Garrett / Reader - Part 2
- Let me go! you screamed as you tried to free yourself from the tight embrace of the vampire, although you wouldn't have called it "embrace" but rather an "imprisonment". You had been pounding your fists against the man's chest just a moment ago and therefore your arms were now securely trapped between you and him, tightly pressed against your own chest since he had wrapped his arms around you and making it impossible for you to move your upper arms and shoulders.
- Calm down, woman! the man said with an assertive, demanding tone and kept you firmly in place against his strong chest. He was weak and injured, yes, but still a lot stronger than you, especially now that you were in a very vulnerable state both mentally and physically.
The reason why you had stayed so long in the previous city was that you had gotten beaten up pretty badly during “a job” and therefore you had been unable to get yourself moving again. You obviously couldn't go to the hospital due to your current status as a dangerous criminal and therefore whatever injuries you received as the result of your vampire hunting you had to deal with them by yourself. This usually mean also suffering from different aches, varying from mild to the ones that made you think about walking into a vampires’ lair without a weapon, because you were unable to get any stronger painkillers without a doctor’s prescription. During the latest battle you had been thrown against a concrete wall your side first and that had caused some damage to one or two of your ribs, small fractures at least, enough to put you into bed- rest for five days. The injury had not healed completely yet but it had healed enough to allow you to change the city. It was always risky to stay too long in one place anyway; the more communications you had with other people, the locals, the bigger the risk that someone would recognize you and call the police grew.
While doing research you had come across an old manuscript that stated that there were chosen ones fighting the battle between good and evil. You had read that there were actually vampire slayers; women who had been born to do what you did with the difference that they actually healed faster and had much quicker reflexes than you did, besides they even had people called watchers who helped and trained them. You however had none of those things. Yeah, you were a self- employed vampire hunter and it meant that the biggest thing that limited your capabilities to do your "job" was the fact that you were a mere mortal without any special gifts and abilities. The only reason why you had chosen this profession, if you can even call it a profession since no one paid you anything, was that you had witnessed the brutal killing of your English teacher as a young child and it had shaken your view of the world thoroughly.
- Let go of me! you demanded and tried to push the man away although your efforts weren't enough to even make him budge.
- Not before you'll calm down. the man spoke with a calming tone. You however groaned and tried to break free even twice as hard. "Stop fighting me, woman" he said and absorbed your struggles as well as your pathetic-wannabe-attacks like they had not had any impact on him. "I will hold you like this to make sure that you won’t hurt yourself" he continued and then added "This is not the time to act recklessly."
The man felt your heart beating furiously against his body almost as if you had had ten tiny hearts replacing your blood veins, drumming on overdrive, ready to explode and therefore he was getting increasingly worried that you would soon pass out from stress and exhaustion. You however were not going to give up as long as you had strength in your body and therefore you kept pushing him away as well as wiggling your upper body just to create a window of an opportunity to escape. However your best efforts to create anything changed soon into a state of deepening panic as the reality of your own weakness and incapability to free yourself started to sink in for real.
- Your heart is beating too fast. he spoke with a calm yet concerned tone. You responded to his bold claim with an irritated groan which changed into shallow, sharp gasps. "You're hyperventilating" he added and then continued by stating "You're going to pass out if you'll continue to resist me." You gasped once and held your breath as you stared at the grayish brown fabric of the man's shirt.
- By all means, makes no difference to me. he spoke, hoping that you would soon inhale. You were all tensed up, holding your breath because it was annoying and frightening how good the man's cologne smelled, just adding to his attractiveness and making it so damn difficult to stand your ground. "But do tell me, is it smart in your opinion to pass out in the company of a big, strong…” he said and paused before adding “…Dangerous…” to the list of adjectives to describe himself with. “…Vampire?" he asked and smirked against the top of your head. You bit your lip as you fought the urge to fill your lungs with air but then you just couldn't fight it anymore.
You gasped for air, filled your lungs with it entirely and when you exhaled, the man felt that you started to relax, the tension left your muscles, your breathing calmed down and eventually your heartbeat returned back to normal. "Good" the man whispered softly and moved his hand to stroke your hair, giving you a little bit more room to breathe. This soothing gesture, an unexpected act of kindness calmed you down and made you feel very tired... also somewhat disappointed in yourself; it was ridiculous that a vampire hunter allowed a vampire comfort herself like this! It was plain stupid to trust your enemy and to let him be in control.
- I'm calm now. Please let me go. you whimpered as you traced with your fingertips the chain hanging loosely around his neck. You didn't mean to do that but the man was just so close and you couldn't help feeling more and more attracted to him; it was like a silent seduction, a generous invitation and a soft whisper in the darkness, calling you, luring you further away from the sunlight... although you had not walked in the light since the death of your family. Oh no, your life had become constant running and hiding and even when you were standing on an open field and the sun was shining from the cloudless sky, you never really felt the warmth. No, you were trapped in a cold, lonely place that existed in your mind. However this darkness, his darkness was different; it was velvety and intriguing, mysterious and made you feel less lonely.
- No. the man said firmly.
- You lied? you gasped with a bitter, barely audible tone. It wasn't really a question but a statement of obvious. "Of course he lied! He is a vampire, what did you expect?" you scolded yourself silently but you knew that you had no strength left to resist him.
- You must rest. he stated and walked slowly back into the bedroom, still holding you and therefore you had no other choice than to follow him.
- Why do you care? you asked, sounding defeated and fragile.
- You are more useful to me alive than dead. he spoke and sat down on the edge of the bed next to you. You turned your head away and stared at the bedroom wall with hopeless look on your face, the wall was partially covered by stained wallpaper that had been mostly ripped away by the previous tenant. It resembled your life in a way; it had been something beautiful once, a long time ago, but then too many things had happened, ripped away your beautiful wallpaper, leaving behind nothing but ugliness and despair. Your life, your world… your entire existence felt like ugly, stained and partially torn wallpaper and it would never get better. There would be no repairs, not even a new coat of paint to cover up the bruises.
- Now you'll sleep and then, immediately after sunset... he continued and placed his hand on your jaw, turned you to look at him and then added "...We'll drive away."
- No! you stated and stood up instantly as the sudden boost of adrenaline hit you. You stepped a bit further away from the bed and folded your arms but this abrupt movement made your week-old injury ache sharply and caused you to let out a desperate cry which didn’t go unnoticed from the man. The man stood up immediately as well and stared at you with an offended expression on his face.
- I will go back tonight and finish the job. you stated firmly.
- I will not let you! the man replied and took off his long brown coat. There was a loose string in the sleeve that got tangled with the man's ring making his task almost impossible. You stared at the man silently for a moment, evaluating your options and trying to figure out the man's motives while he was struggling to get rid of the coat. Finally he did and he threw the piece of clothing onto the floor.
- Those creatures there... he said and pointed at the direction where the abandoned factory was located. "…They are not like me" he added after a short moment of silence.
- Your concern is very touching... you said with a sarcastic tone, inhaled and then continued with a mocking voice "...But I have killed many vampires and they are all the same." The expression on the man's face changed from cautious to offended. "You're all... just a pile of ash to me" you scoffed.
- Not these! he exclaimed and took off his shirt, revealing the scars caused by the enemy.
You turned to look at the man who was standing next to the bed wearing his jeans and his upper body completely bare. There were five well- defined, long scars running across his chest and upper stomach, like someone had tried to rip his body open using their fingernails. The sight shocked you. It shocked you because you knew that vampires generally were inhumanly strong and agile and this one specific vampire was tall and had a strong physique... and still something had managed to hurt him so badly. You stepped closer like you had been under hypnosis and pressed your hand against his chest. This made the man gasp silently as he shivered from the unexpected contact. His skin was cold but surprisingly soft, his physique strong and muscular without being overly bulky and unsuitable for his character. You traced the scars with your fingertips slowly, very cautiously down to his stomach and then back up to his chest and then shifted your gaze higher.
- Your stake will not kill them. the man spoke softly. He placed his hands above yours and pressed your palm against skin. He closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed the warmth of your hand before continuing. "I am weak. You're not in your full strength either. Going there now would be a suicide" he spoke, placed his other hand on your waist and guided you to stand right next to the bed. At this point you couldn’t resist anymore and honestly, you weren’t sure if you even wanted to fight him. The man flashed a tiny, pleased smile at you and rubbed your arms with his hands slowly up and down until he was entirely certain that he had you exactly where he wanted you to be; at the mercy of his kindness… or his ruthlessness, depending on the current mood and what was more convenient. You were more useful alive than dead, especially when you were so easy to charm and pacify.
The tall vampire lay you down, staying on his all fours and hovering over you while you stared deep into his dark, ruby eyes like you had been under a spell. You admired the soulful eyes, unwilling to break eye contact for any longer time than a blink of an eye. He had unspoken sadness in his eyes and it made you feel emphatic towards the man even though he was supposed to be your enemy. How could you ever hate something so beautiful? You felt yourself sinking deeper and deeper into the soft, warm haze with every exhale and even though your eyelids started to weight like they had been made of the heaviest material on earth you still didn’t want to stop gazing into the mysterious depths of the handsome vampire.
- Sleep now. he whispered, placed his fingers softly on your eyelids and kept them there until you had fallen asleep. Then he tucked you in, sat on the edge of the bed for a moment to make sure that you had indeed drifted away and finally put on his shirt back on as he walked into the living room.
The man closed the curtains even though the sun had already moved behind the neighboring building and therefore the sunlight was no longer pouring in from the windows however he feared that someone was scanning the empty apartment houses and stalking, trying to find two runaways. He sat on the sofa and stared into the bedroom, deep in his thoughts, counting the minutes to the sunset. The truth was that the man was scared. He was scared because he knew that he had barely escaped from the group of different kind of vampires and they would surely come after him now. The reason why he was so kind towards you was that you had saved his life last night. If you had left him, the vampires would have continued their torture until the man would have been begging them to kill him. Besides if there ever should be a confrontation, it was better to confront a group of monsters standing side by side with a vampire hunter than to do it all by himself. And perhaps a time would come, sooner or later, when sacrificing your life would save the man's ass and therefore all in all, you were more useful alive than dead.
You woke up after five hours feeling slightly better than before. The apartment was dim and it was clear that the sun was already setting, although not yet completely down. You sat up, still somewhat confused where you were and whether the events of the past twenty- four hours had actually happened or not. Were you really in an apartment with a vampire? Had you really allowed yourself to fall asleep like this? You reasoned, or consciously decided, that the man had probably used some mind tricks to make you so tired and the safety that you had felt had been just a trick... a sneaky move in this subtle game of making you trust him. Most likely the man would somehow use you to secure his own escape and you had been such a fool to fall into his trap.
- Oh, you're awake. the man said when you walked out from the bedroom. "Do you feel any better?" he asked casually although there was an undertone of concern in his voice which you managed to notice even though he tried to keep it hidden.
- Slightly. you replied and then asked "What do you know about these... creatures?" Your tone was barely audible which made you sound both suspicious and defeated, bothered at least. You really didn't want to rely on the man, who was a vampire himself, for correct information but at the moment you had no other choice than to use him as your Wikipedia.
- I've done my research. he answered with a playful smirk. You however responded by rolling your eyes and it was obvious that you didn't believe for a minute that he, the pirate rock star, would actually do research. No, research was plenty of work and the man didn't give you the vibe of someone spending hours and hours studying, he wouldn't have stamina for that because he was a person, if a vampire could be called as such, who took the easy way out. Every time.
- Alright, alright! the man said and corrected himself by stating "I asked around.”
- Why? you asked immediately with a cold, unfriendly tone.
- Because I used to own this town. he replied and stood up. He had been lounging on the sofa while you had slept, just chilling out, seemingly so at leas,t although there was nothing "chill" in his current state of mind. Oh no, the man was nervous from his head to toes. Now he stood up to face you, to tower over you so he would stay on top of the situation, to gain control once more. "This used to be a great place" he said and then added casually "Plenty of bars, desperate people- "
- I'm sure it was. Very homey. you scoffed, clearly not very impressed about his lifestyle. The man furrowed his eyebrows and stared at you quite sharply but for your surprise he didn't fire an insult towards you.
- So I asked around. he said and started to tell that he had been told that the vampires had come here from the north, that they looked slightly different from both; human beings and vampires, that they spoke a language that no one had heard before and they couldn't be killed with wooden stakes. The man described to you what they looked like and how they hunted, how they attacked and killed their preys. "They are like the British invaders who sailed to New World and wiped away the native people" the man said and folded his arms with a deep sigh. “Fucking Brits” he scoffed. You however did not comment.
- And they will come tonight. They will find us and if they already got enough of amusement from torturing me... the man said and after a small pause added "...They will kill us in a heartbeat."
- So they will be after you. you stated bluntly. The man raised his hand on his chin and rubbed his stubble as he waited for you to continue. "Why should I worry?" you asked with a merciless and emotionless tone.
- They will be after you as well. the man answered instantly. You however chuckled as a response and rolled your eyes again. "They were watching last night, didn't you feel it?" he asked. You stopped chuckling immediately because you knew exactly what the man was talking about; yes, you had felt their presence, you had felt their hungry, sinister stares. Oh yes, the man was right; you were in danger as well.
- Am I a threat to them? you asked, clearly trying to evaluate your situation.
- No. he replied and added "And they know it." This statement made you feel small but also it made your insides fill with defiant rage. "Who does he think he is!" you thought silently while scanning the man's face with sharp eyes. "They didn't consider me as a threat... and I wasn't" he spoke, his voice defeated and barely audible. He explained that he had stormed in few of nights ago, ready to set the trespassers straight, to take back the town so to speak, but he had soon found himself surrounded and severely outnumbered. "There was no escape, no fight to win... no fight. Period" he stated and walked to you, put his hand on your jaw and guided you to look at him since you had turned your head away while listening to him talking.
There was desperation in your eyes now and the man was able to see it. He could sense the fear that was creeping in from the dark corners of your mind but there was also something more; deep sorrow and regret. The man read your mind like an open book just by staring into your eyes and cupping your face with his large hand. He noticed that your breathing got shallower again and a tear rolled from the corner of your eye, leaving a subtle trace on your cheek. The man wiped the tear away and smiled at you reassuringly. “You’ll live to see another day” he promised.
- The sun has set! you exclaimed suddenly when the alarm of your wrist watch started to beep. “Oh shit!” the man exclaimed, ending the moment you had shared together. It had been a very beautiful moment, lasting only few seconds or maybe a minute, but it had felt like a lifetime and during that lifetime you had felt less lonely than you constantly did. For once there was someone who understood you, someone who was an outcast like you... someone who was just as scared as you were. You broke away from the intense eye contact, stepped away from the tall vampire and started to look for your stake with your eyes. You had seen the man holding it… but where had he put it? You scanned the room, all the surfaces and finally noticed the stake on the nightstand by the bed.
The man got his coat from the bedroom floor and gestured you to gather your things as well. You put on your coat, grabbed your bag as well as your stake and followed the man into the entrance hall. He removed the barricade of heavy furniture and unlocked the door. He took your hand, turned to look at you and nodded as a silent confirmation, “this is it”, to which you responded with a nod and then he led you into the dark corridor. You had found the apartment with an open door from the third floor last night and now you were very relieved that you had not gotten any higher; the corridor was filled with random junk and since there were no lights, it was impossible to avoid stepping on rusty nails and such in the near- pitch black.
The man stopped just as he had reached to the halfway of the stairway. He pulled you close and covered your mouth with his hand immediately. "They're here" he whispered and added "We must find another way down." His words had no tone but you were able to feel that he was terrified; the man had gotten suddenly tensed up and if he had talked any louder, you would have heard his voice shaking like a leaf in the cold autumn wind. You listened to the silence and heard metal screeching as the creatures moved in the basement, trying to find a way to the higher floors.
- Up. the man said and started to lead you up in the stairway. You followed him as silently as possible but it was difficult because you couldn't see and every once in a while you stepped on something slippery and almost fell down and every other time your shoe got stuck between rotten floorboards and debris. You squeezed your stake tightly in your other hand while you squeezed the man's hand with yours, begging him without any words not to let you go.
You heard the creatures getting closer. You heard them talking to each other and you finally noticed that you were actually bleeding from your leg. You had scratched yourself quite badly at some point but you had been too focused on following the man to notice your injury. Now however the man had stopped to think; there was no point to go higher because neither of you were able to fly into safety and you were on the sixth floor already. The creatures were on the third now, rummaging through the apartment where you had spent the night, and as the cherry on the top they had clearly smelled fresh blood. The man cursed silently as he took a look at your leg; there was a rip in your jeans, running along your calf and the deep blue fabric had turned dark around the injury. In retrospect he had noticed that you had gotten slower and your style of walking had changed from normal to semi- crippled a moment ago but he had been too busy as well as too focused on finding a way out to really pay attention to it.
- The elevator shaft! the man whispered and immediately let your hand go, which was an action that made you whimper involuntarily. You heard metal screeching as the sliding doors were pushed open with brutal force. A soft thump and a metallic clang. The footsteps getting closer rapidly from another direction. You kept squeezing the stake in your hand as tightly as you could, just like it had been the last thing to keep you alive while your other hand tried to find the man... but he was gone. He had left you behind... he had left you alone into the darkness...
Your breath turned into shallow, random gasps as the reality sank in; the man had used you as bait, led you higher... and then just... ditched you. You took a step backwards and leaned to the cold, rough wall that was made of concrete. You felt the harsh surface with your fingertips and told yourself to keep going... higher... forward... but your feet were not obeying your orders. Oh no, you were frozen still from fear, just like you had that one winter night.
You saw a shape in the darkness, moving towards you, growling like an animal. You waited... two or three seconds that felt like an eternity... screamed and attacked as soon as the creature was close enough. You managed to shove the steak deep into the creature's chest, aiming to the heart, hoping that the man had been wrong. The creature whimpered and backed down, blood pouring out from the stab wound, making the wooden stake slippery and causing your firm grip to fail you. You had lost your weapon and from now on you were completely defenseless.