*The song for this chapter for those of you who like a tune while you read and are following the soundtrack is Slip To The Void by Alterbridge (God I am sooo in love with Myles Kennedys er - coughs - voice) The lyrics are fitting I feel and it has a certain desolate feeling to it which I feel works well with how Elsa is feeling here. Plus it starts off slowly then builds, like Elsa's hunger, fear and anger.*
What was that noise? It sounded like an animal of some kind, a small animal whimpering. It sounded afraid. It was disturbing her sleep. And boy did she need to sleep, every muscle ached, even her bones ached. Flu?
Sleep?
Elsa wanted to open her eyes, they should have been open but they weren’t. I can’t be asleep, I can’t sleep! Panic gripped her like a vice. A vicious assault of memories attacked her, each flashing image tightening the grip of fear. Sebastian bleeding on the pavement, unable to move even as his wounds began to heal. Kate cowering in terror in the back of a van as Elsa gradually lost the ability to keep her eyes open and her mind clear. There had been nothing she could do. All her strength, all her invulnerability, speed, agility. It had served no purpose. They’d underestimated Aiden. It was not a mistake she would make again. If I get the chance ....
Kate! The whimpering was Kate! Elsa managed to crack her eyelids open a few millimetres, enough to begin to take in her surroundings through the veil of her eyelashes. It was like looking at an old photograph, grainy and faded at the edges. She remembered sitting with Sebastian, going through the photographs in his box and felt a tear escape the corner of her eye. She blinked it away, she had to concentrate on what was happening now. A twitch of her fingers told her she was coming round and she opened her eyes a little further, trying her hardest to turn her head and have a good look around.
The room she was in was square and had no visible windows on its bare, grey concrete walls. There was a door, also grey but darker. There was no handle and it looked like it was made of steel or some other type of metal. It looked strong. In the furthest corner from Elsa was Kate. She was pressed as far into the corner as she could go, her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on them with her arms wrapped around her shins. Her hair was disheveled and matted, her scuffed and bleeding knees showed through tears in her black tights and her dress was torn and bloodied.
Blood.
Elsa could smell it. It hit her all of a sudden and it terrified her. She could smell her own blood, Sebastian’s and, most frightening, Kate’s. But what terrified her most of all was that she wanted it. She was hungry, thirsty, starving in fact. There was no serum in her system, she had no idea how long they had been in that room and her need for blood was snaking through her system, invading every part of her, scratching incessantly at her thoughts trying to divert them from what she wanted to do. Escape. Save Kate.
Drink.
Elsa clenched her fists, feeling the sensation creep back into her body did not bring her relief because now she knew that once she could move again, Kate was in very real danger. Her eyes grew wider, the smell of the blood getting stronger with every second as her body too grew stronger. The smell of Sebastian’s blood was old, almost rusty, as was her own. Kate’s blood smelt sweet and fresh, what had they done to her?
“Kate.” Elsa croaked. Her throat was dry, it felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper.
Kate’s head rose slowly, sluggishly. She was deathly pale, dark rings made her usually bright blue eyes stand out even though they were now dull and listless. Elsa felt fresh tears and clenched her fists even tighter as she saw teeth marks on her friends pale neck. Blood trickled invitingly from the puncture wounds, which were clearly designed to injure but not to kill. The purpose of those wounds had not been to feed from Kate, they had been to tempt Elsa. It was working.
“Elsa, what’s happening?” Kate’s voice was flat and her words drawn out. She had lost some blood, she was weak and exhausted. She would barely put up a fight. Perfect.
No!
Kate began to move, “Are you ok?” She was concerned for Elsa, she was going to try and move over to her.
“Don’t!” Elsa manage to shout and Kate looked confused but froze, “Stay over there,” Elsa continued, “Don’t come anywhere near me.” She obviously still had some influence over Kate’s will as her friend sat back against the wall. Her hand absently went to her neck where she was bleeding and as she took it away, she looked at the bright red liquid on her fingertips and confusion was replace by blind fear.
“What did they do?” she screamed, trembling violently, her sluggishness forgotten. It was as if she too was only just remembering exactly what had happened, “You were shot! Oh my god, Elsa, you were shot! Sebastian was shot!” Kate began to scramble towards Elsa once more and as she got closer it took every ounce of the recovering strength Elsa had to drag herself up and move herself as far away from Kate as she could. It felt slow to her but she had clearly moved more quickly than Kate expected as she gaped at the spot where Elsa had been and then turned to see her crouched on the opposite side of the room from where Kate herself had just crawled.
“How did you - ?” Kate wasn’t sure what had happened. She took in the blood stains on Elsa’s exposed skin, “You are hurt, Elsa, let me see.”
“I’m fine, it’s nothing.” The voice was low, it didn’t sound like Elsa at all. Elsa’s head was hanging down and Kate couldn’t see her face but she knew she had seen Elsa get shot and she had stopped worrying about her own injuries, she just wanted her friend to be all right. She moved towards Elsa once more.
In a split second Kate was pinned hard against the wall, Elsa’s hand at her throat. Her feet were off the floor and she grabbed at Elsa’s hand with both of her own, choking as she kicked her feet wildly trying to find the floor.
Elsa looked at Kate, her head slightly tilted to one side. The vampire inside her saw prey, defenceless and already injured. An easy meal. Elsa saw her best friend, hurt and scared. Scared of her.
She had Kate at arms length, every fibre of her being fighting against her vampire. She wanted to let her go so badly. Kate’s eyes were wide with terror, like an animal caught in a trap. She was staring into Elsa’s red-rimmed, menacing dark eyes and watching as dry, cracked lips curled back revealing sharp fangs in a horrifying snarl.
Then as quickly as she’d been caught, Kate found herself slumped on the floor once more. Elsa had returned to her corner of the room and was curled up in a ball making some of the most awful pained sounds Kate had ever heard. Her hand went to her throat and she coughed, getting her breath back and recoiling from the thing she’d just seen.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” The voice was Elsa’s again, she was rocking herself and sobbing. Kate said nothing, she just stared at the girl she thought she’d known, unable to wrap her mind around everything that was happening and what she had just seen.
“Good evening ladies.” Elsa raised her head slowly, her body had been weakened again by her recent activity. Through the fog of the smell of Kate’s blood she recognised Vincent’s voice. It sounded different, he wasn’t in the room. A quick search bought her attention to tiny holes in the ceiling; his voice was coming through some kind of speaker system. Where the hell was he? She’d kill him this time, no hesitation, no regrets. For the first time since she’d become a vampire she knew she could kill with a clear conscience. Vincent had more than earned it. She would tear out his heart and watch him turn to dust.
Elsa looked across at Kate who flinched at her gaze, Elsa knew she still looked like a monster and she tore her eyes away from Kate’s throat, looking up to the ceiling once more.
“Vincent!” she called out, “Let Kate go.”
There was a lazy laugh, “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” The voice held no mirth, it was flat, cold steel.
“What do you want?” Elsa hissed, her fingers digging into the concrete floor, not strong enough yet to break the surface.
“You,” came the simple reply.
“Then why her?” Elsa didn’t understand.
“You need to feed Elsa,” Vincent explained, “You lost a lot of blood when you were shot, your wounds may be healing but you need to replenish your stock. You haven’t had any serum for quite some time now, your true nature is taking over. Embrace it my love, it’s what you are meant to be.”
Elsa’s head sagged, she knew what he was trying to do, “Not Kate, please.” She would beg if she had to.
“Oh but, it’s so much more fun this way, don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it,” he was taunting her.
“Elsa, what’s going on?” Kate’s voice was small, “What’s happened to you?”
“Tell her Elsa,” said Vincent, “Tell her how it’s been a daily struggle not to tear into her throat with your teeth and drink her dry. Tell her what you are.”
Elsa said nothing; the look on Kate’s face tore at her heart.
“What is he talking about?” Kate’s voice was almost a whisper.
“I won’t do it.” Elsa said flatly.
“Yes Elsa you will. The hunger will become too strong. You won’t care who she is and afterwards, you’ll want more. Marcus Shaw’s daughter is coming home.”
He knew who she was, he knew who her father was, everything they’d thought they’d hidden he knew.
As if reading her mind Vincent’s voice came floating into the room once more, “Yes Elsa, I’ve always known. I knew before we met at that concert, I was there looking for you. I underestimated you that night so I thought I’d put a bit more effort in this time. I even left the country to give you a bit of breathing room, let you get nice and relaxed.”
Elsa’s heart sank. She couldn’t think of a way out. She didn’t have the strength to break out of the room, she knew that, not without blood. Her phone had died back at the club, it couldn’t be traced even if it was till intact which she highly doubted. She had no way of knowing where she was or if anyone would be able to find her. She was fighting her urge to drink from Kate with everything she had but she could feel her resistance failing. Vincent was right, the hunger would take over.
“Kate,” she turned to look at her friend who looked back at her questioningly, fearfully.
“I need to tell you some things that are going to be hard to hear and hard to believe.” All emotion had drained from Elsa’s voice and she locked her eyes on Kate’s, hoping that she could still influence her enough to make her believe, to give her at least a fighting chance, “But they are true and you will believe them. You will do exactly what I tell you to do, understand?”
Kate nodded her head, her eyes not leaving Elsa’s.
“It won’t work Elsa,” Vincent mocking tone sounded from above, Elsa ignored him.
“I am a vampire,” she continued, “A monster. I can normally control my need for blood but right now they have made it so that I can’t. You are my best friend Kate and I love you but I will kill you if you don’t kill me first.” Her voice caught in her throat as Kate gazed at her impassively with no discernable reaction, “You need to try and fight back Kate do you understand? You have to do whatever you can think of to kill me. You won’t be afraid, you will just know that you have to kill me. After a while I’ll probably get back up and I’ll come at you again but you have got to keep fighting, kill me again Kate and keep killing me for as long as it takes.” Elsa could dimly hear Vincent’s cruel laugh and tried to block it out, “Do you understand what I’m asking you to do?”
Kate nodded, her eyes glazed, “I’m going to kill you.”
“That’s right.” Elsa leaned back against the wall, exhausted and tried to shut her ears to the sound of Kate’s blood pumping through her veins. She would fight it for as long as she could and then she could only hope that she would be weak enough for Kate to fight her off. Deep down she knew that wouldn’t be the case but she ignored the taunting of the vampire inside her. It couldn’t be this way. Something had to happen. Something had to stop her from killing her best friend.
*AN - what do you think will happen, has Elsa got the strength to resist her need for blood? Is anyone going to come to her rescue? I'd love to hear your thoughts - and see your votes! :)*