You steal an Oldsmobile from a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for you, it belongs to Severen. What starts as a highway chase through the desert turns into a very long night involving threats, blood, kidnapping, and one extremely pissed-off vampire.
contents: blood, corpses, murder, kidnapping, guns, revolvers, physical violence, biting, vampires doing vampire things, graphic injuries, blood drinking, hostage situation, tied-up reader, being shoved around, threats of death, body horror, fire, corpse burning, motel violence, forced proximity, canon-typical Severen behavior, Severen being cruel as hell, arguing, swearing, humiliation, rough handling, fear, panic attacks, emotional distress, unhealthy attachment in the future, enemies to lovers eventually, horror themes, dead desert towns, isolation, reader running from the police, slow burn, emotional damage, and Severen generally making everybody’s life worse. POSSIBLE TYPOS!
notes: read at your own discretion. I am not responsible for your discomfort. Chapter three should come sometime this week, enjoy!
Severen shoved you forward so hard that your knees buckled beneath you.
He spat roughly behind you while his fist stayed twisted in the back of your torn shirt, forcing you toward the van parked only a few feet away from the crippled Oldsmobile. Gravel crunched beneath your boots while heat spilled out from your stolen vehicle that Severen had set aflame, the smoking engine leaving a hint of gasoline in the burning air.
The corpse was still inside of the car, you kept looking at it.
He was completely free of a blanket now, exposed across the backseat in flashes every time the firelight caught him. Blood caked black down the front of his shirt. His skin crisping away in the flames
You swallowed imaginary spit from your incredibly dry mouth.
The blond man leaned against the van beside you with a crooked grin stretched across his face. this entire situation amused him beyond reason.
“What the hell do y’all want?! I don’t got any money, I ain’t got a thing!” you snapped at the two.
Severen jerked the rope binding your wrists, pulling out off balance once more.
“Keep yer’ dirty mouth shut and get in the car.”
The side door of the van slid open violently, a foul stench hitting your nose just like before, your brain did flips almost like the smell caused an alarm to go off in your mind that was never there before.
A blonde woman sat stretched across the back bench seat with one boot propped against the opposite side of the van. Her curls were bleached nearly white, messy and dry. Beside her sat another woman with short blonde hair, and blue eyes, she looked solemn and more reserved.
A young looking boy occupied the far side of the van, which only dazed you further. He looked agitated.
“Another one?” he murmured.
“Let me go!” you spat toward Severen.
“And oughta bust your headlights right here and now.”
The revolver slammed suddenly into your stomach before you could protest against him further. Cold metal digging hard beneath your ribs. Your entire body locked up instantly.
“There’s still time,” Severen said, looking back towards the older man beside him.
The blond man took a long good look at you, he was thinking about whether or not they should kill you now.
Severen stepped closer, the revolver slowly dragged upward from your stomach to the center of your chest before finally pressing beneath your jaw, forcing your head back slightly.
“There ain’t nobody out here,” he said quietly. “Nobody’s gonna hear it neither.”
The desert stretched endlessly around all of you. A dead highway, disappearing into darkness.
No witnesses, No help coming to save the day, Nothing.
Fear started settling properly into your stomach then. But anger still clawed its way up your throat anyway.
Severen looked unamused. His eyes stayed locked on yours while his gun stayed dug in your jaw.
“And you,” he added, “don’t know when ta shut up.”
Flames suddenly exploded behind you. Heat burst violently across your back as the car ignited into flames, fire swallowing through the broken windows in roaring orange light.
The blond man stepped away from the burning car, looking deeply pleased with himself.
The fire crackled loud in the empty desert night. Nobody else reacted. Not one of them, and that terrified you.
Severen lowered the revolver slowly before shoving you hard into the open van door.
Severen had shoved you, your shoulder shoulder slamming into the floor of the van, roughly.
“Fuck you!” you hissed, immediately regretting it the second Severen grabbed the front of your shirt again.
“I am about two seconds from tearin’ yer’ damn tongue out,” he warned, forcing you farther inside.
The van floor rattled behind you while you stumbled over piles of clothes that smelled old and sour. The deeper you got inside the van, the more your heart sunk into your gut.
The blonde woman stretched slightly where she sat across the back bench seat, eyeing you carefully while Severen shoved you down onto the floor between the seats hard enough to jar your wrists painfully against the rope.
“What happened this time—” she asked.
“Shut it, Mae,” Severen answered instantly.
Another name was made known, and you took note of it immediately.
The other blonde woman still hadn’t said a word. She just watched you silently while cigarette smoke drifted slowly from between her fingers. Something about her felt safer than the others. The blond man was humorous, yet calm, and complicit in what was happening, while Severen was openly hostile.
The younger-looking boy leaned forward slightly from the back corner of the van, cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth.
“Why don’t you bag his ugly face already?!,” he hissed
“Alla you quit asking so many damn questions” Severen yelled.
You jerked violently against the rope around your wrists. “Would you get your filthy hands off me!”
Every single one of them looked at you. The silence made your stomach tighten even more.
Then the blond man climbed Into the van, “I think you should kill em right here and now.”
“I ain’t askin’ for your damn opinion, Jesse,” Severen muttered.
You swallowed hard, taking note of a name once more. Your eyes darted between all of them while your breathing refused to steady. The fire outside crackled through the open van door behind you, filling the inside with flashing orange light every few seconds.
Nobody looked worried about the burning corpse sitting right outside of the open door besides you.
That fact kept scratching at your brain over and over again. Even criminals would panic. Even murderers would rush to be out of here. These people were far too comfortable.
Severen finally climbed into the van after you, slamming the side door shut so hard the entire vehicle shook. The sudden darkness inside made you nauseous. Only thin streaks of orange firelight slipped through the seemingly taped windows now.
Jesse climbed toward the driver’s seat, tossing a small bottle of gasoline to the side.
Mae swung her boots down from the seat she was on. “Well?” she asked softly. “What’re we doin’ with ‘em?”
“Let me out,” you interrupted.
“I’m serious,” Mae continued, “We can’t keep dragging random people around forever!”
Severen grabbed the back of your neck so hard you choked on the rest of the sentence.
“One more word and I’m gonna lay you out flat, Junior.”
His rings dug painfully against your skin while he forced your head downward. Your pulse slammed violently against his palm.
“Fuck you! I’ll fucking kill you!”
Severen laughed softly, “Yer threatenin’ me tied up on the floor’a this van, that’s interestin’.”
“See? There ya go again.”
The van engine roared to life beneath all of you while Jesse finally pulled away from the burning car. Gravel sprayed loudly beneath the tires as the vehicle lurched forward back onto the empty highway.
You twisted, trying to look back through the rear non-taped up windows. Flames had swallowed the entire car by now.
The dead man inside had long disappeared behind black smoke and melting glass while the desert slowly consumed the scene behind you inch by inch until eventually there was nothing left except darkness.
Your stomach churned and grieved. You had no idea where they were taking you. You didn’t even know why you were still alive.
Severen seemed like the type to kill anyone. Jesse looked like he’d encourage it. Mae looked worried, yet detached from you. The woman with longer hair had moved to the front seat, speaking to Jesse with serious sounding tone.
So why hadn’t they shot you yet? Why hadn’t she spoken beforehand?
Your brain kept circling back to that question over and over, your mind buzzed and became too foggy to hear a word she said.
The van sped violently down the highway, the suspension rattling every time the tires hit uneven pavement. Jesse had punched the dash in response to whatever circumstance him and the woman were discussing.
You hated all of them already.
“You got a name?” The older woman suddenly asked, twisting around in her seat to face you. “My names Diamondback, and I apologize for not introducing myself sooner.”
“Don’t answer that,” Severen added quickly.
Your stomach dropped, he sounded sure of himself.
Mae shook her head with a sigh. “Goodness, Severen, why are you so torturous every time?”
“Every time?” Your voice shook in reply. Nobody answered you.
The younger boy leaned down towards your place on the ground, staring openly. “How old are you?”
“What the fuck kinda question is that? You have me tied up, y’all burned a dead body!”
That pulled the faintest reaction out of the boy. Not an angry one, more like shock.
“Careful,” Jesse warned dramatically. “Homer ain’t much of a fan of questions like that.”
So that’s Homer, wonderful.
“You people just volunteer each other’s names constantly or what? Pretty fucken’ stupid for a buncha’ killers!” you spat towards them all.
Severen sat you down roughly and released the back of your neck.
“You’re gonna learn how to keep that pretty mouth of yours shut real soon.”
The revolver appeared again so quickly you didn’t even see him reach for it. This time the barrel was pressed lightly against the side of your right cheek as he sat himself directly next to you.
Every muscle in your body locked up. You wanted to move away, to defend yourself, yet you were utterly vulnerable. You hated it, you felt sicker than you ever had in your entire life.
The van kept moving steadily down the road while diamondback shook her head at Severen.
“That’s enough, Severen. You’ll have your fun at the motel. You don’t gotta humiliate em.”
“Just mind your own, I ain’t doin’ much.” Severen murmured quietly.
The gun stayed pressed against your cheek while he stared down at you. Up close he looked worse. Pale skin stretched tight over his sharp features. Dark hair falling around his face in dirty strands. Dried blood that wasn’t visible before clung to his leather jacket.
You noticed blood beneath his rings and nails. Fear clawed violently back into your chest, but you forced yourself not to show it.
“You gonna shoot me in front of everybody?” you asked, voice rougher now despite yourself.
“Well, you’ve been threatenin’ me for an hour now…why don’t you jus’ let me go—“
His eyes narrowed. “You think I won’t?”
“I ain’t sayin’ that I’m just sayin’ it’s not necessary.”
Once they finally came to a stop, Severen pulled you out of the car, keeping his arm around you to ensure you two seemed casual, while Jesse booked “the rooms.”
The flickering neon VACANCY sign buzzed overhead, worsening your headache while Jesse disappeared inside the office with Diamondback close behind him. Through the dirty front windows you could make out an old man sitting behind the counter.
The sky above you was a soft remedy to the pain pounding in your skull. Dark blue bleeding slowly into grey at the edges of the horizon.
Severen stayed directly beside you, hiding the stain of corpses blood on your back with his leather covered arm.
Every time you tried moving against him even slightly, his grip tightened.
Homer lingered beside the van smoking furiously, pacing once or twice near the curb before rubbing hard at the back of his neck again. He looked miserable suddenly.
Mae climbed out of the van last. Her pale hair looked soft beneath the motel lights while she wrapped her jacket around herself before glancing toward the sky briefly, then toward you. And for a second, genuine concern crossed her face, but It vanished quickly the second Severen glanced her way.
“You keep starin’, don’t Gimmie that shit.”
Mae sighed faintly. “You got blood all over ‘em.”
You looked down instinctively. You looked awful.
The front of your shirt had been stretched and ripped from Severen dragging you around. Blood stained one shoulder from where your skin scraped across the inside of the van. Dirt clung to your jeans from being shoved onto the highway gravel. You looked like somebody that should be sent to a police station.
Your stomach twisted violently at the thought of police. You still had cops looking for you already, If somebody called the police now—
The motel office door suddenly opened again. Jesse stepped back outside holding two room keys between his fingers.
Relief visibly hit Homer instantly. Diamondback followed Jesse back out into the parking lot with a calm expression sitting on her face, though now you noticed something strange about her too.
None of them looked tired. Dirty? Yes. Agitated? Definitely. But not tired, which wasn’t normal in your mind.
Your own body felt half-dead from exhaustion already and the night still hadn’t ended, yet they all still moved sharply. It scratched at your brain in the same horrible way the corpse had. Everything about them felt subtly wrong.
“C’mon,” Jesse alerted to the bunch. “Sun’s comin’.”
Severen shoved you forward toward the motel rooms, specifically, Room 12.
The numbers hung crooked beside the door. You stumbled slightly from how numb your hands had become behind your back, earning another hard yank from Severen.
“I can walk,” you growled at him.
Somewhere nearby an ice machine rattled violently beside the building while an old air conditioner buzzed in one of the occupied rooms. You understood how isolated you really were.
The room key rattled once before Jesse shoved open the motel door.
The room inside looked disgusting. One flickering lamp near the bed. Stained curtains. Yellowed wallpaper peeling near the ceiling from water damage.
Diamondback sat on one of the bed while Jesse immediately shut the curtains completely, blocking out any light from reaching inside.
Your pulse picked up again. “What the hell is wrong with all’a you?” you muttered before you could stop yourself.
Severen walked you toward one of the chairs
Severen stared at you for one long second, then grabbed the front of your shirt again and slammed you down into the chair.
“Jesus Christ!” Mae snapped. “Would you quit it?”
“They’re tied up!” Mae sounded as if she was pleading with him.
“I wonder why,” you spat.
Severen turned toward you so fast your stomach dropped.
A loud slap cracked loudly across the motel room. Your vision flashed white while the taste of warm copper flooded your mouth.
Your ears rang violently while pain spread hot across your face. Humiliation settled deep in your gut. You dreaded how quickly it made your eyes burn.
“Aw,” Severen mocked softly. “That hurt?”
Your words left your mouth weakly this time. blood dripped slowly from the corner of your mouth onto your chin.
“She ain’t wrong,” Jesse said calmly from near the window. “You’re gettin’ carried away already. We don’t need anybody to come knocking on our door, not tonight.”
Severen scoffed with a slight tilt of his head. “Ain’t even started.”
Mae looked like she wanted to argue further, but Jesse stepped away from the curtains before she could. His expression stayed calm, though there was clear irritation stirring.
“We ain’t makin’ a scene over some drifter at five in the mornin’,” he assured, holding one of the motel keys loosely between his fingers. “Take ‘em to the other room.”
Severen glanced toward him, and Jesse tossed the key across the room without another word. Severen caught it one-handed.
“And keep it down,” Jesse added. “We already look suspicious enough.”
Your head began to spin rapidly. This was the end. You were gonna die here.
Severen looked down at you afterward, an ugly smirk inking into his expression.
“C’mon,” he demanded, like he knew you’d protest.
You stayed planted in the chair. “No.”
That earned you a firm grab to the back of your scalp.
“You don’t getta tell me no anymore.”
He hauled you upward, the chair legs screeched across the motel floor before tipping over behind you completely. Pain tore through your scalp as you stumbled towards him.
Mae stood. “Jesus Christ, Severen—”
“Mind your own.” He repeated, once again.
Jesse rubbed tiredly at his forehead before motioning toward the door.
Severen dragged you out of the motel door, not allowing you could resist again. Your boots grinding uselessly against the stained carpet while humiliation and panic twisted violently together in your gut.
The second the door opened, cold early morning air hit your face. The sky had grown lighter. Thin streaks of pale blue beginning to spread across the horizon behind the motel buildings.
You noticed Severen look toward it immediately.
His jaw tightened while he pushed you into the door of the motel room. Room 14.
The parking lot felt dead silent now except for the buzz of moths and other bugs alike flowing into neon signs and the distant hum of highway tires somewhere far off in the desert.
You knew how easy it would be to disappear here.
Severen unlocked the room and practically threw you inside. The motel room looked nearly identical to the first one.
The second the door slammed shut behind both of you, the atmosphere changed completely for you.
No Jesse, No Mae, No Diamondback. Even though they were no assist to you, you felt vulnerable without them, and just him.
Your heart started hammering.
Severen locked the door without taking his eyes off you.
You backed up slowly, not going unnoticed to him. A slow grin pulled across his face in response to your nervousness.
“Stay the fuck away from me.”
“Yer still moving that noisy ass mouth?”
You kept moving backward until your legs hit the edge of the bed. Severen stalked toward you slowly while shrugging off his leather jacket. Blood stained parts of the sleeves hardly visible beneath the weak motel lighting.
“You got any idea how much trouble you caused tonight?”
“And you stole my damn car.”
“There was a corpse in it!”
“An’ you still drove it.”
“That doesn’t justify this shit!”
He laughed softly under his breath. “You really don’t know when ta quit.”
You jerked backward as he grabbed your jaw, his grip tightening painfully against it while he forced your face up to his.
His eyes were darker now that he had you alone. There was dried blood near the collar of his wife beater which wasn’t visible before. You could smell cigarette smoke on him.
“Let. Me. go.” you begged, desperately.
Your heart jolted at that sliver of hope. “Do you enjoy this shit? Can’t you just let me be? Can’t you just let me go!?”
Then he shoved you backward. Before you could scramble away, Severen grabbed a fistful of your hair again and brought you upright, aggressively.
A sharp, involuntary cry ripped from your throat.
“There ya go,” he muttered near your ear. “Knew you could make better sounds than all that damn yellin’.”
Pain exploded through your ribs, all the air left your lungs. You folded forward choking while nausea slammed into your throat.
“Thought you were tough, with all the “fuck you’s” ya like to spew out.”
You tried jerking away, and another hit landed on your side.
Tears burned viciously behind your eyes from pain and fury both. Your entire body shook trying to breathe properly again while Severen released his grip on you.
“You done fightin’ me yet?”
“No, I’m never done, bitch!”
Something about your responses seemed to genuinely amuse him.
“You’ve got a lot of energy. I’ll hand that to ya.”
Another rough yank on your hair forced your head back sharply.
White-hot agony exploded through the side of your neck.
For one disoriented second your brain genuinely couldn’t process what happened. It didn’t feel like being stabbed. Didn’t feel like getting punched.
ISharp tearing pressure buried deep into your throat while Severen held you down to keep you from thrashing away.
Your scream tore violently through the motel room.
Burning hot fluid flooded down your neck rapidly.
Panic detonated through your entire body.
Severen’s grip became brutal the second you started struggling harder, one hand forcing your wrists into the mattress while the other kept your head tilted back at an awful angle.
Agony radiated through your throat in horrible pulses.
No… he was gnawing. Tearing.
Your vision blurred hazily from the pain while hot blood soaked across your collar and chest. Every instinct in your body screamed at you to get away, fight back, to survive.
You twisted your body enough to nearly throw both of you sideways off the bed. Severen growled low against your throat in response.
The sound froze a deep terror deep in your chest. Your heartbeat thundered so violently it felt like it was going to implode.
The motel lamp beside the bed crashed onto the floor suddenly during the struggle, shattering loudly beside you both while sparks burst briefly across your faces.
Your body began feeling a deep cold despite the blood pouring down your neck. The room itself started tilting sideways. Your hands had gone numb.
Your vision pulsed in and out around your eyes while he, Severen, stayed buried against your throat, drinking greedily like an animal.
You could hear wet, vulgar swallowing.
Your own pulse pounding violently in your ears while darkness slowly began bleeding into the corners of your vision.
And for the first time all night, true horror finally crashed over you completely.
