Summary: Chloe helps Lily get back to her normal life, but returns to a very angry and frightened Jax
Chloe woke up in Jax’s bed, curled around Lily. She had no idea how much time had passed since she’d fallen asleep; her dreams had been intense and abstract, shifting scenery and sensations that never quite oriented themselves to any sort of narrative. She didn’t feel as though she’d rested, but she didn’t feel like she needed rest, either.
Carefully she inched away from Lily and slid off the mattress to sit cross-legged on the floor. The only light was a small battery-powered lantern by the door, the kind she used to take camping as a girl scout. Jax was nowhere to be seen, not yet returned from the business he said he had to attend to. Chloe felt a warmth rise through her body as she remembered what they’d done in the dark before he left, the way every little touch from him had overwhelmed her body like an electric shock, the way his blood had tasted like honey in her mouth and his voice, god, that voice, the way his cries of pleasure had echoed in the small, quiet room…
She snapped back to reality, realizing she was breathing heavily and sweat was beading on her forehead.
Vampire feelings were going to take some getting used to.
“Chlo?”
She turned to see Lily groggily sitting up under the blankets, squinting at her without her glasses. “Hey Lil, how’d you sleep?” She spotted Lily’s glasses lying on the ground and handed them to her.
She yawned and stretched, eyes scanning the dim, spartan space. “Not bad I guess. Some nightmares.”
“Yeah,” Chloe whispered, guilt weighing heavily on her. “Lily, I’m so sorry I got you involved in all of this.”
“What? No!” Lily scooted to the edge of the mattress so she could wrap her arms around Chloe, hugging her tightly. “This is happening to you, Chlo. Don’t apologize to me. I just want to help you, in any way I can.”
“Aw, Lil.” She hugged her back, trying to ignore the annoying stirring of different hungers within her at the feel of a warm human body against hers. “You mean the world to me, but you deserve to get back to your life.”
“But so do you.”
Chloe frowned. “Honestly, there’s nothing out there for me except for you. And it’s safer for me here. And…for you. I don’t know what I’m capable of, or what I could become…”
“Chloe. You’re still you. I trust you.”
She pulled away, standing and distancing herself. Lily’s smile fell, and Chloe realized that her fangs were out. “I don’t know what I am anymore, but it’s not who I was…and I don’t trust myself.”
Lily bit her lip, looking like she might cry. “So you’re staying. Here, underground, with this Jax guy.”
Chloe shrugged, allowing herself a small smile. “I mean, at least he’s cute, right?”
Lily stood in front of Chloe, pulling her back into her arms. “He’s like, offensively attractive, yes. But how do you know you can trust him?”
“I don’t,” she answered plainly, “but what else am I supposed to do?”
Lily didn’t answer, still clinging to Chloe, burying her face against her neck.
“Lil…do you have somewhere you can stay, other than the apartment? Until we know it’s safe to go back there?”
“Um…” she wiped at her tear-filled eyes. “I have a friend I could stay with, probably. Josh.”
Chloe cringed. “Josh? Is he a creep?”
Lily shrugged. “He’s like, the normal degree of creep. Manageable creep.”
“I feel like your standards for sleeping at somebody’s place should be higher than ‘manageable creep.’ What about Melanie?”
She shook her head, avoiding Chloe’s eyes. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Everything OK?”
“I dunno. Not OK enough for me to show up at her doorstep out of the blue.”
“Ugh, so, manageably creepy Josh then. Is it close?”
“Totally. Walkable, I think.”
Chloe nodded, not happy about the idea but also not having any better suggestions. Lily needed to be back above ground; she needed to get back to her job and her friends and her life. “Can I walk you there, then? Just to be sure?”
“I’d like that.”
The Shadow Den was surprisingly quiet as they made there way back to the tunnels that led to the city above. “I guess vampires sleep after all,” Lily noted as they slipped away unnoticed.
“Looks that way.” They found their way back to the alley with the hidden entrance, glancing around nervously to make sure they weren’t alerting anyone to the location. “Hey, want to grab a coffee?”
Lily’s face lit up. “Definitely. There’s a place just around the corner here.”
“Perfect.”
They stopped for a cup of barely-drinkable cappuccino from a cheap donut shop, sitting and trading stories and idle chit chat that didn’t involve vampires or ferals or murderous gangsters. They lingered in the shop for over an hour before finishing the walk to Manageably Creepy Josh’s place, where Chloe hugged Lily fiercely outside the apartment building’s door. “If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. For real.”
Lily laughed nervously. “I don’t doubt it, Vampire Bestie. I’ll be fine, OK? Just worry about yourself. Stay safe. Please.”
Chloe nodded. “I will. Stay in touch, OK? My phone’s dead now but I’m sure someone down there has a charger or something. I’ll figure it out.”
“Of course. Don’t be a stranger.”
Chloe walked back slowly, enjoying the feeling of normalcy after all the chaos of the past 36 hours. She returned to the shadow den feeling surprisingly light, eagerly looking for Jax.
He was in his room when she returned to it. “Chloe! I couldn’t find you anywhere! Are you OK? Where’s Lily?”
She laughed at his over-concern. “Relax, dude. I was just walking her home. Or, to her friend’s place, anyway.”
“Her friend’s place? What do you mean?”
“His apartment?”
“Above ground?”
“Where else would it be?”
Jax’s concern hardened into a scowl. “Fine. I’m not sure why you feel the need to lie to me, but I guess that’s your prerogative.”
Chloe felt her new-found temper rising to the surface again. “What the hell is your problem? I don’t appreciate being called a liar.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t appreciate being lied to.” He turned away from her but she grabbed his arm and spun him back around, furious.
“Seriously, what the hell is your problem?”
He glared at her for a moment, eyes burning red, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He held it up to her face, the lock screen showing. “This is my problem!”
She stared at the lock screen, puzzled. His wallpaper was just the default abstract pattern that came with the phone. There were no notifications. “Um…what are you trying to show me?”
He tapped at the phone’s screen angrily. “The time, Chloe! It’s 11:00 am!”
“So? I was gone for a couple hours, sue me.”
He stared at her, mouth agape. “Are you seriously not seeing the problem with your story here?”
“Since my story is the truth, no, I don’t see a problem with it.”
“Chloe…” he laid a hand on her shoulder briefly but flinched away, staring at his own hand in confusion.
“What? Why are you being so weird?”
“I didn’t think I needed to tell you that you can’t go out in the daytime. The sun…it’s fatal to us.”
Chloe’s eyes went wide with panic. “What do you mean? What’s going to happen to me?”
He held out his hand again, studying it. Chloe watched as the burn on his palm quickly healed. “You…you really went outside? For hours?”
“I mean, we were indoors for maybe half of that but…yeah. What’s going to happen to me?”
He stepped closer, studying her face but not touching her. “You should’ve burned to death within minutes.”
She laughed, but it came out as a kind of hysterical cackle. “I felt fine. Great, in fact. Are you sure…”
He held out a hand, hovering an inch from her skin, marvelling at the heat radiating off of her. “What are you?” He asked, his voice quiet and shaky.
Her body was not under her own control as her hands reached out and grabbed him by both sides of his head, lifting him a few inches off the ground. A voice bellowed out from somewhere deep within her, loud enough to be heard over Jax’s anguished screams as his skin burned away under her hands. “I AM…”
Jax kicked out her knee hard enough to make her legs buckle out from underneath her, the two of them collapsing next to each other on the floor. He scrambled backwards, his face and ears covered in burns that blistered and healed as he caught his breath. She stared at him in horror, trying to comprehend what had just happened…how she had hurt him so badly.
“Jax, I…that wasn’t…”
He was already across the room, grabbing his sword off the wall.
“I’m so sorry,” she croaked, tears flowing down her face and boiling into steam on her skin. “Please don’t leave me. Please…what is happening to me?”
He knelt in front of her, his expression softening as his skin continued to heal. He set the sword down just out of her reach but within his own. “I don’t know what’s happening to you. But you just attacked me.”
She shook her head frantically. “It wasn’t me. I would never…I wasn’t in control. It was like something took over.”
He continued to silently study her face for a long moment before giving a small nod. “OK. I’ll help you.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, trying to get her quiet sobs under control.
“I have some rules.”
She frowned, meeting his eyes again. “Rules?”
“You don’t go anywhere without me.”
“OK. That’s fine.”
“And you especially don’t go out in the sun. Ever.”
“Fine.”
“And…I think you should feed off of Lily. Primarily.”
“What? Why?”
He finally met her eyes as he answered. “She knows what you are. She already knows the location here. And feeding off of someone you were close to before you were turned…it can help.”
“Help what?”
He looked at her sadly, biting his lip. “Help you not to turn feral.”
A cold dread settled in her chest. “Is that what this is? I’m turning?”
“No…I don’t think so. I’ve seen people turn. Too many. But this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Still…we should be cautious.”
She nodded in agreement but the feeling of dread didn’t lift at all. “I’ll ask her. Tomorrow. Is that alright?”
“Yes, that’s fine.” He kept staring at her, brow furrowed and sadness in his eyes. For the first time she felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Her own eyes moved to his sword, still at the ready.
“Can you not…”
He followed her gaze and frowned. “I don’t want you to feel threatened, but I can’t trust that…whatever that was…won’t come back.”
“And if it does, what then? You’re going to cut my head off?”
He winced. “Chloe…”
“Promise me you won’t hurt me.”
He looked at the ground, silent for far too long. “I’ll do what I have to do to keep my people safe.”
Her tears were back, her voice choked with sobs as she pleaded with him. “Jax please, no, just tell me you won’t hurt me. Please…”
He picked up the katana, rising to his feet. “Chloe…you need to calm down.”
She jumped to her feet, backing away from him. “Get away from me.”
“Chloe. Take a deep breath, OK? Try to relax.” He held one hand out towards her, but the other still held his katana, ready to strike.
She kept backing towards the door. “I’m leaving.”
He advanced towards her, closing the distance. “We agreed you would stay with me.”
She turned and ran for the door, moving fast enough to reach it in an instant…but so did he. “Let me go,” she pleaded through sobs. “Please let me go!” He didn’t reach for her, and she remembered that he wouldn’t touch her. Not while her skin was burning hot. She opened the door and backed into the corridor, staring him down defiantly.
His expression hardened as he lifted the katana, ready to fight, his eyes burning red now. “I said STOP!”
As her terror boiled over inside her, the world seemed to disappear in a flash of white.
And then darkness.