AU: Another goddamn vampire AU

[Marnie Sullivan]

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

It was just a Friday, there had been so many Fridays just like it, with dancing and drinking and music so loud the room felt twice as crowded. She'd only meant to spend a couple of hours out - Marnie had been exhausted from a double shift but it was her coworker's birthday and she just couldn't say no to a chance to unwind. Two hours, drinks ordered by the older colleagues without the big black Xs on their hands, and then she could say goodbye and catch a ride home.

The taxi driver had seemed normal. Normal enough.

The next several days - how many? how long? - passed in a fog. Thoughts became single words, became senses: cold. freezing. dizzy. where? choke. hunger. so hungry...

When Marnie finally came to, it was upon the hard tile floor of her kitchen, just inside the front door. The ache ran deep, deep in her muscles; her violent shivering couldn't stave off the chill. Why was it so cold? Pushing herself up, up off the floor to sit was nearly as impossible as fighting through the haze, like a skull full of cobwebs. She had to get up, she had to stand, she was so hungry, the clawing in her stomach was unbearable, she needed something, anything. Struggling to her feet, heaving herself up by the kitchen counter, her legs could barely hold her.

There. Bread. Stale - the tie hadn't been fastened properly - but she didn't care. Piece after piece, Marnie stuffed into her mouth, chew swallow, ravenous, and then half the loaf was gone when her stomach squeezed and it burst back out, undigested and wet, onto the counter. Tears burned at her eyes, rolled down her cheeks - what was happening?

It was another battle to get herself to the bathroom - more heaving, barely contained along the way. When she was empty again, Marnie turned to the faucet. Water for her face, for her burning throat, she was so thirsty. She drank straight from the faucet, the liquid heavy in her gut, and when she paused to gasp for air, that was when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. It wasn't the limp hair, the dark bags under her eyes, smeared makeup that pulled the sobs from her; it was the twin punctures above her collar bone.

Not this. Anything but this.

Over the next day, every time the phone rang - had it rung this much while she'd been out? - Marnie only cried harder. It was coming back; not that night, the memory of that night was still beyond her, but the knowledge of what this meant. There was no cure, everybody knew that. That hunger in the pit of her stomach, she knew what that was, too. She couldn't stop running her tongue over her teeth - she hadn't been able to bear looking at them in the mirror longer than a split second, but they were different now. Everything was different now.

The phone in her hand was open to her contacts page, and Marnie stared at the name she'd been staring at for hours. Heise, Karalie. Her best friend. The person she was dying to talk to, more than anybody. But Karalie... her family... would they help her? Or would they come for her?

...I have to, Marnie decided finally. Anything would be better this. Maybe even being hunted down. At least she knew it would be over then. The phone rang, and rang, and then, in a weak voice: "Karalie. It's me. It's Marnie."

[Karalie Heise]

"Gawd, momma, ya'll can't jus' call me any ole' time yah need uh volunteer.  I got uh life, yah know!"  She rolled her eyes at the lecture that followed, first about taking the lords name in vain and then about being an active member of the church, and volunteering was the Christian thing to do.  Christian or not, she didn't feel like attending an anti-vampire demonstration and handing out literature.  She'd spent plenty of time in her youth doing just that, dragging her best friend along for company and flirting with the cute boys that walked by. 

"No, momma. Well, yer jus' gonna have tuh tell Pastor Beauregard that ya'll made uh mistake an' send my regards, b'cause..."  The woman cut her off and Karalie rolled her eyes.  She wouldn't give in, not this time! She didn't care how prominent her family was in the anti-vampire movement, or that the Heise name alone could spark fear into the dead heart of any blood sucker, she wasn't about to spend her weekend handing out pamphlets. "Yes, momma... momma.. momma!"  As luck would have it her phone suddenly beeped with an incoming call.  Marnie! Speak of the devil.  Marnie would have a good laugh with her about her mothers insistence about coming out to the demonstration.  And it was about damn time the girl called back; she'd been calling her since Saturday for crying out loud!

"Momma I got another call, I'll talk tuh yah later, love yoouuu!" She hung up on her mother mid sentence, not really caring.  She loved the woman to pieces, but lord could she be grating.  When she clicked over she heard Marnie's voice and she immediately knew something wasn't right.  

"I know who this is." She snapped, though she wasn't angry at the other girl.  If anything she was grateful she'd called and saved her from her mothers tirade. "Where the hell have you been? I've been callin' yah all damn week, I was startin' tuh worry ya'll were raped an' murdered." She insisted.  Marnie was her oldest friend in the world, the only person who got her, and Karalie loved her for that.  The pair were kindred spirits.  Her sister from another mister.  "I musta calledja like a million times! Ya'll alright?"

[Marnie Sullivan]

At the sound of Karalie's voice, Marnie had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle another sob. For the first time since she'd awoken, relief loosened the fist squeezed around her heart - out of everything, of course it would be Karalie that remained unchanged. But it was so brief, and then gone. She didn't know yet. What would happen when she did?

"Y-yeah, yeah, Karalie, I'm..." Marnie began, voice thick with tears. Of course she wasn't all right, not even close. For a moment she'd hoped she could hold it in just for the phone call, as though by doing so she could pretend for a minute that everything was normal. Maybe she was just calling to check in, chat about their days. But no, she barely had it in her to get the words out, let alone make them convincing. "Sorry, I wasn't... "

She took a deep, shuddering breath, somehow both certain that Kara would understand and also that she would regret everything.

"K, s-something's happened. I need help."

[Karalie Heise]

The second Marnie began talking Karalie could hear the something was wrong.  Very wrong.  Had she been raped as she had assumed?  Her heart began to pound and she started pacing around her apartment as she waited as patiently as Karalie was capable of for the girl on the other end to sputter out what was going on.

"What's wrong?" She finally asked when the girl admitted something had happened.  She needed help.  Marnie having turned was the farthest thing from her mind.  The two had been to enough lectures on how to keep yourself safe, run by her own father, that she trusted her best friend wouldn't have found herself in any position to be put through the change.

"What happened Marn? I'm getting my shoes on right now, I'm coming over.  Are you home? What happened!" She was pulling her seafoam green kicks on, dark brown eyes searching for her keys.  Just because she was too busy for her mother didn't mean she was too busy for her best friend.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Oh thank god, she was coming, her best friend would help her, they would figure this out, all she had to do was wait and Karalie would be there at her door, and then her stomach roiled painfully and she could practically smell the blood rushing underneath Karalie's skin, in her throat -

"No!" Marnie cried, stricken suddenly by a different sort of fear. What was she thinking? Would she really do that? "No, I-I mean..." Her mouth was watering, she realized with horror. "...It's not safe, K."

Any hope she'd had, that once Karalie arrived they could talk this through and she could cry on her shoulder and they would figure it out, had vanished. She'd never felt hunger like this as a human before, never. Surely humans who fasted didn't imagine their dearest friends as... as food.

Oh, god. She was already thinking of humans as other... of herself as separate.

"Just - just stay there, okay?" Marnie pleaded. "If you come here, s-something bad might happen."

[Karalie Heise]

The sharp way Marnie spoke to her made her stop in her tracks.  She wasn't used to the other girl snapping like that and her brows furrowed. What did she mean it wasn't safe? Wasn't safe how? Was someone with her? No, if there was someone with her she wouldn't be raising her voice.  Was something outside her house? Why wouldn't she call the polive then?

The more her best friend talked, the worse Karalie's feelings on the matter grew.  Could Marnie have.. No.  How many lectures had they attended together on keeping yourself safe! They knew the signs, they could pick vampires out of a crowd.  They knew who to avoid and how to avoid an attack, and they were always prepared in case of a confrontation.  Marnie was prepared and smart, she wouldn't have slipped up like this.  She wouldn't have allowed herself to become one of them.  She refused to believe it was an option, though deep in the back of her mind she knew it was.

"Is someone there with yah?" She asked in a stern, soft voice.  She needed to help her, and somehow she would.  "Marnie ya'll need tuh help me help you, alrigh'? What's at yer house?"

[Marnie Sullivan]

That was just it - there was nothing else there. Only her.

How could she have let this happen? Was she that drunk, or had the driver looked as harmless as she remembered? What had she missed? How could she have been so stupid?

"Karalie, I..." Marnie tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. She needed to spit it out, but the words tasted too much like acid. One more deep, shuddering breath, and: "...They got me, K. I don't know what to do."

Would Karalie know? She could only hope. The girl's parents had pounded into both of them how to protect themselves - for all the good it did her, she thought bitterly - but they'd never mentioned what to do after turning.

Was that because they'd assumed it would never happen, or because there was no help to give?

[Karalie Heise]

They got her.  Who got her? Who had gotten Ma-

The thought struck her like a bolt of lightening, leaving her breathless and frozen.  No.. no that couldn't have happened, she was sure of it!  But what if it had?  The horror of what had possibly just been revealed to her made Karalie's heart tighten.  It was like finding out your best friend had terminal cancer, and though they were still here, it wouldn't be for long.  She might never get to see Marnie again.

She shook her head, not wanting to believe it, feeling the angry sting of tears at the back of her eyes.  "Yah don' mean.." She gulped, not wanting to say the words out loud.  "Ya'll aren't referrin' tuh what I think you are.. right?" It would be a nasty trick if Marnie was toying with her.  She didn't sound like it, but maybe the other had meant something else.

She was too smart to have been caught by vampires!

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie nodded, forgetting in her misery that such gestures couldn't be seen over a phone.

"It was a, a Friday, I think," she began in explanation. Which Friday? Last week? What day was it now? "I wasn't - "

Her throat closed, strangling the words before she could say them. Wasn't paying attention. Wasn't careful. Wasn't sober, wasn't watching, wasn't safe. Not anymore.

"Please don't tell them," Marnie begged. No need to explain who "they" were - she knew as well as Karalie did how dangerous the Heises were. The only question was whether they would turn on her like she was a stranger; Marnie wanted to believe they wouldn't, that being Karalie's best friend could count for something, but that hope was hard to find.

"What do I do, K?"

[Karalie Heise]

A Friday.  Last Friday? The one before? When was the last time she'd spoken to Marnie? She knew enough about the change that it took a few days..  Her head was spinning; this couldn't possibly be happening! Not to Marnie. Not to her best friend..

The silent plea made her heart throb.  Her parents. If they knew.. Oh God, if they knew! "No.. no we can't tell them.." The words were choked, not realizing the tears that had sprung.  She was equally frightened and angry.  How could she have been so incredibly stupid! They knew how to protect themselves, and now.. could they even stay friends? She had an obligation to the human race to terminate her, to end what life she had left in her for it was a cursed one.  Not even life at all.  Living death.  Marnie was nothing more than a predator now, and what did you do to predators? You got rid of them in order to maintain survival

What did she do?  Karalie needed to think, needed to figure this out.  Her training had never covered what you do when someone you loved got turned.  Well.. it did, but she couldn't accept that it was the only option.

"I'm comin' over. Just.. ya'll stay put an' don'chu attack me cause.. I don' wanna hurt you, okay?"  She swallowed hard, hating to admit that but she had to be safe.  Just because Marnie turned didn't mean she should too. She wiped her eyes and sniffed back her tears.  She would figure something out.  She had to..

[Marnie Sullivan]

Goodbye.

Be careful.

Please don't hurt me.

"...Okay, I'll. I'll see you soon." After hanging up, Marnie clutched the phone to her cold chest, thoughts reeling. Karalie was coming, they would figure this out, or try at least. Her stomach gave another painful twist, a reminder of the most immediate danger. Would she go berserk? Tear her best friend apart? Marnie had never actually gone hunting with the Heises, but she'd seen photos of the aftermath of particularly gruesome attacks. She didn't feel strong enough to kill anybody - she barely felt strong enough to walk - but that wouldn't last. If allowed to survive this first week or so, she'd be more dangerous than any wild animal.

First, though, she needed to make it through tonight.

Marnie pulled herself to her feet, hands grasping her kitchen counter like a lifeline. A knife block sat next to the stove; would she try to use it? Would Karalie? she wanted to hide it away, but she was still too feeble to lift the whole thing. So one by one, Marnie stuffed each knife in the veggie drawer of her fridge, behind the tomatoes she should have thrown out this week. It wasn't much, but it would slow her down. Hopefully.

Even that task served to tire her, but Marnie was afraid of stopping there. Could she restrain herself? There was anywhere she could lock herself away; the bedroom, the bathroom, each door locked from the inside. Silver chains and shackles were ideal, she'd been told that much, but she had nothing like that. No rope or duct tape, even. All Marnie could find was an extension cord in the hall closet.

As she tied one end of the cord around a bedpost - the heaviest thing in the apartment - Marnie wept. Just like an animal. A rabid dog, she thought, looping the cord around and around her ankles. When she knotted it, it was tight enough to pinch, but that didn't matter. If it stopped her from hurting Karalie, it was necessary.

And so, face shining with tears, phone in her lap, Marnie sat, waiting.

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie hit the end button and pushed the phone into her pocket, standing still there in the living room, frozen in place.  Her shoes were on, her keys still in her hand from before.  It was slowly sinking in; Marnie was one of them now. Her best friend.  Her confidant.  She was dead. Not completely, she still walked the earth, but she wasn't really alive.  Her heart didn't pump blood through her veins and her lungs didn't need to fill with air.  Her legs felt shaky and she flung an arm out to grab the wall in order to steady herself.  Oh Marnie.. how could you have been so stupid?

The tears came so quickly that she hadn't even realized she was sobbing until her cheeks were streaked with dampness.  She turned to the wall, resting her forehead to it and pushing her palms to her face.  If only she'd been with her this never would have happened!  What did she do now? She couldn't kill her.  She should, but she wouldn't.  Would Marnie turn on her? She wasn't human anymore.  She was a vicious animal with an instinct to charm and kill.  She couldn't let Marnie lore her away from living, if she tried then..

Karalie took three deep, long breaths, pulling them in and slowly pushing them out.  She needed to be prepared.  She went to her supplies, pushing vials of holy water into her pockets, stakes and a knife in case she needed it.  They were hidden around her person in various places, easily accessible if an emergency struck.  She couldn't walk in there expecting all to be well.  She didn't know what she'd be walking into though, so she needed to be prepared for every possible situation.

The drive seemed long and her vision seemed tunneled.  Karalie had never felt her heart pound so fiercely in her chest as it did during that drive.  When she arrived she pulled the car into park and got out, bracing herself for the worst.  She made her way to Marnie's door, looking around to see if anyone might be lurking.  You never knew what vampires were up to, and now that she was one of them she might have others hanging around, waiting.  She gave a soft knock, and when no one answered she tried the door, pulling a stake out.  She held it in front of her in case the other girl came charging.  She didn't want to hurt her, but she wouldn't be lunch, either.

"Marnie?" She called out, stepping inside the familiar home of her best friend. "Where are you?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly and giving her away.  please don't make me hurt you..

[Marnie Sullivan]

The wait was unbearable with no company but her own dread. Occasionally Marnie glanced at her phone, as if at any time Karalie might call back. Sorry Marn, I'm out, Momma and Daddy can deal with you instead.

Once or twice she tugged on the cord binding her. To test the knot, make sure it would give. Wouldn't give. That's what she needed.

After a lifetime, Marnie heard the knock, and then the door open. Completely still she sat, eyes trained on the bedroom door, silent. If she didn't answer Karalie's call, the girl would come searching, and Marnie would see her first... and then the smell hit her and she was tearing at the cord, too frenzied to stop and take the time to untie it. Why, why wasn't she strong enough?

In her agitation, the phone tumbled from her lap, thudding against the floor and Marnie froze, the sound cutting through her hunger only just. What was she doing? She stared at the cord in her fingers, its plastic casing fraying, and dropped it, horrified.

"Back here," she croaked, although Karalie had probably figured that out hearing her attempt to free herself. "Be careful. Please"

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie never pictured her first time walking into a vampire's den to be so frightening.  Vampire's den.. this was no vampire's den, this place was as familiar to her as her own home was, but it was different now.  Her breaths were slow and shallow though her heart pounded fiercely in her chest.  Che would take it easy, no sense getting worked up yet.  Marnie wouldn't jump out and attack her.  At least not the Marnie she remembered.  Her Marnie.. who was dead.  Her Marnie was dead and was replaced with this monster Marnie.

She heard her friend's shaky voice coming back from the bedroom and her whole body turned with her head, holding the stake tighter in front of her.  Be careful? Of course she was being careful, did Marnie think she was an idiot!?  She tried not to mentally chastise the other, attempting to put herself in her best friends shoes for a moment.  Then again how could she?  How could she fathom what was going through Marnie's now twisted mind? Everything she knew about vampires was what she'd learned from her parents.  Somehow it just didn't make sense for Marnie to be like any of the demons her parents had prepared her to encounter.

She stepped slowly, forcing herself to take even breaths, her mind in tune with every noise from the heart pounding in her own chest to the soft way her sneakers sounded against the ground.  When she got to Marnie's room she pushed the door open but stayed back, surveying the situation.

She looked a little different, but not necessarily in a bad way.  She was still beautiful, maybe more striking than typical, though she did look a little sick perhaps.  It was hard to pick out exactly what was different, but something was.  Something was definitely a little off.  Dark eyes ran to the chords cutting into her friends wrists and she knew the other had taken precautions to keep herself from harming Karalie, something she was grateful for.  Her heart sank though, her body sagging slightly under the weight of their situation.

"How did this happen?" She heard herself asking, her voice soft and gentle as if she were still trying to understand it all. And then she was crying again, as she swore she wouldn't do. How unfair it all was!

[Marnie Sullivan]

Karalie, too, had changed. Not the weapon in her hand, nor the set in her stance; Marnie didn't need to attend hunts to know those. But somehow she had never noticed her neck - how defined the tendon leading from Karalie's ear to the hollow of her throat was, delicate and inviting. The color in her cheeks wasn't merely pretty, but irresistable, like the bright skin of a fruit that promised ripe, juicy meat. And her eyes... Marnie thought she had seen fear in them before, but that was nothing like this.

Marnie's own eyes - once such a clear blue, now muddy - darted from Karalie's face to the stake in her hand. Every nerve was screaming at her to flee or to lunge, neither of which would get her far with her feet bound so tight. Not when Karalie had so deliberately distanced herself. If only she would come closer, Marnie didn't need much, her exhaustion was nothing to this hunger, not when a human was so close so close -

and she was crying.

The guilt washed over Marnie again and suddenly she was crying too, a pitiful heap where she sat.

"I...I don't remember most of it," she choked out finally. "W-we were out, it was... K, I'm so sorry." Recalling that night was like sifting for stone in a riverbed, murky and frustrating. "I don't know who it was."