard before there is cracking and muscles stretching horribly- she turns into a bat. Regina sees a blur of colour - yellow, red, blue- in a sea of darkness. She thinks she hears someone call her name-
Darkness.
When she is aware of anything again, the first thing that registers is voices. There is a voice she recognizes as Snow, pleading and – afraid? There is another she knows is Henry's – hard and afraid and pained all at once.
And there is Emma. She is not screaming. She is not even raising her voice. Still, her voice somehow manages to seem louder than the other two. Regina wants to get up desperately when something in that voice tells her Emma is struggling to keep away from that dark place she receded to during the chase after Lily.
" I am going to find that thing. And I don't know why you are holding me back- did you see what that thing did to her?".
" Emma, what you are thinking about- it is not right ".
"Fuck right, I am protecting the mother of my son. I am going to burn down a whole nests of those things if that is what it takes".
" You have to think of Henry- if you dark- ".
And Emma finally screams then. " I am thinking of him! That is his mother laying comatose on a couch" her voice is high and breaks.
" Emma- ".
" Do you know what happens in the original tale? The woman that got bitten turned into a monster . They had to kill her" Part of her wants to scold Emma for losing it like this in front of their son, part of her is in awed disbelief of how much Emma obviously cares.
She hears a sob, really close to her ear. She cannot feel anything yet and she suddenly desperately wishes she could: she recognizes her little boy in that sob, realizes he must be very close to her. It hurts even more than the bite did, hearing his anguish but being unable to soothe it.
" Emma" Snow says softly.. She can hear footsteps- presumably Snow's. " Henry is right there" she says.
"Yeah and what do you expect me to do? Lie to him? Say it is all fucking rainbows and sunshine when there is another attack? ".
" Regina is strong".
" You did not see her" Emma sounds small, suddenly. More like a little girl than the strong woman she knows.
" Em- ".
" She was paralyzed" it is Henry's voice, fragile and choked. She screams at her hand to do something, move and at her eyelids to open. They don't obey no matter how much she screams and strains.
" She was- "there is a sob and silence for tense seconds." Standing there, with this pleading and terrified expression and – she was struggling, but it was really weak. And then you saw those fangs and – ".
He cuts off. She hears Snow whisper "oh Henry" she sounds like she might be crying. She can hear boots hit the floor furiously- Emma probably. She strains her ears and hears more footsteps, going towards Snow- David then.
For a while, there is silence apart from her own thoughts. She keeps screaming at her limbs to move, to just blink or wriggle her fingers, anything . Finally, the sound returns. It is Emma's voice- soft, gentle, tired- " We will stay here. All of us" and then Henry's – raw, exhausted, small – " Do you think she is still human?".
There is a long pause, Regina is now telling Emma that she better not mess this up. That she has to keep their boy happy. " I don't know Henry" there is a long pause where she hears Henry's breathing change like he is starting to cry again, or about to. Then there is Emma's voice, so very sure and strong: " But I know that whatever or whoever she is- she will always love you".
She remains in this state- weak, unable to open her eyes or feel anything- for who knows how long. She is almost never alone. She is fairly sure that Emma and Henry have beds next to her couch, Snow and David visit a lot and there are other friend and allies that come by.
Henry reads books he likes to her, asks " do you remember that time…" even though she cannot answer, just talks to her about what happened that day, pleads, watches movies that he narrates for her. Emma describes Henry – " Listen, I am sorry that I am bad at this but I am just going to try to describe it as well as possible okay? "- to her, tells her stories about all the people she searched for and caught, tells her how the town is doing . Snow tells her about how they know she will get through this, how she is resilient and strong, how her love for Henry is so beautiful ( Regina would almost think Snow is trying to torture her as much as possible to force her to wake. She would take it to her grave that she actually likes the visits). David sits with her , does not talk that much except to tell her how Snow and Emma and Henry are doing or whether they are any closer to solving the issues the town is having.
She does not know how much time has passed like this when slowly but surely, her other senses return. It is the smell of bacon at first, when they are making breakfast. Her sense of smell is weak at first , she never knows when it will disappear again. She feels Henry's lips on her forehead next and he gasps, drops the book he had been reading and she can hear his voice crack - "guys, there are tears on her cheeks, there are tears". Then Henry is sitting next to her, she has been trying so very hard to make her hand move and her fingers wriggle. He lets out one sob, one sad 'momma' and she nearly breaks.
Finally, she wakes. She has been fighting , her eyelids trembling, when she finally manages to wrench them over. The dusk hurts her eyes and she has to blink tears from them. She can hear Henry's slow breathing- he is obviously asleep – and the beat of his heart. She looks down and stares. Emma is kneeled in front of her, stakes littering the floor around her. She is resting her head on her arms, the arms on Regina's stomach. Regina reaches out to touch her without thinking
The reaction is immediate: eyes snap open and grab her hand. Regina hears one loud heartbeat, silence then very fast thudthudthudthudthud. Emma's eyes cloud over, Regina can read her own name on those lips but it isn't actually spoken. Then there are hands grabbing her arms, a forehead resting against her own.
I am ravenous. She thinks, which is an odd thought to have at this moment. She wriggles her nose, inhales deeply. Something smells very good, so good that she can feel her stomach muscles contract like they're telling her to get it. She smiles at Emma. " Come closer" she whispers, not wanting Henry to hear.
Emma presses closer obediently, and a very small part of Regina comments on how weird her eyes look. She shuts it up, revels in the feeling of the woman so close to her , burning up and soft against her skin and-
She only realizes what is wrong when her teeth sink into the column of Emma's throat.