Chapter Text
One | all the blows that we trade | 7,363 words
I know I pulled a pin on your heart
.
.
.
1.
The moon is bright, and the granite floor glints silver.
"What the hell are you doing in my territory?"
Alex glares down at the figure in a leather jacket squatting by a pool of blood. A woman, she corrects herself, whose back is facing her.
"Your territory?" the unknown woman casually stands, a layer of amusement in her voice. "You let innocent people die in your territory and then let the rogue escape?"
Alex almost bristles, but remains steely. "He will be caught."
"Oh really?" The other woman finally turns around to meet her gaze with a bright glint in her dark eyes and a cool smile that makes her strangely tense. "And then?"
"He or she dies," Alex says flatly. "Who are you?"
The woman reaches into her back pocket to take out her wallet and flips it open. "Maggie Sawyer. NCPD detective and hunter. And you?"
And now that Alex sees this woman in her entirety, she sees the sidearm by the belt, black whip hooked around it, and a silver cross dangling at the whip's handle.
A vampire hunter.
Of course hunters have arrived at the scene - there are bodies everywhere and the scent of blood is thick. God damn it. When she finds that bastard, she will kill him herself.
"Alex Danvers."
An eyebrow raises. "The esteemed Danvers family came out of their castle to play police?"
Alex's gaze goes cold. "Or maybe we are looking for prey, Sawyer. Perhaps you should leave before you become one."
Their eyes lock challengingly.
"When innocent people die by the hand of vampires, Danvers," Maggie says, "my jurisdiction begins."
"He will pay for his crimes," Alex says dismissively. "You have my word on that."
Maggie just raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Uh huh. How do I know you were not the one who killed them?"
And then suddenly - Alex is standing a bare inch from Maggie. There's a scent of some sort, feminine and sweet, and it calls to her. She reigns the desire back and stares down at the shorter woman.
Maggie Sawyer, to her admirable credit, has not flinched from how Alex had flashed to right in front of her, merely staring back at her with equal intensity. It sends a thrill down her spine.
"Believe me when I say this," Alex murmurs, quite aware of the silver dagger's tip just barely grazing her chest. Maggie is holding it with a backhand grip, and Alex is sincerely aware of how long dark curls of hair are framing the shorter woman's face. "If I kill someone, I won't run and hide after, hunter."
"Hmm," Maggie just cocks her head and smiles, her voice quiet. "You do have a reputation to uphold, don't you?"
Oh, she does. So very much. The thought weighs heavy and bitter on her shoulders. This woman though. This woman is intriguing, with the way she subtly challenges Alex without a hint of fear.
A guarded, amused smile flickers on Alex's face. "Leave, Sawyer."
"Told you, this is my jurisdiction."
"Your jurisdiction in my territory begins only when I allow it to."
Maggie looks to the side, seemingly nodding in acknowledgment. And Alex isn't wrong - it's a century-old law that brought a tense peace (except it's not peace, not really) between the vampires and hunters. Civil wars still break out here and there, and just about every day one side will report a death. But it's not all-out war.
It's the closest thing to peace they will ever have.
So Maggie takes a step back. The air around her is still infuriatingly amused, the little curl of lips indicating the barest hint of a smile, but the knife disappears into the leather sleeve of her jacket in a gesture of acceptance.
"This is strike two, Danvers." The warning is clear in the mockingly mild voice; not because Maggie is aiming for threatening, but it's because this is the second time the rogue vampire has killed.
What's worse, he or she didn't murder just one. It's an entire group. Old people, middle-aged, the young. Kids. There was no rhyme or reason, and all it did was point to something far beyond just an addiction for blood.
The rogue is a Lost. A Lost, who no longer understands logic and emotions and is wholly blinded by bloodlust, uncaring of who lays in its path. Driven only to sate its own hunger.
Alex does need to find him soon before he locates more victims. If it happens again, the hunters will interfere. In fact, she won't be surprised to see who might be leading the cavalry.
Maggie leaves her territory with those parting words.
.
.
.
2.
Alex finds the rogue vampire.
Her eyes glow in the light of the full moon, and the grip she has around his neck is tight and steady. "You have lead me on quite a wild goose hunt."
He chokes from the loss of oxygen, scrabbling at her unmoving hand. "P-please." Blood dribbles down his mouth, and there is also dried, cracked black blood all over him and his clothes.
None of which, she is fairly certain, is his blood. All of which likely belongs to his numerous victims.
The forest crackles with the wind.
"I - I was just - hungry - " he pleads, and even then she can see the gleam of insanity and starvation in his dark eyes. "So - " the grip he has on her hand tightens, fingers digging and piercing into her skin - "hungry - "
She ignores the spike of pain and the wetness she can feel soaking into her jacket sleeve, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Consider this your salvation, then."
She snaps his neck and he goes limp. It will take him time to recover from paralysis, she thinks idly. Medical analysis forms at the back of her mind: the amount of energy he will spend to heal, the amount of blood needed to recover that exact amount of energy by determining his body mass and usual energy expenditure, taking into account abilities that may potentially be unique to him, so on and so forth.
But honestly, it's not as if she intends for him to live. She just doesn't want him to struggle for what comes next.
Still holding him in midair, Alex pulls out the blade from the sheath hanging by her belt in her other hand, and then, without hesitation, stabs it cleanly through his chest like a hot knife slicing through butter.
The Lost gurgles out blood and goes completely still.
She removes her sword easily, flicking blood off it and to the grass before sheathing it again.
Then, holding the rogue like he's a lightweight ragdoll, she flings the dead body to her left side in between two thick trunks.
"Whoa!"
The dead vampire rolls and smacks against a tree before dropping to the ground.
The sound of grass crunching. "Now that's rude, Danvers."
That mild, mocking feminine voice. Despite having only met this person once, Alex knows who it is.
She tilts her head, expression cool. "Says the one watching like a creep, Sawyer."
Maggie's lips twitch into the beginning of a smile, dusting at her jacket and jeans to brush off the grass and dirt. "My investigations led me here, actually," the hunter says before adding, "and I got a nice show for my efforts, didn't I?"
Alex's gaze narrows. "I told you that you have no jurisdiction in my territory."
Maggie cocks an arrogant eyebrow at her. "This forest is not your territory."
Fair point.
The sound of liquid pattering to the grass reminds Alex that her arm is bleeding and dripping down her fingers. Absently, she lifts her hand to lick at it. The metallic tang spreads over her tongue, and she realizes, suddenly, that she is starving.
It's been a week since she last fed, engrossed as she was in her hunt.
And Maggie, the hunter, the human, is too close.
"Well," Alex says, moving a steady step back, "consider yourself too late then. The rogue has been eliminated."
"So I noticed." Maggie's eyes linger on her bloodied hand. "You realize some people would have preferred to watch him burn under the sun?"
"I'm aware," is all Alex says, but doesn't explain. The rogue may have been a Lost, but before he changed, he wasn't… a terrible man. Not an entirely good man, but he wasn't evil. Alex had investigated this in detail. He may have deserved to burn in agony, but she can grant him this small mercy. It is here where he will disintegrate, with his dust scattered in the forest.
She turns around, intending to leave.
"Wait."
She pauses and turns her head to look at the hunter who seems to be… contemplating.
"You are hungry, aren't you?" is the blunt question.
Alex turns fully and just stares at her without answering. She can feel the slick, warm blood on her fingers.
"I've seen that look before," Maggie goes on. "You are starving." The hunter gestures at her hand. "And injured. You're high on adrenaline from killing just now."
Maggie isn't wrong. She's also not wrong in what she's implying.
Alex Danvers is a dangerous person to be around right now.
Still, something in her closes off defensively, because she has far more honor than that.
"If you are worried about dead humans - " Alex begins.
"That's not it," Maggie cuts in. "But you are heading to the city now, aren't you? It's at least a day's travel, regardless of how fast you are."
How the hell does this hunter know she's planning to go there?
"Your point?" Alex asks coolly instead.
"Your eyes are gleaming red, Danvers."
Shit. Alex straightens, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose with her clean hand. She needs to focus. The hunger and the presence of this...human is getting to her. She breathes in deeply once, twice, and opens them to only realize Maggie has taken a few steps closer.
"...Still a little red," Maggie comments, dimples showing and silver light reflecting off long curls of dark hair, "But better."
This hunter has a nice smile. And it puzzles her.
"Thanks." Alex nods curtly and takes another breath, then regrets it because the feminine scent is close enough to be tasted.
"You need blood. And you want mine." Maggie is eyeing her thoughtfully again, and for some reason she doesn't look like she's about to bolt despite being the only human in the vicinity. The hunter doesn't even look afraid. Just curious.
Alex does need blood, and she does want hers - desperately - but she's not about to admit that. "I'm a vampire, Sawyer."
"I noticed," is the dry response. A pause. Then, "How about a trade?"
Alex raises her eyebrow, intrigued despite herself.
Maggie's scrutinizing her now. "You can have some of my blood. And in return, I'd better not hear about a rampaging vampire when I get to the city."
Alex blinks, truly surprised now. "You are offering me your blood?" The thought of it makes her itch to curl her fingers around those dark curls that seem impossibly soft with the moonlight reflecting off them, tilt that head backward, and just drink.
"You're starving," Maggie says. "I've seen what starving vampires do. And then I have to put them down."
Amusement settles on her shoulders despite the growing hunger. "You think you can take me on?"
A quirk of the lips. "I promise you'll find me a good challenge, Danvers."
Somehow she doesn't doubt that. This hunter has been challenging her every time they've met.
Maggie, meanwhile, is shrugging off her leather jacket. "Deal?" she asks, her simple white long-sleeved shirt accentuating her slim figure. Tempting her.
Alex really shouldn't agree with this trade.
"Fine," she says anyway, taking a step closer. "It's a deal."
Their eyes meet again, and then Alex is lifting Maggie's hand, unbuttoning the cuff, and rolling it up to the elbow.
Maggie just watches.
When Alex is done, and she has her uninjured hand curled around that slender, tense wrist, she meets Maggie's gaze again, holding it there with a silent, steady question in her eyes.
It's not until the shorter woman nods that Alex licks at Maggie's inner wrist. It tastes like something warm and salty, and she can feel the blood calling to her. Her fangs pierces into skin.
Alex almost groans at the taste on her tongue. It's hot, it's sweet, and so much more addictive than what she is used to. The warmth that settles in her stomach leaves her feeling lightheaded but contradictorily stronger and wanting more.
Then again, blood given willingly is always sweeter, and she prefers it that way. That's probably why she isn't against this trade, despite the fact that Alex will never allow herself to be overtaken by bloodlust, even when starving.
Throughout it all, Alex doesn't remove her eyes from Maggie. There's a flush to Maggie's cheeks now, and her dark eyes are bright and intense in the moonlight.
It makes her itch to reach for the hunter's neck, where the vein is thicker, the blood sweeter. Maggie is defenseless, this close, and with one hand held captive; and Alex is so much stronger now with fresh blood settling in her stomach.
She wonders idly what the other woman thinks of that, and of the fact that her eyes that are glowing a deep red now. Because that's what always happens when she drinks.
Time goes too fast. Alex knows the moment she has enough blood to tide her over for a while and forces her fangs to retract, resisting the urge to sink deeper. Then she seals the wound before licking what's left of the blood that has spread around Maggie's inner wrist.
Releasing the hand lest she be tempted again - and she is so tempted - she takes a step back. The forest, with its lush green leaves and trees that reflects the moonlight, seems so much brighter now.
She drinks in the sight of Maggie taking a shaky breath. The sound of her rapidly pounding heartbeat doesn't escape Alex either, now that all her senses are focused on the slender woman in front of her.
"Is…" The hunter clears her throat, rubbing at her wrist and inspecting it, turning it over like it's something to be scrutinized. "Is that enough blood…?"
There's something amusing about the way this human is looking curiously at the the twin marks Alex had left on her. She's also not about to admit that it sends a thrill of possessiveness down her spine, or that the evident flush on Maggie's cheeks makes Alex want to reach for her again.
"Yes." A pause. "Contrary to popular belief, we do not usually suck people dry, or leave them so bloodless they cannot defend themselves." Not all of her kind is evil or ruthless.
Humor - mischief? - returns to light Maggie's face. "Getting soft on me, Danvers?"
Alex scoffs, taking another step back. "You wish. I'm leaving now."
A soft chuckle. "See you around, Danvers."
She vanishes into the night.
.
.
.
3.
It's a couple weeks before she sees Maggie Sawyer again.
This time, the sky is clouded, the moon not as bright, and it's the hunter who is locked in battle; Alex just leans against the trunk from the thick branch she is standing on, not quite feeling the need to interfere.
Yet.
Maggie glides around the vampire with so much grace she looks like she's dancing, and when he tries to claw at her with sharp nails, she casually hooks a foot out to trip him over.
The vampire does trip. And stumble. And face plant into a nearby tree of the park.
Alex actually does smile now. The audacity of this hunter.
In the time the vampire - victim? - is taking to recover, Maggie's clicking her tongue as she backtracks a few steps, already shaking loose the whip hooked onto her belt. The whip swerves its way towards the vampire to lash him across the face - the eyes, actually - as the man rises to face her again. He howls, blood spattering on the ground and rolling down his face. That's got to hurt a lot.
It takes a lot to impress Alex, and that certainly got her brow raising. It's a brutal, savage and practical tactic; Alex doesn't think humans usually consider it as a strategy. It's not to say that humans are incapable of savagery - just that most are too soft, too driven by fear for that method to even cross their mind.
But this hunter is not like most humans. Efficient is what comes to mind. Deadly accurate and ruthless with the whip, in fact, if the slash on the eyes was on purpose and not by luck.
Perhaps Maggie does have a chance at going head to head with Alex.
The blinded vampire lets out a guttural roar. He braces himself, and with speed that even Alex isn't expecting from him, he launches himself at Maggie again.
Alex sees Maggie's gaze widen. She dodges to the side, barely escaping a hit that would've left her incapacitated. He's not done though, following with another hard swipe, and she backflips - but not before his claws manage to tear into her forearm.
Maggie breathes in sharply and moves a few steps back, keeping the vampire at a distance.
Good move, Alex muses. It proves that this hunter is not blinded by pride.
Still, Alex has seen enough. She shouldn't have waited; Maggie being injured isn't the reason why she chose to watch.
She bends her knees a little, ready to enter the foray.
But then Alex pauses because Maggie doesn't even look afraid. She doesn't even look affected by the blood steadily dripping down her arm. In fact, her gaze is steady and determined. She reaches into the pouch by her thigh, grabbing something (things?), and throwing it in the general direction of the vampire.
The ground crackles with bright sparks and loud snaps.
Alex blinks. Firecrackers?
The blind vampire startles, head darting around despite not being able to see what's happening, and that's all the distraction that Maggie needs. She darts forward, pulling her dagger out, and stabs him cleanly through the chest.
He gurgles out blood, falls to the ground, and goes limp.
That's when Maggie straightens, taking in a deep breath. In the next few minutes, the dead man will disintegrate into nothing.
Firecrackers. Firecrackers to distract a blinded vampire. It seemed like a tactic that Maggie was used to doing, judging by how she had some at hand. A plan well executed… and one that gave a clear indication that she was aiming to blind him with her whip.
None so blind as to those who cannot see and hear, hmm?
And then suddenly, Maggie flings the dagger she just used to stab the vampire in her direction.
Alex snaps it out of the air before letting herself drop to the ground, tapping absently at her thigh with the dagger she now holds loosely in her fingers.
"Good show, Sawyer."
Maggie pauses from her half-formed defensive stance, clearly not expecting Alex. It's a beat before the hunter rocks back on her heels, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly.
The barest hint of dimples appear. "Are we taking turns to be creepy now, Danvers?"
Alex almost smiles. Or maybe she is smiling. But either way, she's enjoying this unexpected banter. She flicks the dagger into the air as opposed to straight at Maggie, and the shorter woman grabs it easily.
"Thanks."
Her gaze wanders to the bleeding arm and resists the urge to reach out for the hunter. The metallic tang is strong, sweet and tempting. "You should get that taken care of."
Maggie arches a brow. "Your eyes are red again."
This time, Alex just shrugs. Unlike the last time, she is nowhere close to starving, and Alex is disciplined enough to not act on random urges. Plus, it's common for eyes to turn red at the sight of blood. "Vampire."
The human squints at her. "So if I take off my jacket now, you're not going to eat my hand?"
"Eat your - " Alex shakes her head with a laugh. This hunter. What did Maggie think she was? Some kind of rabid werewolf? "I don't eat flesh. I only take blood from those who willingly give."
Maggie just eyes her, seemingly filing away this new piece of information before shrugging off her leather jacket with a wince. Then she starts to gingerly roll up her shirt sleeve to assess the damage.
Four jagged claw marks, raw and bleeding, cover half of Maggie's forearm and half above the elbow. The blood is soaked through the sleeve already.
Alex does actually frown. The dead rogue dug into Maggie's skin deeper than she thought. "You need stitches."
"Seems so," Maggie turns her forearm around a little to inspect it. There's a pause, like Maggie seems to be contemplating her options. Or hesitating. "But I can do it myself. Just need to get out of this park first."
Alex is instantly suspicious. And concerned. "Yourself?"
Maggie shrugs, wrapping the ruined jacket around her injury with gritted teeth and a pained grimace. "This park is pretty far out from town. I'm not about to drive into a city while bleeding, either."
Because, of course, there will be other vampires who can smell the blood. And it seems like Maggie is running solo.
For a moment, Alex watches the hunter apply pressure on the wound over the jacket and begin walking. Then she falls in step with Maggie.
"Your dominant hand is the one that got injured, isn't it?"
"Maybe." A vague answer and another half-shrug, half-grunt of pain.
The response makes Alex's lips quirk up again, because she knows she's not wrong. It was the hand that had held the dagger to her chest in their first meeting. It was also the hand wielding the whip with deadly accuracy earlier.
"Let me stitch that up for you," she says before realizing what she'd just said.
Maggie looks back up at her sharply, but doesn't stop walking.
"You want to stitch my wound up for me?" Maggie repeats, almost disbelievingly.
Alex twitches, maybe a little awkwardly. "I have a medical degree," she shrugs. "I'm not practicing, but some things you just don't forget."
The hunter's eyebrows rise to the hairline. "A medical degree."
Alex resists the urge to shuffle and instead stares back at the injured woman defiantly. "Yes." Because that's what she was doing before her life turned upside down.
Dark chocolate eyes stare piercingly into hers for two heartbeats. "You are pretty interesting, Danvers."
She tilts her head, watching the small road leading up to the entrance of the park. "Yeah?"
"You don't look like you want to fight me." The advantage she has over Maggie right now is unsaid.
The corner of Alex's lips curl up. "You saying I should fight you while you're injured? Seems a little unfair."
"A vampire that plays fair." Maggie huffs out a laugh that makes Alex want to smile. She doesn't, though. "This is a weird situation we're in, Danvers."
Alex doesn't disagree. Vampires and hunters are usually on each other's throats when they interact. That they are walking together - talking amicably - was unheard of. The few times vampires and hunters had talked to each other were usually to negotiate a ceasefire. Most times, they just ignored each other unless something happened.
But honestly, Alex couldn't say she wanted to fight this intriguing hunter at all. And it seemed like the sentiment was returned.
Soon enough, Maggie's stopping in front of a black, sleek car, unlocking it with a beep before opening the trunk. The large first aid kit is immediately obvious, as are two bottles of water and several other supplies.
Maggie gestures to the pile. "Have at it then, Doctor Danvers."
Alex leans in, pulls out the kit and a water bottle, and closes the trunk. "Sit." She gestures back.
Maggie arches a brow. Watches her. Hesitates. Alex doesn't mind - she knows why Maggie is hesitating. The hunter will be even more defenseless while sitting on the trunk, and both of them are clearly aware of the fact.
If Maggie doesn't want to sit, well, they will just have to make do standing and hope Maggie's not twitchy while getting stitched. Because the hunter can't really just let her hand rest on the car; not when the long, jagged marks are reaching above the elbow.
But it's only a moment before the hunter climbs onto the trunk to sit on it. "Do you need more light?"
The trust this human is willing to give.
"The lamp above is enough." That's not quite true - the lamp high above them is pretty dim and clearly in need of a change. But Alex is a vampire, and vampires can see in the dark.
Unlocking the medkit, she moves to gently unwind the jacket on Maggie's arm, the leather slick with blood.
Maggie winces. Her other hand is curled into a tight fist and pressed onto the car, an indication of just how much she's hurting.
The resilience this hunter has is astounding.
"You probably will need to burn this jacket," Alex says as she tosses the ruined jacket next to the medkit, deciding that engaging in conversation probably will help to distract the other woman from the pain. It will also distract herself from the urge to lick at the blood.
A frustrated sigh. "Don't remind me - it was my favourite." There's actually a pout somewhere in those words, and it makes Alex want to grin.
Instead, she digs through the kit to take out the necessary items, opens the water bottle and puts on the latex gloves. Then she cuts away the blood-soaked sleeve almost all the way to the shoulder to reveal well-defined muscles before beginning to deftly clean the wound.
Maggie watches her work for a long, quiet moment before speaking. "You are not quite what I expected."
"What were you expecting?" Alex asks, more to keep the conversation flowing than anything else.
"A cocky vampire with a stick up her ass."
Unexpected laughter bubbles out of her throat. "Watched too many movies lately, Sawyer?"
Maggie mock glares at her between hisses of pain from Alex's gentle dabs at the injury. "I've seen a few of you nobles around before."
"Insufferable?"
"God, yes."
Alex snorts. "Yeah, well. I've more important things to do than to be on a power trip."
Maggie stares at her again. Then, a soft murmur. "You do, don't you?"
Alex looks up from cleaning the wound to meet her gaze again, puzzled. Maggie sounds like she really knows that Alex has things to do. She doesn't sound like she didn't believe her at all.
The dim light overhead is reflected in the hunter's chocolate-brown eyes.
"Yeah," Alex says, not breaking the gaze. "I do."
Maggie smiles; a real, genuine warm smile complete with dimples that makes Alex's lips quirk up.
Warm. That's a first. Even in their previous banters, Maggie had looked amused, challenging, even borderline mocking, but still guarded and cool.
But the smile is warm now, and Alex can feel herself respond in kind instinctively.
"I'm going to start stitching," she says, picking up the thread and needle. She doesn't offer to inject Maggie with the morphine she sees sitting in the kit - even with the tentative trust between them, she doesn't think Maggie will allow herself to have a foggy mind.
"Okay."
Alex can feel the tension in the injured arm increasing. "Don't like needles?"
Maggie's response is dry. "Normally I'd be numb before I get poked with a needle." And yet, the hunter isn't asking for the morphine shot.
"Take a breath, Sawyer," Alex says simply.
An obedient exhale.
Then it begins.
.
.
.
4.
Their next interaction is just a few days later.
Alex takes a second to move the phone away from her ear to glare at it before returning it to its original position. "How did you get this number, Sawyer?"
There's amusement beneath the response. "Maybe I'm not just your regular run-of-the-mill hunter, Danvers."
Sawyer was so full of shit sometimes. Alex rolls her eyes, leaning back against her comfy office chair. "What do you want?"
"Human smuggling ring just a couple miles out of your territory. Interested?"
Alex frowns. A smuggling ring. That's not the kind of business she approves of, and something that would incur her wrath if it was being done right under her nose, but... "As you said, it's out of my territory. I don't have a reason to get involved."
"Even if the rogue you're hunting is part of this group?"
She drums her fingers against the handrest. "You don't know who I'm hunting." A beat. "If anyone."
"You telling me I wasn't a step ahead of you in nabbing that vampire in the park?"
Maggie is annoyingly correct about that. That was why she was at the park that day; seeing the hunter there was just an unexpected coincidence and bonus. Or not bonus, rather. If Alex had arrived first, the hunter wouldn't have ended up getting injured. "Your point?"
"His partner is the boss of the smuggling ring."
Alex does pause at that. That changes things. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Well, for one, I'd like to shut the ring down. Two, a certain doctor who stitched my arm up said I should lay off using my favourite weapons for a while. And three, your buddy is there."
Alex is amused now. The audacity. "So you want to use me."
"I wouldn't put it that way," Maggie says, but her mischief is carrying through the phone. "It's more of a killing two birds with one stone kind of thing."
Such a little shit. Alex rolls her eyes. "Why are you coming to me and not your hunters?"
"Like I said. Two birds, one stone." Maggie's clearly not interested in answering that particular question.
"Fine," the vampire says, filing that line of inquiry away for now. "Send me the details." She hangs up after that, and wonders if it's going to end up in a bloodbath.
. .
It doesn't end in a bloodbath.
Amazingly enough, there are no deaths. Just a lot of incapacitated people with varying degrees of injuries.
But only because Kara is here today.
"Danvers," the hunter says to her in disbelief, staring up at a figure floating in mid-air. "That vampire backup of yours is flying."
And eagerly. Too eagerly, actually, to assist in taking down this smuggling ring. Alex still wonders if it's a bad idea to have given in to Kara's desire to help. Her sister is too kind, too gentle, too soft.
To Maggie, Alex shrugs. "We have abilities."
Maggie's eyes cut to her, and her gaze is skepticism personified. "Can you fly? Are you invulnerable to bullets? Do you have heat vision too?"
"Those are not my abilities," Alex responds, walking around the fallen bodies to the back office where the person she'd been waiting for had locked herself in.
"Thought not," the hunter mutters, following behind her. "And don't think I don't know vampires usually have just one unique ability, Danvers."
Alex just hums noncommittally and kicks the door open. "Maybe we do have more than one, Sawyer."
"Uh huh." It's clear the hunter doesn't believe her.
Maggie doesn't push, though, because the vampire in the room is lunging at Alex.
But all Alex does is grab Maggie by the wrist of her uninjured hand and pull the hunter into her as she neatly sidesteps the lunging rogue.
And her sister, of course, is already there and ready courtesy of superspeed, snagging the vampire by the collar. Kara's blue eyes, when they meet her own, are bright with energy and mischief. Alex can only shake her head in exasperation.
Kara lifts off again, said rogue struggling, yelping and being dangled by the collar.
A familiar scent of wildflowers tickles her nose, and all of a sudden Alex realizes her grip has shifted from Maggie's wrist to her lower back for balance, fingers just catching at the tail ends of long, soft curls.
The warmth pressed against her is reminding Alex of the sweet, addictive blood she drank on a night with a full moon.
She forces herself to release the hunter immediately, taking a step back and into the room. Her neck feels warm - she is hyper aware of the sound of warm blood flowing through veins a few steps away, and Alex can just feel Maggie's chocolate brown eyes fixed piercingly on her.
Alex moves around the large desk to scan through the drawers instead, desperately hoping for Maggie to not find her movements strange or stiff.
So when Maggie speaks to break the silence, Alex is understandably at a loss.
"Is my blood really that tasty?" Curiosity, humor, and wariness lace her tone all at once.
Alex freezes and darts her eyes up to meet Maggie's appraising ones. "W-what are you talking about?"
Maggie just raises her eyebrows. "Your eyes, Danvers. Red again. Are they going to be red every time I see you?"
Shit. Shit, shit shit.
Alex closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. And Maggie, the insufferable hunter, just chuckles, seemingly amused. "I guess I should be flattered?"
"Sorry," Alex shakes her head. "But don't - I'm not going to do anything, so..." A deep breath, and she looks Maggie in the eye. She's hoping they aren't still gleaming red, but knowing her luck, they probably are. "You are not in any danger from me. I promise you that."
Maggie smiles, dimples at all. "Okay."
Not even the barest of hesitation is in her answer, just genuine understanding that Alex had no intention to consciously hurt her. She doesn't even rest a hand on the sidearm by the belt - one that the vampire knows she is perfectly capable of using despite the injury on the arm.
That's how defenseless Maggie is right now. They have only met a handful of times, totalling maybe a few hours. How?
Sometime while Alex was flustered and trying to center herself, Maggie had already made her way to the cupboard filled with thick hardcover folders. The vampire doesn't know if it's a deliberate action, or if she's just gone into detective mode, but Alex is grateful.
The hunter runs a hand through the handwritten labels, stuck on hard plastics. "These are the names of some big corporations and high profile people. M and G laboratories, Lord Corporation, Edge, Roulette… to name a few. And - "
The words come to a halt.
Maggie's fingers are still over a label, a frown gracing her features.
There is a long, drawn out moment where Maggie just stands there, unnaturally quiet. It's like the air around her is physically darker, colder. Dangerous.
It's enough to make Alex frown.
"Sawyer?"
A beat of silence. Maggie doesn't answer.
"What's the name?" Alex finally moves around the table to approach her, cautious and tentative.
"Cadmus."
Alex stills midstep.
.
.
.
Interlude i.
Her name was Kate Kane, and Maggie Sawyer had loved her for a long time. They weren't in love, no, and perhaps they never had been even when they'd tried. But they had played the part of lovers for each other for a long time until it'd tapered down to best friends with benefits, then just best friends.
And she had loved her.
The obnoxious woman had rooted herself in Maggie's heart past the steely walls, destined to never to leave again.
Kate had always told her she was too kind. Too patient. Too good. Kate had wanted her to stay in the path of justice - of light - and to never encroach into the darkness like she had. And Maggie wanted to live up to it, she really did. Except a deep-seated anger had begun to churn deep in the pit of her stomach when her best friend had died and she had to pick up the pieces.
To protect the innocent was a calling that resonated within her soul. Having to kill was just a byproduct of her duty to protect, not the other way around. Maggie never enjoyed having to kill vampires (or even the other supernatural races really), it was almost always a last resort, and only when she'd deduced she had no other choice. Because, yes, despite the myth and centuries-old bad blood between hunters and vampires, Maggie had recognized that not all of them were bad.
In fact, extremely few of them were actually evil. Was that not the same with humans? If that damning thought made other hunters distance themselves from her, so be it.
But then Kate died in Maggie's arms with a vicious bite on her neck, blood everywhere, and one name choked out on her final breath - Cadmus - something in Maggie died that day, too.
"Sawyer."
A hand lands on her shoulder lightly, and, too caught up in memories, Maggie reacts on instinct, tilting her injured hand so that the dagger slides down her sleeve to fall into her fingers. Then she twists her elbow around for an upward backstab, her stitches burning at the sharp movement -
But suddenly a hand is gripping her wrist, and her attack is half aborted. The grip on her shoulder firmens, stopping her from moving.
"Sawyer!"
Maggie blinks, and her gaze meets Alex's.
Alex Danvers.
The vampire is looking at her cautiously, concern clear in her hazel eyes. The grip on both her shoulders and wrists is strong but not painful, and her injured hand throbs and sears at the same time.
Did she just try to stab Alex Danvers?
She lets out a breath that's half trembling, half startled, and she forces herself to relax, turning around slowly to rock back on her heels. The cupboard with the folders is cold against her back.
Alex releases her like she didn't so easily disable her. It takes more than just having all the gifts that comes with being a vampire, Maggie notes. It attests to the kind of training and fighting capabilities that she has.
The taller woman is still looking at her carefully, and Maggie doesn't know what to say. A burning sensation is spreading all over her arm, and she has a suspicion that she may have pulled her stitches.
She has no excuses for what she almost did to Alex just now, what is an apology going to even do?
But the taller woman is offering her an unexpected escape. "Take off your jacket."
Maggie blinks again. "My jacket?" What?
Alex's tone is blithe. "Yeah. I'd like to see if you ruined my perfect stitches when you overextended your arm just now."
The hunter breathes out a silent laugh. Unbelievable. Alex Danvers was still surprising her at every turn. She didn't even know if she should've been bewildered, worried or relieved that the vampire was choosing to do this right now.
Alex steps back to give her more space and gestures. "Come on, Sawyer."
She smiles despite herself. "Are you always this bossy?"
"With my handiwork?" A quirked brow. "Yes."
Maggie levels an amused look at her. "I'm your handiwork now?"
"Your arm is. So let's see it."
The hunter shakes her head with a huff. She does step forward though, shrugging off her jacket before throwing it over a chair.
Alex has had plenty of chances to attack her - even maim or kill her - over the several times they've met, now, and she's never taken them. Maggie's willing to believe that Alex Danvers has no intention to harm her - at least until the situation changes.
Consciously, anyway, if those gleaming red eyes that flickered with dark hunger earlier was any indication.
Maggie's taken to wearing loose, long-sleeved blouses as of late - all of them due to the injury on her arm. Makes it easy to just roll up the sleeve, so that's what she does.
The auburn-haired woman just watches, and it's not until the hunter lifts her arm up for inspection that the vampire steps closer again.
An exasperated click of the tongue. "You broke your stitches," Alex comments with a furrow in her brow, running gentle fingers over the white bandages before pausing at the large red patch by Maggie's elbow.
She taps at her ear, activating a communication device Maggie hadn't realized she was wearing. "Bring me the medkit."
Another tap. Then, a finger is pointed at the chair. "Sit."
Maggie does sit, still faintly bewildered, even as Alex pulls another chair to sit by her.
A second later, the flying blonde whirlwind that she had been staring at earlier pops in, brandishing a medkit that's placed on the table.
Bright, electric blue eyes peer down at her even as Alex is already moving to open the box, the concern clear. "Are you okay?"
The voice is soft, warm. Worried. Beautiful, even, like that of a singer.
And with the lamp overhead, she can see what this vampire really looks like. If Alex is the epitome of solid steel wrapped in darkness, this girl looks like she's made of light and sun.
Yet, these two vampires share a common trait - they feel more human than most other people she's ever met, and that's saying a lot considering all of the crap she's dealt with over the years.
Maggie has never felt so out of her element. These vampires. Are they even really vampires? They defy all expectations she has for the typical ones.
"I'm fine, kid," Maggie says, her calm words not betraying how off-kilter she's feeling. Or that her arm feels like someone had just pressed a sizzling hot poker to it. Alex is deftly snipping the bandages off her arm silently, like she's trusting this other vampire to keep her occupied.
It makes her feel like she's being ganged up on, except it's not in a bad way this time.
Blue eyes squints at her. "You know I could be older than you."
Maggie is aware. Vampires always look younger than their real age. But there is some sort of softness, some sort of innocence wrapped around this girl that makes it hard to believe she could be older than the hunter.
She arches a brow. "You don't look it. And Doctor Danvers here didn't actually tell me your name, so that's what I'm calling you."
Alex, who's dabbing at her arm with a cotton ball, snorts. The blonde vampire huffs, shooting a glare at the auburn-haired woman.
"Kara," the blonde says, putting her hands on her hips. "My name is Kara Danvers."
Maggie does blink now, and her gaze cuts over to Alex, then back to Kara, then to Alex again.
For a brief, bewildering moment, she wonders if Kara is Alex's daughter - but they don't seem like mother and child at all.
The Danvers family. Jeremiah Danvers, head of the family, is presumed dead. The matriarch, Eliza Danvers, on sabbatical; which in turn meant Alex had to take on the mantle. And then, the youngest Danvers, whose details were sparse and practically nonexistent for some reason aside from the fact that she existed...
"Sisters." Maggie's brow furrows, remembering the way these two had ganged up on her and the brief bickering the two had had a moment earlier about Kara's name not being mentioned. They were behaving like sisters.
"Yup." A wide grin.
"Yes." A serious, professional tone with a gaze that betrayed nothing.
Twin, simultaneous answers that described exactly how different these two vampires were.
The hunter's pretty certain now. These two are dangerous together. There's nothing quite like a pair of siblings who were night and day and yet clearly were still so close - and they didn't even seem to consider the fact that they were in front of a lone, injured vampire hunter they could easily corner.
Maggie is in so much danger right now it isn't funny, and that isn't even the strangest thing about this entire fiasco.
The strangest thing of it all is that she doesn't even feel close to being threatened by this pair of sisters.
What the hell.
. . . .
. . .
. .
.
A/N - So, uh. While I planned to post this today, I didn't realize there was a Sanvers Week thing going on… made me wonder for a bit if I should have held off posting so as to not intrude. But the more I delay it the less likely I would have posted… eh. May as well, I figured.
Many thanks to independentalto from Tumblr for her thorough beta-ing. And I don't really have anything to say yet, save for me hoping this feels like a solid start - and that, of course, feedback is going to be awesome.
Thank you for reading!