whats_mine (whats_mine) wrote in city_limits, @ 2009-04-15 23:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | melinda berkeley, thea daughtrey |
Fanged Bodyguard
Her head felt packed with fuzz. She groaned, her eyes flickering open. Something was scratching her neck and exposed skin. Dried grass and something else, dirt. Melinda was on her back, her black cardigan unraveled, the purple t-shirt underneath showing. It was cold, and she felt ill. The telekinetic attempted to sit up; it seemed to take Herculean effort on her part. After a moment, she was hunched over herself, one arm wrapped around her abdomen. Nausea and chill ran through her. Tears stung her eyes; she hated crying, but she had no idea where she was, or what had happened. Trying to cast around her mind, the memories and sensations were murky and nightmare-like. The freakishly strong figures who had picked her up, the sharp sting against her neck.
A wall of panic hit her, and her hands scrabbled around the grass. Her phone and her keys were gone. Left on the concrete of campus. Where was campus? Looking up, she could see that the lights of downtown were a lot further away than they had been. The tears began to fall. The brunette didn't know the city that well yet. She could be anywhere, in any neighborhood.
Thea's search for dinner was coming up empty so far on this night. Granted, she'd only been out and about for an hour or so, but the vampire wasn't used to not being able to find her first meal of the night so soon. It was annoying, and in spite of the fact that she wasn't one to naturally be afraid, Thea found herself looking over her shoulder and stopping at every random noise, making sure some stake-wielding goody-goody wasn't after her. Thea appreciated the answers Bethany gave her, but this was one of those cases where ignorance really was bliss.
Making her way through one of the many parks in Chicago with the intent of taking a shortcut to the neighborhoods west of Soldier Field, Thea's ears soon picked up the soft whimpers of someone in tears. She stopped in her tracks, letting the sniffles and cries sink into her ears. A small grin played across the vampire's pale features -- someone was suffering. If there was one thing that whet Thea's appetite, it was pain. Physical, emotional ... it really didn't matter.
But once Thea closed in enough to catch a scent along with the soundtrack, her smile disappeared. There was no way she could eat off this one, not after her last conversation with Grace. Why the hell she was so protective of some crummy human was beyond Thea, but the edict was there nonetheless. The vampire found herself standing over the other woman, hunched over herself and crying. Thea shook her head, rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come oooon," the vampire mocked. "There's no crying in baseball!"
Melinda froze, the familiar cold voice meeting her ears. She looked up at Thea, and her previous expression of fear mixed with something else: visible distaste. Yet she couldn't think of what to say. Maybe she should get to her feet. The brunette frowned. Something was missing, some vital piece inside of her. She could feel it, an emptiness that clawed unpleasantly at her insides.
"Am I near a baseball field?" she asked quietly, unable to keep the trepidation out of her voice.
"No," Thea shrugged with an amused grin. "But you reminded me of a young Rosie O'Donnell the way you were weeping just now. Ya know, all League of Their Own and pathetic like that."
Seeing the look of distaste on Melinda's face, the vampire smirked and shook her head. Humans could be so ... defensive. Again, Thea wondered just what this one had that kept Grace's interest. As far as Thea was concerned, this girl was nothing more than a potential meal sprinkling herself with salt. Why the hell would another bloodsucker want to pal around with her? Unless the idea was to bed her, maybe try to corrupt her.
That idea had some potential. Thea just wasn't patient enough to try something like that.
"Oh, relax," she sighed. "I'm not here to eat you. Your fanged bodyguard made sure of that."
Melinda sat up straight, forgetting her circumstances for a moment. "I am nothing like Rosie O' Donnell," she insisted. Then she remembered that wasn't the worst of her problems. The reference to Grace brought her mind back around to what had happened. The brunette really would have preferred it if that vampire had stumbled upon her, instead of Thea. At least Grace was nice to her.
"Something happened to me," she explained grudgingly, getting slowly to her feet. God, she was cold. "I was on campus, and then something ... shot me. In the neck. I passed out, but not before these ... things picked me up. I have no idea what they did. I don't even know where I am."
"Couple blocks from Soldier Field," Thea explained in a bored tone. She really didn't care about the explanation offered to her -- unprovoked, at that. Something did appear to be off about Melinda ... then again, no one ever cried because everything was peachy keen. A quick examination of their surroundings showed that no one else was within the vicinity, which meant in order to get someone to eat, Thea would have to go somewhere else.
Which she could do, assuming Melinda ditched the sob story.
"Must not have been too bad," Thea shrugged. "You're still breathing, aren't you? Kind of overrated, ya ask me, but if it works for you ..."
"Oh, yeah, it was a piece of cake," Melinda retorted sarcastically as she brushed dirt and grass off of her. They must have been on Northerly Island.
Her panic was gone now, replaced by anger. How maddening was Thea? As far as vampires went, she really sucked. "Look, I just want to get home, okay? And I don't have any money on me, and my apartment isn't exactly nearby." What was she doing, trying to get bus fare off of this wench? She was better off begging in the street.
"You know what? Never mind. I'll walk," the brunette huffed.
"Alone? In your condition?"
Thea frowned. What the hell did she just say? Did the vampire just make a statement regarding Melinda's well-being? Thea wasn't the sort of vampire to care about the well-being of a human, and she sure as hell didn't care about how Melinda was faring. Then again, there was a certain benefit to making sure the brunette made it back safely, even given her distaste toward her. The reality was enough to turn the vampire's stomach, but that didn't make the reality any less true.
"Look," she added, "you don't like me, and I'd rather eat you. But if something happened to you, Grace would probably have my ass ... and not the way I'd like." Thea sighed, shook her head. She still couldn't believe she was about to say this. "I ... I'll walk you home, okay? You're not in any shape to be wandering off by yourself, and if some monster finds you?
"Ever see those Discovery Channel shows about lions hunting down packs of zebras and attacking the weakest one? Yeah, I think you get my point."
The telekinetic regarded Thea uncertainly. She wasn't sure that she trusted her, but her motive seemed sound. She rubbed her arms, tying the sash around her sweater and securing it. "Fine," Melinda replied tentatively, worrying her lower lip briefly. Her gaze focused behind Thea, to a rock that laid in the grass. She tried to move it, nudge it, anything. She wasn't sure what brought her to attempt it, but that feeling of something missing within her was growing stronger.
Nothing. Nada. Total stillness.
Thea saw Melinda stare at the rock, an eyebrow arching skyward. She remembered the brick flying seemingly out of nowhere the night Thea bit her, the revelation of the brunette's less-than-normal gift. Thea wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, even if she had secured acceptance to the University of Illinois-Chicago when she was still human, but she got the suspicion Melinda's predicament and her inability to make things float were related.
"That's gotta suck," the vampire said as she started walking alongside the brunette. "The one thing that makes you not boring and it's gone faster than MC Hammer's career."
Melinda rolled her eyes, not dignifying the implication that she was boring with a response. She knew she was more interesting than Thea, and that was what mattered. Besides, maybe the loss of her powers was just a side effect of whatever she got shot with. A temporary one. She wrapped her arms around herself, that small bit of hope the only thing keeping her together at the seams. Tomorrow, she'd make a report with campus police, and things would go back to normal. They had to.
The brunette frowned. Maybe she should go to the medical center tonight. But the idea of walking across campus in the dark, again, horrified her.
"It isn't permanent," she told the vampire firmly. "It's just a side effect of what I got hit with. Anesthesia, or something." Of course, that made her mind veer in dangerous, dark directions. Why would someone need to knock her out and drag her off somewhere?
"Howie Mandel's career, then."
Thea brought the hood on her hoodie up over her head, in part to help keep the Chicago night winds from messing up her hair as they crossed one of Chicago's many streets. This felt so unnatural to the vampire; she really hoped word of this got back to Grace and the surrogate sire would eventually make this inconvenience worth her while. Her undead stomach grumbled, reminding Thea yet again that she'd yet to eat that night.
Soon. She hoped.
"You sure they didn't steal your power?" Thea asked, completely bullshitting the brunette. She had no clue about any of this, but she liked the thought of that question freaking out Melinda.
"No," she said fiercely. Of course, inwardly she wasn't so sure. But she wasn't about to let Thea see that. Why would someone steal her telekinesis? How could they? The question disconcerted her. Little bits and pieces came back to her, but they were as helpful as a jigsaw puzzle missing all the middle parts.
The thing was, for once, she didn't want to be alone when she got home. She hoped her roommates were in the apartment, exactly as she left them: sprawled out on the sofa watching some insipid sitcom. The sight and noise would be comforting tonight.
The vampire shrugged her shoulders as sort of a "suit yourself" gesture, but she didn't actually say anything. At this point, she just wanted to get to Melinda's apartment, drop her off and get back to the business of the night. The pair passed a trio of young men along the sidewalk, and it took a massive effort on Thea's part not to shuck the hood, bear the fangs and have herself a right feast. That would delay getting Melinda home, and probably scar the girl, too.
Thea didn't want that, mostly because it would make Grace angry. Still, as she listened to the guys' conversation fade into the night, the vampire just couldn't deny it.
She was fucking starving.