Shadows of That Night III
Eric x reader
Part I ; Part II ; Part III ; Part IV ; Part V ; Part VI
Trapped in a basement with Eric and a maniacal vampire, waiting on Pam to save the night.
Warnings: needles and torture
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I ended up in the basement, where Eric had been held seemingly the entire time, silver chained to a leather padded chair. He looked limp, his massive body slumped back.
But, upon hearing me enter, he jumped awake, and tensed up with strenght he didn't look like he had left. He was suddenly menacing as ever, muscles bulging, veings swelling, tendons pulling under the skin. Though his skin was papery white, and his eyes were red and sunken, he still looked otherworldly attractive. Stupidly, that was some of what I was thinking. And I was glad to see him alive.
Eric hissed at the vampire as he tied me into a similar chair, wrists and ankles, all in silver, not to any effect. The vampire looked Eric in the eye. "Pray, Mr. Northman, save your strength, you'll need it."
"You don't know who you're up against." Was Eric's retort.
"Pardon me for this... observation, you are a guest in my home, I shouldn't be so blunt to you, but you provoke me. Are you so dense? Or just distracted by the damsel, that you can't tell I'm older than you? Maybe not by more than a century, but, I assure you, the things I saw in those decades, were far fiercer than any little viking rampage you were told of as a bedtime story." He giggled at his own joke. Tucked his chin in his chest, like a kid.
He believed he was telling the truth, maybe he was even right. Maybe he was stronger than Eric.
"Don't talk about me while I'm gone. The room is surveilled anyway, I'll know." He winked and left through the thick plastic curtain that separated that room from the rest of the basement.
"Still glad you stayed back?" Eric smirked, now that we were 'alone'. He leaned back again, to save his strength, and he again looked dead... -er.
"Wouldn't change a thing..." I shook my head at him.
"Good. Glad to see you're holding strong. Now listen." He began whispering so gently, I could barely just hear, I was sure no mic would pick that up. "I can't protect you now, so here's what you'll do - you'll sit there quietly, won't look him in the eyes, or provoke him. Let him focus on me." A chill went down my spine. I hadn't doubted that he would defend me, but hearing it aloud from him, in his state, was sobering. Suddenly, danger felt very near and very real, and Eric seemed fallible for the first time.
I could only shake my head, and he looked disapprovingly back, but had no time to argue, because we were joined once again by that vampire.
He floated in with unsettling calm, gloved hands held folded at chest level, but anticipating something was coming couldn't have prepared me for what did come.
Too fast for my eyes to perceive the motion, he wedged a tiny silver needle beneath one of Eric's fingernails. I heard his grunting before I noticed the little point of the needle catching the light from underneath his pointer finger nail.
"What the fuck?" I breathed out. Eric was masking the pain, but it was clear, to me, that it was intense.
"How does she read your mind?" The vampire asked of Eric.
Eric exhaled a shaky laugh. And left it at that.
The vampire pulled the needle out very slowly and held it against the dangling, naked light bulb above his head.
Then he ran it across Eric cheek, making a tiny red burn line, so thin, it was healing as it was being traced. The vampire lowered his feet to the ground. That couldn't be good. He could then thump his steps, as he waked behind Eric's chair and placed his hand on his forehead, forcing his head back. He was making sure I could see the needle point approach Eric's clear blue eye ball. I knew it would probably heal and that it'd be fine. But I didn't want to see it, and I didn't want Eric to feel it.
"Fine. You want to know, I'll tell you."
"She's bluffing. She's got nothing to tell you, she's just some girl who works in my bar." Eric interjected. It didn't convince him.
"Pray, let me know how you do it. Just note that, if you are 'bluffing', I will not hesitate to kill Mr Northman."
"Clearly."
"No, really." The vampire perked up. "I would love nothing more than to watch on the security camera, as the sunrise reduces him to ashes. Truly, that would be a sight to behold. One so old? The flames would be deliciously colored. And you too would get to watch. And I envy you. Screens can't render that kind of thing truthfully. You would get a front row seat." he started to laugh. "I have never had as easy a time getting someone to break as you. I didn't even get to warm up. You're young, it's true. But still. I haven't had to touch you. Now, tell me, come on." He gestured flamboyantly with his hand, as he rolled the needle between his pointer finger and thumb.
Eric's gaze was a warning. I knew exactly how it would play out, as soon as I said it. But I believed every word this vampire had said, and so I felt I had really no choice. "It's my blood."
"So it is? Elaborate." He urged me on, gesturing with the needle like a musical conductor.
"It's when he drinks it that I can see his thoughts." I said, looking off into the distance, not wanting to read either of their faces anymore.
"Excellent. How wonderful. You, my dear, have, I am afraid, just signed your own sentence. You are going to be so useful to me, you have no clue. But fret not. Mr Northman won't be wasted either. He is evidently a very important tool in making you compliant. He is going to be as incremental as you are." He said petting Eric's hair now. Eric was not concerned by this, he seemed to not even register it. His apathy radiated all the way to me. I had handled situations poorly in my life, but this time, I had dug a truly deep pit for us to crawl out of. No guarantee we would.
The vampire came near me and, disposing of one glove with his teeth, ran his hand along the veins on my inner forearm, a sort of caress. Or the opposite of that. I would have crawled out of my skin if I could have, my body was revolting, and tensing, flashing both hot and cold.
I didn't feel I deserved anything from Eric at that point, but I didn't know where else to take my gaze, so I locked eyes with him. He wasn't angry anymore, or wasn't showing it, he wasn't afraid, wasn't disappointed, the sight of his eyes was the still point of my spinning mind. Eric held my gaze, as though he were holding my hand.
In the meantime, the vampire punctured a vein on my inner arm with his silver needle, and drew a drop of blood to sit on the surface of the skin. He looked at it longingly. He was ready to lick the blood, but that had to wait, because loud, erratic voices flooded the basement. It was their security men, coming to warn him about something clearly urgent, they were spitting a number back and forth, "code five.", "code five?", "code five!". Code five must've been bad, but how much worse could it get?
Eric perked up, cautiously.
The vampire came to grab my shoulders, as he tried to explain to his men how important it was that they take me with them, since it was already decided the building had to be evacuated. He was also making the case for Eric's being shipped along, since they needed him to torture, to keep me in check, etc, etc. It was a wild thing, to be negotiated over like this. Negotiated over, in a literal sense, because they were shouting in each other's faces, as they leaned above my head. My ears were full of noise, that I was fighting to drown out, so it somehow took me a few moments to realize, when it stopped. The human who had left my ears ringing had been yanked from my vicinity, and was being punched around by a different man. Probably because of the ringing in my ears, it took me even longer to realize that the two men were not of the same side. One could say they were uniformed differently, but that takes a level of discernment more sophisticated than mine, at that moment. Both black combat outfits, both in bulletproof vests, somewhat different.
As more men invaded the tiny room, I started to search around for the vampire. I couldn't spot him in the multitude of struggles going at once, and then a man hit, head first, the concrete floor at my feet, and I forgot why I even cared where the vampire was, when, clearly, more important things were unfolding. My view of Eric had also been obstructed, but I had begun to theorize that these were his men, since I sat tied to a chair in the middle of a minuscule indoor battle field, and I wasn't being so much as shoved.
This only lasted a short time. Soon enough, the victors, the invading group, presumably our rescue, had finished rendering unconscious our kidnappers, and were convening around us, to where I could see Eric again. They parted to make room for the slow, pointed footsteps of Pamela. Wearing stilettos, even in action, she stopped in the mid space between our torture chairs, and crossed her arms, preparing for a dramatic moment, which she had undoubtedly earned.
"If it isn't my maker, and his pet human." She sounded extremely self satisfied. And it was music to my ears. Normalcy, at last.
Eric closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief, he relaxed back into the chair, to look up at his progeny. Pride was radiating off his face.
Pam's icy demeanor melted fast, whatever gloating stance she had choreographed didn't seem a priority anymore. Equipped with black leather gloves, as she was, she tore Eric's restraints off.
He quickly stood up, looking down on her, he cradled her face in his hands. They took each other in, as her eyes were starting to well up. He hid her face against his chest, stroked her long hair, with smooth, gentle motions, not caring about the discomfort of the men in the room, as they waited to be instructed further.
Pam eventually became conscious of them, however, so she pulled away and smoothed the ends of her hair down. "I was up all day, tracking you down, of course I have the bleeds." She pretended to cover her ear with her hand.
Eric instructed someone to untie me. I didn't have much feeling in my feet or hands. He pulled me up, and, as though he sensed it, held me to lean against his side.
There was a cloudiness to our minds, since there were many things none of us were processing in that moment. We failed to question where the vampire had disappeared to. Or how he had done it. I had forgotten that the old man even existed, despite maybe being the only one of us who ever knew it. And I had failed to take in, at that first point of reunion, how good it felt to hold Eric again.
I started to imagine how glad I'd be whenever I finally regained the privilege to see myself out of a room, but, until then, there was the New Blood escort that cleared the premises and proceeded to lead us outside. Not to be ungrateful, but I was becoming very people adverse.
Then the high of seeing the outdoors kicked in, the sense of urgency, the oppressive atmosphere of that house, they were lost and forgotten, we didn't seem to know what to do with ourselves. Leaving had sounded like the obvious highlight of the evening, but then came the urge to stand around and contemplate.
"We should burn it down." Eric murmured to himself. "Fucking secret organizations." I chuckled and, only then realizing what he had said and how it sounded, he did too. A genuine, radiant laugh, crinkling the skin around his eyes.
Pam was approaching, somewhere behind us, arms crossed. She was impatient to leave.
"Pam." Eric called out. He didn't seem to need to see where she was at a given time, he either heard her, or sensed her presence.
"What?"
"Get me some gasoline, would you?"
She sighed, but made to leave anyway.
"And matches!"
She gestured with her hand as to say she knew.
Pam herself didn't return, but a man provided Eric with what he asked for, and he nodded to me, to follow him. We approached the house again, and ascended the front steps, for the last time. Eric kicked the front door open and splashed the gasoline inside, all across the pristine polished floor. When the canister was empty, he nonchalantly tossed it in, and handed me the match box.
"You do the honors."
I struck a match, took a step back and tossed it in. Flames rose instantly. We descended the stairs and took some distance. The entire entry hall was ablaze by then, and pieces of plaster were collapsing, to feed the flames, the white walls, already tainted by smoke, the glass covering the paintings bursting, the flowers withering.
Eric was watching the fire, I was watching him. His face illuminated in flickering orange, his eyes piercing as ever, but still very troubled. He didn't look like someone enjoying himself, despite having been set free, and getting to watch the house succumb to the flames.
"Would you like a ride back, or should we just leave you here? Should I have brought a blanket for you to..."
"Pam." Eric sighed and turned to his progeny. He outstretched his arm to her. I took a step back, but he pulled me in as well, he tucked me under his arm, and pulled Pam under the other. He stood with us both a while, in silence. He kissed the top of Pam's head, his mind still elsewhere. She was beyond happy to be reunited with Eric, on the other hand, and saw no reason to continue dwelling.
"I really did mean it, they will leave us here, if we don't hurry to the car." Pam couldn't, or didn't want to conceal the tremor in her voice, but she wouldn't bring herself to say anything nicer than that either.
"You two go ahead, make them wait for me, I will be a minute."
When Eric showed up, he hopped into one of the cars, not making eye contact with anyone. "What are you waiting for? Aren't we leaving?" That was as good a time as any to depart, the burning of the house, though cathartic in its own way, would, in fairness, never bring the closure we wanted. It would never answer our questions of why, it wouldn't reveal who those people were, or where they went, it wouldn't do anything to restore our sense of safety. I had no idea how we would sleep that day.
All that uncertainty hung over the car ride. No one seemed to want to speak, or listen to the radio. We stared at the country side passing us by, the wild vegetation lit by nothing but headlights on this moonless night, looking dry and thorny. The only sounds, those of the road, the tires on the asphalt, the engine, my and the driver's breathing. I hoped it would be a healing sort of silence.
Pamela was observing Eric with concern, there were things she wanted to talk to him about, preferably without me there, but I wasn't the only obstacle. Eric was very much inwardly focused, holding his hands tightly interlaced, to rest his chin on. She complied with this, for maybe an hour, then, when she could take it no longer, she layed her hand on his back, smoothing over his wrinkled top. She didn't say anything, though.
"There are more of them out there. Those two, they weren't acting alone." Eric murmured suddenly.
"Does that mean what I think it does?" Pam retorted with great exasperation, almost whining, if she were one to do that.
"We have to find the others, we have a responsibility. To put the word out, to investigate, to end this... whatever it is."
Pam took her hand back and leaned into the headrest, "If you so wish."
Eric met my eyes. His expression was humorless, exhausted, I could only guess that I looked much the same, probably worse.
"This is not your fight." He looked out the window briefly, then turned back. "You are free to go wherever you want, I will make sure you have anything you need, if you-"
"I would like to stay, if that's alright."
Eric's reaction was extremely restrained, but he looked happy not to have to finish his sentence. He nodded, and seeing this, interpreting it as an acknowledgement, as acceptance, Pam closed her eyes and brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I know I'm thrilled."
