Who: Kate Bishop and John Mitchell When: Wednesday Morning Where: THEIR house What: Mitchell is a human. Kate is a vampire. This can't end well. Warnings: Talk of blood, bloodlust, general vampirisms. Status: Closed / In-Progress
If someone would have told Kate Bishop she’d be in an honest relationship, she would have laughed at them. The fact that she was? Kate had been proud of herself. It was a sign of growth and acceptance. A lot of people would never understand why it was such a big deal for her and Kate knew that. The important thing was that Kate understood it and she was certain Mitchell understood it as well.
What she didn’t understand was why she was so hungry. She hadn’t slept that late, had she? They had had a decent dinner the night before. Take-out as usual, but Kate had eaten so much Thai, she swore she was going to turn into it.
This was something else. Something was just wrong. Her mouth hurt, she was freezing, and the thought of eating any sort of food just turned her stomach. Maybe she was just getting sick? That was possible. The weather had been crazy lately. Why would it make her hungry, though?
Peeking out from under the blanket, she frowned at the time. It was still fairly early, but she didn’t want to sleep. Not anymore.
Rolling over, Kate curled up against Mitchell. “When did you get so warm?” she asked, a lazy murmur against the side of his neck. “Are you playing music or something? Where’s that thump coming from?”
***
He wasn’t quite awake, but he heard her voice. He heard the word warm. Then music. He frowned as the blanket of sleep receded and awareness hit him. His eyes snapped open and he looked at her with wide, panic-dark pupils.
Because for all that her questions hit him out of the blue, more pressing at least initially, was the fact he could feel his own heartbeat. And he could not hear Kate’s. He jerked up, pushed himself to sitting up at the same moment he attempted to swallow. Saliva caught in his throat and made him cough.
He was alive! And Kate was...was she a vampire? Okay. Obviously the dome was messing with them. He tried very hard to keep the panic from rising. The dome messed with them all the time. This was just another thing they had to deal with, no big. Right?
If only it was that easy. “Kate…”
***
His sudden movement was enough to make Kate push herself to sit up and look at him. Something was different. He had a bit more coloring to his complexion and she could hear that rhythmic thump practically ringing in her ears.
Kate winced, pressing a hand against one ear. It wasn’t painful. It was more annoying; more frustrating than anything she heard as of late. Every thump made her stomach turn with hunger. Something being wrong was most certainly an understatement.
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked looking over at him, her hand now rubbing at her jaw. She was so cold and clammy. Kate looked at Mitchell with unwavering attention as if everything began to fall into place.
No. No, no, no. This wasn’t good. This was definitely not good. Not for either of them.
“...Why can’t I feel my heartbeat?” Kate hated to ask such a thing, but she did with such a quiet and meek tone clearly showing the worry that was beginning to surface.
***
Mitchell sat up, pushed back against the pillows, looked down at his hands. “Because...because you don’t have one,” he told her. It was simple logistics. They’d swapped states of being, or whatever. He was human, she was vampire.
Which meant...she was likely feeling the Hunger. He felt it all the time, even though he didn’t drink blood. It was hard to resist, even on a good day. The craving never went away. And she wouldn’t have the tolerance he had.
He was impressed she hadn’t tried to tear his veins open already. He should probably move away from her, but he wasn’t going to abandon her. Not now, not for any reason. “The dome is messing with us. It’s made me alive. And you…” he moved his hand toward her. He was pretty sure she could figure it out.
“That emptiness you feel? It’s Hunger. For blood. You have to fight it. Fight it with everything you have.” They’d shared memories just a month or so ago, which likely gave her insight into the daily struggle he fought, but now she was feeling it first hand. And he knew it wasn’t an easy fight to fight day in and day out.
***
As it all came crashing down, that emptiness was growing worse. The hunger, the one that she had seen Mitchell suffer through, and knew he worked hard to stay away from --
“What if I can’t?” Kate’s question was so quiet, hardly above a whisper, and her hands were so tightly fisted into the blankets and sheets, it was clear she was doing her best to fight. The closest target would be Mitchell and she could hear every pump of blood that coursed through his veins.
Inhaling deeply, there was nothing to fill her lungs. She felt empty and Kate felt even worse knowing that this was Mitchell’s everyday life.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” As much as Kate wanted to go to Mitchell for something, anything, she slid away just slightly. “Especially you.” She paused, a look of pure fear on her face. “And Eve. Oh god, I can’t be here.”