A/N: Hey kids. Sorry for the two-toed sloth-paced updates. I'm trying to compensate by writing longer chapters. Thanks for the reviews so far. They're much appreciated. Now, on with the story.
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Rachel rushed out of the gym and down the hallway leading to the guest room. Brittany sat just outside the door cradling a mumbling Kurt in her arms. "Britt!" yelled out Rachel.
The blonde dancer looked up then back down at Kurt. She was holding her hands either side of Kurt's head, hands glowing. "Rach, don't go inside," she warned.
Rachel looked at the two with alarm. "What the hell happened? Is he going to be alright?" she asked panicked.
"S and I got here to check on Quinn and found him on the floor of the room. Next thing we know Quinn's body just goes on fire and she's awake. She was striking lightning all over the place. Kurt's okay, but in shock," the healer replied, continuing to repair whatever mental damage the boy had sustained.
After calming herself, Rachel nodded then took a step closer to the room which held Quinn. Brittany's voice caused her to hesitate, "Rach, S put up a barrier around the room. You can't go in."
A shimmering translucent blue wall blocked the entrance. Tongues of flames were licking the underside of the door, but not burning it. She could hear the sound of objects being thrown and broken. Then she heard it, her name being screamed out, "RAAACHEL!"
It was drawn out and Quinn's scream was hoarse and pained. "Fucking stay away from her! I'm going to kill you! I'll tear you limb from limb and I'll enjoy it," yelled Quinn's voice.
Rachel looked at Brittany with panicked eyes. The flames coming out from under the door intensified and so did Rachel's worry. Then she heard another voice. It wasn't Quinn's, but it sounded very familiar. "Tonight, my daughter, you shall be reunited with your true inheritance," said the menacing voice.
Russel Fabray. She recognized the voice to the one she heard in the park. At that moment Santana came running down the hallway with Sue right behind her. Rachel glared straight at the ex-Cheerio and pointed at the barrier. "Open the door!" she ordered.
Santana stopped next to Brittany and Kurt. "No Rachel, it's too dangerous," refused the Latina.
Sue knelt down and checked Kurt's vitals. "It's okay, the princess will be fine. Rachel, listen to Santana here."
Rachel looked at Brittany who was still cradling the telekinetic boy in her arms. "Tell her to release the barrier," she begged.
Brittany looked up at her girlfriend, who gave her a look of disapproval, then back to Rachel. "Sorry," she replied sadly.
Rachel took a demanding step forward towards Santana and pointed her hand towards Brittany. At the top of her lungs she screamed, "OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR SANTANA OR I'LL HURT BRITT!"
It was a low blow, but Santana knew that a stressed out and angry Berry wasn't someone to say no to. Lifting her hand the barrier disappeared.
Sue stood up to stop Rachel, but the Broadway star glared at the coach. Her eyes were filled with confidence. So Sue simply nodded and silently told her that she'd be nearby if things get worse.
Despite her surge of anger Rachel still found time to say, "Thank you." She turned the handle and pushed the door open. Upon entering the room and closing the door behind her she stopped dead in her tracks by the sight before her.
"The only inheritance I will gain, father, is your lifeless heart in the palm of my hands," growled out the blonde woman.
Fear crawled up Rachel's spine because she couldn't see anyone else, but Quinn's back. The woman's body was on fire, but it wasn't harming her and bolts of lightning were erupting around her. Then she heard the voice again, "Good, good! What other way to die than by the hands of my own offspring! Oh, we have a little visitor."
Quinn turned around slowly and faced Rachel. Her eyes no longer held their golden glow; instead they looked like dark pits of burning coal. Then the voice came again, "Hello little canary."
Rachel's eyes widened in horror. The voice came from Quinn's own mouth. "Quinn," she whispered. The embers in the demon's eyes in front of her flickered. She caught a small glimpse of Quinn's golden glow. "She 's still somewhere in there!" Rachel thought to herself hopefully.
Then Quinn, the real Quinn, spoke. "Rachel," whimpered the blonde woman. "You're still..." Her sentence was interrupted as her head was thrown back. Her scream filled the room and flames spewed from her mouth.
Rachel watched on in horror, her feet glued to the floor. She wanted to reach out, but her body wouldn't move. She watched helplessly as molten lava tears seeped out of the woman's eyes in front of her. She saw the pained expression on Quinn's face. She had to do something; she didn't train for nothing. Rachel closed her eyes tightly and willed herself to overcome her frightened paralysis. Opening her eyes, focused solely on one Quinn Fabray, she leapt forward and tackled her to the ground. This time the flames burned her fingers as she wrapped her arms around Quinn's head and she could feel the electricity coursing through her body, but she refused to be knocked down. "Quinn," she spoke out painfully through gritted teeth. "Quinn, it's me. Come back, please. Come back to me," she begged. Tears stung her cheek as she endured both physical and emotional pain. Her right hand shifted to Quinn's left cheek and she started to rub it gently. "Quinn, come back," she quietly begged again.
The last of the molten tears rolled down Quinn's cheek, one last breath of fire left her lips, and also a strange large shadow lifted off her body. Golden irises looked up into the crying face of Rachel Berry. She brought her left hand up to the hand that was stroking her cheek, she gently shifted it into her view and saw the blisters that were there from being burned. Fresh tears assaulted those golden eyes. "I'm so sorry," she whimpered out. "I'm so sorry Rachel." A quiet sob shuddered through her whole body.
"It's okay Quinn," Rachel reassured the woman in her arms. "It's okay. We'll be all right. I'm right here. It's my turn to take care of you." A small smile of relief crossed her lips as the body in her arms relaxed.
Quinn moved her hand to touch Rachel's face. The young woman winced in pain as Quinn ran a thumb gently over her cheek. She turned Rachel's head to the left. "Oh my god," she gasped as she saw how seriously burned her face was. Quinn sat up instantly, her eyes filled with guilty tears as she took Rachel's hands and brought them to her lips. "I'm so sorry. What have I done? I'm so sorry Rachel," she kept repeating.
"Quinn, stop it. It's okay," reassured Rachel.
"No it isn't Rachel! Your career! I've ruined you!" cried out Quinn.
At that moment Santana, followed by Brittany and Sue entered the room. Quinn looked up weakly at them. Brittany's eyes grew wide as she saw the damage on Rachel. Rushing over she grabbed Rachel to face her. "Rach, look at me. I need to heal you."
"Okay," she replied dumbly. She was exhausted both physically and mentally. Quinn caught her as she fainted forwards. Brittany looked around and saw that the bed Quinn was once sleeping on had been burned beyond usability. "Bring her to her room Q," Brittany asked quietly.
With her knees still slightly trembling from what her body had gone through Quinn managed to finally get herself off the floor and carried Rachel down the hall to the songstress' bedroom.
Rachel's eyebrows furrowed slightly from the pain as she felt herself being lowered down. She opened her eyes lazily and saw Quinn carrying her in her arms. "Sorry," apologized her carrier. "It's okay," she replied.
"Stop saying it's okay because it's not," Quinn shot back quietly but sternly.
Brittany appeared on the other side of Rachel's side. She looked across to Quinn and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright. Please, help Rachel first," she replied.
Brittany brought her hands first to clasp around Rachel's. She closed her eyes in concentration as her being and Rachel's hands were washed over with a golden glow. The blisters and lesions on Rachel's hands slowly disappeared as the light dimmed. Brittany opened her eyes again and this time brought her hands to hold Rachel's face. "Now, you're going to have to have more than one healing session for these ones to recover to near 100%. It's going to take up a lot of my energy. I think Sam is on his way here with Finn so he can help me too. Thank Zeus we have more than one healer."
Rachel merely responded with a small nod and smile. Quinn held onto Rachel's healed hands and kissed her knuckles.
Sue, who had been watching on silently, walked up to Quinn. She took one look at Rachel then she looked at the battered ex-Cheerio. "Quinn, come with me," she ordered.
Quinn looked up to her then back to Rachel. "But I want to stay here with..." she couldn't finish her sentence.
Sue grabbed Quinn by her elbow and dragged her away from the bedside. "Stop being childish! We need to find out what happened to you and what happened back there"
Quinn looked at Rachel who smiled weakly back at her then drew her attention back to relaxing while Brittany healed her. Quinn reluctantly left the room after taking one last look at Rachel.
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Sue paced the floor of the living room while Quinn sat quietly on the sofa. "Coach..." spoke up the younger woman.
"Quinn, give me a moment please," replied Sue.
"Okay," Quinn replied quietly.
After another few more minutes of Sue's contemplative pacing she stopped and faced Quinn. "Take your shirt off," she ordered, staring Quinn right in the eye.
"What?" Quinn asked incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"Oh, I'm damn serious Quinn. Shirt off, now."
"But Coach," she whined back.
"Q! What has gotten into you? You've become childish! All this whining and exasperated sighs. Take your shirt off now Quinn. I need to check something."
"Check what?" asked the Latin woman who just entered the room.
"God dammit," sighed out Quinn as she palmed her own face.
"Q, listen to Coach. I want to know what the hell went down in that room and I'm sure you do too. Cos you've started going all doe-eyed and soft, B's doing her best to help Rachel and we're just all confused!"
Quinn made a face and started opening and closing her hands to imitate chatting. Sue looked at her quizzically.
"Lucy Quinn Fabray," warned the coach.
Quinn looked at her defiantly and then reluctantly took off her top.
Santana noticed Quinn's strange demeanor. "Something's not right," she thought to herself.
"Turn around and face your back towards me," ordered the coach.
With a huff of frustration, Quinn turned around. Sue drew in a sharp breath and Santana's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" questioned the blonde woman. "Are you satisfied? See, there's nothing-"
"What the fuck is that?" asked the shocked Latina, cutting Quinn off mid-sentence.
"She's been marked," Sue answered flatly.
"What do you mean I've been marked?" asked Quinn. "Did some dog piss on my back or something?"
"What the hell Q? Random much? No, it's like total badass what-the-fuck marked Q," Santana replied.
"Hey, that looks like a Death-eater tattoo from the Harry Potter movies," said Brittany who had just entered the room.
"What?" questioned the other blonde woman. "What does it look like?"
"Have a look for yourself," replied Sue, pointing at the floor length mirror near the entrance of the place.
Quinn hurriedly walked to the mirror, faced backwards and looked back over her own shoulder. Sure enough, there taking up Quinn's back from between her shoulder blades to her waist was a very large tattoo of a death adder coiled around a horned skull.
"Wow," Quinn said in awe. "Well, at least it's better than a Pikachu tattoo."
Santana took that as her cue to give Quinn a good slap to the back of her head.
"What the? What was that for?" Quinn asked, rubbing the back of her head.
"For being an idiot! Now's not the time to spout crap about Pokemon. What the fuck has gotten into you Q? Pikachu my ass! You've got the freaking mark of Hades on your back and you're saying, at least it's better than Pikachu?" yelled out Santana angrily.
"You're asking me?" replied Quinn angrily. She threw her arms up in the air in defeat. "I'm gonna go see Rach," she said storming off.
Santana took a step to go after her, but Sue's warning glare kept her back. Once Quinn was out of sight Santana turned towards her coach and Brittany. "Sylvester, something's wrong with Q."
"Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious Boobs McGee. Wow, that was a mouthful."
Brittany put her hand up, "Coach, what's wrong with Quinn?"
Sue let out a sigh of frustration. "What's happened is that she's just lost control."
"Lost control?" questioned Santana.
"She's less tame. Can't you see? She's much more brash with her emotions and words. Almost like Berry when she was a junior. All this huffing, pouting, sighing and storm outs."
"So, Q's lost her self control basically," said Santana.
"Bazinga! Yes, you've hit the nail on the head," confirmed Sue.
Brittany brought her hand up to her chin thoughtfully. "If Quinn has no self control then..." Panic crossed her face as she thought out loud, "Rachel!"
All three women looked at each other and within seconds left to go find Quinn before she did something wrong.
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"Quinn?" asked Rachel. She looked up at the woman sitting at her bedside through sleepy eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Quinn asked in reply as she picked up Rachel's hand and brought it to her lips.
Rachel smiled back weakly. "I'm doing fine. Britt's done a really good job, but I think she said she'll get Sam to take care of the rest since he's a little more powerful."
"The power of Apollo huh?" Quinn smiled back gently. Her thumb stroked Rachel's hand that was still in her right.
"Yes, your faux-twin. You almost look alike too," Rachel joked back in reply.
"Rachel, I'm really sorry for what I did to you."
"Quinn, I don't want you to feel guilty about this. It's not your fault." Rachel winced a little as she pulled her hand from Quinn's and tried to sit up.
"But it is my fault!" Quinn rebutted. "I don't exactly remember what happened, but I know that I hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."
"Quinn, please. It's not your fault," begged Rachel quietly as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.
"Maybe, maybe I should leave."
"Why?" asked Rachel in shock of Quinn's suggestion.
"It seems that you keep getting caught in the middle of everything wrong that's happening in my life. I keep putting you in danger, therefore you are more likely to be hurt."
"Quinn, stop thinking like that," pleaded Rachel. "I want to be there. I want to be there beside you when you go through times of trouble."
"Wow," sighed out Quinn. "I don't know what I did to deserve someone as beautiful as you. I want to be here for you too then babe."
Rachel blushed at the term of endearment. "Quinn, we haven't exactly developed a deep enough relationship to be saying things like that," she giggled out softly.
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked with wide eyes.
"Well, we haven't even had a first date, and all we've had were two short-lived kisses," Rachel explained matter-of-factly.
Quinn leaned forward and boldly kissed Rachel's lips. She leaned back to look at Rachel, whose eyes were still closed. "That makes it three times," she said grinning at the brunette woman.
Rachel's eyes flickered open and she felt heat rush to her face.
"Let's make a fourth," Quinn said playfully. She leaned forward again to capture Rachel's lips.
This time the injured singer was ready. The kiss went on for much longer. She brought her hand up to Quinn's face and caressed her cheek. They broke slightly apart, foreheads leaning against each other. "Five," Rachel whispered as she leaned forward this time to kiss Quinn.
Quinn drew in a sharp breath as she felt Rachel deepen the kiss. One knee was already up on the bed as Rachel pulled her closer. Rachel's tongue flickered across her bottom lip, demanding entrance. She agreeably gave her access as a small moan left her lips.
Rachel was unsure of what came over her, but she just wanted Quinn to be close to her. She drew back the sheet covering her and then wrapped her arms around the blonde woman's waist and attempted to pull her up onto the bed. She felt the bed dip next to her as Quinn finally crawled up onto the bed next to her. She could feel Quinn's fingers running through her hair. Daringly, she took Quinn's bottom lip between her teeth and bit down gently. Quinn's hand shot to Rachel's hip.
Quinn found herself straddled between the brunette woman's legs. Leaning further into the kiss, she grabbed Rachel's hip to try and pull her closer to her body. She could feel Rachel's fingers lightly scratching her lower back. Taking Rachel's tongue gently between her teeth, she sucked on it while grinding herself against the musical muse's core.
Rachel let out a small moan and her back arched as she felt Quinn grind down on her. "Quinn," she moaned out. "We shouldn't be doing this."
"Why not?" Quinn grunted out while still grinding against Rachel. She leaned her head down into Rachel's neck and ran her tongue against hot skin. She felt the body beneath her push harder against her own and hands grasp at her sides.
"Quinn, please," begged Rachel. "Stop."
Quinn kissed Rachel's neck then drew kisses along her jaw. She looked at Rachel's closed eyes and turned up eye brows. She could tell the girl was enjoying this. Slowly she ran her tongue from the exposed skin of Rachel's neck to her chin. Her right hand ducked under Rachel's shirt as she stroked the skin beneath a bra-clad breast.
"Quinn," Rachel struggled to whisper. Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Quinn pushed her thumb under the bra. Moving it up further she grazed her digit over a hardened nipple.
"Quinn, stop," Rachel begged out. Her body was reacting to the woman's touch. She couldn't stop herself from lifting up and grinding against Quinn's movements. "Quinn," she tried to say again, but her words were cut off with Quinn's wet tongue lapping against her erect left nipple. Her other was being lightly pinched and this caused her to moan out loudly. She could feel the heat coiling in her stomach, dripping down to her centre.
Quinn moved her lips back to Rachel's mouth. The woman was writhing under her touch and she could hear Rachel's heart beating loudly in her ears. She caressed Rachel's tongue with her own and at the same time her fingers danced along Rachel's stomach, dangerously close to the hem of her underwear.
Rachel's eyes snapped open as she leaned away and stared into Quinn's eyes. They had their golden glow, but it seemed to be on fire at the same time. Though Rachel's breaths were labored she willed her body to stop reacting to Quinn's touches. "Quinn, we can't do this now."
Quinn looked back at Rachel, her fingers toying the edge of Rachel's pants. "Why not?" she breathed out with frustration. She ground herself forward.
Rachel instantly reacted by trying to nip Quinn's lower lip with her teeth. "Quinn," she panted out. "I can't..." she took in a sharp breath as Quinn ground into her again.
"Can't what?" asked the ex-cheerleader.
"We haven't officially dated and oooh," she groaned out again as Quinn pushed against her centre. "Quinn, I'm not ready for this."
She looked into Quinn's eyes again. Something in Quinn shifted and she didn't feel safe.
"Well, I am," whispered out the woman dangerously.
Rachel felt Quinn's hands move past the hem of her underwear. She could feel the heat of her fingers move further down her front. "Quinn," she cried out quietly as her eyes slammed shut.
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A/N: R and R. See you in the next chapter!
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Glee (Fox), everything else is mine.