Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The bar was noisy, crowded, the piano and violin music playing from the scattered speakers filling up the spaces of noise that weren’t taking up by conversations, shouted across tables and cheered at booths. The golden lights of the fancy brass light bulbs globes, oversized for decor instead of practicality, mixed with the warm wood of the polished bar, black of the stools, and neutral tones of most of the business-casual and dinner-party dressed crowd here to mingle and cheer and celebrate.

The warm and neutral tones made Vi stand out as much as she always did, her loose swept short hair bright pink and beckoning in the golden lighting, bangs half over her face and heavily tattooed muscular arms exposed in her grey tank top as she leaned against the bar, laughing with her companions.

“…and if you go to the Jazz festival next month, there’s a ton of different acts to choose from it’s honestly a treat,” one of the boys, in glasses and a dress-shirt patterned with anchors, was saying, nodding to his companions for affirmation.

“I can’t believe we’re excited for a Jazz festival.” A girl laughed, her simple black dress had an slightly unfortunate dusting from her cigarette ash on one shoulder. Vi dimly wondered if she’d be out of line to brush it off. The girl’s companion, a taller young man with a dark beard, chuckled along.

“It’s no different from clubbing,” he said, taking a sip of his glass with the whiskey stones clinking. “We’re going out late to enjoy music. The style of music doesn’t suddenly make us uncool. It’s a different kind of cool.”

Vi avoided snorting to not offend any of the group she’d been talking to tonight, just took her own drink of… whatever craft beer this was, not like she could taste it, and nodded. Her eyes kept looking out, scanning the crowd of the bar. The place, annoyingly, had an L shaped design which made it hard to set up a good vantage spot for her plans, and hanging out at this spot was the best area to see as much of the crowd as she could.

Unfortunately, this group had already been hovering around and she’d had to insert herself into the conversation with lies about being new in town, just for the excuse to lean against the bar top and keep her eyes flickering around.

Thank fate she’d honed her people skills over all these years, and this was a friendly town. Bars with soft lighting were a terrible place to hunt.

Clubs, at least, let Vi walk around without standing out too much. Sports bars often had pool tables, giving an excuse to circle around and keep glancing in corners. Even older pubs were often two-storied, had seats near railings, let one look out over the floor. But any sort of pacing was out of place in types of casual bars like this and it drove her insane to have to stand in one spot.

Shit, she should have lied that she was meeting a date here and potentially was being stood up. That would have been a good excuse.

She ran her tongue over the sharp point of her incisor, a bad nervous habit she knew but one she hadn’t been able to kick. The slight sharpness was a good way to focus, help her stay grounded.

A flash of white caught her eye, and she glanced over and froze.

There.

A long, sleek white dress draped elegantly over the body of a tall young woman, Vi’s age, long dark hair down to the exposed pale shoulder blades in the low-back dress, nearly black silk to match the silk of her gown. Tall, long legs in slender heels, sharp but not unpleasant carved features. She looked incredibly out of place, diamond earrings sparkling in the soft ambient lighting, a ring sparkling on her finger, a glass of red wine in her hand as she held a friendly conversation with the man beside her. Not wrong for the bar. Too good for the bar.

The woman tilted her head slightly as she spoke, her hair sliding off one shoulder to expose her long, pale neck. A light silver chain sparkled along it.

Vi swallowed.

“Hey, you alright there?” Glasses asked beside her, breaking her free of her slight trance. He glanced between her and the direction Vi cursed herself for staring in too long. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Vi forced herself to laugh, shaking her head. “Nah. Sorry. Zoned out.” Then she shot a smile at the group’s direction. “Brain brought up something embarrassing, usual shit.”

The group laughed in sympathy.

Beard started talking about some college anecdote or whatever and Vi nodded along, pretending to listen, as she kept watching the woman in the white dress. She was smiling with her companions, but in a melancholic way. The dark red lipstick she wore only emphasized the quiet falseness of her smile. How it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

As Vi watched, the woman shifted slightly in her conversation, eyes flickering in her direction, so brightly blue they were visible even from this distance. They met with hers, and Vi felt the bar vanish around them.

Her mark tilted her head just slightly to get a better look at Vi out of the corner of her eye, gaze unwavering, until the moment was broken by a question being asked by one of the woman’s companions. She smoothly blinked out of the stare, smiling over to the man and saying something with a delicate wave of her hand.

Vi bit the inside of her cheek to keep grounded.

“It was honestly a little embarrassing when you think about it, you know, for her.” Glasses voice cut through her focus, reminding her to stay aware of her surroundings. Vi had no idea the context but the rest of the group was laughing so she let out a chuckle to match.

Another girl, in a blue blouse, began talking about a story related to whatever Glasses had mentioned and Vi allowed herself to drift her attention off again just slightly towards the woman in the white dress.

She was still talking with her male companion, shoulders swaying slightly as if she couldn’t stand completely still. He said something, a small grin on his face, and she touched his arm, moving in a way that was clearly a light laugh.

Vi could almost hear the laugh.

Then the pair seemed to be saying goodbyes, leaving their glasses on the nearby table, waving and nodding to the rest of their group and making their way to the door. The man led, confident and grinning, saying something back to the woman in the white dress, who followed him so smoothly it almost looked like she was being pulled along.

The reached the door and the man paused for a second, adjusted his shoe, and then headed outside. The woman seemed just about to follow her companion out when she paused, looking over to Vi ever so slightly. Blue eyes mischievous.

Then she smiled coldly and slipped out the door.

“So, Matilda was it? How long have you been in the city for anyway, seen anything interesting in your time here?”

Vi realized that she had completely zoned out of the conversation and the group she’d inserted herself into was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to reply to some sort of conversation.

“Excuse me,” Vi muttered as she pushed herself off the bar and began to walk to the door as quickly as she could.

The air outside was nice, cooler than the interior of the bar but still warm enough that Vi didn’t feel a chill in her state of dress. She glanced both directions, frowning as she tried to spot the girl in the lightly crowded downtown streets.

There.

Unfortunately for her mark, the woman was already tall and wearing heels tonight did her no favour — Vi spotted her dark hair down the street despite the crowd between them. Shouldering her jacket, shoving hands in her pockets, Vi began following after. She kept her steps brisk without looking hurried.

The woman walked slowly but steadily, weaving through the crowd with the ease of someone used to busy sidewalks and practiced to too much company.

Vi kept even pace with her, pretending to look at her phone while she followed behind. As they walked away from the busier nightlife streets into the thinner crowds, Vi frowned. The woman’s male companion had vanished — had they gone separate ways? At risk to her goals, Vi glanced backward, scanning behind for any possible ambush, but she couldn’t see any and her instincts, while on edge, weren’t screaming at her just yet. Frowning slightly, Vi turned her attention back to…

An empty street.

Fuck.

She sneered at herself and glanced around, seeing a small alleyway between a closed down video store and a dispensary, just before the road turned a corner. The woman hadn’t been walking fast enough to reach the corner when Vi had glanced back, but potentially had sensed she was being tailed and ducked into the alleyway to escape.

Hoping that was the case, Vi cautiously took her hands out of her pockets, flexing them in preparation as she stepped out of the streetlight and into the alley, looking around.

Empty.

Shit, she was gone.

Sneering into the darkness slightly, Vi shoved her hands back into her pockets and raised her shoulders defensively. This was going to go one of two ways. She took a careful step back an—

Her cheek hit the brick wall.

Alright, it’s going this way.

Vi pushed herself off the wall to spin and face her attacker, hands raised. Almost immediately she was kicked in the ribs, feeling the flat of the high heel shoe making contact and having just the barest second to be grateful the heel missed.

The woman in the white dress was standing half in the shadow of the alleyway, hands clenching at her sides like the talons of a bird of prey. Her black hair hung off her shoulders, her blue eyes were veined with bright vicious pink and the snarl of her mouth exposed two prominent fangs.

“I can never have a single moment’s peace with you lot, can I?” She asked, voice driving venom. “Always after your damn trophies.”

Vi coughed, went to take her hood off, was about to speak when with surprising speed the woman struck forward again. With a surprised shout Vi managed to just miss the blow, ducking to the side and grabbing the vampire’s arm under one of her own. She pulled it down, made to knee her assailant in the gut, but the woman jumped and flipped, flipping Vi in the process. They both stumbled on the landing, catching their balance a few feet apart.

With an inhuman growl the vampire lunged forward again and again Vi ducked and deflected, using purely defensive moves to keep the claw-like fingernails away. The vampire let out a frustrated hiss and made a false swipe to one side and hit from the other. She whipped around at insane speed to grab one of Vi’s arms and hold her still.

With slight panic and a sympathetic wince, Vi grabbed onto the arm holding hers with her other and pulled down as hard as she could, dislocating the vampire’s shoulder.

The woman let out a near scream of pain, releasing Vi to stumble back and clutching her arm. As Vi caught her breath the vampire gritted her teeth and used the wall as leverage to pop her shoulder back with an animalistic noise.

Anger clouding her eyes nearly fully pink, the vampire made as if to lunge as Vi again, but swung down with a low kick, catching Vi off guard and knocking her down to her knee. She hit the ground hard, sending shocks of pain up through her spine.

“I could see you watching me, you know” The vampire hissed as Vi pushed herself up. “You are the least conspicuous hunter I’ve ever seen. Pink hair? Really?”

“Would you listen—“

“It’s honestly disgraceful!” The vampire grabbed her shoulder and threw her into the wall. Vi’s back hit with a heavy thud and knocked the wind out of her. She gritted her teeth, eyes squeezed shut as she tried to inhale.

Sharp fingers dug into her shoulder and pulled her forward into an awkward stand, the other hands grabbing Vi’s hair in a fist as the vampire held her up with effortless strength.

“At least your body will be easy to identify after I rip out your pretty little throat.” She pulled Vi’s hair, moving the bangs out of her face as she exposed her neck. “Won’t take them long to find how badly you— Vi?”

The vampire froze with their faces inches apart, hand still pulling Vi’s head back a bit, eyes blinking in recognition. Those bright blue eyes cleared of the pink edges and searched over Vi’s face. Her expression was otherwise shocked, but her brow was furrowed, angry.

Vi managed a grin despite the pain of the angle she was being held at. “Hey Cupcake.”

With a snarl the vampire pushed her away toward the wall of the alley. “Do not,” was spat in her direction, “call me that.”

Vi stumbled back and leaned against the brick to catch her breath, one hand held up in defensive request. She laughed slightly, then winced at the bruise forming on her ribs and looked up at the vampire, who was leaning against the opposite wall, clutching her shoulder. A glare was on her thin, pale expression, lip curled in a sneer around her fangs. But she made no move to attack, just watched Vi carefully.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, voice cold and low.

Vi took a deep breath, steadying herself. “It’s bad, Caitlyn. I need your help.”

Chapter Text

The door to the banquet hall closed with a loud metallic clang behind her, the noise a hollow, heavy echo in the cold autumn air. Caitlyn wrapped her jacket more tightly around herself as she shivered slightly in the dark of the evening, looking out to confirm she was alone in the private garden. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a cigarette holder and a pre rolled cigarette, holding it between her teeth as she fumbled for a match.

Her mother hated the habit, but what didn’t her mother hate about her these days? Caitlyn struck the match and quickly brought it up to set her vice to light, exhaling the smoke with a frustrated sigh as she walked slightly away from the door into the garden of the hall.

She paced the quiet darkness on the stony footpath, listening idly to the jazz filtering through the large windows of the ballroom, sticking a hand out to delicately brush against the petals of the flowers along the rose bushes. One fell loose under her touch and she held it between her fingers, running her thumb along the delicate softness, careful not to add too much force to tear at it. There was something about flower petals that always fascinated Caitlyn in their delicate design.

The music in the building behind her raised in a crescendo before falling to silence. She paused a moment, listening carefully, until she heard the music behind to start up again and breathed a sigh of relief. She likely still had time before her mother came to find her. 

A noise like someone moving through the bushes came from behind her and she hesitated, glancing back as the smoke swirled lazily into the air from her cigarette. There was nothing, no one that she could see in any case. Dark shadows and silent bushes were all that greeted her.

Tapping her finger softly against the cigarette holder, she took another inhale, chewing the end a bit as she began walking again.

The music of the hall felt quieter now, and she wondered idly if that was due to her distance or due to—

Another rustling.

“Hello?” Caitlyn turned slightly, keeping her back straight and expression neutral. “Anyone there?”

Silence greeted her and Caitlyn frowned slightly, narrowing her eyes to try and see further into the darkness.

Another rustle, and the crack of a branch came from her left.

Caitlyn swallowed tightly and tried not to turn too quickly, looking on either side of her with caution and she began to step back. “Who’s there?” She called out again, “you should stay on the path, the flowers are quite delicate.”

Silence again replied back to her and Caitlyn took another tentative step, gripping onto her cigarette holder as if she expected she could use it as a makeshift weapon.

Trying to steady her breath, she continued to slowly walk backwards towards the building to try and get her back to the wall. However, much more quickly than expected she struck something behind her. Something solid, and unmoving, and warm and just enough give to not be stone.

She whipped around quickly, startled, gasping despite herself at the large, bald, pale brutish man who’d been looming behind her. He wore a simple outfit, much like a dock worker, stood solidly, a wry smile on his face as he watched panic flit over hers.

“Not ‘o word.” He said, voice thick. Caitlyn glanced to where the path led back to the banquet hall doors, trying to determine how quickly she could run in this dress. Her hand tightened on the cigarette holder and she darted her eyes down to the jewellery sparkling on her wrist. She glanced back over to the man, raising her arm.

“Is it diamonds you want?” She asked, doing her best to keep her voice from wavering. The man raised his eyebrows and the smile on his face twitched.

“Not to start,” he said with a deep laugh, “but a nice bonus. What about that one there, on that pretty li’l neck o’ yours?”

Caitlyn reached up and ran a finger along the silver chain that held the sapphire jewelled locket she’d received for her sixteenth birthday. The look of worry and loss on her face seemed to amuse the man, who left out another dark chuckle and took a step toward her.

Heart pounding but nerves startling clear, Caitlyn instantly stepped back and swung her cigarette holder out in front of her, letting the ash fly into the man’s face.

“FUCK!” He snarled, grabbing at his eyes where the ash had hit and without hesitation Caitlyn turned and began to run back to the music, the light, the doors of the hall and potential safety. She had barely made it a few steps when a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down to the side, knocking her into the grass.

She let out a cry at the suddenly pain of the fall, looking up to see the man looming. His eyes were a red hue, his mouth twisted into a snarl exhibiting fangs that were too long, too large, expression more like a snarling dog than a man’s.

“I really hate the ones that fight back,” he said with an almost hiss to his lowered voice. “At least I get some new jewels after my meal.”

Caitlyn tried to stand, to force herself up, but her legs had stopped working and she could only dig her nails into the grass, hoping to grip enough soil to throw in her attacker’s face. But as he loomed forward another noise caught both their attention.

“Fuck, do you know how hard those walls are to climb? You’re really making my job tough here, buddy.”

From the shadows a girl, at least Caitlyn was certain from the sound of her voice she was a girl, dressed in men’s trousers and a loose shirt with a cap placed tightly over her head, hair shorn short, hands in her pockets walked out with all the casual airs of someone apologizing they were late for coffee. She looked down at Caitlyn and gave her a quick nod before looking up at the man again.

“I mean c’mon, their blood’s gotta be weak with all the shit they drink and smoke.” She grinned, leaning back and holding her elbows out in a wide stance. “And all this effort for a necklace? Just rob their dressers when they’re out at one of these things like the rest of us.”

The man, or whatever he was, stared at the newcomer with as much confusion written on his face and Caitlyn felt. He darted his eyes down to her, and then back to the girl still looking at him with a casual expression. “‘n you are..?”

“Oh, shit, I forgot to introduce myself.” The girl grinned even more wildly, and winked at Caitlyn. Honest to goodness winked at her. She turned her gaze back to the man. “I’m the bitch that’s gonna kill you.”

The man chuckled, rolling a shoulder, and lunged at her with fangs bared, roaring.

Instantly, the girl whipped her hands out of her pockets and held them up in a boxer’s stance. She dodged the man’s attack with ease and struck him in the side with a couple of blows before jumping back, hands still up in defence. The man staggered from the hits, turning and lunging at the girl again, who expertly blocked his clumsy hands, getting a few more hits in as she dodged around him.

They circled like this a couple of times, lunges and blocks, dodges and strikes, until the man was clutching at his side, limping slightly, and the girl was breathing heavily from the effort. Caitlyn had managed to push herself up, back off to stand beside a tall bush, watching the fight with guilty exhilaration.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are,” the man hissed, wiping at the back of his mouth with his broad hand. “But fuck right off.”

“What?” The girl smirked through catching her breath, spreading her arms out in an invitation. “You being a sore loser? Hm?”

The man backed up and raise his fists in a fighter’s stance to match the girl’s, finally stepping forward to try and get a more disciplined hit in. The girl dodged it with ease.

”You fang-heads really are something,” she mocked as she ducked under another swipe. “All that blood and it still doesn’t help your brains.”

The man growled out something Caitlyn couldn’t make out and the girl just laughed.

”Original, never heard that one before.” She jumped back a couple feet, squaring off with the man. He charged yet again, repeating the dance, and again the girl dodged, before pulling something from out behind her back and striking him with it.

Freezing, choking slightly, the man went stiff. Then before Caitlyn’s eyes his skin paled to an ashy white, before darkening to an almost charcoal black and flaking away into a dust, leaving behind only his clothes that fell to the earth, and the girl holding a wooden stake in her hand near where the man’s heart had been.

With a grin and grunt, the girl flipped the stake around in her hand and returned it to it’s place under her shirt at her back. She picked up the clothes and quickly sifted through them, looking them over quizzically before tossing the jacket aside and rolling the pants up. She pulled out a rucksack from behind a bush not too far off, shoved both articles of clothing inside. She shimmied the back onto her back and made to leave.

“Wait.” Caitlyn found herself saying. The girl paused. “That was incredible.”

The girl turned and blinked at her for a second, head tilted a bit as she looked her over. “Y’alright there?” She asked, eyes darting around as if checking for more witnesses. Caitlyn glanced behind her as well.

They were again alone.

“How did you do that?” She turned back to the girl with a breathless excitement. The girl raised an eyebrow as Caitlyn asked. “Who are you?”

A slight grin tugged at the corner of the girl’s grin as she seemed to be suppressing a laugh at Caitlyn’s enthusiasm in the wake of nearly being murdered by a monster and seeing that monster killed in turn.

“You’re not scared?”

“What I am is in a hurry,” Caitlyn snorted in retort. “My mother’s going to be looking for me, so please, just quickly give me your name and where I can find you again.”

Caitlyn watched at the girl let out a short breathy laugh, shaking her head. She stood, brushing the dirt from her knees and rolling her neck and shoulders. There was a thin cut on her arm that was starting to bleed, darkness painting the edges of her torn sleeve around the wound. Caitlyn stepped forward, wanting to reach for it, make sure her saviour was alright, but the girl took a step back as soon as she did.

“Who I am isn’t really important.” She said, a tight tone to her voice. “You’re never going to see me again.” She hesitated slightly, before re-adjusting the cap on her hair and sticking her hands in the pockets of her slacks, backing up a few more steps. “If you’re lucky, anyway.”

Caitlyn straightened her shoulders and frowned slightly, the pout she’d perfected over the years when she was faced with the idea of not getting something she wanted. “Well if you want to seek me out, we come here quite often.”

The girl let out a barking laughing, grin amused, but nothing cruel about it, half obscured by the darkness. “Yeah, sure thing cupcake. See you then.”

“My name is Caitlyn.” She called after her, but the girl had already vanished into the shadows.

Caitlyn stared into the dark space where the girl had disappeared, a strange tightness in her chest to match the pounding of her heart, adrenaline still in her veins from the ordeal. She felt a tightness in her arm and looked down, realizing that she was still gripping the cigarette holder in a death vice. She loosened her hand, felt the blood tingling as the muscles relaxed and looked up again at the empty shadows.

“Caitlyn? Caitlyn!”

Her mother walked up briskly behind her, that judgemental frown ever present on her face, eyes fixated on the empty holder in Caitlyn’s hand. Caitlyn said nothing, smiling slightly to herself as she looked out into the darkness, letting herself be led back to the hall.

Feeling, for the first time in ages, alive.

When she got home, Caitlyn wasted no time heading straight for her family’s extensive library and thanking all the gods that her father enjoyed collecting ‘eclectic’ tomes on myth and fantasy. Still clad in her grass-stained evening gown, she climbed ladders and collected materials, heaving the heavy books onto the desk and, when she had no room left there for open books, the floor surrounding.

She grabbed an ink pen, a blank book from her own collection, writing notes and annotations on every iteration of what she’d seen tonight, of every legend and fiction and cultural whispers, as she worked on figuring out everything she could, finally focused on a task.

Undead cursed from lack of proper rites.

Beasts who walked with the faces of men.

Cannibals, ritual sadists, demonic possessions.

Vampires.

And those that hunted them.

Caitlyn had seen a new world, and she wasn’t about to let it slip away from her.

“You have twenty minutes.”

The door to the small apartment opened quickly with a thud against the wall, echoing in the clean and tidy open concept room. Lights flickered on automatically at the movement, illuminating the small space. Caitlyn grabbed the handle to still the door, cursing slightly, and held it open for Vi to walk past her. Then Caitlyn entered, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Vi scoffed. “Twenty? You think I can manage to convince you of anything in just twenty minutes?”

“You’ve always been incredibly convincing, has that changed?”

Vi shrugged, but couldn’t help the small laugh as she watched Caitlyn walk over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands with an energy that was either anxious or angry, Vi wasn’t sure. As she furiously scrubbed before nearly slamming the handle down of the tap and roughly drying her hands on the towel, folding it neatly back to it’s place.

“I’m not the problem, you’re the one who always needs a thesis to jump on board an idea.” Vi said was Caitlyn walked over to the refrigerator and opened it to reveal an empty, sparkling clean interior save for a bulk pack of bottled water, already short a few. She grabbed a bottle and pulled it out.

“Your wasting your time, not mine.” Caitlyn placed the bottle of water on the kitchen island counter in front of Vi with incredible passive-aggressive force. Vi had to consciously avoid smiling at that.

“Missed you too.” She said, taking the bottle and unscrewing the cap. She could see Caitlyn’s jaw square at the quip, before snorting and turning to the side. She took a deep drink of the water, unspokeningly grateful. “Guess it’s not mutual though, eh? Didn’t even recognize me.”

“It’s been what, 30 years? Forgive me for getting fuzzy on details.” Caitlyn sniffed, crossing her arms, looking away but not before Vi could see the hurt in her expression. “You’ve changed quite a bit.”

Vi ran a hand through her hair unconsciously, scratching at the back of her neck. “Well you know me, like to change it up.”

Caitlyn snorted softly. “It…” she began, but trailed off as she seemed to grapple with what she wanted to say. “Suits you.” She finished quietly.

The silence stretched out between them, long and empty, the hum of the refrigerator the only sound inside the apartment. Outside Vi could hear the ambient noise and traffic of the night winding down in the city, warm and well lit in contrast to this small, sparse place Caitlyn is call home. She glanced over at the window, before turning her head back.

“You still look the same.” Vi said before she could help herself, letting her eyes finally take in all of Caitlyn’s features, controlling her gaze to not linger on where the dress hugged her figure or the silver chain that decorated her throat. “Your hair was always that long, wasn’t it?”

“I like stability.” Caitlyn shrugged flatly. “It’s a comfort to face how unchanging I am.”

“Yeah.” Vi nodded, at nothing really. “It made it easier to find you, at least. Well that, and the reports of a vampire who was feeding without killing and put three Hunters in the hospital. Wasn’t too hard to put things together.”

Caitlyn couldn’t help a snort there, smiling even just a little. “They’re getting softer I think. Easy to scare. One I didn’t even have to fight, they stumbled their way into traffic.”

“Yeah, the fresh meat is kinda weak,” Vi scratched at the back of her head again. She let out a slight laugh. “Y’know, I’m still kinda surprised, you haven’t decided yet to go the ‘justice vamp’ route and attack bad guys. You wouldn’t have to go out as often if you got a full meal.”

The smile dropped from Caitlyn’s face, expression souring towards Vi. “We’ve been over this, I’m not a jury, Vi, there are procedures, I can’t simply enact… that’s not justice, that’s vengeance.”

Vi took another sip of water, shrugging. Caitlyn unfolded her arms, hands resting on that counter, one hand running her thumb over her fingers again and again.

“Well,” she said, a sharp tone to her voice that her face betrayed as insincere, “get on with it. What was so important to track me down?”

Vi took a breath.

“Sevika,” she said, passing the water bottle slowly between her fingers on the table. The places where her fingers brushed made spots in the condensation. “She’s back.”

It was quiet a moment before Vi looked up up, shaking her head slightly to get her bangs out of her face. Caitlyn was staring at the water bottle, not at her, watching as small drops ran rivulets down the sides. Her hands were folded on the counter now, one thumb tapping quickly against the wood. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, brows furrowed.

“She can’t be.”

“She is,” Vi insisted.

“Vi, you must be—“

“I know who I saw.” Vi’s voice turned hard, grabbing the water bottle and snapping Caitlyn’s attention to her. Those bright blue eyes flashed, a quick ring of pink, before darkening back to blue. Vi did her best to keep her expression impassive. “It was her.”

Caitlyn was quiet another minute, jaw working as she breathed deeply, a habit she apparently still hadn’t lost despite all these years of not needing the action.

Vi softened, one hand still fiddling with the water bottle. “Cait, I know.”

“She can’t be.” Caitlyn said again, voice choked. “We saw her, she, you.”

Vi pressed her mouth, fighting the urge to reach across the table and grab that hand, still the tapping thumb, comfort her.

She shook her head. “I guess it didn’t take.”

Caitlyn laughed, a choked sound, pushing away the counter to pace the small space between the island and the wall. “Didn’t take? It’s death. What, as if..? Goddamit Vi, it’s been decades! Why on Earth, why now?”

Vi shrugged. “Fuck if I know.”

Caitlyn tucked her hair behind both ears, dropping her hands to her shoulders as she finished the action and groaned loudly, staring up at the ceiling.

“Yep.” Vi agreed with her own sigh.

“I’m too… dammit, I’m too hungry for this.” Caitlyn snapped, going to her fridge to open the door swiftly and grab another water bottle. She practically tore off the cap and drank the water down quickly, slightly messily. She finished, crumpling up the bottle in her hand as some stray water drops ran down from her mouth, letting out a frustrated noise.

“Does that really help?” Vi asked, watching a water droplet run down Caitlyn’s chin and down her throat. Caitlyn grimaced, an expression that showcased her fangs, before wiping her mouth with the flat of her hand.

“For a short time. But I’ll need to go hunt soon. I have a schedule and you naturally completely fucked it up.”

“Time of the month’s a bitch, eh?”

Caitlyn frowned, annoyed. “That joke wasn’t funny a hundred years ago and it’s not funny now.”

Vi just shrugged.

Caitlyn re-tucked the hair that had come loose from behind her ear, annoyance still pinched on her face. She looked like she was about to say something, then shook her head, arms folded around her midsection. She bit her lip, one protruding fang sinking into the corner of her pout.

“Why did you come to find me?” She asked, a bit more quietly.

The question hung in the air, and again Vi focused herself on the background hum of the refrigerator. She stared past Caitlyn, working her jaw, annoyed that she was going to have to spell it out.

“I can’t do this alone.” She said glancing over at Caitlyn, who frowned back at her. “You know I can’t.”

“And why not?” Caitlyn asked, sniffing slightly. “If anything you’re stronger if I stay hidden away, thanks to this damn soul bond.” She tilted her chin up, trying to look unaffected and snooty, a look she should have perfected after all this time; but all Vi could see was the way Caitlyn’s arms tightened as they hugged around her waist, thumb rapidly tapping on a clutched elbow, the nervous way she shifted back to lean on one heel.

Vi stared down at her hands. “We both know I don’t just mean physically stronger.”

A tight frown pulled at Caitlyn’s mouth, and she shook her head. “I can’t fight your battles for you.”

“Cait this isn’t just about us,” Vi looked back up at her, hard expressions meeting each other, both as stubborn as the other. Vi gestured to the window, frustrated. “Sevika’s out there, and if she’s back… this is about doing what’s right. What we have to. What we swore to do.”

“What we have to do, Vi there’s no we in this situation there-“

“You made that oath same as me!”

“A hundred years ago!” Caitlyn snapped. “I don’t even count as the same person anymore. This shouldn’t be our problem. Let those bastards handle the damn bed they made.”

Vi looked away, scratching at a shoulder, tugging at her shirt as she grumbled and muttered some curses under her breath. Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t have to do anything. I left that world behind me, buried it with the rest of my life.” Caitlyn squared her shoulders. “Thank you for the warning, but this hasn’t been my fight in a long time and I have no obligation to it. I’m sorry Vi.”

Vi snorted, pushing off the counter. “I figured this would be a waste of time. Fine. Stay here, locked up in your fancy coffin, hiding away from the rest of the world.” She began to walk toward the door, shoving her hands back into jacket pocket as she huffed small sounds of frustration.

“I will, thank you, it’s rather lovely.” Caitlyn quipped behind her, following after her. As Vi opened the door and glanced behind her to say one last thing, Caitlyn grabbed the door from her, smiling sweetly with fangs exposed. “If you have any other skeletons to drag up and ruin our nights, you know where to find me.”

With a snort Vi turned and just walked out the door. It closed behind her with a soft gentle click as she raised her hood over her head and stormed down the hallway to the elevator of Caitlyn’s apartment building, cursing under the breath as she tried to figure out what she was going to do now. 

Chapter Text

It was five months after the banquet party before Caitlyn saw her again.

The circumstance happens on the train, while she’s travelling with her parents to the upper peninsula for the winter lodge. The wind is a biting cold, even in the shelter of the station, and Caitlyn cannot seem to wrap her wool coat around herself tightly enough.

As she stood there waiting, her father reading the paper and her mother commenting on some hen gossip or another, Caitlyn allowed her eyes to drift over the crowd idly, watching the other passengers and their companions as they mill about in patience.

A flash of movement caught her eye and she glanced over, sucking in a startled breath.

Her.

A girl dressed in trousers and a man’s work shirt, the dirty page cap pulled over her ruddy strawberry blonde hair and one hand tugging along another girl a few years younger, her hair wrapped in a blue scarf. They’re weaving through the crowd nimbly, the younger girl occasionally bumping into the backs of commuters and the elder apologizing while her hand swiftly darted in and out to pull wallets out of pants and coats and purses.

Pickpockets, Caitlyn realized.

The girl deftly tucked a fifth wallet, since Caitlyn’s started watching, into her rucksack and paused just slightly. She looked up, and to Caitlyn’s excitement or horror, met her gaze. They stood there, staring at each other as if frozen, before the younger girl appeared beside the girl, the vampire hunter, and tugged her sleeve. The younger followed the gaze to also see Caitlyn, and frowned viciously. With a sharper tug, she pulled the hunter girl out of her reverie and the two of them disappeared into the crowd.

The incoming train whistled loudly, Caitlyn’s mother chided her for not picking up her bag quickly enough and Caitlyn stared at the empty spot where the girl had stood, feeling as if she’d seen the ghost of a future unfulfilled.

~

It was nearly another two months again before she reappeared in Caitlyn’s life.

When walking down to admire the first signs of the spring market, tulips of every colour bursting from repurposed barrels, daffodils and lilies in cart stands, roses imported from the south sold by the stem, Caitlyn stopped to admire a particular display of yellow and powder blue tulips, running her finger along the delicate petal and smiling to herself at the softness.

As she distractedly hummed toward the flowers, debating on whether or not to purchase them, a scuffle seemed to break out in one of the alleys, startling her.

Glancing about at the crowd around her half watching with distant curiosity and the other ignoring with disinterest, Caitlyn clutched her purse a bit closer under her arm and inched forward to see what was going on.

It was the girl. A man, dressed oddly in a large overcoat with gloves and a wide brimmed hat, was dragging her by the arm as she kicked as his shins to no effect.

“Caught her thieving,” he said with a grunt, and a few knowing mutters and nods come from the crowd. After all, the young woman is dressed in rags, dirt on her cheek, clearly a street urchin of ill repute. She offered up a sneer to the man gripping her arm but other than a defeated tug makes no move to defend herself.

The thief comment seemed to be all the permission the man needed, pulling on on her arm harder and more forcefully to drag her to an alley off to the side without repercussion. With assumption he was detaining her for a purpose.

The girl said nothing, merely scowled.

Caitlyn glanced around quickly at the lingering disinterest of everyone watching and scowled. She took note of where the man and girl were dragging off to, quickly made a mental map tally of this area of the city and quickly ducked through the market crowd and walked down to the adjacent street.

As she passed onto the side streets where fewer folks lingered, her heart began to pound in fear, anticipation, worry, all sorts of nameless things. She didn’t know this girl, didn’t know her past or her future but she had seen her kill a monster, save Caitlyn’s life at risk of her own. At the very least Caitlyn should try to return the favour.

She slowly made her way past the street, glancing about as she passed others walking in their own lives, feeling a slight thrill of what she might be stumbling upon that they had no idea about. These mundane sorts and their mundane experiences.

Caitlyn approached the narrow alleyway she knew would lead to the one she’d seen the man dragging the girl, hidden by a half iron fence and utter ignored by everyone on the street. Lifting her skirt in one hand, Caitlyn quickly climbed the short fence, grateful for once for her long limbs. As she landed on the other side and began to make her way down the shadowed path she could hear a scuffle.

Rounding the corner, Caitlyn gasped as she spotted the man and the girl, arms locked in a struggle as they fought over a long pointed stake. The man’s eyes were red, almost a pink hue, and his mouth was bared into a grimace, showing a sharp fang Caitlyn could see from this angle.

Caitlyn’s heart pounded, adrenaline and giddy satisfaction running through her veins.

As she watched, the girl pulled the man close enough to kick him in the gut, causing him to double over, before pulling her arm holding the stake away. She used her other arm to punch up, striking the man to knock him back. She aimed for him with the stake, but he sidestepped and grabbed her arm to swing her into the wall instead. She hit it with a loud thump and a sharp cry, but pushed herself back just as the man tackled into her again.

A clattering noise echoed in the alleyway and Caitlyn stared in frozen shock at the wooden stake that had fallen from the two fighters to bounce and roll down the pavement and stop so close to her feet.

She was at first afraid that she was going to be noticed, but the duo paid little attention to the fallen weapon, much less the girl it had fallen in front of. Caitlyn hesitated as the man, monster, snapped his jaws at the girl like an angry dog, swiping at her with a knife.

The knife hit.

It sliced at the girl’s side, breaking the muted sounds of their shuffling feet and heavy breaths with her loud cry as she immediately grabbed onto the side where she’d been cut. She stumbled backward, tripping and falling to the ground with am uncharacteristically quiet whimper. The man’s back was to Caitlyn, but she could see his shoulders shaking with laughter, looming as the girl fumbled on the ground to hold onto her wound.

The wooden stake at Caitlyn’s feet lay there.

Caitlyn took a deep breath.

She wasn’t a fighter. She had no idea what she was doing here.

The girl tried to push herself to stand but let out a groan and fell again, wincing. The man stepped closer.

Caitlyn wasn’t a fighter.

But she wasn’t about to watch the girl who saved her die.

Setting her jaw, Caitlyn ran forward, grabbed the stake, charging. The man, vampire, heard her and turned, dodged quickly with a snarl, swiping at Caitlyn who anticipated it, ducked under his arm, lunged up with the stake in hand fuelled by adrenaline, not thinking, and both vampire and Caitlyn stood there in shock, vampire standing and Caitlyn’s hand still gripping the stake, half impaled into the vampire’s chest. She released it, hand shaking, stepping back with her stomach dropping that she may have been wrong, that she may have just murdered a man, when the vampire grunted and the flakes of dark grey ash began to climb his skin.

As the dust of the vampire’s corpse dissolved and his garments fell to the floor, Caitlyn stepped forward, picking up wooden stake, staring at it, heart pounding. She turned to the girl, to the vampire hunter who had saved her who she had just saved, fighting back a proud grin.

“What the hell?! What did you think you were doing?” The girl scowled, wincing as she held her side.

“You could say ‘thank you’,” Caitlyn said with a bit of a haughty smile she couldn’t help. The girl let out a huff that almost sounded like a laugh.

“I had him, you know. Right where I wanted him.”

“Hmm,” Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. “It certainly looked that way.”

The girl stared at her a minute, expression stony and nearly a glare. Caitlyn got a better look at her features this way - dirty blonde hair that was tinged a red that looked almost pink in the shadow light, freckles across her nose and cheek, deep wide eyes and dark brows and a hardness to her that was oddly appealing.

Then the girl’s face softened and she chuckled a little, smiling a lopsided friendly look Caitlyn’s way.

“For someone in a skirt, that was pretty alright.”

Caitlyn smirked back. “For someone with no prior training, I think I did rather well.”

“You did alright,” the girl repeated, moving to stand and letting out a groan, lifting the hand she had pressed to her side to reveal an alarming amount of blood.

“Shit, we need to get you help.” Caitlyn cursed, staring at the dark stain on the girl’s shirt with a queasy feeling to her stomach.

“I got a spot. Help me up?” The girl held out her hand and Caitlyn took it, helped her to stand up, allowed the vampire hunter to lean a bit of weight on her shoulder.

“My name’s Vi, by the way.”

“Caitlyn.” She replied, trying not to sound too excited that she finally, finally, had the girl’s name.

“Heh,” Vi let out another low chuckle, the sound echoing in Caitlyn’s own chest, spreading a warmth there. “Even your name sounds delicate.”

Caitlyn had to tighten her mouth to prevent herself from smiling at that, feeling as much as seeing in her peripheral vision Vi smirking up at her. Then Vi nodded her head in a direction, indicating where they should head.

“That way, up the road. The old chapel by the nunnery.”

“You live there?”

“Work there too.”

Caitlyn couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her. “You’re a nun?”

Vi gave an answering laugh, which quickly turned into a wince and a hiss. “Yeah. Let’s call it that.” She adjusted her weight as she leaned on Caitlyn, pressing her forearm more tightly to her side. “Let’s just get there. You can ask questions after.”

Chewing her lip, Caitlyn nodded. She adjusted her grip on Vi’s arm and slowly walked them down the quiet alleyway.

The old chapel was empty, which surprised Caitlyn although she wasn’t sure why. It was a relic, kept on the streets despite the growing industry for warm affection of the nunnery beside. The place smelled of dust and wood, and their shuffling footsteps

Caitlyn and Vi moved quietly into the dark space, Vi’s breathing beginning to sound laboured after the slow but long walk. Caitlyn gripped the arm Vi had around her shoulder to support her as they made their way to the pulpit.

“Here,” grunted Vi, “here’s fine.” She pulled herself away from Caitlyn and limped the last couple of steps over to the bench behind the pulpit stage, sitting herself down with a groan. She pointed over to the back, before wincing and bending over. “Bathroom’s in the, ugh, back,” she grunted. “Got a first aid kit there.”

Caitlyn nodded and quickly and carefully walked into the bathroom, peeking around the small dark room to spot the first aid kit sitting clearly on a side table. She grabbed it and walked out to where Vi was leaning back on the bench, hand still pressed to her side, breathing it evenly.

“You know how to sew?” The girl asked as Caitlyn approached, her eyes still closed. Caitlyn nodded, and then added a quiet “yes.” Vi nodded. “K. I can’t… this angles hard to do. I’m going to need your help.”

Caitlyn knelt down beside her as Vi opened her eyes and sat up, gingerly pulling up the hem of her shirt to reveal the wound. It was shallow, but wide, bleeding steadily.

“Alcohol first,” Vi pointed as Caitlyn started to take out the needle and thread, and Caitlyn blinked and reached down to grab a small glass bottle. “It helps the wound, you always do that first.”

“Right,” Caitlyn remembered reading that. She reached over and uncorked the bottle, splashing a bit on a handkerchief she had in her pocket. She dabbed at the wound as Vi hissed. “So,” Caitlyn began, thinking maybe talking would help distract the girl from her pain, “you hunt vampires?”

Vi let out a weak laugh. “Yeah. You can call it that.”

Caitlyn hummed. “How does one find themselves in such a field?”

A louder laugh and snort from Vi, as she looked over at Caitlyn with her dirt smudged face and messy bangs and grey eyes. “You looking to join the ranks, Cupcake?”

She blushed slightly, dropping her gaze. “My name is Caitlyn,” was all she said in reply as she folded and placed the handkerchief back down and picked up the needle once more. Vi just made another weak, amused sound as Caitlyn settled herself, steeling her nerves for the task.

She looked up, meeting Vi’s eyes again, bright in the shadow of the chapel. “I’m afraid this is going to hurt.” She said softly. Vi just nodded, and Caitlyn nodded in return, both of them taking deep breaths as Caitlyn pressed her hand to Vi’s skin to hold her steady.

She began to sew.

Vi slumped against a telephone pole, scowling at her own shoes with defeat and annoyance. One white lace was beginning to come loose, scuffed and dirty from being dragged while she walked, a weak brown against the fresh white of the rest. She toed it with her other shoe idly, as if rubbing more dirt on it would solve the problem.

With a scoff she kicked at the dirt and pushed off the pole, walking down the mostly quiet city street towards her own rented apartment. The crowd parted around her, like her disappointed energy acted as a shield pushing them aside, other than the occasional shoulder she had to shove past to continue on her way.

She made her way to the slower, less crowded streets, where the burger shops and bars made space for money lenders and smoke shops. Fewer crowds stood around, and she became aware of more eyes on her.

Snorting slightly she just squared her shoulders, kept her senses alert and kept walking.

She was only a couple more blocks from the apartment, she didn’t particularly consider it something to be called home, when she sensed presence behind her. Frowning, she slowed her pace slightly, took softer footfalls, head cocked just slightly to the side to listen.

The sound of heavier footsteps behind her echoed slightly before slowing to meet her pace evenly. Huffing a quick breath out of her nose, Vi glanced around quickly and darted down the nearest side road as soon as she came close enough, pressing herself against the wall by a dumpster and pull out her phone, leaning casually as if just checking her messages.

No one passed by.

Vi stood there, waiting, thumb hovering over the screen with her face scrunched up in confusion. After another moment she shrugged, decided she’d clocked a false alarm after all and began walking again.

She was ambushed from the left.

A bestial looking woman, blonde hair and ashen skin, pointed ears and eyes glowing pink, fangs curling out of her mouth almost like tusks, grabbed Vi by the neck and shoved her down. Vi tucked her shoulder as she fell, gritting her teeth at the impact pain, and rolled with the momentum. Just as she was pushing herself back up the vampire attacked again, kicking her in the jaw.

Vi fell back, skidding across the sidewalk pavement. She groaned and moved to sit up, spitting blood out of her mouth and looking up just in the to see the vampire lunge again.

Reaching into her pocket Vi rolled on her back to kick up, knocking the vampire off her feet. They both scrambled back to stand, circling each other before Vi wiggled the little pen knife teasingly at her attacker.

The vampire laughed, brandishing her claws and charging Vi with her head ducked. Vi made to move but stumbled her footing, the vampire was too quick, and they slammed into the wall. They struggled for just a second, and just as Vi felt she was about to get a shot in the vampire moved quickly and Vi felt a sharp pain in her gut.

The vampire had stabbed two of her claws into Vi’s side, pushing her against the concrete wall of the building, baring fangs and laughing.

“Sevika sends her regards.” The vampire hissed, voice low and growling, lisped slightly through her oversized fangs. Then she twisted her claws, causing Vi to cry out in pain. She gritted her teeth, glaring at the vampire through the spots of pain.

“You know how they always say ‘don’t kill the messenger’?” Vi grunted out and the vampire laughed throatily in response. Vi chuckled back. “Well something Sevika should have told you about me,”

The vampire continued laughing before letting out a choke. Vi pushed the silver and wood penknife blade in her hand a little harder in the vampire’s chest, pushing the monster off her just a bit with the force. She watched stonily as the ashen skin drained of colour and then turned black before the vampire dissolved, falling into a dust pile.

“I never do what I’m told.”

She stared at the pile of clothes for a second before rolling her shoulder and kicking them to the side. At the motion she let out a groan, grabbing onto where the claws had stuck, hissing at the pain.

She began to limp home.

Leaning heavily on her doorknob as she opened the front door, Vi entered her apartment without caring to check whether or not she was leaving behind a blood trail. She dropped her keys on the entrance table, shuffled her jacket to fall on the floor and limped straight for the bathroom, breathing ragged.

She leaned on the sink, steadying her breath before she looked up, gritted her teeth and took the hem of her shirt and began to lift, letting out a pained growl as her hands raised over her head to take the shirt off. She dropped her hands back down on the counter, letting the shirt fall to the floor taking deep and steadying breaths. She looked at herself in the mirror, exhaling hard through her nose.

A pattern of dark tattoos, gears and smoke and thick lines, decorated her shoulders and upper back, weaving down her arms. Another tattoo of a stylized wolf skull splayed across her stomach. The leaves of some plant poked out from under the bottom her sports bra.

Decorating the rest of her unpainted skin of her stomach and arms was a webbing of scars, most faded pinks and silvers, a variety of thick and thin. A deep red scar, maybe only six months old, was slashed across one forearm and the thick white scarring of a burn wound peeked from the top of her chest covering.

Vi stared at herself in the mirror for a second before twisting to look at the stab wound in her gut. She sneered at it, and then stripped down all but her bra, she would have to cut it off later, reaching under her sink to pull out a small box of emergency supplies. She shuffled over to the bath, cried out huskily as she reached up to grab and hang down the hose shower head. With another steadying breath she slowly stepped in.

Vi winced as she lowered herself in the bathtub, arms protesting from the slow descent after an already exhausting day. Sucking her breath in through her teeth she grabbed the paper towel from her kit box and the shower head, turning on the tap. She began to rinse out the wound, letting out a small grunt at the sting when the spray hit the tender areas.

She dabbed at the wound with the paper towel until she was satisfied she’d cleaned it out enough, turned off the water and let the show head fall back, clattering loudly as it hit the side of the tub, swinging and spinning slightly, remnants of the water dripping down to mingle with the red water swirling the drain.

Rolling up and sticking the face towel between her teeth, Vi took out a threaded sewing needle, tested the thread was secure, and then ran the tip under a lighter for a second. Wincing in anticipation she twisted to see the wound best she could.

She began to sew.

~

An hour later Vi was sitting on her couch, dressed in a house robe, a styrofoam container of Indian curry on her lap and the television’s flickering the only light in the place. She idly browsed through titles as she shoved forkfuls of spicy lamb into her mouth, barely chewing before swallowing. The bandaged wrap at her side was heavily and expertly taped.

She finished her meal and tossed the empty container on the coffee table, grabbing the opened bottle of wine sitting there and taking a deep swig directly from it. She eventually settled on a reality cooking competition and lounged back on the couch, wincing again as her torso protested the movement.

“This is fucking stupid,” she muttered to herself, screwing up her face and taking another drink as the competition show began to introduce it’s challenge.

She watched it for three hours, falling asleep on the couch.

For the next five days, Vi did very little but eat, stretch and watch television. She checked her wound for infection, changed the bandage, stared at her empty fridge, stared at the large black garbage bag of delivery meal containers, stared at the television and stared out the window.

After she woke up on the sixth day and stretched, smiling when the movement only brought stiffness and not shooting pain, Vi made herself a coffee, kicked aside the garbage bag and walked over to the window to watch the midday sun shine through the clouds.

She inhaled deeply, took a deep swig of coffee and stretched out her back.

A few hours later Vi was leaning against the wall of the elevator of her building, watching distantly as the numbers dropped down until the cheerful ding of the ground floor ran out. Hands in her jacket pockets, she walked through the doors out into the dusk of the evening.

She headed down to the corner store, bought an energy drink and some gum, stopped by a sausage cart to grab dinner, wandered through the street while eating her mustard and onion covered meal in one hand, energy drink in the other, idly watching people she passed by.

As she finished off the last bites of her sausage sandwich, she felt as much heard the small scuffle. Quiet, just down the street.

Downing the rest of her energy drink, wiping her mouth on her sleeve and popping a piece of gum in her mouth Vi began to stalk towards where the sound was coming from. As she got closer the scuffling got louder, accompanied by snorting and hissing noises. She braced herself as she turned the corner to peek.

A vampire. A feral vampire. An unfortunate side effect of newly turned vamps, if they’re not fed enough shortly after turning or if they feed on animal blood for too long. Grey black leather skin, red eyes, fangs too large, face grotesque and no sense of reason. It’s clothes were relatively intact, so it must’ve devolved recently, and it was tearing through a dumpster right now. Chasing rats, maybe.

Still vaguely aware of the only semi healed pain in her side, Vi grabbed onto her penknife and whistled. The vampire looked up, over at her and snarled. It lunged.

Vi went to avoid it, but the sharp dodging movement immediately shot pain through her side and she winced and stumbled, the vampire hitting her square in the knee with a sickening noise and white hot pain and Vi collapsed. Shit, this might have been too ambitious so soon after her injury.

The vampire turned to face her and snarled but didn’t get any further than a start when a large wooden stake stabbed through it’s heart from behind. It stumbled in it’s steps before whining and the cracks and flakes of it’s death began to form and feel across it’s skin.

The ash cloud drifted down in the dark shadows, revealing a tall, imposing figure and Vi bit back the groan because of course. Of course.

“It’s any wonder you’re still standing. Still need me to have to your back?” Caitlyn lightly dusted the small ash flakes off her pantsuit, her flats clipping on the pavement. She looked like she was supposed to be in a board meeting, delegating contacts and finances, instead of a dingy alley fighting monsters. She paused in front of Vi, folding her arms, looking down at her like a disappointed teacher.

“What happened? I give you a change of heart and now you’re on the side of good again?” Vi grunted, trying to stand on her wounded leg and giving up quickly.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes.

“You still don’t say thank you.” She sniffed with a tilt of her head and the barest of smiles tugging at the corner of her lips. Vi rolled her own eyes, fighting off her own grin.

“Help me up?” She asked, raising a hand. Caitlyn didn’t hide the laugh at that one, and reached down, pulling Vi to a stand with little effort. Vi grunted as the pain shot through her leg, stumbling slightly and Caitlyn immediately shot a hand around Vi’s waist to help support her.

“Steady, alright there.” Caitlyn said softly. “God, the state of you. My place is closer, we’ll go there.”

Vi gave a weak laugh as she settled into Caitlyn’s hold, soft but cold, Caitlyn’s skin chilled in the night air. “Not gonna buy a girl dinner first?”

Caitlyn chuckled. “Shut up,” she said quietly as she began to slowly walk them down the sidewalk.

Vi smiled, but didn’t reply.

Chapter Text

The evening wind caught some errant fallen leaves on the streets, blowing them with a raspy clatter across the pavement, the sound echoing in the mostly quiet darkness of the dusk.

Caitlyn ducked through the street, the hood of her cloak pulled tightly around her head, as if anyone on the street in this hour would even bother to recognize her. Her hunting boots clipped awkwardly on the concrete of the paved roads, used to the plush grass of fields and rotting leaves of the woods. She felt slightly awkward and ridiculous sneaking about like this, but, well…

Vi had told her to forget about this place and never return. Caitlyn had no choice but to sneak.

As she approached the quiet corner where the chapel sat, she slowed her pace to quiet her footfalls as much as possible, tucking her cloak around her. She tiptoed up to slide against the stone, cool against her hand while she glanced around to make sure no one was watching or following.

She pushed open the door as slowly and sparsely as she could, slipping inside and closing it again quietly behind her. Then she turned to look.

The small chapel was just as it had been in her memory, helping to convince her that the previous afternoon with Vi hadn’t been a dream. It may not have ended in the best term, with Vi thanking Caitlyn for helping to patch her up with a sweat beaded brow and gritted teeth only to gruffly tell her to leave and forget she ever saw Vi or this place. But the quiet moment of Vi’s hand resting on Caitlyn’s as she held her still to sew up the wound… that memory stayed with Caitlyn, perhaps much longer than it should; in the warm night as she lay in bed, seeing only Vi’s stormy, trusting eyes when Caitlyn closed her own.

How on earth Vi thought Caitlyn could stay away, was beyond her.

Now inside the small building, it’s interior already so familiar to Caitlyn’s memory played on repeat, her footfalls echoed in the still, quiet, reverent air. Caitlyn approached the pulpit and felt the very strange, looming reality of her future possibly being changed forever…

“Who are you?”

Caitlyn jumped at the childlike voice cutting through the stillness. She looked around and then, feeling the eyes on her, glanced up.

A younger girl, maybe a few years younger than herself, was sitting on the wooden rafter, her awkwardly thin legs dangling loosely from the beam as one arm wrapped around a supporting frame. She was wearing clothing that looked both too large and too small for her, and a blue scarf was tied over her hair.

Caitlyn was struck with the memory of that blue scarf in the crowd at the train yard. This girl, whoever she was, knew Vi.

“I’m Caitlyn,” she replied to the girl’s question, straightening herself to look up and speak clearly. “Is Vi here?”

The girl tilted her head, blinking, looking rather like a bird as she looked down at Caitlyn. “Who’s asking?”

Caitlyn frowned. “I already told you my name, I’m Ca-“

“Names don’t mean anything,” the girl interrupted. She lounged back on her seat, effortless despite the risk of dangerous fall. “That doesn’t tell me a damn thing about you. Caitlyn who? Caitlyn who knows Vi how? Caitlyn who wants Vi for what? Caitlyn who breaks into our sanctuary and just demands to see my sister why?”

“Vi’s your sister?”

The girl froze and snapped shut her mouth audibly. She shot a look back down with a murderous furrow to her brow but kept quiet.

Caitlyn looked around the empty, dusty room. “Could you take me to her?” She called up. “Or, if it’s more comfortable I could wait for her here and-“

“Yeah, I still don’t know who you are.” The girl snapped.

Trying to maintain her patience, Caitlyn just nodded. “Your sister saved me. And then I… brought her here when she was injured.”

“Oh yeah?” The girl swung her legs as she leaned forward, then abruptly launched herself of the beam. Caitlyn stepped back in shocked as the girl landed in a tucked roll to stand up with ease, unharmed, and place her hands on her waist with a sniff. “And what injured her?”

“I, uh,” Caitlyn hesitated, taking another step back. She had actually no idea who this girl was, and it now occurred to her that she may in fact not be the ally Caitlyn had assumed. The way the girl took a stalking step forward, hands clasped behind her back, a disarming smile at the corners of her mouth…

“Powder?”

Vi’s voice echoed through the empty room, startling both women to look over at the third walking up the pews from the front entrance. Vi narrowed her eyes, looking between the two of them. “What is she doing here?” She nodded her head to Caitlyn while looking at the girl who claimed her as a sister.

The girl shrugged, stepping away with a slightly dramatic sweep of her leg. “Dunno. Says she’s looking for you.”

Vi frowned at Caitlyn, who glanced wide-eyes between the two before straightening herself up, clearing her throat. “Yes, I, thank you,” she fumbled, “Vi, I came here to—“

“I told you not to come back.” Vi interrupted, pacing past her with a nod to the other girl. Caitlyn stammered slightly as she watched Vi’s back, the blue-scarfed girl sneering a grin to her as she followed behind.

“I want to join!” She called out. Vi froze, but didn’t turn. Caitlyn cleared her throat. “I found evidence of your… organization in my history notes. They’re vague descriptions but I was able to decipher the context clues and—“

“Go home.” Vi’s voice cut through Caitlyn’s own.

Caitlyn tried not to let her disappoint falter her and squared her shoulders. “No.”

Vi turned, hands in the pockets of her trousers, a sly sneer on her face. “You think this is playing dress up or something? One of your rich little party games? This is dangerous stuff, princess. And just because you think you got—“

“That’s enough Violet, thank you.”

The low, mature voice cut through the air and tension, and Vi turned her gaze back to the pulpit, Caitlyn’s eyes following. Standing there, in an outfit not unlike that of a military man’s, was a tall handsome woman, old enough to be Caitlyn’s mother, with a stern expression on her face.

“This her?” The woman said, a nod toward Caitlyn and gaze fixed on Vi.

Vi slouched her shoulders and nodded.

The woman turned her gaze directly to Caitlyn, strong and imposing. “Fought a vampire, patched a girl up and back for more.” She said with a curl of a smile. “We could use someone like you.”

“Like her?” Vi sputtered. “Grayson, she’s a Piltie, she’s not cut out for this.”

“Her actions speak otherwise,” Grayson said cooly, walking down to pass Vi and stop in front of Caitlyn. She looked Caitlyn over, and for the first time Caitlyn felt embarrassed at how clean her outfit was, even in her dressed down attempt. Grayson’s expression gave nothing away, but she nodded approvingly.

“You understand what you’re asking…”

“Caitlyn,” she nodded, “and yes.”

Grayson gave no change of expression, just turned and walked back to her spot by the pulpit, with only the barest nod towards Vi and her sister. Vi looked back over to Caitlyn with a scowl and a jerk of her head before she began to walk with Grayson, nudging her sister along with an elbow.

Caitlyn tightened her hands into fists at her side and followed.

~

That the back room of the chapel led to a secret chamber and series of underground tunnels didn’t surprise Caitlyn. She had very much expected it, anticipated it even, and she did her best to temper her smile when Grayson pressed on the stone to reveal the passage.

What surprised her was how… simple everything was.

She had expected an organized operation, military-like barracks, ranks and file, the sort of underground resistance like she read in her histories about revolution. Instead, however, she found damp, cramped corridors, littered with personal effects and messy with bedsheets and clothing hung to dry or to be patched, gaunt young men barely her own age playing cards in a room scarcely the size of her closet. She followed behind Vi’s sister, clutching her cloak around her and considering that maybe she had, just slightly, romanticized the notion a bit.

Maybe she was out of her depth.

“Vi,” Grayson’s heavy voice cut through their quiet walk, “you come with us then. Powder, you can go off with whatever you want.”

Both Vi and her sister, Powder, protested with overlapping words and hand motions. Grayson just held a hand up and the two young women silenced and glowered. Vi nudged Powder and nodded.

“It’s okay. Go work on your stuff.”

Powder sniffed, shooting a glare at Caitlyn before she ducked along an adjacent corridor. Vi pointedly avoided looking at Caitlyn as she walked up beside her, following Grayson to a small, opened doorway.

“Vander, we have a new one.” Grayson said softly, leaning in. A gruff chuckle was heard from in the room, followed by the scrape of a chair being pushed back and heavy footfalls.

“Do we now,” a man’s deep, husky voice called out, followed by a man who fit the voice perfectly. A large, broad-shouldered of roughly middle-aged, a scar on his cheek that blended into his beard and hard eyes with a soft smile. “And who’s foolish enough to volunteer.”

“My name is Caitlyn, sir.” Caitlyn said briskly, stepping forward with a slight nod of her head. The man, Vander, raised an eyebrow and rubbed at his beard with a smile.

“You’re not the usual sort we get down here, I’ll admit. What brings you to the underground?”

Caitlyn hesitated, giving a glance to Vi who was pointedly looking away from her, before giving her answer. “A few of months ago, sir, Vi saved me from a vampire.”

An eyebrow raised on Vander’s face and he folded his arms. “Did she now.”

Nodding, Caitlyn again glanced at Vi before continuing. “And last week I came across… I helped her. Brought her back here.”

The other eyebrow on Vander’s face rose and he shared a long look with Grayson. He turned back to Caitlyn, clearing his throat.

“Helped her how exactly?”

Unable to stop the slight smile of pride across her face, Caitlyn tilted her chin up. “I killed the vampire that had injured her.”

“And then brought Vi back here and fixed her up.” Grayson added to Vander, who scratched at his beard again thoughtfully. He gave an approving nod and shrug, beckoning to Caitlyn to come closer.

“Let’s have a look at you then.”

He held out a hand, indicating Caitlyn give him her own. He held her grip, looking along her wrists and prodding at her shoulders. Circling her, he moved her hair to glance at her neck, checking she wasn’t a vampire Caitlyn assumed, and paused behind her.

Caitlyn saw Grayson give the slightest of nods to Vander behind her and she wondered what that could mean.

Vander finished his circling and returned to his spot with the weary movements of an older man who’d seen too much, arms crossed again as he regarded Caitlyn and Vi, who was watching the interaction with a bit more curiosity now.

“Right.” Vander said, carefully. “Well, we’re in no spot to be turning down volunteers. Welcome to the Underground, Ms Caitlyn. Vi, she’ll be your second from now on.” Caitlyn blinked at the unfamiliar term and Vi stepped forward, arms outstretched in protest.

“My se- Powder’s my second!”

“Powder’s not a fighter,” Vander said, with all the gentleness Caitlyn would have expected from a parent instead of a commander. “You and I both know she just distracts you. This would for the best.”

“She’s a good hunter.” Vi insisted through gritted teeth, but Vander only shook his head.

“For the best,” he repeated firmly.

Vi looked like she was about to protest further, and then scowled and scoffed, turning her head and shoving her hands to return into her pocket. Caitlyn just held her hands together, looking between the two of them with curiosity, waiting for a potential explanation of the terms. But Vander only made a small noise in the back of his throat and inclined his head toward Vi.

“Go and take her to the armoury and see what she’s comfortable with. Introduce her to the training grounds.” When Vi hunched her shoulders further and refused to look up at him, Vander frowned. “Vi.” He said firmly.

Like a disgruntled child, Vi just turned and shoulder Caitlyn as she walked past her, muttering a “c’mon.” Caitlyn looked over to Vander and Grayson, who both nodded at her to follow, and Caitlyn nodded in return, gathering her cloak around her and walking off briskly to follow after the sullen girl.

Vi led her down the musty stone corridor and up some worn steps before stopping in front of a wooden door that looked older than the chapel built above them. With a wrinkle of her nose and a sidelong glance, Vi lifted the heavy looking bar from across the door’s face and pushed it open. Caitlyn followed her in to see a small, well stocked armoury, a table pushed against one wall covered in various weapons, blades and hatchets hung on the wall, and an shelf full of wooden stakes. She followed Vi in, half in awe and half in buzzing excitement.

Vi looked far less entertained by the room, stalking ahead of Caitlyn as she spoke.

“Vander wants you as my second, which means you come along with me on hunts. But I’ve been handling vampires by myself for ages. I don’t need your help and I don’t need to babysit.” Her expression was hard, avoiding Caitlyn’s eyes before Vi turned her shoulders slightly, aiming her back as she walked along the room. Caitlyn chewed her lip, wondering why Vi’s superiors had stuck them together when Vi was so clearly unwilling.

Caitlyn frowned slightly, refusing to be discouraged.

“How long have you been doing this?” She asked, trying to fill the silence. Vi shrugged, not taking her eyes off the table of weapons.

“Since I was twelve, I think.” She lifted a sword by the hilt and then lowered it with a small shake of her head. “Maybe thirteen.”

Caitlyn gasped. “They had you fighting monsters at thirteen?”

Vi looked over at her with a smirk. “I kinda started doing it by myself, they didn’t make me do anything. Actually,” she laughed slightly, “Vander got really mad at me when I started. But I didn’t care. I wanted to fight. ”

“Why?” Caitlyn chewed the inside of her cheek, hoping to maybe find some common ground with Vi. If she could understand why Caitlyn felt called to this, if they maybe had any common reasoning to the idea of—

“My parents were killed by them when I was young.”

Caitlyn’s heart dropped, at both the information and the casual way Vi stated it. Information that should be heartbreaking, difficult to come to terms with, spoken with quiet reverence and memory; instead Vi said it with all the casual air of someone remembering what they had for lunch.

“I’m… sorry to hear that.” Caitlyn fidgeted a thumb over a mark on the table.

Vi shrugged. “Vander found us, took us in, raised us to help stop it from happening to anyone else.” She picked up a pen knife, flipping it before laying it back down.

“How old are you now?” Caitlyn asked, more to the table than to Vi, not certain herself why she felt the need to know. Vi answered with another shrug.

“Not sure. We know that Powder was a baby and I was old enough to talk, but not to write, and that was 16 years ago,” she lowered the sword and picked up another one, balancing the weight thoughtfully. “So we guess I’m about nineteen or twenty now.” She let out a light, humourless laugh. “Don’t really see how it matters though, since I won’t live long enough for the numbers to count.”

“Why do you say that?”

Vi snorted, looking over at Cait and tossing her a dagger. “The order’s old. It’s members never get to be. It’s not exactly a… safe job.”

“No,” Caitlyn murmured, lowering the dagger to the table and running a finger over the crossbow that lay before her. “I imagine it’s not.”

Vi ran her hand across the table, tapping her knuckles against the old wood, letting out puffs of breath. “It’s really not a safe job,” she repeated, looking over at Caitlyn out of the side of her eye. “Especially not for pretty girls with clean clothes and not a scratch on them.”

Caitlyn kept her gaze on the crossbow, thinking of a way to argue against what she could already clock in Vi as a stubborn streak, but instead she opted for a coy smile and a different tactic. She smiled slightly toward the weapons table, finger running over the wood grain. “You think I’m pretty?”

She tilted her head slightly so she could look out the corner of her eye. She could see Vi’s posture stiffen just ever so subtly, her jaw working for a second before she let out a hard exhale through her nose and shook her head, smiling.

“Think you can handle that?” Vi nodded over to the crossbow. Caitlyn took that as permission to lift the weapon up, examine the weight of it in her hands. She raised it to look down the sights, tutting a bit at how crooked it was.

“I should be able to,” she said, lowering the bow down to her side. “Although if you have any rifles modified to the task, I’d be a much better hand.”

“Yeah?” Vi quirked an eyebrow. “You a good shot?”

Caitlyn grinned broadly back at her. “I’m excellent.”

Vi looked at her with an amused, wry expression, as if trying figure her out. Caitlyn felt herself grow warm under the direct stare, her heart fluttering in a strangely anxious way, and pretended she was incredibly engrossed in the hatchets that hung on the wall, even though she had no interest in them.

“Hey, Piltie,” Vi’s voice caused her to look up again and Caitlyn just barely caught the crossbow as it was tossed to her, mechanisms clattering together as she held it to her chest. Vi smirked. “We don’t have guns. So let’s see how good you really are.”

Caitlyn looked over to Vi, to the tug of a grin the hunter was clearly trying to hold back, and couldn’t help grinning herself, excitement racing in her heart.

Once again the door to Caitlyn’s apartment opened to the two women, Caitlyn’s face a stony, tired expression and Vi’s wincing in pain.

Vi stumbled forward from Caitlyn’s supportive hold to lean against the wall instead, and then push herself to half-hop on her good leg into the living area. She seated herself on the couch with a low groan of pain as she clutched her side, exhaling as she relaxed. Caitlyn primly hung up her jacket, looking incredibly bored as she walked over to the kitchen and opened the freezer.

A bag of ice landed on Vi’s lap. She made a noise of approval and thanks as she moved to hold it over her sore knee, hissing while adjusting herself, the wound in her side protested.

“I don’t have anything to eat, but if you need food I can accommodate.” Caitlyn was saying as she washed her hands.

“I get some pizza and you get the pizza boy?” Vi groaned, still trying to find a comfortable position. Caitlyn glared as she towelled her hands dry.

“I could also just kick you out.”

“You’d never,” Vi grunted, finally relaxing into a reclining pose that wasn’t horribly uncomfortable. Caitlyn folded the towel and leaned on her hands against the counter, lip in her teeth, one pointed fang worrying as she drummed her fingers along the countertop.

“Is pizza alright?”

Vi just nodded.

Caitlyn pulled out her phone and began typing on it slowly, pausing on occasion to look like she was going to ask Vi a question, and then sighing and shaking her head to continue to the type on the phone. Vi herself stayed quiet, until Caitlyn put the phone down and walked over to the fridge to get another water bottle from the pack at the bottom of the fridge.

Vi could see from where she was that the pack was nearly empty.

Caitlyn gave the bottle to Vi and walked to her armchair, sitting down in it slowly with a leg crossed and hands clasped over them. She rubbed one thumb over the other pensively for a minute. Vi drank her water and waited, until Caitlyn finally let out a sigh and spoke.

“I was attacked shortly after you first came to me,” she began, not looking at Vi, “I was attempting to hunt when my target was attacked right before me. I managed to get him to safety, but the other vampire was brutally efficient in his retaliation. I managed to kill him, of course, but was injured in the process.”

She swallowed, expression serious. “He mentioned Sevika had told him to follow me and hunt my targets.”

“So she’s coming after you.” Vi nodded.

“Yes, thank you.” Caitlyn grinned humourlessly, lip curling around a fang, “I blamed you at first, but if you were capable of finding me I suppose she would be too.”

“What do you mean, I’m a great detective.” Vi groaned out with a grin as she lay further back. Trying to settle her muscles in any way that wasn’t a sort of pain.

Caitlyn let out a huff, smile a little more genuine.

“But,” she sighed, “I suppose that helped open my eyes to the fact that I can’t escape this mess. She would never be satisfied just going after you; why would she?”

“So…” Vi began, looking at Caitlyn as she continued to not look back at Vi. “You’re in?”

“Without much choice.” Caitlyn nodded. “Once you heal from whatever self destructive habits you put yourself through. I can see you wincing.”

Now it was Vi’s turn to laugh humourlessly, hand drifting down to her side where the newest scar was still almost healing. Caitlyn’s eyes darted to follow the movement and then back over into the distance where she’d been staring before, fang lightly chewing her lip.

“Besides, that vampire tore my favourite sweatshirt. I’m prepared to take on Sevika for that alone.”

She leaned down to a small basket beside the armchair and picked out a white shirt which she law across her lap, a large tear in the sleeve. Reaching down again, Caitlyn picked up a small sewing kit, opened it up and held a needle in her mouth as she searched for the required thread.

The apartment was quiet as Vi watched Caitlyn pull out the white thread spool, gently wet the end with her mouth before threading it through the needle. She measured out an assumed length and pulled the end of the thread against a fang to cut it. Then she neatly put the sewing kit back and and began to repair her shirt without looking up at her unwanted houseguest.

Vi did her best to relax in the quiet, eyes wandering a bit as Caitlyn sat in her armchair and sewed delicately at her top.

Her gaze landed on the small coffee table, fitted with a small potted plant and a photo frame. Curious, she lifted up the frame to look at the photo of Caitlyn, hair longer and braided over one shoulder, arm around a woman with darker skin and a buzzed haircut, both smiling as their cheeks touched. Behind them was a large flowering garden, a display of some sort.

“Who’s this?”

A brief pause as Caitlyn looked up only just slightly to see what Vi held before looking down. “No one.”

“Doesn’t look like no one.”

Caitlyn put down the sewing kit and looked over her glasses at Vi with exasperation. “Her name was Kelly.”

“Was?”

Caitlyn’s mouth twitched a small frown before turning to neutral, but her gaze softened. “We broke up a few years ago.”

“Oh.” Vi looked down at the photo again as if she had expected a different answer, as if it wasn’t obvious from the way the two women were wrapped around each other smiling. “Do you… date a lot?”

Caitlyn sighed, turning back to her task. “I do get lonely, you know.” She said tightly.

“Do you… y’know…” Vi placed the photo back down, looking over at Caitlyn as she trailed off and Caitlyn glanced back in her direction. Vi tapped her neck with two fingers, clicking her tongue.

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Absolutely not.”

“Really? Think you could find a girl who was really into that.” Vi twisted slightly from her seat as she looked over at the walls of the apartment, spotting a few more frames dotted around ledges and window sills.

There was silence as Caitlyn ignored her or was thinking too hard about how to answer the question. Or, Vi thought, maybe Caitlyn never considered the whole vampire media craze could work in her favour.

“I never tell them.”

Vi paused. She turned, looking over at Caitlyn who was sitting with her hands on her lap and a distant look in her eyes. Caitlyn blinked a couple of times, shaking her head and resumed her sewing task.

“Really? Why not?”

Caitlyn’s mouth tightened again, the tips of her fangs poking out. “Because at best they would think me a monster, bent on using them or killing. At worst they… want to be turned.” She shook her head. “It’s too messy, too much trouble.”

“Why date then?” Vi asked, picking at the scab, not letting the wound heal. “Why not just hook up, avoid the mess of feelings? I’d think dating a vampire groupie would be the easiest thing in the world,” she snorted, “especially for a vamp trying to be good.”

Caitlyn’s voice was sharp as she replied, tone beyond patience for the conversation. “Do hook ups help you with loneliness?”

The question sat between them, heavy in the tense air. Caitlyn’s movements jerked slightly as she pulled at the thread, refusing to look up at Vi.

Vi didn’t answer.

With a sharp exhale through her nose Caitlyn finished her sewing and lay the shirt on the arm of the chair beside her. She pushed herself to stand, quietly smoothening out the creases of her pants and turning to Vi with focused eyes.

“It would be so much easier, wouldn’t it?” Caitlyn said, walking forward toward Vi with slow deliberate steps. “To just let myself be like the rest of them, seduce a desperate little blood bag to follow me around, validate me, make me feel morally superior.” Her expression sneering, sharp and hard, fangs visible in the curl of her upper lip as she approached. She was standing in front of Vi now, reminding Vi just how much taller the vampire was, looming dangerously. “Is that what you would have done?”

Vi stood her ground, frowning. Caitlyn’s eyes were rimmed with pink, pupils dilated in the dim indoor lighting, nostrils flaring. Her eyes flickered down to Vi’s neck before snapping back up and Vi frowned.

“When was the last time you ate?”

Caitlyn scowled, turning away from Vi to straighten out the picture on the coffee stand. “I haven’t had the opportunity. I keep getting interrupted.”

Vi watched her pace over to pick up the shirt from the armchair and run her thumb over the fixed stitch, and frowned. “Cait…” she said carefully.

“I know.” Caitlyn snapped, dropping the shirt. “I’ve handled this myself for quite a long time you know, and I don’t need your help. Certainly not now.” She stood there, staring out in the distance with her lip in her teeth.

Vi groaned as she pushed herself up to sit, leaning back against the armrest of the couch with a pained expression on her face. “How long?”

“I said I’m fine.”

The two women stared at each other other, Caitlyn still and impassive and Vi setting her jaw ready to say what she knew the vampire would absolutely hate for her to suggest, when the door buzzer rang. Both of them snapped their attention to the little intercom.

“Your pizza.” Caitlyn stated, walking over to buzz in the delivery. She stood by the door, arms crossed and one foot tapping while Vi watched.

A light knock came on the door, and Caitlyn opened it and greeted the delivery with a soft, cheerful tone. Vi couldn’t stay twisted well enough with the pain of her side wound still, so she turned and lay back with a sigh as she listened to Caitlyn finish paying and shut the door, walking briskly over to the couch and nearly dropping the thin square pizza box on Vi’s lap.

“Get your strength back up and we’ll talk strategy later.”

Then without so much as a glance at Vi, Caitlyn turned and walked back to her front door, grabbing her jacket off the coat rack she’d hung it on. Vi winced as she knitted her brow in confusion while she watched Caitlyn put on her shoes.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Out where?”

Caitlyn paused in her motion of pulling her hair out from under her jacket, as it settled around her shoulders. “Out before I do something we both regret.”

She left without another word, the door closing with a soft click behind her. Vi was left sitting on the couch, ice still on her knee, hot pizza on her lap and a weak ache in her side, staring out where the darkness of the night lay past Caitlyn’s window.

Chapter Text

“And dead. You’re dead.”

Caitlyn huffed with annoyance, dropping her arms from their defensive position as Vi drew back her hand from where she’d mock-struck the taller girl in the side. They both took a step apart, Caitlyn smoothing out her clothing as Vi rolled her shoulder and neck. Looking up, Caitlyn set her jaw and spoke.

“Again.”

Vi laughed as Caitlyn moved her feet back into a defensive position, arms raised once more. She tossed her head slightly to get the errant hairs out of her face, expression determined.

“You haven’t had enough, Cupcake?” Vi asked, sliding her own foot back into position.

Caitlyn nodded sharply. “As long as I can still move, I can train.”

Vi’s face twisted slightly in a clear attempt to try and hide her smile. Raising her hands up, the false wooden claws on her gloves clacking together, she shifted back and forth on her feet. “Alright.”

She rushed forward at Caitlyn, shouting as she did so. The noise echoed in the early dawn morning in the courtyard of the church, the slight mist of of the morning still hanging heavily in the air, keeping the air dim and cool as the two girls sparred.

Caitlyn dodged to the side to block Vi’s attack but Vi anticipated the duck and swung her arm out wide enough to knock into Caitlyn’s middle. The taller girl had barely enough time to readjust herself as she avoided the wide blow, losing opportunity to strike back.

Turning quickly on her heel, Vi swung around to strike at Caitlyn again, her blow blocked this time with an upward swing. As Caitlyn deflected Vi’s blow she went in for a strike on her shoulder, knocking Vi back. Without hesitation she struck again and again, pushing Vi into a defensive retreat.

Then Vi ducked low, swung a leg to catch Caitlyn off guard with a blow to her thigh. Faltering, Caitlyn tried to save the stumble into a kick of her own but Vi easily blocked, pushed her back.

They circled each other, striking in and out with mixtures of breathless grins and concentrated scowls as they dodged and deflected each other’s blows.

Vi blocked a series of high kicks.

Caitlyn ducked as fists grazed her shoulders.

Forearms clashed against forearms as the two of them struck at each other in such familiar pattern it was almost a dance.

And then, with a fake out to the left, Vi finally caught Caitlyn’s arm in mid-strike; using it to shove her backwards until she was pushed up against the old oak tree in the yard.

“Dead.” Vi gasped out with a grin, both of them breathing heavily from the exercise. Caitlyn, still against the tree, only tilted her head and smiled best she could as she caught her breath.

“Am I?”

Vi looked down, blinking at the dull-ended sparring stake Caitlyn held against her chest. If their fight had been real, Vi would have been impaled.

She looked up, nodding before smirking. “Too low. Missed the heart.”

Caitlyn hissed out of frustration, faring to the side. “Dammit.” She dropped her arm with the stake, the lack of pressure causing Vi’s body to subconsciously move closer.

“You repeat too much,” Vi said, not moving otherwise. “Makes you predictable.”

Caitlyn looked up at her, staring into those pale eyes that matched the fog slowly swirling around them. She licked her lips, suddenly incredibly aware of how hard her heart was beating from the spar, how shaky her limbs felt, how many freckles were scattered across Vi’s cheeks. “You,” she replied, “focus too often on your hands and not the rest of your body.”

Vi looked as though she was about to reply, and then shrugged and pushed away, leaving Caitlyn against the tree feeling suddenly colder. “Alright, so we both have things to work on.” She cracked her neck, swinging her arms forward and back to stretch them out as she walked.

Caitlyn let out a little huff of a breath, standing up away from the tree and shaking the nerves from her hands. She walked after Vi until they were in the middle of the courtyard again and then squared her footing and held up her tired arms back into a defensive position.

“Again.”

~

“You’re getting better,” Vi said to her one morning, a few weeks in, both of them lying in the grass and watching the shapes in the clouds in the hazy sky above them. Their clothing was grass stained and torn from an evenly matched spar that had turned into a scuffle when they had both tripped dew-slicked grass, tumbling to the ground but neither ready to yield.

Caitlyn had almost managed a perfect strike to the chest when Vi had gotten a hand around her throat. They both froze in the spar, chests heaving from execution, and Vi had grinned widely, giving her fingers a light squeeze before pulling her hand back. “Dead.”

Now, Caitlyn stared up at the clouds, thick white cotton drifting among thin wisps, amazed at how content she felt in rough linen trousers, with grass in her hair and mud on her cheek.

She glanced over to Vi, to see the other girl was already looking back at her.

“Hey, want an apple?” Vi asked, before Caitlyn could put to words any of her thoughts. When Caitlyn only blinked in response Vi pushed herself up onto her elbows and hopped forward, brushing the loose dirts and leaves from her back.

“Apple?” Caitlyn finally asked, sitting up to follow her.

Vi was already jogging over the old stone wall of the courtyard as Caitlyn stood, her hair bouncing messily with her steps. “Yeah, over here.” She paused by the wall, turning to look over at Caitlyn and jerking her head up.

Caitlyn slowed her own jog as she looked up where Vi was indicating. The large, gnarled branches of a large apple tree peeked over the edge of the fence, growing from the courtyard of the adjacent nunnery. “You mean those?” She asked, glancing back over to— “Vi!”

The other girl was already scaling the stone, fingers in the cracks and bumps as she climbed expertly, the muscles of her arms visibly straining as she moved upwards.

Caitlyn glanced back over to the old church and then again to Vi, worry on her brow. “Vi!” She called out again, more sternly.

A laugh was her only response as Vi reached the top of the wall and pulled herself up, hopping over the ledge. The visible branches shook to indicate she’d landed, and the rustle of leaves and groaning wood told Caitlyn that Vi was moving. Pressing her mouth together tightly, Caitlyn could only wait, hands anxiously wringing together as she did, shooting another nervous glance to the church.

“Here,” a grunt came from the other side and Vi’s hand appeared, gripping the stone and then followed by Vi’s messy short blonde hair as her head poked up. With another grunt, she pulled herself all the way onto the ledge of the wall, swinging her legs over and seating herself there. “Catch!” She called down, just before tossing an apple.

Caitlyn caught the fruit in two hands, blinking down at it before looking back up. Vi had swung a leg up to bend it, resting her arm on the knee as she bit into her own apple.

It was hard to tell, but from here it almost looked to Caitlyn like Vi had winked to her.

Unsure what else to do, Caitlyn rubbed the apple on the inside of her shirt and took a bite. It crunched audibly, sweet and tart in her mouth.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Startled, Caitlyn half turned to see Vi’s sister standing in the courtyard, her blue scarf untied and loose around her shoulders. Her eyes were hard and focused, glaring at Caitlyn before they snapped up to glare toward Vi, mouth in a hard scowl.

“Pow!” Vi’s face lit up in a warm grin and she shuffled forward on the ledge a bit more. “We’re having a snack break. Here, you want one?”

She pulled another apple from her trouser pocket and tossed it lightly to her sister. Powder snatched it out the air, expression still in a scowl that morphed into a sort of pout.

“So you’re just… hanging out?” She asked, lips pursing and then flattening into a straight line.

Vi shrugged, though her expression looked guilty. “Yeah we got pretty tired from sparring, right?”

This last bit was asked to Caitlyn, who just nodded mutely.

The tension between Powder and Vi that came up whenever she was around was uncomfortable, to say the least, and she was never sure if Vi was unaware or simply ignoring it. But while Vi had eventually warmed up over these past weeks to Caitlyn replacing Powder, the younger girl had not taken to the change nearly as well, growing more and more surly every time Caitlyn arrived to learn or train.

“Well if you’re done she can go home, right?” Powder’s voice was clipped, the anger in it evident. “You’re not supposed to be eating these apples,” she added with a pointed crossing of her arms.

Vi adjusted herself on top of the wall, and then pushed herself down. She landed on her feet with a heavy thud, the dry grass letting up a puff of sandy dust as she adjusted herself on her feet. Taking another bite of her apple, Vi glanced between Caitlyn and Powder, walking slowly over into their direction.

“We still have to practice shooting,” Vi said, voice a bit strange as she spoke to her sister. “Caitlyn’s still gotta practice at being a decent shot with the crossbow.”

“Hey,” Caitlyn protested, pride overriding her anxiety of Powder’s presence. “I’m an alright shot with that.”

“Yeah but you gotta be excellent.” Vi smirked over at her and Caitlyn couldn’t help grinning back. “Alright isn’t good enough for watching my back.”

“So you’re okay with this.” They both looked over to Powder, who was watching them both with an expression Caitlyn could only describe as ‘tearful disgust’. “You’re okay with her just coming in here, messing everything up, getting put as your second instead of me…”

“Powder,” Vi said, gentle worry in her tone, “it’s not like that. Vander explained—“

“Vander thinks I can’t do it!” Powder cried out, stepping back, fists swinging down at the end of her gangly arms. “Vander thinks I’m no good, that all I’ll do is mess you up!”

Glancing between the two sisters, Caitlyn stepped forward, hands shaking slightly nervously. “I don’t think Vander means anything by it, I think he just wanted me to be trained by one of his better hunters and thought that Vi would be—“

“I didn’t ask you,” snapped Powder, venomously. “Why are you even down here, Piltie? Huh? Think this is more fun than whatever fancy parties you throw up in your big fancy houses?”

“No, I—“

“Powder, don’t talk to her like that.” Vi interrupted, stepping between them. “She’s with us now, that’s all that matters.”

“But you hate them, Vi!” Powder pointed over Vi’s shoulder to Caitlyn, the furious intent behind her words sharp and harsh. “You said they weren’t any better than them! And now you’re, you, just let one of them waltz in here and push me out and, and—“

“Hey, hey, Pow,” Vi dropped her apple, both hands up to calm her sister as the girl’s voice rose in hysterics. “No one’s pushing you out, okay? No one’s replacing you. Caitlyn just needs someone to teach her and Vander thinks you… need a bit of a break. That’s it. Okay?”

Powder’s nostrils flared as she shot glares between Caitlyn and her sister back and forth, brows furrowed in concern or distress, or something mix of the two. Her eyes finally rested to look at Vi, bottom lip in a slight pout as she sniffed. “I can help, I can get better,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I know you can,” Vi placed her hands on Powder’s arms, rubbing them soothingly. “You just need a little more time, okay? You’re still growing.”

“You were fighting them at my age.” The younger girl said quietly.

Vi tapped a finger under her sister’s chin, drawing her attention, “hey, you’re not me. Your pace is a little different, but we’ll get there. Promise.”

Powder shot another tearful glare over at Caitlyn, mouth set in a hard determined line. Without another word, she stalked back off to the church, the heavy wooden door slamming behind her as she went inside.

It was quiet between Vi and Caitlyn for a minute, the only sound the distant caw of crows. Vi turned to Caitlyn, pausing to look down at the half-eaten apple she had dropped. She picked it up and threw it to the corner of the courtyard where it bounced across the ground a few times until it rolled into a pile of leaves that had collected in a windsweep the previous fall.

She turned to look at Caitlin, who swallowed the bite of apple she still had in her mouth and wordlessly threw her apple after Vi’s.

It landed perfectly in the pile.

“Let’s go.” Vi turned, tone defeated, and Caitlyn followed after her to gather the weapons for their next practice.

~

Taking a deep, steadying, breath while rolling her shoulder, Caitlyn steadied herself, bringing her arms up into position.

She drew the bow across the violin strings slowly at first, drawing the sound out. After a few careful strokes to warm up, she began to play a quicker, more even tempo across the instrument, eyes closed as she focused on remembering the notes and melody.

The sound echoed across her empty room, warm in the light of the early summer. With her eyes closed she could imagine the music filling the room, spreading warmth across it like the yellow of the sunlight, ghosting over her possessions like the breeze ghosted the branches of an apple tree.

She focused all her attention on the song, losing herself the in music and the feel of the strings against her fingers, the vibrations against her shoulder, until the last note sang out and she released the full breath she had been holding in concentration. Opening her eyes, she rolled her shoulder and made to sit when a noise startled her.

Vi was sitting on her window frame, head tilted slightly and a curious expression on her face. “I didn’t know you played that.” She said, voice sounding thick.

Caitlyn’s heart was pounding from the sudden surprise visit, but she managed to nod. “Yes, I’ve been playing since I was… how did you get in here?”

“Window,” Vi jerked her head toward the window directly behind her and Caitlyn felt stupid for even asking the question with such an obvious answer. “You didn’t show up for a couple of days, I wanted to check in on you.”

“Oh, thank you.” Blinking, Caitlyn wasn’t sure what else to say at the moment. “I was unfortunately busy with family affairs and needed time to myself.” And thought you needed time with your sister, she thought without saying aloud. The previous parts were also true — it was a busy time of year for her family and she’d been caught up in events and meetings and soirées and hardly any chance to don trousers and sneak away.

But today, her first free day when she’d had a chance and she’d spent it inside all day instead. She needed to calm her nerves before going back.

“How…” she suddenly realized something, “did you know where I lived?”

“Your last name.” Vi answered almost immediately. “Not a lot of Kiramman’s in the city.”

Caitlyn felt her ears grow hot, suddenly embarrassed and unsure why.

Vi’s gaze danced across her face, over her room, and then back to Caitlyn, to her arms and the instrument she held. Caitlyn watched as Vi swallowed, chewed her lip, wide eyes and a casual grin flicking back to up her.

“You play really nice,” she said, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Could I hear more?”

Caitlyn raised the instrument and smiled. “Of course.”

She began to play her favourite melody, a slow haunting piece peppered with faster notes, like rain darting through a steady fog.

Again her eyes closed as she played, feeling the music dance and fall around her as she played on and on, the sounded echoing through the room until the whole atmosphere felt like Caitlyn had summoned rain.

Then as she came to the end of the song, each note slowing down more and more slightly until she was dragging them out, steady long notes of clouds and wind and a few bright final octaves in the last notes; like the sun peeking through the clouds after the storm.

As she lowered the violin bow and opened her eyes, Caitlyn could feel the smile on her cheeks just from enjoying hearing the song again. She looked up to catch Vi’s reaction.

Vi was staring at her, like she had just seen Caitlyn for the first time. Something like wonder, like surprise, like an emotion Caitlyn had never seen before passed over Vi’s expression and held Caitlyn there. It made her nerves buzz, stomach flutter, made her feel like all the air had been sucked out of the room and she had to hold her last breath.

“That was great.” Vi said, throat slightly raspy. She cleared it, swallowing heavily. 


“Thank you,” Caitlyn said, fingers fidgeting with the string of her instrument. She had to purposefully make her motions stop, worried about breaking the instrument.

“I should, uh…” Vi shrugged slightly, taking a step back, hands still in her pockets. “I’ll see ya.”

“You’re leaving?” Caitlyn asked, placing the violin back into it’s case. Vi’ expression looked almost pained even as she nodded.

“I just wanted to check you were okay. And are you… coming back?” She asked Caitlyn, hesitating. “To train, I mean.”

She didn’t look at Caitlyn, instead looking down pointedly at the tree below Caitlyn’s window, brow furrowed, hair hanging partially in front of her face in a way that made Caitlyn want to brush it aside.

“Of course,” Caitlyn said.

Vi nodded and jumped.

~

She arrived at the courtyard the next morning, a cloak wrapped around her for warmth as she quickly walked into the church and through to the other side.

Vi was sitting by the tree, another half eaten apple in her hand as she lounged back, the picture of ease. As Caitlyn approached she blinked up, and then beamed.

“Hey, Caitlyn!” Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Vi pushed herself to a stand, rolling her shoulder. “Nearly a week out of practice, you ready to get bruised again?”

Caitlyn unclipped her cloak and began to fold it neatly, a coy smile on her face. “Who says I haven’t been practicing?”

“Heh,” Vi tossed the apple aside, stretching out her arms across her chest, one after the other. “Did you check in with the bosses yet or did you want to get grass stains on those pretty boots first?”

Caitlyn chuckled, moving to place her cloak where Vi had just been sitting. She bent slightly, dropped it onto the ground, and then spun quickly with one arm outstretched to strike.

Vi blocked and they paused for a second as Caitlyn’s hair settled around her. Vi grinned, Caitlyn mirrored it, stepped back to sweep her hair up into a tie and then they both began their spar again.

Not too long into their dance of blocks and strikes did the sound of the church door catch Caitlyn’s attention. She looked over just as she blocked another arm from Vi before it made contact. Vi drew back to try another strike when she caught Caitlyn’s changed attention and turned herself to see.

Vander was walking up toward them, a concerned expression and haste in his gait.

“What’s up?” Vi asked, stepping back from Caitlyn as they both lowered their hands, and the older man sighed instantly.

“Powder’s gone.”

Vi’s voice raised an octave in shock as she stammered out her reply. “Pow- what do you mean Powder’s gone?”

Vander looked pensive, avoiding Vi’s gaze as he ran his hand down his beard. “I mean she left this morning in a hurry and hasn’t come back.”

“She— and what, you just let her go?”

“She’s old enough to make her own choices.”

“Is she?” Vi stepped forward, teeth gritted. “Or just when it’s convenient?”

Vander didn’t respond, and with a hard exhale Vi muttered under her breath and walked past him, knocking him slightly with her shoulder. He stood there another second and then turned slightly to speak.

“Vi.”

“I’m going to find her,” Vi snapped over her shoulder as she kept walking. “Going to stop me?”

Remaining where he was, Vander’s ever stoic expression was slightly more pained. His eyes flickered over to Caitlyn, as if just noticing her, and he glanced her way fully with a raised eyebrow and no further expression on his face. When Caitlyn’s eyes flickered to the church and then back to Vander, he nodded quietly.

Caitlyn ran.

Even without her cloak she hardly felt the cold wind as she exited the other half of the church onto the street, quiet for the early morning with no other soul present except for the long figure disappearing up ahead. Caitlyn quickly followed after.

“Vi!”

Her voice echoed in the street ahead of her as her footsteps echoed behind, running as quickly as she could after Vi’s huddled, marching form. She could see the silhouette pause, giving her enough time to catch up, slightly winded.

“Vi, we need to think about this, we need a strategy, you can’t just run—“

“My little sister is gone.” Vi turned sharply on her heel, staring Caitlyn up in the face. “Out there somewhere. And I don’t know where and I don’t know why, but I know I need to find her.” Her fists clenched and opened over and over at her side, eyes slightly wet as she looked over to Caitlyn. “So are you going to help, or are you going to let me do this?”

Caitlyn turned her gaze to the streets, the empty, quiet dark shadows and vague bits of dust and leaves dancing in the breeze. She pivoted back to the girl beside her, not acknowledging the tears she knew Vi wanted her to ignore, holding her hand out silently.

Vi took it, expression vulnerable, frightened and worried, the palm of her hands cry and rough and Caitlyn could feel Vi’s heartbeat through her palm, like a thudding drum that echoed and vibrated through her until her own heart began to pound in sync with it. Not dropping her gaze from Vi’s, Caitlyn nodded and took a step toward the street, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

“We’ll find her, Vi. I promise.”

Caitlyn had already returned by the time Vi woke up, neck stiff from how she had fallen asleep on the couch. The pizza box and it’s half eaten contents was gone, she had a blanket over top of her legs and a bottle of water sitting right by the table with a freshly bought packet of painkillers, the plastic seal still wrapped around the cap.

Grumbling slightly, she pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the couch, pulling the blanket off as she did. Grabbing the pill bottle and fumbling it open, she took two and drank half the water bottle to wash it down, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Sitting there on the couch, staring into nothingness for a moment, Vi pushed herself to stand and winced as she stretched out sore muscles, minding her knee.

The windows were covered with floor to ceiling curtains and going over to peek behind them Vi saw blinds were also pulled down over the windows. Light shining through the edges told her it was at least mid morning, judging by the direction.

She decided to look for the bathroom and found it the first door in the hall. Lamplight shone out of the last — where Caitlyn must be.

After Vi finished up in the bathroom, ran some fingers through her dyed pink hair and splashed some water in her face, she decided to see what Caitlyn was up to.

The door at the end of the hall was ajar, just slightly, warm yellow light spilling from the opened gap. Holding her hand up to push the door open when she approached it, Vi hesitated, and then knocked instead.

“Yes?” Caitlyn’s voice rang out.

Vi hesitated again, unsure what to say, the moment of silence causing Caitlyn to speak up a second time. “You can come in, Vi.”

Nodding to no one, Vi pushed the door open and walked into the room.

Caitlyn was sitting in the brightly lit room on her bed, against propped up pillows, reading glasses perched on her nose and a worn looking paperback book in her hand. She didn’t look up from her reading as Vi entered, and Vi glanced over to the blocked out curtains, sniffing a bit in thought. A digital clock on the bedside table told her it was 11am.

“Can’t sleep?” She asked, a small bit of a grin on her face.

Caitlyn clicked her tongue slightly, not looking up from her pages. “I don’t need to sleep.”

“You don’t?” Vi repeated, genuinely surprised by the information. “I didn’t know you guys didn’t have to… is that like a thing?”

“I never thought to ask. This sort of thing doesn’t exactly come with a manual, you know,” Caitlyn hummed as she continued to stare at her book. “I’ve had to realise it over time.”

“Huh.”

“Well put.”

There’s another pause as Vi shifted her weight a bit side to side, shoving her hands back into her pockets. “Did you eat?”

That statement did it. Caitlyn finally, slowly, lowered the book and looked over to her. “Are you mothering me now?” She asked, tone low, annoyed.

From her position by the door Vi could see that Caitlyn’s cheeks looked fuller, her complexion a little less paled, the bags under her eyes less prominent. But her eyes still had that pink ring flashing along the iris, bright even in the well-lit room, narrowing at Vi as they stared at each other.

Vi wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, but she wasn’t going to push.

“Forget it,” she said, rolling her shoulder. “If you’re fine, we should make some plans.”

“Of course,” Caitlyn placed her bookmark between the pages and folded the book closed delicately. She stood up, long elegant legs in their crisply ironed pants crossing the room as the vampire walked up to Vi, seemed to slow just as she passed her on the way to the door before continuing on, “no time like the present.”

Vi tried not to smell the perfume that lingered, watch the legs walking away, the long dark hair sway. Instead, she stared down at the carpet until she was sure Caitlyn had reached the living room, and let out a heavy breath that puffed her cheeks and sounded far too loud in her ears.

“Or, like, the rest of eternity,” she muttered before turning to follow after Cait.

The vampire was unrolling a large paper map onto her kitchen table, a pencil box beside her and small stones used as paperweights on the four corners as she smoothed the folds out.

“Here,” she pointed onto the sheet as Vi approached, “this is where the other vampire had followed me.”

Vi looked down at the map, eyes darting to take in names and direction, before nodding. “I was attacked about 6 streets up from here,” she said, tapping at the spot. “On my way to my apartment. About an hour after I left your place.”

Caitlyn stared at the map, thumb rubbing over her chin. “So they at the very least know my location,” she placed her finger on the corner where her building stood, and then ran it across to where Vi had pointed, her nail making a light noise as it dragged over the paper. “But this is quite the distance to follow you from my place with intent on attacking you. You said you live where?”

“Here.”

“Hm.”

Reaching over into her little pencil box, Caitlyn pulling out a pushpin with yarn tied to the small plastic top. Bottom lip bent under a fang, she measured out with the string between the two apartment locations and placed the pin in the center between the two.

Wrapping the yarn around the pencil and carefully judging the length, she used the pin and string to draw a perfect circle encompassing both their buildings and all the streets between.

“This is our hunting ground,” Caitlyn nodded as she lifted the pencil and then plucked the pushpin off the map. She placed both back into the pencil box as she spoke. “We know for certain that they have a good idea where it is I live, and I think there’s good evidence to show that they know where you do as well. I think if we begin to increase our presence in this specific area we’ll have luck drawing any more ambushes out.”

Vi pointed to one of the main roads, sweeping her finger along it and an adjacent street as well. “These streets are usually pretty busy, we might be able to cross those ones out. Not a lot of spots to avoid witness.”

“I think sweeps of them, just to make sure we’re noticed, would suffice.” Caitlyn brought her thumb back up to scratch at her chin, thinking. “But I think the in daytime you should map out which of these areas have the best location for us to handle any potential ambush - more open space, fire escapes, that sort of thing.”

“Sure, for sure.”

“I’m alright for the next week, in terms of feeding,” a grimace that exposed her fangs paused over Caitlyn at the word, “so I think staying inside would be an appropriate course of action.”

Vi nodded. “Here or at my place?”

Caitlyn froze, her eyes widening slightly as they also blinked rapidly before she turned them towards Vi. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Do you want us to sit the night out together in the same apartment or separate?” Vi rushed the words out, not sure if she was annoyed or curious or… hopeful. Caitlyn frowned.

“I…” she began, and then shook her head. “Separate. You do have a cellular phone, don’t you?”

“You mean just a phone?” Vi snorted, stomach heavy and heat pounding. “No one calls them cellular.”

“I… Nevermind. Terms get harder for me to remember.”

“Pocket phones are phones. The only ones with a prefix are the ‘home phones’ now.”

A small wrinkle appeared at the corner of Caitlyn’s nose, a sign she was annoyed. Her voice was forced politeness when she spoke. “Thank you, for the lesson. Can we focus on the task at hand?”

Vi couldn’t help the snort and turned back to the map. “Yeah, right. Okay, so I’ll go out and map this section here,” she moved a bit closer to Caitlyn to point along a section of the streets that was more residential, more chance for driveways and parking spaces that would allow for easier fighting and defence. “It’s probably our best bet to know this area and try to lure them there, so we’ll get this section first.”

She leaned back away from Caitlyn and the table and looked over, noticing the vampire wasn’t looking at the map. She was staring at Vi. Mouth slightly parted, fangs visible over the lower lip, noticeably heavier breathing and the blank expression in her eyes, eyes with the irises still rimmed in pink that almost pulsed into the blue.

“Caitlyn,” Vi said quietly. “Did you eat?”

Caitlyn snapped her mouth shut with an audible clack, blinking fiercely and nodding. “I’m fine,” she looked down at the map, still nodding. “Your idea is sound, and I think we’ve spent enough of the day talking. You should start right away so we can begin to plan the next step.”

Vi wanted to say something, to tell Caitlyn to stop being such a proud idiot, to slam her hand on the map and say it’s been thirty years since we last saw each other and it’s been a hundred years since…

But instead she just exhaled and ran a hand over the back of her neck and nodded.

“Yeah,” she said, stepping back. “Yeah, okay.”

~

The streets were pretty much what Vi had expected.

Branching off from the main retail road, the jointing residential section was ripe with back alleys where apartments store their dumpsters and plenty of older trees to help cover. Taking various pictures of good spots on her phone (“cellular” she thought to herself with a grin), Vi mused about how she can Caitlyn could lure another potential attacker into their own ambush, get things started on tracking Sevika back on her own game.

She got herself a slice of pizza from a nearby spot, eating it while sitting on a bench as the midday weekday crowd did their thing, the office workers on lunch, the shift workers ending or starting their days, the students skipping classes, the tourists milling about. She watched as a young family bent down to listen to the questions of the small child tugging on his father’s hand, as a young woman walked her dog while chatting animatedly to her companion who was holding two coffees.

She watched as a pair of young women, hand in hand, paused by the window display of the flower shop, the taller one leaning to rest her head on that of the shorter, in a brief moment of affectionate bliss.

Vi finished up her pizza, balled up the cardboard carry out and napkin to toss in the garbage, and began heading back to her apartment in the bright light of day.

Chapter Text

They didn’t find Powder that night.

They searched every street, every corner, ever space and nook and cranny within reach that Vi had even an inkling Powder may have gone to hide, and found no sign.

Once the dark of night was just starting to lighten in the coming dawn, and Caitlyn’s bones and skin were beginning to ache from fatigue, Vi began to backtrack their steps, desperation making her movements harsh and angry. Caitlyn walked behind her as the other hunter stalked through the quiet streets on their way back to the church.

“She… may have gone back,” Caitlyn tried to say, tried to help. Vi only grunted and shrugged off the remark, the exhaustion Caitlyn knew she must also feel starting to be evident in her sagging shoulders.

The final stretches of the street up to the church felt the longest, as the early morning light started to stretch out shadows and the earliest vendors began to trickle out to the market road. Vi slowed down slightly, hood pulled up over her head and Caitlyn tugged her hood over to shadow her own face as she walked carefully behind.

They said nothing until they reached the church, Vi’s sullen pace staying even and Caitlyn’s slowing down, slowing until she was nearly stopped, watching Vi walk further and further away from her.

“I have to go home.”

Vi paused mid-step as Caitlyn’s voice echoed out over the chilly air of the morning. She turned, looking at Caitlyn with those wide eyes, tired, fatigue building bags beneath them.

“My parents,” Caitlyn shook her head, “normally it wouldn’t be a problem but I had made plans with them for breakfast and if I’m not…” she looked up at Vi, apologetic.

Vi just nodded. “Yeah. This isn’t your problem anyway.”

Caitlyn took a tentative step forward, wanting to comfort Vi but not sure how far to push. They had gotten closer over these past weeks with training, friendly banter and helping each other, but outside of their duties Vi still kept her at arm’s length.

“I’ll keep an eye out, and as soon as I can I’ll return.” Caitlyn stepped forward again, reaching out a hand to potentially rest it on the other’s shoulder, to give her a comforting, polite squeeze like the ones Caitlyn’s father always gave.

Surprising her, Vi not only didn’t shy away from the contact, but surged forward, grabbing Caitlyn into an embrace. She hugged her tightly, nose buried in her shoulder, arms squeezed around her back, and Caitlyn melted into it.

“Thanks,” Vi muttered, nuzzling deeper into the hug.

Not knowing how else to put it in words, heart in her throat, Caitlyn only squeezed and whispered “We’ll find her. I promise.”

They pulled apart, not entirely, Vi’s hand sliding from around Caitlyn’s back to rest just slightly on her shoulder as she looked at Caitlyn, almost searching her face with noticeably tearful eyes. She looked like she might say something else, words too heavy, and instead Vi just nodded, turned, and walked away to the church.

Caitlyn stood in the chill of the morning watching her go for just one second, before tightening her cloak around her and briskly making her way back to her home before the morning got too bright.

~

When Caitlyn returned that evening, she was greeted with silence. The courtyard where Vi usually waited for her was empty, eerily quiet with the sounds of the city muffled by heavy stone walls and olde trees. With a slight frown, Caitlyn re-entered the church and went to struggle to open the heavy hidden door that lead to the staircase underground.

As she made her way down the narrow steps she could hear voices echoing in the stony halls, noisy but unintelligible at the moment. She followed the noise through the corridor, ducking her head quickly into other rooms in case Vi was there, and eventually coming to Vander’s meeting room, the door ajar and his voice clear and echoing, countered by Vi’s.

“I’m not asking permission, I’m asking for help!” Vi was saying. “She’s out there, we know she’s out there and she might be—“

“She might be hiding.” Vander gruffed. “I don’t like her absence any more than you do, and she might not be a great hunter, but she’s a survivor. Just like you. She just needs a few days to cool off.”

“A few— I can’t sit around for a few days in case she’s just playing around!” Vi crossed her arms, energy buzzing off of her that Caitlyn could feel even from behind the cracked door. Vander moved forward, a large hand on Vi’s shoulder as the young woman tried to hold back a clear, emotional sniff.

“I can’t lose both of you,” he said quietly, less stern.

Vi shrugged off the statement, looking around somewhat miserably when her eyes caught Caitlyn’s just behind the door. She blinked, perked up slightly. “Caitlyn.”

Vander turned to look as Caitlyn sheepishly opened the door, smiling. “If there’s any way I could help…” she trailed off, looking between the two for any suggestions. She didn’t like Powder, but the girl was still Vi’s sister and Vi was… not someone Caitlyn liked to see upset.

“I think…” she glanced over at Vander and back to Vi, “that Vander may be right, and Powder is simply hiding to try and get us to worry on purpose, or because she needs some space.”

Vi’s eyebrows shot down, shadowing her face in the already dim light of the underground room. She glared at Caitlyn, then at Vander, and jerked her shoulder out of his reach, pushing past Caitlyn to storm out of the room.

With a moments hesitation Caitlyn ran out after her, calling her name. Vi didn’t stop, but didn’t speed her steps either until Caitlyn caught up.

“Vi, I promise, we’ll keep looking.” She said, feeling bold enough to put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “But I agree that you shouldn’t go and get yourself killed over this.”

Vi just slowed, paused, turned to look over at Caitlyn with the face of someone struggling to keep their emotions in check. “I’m not going to stop looking for her.”

“I know.” Caitlyn nodded. “But please, let me help. Don’t do anything foolish.”

”Have you met me?” Vi half joked, the hint of a grin on her face.

Caitlyn grinned back. “I have. And against all reason, I would like to keep getting to know you.” She squeezed the shoulder she held lightly. “So don’t take yourself away too soon.”

~

A week went by without finding Powder. And then a month.

Vi’s attitude and determination didn’t fade with time, never faltered. Every outing they went on she searched hiding spots, every vampire they encountered, she interrogated. Every flash of blue in the crowd was a distraction, drawing her attention, detouring her routes until she saw it wasn’t her sister’s scarf and Vi would grow sullen again.

Caitlyn did her best to help, in the only way Caitlyn knew how. She researched police records and asked around on the streets with the best description sketch she could manage. She trained as hard as she could, until she was as good with her crossbow as she was with her rifle, until she was pinning Vi as often as Vi could pin her. The two of them were slowly becoming unstoppable, tracking vampires and killing them as a perfect team.

Three months passed with no sign of Powder.

She and Vi were sitting on the roof of a shorter apartment building they had climbed up onto, watching the sunrise after a fight. Caitlyn had a bad scrap on her knee from falling off an unstable perch while aiming her bow, but they were otherwise unharmed and both feeling a little brash for it.

“Why’d you choose this?”

Caitlyn looked over to Vi, wondering why she was bringing the question up again. They’d had this conversation so many times and every time she gave the same answer and was never sure why Vi didn’t seem satisfied with it.

“I wanted to help people. Protect them.” She adjusted herself in her seat, looking out over the clouds glowing pink and gold to herald the sun would soon be peeking over the horizon. ”I wanted my efforts in something, anything, to be for someone.

Vi just nodded.

“I just wanted revenge.” She said quietly, looking down at her hands, the knuckles red and inflamed from their bout fighting earlier. “For my parents. For… whatever happened with Powder.” She sounded defeated, resigned, looking back out over the clouds gain. “But that’s really selfish, isn’t it.”

Caitlyn sat beside her, watching the colours of the rising sun play on Vi’s skin, colour her hair. She shook her head.

“I think don’t think it’s revenge,” she said softly. “I think it’s part of you wants to make sure no one else can feel like this. Wanting it to never happen again.”

Boldly, she reached over and grabbed Vi’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. Vi blinked, looking startled, and looked down at their joined hands before looking back up to Caitlyn and smiling.

~

One night they finally got information. A lead.

While making their way through dark streets where they had hear rumours of a vampire stalking prey, Vi had spotted their target with a louder, more visceral anger than Caitlyn had ever remembered seeing. She took off after the vampire in a fit, leaving Caitlyn to scramble after her.

She almost lost them, through thinning crowds in the street and twisted alleyways, but Caitlyn finally was able to recognize some of the city area they were in to pull herself up a fire escape, run herself along the edges until she saw the fight in a corner lot in the distance, circling each other.

Carefully, Caitlyn scoped out her vantage point, removed her crossbow from her back and watched and waited.

The vampire Vi was fighting large, a tall muscular woman with dark features and well-aimed strikes. She was confident in her movements and strikes, so much more refined than the majority of vampires they had faced before, pulling her strikes and taking Vi’s with the motions of someone very well practiced.

Vi was an incredibly competent fighter. While she had her misses and missteps, she was generally one of the best in hand to hand combat Caitlyn had ever seen.

She was getting sorely beaten.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t giving her all, she was knocking the vampire down with pretty impressive blows and strikes. But the vampire was skilled, taking the blows and delivering her own, knocking Vi around like a plaything. Caitlyn waited for the opportunity to take her shot without risking hitting Vi as the two wrestled, holding the crossbow steady.

The Vi seemed to be getting the upper hand, knocking the vampire down. Caitlyn tentatively lowered her bow, watching as Vi seemed to be interrogating the vampire instead of staking her, shouting something Cailtlyn could barely hear, much less make out.

Then the vampire sat up, hand at Vi’s side, holding her there for a second before she collapsed.

The vampire stood, seemed to be gloating, not killing Vi immediately but grabbing her hair. Caitlyn scowled, raised her bow with steady hands as the vampire continued to talk, drag out this moment for dramatics, unaware Vi wasn’t alone.

She aimed, careful. The vampire had Vi by the throat now, teeth bared, and Caitlyn only had one shot in the poor angle to…

Careful.

Exhaling slowly.

She took the shot.

The crossbow ricocheted back into her shoulder, Caitlyn using every muscle to hold the recoil still on the clumsy heavy weapon best she could. The wooden arrow sliced through the air, striking into flesh. Just above the heart.

Caitlyn cursed and the vampire dropped Vi with a hiss, grabbing onto the impaling arrow shaft and pulling it free from her body. She glared upward, in the direction of Caitlyn who ducked, hoping she was hidden enough. Peeking overtop again, she saw the vampire searching still, before snarling and turning her attention back to Vi, who was struggling to pull herself away on the ground.

Quickly, Caitlyn reloaded the crossbow, took aim, and fired again.

This time the bolt struck the vampire in the shoulder, the force knocking her back slightly. With a feral noise Caitlyn could almost hear from her post, the vampire looked around again before kicking at Vi and jogging backward, turning to a run into the dark streets.

Caitlyn considered firing a third bolt, but opted to try and reach Vi as quickly as she could. Shouldering the crossbow, she launched herself onto the firescape and began to jump down the steps to reach the ground.

Vi turned slightly to the noise, and seemed to sag with relief at recognition, slumping down onto her side with a wet cough.

“Vi!“ Caitlyn ran up to her, staring out warily into the darkness where the vampire had vanished. “Vi, are you alright?”

She pulled Vi’s hand away from her side, easing the hunter to lie on her back as Caitlyn took in the damage - scrapes and cuts, a bruise forming on her jaw, a tear in Vi’s shirt and wound in her side, leaking out blood to stain the fabric, dripping to the stone below. Caitlyn swallowed, taking a handkerchief from her pocket and pressing it against the wound in a vain attempt to slow the bleeding.

Wordlessly Vi’s hand reached up and cupped Caitlyn’s cheek for a second. Caitlyn swallowed, feeling the hand tremble, and brought her own up to hold it still. She felt wetness and warmth on her skin, and couldn’t bear to look, to think about the blood that must be streaked across her face from Vi’s gentle sweep of her thumb.

“You’re going—“ Caitlyn swallowed, throat tight, voice choked as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “You’re going to be alright. I’ve got you.”

Vi closed her eyes for a moment, breathing ragged. “Help me up,” she said through gritted teeth, hand falling from Caitlyn’s cheek to her shoulder. Caitlyn nodded, leaning forward to take Vi’s arms and use them as leverage to help pull her into a stand.

She was heavy, and already shorter than Caitlyn, forcing her into a crouch to support the injured hunter. Their pace was awkward, a half shuffling limp, Caitlyn constantly adjusting to try and keep the winces of pain from Vi at a minimum with every step.

They finally reached the church, Vi resting against the cold stone as Caitlyn pushed open the door into the dark, empty building. They made their way in, shuffling the short walk through the pews that felt almost endless, reaching the bench of the pulpit. Caitlyn slowly lowered Vi to the bench there, both of them grunting from the exertion. Vi settled back, hand pressed against her wound, as Caitlyn quickly went to get the first aid kit.

“I’m getting an odd sense of deja vu,” Caitlyn quipped with a forced smile as she returned, kit and a bowl of warm water in hand. “Do you think we could take off your jacket?”

Vi sat forward, started to move her arms to try and shuffle the jacket off her shoulders. She let out a pained cry and shook her head, falling back. Caitlyn only nodded and sat beside her, adjusting the clothing best she could to get a look at the wound. She took the cloth from the bowl of water and began to wipe down the wound, so close to where Vi had last sustained injury the first time they sat here, the atmosphere frighteningly more intimate now.

Before, Vi had been a stranger that Caitlyn had wanted to help. Now, Vi was a friend Caitlyn was frightened to lose.

It was quiet between them beside Vi’s grunts of pain and Caitlyn whispering soothing words as she cleaned the wound, careful with the alcohol as the stinging pain made Vi groan. Caitlyn frowned at the injury, and then at the sewing supplies, hesitant. The pain might be too much for Vi to sustain, but the injury needed to be closed to heal properly.

“There’s whiskey under…” Vi pointed weakly to the pulpit. Caitlyn nodded and went to look, opening the small cabinet door at the based. There was a few supplies, a leather-bound Bible, a couple of empty vials, and a small box with unlabelled glass bottles inside. Caitlyn pulled out one with dark liquid and uncorked it, bringing it to her nose. It smelled the sharp, unpleasant bite of alcohol and she quickly took it over to Vi.

The injured hunter took the bottle and drained it, letting the empty flask slip from her hand onto the floor with a clatter. Caitlyn crouched down beside her, watching her breathing slow and settle as the alcohol began to take effect, a hand gripping her own knee to prevent herself from grabbing onto Vi in worry. She wasn’t sure how she would take that.

“I’m going to start,” she said quietly, moving closer with the wet cloth and threaded needle. “Let me know if you start to feel too dizzy.”

Vi just nodded, head leaning back as she took deliberate, steady breaths.

The sewing went quickly and dragged on eternally, Caitlyn quietly murmuring praise and support as she knitted the wound back together. Vi bit into a strip of cloth, groaning heavily, until Caitlyn cut the thread and put everything away, bringing up the cloth to lightly press and wipe away the excess blood and remaining dirt.

“You’re lucky I had to take all those finishing courses,” Caitlyn quipped, trying to lighten the moment. “They taught me sewing skills among other things.” She explained quickly, realizing Vi might not have understood. Vi let out a low laugh, wincing.

“They have her,” Vi’s voice was weak, hoarse.

“Who?” Caitlyn asked as she began cleaning the rest of her partner, dabbed the cloth over the scrap on Vi’s cheek. Vi flinched, hissing at the pain.

“Powder,” she answered. Caitlyn went to wet the cloth again and Vi watched, breathing heavy. “Vampires. A coven we’d been fighting with.”

“The one Vander spoke of?” Caitlyn asked as she brushed some of Vi’s hair aside. Vi nodded just barely, eyes unfocused from pain.

“It’s my fault,” she said quietly, weakly. “It’s my fault she left.”

Caitlyn shook her head as she continued to clean what she could. “Whatever happened to her,” she pressed the cloth to a scrape on Vi’s elbow, gently brushing the dirt out of the wound, “it’s those who do it who are to blame. It’s not your fault.”

Vi said nothing for a minute, before her eyes fluttered up. Unfocused, dull from the pain and alcohol, she managed to meet Caitlyn’s eyes anyway, holding her there. Slowly, Vi’s hand reached up and brushed a thumb against Caitlyn’s jawline, like she had pressed her hand against Caitlyn’s cheek a bit earlier.

Then, Caitlyn frozen under her gaze, Vi’s thumb brushed back the other way, against her bottom lip and held there. Caitlyn held her breath, as Vi’s gaze dropped down to her mouth.

And then Vi slipped onto unconsciousness, falling back against the bench, and leaving Caitlyn there with a heart beating fast enough for them both.

~

Caitlyn stepped into her home, quietly closing the door behind her. She still wasn’t bold enough to try climbing the trellis like Vi had been, but she was beginning to consider it when faced with the prospect of one day returning home to her parents unexpectedly in the sitting room.

Especially on a day like today with her clothes stained in blood.

Thankfully they seemed to be out, or maybe already retired for the night, and the house was empty and quiet as Caitlyn made her way up the stairs.

Exhausted, she entered her room and shed herself of her outfit, stuffing it into a bag to be thrown away — she could explain new purchases to her mother much easier than bloodstains to the maids — and wrapping a robe around herself she went to go and wash the day’s eventful battles from her weary bones.

The water was hot, almost scalding, a refreshing low pain compared to the soreness of her body. She wasn’t particularly upset at the way she had built muscle and a leaner frame since her time joining the hunters, but the constant muscle soreness was certainly something she struggled getting used to.

Like Vi.

Vi, who she had thought a dashing, roguish character, who had introduced her to this fantastic hidden world of danger and pain and making a difference. Once she had been certain that Vi was going to be okay long enough for her to fetch Vander and Grayson to take her down to the proper infirmary for rest, Caitlyn had almost decided to stay with her that night. She has come so close, desperate for Vi to wake back up so Caitlyn could ask. Ask about…


Caitlyn ran her own thumb over her bottom lip, biting into it. 


She closed her eyes in the hot stream of the water for a minute, letting the feeling that burned inside her of the thought of Vi’s thumb on her lip, her gaze, burn away at all the pain and sorrow of the day.

Vi was going to be okay, and Caitlyn was going to talk to her and feel her hand in her own, feel the warmth of her again and she was looking forward to than so much it frightened her a little. She felt desperately more alive than she’d ever had.

Finally realizing she shouldn’t waste all the warm water, Caitlyn finished her shower and stepped out into the steam filled room to grab a towel and begin to dry off. As she stepped in front of the mirror, watching the condensation slowly fade as the heat disappeared, mind still half distracted by Vi, she saw a pattern begin to emerge on the reflective glass. Drawn while she was in the water.

She froze.

“Is someone there?”

“I’m back at Lyle Street and yeah, I think you’re right that the space here might be a little bigger.”

“There’s a construction fence in the online map I’m observing, I suppose that’s outdated? What’s on the east side of the street beside that grey apartment?”

“Building with a parking garage.”

“Accessible?”

“Depends.”

Vi stood on the sidewalk, one hand in her pocket and the other holding her phone with the video call on up as she spoke into the wireless earbuds to Caitlyn, who was sitting in her dark home away from the bright light of the afternoon.

It was quiet between the two of them as Vi slowly moved the phone so the camera could take in the surrounding area of the little side street. After a moment, Caitlyn spoke up again.

“Did you ever stop hunting?”

“I did, for a bit,” Vi shrugged, even as she was aware Caitlyn couldn’t see her. She kicked at some loose gravel. “Got tired, felt hopeless, spent a couple of years just travelling and staring at the sky. But I went back.” She exhaled, tired. “It’s hard not to. After everything, can’t just sit back knowing they’re out there.”

A pause on the other side as Caitlyn made sure Vi was finished talking before she spoke up, voice quiet. “That sounds right.”

There was silence for another minute before Caitlyn’s voice sounded up again, a bit louder but slow, careful. “Have you ever come across any like… me?”

“Like you how.”

There was a pause, and then a long, drawn out sigh before Caitlyn finally spoke. “With regrets.”

Vi frowned at a nearby tree. “You’re doing what you have to do to survive.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“If I have they never said anything. But I think most of the vampires that don’t want to… do what they have to,” she struggled with the phrasing, using the heel of her boot to slowly wear a rut down into the sand. “I don’t think they know that it has to be…”

“Human.”

“Yeah.”

A silence fell between them. Vi looked up at a noise to watch a flock of pigeons flapping loudly past as they soared up into the clear sky, swirling and dipping together as they grew smaller and smaller in the bright sun. A light breeze blew past her, ruffling through her sun-warmed hair.

“Cait?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re doing what you have to.”

~

“Why now?” Vi asked the following day, after sending some pictures of another street with possible ambush points. She was walking along more idly now, talking as she shoved the phone and her hands into her jacket pocket.

“What do you mean?” Caitlyn’s voice asked over the earbuds.

“Why is Sevika suddenly after us?” Vi walked past a building of exposed brick, running her hand along the rough surface as she did. “Do you think she’s planning something? Trying to get us out of the way?”

“Could be she thinks we’re planning something against her. It is quite the coincidence that we ended up in the same city after all this time.”

“Idiot blew her cover then, we didn’t even know she was still alive.”

Caitlyn clicked her tongue, the sound sharp over the phone line. “I’m still not entirely convinced it is Sevika. If it were, wouldn’t she be aware of the curse? That these attempts to kill us are in vain?”

“Maybe she got amnesia from whatever brought her back.” Vi shrugged. “Or maybe she found a loophole.”

Silence on Caitlyn’s side, except for a distant tapping that Vi figured was Caitlyn’s nails nervous against the wood. The moment dragged out and Vi was just about to ask what the vampire was thinking when Caitlyn sighed heavily.

“I’ll have to call you back. I need to think.”

She hung up before Vi could even reply, leaving Vi to stand there with a slightly confused expression, before she shrugged and decided to go and get herself a hotdog.

~

Caitlyn didn’t pick up the next day when Vi went to map out further down the street, the call going directly to voicemail. Vi frowned down at her device and decided to try again within thirty minutes.

Again. And again and again and again the call went to voicemail. Vi tried her best to take pictures, sending them as unanswered texts, not let the silence bother her. But by the time the warm light of later afternoon was starting to deepen her nerves buzzing.

She tried one more time, reaching voicemail, looked over at the darkening skies and finally groaned. She began to march toward Caitlyn’s apartment.

Getting in wasn’t too difficult, just standing to the side, eyes glued to her phone until a delivery needed to pass through and she could ghost in behind them. Remember Caitlyn’s floor was trickier. Hands in her pockets, Vi stood in the elevator and thought slowly and carefully to try and remember which floor had pinged when she’d rode in this elevator with Caitlyn last.

When she was finally confident of the floor, she stepped out and followed her memory to the right direction, stopping at the corner door she confidently knew Caitlyn was behind.

She knocked, and the door swung open, the lock broken.

Instantly on alert, Vi grabbed her penknife and began to inch instead, looking around. The apartment was empty, all the curtains torn down and blinds shredded so that the light of the setting sun glowed brightly into the space. A potted plant was smashed, the soil strewn about as if kicked though, a painting had fallen from the wall. The side table beside the couch was knocked over, and the photo of Caitlyn and her ex girlfriend lay shattered beside.

“Cait?” Vi called out, trying to keep her voice from wavering. If the windows had been like this all day, the apartment would have been flooded with its light, and there’s no way that wouldn’t have been painful. She looked around for ashes, seeing none, griping the knife until the handle dug into her hand.

“V…i?” A quiet, weak voice caught Vi’s attention from the bathroom and she rushed in.

The bathroom was in just a bad state - the mirror had been shattered and pieces of it lay to the floor, dark blood was splattered across the walls and smeared across the floor, and a pile of ash lay half blown in one corner of the room. In the bathtub, her clothing soaked with her own dark blood, Caitlyn was lying slumped with a stake in her heart.

“Caitlyn!” Vi shouted, despite the small room and short distance, and almost slipped running to get to the edge of the tub, lifting Caitlyn’s chin gently. The vampire’s eyes fluttered but didn’t open, and she groaned.

“Ambush,” she said weakly. “I… got him but I, I can’t …” she motioned weakly to the narrow wooden weapon still in her chest. “Could you..?”

“Shit. Fuck. Okay,” Vi adjusted herself, one hand in Caitlyn’s shoulder and the other on the stake. “Ready? Three, two—“

She pulled it out as quickly as she could and Caitlyn screamed hoarsely.

The vampire curled over herself before lying back, pulling a towel she had apparently dragged in with her earlier to press against the bleeding gap. She groaned. “I got him at least. Caught him off guard when I didn’t die,” Caitlyn almost let out a laugh, blinking up at the ceiling. “Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

“Alrigh— fuck, look at you.” Vi scrambled over to give Caitlyn a hand in standing up, the dark red blood beading at the wound. Caitlyn took her hand and pulled, crying out and falling back into the tub.

“No, no,” she gasped in pain, shaking her head slightly. “I’ll just stay here until it heals.”

Vi almost laughed. “How long is that going to take?”

Caitlyn didn’t answer, her eyes fluttering open to look at Vi for a second before closing again. The pink colour was bright despite how pale the rest of Cait was and Vi took in a sharp breath.

“You need to eat?“

Caitlyn didn’t answer, but her brow furrowed and she pressed her mouth together in a flat line.

“Can’t exactly hunt in these conditions,” she shifted her arm over, adjusting it to rest better as she pressed the towel. “I’ll manage.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“I believe I just said I’ll manage.”

“Cait.”

It was a statement, a full sentence how she said it and Caitlyn let out a low hiss in response.

“We can’t.” She said, low and strained, that careful attempt not to panic. “I’m alright, I don’t want to hurt you and I might—“

“I can handle it.” Vi shuffled closer, placing a hand on Caitlyn’s knee only for the vampire to flinch back and then let out a pained cry at the jerking movement. Vi hesitated, frowning.

“You can’t,” Caitlyn bit out through gritted teeth. “That’s the whole problem. She knows, this is what she’s - ugh - trying to have happen. Force us into a situation where we do her job for her.”

Vi frowned, chewing the bottom of her lip as she watched Caitlyn lean back against the side of the tub, letting out little noises of pain with her eyes closed.

“What’s the alternative?” Vi almost snapped. “Let you turn feral? You kill me or I have to kill you anyway?”

Caitlyn let out a slow hissing noise, pressing the towel against the wound. “It’s… it’s not that bad yet. We can… wait it out…” she said slowly, pained.

“Cait.”

“This isn’t the first time—“

“This isn’t the first time you’ve been staked?”

Caitlyn let out a little huff, almost a laugh, wincing in pain with eyes closed even as a smile quirked at the edge of her mouth. “I wasn’t always good at being subtle. Hunters have found me before.”

“No shit? When you’re always so careful?”

Another moment of Caitlyn’s laboured breath before she managed to speak again. “Was… was that sarcasm?”

“Heh,” Vi couldn’t help the small grin, patting at the side of the tub. “Yeah.”

“Funny.” Caitlyn smiled. Her chest continued to rise and fall with her laboured breaths, the motion whistling noise as her body was slowly knitting itself together. She sat there, eyes shut and head limp against the wall, and Vi watched her quietly, wondering if maybe she was asleep. Or whatever alternative vampires could do.

“Vi?”

She looked up to see Caitlyn had barely moved, eyes still closed, until she spoke again. “Could you… clean this up for me?”

Vi looked around, at the smears of blood and broken mirror glass, mud and ash from the vampire intruder. She looked back up to Cait and nodded despite Caitlyn’s closed eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Supplies are under the kitchen sink.” Caitlyn shifted slightly and let out a noise that was almost a whimper.

Vi pushed herself to a stand and headed toward the kitchen, grabbing the cleaner and paper towels right where Caitlyn said it was. She returned to the bathroom and very quietly began to scrub, clean, sweep, and wipe until, other than the large crack in the mirror, there was no evidence of the fight that had happened here.

Caitlyn was quiet the entire time Vi worked, laying prone inside the tub. Her breathing was shallow, letting out small whines and noises of pain but nothing else. When Vi finished she brought the garbage out to the chute, returned the remaining supplies to the kitchen and stood there for a minute, starting down at her hands in the sink after she’d rinsed Caitlyn’s blood off of them.

She came back to the bathroom and sat down beside the tub, not knowing if Caitlyn was fully conscious or not. Quietly, she slipped a stake out of her belt and held it in her hand; resting her arms on her bent knees and relaxing her head forward, closing her eyes.

“Are you going to stay here?” Caitlyn’s voice croaked out.

“Yeah.”

A long, slow moment hung in the air as they both sat in their respective prone positions, before Caitlyn took a wheezing inhale to get enough breath to speak.

“Thank you.”

Chapter Text

It was dark.

She couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear anything beyond the loud pounding of blood in her ears, accompanied by a thin, high ringing noise. Her head ached, her shoulders screamed in pain, and when she tried to roll them to relieve some of the muscle strain she realized her arms were bound behind her back.

Panic tore through Caitlyn and she began to struggle, trying to free her bonds, fighting against the pain that tore through her upper back at the movement. She tried to let out a cry and realized she was muzzled, a leather binding tight around her jaw and nose that allowed her to breath, but not open her mouth enough to speak.

“Ugh, finally.”

A familliar — was it familliar? — voice cut through her panic, and Caitlyn froze for a second, hoping the voice would bring some sense to her predicament, explain things.

It was so hard to focus through the pain.

When no further words came from the dark, she tried to ask out a “who’s there?” but all she got through the muzzle was a panicked whimper.

The voice sighed, almost over dramatically for the situation, somewhere to Caitlyn’s front left. “Right, where are my manners? I keep forgetting.”

A scraping noise and then a flash of light almost right in front of Caitlyn’s face as the match flared to life. The sudden brightness made her squint and blink, spots dancing in front of her. In the seconds that her eyes adjusted, she managed to make out a face just on the other side of the small flame.

A frighteningly familiar face with terribly pink eyes.

“Forgot how you couldn’t see in the dark.” Powder’s voice was a mocking singsong tone as she grinned wide, showing sharp fangs. Caitlyn drew back sharply, flattening herself against the back of the chair with a noise of pain as the action bent her tied arms backward. Powder - the vampire - rolled her eyes.

“Don’t freak out, I’m not gonna hurt you,” she said, hissing as the flame of the match reached her fingertips. “Ow, shit!” She dropped the match, plunging the room into darkness again before she struck another to light. She shot a smile to Caitlyn before turning and leaning over, lighting a candle. One by one she went around a long table, delicately lighting the candles that decorated it, humming to herself as she did.

Caitlyn took stock of where she was as the room was slowly illuminated. She was stuck in an ornate arm chair, arms tied behind her back but her legs freed. If she tried, she could stand, attempt an escape… but everything outside the light of the candles was pitch black and she had no idea of her whereabouts. Escape could be more dangerous than staying put. 

In front of her visible in the dim lighting was an old dining table, littered with candles for lighting and set up with a porcelain tea set, ornate china and glass wine flutes. Six seats, four empty chairs plus Caitlyn’s own, and the head of the table missing it’s own seat. 

“Don’t you like it? This is what you people do all day in your big empty houses, right? Sit around the table drinking from cups that cost enough money to feed a family for a month?”

Swallowing against her dry throat, Caitlyn just looked at the table and then to the vampire. Powder frowned, nose wrinkling with the motion.

”Aww, come on! I tried really hard to make it homey for you! Not my fault I’ve never been to one of these and had to guess.”

Caitlyn blinked and glanced around at the other seats of the table, the single tea cup at the seat at the head to her right. She looked back up to the vampire, nearly begging for some explanation.

“Y’know,” Powder stepped around the table, trailing her fingers over the chairs in the other place settings. “When I was Vi’s second I fucked up really bad. I was supposed to watch her back, stay out of trouble, but I wanted to help,” she paused at an empty chair, leaning on the backrest to look over at Caitlyn while she spoke, “so bad. I had found some gunpowder, figured out how to make firecrackers. Vi and a couple other hunters were fighting off this team of really strong vampires and I… helped.”

She mimicked the sound and motions of an explosion, cheeks puffed out comically as she opened a fist, trailing the open hand above her through the air.

“It killed them. I killed them. The other hunters.” She stared at the empty chair she leaned against solemnly, glancing over to it’s also empty neighbour. “They were like brothers to me.”

Powder drifted off into silence, a somber expression on her face as she contemplated the empty chair before blinking back into herself, pink eyes darting up to meet Caitlyn’s again. “You have a brother?”

Caitlyn stared across the table at her, unable to speak due to the muzzle and unsure if she should even answer. The vampire paused in the silence for a minute before shrugging.

“Of course you don’t. You probably wouldn’t have tried to steal my sister if you had one of your own.”

Caitlyn made a concerned, confused noise that Powder ignored.

“I always thought you were as bad as Them.” She said the word with a lip curling sneer that showcased her fangs and let Caitlyn know exactly what she meant. “But you know what I learned? You’re worse. Vampires take what they need to live, same as everyone else. But your kind, the topsiders, you just take and take and take and you throw half of it away because you didn’t even need it in the first place!”

She walked over to the empty spot at the head of the table, flicking a finger lightly against the teacup that was placed there, the frown deep and carving on her face. Her burning pink eyes shot back up to Caitlyn as she gave a false smile. “Well I can take too.”

She finished her journey around the table to stand by Caitlyn’s said again, bending down with a pleasant friendly expression like she was talking to a child. “Y’know, my whole life I was raised to fight against these things because they take, because they’re unnatural. They make others unnatural. But someone like you comes along, takes my sister and…” the smile faded into another sneer. “You changed her.”

Caitlyn shook her head, fought against the bonds again.

“Oh, you don’t believe me? Well,” she slapped the table, standing back up, “let’s ask her then.”

The vampire disappeared into the darkness, leaving Caitlyn in the small pocket of candlelight at the garish table setup. She began to run her thumbnail over the rope, a desperate attempt to try and cut through it or loosen it somehow, when the sound of wheels squeaking caught her attention. Powder re-appeared, pushing a wheelchair, seated within it a bound but un-gagged Vi.

Their eyes met, and Caitlyn’s heart began to race, emotion began to well up inside of her, relief that Vi was here, that she seemed to be alright, that if this was the last time they ever got to see each other at least she got to see her. Terror too, at what might happen to them in this dark room, to her or to Vi, and Caitlyn let out a pained, strangled whimper against the muzzle, wanting to plead with Powder to let her sister go.

“There we are,” Powder chirped as she pushed the chair up to the empty place setting at the head of the table, letting go with splayed fingers in the hair. She began to walk back over to Caitlyn as she spoke. “Now the party can start. How do these things usually go, Princess? You’re the expert.”

Vi struggled against her bonds, pleading. “Powder, please, this isn’t you.”

The vampire froze, looking back over to the hunter. With her back turned, Caitlyn couldn’t see her expression, but the slump of her shoulders and tone of voice communicated enough.

“Vi,” Powder- the vampire, said in a soft, almost pleading tone. “It is me. Your sister.”

“Powder, please, whatever happened I’m sorry but leave her out of this.” Vi nodded over to Caitlyn, meeting her eyes with a look of fear and regret before turning back to her younger sister. “Okay? We can talk about this.”

“Leave her out of this?” Powder’s voice cracked with emotion, head tiling Caitlyn’s way. “She’s the reason you’re here. Why I’m here. Why you stopped caring about me, called me a Jinx.”

Vi’s expression fell, eyes wider than Caitlyn had ever seen them before as Vi rapidly glanced between her and her sister. “I didn’t mean that, I was just upset, I never should have said that, Powder ple-“

“Jinx!” The vampire interrupted with a snarl. “My name is Jinx now. Powder’s dead, you threw her out, replaced her with a shinier model.” She grabbed a knife off the table, swung it to nearly hit Caitlyn in the face and causing her to flinch back. Vi lunged forward in a useless attempt to grab at the knife, staring back at Powder- Jinx, who stared back at her almost sadly. “So I replaced myself too.”

Vi struggled again against the rope ties, voice breaking. “I didn’t replace you, that’s not what— Pow this is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Who says I got hurt?” Powder- Jinx shot back. Vi swallowed and didn’t answer even as she glanced around at the creature that had used to be her sister. Jinx scoffed and stood up, letting out a large dramatic sigh.

“See?” The vampire tilted her head back over to Caitlyn, speaking to her without looking her direction. “You’re just as bad as I am, but somehow she thinks I’m worse. Maybe it’s the teeth.” She clacked her teeth together to enunciate that last bit, crossed her arms.

Vi blinked between the two of them, shaking her head. “What are you talking about?”

Powder- Jinx- the vampire tilted her head back with a bemused sigh. “You know. That’s my mistake, you’re right.”

Her voice came out in a sing-song drawl, like she was entertaining a childish idea. She leaned against the chair and Caitlyn couldn’t help flinching away. The vampire didn’t seem to even notice, looking over at her sister still as she spoke about Caitlyn almost playfully. “She’s a human, a do-gooder mortal. And I’ve changed now, I’m a foul demon of the undead.” She spoke that last bit with the most sarcastic disdain in her tone, shaking her shoulders with it. “Of course you would pick her.”

There was a long pause, where Caitlyn risked pulling her eyes away from her captor to stare at Vi, who was watching her with wide, horrified eyes. Caitlyn looked back up at the vampire and saw she was looking down at her now, eyes glowing pink and a thoughtful pout on her face. The vampire darted her eyes back and forth between the two hunters and stood up, clicking her tongue. “We should even those odds.”

Caitlyn and Vi looked back at each other, and Vi began to struggle against the ropes that held her tied to the chair again.

Powd- Jinx circled behind Caitlyn to the other side of her chair, speaking slowly. “You remember how a vampire’s made, sis?” With deft fingers she unclipped the muzzle from Caitlyn’s mouth, pulling it off almost tenderly. “You do, don’t you?” She tapped a finger against Caitlyn’s jaw as she directed the question to her, leaning forward, looking sideways at Caitlyn with a quirk of a smile. “Bookworm knows everything.”

Caitlyn looked back, trying to keep her expression neutral, to not show anger or fear. Her hands were still bound, her knee still throbbed with the pain of the kick; upsetting the vampire until she had a better escape strategy wasn’t going to help her.

Pow- Jinx- the vampire blinked at her owlishly a couple of times before shrugging at her lack of reply, turning her attention back to Vi and the table setting.

“The person has to drink some vampire blood,”

The vampire took the ornate teapot and lifted it up with a mockingly delicate hand, pinky outstretched. With her other hand she grabbed a fist full of Caitlyn’s hair and pulled her head back.

“It’s not mine,” she grinned down at Caitlyn, cheerfully friendly against the fact that she had the hunter by the hair, about to force blood down her throat. “So don’t worry, if that’s what’s bothering ya.”

Caitlyn clenched her teeth together as the spout of the pot came closer, enduring the pain as she tried to tilt her head away from the grip in her hair. The vampire rolled her eyes.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” she sneered, tapping the porcelain spout against Caitlyn’s teeth. “Don’t act like this isn’t something you’ve done at your fancy rich parties.”

Caitlyn breathed heavily through her nose, glaring up at the eyes of the girl that used to glare down at her from church rafters. She kept her teeth clenched shut.

The amused sneer on Jinx’s face began to shadow with anger.

“Open up,” she tapped the spout more forcefully, sending a spark of pain through Caitlyn’s teeth “or I make that crack bigger.”

“Please, don’t do this,” Vi’s voice sounded so far away as Caitlyn and the vampire glared at each other. Jinx made no movement beside raising her eyebrows slightly.

She yanked Caitlyn’s hair, hard, causing an involuntary gasp from the hunter and Jinx took the opportunity of the slightest opening to shove the spout into Caitlyn’s mouth, tipping the teapot to pour.

Caitlyn had tasted blood before. Sharp and metallic from biting her cheek or cutting her lip in a spare. Sucking her finger after a prick of a needle when sewing or a paper cut from an old book.

This tasted nothing like the blood she was familiar with.

Earthy, bitter, a mixture of cloying sweetness and sour rot. She gagged at the taste even as she had no choice but to swallow it down to prevent herself from choking.

As soon as Jinx pulled the spout away Caitlyn lurched forward, spitting out what she could, coughing hoarsely.

“Caitlyn!” She heard Vi shouting over her painful coughs, “are you okay?”

Caitlyn tried to nod against the burning pain in her lungs from the coughing, the heavy, nauseating weight in her stomach from the blood. She thought she heard Vi say something else, but couldn’t register it over the sound of her coughing fit and the ringing in her ears. A hand gently rested on her back between her shoulders, patting her sympathetically as she heard Jinx’s voice speak clearly through her nauseous haze.

“Oh, that’s right, almost forgot. They have to be dying.”

Caitlyn barely had time to register the words before being slammed forward onto the table, feeling the broken glass and china piercing her arms and chest in hot white flashes of pain then dragged backward into a stand, a hand forcing her head back and sharp fangs at her throat.

She could see Vi, horror and panic in her face, fighting the ropes that tied her to her chair, hear her screaming—

And then Caitlyn’s world went dark.

Caitlyn stayed in the bath for the entire next day.

Vi wasn’t sure what to do with herself. The vampire barely stirred, spending her night lying prone, looking for all the world like a corpse, pale with the dried bloodstain on her blouse. It took Vi all her strength to routinely keep checking on her, to see she’s not moving. She knows Caitlyn’s alive but still.

She looks so dead.

Vi kept her penknife in reach at all times.

Not wanting to leave, but unable to sit still, Vi busied herself cleaning the apartment. She swept up the broken glass and fixed the fallen photograph best she can, fixed the broken curtains so that they cover the windows once more (though she leaves them open as a precaution) dusted and wiped the shelves.

When vacuuming she hesitated at Caitlyn’s bedroom door, glancing over at the bathroom.

“Just… to check,” she muttered to herself, pushing the door open with the vacuum and letting herself in.

The curtains here were also torn down, and Vi turned off the machine to go and fix those before she attended to anything else.

She hammed back some of the curtain rod hooks, readjusted the blind installation; the bed was mostly untouched, but she busied herself tightening the tucks around the corner just to give herself something to do.

As she adjusted the various decor of the side table and made her way to the bookcase beside the bed she slowed to look the shelves over. Photos on the bookshelf of Caitlyn in different styles and locations with various women, sometimes with dogs or cats, the photography and fashion getting older and older. And then in a plain frame, an old sepia photo of a teenage Caitlyn and her parents, slightly burnt and taped together along a worn fold that was beginning to tear.

Vi picked up the photo and stared at it.

She didn’t have any photos of herself from before; they hadn’t been able to afford something that long ago was a luxury. And she had changed so much, adjusted herself to so many evolving styles just to fit in and fight best she could that she wasn’t even sure she could remember what she’d looked like back when she had been...

But here was Caitlyn, looking only slightly younger but ultimately the same. Long dark hair, sharp features, an expression both too kind for someone of her status and too mature for someone of her age.

Vi stared at the photo, memories of this young girl saving her in an alley, stitching up her side in the back of the chapel, being taught how to spar, how to use a stake, how to watch Vi’s back. How she’d invited herself into Vi’s life, wouldn’t be scared off.

God. Vi should have tried harder to keep her away.

She absently rubbed her thumb against the glass of the frame down the image of Caitlyn’s hair, letting herself drift off to old memories and forgotten lives for a second. To when they were both just young women with each other for support, when Vi would climb apple trees and Cait would look at her in a way that Vi hadn’t been able to understand.

“I think it’s part of you wants to make sure no one else can feel like this. Wanting it to never happen again.”

As the afternoon started to stretch out the shadows, Vi checked in Caitlyn again, the vampire still prone in the same spot. She looked a little worst, a little greyer on the skin, cheekbones a little sharper, bags under her closed eyes darker.

“Cait?”

Silence answered her back and Vi frowned.

She stepped closer, carefully with her hand on her penknife, to crouch down slightly beside the tub and look Caitlyn over. The hand that Caitlyn had been pressing against the towel against her bleeding wound had fallen limply to rest on her stomach instead, the long fingers still stained the dark wine red from her own blood, the skin tight around her knuckles.

Vi reached over, taking the hand in her own and squeezed it slightly, rubbing her thumb over the roughening skin.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

Caitlyn didn’t move. 

~

Vi shut the door behind her quietly, adjusting the pet store carrier in one arm as she flipped the lock.

“Caitlyn?” She called out cautiously, kicking off her shoes off her shoes. “You still dead?”

Silence greeted her and Vi almost laughed at her own joke, trying not to jostle her cargo while she stepped through the hall. The light was still on in the bathroom and when she checked inside Caitlyn was still lying in the tub. But she had shifted slightly, indicating that she had woken up at some point, maybe still was.

“Hey,” Vi called into the room and Caitlyn slowly opened her eyes, looking weak and pained. “So you’re alive?”

“And you’re hilarious.” Caitlyn replied, coughing weakly but managing an even weaker smile.

Vi couldn’t help a small little grin herself. “I brought you something.”

She entered the room, grabbing a folding stool from behind the door and resting the carrier on top. Caitlyn watched her, barely awake and completely curious as she saw the cargo inside.

“A rabbit?”

“Good, you can still recognize things.” Vi remarked dryly as she opened the cage and picked up the animal, gently holding it in her arms.

Caitlyn made a wet, ragged noise as she took a deep breath.

“That won’t help,” she started, hoarse.

“And the water bottles do?” Vi shot back, walking over with the rabbit. In the lack of Caitlyn’s answer that followed she placed the animal on Caitlyn’s lap, crouching down to sooth it with a gentle hand on it’s back. She looked up at the vampire, who was looking weakly back at her.

“Caitlyn.” Vi said quietly.

Caitlyn raised a hand to place it on the rabbit, fingers sliding through the soft fur, brushing against Vi’s own fingers. The hunter pulled her hand back, dropping her gaze and clearing her throat.

“Look,” Vi stared down at her hands, clenching and unclenching her fists. “I know this isn’t going to fix things. But you’re running out of time. Just enough so you can go hunting again.”

Caitlyn didn’t answer, though her fingers flexed through the rabbit’s white fur.

“I’m going to get some food,” Vi continued, standing up and wiping her palms on her jeans. “So that’ll give you privacy. But you have to eat and then we’re going to go hunt so that you have your strength back.”

She began to make her way to the door, pausing to turn one last time. “Or I’ll shove my damn neck into your mouth myself.”

If Caitlyn replied, it wasn’t loud enough for Vi to hear as she left, slamming the door behind her to make a point.

~

The low evening light in the city, darker with the shadows of the tall buildings falling everywhere, brighter with the electric lighting of the street lamps and storefronts along the sidewalks, made Vi feel more comfortable than she had the past week. Being out too much in the daylight, which the safest course of action while she and Caitlyn made their plans, didn’t feel right. Decades of living in the dark to hunt and protect everyone else that did was a hard habit to shake.

As Vi shovelled the spicy takeout curry into her mouth quickly as she could from the steaming styrofoam container, she kept her eye out on the crowds and milling groups around her for anything suspicious. If Sevika was desperate enough to send someone to attack Caitlyn in her own home, attacking Vi in the middle of her meal wasn’t too far off.

Vi swallowed down the rest of the rice, tossed her container in the nearest bin and wiped her mouth on the back of her sweatshirt sleeve, glancing around.

She felt the presence behind her before she heard the foot falls, squaring her shoulders in anticipation and slowing her pace as much as she could without making it clear she was slowing down. The foot steps slowed down behind her, irritating even as it confirmed her suspicious and Vi turned down the next street to make her way to one of the sections she had mapped out with Caitlyn. There was an open space here with a hidden fence that could slow down a thrown perp, sharp broken branches that hadn’t been cleaned yet from a storm that could be used as emergency stakes.

The pursuing vampire followed her, still a safe distance, causing Vi’s impatience to start to boil over with frustration. Caitlyn was hurt, Caitlyn was starving, they were running out of time and she didn’t need this right now.

Earlier than was probably smart before the alleyway opened up, she stopped in her tracks and whirled around, arm raised ready to strike a punch. She was blocked almost instantly, a large hand grabbing her arm and twisting it under to pull Vi forward into a tight hold, to see the dark, scarred, grinning features of the vampire that had been haunting them these past few weeks.

“Still having trouble with patience.”

With a headbutt and a sharp kick in the shin, Sevika threw Vi back into a stumble, causing her to drop to one knee to recover herself.

“Honestly, I was expecting the other one,” Sevika said in her deep rough voice as she rolled a shoulder. “You guys always kept us guessing, didn’t you?”

Vi didn’t answer, just jumped forward to make as if to punch Sevika and dropping last second into a low kick, knocking the vampire’s leg the wrong way. Sevika stumbled back, grabbing at Vi’s shoulder sleeve and pulling her forward to punch her directly in the jaw.

Spitting out blood from a cut lip as she recovered from the hit, Vi hit back at the vampire as the two struck at each other, blocking blows and grunting when strikes did hit. Vi tackled Sevika to knock her into the wall and Sevika hit her in the back, knocking her down.

Vi scrambled to stand up and the vampire pulled back her hand, her talons extended and she sliced down at Vi, hitting her in the thigh. Vi cried out and Sevika kicked her into the opposite wall.

Chest heaving, Vi began to push herself up and cried out in pain at the deep cut in her leg. Sevika put a foot on Vi’s chest and pushed her back down.

“Relax. I’m not wasting my time trying to kill you.” The vampire stepped back and leaned against the wall across the alley. She pulled a cigar and a lighter from her pockets and lit them, smirking over at Vi as she smoked. Vi glared back as she caught her breath, holding her hand to the bleeding gash in her leg. She could feel the familiar itch of it healing together, faster than it normally took.

“You know,” Sevika took a long, casual drag of her cigar, pulling it back to grin at it, smoke spilling from her mouth in tendrils. “There’s something I really appreciate about being able to smoke. It really adds to my character, doesn’t it.”

She glanced over at Vi, still grinning as she exhaled the remainder of the smoke in her lungs. “Can’t taste food, can’t stand in the sun, can’t get close to anyone without having to either kill then, or watch them die…”

Sevika took another long, deep inhale of her cigar, letting it out with a satisfied sigh and watching the smoke billow into the air. She smirked over towards Vi. “But smoking without have to worry about all those cancers is pretty nice.”

Vi grimaced at her, holding her thigh together as the wound slowly stitched itself up. Sevika eyed the slowing blood flow with interest, not hunger. She glanced up to meet Vi’s eyes, smirk spreading into a wickeder grin.

“How’s she doing?”

“Fuck you.” Vi spat back.

“That bad, huh?” The vampire’s amused tone didn’t waver as she adjusted her lean against the wall. Vi glared, but stayed silent. Sevika’s eyes dropped back down to the healing wound.

“So it does work that way, then? The worse one of you are the faster the other heals?”

Vi gritted her teeth but didn’t answer. Sevika didn’t seem to mind the silence.

“She ever manage to eat? Can’t be going too well for her with the tank empty.”

Again, Vi stayed silent.

“So I was reading,” Sevika continued, shifting to a slightly more comfortable stance as the smoke wove it’s way up from her cigar, “had my guys look it up. And we tried, we really did, but we couldn’t find any examples of a bonded vampire who goes feral. What it does to their…” she trailed off, nodding at Vi before giving another grin. “So this’ll be fun to see.”

Vi sneered back at her. “It’s not going to happen.”

“No? Because I’m pretty sure if she was going to accept your offer she’d have taken it by now. Face it,” the vampire took another drag of her cigar, “she either doesn’t want you or wants you too much but either way, it’s going to drive her crazy. And I’m just here to watch the show.”

Gritting her teeth, Vi pushed herself against the still sore but now mostly healed wound into a stand, using the wall to help leverage herself. Sevika made no move, watching her with interest as Vi wobbled on her weak muscles.

“I have shit to do,” Vi bit out, turning her back and limping away best she could to not reveal how much pain she was in.

“It wasn’t supposed to be her, you know.”

Vi knew it was only said to stop her leaving, wanted to resist giving the vampire what she wanted, but concern and curiosity was stronger than her pride.

She turned, just slightly, looking back out of the corner of her eye.

Sevika nodded just slightly ahead, in the vague direction of Caitlyn’s apartment, eyes watching Vi the whole time. “Your sister fucked it up with her whole revenge deal.”

“You fucked it up with the whole plan in the first place.” Vi shot back. “We’d still be in the same place because I wouldn’t have gone through with it any more than she did.”

“You sure about that?” Sevika asked in reply, looking entirely unbothered as she brought her cigar to her lips. “You’re still here because back then she was soft. Were you?”

Vi exhaled and turned, walking away without an answer, jaw clenched and hands fisted in her jacket pocket. She heard Sevika scoff behind her, amused.

~

The apartment was dark still when Vi returned, and she flicked on the lights cautiously to the see the room pretty much in the same state as she left it. Dropping off the small bag of groceries on the kitchen island, taking out and shelving the ones that needed in the fridge, she looked around warily at the quiet space.

“Caitlyn?”

When silence greeted her again she walked down to the bathroom, poking her head inside. The room was empty, the bathtub sparkling white and cleaned, the pet carrier and rabbit gone.

Exiting the bathroom Vi looked down the end of the hall to Caitlyn’s bedroom.

Carefully, she began to walk down to the closed door, seeing the faint soft light glowing at the edges to indicate a lamp was on inside. Clearing her throat Vi tried again, knocking her knuckles against the wood.

“Cait?”

When there was still no answer, Vi hesitated for a second. She took the door handle and began to turn it, slowly, pushing the door open carefully. “Hey, I’m coming in.”

When by halfway she hadn’t received any protest, Vi opened the door fully to see Caitlyn standing by her bedroom window, dressed in a housecoat, the wall-to-ceiling curtains drawn back so she could stand and look outside into the night. She didn’t move as Vi opened the door.

“Hey,” Vi said, quiet, cautious. “You feel better?”

Caitlyn’s shoulders slumped slightly, in maybe a defeated sigh. When she didn’t otherwise move, Vi moved up slowly to stand beside her, looking over at the taller woman.

Stoic, staring out the dark window at the city with her arms wrapped around her stomach, Caitlyn’s face was barely lit and carved in shadow, pink glowing the rim of her eyes, cheeks sunken and thin fangs poking out the corner of her lips. After a moment, without looking over at Vi, she spoke in a thin rasp.

“You have to go.”

Vi shook her head, voice firm as she replied. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Vi, I’m going to kill you.”

“No,” Vi stepped forward, leaning over slightly more to try and better look the vampire in the eye. “You aren’t. You’re better than that.”

Caitlyn was quiet for a second before whispering. “I don’t think I am.”

“You are. Caitlyn, you’re starving, I get there’s a risk but I think we’re at the point where out of the two outcomes…”

Emotion passed over Caitlyn’s expression, still avoiding Vi’s gaze as the vampire swallowed thickly. “You don’t know who I am anymore.”

“No,” Vi admitted, not wavering. “But I know who you were. And I know the strongest parts of you, the parts that got into this mess because you cared about people, cared about making a difference, making things better, I know those parts haven’t changed.”

“Vi…”

“I saw Sevika.” Vi waved a hand toward the window to gesture to the vague outside. “She knows you’re going to refuse, she’s counting on it. She wants to see what happens when you go feral, for her own fucked up amusement. Are you really going to let her win? Because, what, you’re scared you might never see me again, when we already haven’t seen each other in a lifetime?”

Caitlyn pressed her mouth together, staring out the window, her fingers worrying at the folds of her housecoat on her arms. Vi continued.

“The bitch doesn’t have some big plan, there’s no great conspiracy, there’s just I fucked up trying to kill her years ago and her deciding to play with us now.”

She reached forward and took Caitlyn’s arms, pulling them apart with no resistance from the vampire. Vi gently pulled Caitlyn to turn to face her, Caitlyn stubbornly staring out the window until the last second. Finally turning to face Vi, the blue of her eyes so bright against the pink, her expression so incredibly tired. Vi stepped forward, raising herself as tall as she could to match up to the other women, holding her gaze and hoping her expression communicated everything she wanted it to.

“Don’t lose yourself because of me.”

There was a brief pause between them, Caitlyn’s eyes searching Vi’s for a second, irises pulsing almost completely filled with pink now.

And then her hand shot up to grab at the back of Vi’s head, pulling her close to crush their mouths together.

Chapter Text

Caitlyn had felt pain before. The sharp pain of a knife slicing her palm in an errant cooking accident, the hot pain of water heated a bit too high in the shower pipes, the heavy pain of falling from a ladder in the library, the dull, aching pain of a hard day’s training with Vi.

But none of them compared to the pain she felt now, tearing her from the black of unconsciousness and making her want to curl up and scream until she fell back into darkness, shooting through every nerve and blood vessel of her body, stabbing her though the gut.

She tried to make any noise at all and all that came out was a whimper.

Her hands scrapped against the floorboards below her, a noise that screeched through her ears and she flinched. Coughing, trying to spit out the foul taste in her mouth, she found it difficult for her to intake any breath at all. Her lungs burned. Her whole chest hurt, sharp stabbing pain and dull ache together. It felt like she was drowning in ice water, freezing and burning and suffocating and she began to shake with panic.

“Caitlyn!”

Vi. Vi’s voice, cutting through the ringing in her ears, the distracting buzzing in the back of her mind interrupted by a warm hand on her cold shoulder. Vi was crouching in front of her, worry in her wide eyes as she helped Caitlyn sit back slightly. Caitlyn blinked her eyes open, up to look at her and Vi’s eyes widened even more when their gazes met.

“Shit.” Vi swore, looking around the room and then back down to Caitlyn. “Shit, are you feeling okay? We have to get you out of here.”

“What-“ Caitlyn was cut off as she began to cough violently again, feeling Vi’s hand rubbing and patting aimlessly on her back.

As the coughing fit slowed down Vi gently, but insistently, pushed at Caitlyn’s shoulders, trying to get her to stand in a hurried fashion. Caitlyn nodded in an attempt to indicate she understood as she wheezed against the burn in her lungs.

Leaning against Vi to help support her attempt to get up, Caitlyn clutched to her arm, vaguely aware of just how warm Vi felt under her hand. Everywhere Vi pressed against her felt warm. It was a pleasant distraction from how Caitlyn’s body hurt, burned yet felt so cold.

Her eyes focused as they stood, taking in the candlelight of the half melted candles on the table, the tea place settings, the cracked teapot lying on it’s side as from it’s spout dripped dark red…

Oh.

“Vi?” Caitlyn turned to the hunter beside her, who had followed her gaze to the table with a pained expression on her face. Vi looked back over to Caitlyn, swallowing tightly.

“We have to go,” she said in a strained voice. Her hand on Caitlyn’s arm squeezed gently, reassuring but Caitlyn could feel the fear in it. Vi tugged her arm, leading her forward.

“Powder…” Caitlyn swallowed, looking around the empty room. “I… Jinx I mean. Vi, where-?”

“Gone.” Vi’s voice came out flatly, slightly strained. “She just untied me and left. Told me I changed too much, told me to have-“ she shook her head, clearing her throat. “Fuck. What happened to her?”

“Being turned can often cause madness,” Caitlyn recited almost automatically. She caught how Vi stiffened at that and reached over to place her hand on top of the other hunter’s, squeezing lightly. “I’m sorry.” Caitlyn said lightly. “It’s not your fault.”

Vi didn’t look at her, didn’t answer. She just tugged lightly on Caitlyn’s arm again and said thickly “we need to go.”

Caitlyn just nodded and let Vi help her out of the room.

The room Powd- Jinx had held them in wasn’t actually a dining hall at all, but seemed to have been a side room in an old industrial warehouse that had suffered a devastating fire at some point. As Vi supported Caitlyn walking outside into the moonlight, Caitlyn began to cough again. The spasms tore through her, like a knife cutting her open, causing her to stumble. Vi caught her as she tipped forward.

“You okay?” Vi asked, quiet, sounding exhausted herself. Caitlyn inhaled a shaky, wheezy breath and did her best to nod. “We have to…” she looked up, around with a frown as if searching for something. “Hey, this way.”

Slowly, they walked out onto the empty street and down through the nighttime shadows, Vi pausing on occasion as Caitlyn coughed up another fit, or to adjust Caitlyn’s arm around her shoulder to help support her better. After an agonizing time Vi slowed them in front of what looked to be an old apartment building, also worn and damaged from time.

“We used to have a spot here, when there was more of us.” Vi said quietly, as way of explanation in Caitlyn’s silent curiosity. “I guess that’s why she…”

Caitlyn just nodded, coughing lightly. Vi set her jaw and led them around the side to the fire escape.

The climb was slow, and Caitlyn was grateful for Vi’s patience and strength as she helped her up the metal railings to the floor Vi had decided was their destination. Struggling to shove open the old window, until she finally managed to succeed, Vi shouldered it open and helped Caitlyn walk through. The building was musty, unused for goodness knows how long. Caitlyn wondered if it was truly healthy to try and heal up here.

“Shouldn’t we try to make it back to the church?” She asked weakly as Vi began testing doorknobs. “To get healing supplies?” Vi shook her head as she jostled another door.

“I’m alright and you’re… it’d take too long.”

“Longer than resting here first?”

“Too long until,” Vi paused, swallowing noticeably. “It’s almost dawn.”

Just then she seemed to have found success with a broken door, unlocked and swinging open on the hinge when she tried it out. She beckoned Caitlyn inside, closing the door behind them. It was a small, modest apartment with basic furniture - a kitchenette and dinning table, a seating area, what looked like a bedroom with a bed off to one side. As Caitlyn looked about, Vi grabbed a chair and used it to help jam the door shut.

“Wouldn’t dawn be safer?” Caitlyn finally asked as Vi went to inspect the bedroom. She followed after the other hunter, watching Vi test the curtains closed in a way that made the room incredibly dark. Then Vi seemed to pause mid-motion, turning to look at Caitlyn.

“Do you… Caitlyn, do you remember what happened?” She asked, voice low and careful.

Caitlyn swallowed, feeling lightly irritated. She was exhausted, thirsty, hungry and this place had nothing useful for them except an old bed when it was already so close to dawn. They needed rest, but they also needed help, and Vi was-

“Cait,” Vi interrupted her with a quiet tone, approaching her slowly. “We can’t go outside in the dawn.”

“And why not?” Caitlyn huffed. Vi looked pained.

“Do this for me, would you?” She asked, catching Caitlyn’s attention and as she watched Vi bite her lower lip with her top teeth. Frowning, Caitlyn went to also bite her lower lip and felt the incredibly sharp, unnaturally long points at the corner.

Oh.

Oh.

She gasped, hand flying up to her mouth as she suddenly remembered. The tea pot, the blood, Jinx… Jinx… she slapped a hand over the side of her neck, where no evidence of a wound sat but she could feel a phantom pain of it anyway. Vi looked beside herself with worry.

“I thought you knew, remembered, I’m sorry. But we can’t just ignore this, Caitlyn, we have to-“

“We don’t!” Caitlyn snapped, hand still over her mouth. “This is a trick or something, I’m having a bad dream, none of this is real.”

“Cait.”

Vi stood there, pity in her expression. Caitlyn turned, unable to look at her, staring at the bed as she shook her head rapidly. “This isn’t real, it’s not.”

“You need to eat soon, you remember what-“

“Shut up!” Caitlyn whirled around, hands fisted at her side as she cut Vi off with a shout.

Vi drew back, fear and concern on her face at Caitlyn’s outburst. Caitlyn breathed heavily, anger boiling over as she squared her shoulders and tried desperately not to think about how she could hear Vi’s heartbeat and how… she swallowed and felt her tongue brush against her sharp fangs.

The anger burning in her immediately evaporated, her legs grew weak under her and she silently sat down on the bed. She stared at the floor of the small, dusty room, the lines that that separated the tiling of the wood, the grain of the worn and cracking boards, the dust motes that floated in the dim candlelight of the lamp. Tried to ground herself, convince herself this was a dream, something, anything but focus on the gnawing feeling of hunger.

Vi hesitated slightly and moved forward, sitting down beside Caitlyn on the bed without speaking. She rested a hand against Caitlyn’s knee, the contact soothing and burning all at once, watching her closely.

“You okay?” Vi asked, the worry evident in her voice. Caitlyn felt her eyes burn at the question, like she wanted to cry but she wasn’t even sure if she could cry anymore in this… this state. Vi’s hand on her knee squeezed, warmth and comfort and an absolute waste. Caitlyn chased after that warmth, ducking over to grab Vi into a hug, feeling the hunter stiffen and then melt into the touch.

“I’m sorry,” Caitlyn’s voice was almost a whimper, as she buried her face in Vi’s shoulder. “I’m just… I’m so hungry.”

Vi ran her hand through Caitlyn’s hair, hearing Caitlyn’s useless breath rattling as she inhaled. Almost a wheezing, like her body hasn’t caught on she doesn’t have to breath anymore and doesn’t understand why oxygen isn’t soothing.

“Cait…” Vi’s voice started, and she could hear Vi swallowing, hear her heartbeat thudding like a drum, the sound of it making her nauseous.

“No,” Caitlyn shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You have to, we both know if you don’t eat soon…” Vi trailed off, doesn’t finish. Caitlyn’s hand on her shoulder clenched slightly as she let out another whimper.

She knew Vi was right. She knew, they both knew, the consequences of a vampire that doesn’t feed soon enough after first turning.

And the hunger is starting to burn.

Softly, Vi’s hand drifted up to gently brush at Caitlyn’s hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear with far too much tenderness for the monster Caitlyn was.

“Powder’s gone,” Vi said quietly, hand still absently stroking at Caitlyn’s hair. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

She held out her arm, holding it just in front of Caitlyn, and she began to untie the wrappings she usually wore when they were out hunting, unwinding them from around her arm until the last loops fell away. The dingy white bandage wraps gone, revealing her bare forearm and the thin blue webbing of veins in her wrist.

Caitlyn licked her lips in spite of herself, starving and horrified.

“I’ll tell you to stop,” Vi murmured into the top of Caitlyn’s head, kissing at her hair like she was trying to sooth her during a storm. “You just need enough so you don’t lose your mind. So we can figure what happens next.”

She brought her arm up closer again, offering it again with a little insistent movement.

Gingerly, Caitlyn reached forward and took Vi’s arm gently with her fingers, swallowing. She almost glanced back over to Vi, but the thought of looking at her in this moment was almost the more terrifying of prospects. She ran her tongue over her fangs again, as the insistent hunger flared.

“Okay.”

~

Caitlyn had tasted blood before, sharp in her mouth, metal and salt, all together unpleasant. She was always curious if it tasted any different to vampires or if the need for it just canceled out any issues regarding flavour.

Now it seemed she’d gotten an answer to that curiosity as she hesitated over Vi’s wrist and could almost smell the blood inside, pulsing and beckoning to her. Igniting the hunger in her gut like the finest smelling meal.

Bringing Vi’s wrist up to her mouth, she kissed at the soft skin there, feeling Vi stiffen and hear her inhale sharply at the contact. Then the stronger need, the new instincts, pushed her forward and she bit down, felt her teeth pierce the skin, felt the blood spill into her mouth.

Nothing had ever felt this satisfying before.

Caitlyn was vaguely aware of Vi gasping beside her, of the girl’s other hand clutching at her back for support. Was vaguely aware of her own moan at the relief of the hunger threatening her. She drank and drank, the blood in her throat hot like a good tea, leaving her feeling light headed and deliciously greedy.

A hand ran through her hair, tugging weakly at it, and she was just barely herself enough to register the signal. She pulled back, watching the bite on Vi’s arm begin to heal itself almost immediately and it took considerable willpower to not sink her teeth into the spot again. Quickly, Caitlyn took the wrap Vi had idly dropped on her lap and began to rebandage the arm to help it heal quickly.

She raised her head to check on Vi, about to apologize for almost losing herself. Instead, she was surprised at Vi’s expression. Eyes half-lidded, lips parted, watching her with an energy that Caitlyn couldn’t place, but ignited a hunger inside her that she knew matched.

Vi’s hand came up and rested on Caitlyn’s jaw, thumb brushing slowly and softly against her bottom lip.

The new hunger flared up, burned away the old now that she’d fed, white hot and greedy and demanding satisfaction. She didn’t want blood or food or air or anything else at this moment. She wanted… wanted,

“Vi.”

No sooner than the words had whispered from her mouth than she found herself leaning forward slightly against Vi, their lips together in a kiss.

It was soft, brief, a chaste peck like the ones Caitlyn has shared with acquaintances at galas and events. But the duration of it meant nothing for the intensity it made Caitlyn feel. They pulled apart barely an inch, separated only for a couple breaths before Vi leaned back in and kissed her again.

This one lasted longer, still slow, still chaste, and entirely damning, sending a thrill through her that was incredible, and distracting and consuming. When Vi began to pull them apart again, Caitlyn reached up to place a hand on her cheek and pull her back in for another.

The kiss didn’t satisfy the new hunger at all, only made it burn hotter with need and desperation. Vi could feed her, was the only thing that could satisfy this new craving she needed as much as blood, more, the warmth of her, the life of her made Caitlyn feel alive again. She could taste Vi’s blood as they kissed, that sweet addictive flavour only adding to this new rush she felt at every brush of Vi’s fingers on her sides, the weight of Vi as she turned to press closer to Caitlyn, moving her to lie back against the bed.

“I wanted,” Vi gasped into her mouth as Caitlyn’s head hit the mattress, kissing her again and again between breathless words, “to do this. For so long. Didn’t want.”

She pressed her forehead against Caitlyn’s, breathing laboured. “Want to regret losing you.” She kissed Caitlyn hard then, pressing her head back into the bed, hands buried in the hem Caitlyn’s shirt while she grasped at her hips.

“I’m sorry,” Caitlyn gasped back, losing herself in the feeling of Vi kissing her, desperate to pretend this was something that could last. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Vi murmured into the kiss, one hand drifting under the cotton fabric of Caitlyn’s top, thumb brushing up the shirt to press against skin. “It’s not your fault.”

Vi pulled back, breathing heavy, pupils blown as she licked at her lips. She glanced down Caitlyn’s body and back up, hesitantly. “Do you want this?”

“Please, Vi,” Caitlyn managed through the tightness of her chest, the ever present reminder that her heart wasn’t thudding the way she always imagined this moment it would. “Before it feels too real. Before we have to…” she absently lifted a hand to rest above her still heart. This was a distraction she needed. She needed to not think.

“Don’t talk like that,” Vi kissed her again, hand stroking through Caitlyn’s hair possessively as she pushed her hips into Caitlyn, both of them gasping at the pressure. Vi lifted back slightly and Caitlyn chased after her, kissing her again, and again.

“I’m so sorry,” Caitlyn slipped a hand under Vi’s shirt, felt the other women shiver as the sensation of her dragging soft fingertips down her spine. “I think I… I wanted this too.”

“I said don’t.” Vi pushed her down onto the bed again, kissing her long and deep, her hand pushing up Caitlyn’s shirt to rest on her rib cage just under her breast and cause Caitlyn to whine. Vi whined in return, hips rocking down onto Caitlyn’s, rolling and adjusting her thigh between the other woman’s legs. One of Caitlyn’s fangs scratched over Vi’s bottom lip and the hunter let out a groan.

Their hips started both to roll against each other insistently, searching for a connection neither of them was sure how to make, the sensation driving Caitlyn further and further into a desperate frenzy. She needed Vi, needed to feel her skin and her pulse, needed to feel her come apart, Vi to make her fall apart.

Kisses became messier, wetter, Vi’s mouth moving down to kiss at the point of Caitlyn’s jaw, down her neck to the hollow of her throat.

“Vi, god, I-“

Mouth open against Caitlyn’s skin, Vi made a noise, one that wasn’t quite a whine but still sounded incredibly needy. Caitlyn tilted her head back, gave Vi more access, and made a noise of her own.

Vi moved up and kissed her again, hand on Caitlyn’s skin moving down to push at the waistband of her trousers. She tugged down and Caitlyn lifted her hips to allow the pants to be pulled, loosened lower onto her waist. Vi hummed at the contact, hand warm on Caitlyn’s hip, squeezing.

Then, hesitatingly slow, Vi’s hand slid under the waistband. Vi moved back so she could look at Caitlyn, making eye contact as her fingers brushed down to the core of her and both of them sucked in a breath.

They kissed again, frantic, Vi swallowing the noises Caitlyn made while Vi’s fingers did their work, until Caitlyn was wrapping her arm around Vi’s back, shuddering against her hand, kissing her hard until her fangs scratched Vi’s lip and bled into their mouths. Caitlyn sucked at the wound while Vi gripped her hair, pulled her to sit up.

Clothes were removed, hands desperate to stay on skin, Vi’s desperate to continue touching Caitlyn and making her jerk again, drawing out more small gasps as Caitlyn tried to press her hips closer.

Caitlyn slipped a leg between Vi’s, pressing it up and feeling the hunter groan at the contact and rock down to chase it. They stayed like that for a time, pressing against each other, the heat of Vi’s body intoxicatingly soothing. Caitlyn could feel Vi’s heartbeat, could hear it, the signs of how Vi was alive still.

“Bite me,” Caitlyn gasped, a hand clutching in Vi’s hair as she stretched back her head, exposed her neck. She didn’t want to remember a moment of that night, remember the last time she was alive like that. She wanted this to be the last night she was alive, here in Vi’s arms, let her die by Vi instead of… “I want it to be you.” She guided Vi to the place on her neck where the phantom pain of her death still ached. Vi breathed against it, hot living air and Caitlyn screwed her eyes shut.

“You want me to…” Vi asked quietly, trailing off. Caitlyn nodded.

“Please, Vi,”

With a tentative, small noise in the back of her throat Vi kissed the spot, pulling back to look at Caitlyn again, her pale blue eyes dark and wanting and more emotional than Caitlyn could have ever thought to see them.

“Please,” Caitlyn whispered again.

Nodding, Vi bent her head to the side and kissed the spot again, sucking slightly, digging her teeth into the skin. Sparks, a feeling of pure fire, burned through Caitlyn at the contact and she buried a hand in Vi’s hair, whining at the feeling. Vi groaned through her teeth, hips still rolling erratically against the leg Caitlyn had bent between them.

As a new wave of pure sensation rolled through her body, Vi groaning into her throat, Caitlyn couldn’t help feel how finally, purposefully alive she felt in this moment and whatever happened with them afterwards, she at this moment, this right now.

Now was perfect.

~

Caitlyn’s eyes fluttered open, a warm pleasant feeling surrounding her like the comfort of her own bed. She hummed contentedly, turning over in the sheets to wrap herself up in them, to look over at her large bay window to the sunlight and—

There was no bay window, no sunlight. There was a grey stone wall, a dark and carpeted room, a small window blocked out by thick curtain sheets. The room was sparse except for a single chair, a small vanity with a cracked mirror and the bed that Caitlyn was occupying.

She sat up, suddenly aware of her naked body, remembering. She had been captured, Vi had brought her here, she and Vi had…

Caitlyn had…

In a scramble, she got up and found her clothing where it had been strewn about and got dressed hurriedly. She didn’t know where Vi had gone — to get food, or help, or, Caitlyn swallowed, matters to deal with Caitlyn.

Getting herself dressed slowly, Caitlyn absently smoothed out her hair, standing to go and check her reflection in the mirror. She went over to the vanity to check herself in the dirty glass and-

Oh.

Of course.

Swallowing a sour taste in her mouth, Caitlyn absently ran her tongue over the fangs in her mouth and blinked back the tears. She waved a hand close to the mirror, as if to make sure, but she could see nothing reflected but the room behind her.

Caitlyn let her hand fall, unsure what to do. She was… dead. All things considered. She was dead, brought back as a monster, she had… made love with her partner who had spent a lifetime focused on killing the kind of monster she now was.

She placed her hand on her heart, as if she needed the lack of heartbeat to confirm what the lack of reflection and fangs could not. Patting against the breastbone in almost a fluttery way, Caitlyn pulled herself away from the vanity and began to pace the room.

Was Vi gone because of regret? Had she left to get tools to take care of Caitlyn? Plans to ash Caitlyn or capture her? Would the underground accept a vampire as one of their own?

God, what of Caitlyn’s family? They had grown apart a bit since Caitlyn had begun sneaking off to become a monster killer, but could she really go back home now, like this?

How was Caitlyn going to feed?

Panic set in Caitlyn’s bones, her hands wringing as she breathed steadily to try and calm herself before catching what she was doing. She laughed humourlessly — the breathing was pointless wasn’t it? She was dead.

She was dead.

Slowing her pacing, Caitlyn glanced around the room again and fixed her gaze on the curtains of the window. She could see the sunlight peeking through one small tear, a beam of light on the floor. Without hesitating, she began to walk toward it, deliberately. If she tore open the curtain maybe it would be quick, maybe she could-

“Caitlyn?”

Vi’s voice made Caitlyn pause, as she heard the chair shoved back under the handle in the main area and heavy footsteps toward the bedroom. Vi appeared, alone, looking curious and hopeful. “You’re up.” She said, blinking.

“Only just.” Caitlyn answered, and she must have sounded emotional because Vi had suddenly moved forward quickly, was standing in front of her with a gently hold on her arms. Caitlyn let herself be pulled in for a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around the shorter woman.

“Hey,” Vi patted her back and began to lead her to the bed, sitting them both down at the edge. “How you doing, things okay?”

“Are things okay?” Caitlyn said with almost a laugh. “Are things okay?”

“Yeah, dumb question.”

“I’m a…” Caitlyn fidgeted her hands in front of her, not even able to say it. “Vi I’m, what am I, what are we doing?” She looked over at Vi, her messy short hair, her freckles, her pale grey eyes. Caitlyn was certain if she was able to cry she would be right now. “What are we going to do?” She asked, barely audible.

Vi didn’t answer at first, just brought a hand up to press it against Caitlyn’s jaw. Gently, she leaned forward and kissed Caitlyn softly before pulling back, gently running her thumb over Caitlyn’s cheek. Caitlyn reached up to press a hand against Vi’s and shook her head, lying back into the bed to stare at the ceiling.

“I’m scared.” She whispered, feeling Vi lie down beside her. Caitlyn turned onto her side to see Vi looking over at her, could see the familiar crease of her eyebrow as she tried to hide her worry.

“Hey,” Vi said quietly. “We’ll figure it out.”

Caitlyn didn’t answer, didn’t know how to answer. Vi silently reached forward and brushed a finger against Caitlyn’s cheek. Caitlyn grabbed her hand, squeezed it tightly, held onto it like an anchor.

“We’ll figure it out.” Vi murmured again.

Vi’s back hit the bed forcefully, Caitlyn’s crawling on top of her in nearly an instant to rejoin the kiss as she pushed her against the soft comforter. Vi didn’t complain, only dug her fingers into Caitlyn’s hair as they moved together, shifting up further into the mattress as Caitlyn slid a leg between Vi’s and rocked it forward.

Vi let out a grunt, gasping slightly at the pressure and the jolt it sent through her. Caitlyn took the loss of Vi’s mouth smoothly, kissing down her jaw methodically until her lips reached Vi’s neck and paused at the pulse point.

“How long?” Caitlyn asked, her voice a low murmur that buzzed through Vi’s skin and made her bite back a desperate noise.

“Long enough.” As it it wasn’t obvious from how her heart was racing or hips twitching with barely any stimulation at all. Caitlyn hummed and leaned to kiss Vi again, moving to straddle her thigh while her fingers worked their way into Vi’s hair, dragging down to the back of her neck and making Vi arch slightly.

“God,” Caitlyn muttered into Vi’s cheek, “this haircut is ridiculous on you.”

“Shut up,” Vi bucked, trying to keep Caitlyn on task with pressure from her hips.

“Sorry?” Caitlyn pushed herself up, arms framing on either side of Vi’s face, while her own hair curtained hers. The vampire had her very stern, annoyed expression on her face. “You’re the one who never stops talking.” She tossed her head, shaking all her hair to one side before dipping down again to kiss at Vi’s neck.

“Yeah, kinda my thing,” Vi chuckled as the pressure from Caitlyn’s mouth on her throat while pressing a slender thigh up between Vi’s legs to her core made her distractingly dizzy. There was no heat in Caitlyn’s kiss, but the contact made her nerves flare all the same, the scrape of teeth flaring up fight or flight instincts and making her arousal spike. Fuck, it had been too long since she’d been with anyone.

Caitlyn drew back again, fangs bared as she almost panted, eyes nearly full pink, hair hanging already mussed, “You have,” she said in a voice that was a hoarse rasp, strained, jaw muscle clenched. “You have a weapon?”

Nodding, Vi shifted herself to grab her silver and wood penknife out of her pocket and displaying it. Caitlyn flinched slightly when Vi held it up close for her to see, then nodded as Vi reached over to drop it onto the side table. “Use that, if you get concerned.”

“What, no safe word?” Vi quipped. Caitlyn didn’t smile back.

“You’re lucky I’m lucid enough to keep talking,” she said, dipping down to kiss Vi again, fangs pressing into her Vi’s lips hard enough to bruise. “I’m so, fucking hungry,” she kissed down Vi’s jaw again, down to the pulse point of her throat, making a small little noise when she got there. “And it’s you.”

“Yeah,” Vi breathed as she felt Caitlyn gently mouth at the spot, “it’s me.”

“When did you get this tattoo?” Caitlyn’s asked, her words making short puffs of breath against the skin. Vi hummed.

“About ten years ago? I went through some stuff.”

“Hmm.” Caitlyn rested her mouth pensively against the inked skin, humming a bit while Vi felt her heart pounding at the pressure against her neck and between her legs. And then the vampire let out a low growl, and bit down.

When Caitlyn sunk her teeth into Vi’s neck, the flare of pain and rush of adrenaline made Vi’s entire body snap taut and arc into the vampire’s body above her, gasping sharply. Caitlyn moaned as she kept her bite firm, bringing a hand up to Vi’s cheek and rolling her hips down to soothe or distract.

It worked, Vi letting her eyes flutter closed as she let the swirl of sensations shut off her thinking, digging her heels into the plush mattress.

Let the feeling of Cait drinking from her sooth her nerves even as it built up her arousal, reducing everything to that single spot of dull pain and the weight of the taller woman pressing down on her.

Caitlyn released the bite earlier than Vi expected, grabbing Vi’s jaw and kissing her bruisingly, hands roaming in her hair, on her body. Vi was suddenly aware of how dressed they were and ran her hands under Caitlyn’s shirt to scratch nails down her back. Caitlyn hissed and scratched at Vi’s side in return, too hard, causing Vi to cry out from the pain. Caitlyn muffled the noise with another kiss.

It became a scramble then, clothing torn and tangled in limbs, nails scratching, Caitlyn biting at Vi again and again, Caitlyn’s mouth buried in Vi’s cunt drawing out her orgasm, teeth buried in her thigh drawing out her blood. Vi pulling her hair, pushing her off when it got too much. She managed flipping the vampire over, bringing Caitlyn to the edge with swift flicks of her thumb against her as nails like claws dug into her shoulder.

Caitlyn had barely come down when she pushed up to a seat, kissing Vi and pressing her back down to straddle her again, Vi gripping her ass, mouthing and biting at Caitlyn’s breast as the vampire hovered over her, two fingers buried deep as they moved together.

“God,” Vi gasped, head thrown back when a particularly rough curl of Caitlyn’s fingers made her see stars, “god, fuck, when did- you got- fuck.”

Her orgasm got her off guard, a vertigo-like rush that had her gripping the sheets to try and ground herself, Caitlyn not relenting in her pace but instead leaning down, holding Vi down with her body weight, teeth pressing but not puncturing the spot on Vi’s neck where she had already fed, wound already healed.

“Tell me to stop,” the vampire murmured, scraping her teeth on Vi’s throat. “So dangerous how addictive you are,” her voice whispered out before she bit down once more in the tender spot, sharp teeth sending shocks through Vi’s nerves as the vampire drank again.

“Shit, shit, shit, fuck, C-Caitlyn,” Vi gasped out weakly, hands loosely gripping at the vampire’s bare back, her vision darkening. A muffled ringing began to cloud her ears, vaguely recalling to Vi a time she’d almost drowned, and she closed her eyes and let herself fall into the feeling. A small part of her fought, knew she had to stop Caitlyn, exhaustion from the orgasms and pain adrenaline and blood loss hitting her hard; that warning part was too quiet and Vi let herself be taken instead by the sensation, until her vision went black and she felt nothing at all.

~

Vi woke up too hot, the air stuffy and thick. She woke up gasping, sitting upright as her lungs desperately tried to expand, one hand clawed to her bare chest as her heart pounded against her rib cage.

A few panicked, dizzying seconds passed before Vi was able take in a solid breath, sweet air finally filling her lungs, oxygen in her blood again. With a few deep inhales she calmed herself, taking a pause to take stock of the rest of the pain around her body. Bruises in places from where Caitlyn had bitten her, healing scratches, a pain in her knee from a sharp twist when they had been fumbling against each other.

Vi let out a pained hiss as she adjusted herself, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. She took a deep breath.

“You’re awake then.”

At the sound of the curt, clipped accent Vi looked up to see Caitlyn standing in the door, dressed in a casual shirt and joggers combination, hair in a ponytail. She looked much healthier now, more filled out, skin flushed back to a more living colour. Her eyes now solely a bright blue.

Offering her a weak grin, Vi shifted to push herself off the bed, groaning again at her stiff muscles. Caitlyn’s eyes flickered over her, the edge of her mouth twitching slightly as she frowned.

“You look a mess.”

“Your handiwork,” Vi replied cooly, looking over for her clothing. Caitlyn made an impatient huffing noise and walked over to grab her housecoat off the floor and handing it to the hunter. Vi took it with a nod, wrapping it around herself. “Feel better?” She asked as she tied the coat together.

Caitlyn just made the huffing noise again, eyes tracing over Vi’s face with a concerned expression. It made Vi feel self conscious; she swallowed and looked away.

“I brought myself some food,” she changed the subject, beginning to leave the bedroom and trying not to look like she felt as sore as she did. “Mind if I use your kitchen?”

Caitlyn didn’t answer, but followed Vi out and to the kitchen, quietly present just behind her. Vi kept her focus on opening the fridge and grabbing the egg cartons. She’d forgotten how unnervingly… vampire Caitlyn could be.

Vi grabbed two eggs from the carton. Caitlyn wordlessly took out a frying pan from under the sink, rinsing off the dust from it and handing it over. Vi took it with a nod and placed it on the stove, cracking the eggs into it and taking the offered spatula as she watched the eggs fry up.

It was quiet between them for a moment before Caitlyn spoke.

“You were supposed to stop me.”

Vi just snorted. Caitlyn frowned. “I nearly killed you,” she continued. “You were lucky I noticed you had fallen unconscious, if I hadn’t then, you-“ she stopped herself, gritting her teeth.

“I had a good time,” Vi shrugged, tapping at the side of the pan with the spatula.

“Vi.”

Vi resisted rolling her eyes as she nudged at the eggs. “Regrets are for consequences. Everything worked out.”

“That is a terrible philosophy.”

“I dunno,” Vi turned slightly, leaning her hip against the counter, eyes still on the eggs before she ventured a glance up to Caitlyn. “It’s worked out pretty good for me so far.”

Caitlyn looked as though she wanted to say something else, but simply made a tight lipped expression and exhaled heavily through her nose.

Vi didn’t speak again, focusing passive aggressively on her eggs until she was happy with them, sliding them onto the plate. She grabbed a fork and dug in, regretting that she had forgotten to buy salt, scarfing the meal down.

When she turned her attention back to Caitlyn from her meal, she realized the vampire had walked away from the kitchen and was now hovering over the map on the small dining table they’d put together previously. Vi watched her gently touch a finger along the map, studying it.

Tossing her empty plate into the sink, Vi rinsed her hands and dried them on her pants, walking over to the table where Caitlyn still looked down at the papers they’d spread out.

“So the entire time it was a ruse,” she said idly, tapping at one of the streets they had circled. Vi came to a stop beside her, looking down at the map while Caitlyn spoke. “She was just toying with us to try and what? Get us to kill each other?”

“She’s bored.” Vi shrugged, tapping at the street where Sevika had cornered her. “I’m starting to think I surprised her as much as she did me back those couple of months ago, and she followed me here when I tracked you down for… something to do.”

“Revenge as a form of entertainment,” Caitlyn mused. She looked up at Vi, who looked up too to meet her eyes. Vi swallowed the relived expression she almost felt herself make at the blue in Caitlyn’s eyes.

“Seems right for her,” Vi said instead. Caitlyn nodded, an absent, thoughtful look on her face as she tapped at the paper thoughtfully.

“Well,” the vampire looked down at the map and back up to Vi, with the slightest of smirks. “That backfired on her spectacularly then.”

Vi grinned wolfishly back, sticking her hands in her jean pockets as she rocked back slightly. “We going hunting?”

“There’s no we.” Caitlyn replied cooly, stepping away from the table to walk over to the closet tucked by the hallway She opened it, revealing a laundry basket, coats in dry cleaning bags and a large crossbow hanging from the interior of the door. “I will be hunting and you’re free to do your own hunting at the same time.”

Vi snorted a laugh. “You’re nicer when you’re hungry.”

“Only because I’m less focused,” hummed Caitlyn as she took down and looked the weapon over. “Now I’m able to place all my attention on how,” she aimed the empty crossbow measuring the sight and pulling the trigger. The tension line let out a loud, echoing snap in the apartment, Caitlyn pausing as she seemed to be satisfied with it. “Angry I am.”

Vi just continued to grin and nodded. “Hell yeah. Let’s go bring the party to her.”

Chapter Text

They should have gone back to the church that evening. It was a safer place, cleaner than this old apartment that smelled of dust and mold. Grayson and Vander needed to know that Powder… about Jinx.

About Caitlyn.

But the sunny afternoon turned into a evening filled with bright rays of the slowly setting sun. The beams made the edge of the curtain glow, a red orange hue that filtered through with the light of the candles they had lit. Vi had fallen asleep in the stuffy heat, hand gently resting in Caitlyn’s as they faced each other.

Caitlyn was still awake, sleep heavy in her eyes but unable to actually fall closed. She watched Vi, as the hunter breathed steadily in sleep, the gentle rise and fall of her chest. The soft sound of her breath. The pulse at the side of her neck.

She didn’t know how long she stayed like this, watching Vi sleep, but slowly the glow of the evening faded. Soon the light faded entirely, leaving the room dark, save the dim light of the candles. It was surely night time now.

They should really go back to the church.

Carefully, Caitlyn reached over and brushed aside a strand of loose hair that had fallen on Vi’s cheek, pushing it back. Vi stirred, let out a soft sigh at the contact, and Caitlyn settled back to watching her. Grumbling slightly, Vi began to blink awake, opening her eyes to look up at Caitlyn. Concern and confusion passed through Vi’s eyes for a second before she seemed to realize where they were. She smiled lightly.

“Hey,” she said, voice rough from sleep.

“Hey,” Caitlyn whispered back. “You fell asleep.”

“Mmhmm.” Vi rolled onto her back and lifted her arms overhead to stretch herself out with a low low. Yawning, she rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes to get the sleep out and then groaned, voice a little clearer. “Fuck, what time is it?”

“Nightfall,” replied Caitlyn, adjusting herself on her pillow.

Letting out a heavy puff of air in her exhale, Vi dropped her hands to her chest and looked back over to Caitlyn. Her eyes flickered over Caitlyn’s features, settling on meeting her eyes. “How are you feeling?” She asked, in the kind, worried tone someone would use to speak to someone on their deathbed.

Caitlyn shrugged in response. “Alright.”

“Your eyes look…” Vi reached out, brushing the back of her curled fingers against Caitlyn’s cheek with a touch so soft she barely felt it. The hunter swallowed. “You look normal.”

Caitlyn opened her mouth as if to reply, and then closed it again. She ran her tongue over her fangs inside her mouth, thinking, looking away from Vi’s gaze before snapping her eyes back up. “None of this,” she began, her hand resting against the bed clutching slightly at the worn sheets, “is normal now, is it?”

Vi drew her hand back, nodding slightly.

With a frustrated noise, Caitlyn pushed herself up to sit, staring down at her hands. She didn’t -feel different, she didn’t feel stronger or less alive, she didn’t even feel -cold until she touched something warm. But her fangs prodded her cheeks from the inside and her breathing did nothing and when Vi sat up beside her and took one of her hands Caitlyn flinched away; it was so warm it almost burned.

The hunter dropped her hand back to rest hanging off her bent knees, staring ahead into the dark room as Caitlyn worried at a fang with her tongue.

“I want to cry.”

Caitlyn could sense Vi turning to look at her as she spoke. She stared down at her hands, grimacing with the frustration, voice cracking. “I want to scream. I want to lay down in bed and never move again. I want to open the damned curtains and see the sun.” She closed her hands into tight fists, staring at the pale skin tight over her knuckles, taking a purposeful and useless heavy breath. “I wanted to live a life worth something.”

She frowned, still down at her hands, feeling the pressure of what should be tears at the back of her eyes but the tears never came. She sniffed, more out of habit than need, opening and closing her fists, thinking of how pale they were in the soft moonlight.

It was quiet in the room for a moment, between them, before Vi’s voice quietly cut through.

“I wanted to be a sailor.”

Caitlyn looked over. Vi was sitting in almost a mirror position to hers, hands resting on her knees as she spoke, staring ahead at the empty nothingness.

“I wanted to see the world,” Vi continued, shifting her weight slightly. “When Powder and I were little, we used to go out to the docks and watch the big ships coming in. Flying flags from all over the world.” She let out a light chuckle, shaking her head. “I told my parents I wanted to be a sailor, and they would always smile, just… smile. And I always thought that if I could just get strong enough, lift the crates like the other sailors did, I could do it. I’d be able to see the world.”

She was quiet a minute, and looked up, sighing again. “And then my parents were killed.”

“By vampires.”

Vi didn’t look over to Caitlyn for her interruption, but ran her teeth over her bottom lip and nodded. “We found them and then Vander found us. He’d been hunting the vampires down, saw what they did, took us in.” She lightly smacked her hands together, expression pensive. “And I’ve been fighting them ever since.”

Caitlyn turned her gaze back to her hands, swallowing against a dry throat. Vi continued.

“Powder used to have these awful nightmares from it.” She shook her head, voice strained. “Crying in the middle of the night for years. Jumping at shadows. She wanted to help, she always wanted to help but she was just so… small. She used to be so small. She made mistakes, panicked, a couple of hunters ended up dead. But she stayed my second because we didn’t have anyone else.” Vi ran a thumb over the edge of the bandage one of her wrapped arms. “I had to sneak out all the time to hunt. She caught me a few times. We fought about it. But she was still my second.”

Vi looked over at Caitlyn now, pensive. The moonlight made her eyes almost shimmer like water. “Her nightmares were always about me getting taken or turned. When she was little I would sit up with her, tell her how no matter what I could fight the monsters for her. It became a game: she would come up with crazier monsters and I would come up with ways to fight them.”

“We didn’t play it for years, until you came and she started to have them again.” Vi looked away again, leaning against her arms folded on her legs. “I tried to help, but she started saying you were the monster. And I couldn’t convince her that I wasn’t going to fight you.”

Caitlyn leaned forward to also rest her chin on her folded arms, voice quiet as she remembered something the vampire Powder had said to her. “She told me when she had me captured, that I had ‘stolen’ you.”

Vi let out a humourless laugh. “I told her how I felt about you.” It was silent between them, as Caitlyn waited for Vi to clarify what exactly that meant. Which seemed a ridiculous curiosity considering what they had done, but Caitlyn still wasn’t convinced that Vi’s attraction hadn’t been in some part a side effect of blood loss, or a panicked response to their worlds collectively falling apart.

Neither of them had brought it up yet.

Vi didn’t elaborate, only saying “I think she took it wrong. That’s when we had a fight, when she ran off.”

Caitlyn wanted to reach over and squeeze Vi’s hand, comfort her, but she kept her hands still and together. “It’s not your fault,” she shook her head, “she left on her own choice and anything that happened after that…” she trailed off, not wanting to make the moment about her, about what Vi’s sister had done. Had Powd— Jinx meant for Vi to kill Caitlyn? Hope for this as a twisted revenge?

Vi didn’t speak again, and Caitlyn desperately needed her to, needed to keep distracted from the looming question of what they should do.

“What,” she asked, voice cracking a bit in the silence, “what did you tell her?” When Vi didn’t reply, Caitlyn tried to prod further, to clarify. “About me?”

Vi was quiet for a minute, before her shoulders sagged “I told her you made me feel happy,” Vi looked over at her, eyes searching Caitlyn’s own. “You gave me something new to live for.”

Caitlyn stared back at her, unsure how to respond. 

“If none of this had happened,” Vi continued, “I don’t think I would have ever said anything. I don’t think I realized just how you made me feel happy until I thought that you- you’d—“ she swallowed, eyes dropping down to stare at her feet. “I lost you.”

After a breath she looked back up to Caitlyn, an expression that made Caitlyn’s heart almost feel like it would skip a beat if it could. Quietly, she whispered, “I want to kiss you again.”

Caitlyn smiled, just slightly, leaning in closer. “I want you to, too.”

Vi leaned over and kissed her softly. When she pulled back Caitlyn chased after the kiss, bringing a hand up to hold her there by the cheek. Kissing Vi was warm, alive, and Caitlyn found herself again yearning for it, never wanted to let it go.

She did, finally, relinquish Vi when soft pressure on her jaw pushed her away. Rubbing her thumb slightly against Caitlyn’s cheek, staring her in the eye and Caitlyn couldn’t help the overwhelming emotion at Vi’s tender expression.

“I’m sor-“ she began.

Vi silenced her with another kiss, pressing forward, rolling Caitlyn onto her back. Caitlyn buried her hands in Vi’s hair, wrapped a leg around Vi’s waist, and kept Vi close, for as long as she had her.

“This doesn’t feel real,” Vi groaned into the curve of Caitlyn’s jaw, her hand pressing against the cold skin of her stomach.

“It doesn’t,” Caitlyn pulled her up to kiss her again, “but it is. I’m here with you. You’re with me.” She kissed Vi again, her fangs pressing against the hunter’s bottom lip and dragging a groan out of both of them, the feeling making Caitlyn’s fingers in Vi’s hair curl. She pulled back, feeling oddly breathless despite the lack of it, wanting everything. “Help me undress.”

For the rest of the night they avoided talking, acknowledging anything but each other in the here and now. They opened the windows to let in fresh air, threw back the curtains to pretend the light of the moon could be the day, and lost themselves in exploring each other, until they were left gasping into skin and sheets.

When exhaustion finally caught up to her, Vi fell to the bed beside Caitlyn. Her hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, catching her breath in heaving pants as she settled. Red marks from Caitlyn’s mouth dotted her flushed chest.

Caitlyn, not needing to breath, unblemished except for her hair messy from Vi’s hands, shifted to her side to watch Vi as her breathing settled, resting her cheek on the hand. Vi turned her head to catch Caitlyn’s eye and grinned loosely at her.

Caitlyn felt like she should smile back, but all she could do on this moment was watch Vi, looking her over. The curve of her bare shoulders up to her neck. The lopsided curve of her smile, the red flush of her cheeks bringing out the freckles, the pale irises of her eyes reflecting back the silver moonlight. The way her nose was shaped, the curved of her brow, the messy mop of hair still damp from sweat. The way her features always looked so soft, younger when she was content.

“I wanted to watch you grow old,” Caitlyn murmured the thought aloud before she caught herself, letting her gaze take in everything that was Vi.

The grin faded from Vi’s face, replaced with a more somber expression.

“I told you,” she dropped her gaze, “Hunters don’t get to grow old.”

Caitlyn reached to brush the hair on Vi’s forehead aside, sweeping it to rest away from her eyes, dropping her hand to rest on Vi’s cheek. She rubbed her thumb against the skin, searching her eyes.

“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” Caitlyn said, hushed, as she moved closer until she could rest her forehead against Vi’s. “I would have done anything.”

Something heavy passed over Vi’s expression, an emotion Caitlyn couldn’t read. Vi’s hand came up to rest lightly against her jaw. It burned, and Caitlyn let it. 

They stayed like that before Vi leaned to kiss Caitlyn again, tenderly. She lay back, pulling Caitlyn to rest in the bend of her arm as she stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t know what we’re going to do about tomorrow. Going back.”

“Maybe they’ll accept a vampire in their ranks?” Caitlyn tried, in an attempt at humour that Vi didn’t seem to share.

“I don’t know, I hope so? I think I read in the history books one time…” Vi trailed off, lightly clicking her teeth together as she thought. Her brow knitted, frown deepening. Caitlyn sighed, nestling deeper into Vi’s embrace as she listened to her heart pumping in her chest.

“I suppose not,” she murmured. “I’m still worried of what to do when I get hungry again.”

Vi didn’t answer, but squeezed her reassuringly. The hunter eventually fell asleep, arm wrapped around Caitlyn laying on her chest to listen. She ran her fingers lightly over the scars along Vi’s chest and upper arms, the thin lines of history brighter in the moonlight, memories of Vi’s fights with monsters.

Like Caitlyn.

Her fingers moved to rest against Vi’s arm, still tightly bandaged in the fighting wraps, where under there must be the faint scar of Caitlyn’s own bite. Vi’s latest scar from a monster.

She lay her hand on the spot, and stayed there, quiet, letting herself be lost in the steady heartbeat and breathing.

~

When Vi woke that morning she seemed lost in thought, pacing slightly from the washroom and kitchen. Caitlyn, stuck tucked away in the bedroom since it was the only room with curtains along the window, watched as the hunter wore a path in the hallway.

Just as she was about to ask what was pressing on Vi’s mind, Vi turned and came into the room, kneeling and taking Caitlyn’s hands in her own.

“Stay here,” she said, a serious tone to her voice. “I think I have an idea but I need to leave for a bit. Can you wait here?”

“I don’t have much choice now, do I?” Caitlyn replied, trying to sound amused. Vi’s expression fell and Caitlyn immediately raised her hands still held in Vi’s, to press the back of Vi’s hand against her cheek. “I’ll be fine. Be safe.”

Nodding, Vi gave Caitlyn’s hands a squeeze and then quickly grabbed her jacket and left the apartment. Caitlyn fussed with her hair for a moment and then set about cleaning and tidying the room she was trapped inside to try and pass the time

By midday, best she could gather from peeking at the bright light shining through the windows into in the main room, she had little else to do. She’d grabbed a blanket to wrap around herself as a shield to try and explore the remainder but even the small amount of daylight burned at her cheeks, and she hesitated.

She remade the bed instead and lay in the middle of it, thinking of memories to pass the time.

Vi returned late that afternoon with a small box tucked under her arm.

“I just came from the church,” Vi kicked off her shoes, holding the box tightly. “I didn’t even have to sneak in. There wasn’t anyone there, they must be all out looking for us, and if this works they’re going to be so, so happy to see us.”

With that, Vi walked into the bedroom with the box held in both hands.

“This is a special tea, old magic,” she explained to Caitlyn as she set it on the vanity dresser. The box was old, older than many of the antiques Caitlyn was familiar with, ornate designs carved into the top. “It’s been locked up in the stores forever, but locks are kinda silly when you teach everyone how to pick up. I guess they didn’t want the vamps to get their hands on it.” Vi fumbled with a sewing pin in the small lock on the front of the chest, until a click sounded through the air and the lid loosened. Vi straightened, looking satisfied. “It’s supposed to help vampires with…” she waved a hand idly, thinking of the word, “well, help vampires work with the Underground.”

“Vampires helping?” Caitlyn asked, watching Vi open the small dusty container to reveal a few paper packets, yellowed and stained with age. “How? Why haven’t we heard about it before?”

A snort of near laughter came in response. “Not like a lot of vampires volunteer, right? So no chance for us to use it,” Vi began to take the packets out, laying them in a line on the old wood. “Powder found about it when she was pulling books to read. Apparently it helps vampires with cravings.”

That caught Caitlyn’s interest. “Does it work?”

Vi shrugged, while nodding. “It seems too. Book had examples of vampires who used it, stopped their need to keep hunting humans on the street. I don’t remember it a lot, but I remember Powder asking about it, we talked about it a few times. It helps vampires keep their humanity close or something.”

Caitlyn looked suspiciously down at the contents. “If we’ve had this all along, why don’t we use this more? Surely there must be other vampires who don’t…”

Vi was quiet, contemplating the packet in her hand. “Maybe there aren’t.”

Silence fell between them, both of them looking down at the box. Hesitating, Caitlyn reached over and placed her hand over Vi’s, squeezing it.

“It’s not your fault,” she said again, softly.

Vi only nodded.

They prepared the tea silently, boiling water in a small pot over a fire Vi tended to by the kitchen window, then pouring it and the leaves into the teapot Vi had also brought along. She carefully stirred it around, the herbal mixture turning the water a dark red sludge. Setting out two cups, Vi poured the tea-like drink into them.

Caitlyn picked up a cup, wrinkling her nose at the smell. “Is this supposed to substitute blood? It smells terrible.”

“Isn’t everything that smells bad good for you?” Vi offered her a side smile. She held up the sewing pin she’d used to unlock the box, a more serious expression now on her face. “One last thing.”

Caitlyn watched as Vi stabbed the pin into her thumb, hissing through her teeth at the pain. She nodded toward Caitlyn’s cup, and Caitlyn silently held it over. Vi squeezed her thumb, a bead of red blood appearing on the skin. Vi shook it into the cup, the blood bright against the dark mixture.

“Now you,” Vi held out her hand. Caitlyn placed hers in it, and Vi repeated the process, Caitlyn’s blood dark, nearly black as it beaded against her skin. Vi aimed the blood to drop into the cup in front of her. Vi winked at Caitlyn, although her grin was tight, nervous. “Think it’ll taste as sweet as you?” She joked.

Caitlyn scoffed and rolled her eyes slightly, elbowing the hunter. She went to lift the cup to drink when something about the situation bothered her; she paused and looked over. “Why are you drinking it?” She asked, nodding to the second cup now in Vi’s hands.

“Alright so I’m not sure, I don’t remember the words exactly. What I remember is that the ritual involved a human drinking the mix with a vampire, because it helps with the connection or something.” Vi shrugged, lifting the cup up. “So cheers.”

Caitlyn frowned. “Vi, we shouldn’t be messing with a ritual we don’t under-“

Before Caitlyn had a chance to finish her thought, Vi had tipped her head back, drinking the liquid in a quick full shot.

“Vi!”

The hunter almost immediately pitched forward, coughing deep, painful sounding coughs. The cup fell to the dresser top with a clatter, spilling the remaining small bit of liquid as it rolled. Vi’s knuckles dug into the wood as she convulsed with wet hacking noises.

Caitlyn put her cup down and grabbed at Vi’s shoulders, trying to steady her as the hunter took deep gulping breaths. “Vi, Vi are you alright?” She squeezed Vi’s shoulders, feeling Vi’s coughing settle, hearing her heart pounding.

“Fuck,” Vi swore, inhaling deep gulping breaths. “That was a kick.”

She nodded her head over to Caitlyn’s cup, looking up at the vampire. Her pupils were blown wide, breathing still laboured, face flushed. “Your turn.”

Caitlyn looked over at the cup and back to the human who now looked nearly feverish from drinking her own sample. “Vi, we really should have,”

“You’re already dead, and I already took it.” Vi gasped out in interruption. “What’s the worst that can happen by this point?”

Looking back down at the cup Caitlyn worried her lip with her fang and steeled herself. She grabbed it, hesitated, and then drank it as quickly as she could.

It burned.

Like Vi, she instantly began to cough, feeling the heat of the tea burning all the way down through her chest to her stomach and spreading out through her limbs, like she’d swallowed fire. She knew she wasn’t suffocating, knew that wasn’t possible, and still felt like it anyway, gasping against the wood of the dresser. She was vaguely aware of Vi’s hand patting against her back.

“That,” she managed as the coughing subsided, “was awful.”

“You feel any different?” Vi asked.

Caitlyn paused, trying to take stock of her body. She didn’t feel any different, except a warmth that felt settled into her bones. A warmth that felt hotter and hotter in her gut, a burning, a—

God, she felt starving.

“Vi…” she began, stepping back. The pounding of Vi’s heart was now all she could hear, loud and deafening in her ears. Vi was looking at her with concern, still flushed from her own drink. “Vi, I think this was a mistake.”

“Caitlyn?”

“I can’t,” the pounding of Vi’s heartbeat in Caitlyn’s ears grew louder, the burn in her gut hotter, she could feel herself shivering. “I don’t think,”

And then she blacked out.

The crossbow, carefully cleaned and tuned, sat on the dining table beside the spread out map they had marked and planned over. The small leather satchel holding the silver and yew bolts that Caitlyn favoured lay beside it. Waiting for use at sundown. Patiently prepared for when they would go lure out and hunt.

But sundown wasn’t for another two hours and Vi was restless.

Caitlyn, of course, was meditating. Cross legged on a yoga mat, hands relaxed on her lap and her eyes closed, and she had been like that for twenty minutes already, still as a statue. It was something that always unnerved Vi, that when Caitlyn wasn’t habitually moving to look alive just how… still she could be.

Vi wasn’t meditating. She was lounging on the couch reading, trying to read, one leg bouncing as she kept staring over at the clock that seemed to slow down the more she did.

“I suppose asking you to stop that would be out of the question.”

Snorting lightly, Vi glanced over to Caitlyn. Her eyes were open, piercing blue starting directly into Vi’s own, expression neutral except for the slightest, smallest frown.

Vi stopped bouncing her leg.

Glancing down and back up, Caitlyn nodded in a way Vi wasn’t sure was thanks or just a passive-aggressive acknowledgment. The vampire closed her eyes and resumed her meditation pose.

Trying not to sigh, Vi turned back to her book, to the page she had read two dozen times now at this point and couldn’t remember a word of. She made an attempt to read it again, glancing up once more at the clock.

Two hours.

“You’re always free to head outside for a moment,” Caitlyn’s voice rang out again. Looking over, Vi could see the vampire hadn’t moved, eyes still closed, looking peaceful in her pose. “If the wait is too much trouble.”

“And get a head start?” Vi scoffed. “You want me to do this on my own that bad? Nah, we’re going to do this fair.”

Caitlyn didn’t reply, but made a little scoffing noise, otherwise remaining still. Vi looked down at her book, up at the clock, grinning slightly.

“I could think of another way to pass the time,” she teased, looking over to the vampire. A noticeable frown passed over Caitlyn’s face, eyes still closed.

“Vi.” She said in a firm, warning tone. Vi just grinned wider.

“Aww, c’mon Cupcake, it’s just a warm up.” She swung her body to better face where Caitlyn sat, an eyebrow cocked. “Get our nerves settled before we go out there.”

Sighing, Caitlyn opened her eyes again and stretched her arms up into the air in a long, slow movement. She dropped them and frowned over to Vi. “You’re serious? You’re trying to goad me into sex?”

“Depends, is it working? ” Vi asked in form of a reply. Caitlyn scoffed again, uncurling her long legs to begin to stand. Vi dropped the book on the couch beside her and stood to follow.

“It’s been decades,” Caitlyn was saying as she walked to the sink, “we have sex once because I needed to feed and you’re acting like we’ve gotten back together.”

Vi came up behind her as Caitlyn washed and dried her hands, Vi’s own hands in her pockets. “We don’t have to have gotten back together,” Vi said, leaning against the counter casually. “Remember about fifty years ago? When we met up once a year for like eight years to bang it out for a week?”

“And that’s what you’re suggesting we do now? ‘Bang it out’?” Placing the hand towel back on it’s hanger, Caitlyn turned to Vi with a furrowed brow. Vi just grinned and shrugged, and Caitlyn frowned. Briefly then, she rolled her eyes as her face split into a grin that showed off her fangs before dropping back to the frown.

“Unbelievable,” Caitlyn stepped closer, not quite towering over Vi but managing to use her height to force Vi to look up at her anyway. “You really must be desperate. How long has it been?”

“I’m bored, there’s a difference. How is it desperate to want to have a good time?” Vi smirked back, letting one of her hands drift down to rest lightly on Caitlyn’s waist. The other woman didn’t flinch away, so Vi pressed a little closer.

“When you almost died and shrug it off?” Caitlyn stepped closer again, her hip bumping against Vi’s, Vi’s hand almost gripping it now, pulling her forward just slightly. Caitlyn’s expression was almost a smile. “That’s a good time?”

Vi shifted so her back was against the counter, letting one of her legs slip between Caitlyn’s as the vampire pressed up closer to her, one of Caitlyn’s hands hovering just behind Vi’s head. “Hey,” Vi said, dropping her gaze down to Caitlyn’s slightly parted mouth, and then back up, still smirking. “Big talk for someone who didn’t need the sex to feed but did it anyway.”

Caitlyn had leaned in close now, pressing up against Vi with one hand resting lightly on the counter, her mouth at the crook of Vi’s neck. “Old habits,” she murmured into the skin.

~

Vi’s boots thudded against the sidewalk, as she paced her way down the street in the purpling dusk, painting the sky the colour of the bruise Vi kept rubbing absently on her neck. She wasn’t expecting to run into a vampire just yet in the still fading light, but she and Caitlyn wanted to get a scope of their positioning while they had the chance, and their… distraction had taken her longer than she thought.

A group of club goers, chatting loudly and laughing as they hovered around a bench, took up most of the sidewalk and forced Vi to walk out into the street to avoid pushing through them. As she made her way back to the sidewalk a car sped past, honking loudly at her. Vi rolled her eyes, flipping the car off as she kept moving.

“Stay off the streets and maybe they won’t be upset they almost hit you.”

Vi chuckled at the voice in her ear, adjusting the earbud to hear a bit more clearly. “You nannying me from the roofs?”

“I’ll be honest, this technology does make it simpler to be annoyed at you from a distance,” Caitlyn’s voice buzzed in her ear again. “Watching you stumble around was always sometimes worse than the actual combat.”

“Watching me get my ass beat?”

“Watching you instigate your own ass beatings.” It almost sounded like Caitlyn was going to laugh. “Never any patience.”

Vi scoffed, shoving her hands in her jacket pocket. “Well, maybe I like you swooping down and saving my ass.”

There was a beat of silence before Caitlyn’s voice came over the line again, an emotionless sigh. “You’re impossible.”

“The worst,” Vi agreed, glancing around as she shuffled past some more crowded sidewalks. The smell of cooking food from restaurant patios and the thud of music from bars was starting to fill the streets to mix in with the buzz of conversations and passing traffic.

Then, over all the noise, Vi heard a faint but familiar snarling.

She paused, listening, hearing it again. “Fuck,” she whispered under her breath before speaking more loudly, turning off the street down a narrow path between two buildings to the next. “Cait, I’m hearing something. I’m going to check it out.”

“What is it?”

Vi didn’t answer, simply hissing out a shushing noise as she began to inch her way through the narrow space. It widened as it hit the back lot, a fenced off construction site for a condo being built. It was half built, all concrete and rebar walls and floors stretching up into the sky, torn tarps fluttering on covered windows.

Caitlyn’s voice scolded over the earpiece. “Vi, careful here, I can’t follow you easily inside.”

She ignored the warning, slipping through a space in the fence and heading into the site.

“Yeah, this isn’t a bad idea at all…” Vi muttered quietly to herself as she looked around. She could hear more quiet snarling, a guttural wet noise that was unfortunately familiar. Vi squared her shoulders, grimacing as she passed another column to slowly reveal the centre foyer of the construction building. “Please be a dog, please be some kind of fucked up dog…”

Passing a concrete wall revealed the source of the noise. Another feral vampire, features twisted and skin motley, crouched over the body of what looked to be a homeless man. Was a homeless man. The monster looked up, blood slick on his pale grey chin, red eyes staring directly at Vi.

“Fuck,” Vi swore, sliding a foot back in defensive position.

“One of Sevika’s?” Caitlyn’s voice asked.

“Feral.” The vampire was standing now, facing Vi with blood staining all down his front tattered shirt. Vi glanced behind her to make sure the construction site was still unoccupied before squaring back to face the monster.

“Another one?” She could hear the frown in Caitlyn’s voice. “That’s two in a month.”

The vampire lunged forward, and Vi ducked to the side at the last minute, swinging a blow into the vampire’s side. It whipped it’s arm to the side, striking Vi in the jaw and knocking her back. She stumbled back, catching her footing as the vampire twisted around. Vi ducked under the arm swiping towards her, punching the vampire in the chest to knock it back.

It lunged forward with an elbow, missing, it’s next blow catching her on the chin.

She kicked it in the core, knocking it back. She back up herself, catching her breath.

“You wanna dance, ugly?” Vi spat out the small bit of blood from biting her cheek, not missing the way the vampire’s nostrils flared. She bounced on the balls of her feet for a second, waiting, until the vampire snarled and dove forward.

With another lunge Vi struck the vampire in the chest with an upper cut, knocking it off balance.

Not slowing down her strikes, Vi dealt blow after blow, pushing the vampire back again and again. Stepping back to catch her breath, Vi backed away out of grabbing reach, circling slightly as the vampire began to right itself, stumbling back to stand at full height.

Suddenly the vampire jerked back, a silver bolt in his shoulder. He let out a feral shrieking noise, clawing at the projectile. Vi snickered.

“You missed.”

Caitlyn’s voice was so annoyed Vi would picture how wrinkled her nose was at the moment. “He moved at the last second.”

“Excuses.” Charging forward, Vi took the vampire’s distraction as an opportunity to deliver a hammer elbow blow, knocking him onto his ass. Grabbing her penknife, Vi stabbed it into the proper spot of the heart. The vampire let out a strangled hissing noise, before it’s skin darkened and flaked away into ash.

“He moved.”

Caitlyn’s came from both her ear piece and right behind her. Vi turned to see the vampire walking up, crossbow tucked neatly into it’s holster on her back. She looked annoyed.

“I thought you were supposed to be able to anticipate movement?” Vi teased. Caitlyn only made an expression in response that was almost a pout, if she wasn’t reserved enough to keep the pout from forming fully. She ignored the taunt and pushed past Vi to the ash pile.

Vi took it as a victory.

“Another feral is concern,” said Caitlyn as she knelt down by the tattered bloody clothes and ash. “You don’t think Sevika…”

“Is making ferals? That’s low even for her.” Vi crouched down beside Caitlyn, looking from the remains of the vampire and then up around the site, the blood and mess along the concrete. “We need to clean up.”

“Make it look like a mugging gone wrong?”

“I guess,” Vi sighed as she pushed herself back up to a stand. “Poor guy.” Brushing her hands off on her pants, she began to walk over. Rolling up her sleeves in perpetration to check out the damage, she’d almost made it to the body when the second vampire hit in from the side.

“Fuck!” Vi cursed as the tackle knocked her onto her side, a hard, sharp pain shooting through the arm she landed on. She rolled herself away from her fumbling attacker, heard Caitlyn shout something indistinct, the scratching of claws on concrete and snarl of the vampire and then it was on her again, slamming her head into the concrete.

She rolled, striking out with her good arm to push the new vampire off of her, kicking best she could. She felt it’s weight knock back and she shuffled herself, trying to give enough space to stand.

The vampire, what looked like an older woman with old dirt and tears in her clothes and eyes red and inhuman, grabbed onto her ankle, digging it’s claws in. Vi squared her jaw against the pain and kicked it in the head, twice, three times until it let her go and scrambled to a crouching position, ready to attack her again.

It lunged forward, but instantly tripped as a wooden bolt stabbed through a leg. Caitlyn, already returning her crossbow to it’s holster, was quickly running up; she grabbed the feral vampire by the hair, twisting it onto it’s back and holding it down with a knee to the chest and a foot on one arm, holding the other in a hand. The vampire tried to wrestle her off, but Caitlyn only snarled and bared her own fangs, much stronger than the malnourished feral.

She grabbed it by the jaw and looked it over, expression hard. Vi pushed herself up into a sit, rubbing at her sore arm as she watched Caitlyn take in the feral’s features.

The feral once again lunged forward, tried to snap at Caitlyn’s hand and she barely flinched. With a light sigh, she took her crossbow from her hostler, straightened her back to get a better angle and fired the bolt straight through the monster’s heart.

It let out screech as it flaked into ash, Caitlyn sinking down slightly as the chest she knelt on dissolved. Her expression stayed cool, impassive, until the other vampire had vanished completely and only then did her features flicker into a deeper frown. Standing and brushing the ash flakes off her clothes with all the airs of someone who couldn’t be bothered, she nudged at the tattered outfit the vampire had left behind with a boot.

“That one was far gone.”

“Yeah,” Vi grunted in agreement, “looked pretty degraded.” She rubbed at her wounded ankle, wincing at the bloodstains wet on her sock, testing if she could put weight on it and nodding. “So that’s three ferals in a month.”

“At this point,” looking around, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, Caitlyn looked concerned as she spoke. “I think it’s wise for us to anticipate more. We might have a larger problem than Sevika after all.”

The vampire looked over at Vi, who just nodded in return, thinking. Caitlyn’s eyes flickered down to Vi’s ankle. She ‘tsk’d, turned to walk toward the hunter.

“Do you get injured at this rate all the time, or are you just incredibly unlucky?” She scolded, reaching Vi to hold out a hand. Vi grabbed it and let the vampire pull her up, wincing and leaning most of her weight on her good leg. Caitlyn stared down at the wounded leg for a second too long, sucking on her lower lip. Vi half-chuckled, half-frowned.

“You can’t still be hungry.”

Caitlyn tore her gaze away, lingering on Vi’s neck before settling on meeting her gaze. Her jaw was set firm.

“You can’t fight like this.” She said, still in her scolding tone. “We have to go back to recover. You should return to your place, you haven’t been there in a while.”

Vi frowned fully and tilted her head, glancing in the direction of the city where her apartment was. Block away from Caitlyn, on the other side of their designated ‘hot zone’, only days after Caitlyn had been attacked in her own home. A puzzled and concerned expression on her face, she turned back to the taller woman. “I thought we were sticking together for this part.”

“Yes, well,” Caitlyn cleared her throat, taking a step back and leaving space between them. “This is new information, the ferals. I need to think about it, do some research. And I can’t very well do it with you fussing around, distracting me.”

Vi considered saying something else, but kept her jaw firm and only nodded. Her ankle would only take a day to heal anyway “Alright, fine.”

“I can walk you,” Caitlyn held her arm out, looking all the world like she was inviting Vi to dance at a ball. Vi couldn’t help looking her over, at her ramrod straight posture she’d had since Vi had known her and cool aristocratic expression with the barest hint of soft concern, shadowed in the darkness of the construction site and the faint city lighting. She once again thought about the life Caitlyn had before they had met, of galas and fancy banquets and a rich future.

Caitlyn made a slight motion of her arm, and Vi blinked out of her memories and nodded. She leaned against it, letting Caitlyn help her limp to lean against a column. She shuffled to rest against the cold stone, stand and watch as Caitlyn tidied up the clothing and ash best she could before they left.

Vi wondered if they would separate again once Sevika was dealt with. How many years it would be before they saw each other again.

How much longer they could keep this up.

“Alright,” Caitlyn said, walking back over to her while wiping her hands on the stomach of her shirt. “Let’s get you home to recover. I’ll patrol the rest of the night and reconvene with you tomorrow evening.”

“You should,” Vi tapped her ear as she took Caitlyn’s offered arm again. “We should stay on the line with each other while you do it. Just in case something happens.”

“Concerned for me now, are you?” Caitlyn asked, with a slightly amused smile. Vi nudged her with a shoulder slightly.

“How many times you been staked?”

“Touché.” Caitlyn murmured and Vi chuckled.

~

“…so this guy was dressed at least forty years out of style, talking all high and mighty and was one of the easiest fights I had had in years.” Vi laughed, running her hand over the bandages on her ankle again. “I found his missing person file a bit later after I’d taken care of him, and the guy had only been a vampire for like five years. He just wanted everyone to think he was an elder vamp with experience.”

“I’ve run into those as well,” Caitlyn’s voice echoed from the bathroom. “They think the age makes them alluring.”

“When really it just makes you forget stuff easier.” Vi snickered.

She was sitting on her bed in her apartment, ankle freshly bandaged and raised. Caitlyn had come up with her, insisted on cleaning the wound and doing the bandages herself, and was now in the bathroom washing her hands. She called out from the small room over the sound of the running water. “Do you remember when everyone started calling it ‘streaming?’ I swear that happened overnight. I’ve been mingling and hunting the older crowd just because I can’t keep up with the age group I’m supposed to be.”

“Oh, god yeah,” Vi sighed out, her cheeks puffing with the motion. “Every time I pop into the Underground, trying to blend in feels harder and harder.”

The noises in the bathroom stopped and Caitlyn emerged, hands drying on the towel. She leaned against the doorframe, oddly casual. “You still hunt with them?”

“Sometimes,” Vi shrugged, feeling bashful. “I miss talking to people about all this stuff.”

“Do they—“

“No,” she shook her head. “That’s why I do stuff like this. The hair, adding on tattoos and covering them up with more tattoos, change things around. I don’t stay long, just pop in different sites over the country, talk around, see how things are going.”

Caitlyn walked over, sitting on the bed beside Vi. She looked softer in the lighting of Vi’s messy apartment, compared to her own.

“They talk about us sometimes,” Vi mentioned. “Not names. I don’t think anyone knows our names. But what happened, the ritual, urban legends about what we’re doing now.”

“And what are we doing now?” Caitlyn asked, looking curiously at Vi.

“It depends. Sometimes we’re traitors, trying to make more human and vampire pairs. Sometimes we’re freedom fighters. Lately,” she stared at her ankle, unable to stop the slight smile tugging at her mouth, “they say we’re, y’know. Together.” She laughed a bit. “That got left out a lot in the early years.”

The curious look on Caitlyn’s face faded into something sadder, before she set her expression into something more stern again, straightening back into her imposing vampire appearance. “I hope it’s not romanticized.”

Vi didn’t respond.

With a sigh, Caitlyn pushed herself back to stand and looked over at the clock by Vi’s night stand. She glanced out the window. “We have approximately six hours before I have to return home. We shouldn’t waste any more time.” She rolled a shoulder, straightening out her clothes and taking her ear pieces out of their case to return them to her ears. “I’ll keep in touch,” she said as she adjusted their fitting, “but try to find something to occupy yourself. Conversation should stay to a minimum so I can concentrate.”

“Right,” Vi nodded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night then. Get some rest. Heal up.” Caitlyn nodded in return and made to leave the bedroom. She paused at the doorway, almost looking as if she wanted to say something else. 

But without another word, she was gone. 

Chapter Text

Again Caitlyn woke up to pain.

More intense than the last time, blinding pain, agonizing, sharp and hot and worse than anything she had felt before, stabbing right through her heart, her chest, her gut, down her arms and legs, in her very fingertips. She was vaguely aware of Vi’s voice, of her shouting and hands on her shoulders, a palm on her cheek and—

Heartbeat.

No, not her heartbeat. Vi’s heartbeat. Echoing in her ears like a persistent knock on the wall, beating against her cheek in a constant blow, a thudding, living noise drowning out all other sounds. She try to pull away, fight the sound off, loud and overwhelming, but Vi held her firm.

“Caitlyn!”

Her voice was muffled, barely cutting through, and Caitlyn thought she could hear herself make a pained, animalistic noise. Vi squeezed her shoulder, both hands coming to her cheeks now, pressing her face to hold still.

“Caitlyn! It’s okay. Easy, easy, you’re okay.”

With a whimper, the pain subsiding, Caitlyn began to settle to the warmth of Vi’s hands on her cheeks. She blinked open her eyes, vision hazy and blurry, and there again in front of her was a worried Vi, the pale blue of her eyes a faint silver in the weak light of the safe house apartment. Caitlyn thought she saw a flash of pink in them, flaring like the spark of a lit match, but she blinked and they were grey once more.

“Caitlyn,” Vi breathed, eyes dancing over Caitlyn’s face to check on her. “Fuck, I thought I killed you.”

“I’m already dead,” Caitlyn couldn’t help saying, weakly, her voice hoarse. She could see the pulse in Vi’s neck, beating to the steady, present, hypnotic noise of her heart. Vi chuckled.

“That must’ve hit you harder than we thought if you’re making jokes,” she said, tucking a bit of Caitlyn’s hair behind her ear. “I guess it’s rougher for the vampires. How do you feel?”

Caitlyn swallowed, voice still a rasp. “Hungry.”

Starving more like it. An empty, gnawing pain, hollow inside her, pulsing to the beat of Vi’s heart, to the pulse in her neck that Caitlyn couldn’t take her eyes off of. Vi didn’t seem to notice, looking up to where her small bag of supplies sat in the kitchenette area, brows thoughtful.

“Hey, you think…” she began, looking back down to Caitlyn, who forced herself to look away from Vi’s throat. “You think this lets you eat real food again?”

Vi’s heartbeat continued to pound in Caitlyn’s ears.

“Maybe?” Caitlyn answered. Her mouth was so dry. Her fangs felt sharper, too big.

Nodding, Vi pushed up to stand, walking over to the bag. Her footsteps were loud on the old carpet, silenced only by the heartbeat. She grabbed the sack and returned with it, crouching down to pull out an apple. She breathed on it, rubbed it against her shirt and held it out to Caitlyn

“Here. Try this.”

Tentatively, Caitlyn took the apple and brought it up to her mouth. It smelled like apple, like she remembered, a crisp and faintly sour scent, sweet. She bit into it, felt the crunch under her fangs and the cool wet flesh of the fruit inside burst into her mouth.

It tasted like ash.

She gagged, spitting the piece out and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Vi cursed under her breath slightly, the disappointment in her expression obvious, but she tried to hide it. She just took the apple and stuffed it back into the bag and threw the rucksack across the room in frustration. Then, boots scrapping across the floor she shuffled to sit beside Caitlyn, leaning back against the wall and letting her head fall back to bang against it slightly.

“I guess it didn’t work.” Vi muttered.

“I guess not,” Caitlyn shifted herself to sit beside Vi, leaning back against the wall with a slow sigh. “What do we do now?”

She heard Vi take in a long, slow inhale and let it out just as slowly, hands tapping against her knees in absent thought. “I don’t know.” Vi said quietly. “Maybe Vander can still help. Maybe we can still work this out, find a way to help you.”

“Maybe I’m just stuck being a monster.”

“Don’t say that,” Vi replied, pointedly not looking at Caitlyn and sounding like she was fighting to keep herself from shouting. Caitlyn finally turned her head to look at her, at Vi staring straight ahead to the far wall. “You’re not,” she was saying, hands flexing into fists. “This is something that happened to you. We’ll help. We’ll figure out something. I’m not losing you too.”

In the silence that followed Vi looked over to Caitlyn, and Caitlyn’s gaze dropped down to the pulse in her neck. Vi’s throat bobbed with her swallowing and Caitlyn licked her lips.

Then Vi leaned forward and kissed Caitlyn again, fingertips against her chin.

After a soft pause, Vi began to pull back from the kiss slightly. Caitlyn chased after her, grabbing her face and kissing her more fiercely, leaning in and not letting her go. Vi relented, returned the kiss with equal passion, pulling Caitlyn forward to move to straddle her lap.

Vi began to kiss along Caitlyn’s cheek, her jaw, and Caitlyn did the same down to the crook of Vi’s neck, the feel of her pulse strong against Caitlyn’s lips, the sound of her heartbeat almost deafening, Caitlyn was so hungry.

“Cait,” Vi murmured, relaxing into the touch. Caitlyn hummed a reply.

She nuzzled softly there, breathing in the warmth of Vi, the smell of her, dust and sweat, the call of her blood just under the skin. Gently, she kissed there and felt Vi shiver and melt into her. She kissed her throat again and Vi tilted her head a bit to give her more access. She kissed again, mouth a bit more open, tongue just tasting at the skin and Vi let out a soft noise. Caitlyn felt herself bare her teeth, grip Vi harder, and inhale again, pushing her mouth against the skin, her teeth, sharp and bared and heat against her tongue.

And bit.

Vi’s hand flew to her head, gripping at her hair to pull her back but Caitlyn pressed forward, biting harder, blood in her mouth like the freshest water after days of thirst.

“Caitlyn, fuck, wait,” Vi gasped out but Caitlyn only placed a hand on her cheek as a small comfort as she kept drinking. She was still so hungry. Just a little more, just a little more…

“C-Cait…” Weakly, Vi tugged at her hair again and Caitlyn ignored it. Vi was fine. She wasn’t going to take too…she was just so hungry.

And Vi tasted so good.

Caitlyn groaned into Vi’s neck, a noise Vi echoed as the grip she had in Caitlyn’s hair fell limp, her hand lying loosely her back instead. Just a little more. Caitlyn could take just a little—

She pulled back with a gasp and a satisfied shudder, feeling the hunger finally gone. Eyes closed, she felt herself smile, the comforting fullness one got after a good meal. She took a deep, satisfied, useless breath and let her eyes flutter open to smile almost drunkenly to the hunter. Then cold dread washed over her, removing the happy feeling instantly.

Vi was limp against the wall, eyes closed. She was pale, almost grey, breathing so shallowly it barely looked like she was at all. Caitlyn could hear her heartbeat but it was so quiet, slow. Her head was bent, the two puncture wounds from Caitlyn’s fangs clear on her neck, dark red spots beaded with blood.

“Vi?” Caitlyn brushed the hair out of her face, looking at the hunter’s eyes for any trace of movement. “Vi, darling, I’m sorry I just… Vi. Vi, wake up.”

She stayed deathly still, deathly pale, heartbeat so faint Caitlyn could barely hear it.

“Vi, please.”

Without the pounding of Vi’s heart echoing in her ears the room felt so quiet now. Nauseatingly quiet. Panicking, Caitlyn lightly tapped at Vi’s cheek, grabbed her hand and squeezed, desperate.

“No, no, please no, Vi, please.”

She wiped at the blood droplets on Vi’s neck, cradled her cheek as she leaned her against the wall, kissed her lips and cheeks and held her forehead against Vi’s as if she could will her to wake up. Looking around, Caitlyn glanced to the window, where the faint glow of sunlight still bordered the edges of the curtain and cursed. She couldn’t get help for Vi now. She couldn’t leave this room.

All she could do was stay here and wait and hope. Hope that the faint beating of Vi’s heart grew stronger instead of— no. She wouldn’t think about it.

“Vi.” Caitlyn pressed a kiss to the hunter’s forehead, felt her stir only slightly at the contact and leaned her head against her shoulder. She lay her hand on Vi’s chest and felt it moving just barely with her shallow breaths. Until she could go for help. Vi just had to hang in until then. “Stay with me. Please.”

~

Vi woke up three hours later, as the late afternoon sun shone golden and softly illuminated their safe house. Caitlyn had moved her to her bed, a struggle but finally managed, wrapped in blankets to keep her warm as possible. After nearly an hour of sitting and fretting at her side, Caitlyn had found a singular book in Vi’s bag that she must have brought for Caitlyn to pass the time. She had to read nearly ever sentence three times in her worried distraction to actually retain it, but it was something at least, to keep her from staring at the prone, pale form of the girl on the bed.

Vi groaned first, alerting Caitlyn who rushed to her side instantly at the sound, kneeling beside the bed to take one of Vi’s hands in her own. Still making pained noise, Vi shifted, eyes fluttering open as she turned on her side to face Caitlyn. Her eyes were dark, unfocused.

“What…” Vi started, voice raspy and groggy. Caitlyn brushed some of the hair out of her face soothingly.

“I… I think I took too much,” she whispered, as if the volume could soften the blow. “I almost killed you.”

“Heh,” Vi closed her eyes and slowly reopened them, smiling. “Lucky you, Cupcake, I’m tough.”

Caitlyn laughed lightly at that, relief and amusement and annoyance all in one breath. She ran her hand through Vi’s hair again, soothing down the messy stray ends. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly.

Cursing under her breath, Vi pushed to sit up. Caitlyn kept her hand on Vi’s leg, a steady pressure she hoped was comforting as she looked the other girl over.

The colour was back in her cheeks, the freckles dotting them dark again, her eyes still half lidded but brighter and more focused. Vi’s hand drifted up to rub at where Caitlyn had bitten her, scratch the spot before letting her hand fall back to her side. The bite mark on Vi’s neck was pale, faded, but visible if you looked for it, two perfect dots for Caitlyn’s fangs on the left side.

It made Caitlyn’s heart drop.

“We need,” Vi grunted out, trying to stand. Caitlyn scrambled to stand herself, arms held out to give Vi support but Vi waved her off and wobbled to her feet, unsteady but standing. “We need to get back.”

“Yes you do.”

Vi looked over at Caitlyn at her words, a strange expression on her face. “You too.”

Caitlyn shook her head.

Suddenly standing straighter, looking more energetic and healthier, Vi turned to full face Caitlyn and grabbed onto her shoulder. “You too. Cait, you have to come.”

“It didn’t work,” Caitlyn pushed her hand away and took a step back. “It didn’t work, and I just went and bit you and nearly killed you because I was so hungry I could barely think. Is that to be my life? Starve myself to the edge and then kill someone else for it? Kill you?” She glanced over to the curtains, a bit of sunlight still glowing around the edges and Vi followed her eyes, looking back at her with a mix of anger and panic.

“But you didn’t kill me,” she tried to reason, “look, see, I’m fine. You can always, you don’t have— we can do it this way. Use me instead of hunting others.”

“Use you… for what Vi?” Caitlyn gaped at her. Vi just rubbed absently at her neck and Caitlyn shook her head, disgust coiling in her stomach at not just the suggestion but the flash of craving she felt at the idea. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can, we can!” Vi insisted. “It doesn’t hurt, I’m fine, and this way we— we can be together. Partners.”

She reached forward and took Caitlyn’s hand, squeezing it. Caitlyn lay her other hand overtop, mouth a tight line that pressed against the points of her fangs. She looked down at their conjoined hands and ran her thumb lightly over the back of Vi’s, at the scarred and bruised knuckles in their bandages.

“And when you die hunting? Or grow old and leave me behind?”

“Thought you wanted to watch me grow old.” Vi stepped closer again, close enough to kiss now, warm against Caitlyn and admittedly a soothing presence.

“Vi,” Caitlyn breathed out but Vi only leaned in closer. She could hear Vi’s heartbeat again, loud, strong, almost echoing in her own chest. “Alright,” she whispered against Vi’s lips before the kiss, Vi’s hand letting go of hers to slide into her hair, hold her close. Caitlyn let herself sink into the kiss without the threat of hunger, only the threat of something more that threatened to leave her feeling emptier than hunger ever could. But maybe she could live with that, at least. 

Alright. If only to say a proper goodbye.

~

The church loomed in front of them, more imposing than she remembered, the deep shadows of twilight making it seem to be taller and deeper as they stood in front of the gait. Vi was still weak from the journey, arm around Caitlyn’s shoulder for support, and she leaned forward to grip the iron bars of the fence with a heavy groan, pulling it open to the creak and whine of the metal joints. Then she took Caitlyn’s hand and squeezed it with a reassurance that didn’t reflect in her eyes, and did nothing to sooth Caitlyn in return. But Caitlyn nodded, and they began to set up the path in the familiar steps of her helping Vi to reach the sanctuary.

The door to the church opened before they were even up the path, the light inside blocked out by the large frame of Vander as he looked out at the two of them. The suspicious anger on his face melted into shock and relief at the sight of them and he began to jog forward.

“Girls! You’re alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Vi waved him off, standing a little straighter. “Not stabbed this time.”

Vander let out a snort at that, patting her on the shoulder and nodding to Caitlyn. She smiled and nodded in return, keeping her mouth closed tight, tongue worrying at a fang.

“Vander,” groaning, Vi moved away from Caitlyn to stand on her own, looking up at the imposing man. “It’s bad. We need help.”

He frowned deeply, concerned and careful as he rested a hand on her shoulder. A deep pale scar was visible, drawing a line from the back of his hand up to disappear up his forearm under his rolled shirt sleeve and Caitlyn ran her eyes along it, remembering the story of the vampire that had given it to him. “What’s wrong?” He asked, and Vi grimaced, as if trying to think of the right words.

“Powder…”

“We know.” Vander cut her off, stopped from her having to say it, his voice quiet and subdued. “She came by, looking for you. For Vi. Got ruthless, screaming, which tipped us off. When she couldn’t enter the church we knew she was gone for.”

Caitlyn’s eyes flickered to the door of the church and she swallowed against a dry throat.

Shit.

Right.

That.

Vander seemed to take notice of Caitlyn’s quiet distraction and glanced over at the church himself. “The wards,” he began to explain, as if Caitlyn’s attention was to try and remember how the protections work, “keep them from crossing the door.”

“What happened?” Vi asked. Vander scratched at the back of his neck.

“She realized she couldn’t hide it, and tried to draw us out instead. Set some fires, attacked those trying to escape. We hunted her for an entire day that one.”

“So that’s why the place was empty,” Vi realized, before shutting her mouth quickly. Vander married his gaze at her.

“You’ve been back?” He asked, glancing between them. Caitlyn swallowed, unsure how to lie about this, feeling Vi’s hand close over hers to get her attention.

“Yeah,” Vi nodded, stepping forward just slightly. “Caitlyn was hurt. I needed supplies.”

Vander turned his attention to Caitlyn, as if confirming the story with her and Caitlyn had to force herself not to look away, admit guilt with her avoidance. She just did her best to keep her expression neutral, nod to agree to with Vi’s story. It was… technically true.

“Did…” voice cracking, Vi spoked up again, drawing their attention over to her. “Did you get her?”

Vander ran his hand over his jaw, looking thoughtful, shaking his head with a low sigh. “We couldn’t find her. We’ll have to go out hunting again I’m afraid, but first we should get you two fixed up.”

“Yeah,” Vi just nodded sadly, looking a bit defeated. “yeah okay.”

Resting a hand on her shoulder, Vander squeezed it again. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Let’s get you inside.”

He walked forward with a comforting pat on her back, leading the way for her and Caitlyn to follow behind. As they approached the church, dread began weigh Caitlyn down, slowing her steps, hesitating her.

When they reached the door they would know. They would hunt her too.

But Vi was holding her hand, squeezing it, and for however fruitless Caitlyn knew this was going to be maybe they could hold onto hope. Maybe this would work. Or at the very least, maybe Vi could hold Vander off enough for Caitlyn to escape.

Fists clenched, teeth gritted in hope that maybe the wards didn’t work on… however she was now, Caitlyn stepped forward.

The pain was instant, a flash like a hot brand on her skin that made her jump back and hiss, Vi’s hand coming up to brace her shoulder. Wincing, Caitlyn look down at her hands, sore and red, and bit back a whimper at the pain of it. Vi moved to hold her arm, and they looked at each other with mirrored worried expressions.

Clenching her hands into fists again to try and flex the pain out, Caitlyn looked back to the doorway to see Vander standing, watching them curiously. His expression was dark.

“I…” Caitlyn began, before trailing off, not sure quite how to begin. She shook her head. The infuriating feeling of the need to cry, without the ability to left in her, ached in her chest and tightened her mouth into a grimace.

Vi’s hand on her shoulder tightened slightly, either out of anxious energy or an attempt to ground and comfort her.

Vander stepped forward but still staying in the threshold of the church, leaning one arm against the doorframe to look down at her. Mouth still pressed tight, Caitlyn avoided his gaze, dropping to stare at her feet.

“How,” was all he asked. He looked between Caitlyn and Vi, frowning.

Caitlyn stepped forward, looking down at her hands. “It was J- Powder. She captured me, us. And…”

The anger on Vander’s face was a smouldering one, low and squared jaw and shadowed eyes. He looked from her to Vi, who met his gaze with an stubborn expression.

“You knew.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah,” Vi moved in front of Caitlyn, defiant. “Look, she’s not like the others okay? She wants to keep helping, wants to work with us. She’s still for the cause.”

“She’s a vampire, Vi,” Vander warned, stepping forward and causing them both to take a step back. Caitlyn glanced back at the closed gate, wondering if she could run to one of the trees and climb it.

“And she’s Caitlyn.” Vi shot back. “Out of any of us, she’s the least likely to be a monster. Vampires have helped the Underground before, we’ve seen it in books! That ritual thing keep their humanity. If we can get it to work—“

“What ritual?”

Vander’s snapped interruption startled them, in both the abruptness and the tinge of worry in it. Vi blinked, fumbled her words slightly.

“The humanity ritual, with the tea in the little box.” She explained

The large man looked at them with an expression Caitlyn had only seen once before, on her own father when she had told him she had taken his gun for practice without asking when she was young. A mixture of dawning anger and concern tinged with very real fear. “The little box with the tea.” He repeated.

“It didn’t work,” Caitlyn stepped forward, glancing at Vi to meet her eyes before looking up to Vander again. “It just made both of us rather sick. But Vi, we’re, we are willing to look into any other solutions if you can to make it so that I don’t have to…” she trailed off, nodding slightly to the side to imply the rest.

Vander let out a slow exhale and pushed off the doorframe, stepping back outside. “This way,” he said, waving a hand and leading them around the church. They followed him around to the side and the rear exit. Brushing aside the overgrown bush by the back wall, Vander uncovered and opened a small stone hatch in the earth. They looked down at the musty, dark tunnel and the old metal rungs of a ladder that went down.

“No wards here.” Vander explained. “Go on. Inside.”

They looked at each other and nodded. Caitlyn moved to climb down the ladder first, shuddering at the cool damp earth and the smell of rot and roots and grubby insects. She moved as quickly as she could until her boots touched the firmer, sandy rock of the floor of the Underground’s tunnels. This one was shallower than normal, the candles unlit, but spacious at least.

Being able to see more clearly in the dark was an advantage at least.

She stepped aside, holding a hand up to feel Vi following down after her and helped her off the final steps to stay steady in the dark tunnel. Then the shuffle and loud thud of Vander’s large frame coming down, followed by the smell and hiss of a lit match. “This way.” He said, moving forward.

He led them through the tunnel and up a shallow set of stairs until they reached the more familiar glow of the main tunnels, winding through until they reached the door to Vander’s room and office. He opened it, motioned them inside, and shut the door behind them.

Caitlyn immediately felt worry and concern at the closed door and the sound of Vander’s footsteps walking away. “Do you think they’re going to kill us?”

“Would have done it outside.” Vi tried to reassure her. “Look, we’re all kinda fucked up because of Powder turning but that might mean they’re more willing to let you stay around. They can’t lose both of us.”

“They won’t lose you,” brushing a bit of her hair out of her face, Caitlyn just let her hand rest on Vi’s cheek, taking her in again. Vi pressed her cheek into the contact, stepping forward to rest her hands on Caitlyn’s waist.

“I won’t lose you,” she murmured close again. God, Caitlyn wanted to kiss her, pull her in tightly, lose herself in Vi again like none of this was happening, like the romantic idealization of a life together was at all possible for them, instead of the worry that every time she kissed her she wouldn’t lose herself in the sound of Vi’s heartbeat and…

The door opened and they jumped apart, looking at the stern faces of Vander and Grayson entering the room. Grayson closed the door behind her, leaning against it with folded arms and Vander indicated the two chairs in front of his work desk. Tentatively, Vi and Caitlyn went to sit down.

Grayson looked between the two of them, a stoic frown on her face. “Of course it would have been you girls.” She said, sounding resigned.

Vander sat down, rubbing on his beard thoughtfully before letting out a low, slow sigh. Shaking his head, he lowered his arms to rest on the desk and looked over at Vi, and then Caitlyn.

“Just to clear the air of any assumptions…” he began, “at any point before or after this ritual, did you two…” he pointed to Vi and then to Caitlyn, back and forth slightly, making a bit of a face as though trying to place the words.

“Did we..?” Vi looked to Caitlyn, and then back to Vander. She looked genuinely confused, waiting for Vander to clarify, but Caitlyn could see the concerned and slightly awkward way the man’s expression was bent, and cleared her throat.

“Yes.”

Vander nodded, looking at Caitlyn now. “And did you,”

Caitlyn set her mouth firmly, feeling the fangs at the corners when she did and nodded, fists clenched tightly on her lap.

Vander let out a heavy exhale. “Alright,” he said, grabbing the bottle of whisky from the side of his desk and and uncorking it, pouring a small amount into the glass in front of him. “Normally we avoid pairing up boys with the girls for this exact situation, but I should have known you two would surprise me.”

Setting the bottle down, he pushed the glass toward Vi.

“Drink that.”

Vi looked over at Caitlyn curiously. Caitlyn shook her head, equally as confused.

Vander nodded to the glass. “Go on.”

Hesitating slightly, Vi reached forward to take the whisky, swirled the liquid in the glass for a minute and then drank it back. Swallowing she placed the glass back on the desk and looked at Vander expectantly. He nodded to the empty glass.

“What’s that taste like?”

Frowning, Vi looked at the glass with a puzzled expression. “Whisky I guess? Pretty weak.” She replied, shrugging.

Vander reach over to grab the whisky bottle again and poured himself a glass. Glancing over at Grayson, he took a drink and immediately frowned, placing the glass back down.

“That’s one of my strongest drinks. Great flavour.” He folded his hands across the desk again. “And you say you can’t taste it?”

Vi shook her head, looking more and more concerned. Caitlyn pressed her hands together, worrying one thumb with the other.

“Vi.” Vander looked a cross between disappointed and deeply concerned. “What did you think would happen when you performed a vampire bonding ritual without talking to anyone?”

“Bonding?”

“A what?”

Both Caitlyn and Vi spoke up at the same time, Vi looking between Caitlyn and Vander as Caitlyn stared hard at Vander for a better explanation.

Grayson spoke up again, her voice weary. “This is old magic,” she began, uncrossing her arms. “An arcane ritual to bind a vampire to a human. It binds the souls, intertwines them, and makes it so that as long as one lives, so can the other.”

“Vampires use it to secure themselves a…” Vander again rubbed his beard as he searched for the word. “Easier meal.”

“It’s vampire magic?” Caitlyn blurted, shocked. “I thought,” she looked to Vi, back to Vander, “Are you sure? We thought it was a way to stop the hunger, but it— it does what? What does the bonding mean?”

“It’s vampire magic,” Grayson said, voice dangerously low and careful.

Vander nodded, slowly. “The Underground tried to harness these powers. They tried to use it, long ago, to make the hunters stronger by bonding them to a vampire. A human bound to a vampire heals faster. Almost impossible to kill.”

Grayson spoke up then. “The vampires created it so they could have an unlimited source of blood from an undying source.” Her tone was gruff, sounding both exhausted and annoyed. “It’s not a trifling bit of magic. A bonded vampire also becomes stronger, and the stronger the bond between it and it’s human pair, the stronger the creature.”

Her gaze flickered to Caitlyn, as if considering her words against the quiet hunter in front of her, but Grayson said nothing otherwise, only adding “Vampires would often seduce a human to make this bond stronger, and make themselves more dangerous.

Caitlyn gaped, shocked at the accusation. “That’s not what I— B-But if a vampire is willing to work with us- for the cause- surely there must be cases-“

“Oh, of course.” Vander spoke up again, his wool sleeves scrapping against the wood of his desk as he leaned back. “We can pull up the records if you’d like. You’re not the first pair of hunters to… feel this way and have this happen. But it never works out. In the end, the vampire still needs to feed. The peace can’t last.”

Caitlyn leaned forward, protesting. “But this time can be different, you know how dedicated I was and with this—!”

Vander cut her off with a raised hand, a dark look in his expression. He folded his arms, head shaking slightly as he looked again to Grayson and then to Caitlyn and Vi.

“In every recorded case, the vampire has lost control, over-feeds and kills their bonded human.” Grayson’s voice was low, almost apologetic, and firmly decided. “Then we have to take care of the monster.”

Vi and Caitlyn stared back, silent. Caitlyn opened her mouth a couple of times to try and speak, and found herself unable to find the words as the dread weighed down on her chest. Her eyes darted down, she blinked, trying to think, to reason, to not hear Vi’s heartbeat beside her.

She looked over to Vi, to the set of her jaw as the other looked ahead to Vander, daring him to come up with an exception or a solution or anything at all.

But Vander only shook his head, voice quiet.

“I’m sorry girls,” he said, looking genuinely heartbroken. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

Things were moving frustratingly slow.

They had found one more feral vampire in the following week, a boy who looked barely 18 in a dark skatepark, and after they ashed him Caitlyn had torn a round fence post out of the ground in frustration and thrown it into the middle of the sloping concrete. It clattered loudly, echoing in the quiet night, and Caitlyn had stood there watch it roll with her hands in fists and snarls muttered under her breath.

Vi tried to place a hand on her arm to comfort her, but Caitlyn only pulled it away.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Caitlyn later hissed through her teeth, back at her apartment, staring down at the map and papers on her table. Little pushpins had been stuck to locations they had found the ferals, bright red dots on the crisscross of streets in a pattern that they couldn’t make sense of. “Where are they all coming from?”

Vi sniffed, swallowing her water. “It has to be her. You’ve been here, what, two years? And ferals don’t show up until she does? Think she’s been picking randoms and leaving them in the street to not figure it out until too late?”

“She’s gone full sadist if that’s the case.”

“Or she’s working for one.”

Silence echoed between them at Vi’s statement, Caitlyn worrying with the corner of her mouth with a fang. Vi watched the motion out of the corner of her eye, wondered for how long Caitlyn had picked up the habit.

Then with a curse under her breath Caitlyn suddenly pushed away from the table, walking over to her bookshelf briskly and running her fingers over the spines of the notebooks in search of something. She was muttering something under her breath and Vi leaned back, staying at the table, watching.

“What’s up?”

“This is going to sound ridiculous and conspiratorial but,” Caitlyn pulled a book off the shelf, flipped through it, tsk’d and placed it back to keep looking. “On occasion there’s a boogeyman rumour that travels through vampire communities about…” another book pulled, sighed at, and returned to the shelf, “well, those that capture vampires and force them into becoming feral to use as, like, attack dogs.”

Vi couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her. “Vampire pitbulls?”

“I’ve never seen any evidence of it but…” Caitlyn pulled another book out and flipped through, finally seeing satisfied with the contents. She looked up at Vi, began to return to the table. “If Sevika was trying to turn me feral, and now we have ferals that seem to be timed just right to distract us on hunts…”

“That’s… yeah, that’s pretty good conspiracy option.” Vi slowly nodded, realization washing over her like a cold wave. “She mentioned wanting to see if you turning feral did anything to me. Like we were guinea pigs for… fuck, you don’t think?”

“Brute bitch,” Caitlyn muttered, placing the book down open to a page with her written notes and scribbles. She pointed to a paragraph on the far page. “There.”

Vi leaned down to read Caitlyn’s messy handwriting, squinting a little. “Target tried to appeal to our shared vampirism, warned of vampires being purposefully turned feral. Something to be concerned about?”

“That was six years ago. I asked around a bit, but found no other leads into the idea and so dismissed it as a dying creature’s attempt at survival.” Caitlyn closed the book back up, leaving it on the table as she tapped her nails against the hard cover. “Ferals are unpredictable, impossible to control without substantial undertaking. For someone to try and create and contain multiples…”

Vi hissed a breath through her teeth, scratching at a shoulder. “And if they wanted to see what happened with us, they could be trying to make ferals… bonded with humans? Feral hunters? For what, world domination?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Caitlyn scoffed. “That would be an impossible undertaking. But out of bored, sadistic curiosity without an end goal? That’s…” she bit her lip, shook her head, “disturbingly plausible.”

“A sicko with just enough power,” Vi exhaled, leaning against the wall. “Fuck.”

“Quite.”

It was quiet between them for a minute until Vi finally looked up from the book on the table, the crumpled map, the red pushpins, and looked at Caitlyn. She was still staring down at the table with her hair in her face, her expression grim, her eyes dark and focused. Vi almost thought she could see a flash of pink along the iris, but said nothing. “So,” she began instead, sounding more exhausted than she intended, “what do we do?”

“We search even harder.” Caitlyn replied almost instantly, voice low with anger, the hand tapping fingertips on the notebook clenching into a fist. “She’s out there.”

~

They set out that night, armed as they always were, communication call open between them, both planning to stalk the entire perimeter of the ‘hot zone’ until they found anything.

After so long without any clues, Vi was damn near close to just grabbing passerbys and asking if they’d see a cigar chomping vampire, just because it felt as effective as everything else they did.

It was just after 1am, the streets quiet save for a few drunken stragglers heading home a bit early before the 2am rush and club goers smoking outside the neon lights and booming base when Caitlyn finally broke their silence.

“I think tonight might be another waste.”

Vi tilted her head, adjusting the ear piece to hear the slight crackle of Caitlyn’s voice a little clearer. “We still got a couple of hours.”

“Every time we’ve had issues it’s been before midnight hasn’t it? I have doubts we’ll be breaking the pattern.”

“Yeah, but that was her giving us issues,” Vi sidestepped a torn open garbage bag on the sidewalk, ducking her head to peek down a narrow space between two buildings. “This time it’s us giving them to her.”

A sudden rush of wind and a click of heels behind her cause Vi to turn. Caitlyn stood straight from her landing, fixing her hair and adjusting the outfit she wore. She looked more like she was about to go horse back riding than fight the undead, but it looked good on her. The boots made her look taller, which was unfair.

“Got sick of the rooftops?” Vi asked with a chuckle

“Got sick of everything,” Caitlyn slipped her crossbow back into it’s carrier. “This is pointless. We should head back home so you can rest.”

“Night’s still young,” Vi ducked through another alley between buildings, walking backwards as age half gloated to the vampire behind her. “Come on sunshine, we might luck out.”

“Don’t call me that,” Caitlyn said, though evidence of a smile tugged at her mouth. Vi grinned, enjoying the feeling of them teasing each other again, just like old times. She was about to retort when a voice broke through their teasing energy.

“Well, look who it is.”

They both froze in their tracks, stiff, and looked to the sound of the voice. There just outside the unmarked door to some sort of bar, leaning casually against the brick, clouded by smoke and smirking darkly. Sevika. Just standing there in the open.

“Of course.” Caitlyn muttered. She turned herself to face the other vampire, standing tall, expression stoic enough but Vi could see the curl of a fang at a corner from her anger.

“So, you guys back together?” Sevika drawled, looking entirely bored with the situation. Vi knew it was her way of taunting them, treating them like they were barely an effort, much less a threat, to goad them into attacking first. Baiting Vi into diving headfirst into a trap using her impatience.

It was working.

“We’re working as a team,” stepping just slightly in front of Vi to remind her to stay out, Caitlyn tilted her chin with a frown. “Since you insisted on attacking us as one anyway.”

Sevika bared her fangs in a wicked smile. “You guys have the worst denial I’ve ever seen.” She flicked the end of her cigar, the ash falling on her boot toe. Coolly, she tapped her foot against the pavement to knock it off. “Call it like it is,” she said as she brought it up for another inhale, “no shame in fucking your blood bag.”

Caitlyn snarled. Honest to fuck snarled, a hand coming up to push Vi slightly back as she stepped forward, leaning into Sevika’s space.

The other vampire was unfazed, only raising an eyebrow, still smirking with the cigar between her teeth. “Hit a nerve?”

“She is not a blood bag or any other disgusting word you have for those victims, you parasite.” Caitlyn snapped.

“Call her whatever you want, princess.” Sevika exhaled her smoke, in a slow deliberate exhale directly towards Caitlyn. “We both know you’re only standing right now because you got fed.”

Vi couldn’t see Caitlyn’s face, but she could see the way her shoulders squared up, her hand curled into almost talon-like claws. She still had a hand back to keep Vi was moving forward, and Vi glanced to see if she had enough space to duck and strike at Sevika despite it.

“Isn’t that right, Red Cross?” Sevika whistled to Vi for her attention, sneering triumphantly as she took another drag of her cigar. “You make a generous donation?“

Vi sneered right back. “Fuck you.”

“Shame about Miguel,” Sevika turned her attention back to Caitlyn, feigning disappointment. “I had only just turned him. He was so excited for his first mission staking a bitch like you, never even got to feed.”

Caitlyn lunged forward, swiping, Sevika dodging to the side and knocking her off balance with ease. Vi instantly stepped to prepare to strike, but Sevika turned fast and knocked her right in the gut. Vi doubled over, before Sevika grabbed her by the throat and pulled her back against the vampire, holding her there like a shield.

“Ah ah,” she taunted, stopping Caitlyn from lunging for her again, squeezing at Vi’s throat. “We both know I can’t kill her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make it hurt.”

Caitlyn stepped back, but grabbed her crossbow, loading and aiming it right at Vi’s chest, where past that Sevika’s vampire heart would sit. “I can shoot right through her to you before you do your worst.”

“You’d shoot your girlfriend?” Sevika laughed. “Kill her just to kill me?”

“This won’t kill her,” Caitlyn said, still holding aim.

Sevika just tightened her grip, amusement still in her voice. “You so sure? I don’t think whatever magic ties you together cares about that. You shoot that bolt, curse counts it as you shooting. Might be what sends her to the sweet blood bank in the sky.”

The crossbow lowered slightly, Caitlyn considering the words with a worrying fang on her bottom lip.

To try and get free Vi elbowed Sevika hard in the gut, but while the vampire flinched she didn’t lose her hold of the hunter. Instead she wrapped her other arm around Vi tight, holding her still like an open target. “Do it,” Vi grunted to Caitlyn as she still struggled against the hold. “It’s fine. If I die, I die.”

Caitlyn steadied the crossbow, hesitating. She looked up to Vi, those blue eyes wide and concerned, darting around for some alternative.

“Go on,” Sevika growled, close to Vi’s was. “Not like you guys have anything you’ll miss, right? Last I heard you haven’t even seen each other in years. How long has it been?”

“Caitlyn,” Vi grunted and Caitlyn’s finger slipped off the trigger. Vi could feel Sevika chuckle.

“Or maybe you like having the life insurance sticking around, that it?” Sevika pushed her thumb against Vi’s throat, forcing her to tilt her head against the pressure and turned just slightly to look at her. “Or is that your deal? Like all the perks of being an immortal human while your girl has to hide in the shadows and deal with shitheads at the bars just to stay alive?”

Caitlyn’s eyes went wide at the accusation and Vi gritted her teeth, struggling again uselessly against the grip.

“Shoot, just shoot!” She shouted at Caitlyn

“Too slow,” with a dark laugh Sevika shoved Vi forward, causing her to fall in Caitlyn and both of them struggled to stay on their feet from the momentum. When they both stumbled back into a stand they looked to see Sevika gone, taking advantage of the distraction to run. Leaving them alone in the small alleyway with her words hanging heavy between them.

“Fucking coward,” Caitlyn cursed into the quiet.

~

Vi slammed the door to the fridge, opening the bottle of beer she had stored in there. Caitlyn’s fridge was still sparse, a new case of water, the pack of beer and a selection of cheese and deli meats for sandwiches, which Vi had bought after Caitlyn complained about the smell of her constant takeout.

They hadn’t meant to, but Vi was staying at Caitlyn’s more and more, often catching sleep on her couch during the day while they went over strategy. Now, both of them bruised both physically and to their egos, they hovered by the kitchen island, sullen.

“So now,” Caitlyn finally said after a stretch of silence, “she knows we’re together. She knows we’re at the strength we are. She knows we’re looking for her.” The vampire groaned, resting a head in her hands. “We couldn’t have fucked this up any worse.”

“Yeah,” Vi downed the beer in only a few gulps, tossing the bottle into the sink. “You should have shot me.”

“I can figure out how to kill Sevika without killing you, thank you,” Caitlyn replied almost instantly. “We fucked up but we can still come out of this on top.”

“Yeah, we only have forever right? Plenty of time.” Vi grumbled, running a hand through her hair. She grimaced at the greasy, dusty feel of it. “Can I use your shower?”

Caitlyn nodded and without another word Vi headed to the bathroom to clean up.

Undressing in front of the mirror, Vi washed her face first and looked at her reflection as she dried with the towel, the permanent look she had of her early twenties, and the way her body was scarred and broken from the decades of monster hunting despite it.

Of the fatigue in her eyes that contrasted her young appearance drastically.

Stepping into of the shower, she turned the tap to the hottest setting and let the pain of it burn through her skin. Standing under the rushing water, letting the heat sooth her muscles she almost forgot to wash her hair.

Some time later, finally clean, Vi finally left the hot, steam filled room with a towel draped over her shoulders, topless except for her pants and bra. She walked over to the fridge to grab another beer, sitting down with it on the couch as she rubbed at her wet hair with the towel, leaving it still damp and messy.

Caitlyn, sitting in her reading chair with one of her notebooks and a pen in hand, had stopped writing to stare as Vi sat down.

Her eyes darted across Vi’s body, taking in everything she hadn’t bothered to see the last time she had Vi naked before her. She lingered on the thick webbing of scars up and down Vi’s forearms to her hands — a history of countless wounds sustained from defending herself — and the thick patchwork of poorly healed mementos across her torso.

Caitlyn blinked over a particularly thick wound on Vi’s hip, sustained from a vampire who’d carried a large knife, her expression sour. “Are you seriously injured this often?” She asked, her voice the tight, firm attempt to avoid anger.

Vi just chuckled. “I’m a vampire hunter. They get their hits in,” she shrugged as means to explain. “Sometimes they’re good.”

Caitlyn didn’t look nearly as amused, glancing over Vi once more, frowning. “Look at you, this is beyond a couple unlucky strikes. You look like a damned cutting board. Is this what you’ve been doing all this time, are you trying to die?”

Her eyes met Vi’s, a flash of pink along the edge of her blue iris. She looked hurt as much as she looked angry.

Scowling, Vi crossed her arms, covering herself more, feeling defensive. “The fuck do you care?”

“The fuck do I…” Caitlyn repeated, voice so cold it almost felt like the room temperature had dropped. “The fuck do I care? A hundred years of solitude, watching my loved ones die, unable to form relationships, having to live like this because of you. Sacrificing so much so that you aren’t killed. And you think I wouldn’t care that you’re using this time to live like this? Stumbling from one near fatal injury to the next?”

“Yeah, well maybe it sucks.” Vi snapped back. “Maybe it’s fucking garbage when you’re not around. Maybe I’m fucking tired all the time and I’m just going through the motions because it turns out wanting to do something is bullshit when you’re fucking alone all the time.”

Caitlyn just stared at her, a hundred unreadable expressions passing across her narrow face.

“I have to stay away so you can stay alive Vi, we’ve been over this. I’m protecting you.”

“You’re protecting yourself,” Vi spat back, not even sure why she was so angry. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it back over her torso, tugging it down so hard the collar dug into the back of her neck. “You don’t want to be with me and you think I’m too weak to be with you, fucking fine. But don’t lie about this being anything more than you’re too scared to accept the risk.”

Caitlyn looked like she was about to respond, mouth slightly parted, fangs exposed. Vi cut her off before she could, still speaking through her anger.

“And yeah you almost killed me, but that’s because you let yourself fucking go near feral instead of asking for help. Don’t tell me this is you sacrificing shit. This is you thinking you know everything and can do it all yourself.”

Caitlyn stood there stiffly, eyes hard; she turned and walked to her hidden cupboard of weapons, opening it and yanking a stake out. Marching back to Vi she nearly threw the stake onto the couch beside her. It bounced lightly on the fabric, rolling to wedge itself between the the cushion and Vi’s leg.

“Finish the goddamn job then.”

“What the fuck?” Shocked, Vi looked from the stake to the vampire.

“Do it,” Caitlyn jerked a hand toward the stake, body otherwise stiff. “Go on. Show me how easy it is to kill someone you care about and go about the rest of your life with the knowledge. End your damned misery and mine if it’s so simple.”

Vi stood up, away from the stake as it burned her, glaring Caitlyn’s way. She had no idea what to say to that, a hundred excuses and arguments and expletives running through her head as the vampire stared her down with anger and disappointment.

“You can not accuse me of being selfish because I don’t want to kill you,” Caitlyn hissed, fangs bared. “When you use this curse for your own personal advantage. You do not get to call me selfish when you won’t do the only thing I have begged of you, because you still haven’t yet been able to find her. And that’s all that matters to you.”

Vi clenched her own teeth, holding her hands up with a gritted voice as she tried to stay calm and calm Caitlyn down in the process. “If this is about what Sevika said then we need—“

“She’s probably already gotten herself killed years ago and we’re just suffering for nothing.”

Vi’s hands dropped and she exhaled hard, glaring right back at Caitlyn, all want to attempt to reason with her evaporated from the low blow. “Fuck you.”

“You wish.” Caitlyn shot back. “We’re done. Again and again, like we always will be until you finally admit we’re just… rats in a spinning wheel.” She scoffed, shaking her head and pacing to her kitchen, muttering. “I knew this was an awful idea. I knew I shouldn’t have let you back in. This doesn’t work Vi, no matter how much we keep trying.” She stopped, leaning against the counter with her back to Vi, gripping the marble countertop tightly. Vi snorted.

“You mean how much I’m trying.”

Caitlyn was quiet, her back still hunched and hair hiding her face. “You should go.”

“Already leaving,” Vi grumbled, grabbing her backpack and storming over to put on her boots. “If I see anything about Sevika I’ll let you know.” She opened the door with a hard pull, pausing to look back at Caitlyn. “Try not to get staked in your bathtub again.”

She slammed the door behind her.

~

Shutting the door to her apartment quietly, flipping on the locks, Vi leaned her forehead against it and let out a heavy sigh.

“Fuck, that was stupid,” she groaned to herself. She would call Caitlyn in the afternoon tomorrow, once they’d both had a bit of time to cool off and think. They would talk this out. Maybe over the phone it would be easier to not get as emotional.

Dropping her bag she shuffled over to her fridge and frowned at the mold on the block of cheese. She grabbed a packaged cup of yogurt and opened it, pulling a spoon out of the sink with a quick rinse and began to eat.

Then a thud on the other side of her apartment caught her attention.

Spoon still in her mouth, Vi reached behind her to slowly and carefully open a drawer and pull out a small stake. She gripped it in a fist and began to step forward bit by bit.

Quietly as she could, she inched down the hallway, stepping widely close to the wall where the floor was less likely to creak.

Closer,

Closer,

Her bedroom was closed, but another soft ‘thump’ came from behind it. There wasn’t any evidence of a break in, a feral getting dumped in her apartment wouldn’t be this quiet. This was someone trying to be quiet.

Vi’s grip on the stake tightened.

She reached forward and turned the knob, pushing the door to open, standing in the threshold. There, on her bed, was a shadowy shape of someone sitting. Quiet and calmly in the middle of her bed.

Vi reached inside the room to just beside the door and turned on the light to see her sitting there, skinny and dressed in rags, lanky legs crossed, arms resting on her knees, two long braids framing her on either side. She looked up, those big, blue doe eyes with the pink around the irises, her button nose and spatter of freckles, a worried expression and sad pout that Vi still remembered even after all this time.

When she spoke her voice was cracked and shaky, like she had been crying.

“Hey Sis.”

Chapter Text

It was just after midnight, dark and quiet save a few errant crickets singing their little patterns in the churchyard. The moon, a few nights from being full, was high in the sky and heavily shrouded by the clouds around it, casting a darker, more ambient glow on the courtyard with soft shadow. Seated on the roof of the chapel, legs crossed and hands toying at a loose thread on one trouser, Caitlyn watched as another wisp of cloud slowly drifted under the silver glowing circle.

A light breeze went by, pushing her hair into her face and she tucked it back before a following breeze untucked it again. Again she moved to adjust her hair and again the air disturbed it, so she sighed and gave up, letting it blow lightly across her face until finally the wind settled.

“Hey.”

Vi’s voice, quiet and slightly hoarse, came from behind her but Caitlyn didn’t turn. She continued to stare out across the city, wisps of her hair blowing in her face.

The shuffle of feet against the roof sounded in the quiet night, followed by the unceremonious way Vi dropped down beside her, arms coming up to rest on her folded knees. Caitlyn still stared ahead, as Vi shifted beside her to get comfortable.

A slow exhale of air came from the hunter before she spoke. “How’s the view?”

“I can’t understand why the moon doesn’t hurt.”

Vi let out a snort of surprised laughter, shaking her head. “What?”

Caitlyn continued to stare up into the sky, frowning at the bright light above them. “The moon, it reflects sunlight. But it doesn’t burn, doesn’t hurt vampires the way sunlight does. That was always something I wondered about.”

“Maybe,” Vi looked up with her, “whatever the moon is made of takes away whatever it is in the sun that hurts.”

Nodding, Caitlyn only hummed in reply; watching as a large cloud obscured half of the moon above, resulting in an eerie light around it’s edges. A heavy silence weighed between them before Caitlyn licked her lips, blinking a few times before finally cracking the silence open with her next words.

“I suppose you have to kill me now.”

She heard Vi take a sharp breath, her hand slapping against her leg a couple of times, saw her drop her head.

After what felt like hours, Vi raised her head again while nodding.

“Yeah.”

The hunter reached behind her to the small satchel she wore and drew out a stake, holding it loosely before tossing it back and forth between her hands with nervous energy. Caitlyn bit her tongue between her fangs and continued to stare out at the moon.

Vi fidgeted and fussed in one spot but didn’t move.

Finally Caitlyn shifted over, impatient and terrified and just ready for it to be over with, turning to face Vi with a hand over her dead heart and a lump in her throat.

“I know,” she said thickly. Vi didn’t look up to her and Caitlyn shifted over, closer. She ran her tongue over a fang again, grounding herself. “I know, Vi, this isn’t…”

When Vi didn’t respond at first, Caitlyn moved closer again and brought a hand up to Vi’s cheek, turning the hunter’s face toward her. Vi avoided her until the last second, staring down still at the stake in her hand before finally looking up to meet Caitlyn’s gaze. Her eyes looked almost silver in the moonlight.

Caitlyn kissed her, one last time, pouring all her regret and affection and hopes of what could have been into it. She felt Vi’s hand brush through her own hair, cup just behind her ear to pull her closer, kiss her just as softly in return.

They pulled apart, the wind blowing a bit of Caitlyn’s hair between them again and Vi tucked it back. Vi looked as she wanted to say something, breathing slow while she took in Caitlyn’s face, memorizing it, before she let out a soft sigh. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Caitlyn whispered back, sitting herself comfortably. She absently brushed a hand across where her heart once beat and swallowed, giving Vi one last look before running her fangs across her bottom lip and relaxing with a sigh. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow of the sharp wood against her chest.

But it didn’t come. All that she felt was the slight, soft thump of a fist against her, holding, warm against her.

She opened her eyes.

Vi’s arm was outstretched, as she held an empty fist pressed to her, a sad smile on her face and heartbreak in her eyes. “And dead,” she said quietly with a crack that could be a laugh or a sob. “You’re dead.”

Caitlyn looked down again to the fist, and then to the stake Vi held loosely in her other hand. Words failed her when she looked up to meet Vi’s eyes again. Vi only smiled broader, in that shaky fashion, eyes watery.

“Go back home,” she said, tucking some of Caitlyn’s hair over her shoulder against the night breeze. “Go back to that big fancy house and spend time with your family. I’ll tell them you’re gone, figure something out, okay?”

“Vi,”

“No, I’m serious. I’ll tell Vander I did it, you’re gone, and you go hide. Lay low, stay safe and wait for me. There has to be a way around this and we’ll find it, okay?”

Caitlyn couldn’t keep the pity from her expression, disbelief in her voice. “This isn’t going to work, it can’t.”

“It can and it will.” She was met with stubborn denial from Vi in return, firm and confident. “I can’t lose you too.”

A more determined look set to Vi’s face, dark and stern. Her jaw squared and she exhaled slowly, looking over out to stare at the city and the night sky and the moon again, fist clenching around the stake in her hand.

“I won’t lose you too.”

~

So Caitlyn returned home.

To her greatest shame, and luck, Caitlyn’s standing helped her hide the condition without much pain. She was already known for being reclusive, when she slept off tired days after long nights with the hunters, even before when she preferred literature to company. So she fed further into it. Complained of the light and the heat of summer to excuse herself of leaving the house, only stepping out in the evening or on overcast days with an umbrella for extra protection to walk the private gardens. Found one excuse or the other to avoid heading out to markets or dinners in the evening. She learned she could manage to stomach food for at least a good half hour before her body revolted, though she tried to take most of her meals in her room to avoid it. Water seemed to stay down, at least.

She learned and practiced her instruments, read the books of her father’s study, kept up her exercise of her time in the Underground.

Her mother would try to get her to go to a luncheon or bring up the idea of suitors on occasion but Caitlyn would hum and change the subject and it was eventually dropped.

Her father would sit with her in the study reading, and ask her about her day and her health in that kind, prying way of his and she would smile and tell him she was learning about interesting new chemist theories, or the engineering of airships, or of a new species discovered in a land. He would listen, interested and amused, as she droned on and it soon became a favourite way to pass the afternoon.

And Caitlyn, briefly, was content.

Until the hunger returned.

It started as a emptiness, curious but ignorable, and then over the next couple of days it grew and grew. Clawing and burning in her stomach as the moon was almost full again, nearly a month to the day when she had last seen Vi, and slowly starting to be a constant presence. The heartbeats of the servants began to follow her around, an ominous backdrop.

It was beginning to make her panic, and so she shut herself up further than even before, refusing servant entry and distracting herself by taking over their tasks. Her father came to see her one morning and she could hear his heartbeat through the door, a heavy thudding she could feel in her stomach. She shut the door on him and barred it from being opened, claiming illness.

It progressed over the next two days, getting worse. Her fangs felt too large for her mouth, her skin felt too tight and head fuzzy. While she couldn’t see her reflection she was sure the hungry pink was starting to bleed into her eyes again.

She had to feed, willingly act a monster to avoid unwillingly becoming one.

It was the midnight of the fifth day of hunger, when the empty feeling was become pain more than anything and Caitlyn was beginning to resign herself to having to use a servant. Wringing her hands trying to figure out how to go about this, debating with herself about possibly going out to hunt instead, when the sound of her window scrapping open pulled her out of her thoughts.

The window gave a light thunk as it was pushed all the way up, followed by a bit of scuffling and then Vi’s boots hitting the ground. The curtains moved, brushed aside as Vi poked in, hood over her head. She looked around the room, spotting Caitlyn and brightened.

“Sorry I took so long. We’ve been working hard. I almost lost track of the days.” Blinking a few times, Vi looked Caitlyn over, a smile forming. “Wow, you look incredible.”

“What are you doing here?” Caitlyn asked as way of a reply.

Vi let out a small laugh. “Why else?” She said, tone husky. Reaching up she pulled down her hood, exposing hair that was a little longer, a grin that was a bit teasing and shy. “I missed you,” she stepped forward, one hand absently brushing against her own throat as she did. “And you need to… right?”

Vi’s bright eyes glanced down just slightly, from Caitlyn’s eyes to her mouth, before back to her eyes again. “Have you eaten?”

Caitlyn closed her mouth over her teeth, stepping back. Vi’s grin didn’t waver, and she stepped forward close again. “Caitlyn, it’s okay,” she raised a hand, like she was approaching a wild animal. It did nothing to comfort Caitlyn who drew back another step. Stopping, Vi’s expression became more soothing, still smiling. Caitlyn shook her head.

“I can’t.”

“You kinda have to. And we know how it works. It can be me.”

“Vi, I can’t…”

“Hey, it’s me or a stranger, and the stranger you’ll have to fight.“

“Or you…”

“Figure out what to do with the body after,” Vi interrupted in a slightly teasing tone and Caitlyn frowned.

“This isn’t a joke,” she scolded, desperation tight in her throat. “You heard how this curse works between us. I might…”

“You won’t.” Taking her hands, Vi closed the space between her and Caitlyn, standing as close as balance would allow them, pressing her forehead against the curve of Caitlyn’s cheek. “You won’t hurt me.”

Caitlyn swallowed tightly, Vi’s heartbeat sounding loud even in her bones. “But what if I do?”

Vi leaned back with just enough space to kiss her gently, hand stroking through her hair and Caitlyn couldn’t help but melt into it. “You won’t,” Vi murmured into the kiss, before tilting her head away, exposing her neck. Caitlyn stared at it, at the warm pink flush of it, the pulse moving under the skin, and actually felt her mouth water. She swallowed, anxious, and brought Vi back to kiss again to try and distract herself. Vi’s mouth was still warm, still tasted of Vi, still felt the pulse against her.

But while Vi kissed her back, hand stroking at the back of her head and the other holding at her hip, she chuckled into it.

“Go ahead,” Vi nipped at the corner of Caitlyn’s jaw, neck exposed before her again. Caitlyn felt her nose brush against the crook of Vi’s neck before she was even aware she had leaned in, lips pressing against the skin. She thought of Vi last time she fed, slumped, grey.

“I can’t,” Caitlyn tried to protest.

“You have to eat,” insisted Vi, leaning a bit to face Caitlyn again, kissing her softly, and again, like she couldn’t help herself. Caitlyn deepened the kiss, pushing herself into it.

It was only a moment later, her back pressed against the mattress as Vi slipped a leg between her thighs, that Caitlyn had to admit kissing wasn’t the best option to distract from her hunger.

It only made her hungrier.

~

Caitlyn wasn’t sure when feeding from Vi and making love to Vi merged into one action. Maybe in a way it felt to them both like this made it less transactional.

But once a month Vi would sneak in through her window, cocky smile and teasing eyes and they never spoke of it, but it would happen all the same. Vi would sweep Caitlyn up into a kiss, they would strip down and fall to bed. Caitlyn would cling to Vi’s hair, feel the hunter’s mouth on her breasts and fingers at her core and forget everything but each other. And only after they had exhausted their mutual desires would Caitlyn finally take what she needed from Vi while they were still tangled together, Vi’s heart pounding making her blood flow faster, taste sweeter.

It didn’t always happen. There were times Vi slipped through her curtains and pulled her into a kiss, bruises on her knuckles and blood on her clothes, whispering ‘for me’ into Caitlyn’s ear as she took the vampire’s hands and placed them on her waist, push her down onto the bed, and Caitlyn would never say no. Never turn her down a moment of peace, to forget whatever horrors she had witnessed that night in favour of Caitlyn’s soft hands and kisses.

Caitlyn wouldn’t feed off of her then. Instead she gave to Vi, all she could.

She would lie there afterwards, Vi asleep in her arms, and think about what sort of life they could have had if they didn’t have this sword constantly hanging over their heads, ready at any moment to drop.

The weeks added up into months, until nearly a year passed since Caitlyn’s cursed new life had begun, hidden and secluded away in her parents home. It was starting to drive her mad - she was beginning to feel she could only count the days by how hungry she was. Vi only showed up on routine, and Caitlyn never asked for more; she assumed she wouldn’t receive it.

But staying in the house to prevent the hunters from finding her, unable to form friendships beyond the guests her parents occasionally brought over, which were more often than not men they suggested with hope she might see as a suitor, Caitlyn began to wilt. Music had no joy in it to play, the books no longer a treat to read. She’d often find herself staring out the window for an afternoon of attempting to complete one page.

She existed just to see Vi, but Vi still had a life outside. Still human, still breathing, eating, laughing and feeling the sun on her face, only visiting Caitlyn to fulfill a need.

And Caitlyn, after so long of trying to find a place in the world at Vi’s side, was trapped in her gilded cage even worse than she was before this all began.

Then one night, barely a week after they had seen each other last, Caitlyn was startled by the sound of her window opening, the grunts of effort that followed the scrapping of the wood.

Vi was standing there, her clothing torn and stained with dried blood, dirt streaked on her face and a wide eyed expression that almost seemed to stare past Caitlyn. She made no attempt to move for a second, frozen by the window sill.

“Vi?” Caitlyn stepped forward, noticing Vi was trembling. “Vi, are you-“

“He’s dead.”

Vi turned to her, face ashen. “Vander. He— we had an ambush. He— it was— I should have—“ her voice cracked and she raised her hands, where they shook, staring at them. “I got stabbed in the back and he tried to save me and...”

Caitlyn’s eyes widened.

“I thought I was going to die, but I can’t.” Vi stepped forward and stumbled, nearly fell before Caitlyn caught her and held her upright. Vi gripped onto Caitlyn’s shoulder, her own shaking with her sobbing breathes. “I lay on the floor and I watched him die and it felt like I was going to too. I should have. I would have.”

“If it weren’t for our bond,” Caitlyn murmured into her hair, trying to soothe her by rubbing at her back.

“I keep fucking it up for everyone.” Vi curled into Caitlyn’s chest, voice hoarse. “I’m the one who’s the damn jinx.”

Unsure what to say to that, Caitlyn just hugged Vi harder, burying her face into the hair that was now nearly down to Vi’s shoulders. Vi gripped back into her, heart thudding loud like a drum, loud even without the vampire’s hunger to amplify it. “I’m so sorry,” Caitlyn whispered, “what happened is not your fault.”

“I just—“

“Not your fault,” Caitlyn whispered into her ear, kissing Vi’s jaw, along to her mouth, swallowing Vi’s next guilty protest. “Not your fault,” she repeated, brushing the tears from the corner of Vi’s eyes as they smeared with the dried blood on her temple. “Not your fault,” she murmured again, barely suppressing it ending in a gasp as Vi surged forward to kiss her harder, a hand fisted at her back and the other buried in her hair.

~

“I was thinking… You could pretend you’re a man so we can get married,” Caitlyn said later that night while they lay there, naked and tucked in together among her sheets. Vi drew in a sharp breath. “You could live with me,” Caitlyn continued, staring up at her ceiling. “Instead of having to sneak into my room all the time.”

When Vi was quiet, Caitlyn glanced down to her; she was awake, just quietly listening. Caitlyn continued, unable to prevent the hope in her voice.

“You would inherit the home, the fortune would stay with my name. We could have something, the two of us, a quiet life if we wanted.”

“Caitlyn,”

“Vi.” Caitlyn replied in a firm tone. “When… when my parents die I’ll be all alone in this awful house. I can’t handle only seeing you when we have to, when you… when we need each other. When I could have you every day.”

Vi’s expression was pained. “And you…” she swallowed, “want that?”

Caitlyn’s grip on Vi’s shoulder tightened.

“We could hunt together,” she began to imagine aloud, unable to stop the small grin on her face at the idea of leaving the house and doing something. “I could handle all the business - I help Father all the time in his study. We could rebuild what Vander left behind, take in new hunters, train them, our halls have more than enough space. We could…”

Caitlyn reached up and rested a hand on Vi’s cheek, suddenly feeling overwhelmed and for the first time hopeful.

“We could have a life together,” she finished, voice soft. “A small one, not quite like we expected, but maybe better. We’re not invulnerable but we’re immortal. We’re strong. We could do this.”

Vi stared back at her, with something almost like hope in her expression, before her brow furrowed and her gaze softened to look off in the distance.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, pushing herself out of Caitlyn’s arms. “You think we could pull that off?”

“I know my way around my father’s paperwork,” explained Caitlyn, sitting up to watch Vi pulling her clothes back on. “I’m sure given a couple of months I could manage, forge you an identity.”

“It might be some trouble when they notice we’re not aging,” Vi chuckled, and Caitlyn chuckled as well.

“I’m sure we can figure that out when the time comes.” She reached to Vi to try and pull her back in for a kiss. Vi hesitated a second, but let Caitlyn’s fingers curl around her belt and tug her close. Vi leaned down into the kiss, separating quickly with a glance to the window.

“I’ll be back soon, okay? And you tell me more about this plan.”

Caitlyn watched her leave, tugging the curtains closed behind her so the sun couldn’t enter, regretting she couldn’t watch the hunter out in the gardens as long as she could until she disappeared.

With renewed hope, Caitlyn began to find joy in her hobbies again. She practiced her instruments, returned to her exercise routine, requested new books for her own library. She began to focus more of art and sewing and planning, writing schemes and dreams for the future. Finally, she had something to look forward to.

But Vi didn’t return.

Vi stood there, in the doorway of her bedroom, a stake in her hand and a look of complete shock on her face. On her bed, legs crossed and fangs poking out over the corners of her bottom lip, what used to be her sister tilted her head and smiled with a delicate wave. She looked almost apologetic.

“Long time no see,” she said in a casual, friendly way.

The stake hit the floor with a clatter.

Powder, Jinx, the vampire, watched the wooden weapon drop, loudly bounce and slowly roll to stop at the doorframe, one eyebrow raised in interest. She blinked back up and weakly grinned. “Guess I shoulda called first, huh?”

Vi’s mouth worked silently, mouthing words that didn’t come in shock until she finally managed to get out a “Powder?”

The vampire scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Jeez, I know it’s been a while but you could at least remember the name switched up. It’s Jinx now, dummy. Human, Powder, Vampire, Jinx.” She motioned a hand between the two options as she spoke, as if it were an obvious notion to explain. Vi ignored the condescending tone to take in the room quickly, open window Jinx must’ve come in through, stress making her too exhausted to feel much else.

“What are you doing here?”

“What, do I need a reason to visit my only living family?”

“When it’s been like eighty years, yeah,” Vi watched her warily, ready to move defensively if needed. “And when you break into my apartment.”

“Yeah, okay, my bad,” stretching her arms above her head and cracking her neck to the side, Jinx shrugged. “But maybe a little bird told me you’re fucking around with an old friend and I wanted to come and check in on you.”

“Caitlyn and I are just working together—“

“Caitlyn?” Jinx’s back straightened and an eyebrow raised itself as she looked to Vi with surprised. “Wait, who’s Caitlyn?”

Vi stammered a second, Jinx bursting out laughing because she could respond. “Nah, nah,” Jinx chuckled, waving Vi off, “I remember her. The replacement. Though I guess I read that a bit off, right? You didn’t want her as a sister.”

The vampire stepped off the bed, looking at Vi with all the cadence of a suspicious guard dog. “You guys ever get around to…” she held up her hands with thumbs extended and tapped them together by the curve between thumb and index finger while clicking her tongue. “That helps the soul bond, right?”

“Pow,”

“Jinx.” Jinx snapped, fury flashing across her face to replace the amusement at her previous crude joke. “It’s Jinx now and has been for a century.”

The shock and caution had disappeared entirely from Vi at this point and she shied back. “Well I haven’t really talked to Jinx all that much, so sorry.”

Bending down to grab the stake again, she shoved it into her back pocket before walking further into the room. Jinx’s eyes were on the stake before snapping up to Vi’s, both sisters staring each other down as Vi walked to the open window Jinx had snuck in through. She looked through it and down, to the nearly flat surface of the building wall and all apartments below it. Wind rustled her hair in the moonlight as she stepped back inside, closing the window.

“Why are you here?” Vi asked, not turning at first. She heard Jinx shuffle and glanced back, seeing the vampire settling into a seat on the old dresser in Vi’s room. Jinx shrugged, lip in her fangs as she started pointedly at her boots knocking against each other.

“Maybe I missed ya.”

Vi made a small sigh of disbelief, crossing her arms to lean against the window. Jinx shrugged again, her pale shoulders bony as they lifted to her ears.

“Maybe I…” she flicked a tongue across a fang absently, fingers drumming on the dresser top. “Maybe I need… help.”

Vi audibly snorted this time. Jinx blew a raspberry in response.

Quiet settled between them then, neither speaking, the only movement the idle swaying of Jinx’s lanky legs in their large boots.

“I might be…” Jinx finally spoke up again, voice quiet and cracked, like a child confessing. “Looking for a cure.”

Silence settled between them again, but it felt so loud this time, Vi staring at her sister in shock. “A cure? For…?”

“Obviously,” Jinx waved at herself, staring at a corner of Vi’s room. “Like, hard science stuff. If vampire blood was able to do this, then maybe we could— I found a guy.” She blinked up to Vi now, chewing her lip. “Been working him a while. He’s trying to figure it out too. One nice thing about being immortal,” she raised her legs, stretching them straight out before letting them drop, the heels of her boots clunking against the wood of the dresser with a loud hollow sound. “Got a whole lotta time to figure stuff out.”

“Figure what out?”

“Vampire bullshit!” Jinx shouted, throwing her hands in the air. “I’m fucking sick of it, aren’t you? Every day it’s ‘gotta hide from the sun, gotta figure out how to get money or squat from dead guy’s apartment to dead guy’s apartment, gotta keep updating my IDs cause I’m, like, 112 but look like a fucking college freshman and I just wanna hang out at a stupid bar.”

She slumped forward a bit, muttering top herself. “Though those couple of years I got really into online games weren’t terrible I guess…”

“You’re trying to solve vampirism?”

Jinx rolled her eyes at the interruption to look at her sister with an exasperated expression. “Yeah. Your memory fading? What, does the bond not protect against concussion?” A puzzled expression suddenly washed over her face. “Wait, does the bond protect against concussions? You heal but you can still get fucked over right?”

“Can you just answer the question?” Vi asked, exhausted from the shock of Jinx appearing here at all. Jinx pinched her face to Vi, nose wrinkling, an uncomfortably Powder expression. Then it dropped back into the more distant, distracted expression, bottom lip chewed before she spoke.

“I found this guy, and he’s been working on some stuff. Some pretty crazy stuff really. We’re trying to figure out how we can go back to doing human stuff. Walking in the sun, eating real food. I have no idea what a taco al pastor tastes like! Have you had one? Any good?”

“I can’t taste anything either,” Vi replied. “It’s one of the side effects.”

“Really?” Jinx wrinkled her nose again. “Do you have to eat? Oh man, to be immortal without having to eat.”

“No, I need to eat.”

Jinx perked, staring at a blemish on the far wall, blinking rapidly. “Woah. So what happens if you don’t eat?”

Vi didn’t answer for a moment, leaning against the window, before answering plainly. “It sucks.”

“Huh…” Jinx tapped her nails on the dresser thoughtfully. “You know, I thought tha—“

She stopped mid-sentence, at the sound of knocking from the front hall. Staring at each other, they both stiffened at the sound of keys, Vi’s door opening, the click of heels against the hardwood of the entrance, followed by Caitlyn’s voice.

“Vi? Are you home?” A pause, the footsteps stalling. “You weren’t answering your phone and I became concerned. I know we left things poorly and I may be upset with you, but I’m not— Vi?” The footsteps picked up again as Caitlyn made her way down the hall to the bedroom. “Vi are you-“

“I’m here,” Vi called out, glancing to Jinx who sat still frozen on the dresser. “I’m fine.”

The footsteps paused again, Caitlyn seeming to debate continuing into the room. Vi held her breath, when another step sounded.

“Then, since I’m here, I think we should talk.” Caitlyn’s voice was just outside the door now, her shadow from the hallway light visible, “we’re both exhausted and the situation is off putting. I shouldn’t have said those things about your sister but until—“

Caitlyn stepped through the door, instantly registering Vi leaning against the far wall with her arms crossed. Then she looked left to see Jinx, who was stiff as a guard dog staring back at her.

They moved too quickly for Vi to tell who moved first or was doing what, but the scuffle lasted only seconds before it ended, Caitlyn’s hand on Jinx’s throat pushing her against the dresser and her other hand holding Jinx’s arm at an angle into the furniture wood. A gun dangled from Jinx’s fingers as the smaller vampire shot a teasing grin up to the less amused snarl of the taller.

“Caitlyn wait!” Vi shouted, hands raised and a step forward. “It’s okay, it’s my sister, we’re just talking.”

Caitlyn didn’t relinquish her hold, nostrils flaring. “She’s been here this whole time?!”

“No, she just showed up!” Vi quickly corrected. “She found me, wanted to talk, she’s only been here like five minutes.”

“You’ve only been here five minutes, I was waiting all night. What took ya so long?” Her eyes darting between the two women Jinx’s voice turned low and mocking. “Ooohhh were you guys doing it?”

“She found you?“ Caitlyn ignored Jinx’s remarks to look over at Vi, concerned. Jinx wiggled under her grip, sneering.

“Gross, did you wash your hands?”

“She was here when I got home,” Vi replied to Caitlyn, also ignoring her sister’s remarks. Caitlyn frowned, her deep thought expression weighing on her.

“If she knew where you lived, she might be working with Sevika.”

Jinx stiffened at the accusation and instantly both women looked down to her. Bright pink eyes darting between Caitlyn and Vi as Jinx let out a nervous laugh. “I , uh, may have heard some stuff and beat some more stuff outta some guys that work for her?”

Caitlyn considered the explanation. “How did you hear about that?”

“I know you think you’re too good to hang out with the rest, but vampires do gossip you know.” Jinx rolled her eyes, unintimidated by the tone. “Hearing Sevika was going after the hunter-vampire Underground boogeymen is news that travels pretty fast. She’s trying to break your bond, right?”

“Is that her motive?” Caitlyn questioned, glancing back up to Vi while under her grip Jinx shrugged. “What’s yours then? Why hunt us down now?”

“First of all I was hunting my sister down, not you, Elvira.” Wriggling under Caitlyn’s still firm grip, Jinx

“She said she’s looking for a cure.” Vi nodded at her sister. Caitlyn snapped to look directly down to the other vampire, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“You’re what?”

“I’m wot?” Jinx mocked in return. Caitlyn made a gruff, angry sound at the back of her throat and Jinx only grinned goofily in return. Caitlyn looked up to Vi.

“It’s impossible,” she said sternly. “This isn’t something we can just reverse. She must be lying to you.”

“She’s literally right in front of you, don’t talk about her in third person maybe.” Squirming, Jinx shot a look over to Vi again. “But Sevika’s after you because of the bond. You guys are the only pair that have ever managed to stay alive longer than, like, a decade, and everyone thinks it’s because there’s something special about ya.” She glanced between the two of them. “They want to replicate that.”

Caitlyn let out a slow breath. “Is Sevika the one making ferals?”

“Maybe,” Jinx nodded. “She’s working for a guy that used to work with my guy. We’re trying to cure it, but he’s been trying to see if the bond can make vampires truly immortal - no sun or stakes or anything. But they don’t know the ritual so they keep fucking it up.” Pink eyes darted again to Vi. “That’s why I tracked you down.”

“Did you tell them about the ritual?” Vi asked, voice low. Jinx shook her head.

“Sevika probably did, but I doubt she remembers it. I was the one who,” her eyes darted between her sister and the vampire that had her by the throat a couple of times again. “Y’know. But I mean you guys did it all by yourselves, that ogre might be able to manage.”

Caitlyn didn’t seem to appreciate that, pushing Jinx’s head further back with another quiet growl. Jinx just met her glare, looking annoyed.

“I don’t want to say get over it,” the younger vampire sniffed, “but I also think a hundred years is a long time to wait for an apology. We’re all stuck like this — at least I’m trying to fix it. You gonna let me go?”

Caitlyn glared down at Jinx with a furious expression, lip curling slightly to reveal her fangs as she visible curled her fingers tighter and then released, stepping back. Instantly Jinx twirled her pistol and shoved it back into her belt, standing up and grinning toothily. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she suddenly kept over to Vi and grabbed her in a tight hug.

“It looks like you’re busy. I’ll talk to you later.” With a quick kiss on Vi’s cheek, Jinx pushed the window open, dramatically waving as she let herself fall backwards out of it. Vi stood shock still, Caitlyn also standing stiffly by the dresser, looking like she had smelled something unpleasant.

It was quiet, other than the noise of the city and traffic echoing quietly up through the still open window. Vi and Caitlyn looked at each other, before Caitlyn sighed a quiet “unbelievable,” and walked over to silently shut the window.

“She just showed up,” Vi finally spoke, her voice distant. Caitlyn looked at her, not the angry stoic glare Vi expected, but a sad, almost disappointed expression.

Without another word, Caitlyn turned and left.

~

“I know you’re following me.”

It was two nights later, after quiet check ins over the phone and mutually silent agreement to give each other space. Vi was stalking down the sidewalk, holding her phone up as if speaking into it so no one looked at her for talking out loud to no one. “You’re five buildings behind me by that sign. Can we just talk?”

She continued down the street, shoving the phone into her pocket until she came to the corner at a quieter side street, turning down it and leaning against wall of the building beside some worn posters.

Less than a minute later, Caitlyn landed on the sidewalk beside her, dusting at her simple jogging outfit.

“If you could notice me, I must’ve been horrifically obvious,” Caitlyn sniffed. “That’s embarrassing.”

“I don’t know if I’m insulted or—” Vi snorted. “You good? Are we talking now?”

“We’ve spoken.”

“We’ve made sure the other one wasn’t ambushed,” Vi corrected. She stepped away from the wall and began to walk down the quiet side street. “But are we back on the hunt to figure out what to do with the bitch?”

“The fact that nothing had happened despite them knowing where we live has been troubling,” Caitlyn admitted, falling into step beside Vi. It was quiet for a couple of steps before Caitlyn spoke up.

“Did she come back?”

“Jinx?”

Caitlyn nodded.

Vi shook her head. “I think you scared her off,” she said, unsure if she felt bitter about it or not. Decades of looking around and she had finally found her sister only to lose her less than an hour later and it might have been because of Caitlyn. “But if she’s around, maybe getting rid of Sevika will help me find her again.”

“Maybe Sevika thinks you should fuck off.”

Vi and Caitlyn blinked at each other and then over to the source of the new voice. Standing in a dark parking lot behind a closed laundromat, two vampires that looked like extras from a Matrix film were standing, grins baring fangs without shame.

“We can’t catch a break,” Caitlyn muttered, reaching behind for her holstered crossbow. Vi was about to agree when the vampires lunged forward.

By a stroke of luck, the vampires were terrible at fighting. The first went directly for Caitlyn, defences down and was dispatched instantly with a kick to the stomach, staggering back with a groan.

The second vampire lunged at Vi, messy and too early; she dodged and grabbed his arm to use his momentum against him, slamming him down to the ground. Quickly, Vi took the opportunity to tackle him flat against the dirt, bending an arm backward and shoving his head down, immobilizing. But she wasn’t able to grab her stake in this position and looked over to see if Caitlyn could help.

Caitlyn was busy with the first vampire being held down as well, a knee between his shoulders and a silver chain around his neck. Caitlyn’s hands in their leather gloves were safe, but the vampire’s skin was blackened and hissing around the chain.

“So Sevika sent you?” Caitlyn was asking, pushing her knee harder into the vampire’s back. “Where’s the coward hiding?“

“Fuck you,” the vampire spat back.

“Where?” Caitlyn growled, tightening the chain around the other vampire’s neck where it hissed and the skin beneath it smoked and blackened. The vampire let out a pained noise that was halfway between a whine and a hiss, trying uselessly to move from under Caitlyn’s knee.

A choked, gasping sound rasped from the vampire’s throat, and Caitlyn loosened her grip slightly, just enough for the larynx to move. Vi could see Caitlyn’s hand on the creature’s shoulder grip slightly tighter, digging into the shirt.

“In-industrial!” The vampire gasped out. “She’s working out of a warehouse on Industrial!”

Caitlyn jerked the chain, receiving a cry from the vampire in response. “Which warehouse?” She asked through clenched fangs. The vampire struggled again, panting out ragged breaths.

“Lot 6B, south end,” he said, voice dripping in anger, “a shitty looking box that’ll make a great grave for you.”

With a twitch of her eyes that was clearly restraining herself from rolling them, Caitlyn let out a small sigh. “Dramatic.”

Then with insane speed Caitlyn jerked her arm back like she was pulling a ripchord, and only seconds later the vampire’s head fell to the ground with a dull thud, rolling slightly as the rest of his body slumped over. The blackened, burned edges of the skin where the silver chain had sat fizzled, and then the entire body dissolved into ash.

Casually Caitlyn shoved the chain back into her pocket and stood straight, walking over to where Vi still held the other vampire in an arm lock. He struggled slightly, but Vi managed to keep his face on the concrete as Caitlyn’s boot heels echoed with each step.

“Was he telling the truth?” She crouched down, asking the other vampire. He shifted, glancing at Vi and then back to Caitlyn.

“Yeah, yeah! Industrial, lot 6B, building looks like a dump you can’t miss it!” He nodded and struggled with his answer. Caitlyn stared at him and then nodded, blue eyes flickering up to bore into Vi’s.

“Alright,” Caitlyn said still in a low flat voice. “Let him go.”

Vi furrowed her brow but when Caitlyn gave her a tilt of the head and a pointed look, she relented and stood back to let the vampire scramble up to his feet. He looked between the two of them, as if not believing he was freed, but didn’t waste any time to turn and run off as fast as he could.

As they watched his retreating form, Vi looked over to Caitlyn. “So we’re following him to the location to make sure it’s true?” she asked.

Caitlyn shook her head, pulling her crossbow out of it’s holster and loading a bolt. “No, I believe him,” she said cooly as she raised the weapon and settled on her sights. “I just thought I’d practice my aim.”

~

The warehouse stood before them, exactly as the vampires had said. Old and worn down, rust on the doors, it was unremarkable next to it’s neighbours in similar disarray. The faded yellow paint of 6B was visible in the fading dark of the night slowly preparing

“Are we doing this?” Vi asked, tilting her head to glance over to Caitlyn, who was staring stoically at the dark windows above. Only the slightest movement if her jaw indicated she had heard Vi’s question.

“Circle the area quickly, and then we meet back here and wait.” She instructed, adjusting her gloves. Vi looked between her and the warehouse again.

“Wait for what? The sun is going to come up soon, we can’t take forever.”

“Exactly,” Caitlyn unholstered her crossbow, double checking the mechanisms to make sure everything was working smoothly. She looked over to Vi, blue eyes piercing even in the dim moonlight, hard and cold. “At sunrise they’ll have nowhere to run. We’re finishing this.”

Chapter Text

Vi was late.

For three days Caitlyn waited, the hunger gnawing worse than ever. She had almost forgotten how bad it felt, the emptiness burning inside her, the overwhelming urge to seek out the nearest heartbeat and soothe the craving. By the third day she was beginning to drag her nails across the wood of her dresser, teeth clenched, feeling as though the heartbeats of every soul in her home was pounding in her skull. She didn’t need to breath but she felt the need to pant, like a deeper instinct imbued in the hunger, in the desperation that burned under her skin.

Vi wasn’t coming.

She didn’t want it to be true, but what else could it be. Vi was late, absent, dead or…

Or when faced with the idea of living with a monster for a lover finally tried to escape the hell she’d bound them in.

By the afternoon of the third day, the hunger was beginning to get excruciating, a steady burn that made her grip at her stomach and her parents look at her with concern. She excused herself before lunch and spent the rest of the day in bed, curled up on herself, watching the small strips of light that managed their way through her curtains slowly fade to gold, then to dark as night fell, replaced by the waning silver light of the moon.

The clock chime midnight and still no one came to her window.

Caitlyn groaned, sinking her fangs into her pillow against the burning sensation as if it helped in any way. She bit until she felt the fabric tear, fingers digging into the mattress, her whole body burning.

Vi was gone.

Caitlyn had to find her.

But first she had to eat.

She paced her room, a desperate voice whispering in the back of her mind that no one would truly miss a single servant, panicking her with how much it made sense. She had to find Vi but she couldn’t do it while she was this hungry.

She had to hunt.

Slipping outside to climb the trellis, a path worn by Vi’s own hands, Caitlyn made her way down to the garden and then over the wall to the streets outside .Every sound was too loud — the crunch of leaves under her feet, the wings of insects buzzing around in the night air, the wind blowing dusts over the cobblestones. She flinched at first at every clip the small heel of her boot made on the stone until she finally managed to soften her feet enough to make the footfalls quiet enough to bear.

It was silent at this hour of night, and Caitlyn began to panic that she may have waited too long. She could hear the heartbeats of some birds and rats, wondered just how long she could sustain before she needed human. She didn’t even know how she would manage to catch one, and the thought of biting into a rat made her stomach turn as much as the hunger did.

She had managed to journey deep into the city, her feet taking her close to where the church resided as if by habit, and she hadn’t seen a soul in a good while. She was cold — when was the last time she was aware of the temperature? — and she drew her arms around herself tighter.

This was insane, she had been a skilled vampire hunter, surely she could apply those skills to hunting as a vampire, instead of wandering like a lost child.

Swallowing and standing herself up straight, Caitlyn closed her eyes and tried to think. It was about an hour after midnight, to long past a shift change for tradesmen to be heading to or from work, but long enough that some bar patrons would be stumbling their way home on realizing the hour. She should make her way closer to where the restaurants were gathered.

A man, drunk enough maybe she could probably woo into a night alleyway and… she grimaced to herself but she figured it would be unlikely she was going to find anyone pleasant.

Caitlyn didn’t want to think too hard about it.

As she neared the smell of cooking and sounds of noise and bluster dampened inside buildings. The stink of cigarettes and cigars lingered, and she could hear loud laughter and men’s voices chatting in the night. A group of four were standing by one bar, dimly lit by the street lamp, and she hovered back in shadow watching them, contemplating how this might work. Her stomach burned inside her, fangs felt too large for her mouth, the sound of the humans heartbeats almost louder than their voices.

Then one man separated from the group, walking in a slightly staggered gait of a man who had too much to drink but not too much to consider he had, waving farewells and heading down a quiet side path. Caitlyn hesitated, watching him go, and then the hunger burned in her again.

She slipped down the otherwise empty street after him, bare feet silent in the stone.

Maybe being hungry made her sense slower, or her nerves made her fumble but the attack was over before it barely began, a wrestle and push and and tripping and she was shoved against the wall, hard, her head cracking and she hissed with pain, fangs bared. The man had her pressed against the stone by her neck, holding her at arm’s length, and with the other he reached into coat and pulled out a stake. He held the tip to her chest, smirking darkly.

A Hunter. Fuck, of course, of course, Caitlyn’s first fumbling attempt at actually being a vampire would lander her in the path of a Hunter.

“This place really is crawling with you lot, isn’t it?” He asked, pushing back harder against her throat. “Think you can own this town. Too bad, because we’re going to take you all out.”

“Wait,” she tried to say. Wait, I’m on your side, I’m not like them, I’m just starving please—

And yet another part in the back of her head sighed out thank god, it’s finally over.

The pain was excruciating.

It was like nothing Caitlyn had ever experienced when the stake pierced her heart. She didn’t burn to ash or fade to darkness or anything else she imagine death, but instead furious hot pain lanced through her. She tried to scream but felt it catch in her throat, strangled and gurgled. She dug her nails into the stone behind her, barely aware of anything else as the pain blinded her.

“Why aren’t you… fuck, no, are you human?” A clattering sound came of the stake hitting the ground, the warm hand releasing her to grab her shoulders instead and hold her up. “Shit, what are you doing out here at this hour? And your teeth? Dammit, I fucked this up, fuck, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

She bit into him without hesitation, pain blinding her into a panic, a need to feed to heal, replenish. He struggled, his apologies cut off with a scream, clawing at her hair and back until he fell limp and heavy in her arms and the blood ran thin.

Caitlyn dropped the corpse and stepped back, feeling sick. She held a hand to press at where she had been staked, the spot still aching as the new blood and energy sped up her healing. She spat onto the ground, trying to clear the bitter taste from her mouth. He tasted nothing like Vi had, thick and nauseating.

“Y’know, the worst part about you guys is when you don’t clean up. Look at the mess you made, and you leave it for someone else to deal with? Shame.”

That voice.

She turned to look behind her, confirming, Vi standing there with her hands in a leather jacket and a smug grin on her face; a grin that died the second their eyes met, turning to an expression of shock.

“Holy fuck, Caitlyn?”

“Vi?” Caitlyn asked in reply, weakly. Where had she been, why had she shown up now? She looked down at the dead man at her feet and then back up to the living hunter. “Where..?”

She took a shaky step back, collapsed against the wall, sliding down to a sit, staring blankly straight ahead.

Goddamnit she wished she could cry.

“Caitlyn,” Vi ran up to her immediately, crouching down to rest her hands on either side of Caitlyn’s face with concern. “Cupcake, what are you doing out here? What did you do? What…” she noticed then the blood and torn clothing of where Caitlyn had been staked, the wound now healed, “what happened to you?”

“Where were you?” Caitlyn asked, pushing Vi’s hands off. “You were late, nearly a week.”

“A week..?” Vi repeated, looking shocked. Her head whipped up to check the moon, confused, back down to stare past Caitlyn in thought. “Shit. I must have gotten my time mixed up, I’ve been underground for a while and lost track of the days and…”

“You lost track,” Caitlyn repeated flatly. Vi cursed and sat back against the wall beside her, a hand on her forehead.

It was quiet between them, a deathly, heavy silence, until Caitlyn repeated again, “you lost track of time.”

“I know, I fucked up, I’m so sorry Caitlyn I should have paid more attention—“

“I just had to kill someone,” Caitlyn said in a surprisingly calm tone despite having to bite the words out. “I was so hungry, I was so desperate, I had to-to- and he was, he had… you lost track of time.”

Vi didn’t reply, just let out a long, thin sigh through her teeth. Caitlyn raised a hand to touch where the stake had pierced her, where like a normal vampire she should have died, the flesh now completely healed and only the dark stains and torn fabric left behind.

“Vi,” her voice was so small, sounded so distant as she stared at the gravel between her boots. She couldn’t look up, look at those gray eyes that dammed her. “Is it going to be like this forever?”

~

The walk back to her home was subdued, Vi’s shirt loose around Caitlyn’s shoulders to cover the blood on hers. In the quiet of the night the hunter walking a pace behind the vampire. Caitlyn worried at her bottom lip with her fangs, smaller now that her hunger was sated, thinking.

“What were you doing?”

“What?” Vi asked, the sound of her footsteps faltering. Caitlyn continued to look ahead, avoiding her.

“What were you doing that had you so occupied you missed an entire week.” It almost wasn’t a question the way Caitlyn said it, having a good idea to the answer.

“I was cleaning up, now that everyone’s…” Behind her, Vi shook her head. “And I was looking.”

“Looking..?”

“For a way to break this.”

Caitlyn only paused for a second, caught off guard, but she recovered and kept walking. “Break it?” She repeated, voice a bit more subdued.

“Yeah.”

“There’s…” Caitlyn faltered, thinking back, “Vander said it was unbreakable. Are you sure?”

“I’m not. But I bet there’s something in the books that knows. And I bet…” she heard Vi swallow, hesitate. “Bet Powder knows.”

“Your sister?”

Vi was quiet again, and Caitlyn could almost hear her thinking. “She’s still out there,” she said quietly. “I have to find her.”

Caitlyn was quiet to then, thinking herself, her house nearly in view by now.

“Then I’m going to start up the hunt again.”

She heard Vi stumble, stop, and then jog to catch up again behind her. “What?”

“Things are getting more dangerous, and it’s beginning to attract attention,” Caitlyn explained cooly. “Without the Underground, it seems the creatures are getting bolder. We can’t just sit around and do nothing, Vi.”

“Yeah, and more hunters are coming to and you’re supposed to be dead.” Vi shook her head. “If they see you—“

“Vander’s dead.” Caitlyn couldn’t help herself, snapping at Vi’s direction and immediately regretting it at Vi’s stunned expression. She tried again, speaking more quietly, calmly. “Grayson’s dead. The majority of the local Underground are dead. No one remembers us. But without hunters, the demons are getting out of hand and the Underground is sending more to take care of it. How long until we’re rediscovered? Forced to kill each other or worse, captive for eternity?”

Vi didn’t answer at first, the only sound the soft shuffle of their feet on the stone. Caitlyn could hear Vi click her tongue, the movement of her hair and shirt collar as she shook her head.

“I can’t…”

“Then stop me.”

“What?”

Caitlyn stopped, facing Vi now, the hunter’s face unfairly beautiful in the moonlight and making Caitlyn hurt for how angry she was at her. “Stop me from hunting, stop me from clearing this place of the evil that ruined our lives. Stop me from leaving my house and doing something so I don’t go insane. Stop me from living a life that’s not just waiting for you to return.”

Vi just watched Caitlyn, her eyes darting to take in the vampire’s face, her own eyes, her mouth, the blood on her shirt. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Caitlyn’s mouth tightened into a hard line, feeling the corners pressing against her fangs. “It’s a bit late for that.”

They didn’t speak the rest of the walk, or as Vi helped Caitlyn up over the wall or into her bedroom. Vi paused at the top of the trellis, looking into Caitlyn’s room with a soft frown and furrow of her brow. She looked up to Caitlyn, before she left, leaning behind just two words.

“I’m sorry.”

The following night Vi returned, with Caitlyn’s old crossbow and some other materials they had used to use together. Gloves and boots with thick velvet soles, a Hunter’s cloak, so she could hide her face and wouldn’t be mistaken for a vampire, stakes and silver. The silver was hot to touch even through gloves, and Caitlyn had to wrap it in thick wool, figuring her healing would make the discomfort worth it for her mission.

And so, a year since she had died, Caitlyn became a Hunter again.

But things were different now, after Vi had forgotten her and Caitlyn had killed. Something shattered, that no matter how it fixed, the cracks were too visible to ignore.

They came to a compromise. Vi would bush herself with her own business and Caitlyn would hunt on darker nights when she was most likely to find other vampires, and if they crossed they’d join the other for the night. And irregardless of how much they saw each other, once a full moon Vi would arrive for Caitlyn to feed. If she didn’t, Caitlyn would hunt to sustain herself before the hunger made her desperate and clumsy. It didn’t happen often at first, but soon Vi began to drift away again, trapped in her own search or travelled too far to return in time and Caitlyn had no choice.

Her first was a vagrant she found drunk and unconscious in a side alleyway, and she managed to stop herself from taking too much. She felt guilty over it, and bought some food and drink to leave at his side when he woke.

Her second she felt less guilt about; a man had decided to start stalking her when she was out looking for another meal, so she led him down a dark path. She left him alive, barely, but on contemplation took his jacket. It would look nicer on Vi.

Her third kill was two years into their arrangement, a woman with dark hair and eyes, who caught her eye outside a non-descript door and led her to a room of curtains and velvet and kissed her as softly as Vi once had, before the sex had become routine to soften the blow of feeding. Caitlyn left her among soft blankets and pillows in the smokey air, but in caution didn’t drink enough, and when Vi showed up the next full moon Caitlyn was rough with guilt and hunger. She scratched Vi too hard in her enthusiasm, left a mark inside her thigh they both knew would scar and Caitlyn only felt guiltier.

They never spoke of it.

Four years into this life, five since Caitlyn had died, the routine had become manageable.

Caitlyn and Vi hardly spoke by this point, hardly met up, other than on some feeding nights Vi gave Caitlyn updates on her searches or studies. Guesses and hints of where her sister might be, if she was even still alive.

Caitlyn for her part was finding purpose and success with the hunt again. Her vampire powers gave her an edge, made her blows stronger and footsteps quieter, without breath or a heartbeat she could ambush easier. She’d taken out more than fifty vampires by the end of the first year and by the fourth she had lost count entirely.

They hardly made love any more; whatever they had forged it seemed was brittle, chipped easily, flaked apart. Once or twice Vi would push for it, slip her hand under Caitlyn’s dress shirt while she fed, and Caitlyn would oblige.

But it felt transactional now — something Vi needed, much like the blood was something Caitlyn did.

When it was done, they wouldn’t speak, Vi would leave and Caitlyn would wait until the moon had waned go head out to make sure she stayed the only vampire on the street.

By the mid of the fourth year, as the summer nights were starting to cool, Vi had been gone for nearly three months. Caitlyn was less melancholy about it — she wasn’t thrilled about having to hunt two months in a row and looking down a possibility of a third, but Vi’s reports on possibly finding her sister had been showing promise, and Caitlyn could only assume she was focused deeply on finding her.

Walking through the streets about a week before her hunger was due, when the tendrils of it ached in her gut, Caitlyn was crouched on the roof of a bank, silently watching a vampire flick a cigar into a puddle on the street and follow a group of youth down a side alley.

Griping on her holster, Caitlyn quickly followed from on top the roof, her cloak helping to conceal her in the darkness. When she determined she was close enough, she took aim at the walking back of the vampire and fired.

The crossbow bolt landed and stuck in the vampire’s own cloak, and the creature froze with a hiss and a growl, turning to look up to see Caitlyn.

Shit, she must be wearing concealed armour.

Her hiding spot revealed, Caitlyn merely jumped down to the ground behind the vampire, crossbow still raised. The muscular woman turned and hissed, fangs bared, and Caitlyn answered with baring her own fangs. She’d learned early on she often got a surprised advantage when vampires learned she was one as well.

It worked just as well for this vampire, who looked older and scarred and more furious than surprised that a vampire was wielding a hunter’s weapon against her.

“The fuck you have that for?” The vampire snarled. “You’re one of us.”

“I’m nothing like you,” Caitlyn shot back, finger on the trigger. The other looked at the silver tipped dart, lip still curled to show a fang, before a slow realization dawned over her.

“Wait, princess with the perfect shot, I know you,” she said with a low, warm growl. “You’re the one that kid messed up.” Her smile turned dark and she took a step forward. “Remember her? Jinx?”

Caitlyn backed up, crossbow still at the ready, glancing about. “You know her? Is she here?”

The vampire chuckled. “That girl’s long gone,” she drawled.

“Dead?”

A shrug. “Who knows. But you,” the vampire took another step closer, “we know all about you. You have the bond, don’t you? Got yourself tied to a hunter? Killed him yet?”

“Her,” Caitlyn corrected, and then instantly cursed inwardly at her mistake, all but admitting truth to the suspicions. The other vampire just smirked.

“Well,” she said, cracking her neck to the side and rolling a shoulder. “Ain’t that just a perfect coincidence. Put down the bow, honey. Something I think you should see.”

Hands at her sides, the vampire merely smirked and turned to begin walk away. Caitlyn kept the crossbow aimed, debated at some disabling shots so she could get a kill in, fought herself about why she wasn’t taking the shot and then cursed. She lowered the bow, reholstered it, and cautiously followed after the vampire.

She was led to an old smoking lounge, the windows aglow in warm purple neon. A couple of goons were outside talking, and one nodded a “hey Sevika” to the vampire as they passed. Caitlyn gave them a curious eye and they grinned at her — human teeth.

Caitlyn followed the vampire, Sevika, up the narrow staircase inside to a dark barroom, where a small triad band was playing loud fiddle music over the din of card games and gossip. Glancing about, Caitlyn could see the teeth of humans and vampire, hear heartbeats and smell a nauseating amount of blood. Sevika glanced behind, seemed to noticed Caitlyn’s discomfort and smirked.

“Not all humans are scared of us or want to keep the streets safe through violence,” she said as they began to walk through a hallway, curtains pulled across the doors. “There’s enough humans that’ll be more than happy to keep us fed and accommodated in return for… promises.”

“Like… bonds?” Caitlyn asked curiously, nervously. Sevika chuckled.

“That magic is long gone. At least, we thought it was. No, they just find what we need in exchange for the promise of eternal life. Or—“ they passed by a curtained room at that moment, the moans coming from it unmistakable “—what ever other vice they think we offer.”

Caitlyn grimaced. “Do you… keep those promises?”

Even from this angle, the vampire’s smirk was vicious. “Sometimes.”

The moans behind them suddenly cut off in a more choked sound, before silence replaced them. Caitlyn clenched her fist at her side where her stake was holstered, keeping an eye on her surroundings.

“But that’s not why I brought you here,” Sevika guided Caitlyn up another flight of stairs, which she tentatively followed. “See, lately we’ve been having a little bit of trouble keeping vampires around. I’m guessing a lot of that is you, but we picked up this number a while back trying to take the whole club down. Ambitious. Almost have to admire it.”

She opened a door at the top of the stairs to reveal a large, decorated room, a curtained bed and dresser without a mirror to one side, some armchairs and a chaise with a writing desk to the other. And by the writing desk, chained to the wall, was a human with her hands chained behind her back and messy red hair sloppily cut short, blood staining her once white shirt.

Caitlyn gasped involuntarily, Sevika chuckling as she stepped into the room behind her, closing and locking the door with a click.

“Funny thing about this human - no matter how much you drain from her, she doesn’t seem to die.” Sevika’s smile was dark and looming, as she looked down at the other vampire. “But you knew that already didn’t you?”

Caitlyn stared at the slumped body of Vi, the way her chest heaved with her breathing, the dried blood black and flaking at the side of her temple. She was awake at least, glaring at Sevika with murderous rage, with barely even a glance to Caitlyn as if afraid to confirm they knew each other.

“Y’know, it’s funny how these things work out.” Sevika said with a bit of a heavy sigh, presumably for dramatics, digging around in her pocket to pull out a small tin and open it, revealing a few thin cigars. Pulling out one and repocketing the tin, the older vampire dug around again, cigar pinched between her teeth as she spoke. “We’ve had a few talks, and I managed to get most of your story, and it’s a damn shame. If you hadn’t joined the hunters, the sisters wouldn’t have had their fight. The brat wouldn’t have run off and found us.”

Finally finding a book of matches, Sevika struck one and brought it up to her mouth to light the smoke. “She wouldn’t have gone to get her sister and decided to get you too.” A deep drag and then an exhalation of smoke as she spoke. “And then if your girl hadn’t decided to do the immortality bond knowing she was damning herself, we wouldn’t all be having this nice little chat of… opportunity.”

“She didn’t know.”

Sevika snorted, looking at Caitlyn with a condescending smirk. “Of course she did. The fuck did you think you guys were doing?”

“She thought she was…” Caitlyn shook her head. “To help with the hunger cravings.”

Sevika snorted, smoke billowing out of her nostrils. “Well, she’s either a liar or stupid then.” She took another drag, still grinning, nudging at Caitlyn’s arm slightly with an elbow. “Either way, we’re laughing.”

Caitlyn was most definitely not laughing.

“Go on,” Sevika waved toward the shackled hunter. “Go have a snack. On me.”

“What?”

The taller vampire only chuckled. “You have two options here, Princess. I’m not giving up a good source of drink, and you can’t die without her help. Might make something like a coffin a pretty nasty experience.” She took another slow drag of her cigar, keeping eye contact. “Now I’m happy to share, if you decide to join. We could use a vamp like you, you’re smart and a good fighter, plus you got money and you can’t fucking die. Time to join the winners. So, you can take the offer…”

Caitlyn kept the eye contact as Sevika exhaled smoke, the cloud billowing into Caitlyn’s face and making her eyes sting, but she didn’t blink. “Or a coffin,” she repeated Sevika’s earlier threat. The older vampire only raised an eyebrow and nodded.

Nodding slowly, Caitlyn took a useless, steadying breath and stepped toward Vi when a heavy hand lay on her shoulder.

“Weapons,” Sevika looked down at her darkly. Maintaining eye contact, Caitlyn removed her cloak, crossbow and spare bolts and her two stakes into a pile in Sevika’s waiting hand. Jaw set tightly, Caitlyn walked over to Vi’s crouched form stiffly, trying to look unbothered by the situation. Vi watched her approach with narrowed eyes that softened when she got closer, blocking Vi’s expression from view as Caitlyn knelt down.

“Cait…” Vi’s voice was tinged with worry and Caitlyn put a hand to her cheek, cooing soothingly. Pity clenched at her heart; they may have drifted apart but she still cared for her.

“Shh, it’s alright. I’m here now.” She fought back the urge to kiss Vi, press their foreheads together or anything too intimate. Instead she titled Vi’s head to the side, trailed a finger down to the patches of worn and poorly healed bites on her neck. “God…”

Vi managed a humourless chuckle, body shaking slightly. Caitlyn leaned forward, kissing the wounds every so gently and darting her eyes at the chains that held Vi - weak points at the cuffs and at the stone wall, enough strength at the right angle probably enough to break a link. “I’m going to free you, can you stand?” She murmured and Vi flashed one of her bound hands in a thumbs up. Caitlyn counted in whispers.

“Three, two…”

She pushed Vi up and with all the strength and speed she could muster whipped around the hunter, grabbed the chains and pulled at the angle to stress the links and snapping them. Bits of metal went flying and Caitlyn screamed and dropped chains that burned through her flesh - coated in silver probably to prevent this very thing.

But while her hands were useless now, Vi was free. Vi was free and charging a surprised Sevika with a roar, punching her across the face and knocking the vampire back before she realized what was going on.

“Vi!” Caitlyn shouted, trying to get her attention to run. But Sevika got up too quickly, was snarling and charging back to Vi.

Caitlyn looked around, trying to find something to help while the two women brawled, the sound of blows echoing in the room. Hands still burned, excruciating, Caitlyn ran over to the writing desk in the corner and shouldered it to knock it over. A thud caused her to look up to see Vi slammed into the wall by her throat, struggling against Sevika’s grip, the vampire grinning with bared fangs like a beast.

Using her elbow to break the wooden table leg, Caitlyn gripped it in her still painfully healing hands and charged forward. She was never one for hand to hand combat, and the blow was clumsy, but it surprised Sevika enough for the vampire to loosen her grip and Vi to wrench herself free. Caitlyn tossed the wood to Vi, who grabbed it and charged Sevika, the two of them wrestling over the makeshift stake.

Sevika produced a stake, one she had taken from Caitlyn, stabbing Vi in side and both women roared and crashed into the dresser, knocking it over, Vi pulling the stake from her body and shoving Sevika back, crashing into the door with a stake in her chest, and knocking the door in, it and Sevika tumbling down the stairs before everything fell quiet.

“Got that vamp bitch,” Vi turned to grin at her weakly with a thumbs up, hand to the wound on her side, the wound at her temple reopened and bleeding freely. Reminiscent so much of when Caitlyn had patched her up in the church before this all went… went to…

And something inside Caitlyn finally broke.

She was aware of the sounds of footsteps and shouting. Of others running in, trying to hold her back, subdue Vi, kill them, of a silver blade burning in her shoulder and fists in her sides. She was aware of noises, shouts, warm and cold flesh in her hands as she fought them off, pushed them back, this fucking den of everything she was fighting against, fighting from becoming—

“Caitlyn!”

They had hurt Vi, they had tortured her, they had kept her away and forced Caitlyn to feed on strangers—

“Caitlyn!”

It was their fault she was a monster now, their fault she had blood on her hands, their fault, their fault, their faul—

“Caitlyn!”

Vi’s voice finally broke through to her and she turned, teeth bared in a snarl and claws out stretched and—

Vi recoiled in fear.

If Caitlyn’s heart had been beating it would have stopped at the sight of wide horror so openly displayed across Vi’s face. She looked down at herself, at her hands dark with the thick vampiric and human blood, flecked with the dusty ash of their finished corpses. There was a gash in her side oozing it’s own dark thick blood, a wound that she hadn’t even noticed she’d gotten. She could feel more blood on her face, her hair hanging thick with it.

Vi stood there in muted shock, dust and ash motes floating in the beams of waxing moonlight that came in from the windows all around her like a morbid snowfall, dark blood splashed across her cheek and Caitlyn was suddenly incredibly aware of how empty and quiet the room was. That there was no one left but corpses and dust.

“Caitlyn…” Vi spoke with a light quiver to her voice, “what happened to you?”

Grimacing, feeling her fangs press against the sides of her mouth, her chest burn in the drags of breath she didn’t need to take, hands wet with blood, sticky with the ash drying in it, feeling more monster than any she had ever hunted. Caitlyn stared at the women she had fallen in love with, who still looked just as she did five years ago, just as she would for the rest of her life, and for Caitlyn’s life, an anchor and a shackle to immortality.

When Caitlyn spoke her voice was surprisingly calm.

“You did.”

“Two entrances on this side, from the looks of things. Only a single door for waste disposal on the other.” Caitlyn said with a clipped tone. “Block that off with the dumpsters and we can funnel any escape attempts.

“Right,” Vi nodded, cracking her neck to one side.

Caitlyn’s voice buzzed through the earbuds as Vi watched the warehouse from across the street. Glancing over at where the sky was beginning to lighten, Vi rubbed her hands on the thighs of her jeans to try and ground herself.

“There are windows, but they look painted over. Thick as well, last resort, let’s not rely on them as an option.”

“Got it.”

“Two stories but buildings like this half the time have lower floors. We should come in from the top and move down to prevent our ambush from getting ambushed itself.”

Vi nodded before remembering they were on ear pieces. “Yeah, sounds good.”

A moment of pause and then a sigh. “For old time’s sake then?”

“Let’s fight some monsters.” Vi jogged across the street under Caitlyn’s watch, first moving the dumpsters to block the exit and then climbing up the rickity fire escape to the roof. She took off her jacket and tossed it over to Caitlyn, who grabbed it to quickly use as a shield from first tendrils of rising sunlight as she jumped over to the small rooftop door beside Vi.

“Alright,” Vi nodded with a heavy breath. She kicked the door at the handle, a couple of tries before the bolts cracked and the door swung open. Caitlyn raced inside, exposed skin smoking slightly and she leaned against the cool interior wall with a hiss.

They waited there a minute, until Caitlyn nodded she was alright and they began to make their way down the stairs. The door at the bottom opened up to a wide empty floor, just space and columns with exterior walls  

“Now this is rude.”

Sevika was standing at the other end of the empty floor, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, smoke billowing up from her cigar. Milling about beside her were multiple vampires, many of them looking entertained.

“Can’t even knock.”

“In all fairness,” Caitlyn replied coolly, “you attacked me in my home first.”

Sevika just took the cigar from her mouth and exhaled cloud. “Eye for an eye. But,” she took a step forward and gestured to the crowd behind her. “I think you’re a little outnumbered here.”

“What are you even doing here?” Vi shouted. “The fuck is all this?“

“None of your goddamn business, really.”

“You made it our business, really,” Caitlyn quipped back. Sevika chuckled at that, low and deep.

“You guys are celebrities, don’t you know?” She flicked some ash to the ground, casual. “Everybody wants a bite.”

At that, another side door opened and some more vampires were led in - grey skin, twitchy, breathing heavily, more animalistic. There was now about twenty bodies facing Vi and Caitlyn’s two, and Sevika returned her cigar to her mouth with a smiling jog of her eyebrows.

“Fuck them up, then bring them downstairs.”

She turned and left through the door just behind her, the hollow banging implying it a stairwell. When the door shut after Sevika’s dramatic cape twirl, the remaining vampires, and barely contained ferals, all looked to Caitlyn and Vi and silently began to move in.

Vi raised her fists, rolled her shoulders, and looked over to Caitlyn.

“You take the lead,” the vampire nodded, “I got your back.”

Vi nodded back, bouncing loose on the balls of her feet before diving forward. She clocked the first nearest vampire with an uppercut, sending him stiff-backed stumbling backwards and a bolt struck him right in the exposed chest. He was ash before he hit the ground.

They took on the wave this way to start, Vi punching the vampires to stun and Caitlyn shooting them while Vi moved onto the next, until the crowd started to get too thick for one on one attention. Vi kicked a vampire back into a couple others to buy herself some space and jogged back, glancing to Caitlyn who was reloading.

“Six,” Caitlyn replied to the unasked question, raising her crossbow with the remaining bolts. Vi nodded and dove back in, using her elbow to knock back a feral and grabbing a vampire to throw forward for Caitlyn to shoot before punching another one down and pulling out her penknife to ash him.

Caitlyn had tossed her crossbow aside and was moving like water, the stake in her hand stabbing almost effortlessly. She grabbed a feral by his hair, yanking him backwards and stabbing him so quickly and smoothly it looked like a rehearsed dance. She dropped him even as he began to ash and swung to elbow a charging vampire behind her, spinning down to kick his legs out from under him, stabbing him when he fell.

Her face the entire time was stoic, impassive, concentrating.

She re-directed another vampire’s charge to knock him into the assailant in front of her, the two of them falling over.

A feral grabbed onto Vi’s arm, distracting her and she pulled the vampire down down for a headbutt, pinching her in the gut before staking. The vampire had barely ashed when another charged at Vi, punching her in the jaw and she roundhouse kicked him into the wall, before getting him with her penknife.

She kicked back the feral’s body just as it started to ash up, and whirled around to see where Caitlyn had ended up. She had taken a step back when suddenly an arm was around her neck and she was thrown off balance.

A vampire had Vi in a headlock from behind, and tried to bite into her but she jammed her fist with the metal rings into his mouth before he can dig his fangs in.

She turned to see Caitlyn again, who had just finished staking a vampire herself and looked over to Vi. She looked like she was about to come to Vi’s aid when a dark shape struck at her from behind.

Caitlyn whipped around to Sevika, who made to strike her before Caitlyn ducked. The smaller vampire tried for a lower body strike, but Sevika grabbed her fist with almost no effort, and then the other when Caitlyn tried to defend, holding both in one of her large hands as Caitlyn struggled to pull them out.

“Tough luck,” Sevika smirked, squeezing Caitlyn’s wrist bones together until a terrible crunch was heard. “You should leave the hand to hand work to your snack pack.”

She dropped Caitlyn, who crumpled with her hands loose on the ground, heaving heavily through the pain. Grinding her teeth, Vi pushed back against the vampire that still had her in a headlock, flipping him off her and staking him hard. She looked up as he dusted to see Sevika kick Caitlyn in the stomach to knock her over, heavy steel-toed boot driving the other vampire back in a heap.

“Caitlyn!”

Vi ran up, catching Sevika’s jaw with her fist, the larger vampire grabbing her shoulder to deliver her own punch, which Vi dodged to avoid, striking Sevika in the gut.

Sevika charged her and Vi dodged again, but her hit attempt missed and Sevika caught herself to retaliate quickly, raining hit on hit on Vi and pushing her back. Vi was defending herself, but couldn’t get a hit, feet scuffing the floor until a thing, small bright spot of light danced across Sevika’s cape, and another and another, until Vi realized she had been backed up against one of the painted windows.

With a sweeping kick, Vi knocked Sevika back and then whipped around and punched the glass of the painted window, cracking it. She punched it again, feeling it give under her knuckles, and was about to punch a third time when she was flattered against the glass instead.

“Give. Up.” Sevika snarled in her ear, shoving Vi harder into the glass she had already splintered and cracked. It cracked loudly again, giving a bit under Vi’s body

“Eat my fucking ass,” Vi spat back, and she brought up her knee into the window, hard, feeling it finally shatter.

Ducking down, displacing Sevika’s centre of gravity from trying to push Vi forward, the hunter used her momentum to flip the vampire over her back and out the shattering window into the sunlight.

She heard the crash of more glass breaking, Sevika’s snarl of surprise turn scream of pain, and looked up to watch the large vampire tumble to the ground outside, skin blackening, smoking, dissolving into ash.

Sevika’s clothes crumpled down onto the concrete in a dust pile, empty.

“Got you this time,” Vi sneered at the drifting ash, swaying slightly on her feet. She stumbled and held a hand out to the wall to catch herself, groaning at a pain in her stomach. Looking down, she saw a long shard of glass sticking out of her torso.

“Fuck.”

Glancing behind her, she could see Caitlyn lying half unconscious with an arm in the beam of sunlight, her exposed skin blackened and smoking. Grimacing, Vi pushed herself off the window so that she would stumble backwards, focusing all her efforts on staying upright with her careful steps.

“Vi?” Caitlyn croaked, trying to push herself up and then letting out a pained noise over her still broken wrists and crispy arm. Teeth clenched through the pain, Vi stumbled towards the vampire and fell to her knees beside her, the pain from the sudden movement making her dizzy. She ignored it, hooked one of Caitlyn’s arms around her shoulder and held onto her body tight as she shuffled across the floor, slowly dragging both of them out of the sun to the closest wall. She intended to go farther, deeper inside, but she was too exhausted.

She leaned Caitlyn against the wall and collapsed beside her, fighting back the urge to vomit and pass out from the pain.

“Hey,” she coughed weakly, patting at Caitlyn’s cheek to get her attention. Caitlyn blinked blearily up at her and Vi bit back another cough, chest shaking. “You look fucked up.”

Caitlyn let out a weak chuckle. “Fuck you too.” She closed her eyes again, leaning against Vi’s shoulder. Vi let out a huff, grinning, shaking her shoulder to keep the vampire’s attention.

“You gotta,” this time the cough escaped her, blood spattering her other shoulder where she had turned her head. She spat the remainder on the floor. “You gotta eat. Heal up. Before…” Vi weakly gestured to the sunbeam that was slowly making it’s way across the floor toward them as the sun rose.

“You’re too hurt,” Caitlyn murmured in protest. “I don’t want to—“ she winced, breathing ragged.

“And I don’t want to heal with this still in me,” Vi motioned to the glass still impaling her. “But I can’t pull it out, hurts like shit.”

Shaking fingers came up to brush against hers beside the glass, Caitlyn murmuring into her shirt. “If I touch it, pull it out and cause damage, will the curse count that and bleed you out?”

Vi let her head fall back against the wall, hissing. She hadn’t considered that. “Fuck. I hate magic.”

“Hate magic so much,” Caitlyn agreed, letting her fingers intertwine with Vi’s as her head dropped heavier.

“Does,” Vi tried to take a deeper breath, the movement causing a flash of pain through her abdominal muscles and catching the breath in her throat. “Does the magic count that I broke the window to let in the sun?”

A weak snicker. “Oh is that why it hurts so much?”

“Cait,” Vi croaked worriedly, dread suddenly overriding the pain. Caitlyn’s laughter stopped, replaced only by a slight squeeze of their joined fingers.

“…I don’t know. Maybe.” Caitlyn buried her face further in Vi’s shoulder. “It does feel like it hurts more than I remember.”

“You go in the sun a lot?” Vi teased. Caitlyn was quiet for a moment, before speaking so softly Vi likely wouldn’t have heard is the vampire wasn’t leaning close to her ear.

“About as often as I get staked.”

Vi licked at her dry lips, tried to laugh but couldn’t. Just managed a quiet “hah” before sagging further, fingers still gripped tightly in Caitlyn’s.

The morning sunlight was at their boots now, brighter and stronger.

“You gotta…” Fuck, did breathing hurt when you’re stabbed in the gut. Vi’s voice was raspy and strained as she tried to speak while taking shallow gasps. “You gotta eat.”

Caitlyn didn’t say anything, just weakly squeezed fingers.

“You can’t—“ Talking hurt so much now, “I’m not ready…” her throat was so dry, at some point her eyes had closed and she couldn’t reopen them. She tried to shift herself closer to Caitlyn, slide the vampire across her shoulder to her throat. “Please.”

There was no sound or movement from Caitlyn now, and Vi worried that she had slipped into that almost coma, like before. She tried to open her eyes, work through the pain to pull them somewhere better shielded from the sun, but her body refused to obey.

“Cait…” she mumbled, before slipping into unsteady darkness.

~

“Damn you guys look like shit.”

The voice was far away and somehow too loud, uncomfortable in Vi’s ears.

“Probably lucky you’re stuck together, eh? No way you’d have survived this.” Pressure on her arm, like a hand squeezing. “Fucking balls, how much blood did you lose, sis? The room’s covered.”

“…Pow..?” Vi tried to open her eyes, but it felt like she wasn’t in control of her own muscles. Everything felt numb and hazy.

A sigh came, and a clicking of a tongue. “Yeah, sure. Look, we’re gonna move your girlfriend out of the sun, okay? She’s lucky she’s wearing pants.”

“Cait..?” Vi croaked out, again trying to force her eyes open but they felt stuck. The weight on her shoulder was lifted, a sudden freedoms of pressure, and Vi twisted to the feeling. She instantly regretted it, her muscles strongly reminding her of the half-inch think glass embedded in her gut.

“Easy, easy,” a shuffling of feet and then Powder’s voice came again, a hand pressing against her stomach where the wound was. “Shit. This is gonna take you ages to come back from.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“I bet, dumbass,” Powder chuckled, her voice a raspy croak. “What, were you guys having a “get fucked up” contest or something? Her arm looks like someone threw a marshmallow on the fire.”

“Sun,” Vi groaned as explanation, the glass radiating pain.

“Jinx,” another voice, unfamiliar, a man’s voice with a strange accent, cut through their conversation and Vi’s sister shifted in front of her, moving to face the speaker. “I found their notes in the lab, it’s… poorly researched but I think we have what we need.”

“Did you see…” Powder… No, Jinx’s voice asked.

“Survivors? No. You were right about them being efficient.”

“Yeah,” Jinx’s voice sounded a bit melancholy. “They were always a good team.”

“We should destroy the place,” the man’s voice was firm, slightly worried. “It’s not safe to leave any evidence behind, of their research, our presence or what we took.” A heavy pause. “What about them?”

“We have to take them out.” Jinx made an exhaling noise and slight laugh. “No, I mean outside. I told you already, we can’t kill them.”

A best of silence and the scratching of boots against the concrete. “Can I… take some samples before we do?”

“Sure, one sec.” Vi could feel Jinx move up beside her again, hand gently back against her stomach, her voice closer and kinder Vi’s way now. “Hey, this is gonna fucking suck so just hold on.”

“What are y—“ Vi’s question was cut off with a scream as Jinx pulled the glass out without any preamble. Vi’s body curled in on itself as the pain lanced through her. She tried again to open her eyes but her vision was too blurry, only making out the boots and braids of her sister and the legs of a few others. Jinx walked over to another slumped body in the shadows — Caitlyn — and she pulled one of the arms up to stick a syringe in, drawing out some of the vampire’s dark blood.

“Wh—“ Vi coughed out, blood and pain choking her. “Ca—“

“Hey, try not to talk,” the blurry, dark shape of Jinx handed the full syringe over to the equally lanky man beside her, who packed it carefully in a satchel at his side. “You’re both gonna live, you just need to sleep a bit.” Jinx crouched down with a towel, Vi dimly wondering where it came from, and she pressed the cloth against the wound in Vi’s side. “Immortality sucks sometimes, don’t it.”

“Wait…”

“Talking’s gonna make you cough, coughing’s gonna make this hurt a -lot more.” Pressing the cloth a bit harder, Jinx tutted and tapped Vi on the nose. Behind her, Vi could see a large shape, a man?, bend down and scoop Caitlyn’s unconscious body up. She tried to call out, protest, ask for answers but all she did was cough.

“Told ya,” Jinx tsk’d, and then softer, “just go back to sleep.”

She was close enough that even with her vision blurred and fading Vi could see her sister’s facial expression - gaunt and pale, pink eyes soft and kind, fangs poking through a tight, sad smile.

“You’re gonna be okay,” the vampire said, unconvincingly, before Vi fell back into silent darkness.

Chapter Text

“Caitlyn…”

Vi stood in front of her still, in the room of blood and bodies and ash, staring at Caitlyn like she was something to be feared.

Maybe she was.

Caitlyn stood straighter, ignored the blood and ash and… everything else staining her clothes. She flexed her hands into fists, watching Vi carefully as the hunter continued to look around with shock.

“Cait…” she said again, exhaling it. “You—“

“Saved you,” Caitlyn snapped. Nevermind it being accidental, that she had assumed Vi had run off and meeting Sevika on this night was a coincidence. “Saved you from whatever reckless idiocy you got yourself into, defended myself from the consequence of it.”

Some strands of hair, damp and clumped together, fell in front of her face and Caitlyn didn’t move them, only continued to glare.

“Saved me?” Vi repeated, disbelieving. “Cait you just…”

Adrenaline, shock, or maybe bloodloss considering her own wounds and when Sevika may have last fed, made Vi stumble back a bit with her hand out to find purchase on the wall. “You…”

“I what, Vi?” Caitlyn asked with a voice she didn’t recognize, rage and frustration burning in her chest. She didn’t need feeding just yet, but the battle and the healing gash in her side made the hunger start to roil inside her like a sea in a storm. She took a step forward, feeling how the blood made her clothes drape heavy. “I what.”

Breathing heavily, she The fear on Vi’s face morphed into something else, sadness and pain, and Vi grimaced with an expression Caitlyn hadn’t seen since she had been tied up at a table by Vi’s sister.

“I’m so sorry,” Vi said with a raspy voice that sounded on the verge of breaking. “I’m so, so sorry.”

She stepped forward, a hand outstretched, and to Caitlyn’s surprise brushed the stray hairs aside. As Caitlyn stood there, Vi looked at her with what could only be regret, cupping at her cheek and saying again softly “I’m so sorry.”

“Vi…”

Vi pulled her into a hug, arms around her shoulders and face buried in the crook of her neck, squeezing her tightly. Caitlyn stood stiffly, staring ahead as one of Vi’s hands came to softly caress her hair.

No.

“You’re sorry?” Caitlyn hissed, pushing her away. “You’re sorry?! We’re trapped living in this hell and all you can say when you see what I’ve been forced to become is that you’re sorry?”

“What do you want me say?” Vi snapped back.

“I’m a monster,” her voice was beginning to grow hysterical.

“Caitlyn, you’re not—“

“Look at me!” Caitlyn screamed. She stepped back, arms wide. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Vi. We’re both cursed but you get to be human. You’re human!”

“You’re not a monster. Caitlyn, you—“

“Shut up!” Caitlyn stormed forward and pushed Vi back again. “Shut up! You flinch away from me! You keep your distance!” She shoved Vi again, slapping her fists down on the hunter’s shoulders. “You got - yourself - captured - because you didn’t trust me!”

Vi took the hits. Didn’t fight back. It only served to make Caitlyn more frustrated, angrier, and she pushed harder.

“Say it,” she snarled in a low tone, baring her fangs, trying to convince. “Say I’m a monster.”

Vi looked back at her with, god, that was pity in her eyes wasn’t it.

In frustration Caitlyn pushed her against the wall, Vi’s back hitting it with a thud. She glared, and then in a bid to prove her words Caitlyn dove on her, fingers in Vi’s hair pulled her head aside to expose her neck and the vampire bit down. Vi grabbed at Caitlyn’s hair, her shoulder, made a pained noise but otherwise didn’t try to fight her.

Vi’s blood was as sweet as it always was, compared to the bitter copper taste of normal humans. Caitlyn drank more than she needed, drinking just to enjoy it, Vi’s blood and Vi’s body heat burning her up along with the fire of rage inside her.

I should kill her, Caitlyn thought as she drank, I should kill her right now and end this for us both.

But just then Vi let out a sound like a sigh, the fingers in Caitlyn’s hair relaxing, and Caitlyn realized she couldn’t.

She should.

But.

Caitlyn pulled away, blood still hot in her mouth, swallowing tentatively. She looked down at Vi laying nearly limp in her arms, eyes closed and jaw slack, her face pale, breathing shallow. Caitlyn remembered the ashen grey Vi from when she had overfed, almost killed her.

And Caitlyn remembered the brash girl who saved her in the gardens, the shy girl in the apple tree of the church courtyard, the way sunlight touched her hair.

Sobs she couldn’t actually make beat at her lungs, shook her shoulders. She collapsed onto her knees, holding Vi close in a tight hug, curled around her like she was mourning, the blood on her clothes staining Vi’s with dark sticky smears and Caitlyn finally broke enough to mourn their future.

They were going to be trapped like this forever.

And it was her fault too.

~

When Vi regained consciousness, Caitlyn helped her stand, gave her water from the now empty bar below. She had cleaned up best she could with no reflection, run her hair through the sink water under the traces of blood no longer ran, scrubbed at her Hunters outfit before accepting it was ruined and stained.

She helped Vi down the stairs, the girl still wincing from the wounds she had sustained with Sevika. They didn’t speak of the fight, of Caitlyn attacking her, of what would happen next. Silently, they simply limped down the streets in the darkness of night.

They reached the church just as the first tendrils of morning were beginning to brighten the sky, and stood outside the courtyard fence.

“I have to go,” Caitlyn said quietly. “The sun.”

“Yeah,” Vi exhaled, wincing in pain. “I can do the rest of this on my own.”

How many times have I helped you limp here, Caitlyn thought, feeling Vi pull her arm off her shoulders. The hunter stumbled to the fence with a couple of pained grunts, hand to the wound, and took a deep breath when she leaned against it.

“Go,” she said to Caitlyn, still not looking at her. “I’ll be okay.”

Caitlyn hesitated, and then nodded. This was how it was going to be, to not acknowledge what went on, to not bring up what pained them, to ignore it because they couldn’t change it without acknowledging the truth of how to end it.

Just ignore it.

She left Vi at the gates of the church and returned home to return to routine. Two weeks later Vi returned at her window, faint scars at her neck from fangs that weren’t Caitlyn’s and not a word spoken between them about it.

Months passed.

And then years, barely noticeable to Caitlyn other than the changing of the seasons. Sometimes the wind that blew in when Vi entered her home was frigid, and sometimes the windows were already opened to let in fresh summer breeze. Her father and mother’s hairs grew greyer, and their skin more weathered, and Caitlyn would smile and compliment the new creams she had found at the shop for her own complexion while the guilt settled in her gut when the hunger was absent.

Vi changed too. She’d sport a new wound that would fade into a scar, healing quickly but leaving it’s trace. Her hair grew and was cut; some years down past her shoulders in a braid, some it was close shaven like a mans, darkened and slicked back with grease.

She had shown up like that one night, in pressed slacks and suspenders, smelling of cigar smoke with blood on her lapels, and without a single word kissed Caitlyn senseless and spent half the night with her head between Caitlyn’s legs until it became too much, only to move up and kiss her mouth, pressing Caitlyn into the mattress with a desperate passion, fingers working and driving Caitlyn mindless. She begged for Caitlyn to bite her, drink from her.

Caitlyn did and Vi muffled herself into her hand. She fell asleep beside Caitlyn, torn and bloodied dressshirt still hanging off her shoulders, Caitlyn naked in the sheets beside.

Reaching forward, Caitlyn laid a palm against Vi’s hot skin of her collar bone and watched her flinch in her sleep. A new scar lay across Vi’s chest, red against the faded silver of a couple already marking the skin. She traced down to Vi’s side, the wound she’d sustained when Vander had died now just a memory poorly healed and pale.

Caitlyn looked back up to Vi’s sleeping face, thumb lightly grazing against the wound.

Vi was gone in the morning and Caitlyn pretended she wasn’t awake when the hunter left.

Caitlyn herself kept busy in her nights, slipping out when the house was asleep to stare at the moon and try to remember the sun, to stalk the streets for any vampire activity as the city built itself up around her. Many times she would visit the zoos or the gardens, sometimes the docks to watch the great ships in the moonlight.

Most times she just stayed inside and occupied herself with books and art, teaching herself new languages, cooking foods she could not stomach, staring at an empty mirror.

Until nights the quiet burn of hunger began and Caitlyn would have a break in the monotony to instead pace and debate if she should hunt or wait for Vi to visit, if Vi remembered. When it became too much Caitlyn would slip and find herself someone to make do. She had gotten better at not causing their death.

In later years Caitlyn’s father grew ill, bedridden and weak. She sat by his side and watched as he wasted into a shell of himself over a course of weeks, thin and hollow. In his delirium he would refer to her as if she were her younger self, and why wouldn’t he? In thirty years she hadn’t aged a day.

On the night after her father died, Caitlyn stood by the window with any hope that Vi might hear of it, show up.

Instead, Caitlyn stood by the window until the light of dawn cast a sunbeam across where her hand rested on the sill and she let it burn and hiss until the pain finally became too unbearable.

She yanked it away and it healed only minutes later.

Her mother died two years after. Caitlyn dismissed all her servants on the day after the funeral and sat at the head of her dining table in the great empty hall of her great empty house. Wearing the face of her twenty two year old ghost.

Vi didn’t show for another two weeks, although it was beginning to feel like less and less time now.

Caitlyn didn’t mention her mother died.

Vi didn’t ask.

~

The Hunters found her a year later.

It seemed like a natural flow of events. She couldn’t blame them after all, a seemingly youthful, reclusive heiress in an empty house is practically a beacon for such suspicions.

Three of them, all young, eager, determined, made a clatter when they broke into her home. Surprised her in thee midst of a read of a favourite book, in what Caitlyn assumed was an attempt at an ambush with stakes and rope.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Caitlyn gritted out as she pushed one away from attempting to stake her in the back, pushed too hard and his head cracked sickeningly against the marble of her staircase.

“This is pointless,” she sighed, snapping the arm of another, leaving her crumbled on the ground in pain.

“Please,” she nearly begged the final hunter as the silver blade he had burned just above her heart, and she began to feel the hunger burn her instincts awake. She needed to feed to heal, and if they couldn’t get them to flee soon…

“We’ll purge the world of your kind,” he hissed gleefully and she winced at the smell of his breath. When the worry started to settle over him from her lack of ashing away, he stabbed her again, and again, and—

Well she did ask.

Just like her first kill, the first hunter, she drank from him. Only until she felt her wounds healing with the life the blood gave her, she told herself. Only just that amount.

But then the hunter let out a choked noise and went limp, his heartbeat fading and Caitlyn pulled away in surprise to see the arrow bolt that stabbed through them both. The second hunter with the broken arm had tried to fire a crossbow at her, piercing through her companion to hit so close to her heart, and Caitlyn appreciated perhaps the irony of her own choice of weapon used against her.

“You don’t… why won’t you die?” The second hunter gasped when Caitlyn dropped the body of her companion to the floor. The vampire looked at her sadly, touching a finger over the hole in her heart, knowing she would have to feed again to heal this one quickly.

“Darling, I wish I could.”

In a twist of coincidence, Vi arrived the next night after a six month absence and found Caitlyn sipping tea - she could stomach tea - in her reading room, a satchel beside her with the weapons she had gathered from the hunter’s corpses.

“I buried them, in the garden,” Caitlyn said when Vi approached. The hunter’s puzzled expression surprised her and Caitlyn raised an eyebrow and clarified. “Hunters. I was attacked.”

“Hunters found you?” Vi asked, eyes wide and heart speeding up. Caitlyn nodded.

“Three of them. They would have had me were it not for…” she waved idly between the two of them. Vi still looked shocked.

“And you— they died?”

“They were clumsy,” replied Caitlyn. “And it was them or me.”

Vi was silent, before she sat down at the tables beside Caitlyn. The vampire slid a cup over to her, and Vi took it absently.

Caitlyn sighed, toying her fingers along her teacup. “I’ll have to leave.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hunters know about me. They may not know about… us, but they clearly know that this place houses a vampire. If those three were part of an organization than now my home is known to not just harbour a vampire, but that some of their peers haven’t returned from. I can’t stay.”

“Is that really a good idea, when you’ve killed? What if you can’t control yourself, and do it again?”

“I don’t feed to kill. They attacked me and defended myself.” Caitlyn snapped. They squared off at each other, and while Vi looked so different now, her hair short and slicked and dyed black, a scar on her cheek she had gotten ten years prior, more squared and muscular than the lean fighter she had been before, her eyes were always the same. Searching Caitlyn’s, alight with worry and anger, looking to confirm something from the vampire. Caitlyn’s own gaze narrowed, thinking about Vi’s concerns.

“Is that what you’re worried about? That if you don’t… nanny me, I’ll become an unstoppable monster?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Vi didn’t respond, nostrils flaring as she breathed slowly. She was clearly trying to figure out her words and Caitlyn just sniffed and took another sip from her tea.

“You’re going to keep killing them though, aren’t you?” Vi finally spoke up when Caitlyn had ignored her long enough. “Every time a Hunter finds you?”

“All the more reason for me to leave, isn’t it? They’re going to keep finding me,” Caitlyn replied. “And I’m not seeking your permission.”

Vi’s knuckles knocked lightly against the table in a nervous rhythm. “Where will you go?”

Caitlyn pressed her mouth together, still focused on the teacup before she finally looked up. “Does it matter to you?”

Vi frowned. “What does that mean?”

“We see each other once a season, for one night. Maybe two if you’ve had a rough day. If I move to a new home, a new city, what truly will you miss?” Caitlyn asked.

“I think it should be a good idea for me to know where to find you.”

“Do you want to know?” Caitlyn pressed.

“Well, I have to, right?”

Caitlyn didn’t respond and Vi made a disbelieving scoff. “Really? You’re not going to tell me?”

Letting out a sigh solely out of habit, Caitlyn looked over to Vi sadly. “I’ve spent far too long waiting around these empty rooms and halls. I want to have a life again Vi, untethered, not this… existence waiting that you may one day show again.

Vi’s expression soured, the frown accenting a new scar on her jaw. “Yeah you really suffered, in this fancy house, not having to put up with the shit I have.”

“Oh, is this a competition now? Which of us has lived worse from your choices?”

Caitlyn placed the teacup down, standing up to her full height and looking down at Vi coolly. “I haven’t seen a blue sky in thirty years. Haven’t seen the sun rise or set. I can only know what my own gardens look like in the moonlight, can only reliably excuse myself to shops on stormy days. I don’t remember my own face. I am in exile for the crime of…” she squared her jaw, the words falling in love with you, and wanting you, and trusting you stuck in her chest. “For the rest,” she exhaled out instead. “Of our lives.”

Vi didn’t answer, avoiding Caitlyn’s gaze. She stood, still looking away before letting out a breath and turning to the vampire.

“Fine.” She flicked her gaze up to meet Caitlyn’s, eyes hard. “But if I hear about Hunters dying you know I’ll have to come find you and…” she squared her jaw. “If I have to.”

Caitlyn replied with an equally hard gaze and cold tone. “It’ll be a welcome change for the past three decades of you only seeking me out for one thing.” She raised a hand to gesture to the door. “You may go, I don’t need to feed tonight. I’m quite full.”

Vi’s expression darkened and her eyes darted, thinking. She said nothing though, heading in the direction Caitlyn indicated with the vampires following after, both of their footsteps loud in the quiet, empty hall. When she got to the door, Vi paused, a hand on the handle.

“Try not to move anywhere too sunny,” she muttered, not meeting Caitlyn’s gaze.

Caitlyn almost felt the ghost of a smile. When she didn’t respond Vi tugged the door open and walked through, out the threshold and down the few steps while Caitlyn watched. Pausing at the bottom at the footpath, Vi finally turned and looked up at Caitlyn pensively, but with that firm stubbornness she’d never lost after all these years.

“If I have to,” she reminded Caitlyn and the vampire only looked back at her, for what would be the last time in a lifetime until they would run into each other on accident in a stormy city, indulge in a rekindling that left them both feeling hollow and separate again until the next crossing of their paths.

“Have a good life, Vi,” she said firmly, shutting the door.

Vi woke up, aching and sore, wincing when she tried to turn from lying on her back. The pain in her gut burned and twisted still, and she turned just her head instead, burying the side of her face in her pillow.

Wait.

She blinked open her eyes, fuzzy and crusty, trying to get a visual. The room was dark, blinds and curtains drawn, the sheets soft and white, she was topless save a large bandage tied and wrapped across one shoulder down to her stomach. This wasn’t her room, but it was recognizable.

“Oh, you are awake.”

Caitlyn’s voice came from behind her, soft and surprised, and then the vampire was kneeling in front of her to hold her down by the shoulder. “Don’t move,” she said in a quiet, shushing tone. “Your injury was a bad one this time and we want you to heal with minimal scar tissue.”

“Where…” Vi tried to croak out, but her mouth and throat were sore and dry. Caitlyn shushed her again, pushing her gently to lie back on her back, fussing over one arm. Vi looked to see she had an IV line, attached to a clear bag hung on a makeshift hanger beside the bed. Caitlyn saw Vi watching her adjust the bandage and line through the corner of her eye and smiled slightly.

“You sister is a generous thief, when I’m angry enough.” She said with a muttering laugh. “She helped me bring you here and fetched supplies I needed.” Reaching up, Caitlyn brushed aside some of Vi’s hair, though still not meeting her eyes. “I actually worked as a nurse for a number of years you know,” she said in response to an unasked question. Then, softer and quieter, with a sad smile, “It’s how I met Kelly.”

Vi made a noise of acknowledgment, closing her eyes again to the soft touch. She heard Caitlyn tsk and stand, felt the blankets around her be readjusted. “Stay still, rest. I’ll get you some water and more pain meds.”

Hesitatingly, a cold hand brushed across her forehead, relieving against Vi’s hot skin. Then Caitlyn was gone and Vi drifted back into sleep.

~

Vi woke up, aching and sore, to a cold hand pressed against her cheek and the sound of her name.

“Do you think you could drink something?” Caitlyn’s voice was asking, distant. Vi blinked open her eyes, the lights in the room on but dimmed and the vampire a blurry sight beside her. A thumb rubbed against her cheek as her face was cupped by a cold palm and she leaned into it, closing her eyes again.

“Vi,” Caitlyn’s voice came again, “try to wake up darling.”

With a groan Vi forced her eyes back open and Caitlyn came into better focus this time. She was smiling, just barely, but clear and noticeable considering how used to her frown Vi was.

“I’m going to help you sit up,” she said soothingly, the hand she had on Vi’s cheek sliding down to cup the back of her neck, her other hand moving under her arm. “Try not to tense when I move you, alright?”

“Yeah,” Vi acknowledged, her voice a dry rasp, her throat hoarse and scratchy. Nodding, Caitlyn, slowly began to lift Vi up, Vi hissing at the stabs of pain the movement sent through her.

“Sorry,” the vampire whispered, trying to move Vi back on the mattress so she could lean against the headboard. As she leaned her back, Vi’s sore throat suddenly triggered a cough which instantly made her cry out in pain. Caitlyn held onto her hard to prevent her from moving too much, saying gentle “easy, easy,”s into her ear.

She finally got Vi settled back in a more seated position and instantly began to fuss and check over the wound to see if there was damage.

“How long?” Vi croaked while Caitlyn checked and the vampire’s fingers were a comfort with how cold they were against her skin.

“Two days,” replied Caitlyn, seeming satisfied with whatever she had been looking for. “Your healing is slow right now with the extent of the damage and how weak you’ve been.”

“Hmm,” Vi hummed in acknowledgment, eyes slipping closed again. Caitlyn lightly slapped at her cheek.

“Hey, hey, none of that just yet. You need energy.” A pause and then, “I made you a broth.”

“Broth..?” Vi repeated quizzically, opening her eyes again. Caitlyn had a thermos with a straw. “You want me to drink soup through a straw?”

“I don’t want to risk you on solids yet, and I assumed you wouldn’t want me to spoon feed you.” Vi tried to snicker at that and immediately winced, causing Caitlyn to lay a hand on her chest to hold her still. “But you need energy if you’re going to heal faster.”

“Trying to get rid of me?”

The hand on her chest rubbed fingers against her skin, flexing slightly, and Caitlyn’s eyes searched Vi’s a moment.

“Here,” she offered the thermos instead of a reply. Vi took it, cupping with two shaky hands and Caitlyn helped hold the bottom to keep it steady to help her drink.

“Is it any good?” She asked after a minute. Vi fought back another urge to laugh and just gave a wry smile.

“I can’t taste.”

“Oh. Right. I forgot,” the vampire chuckled sheepishly. “Well, next time I won’t worry about flavour.”

Vi let out a quiet ‘heh’ and tried to finish drinking, the liquid warming her up. Caitlyn brushed aside at her hair again, god Vi didn’t want to think about how greasy it was probably getting, and let her hand rest on the Vi’s shoulder as she waited patiently for her to finish.

When she felt like she had enough, Vi offered the thermos to Caitlyn who took it and set it aside. “How are you feeling?” she asked, pressing a cool hand to Vi’s forehead.

“Serious question?” Vi asked, leaning back as much as the angle would allow and wincing again. Caitlyn placed a hand to her healing wound, and then down to squeeze reassuringly on her thigh.

“I can bring you some music if you like?”

“That… no, it’s okay.” Letting her eyes fall closed, Vi patted at the hand still resting on her shoulder. “Did I…” the urge to cough tickled at her throat and she swallowed, tried to make a noise to quell the urge, “did I miss anything while I was out?”

She heard Caitlyn click her tongue in thought. “Well, your sister saved our lives which I’m still… processing. She brought us out to the shadows of the alleyway across from where Sevika had been holed up. I was barely conscious for that,” she added, “but when I did regain enough awareness she was standing with us. She had…”

Caitlyn trailed off, and Vi squeezed at her hand. “She what?”

“She burned it,” Caitlyn replied. “The warehouse. Completely destroyed. Any evidence of what Sevika was doing, gone.”

“Fuck,” Vi cursed. “Did she say why?”

“Just that it wasn’t our concern, other than to stay away from it.” Caitlyn’s voice had that annoyed sharpness, a bite to it. “Which considering how our involvement was forced upon us I wasn’t too thrilled to hear, but I was in no condition to argue. Especially once I saw how badly you were injured.” The hand on her thigh moved back up to the wound, gently resting there. “She tore it right out of you.”

“Yeah,” Vi grunted. “Was there for that.”

Caitlyn hissed something under her breath, then continued. “She was flippant and not very responsive but she did help me bring you home to help you recover.”

“So we have no idea what was going on.” Vi groaned.

“We don’t,” Caitlyn sighed. “This whole thing’s been an absolute waste and a nightmare.”

“Hey, but I got her this time.” Opening her eyes slightly, Vi grinned weakly to the vampire. “Saw Sevika ash up with my own eyes.”

Caitlyn smiled sadly. “There’s a win.”

“And it wasn’t a total waste,” Vi added, grimacing at the slight sparks of pain as she moved a hand down to rest on top of Caitlyn’s on her stomach. Caitlyn slipped her thumb up and over Vi’s, leaving their hands to slightly hold onto each other even as the look she gave Vi was a sad one.

“Vi…”

Vi just smiled weakly and let her eyes close again, exhaustion heavy in her bones. “Yeah I know.” She breathed out, feeling like she was sinking. “I hate you too.”

Caitlyn squeezed her hand and Vi drifted off again.

~

Vi woke up, stiff and sore, groggy but feeling much more clear-headed than she had the last couple of times.

“Hey sis.”

“Powder?” headed. She flexed her fingers into the sheets, taking a slow deep breath and gritting her teeth when the stretch of her diaphragm made the wound ache.

Blinking into the dark, she saw the room was empty; Caitlyn hadn’t woken her up this time. Carefully Vi started to move and shift her ankles, and then her legs, trying to get blood moving and feeling back into her body that wasn’t a dull throb. Everything was stiff, and then the painful tingle of sleeping limbs started to run an undercurrent through her body.

She started breathing slowly, exercises to help her focus through the pain until her muscles started to even out a bit better. She had no idea how long she lay like that, but after a point she heard a shuffle and glanced over to see pink eyes staring at her.

Vi jumped and instantly let out a hiss as pain lanced through her.

“Shit,” Jinx’s voice, alarmed, came and hands steadied her by the shoulders. “Fuck, shouldn’t have surprised you there, sorry. Thought you’d be better healed by now.”

“It takes a long ass time when it’s a bad one,” Vi groaned, lying back again. Jinx released her and hopped back a couple of steps, as if scared to have any close distance between them. “What are you..?”

“Checking in,” Jinx replied, arms folded across her chest and leaning against the dresser. “You got pretty fucked up. I was worried.”

“Thanks.” Vi took some slow breathes to try and calm the dizzy spell the pain left her with. “For… all that. Saving Caitlyn too.”

“Not like I had a choice,” Jinx bemoaned, “But you’re welcome.”

Silence hung between them and Vi swallowed, her throat still dry and scratchy. “What was all that?”

“What, that?” Jinx waved in the direction of the window. “That fucking shitshow you guys shut down? A mess, is what it was. Good job.”

“Caitlyn said you burned the place down.”

“Yeah, had to.” The vampire pushed herself up so she was sitting on the dresser, legs hanging down. “Like I said, the movement with vampires right now is trying to be less… reliant on hunting let’s say.”

“You mean like, not drinking blood?”

“We’re trying. Alternatives, other primate blood, synthetics, Vik’s almost got a formula down that stops the cravings but it’s ah,” she tapped beside one of her pink eyes, “not perfect or good long term. But we got some reductions going on, longer delays. Looking more into magic, mumbojumbo, that sorta stuff.” She waved a hand in the air in a circular motion.

“Is that was Sevika was doing? Trying to copy the soul bond to, what, keep hunting down?”

“Independence looks different to different people,” Jinx replied, voice pensive. She didn’t elaborate further and Vi was too tired to try and think of a way to ask.

“Look,” Jinx said, her boot toes tapping together in a quiet sound of contact. “I know it’s been a long ass time and, fuck, we’re all suffering for it. I don’t know how to say I’m sorry. But, maybe… I dunno, I thought saving your asses might be a good place to start.”

She looked at Vi with a weak smile and dropped her gaze again.

“It’s…” Vi wasn’t sure how to word things. How she wanted to forgive her sister and also kill her for the position she put her in. How so many things that didn’t have to happen ended up because of Powder’s dramatic, impulsive decision to run. “You’re not the only one responsible for what happened that night,” she started, “and I’ve been mad for a long time. I don’t want to be mad anymore.”

“Hey, we all do stupid things we regret, right?” Jinx tucked her legs up onto the dresser ledge, closer to her chest. “And sometimes those regrets last the rest of your life.”

She uncurled herself, pushing off the dresser and walking over to Vi, a hand raised in hesitation. “Will you break if I hug you?”

“Can’t do any worse,” Vi smiled and Jinx let out a quiet ‘heh’ and practically fell forward to envelop her sister in a hug. Vi wrapped her arms around Jinx best she could with her sore muscles and they stayed like that a moment before Jinx finally stepped back.

“I’ll probably see you again,” she said with slow, sweeping backward steps. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Vi was about to answer when a cough wracked through her, and she gripped at her waist when the muscle spasm sent pain through her. When she looked up, the room was empty.

~

Vi woke up, blinking at the morning sun shining through the window. The curtains were drawn, blinds raised, and the peach-pink light of dawn was glowing over the horizon. She pushed herself over and up with a groan, arm muscles protesting the long period of disuse. Hand on her stomach where the damage still throbbed but not painfully anymore, she adjusted herself to sit up in the blankets, looking out over the sunrise.

And then remembered she was in Caitlyn’s house, and the blinds were open.

“I thought you might like a little sun,” the vampire’s voice came from the hallway before Vi could process and panic. She turned to looked, seeing Caitlyn standing in the shadowy hall just past the door, looking at her with an expression Vi couldn’t read. A very small smile peeked at the corners of her mouth. “Although I guess I didn’t consider that if you needed anything…”

“I can get up,” Vi croaked through a hoarse, dry voice. She coughed to try and clear her throat, patting roughly at her chest a couple of times and swung her legs over the side. She took a couple deep breathes to try and steady the dizzy spell the movement brought on, just barely noticing the movement of Caitlyn in the doorway. “Stop, stop, I’m fine.”

“You look like you’re about to fall over.”

“Which means I’m awake and fine,” chuckled Vi, steadying her feet on the floor. She could hear Caitlyn’s scoff from the doorway and fought to chuckle again.

Slowly, using the bed and dresser to help support herself, Vi made her way to the doorway and into the shadowed hall where Caitlyn was waiting with an impatient expression. The vampire held out a hand for Vi to take for support and looked her over as if to check her progress.

“I bought some sandwich ingredients, if you’re hungry?”

And fuck, Vi was starving.

Caitlyn helped her through the hall to the kitchen, and Vi leaned against the island as she watched the vampire pull out some deli meats and vegetables. She was about to start cutting when Vi motioned they get passed over to her, saying “I can do it.”

“You’re recovering,” Caitlyn argued.

“And you’ve been doing everything for days, c’mon, let me stretch out.”

Tsk’ing but handing things over, Caitlyn stood to the side as Vi began to prepare her meal.

“Did Jinx talk to you?” Vi asked as she sliced the tomatoes. Caitlyn looked puzzled, shaking her head.

“I haven’t seen her since she helped bring you here.”

Vi hissed out a breath and a slight laugh. “Oh. She, uh, visited me when I was recovering. I assumed you let her in.”

Caitlyn’s brow instantly furrowed, and she looked over at the windows with a stern frown, mouthing what looked a lot like “fucking little…” before she shook her head and spoke louder. “I’ll have to check my locks then.”

“She didn’t have much to say,” Vi shrugged slightly, stacking the meat and tomato slices together on the bread. “Just that whatever Sevika was working on with broken soul bonds was one of the ways vampires could cut down on hunting, just in a fucked up way.”

“Of course,” Caitlyn sighed. “Did she say if we were still in danger?”

“I think it’s good to just expect to be,” Vi took a bite of her sandwich and spoke through a full cheek. “We should move soon, make it harder to track down.”

“Hmm,” was all Caitlyn said in reply. Vi kept eating, and the vampire watched her a moment. “How are you feeling?”

“Stiff but alive.” Vi rolled a shoulder, “glad I’m standing.”

“You should shower,” Caitlyn suggested, nose wrinkling slightly even as she smiled. “You stink.”

“Wow. Great bedside behaviour.”

Looking down at the counter as she lazily ran a finger across it, Caitlyn hummed. “I was going to offer to help, if you needed it?”

Vi stared at her with a mouth full of sandwich, blinking, and the vampire smiled up at her coyly.

Standing in the bathroom moments later however, brought up the memories of Caitlyn lying in the tub with a hole in her heart, so close to turning feral from stubborn hunger and torture and Vi felt sick and dizzy. She stumbled slightly, having to put a hand on the sink to steady herself, and Caitlyn immediately pressed a hand to her back to steady her.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I just,” Vi glanced over to her, then looked away, not able to meet her eyes. “Just remembering almost losing you in there.”

Caitlyn wordlessly looked at the tub, an expression Vi couldn’t read on her face, and just rubbed soothing circles into the small of Vi’s back.

They decided on a bath instead, with Vi still unsteady on her legs, and carefully Caitlyn helped her undress and into the water once the tub was full. Vi sat with her back to Caitlyn, who sat beside the tub and helped bring the washcloth along Vi’s back and shoulders, fingers lightly tracing over the tattoos and patchwork of scars.

After a moment of delicate washing Vi felt the light press of lips against her shoulder. She stiffened, sucked on a breath at the contact. She turned her head.

Caitlyn had lifted her head up to look at Vi, eyes dark and thoughtful. When Vi didn’t protest she leaned forward more, kissing her softly on the cheek, and then Vi turned her head and leaned back so their mouths met instead.

It was soft, slow. Grounding. Caitlyn didn’t push and Vi didn’t press, and they stayed like that with Vi in the warm bath, just kissing. The vampire brought a hand up to softly hold Vi’s cheek and Vi reached out to bury her fingers in Caitlyn’s hair and they kissed, and kissed. Until the water began to get cold and Caitlyn helped Vi back out, helped her dry, helped her back to bed, and kissed her again and again and again.

Vi fell asleep with Caitlyn’s hand over her heart, feeling it beating, and her own hand over Caitlyn’s as if to hold her there.

~

The next night Vi felt fully recovered, stretching her arms up with only a slight tugging discomfort in her middle. She idly wondered if that was going to be permanent, but decided not to dwell on it. What happens, happens.

She lifted her shirt to look down at what was now just a thick, healed scar, touched a finger along it.

“Just another one,” Vi sighed aloud, standing up and wincing at how stiff she still felt.

She made her way down the hall into the kitchen, seeing Caitlyn reading a book on her couch. As Vi walked past the vampire looked up, blinking. “Oh, you’re up.”

“Pretty much,” Vi grinned, hiding the wince from turning too quickly to acknowledge Caitlyn. “Hungry again.”

“Again? You ate yesterday.” A tease to her voice, Caitlyn stood and began to walk over to the kitchen while Vi pulled the groceries out of the fridge.

“The curse of the human body,” Vi joked turning to the counter to see Caitlyn standing close. The vampire smiled slightly with a single raised eyebrow and Vi winked back.

She looked up into Caitlyn’s eyes, and could see the beginnings of the pink starting to bleed into the blue.

“Look at that, you need to eat,” Vi stated. Caitlyn pressed her lips together, swallowing.

“I just healed you,” she said with false annoyance. Vi grinned lopsidedly and leaned against the island counter.

“Which means I’m in great shape for you.”

The vampire was now clearly trying to suppress a smile, stepping a bit closer and placing a hand on the counter beside Vi, looming over her.

“You eat first,” she husked against Vi’s neck, breath cool, leaning in a bit more so her lips brushed against the skin. “And then I suppose I could have a little snack.”

~

They spent nearly an hour on the couch, too distracted to make the short trip to the bed, Vi’s fingers buried deep as Caitlyn sunk in her fangs, neither of them speaking.

After that they finally made it to the bed, Caitlyn was gentle and mindful that Vi was still recovering, kissing down along her scars, touches featherlight and teasing and when they came together it was with relaxed sighs and sleepy voices mumbling affection.

~

“Sometimes I think that… if I had only stayed in my station, not followed you in hopes of adventure, none of this would have happened. Powder wouldn’t have run, you would have met someone else, we would have lived and died proper life spans.”

Vi sat on the rooftop, hood of her sweatshirt over her head and jacket tucked around her from the chill of the morning air. It was still dark out, but the inky blue of the sky was starting to brighten. She held the phone in her hand, camera pointed to the horizon as she listened on the video call to Caitlyn speaking on the other side. Vi sighed.

“If I had listened to you about not doing the mysterious ritual, if I was better at…” Vi swallowed, “at being a big sister.”

“It feels like the odds were stacked against us, really.”

Vi let out a slow sigh, watching the way her breath just barely clouded up in the cold air. A thought came to her that Caitlyn’s breath wouldn’t do that - one of hundreds of things Caitlyn could never do.

God, she still remembered how terrified she was to lose her a hundred years ago.

“Did you ever think it would come to this?” Vi asked, to Caitlyn or herself she wasn’t sure. Caitlyn was quiet for a minute, to the point where Vi had to check that the call was connected. Then with a heavy sigh, she finally replied,

“I didn’t think about a lot of things. That was probably the problem.”

Vi huffed. “You? Not think?”

“I should have cared more about potential consequences,” she could almost hear the sad smile in Caitlyn’s voice. “But I was young and in love, ready to do anything to spend more time with a pretty girl.”

Another huff from Vi, though softer and shorter. “I think that was supposed to be my line.”

“Don’t sell yourself short; underneath the mud and the blood and the soot and the scars and the dirt and the filth and the rags—“

“Alright, alright, I get it.”

“— you were quite pretty.” A pause. “Well, you still are I suppose.”

“Yeah?” Vi smiled, voice low. “You’re still pretty too. And,” she shifted her weight on her seat, “you’re still doing stupid things for me.”

“… I am, aren’t I?”

“We both are.”

It was quiet again, the sound of fabric shifting in the background as Caitlyn adjusted her seat in the couch. Then she spoke again.

“Do you ever think we would have been together if I hadn’t died?”

Vi swallowed. “I think about that a lot, actually.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah,” Vi shifted a bit, the cold concrete of the roof making her butt a little numb. “I think I… it made me resentful a lot in those days. That I finally had you, but in a way I could never have you, you know? And so many times I felt like you just… you didn’t want me, you just needed me.”

Quiet from the phone and then a thoughtful hum. “I often at times felt that same.”

“All I could think about, for so long, was if I could just… -find a way to break this curse then I would know. The longer it went on, the more I couldn’t believe you would ever choose me outside of this curse. I got so wrapped up thinking about what we could have been, I never even bothered to focus on what I thought you just.. needed.”

“Well, I don’t need you.”

Vi swallowed at Caitlyn’s words, watching the sky get lighter at the horizon, the pale white lightening into a rosier peach hue. Caitlyn spoke again.

“I don’t need you at all.”

Vi exhaled. “I know.”

“I’ve lived lifetimes without you.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“But,” Caitlyn’s voice wavered slightly. “I have missed you.”

“Yeah?”

“And maybe a… friend who can understand what this is like at my side won’t be so bad.”

Vi felt herself grin. “It wouldn’t, plus I could use someone to help split the rent.”

A light laugh. “And it would be much easier to protect each other if we actually kept in touch.”

“And maybe we can figure out how to help Powder and her cure mission.”

“We still have plenty of vampires to stop until then.”

“We always were a good team.”

“We are.”

Vi exhaled through a smile, licking her lips. “What d’you think? We give this another go? You and me?” She laughed, a low nervous chuckle, chewing her lip a bit. “Think we can make it work this time?”

“Of course,” Caitlyn agreed, wistfully watching the sunrise on the corner of the screen. Vi bit at her cheek, smiling just slightly as she held the phone as still as she could to capture the image. “We have plenty of time to try.”

“Yeah, it’s only forever,” Vi mused as the bright light of the sun finally peeked over the mountains, painting the valley in gold. The sun’s rays shone brilliantly through the sky, so clear that the brightest stars were still visible in the darker parts of the night sky not quite yet faded away. The light washed over Vi and the phone as she held it, stretching her shadow over the rooftop, still too early for the sun to be warm.

Caitlyn hummed in appreciation very softly, before she spoke so quietly Vi wasn’t sure if she was meant to hear it, or the slightly melancholy tone it took.

“Not long at all.”