Chapter V: But Now I'm Feeling Kinda Warm
Most people, Emma felt sure, would probably have been more than a little terrified to have a vampire Queen suddenly inches away from sinking her fangs into you. Most people, however, had probably not already survived a vampire attack. And most people had not spent the last eight years of their lives Hunting. And most people were not Emma Swan.
She simply got pissed off. Green eyes narrowed, blazing as she glared with full animosity at her son's adopted mother. "Enough," she growled.
The grip wavered just a little, more out of surprise than anything else. Certainly not at any perceived threat. Regina blinked. "Excuse me?"
The moment of hesitation was all Emma needed. She lashed out with her legs, catching one of Regina's own and then twisting, forcing the brunette's balance to shift and then falter. "I said 'enough,'" Emma repeated.
A human would have been swept to the floor. Her reflexes faster, Regina only stumbled, releasing Emma's neck in a split second, falling to her knees and one outstretched hand and then righting herself again all in the blink of an eye.
But Emma felt accomplished anyway. She had, after all, been wanting a good fight all day. And while Regina certainly could kill her, she doubted she would. Henry wanted her to still be here when he got home, after all.
When the dark-haired woman whirled on her, snarling with open mouth and bared fangs, the Hunter shot her arm out, gripping Regina's wrist and twisting her body weight to spin her, sending her slamming into the nearest wall. She knew she couldn't injure Regina enough to kill her, not with her bare hands. But she could definitely slow her down.
Pictures rattled with the force of the impact. And then again when Regina spun, pushed off from the surface, and came flying at her. Emma was ready, grabbing her arm with both of her hands, kicking the Queen in the stomach.
She went down, back to the floor. Not allowing the Queen a chance to regroup and come at her again, Emma straddled her, twisted her hands into the fine fabric of her shirt and jerked her head up only to slam it down into the floor. Hissing, Regina's hand shot upwards, landing over Emma's face. With a ruthless shove, she forced the Hunter up and away. Far away. Emma hit the wall opposite with a dull thud, landing about mid-way and then falling to the floor.
She got to her feet quickly enough, but the Queen was already on her again. Lacking in her speed and strength, Emma twisted, used Regina's momentum against her, and shoved the brunette back in the direction of the stairs. This was almost too easy.
She was right.
Regina's lips moved in silent spell-casting. Emma suddenly found that they'd swapped positions. Emma was now the one just hurled against the steps and the Queen advancing on her in a blur. "Well," she purred dangerously, "that was a pleasant diversion. But I think you're quite right, dear." She bent down, hovering above the prostrate woman on the stairs. "Enough."
Wincing, Emma struggled, kicking and swinging out with her arms only to find that they would not obey her commands. Eyes wide, she lay frozen on the steps. Regina's hand once again slipped around her neck. She swallowed. Took a breath. She was powerless. Again. Her eyes met the Queen's, who looked as though she was about to enjoy a very well-deserved snack. Emma spat at her, powerless but not cowed. "If you're going to bite me, then just do it."
Regina blinked. And then nearly laughed, pulling away with a nasty grin. Or perhaps it was slightly disgusted; it was a bit hard to tell. "Why would I allow myself to be sullied with the likes of you?" Releasing the blonde with a final shove, she rose, smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt, and turned away.
Stunned, it took Emma far too long speak, much less realize she could move again. "...What?" When she found herself able to move, several moments after, she pushed herself off the steps quickly, adopting a defensive pose. Just in case.
"Make no mistake, Miss Swan," the mayor continued casually, straightening the cuffs of her blazer. "You're Claimed. I have the right to feed on you whenever I wish." She shot her a look, almost smirking. "And I don't need to pin you to my stairs to do it."
Emma considered this, watching the brunette warily. "...You just want me intimidated." Against all possible logic, the blonde actually reached and spun the brunette around again, baring her own teeth as she stared down the Queen. "I'm. Not. Intimidated."
Regina's eyes moved over every inch of Emma's face, studying her. Her lips flared in irritation, but the fangs were no longer extended. Annoyed, she slammed Emma into the wall again with a flick of her wrist, making the blonde hiss as the back of her head caught the corner of an elaborate picture frame. "Do stop touching me, Miss Swan."
"You said that before," Emma managed to grunt, bringing a hand to the back of her head and wincing when it came away red. She was bleeding.
In obvious conflict to every other vampire Emma had ever known of, Regina didn't even appear to notice the blood, instead focusing her attention on straightening her hair. "You failed to listen," she quipped. A little too stunned by the lack of bloodlust, Emma stayed silent, staring at the other woman's backside, so Regina went on. "I won't be drinking from you, dear. And neither will Henry. Despite your apparent desire to goad me, your pretty little neck is safe enough. If you keep instigating fights in my house, however, your head may not be." She finally turned around, only then noticing Emma's expression. And the blood on her fingertips from her scalp. Her lips pursed in thought. "I see its already taken some damage."
And that, really, was the very last of it. The last distortion to her perception of the world that Emma could take. She just stared. Her mind stopped processing completely, and she switched between staring at the blood on her hand and then at Regina. Almost unable, even, to remember to breathe. When need for oxygen finally cranked her mind again, she gasped it in, exhaling in a deep gush of air and barely formed the words: "What the hell are you?!"
Blinking, Regina's hands froze mid hair-fluff. "Excuse me?"
"Vampires don't just ignore blood! They don't just decide they don't want it! We just fought! I'm bleeding! You're a fucking killing machine and you're just standing there ...annoyed that I've mussed your hair!"
Silence was Regina's only answer, blankly staring at Emma for several of the blonde's hammering heartbeats. And finally, the Queen simply expelled a quiet, perplexed hush of air. "...You truly don't understand, do you?" It was obvious she didn't expect an answer, but Emma bristled all the same. Before she could confront her on it, though, Regina had already given a sigh and a shake of her head. "Fortunately, I've already anticipated this."
Emma was incredibly tired of being forced to give this woman a blank stare. But perhaps Regina was right in that she didn't understand. She certainly didn't know to what the other woman was referring.
"We're stuck with one another," the mayor stated simply. "So you're going to have to understand how exactly Stroybrooke works. And, since the pamphlets obviously didn't help: Claiming. While I'd love to show you-" her sarcasm was not lost on Emma, even befuddled as she was, "I simply don't have the time, dear." And she turned away again, heading towards her front door and utterly dismissing Emma.
"Hey!" Emma shouted, pouncing and catching the mayor by the wrist. Regina glared at her, but it was the blonde's turn to cut her off. "You want me to stop touching you? Then stop walking away from me when I'm talking to you."
Regina raised an eyebrow. "I was only going to get the door, Miss Swan."
"Wha-" The doorbell rang. They both turned to look at it, Regina then turning back to Emma with a distinct look of 'See?' and then pulled away to answer it, mayoral smile firmly back in place as she did so.
And was instantly swept into a hug. With incredulity, Emma watched the mayor go stiff before awkwardly attempting to return it, lightly patting the owner of the overly-friendly arms before they finally lowered. Regina cleared her throat. "Thank you, dear." She left it ambiguous at to whether the thanks was for the hug or for her presence, though Emma knew it was the latter.
Gesturing inside, Regina held the door for the guest, but gave no verbal permission. The other blonde entered freely, taking note of Emma's presence and flashing her a genuine smile. "You must be Emma," she offered her hand. "The whole town is talking about you." Regina grimaced at that, but the new blonde didn't seem to see it, still concentrating on Emma. And the fact that she had yet to shake her hand. She withdrew the offer slowly, as seamlessly and unawkwardly as she could. "...I'm Kathryn."
Head still thumping a bit from the knock it had taken, Emma looked her over carefully. "You're... human?" None of the normal signs of anything else was present in this woman, but apparently that meant nothing, if Regina was any example of the inhabitants of this town.
Blinking, Kathryn just laughed a little, nodding. "Yes."
Still bewildered, Emma glanced over at the mayor with an uncertain look. Regina only forced a tight smile. "As I was saying, Miss Swan: I don't have the time to pander to your ignorance. Which is why Kathryn graciously volunteered. So now that you're introduced, I do have work to do." She gave a nod to Kathryn, the closest thing she could get to gratitude. "I'll see you in the office tomorrow. Do be sure to thank Frederick for dropping you by so promptly, dear," she smiled.
To Emma, she gave a puffed breath of exasperation, raising an admonishing finger. "Since I suppose you're my human now, Miss Swan... Continue to obey Henry's instructions. Specifically: don't kill anyone." She smiled and then there was suddenly nothing but a blur of motion where she'd been.
Both blondes looked after her, but of course could see nothing. Kathryn just chuckled, shaking her head a bit in wonder. "I hate when they do that in the middle of a conversation," she murmured, but the tone in her voice didn't sound like she hated it at all.
Emma glanced at her, then sighed, slumping against the door. Her head was killing her.
Giving her a moment, Kathryn stayed silent, allowing Emma to process things on her own time. When the other blonde finally looked her way again, she gave the Hunter another warm smile. "...This is all probably very shocking for you. I'm here to help, so if you have any questions I can answer or you need anyth-"
"Do you have an aspirin?"
Unthrown by being interrupted, Kathryn simply fished in her purse and produced a bottle. And a small bottle of water, which Emma accepted gratefully and promptly popped. She drank the water greedily and then sighed, resting her head on the back of the wall and glancing at the other blonde, running her eyes over her. Sizing her up. "How long is there before Henry gets back from school?" She doubted the other blonde would know, but she was here to answer her questions, after all, so...
Kathryn checked her watch. "Two hours," she answered.
Emma decided she could possibly like this woman. "Is there somewhere I can just go hit something?" Her fight with the mayor hadn't had the effect she'd really wanted.
The other woman didn't even bat an eye, just smiled and offered her hand to pull Emma up from the wall. "Absolutely."
One completely decimated punching bag later, Emma felt much better. Breath heavy and cheeks red, the Hunter unwrapped her hands and sat down on a bench. Kathryn wordlessly handed her a towel and another bottle of water. As if this were a completely everyday occurrence for her.
"You're Regina's secretary, aren't you?" Emma hazarded a guess.
Kathryn laughed. "How could you tell?" Her eyes sparkled, and Emma knew she didn't actually have to answer that question. They stayed silent for a long while, until Kathryn finally checked her watch again and mentioned that they should head back to the mansion if she wanted to be there for Henry.
Kathryn had driven to the gym, so as they got into the car, Emma just looked out the window. And drank from the bottle of water. "Thanks," she muttered. Whether it was for the water, taking her to the gym, driving her back, or all of the above, Emma really wasn't sure.
The other blonde only nodded in return, and they lapsed into silence. Awkward silence, at least for Emma. She took a deep breath, glancing around slowly and set the bottle of water down in the cup holder. "...So... that's a nice gym," she offered. Awkward. But Kathryn was here to answer questions, right? She might as well try to talk to her.
"Thank you. Frederick runs it."
Emma frowned. She'd heard that name. Regina had said it just before running off. "And Frederick is-"
"My claimer," she answered with a gentle smile.
"Right," the Hunter sighed and had the passing thought to wonder if Kathryn was in the seventy-nine percentile range the pamphlet had mentioned. And then really, really wished she hadn't wondered that. She wanted to scrub at her face with the towel again, but it had been left at the gym. The vampire's gym. Emma almost wanted to scream. Instead, she sighed and finally just decided to start asking questions. "...Look, I don't want to be rude; you seem really nice, but why the hell would anyone want to be owned by a vampire? It seems-" she trailed off and hoped that the other blonde would understand the question and not be offended. She kind of liked Kathryn, a little.
The other blonde understood and did not appear to take offense. "There's a lot of different reasons. Regina said you probably don't know what Claiming really is?" Emma didn't answer verbally, but Kathryn seemed to understand. Her face was not unkind as she explained. "The first thing to understand is that Claiming is very, very old. As old as vampires themselves. It's mentioned in the very earliest of the Edicts..."
A glazed, sour look passed over Emma's face. She'd never been one for much history. The present was bad, the future gloomy. Why would the past be any different? Her own had sucked.
Kathryn, seeing the look, veered off her train of thought with another soft smile. "...Sorry, I've spent a lot of time studying the Edicts," she offered and returned to the subject at hand. "Anyway, claiming is about far more than being 'owned'. I hate that term, by the way." She pulled a face and gave a playful little shudder. "It's a way for vampires to have a readily available and willing food source, and for their humans to be protected."
"'Protected?!" Emma's incredulity was obvious even without the rise in volume. "You get savagely bitten on a regular basis and your blood drained out of you and you honestly expect me to believe it's done to protect you?!"
Again, the other blonde didn't seem to be offended. Probably why Regina had chosen her for this task. Her voice was still just as pleasant as she explained. "Once you're Claimed, no other vampire can bite you, except for your claimer."
Scoffing, Emma couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of vampires actually obeying any kind of rules. Or Edicts, whatever. "Why, because it's rude? Please."
Kathryn shook her head. "No, it's more than just manners: it's a biological imperative. Vampires are physically incapable of biting a Claimed human. It's on the same sort of wavelength as obeying the orders of the one who made them, or protecting their Queen. ...Regina can probably explain that part a bit better than I can."
The Hunter fought the urge to laugh, sure that the other blonde was just pulling her leg. Or exaggerating. But when Kathryn's face remained earnest, and when she realized that she sensed no lie from the other woman, her eyebrows raised. "...You're serious."
"Completely. I've seen it. I was about to be bitten and then the vampire just... stopped."
Pausing to take another drink from the bottle of water, Emma allowed her brain to process this. Highly doubtful as it was. "That's... convenient. So all the vampires in the world can't bite me because I've signed a little piece of paper? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
Shaking her head, Kathryn looked a little amused. "The Claim is more than a piece of paper. It's a magical contract, completely unbreakable. That's why a magic user has to be present at a signing. It's why werewolves need to witness when a Claim is made. It's sacrosanct."
"...So why am I only just hearing about this now? What's so special about Storybrooke?"
"Regina." There was a certain amount of awe in the way Kathryn said the mayor's name. Emma found it a bit unsettling. "Claiming has largely been forgotten, everywhere else. But she designed the town, and re-instituted it. It's all her doing."
"What, so Storybrooke is some magical utopia where everyone joins hands and sings while drinking blood and baying at the moon? I don't think that's-"
It was the other blonde's turn to cut her off, which she did with a slightly apologetic smile. But Emma needed to hear what she had to say, and she needed to understand it. "Emma, I know how this all must seem to you, coming from outside. I know how the world is out there; I lived in it." Her face grew darker at the memory. "My mother was taken when I was a child. Bitten right in front of me and my father, but she didn't turn; she just died. So I grew up like everyone else, huddled and scared of the dark for most of my life. Hating vampires and werewolves. Like you. I know how they are, out there. How all the ones I'm sure you've met have probably been. But they're not like that here."
Watching her face as she spoke, Emma desperately wanted to interject. But there was such a genuineness to the way Kathryn spoke. Such earnestness, that she didn't want to interrupt. The other blonde wasn't lying to her.
"Here, almost every human here is Claimed, so there are no attacks. For those who don't have anyone Claimed, there's a completely voluntary rotation system for humans to donate blood. That's mostly for the younger vampires. And... Regina, of course."
That caught Emma's attention. Practically set off alarm bells in her head. Regina had built the town, but hadn't actually claimed anyone herself? Well, besides her, apparently, but that didn't really count. It certainly seemed odd.
"There's no daylight government that ends at nightfall and the town doesn't just die and lock its doors once the sun goes down," Kathryn continued. "Everyone runs the town together- businesses and restaurants and schools and everything. We run on all hours and everything runs smoothly. But she's worked it all out; the humans and werewolves and the vampires and the magic users... everything works together. It's very symbiotic."
There were a great deal more questions that she felt like asking at that point. Finally, the one she settled on was: "How long has this been going on?"
"Nearly thirty years. But Storybrooke existed before that, in some form or other, for about two hundred."
Emma blinked, and considered this. She swallowed, and realized what Kathryn was really saying. "...Regina's that old?"
Kathryn paused. For the first time, Emma seemed to have given her a question she was hesitant to answer. Finally, she gave a small sigh, and closed her eyes. "She's... much older, Emma."
Now that she'd finally found something she probably wasn't supposed to know, Emma couldn't help but press. She placed an awkward hand on Kathryn's knee, trying to show she was trustworthy. Or hitting on her, if that would help. She offered a smile, the first directed at anyone who wasn't Henry or Granny since she'd come here. "...How old?"
The other blonde looked at the hand on her leg, then up at Emma, and finally back to the road. She swallowed before answering. "No one really knows; she's older than everyone else in town. But the rumor is that before she was born? 'Regina' did not yet mean 'Queen.'"
...
After insisting that Kathryn really didn't need to see her inside, Emma sat on the porch and put her head in her hands.
She felt more than heard the door open behind her. She didn't even look up, already knowing, somehow, that it was Regina. She sighed again.
The mayor gave a slight 'humph' of obvious disappointment. Maybe she'd been expecting Henry already? Emma didn't know. But she did hear the resigned timbre of the other woman's voice when she told her she could come in, if she chose.
Emma elected to stay on the porch, watching the sky. It was just beginning to get a faint glow around the horizon. The sun would be rising soon. She hoped Regina would just leave her alone. She didn't want to get into anything else right now. And she really didn't want to stick her foot in her mouth by asking how old the mayor actually was. Which she felt in danger of doing, and knew wouldn't be smart of her. She still didn't have her guns, after all. And her last little fight with the Queen hadn't ended well for her. Though she knew she'd probably be doing it again sometime anyway.
The mayor did not leave her alone. Of course. Instead she stood leaning against one of the pillars to her house. To Emma's shock, she actually almost seemed awkward. She covered it with a clearing of her throat and a disinterested-sounding: "Decidedly fewer questions, now, I hope, Miss Swan?"
She didn't even bother to hold back the laugh, this time. Emma was returning to the mansion with a much larger understanding about Storybrooke and Claiming, but she had no fewer questions. She shook her head. "Just more to take their places. Kathryn was helpful, though," she added as an afterthought.
"I thought she would be." It almost seemed like Regina had been expecting that answer. "Henry isn't home yet," she observed flatly. "My schedule is thrown off a bit. Go ahead, then."
Emma glanced over her shoulder at the other woman for the first time, puzzled. "Go ahead?"
The mayor raised an eyebrow, but didn't directly look at her. "Ask away, dear."
The blonde looked back at the ground, and then leaned back on her elbows, stretching herself over the steps of the porch. She sighed. "What are you going to do with me?" It was actually one of the ones weighing most heavily on her right now.
"I'm sorry?"
"I can't leave. You won't kill me, because of Henry." Emma stated simply, and looked up at the roof of the porch. "But I can't just sit around here all day. I'm a Hunter, and I obviously can't Hunt here."
"No," the mayor agreed with her. And it was one of the first of such an occurrence.
The blonde seemed to be checking things off in her head. "You have the right to feed from me-"
Regina smirked, and brushed a probably imaginary piece of lint off of her jacket. "I do."
"-but you're not going to," Emma continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.
"I'm not." Regina was not going to answer that in more detail, Emma already knew. So she didn't ask.
She swallowed instead, feeling a bit ill at the next question. "And ...Henry-?" she could barely even ask it without her stomach lurching on her, threatening to spill the digested remains of her breakfast on Regina's walkway.
"I won't allow it," Regina answered, just as simply. This time, Emma would have asked why. But Regina knew that, and so she just continued: "Beyond the fact that the thought of being bitten obviously distresses you, drinking directly from the source dramatically slows a young vampire's aging. Repeated such drinking will stop it entirely. And I certainly wouldn't want to be eight years old for eternity." She sighed, and actually bothered to look down at the blonde. Their eyes met for the first time. "Would you?"
There was a faint blur of motion over the horizon, finally stopping just in front of the walkway to the house. It slowed to reveal Henry, being guided back to his house by his teacher.
Emma rose to her feet. Regina whooshed forward, meeting her son at the gate and ushering him onto her property. Henry beamed up at her, and then turned back to his vampire escort. "Bye, Miss Blanchard!" Henry waved, "See you in the evening!"
Falling on the pixie-cut brunette, Emma's eyes narrowed. "You... you're Henry's teacher?"
...
A/N: Here end what I call the 'wordy' chapters. Be prepared for a great deal more action and less (but not a lot less) dialogue in the coming chapters. To those of you wondering when this Horror/Family story will start heading back to the 'Horror' side of things, I can tell you the next chapter is going to be a fun one.
I do hope you enjoyed this one, though, gentle readers. My thanks, as always, to my lovely beta Killer-Elephants.
~M