By JF Jackson
Part Six
Remy's eyes widened, staring at her. "Wha-?"
She advanced towards him, eyes still glowing red, fangs still glistening in the moonlight. "Frightened, Remy?" A small smile played over her lips. "Starting to get a little worried about who, or what you spent the night with?"
He felt his forehead break out into a sweat, until his rational mind took over. You don't know what is going on here, but she hasn't hurt you yet. Don't be stupid. He took a deep breath and stopped. "Non. I'm not afraid."
She stopped, her eyes reverting to normal (or at least what was normal for her) her fangs seeming to disappear into her upper jaw. "Darn." She snapped her fingers and giggled.
He stared at her. "You are de strangest woman I ever met."
"Considering your looks and your reputation, that's probably a pretty high honor."
He was not amused. "What are you, Rhiannon?"
"A vampire," She rolled her eyes. "Didn't you see?"
"Oui, I saw," He fumbled in his pocket for his cigarettes. "But I also saw you go out in de daylight."
"I'm a botch job." She sighed, her shoulders slumping and looked down at her feet. "Figures, I can't do anything right, even join the undead."
He brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it. "Non, I don' t'ink dat. But what do you mean, "botch job?" Why is it that every time I get one answer with this woman, it leads to more questions?
"It means I'm not a full vampire," she said. "I don't know what to call myself. The nearest I can figure out, I'm a half vampire. As far as I know, I'm the only one in existence. The guy who made me didn't stick around for questioning."
"How did it 'appen?" he asked, studying her. She suddenly did not look very strong. She looked more like a frightened child, her arms closing around herself as if trying to protect herself.
"I-I was working in a bar," she said. "I-I used to dance there."
Stripper, he thought, nodding for her to continue.
"There was this one guy that used to come there every night. He would sit in the corner and drink, not even watching the show -- until I would come on." She shivered, not knowing if it was from the night chill or the conversation in general. She did not like thinking about that one bleak night that changed her whole life forever. It was hard enough to have it happen, it was almost worse to discuss it.
He looked at her. "C'mere, Rhiannon." He patted the step next to him. She hesitated only a moment then joined him. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, and put an arm around her. He did not know if it was to warm her or comfort her. Perhaps both. "Dat better?"
She looked at him, her eyes wide, as if shocked at this gesture. "Y-yes," she whispered. "Much better." She tried not to think of how good it felt to have his jacket, warm from his body, his scent clinging to it, around her. Or how the weight of his arm curled around her waist made her feel safe and maybe even loved. Hesitantly, she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"So dis guy would come an' watch you dance," Remy said, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"Yeah." She sighed. "He'd get up from the corner when I came on and move to the front. He was kind of strange looking real pale. A lot of people would gather around the uh runway, but they would clear a path for him, as if they didn't want him to get too near."
He nodded, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and offering it to her. She accepted it, taking a deep drag before handing it back. "He must 'ave worried you."
She shrugged. "Yes and no. I thought he was odd, but trust me, Remy, the place was full of odd ducks."
He snickered. "I'll jus' bet. Did he ever show his appreciation by tucking a little somet'in' in your G-string?"
She shook her head. "No. He never gave me a dime."
"Cheap bastard."
She chuckled. "Instead, at the end of every performance I gave, he would leave a rose by my feet. One perfect red rose."
His brows furrowed. "Bet you would have rather 'ad cash."
"Are you going to let me tell this or not?" she asked, looking at him, trying not to giggle. He was right, she would have rather had cash. In honesty, she did not like getting the rose at all. Red roses meant love and to her, taking her clothes off in time to music was not something that should earn anyone red roses. She was not ashamed of what she had done, it was a living and she was damned good at it, but not being ashamed and thinking it was as respectable as being a librarian were two different matters.
"I'm sorry." He was not sure if he was telling the truth or not. It was clear by the way her eyes were rapidly flickering and changing colors in the dim light that telling this story was not easy for her. His comments were attempts to keep things from getting too serious. "Go on, I won' interrupt you anymore."
"Thank you." She moved closer to him, biting her lower lip.
"This went on for a couple months. He would watch me perform, leave the rose, and drift away. I never though much beyond what a weird guy he was. However, when one is caught in a sea of weirdness, what is one strange fish versus another?"
"One night, when I got off work, I was walking home. I never really worried when I walked home, I don't know why. I think that was a time in my life when I didn't care if I should live or die."
I know dat feelin', he thought. He said nothing though, wanting her to continue.
"Well, this one night, I was heading home and I felt this strange feeling, like someone was following me. I tried to act casual, but I began hurrying. The strange feeling didn't disappear. I started to run. I couldn t hear any footsteps behind me, but then suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to scream, but his hand covered my mouth."
She paused, shivering again. He tightened his arm around her, and offered her the cigarette, which was almost gone. She took it and inhaled the last drag gratefully, then dropped it on the ground, crushing it. He lit another one and handed it to her. "It's all right, chere," he said, softly. "It's jus' a memory, it isn't 'appening to you now. Go on."
Her fingers trembled as they held the cigarette. "I tried to fight him, I knew how to defend myself, I learned from some of the best. But he was so damned strong. He slammed my head into the wall of a building and I blacked out."
"When I woke up, I lying on a mattress and my clothes were gone. My head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. I also knew I'd been raped and I felt really weak, like like ." She paused and drew in a deep breath. "Like someone had been draining my blood from me."
"Which someone had been, right?" he looked at her.
She nodded.
"So much for de t'eory dat vampires can't get it up," he mused.
She snorted. "You've been reading too many Anne Rice books."
"Gotta love dat' Lestat," he said, grinning. Then his expression became serious. "Go on."
She buried herself further in his jacket. "He was standing above me. I knew immediately who he was, the rose weirdo from the club. I wanted to scream at him that there were plenty of other women at the club who would be more than happy to play his little games, but I wasn't one of them. But I was too weak. I just looked at him and said, 'why?'"
"He started spouting this garbage, or at least what I thought was garbage, about walking the earth alone for hundreds of years and how now he no longer wanted to be alone, and how he'd chosen me to be his childe. I just stared at him, thinking that I was going to die at the hands of this lunatic. Then he looked down at me, his eyes turning blood red, his fangs dropping, long, sharp, and white. That's when I knew that all those tales of monsters I'd heard as a child were based in truth. There are some things that we turn to fantasy, simply because knowing they were real would make us lose our minds."
She finished the cigarette, stomping it on the ground. Her trembling became more pronounced. "Y-you must think I'm a baby," she whispered.
"Non!" He wrapped both arms around her, drawing her onto his lap. "Non, Rhiannon. I don' t'ink you re a baby. Dis must have been a very painful experience for you. I-I still 'ave a lot of questions about it, but if you can' finish dis story, it's all right."
"No, I want to finish it," she said. "I've only told two other beings this story. One who can't even remember."
Bobby and who else? He wondered. He did not voice these thoughts. She had told him this much without running away; he did not want to push his luck. "So, what happened next?"
"He he bit his wrist and then held it over my face, so his blood was dripping over my mouth. I tried to move my head, but he grabbed onto my hair with his other hand and held it in place. The blood dripped on my lips, into my mouth. I remember it didn't taste like blood. It tasted different... strange, but good. And I was so thirsty. I started licking my lips, trying to get more of it into my mouth. He just stood above me, his wrist dripping blood on my face and laughed like a madman. Started screaming about three more times and I would be his forever. I didn't really care. At that point, I wanted him to give me more." She hung her head, looking down and away from him.
"If any of de stuff I've heard 'bout vampires is true, it's not surprising," he said, trying to comfort her. "It's like a drug one drop an' you wan' more."
"Yeah, that's for sure," she agreed. "Well, then there was this commotion. Someone was trying to break the door down. He started screaming. I didn't know what was going on. He literally picked me up and threw me in a closet and shut the door. I huddled on the floor, unable to move, trying to hear what was going on. As best as I can piece together, combining memory of that night, with what I know now, some other kindred had been keeping an eye on him, knowing he was insane. That night they broke in and destroyed him."
"Sound like a very good idea," he said gently. "What 'appened to you? Did dey find you?"
She shook her head. "No. I don't think they knew I was there. They killed him and left. I stayed in the closet, huddled on the floor, unable to move, too afraid to do anything. I think I finally passed out. When I woke up, the place was quiet and I felt sore and hungry. I didn't hear anything going on outside, so I got up and opened the door."
"The room was void of people. All I could see was this powdery ash stuff on the floor. No sign of what happened. No signs of any sort of fight. I even looked at the mattress to see if there was any blood. Well, there was a little, but I'm sure it was mine, but not his."
"So what did you do?" he asked.
"I found my clothes, got dressed, and got out of there." She shrugged. "What else was I to do? I certainly didn't want to stick around to see if any other weirdoes showed up."
"Good idea." He nodded for her to continue.
"When I left the apartment, it was daytime. I remember the sun felt harsher than normal, but I didn't scream, or burn up, so I figured that I couldn't be a vampire. That made me feel better. Just to make sure, and since I was hungry, I went to this restaurant and had breakfast. Steak and eggs. I was able to eat it, more than that, I wolfed it down. Especially the steak. I wasn't normally much of a red meat eater, but I thought that maybe loosing the blood affected me."
He nodded again. That made sense to him.
"After that, I went home and tried to go on with my life. I tried to push all the memory of what happened out of my head. If I thought about it for long, I felt I would go crazy. I think I was able to delude myself that nothing had changed, that I hadn't changed."
"But you had," he said.
She nodded, a tear falling down her face. "I had." She reached up and caught the tear with her fingertips, rubbing it until it dried on her hand.
He could guess the rest. Somehow she had figured out what she was and that she needed blood to survive. He did not know how much blood she needed, or how often she needed it. "You drank from me last night, didn' you?"
She nodded. "As you would say, 'Oui.' I'm sorry."
"Why? I don' seem any worse for the experience. You didn' kill me." In truth the idea of someone drinking his blood seemed rather spooky, but he kept that opinion to himself. It's no worse than filling a few vials for Beast to study, he told himself.
"I couldn't kill you by drinking your blood," she said. "I don't need much actually. I've gone days without any. I might have taken a pint from you last night. That is a bit more than I usually do, but it's not really dangerous to you. If I had taken any more from you, I would have gotten sick to my stomach."
"Dat's a relief." He kept his arm around her, noting that she was no longer trembling. Maybe she's starting to trust me, he thought. He did not really understand why it was so important to him that this woman/mutant/vampire trusted him, but it was. In a very short time, Rhiannon had managed to stir a lot of emotions in him. Some were the many degrees of frustration, but some were nice. He did not know why, but he had an overwhelming desire to protect her, to keep her safe. He knew it was silly of him. She was probably as strong or stronger than him. Yet the desire remained. Some macho instincts taking over protect de pretty lady at all costs.
"So, I guess you pretty much know the story," she concluded.
"Non, I know part of the story," he disagreed. "I still don' know what happened wit' Bobby."
"And you really want to, don't you?" She asked.
"Oui. I've been here awhile, Rhiannon. I can' believe de professor would jus' do a little mental surgery on any of de X-Men, yet Bobby don' even remember your name. So it must have been somet'in pretty serious. What 'appened, Rhiannon. Will you trust me enough t'tell me dat?"
She bit her lower lip. "I will tell you," she finally said, softly. "But it is not something I am very proud of."
"We all have our embarrassing skeletons," he assured her. "You can tell me, I'll keep an open mind."
As she drew in a deep breath to answer, the front door opened. She looked behind him, seeing a figure in the doorway. Suddenly, she broke away from Remy, his jacket falling on the steps. She twisted around so she was facing the doorway, crouching, her eyes turning blood red, her fangs dropping. A low, angry hiss vibrated from her throat.
Remy turned and looked at the cause of all this action. "Scott!"
Scott stared down at Rhiannon, nostrils flared. "You're not welcome here, anymore," he said.
"Says who?" Remy said, rising from the stairs, glaring at him.
"I didn't come here to cause trouble," Rhiannon hissed. "I came here to explain. He has a right to know."
"No he doesn't!" Scott said, "If you really cared about him, you'd leave him alone. You'd leave all of us alone!"
"I can speak for myself, Cyke!" Remy protested, angrily. What gave Scott the right to decide what was best for him? And why was there such hate radiating between him and Rhiannon? Remy could feel it radiating off both of them. "You can' tell me who I can speak wit' and who I can't!"
Scott ignored him, staring at Rhiannon. She stared back, her red eyes glowing in the night. "I don't mean any harm to any of you," she said.
"Sure, like you didn't mean any harm to Bobby." Scott's voice was cold.
"That was an accident!" she cried. "And I could have fixed it myself, if I knew then what I know now!"
"Sure. Maybe everyone else can fall victim to your charms and lies, but I'm not buying it!" He started down the stairs, towards her.
Remy blocked his way. "Leave 'er alone!" he shouted. "She hasn't done anyt'ing wrong."
"Give her time," Scott snapped. "And get out of my way. This is between her and me."
"Not anymore," Remy said. "I'm involved too. An' I won't let you hurt her. She's been hurt enough by us."
"We did nothing to her. We took her in when she had no one, nothing. The professor tried to give her a second chance at life, but she blew it!" Scott's fists were clenched and he glared at Remy through the visor. "Did Logan tell you she was in prison when we found her? She attacked a judge!"
"A judge who'd just taken away her baby!" Remy said. "You can't hold dat against her!"
"I can hold anything against her I want," Scott said. "You don't know the full story, you never will. She's nothing but trouble. And now she's some sort of vampire. She's not even alive."
"She's 'alf alive, which is more dan I can say for you!" Remy snapped. "Logan don' seem to have a problem wit' her, an' I ain't seen none of de other X-Men out here screaming an' yelling, jus' you. Which tells me you're de one wit' de problem."
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Scott said.
While the two men were arguing, Rhiannon turned and fled into the night. Within seconds she was out of sight, blending into the shadows.
Remy turned and saw she was gone. "Shit!" He looked back at Scott. "I'm goin' after her. Remind me, when I get back, to kick your ass."