Chloe (chosentolose) wrote in thecityof, @ 2018-02-03 14:22:00 |
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There weren’t many good things left in this world to cling to. The sun had been taken away and into night she plunged forevermore. She hadn’t asked for this but it had become her and there was nothing she could do. She thought there would be no more pain but it existed still. She felt it when the early morning rays peeked out behind the clouds. Her skin would smoke and sizzle and she would choke on the fumes of her own body threatening to destroy itself until she found a shadow to crawl into. There was plenty of the old Shannon left, especially in those early days. Like right after she woke up and she was scared so she reached for her phone to call Buffy but her phone wasn’t there. She was naked and half cut open and lying on a cold steel table. She didn’t remember anything that had happened to her yet. She was still in shock and naturally she attacked the ones standing over her holding the tools. She attacked them and then she smelled their blood and so she killed them. There was so much blood. Blood everywhere she turned, everywhere she looked. She could feel those throbbing pulsing veins as they walked past her, oblivious to what she really was. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and she wore a black hoodie, hood pulled high to cover the blood on her face. Blood. Everything was now about blood. It overwhelmed her. Nights were long and she had nowhere to turn. She didn’t know how to properly be a vampire since she had only studied how to kill them, not how to be one. No. There weren’t many good things in this world so when Shannon saw one, she took careful notice. A woman with crazy hair and wild eyes who combed the streets at night, saving the children. At first, Shannon assumed a fellow predator but watched anyway if only to see what would happen. Luna wasn’t a predator, she was trying to save the children who lived on the street. She was trying to usher them into shelters and those who wouldn’t go were given granola bars and soda pop. Like that would help them, but she tried. Shannon followed her around for a few nights and then came the night that she accidentally cut herself. The smell of it perplexed Shannon. She had become somewhat of an expert on blood lately. She knew what it looked like, tasted like. She had even tried a few different species just to see if it was different. This was different, this was very different. And just like darkness would always do to the light, Shannon descended on Luna and dragged her into an alley down a street where nobody gave a fuck about anyone else. With one hand around her mouth, she used her overwhelming strength to violently tilt Luna’s head to the side before sinking her fangs into her neck. Luna was startled but she struggled and Shannon had to actually work to keep her pressed into the brick. Shannon wanted it more, wanted that black blood. Wanted it so bad that she didn’t even smell Dianne’s conditioner when she approached. Dianne was trying. Every fucking day she was trying. The slayer was so focused these days that it was hard to remember to do anything else but push herself. Her training with Faith continued and she poured everything she felt into it. She was angry. No, that was a lie. She was hurt and furious. Shannon was dead. Angelus had turned her and everyone was acting like it was fine because Angel was a good boy now. No, Di. You can’t kill him. He’s just a fluffy puppy who got out of his cage and he needs to be cuddled. Eyeroll. Fuck that. Eve and Dianne wanted him dead. So much so that they had actually gone after the vampire. They likely would have gotten the job done if Buffy hadn’t come to his rescue. God, she was an idiot. That moment was like an eye opener for Dianne. She had looked at Buffy with so much hate and distrust. Their fearless leader had chosen her boo over what was right. Dianne and Faith weren’t exactly thinking clearly when it came to Angel. They cared about him. But hadn’t they cared about Shannon too? Was that how things ended? They got killed and the fearless leaders just brushed it off like it was nothing? Dianne knew the rules. They were created to take on the evil and then they died and another one was called. But things had changed. They were all activated. They all mattered now. Dianne just wanted to keep it that way. Spike seemed to understand here anger but even captain peroxide was quiet still. He wasn’t a fan of Angel and he was devastated about Shannon and it seemed like he was drinking the days away now that he couldn’t fuck them away since Ruby was gone. Could she blame him? Not really. Di was dealing in her own ways. She focused on her training. On her patrolling. She didn’t stop until her muscles had that familiar sweet ache and then she went a little harder. She craved it now. The chaos and destruction she caused something that was evil. The last thing she expected to find tonight was reality to slap her hard in the face. Dianne’s hands gripped Shannon’s shoulders hard as she tugged her back and threw her off of the struggling woman. Di put herself between Shannon and her meal and she just stared. “Shan?” What she saw nearly broke her heart all over again. Her face was smeared with blood and she had that face. That bloodlust look in her eyes and she had to swallow back her feelings. She hadn’t even known it was her when she grabbed her but now there was nothing escaping this moment. She missed her friend. She hated this and now? She had to face the monster she had become. Shannon had been in an animalistic frenzy and that was why she hadn’t registered that Dianne was Dianne for a minute. For a minute, the only thing that mattered was getting more of that delicious black blood. There was an extra little something in there that made Shannon feel a bit more crazed than usual and that was really saying something. She took a step towards Luna who had her hand clamped over the wound on her neck. Luna’s eyes didn’t look so wild anymore, she looked angry. “She grabbed me from the street,” Luna seethed. “I didn’t see her coming. There are children that live here. You are a danger to all of them!” Luna was a seasoned fighter. She had tried desperately to find peace, to find a way to distance herself from the violence of her past but it had become impossible back home. That was why she had participated in The Conclave because she didn’t think that humanity deserved to survive. Clarke was willing to fight for the human race by any means possible but Luna didn’t share her views. There were some things that were simply not worth fighting for, there were some lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Then Keisha was attacked and Luna was once again pulled into the violence. She couldn’t get away from it. And yet, this woman, this vampire had easily plucked her from the streets and Luna had been helpless against her. That was a problem. Of course, Shannon didn’t see it as a problem. She thought she could be the solution. If Luna wanted peace, Shannon would deliver death. That was the only true peace in this world and that was why Angel had turned her into a vampire. He wanted to make sure that she would never find peace in this world. Shannon used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her chin but it only smeared black across her wrist. She had to fight the urge to lick it clean, her eyes yellow and focused as she stared at it. It would have been a perfect opportunity for Dianne to strike and kill her friend, to give her the peace she deserved. But things were never that easy. “It’s true,” Shannon said to Dianne. “I grabbed her from the street. She just smelled…. So good.” Shannon’s eyes drifted over Dianne’s shoulder to Luna once again. “And I’m a danger to everyone who lives here, children included.” Shannon took another step towards Dianne, daring her to make a move. “So what are you going to do about it?” The moment that Shannon took another step towards Luna was the moment Dianne took a step towards Shannon. Her eyes were narrowed and she was clearly on the defensive. She knew how powerful this change made her friend. Former friend? Definitely friend. That was something she was holding onto, even if that made her the biggest hypocrite in this fucking city. Sisterhood of the traveling stake or whatever the hell Molly and Eve kept throwing around. Shannon now had double the strength as a slaypire and Dianne needed to brace herself for what that meant. She inwardly winced when Luna’s voice broke her concentration. For a moment she had forgotten that Luna was there. Why was she still there? “You need to run, I can handle her.” She glanced over her shoulder at Luna and her gaze flickered down to the wound on her neck. The black blood seeping through her fingers, it made Dianne tilt her head and she turned back to Shannon. That was new. That was very new and whatever that was, Shannon sure as hell wanted more of it. Dianne reached behind her, pulling the stake out from the back pocket of her jeans. She had gone after Angel with Eve. She had bulked up her training with Faith to the point where she was sure that the slayer was fucking tired of her. But could she really take out Shannon? Was this how Buffy felt when it came to Angel? It was all so fucking fucked up. “I don’t want to hurt you, Shannon.” She started as she studied the vampire. “But you know that I will.” She was probably the only one who would at this point. “We can help you.” The slayers had plans to do just that. If Angel and Spike could get their souls back she could too. “Lets just get out of here. You and me.” “Which is it? You want to hurt me? You don’t want to hurt me? I should come with you and what exactly?” Shannon took a few more challenging steps closer to Dianne. She locked eyes with Dianne, still yellow, her face still misshapen. She had gotten her bloodlust under control even though the girl with black blood refused to run like she should have. Shannon wanted Dianne to see her for what she was so there was no illusion about there being a happy ending somewhere here. “You think they’ll understand what I am now?” Shannon pressed on. “Do you think they’ll welcome me back, now that I’m one of them? You really think things can just go back like they were? They’ll never accept what I am now.” Shannon was getting heated because it was true. It wasn’t her fault, what happened to her. She hadn’t asked for any of this but it wouldn’t matter. Because Angel would get to go home at the end of it all and Shannon would be exiled. Maybe it was for the best. She wasn’t like them anymore. But she wasn’t exactly your average vampire either. She was vicious when she took the stake from Dianne. Shannon nearly took Dianne’s wrist with it but decided to spare her at the last second. Instead, her arm wrapped around Luna and she pulled her back against her. She smelled amazing. Shannon’s eyes went from the wound on her throat back up to Dianne. Shannon kept Dianne’s eyes held there as she twisted the pointy end of the stake into Luna’s throat. She hadn’t broken the skin yet, but she would soon. “This isn’t any of your business, Dianne. So go away,” Shannon said. “There’s nothing you can do for her. Nobody can stop me now.” Luna was struggling to try and get away from her, and it was forcing the stake into her neck a little harder. She made a horrible choking gagging sound before Shannon eased up on the pressure by a notch. Luna wasn’t sure that she was going to get out of this alive and she focused her eyes desperately on Dianne. Luna was sorry but she couldn’t run. She would never run because it was monsters like this that preyed on the children that lived out here on the streets. Yet she knew she was completely out of her element with this monster disguised as a woman. She was incredibly strong and Luna couldn’t compete with it, even with all the combat training in the world. “Fuck them. If they can accept Spike and Angel they can accept you too.” Dianne knew this was stupid. She knew that trying to reason with Shannon while she was hungry and soulless wouldn’t end well, but it wasn’t like Di wanted to give up on her friend. She loved her. And was completely destroyed when she had found out that Angelus had turned her. It wasn’t fair. Any of it. Shannon deserved so much more than to have her life ripped away from her like it was. She should have had a longer life. She should have been able to do more. The more Dianne thought about it the angrier she became. Her eyes narrowed on Shannon and she didn’t budge when Shannon came closer. “We can fix this. You can get your soul back and we can work on making things right.” She wasn’t scared of her, but maybe she should have been. Sure, Faith trained her but Shannon wasn’t just another vampire. This wasn’t going to be as easy as hitting up the cemetery and taking out a few nothings. She knew that once Shannon had deweaponed her and snatched up Luna. There was a yelp of pain when she nearly snapped her wrist but her eyes were glued to Shannon. She could have destroyed her but she didn’t. Which meant there was still part of Shannon inside of her and she wanted to get her back. “Shannon, stop.” She growled out at her friend. But she knew better. This was going to come to a hard fight if she wanted to save Luna and Dianne didn’t hesitate this time. It was her job to protect the living, to protect the innocent and while she wanted to save her friend too, she couldn’t let her kill in front of her. “Fine, have it your way, love.” She quickly reached beside her and grabbed one of the aluminium trash can lids and sent it spiraling towards Shannon’s face. It wasn’t enough to hurt Shannon but it did have her stumbling back enough that she freed Luna and then Di was all over her in a flurry of punches. The stake went skidding onto the alley floor as the slayer and slaypire fought and it was only when Luna was away from Shannon enough that Dianne backed off and grabbed the stake, standing in front of Luna. She held Shannon’s golden gaze and backed up, her arm on Luna’s as she pushed her back towards the exit of the alley. “Let’s get out of here.” When Luna didn’t budge she turned her gaze on the grounder. “Now.” She said more firmly. She wasn’t going to kill Shannon. She had every intention of saving her soon. Shannon was a very confident girl, had been her entire life. But then she died. And when she died, that confidence had been fully shaken. She didn’t know how to be a vampire. She saw herself as a monster which would interfere with even the healthiest of self-esteems. Living in dirty alleys, scurrying her prey away from prying eyes to feed in the shadows. But something about coming face to face, being challenged forced that smooth easy confidence back into Shannon’s step. Her entire demeanor changed when two things happened. The first was the trash can lid that was aimed at her. It hit her but she realized quickly that it didn’t have to. She could have easily snatched it out of the air and used it to decapitate Luna with for easier access to her black blood. The second thing that happened was Dianne’s inability or unwillingness to take Shannon down. If she were any other vampire, she would already be a pile of dust. But Dianne hadn’t even tried to kill her. Shannon was now more than mildly curious how she would stack up. She had figured she would die quickly because she was a vampire and she had been taught, trained, and brainwashed that vampires had to die. It was worse than brainwashing, it was instinct. Well, now Shannon had a whole new set of instincts. “You only get one, Dianne. I hope you chose wisely.” Shannon nodded at Luna who was glaring at her from behind Dianne. Shannon loved the taste of that black blood but she would let Dianne have her for now, only to torment her with it later. Shannon turned around, no fear at all of having her back turned to a slayer. In fact, she whistled a jaunty little tune even as she strolled into the night. For the first time since she had been turned, Shannon felt less like a creeping shadow and more like Queen of the Damned. Luna still didn’t feel good about leaving but she knew that she didn’t feel worse about it than Dianne did. She held her hand clamped on the wound on her neck and used the other to touch Dianne’s arm gently. “I am ready.” The two of them walked down the alley in the opposite direction of Shannon. Luna silently worried that Shannon would come back here to skid row and pick off the poor homeless children that couldn’t protect themselves. If Luna had been so easily taken and harmed, they had absolutely no chance of surviving that thing. “What’s wrong with your friend?” Luna asked, her voice touched by the hint of an ambiguous accent. “I don’t think she will recover.” The truth hurt and while Luna felt a little bad when she saw that hurt flash across Dianne’s face, she knew that it was a truth that she could not escape from. The anger was radiating off of Dianne as she watched Shannon move off in the other direction. She kept looking over her shoulder just to make sure she hadn't come back after Luna but that familiar tingle deep down in the pit of her stomach had started to fade which meant that they were safe. For now.. That didn’t change what had just happened. Dianne saw the look on Shannon’s face. She saw what Shannon felt. Her confidence had just been upped tenfold because Di had chosen not to kill her. It was fucked up. Because now whatever Shannon did was on Dianne’s hands. Di wasn’t weak. She was anything but, but she had made a choice to let her friend go instead of putting her down and now that would eat at her. It would be the only thing that stuck in her head until Buffy and Faith found a way to get Shannon her soul back. “She was turned into a fucking monster.” She half growled in response. She didn’t mean to snap at Luna. Her thoughts were just everywhere and she was angry. She was so angry and this entire run in made her want to kill Angel all over again. “A vampire.” She finally glanced at Luna and stopped once she knew they were in the clear and no one was coming after them. “Let me see.” she told her as she took a step forward and moved Luna’s hand away from wound of her neck. She frowned and met the girl’s gaze for a moment as the hurt crossed her face but then she was stonelike again. “She will.” She tried to defend but if was only half hearted. “We can try to fix her at least.” She would never fully be fixed but they couldn’t just do nothing. “It’s not as bad as it feels. It still needs to be cleaned. Come on, we can go back to my place and I can patch you up. What’s your name?” “Luna,” she said. Normally, Luna would not have been so free with information with anyone she did not know. And even with some of the people she did know, she continued to keep information close to her chest. Raven, Lexa, Lincoln, and Aden were really the only people in Los Angeles who had earned Luna’s trust. It was not an easy thing to earn and it appeared that Raven had passed on and been infested with a parasite that called itself ‘angel’. Luna would have nothing to do with this angel who was using Raven’s body as a husk in which to live. And if she were to see this being, she would be forced to attempt to murder it in Raven’s name. Luna was trying to escape violence, so she was not looking forward to running headfirst towards it. That was the problem, though. Luna couldn’t escape violence. It always found her. She did not bother to ask the strong woman what her name was. The monster had referred to her as Dianne several times and Luna took this as truth since the woman called Dianne did not dispute it. Luna followed Dianne to “her place” knowing that it was within the bounds of the same place where Luna herself lived. She was not sure how serious her injury was but she did feel a bit dizzy, so she allowed Dianne to assist her. She knew that she had lost some amount of blood as she could feel it trickling down her neck and pooling in her cleavage since she hadn’t quite figured out how to wear a bra yet. The clothes here were just one more annoying thing that Luna had to figure out. She kept it very simple with a pair of black skinny jeans and a white t-shirt. “I am sorry about your friend,” Luna said. “This world is cruel.” Even in the darkness she could see the pain in Dianne’s eyes. It was always so hard to lose someone, because with them a piece of your innocence would go too. Dianne was shook. Like, seriously shook down to her core right now. It took a lot to do that considering that Dianne was all kinds of confident and full of snark and sass, but this hit home for her. All she really wanted to do was get home and dip into Spike’s stash of good liquor and just try to forget the night. But she knew that wasn’t possible. She lead Luna back to the complex as they walked side by side and they took the elevator to Di’s floor. She let them both into the apartment and flicked the lights on. It was basically a replica of Luna’s own apartment so there was no point in showing her where to go. She locked her door out of instinct and followed Luna to the bathroom. It was only after she was seated that Dianne finally let her cold features soften. “Thank you.” She said softly, reaching under the sink for the first aid kit. “I miss her.” She grabbed a washcloth and wet it with warm water before moving in front of Luna. She gently moved Luna’s hand away and began to wash away the black blood. “Can I ask..?” She arched a brow and nodded towards the blood on the washcloth before continuing to clean her wound, her hand brushing softly against her neck as she pushed her wild hair back out of the way. “I’ve never seen blood this color.” And she had seen a lot. More importantly it seemed like crack to Shannon. Luna looked up and saw the pain in Dianne’s eyes again. She could imagine what it would be like to have someone she cared about ripped away and turned into a monster. Perhaps it wasn’t the same kind of monster, but one all the same. She still worried for the children out there but Luna could do nothing about Shannon at the moment. Even as a nightblood, with all of her training, she could barely lift a pinky against Shannon. It was disheartening in many ways but none of that defeat compared to the look in Dianne’s eyes. “It is just the way some of us are,” Luna said, when she considered how to explain her nightblood to a stranger. “Being born this way is a sign of greatness. We are sent from our clans to learn to fight, to be warriors.” Luna winced slightly as Dianne hit a particularly sore spot with the wet cloth she was using to clean her up with. “And then eventually, comes the day we will fight to be Commander.” Luna shut her mouth after that because the story wasn’t nice and Luna hadn’t exactly followed the rules. She couldn’t face killing her friend Lexa right after killing her own brother. Something in her stopped her, wouldn’t allow it. They said she was wrong, they said that she was weak, But Lexa wouldn’t let them come after her. Maybe she was grateful for being spared or maybe it was the kinship they once shared. Luna didn’t know. She and Lexa did not remain close. Being a nightblood was a special spiritual experience. The clans revered those who bled this black blood. But Floukru was different than the others, more peaceful. Maybe that was why Luna could not live with what she had done to her brother. Dianne was quiet as she listened to Luna. There was something that was soothing in her voice even though it wasn’t really meant to be. Her gaze randomly shifted from the wound to Luna’s face as she spoke and she pulled the cloth back when Luna winced. She supposed everyone had their stories and none of them really ended up being great in the end. Luna hadn’t finished but there was something about the way she shut herself up that told Dianne what she wasn’t saying. “You’re from the same time Finn is from, right?” Finn was constantly around now that he was dating Molly but he never really opened up too much. She had seen the exchanges on the network between all of them and took notice of things but really it was hard to keep up. “From the future?” She put some antibiotics on the bite before grabbing a bandage and finally covering the wound on Luna’s neck before standing and starting to clean up the wrappers and tucking away the first aid kid. “My friends and I are from the past. From fourteen years ago.” She tossed the washcloth into the trash can and washed her hands before leaning her back against the sink and watching Luna for a moment. “We had to fight a battle. Against something known as the first evil. All the chosen ones were called and sent to Sunnydale to be protected. To learn how to fight and try to win. It wasn’t our time to fight but we didn’t really have a choice. We trained but it wasn’t enough, a bunch of us died before the power in us got activated. Greatness always comes with a price I guess.” “Yes,” Luna replied when Dianne asked her if she was from the same future that Finn Collins was from. While Luna did not know Finn while he lived in that future, she had come to know him here in this place. When she had first arrived she had been very disoriented and Finn was the one who had managed to talk her down from fighting cars with her sword. It was sheer coincidence that they were from the same world and both knew the same people. Finn also held Raven in great esteem. Dianne finished bandaging her up and Luna pressed her hand against the bandage. Her neck ached a bit but Luna was used to pain. She could handle it so she didn’t complain. This wound, like all others, would heal in time. “We choose to call it greatness so the price seems fair,” Luna remarked. Because she knew what Dianne was equating to greatness. Death, violence, destruction, all of the things that Luna hated about the world, but mostly hated about her own heart. “It never is.” A loss of life was always the worst thing no matter what, and worth no amount of battle glory. But Luna also did not understand what The First Evil could mean or the difference between living in a primitive society and being chosen to battle true evil, like the kind of evil she had seen in Shannon’s eyes tonight. “Thank you. Dianne.” Her fingers briefly danced over the bandage again before she forced herself to pull her hand away. Her apartment wasn’t fair. She could have just left and not thought twice about it, but she had to ask. “What will happen to her? Shannon? If she isn’t stopped….” Luna wasn’t just worried about the people living out on the street anymore. She was worried about Dianne. Dianne didn’t know Finn’s entire story. Only bits and pieces from what she had picked up over the network between his exchanges with soulless Murphy. His words with the others from his time. That didn’t really concern her though. She knew how he felt about Molly and that he would do whatever he needed to her in order to protect her friend and the girl he love and that was enough for her to put him in the good guy column. The slayer nodded in understanding. She was young but she understood better than most that life wasn’t fair and that the price for greatness wasn’t always fair. She frowned as her memories flooded her mind from back in Sunnydale. From the night she was killed. Her neck broken like she was nothing. Like her purpose and life didn’t matter. “No.” She said softly. “It isn’t.” All those lives had been lost. Every girl had suffered in order to save the world. It was their job. What they were literally created for but still. It didn’t take away what was lost. They were young. They didn’t know what they were getting into. Dianne loved who and what she was but she always felt like her and the girls deserved so much better than what they went through. “You don’t have to thank me.” She forced a small smile on her face as she looked at Luna. “I’m just glad you’re gonna be alright.” But then Di froze at her words and that pain was there in her eyes again. “If there’s no way to fix her we’ll do what needs to be done.” The words were said without hesitation this time. Dianne loved Shannon like a sister but she also had a job. If Shannon couldn’t be saved the girls, Faith, Spike. Buffy. They would all do what needed to be done. “I’ll make sure those children are safe. I’ll go back every night if I have to.” It was the least that Dianne could promise her for what happened tonight. Luna reached out and took Dianne’s hand in her own. They were both warriors but only one of them could try and hide from what they truly were. Maybe there was something to be learned here. Maybe Luna really couldn’t hide from herself and should embrace the violence in her heart. Maybe it was time to embrace it and channel it in a helpful direction, a direction that could help stop the plague of these blood drinkers who roamed the streets at night. It was something for her to think about. “Thank you,” she said again, looking deeply into Dianne’s eyes. Because it mattered what she did, that she helped people, that she saved them, even from her friend. She needed to know that. Luna needed her to know that. Just as abruptly she dropped Dianne’s hand and headed for the door. “My apartment isn’t far,” she said, turning around at the front door to look at Dianne again. “I will see you.” Luna gave Dianne one last look before disappearing through the front door and heading back to the elevator to head to her own apartment. |