darkestroads (darkestroads) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-10-09 07:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, chase, chase x mara, mara |
Who: Mara and Chase
When: Evening, Friday July 13th
Where: Home
Status: Complete
As a place to live, Mara wasn’t sure what she thought about Point Pleasant. There wasn’t a ton to do like there had been back home and Mara hadn’t been in the mood to meet many people on her own. She was still getting used to her new environment, she supposed. However, she did like the dark undercurrent of the town. Something was living deep in its foundation, something ancient and powerful. It could open its mouth and swallow the town whole if it really wanted to. She was sure other people felt it too, though maybe not as keenly as she did. Perhaps that was one of the perks of having died. She felt she could put her ear to the ground and talk to evil directly.
Mara did like living with Chase, though, in their nice home so close to the ocean and his pretty cousin and her pretty husband. Chase was everything to her; sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night and watch him sleep. Sometimes she would wake him up and fuck him until they were both spent. Lately, her fingers itched to wrap around his throat and squeeze, just so he could experience some of the exhilaration and fear that she had. The temptation had grown stronger lately, which it sometimes did when the magic that had brought her back to life began to wane. It meant a sacrifice was near and they both knew it. They hadn’t had to do anything since arriving in Point Pleasant, but it was becoming clear that the town’s energy alone wouldn’t keep her alive.
Chase wasn’t yet home when the sunset that evening. Mara was feeling restless in her own skin, texting him non-stop as the day progressed. Eventually she left her phone on the kitchen counter and left the house to walk into the woods again, her bare feet pressing into the weeds and dirt. Her discarded clothes left a trail behind her until she was alone, the trees creating darker shadows as the night sky enveloped everything around her. Breathing hard, Mara sat between two trees, shoving her toes into the dirt, the undeniable urge to cover herself in the soil growing stronger. Some part of her mind had detached from reality and she wanted to draw blood, whether from her or someone else. It was a frustrating sensation, to want something and not know what or how to achieve it and it was during these moments that she hated what Chase had done and wished she could punish him for it.
It had been a frustrating day, with Mara’s text messaging steadily increasing to the point where Chase could barely get any work done. He knew she was bored, but he shouldn’t have to entertain her. She wasn’t a child. She could go out and meet new people, check out the town. There was even an arts festival going on, so she had plenty she could be doing, but his suggestions fell on deaf ears. By the time he arrived home, he was agitated and itching for a drink. He immediately poured himself one, all while calling out to Mara. He walked through the house, from room to room, expecting to find her, possibly having fallen asleep. He’d finished his drink and finished his search, but no Mara. So he poured himself another and walked out onto the back porch.
He loved the privacy of their home, the way it faced the woods, making it seem like there was no one around for miles. His eyes searched through the trees as he called Mara’s name again, hoping to spot her. An object on the ground caught his attention and he set his drink down on the railing before moving into the woods to retrieve it. Chase sighed when he realized it was Mara’s shirt. He should probably be worried about her, but instead he was aggravated. She’d always been a free spirit, and he honestly loved the lack of underwear, but she couldn’t just strip in the middle of the woods. “Mara!” he yelled, moving farther in, spotting her skirt in the distance. Where the fuck was she?!
By the time she heard Chase's voice, Mara had laid down on the ground, comforted by the feel of nature surrounded her. She knew he got annoyed with her aversion to clothing sometimes, but at the moment, she didn't care. She was where she was supposed to be. He was the one who had put her there after all. Sighing, Mara reached out to run her fingertips over some of the tree's roots that had broken ground. She could ignore him, but Mara knew he wouldn't leave until he'd found her, so she reluctantly pushed herself up, not quite ready to stand yet. Her nerves felt raw and exposed and it seemed to intensify at the sound of Chase's voice. "What," she yelled back, her voice hoarse. It was the worst game of Marco Polo that she'd ever played.
Chase spun towards the sound of Mara’s voice, spotting her almost immediately. He jogged towards her, but his steps began to slow the closer he got, until he was just a few feet from her. “What the fuck, Mar?” he asked, looking down at her. He didn’t mind the nudity around the house, or outside when caught up in a moment of passion, but this was… bizarre. This wasn’t even the beach, this was the woods, and she was covered in dirt. There were dead leaves in her hair and mud under her fingernails. It was far too reminiscent of when he’d had to bury her in the earth and he scowled down at her, waiting for an explanation. After the day he’d had, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
His tone, and the way he looked at her, set her teeth on edge. Didn’t he understand that this was all his fault? “What the fuck, yourself,” Mara snapped. It wasn’t an explanation, but she didn’t owe him one. Even if she had, she wouldn’t have known what to say. How did she explain any of this? It wasn’t like her brain was dealing with reality very well at the moment. Her hands rubbed her forearms, leaving behind streaks of mud. The urge to bury her face in the earth and suffocate was so strong. Shifting onto her knees, Mara’s tone softened though she didn’t lose any of the darkness in her expression. “I just… need something. I don’t know what. You weren’t here and I didn’t know what else to do.” Mara shifted in closer and gripped his pants at his thighs, clinging as she rested her forehead against one of his legs. “It was calling to me.”
Chase froze, a chill creeping up his spine as her behavior finally set in. This wasn’t just Mara being a little quirky; this was off the rails, the kind of thing that spoke to the darkness within her. In that instant, he knew what she needed and it was more than the ground against her skin. He’d sacrificed to bring her back and he would have to do it again to keep her there. He just thought she’d have more time before they got to this stage. Had there been other signs that it was getting bad? If so, he’d overlooked them. This was impossible to ignore. “Shit,” Chase sighed and crouched down beside her, gently plucking a leaf from her hair. “I didn’t know it had gotten this bad. I can help. I just… need some time to prepare.” His fingers trailed along her cheek, lifting her chin to look at him. “Please don’t leave me again.”
Mara's anger shifted as quickly as Chase's had and she rested her hands on his shoulders, eager to feel more of his touch on her face. "I won't," she murmured. "I just can't help it... I feel different." She knew what that likely meant, but Mara couldn't turn it off. She wasn't normal. Mara knew Chase wanted her to be. He wanted her to be the Mara he knew and loved before she died, but she wasn't. Not really. Most of the time she could ignore it, and so could he. But she couldn't ignore it now. How much time would he need to prepare? How long would it take? Would she survive the wait? Mara's fingers drifted to his neck, desperate to feel his bare skin. She wanted to strip him bare and wrap herself around him, skin on skin, until she was warm again. "Take me home?"
Chase had known this day would come, but had pushed it to the back of his mind, steadfastly ignoring it until now. He would do anything to keep Mara alive, but that didn’t mean it didn’t fill him with a sense of dread. Fortunately, her condition also brought on a determination that allowed him to go through with it. It was finding an appropriate target that would take time. Point Pleasant didn’t have the homeless population that he’d had access to back home. There were neighboring cities, however… Chase forced himself to focus on now, on what Mara needed until he could do what needed to be done. He scooped her up into his arms, careless to how filthy she was, and rose to his feet. She was so damn cold it was jarring. “I can go tonight. As soon as we get you home,” he whispered as he began the trek back to the house.
She might have been cold, but Chase was warm and she pressed her cheek against him. There was a part of her that wanted to go with him, if he had to leave. But she didn't think she had the energy and leaving meant she would have to get dressed and right now, clothes would just make her feel cranky and restless. "How long will it take?" she asked, not wanting to be left alone for a very long. Honestly, Mara didn't want Chase to leave her at all, to just make him stay with her as she sunk into beautiful oblivion. It was a very strange combination, to want to cuddle with him and fuck him and hurt him and kiss him all at the same time. Maybe it was safer for him to go.
Chase licked his lips, his mind spinning as he tried to pull together a plan on such short notice. He would have preferred to leave Mara at home, but there was no telling what she might get up to while he was gone. But he also didn’t want her to witness what he had to do. It was one thing for her to see the blood, or even the body, but she shouldn’t be there for the violence. It wasn’t just that he didn’t want her to see him in that light—it could just as easily drive her into a frenzy. It would be just his shit luck for her to kill him in the process. “I don’t know, babe. An hour? Maybe two? I have to find a—a sacrifice. I can’t just run to the store and pick one up.” Point Pleasant didn’t exactly have a huge homeless population to choose from, which made things tricky, but they did have an exceptionally high rate of disappearances. The key was to pick some low life that no one would miss.
It was so morbid but Mara began to laugh anyway. Chase walking into a supermarket and picking out someone to kill from the store shelves. She knew she needed to let him go or she would bury herself back in the ground and fade away, but Mara also didn't want to be left alone. What if he didn't come back? What if he got caught, or someone hurt him while he was trying to hurt them? She would have to kill that person herself and Mara could admit that would be just fine with her. The blood lust was strong. She just had to keep a lid on it for a little longer. "Just come back," she said, once the laughter had died in her throat. "Don't leave me alone in this place."
If this was to continue on for the rest of their lives, Chase knew that eventually Mara would see him kill. There was no way around it. But for all the anger and bouts of rage that Chase could be prone to, killing someone didn’t come naturally to him. He hated it and sought to make it as quick and painless as possible, while also trying to keep a low profile. It was a lot to juggle, he had almost no experience in it, but he would make it happen for her. The laughter worried him for a moment, but then he remembered his last words and he grinned a touch himself. If only it was that easy… “I would never,” he said as the house came back into view. “We’ll find something to ground you, distract you while I’m gone. I’ll call you as soon as I’m heading back. We can do the ritual in the basement.” It was cool down there, and easier to clean. He’d rather not get blood stains in the carpet upstairs.
Mara knew what Chase had to do to help her and it didn't bother her in the least. A macabre part of her wanted to witness it, to see first hand what he was willing to do to keep her alive. But right now she felt too tired and weak to do much of anything. So Mara nodded a little, closing her eyes. "I'm cold," she said simply. She wanted a blanket, or ten, and maybe she would just sleep until he came home. Anything to feel like she was buried in warmth, if she couldn't be in the ground.
Chase hated that it had gotten this bad, that he hadn’t seen the signs that this was upon her. If he’d acted sooner, she wouldn’t be cold; she wouldn’t be burying herself in the woods behind their house. Maybe he could keep some of the leftover blood on hand for emergencies, but that would be a risk. If he got caught with a jar of dead man’s blood, he’d be tried for murder, even if they didn’t find the body. Not that he thought anyone would suspect him. Chase planned to keep his tracks clean. “I’ll put a fire in the fireplace,” he told her as he climbed the porch steps. “Wrap you in blankets. Make you some tea, if you want.” But he should leave soon. Nothing he did for her at home would fill the void like sacrificial flesh and blood.
Mara couldn't help but grin, despite shivering. Tea seemed like such a parental thing to offer, but she knew Chase wanted to take care of her. And he would. "Just the fire and blankets," she murmured, clutching his shirt a bit as they ascended the stairs. She still wanted to bite him. To draw his blood and drink it herself. But all of that would have to wait until he got back, because she didn't think she would have the energy to do much of anything soon. "I would never hurt you on purpose, you know that, right?" she murmured, her eyes closed as she breathed in his scent. "Even if I try to, I don't really want to."
“I know,” Chase said softly as he carefully set Mara down on the couch. It worried him that it might come to that, that she would be so far gone that she would lash out. They’d always fought, but there was a chance she might take it too far, that they both might end up in the ground. And it would be his fault, for not taking care of her sooner. He needed to keep a better eye on her, to make sure it never got that far. It shouldn’t have gotten this far. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he tucked blankets all around her. “I never wanted this for you.” He just hadn’t been able to let her go. Even now, it was hard to regret his decision when she was right there before him, seemingly alive, though not quite well.
Mara curled up in the blankets, still shivering, but she looked at Chase, knowing that he was being sincere. He couldn't live without her and she couldn't live without him. If she died again, he would go with her. "I know," she murmured. "Just be careful and come back. If you don't, I'll come find you." Mara may not have the energy or strength, but she would do it anyway. Chase could handle himself, but there were a lot of monsters out there and she didn't want him to disappear because of her. "I'll wait."
Chase leaned in and kissed her forehead, lingering there for a heartbeat, reluctant to pull away. Leaving her was the last thing he wanted to do, but if he didn’t, he would lose her, and that was enough to get him moving. Instinct was to grab the keys and rush out the door, but there were vital supplies he needed and Chase ducked into their bedroom to grab a bag from the back of the closet before hurrying out the door. In the garage he grabbed a bucket that had been set aside for this exact occasion, and he threw it in the back seat as his mind raced over what he needed to do. He wished he had more time, to drive far enough away that the disappearance wouldn’t make the local news, to find someone that wouldn’t be missed or even deserved it, but he wasn’t sure if he could manage that. He’d have to take what he could get, so he spend towards the edge of town, eyes peeled for a potential victim. Time was of the essence.
Mara felt it physically when Chase left the house. She hated being alone, the desire to crawl back outside and into the dirt overwhelming. If she'd had enough energy, she would have done it. Instead she lay cocooned in the blankets Chase had brought her, shivering despite their warmth. Mara knew he wouldn't let her die - not again - so she waited, sinking deeper into the blankets and the couch. After awhile she drifted off into a dreamless sleep, finding comfort in the darkness.