Pairing: vampire!Jolly Karlsson x vampire!Nicholas Ruffilo
Content Warnings: 18+, implied mentions of torture (nothing detailed), implied mentions of killing (one brief mention of snapping necks), BIG OUCHIES
Word Count: 573
This was a request form my lyric prompts
Anon asked for number 3
“I’m not the one you wanna give your heart to.”
A/N: This is a smalll continuation of Din Evigt,. Do you need to read it before this? Not really, but it’s potentially spoilery, so if you don’t wanna be spoiled, perhaps read that first!
divider by @bernardsbendystraws
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t Jolly. Cold blooded, cruel. Evil. Just plain evil. Torturing his meals just because he can. Laughing in their faces as they beg for mercy, only to snap their neck in front of their loved one. Try as Nicholas might, he couldn’t reach Jolly. Nothing appealed to his dormant humanity. Nicholas held every key, every combination to every lock Jolly possessed—he should have the answer to this one, but evidently not.
It was horrifying to witness, but impossible to look away from—like a fiery, fifteen car pileup on the world's busiest highway during a disastrous storm. Nicholas’ stomach turned in disgust while Jolly wore the brightest and biggest smile he’s ever seen.
His heart broke with every ruthless and meaningless kill and Jolly’s seemed to grow three times its size each time.
On his hands and knees, Nicholas pled, desperately clutching the fabric of Jolly’s pants to keep him where he stood.
“Please, I’m begging you. Stop this.” His throat ached and his eyes burned with tears. “This isn’t you, Joakim. This is not who I fell in love with. This isn’t who I gave my heart to.”
Before he could blink, Nicholas found himself on his back, the air sufficiently knocked out of him. Jolly had him pinned, his eyes pitch black and soulless and fangs bared.
“I am who I have always been.” He growled. “I treat the world with the same inhumane cruelty it has me. I bow to no one. I answer to no one.”
Nicholas screwed his eyes shut, unable and unwilling to continue looking at this… this monster.
“Look at me when I’m speaking to you, pet.”
Reluctantly, Nicholas obeyed and was still met with the same unkind glare.
“It would be wise to remember your fucking place. I gave you a second life. You are mine. I am not yours. You are a servant, a willful follower.”
“That… that’s all I am to you?” Nicholas croaked. “I mean nothing?”
Jolly’s lips curled into a wicked grin.
“You are but a plaything, a pet—a rather cute yet yappy pet who needs to learn to speak when spoken to.”
The fabricated feel of fangs sinking into his neck woke Nicholas with a start. He shot upright, gasping for breath and frantically felt for teeth marks. His skin was blemish free. And like every other moment of distress, he instinctively reached for the crystal hanging around his neck.
Nicholas refused to close his eyes; he feared flashbacks of that nightmare. Instead, he stared blankly into the dark of his room. Though he grew up between these four walls, it’s never felt so unfamiliar and foreign.
“Nicky?” A soft knock accompanied a female voice. “Are you okay? You were screaming.”
“Yes ma’am.” Nicholas cleared his throat. “It was just… a bad dream. Sorry if I woke you and dad.”
He heard a faint chuckle.
“Oh you know your father. The man doesn’t wake up for anything. Are you sure you’re okay? Can I bring you anything?”
“I’m fine, honest.”
He knew she wasn’t convinced, but didn’t pry any farther. She bid him goodnight, promising him his favorite breakfast in the morning.
When he was sure his mother had gone, Nicholas collapsed back onto his bed. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he threw his arm across his face.
“Jolly,” Nicholas whispered, voice nothing but pained rasp, “do the nightmares ever stop?”
