stubborn love

[iseultofireland]

this is us characters: olivia maine

“I think Olivia comes across one way, and you feel this way about her and then the layers start to be peeled back and you start to understand her more as a person.” (x)

[needwantcaps]

[bitingdxown]

buried in the snow;

They come to take a passenger every other day, and they tell her and Alex about how well they’re becoming. But Effy knows her leg isn’t healing correctly, and every time the redhead looks at her she eyes the mangled limb in distaste. But Alex’s eyes light up when he realizes the horror of their reality. There was a way out, a way to save them both, and he would always be willing to do anything to save her life.

When he comes to her, changed and eyes glinting like the sisters’, she shrinks back in fear. Even in pain, in fear for her life, she wouldn’t be tempted. She didn’t want to be someone who could hold a room full of people hostage and pick them off one by one. She didn’t want to be soulless. 

Her screams are lost in the snow, and when she wakes in his arms she knows she’ll never feel warmth again. 

[shanewestfan]

Janet Montgomery for Tiziano Lugli

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

Alex barely looks up from his book, he was in the middle of a sentence when she interrupted him. He had spent half of the time it took her to clean up thinking of her punishment and he decided he would whip her twenty times with a silver tipped riding crop. “Sure… but you’ll need to shower again after your punishment. I’d rather not get mud on my tools.”

He glances over to her and takes in her disheveled look and sighs before he turns back to his book. As a roller coaster of emotions, Alex was acting pretty calm for once. He still wanted to double or even triple check her work knowing the paranoia would eat at him while he tried to rest. However, right at this moment he wanted to wait until she was busy again because he didn’t feel like having her follow him around while he did it.

There goes her hope. Effy stands in the doorway for a second longer, taking him in. She wonders if this demon had always been hiding inside her brother, even before the Arctic. She couldn’t reconcile the image of this man, cold and statuesque, with the one of her kind and doting big brother that still lived in her memories. His skin was like porcelain now, hard and unyielding but once it’d been warm and imperfect. Effy preferred him that way. Warm and imperfect.

Nodding even though he isn’t looking at her, she backs out of the room and heads into the bath. Knowing it wouldn’t be wise to make him wait, she scrubs the filth from her skin quickly and efficiently. Watches blood and dirt swirl down the drain with some fascination. Is that what happens to you when you die? You just become blood and dirt someone desperately wants out of sight? Effy wished she knew, she wished she could disappear down that drain too.

Stepping out of the shower, she wraps a towel around herself under her armpits and looks in the mirror. Effy had always been okay looking, but vampirism made her beautiful. It made her charming, at least to everyone but her brother. She traces her cheekbones almost mechanically. Snapping out of her reverie, she leaves the bathroom and heads straight to her brother’s room. No sense in getting dressed if he’s just going to ruin her clothing. 

Without a word she crosses to where he sits, kneeling on the floor with her back to him. Even though she’s been here many times before, her hands still shake with fear. What if he went too far this time? Effy almost wishes he does. Slowly, she lets her towel drop to her waist and reveals the expanse of her back to him. 

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

Alex is nearly done packing a bag of essentials when he finally hears what she’s saying. His vision snaps over to her and he’s glaring. How could she know not a soul saw her carrying a dead man home? The bag is tossed to the side and his hands run through his hair a few times before he speaks again. And when he does, he sounds more tired than a vampire should be.

“Why do you do this to me, Effy?” he enters her personal space and has to look down to meet her eyes, “Can’t you do anything the right way? Why do we always have to go back and clean up our tracks?” Looking around the room, he decides he’s going to let her do it herself because he just doesn’t have the energy. “Just… just clean it up.” He walks off back to the kitchen to continue corking wine bottles full of blood.

Elizabeth knows better than to apologize again. She just stares back into his eyes and takes his reprimand with a trembling lip. It was true, she was always fucking up. She never wanted to be this in the first place, almost shouts that at him as he sulks off. But it's not news and he'd probably just hurt her for it. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turns back to the mess and gets to work. 

Sometimes Effy liked to think of when they were young, particularly when he drank from her. To remind him of the goodness that used to be inside of him, and how he used to show it to her every chance he got. She thought maybe it would awaken some buried love for her, one that would keep him from brutalizing her the way he did when she toed out of line. Maybe if she makes this place spotless, he won’t hurt her. The thought is laughable, but she could hope.

It takes her almost two hours to make everything pristine and to make sure the body is properly disposed of. She's sure he could have done it in half an hour. Coming back into the house barefoot, as to not track mud in, she stands in his bedroom doorway and stares at the floor. "I'm going to shower." She doesn't know why she tells him, but she feels compelled to say something. Anything, in the hopes that a conversation will keep his anger at bay.

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

From the kitchen he hears her coming, so he meets her in the living room. She gets to see a smile for about two minutes. His relief is demolished when he sees the trail of blood behind her.

“Effy! Is there a trail leading right to our front door?!” he rushes past her out the door to check. There is a puddle right in front of it and he slowly turns back to her with a horrified expression on his face. Stomping back into the house, he manages to close the door without slamming it. They needed to leave as soon as possible, anyone could have seen her carrying a body home and who knows how long the trail of blood is.

“Did the guy fuck your brains out before you killed him?” he bites as he starts packing up the most important things. He’s going to burn down the house with the dead guy inside and hope that fixes everything. Maybe they should have stayed at that farm, he should have let those redheads teach Effy a thing or two first. “Pack what you need, we’re moving again.”

Effy's heart soars at the way he looks at her, smiling wide. "Alex-" But then it all turns sour and she watches him with a sinking feeling. "Wait, just hold on." He was getting worse and worse with this paranoia. Convinced they were being specifically targeted. She hurries to him, grabbing​ his hands before he can pack anything else. "I carried him," she says loudly, and firmly. He needed to hear her.

Once she's got his eye, she repeats herself slower this time. "Alex, I carried him. He just got too heavy on me at the end there." She runs her fingers gently down the back of his hands. All she wants to do is comfort him but she knows he’ll probably grow annoyed with her. Still, she would try. He was her only family, her protector and her only friend. No matter how annoyed or cruel he was, she’d always do her best to keep him in good spirits. “I’ll clean it up, okay? Please, I want to help.”

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

Alex considers her proposition. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to clean up her mess. On another hand, it could be messy if the guy recognizes her at all.

“Be careful.” he holds up his finger to her and puts it on her nose, “If he sees you, he’ll run and cause a scene.” Should he be letting her go alone? It’s against his better judgment to let her go alone, but he would rather she handled this in the first place. None of this would have happened if she could just do things right. “Bring his dead body to me so I can burn it, I’m not gonna eat something already dead. Don’t ever suggest that again.”

"No, I don't-" Effy sighs, why couldn't she express herself properly. Flushing, she wiggles her nose at him. "Sorry." She steals a kiss to his scruffy cheek before she's darting out of their home. She'll find that man and make her big brother proud. 

Hours later, she kicks open their front door and drags his corpse behind her. She's smiling brightly, blood splattered on her face and chest. It'd been hard to find him. Even with his scent still fresh in her senses. She wasn't a tracker of any sort. But once she found him, regaling his horrid tale to some friends at the pub, she'd waited til he was properly intoxicated. He couldn't remember her, even gave her a good romp before she tore his neck out. 

Effy beams at Alex and drops the man's leg. She smells of blood, and sex, booze, and fear. Not her own this time though. "I promised you Alex. See?"

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

The first vision frustrates him, not the memory itself but because it’s not what he asked for. He closes his teeth harder on her wrist and he thinks the memory changes due to his torture and not her knowing to change it herself. Alex never gives her any credit anymore, they only live because of him. 

It feels like he’s there, like these memories are his instead of hers. The taste is disgusting, he much prefers people that taste similar to a perfectly grilled filet mignon. When he gets everything he needs, he shoves her hand away and stands to walk out the door. “Come on, you’re coming with me.”

Disappointment floods her heart and she's beginning to believe nothing will make him happy. She holds her wrist to her chest as she gets up to follow him. 

"Alex, wait," she protests, catching up to him and grabbing onto his shirt. She slides between him and the door, hoping the action doesn't earn her a smack. "Let me do it, please," she begs him, looking up at him with earnest eyes. "Let me make you proud." She desperately wanted to prove herself to him, make him adore her like before. Being such a disgrace to him was traumatizing. "I'll kill him, I'll even take my time. I can bring what's left of him to you." An offering of sorts.

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

He wasn’t always this way with her, he loved her dearly and only ever wanted to keep her safe. They were just going on a trip together before either of them settled down with their significant others, but after the accident everything changed. Alex didn’t seem to notice his behavior was much different than it used to be.

“Oh you promise, huh?” he scoffs and steps closer to her. “You always promise you won’t do something and then you just seem to forget.” Now Alex would need to find her victim and kill them before someone else did. He doesn’t even know what they look like or where they might be. So instead of asking for a description, he decides seeing it would be much more helpful. Alex pushes her into a chair and kneels in front of her. “Show me what happened!” he snaps before he bites down on her wrist.

The angrier he gets, the more Effy wishes she'd never come home. And then she feels guilty even for thinking that. Alex did everything for her, cared for her and protected her. She repaid him by putting them in danger. When her bottom hits the chair, she knows what he's going to do. She both hated and craved this. They had so much shared history, and not all of it was bad. There were the memories she kept alive, of him smiling and laughing but not out of cruelty. 

By accident she shows that to him at first, crying out at the pain from his bite. Shows him how lovely he was in the sun as they visited the beach together, melted ice cream cones in their hands. But she doesn't linger, quickly showing him her dinner. A man of slight stature, raven haired with green eyes. He'd tasted like cream. She shares that taste with Alex, hoping to appease him.

[bitingdxown]

bitetxbreakskin:

Pacing the room this much is starting to give him a headache, which is interesting considering they are both technically dead. Alex had always been paranoid someone would find them if they didn’t murder their meals and burn the bodies. He glances at her a few times and rolls his eyes at her expression, she always tried to pull the sympathy card.

Useless. That’s why he had to save her all those years ago, and that’s why he’ll have to continue to protect her now. “If we don’t get rid of them, someone will find us Effy!” he stops and shouts, “Maybe I should starve you before we go out! Then you won’t feel the need to keep them alive.”

Effy is shaken down to her core at the way he explodes at her, startling with a sharp intake of breath. “You’re right,” she says in a panicked tone. “You’re right, I’ll do better next time I promise.”

Alex didn’t mean anything by the way he spoke to her.  He was her big brother, he only meant to protect her, and she always found a way to fuck that up. He deserved a better sister, but she didn’t think anyone could love him better than she did. Sniffling, she wipes her nose with the back of her hand. She deserved to be starved, how could she be so stupid? If the hunters found them... “Alex, I promise. Okay?” She wants to rush to him and hug him around the waist like she did as a child but she knows that’s not welcome. 

[bitingdxown]

“I’m sorry,” she says automatically, looking down before she catches the anger in his eyes.  Effy knows she could do better. Decades was plenty of time to learn what upset him, and to make sure it didn’t happen. Maybe if she looked apologetic enough he’ll forgive her without too harsh a reprimand. Letting him see the fear in her eyes, she clasps her hands behind her back. 

“I should have known better Alex. Even if I was full, I should have snapped his neck for good measure.” You’re worthless, Elizabeth. She winces even though he hasn’t responded yet, his anger like a sharp blow already. 

[subtleelevation-deactivated2018]

Janet Montgomery