(A/N): We're back in 1966 with Evie, Khal, Vi, Pip, Hettie, and Lou. And Tarea Hugar. Some stuff has clearly happened off-screen (off page?), because I knew if I actually wrote it as it happened, it'd be another like, three chapters at least, and I figured that since Evie doesn't see it as all that important, it isn't something that she would go into, in detail- which is sort of how we're supposed to be viewing this story, although I've certainly gotten away from that, a bit. Foreshadowing, subtle and... not so subtle.
Trigger Warning: Evie is briefly worried about being outed (which is unfounded), but also sort of equates Lisbet and Jerremyah's vampirism possibly being revealed in a very similar way (again, unfounded).
January 16th, 1966
Evie
They gave me a week. One week to decide- To change my mind. One week to do the impossible, and choose them- being a vampire- over the life I already had. Over my sister. Lisbet and Jerremyah hadn't been the ones to pose the ultimatum; they'd been rather against it, actually, and not just because Nicholai was pressing the issue quite hard... I suppose his fears weren't unfounded, if there really were laws in place to keep these kinds of things hidden, but even Nuria seemed to think he could've gone about it in a better way. In the end, Khal put them all at ease- well. 'At ease', was a bit strong. He told them to shut up, and let what was going to happen, happen, and for the most part, they agreed to do so. It was because of this- and I assume no small amount of sneaky precognition- that Khal had volunteered to be the one to take me home... and after some vague- but incredibly pointed- words concerning how each of them would deliver me, the others gave in, and let him handle things.
Once I'd gotten changed back into Vi's blue dress, and said what was hopefully only a temporary goodbye to Lisbet, Jerremyah, Nuria, Minsi, and Greygorry- I wasn't sure whether I ever wanted to see Nicholai again, especially given his repeated threats to erase my memories- Khal held out an arm for me to take, and when I did, there was a crack... and suddenly, we were in a park. A park I recognised, no less.
"This- this isn't my house," I said once I felt I could breathe again, and Khal seemed amused by this statement- which, now that I had the chance to think about it, was probably a pretty dumb thing to say. "I mean- Hey! How do you even know where I live, in the first place?" He arched an eyebrow at me, and again, I felt dumb. "Right. Seer. Got it." The corner of his lips quirked up.
"If it makes you feel any better, you, yourself, brought me here. Just... a little later than now." I felt my eyebrows furrow.
"If I tell you in the future, but I know you already know about it here- now, in the past- present- does that mean I won't tell you in the future?"
He snorted quietly, reaching out a hand to gently push one of the swings by the chain. "Of course not- that'd cause a paradox. Come on, let's go." I- what? My arm was still looped with his, and I was still a bit light-headed from apparating, so I had no real chance of preventing him from beginning to guide me down the street in the direction of my house, even if I had wanted to try.
"What-" I abandoned that line of questioning, knowing it probably wasn't going to get me anywhere, and I was running out of time. "Why are you in such a rush?" He stayed quiet, so I tried again. "You said my friends were 'entertaining some unwelcome guests'-" That's when it dawned on me. He wasn't talking about the regular kind of unwelcome guest- a door-to-door salesman, or maybe an estranged relative- he was talking about Vampire Hunters. "Khal..." I breathed, and he shook his head.
"Don't start. I know what I'm doing- they never see me, as long as you follow my instructions." Of course he knew I was about to protest- he'd probably known before he even apparated us- but how could I not be worried, when here he was, a vampire, walking right into the path of a bunch of Vampire Hunters... all because of me? But... this was Khal, and if there was anyone who could navigate this situation safely, it was him- I just had to play my part.
"What... what do you need me to do?"
His smile was bigger this time, almost... proud. "When we part ways, head straight home; once you're in the front gate, it's business as usual. You'll hear them, once you're in the house- There's only one actually inside, but he's-" He cut himself off, then started talking again like it hadn't happened. "Others are watching the house, but they can't warn him- not in time, anyway. Follow your best judgement, and... put the kettle on." What? I turned my head to look at him a little closer, rather than focusing on where we were going, and saw what I expected- his eyes had a milky cast to them, and idly, I wondered how much of the street around us he was actually seeing.
"Khal-" He flashed me a slightly sad smile, his eyes returning to normal as I watched. "We're almost-"
Predictably, he cut me off. "I know." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek, which was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. He unhooked our arms, and stepped away. "I'll see you in three days." I felt my eyebrows furrow again.
"Three days? But Nicholai said-" He shot me a look, and I shut my mouth. Right. Seer. "Khal-" He squeezed my hand in such a reassuring way that it reminded me of Pip. Pip, who was waiting just down the street- along with Hettie, Lou, and... Vi.
"It'll be okay. Maybe not right away, but eventually, it will all work out- I promise. Just... keep that in mind, over the next few days." Three days, apparently. Hm... I wonder whether that meant Nicholai would change his mind, or whether it was just Khal I would be seeing early. "I- I have to go now, and you have to go now, to get there before he tells them- I have to go." He gave me one last apologetic look, and then he turned on his heel, and with another crack, he disapparated. Huh... so that's what it looked like from the other end. Weird.
Considering his last words- pretty much everything he'd said since we'd arrived in the park on the street over from mine- I forced myself to press on. He'd left me on the corner of my street, and maybe it was just because I knew literal Vampire Hunters were watching my every move, but the once wholesome, familiar street suddenly felt altogether new, and sinister. I did exactly as Khal said; I walked down the street as quickly as I could in my heels without looking like I was rushing for any sort of suspicious reason, and when I finally reached our front gate and the latch caught behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief- only to choke on it, as a voice piped up from my right.
"Good morning, Evie, dear." Ruthie seemed oblivious to the fright she'd caused me, but clearly wasn't in any way oblivious to the fact that I was just now coming home- wearing last night's dress. "Might as well grab the paper, on your way in." I looked around the front garden, and saw the rolled paper tangled in one of my mother's rosebushes. My rosebushes, I guess, now, since Vi had never shown any interest in them. "Oh, and if you could send Philip over, the light in the hall went out again."
Maybe it was too much time spent around Jerremyah and Greygorry, or maybe it was the nerves, but I almost- almost- asked her whether she'd unscrewed it herself, to have an excuse to ask him over for another one of their 'chats'. "I- Will do, Ruthie. Um... excuse me." By the wrinkled grin I saw as she turned away, I knew my awkwardness had been noted- but that was the least of my worries, right now.
The front door knob turned easily, and Khal was right- as soon as I closed the door behind me, shutting out the world outside, I heard them; Lou first, but then- him. "You seem to know a lot about these two- what they like, and what they want. How did they come to be on your list, in the first place? Better yet, who are you to be in a position to stop them?" That was Lou, always asking the important questions- but unfortunately, I feared that those questions... were about Lisbet and Jerremyah. Uh oh.
"I'm just a man that is uniquely equipped to handle these things- and to teach others to do the same. As for these people, well..." He had a completely unremarkable voice; deep, but not anything out of the ordinary, smooth, but not silky, with the slightest rasp at the very end, as though even he was sick of hearing himself talk. The voice itself did nothing for me- the words, on the other hand, pushed me to do more than just creep down the hall toward the open living room door, trying to reach them in time to intervene, without giving myself away too early. He was going to tell them. I don't know why, but he was going to tell them that Lisbet and Jerremyah were- were- That wasn't his place! "Before we get to who they are, I feel I would be remiss not telling you first." Telling them what? I paused at that, hovering outside the door frame.
"Telling us what?" Hettie. Good old Hettie, and her tendency toward a short temper, even at the best of times.
Beyond her, I heard Pip ask the same thing- albeit quieter- and after a second, the Hunter on the other side of the wall continued. "There's no easy way to say this," Uh oh! I started to move again, only to be stopped in my tracks by what he said next. "But... your sister is..." Me? What could he possibly have to say about me? Unless... unless he knew that I was- but what would be the point, in telling them that? What could he gain, from such a thing? "Your sister is dead." I heard Vi make a wounded sound that seemed completely involuntary, and out of instinct, I brought a hand to my chest- just to make sure. When it didn't go through, I assumed that meant I was right, and I was not, in fact, dead. "These people- they're not- The chances that she's alive are so incredibly slim that- I'm sorry, but I cannot sit here and lie to you. I won't. I know you love her, and because of that- I cannot draw this out." And neither could I. I stepped into the open doorway- into open view. I could see them sitting there, could see the back of his head, but none of them noticed me, just yet. "Her life was over the second she stepped foot in that bathroom... but none of that is your-"
Pip's eyes drifted, and because of that, he was the one who saw me first- and it was obvious when he did, because his entire face lit up, and it almost felt like I was in his arms before I even heard his voice cry my name. "Evie!" He lifted me off the ground in the way he always did when he was really, really happy, and over his shoulder, I saw the mysterious Hunter jump to his feet and spin to face me in the same movement. I caught my first good look at him, and I was shocked- and annoyed- to say that I found him attractive. You know, for a man in his forties, who spent his free time Hunting and torturing vampires, that is. "You're- Evie. Evie, Evie, Evie." Pip's voice was filled with so much relief that it actually made me tear up a little, and behind the Hunter, I saw Hettie next in line, having only just recovered from tripping over her slippers. Wait... why were they all still in their sleepwear?
"Evie! You're okay!" She exclaimed. "You are okay, ri-" Both of us were distracted as Vi burst into tears, behind her. "Oh, Vi... not again." 'Again'?! Hettie stepped back to rest a hand on Vi's shoulder, and Lou took her place in the line.
Well, I say she got in line, but in actuality, she walked right up to me where I was still in Pip's arms, and tentatively reached out a hand to ghost her fingers down my forearm, where I'd wrapped it around Pip's shoulders. "You good?" She asked softly, but even so, I saw the threatened retribution in her eyes.
"For the most part," I told her, and when I saw the question on her face, I shot a pointed look at the Hunter behind her- who looked like he'd expected a fight, but was quickly coming to the realisation that one wasn't necessary.
"Want me to make him leave?" It was an odd request, coming from quiet- for the most part- gentle- almost exclusively- Pip, and that was probably what made me shake my head.
"No," I said. "Let me down, I'll do it myself." I knew by the way he hesitated to let me go that I must have really scared them, because usually, Pip was so wary of overstepping any of our boundaries that he was ready to back off at a moment's notice; as it was it took a second, but eventually, he did.
Now that I could see his face again, I saw relief warring with the lingering worry, dread, and even a little bit of grief, and I leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek much like Khal had done to me, not ten minutes earlier. "Be- be nice, about it." Pip's joke almost didn't land, as affected as he clearly was by the surprise of the gesture. I'd kissed him on the cheek before- I'm sure we all had- but typically it was in a situation more appropriate than this... hopefully the other girls were too distracted to add this to the tally.
"Not a chance," I told him, which was the only warning they got before I rounded on the Hunter with what I already knew was an uncharacteristic amount of venom. "Get out of my house."
(A/N): I'm not starting back up my fairy tale naming chapter naming conventions, it's a Buffy reference (surprise). If you know the reference (know what the reference means within the show), then you probably understand what it means for Evie/this arc. (So, I went to upload this chapter and found out that I already named chapter 172 'Little Miss Muffet'. Because I decided the name fit way better here, I changed that chapter to 'Hansel and Gretel', which makes far more sense, since that's the chapter Leo goes and fetches the twins, Danniel and Jo, from the forest.)
Khal knew where to go because he saw it in a vision- whether that means he's able to apparate to anywhere he sees in a vision, or whether he saw it, then had to travel there manually in order to be able to apparate there later, I don't know, but to me at least, it makes sense that he'd be able to apparate anywhere he visited in a vision, as long as he has the ability to imagine it clearly. Which means if the vision was confusing, or obscured in some way, he wouldn't be able to, but if it was really clear, or he spent a lot of time there, it'd be easy for him... does that make sense?
So yes, off-screen, Nicholai put his foot down and threw a hissy fit about Evie being allowed to roam free with memories of them, and (specifically) magic. Whether he's actually pissed about that, or whether he just wants to put pressure on them to make a decision (or whether he just wants to annoy Jerremyah), it's anyone's guess.