Bloodlust (Part 11)
The next chapter of this epic mess.
Title: Bloodlust
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth, some Franziska/Adrian
Theme: Romance, Horror, Comedy, Action
Warnings: Spoilers for PW 1 & 2, vampires and blood, gay lawyers, violence... and part 4 has sex.
Summary: Vampire!Phoenix and Miles are now a steady couple, but they just can't seem to get out of the habit of keeping secrets. An evil force lurks in the background, Shoe makes a cameo, and people get drunk. Enjoy!
No... Miles... Bloodstained fingers grasped like a lifeline.
Miles, don't go... Storm-grey eyes, staring blindly past his face.
You can't leave me again! That beautiful body, lying broken on the leaves.
If Phoenix's heart had still been beating it would probably have burst. If his lungs had still been filled with breath, that breath would have stopped. All he could do was hold onto Miles and sob like a child whose world had lost its sun. His universe was dying...
No, worse. A thousand times worse. Phoenix could see blood smeared all over Miles's lips, smell that it was another vampire's. Von Karma's blood, invading Miles's body like it had invaded Phoenix's months before. He could still remember the pain, the disorientation, of waking up to find his body completely altered. His soul held in place only by a precarious thread...
A thread that Miles didn't have.
With fingers that trembled in his haste, Phoenix grasped the magatama chain around his neck and yanked until it snapped, tucking the ornament into Miles's hand, folding the fingers over the tiny little piece of jade.
Who would expect lives and souls to hang on such an insignificant-seeming little stone? It was such a little thing... could it support Miles's soul as well as his own? Would it break or crumble if it wasn't enough? And what if Phoenix was too late? Worse, a thousand times worse than the thought of Miles dying was the thought of seeing Miles turn into a monster like von Karma. Looking into those steel-colored eyes and not see Miles looking back. Just a creature like von Karma, or one of those Ur-vampires.
"Ur-vampires..." A memory, speaking in Miles's breathless voice, made Phoenix's mouth go dry again. "When a sire doesn't give the newborn vampire enough blood, the transformation isn't complete. The body's all vampire, but there's neither a mind nor a soul inside, just instinct."
Enough blood... oh god, how much is enough? His arms were shaking, his eyes blurred with tears. He had struck von Karma down while he was giving Miles his blood... how much had he given him? How much would Miles need? Was he already too late?
Panicking, Phoenix fumbled around for anything sharp to cut himself with, but his chopstick had broken off inside of von Karma's body, and Kugelschreiber's broken remains were trapped under them. It took Phoenix precious moments to realize another option. Taking his tongue between his teeth, he bit down hard enough for the blood to start flowing, filling his mouth with the rich, flavorful cocktail of his friends' blood that flowed through his veins.
Grasping Miles's hair, he pulled that still-warm body into a final desperate kiss, letting his lifeblood flow past his lips. If this didn't work... if he lost Miles again...
He was getting lightheaded, loosing too much blood, but it didn't matter. He could hear faint noises in the night surrounding him, but it didn't matter. Only Miles mattered.
Only Miles...
For the first time in months, Phoenix felt the darkness of unconsciousness creeping up on him, but he fought...
Just a little more...
Miles...
-----
Phoenix woke slowly, swimming up from the depths of unconsciousness. Even after he was mostly awake, he didn't want to open his eyes. He couldn't remember why, but he had the nasty feeling that once he opened them, he would wish he hadn't.
"Hey, guys! He's moving!" Maya's voice, way too loud and way too close.
Damn it... So much for putting it off. With a sigh, he opened his eyes...
And jerked backwards at the sight of Franziska von Krama coming straight for him with a murderous look on her face. Phoenix jerked back with a yell, banging his head against the headboard of the bed he was on. Franziska followed, her good hand stretched out as though to strangle him.
"You FOOLISHLY FOOLISH FOOLHARDY FOOL of a BASTARD!" She seized him by the collar and yanked him up into a sitting position, far stronger than any teenage girl of her petite stature should be. Vampire or not, Phoenix was seriously afraid for his life. He was just about to write himself off completely as a goner when the hand on his collar was yanked away, and he fell back onto the mattress.
Gasping (though he didn't exactly need the air) Phoenix looked up to see that his saviors were Maya and Larry, who had forcibly dragged Franziska off of him. It was with some surprise that he saw the prosecutor was shaking, her eyes red. Phoenix would have thought it physically impossible for her to cry. Why is she so angry at me? Phoenix wanted to ask, but first... where was he? The last thing he remembered was being in the woods, and von Karma senior...
A quick glance around the room told him it was a familiar one. Miles's bedroom in fact. He was sitting on Miles's big, comfy bed... and next to him...
Oh my god... It all came rushing back with the force of a tidal wave when he saw Miles lying beside him. Someone had changed his bloodstained shirt and bound up his throat with bandages. Phoenix could almost understand how people said the dead looked like they were sleeping, but he thrust it away. He had seen Miles asleep before, stolen glances after he finally nodded off into fitful sleep. Sleeping, Miles's face was never this pale. He didn't lie stiff as a board, hands at his sides. Instead, he would curl up as though to make himself as small as possible. Some part of his mind registered that Franziska was still yelling at him, but it all seemed very remote.
"Maya?" His voice came out harshly, like a raven's cry. It was fitting, somehow. Ravens were battlefield birds, feeding on the fallen. Just like him.
"Yeah, Nick?" She looked surprised to hear him speak, as did Franziska. She stopped struggling and just stared at him with tear-reddened eyes.
"Who... closed his eyes?" Somehow it seemed like the most important question at the moment.
"Um, that was me, pal." Gumshoe's voice was also raw. Had he been crying too? "It just seemed the respectful thing, you know?"
"Yeah." Phoenix nodded mechanically. "I wish... someone had been around to close my eyes."
"Nick!" Maya, shocked, let go of Franziska. "Don't be so morbi-"
"WRIGHT!!" With only one person holding on to her, the vampire hunter managed to shake herself free and fly once more at Phoenix's throat. Somehow, even as she grasped his collar in an iron grip, he couldn't bring himself to particularly care, only observe that, even with one arm in a sling, she was a force to be reckoned with. If Franziska had had her whip, he probably wouldn't have lasted five seconds.
"WRIGHT you BASTARD!" She yelled again, tears coursing down her face. "Why did you- I trusted you to protect him! He trusted you!! And yet..." The look in her eyes now was worse than anger, worse than hatred. It was loss, pure and raw and too close to Phoenix's own for him to look away. "You betrayed him, you fool- you foolish- you goddamn monster!"
"Franziska!" Maya grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Stop it!"
"Why are you protecting him?!" Franziska rounded on her. "This cretin, he's the one who-"
"Saved my life." The voice came from the place Phoenix would never have expected... Larry Butz had a hold of Franziska's arm and was pulling her back. "He didn't have to save me, and maybe he could have saved Miles if he hadn't..." Larry's voice sounded like it wanted to break, but he kept going. "Anyway, it wasn't Phoenix who bit Miles! I'm telling you, I saw the whole thing!"
"Well, you were wrong!" Franziska snarled into his face, all composure gone. "I cansense what this monster did to my brother-"
"And I'm telling you it was the scary old du-"
"Actually..." Even if he could force no emotion into his vice, he didn't need to. The room went silent when he spoke and turned to him, like birds hypnotized by the presence of a snake. "Actually, it was me."
Maya's hands flew to her mouth, while Gumshoe looked uncomprehending and Franziska's teeth clenched in barely controlled rage.
"But, dude..." Larry sounded stunned. "Didn't I see that old guy bite Edgey?"
"Yes... But I killed him before he could finish turning Miles into a vampire."
"So you finished the job?" Franziska spat. "Why am I not surprised?"
"I couldn't bear to lose him." Phoenix spoke almost too quietly for the others to hear. "You should understand that better than anyone."
Franziska froze, staring at him for long moments. Everyone in the room was silent, and Phoenix neither knew nor cared what they were thinking.
With a scoff, Franziska turned to leave. She paused in the door, not looking back at him.
"You know how bad his chances are, Wright. if he doesn't make it, I will blame you." With that, she dissapeared. Phoenix just looked down at Miles again. He knew that the chances of miles waking up with both mind and soul intact were slim at best. Still, Phoenix had never cared about the odds....
This would be the worst possible time to start.
Title: Bloodlust
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth, some Franziska/Adrian
Theme: Romance, Horror, Comedy, Action
Warnings: Spoilers for PW 1 & 2, vampires and blood, gay lawyers, violence... and part 4 has sex.
Summary: Vampire!Phoenix and Miles are now a steady couple, but they just can't seem to get out of the habit of keeping secrets. An evil force lurks in the background, Shoe makes a cameo, and people get drunk. Enjoy!
No... Miles... Bloodstained fingers grasped like a lifeline.
Miles, don't go... Storm-grey eyes, staring blindly past his face.
You can't leave me again! That beautiful body, lying broken on the leaves.
If Phoenix's heart had still been beating it would probably have burst. If his lungs had still been filled with breath, that breath would have stopped. All he could do was hold onto Miles and sob like a child whose world had lost its sun. His universe was dying...
No, worse. A thousand times worse. Phoenix could see blood smeared all over Miles's lips, smell that it was another vampire's. Von Karma's blood, invading Miles's body like it had invaded Phoenix's months before. He could still remember the pain, the disorientation, of waking up to find his body completely altered. His soul held in place only by a precarious thread...
A thread that Miles didn't have.
With fingers that trembled in his haste, Phoenix grasped the magatama chain around his neck and yanked until it snapped, tucking the ornament into Miles's hand, folding the fingers over the tiny little piece of jade.
Who would expect lives and souls to hang on such an insignificant-seeming little stone? It was such a little thing... could it support Miles's soul as well as his own? Would it break or crumble if it wasn't enough? And what if Phoenix was too late? Worse, a thousand times worse than the thought of Miles dying was the thought of seeing Miles turn into a monster like von Karma. Looking into those steel-colored eyes and not see Miles looking back. Just a creature like von Karma, or one of those Ur-vampires.
"Ur-vampires..." A memory, speaking in Miles's breathless voice, made Phoenix's mouth go dry again. "When a sire doesn't give the newborn vampire enough blood, the transformation isn't complete. The body's all vampire, but there's neither a mind nor a soul inside, just instinct."
Enough blood... oh god, how much is enough? His arms were shaking, his eyes blurred with tears. He had struck von Karma down while he was giving Miles his blood... how much had he given him? How much would Miles need? Was he already too late?
Panicking, Phoenix fumbled around for anything sharp to cut himself with, but his chopstick had broken off inside of von Karma's body, and Kugelschreiber's broken remains were trapped under them. It took Phoenix precious moments to realize another option. Taking his tongue between his teeth, he bit down hard enough for the blood to start flowing, filling his mouth with the rich, flavorful cocktail of his friends' blood that flowed through his veins.
Grasping Miles's hair, he pulled that still-warm body into a final desperate kiss, letting his lifeblood flow past his lips. If this didn't work... if he lost Miles again...
He was getting lightheaded, loosing too much blood, but it didn't matter. He could hear faint noises in the night surrounding him, but it didn't matter. Only Miles mattered.
Only Miles...
For the first time in months, Phoenix felt the darkness of unconsciousness creeping up on him, but he fought...
Just a little more...
Miles...
-----
Phoenix woke slowly, swimming up from the depths of unconsciousness. Even after he was mostly awake, he didn't want to open his eyes. He couldn't remember why, but he had the nasty feeling that once he opened them, he would wish he hadn't.
"Hey, guys! He's moving!" Maya's voice, way too loud and way too close.
Damn it... So much for putting it off. With a sigh, he opened his eyes...
And jerked backwards at the sight of Franziska von Krama coming straight for him with a murderous look on her face. Phoenix jerked back with a yell, banging his head against the headboard of the bed he was on. Franziska followed, her good hand stretched out as though to strangle him.
"You FOOLISHLY FOOLISH FOOLHARDY FOOL of a BASTARD!" She seized him by the collar and yanked him up into a sitting position, far stronger than any teenage girl of her petite stature should be. Vampire or not, Phoenix was seriously afraid for his life. He was just about to write himself off completely as a goner when the hand on his collar was yanked away, and he fell back onto the mattress.
Gasping (though he didn't exactly need the air) Phoenix looked up to see that his saviors were Maya and Larry, who had forcibly dragged Franziska off of him. It was with some surprise that he saw the prosecutor was shaking, her eyes red. Phoenix would have thought it physically impossible for her to cry. Why is she so angry at me? Phoenix wanted to ask, but first... where was he? The last thing he remembered was being in the woods, and von Karma senior...
A quick glance around the room told him it was a familiar one. Miles's bedroom in fact. He was sitting on Miles's big, comfy bed... and next to him...
Oh my god... It all came rushing back with the force of a tidal wave when he saw Miles lying beside him. Someone had changed his bloodstained shirt and bound up his throat with bandages. Phoenix could almost understand how people said the dead looked like they were sleeping, but he thrust it away. He had seen Miles asleep before, stolen glances after he finally nodded off into fitful sleep. Sleeping, Miles's face was never this pale. He didn't lie stiff as a board, hands at his sides. Instead, he would curl up as though to make himself as small as possible. Some part of his mind registered that Franziska was still yelling at him, but it all seemed very remote.
"Maya?" His voice came out harshly, like a raven's cry. It was fitting, somehow. Ravens were battlefield birds, feeding on the fallen. Just like him.
"Yeah, Nick?" She looked surprised to hear him speak, as did Franziska. She stopped struggling and just stared at him with tear-reddened eyes.
"Who... closed his eyes?" Somehow it seemed like the most important question at the moment.
"Um, that was me, pal." Gumshoe's voice was also raw. Had he been crying too? "It just seemed the respectful thing, you know?"
"Yeah." Phoenix nodded mechanically. "I wish... someone had been around to close my eyes."
"Nick!" Maya, shocked, let go of Franziska. "Don't be so morbi-"
"WRIGHT!!" With only one person holding on to her, the vampire hunter managed to shake herself free and fly once more at Phoenix's throat. Somehow, even as she grasped his collar in an iron grip, he couldn't bring himself to particularly care, only observe that, even with one arm in a sling, she was a force to be reckoned with. If Franziska had had her whip, he probably wouldn't have lasted five seconds.
"WRIGHT you BASTARD!" She yelled again, tears coursing down her face. "Why did you- I trusted you to protect him! He trusted you!! And yet..." The look in her eyes now was worse than anger, worse than hatred. It was loss, pure and raw and too close to Phoenix's own for him to look away. "You betrayed him, you fool- you foolish- you goddamn monster!"
"Franziska!" Maya grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Stop it!"
"Why are you protecting him?!" Franziska rounded on her. "This cretin, he's the one who-"
"Saved my life." The voice came from the place Phoenix would never have expected... Larry Butz had a hold of Franziska's arm and was pulling her back. "He didn't have to save me, and maybe he could have saved Miles if he hadn't..." Larry's voice sounded like it wanted to break, but he kept going. "Anyway, it wasn't Phoenix who bit Miles! I'm telling you, I saw the whole thing!"
"Well, you were wrong!" Franziska snarled into his face, all composure gone. "I cansense what this monster did to my brother-"
"And I'm telling you it was the scary old du-"
"Actually..." Even if he could force no emotion into his vice, he didn't need to. The room went silent when he spoke and turned to him, like birds hypnotized by the presence of a snake. "Actually, it was me."
Maya's hands flew to her mouth, while Gumshoe looked uncomprehending and Franziska's teeth clenched in barely controlled rage.
"But, dude..." Larry sounded stunned. "Didn't I see that old guy bite Edgey?"
"Yes... But I killed him before he could finish turning Miles into a vampire."
"So you finished the job?" Franziska spat. "Why am I not surprised?"
"I couldn't bear to lose him." Phoenix spoke almost too quietly for the others to hear. "You should understand that better than anyone."
Franziska froze, staring at him for long moments. Everyone in the room was silent, and Phoenix neither knew nor cared what they were thinking.
With a scoff, Franziska turned to leave. She paused in the door, not looking back at him.
"You know how bad his chances are, Wright. if he doesn't make it, I will blame you." With that, she dissapeared. Phoenix just looked down at Miles again. He knew that the chances of miles waking up with both mind and soul intact were slim at best. Still, Phoenix had never cared about the odds....
This would be the worst possible time to start.