For anyone who has been reading this for a while I edited the first chapter and there are a few new things there if you want to go back.
I have no beta so please excuse editing issues or leave them in a comment for me to fix. Thank you.
CHAPTER WARNINGS: blood, gore, panic, stalking, mildly dubious consent (but it's talked about, so consent?) This is a vampire story, so please keep that in mind. The first part of this chapter is rough, brace yourself or skip it. I'll put a summary of it at the beginning of the next chapter, so you wont miss anything.
What Lurks in the Mists:
by GiltVampireFox
Chapter 4: The Girl Behind the Glass
"Tell me, pet," A heavily accented voice crooned hypnoticly into the shroud of darkness, "Why only one sacrifice stands before me today?" The sharp clip of footsteps echo hauntingly through the void, circling methodically around a fixed point. "There is not enough blood in this pathetic excuse for a human to feed even one of my hounds, much less my starving bride."
The footsteps cease and a heartbeat later there is the sound of a choked off gasp of pain. A copper tang suffuses the air as the scene slowly comes into focus.
A figure, entombed in shadows, looms menacingly over a gangly pockmarked teen with greasy brown hair. The boy is scrabbling at the claw tipped hand that is white-knuckle grasped around his throat, inky drops of blood seep from the point where those claws pierce.
"I ask for so little of you." The shadow continues, voice dipping low and slow, a deceptive calm masking a horrific storm. Lightning flashes outside a high window, briefly illuminating the figure (dark hair, handsome features, and startlingly pale), as well as the ...creatures...lurking behind him.
Whatever they are, it is not human; although they might have been. Once. Now, all that remains of them is a gaunt, empty disfigured shell with wild eyes and a mouthful of bloody, gnashing, shark teeth.
The flash of lightning is gone as fast as it came, leaving behind that horrifying image imprinted on the eyelids of everyone present.
"My bride languishes." The man continues, blood red eyes crawling up and fixing on someone just out of sight. A crimson mist crawls up from the ground, swirling around the human still wiggling in the monster's grasp, like a fly, caught in a spider's web.
You could almost hear the snap of the man's patience failing, his fury rising with every word, his hand tightening around the delicate bones of the very human throat; clawed fingers curled inward to bite deeper into the tender flesh.
There is a crunch of bones, the boy's eyes bulge, mouth agape, as his body begins to convulse.
Crimson eyes dip back to the boy, a glint of white fangs flash briefly as the being sneers. He then casually tosses the now limp body behind him at the creatures restlessly pacing in the dark.
The wet sound of rending flesh and snapping bones fill the air, the creatures snarling and snapping at each other as they descend on the poor boy. Their vague dark shapes silhouetted against the void like a shadow puppet show.
Those glowing red eyes are once more fixed on someone just out of sight as the being raises his hand to lick the blood and gore from his fingers. "Don't disappoint me again, Childe. My hounds are always thirsty. And they are not nearly as picky as my bride."
Steve woke on a choked off scream, jolting up in his bed and gasping for air as he stared sightlessly into the dark of his room, eyes frantically searching for those shadowy figures.
Two glowing red embers were burned into the underside of his eyelids and he could almost still hear the wet, grotesque sounds of those...things...feeding.
That was the worst one yet. He much preferred the vague recollections of past encounters with the upside down to whatever twisted horror his brain was piecing together and calling dreams now.
And he would take that creepy castle over this any day of the week.
A quick glance at his bedside clock showed a glaring 1:23 am. Steve groaned tiredly, leaning forward to brace against his knees as he ran an agitated hand through messy brown hair.
He was bone tired. Weeks of restless sleep that only lasted an hour or two were definitely starting to catch up with him. And those...images...haunted him day and night.
He really didn't want to try and go back to sleep, too afraid of what he might find waiting for him. So the young man dragged himself out of his sweat soaked sheets, peeled the sticky shirt off his skin and dropped it, uncaringly, on the floor; before heading downstairs for a glass of water to parch his dry throat.
The house was as silent as a ghost and it took a moment for Steve to even remember he wasn't alone for once. The party were scattered throughout the spare rooms, sound asleep. Only the occasional light spilling from under a closed doorway or the faint sound of snoring belied their presence.
Knowing they were there helped a little, and Steve briefly entertained the idea of waking Robin up just so he wasn't alone with his thoughts, but he really didn't want to bother her, so he ultimately found his way through the dark hallway and down the long staircase by himself.
A few minutes later he was leaning heavily against the counter, idly dropping cubes of ice into the clear liquid and watching the tiny little splash as each one slipped beneath the surface.
He had no desire to return to his room just yet, so he slowly headed towards the living room instead. He flopped himself down onto one of the plush couches and deposited his empty glass onto a nearby side table, sliding it under the bushy leaves of one of his mother's rose filled antique vases.
The roses were only still fresh because new ones were delivered to the house every two weeks, whether his mother was home or not.
Despite his efforts to remain awake Steve must have failed because he awoke some time later to a faint scratching sound that had wiggled its way into his ears and refused to leave.
He lay there in the dark, half asleep, with one arm flung over his eyes as he listened to the strange infectious sound. It started off quite soft, almost unnoticeable, except for the occasional grating shriek. The long, slow sound was becoming more frequent, a little less drawn out. It was almost like someone was taking a sharp object and dragging it over a pane of glass. And the longer it went on, the more grating and loud the sound became until Steve couldn't ignore it anymore.
He dropped his arm and sat up, blearily glancing around the dark room for the source of the sound. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the lack of light, and a moment longer still for his brain to catch up with what his eyes were seeing.
There was someone staring at him through the French doors to the pool yard. She was backlit by the glow of the water lights, but Steve could still see her face, pressed close to the glass, and staring at him with a feverish intensity in her overwide eyes.
Steve would never forget that face, not when it so frequently haunted his nightmares.
Even still, he had never seen her like...this before. Like she had had the life sucked out of her. She was thin as a rake, bones jutting out unnervingly under her papery flesh. Her eyes were sunken, dark pits in her skull almost emphasizing how her pinprick irises were swimming in the whites of her eyes. Her hair was longer now, and fell in uneven locks around her face, as if she had attempted cutting it herself.
When she noticed him looking, a wide toothy smile split her face in two, revealing a mouthful of shark-like teeth. "Steve." Barbra Holland cooed at him, long fingernails raking idly at the door next to where she was mashing her face into the glass.
He was dreaming again. Had to be, because this couldn't be happening .
When he remained frozen in place on the couch, the smile slipped from the dead girl's face and she slammed her hand against the glass, "LET ME IN!" She shrieked at him, the door rattling in its frame where she struck it.
Steve leapt to his feet so fast his head swam. He shuffled around the couch, eyes glued on the girl as she continued to slap the glass and scream at him. "Steve! Where are you going?! Steve! Don't go! You can't leave me out here!" She cried, her voice more taunting than desperate, the grin once again back on her face, thin lips stretched wide over all those pointy teeth, "Don't leave me out here Steve! How could you leave me out here! It's your fault!
"yOu diD tHis tO ME!"
She yelled, pounding her fist against the glass one last time, causing Steve to startle back at the sudden aggression. He stumbled backwards into the dainty side table he had set his glass upon earlier. His sudden weight and momentum were too much and the table buckled underneath him, sending Steve, his empty glass of water, the table, and the antique crystal vase of roses, crashing to the floor.
Cackling erupted from the pool yard as Barb threw her head back and laughed in pure wicked delight. Steve lay sprawled across the floor, eyes still locked on Barb's grinning visage, when the sound of a door slamming rang out above him and the pounding of several sets of feet on the stairs cut through the woman's laughter and caused her to fall silent.
Barb's grin only seemed to grow with the sound of life within the building, and she carefully ran her tongue over her sharp teeth as she started up that incessant scratching again. "Oh. Dinner...how...thoughtful of you." she crooned, voice dipping back into the sing-songy tone it had when she first saw him. Every single one of her sharp teeth were on full display, a horrifying tie back to his earlier dream. Were they blending together now? Could dreams do that with hallucinations? Melt together.
Or was he still dreaming?
"Steve?" Robin asked, her voice pulling Steve's attention away from the door to glance back towards the hallway just in time to see the party appear in the archway.
"What happened?" Dustin exclaimed in concern, elbowing his way to the front of the group so he could get a better look at the mess Steve had made.
Steve hardly paid any heed to their arrival. He was already spinning back around, not wanting to let her out of his sight; especially with those last words still ringing in his ears.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
This wasn't a dream at all, it was a fucking nightmare.
The blue glow from the heated pool illuminated the thick white fog that sat heavy in the yard.
There was no one there. The pool yard was empty save for the neighbors cat, still curled up on one of the deck chairs nearby, apparently unbothered.
"Steve?" Robin asked again, her voice much softer this time. It was the same voice he had used when talking Will down from his panic attack yesterday.
It was completely unnecessary. Steve was fine.
Steve quickly shoved all...that...to the back of his mind to process later (when everyone had gone home and there was no one left to see him properly break down), and quickly climbed to his feet. He spun on his heel to face his guests - his skin crawled when he put his back to the windows - "I'm fine, nothing to worry about." He assured them, plastering his best King Steve smile on his face.
"Friends don't Lie." "You're bleeding!" El and Dustin exclaimed at the same time, although Dustin wasted no time in rushing to grab Steve's hands inspecting him for injuries.
The older man blinked at his hands, finding them covered in cuts and shattered glass. Blood dripped between his fingers onto his mother's new cream carpets (they were quite chic, in his mother's words)
"Huh." He said numbly, before glancing back up to address El's concern, ignoring Dustin and Robin as they fussed over his hands like a couple of mother hens. "It's fine, Jane. Just a bad dream." He explained, wincing as Robin began plucking some of the larger shards out of his palm.
Liquid heat pooled in his hand and spilled over the side to
.
drip
.
drip
.
drip
on the carpet
Jane narrowed her eyes at him, whether she saw through his lie or just knew -magically- he wasn't sure, but it was clear the girl did not believe him. "It's nothing to worry about." He lied, grimacing as her eyes narrowed even further.
His attention shifted when Lucas did. The tall boy rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but Steve didn't get to watch him go as Robin further distracted him by asking, "When was the last time you slept, Steve?"
"Uh...just now?" He said, voice lilting up in his confusion, "Nightmare. Remember?"
Robin huffed in annoyance, tugging sharply on his wrist as he tried to subtly pull his hands away. "Stop that. I'm serious Steve. When was the last time you slept...properly! Uninterrupted. No nightmares."
Steve's mind reeled a little at that question. He had no idea, he was always-
well
He hadn't actually thought about it before, but there was one moment that stood out quite starkly in the last few months. "Yesterday."
Yesterday night specifically. After that weird ass party, Steve had slept like a baby. And not just that...he had slept in. No nightmares. No weird dreams-well the castle, but that was very mild in comparison and fuzzier than the castle dreams usually were. And! He slept till after noon. He never did that! At least, not since he had found out about the upside down. It wasn't enough to reset his system, and it certainly hadn't alleviated his bone deep exhaustion. But it was still the best sleep he had had in months.
Robin was not convinced, "I'm not sure passing out counts." She cut into his thoughts, concern painting her voice as she eyed him dubiously.
"It definitely counts!" Steve protested, "Dustin! Tell her it counts." He said, looking up from where he had been watching, numbly, as she pulled glass shards out of his body - Only to stare at the room in general with befuddlement.
His conversation with Robin and Dustin's indignation at being dragged into the middle of it, became background noise as he looked around himself.
When had he sat back down on the couch?
He felt like he was missing time.
The light had been turned on at some point, and Robin was now kneeling in front of him. Jane and Dustin were sat on either side of him, helping her tend to his wounds. While Mike, Will, and Lucas (who must have come back with a roll of paper towels) tried to clean up the bloody mess on the carpet.
Barbra was nowhere in sight.
Warm affection trickled over him like a sweet golden honey, and he was suddenly very glad that they had all stayed over. He really didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now. They were really starting to scare him.
A few hours later, after the sun had come up and they had eaten breakfast all the kids were lazing in front of the tv while Robin and Steve cleaned up the kitchen.
"Hey Steve?" Dustin called, voice carrying through the house like a foghorn. "What's this?" Steve set the last dish in the rack, and headed for the den, drying his hands on a light blue hand towel as he went. Robin trailed after him like a nosy cat looking for a bit of juicy gossip.
Steve was assaulted on the threshold by someone waving a piece of paper in his face. "Really dude?" Steve asked, leaning away as he took the paper from the teen.
"It's nothing." He said after a quick look, crushing the paper in his hand.
But he was too slow to hide the numbers from Robin who was glancing over his shoulder. He was also too slow when the girl grinned and snatched the paper up before it could disappear into his pocket. "It's not nothing." She announced to the room at large as she danced away from Steve, wafting the paper around like it was a flag. "This, my dear fellow, is the phone number of a girl."
Dustin perked up, "Really? Steve's got a date?!" A pause. Dustin rounded on Steve. "You got a date and you didn't tell me?!"
Steve shot Robin a dirty look for her betrayal, before trying to mitigate the damage, "There was nothing to tell! She gave me her number. That's it." When Dustin continued to look disbelieving Steve continued, "Look, there is no date. She told me to call her. End of story."
Dustin scrutinized him for an uncomfortable moment before shrugging, "Okay." Steve felt himself relax at the teen's easy acceptance. Only to realize he let his guard down too soon, "So call her."
"I will." Steve balked, "I'll call her later tonight, when you all go home. This is supposed to be team bonding, remember." Steve found himself talking louder to distract everyone from Jane's predictable comment of: "Lie."
"No one called it that but you, Steve." Lucas pointed out dryly from his spot on the couch where he was watching the drama unfold.
Before Steve could get a word in on his defense Dustin cut him off, "No. If you don't do it now, you won't do it at all." The boy leaned in uncomfortably close, "I know you Steve."
Steve stared back, hoping Dustin would see reason and back down. The seconds ticked by slowly, each prolonged moment of intense eye contact becoming more and more uncomfortable before Steve reeled back and threw in the towel. "Okay! Fine. I'll do it now."
This whole thing was stupid. Steve was perfectly capable of getting a date without the help of a bunch of random nerds. "Give me that." He added as he stomped passed Robin, stealing the slip of paper out of her hand as he made his way to the nearest phone to make the call. He momentarily entertained the idea of strangling someone with the phone cord, but ultimately deemed that unnecessary. Steve was more than aware of all their eyes on him as he stood there.
He took a deep calming breath and dialed the number.
The date was a disaster. But it also went better than he could have ever anticipated.
He had zero interest in a date right now, didn't really have the energy for it. But Robin and the kids were insistent. Hours passed in the blink of an eye and before he knew it he had a scarf wrapped around his neck to hide ...that, and was in his car going to pick up a girl whose name kept slipping through his fingers and whose face was a blur in his mind's eye.
His empty stomach grumbled unhappily as he pulled up in front of her tidy little two story house, backlit by the orange glow of the fading sunlight.
It kind of reminded him of Nancy's house, and he felt his heart clench. Which was a stupid reaction because he was over her. Not that it really mattered now, because Nancy wasn't even in Hawkins anymore. She had gotten her scholarship to her fancy college, and left.
And even that had been a hard sell after...everything that happened.
When the earthquakes split the city and everyone thought that the upside down was finally breaking through, none of them had wanted to leave, even when there had been a mass exodus of panicked civilians, their rag tag group had stayed. How the party had convinced their parents to not flee was a mystery Steve would never understand, but they somehow managed it.
They were the first line of defense against the demon creatures the upside down kept spitting out, so they felt duty bound to stay. But days passed with no real sign of the gate still being open and life returned to normal...or as normal as it could be with giant fissures turning most of the city into swiss cheese.
People returned to their homes and Hopper had his men go around and section off the worst of the damage until the government had rolled in one night and just...patched it all up, like slapping a band aide on a laceration and saying that would fix everything; before leaving again.
He was forced back into the present when the passenger door of his car was flung open and someone slid into the seat beside him. He started, eyes locked on the girl now sitting in his car and wondering where she had come from.
She shot him a crooked smile, saying "You were sitting here for a while, I figured I'd spare you the trauma of dealing with my papa and brothers."
Brothers? He glanced towards the house to see four glowering faces staring at him from the well lit window. He smiled uncertainly and waved at them before turning the car back on and backing into the street again, his date's delighted laughter ringing through the car.
Stacy was older than Steve was. She had graduated a whole year before him and was currently attending community college, but was close enough to visit home on the weekends when it suited her.
She was cute, with dark freckles sprinkled over her cheeks. She had bright eyes, and beautiful blond hair. She was wearing bold makeup and a pretty green sweater. But... She was too talkative, and kind of reminded him of Robin.
She spent the entire ride over to the diner talking about balloons for some reason. Steve tuned her out after the first five minutes, not on purpose, his mind just started to wander as he lost interest in what she was saying.
They made small talk about what she was studying at school while they waited for their food. She was smart, like really smart. And pretty. And funny. But for some reason, he just wasn't feeling that spark.
Stacy sat across from him at the booth, loudly sipping the last drops of her coke from between the skeletal remains of half melted ice cubes sitting in the bottom of her glass, and stared him down. This was the quietest she had been this whole meal, and it was making him uncomfortable.
Steve idly pushed a stray french-fry through the macabre remains of his ketchup that was smeared across the edges of his plate, trying to think of something to say. She had been doing a great job keeping up the one sided conversation until this point and he really didn't know how to feel about that. Steve was usually so good at socializing, why was he sucking at it so much now?
"You don't want to be here, do you?" His date asked, drawing him out of his internal crisis.
Steve sighed, dropping the french-fry on the plate and running salt-greasy fingers through his hair (wincing in disgust when he realized and slowly dragging them back out a moment later). "I'm really sorry." He told her, grabbing a napkin and wiping his fingers off, feeling more self conscious than he's ever felt before.
Stacy pushed the empty cup aside and propped her chin up on one of her hands, a crooked smile on her painted lips. "You're a good guy, Steve. You know that?" He smiled awkwardly, not sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure he even really fully believed that, considering his history. But she pulled back and waved one hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. No hard feelings, and I get a free meal out of it."
"It's the least I could do." Steve hurried to assure her. It wasn't like he couldn't afford it, and he had wasted her time with this date when he knew he wasn't ready for it.
"See?" she grinned. "Win/win."
Her smile was infectious, and Steve couldn't help smiling back. Maybe in a couple months, after he felt a bit more settled and not as if he was crawling out of his skin, he'd give her a call and try again.
Tonight really hammered home the fact that he wasn't ready to start dating yet. And maybe he would never be ready, not with the threat of the upside down always looming in the background.
He had found himself thinking, more than once tonight, that if something bad were to happen, he wouldn't be able to keep her safe.
She would, inevitably, end up entangled in this nasty web they were all caught up in and there was a very real possibility that she could die. It was better if she went back to school and forgot all about Hawkins, like most teens did. She wasn't shackled to the town like he was, she could still get out.
Steve pulled up to his house at around 9:40, slowly making his way through the building and flipping on lights as he went. The house was eerily silent, but he noted that the pool yard was, blissfully, empty.
He mounted the stairs quickly, wanting to reach the relative sanctuary of his room, even if he had no plans to go to bed. The dark hallway stared back at him as he flipped the switch, the lights flickering to life. His room was at the end of the hall, passed all those closed doors. Steve had lived in this empty house his entire life, and it had never been fun. Yet it had become almost unbearable these last few months, and after yesterday's scare...he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was wrong.
He tried to ignore the dread that slowly crept back in with every minute spent in the house and walked down the hall to push open his bedroom door and slip inside. He closed the door behind him, dropped his jacket on a hook by the door, before he froze in place and stared at the boy sprawled across his bed. He was reading a book, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips as he lazily turned the page.
A lazy curl of smoke drifted in the air above him, drawing Steve's eyes from the other man's hands, up to that handsome face, and Steve was not all all surprised to find that the boy in his bed was no stranger.
"I know I'm hot as fuck, Harrington, but are you just gonna stare at me all night, or what?" Billy drawled, pulling the smoke from between his lips and grinding it into the top of the side table next to Steve's bed, didn't even bother to glance in Steve's direction.
"You're not real." Steve said, more to himself than the apparition in his room.
Billy sighed dramatically, dropped the book carelessly to the floor as he rolled to his feet. The loud sound of the book landing caused Steve to jump, eyes snapping to the source of the sound as his breath caught in his throat.
Billy paused, eyes narrowing minutely at that reaction, before ignoring it and stalking across the room to push into Steve's personal space.
"This again? I thought I'd done a bang-up job proving just how real I am, baby." Billy said, voice pitched low and gravely as he reached up, slowly dragging the scarf from around Steve's neck and dropping it to the floor. Billy then allowed the tips of his fingers to skim lightly over the bruise coloring Steve's throat.
Steve shivered and, as if the other boy's touch had unlocked a safe inside Steve's mind, all the memories from that night came rushing back in a flood and crashed right into all those strange dreams and hallucinations becoming a jumbled mess in his brain.
Steve swayed on his feet, groaning as his head throbbed loudly in protest. His hallucinations were taking a really wild turn.
"Woah!" Billy gasped, catching Steve around the middle as his knees tried to give out on him. "Didn't think it was that good." he chuckled.
Steve pulled himself out of the other man's arms -another hallucination? But they felt real. He stared at Billy, a small furrow between his brows, "I don't understand. You are supposed to be dead. You can't be real."
Billy stepped back with a careless shrug that looked a little tense to Steve. "Yeah, well. That didn't really stick, now did it?" He sneered, the curl of his lip pulling up just enough to reveal a canine that Steve was positive wasn't supposed to be that long...
or that sharp.
He gasped, hand going to his neck as he finally put two and two together, the memory coming in crystal clear, "You bit me!" He accused.
Billy's ocean storm eyes raked up Steve's body, briefly fixating on his throat, before finally meeting Steve's eyes with a half lidded expression that portrayed nothing but smug satisfaction. Billy's signature feral grin spread over his face, lips pulled back to showcase his new fangs, for real this time. "I did." He drawled, making a show of sliding his tongue across the sharp edges, "And you fainted on me like a little girl."
Steve spluttered, but Billy just crowded in again, "I had to drive you home. Tucked you into bed and everything, princess." Steve's breath hitched, whether from Billy's sudden close proximity, or the fact that Billy had carried him to bed, Steve wasn't even sure. He was steadfastly trying to ignore the new nickname, knowing that if he acknowledged it, that would only encourage the other man more.
"Why?" He asked, not able to stop himself. Wasn't even sure what he was asking.
"Why?" Billy echoed, "Because I can? Because no one is going to stop me? Because I want to." He paused, slowly moving Steve's hand away from his neck and herding the other man towards his bed. The back of Steve's knees hit his mattress and he yelped when Billy pushed him. He lost balance and fell, now Steve was the one splayed out across his bed.
Billy stared down at him, just taking in the sight; before planting a knee on the bed next to Steve's hip and leaning over the other boy to breathe his final answer directly into Steve's ear. "Or, maybe, I just like the way you taste, pretty boy." Steve groaned again, breath panting against Billy's loose curls as the blond once again trailed his teeth down the column of Steve's bared throat.
"You wanna know what I think is interesting, though?" Billy murmured, lips ghosting over the overly sensitive skin of his neck. "You haven't tried to stop me, you haven't even asked me to stop."
He was right, of course. Steve had not told him to stop. Hadn't even tried to fight back or force him to stop. The thought hadn't even crossed Steve's mind. Part of him wasn't even sure if this was real or not, it could just be a dream. A very vivid dream.
But, most damning of all, Steve didn't want Billy to stop. Dream or not, he wanted Billy Hargrove to devour him. Wanted him to wreck Steve in the sweetest way possible. Had wanted it for longer than he would care to admit.
If it was a dream, what was the harm? And if it was real...well, if it was real that was a future Steve problem.
Steve didn't say a word, didn't have to. He simply tipped his head back further exposing his throat, and silently offered himself up on a golden platter.
Billy's responding low chuckle vibrated right through Steve, sending a violent shiver chasing the sensation down his spine. "Good boy." The words were patronizing, but they sent a thrill through Steve anyway. "Just relax for me sweet thing."
A few moments later, when Steve allowed himself to melt into the mattress, he felt the sting of fangs breaking through his skin.
Steve gasped, arching up against the solid body above him, eyes wide and mouth agape, his hands gripping Billy's shoulders before sliding around and dragging Billy down -closer! Billy grunted, pulling away for a split second before diving right back in and allowing his body to settle against Steve's, fully pinning him to the bed with his weight.
Could hallucinations do that?
Long minutes passed, one of Steve's hands idly combing through Billy's hair as he drank. It wasn't a feeling Steve would ever be able to fully describe, other than morbidly erotic, and beautifully achy.
Blood loss and exhaustion were starting to catch up to him when Billy pulled himself back, licking a few errant droplets of blood off his lip.
Steve lifted a hand to Billy's cheek, eyes drowsy as he stared up into the man's handsome face. Billy jerked, eyes going wide as he stared down at Steve. He looked shocked at the touch, but Steve was too out of it to fully process how sad that reaction was. Instead he smiled sweetly up at the Spector and told him, "I wish you weren't dead Billy. You didn't deserve that. I should have helped you."
Steve's hand grew too heavy to hold up, so he just let it fall by his side. "Why didn't I help you?" He asked himself. Steve's eyes were getting heavy too now, and he could feel blissful unconsciousness creeping in on him.
He blinked and Billy's face was inches from his own, eyes dark and expression unfathomable. They stared at one another for what felt like forever before a small smile curled Billy's lips, and he shook his head with another chuckle. Steve watched his golden curls bounce around for a moment before he realized that Billy was talking again.
"That's alright. You can help me now." Steve nodded, trying to stay focused. But it was not easy, and he felt himself slipping away faster now. Billy's words seemed to be wrapped in wool and coming from a distance, not right next to him. "Steve. Can you tell me where Max is? Where is my sister?"
Oh.
Steve blinked slowly up at Billy, his mind felt so sluggish as he tried to figure out why Billy would want to know that, how could he not...That's right. Billy was dead. He didn't know about Max. He didn't...
"Hospital." Steve's answer was slurred with sleep, but he had to tell Billy. He deserved to know how much Max missed him.
"She's in the hospital?" Billy breathed, the words coming out laced with seething venom. "That son of a bitch put Max in the hospital?" Steve didn't think Billy was really talking to him anymore. But Steve nodded anyway, allowing his eyes to slide shut so he missed Billy's reaction as he added, "Yeah. She's in a coma. Won't wake up."
The last thing Steve heard before sleep took him, was a feral snarl that followed him into his dreams.
For anyone who has been reading this for a while I edited the first chapter and there are a few new things there if you want to go back.
I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you think, I love hearing your thoughts.