In The Dark, Chapter 1: The Mysterious Savior

In The Dark
By Misha and CallMeTippyTumbles

Disclaimer- Not mine.

Misha’s Note- I’ll be writing every other chapter as told through the eyes of my TRR MC, Eleanor, and CallMeTippyTumbles will be writing the other chapters through the eyes of her BB MC, Aminah. We made our own timeline here and this is set before Book 1 of TRR and after Chapter 12 of BB.  

Tippy’s Note: Eleanor and Aminah’s stories are going to be very separate for the first few chapters. They are starting their stories at totally different points both in terms of canon and involvement in their respective worlds.  Their paths will cross though. The story and the bigger picture will become clearer then. Oh, Halle shows up for like a second, but she isn’t in this.  Halle and vampires do not mix. Issa dealbreaker.  Take it away, Misha!

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- Liam/MC (will include Jax/MC, Lily/MC later)

Summary- Eleanor Sloane is saved from a random attack by a mysterious man, but what secret is he hiding and will her life ever be the same?

Word Count- 2066

Chapter One: The Mysterious Savior

~Eleanor~

“Halle can you help me take the garbage out?” I ask my co-worker, deciding to take advantage of a slow moment and hopefully save myself some time at the end of my shift.

“I’ll take it outside, you can deal with the dumpster,” she tells me, picking up the extra bag.

“Thanks.”

We head outside, Halle dropping her bag and heading back towards the door while I lift the lid of the dumpster.

Only an hour to go, I remind myself as I reach for one of the bags. Suddenly I hear something which makes me freeze where I am, my hand still closed around the top of the bag.

“Halle, did you hear that?” I call out.

“Probably just rats,” she calls back, already disappearing back inside the bar, “or your overactive imagination. You’re always hearing things.”

The sound of the door shutting cuts off her teasing words.

Rats. I could handle rats. I bend to lift the bag and then suddenly, I hear the noise again, loud this time. Ok, that was no rat, more like a Rodent of Unusual Size and if this alley had those, then I am out of here.

Just then, I see something out of my eye, something large and human-shaped. Was there a person back here? I look again, but I don’t see anything.

I shake my head, knowing I’m being ridiculous.

No more horror movies for you, Eleanor.

I swing the garbage bag into the dumpster and then reach for the one Halle left, eager to get back inside. As I grab the second bag, I see it again, clearer. It’s large and grey, humanoid, but definitely not human, and then it’s leaping at me.

I have never seen anything like this before. It’s terrifying and so incredibly fast.

“Ahhhhh!!!” I scream desperately, hoping that someone will be able to hear me in the bar, but knowing they won’t. We can barely hear each other over the noise and confusion, let alone anything going on outside.

Still, I keep screaming even as I fumble for something, anything, to use as a weapon and get this thing off me.

I can’t find anything and the fear is overwhelming. Is this how it’s going to end for me? Was I going to die alone in some alley, just another victim of a random attack? One of the many that has been happening in the city lately.

Suddenly, I see a flash of movement and the thing attacking me is roughly pulled away. I fall to the ground, watching in stunned shock as a strange man begins to battle the creature that was attacking me.

After a moment I get to my feet, my eyes still glued to the scene going on before me, as the stranger fights to subdue the monster, dodging blows with apparent ease.

I finally get a good look at the thing that attacked me and shudder. It’s something straight out of a horror movie. Gray and hairless with snarling teeth and claws. Not an animal, but not human either. What is it? Was that a question I even wanted an answer too? If I got one, would I be able to look at the world the same way, ever again?

Go inside, a voice in my head screams, before this gets even weirder.  I ignore it, curiosity getting the best of me.

“Instead of just standing around watching, can you find me a weapon?” My mysterious savior calls out, dodging another set of blows.

I nod, looking around for something for him to use as a weapon. My eyes fall on a broken broom handle lying in front of the dumpster and I grab it, tossing it to the mystery man. “Catch.”

“Thanks,” he says, catching it with almost-supernatural reflexes before subduing the creature and shoving the stick straight into its heart, almost as if it was a vampire. Which was impossible. Besides, aren’t vampires supposed to be hot?

I watch, almost-transfixed, as the creature turns to ash before my eyes. Definitely a vampire. At least if all those Buffy the Vampire marathons had taught me anything. Apparently, Nosferatu was a more accurate depiction of vampires than True Blood, which was disappointing because I’ve always had a bit of a vampire thing.

Of course, my disappointment was based on the assumption that that thing really was a vampire. Which would mean vampires are real. But they’re not.

“Are you ok?” My mystery man asks, turning his attention to me, his voice taking on a more soothing note that it had when he was barking orders. His voice is deep and cultured with a hint of an accent that I can’t place.

“Uhhh…” I say, at a loss for words. There are a lot of questions running through my head. Like what thing was, who he was, and how he had appeared so fast, but the words stick in my throat. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “I’m ok, I think.”

He smiles reassuringly and I finally have a chance to get a good look at him. He’s gorgeous. Tall and blonde with blue eyes I think I could easily drown in, there are so many hidden depths. Why couldn’t he be the vampire? Eric Northman had nothing on this guy. He was the stuff fantasies were made of, that was for sure.

“It’s ok to be shaken,” he assures me, “most people would be after a scare like that.”

“What was that?” I ask, finding my voice. “That thing I mean.”

He pauses, as if trying to decide how to answer.

“And how did you get here so quickly?” I add, looking down the long alley that separates the back of the bar from the street.

“I was walking by and I heard you scream,” he explains, ignoring my first question, “and lucky I did or that could have ended very badly for you.”

“Yes,” I agree, though the part about hearing me from the street doesn’t sound right. Still, I choose not to question it, because he’s right. If he hadn’t heard me, I’d be dead right now.

“I’m Eleanor,” I say instead, holding out my hand. He pauses for a second and takes it. His hand is warm and firm in my mine.

“It’s nice to meet you, Eleanor, I’m Liam.”

“Well, Liam, I owe you a big thanks,” I tell him, reluctantly releasing his hand, “can I at least buy you a drink?”

“You work here?” He asks and then shakes his head, “that’s a silly question, of course you do.”

“Well I could just be wearing the uniform for the fashion statement and taking the trash out for fun,” I tease, “but, yes, I work here.”

“How much longer is your shift?” Liam asks me, not responding to my invitation.

“Another hour,” I tell him, wondering if he is going to suggest going out for a drink instead, an idea I find very exciting.

“I have… somewhere I need to be,” Liam says apologetically, “so I can’t stay for a drink,” I feel my heart sink at the polite refusal, “However, I can return in an hour, once your shift is over, if that is acceptable.” His eyes travel from mine and move down before they come back. “I can walk you home or maybe we can go somewhere quieter and grab that drink.”

I feel my face flush from the way he’s looking at me and the invitation in his voice and I smile.

“I’d like that,” I tell him honestly, “and then maybe you can answer some of my questions.”

He simply smiles. “Maybe.”
He stands there, unmoving, just looking at me expectantly, and I realize that’s he’s waiting for me to back inside, that he’s not going to leave until I do. Definitely the hero type, which is fine with me, because that is definitely my type.

I step inside and then turn back to say something, only to realize that there is no one there. Liam is gone, as if he’d never been there at all.

—

As soon as my shift ends, I quickly go and change. Yes, Liam has already seen me in my uniform, but that doesn’t mean I have to keep it on. It’s not exactly a good look for a first date. If this is a date.

I pull on a green jersey dress that clings in all the right places, quickly fix my hair and then take a deep breath.

What if he’s not here? I ask myself as I step outside. Now that an hour has passed, it is all starting to feel like a dream. Maybe Halle was right and I do have an overactive imagination.

However, as soon as I step outside, it becomes clear it wasn’t a dream, because there is Liam, waiting for me like he’d promised, and looking every bit as handsome as I remembered.

“Eleanor,” He greets warmly, an appreciative look in his eyes as he takes in my outfit, his gaze doing a quick sweep over my body.

“You came back,” I blurt out.

“I promised you I would,” he reminds me, his gaze now locked on mine.

“And do you always keep your promises?” I tease.

A shadowed looked passes over his face, gone almost as quickly as it appeared. “I try to.”

The answer doesn’t surprise me. My fleeting impression of Liam is that he is good. In fact, it feels like he has emerged straight from the pages of a book, too good to be real.

“Where do you want to go?” Liam asks me after a moment.

I pause, thinking about where I want to take Liam. I don’t really want to shame him with people, not yet, and only partially because I had a lot of questions.  

“There’s a little diner not far from here,” I tell him, making a decision. It’ll be empty at this time of night.

“Lead the way,” Liam tells me as we begin to walk.

“Have you lived in New York long?” He asks after a moment.

“A couple years,” I answer briefly, not wanting to get into the circumstances that had led to me moving to New York. “I moved here after college.”

I can tell that he’s about to ask more questions, but before he could, we reached our destination.

“Here we are,” I tell him, pulling him inside.

Liam looks around, taking everything in, his expression best described as wondrous. But then given his clothes and the way he carries himself, I’m not at all surprised that he hasn’t spent a lot of time in hole-in-the-wall diners, and really, I hadn’t either before I moved to New York.

After a moment, we settle into a back booth. We take a moment to look at the menu and then, once we have some privacy, I take the opportunity to question Liam.

“Liam, what happened back there?”

I hear him take in a deep breath. “Eleanor…”

“I deserve answers,” I say quietly, “I mean, whatever that this was, it attacked me.”

“Yes,” he agrees reluctantly, “you do deserve answers, it’s just… It’s more complicated than you might think and I’m not sure…. Well, you might not like the answers and really I shouldn’t even be here.”

“But you are,” I point out, “you could have just disappeared into the night, leaving me to wonder if I’d imagined the whole encounter. But you didn’t… You came back. There has to be a reason for that.”

Liam doesn’t answer me right away. Instead, he just looks at me, the intensity of his gaze almost unnerving me. I fidget a little as he continues to stare at me and I wonder what he’s trying to figure out, whatever it is, I can tell he’s conflicted. In the end, though, he nods.

“Yes,” he acknowledges, his gaze still locked on me, though less intense,  “I came back even though I knew I shouldn’t because I wanted to see you again. It was selfish.”

“Not that selfish,” I assure him, “I feel the same way.”

Liam smiles, but there’s a hint of sadness to it. “I wonder if you’ll still feel that way once I answer your questions.”

Ok, that was a little ominous, but I am not going to let it deter me. I have to know what happened back there and who Liam really is. Maybe it’s a truth that will change my life, maybe it’s one I won’t appreciate, but at the same time, it’s one that I have to know.

I put my hand on Liam’s arm, looking up at him imploringly. “Who are you, Liam?”

—