(no subject)
Title: Best Case Scenario
Author: gothic_veils
Characters/Pairing: Annie and Mitchell, gen
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes Written for djarum99 prompt Mitchell's POV on news of Herrick's return. I'm sort of ignoring the whole what happened to Annie thing for the purpose of this fic. Also sorry about the rather abrupt ending.
Summary: Herrick's back, so what now?
“Mitchell will you please stop pacing, you’re going to wear a hole in the carpet,” Annie said, carefully removing the cup of tea from his hand before he spilt it everywhere.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he asked, rounding on her whilst still managing to pace. “This is bad. This is really, really bad.”
“Just…take a deep breath or something?” Annie suggested hopefully.
Mitchell gave her a look. “I’m dead remember? Taking a deep breath isn’t exactly going to help me calm down. Nothing short of several bloody Valium is going to help me calm down!” She didn’t understand and Mitchell really didn’t want to have to explain it to her. Annie was pretty good at deluding herself sometimes, like if she convinced everything was fine then it really would be. He sort of envied that, because he knew the truth.
“He might not find us,” she suggested, carefully steering Mitchell over to the sofa and making him sit with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Annie, of course he’ll find us!” he replied, exasperated. “This is Herrick we’re talking about. He was contacts everywhere that’s why he’s in charge. Why he was in charge. Oh God he’s gonna kill us. He’s gonna literally tear us limb from limb!”
“I don’t even understand, George…” she trailed off glancing at the door as if she was worried George and Nina would be back any moment. “George ripped his head off, didn’t he? I remember him muttering about the blood afterwards.” She shuddered at the memory.
“Looks like we really are immortal,” Mitchell said, really not sounding very happy about that idea, not that he ever had been.
Annie tried to find a positive side to the situation, something to say to make Mitchell feel better and came up with nothing. “It’ll be okay,” she settled on.
“No Annie, it won’t,” Mitchell said standing angrily. “Best case scenario? He finds out what I did and just goes straight for me. Tries to get me back, lure me into the old ways. The killing and the blood and…” he trailed off, blinking away black eyes, fighting off the memories of that train carriage full of people. The scent of their blood, it had been wonderful, but it had been so, so wrong.
“We won’t let that happen, Mitch,” she said. “You won’t let that happen.”
“It’s always just a matter of time,” Mitchell replied, turning his back on Annie, unable to even look at her. She was so trusting of him, even after what he’d done. She was so bloody naïve sometimes he just wanted to scream at her, shake her, show her that he was not as nice and sweet as she seemed to think. “I always fall eventually. You and George are the only things stopping me right now and he knows that.” Slowly he turned to face her, just to see if she had any idea what he was talking about.
Still on the sofa Annie was looking up at him expectantly, mug of tea still in hand. “What?”
“My best case scenario just got a lot worse,” he said quietly, taking a step forward, kneeling in front of her. “Whatever he decides to do, whether it’s get rid of me or get me back into the fold he’s going to come through you and George, because that’s the only way,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand. “Unless I go willingly.”
Annie stared back at him, completely at a loss for words. She didn’t even realise she was crying until he reached forward with his free hand to wipe away a tear. “We can just keep running,” she said, with a look of determination, pulling her hand free of his and standing up. “It’s fine. I’ve already left the house. That was the only thing stopping me before. So we keep moving. Abroad if we need to. It’s fine. I’m going to go and pack George’s things. Call Nina, tell her what the plan is, yeah? Tell her to make some excuse to get out of work and get George to do the same.”
“Annie,” Mitchell said. “Running won’t work. The vampire network, it’s everywhere. There’s no way we can hide. A vampire, a ghost and two werewolves? We’re gonna stand out a bit, y’know? And George? Well he’s bloody famous! He made a name for himself in all the wrong circles by killing Herrick…almost killing Herrick. I think we‘re just gonna have to wait. See what he does. I know him. He won‘t come in all guns blazing first time. He‘ll make me an offer I can‘t refuse and I won‘t. I might even go to him, show willing. So he doesn‘t have to come looking for us. He might appreciate that. He might go easy on me.”
“Go easy on you?” Annie questioned. “Mitchell, what’s he going to do to you?”
“I destroyed everything he’d worked for. I managed to convince a bunch of vampires to stop drinking blood. Oh yeah and I got him killed, he might be a little annoyed about that, y’know? I don’t think either of us really want to think about the answer to that question, do we?”
He’d be lucky if Herrick merely killed him, he realised suddenly. Killing him would be a mercy, nice and quick and that would be it, over and done with. He wouldn’t even have the memories of all those people he’d killed. No, he knew Herrick, death would be too good for Mitchell in his mind. It would be a release. He’d be bricked up somewhere, chained up in some dark cellar under the city to be ignored. Where his screams couldn’t be heard. Forgotten about until some other vampire stepped out of line and had to be brought down to see him, half dead, but unable to actually die, starving and mad- an example of what happened if you didn’t tow the party line. God it was horrifying. He had to stop thinking like that though. Perhaps Herrick would be reasonable, stranger things had happened, hadn’t they?
“Mitchell, what do we do?” she asked, when he didn’t speak for a few moments.
“We wait for George and Nina to come home, then…I honestly don’t know.”
Author: gothic_veils
Characters/Pairing: Annie and Mitchell, gen
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes Written for djarum99 prompt Mitchell's POV on news of Herrick's return. I'm sort of ignoring the whole what happened to Annie thing for the purpose of this fic. Also sorry about the rather abrupt ending.
Summary: Herrick's back, so what now?
“Mitchell will you please stop pacing, you’re going to wear a hole in the carpet,” Annie said, carefully removing the cup of tea from his hand before he spilt it everywhere.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he asked, rounding on her whilst still managing to pace. “This is bad. This is really, really bad.”
“Just…take a deep breath or something?” Annie suggested hopefully.
Mitchell gave her a look. “I’m dead remember? Taking a deep breath isn’t exactly going to help me calm down. Nothing short of several bloody Valium is going to help me calm down!” She didn’t understand and Mitchell really didn’t want to have to explain it to her. Annie was pretty good at deluding herself sometimes, like if she convinced everything was fine then it really would be. He sort of envied that, because he knew the truth.
“He might not find us,” she suggested, carefully steering Mitchell over to the sofa and making him sit with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Annie, of course he’ll find us!” he replied, exasperated. “This is Herrick we’re talking about. He was contacts everywhere that’s why he’s in charge. Why he was in charge. Oh God he’s gonna kill us. He’s gonna literally tear us limb from limb!”
“I don’t even understand, George…” she trailed off glancing at the door as if she was worried George and Nina would be back any moment. “George ripped his head off, didn’t he? I remember him muttering about the blood afterwards.” She shuddered at the memory.
“Looks like we really are immortal,” Mitchell said, really not sounding very happy about that idea, not that he ever had been.
Annie tried to find a positive side to the situation, something to say to make Mitchell feel better and came up with nothing. “It’ll be okay,” she settled on.
“No Annie, it won’t,” Mitchell said standing angrily. “Best case scenario? He finds out what I did and just goes straight for me. Tries to get me back, lure me into the old ways. The killing and the blood and…” he trailed off, blinking away black eyes, fighting off the memories of that train carriage full of people. The scent of their blood, it had been wonderful, but it had been so, so wrong.
“We won’t let that happen, Mitch,” she said. “You won’t let that happen.”
“It’s always just a matter of time,” Mitchell replied, turning his back on Annie, unable to even look at her. She was so trusting of him, even after what he’d done. She was so bloody naïve sometimes he just wanted to scream at her, shake her, show her that he was not as nice and sweet as she seemed to think. “I always fall eventually. You and George are the only things stopping me right now and he knows that.” Slowly he turned to face her, just to see if she had any idea what he was talking about.
Still on the sofa Annie was looking up at him expectantly, mug of tea still in hand. “What?”
“My best case scenario just got a lot worse,” he said quietly, taking a step forward, kneeling in front of her. “Whatever he decides to do, whether it’s get rid of me or get me back into the fold he’s going to come through you and George, because that’s the only way,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand. “Unless I go willingly.”
Annie stared back at him, completely at a loss for words. She didn’t even realise she was crying until he reached forward with his free hand to wipe away a tear. “We can just keep running,” she said, with a look of determination, pulling her hand free of his and standing up. “It’s fine. I’ve already left the house. That was the only thing stopping me before. So we keep moving. Abroad if we need to. It’s fine. I’m going to go and pack George’s things. Call Nina, tell her what the plan is, yeah? Tell her to make some excuse to get out of work and get George to do the same.”
“Annie,” Mitchell said. “Running won’t work. The vampire network, it’s everywhere. There’s no way we can hide. A vampire, a ghost and two werewolves? We’re gonna stand out a bit, y’know? And George? Well he’s bloody famous! He made a name for himself in all the wrong circles by killing Herrick…almost killing Herrick. I think we‘re just gonna have to wait. See what he does. I know him. He won‘t come in all guns blazing first time. He‘ll make me an offer I can‘t refuse and I won‘t. I might even go to him, show willing. So he doesn‘t have to come looking for us. He might appreciate that. He might go easy on me.”
“Go easy on you?” Annie questioned. “Mitchell, what’s he going to do to you?”
“I destroyed everything he’d worked for. I managed to convince a bunch of vampires to stop drinking blood. Oh yeah and I got him killed, he might be a little annoyed about that, y’know? I don’t think either of us really want to think about the answer to that question, do we?”
He’d be lucky if Herrick merely killed him, he realised suddenly. Killing him would be a mercy, nice and quick and that would be it, over and done with. He wouldn’t even have the memories of all those people he’d killed. No, he knew Herrick, death would be too good for Mitchell in his mind. It would be a release. He’d be bricked up somewhere, chained up in some dark cellar under the city to be ignored. Where his screams couldn’t be heard. Forgotten about until some other vampire stepped out of line and had to be brought down to see him, half dead, but unable to actually die, starving and mad- an example of what happened if you didn’t tow the party line. God it was horrifying. He had to stop thinking like that though. Perhaps Herrick would be reasonable, stranger things had happened, hadn’t they?
“Mitchell, what do we do?” she asked, when he didn’t speak for a few moments.
“We wait for George and Nina to come home, then…I honestly don’t know.”