Chapter Text
The screaming never ends. She has heard it echoing in her ears since the beginning, long before the whispers of night creatures spread across her home. Batman finally told her, one rainy day in the manor’s cellar, sipping holy water and passing a rusty, metal cross between sturdy and slim fingers. Vampires are real, Batman had said. Coughed awkwardly, seeming very far away at that moment. He explained the purpose of flame, stakes, and weapons forged of silver. The dead have risen, Cassandra, we must be prepared.
But Batman is gone, a city-sized crater of fire rests where Gotham City should be, and Cass isn’t sure she’s making the right choices anymore.
From further inside the cave she chose to temporarily shelter them, Stephanie shrieks in agony. Cass winces, slumped against the cave’s open mouth to ward off any curious parasites. It has been a week since her last foraging trip near Gotham, a week since she discovered Stephanie Brown melted halfway into the sidewalk. Perhaps the parasite she had enlisted was tainted, so close to disintegration that its venom proved ineffective.
“Hello, Batgirl.”
Cass jolts in place, and nearly strikes the stranger on instinct. She rubs her eyes with a long yawn, then peers over to examine her latest visitor. The man is completely clothed, showing very little skin, and sports a long, red jacket. His wide-brimmed hat matches in colour, but the gold-plated mask draws Cass’s attention.
“I know you,” she croaks, assuming a basic defensive stance. “I remember your face.”
Anarky shakes his head. “I don’t think you do, Batgirl. I am much more familiar with your other… companions.”
She considers the kindest way to break the news, if this Anarky figure is telling the truth. She braces her core, says, “Tim is dead.”
“I suspected as much,” Anarky replies, seemingly unfazed. “When the news of Batman’s disappearance first spread, I realized it was far too late to extend my aid. Not that Drake would’ve accepted it, the stubborn bastard.”
( Dick Grayson’s eyes flashing red as blood, Tim dangerously close to the soles of his steel-toed boots. Her brother’s expression is both panicked and resigned. Cass taking a shaky step forward, then a dozen— still unable to reach him in time. )
“Then… why?” Cass tried, the question thick on her tongue. She hasn’t cried for what feels like years, though it has only been a fortnight at most. “Why come here?”
Anarky crosses his arms, “The other Batgirl, you would never leave her side. Where is she?”
Something is wrong. Night has fallen quicker than it should, three unfamiliar bloody moons hanging in the starless sky. Cass stumbles backwards in her haste, two hands futilely trying to block the entrance. “Don’t come any closer, I will-”
“Kill me?” Anarky laughs, robotic and cruel. “We both know you are soft, Cassandra Cain.”
She slips on loose rock, hits the ground on bruised knees and aching wrists.
“Orac- Barbara is infected,” Cass whispers, that particular wound still stinging. “Is that what you wanted? She has replaced Nightwing as their Queen.”
“Stephanie Brown,” Anarky says, and the admittance seems surprisingly desperate. “You have her. I need to see-”
( Steph shrinks back with her limited range of movement, cries, “Cass, I don’t think this is a good idea—” )
Cass covers her ears with shaking hands, the screams only growing louder, more persistent. “Can’t you hear her? Or are you only here to torment me?”
For a moment, there is blissful silence. Anarky pauses his approach, then startles— as though he has finally understood what she’s telling him. Within one second and the next, Cass catches the bladed end of his staff about an inch away from her face. She can barely read him, the mask impeding certain tells, however, his rage has him sloppy.
“What are you doing?” Cass demands, snatching his staff from his grip before he can flick the switch along its side.
Anarky grasps the front of his golden face, twists it ever slightly. It comes free, exposing thick red hair and a furious expression. His natural voice is lower than she expected, though not by much.
“You will let me see her,” he says, then falters. “Please, Cassandra.”
She considers the request. Regardless, Cass really shouldn’t be letting Anarky leave either. Parasites don’t make much noise, but they’ve propagated quite heavily in the nearby area. They’ll have to leave soon, keep moving, as soon as Steph is well enough to walk. If she ever is, her consciousness hisses.
“Come in,” Cass offers, gesturing to the cave’s darkened tunnels. “You won’t want to be outside right now.”
Anarky sighs, a half-smile twisting his lips, and drops into an ironic sort of curtsy. “I am in your care, Batgirl. Do not make me regret it.”
She guides him through the left tunnel, guiltily aware Steph is currently residing down the right one. They eventually reach her stash of supplies, and Cass rifles through them to find a spare candle. Her hands are somehow still shaky from the earlier encounter, and she struggles with the lighter long enough that Anarky offers to help.
“Thank you,” Cass mumbles, staring at her shoes. “I feel… strange. These things should be easy for me.”
When no reply comes, she returns to her bag of rations. The can opener cooperates, and Cass passes a container of beans to her guest.
“Thanks,” Anarky says, though he eyes the can like it’s going to grow legs and crawl away. “I’m not sure what I expected, following you here. Your f- I mean, Batman and I never really got on.”
Cass rips open her last packet of jerky, and frowns at the smell. She’ll have to go scavenging soon, if she’s to have the right foods to feed herself and Steph. Except Steph won’t be needing—
“Eat,” she snaps, a little harsher than intended. “Talk later.”
Under candlelight, the shadows cast strangely. Anarky is but a man, and yet the shade behind him appears double in size, curved horns sharp. As though he knows something has frightened her, the rogue leans forward and asks, “How did it feel?”
“What?” Cass manages, a stick of jerky slipping through clumsy fingers.
Anarky smiles too wide. “To kill her, of course. Knowing she was begging for you to stop, and letting that monster bite her anyway.”
Bile rises in her throat, burning like a brand. She gasps, choking on nothing. Suddenly, Anarky is standing over her, staff in hand once more.
“Nobody dies,” Anarky pitches his voice high, as if he’s trying to mimic her. “That’s what you’ve always said, Cassandra, and here we are. You’ve managed to lower the bar, beyond ending a man’s life by your own hand.”
Cass kicks out, swiping Anarky’s legs out from under him. He falls like a stack of cards, but Cass ends up only clawing at dust and empty fabric.
The disembodied speech continues, “Did involving a ‘third-party’ assuage your guilt, Batgirl? If it all went wrong, at least you’d be able to blame the vampire, no?”
Kick, punch, punch again— the cave begins to collapse. She inhales sediment and dust, coughing so hard she tastes the metallic tang of blood before it surrounds her entirely.
“Stop!” Cass whimpers, pleading suffocated by another surge of blood. It fills the tunnel like a particularly morbid kind of swimming pool, drowning her.
“You swore to keep her safe,” the voice accuses, audible even as Cass sinks further into liquid gore. “That day, the final fight— where were you when the bombs went off? Did you try to find her?”
Of course I did, Cass thinks desperately, barely able to make her mouth move at all. She’s everything I have left, in this world filled with parasites.
Feebly able to open her eyes for the final time, Cass can just faintly identify the shape of a woman floating in front of her. Arms outstretched, the way they had been six feet below Gotham’s harbour— Stephanie says, “It wasn’t enough, Cassie. Nothing you can do now will ever be enough.”
She gasps awake to cold pressure. Vision blurring, Cass blinks up at her best friend’s face.
“Cassie!” Steph exclaims, her relieved smile showing off sharp fangs. “You were screaming a lot, but I didn’t wanna wake you in case it made things worse.”
“Oh,” Cass says. Her throat feels like she’s been swallowing sandpaper, or the pointy edge of a knife. “I’m sorry.”
The apology frees an unspoken dam inside of her, and Cass twists to cover herself as silent tears slide down her cheeks. She clearly hasn’t adjusted as effectively to the situation as she’d thought, which is a concept nearly as nightmarish as the dream itself. Putting Steph in a situation like this, stripping her of humanity, all to crumble at the first signs of stress?
“I don’t resent you,” Steph whispers into her neck. “Not even a little bit, okay?”
She’s stronger, Cass has noted casually over the past month, to an extent that Cass might not be able to shake her from the koala cling Steph’s enacted. Colder too, if not in disposition, than in temperature. Her nose is practically an icicle pushing enthusiastically against the flesh of Cass’s throat. The angle is kind of awkward, but her partner’s intent is sweet enough to make up for it.
“You should,” Cass says automatically, “I can’t- I think about it-”
Admitting her own decision caused regular and persistent nightmares is far too difficult for Cass to confess. She sighs instead, clears her throat. “Are you… hungry? Thirsty?”
Steph pulls backwards, the movement so abrupt that Cass barely notices her jump across the tunnel until she’s already there. Her blonde locks are puffed up and matted together, almost reminiscent of her time as Robin. During the change, Cass had watched in real time as warm brown eyes morphed into an uncomfortable shade of red. They went amber at times —more recognizable— after Steph had gone out hunting.
Lately, the animals haven’t seemed to be cutting it. Strong emotions triggered the return of red eyes and larger fangs… Though ‘good day’ or not, Steph would usually have to step out for a snack multiple evenings a week.
“Do you think I want to eat… you?” Steph calls from where she’s pressed herself to the wall. Her voice is tiny, chastened, like she expects Cass to start scolding her.
Cass scoffs, sitting up further in their makeshift bed. “Of course I don’t. I only mention it because-”
“No,” Steph groans, tugging ferociously at the skin surrounding her eyelids. “No, no, no, I was out an hour ago. You’ve gotta be kidding me, fuck!”
“I think,” Cass interrupts as softly as she can, “we need to consider other options.”
Steph shrieks, shying away. “You can’t stake me! You did this, you made me- I won’t let you kill me too!”
Something inside Cass’s heart breaks, shatters into tiny pieces. She stumbles to her feet, both hands out as though attempting to soothe a panicked stray. “Stephanie,” she says, “I would never hurt you, okay? You are safe with me until I die, and even then I would-”
Full body pressure collides with her midsection, and Cass frantically wills air back into her lungs while Steph cries a stain into the stomach of her suit.
“Oh man,” Steph hiccups, as a steady stream of darkened, unoxidized blood leaks from both her tear ducts. “Sorry, jeez, I dunno what’s wrong with me. It’s like I’m nonstop PMS-ing every hour of the day. I really don’t mean to lash out at you, Cassie, you’re already doing so much for me.”
The two of them are a broken telephone, ferrying unearned apologies to and fro. “It’s not you,” Cass tries once more, echoing the dream’s voice she cannot forget. “I owe you everything, and it isn’t enough.”
Steph frowns, pokes her head up from Cass’s abdomen to make sure Cass sees her disapproval. “Agree to disagree, Batgirl, I’m totally stoked you saved my life— I don’t care if it’s not a perfect fairytale ending.”
“Okay,” Cass replies. She’ll let it go, for now. “Then returning to our earlier topic, I think you need to branch out.”
“Ugh,” Steph cries, “birds and lizards are one thing! Draining a deer is two steps from draining a dog, or a cat, or a-” She trails off, faint hints of green popping up ‘round her pale face.
“If you try to eat a human,” Cass says firmly, “I will stop you, so don’t worry.”
Steph considers the oath, props herself up better to examine her own hands. “When you turned me that day, it wasn’t the pain I was scared of. End of my life, and I thought about my stupid dad— that if I survived this vampire shit, I’d turn out just like him.”
Cass shakes her head, outgrown wolfcut obscuring parts of her vision. “You wouldn’t, and you never will. It’s not possible.”
She recalls their first handful of meetings. At that time, Cass knew very little about the hooded girl in purple— always stuck to Robin’s side like glue. Their early teamups had been unsteady, but Cass never felt as though Steph would hurt her. It was why Batman did not trust The Spoiler, calling her rash and unpredictable.
Tim had said similar things, not with malice— but in the way a younger person would, honest to a fault. She learned things about Steph that were perhaps unfair to know that early, yet…
( “It’s frightening,” Stephanie says. Cass watches her shift in place, the same way she does when Batman hands out missions. Bottom lip between white teeth, hands shaky. “I don’t— I can’t be like him. Tim always told me it was okay, I was young. I wouldn’t have been able to raise a child on my own, De— the father was out of the picture.”
Bright, hopeful eyes bore into her like a laser. Whatever Cass is supposed to say doesn’t come. She wishes she had her comm piece in, Barbara in her ear. Nodding feels like a neutral gesture, but it seems to only drive Steph into further frenzy.
“He drove me there in that stupid red car of his, and checked me into the clinic. I just— froze. Everyone assumed Tim was the father anyways, and he didn’t correct them. What a gentleman, saving me the shame!” Steph tries for a laugh, and it comes out as a higher pitched sob. “I killed her, Cass, I killed my baby.” )
At the time, Cass hadn’t known what to say.
She does now.
“You aren’t a killer, Stephanie,” she states firmly as can be, “Not then, and certainly not in our circu- cir- situation. Do you want to know something?”
Steph sniffs, leans closer, “Yeah.”
“You are so in control it actually surprised me, that first day,” Cass admits, “I said others had survived the turning… but they were different when it was over. You, Stephanie, have the determination to stay human no matter what.”
“Thank you,” Steph murmurs, lost in thought. “You mean a ton to me, Cassie, though I’m sure that’s obvious. One thing though, ‘human’ is pretty subjective.”
Cass snorts, rolls them over to rest a hand where Steph’s heart used to beat. “I’ll get used to it.”
“Really?” Steph fires back, pushes upward and somehow— Cass actually moves with the motion. “These new superpowers aren’t half bad, if you ignore the night-stalking animal-hunting gig.”
“Don’t get cocky,” Cass laughs despite her concerns of the less-than-guarded cave entrance. “I never lose, not even to a vampire.”