"— This was the beginning. This… is the story of how I met Vanitas… and how we met and lost together… and how, at the end of this journey… I killed him with my own hands."
Y/n is a woman, a witch in her own quiet way-sensitive to things others can't see, drawn to energies she doesn't fully understand. She's Annie's friend, not from here, not really belonging anywhere, and already tired of the kind of people this town attracts.
Then there's Remmick.
A vampire who should've taken her the first chance he got-but didn't.
What starts as curiosity turns into something darker: tension, hunger, restraint. While chaos unfolds and blood is spilled, he doesn't choose her like prey... he waits.
And when everything burns down, when the night takes more than it gives..
Cap. 5
Nothing.
Her breath hitched as awareness snapped back into place too fast, too sharp, like waking from a dream you couldn’t fully remember but felt in your body.
Her eyes opened wider, unfocused at first, the world around her taking a second too long to settle into something real.
The walls, the night, the air, kinda cold, empty.
She pulled in a breath, deeper this time, like she needed to anchor herself to something solid.
“What…?” the word barely left her lips, her body felt off, not weak, just displaced.
Like she had been somewhere else a second ago.
Her gaze dropped briefly to her own hands, then lifted again, sharper now, scanning her surroundings. The street stretched quiet in both directions, the distant sound of music still spilling faintly from the bar behind her, too far now to feel the same.
Just no one, nothing.
She turned slightly, then more, looking over her shoulder, searching instinctively for a shape, a shadow, anything that might explain, but nothing was there, her chest tightened. That feeling hadn’t left, the same one from before.
Being watched.
Her eyes narrowed just slightly, scanning the dark edges where the light didn’t quite reach, where the trees leaned in just enough to blur into shadow, it was empty of course, but it didn't feel like that.
Her breath slowed, uneven at first, then steadier as her mind tried to catch up, to make sense of something that refused to settle into logic.
“Okay…” she murmured under her breath, more to herself than anything else.
Thinking.. I had been inside, dancing at the bar and then… outside.. But how?
Her brows pulled together faintly.
“I walked out…” she whispered, unsure, like she was testing the memory instead of trusting
Her jaw tightened slightly, frustration flickering under the confusion.
“Maybe…” she exhaled, running a hand through her hair, grounding herself in the motion. “Maybe it’s just the alcohol, yeah, of course, I'm not use to”
It would make sense, too much noise. Too much energy. Too much everything.
Her body still hadn’t fully settled, that had to be it. It had to.
Her shoulders relaxed just a fraction as she clung to that explanation—easier, simpler, safer. But then her hand brushed her neck.
She froze.
Slowly, her fingers pressed more deliberately against her skin, cold, damp."Is it drool” she thought, her breath caught.
She pulled her hand away just enough to look at it, but in the low light, there wasn’t much to see but it was wet.
Her pulse picked up again, sharper this time, not from confusion, was everything real?
Her hand returned to her neck, more carefully now, tracing the same spot, slower, more aware.
And that feeling again of being watched came back stronger and closer.
Her head lifted, gaze snapping up, scanning the darkness again, more alert now, more grounded, more certain, someone or something had been there.
The noise hit her again the moment she stepped back inside, louder than before.or maybe she just felt it differently now.
Everything seemed sharper—voices, laughter, the music still weaving through the space, though not as overwhelming as before. Her senses hadn’t fully settled, and for a moment, she just stood there, letting the familiarity of it try to ground her, and it worked, a little or just enough to move.
She didn’t go back to Annie right away, instead, she let herself drift, weaving through the crowd until someone stopped her—a man she vaguely recognized, smiling easily, drink already in hand.
“Well, I haven’t seen you around before,” he said, leaning just enough to be heard over the music.
She gave him a polite smile. “I’ve been around.”
“Not enough, apparently.”
That earned a soft huff from her, something almost like a laugh. He wasn’t important, nice enough. Harmless.
The kind of interaction that filled space without asking for anything real, she let it happen, answered when needed. Nodded when expected, but her mind was somewhere else.
Her fingers brushed unconsciously against her neck, still cold, real enough
Her thoughts slipped back to it before she could stop them.
The moment, the air, the feeling, him, at least the memorie
The way his voice had dropped, the way his hands had held her. The way her body had responded before she could think, before she could question.
Her breath shifted slightly.
God.
She pressed her lips together, forcing the thought down, but it didn’t go far.
Because it wasn’t just confusion, It wasn’t fear, it was heat, low and lingering.
Uncomfortable in how much she didn’t entirely want it gone.
“ Are you listening?”
She blinked, pulled back abruptly.
“Yeah—sorry,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Just… long day.”
He chuckled, not pressing. “Yeah, I get that.”
She nodded, but her attention had already begun to drift again, not to him. To the room.
It started as a shift, easy to miss actually, if you weren’t paying attention.
A ripple near the entrance, something was happening, wasn't loud neither obvious, but she did notice
Her body reacted before her mind did, her gaze lifting instinctively toward the door.
She saw Annie and Smoke in that circle, so she reached it.
Slowly, almost without realizing it, she moved—stepping away from the conversation without excusing herself
She slipped behind Annie, close enough to see past her shoulder.
“What’s—”
The question died in her throat.
There he was… standing just outside. Her body went completely still, she didn't feel fear. She felt something else, something deeper, sharper and she doesn't know.
It had been real.
All of it.
She froze
As if sensing it, his gaze lifted, found her immediately, of course it did, he smiled, it wasn't friendly, it was like a knowing smile…
“Ah,” he said, voice carrying just enough to reach them. “There you are.”
Every head near her turned toward her. She didn’t move, didn’t speak, how could she.
“My beautiful friend,” he continued, almost amused, the beautiful sounded … personal, eyes never leaving hers. “You disappeared on me.”
A murmur passed through the small group, Annie turned slightly, looking at her now, something sharper behind her expression. “You know him?”
The question landed heavy, too heavy, because she didn’t have a simple answer.
Outside, he took a small step closer—not crossing the threshold, but testing it.
“Go on,” he said softly, still looking at her. “Tell them that I’m not a threat, that I did protect you once” but there was something under it now. Something darker. Something that knew exactly what it was doing.
“Is it true?” Annie asked.
“Well…. he's not lying” y/n said
Silence stretched.
His gaze held hers “Let me in.” It sounded like a plea, and kinda personal and of course She wanted to let him in. But the fact that everyone was blocking that door wasn’t exactly a welcome sign, to say the least.
Everything felt… tight.. Everyone was watching her, waiting her
Her lips parted “I…”
“Don’t, nobody comes in unless I say so” Smoke said steady straight at them, before she could finish.
A beat.
“Name’s Remmick, this here’s Joan and Bert” he said
So Remmick… she realized that this is the first time she knows his name…
“Where y’all from?” Smoke asked.
The woman from his left answered first, her voice careful, but friendly, “just down the road,”
Smoke didn’t look convinced.
“and how far is that?” Stack asked, testing them
Remmick spoke. “North Caroline.”
The air shifted immediately.
“Y’all Klan?” Smoke said, voice and eyes sharpening
Silence dropped hard around them.
Remmick looked at him pretty offended, like the question itself was beneath him.
“Sir…” he began, tone polite—but tight, too tight. “No, w we—” a slight pause, “we believe in equality, and music.”
No one relaxed.
“What you want, then?” Smoke pressed.
Remmick’s gaze drifted past him, toward the inside, toward the sound still lingering in the air.
“ Just as I said before, we just came here to play, spend some money, have a good time” he said, in that final part his gaze straight to her, only her…
“I’ll show you” he said taking his instrument, well, the three of them
They started to sing a country song, Pick poor Robin Clean apparently, y/n didn't recognize it. She just listened.
Stack, he's was enjoying it
They were playing as if they were one
“All right, all right, hold on, hold on. Just a minute” Smoke interrupted
♪ When I picked poor Ro… ♪
Remmick look at smoke “It’s just about to get good” he said friendly
“Nah, I believe ya, but this here a juke joint.” Smoke said
“But we got money, and we ready to spend it with y’all, sounding damn near perfect and you’re saying we ain’t welcome?” Remmick insisted
“No, I’m saying you get down that road and get back into town, plenty of white barrelhouses down there” Smoke said sharpening
Remmick scoffs, kinda impressed “This ’cause we’re…” he said touching his skin,”All right. How’d she get in?” Pointed to Mary
“Now, that is none of…” Smoke started
“She here ’cause she family.” Annie said
“Family” Remmick said looking at one and each of them “Can’t we just, for one night… just all be family?”.... Silence, then he looked at y/n “Babe, can you tell the–..”
Smoke took his gun, not completely but letting them know that he has one, and he can use it.
“Yo-” Remmick took a step back “You don’t need to do that, sir, We’ll be on our way” the three of them started to walk back “But we’re gonna walk real slow…” he turned to look at them, specifically smoke “Just in case y’all change your mind” he said looking at her.
“Y’all have a nice night.” He finally said and went away..
Her breath caught, just slightly, but she felt… weird, everyone in the room didn’t fully understand what had just happened.
