Chapter 11
Helena's entire vision has a red tint. The human closest to her, Teyla, has collapsed on the ground, as a human's version of starvation is a lot calmer than a Vampire's.
Her eyes are locked on the vein she sees throbbing on Teyla's neck, the deafeningly loud sound of heartbeats around her, these wet throbs of blood being pushed through arteries, and she holds back a low growl building in her throat.
It hurts.
It hurts so much.
She clamps her fingers on the edge of the table, trying to pull herself up, but the world sways before her eyes; she feels her body weakening by the second.
With a strangled hiss, she forces herself to look over to Ivory, and her eyes go wide.
She's standing straight up, hands clenched shut, her entire body so tense, she can see muscles twitching. An expression of furious determination dominates her features as she forces herself close to the scientist, McKay, who is weeping by her feet.
Her off hand curls into a claw, and she reaches down to pull him up by his collar. Helena tries to speak, fear flaring up in the pit of her stomach. If she feeds on a Lanthean...
The words won't leave her clenched throat.
She vaguely hears Ivory speak, her sharp, hoarse voice, shaky with hunger, forcefully controlled.
"This city has shields. You need them up right now." she informs McKay, who still whimpers, as he hangs lifelessly in her grip.
"Every second you spend like this is a test to my self-control." she adds, growling at him for good measure. "Every fiber of my being screams to be fed. Activate your shields, or I will elect that you are not worth my pain."
She sets him down on the ground, and McKay steadies himself against the wall, breathing heavily, face torn between terror and anguish. Helena can see a dark liquid dripping from Ivory's feeding hand, clenched so hard, her nails dig into her palm.
"I can't... I can't walk." the man manages to speak, a pleading undertone in his voice. Ivory grabs him by the scruff and drags him out the room like a ragdoll.
Their voices become muffled once they're out of range, and Helena has nothing left to distract her from Teyla's blood, rushing through her veins next to her.
The woman makes eye contact, clearly understanding that Helena is experiencing something entirely different than she is. A realization that she is in danger.
Teyla raises a shaking hand, to keep her at a healthy distance, but all it accomplishes is presenting a starving Vampire with the pulse point on her wrist.
"Get back," Helena croaks at her, barely understandable, and does her best to scurry away in the opposite direction herself.
Staring at her from bloodshot eyes, Teyla lowers her hand again, and heaves herself away from her. Helena leans against the wall, and tries to breathe through her mouth, to avoid the scents around her. The air hitting her throat hurts.
Seconds pass, feeling like hours, and Helena begins to see black spots in her vision.
The next thing she recalls is a light slap on her right cheek.
She rouses, lifting her hand to her temples, and slowly opens her eyes.
It's Teyla, kneeling over her, offering her hand to help her up.
"You passed out." she informs her, as soon as they're both on their feet again.
Sucking in air like someone recovering from nearly having drowned, Helena looks around herself. The attendants of this conference are slowly dragging themselves up again, and she doesn't feel the hunger anymore.
"Did we scare them away...?" she asks, voice still shaking. Teyla knows, or at least suspects that she's lying to them all.
"I doubt it. Your Wraith contact dragged McKay out, and the assault ended shortly after." Teyla explains. "If she killed him,..."
"She didn't. I know her this well." Helena cuts her off, and leaves the room, half-running into the control room.
Most of Atlantis' crew is still on the floor, some unconscious, some maybe dead, but McKay is sitting by one of the consoles, flanked by Ivory, looking like a cornered prey animal.
Ivory looks up, and Helena sees relief in her eyes.
"You are alive." she states, trying her very best to banish emotion from her voice.
"What happened?" Helena inquires, and Ivory nods in McKay's direction.
"I got him to raise the city's shields. I theorized that it might protect us from the Unyielding Thirst, and luckily, I was right." she explains, and Helena notices that she still has her feeding hand held tightly shut.
"What would you have done if it hadn't worked?" McKay dares to ask, and Ivory flashes her teeth at him.
"I doubt you want me to spell that out for you." she responds, and he scoots away from her a little.
Helena moves toward them, her eyes locked on Ivory's balled up hand.
"You're still hungry." she remarks, and Ivory nods.
"I am very susceptible to this weapon, because I am not only Wraith, but a Queen. My mind may be stronger, but it has a higher range, too. They can still touch it, but it has lessened enough to be bearable." she explains, and for the first time since they set foot in Atlantis, Helena sees the warm, loving look she usually regards her with. "I will live, Helena."
"There's, uh... still three Hives out there, and they're attacking yours." McKay informs her.
"It will not hold out for very long, especially since its crew is still under the full effects of the Unyielding Thirst. They are likely cannibalizing each other by now." Only Helena is able to hear the grief in her tone.
"Well, let's stop them, then." Sheppard exclaims on his way past them. "Monitor them, I'm going to the Chair."
Nobody objects, most humans still reeling from the assault.
Teyla has made her way to catch up to them, and regards Helena with a very careful glance, exhibiting the mannerisms of someone trying to approach an elusive, but dangerous predator. Trying to to scare her off, trying not to entice her to attack.
Helena watches her from the corner of her eye.
"You look better," she slowly addresses her, still keeping a wary distance.
"I feel better." Helena agrees. "Teyla, you look uneasy. Are you quite alright?"
"I am." she steps a little closer, and Helena sees her hand rest on the weapon on her belt. "You looked at me oddly earlier."
Ivory shoots her an alarmed glance.
"Did I?" Helena weakly counters.
"You also told me to get away." Teyla reminds her. "Why?"
Helena shrinks away by a few inches.
"You have nothing to fear." she assures her, accepting that lying isn't in her best interest anymore.
"I saw your teeth. And the look in your eyes." Teyla counters. "You're not human. And you wanted to eat me."
McKay looks from the two women to the Wraith beside him, and back. A rumble goes through the city, as the Hives begin opening fire on Atlantis.
"What you really need to know about my nature is that I mean you no harm. Yes, I desperately wanted to sink my fangs into your neck. But I didn't." Helena admits, under Teyla's glare. "And furtherly,..."
She steps away, around the console, and approaches Ivory, giving her an intense look. Ivory's upper lip twitches, in a stifled snarl.
Slowly, well aware of Teyla's weapon now pointed at her, she reaches for Ivory's feeding hand, and curls her fingers in her own hand. A tremble runs through her lover, and she sees her pupils fanning outward.
Shooting Teyla a glance, she guides Ivory's hand to her chest, pressing it against her skin.
"Do it already. I know you want to." she hisses, and Ivory snarls, latching her feeding organ to her.
The pain washes over Helena, and she winces.
There's nothing sexual about this, and Ivory isn't gentle. She draws her life force rapidly, a hungry growl escaping her. Both know that this may very well be deciding their fates, as Teyla watches, wide-eyed, still pointing her weapon at them.
Liquid fire runs through her veins, as Ivory draws Helena's life, and she notices her lover genuinely struggling to force herself to stop when she eventually does.
Her hand hovers over Helena's chest, and her teeth are bared, but Helena reaches forward, placing her hand on Ivory's back, pulling her in, sealing her mouth on her neck.
For a second, she feels her rapid pulse, then she bites down. Ivory hisses under her fangs, but she doesn't stop her. Instead, her muscles tense, as Helena tries not to lose herself in the warmth her blood brings.
After just a few seconds, she pulls back, watching the wound heal, just before Ivory reaches up and wipes the blood off it.
Helena turns to face the two humans, McKay looking like he has years of therapy ahed, and Teyla having lowered her weapon.
"You can feed each other." she whispers, loud enough for them to hear.
"Yes." Helena croaks. "Her and I have been companions for centuries. Neither of us have fed on humans ever since, and we aren't about to start now."
"What about her Hive?" Teyla asks sharply.
"I do not know." Ivory replies, sounding strained, gaze locked on the sealing wound she left on Helena's chest. "I only recently became Queen; I have spent my life on Helena's ship so far, without much contact to my kind."
"This weapon – Death developed it together with the people she snared from me. My friends, turning against me, and … doing this." Helena continues, well aware of the others having caught up to Teyla from the conference room. "That's why we're here. This threatens us all, including you."
Silence falls, only interrupted by the rumbles of the fire on the city's shields. Flashes of light make the stained glass windows shine periodically, and Helena takes Ivory's feeding hand, pressing her fingers into the slit. She knows, she's hurting her, but she also knows that the sensation helps her fight back her urge to feed.
"Your Hive." McKay breaks the silence. "It's started firing on the others. One of them is about to fall apart, Sheppard's done some work on it.."
"They are firing?" Ivory sounds genuinely surprised. "But... they are very close to the Unyielding Thirst's source." Her eyes are wide, and Helena feels her fingers clench around her hand.
"I don't know, but they are shooting-... First Hive is down!" McKay sounds almost hopeful.
Ivory slowly raises her off hand to press the button in her ear.
"Please respond." she speaks, and her eyes immediately light up. "I see. Keep the lockdown up, and do not stop shooting. Once the enemy as been decimated, the pain will fade. Feed on Drones, if you must"
"They're alive." Helena whispers, and she nods.
"I do not know how they manage, but they do. A good quarter of them died, but the core crew is still holding on." Ivory's voice gains some strength as she speaks. "The enemy is concentrating their fire on the city. We may have a chance."
"We may... not." McKay interrupts. "The Hive with the least damage, they uh... they started heading straight for us."
"Can your shield withstand the impact?" Helena snaps, whipping around to him.
Horror has found its way back into McKay's eyes.
"I don't know." he whispers.
Woolsey has finally found enough courage to speak.
"Funnel whatever energy we have into the shields." he commands, lacking a feeling of authority in his voice, but McKay complies regardless.
"I am-... second Hive is down, but the third one's still heading down!"
Ivory hisses.
"Keep firing! Destroy them before they can hit the city!" she snarls into her communicator.
"That's it! That's all we have!" McKay announces, and Helena sees some of the control room's crew folding their hands in silent prayer.
The noise is deafening.
A violent jerk runs through the city, knocking most people off their feet. Lights flicker, and the noise of big objects hitting the water follows.
A brief silence falls, and Helena notices Ivory's claws digging into the back of her hand, as they both find themselves on the ground.
"We're alive." McKay states the obvious and gets up. "Our ZPM is probably depleted, but we're alive. It's over."
Ivory rouses, and pulls Helena up with her.
"I cannot feel the telepathic assault anymore." she tells them. "They are gone."
"I believe, we have a lot to discuss now." Teyla suggests, pulling herself up on the edge of the console. Her weapon has slid away from her, having been dropped when the impact struck.
"Ah, maybe not yet. There's a life sign in the waters, and we're out of shields." McKay stops her. "Someone survived the impact."