Between Daylight And Darkness Chapter Eight
Title: Between Daylight And Darkness
Chapter: 8/9 But I Thought This Wouldn't Hurt A Lot
Pairing: Naomi/Emily
Word Count: 11736
Disclaimer: I don't own, or claim to own, anything related to Skins. Borrowing the characters and throwing them into an entirely different universe altogether. I also don't own Twilight, and wouldn't ever want to. Chapter title from MGMT's 'Kids'.
Summary: Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone...
N.B. Because I'm a twat, I have yet to thank my beta for being so beta-ry and generally catching my mistakes and telling me to FIX THIS and DELETE THIS, and sending me word documents with italicised comments about the bits she liked. So thanks, doopits! (no homo) Thanks to everyone else who gave this a look, whatever your names are. Also, this is unintentionally long so I had to split it into two parts. And it's graphic, in both sex and violence. But you know, vampires.
Previous Chapters: Chapter One: Cause Anywhere Is Better Than Here
Chapter Two: Like Stars Burning Holes Right Through The Dark
Chapter Three: The Youth Is Starting To Change
Chapter Four: Happiness Hit Her Like A Bullet In The Back
Chapter Five: Who Is The Lamb And Who Is The Knife
Chapter Six: No More Dreaming Like A Girl So In Love With The Wrong World
Chapter Seven: It Tastes Like Death But It Looks Like Fun
But I Thought This Wouldn't Hurt A Lot
Her dad woke her up gently, sitting on her bed and brushing her fringe away from her forehead.
“Sweetheart, you’re going to be late.” He murmured as her eyes blinked open, and she grimaced.
“Shit.” She muttered, and he chuckled.
“Are you alright?” He asked softly, standing and opening the curtains to her window. She winced at the sunlight, felt somewhat relieved to see it. It meant they wouldn’t be at college, and that was something.
“Yeah.” She mumbled, sitting up and stretching. “Just tired.” And she was. She felt exhausted, mentally and physically.
“Emily not taking you today?” He turned to her, offering a soft smile and she frowned slightly when she saw how understanding his gaze was.
“No.” She turned away from him, rubbing her face and getting out of the bed. Right, Emily. What the fuck was she going to do about her?
“Love, if you want to talk about anything, well,” He paused at the doorway to her room, leaving so she could get ready for college. “I know I’m your dad, and old, and probably ‘uncool’ because of that, but,” He shrugged his shoulders when she rolled her eyes at him. “I’m very open minded, and I love you, so I’ll never judge you, darling.” He stared at her for a moment, and she felt her cheeks flush. “Emily seems like a lovely girl.” He smiled, softly closing the door behind her.
She blew out a breath, wondering that her dad had gotten the point, and missed it at the same time so entirely. She walked to her wardrobe, leaning against the door before opening it. She could still hear it, ‘Emily seems like a lovely girl’, and couldn’t help but think that yes, she did seem that way didn’t she?
That was the bloody problem.
V^^^^^V
“So it would appear that Katie has completely dropped out, which makes sense when you think about it on account of the immortality issue and I’ve been quite confused as to why vampires were partaking in higher learning anyway.” JJ took a large bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. “I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before the others leave too and we don’t have to worry about them anymore.” He smiled at Naomi brightly, and she did her best to return it.
“This is good news.” Thomas smiled at her, too, and she wondered why the thought wasn’t as reassuring to her as it was to them.
“I’d love for things to be normal.” Pandora said before grinning, and Naomi couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter at how happy they all seemed.
“I am a bit upset that Effy is gone too, though. I thought she was rather beautiful.” JJ’s cheeks flushed slightly as he looked at his sandwich for a moment, and Thomas laughed and patted him on the back.
“I see your priorities are straight!” Thomas laughed again. “I will be truly happy when Cook is gone for good. He is a bad man.” Thomas placed his hand over Pandora’s until she looked at him and smiled.
“So Naomi, what universities are you looking at?” JJ munched happily on his sandwich, and Naomi felt her stomach drop slightly as she turned to look at him.
“What?” She took a sip of water. “Honestly, I have no idea. I hadn’t even thought about it what with,” She gestured, slightly awkward. “Everything.”
They all nodded understandingly, and JJ launched into each of the universities he was considering, and their rankings not just within the UK but also the world in general.
Naomi felt the slightest stirrings of panic, because she hadn’t thought about it, the future, not once. Not since Thomas and JJ had pulled her away from Emily, and reality as she’d known it had shattered and fallen on the ground around her feet.
Shit, she thought.
Fucking, cocking, shit.
V^^^^^V
She didn’t hear from Emily that night, distracted herself by pouring over university hand books and course information, biting her lip because how could she have been so stupid as to overlook something that important?
Her dad made her a cup of tea as she frowned at the booklets spread over the dining room table. She had a sudden awful and jealous thought that Emily and the lot of them didn’t need to do this. Katie didn’t have to worry about supporting herself in the future. Cook didn’t have to bother with finding something that he would both enjoy and be able to study academically. Emily didn’t have to stress about choosing the wrong course, and ruining her future forever.
Fucking vampires.
She couldn’t live with them, and couldn’t seem to live without, either.
V^^^^^V
She slammed her locker door closed, her hand jerking when she saw Emily casually leaning against the locker next to her own.
“Jesus.” She frowned, glancing quickly at the hallway filled with students.
“Katie’s gone.” Emily said, staring at her intently. “Effy too. So you don’t have to worry.”
Naomi kept her hand on her locker door, gripping her shoulder bag strap with the other.
“She could’ve killed me.” She muttered, frowning when Emily nodded.
“She didn’t, though.” Emily licked her lips, and Naomi sighed.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Emily. I’m in way over my head here and I think Katie’s right, and JJ, and the lot of them.” Naomi squared her shoulders. “You’re real, alright, but you don’t belong here. With normal people.” Naomi bit her lip. “With me.”
Emily seemed to take a moment to digest her words, before she leant into Naomi quickly and grabbed her by the collar. She pressed her face close to Naomi’s cheek.
“When I’m with you I feel like a better person.” Emily whispered against her ear, her voice cracking slightly. “I feel like a person, instead of a monster.”
Naomi felt her eyes close briefly, a hand reaching up to grab Emily’s wrist and she pulled it off her.
“It’s too hard.” She murmured, avoiding Emily’s eyes. “You make me lose control.”
She winced as someone ran into her from behind, and she heard the raucous laughter of teenage boys. Emily glared at the boy who was apologising profusely to her back, and Naomi turned toward him.
“Tosser.” She pushed him away, as he blinked at her and smirked.
“Actually, it’s Michael.” He said, and she wanted to roll her eyes.
“Congratulations?” She watched him shake his head at her, looking her up and down as he walked backwards to a group of his mates who were trying not outright laugh at him.
When she turned back to Emily, she was relieved to see she’d already gone.
She sat next to her in politics, trying not to gaze at the empty seats Katie and Effy had left behind them. It did make her feel better to know Katie had gone, but at the same time it didn’t change that Emily had killed her family, for Christ’s sake. It was like a far more dangerous version of Jerry Springer. ‘I’m In Love With A Vampire Who Killed Her Family, And Her Twin Wants To Eat Me For Breakfast’. She snorted, because really.
Emily turned to her, a serious look on her face, as Keiran started to grumble at them about exams, and preparation, and how none of them knew a bloody thing so pay attention because he didn’t want to lose his job.
“I’m sorry.” Emily blinked at her, guiltily, and Naomi was about to ask her what she was sorry for this time, when something exploded behind her eyes.
She was reading her younger brother a bedtime story, though she didn’t have a younger brother so that was bloody weird. She kept having to reach over and hit his arm because he wouldn’t be quiet, was trying to make her laugh by making crude jokes he’d heard from a friend of his.
Her sister was sitting impatiently on the other bed in the room, telling her to hurry up because it was getting late and they had to open the shop in the morning. She put the book down, kissing her brother on the forehead as he squirmed, laughing when he screwed up his face and tried to wipe the kiss away.
She got into the bed she shared with her sister, smirking and kicking when she was told to move over and her sister tried to physically push her. She closed her eyes, could hear her brother’s even breathing, sighing when her sister started talking about one of the rich boys in town who’d tried to kiss her at the festival the month before, and how he wouldn’t stop visiting the shop to buy silly items.
“Who buys just one potato? He fancies me.” Her sister whispered, clutching her arm. “As soon as he proposes we’re going to move somewhere exciting and exotic. Paris, or Rome. I don’t speak French or Italian but I’ll hire servants to translate.”
She rolled toward her sister, speaking softly in the dark. “And leave me to run the shop by myself? Traitor.” She snuggled further into the bed, hearing a snort next to her.
“You will come with me, silly. I will find you a duke or something to marry.” She heard her sister yawn. “Actually, if we find a duke I’ll divorce Samuel and marry them instead, and you can have him.”
They both giggled in the dark.
She had woken up disoriented, some weeks later, after it had happened. Her energy seemed limitless, and as she stared at her hands and arms she wondered that she could see each wrinkle, each hair follicle. She found she couldn’t take her eyes away from her life line, tracing it with her thumb.
The hunger was the worst part, the most awful pain she’d ever experienced. She was blind with it when she stumbled toward her house, seeking the only comfort she could think of. Home.
There were flashes of violence, of blood and screaming, and she hated every moment of it. Couldn’t seem to pinpoint where it was all coming from, driven by something else inside that was roaring.
Years later, she had seen the painting and dropped to her knees as she stared at it for the first time since she’d been turned.
Her father. She remembered her father showing her how to load a gun.
“It’s unladylike.” He’d winked at her, helping her hold it. “But I would rather you be unladylike than dead.”
She remembered the smell of him, masculine and protective. The way he had tickled her, later, throwing her over his shoulder as she squealed at him to put her down. Her sister thought they were too old for rough housing, her mother frowning at them disapprovingly when she saw them. She never wanted to be too old, though, to muck around with her dad.
She stared at the artistic rendition of her mother, remembering how she’d felt her stomach drop every time she had been told to dress nicer, in case a young gentleman saw her and wanted to marry her.
“You will not find a husband dressing like your brother.” Her mother had whispered harshly in her ear, grabbing her arm and forcing her to return to the bedroom and change.
But she had an earlier memory of her mother, the one she clung to above all others. She was three or four, and ill. Couldn’t seem to stop coughing, her entire chest hurting with each breath. Her sister was sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room in case she was infectious. Her mother held her close to her chest, humming and brushing her sweaty forehead with her fingertips.
“My little darling…” Her mother sang softly, holding her tightly. “She can fight anything…” Her mother kept singing her made up song, lulling her into sleep, making her feel safe, and like she really could do anything.
It was the image of her brother that had hurt the most, though.
He grew into a little shit, that much was true. But she remembered the day he was born, how she’d held him and just stared at his tiny face as he slept. She was only five, her father kneeling behind her and helping her support his head in her small arms.
“That is your baby brother, Emily.” Her dad whispered proudly into her ear. “He is lucky to have you as his older sister, you can protect him until he is old enough to protect you.” Her dad kissed the side of her face, and she saw Katie watching them from across the room, as if afraid that if she got too close to the baby she would hurt it.
She had hung the painting in the living room, sitting on the lounge in front of it for hours, until she was too hungry to be still or Katie bodily dragged her away.
When they had moved in with Tony and the rest of them, she had put it in her room. If she was going to do this, go back, and change, she wanted to be reminded why. Wanted them watching over her, as she hadn’t been able to do for them.
A bell rang somewhere, and Naomi felt herself pitch forward, hands splayed on the desk and breathing heavily.
“Jesus.” She whispered, blinking and trying to shake the memories Emily had just forced into her head.
“I haven’t had to look at that painting since I met you, so you know.” Emily pushed her chair back, standing.
“I’ve changed. And I’m not like Katie.”
Naomi kept seeing a faint image of James’ laughing face in her mind, heard the echo of Emily’s dad’s voice saying ‘You can protect him…’ until she finally fell asleep that night, and dreamt of nothing.
V^^^^^V
She told Emily to meet her in the park, seeing her sitting on the bench beneath the big tree, and took a deep breath when she sat down next to her.
“Firstly, never do that again.” She kept her voice stern, clutching the edge of the seat with her hands, looking down and seeing her knuckles white. “Secondly, never do that again.” She glanced at Emily, saw her nodding.
“I know. I just wanted to show you how it happened.” Emily was staring at her own hands, tracing her life line with her thumb, and Naomi shuddered when she saw it.
“He, your brother, he was adorable.” Naomi muttered, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
“He was, when he wasn’t being filthy.” Emily took out her own cigarette packet, shrugging at Naomi. “I feel like looking normal.” She mumbled around the filter, lighting it and inhaling deeply.
“You loved him.” Naomi exhaled, blinking at the sky. “And you killed him.” She glanced sideways at Emily, as Emily nodded slowly and exhaled her own breath of smoke.
“Unfortunate side effect of vampirism is you usually hurt the people closest to you.” Emily blew smoke out of her nostrils, the smoke thicker and heavier than Naomi’s exhalations.
“This is meant to comfort me how exactly?” Naomi flicked her cigarette, watching the small bits of ash float around on the breeze before falling to the ground and disappearing into the grass.
“I don’t want to be one anymore.” Emily said so softly Naomi barely heard her.
“Isn’t that impossible?” Naomi asked, raising her eyebrows when Emily looked at her. For the briefest moment she wondered if Emily was about to tell her that if they killed the master vampire, she’d be cured and they could all finish college together, and maybe her and Emily would live happily ever after.
“Completely impossible. There is no turning back.” Emily shrugged, looking decidedly sad for an instant, before blinking at her. “At least, not physically.”
“And you want to turn me?” Naomi felt her heart rate pick up, frowning slightly when Emily shook her head.
“God no. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.” Emily stubbed her cigarette out, pocketing the butt and Naomi felt slightly guilty that she’d thrown hers on the ground. “Immortality is one thing, but we were never built to last. Mortals I mean, humans, whatever. We were built with a time limit, and everything all of a sudden loses meaning when you literally have forever.” Emily rubbed her eyes.
“Katie said…” Naomi started, shutting her mouth when Emily rolled her eyes at her.
“Katie says a lot of things, half of which are delusional and half of which are designed to make it look like she’s in control. For fuck’s sake, she’s wrong about so much.” Emily lit another cigarette, her shoulders slumping as she exhaled. “I just wanted to spend time with you. You make me laugh, and forget, and I wish I had met you when I was alive.” Emily looked at her, and then shook her head, screwing her face up. “No, I wish I’d been alive now, and just gone to college with you like a normal person, asked you out. Been able to get drunk with you, and just laugh without all this shit hanging over my head.”
Naomi sighed. “Emily…” She started, but had no idea what to follow it with.
“I can’t ever imagine growing old with you, but I just would’ve liked the option.” Emily stubbed out the second cigarette, pocketing the butt with the first one.
Naomi bit her lip, breathing deeply through her nostrils. After a moment she reached out a hand, and gently placed it over Emily’s.
She squeezed, pushing away the incredulous thoughts in her head that spoke to her in Katie’s voice ‘Don’t forget that she’s mine. Otherwise, I can kill you now. I’m not fucking fussed either way.’
She gave Emily a smile instead, thought, fuck it. Katie was gone.
“Maybe we could pretend, for a bit.” She whispered, trying not to take too much delight in Emily’s return smile, or the way she felt their hands fit together as if they’d always meant to.
V^^^^^V
Emily picked her up that night, and they went to the cinema, arguing over what to see. She wanted to see an independent film, and Emily wanted to watch the new Pixar animation because, she argued, she had never dreamt of such a thing in life, and was amazed that technology had gone that far just for entertainment purposes.
Naomi had finally rolled her eyes, and agreed with her, and they sat in the back row barely touching as Naomi grumbled at a small child loudly talking to the screen.
“I swear to God I want to gag him.” Naomi muttered, Emily laughing beside her.
“Just watch the movie. I’ve heard it’s amazing.” Emily smiled at her in the flickering dark, and Naomi felt herself forgetting about vampires and horrible things, focusing on the girl sitting beside her, shyly reaching over to hold her hand.
She was sniffling rather loudly only fifteen minutes into the movie, watching as two people fell in love and grew old together, tears slipping down her cheek when the old woman became sick and died. Emily handed her a tissue, and she hastily wiped her eyes as the old man attached thousands of balloons to his house, and flew off to fulfil the childhood wish of his dead wife.
Emily kept squeezing her hand at the funny moments, at the sad moments, at the beautiful ones. She couldn’t seem to brighten up though, from the first sequence. Couldn’t seem to shake that it was true, wasn’t it? She could never have that with Emily, if she wanted. She didn’t know if she wanted it, of course, was alarmingly panicked to think about a whole life with one person since she was only eighteen years old.
But, it would’ve been nice to have the option.
V^^^^^V
They still avoided each other at college, still acted like they were no longer friends. She made excuses not to go out with JJ, Thomas and Pandora on the weekends, telling them she was revising like crazy by herself and didn’t have time for social distractions.
At night Emily would pick her up and drive to their park, or they’d go to the cinema and hold hands in the dark. After a few weeks, she’d let Emily back into her room. Those nights Emily would sit by her bed, and tell her funny stories about the past until she fell asleep. Mainly about Chris, Sid and Cook, never about Katie or Tony.
They did nothing but hold hands, and Naomi was relieved most days because she wasn’t sure she could handle anything else. Could still see James in her head, and continually had nightmares about Katie appearing out of nowhere, throwing her into a car and trying to kill her.
She woke up one night, gasping and panicked, shrieking when someone put a hand on her arm.
“Naomi, it’s alright!” Emily rubbed her hand over her arm soothingly. “It was just a dream.”
“Awful.” She croaked, reaching to place a hand over her heart. “Katie killed me.” She blinked, wiping sweat from her forehead as the hand on her arm stilled.
“I won’t let that happen.” Emily said firmly, sliding down to spoon her, making comforting noises.
“Could you,” She asked, shutting her eyes and seeing Katie bearing her fangs. “Could you give me a nice dream?” She turned her head to Emily, opening her eyes and looking at her vulnerably. “Just tonight?” She could still feel the panic in her chest, hated the thought of her mind taking her back to the nightmare if she fell back to sleep.
Emily seemed to pause, and when she leant toward her, Naomi saw she looked strangely emotional.
“I’d be honoured.” Emily whispered, squeezing her arm. “Thank you.” She heard before she drifted back to sleep.
She dreamt of lying on a beach, the sun brightly shining down on her. She was wearing a bikini, and lazily watching the waves. She turned her head, saw Emily sun bathing next to her, felt her eyes drifting over the contours of Emily’s body.
When she woke up, she was smiling and could still hear the sound of Emily’s laughter as they played in the waves, the sun beating down upon them both.
“Nice dream?” Emily asked softly, and Naomi stretched.
“Actually, yeah.” Naomi blinked sleepily at Emily. “There are some perks, then?” She said, pleased when Emily raised her eyebrows at her.
“I’m glad you think so.”
Well, that was complicated. The cons certainly outweighed the pros. But as she thought back to her dream, the fact she’d let Emily back into her room at all, well.
She would take whatever positives she could get.
V^^^^^V
“Would you like to invite Emily over for dinner?” Her dad asked one Saturday morning, raising his eyebrows at her over his tea cup.
“Why?” She replied, frowning at her toast.
“Well, you seem to be getting along again and I thought perhaps she could come round, Veronica could as well. We could make a night of it.” He shrugged at her.
She felt her mouth drop open. Was her dad asking her to double date?
“Er, no. That’s alright.” She felt more than alarmed, because her dad looked like he was ready to tackle something, and she hated that she knew what was coming.
“Sweetheart, I’m not as daft as I look. I know she sleeps over a lot more than, well, any of your friends.” He looked at her patiently as she felt her face heat up. She wanted to laugh at the word ‘sleep’, though it was slightly painful at the same time.
“Dad…” She started, but he reached over to take her hand and cut her off.
“If you’re happy darling, it’s all that matters.” He squeezed her hand, before smiling at her and standing, taking a deep breath and she realised he was nervous too.
“I’m, shit, I don’t know.” She shook her head, not even caring that she’d sworn.
The last time she had felt happy had been before, dancing with Emily and her friends in a club, feeling young and free and not knowing that vampires actually existed.
V^^^^^V
Her mother called her before Emily picked her up, asking about university preferences and whether she felt like visiting London any time soon. It wasn’t that far away really, her mother said hopefully, and she bit her lip.
Sure, she’d agreed quickly, maybe sometime soon. Her mother told her she loved her, and she hastily said “Me too.” before hanging up and blowing out a breath.
She did love her mother, of course. It was just so hard to say it.
V^^^^^V
“What the fuck?” She stared at the bicycles, and Emily’s indulgent grin.
“Just, trust me, alright?” Emily rang one of the bicycle bells, laughing when Naomi rolled her eyes and gestured to the skirt she was wearing.
“I’ll flash everyone if I ride that in this.” She heaved her bag over her shoulder, shaking her head when Emily winked.
“I’ll ride in front, protect your decency if you like.” Emily handed her a helmet, clearly pleased as Naomi doubtfully swung her leg over the blue bike, Emily mounting the green.
“Bloody hell.” She muttered as Emily started pedalling, and Naomi struggled to remember being an eight year old and enjoying riding a bike.
It was actually fun, she thought, cycling next to Emily and laughing as Emily smugly took her hands off the bars and held them in the air.
“Show off!” She called out, ringing the bell on her handle bars and doing her best to give Emily a disinterested look when she turned around to look at her.
“Someone’s trying to impress you.” Emily winked, giggling when Naomi flipped her off.
“Because I’m clearly unimpressed by the whole immortality thing.” Naomi rolled her eyes, the bike wobbling slightly as she did so.
Emily lead them through Bristol, to the countryside, and finally to a small clearing that looked out onto a surprisingly beautiful lake. Naomi sighed as she looked at it, laying the bike on the ground and taking off the helmet. She put her bag down, walking to the edge of the lake and gazing at the view.
“It’s beautiful.” She said softly, turning to glance at Emily as she walked over to join her.
“This is where Katie brought me.” Emily murmured, giving her a meaningful look until Naomi felt her face say, ‘Oh.’ Emily shrugged. “It was the last thing I saw before I died, the first thing when I came to, after.”
A cool breeze made Naomi shiver, and she frowned. “You lived near here?”
Emily nodded. “Seemed strangely cyclic to make a go of it in the same city I lived in, before.”
Naomi looked around, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. “Why did you bring me here?”
Emily took her hand. “You wouldn’t believe it was my happy place. But I still come here sometimes, and sit, and wonder. I haven’t shared it with anyone else.”
Naomi looked at her dubiously. “Other than Katie.” She felt Emily step closer to her, shaking her head.
“It means nothing to Katie. A lot means nothing to Katie. But I have to remember, where things begin and end. Have to remember that there is a beginning, and an end.” Emily gazed out over the lake, smiling wistfully.
“Well, I’m not swimming in the bloody thing. It looks freezing.” She stepped back from the edge of the lake, looking for somewhere she could sit down.
Emily let go of her hand, walking over to the bag she’d brought and taking a blanket out of it. She lay it down a few metres from the edge of the lake, and began collecting sticks from the surrounding area.
She brought Emily’s bag over to the blanket and sat down with it, feeling vaguely useless. She frowned when something clinked inside, peering in and pulling out a bottle of vodka and a small metal tin. Inside the tin was a neatly rolled cigarette, and when she smelt it she realised it was spliff.
Emily started a small fire, raising an eyebrow at Naomi when she saw what she’d taken out of her bag.
“Snoop.” She said, moving to settle beside her, using a long stick to poke the flames.
“What exactly are these for?” Naomi asked, holding up the vodka bottle and spliff.
“Just because I can’t have fun doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” Emily shrugged, glancing at Naomi and waiting.
“What, so I get fucked up and lose my inhibitions or something?” Naomi snorted. “By myself? Nice try.” She put the vodka down, holding onto the spliff.
Emily gave her a look. “Of course not, I just brought them to, you know, be nice.”
Naomi took out a lighter, holding the flame to the end of the spliff and sucking.
“Well, if you insist.” She muttered, inhaling and closing her eyes. Altering her reality seemed strangely attractive, actually. And it was mild, it wasn’t like she’d tear her clothes off and throw herself onto Emily if she was just a bit stoned.
Besides, she thought, her mind expanding sideways. Spliff was the perfect drug to deal with thoughts that dealt with forever, and the supernatural, and things she couldn’t seem to handle completely sober.
She giggled, crushing the spliff out halfway through, saving the rest for later.
Emily looked at her amused, before pulling a face at her and laughing.
“Feel better?” She asked, leaning close as Naomi snorted, and then giggled again.
“Oh yes, far better equipped to deal with general life business.” Naomi waved her hand, wishing she’d thought to bring crisps.
“I have to say, I’ve been impressed so far.” Emily leant back on her hands, tilting her head toward the sky. “I mean, you’ve had more than enough excuses to carry a wooden stake around with you at all times.”
Naomi leant back too, her head feeling heavy so she lay down. “Do they actually work?” She asked, turning to look at Emily.
“I don’t think so.” Emily shrugged. “I mean, the stake through the heart thing seems a bit strange when you consider our hearts don’t actually beat.” Emily lay down next to her after a moment, and Naomi continued to gaze at her.
“So sunlight kills you, then?”
Emily frowned at the sky. “I don’t know, I just know it hurts. Tony got caught in it, before I knew him. He survived though. And it was after he healed, apparently, he changed.” She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know if anything kills us.”
Naomi turned her head to the sky, her mind unable to think of anything other than ‘wow’. “How do you turn someone?” She didn’t know where that question came from exactly, just felt her mind open up with everything she had been avoiding asking. They had an unspoken agreement not to remind each other of the vampire issue, but the spliff made her curiosity far stronger than her fear.
“I’ve never done it.” Emily whispered. “But I know it involves draining the blood, and replacing it. Something in our bodies changes it, and when it goes into the other body, if there’s more of ours that goes in than whatever normal blood is left inside, it warps it. I don’t know. But that’s it, really.” Emily turned to look at her, gazing at her intently. She returned it, both of them silent.
“You’ve never turned anyone?” Naomi bit her lip slightly as Emily licked her own.
“Never wanted to.” She shrugged and looked away, breaking the gaze.
“How often do you have to, well, feed?” Naomi felt her heart rate pick up as Emily looked at her slightly guilty.
“Everyday.” Emily waited, sitting up when Naomi swallowed and frowned.
“So you’ve been, with people, and biting them, everyday?” Naomi sat up as well, hating the jealousy in her stomach because that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
“Yes.” Emily picked up the long stick, poking the fire again.
“Oh.” Naomi muttered, staring into the fire. It was stupid to feel like a jealous girlfriend, and yet here she was, picturing Emily against the necks of hundreds of blondes who giggled and held her close.
“It’s a necessity, nothing more.” Emily took a moment to turn and look at her, and Naomi saw the uncertainty in her face.
“So you were with someone before you came and got me?” Naomi blinked. “With someone every time before you came to me?”
Emily nodded. “I’m always full when I see you, it’s safer.” Emily played with the blanket, and Naomi reached for the vodka bottle and opened it, taking a long swallow.
“Right, well, I have no clue what to say to that.” She swallowed again, wincing when it burnt her throat.
Emily blinked at her, her face clearing as she seemed to paused. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
Naomi scoffed, drinking a final time, and twisting the lid back onto the bottle. She put it on the ground next to her, before turning to Emily and taking a deep breath.
“Don’t be stupid.” She said, leaning forward suddenly and pressing her lips to Emily’s.
She felt the alcohol warming her stomach, felt slightly dizzy as it combined with the spliff in her blood and she felt the world tip. She kept her lips against Emily’s, Emily slowly starting to push back.
“You’re sure?” Emily mumbled against her lips, pulling back for a moment even with her hands reaching to take her shoulders.
“Of course not.” Naomi hastily answered, leaning forward again.
Emily met her half way, opening her mouth after a moment and moaning when their tongues met. Naomi grabbed at Emily’s waist, pulling her toward her, Emily pushing back until Naomi was forced to lean back, and she was slightly alarmed at how much she liked having a lapful of Emily.
Emily shifted her knees over Naomi’s until she was sitting in her lap, and Naomi stretched her arms around Emily, pulling her closer.
Their lips slipped over each other’s, Naomi opening her mouth and groaning as Emily shifted her hips forward, pressing their chests together. She clutched at Emily’s back, tilting her head sideways and pressing their mouths so hard together that all of a sudden the entire world consisted of the mouth eagerly kissing her own, the scent of Emily’s skin, the hands tangling in her hair.
There was something sharp in her mouth and she flinched, and Emily froze, before moving so quickly away from her that Naomi still had her eyes closed and mouth open before she realised that Emily was gone.
“Sorry.” Emily said shakily, on the other side of the fire, her eyes squeezed shut. “Fuck.”
Naomi looked at her dazedly, reaching up to touch the tiny cut on the inside of her lip. It didn’t hurt, not that much.
“You can’t control that?” She asked when Emily finally opened her eyes, and when she spoke her teeth looked normal.
“Not always. It’s worse than being a teenage boy, I swear.” She muttered, looking apprehensively at Naomi and staying away from her.
“Right.” Naomi said, adjusting her shirt. “Well.” She looked around awkwardly, trying to get her breathing under control. “It’s entirely unfair that I’m a bit fucked up and you’re not.”
Emily slowly crawled back to the blanket, making sure to keep some distance between them.
“There’s a lot of things that are entirely unfair.” She murmured, before giving Naomi a strained smile. “I guess we should head back?”
Naomi blinked in surprise, feeling slightly disappointed. But what had she been expecting? She nodded instead, helping Emily to pack up as best as she could, feeling still dizzy and out of it, but it would make the bike riding an experience.
They got back to Naomi’s house an hour later, Naomi feeling far more tired than stoned or drunk anymore. She nearly unbalanced herself as she got off the bike, Emily reaching a steadying hand out to place on the small of her back. She loved when Emily did that.
“Thanks.” She said softly, turning to look at Emily in the moonlight.
“Thanks for coming, and not freaking out.” Emily said back, her eyes flickering to her mouth.
“I think I hit the point of no return a long time ago.” She shook her head slightly, her eyes slipping shut when Emily leant forward to kiss her cheek. She moved her head at the last moment forcing their lips to touch.
“You can change your mind at any time.” Emily whispered when she pulled away, only to lean their foreheads together. “I’ll understand.”
Naomi sighed. “I know.” She felt herself smile, because it was true.
V^^^^^V
Her dad smiled at her, looking her up and down for a moment, before she felt herself blush. She’d put a bit more effort into her outfit, and realised she’d already told her dad she was going out with Emily that night.
“You look lovely.” He said, and she shrugged.
“It’s nothing.” She held her bag tighter against her, unsuccessfully shielding herself from him. He seemed to take the hint, though, giving her a sad smile.
“Well, have a wonderful time and be back,” He seemed to flounder for a moment. “At a reasonable time.” He turned away from her, and she felt a stab of guilt.
“Dad.” She said, waiting for her to turn around. “Thanks.”
“For?” He asked, and she rolled her eyes, but then smiled at him.
“Just being generally great, really.” She looked up at him, feeling strangely emotional as he reached out to touch her face.
“I don’t want to lose you again, love.” He gave her a slightly watery smile. “And you’re a bright girl, and beautiful, and whatever decision you’ve made, you have my support.” He seemed to think for a moment, quickly adding. “Your mother’s, too.”
She smiled at him, reaching forward to hug him tightly.
“I really like her, Dad.” She mumbled into his shoulder, unable to look him in the eye and admit something like that.
He stiffened, and then squeezed her into a tighter hug.
“If she breaks your heart she’ll have to deal with me.” He chuckled into her hair, and she felt him take a deep, shuddery breath. When he pulled back, he wiped his eyes, and she felt the need to wipe hers as well. “And I’m actually quite relieved I don’t have to worry about you falling pregnant.”
“Oh God, Dad.” She shook her head, screwing her face up, as he grinned at her kindly.
“Have a good night, love.” He leant forward and kissed her forehead, and she was relieved when a car horn tooted outside and she could leave this alarmingly emotional interaction, and what she had just admitted, for the first time, out loud.
V^^^^^V
They sat in the park with a bottle of wine, Emily watching the stars as Naomi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, staring at her.
“What do Tony and the rest of them do, exactly?” She asked, taking another drink and taking a drag from the spliff Emily had been kind enough to get for her.
“Well, Tony had these grand ideas of universities and careers but I don’t think the others really went for it.” Emily put her arms under her head, smiling at Naomi. “Michelle talked him down, said they didn’t have to go that far to be able to, well, not exist solely as vampires.”
Naomi exhaled, wondering for a moment about her own future.
“Sid and Chris were arguing about an ‘Old Tony’?” She raised her eyebrows at Emily, finishing the spliff and feeling a grin stretching across her face.
Emily blinked thoughtfully, before shrugging slightly. “He was worse than any of us, once. I didn’t know him then though, so for me he’s always been this Tony.” Emily went quiet, and Naomi lay down next to her. “The sunlight nearly killed him, or did something like it.”
“So what, the near death experience made him appreciate life or something?” Naomi frowned, staring up at the stars. There was so much she couldn’t comprehend, the least of which was the fact that there were so many stars in the sky, so many different planets and solar systems. She thought of Cassie and extraterrestrials, and blinked because Jesus Christ she was stoned.
“Yeah.” Emily rolled her head toward her, smiling.
“Should we lock Katie outside on a sunny day and see if she has a change of heart, then?” She giggled, though it fell short when she noticed that Emily had frowned.
“I don’t know how to help her.” Emily sat up, putting their belongings back into the bag she’d brought, and Naomi felt like she was deflating with disappointment because she didn’t want to go home yet.
“Already?” She sat up, sighing.
Emily gave her a small smile. “It’s late, and your dad won’t like it if I keep you out all night.”
Naomi snorted. “Please, he’s just glad I won’t get pregnant.” She grimaced slightly when Emily blinked at her in surprise. “He knows you’re, well. He knows.” Naomi mumbled.
Emily leant forward and kissed her quickly, pulling back before Naomi had time to react.
As Emily pulled the car up outside her house, Naomi took her time unbuckling her seatbelt.
“Coming in?” She asked, avoiding looking at Emily because she sounded far too hopeful and hated it.
“I can’t.” Emily told her, turning to face her. “I haven’t, well. I didn’t have time after college before I picked you up and…” Emily shook her head. “Anyway.”
Naomi blinked. “Right.” She said, wondering that the thought was relieving as opposed to terrifying. “Well then.” She leant toward Emily, grinning as their lips touched.
It was the spliff, probably, that made her moan before their tongues had even touched. Probably the wine that made her grasp at Emily’s shoulders, and pull her half out of the driver’s seat and onto her. Naomi felt her head pushed back against the window, felt the eagerness with which Emily kissed her.
She wasn’t sure who deepened it, but when Emily moved to her neck, she bit her lip. “Oh God.” She groaned as one of Emily’s hands moved to her tit, and cupped it, her thumb finding her nipple and pressing.
She clutched at Emily’s shoulders, Emily’s lips against her neck, tongue licking a path back to her cheek, before Emily pushed their mouths together again. She felt the sharpness, felt Emily still, and wanted to swear because it was just getting good.
Emily pulled back, her eyes and mouth squeezed shut, and Naomi brought a hand forward to cup Emily’s cheek.
“Emily.” She whispered. “Emily.” She said it more firmly. “It’s okay.”
Emily shook her head, making is if to move back, and Naomi brought her other hand to other side of Emily’s face and held it.
“Emily look at me.” She whispered, staring resolutely into Emily’s eyes as she opened them.
“I don’t want you to see.” Emily mumbled, bringing up one of her own hands to cover her mouth.
“I want to see.” Naomi whispered again, and she did.
Emily hesitated, before opening her lips slightly and moving her hand away, wincing when she revealed the fangs in her mouth.
“Oh.” Naomi couldn’t stop staring at them. She shakily moved one of her hands to touch them, Emily’s eyes slipping shut when Naomi’s thumb lightly dragged across one of the fangs.
Naomi pressed the flesh of her thumb to one of the teeth, wincing slightly when the pressure broke the skin. They were sharp.
Emily’s eyes opened in panic, but Naomi stared at her resolutely, slipping her thumb into Emily’s mouth. Emily groaned, low in her throat, wrapping her lips around the thumb and sucking.
Naomi pulled her thumb away after a moment, realising somewhere through the haze of spliff that she was incredibly fucking turned on.
She bit her lip, gazing into Emily’s eyes when they opened.
It was like she was watching herself when she tilted her head to the side, and offered her neck. Thought the surprise on Emily’s face should’ve mirrored her own, and yet she wanted it. Wanted to be the one who satisfied her at least in some way.
“No.” Emily mumbled, but Naomi shook her head.
“I want you to.” Naomi smiled at Emily, did her best to make it reassuring, even as Emily visibly shuddered in front of her.
“No.” Emily mumbled again, even as she was leaning forward.
Naomi gently moved her hands to the back of Emily’s neck, and pulled her to her own. She felt Emily press her mouth, open, against her and then the slightest tinge of pain. She hissed when the skin opened, though it was as much because it hurt as because it felt, well, fucking incredible. Emily was so gentle, so loving, the horror of it was forgotten.
Naomi ran her hands over Emily’s back, and Emily moved one of her own back to Naomi’s chest. She shifted her legs awkwardly over the space between the seats, ignoring the discomfort of the doorhandle digging into her back. Emily brought her own legs forward, climbing on top of her, and again Naomi marvelled at just how much she enjoyed having Emily this close.
One of them groaned, but she wasn’t sure who. Felt Emily’s hips lightly grinding down onto her own, felt her own hands settle below Emily’s waist and aid her movements.
“Fuck.” She muttered, lifting her own hips in a futile attempt to get closer to Emily.
Emily pulled back, then, licking her lips and resting her forehead against Naomi’s. Emily’s body stilled for a moment, and she gently took her hand away from Naomi’s chest, and brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit it.
They stared at each other as Emily coated the wound on her neck with her own blood, and Naomi forgot that it had hurt at all once it healed.
“That was…” Emily whispered, her eyes slipping shut.
“Uhuh.” Naomi whispered back, before Emily leant backwards and turned to slide her body back into the driver’s seat.
“You can come in now.” Naomi blew out a breath, her eyelids hooded as she straightened, wincing only slightly when her back cracked.
“You’re sure?” Emily asked, and Naomi wanted to roll her eyes. Emily giggled, awkwardly. “Right, of course.”
Naomi giggled as they walked up her stairs in the dark, trying not to make any noise. She was unbalanced, though, and kept falling into the wall as Emily snorted behind her.
She threw off her jacket when they were in her room, carelessly throwing it into a corner, and she grinned at Emily when Emily giggled.
“You’re wasted.” Emily said, before snorting again. “Fuck, so am I.”
Naomi nodded, smiling tantalisingly at Emily. She laughed, though, ruining any illusion of sexiness when she tripped over her own feet and fell on the bed. She clambered onto it, rolling onto her back and opening her arms.
Emily kicked her shoes off, teetering slightly, before climbing onto the bed toward Naomi and laying her head onto Naomi’s chest.
Naomi wrapped her arms around her and closed her eyes with a grin.
“Vampire.” Naomi giggled, turning her head so she could press her lips against Emily’s forehead. “Honestly.”
Emily lifted her face, kissing Naomi clumsily.
“Please, it took me years to get used to it, and I am one.” Emily smiled against her mouth, and Naomi found she had difficulty keeping her eyes open.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” she mumbled. “What about when I’ve got my period?” She snorted when Emily groaned into her shoulder, and she wrapped her arms tighter around her.
“Fucking hell.” Emily gave her a pointed look as she propped herself up on one arm and broke the embrace. “Do you actually want to know?”
Naomi yawned, loudly, blinking at Emily for a moment before screwing her face up. “Possibly not.” She said.
Emily smirked at her, and Naomi pulled her back down.
“What do you want to dream about tonight?” Emily nuzzled her, actually nuzzled her, and Naomi giggled at the feeling.
“Something nice. Relaxing. Surprise me?” She felt Emily’s hand lightly stroking her arm, and fell asleep with a smile on her face.
She dreamt she was lying on a yacht, topless and sunbathing while the ocean gently rocked her. The sun was beating down on her face, and her skin felt lovely and warm. There was music playing on an old fashioned radio, and she didn’t wonder how it had gotten on the boat. It was music she hadn’t heard before, and as a shadow fell across her vision, blocking out the sun, she heard Emily’s voice.
“This is my favourite song.”
Emily moved to sit down near her, also topless and wearing just a sarong. She was tanned, and smiling.
“Hungry?” She offered Naomi a platter of different coloured food, and Naomi eyed them all, only barely registering that Emily was eagerly eating from the tray.
“Not especially.” She smiled, closing her eyes and propping her head up with one arm. The movement caused her chest to jut out slightly, and when she opened her eyes Emily was staring at her tits.
Emily blushed, and there was something that ached, even within the dream, to see it. To watch Emily’s chest as it rose and fell with breath, until she realised she was blatantly staring at Emily’s tits as well.
“I could put shirts on us?” Emily asked shyly, licking her lips and setting down the tray.
Naomi beckoned with one hand. “Or you could come here?”
Emily grinned before crawling over to her, laying her head on Naomi’s chest. Emily’s hand began to trace lines on Naomi’s stomach, and Naomi swore she could actually feel it.
“This is nice.” She murmured, turning to kiss Emily’s forehead, relishing the sunshine and warmth.
Her own hand trailed along Emily’s bare shoulder, and she could feel Emily’s tits pressing into her skin.
Emily lifted her head, turning to face her, and Naomi snaked an arm around her shoulders and pulled.
Emily’s lips were warm, inviting. Her mouth opened, and Naomi slipped her tongue into it, Emily’s hand moving from her stomach to her breast as she did so. Emily cupped her tit, her thumb lightly swiping over her nipple, before she tore her mouth away from Naomi’s to replace her thumb with her tongue, gently sucking the nipple into her mouth.
Naomi moaned, her hands grasping Emily by the shoulders, her hair. Emily was rolling her nipple in her mouth, and after a moment lifted her head to give Naomi a cheeky smile.
“Is this still nice?” Emily’s voice rasped, and Naomi smirked back. She lifted her head and caught Emily’s mouth in reply, pushing against her until they had rolled over and Naomi was on top.
Naomi ran a hand over Emily’s chest as her tongue pressed against Emily’s. She moved her hips, slipping her legs between Emily’s and reaching one hand down to grab the outside of Emily’s thigh and pull the leg around her waist.
“Jesus.” Emily moaned against her mouth, before gasping when Naomi brought the hand at her thigh around to slip between their bodies and press against her cunt.
Naomi’s eyes jerked open, and Emily jumped, startled. She leant away from Naomi looking incredibly guilty, and still somewhat stoned, though Naomi could only see her by moonlight.
“Fuck.” Naomi croaked, realising she was incredibly wet and Emily was no where near being close enough to her, had instead rolled to the far side of the bed and gone quiet.
“I’m really sorry, I’m a bit stoned and got carried away.” Emily whispered, and Naomi shook her head, still half asleep and slightly confused. “I can go?”
“Or you could come here?” Naomi reached an arm out, and remembered saying that exact thing in the dream. Or whatever the fuck that was.
Naomi didn’t hesitate when Emily was close enough, grabbed her by the shirt and pulled until their lips slammed together. She kept pulling on Emily’s shirt even as she pushed back against her mouth. She had never been this turned on in her life, ignored the fumbling they hadn’t had in the dream, or the exasperated pause when Naomi kicked the covers off her legs so Emily could lie on her properly.
Emily slipped her thigh between Naomi’s, pressing hard enough to make Naomi gasp. She moved her hands to Emily’s back, quickly pulling her shirt up and though she hadn’t intended it, was nonetheless agreeable when Emily took it as a sign to take it off.
Naomi cupped Emily’s tits, staring at them in the moonlight before bringing her mouth to one and sucking.
“Harder.” Emily groaned out, holding herself above Naomi and squeezing her eyes shut.
Naomi complied, raking her teeth over the nipple before pulling back and looking at Emily, who had her eyes closed and mouth open, fangs extended. Emily looked down at her after a moment, eyes hooded, and Naomi felt herself smile and tilt her neck to the side with a raised eyebrow. She was breathing heavily, and Emily looked at her softly for a moment before leaning down and lifting Naomi’s shirt.
Emily licked her stomach, placing kisses against her hipbones, and dragging the waistband on her pyjama pants down with one hand, her lips following. Naomi lifted her hips, and Emily pulled the pants off her, throwing them somewhere into the dark room.
Naomi felt her legs open of their own accord, exposing herself completely, and would’ve bothered about decency if she wasn’t so fucking ready. She remembered the club bathroom stall, and trembled with anticipation.
Emily licked at the juncture between her groin and thigh, and Naomi hissed and spread her legs wider. Emily lifted one of Naomi’s legs over her shoulder as she settled herself between Naomi’s legs, running her other hand over Naomi’s stomach lightly and grinning at her before dipping her head.
Holy fucking Jesus Christ, Naomi thought as her eyes slammed shut and her back arched. Emily’s tongue licked the length of her cunt, before fluttering at the skin just beneath her clit.
Naomi reached blindly either side of her, finding nothing but blankets and gripping them as Emily moved her tongue slowly but surely over her clit, the hand on Naomi’s stomach snaking it’s way down until Emily lifted her head away, and replaced the motions of her tongue with a finger.
“Alright?” She whispered, and Naomi felt herself give a shaky smile.
“Oh yeah.” She moaned as Emily added a little more pressure, smirking.
Emily’s head moved to the juncture of her groin and thigh, and Naomi braced herself for the slight pain of Emily’s bite. But it didn’t come. Instead she felt the bed shift slightly as Emily moved back up her body, kissing a path back to her mouth, before nestling her hips so they were positioned between Naomi’s legs. Naomi moved her hands to the waist band of Emily’s jeans, pushing insistently until Emily sat back, removing her hand from her clit to undo them and slide them off, her underwear following.
Emily leant forward again, Naomi sighing when Emily’s hand resumed the motions against her clit.
Emily leant down, kissing Naomi softly, before turning her head to Naomi’s neck. Emily’s finger slowed, and Naomi felt Emily move her hand lower. She was about to ask what was happening when Emily bit her neck, simultaneously sliding two fingers deep inside her, and Naomi cried out.
“Fuck!” Naomi was breathing so heavily, was so lost in sensation she didn’t care if anyone heard her, let alone her dad.
Emily pulled her fingers out of Naomi, sliding them in again as she sucked at Naomi’s neck, making the smallest of noises in the back of her throat. Naomi clutched at Emily’s shoulders, her hips slowly grinding down into Emily’s hand.
She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing, but one of Naomi’s hands eased between their bodies, her fingers finding Emily’s clit after a moment, and Emily sucked harder at her neck. She moved her fingers experimentally, groaning when Emily curled her fingers inside her in response.
Naomi could feel a liquid heat low in her stomach, couldn’t quite grasp onto any other concept than “More.”
Emily added a third finger, and Naomi tangled her free hand in Emily’s hair, pulling Emily even closer into her neck.
Emily was rocking her hips against Naomi’s hand, causing the back of it to grind into Naomi’s clit. Naomi was swimming in sensation, an orgasm approaching so fast her toes were already starting to curl.
Emily thrust her hips forward faster and Naomi began to pant against Emily’s ear.
“Fuck. Please don’t stop.”
It was getting too much. Emily’s fingers curling, her hips thrusting, her mouth sucking. The feel of Emily against her fingers, familiar and foreign all at once, and the shudders going through her as she moaned into Naomi’s neck.
“Fuck, I’m going to come.” Naomi moaned breathlessly, before time and everything else suddenly halted and stood still.
“Me too.” Emily groaned out, before sucking on her neck so hard Naomi thought she was going to pass out.
She was gasping for breath, felt like she was standing in the ocean with a wave building behind her that she couldn’t see. It would obliterate her, crash over her head and send her flipping through the foam.
She welcomed it.
V^^^^^V
Part Two
Chapter: 8/9 But I Thought This Wouldn't Hurt A Lot
Pairing: Naomi/Emily
Word Count: 11736
Disclaimer: I don't own, or claim to own, anything related to Skins. Borrowing the characters and throwing them into an entirely different universe altogether. I also don't own Twilight, and wouldn't ever want to. Chapter title from MGMT's 'Kids'.
Summary: Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone...
N.B. Because I'm a twat, I have yet to thank my beta for being so beta-ry and generally catching my mistakes and telling me to FIX THIS and DELETE THIS, and sending me word documents with italicised comments about the bits she liked. So thanks, doopits! (no homo) Thanks to everyone else who gave this a look, whatever your names are. Also, this is unintentionally long so I had to split it into two parts. And it's graphic, in both sex and violence. But you know, vampires.
Previous Chapters: Chapter One: Cause Anywhere Is Better Than Here
Chapter Two: Like Stars Burning Holes Right Through The Dark
Chapter Three: The Youth Is Starting To Change
Chapter Four: Happiness Hit Her Like A Bullet In The Back
Chapter Five: Who Is The Lamb And Who Is The Knife
Chapter Six: No More Dreaming Like A Girl So In Love With The Wrong World
Chapter Seven: It Tastes Like Death But It Looks Like Fun
But I Thought This Wouldn't Hurt A Lot
Her dad woke her up gently, sitting on her bed and brushing her fringe away from her forehead.
“Sweetheart, you’re going to be late.” He murmured as her eyes blinked open, and she grimaced.
“Shit.” She muttered, and he chuckled.
“Are you alright?” He asked softly, standing and opening the curtains to her window. She winced at the sunlight, felt somewhat relieved to see it. It meant they wouldn’t be at college, and that was something.
“Yeah.” She mumbled, sitting up and stretching. “Just tired.” And she was. She felt exhausted, mentally and physically.
“Emily not taking you today?” He turned to her, offering a soft smile and she frowned slightly when she saw how understanding his gaze was.
“No.” She turned away from him, rubbing her face and getting out of the bed. Right, Emily. What the fuck was she going to do about her?
“Love, if you want to talk about anything, well,” He paused at the doorway to her room, leaving so she could get ready for college. “I know I’m your dad, and old, and probably ‘uncool’ because of that, but,” He shrugged his shoulders when she rolled her eyes at him. “I’m very open minded, and I love you, so I’ll never judge you, darling.” He stared at her for a moment, and she felt her cheeks flush. “Emily seems like a lovely girl.” He smiled, softly closing the door behind her.
She blew out a breath, wondering that her dad had gotten the point, and missed it at the same time so entirely. She walked to her wardrobe, leaning against the door before opening it. She could still hear it, ‘Emily seems like a lovely girl’, and couldn’t help but think that yes, she did seem that way didn’t she?
That was the bloody problem.
V^^^^^V
“So it would appear that Katie has completely dropped out, which makes sense when you think about it on account of the immortality issue and I’ve been quite confused as to why vampires were partaking in higher learning anyway.” JJ took a large bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. “I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before the others leave too and we don’t have to worry about them anymore.” He smiled at Naomi brightly, and she did her best to return it.
“This is good news.” Thomas smiled at her, too, and she wondered why the thought wasn’t as reassuring to her as it was to them.
“I’d love for things to be normal.” Pandora said before grinning, and Naomi couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter at how happy they all seemed.
“I am a bit upset that Effy is gone too, though. I thought she was rather beautiful.” JJ’s cheeks flushed slightly as he looked at his sandwich for a moment, and Thomas laughed and patted him on the back.
“I see your priorities are straight!” Thomas laughed again. “I will be truly happy when Cook is gone for good. He is a bad man.” Thomas placed his hand over Pandora’s until she looked at him and smiled.
“So Naomi, what universities are you looking at?” JJ munched happily on his sandwich, and Naomi felt her stomach drop slightly as she turned to look at him.
“What?” She took a sip of water. “Honestly, I have no idea. I hadn’t even thought about it what with,” She gestured, slightly awkward. “Everything.”
They all nodded understandingly, and JJ launched into each of the universities he was considering, and their rankings not just within the UK but also the world in general.
Naomi felt the slightest stirrings of panic, because she hadn’t thought about it, the future, not once. Not since Thomas and JJ had pulled her away from Emily, and reality as she’d known it had shattered and fallen on the ground around her feet.
Shit, she thought.
Fucking, cocking, shit.
V^^^^^V
She didn’t hear from Emily that night, distracted herself by pouring over university hand books and course information, biting her lip because how could she have been so stupid as to overlook something that important?
Her dad made her a cup of tea as she frowned at the booklets spread over the dining room table. She had a sudden awful and jealous thought that Emily and the lot of them didn’t need to do this. Katie didn’t have to worry about supporting herself in the future. Cook didn’t have to bother with finding something that he would both enjoy and be able to study academically. Emily didn’t have to stress about choosing the wrong course, and ruining her future forever.
Fucking vampires.
She couldn’t live with them, and couldn’t seem to live without, either.
V^^^^^V
She slammed her locker door closed, her hand jerking when she saw Emily casually leaning against the locker next to her own.
“Jesus.” She frowned, glancing quickly at the hallway filled with students.
“Katie’s gone.” Emily said, staring at her intently. “Effy too. So you don’t have to worry.”
Naomi kept her hand on her locker door, gripping her shoulder bag strap with the other.
“She could’ve killed me.” She muttered, frowning when Emily nodded.
“She didn’t, though.” Emily licked her lips, and Naomi sighed.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Emily. I’m in way over my head here and I think Katie’s right, and JJ, and the lot of them.” Naomi squared her shoulders. “You’re real, alright, but you don’t belong here. With normal people.” Naomi bit her lip. “With me.”
Emily seemed to take a moment to digest her words, before she leant into Naomi quickly and grabbed her by the collar. She pressed her face close to Naomi’s cheek.
“When I’m with you I feel like a better person.” Emily whispered against her ear, her voice cracking slightly. “I feel like a person, instead of a monster.”
Naomi felt her eyes close briefly, a hand reaching up to grab Emily’s wrist and she pulled it off her.
“It’s too hard.” She murmured, avoiding Emily’s eyes. “You make me lose control.”
She winced as someone ran into her from behind, and she heard the raucous laughter of teenage boys. Emily glared at the boy who was apologising profusely to her back, and Naomi turned toward him.
“Tosser.” She pushed him away, as he blinked at her and smirked.
“Actually, it’s Michael.” He said, and she wanted to roll her eyes.
“Congratulations?” She watched him shake his head at her, looking her up and down as he walked backwards to a group of his mates who were trying not outright laugh at him.
When she turned back to Emily, she was relieved to see she’d already gone.
She sat next to her in politics, trying not to gaze at the empty seats Katie and Effy had left behind them. It did make her feel better to know Katie had gone, but at the same time it didn’t change that Emily had killed her family, for Christ’s sake. It was like a far more dangerous version of Jerry Springer. ‘I’m In Love With A Vampire Who Killed Her Family, And Her Twin Wants To Eat Me For Breakfast’. She snorted, because really.
Emily turned to her, a serious look on her face, as Keiran started to grumble at them about exams, and preparation, and how none of them knew a bloody thing so pay attention because he didn’t want to lose his job.
“I’m sorry.” Emily blinked at her, guiltily, and Naomi was about to ask her what she was sorry for this time, when something exploded behind her eyes.
She was reading her younger brother a bedtime story, though she didn’t have a younger brother so that was bloody weird. She kept having to reach over and hit his arm because he wouldn’t be quiet, was trying to make her laugh by making crude jokes he’d heard from a friend of his.
Her sister was sitting impatiently on the other bed in the room, telling her to hurry up because it was getting late and they had to open the shop in the morning. She put the book down, kissing her brother on the forehead as he squirmed, laughing when he screwed up his face and tried to wipe the kiss away.
She got into the bed she shared with her sister, smirking and kicking when she was told to move over and her sister tried to physically push her. She closed her eyes, could hear her brother’s even breathing, sighing when her sister started talking about one of the rich boys in town who’d tried to kiss her at the festival the month before, and how he wouldn’t stop visiting the shop to buy silly items.
“Who buys just one potato? He fancies me.” Her sister whispered, clutching her arm. “As soon as he proposes we’re going to move somewhere exciting and exotic. Paris, or Rome. I don’t speak French or Italian but I’ll hire servants to translate.”
She rolled toward her sister, speaking softly in the dark. “And leave me to run the shop by myself? Traitor.” She snuggled further into the bed, hearing a snort next to her.
“You will come with me, silly. I will find you a duke or something to marry.” She heard her sister yawn. “Actually, if we find a duke I’ll divorce Samuel and marry them instead, and you can have him.”
They both giggled in the dark.
She had woken up disoriented, some weeks later, after it had happened. Her energy seemed limitless, and as she stared at her hands and arms she wondered that she could see each wrinkle, each hair follicle. She found she couldn’t take her eyes away from her life line, tracing it with her thumb.
The hunger was the worst part, the most awful pain she’d ever experienced. She was blind with it when she stumbled toward her house, seeking the only comfort she could think of. Home.
There were flashes of violence, of blood and screaming, and she hated every moment of it. Couldn’t seem to pinpoint where it was all coming from, driven by something else inside that was roaring.
Years later, she had seen the painting and dropped to her knees as she stared at it for the first time since she’d been turned.
Her father. She remembered her father showing her how to load a gun.
“It’s unladylike.” He’d winked at her, helping her hold it. “But I would rather you be unladylike than dead.”
She remembered the smell of him, masculine and protective. The way he had tickled her, later, throwing her over his shoulder as she squealed at him to put her down. Her sister thought they were too old for rough housing, her mother frowning at them disapprovingly when she saw them. She never wanted to be too old, though, to muck around with her dad.
She stared at the artistic rendition of her mother, remembering how she’d felt her stomach drop every time she had been told to dress nicer, in case a young gentleman saw her and wanted to marry her.
“You will not find a husband dressing like your brother.” Her mother had whispered harshly in her ear, grabbing her arm and forcing her to return to the bedroom and change.
But she had an earlier memory of her mother, the one she clung to above all others. She was three or four, and ill. Couldn’t seem to stop coughing, her entire chest hurting with each breath. Her sister was sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room in case she was infectious. Her mother held her close to her chest, humming and brushing her sweaty forehead with her fingertips.
“My little darling…” Her mother sang softly, holding her tightly. “She can fight anything…” Her mother kept singing her made up song, lulling her into sleep, making her feel safe, and like she really could do anything.
It was the image of her brother that had hurt the most, though.
He grew into a little shit, that much was true. But she remembered the day he was born, how she’d held him and just stared at his tiny face as he slept. She was only five, her father kneeling behind her and helping her support his head in her small arms.
“That is your baby brother, Emily.” Her dad whispered proudly into her ear. “He is lucky to have you as his older sister, you can protect him until he is old enough to protect you.” Her dad kissed the side of her face, and she saw Katie watching them from across the room, as if afraid that if she got too close to the baby she would hurt it.
She had hung the painting in the living room, sitting on the lounge in front of it for hours, until she was too hungry to be still or Katie bodily dragged her away.
When they had moved in with Tony and the rest of them, she had put it in her room. If she was going to do this, go back, and change, she wanted to be reminded why. Wanted them watching over her, as she hadn’t been able to do for them.
A bell rang somewhere, and Naomi felt herself pitch forward, hands splayed on the desk and breathing heavily.
“Jesus.” She whispered, blinking and trying to shake the memories Emily had just forced into her head.
“I haven’t had to look at that painting since I met you, so you know.” Emily pushed her chair back, standing.
“I’ve changed. And I’m not like Katie.”
Naomi kept seeing a faint image of James’ laughing face in her mind, heard the echo of Emily’s dad’s voice saying ‘You can protect him…’ until she finally fell asleep that night, and dreamt of nothing.
V^^^^^V
She told Emily to meet her in the park, seeing her sitting on the bench beneath the big tree, and took a deep breath when she sat down next to her.
“Firstly, never do that again.” She kept her voice stern, clutching the edge of the seat with her hands, looking down and seeing her knuckles white. “Secondly, never do that again.” She glanced at Emily, saw her nodding.
“I know. I just wanted to show you how it happened.” Emily was staring at her own hands, tracing her life line with her thumb, and Naomi shuddered when she saw it.
“He, your brother, he was adorable.” Naomi muttered, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
“He was, when he wasn’t being filthy.” Emily took out her own cigarette packet, shrugging at Naomi. “I feel like looking normal.” She mumbled around the filter, lighting it and inhaling deeply.
“You loved him.” Naomi exhaled, blinking at the sky. “And you killed him.” She glanced sideways at Emily, as Emily nodded slowly and exhaled her own breath of smoke.
“Unfortunate side effect of vampirism is you usually hurt the people closest to you.” Emily blew smoke out of her nostrils, the smoke thicker and heavier than Naomi’s exhalations.
“This is meant to comfort me how exactly?” Naomi flicked her cigarette, watching the small bits of ash float around on the breeze before falling to the ground and disappearing into the grass.
“I don’t want to be one anymore.” Emily said so softly Naomi barely heard her.
“Isn’t that impossible?” Naomi asked, raising her eyebrows when Emily looked at her. For the briefest moment she wondered if Emily was about to tell her that if they killed the master vampire, she’d be cured and they could all finish college together, and maybe her and Emily would live happily ever after.
“Completely impossible. There is no turning back.” Emily shrugged, looking decidedly sad for an instant, before blinking at her. “At least, not physically.”
“And you want to turn me?” Naomi felt her heart rate pick up, frowning slightly when Emily shook her head.
“God no. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.” Emily stubbed her cigarette out, pocketing the butt and Naomi felt slightly guilty that she’d thrown hers on the ground. “Immortality is one thing, but we were never built to last. Mortals I mean, humans, whatever. We were built with a time limit, and everything all of a sudden loses meaning when you literally have forever.” Emily rubbed her eyes.
“Katie said…” Naomi started, shutting her mouth when Emily rolled her eyes at her.
“Katie says a lot of things, half of which are delusional and half of which are designed to make it look like she’s in control. For fuck’s sake, she’s wrong about so much.” Emily lit another cigarette, her shoulders slumping as she exhaled. “I just wanted to spend time with you. You make me laugh, and forget, and I wish I had met you when I was alive.” Emily looked at her, and then shook her head, screwing her face up. “No, I wish I’d been alive now, and just gone to college with you like a normal person, asked you out. Been able to get drunk with you, and just laugh without all this shit hanging over my head.”
Naomi sighed. “Emily…” She started, but had no idea what to follow it with.
“I can’t ever imagine growing old with you, but I just would’ve liked the option.” Emily stubbed out the second cigarette, pocketing the butt with the first one.
Naomi bit her lip, breathing deeply through her nostrils. After a moment she reached out a hand, and gently placed it over Emily’s.
She squeezed, pushing away the incredulous thoughts in her head that spoke to her in Katie’s voice ‘Don’t forget that she’s mine. Otherwise, I can kill you now. I’m not fucking fussed either way.’
She gave Emily a smile instead, thought, fuck it. Katie was gone.
“Maybe we could pretend, for a bit.” She whispered, trying not to take too much delight in Emily’s return smile, or the way she felt their hands fit together as if they’d always meant to.
V^^^^^V
Emily picked her up that night, and they went to the cinema, arguing over what to see. She wanted to see an independent film, and Emily wanted to watch the new Pixar animation because, she argued, she had never dreamt of such a thing in life, and was amazed that technology had gone that far just for entertainment purposes.
Naomi had finally rolled her eyes, and agreed with her, and they sat in the back row barely touching as Naomi grumbled at a small child loudly talking to the screen.
“I swear to God I want to gag him.” Naomi muttered, Emily laughing beside her.
“Just watch the movie. I’ve heard it’s amazing.” Emily smiled at her in the flickering dark, and Naomi felt herself forgetting about vampires and horrible things, focusing on the girl sitting beside her, shyly reaching over to hold her hand.
She was sniffling rather loudly only fifteen minutes into the movie, watching as two people fell in love and grew old together, tears slipping down her cheek when the old woman became sick and died. Emily handed her a tissue, and she hastily wiped her eyes as the old man attached thousands of balloons to his house, and flew off to fulfil the childhood wish of his dead wife.
Emily kept squeezing her hand at the funny moments, at the sad moments, at the beautiful ones. She couldn’t seem to brighten up though, from the first sequence. Couldn’t seem to shake that it was true, wasn’t it? She could never have that with Emily, if she wanted. She didn’t know if she wanted it, of course, was alarmingly panicked to think about a whole life with one person since she was only eighteen years old.
But, it would’ve been nice to have the option.
V^^^^^V
They still avoided each other at college, still acted like they were no longer friends. She made excuses not to go out with JJ, Thomas and Pandora on the weekends, telling them she was revising like crazy by herself and didn’t have time for social distractions.
At night Emily would pick her up and drive to their park, or they’d go to the cinema and hold hands in the dark. After a few weeks, she’d let Emily back into her room. Those nights Emily would sit by her bed, and tell her funny stories about the past until she fell asleep. Mainly about Chris, Sid and Cook, never about Katie or Tony.
They did nothing but hold hands, and Naomi was relieved most days because she wasn’t sure she could handle anything else. Could still see James in her head, and continually had nightmares about Katie appearing out of nowhere, throwing her into a car and trying to kill her.
She woke up one night, gasping and panicked, shrieking when someone put a hand on her arm.
“Naomi, it’s alright!” Emily rubbed her hand over her arm soothingly. “It was just a dream.”
“Awful.” She croaked, reaching to place a hand over her heart. “Katie killed me.” She blinked, wiping sweat from her forehead as the hand on her arm stilled.
“I won’t let that happen.” Emily said firmly, sliding down to spoon her, making comforting noises.
“Could you,” She asked, shutting her eyes and seeing Katie bearing her fangs. “Could you give me a nice dream?” She turned her head to Emily, opening her eyes and looking at her vulnerably. “Just tonight?” She could still feel the panic in her chest, hated the thought of her mind taking her back to the nightmare if she fell back to sleep.
Emily seemed to pause, and when she leant toward her, Naomi saw she looked strangely emotional.
“I’d be honoured.” Emily whispered, squeezing her arm. “Thank you.” She heard before she drifted back to sleep.
She dreamt of lying on a beach, the sun brightly shining down on her. She was wearing a bikini, and lazily watching the waves. She turned her head, saw Emily sun bathing next to her, felt her eyes drifting over the contours of Emily’s body.
When she woke up, she was smiling and could still hear the sound of Emily’s laughter as they played in the waves, the sun beating down upon them both.
“Nice dream?” Emily asked softly, and Naomi stretched.
“Actually, yeah.” Naomi blinked sleepily at Emily. “There are some perks, then?” She said, pleased when Emily raised her eyebrows at her.
“I’m glad you think so.”
Well, that was complicated. The cons certainly outweighed the pros. But as she thought back to her dream, the fact she’d let Emily back into her room at all, well.
She would take whatever positives she could get.
V^^^^^V
“Would you like to invite Emily over for dinner?” Her dad asked one Saturday morning, raising his eyebrows at her over his tea cup.
“Why?” She replied, frowning at her toast.
“Well, you seem to be getting along again and I thought perhaps she could come round, Veronica could as well. We could make a night of it.” He shrugged at her.
She felt her mouth drop open. Was her dad asking her to double date?
“Er, no. That’s alright.” She felt more than alarmed, because her dad looked like he was ready to tackle something, and she hated that she knew what was coming.
“Sweetheart, I’m not as daft as I look. I know she sleeps over a lot more than, well, any of your friends.” He looked at her patiently as she felt her face heat up. She wanted to laugh at the word ‘sleep’, though it was slightly painful at the same time.
“Dad…” She started, but he reached over to take her hand and cut her off.
“If you’re happy darling, it’s all that matters.” He squeezed her hand, before smiling at her and standing, taking a deep breath and she realised he was nervous too.
“I’m, shit, I don’t know.” She shook her head, not even caring that she’d sworn.
The last time she had felt happy had been before, dancing with Emily and her friends in a club, feeling young and free and not knowing that vampires actually existed.
V^^^^^V
Her mother called her before Emily picked her up, asking about university preferences and whether she felt like visiting London any time soon. It wasn’t that far away really, her mother said hopefully, and she bit her lip.
Sure, she’d agreed quickly, maybe sometime soon. Her mother told her she loved her, and she hastily said “Me too.” before hanging up and blowing out a breath.
She did love her mother, of course. It was just so hard to say it.
V^^^^^V
“What the fuck?” She stared at the bicycles, and Emily’s indulgent grin.
“Just, trust me, alright?” Emily rang one of the bicycle bells, laughing when Naomi rolled her eyes and gestured to the skirt she was wearing.
“I’ll flash everyone if I ride that in this.” She heaved her bag over her shoulder, shaking her head when Emily winked.
“I’ll ride in front, protect your decency if you like.” Emily handed her a helmet, clearly pleased as Naomi doubtfully swung her leg over the blue bike, Emily mounting the green.
“Bloody hell.” She muttered as Emily started pedalling, and Naomi struggled to remember being an eight year old and enjoying riding a bike.
It was actually fun, she thought, cycling next to Emily and laughing as Emily smugly took her hands off the bars and held them in the air.
“Show off!” She called out, ringing the bell on her handle bars and doing her best to give Emily a disinterested look when she turned around to look at her.
“Someone’s trying to impress you.” Emily winked, giggling when Naomi flipped her off.
“Because I’m clearly unimpressed by the whole immortality thing.” Naomi rolled her eyes, the bike wobbling slightly as she did so.
Emily lead them through Bristol, to the countryside, and finally to a small clearing that looked out onto a surprisingly beautiful lake. Naomi sighed as she looked at it, laying the bike on the ground and taking off the helmet. She put her bag down, walking to the edge of the lake and gazing at the view.
“It’s beautiful.” She said softly, turning to glance at Emily as she walked over to join her.
“This is where Katie brought me.” Emily murmured, giving her a meaningful look until Naomi felt her face say, ‘Oh.’ Emily shrugged. “It was the last thing I saw before I died, the first thing when I came to, after.”
A cool breeze made Naomi shiver, and she frowned. “You lived near here?”
Emily nodded. “Seemed strangely cyclic to make a go of it in the same city I lived in, before.”
Naomi looked around, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. “Why did you bring me here?”
Emily took her hand. “You wouldn’t believe it was my happy place. But I still come here sometimes, and sit, and wonder. I haven’t shared it with anyone else.”
Naomi looked at her dubiously. “Other than Katie.” She felt Emily step closer to her, shaking her head.
“It means nothing to Katie. A lot means nothing to Katie. But I have to remember, where things begin and end. Have to remember that there is a beginning, and an end.” Emily gazed out over the lake, smiling wistfully.
“Well, I’m not swimming in the bloody thing. It looks freezing.” She stepped back from the edge of the lake, looking for somewhere she could sit down.
Emily let go of her hand, walking over to the bag she’d brought and taking a blanket out of it. She lay it down a few metres from the edge of the lake, and began collecting sticks from the surrounding area.
She brought Emily’s bag over to the blanket and sat down with it, feeling vaguely useless. She frowned when something clinked inside, peering in and pulling out a bottle of vodka and a small metal tin. Inside the tin was a neatly rolled cigarette, and when she smelt it she realised it was spliff.
Emily started a small fire, raising an eyebrow at Naomi when she saw what she’d taken out of her bag.
“Snoop.” She said, moving to settle beside her, using a long stick to poke the flames.
“What exactly are these for?” Naomi asked, holding up the vodka bottle and spliff.
“Just because I can’t have fun doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” Emily shrugged, glancing at Naomi and waiting.
“What, so I get fucked up and lose my inhibitions or something?” Naomi snorted. “By myself? Nice try.” She put the vodka down, holding onto the spliff.
Emily gave her a look. “Of course not, I just brought them to, you know, be nice.”
Naomi took out a lighter, holding the flame to the end of the spliff and sucking.
“Well, if you insist.” She muttered, inhaling and closing her eyes. Altering her reality seemed strangely attractive, actually. And it was mild, it wasn’t like she’d tear her clothes off and throw herself onto Emily if she was just a bit stoned.
Besides, she thought, her mind expanding sideways. Spliff was the perfect drug to deal with thoughts that dealt with forever, and the supernatural, and things she couldn’t seem to handle completely sober.
She giggled, crushing the spliff out halfway through, saving the rest for later.
Emily looked at her amused, before pulling a face at her and laughing.
“Feel better?” She asked, leaning close as Naomi snorted, and then giggled again.
“Oh yes, far better equipped to deal with general life business.” Naomi waved her hand, wishing she’d thought to bring crisps.
“I have to say, I’ve been impressed so far.” Emily leant back on her hands, tilting her head toward the sky. “I mean, you’ve had more than enough excuses to carry a wooden stake around with you at all times.”
Naomi leant back too, her head feeling heavy so she lay down. “Do they actually work?” She asked, turning to look at Emily.
“I don’t think so.” Emily shrugged. “I mean, the stake through the heart thing seems a bit strange when you consider our hearts don’t actually beat.” Emily lay down next to her after a moment, and Naomi continued to gaze at her.
“So sunlight kills you, then?”
Emily frowned at the sky. “I don’t know, I just know it hurts. Tony got caught in it, before I knew him. He survived though. And it was after he healed, apparently, he changed.” She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know if anything kills us.”
Naomi turned her head to the sky, her mind unable to think of anything other than ‘wow’. “How do you turn someone?” She didn’t know where that question came from exactly, just felt her mind open up with everything she had been avoiding asking. They had an unspoken agreement not to remind each other of the vampire issue, but the spliff made her curiosity far stronger than her fear.
“I’ve never done it.” Emily whispered. “But I know it involves draining the blood, and replacing it. Something in our bodies changes it, and when it goes into the other body, if there’s more of ours that goes in than whatever normal blood is left inside, it warps it. I don’t know. But that’s it, really.” Emily turned to look at her, gazing at her intently. She returned it, both of them silent.
“You’ve never turned anyone?” Naomi bit her lip slightly as Emily licked her own.
“Never wanted to.” She shrugged and looked away, breaking the gaze.
“How often do you have to, well, feed?” Naomi felt her heart rate pick up as Emily looked at her slightly guilty.
“Everyday.” Emily waited, sitting up when Naomi swallowed and frowned.
“So you’ve been, with people, and biting them, everyday?” Naomi sat up as well, hating the jealousy in her stomach because that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
“Yes.” Emily picked up the long stick, poking the fire again.
“Oh.” Naomi muttered, staring into the fire. It was stupid to feel like a jealous girlfriend, and yet here she was, picturing Emily against the necks of hundreds of blondes who giggled and held her close.
“It’s a necessity, nothing more.” Emily took a moment to turn and look at her, and Naomi saw the uncertainty in her face.
“So you were with someone before you came and got me?” Naomi blinked. “With someone every time before you came to me?”
Emily nodded. “I’m always full when I see you, it’s safer.” Emily played with the blanket, and Naomi reached for the vodka bottle and opened it, taking a long swallow.
“Right, well, I have no clue what to say to that.” She swallowed again, wincing when it burnt her throat.
Emily blinked at her, her face clearing as she seemed to paused. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
Naomi scoffed, drinking a final time, and twisting the lid back onto the bottle. She put it on the ground next to her, before turning to Emily and taking a deep breath.
“Don’t be stupid.” She said, leaning forward suddenly and pressing her lips to Emily’s.
She felt the alcohol warming her stomach, felt slightly dizzy as it combined with the spliff in her blood and she felt the world tip. She kept her lips against Emily’s, Emily slowly starting to push back.
“You’re sure?” Emily mumbled against her lips, pulling back for a moment even with her hands reaching to take her shoulders.
“Of course not.” Naomi hastily answered, leaning forward again.
Emily met her half way, opening her mouth after a moment and moaning when their tongues met. Naomi grabbed at Emily’s waist, pulling her toward her, Emily pushing back until Naomi was forced to lean back, and she was slightly alarmed at how much she liked having a lapful of Emily.
Emily shifted her knees over Naomi’s until she was sitting in her lap, and Naomi stretched her arms around Emily, pulling her closer.
Their lips slipped over each other’s, Naomi opening her mouth and groaning as Emily shifted her hips forward, pressing their chests together. She clutched at Emily’s back, tilting her head sideways and pressing their mouths so hard together that all of a sudden the entire world consisted of the mouth eagerly kissing her own, the scent of Emily’s skin, the hands tangling in her hair.
There was something sharp in her mouth and she flinched, and Emily froze, before moving so quickly away from her that Naomi still had her eyes closed and mouth open before she realised that Emily was gone.
“Sorry.” Emily said shakily, on the other side of the fire, her eyes squeezed shut. “Fuck.”
Naomi looked at her dazedly, reaching up to touch the tiny cut on the inside of her lip. It didn’t hurt, not that much.
“You can’t control that?” She asked when Emily finally opened her eyes, and when she spoke her teeth looked normal.
“Not always. It’s worse than being a teenage boy, I swear.” She muttered, looking apprehensively at Naomi and staying away from her.
“Right.” Naomi said, adjusting her shirt. “Well.” She looked around awkwardly, trying to get her breathing under control. “It’s entirely unfair that I’m a bit fucked up and you’re not.”
Emily slowly crawled back to the blanket, making sure to keep some distance between them.
“There’s a lot of things that are entirely unfair.” She murmured, before giving Naomi a strained smile. “I guess we should head back?”
Naomi blinked in surprise, feeling slightly disappointed. But what had she been expecting? She nodded instead, helping Emily to pack up as best as she could, feeling still dizzy and out of it, but it would make the bike riding an experience.
They got back to Naomi’s house an hour later, Naomi feeling far more tired than stoned or drunk anymore. She nearly unbalanced herself as she got off the bike, Emily reaching a steadying hand out to place on the small of her back. She loved when Emily did that.
“Thanks.” She said softly, turning to look at Emily in the moonlight.
“Thanks for coming, and not freaking out.” Emily said back, her eyes flickering to her mouth.
“I think I hit the point of no return a long time ago.” She shook her head slightly, her eyes slipping shut when Emily leant forward to kiss her cheek. She moved her head at the last moment forcing their lips to touch.
“You can change your mind at any time.” Emily whispered when she pulled away, only to lean their foreheads together. “I’ll understand.”
Naomi sighed. “I know.” She felt herself smile, because it was true.
V^^^^^V
Her dad smiled at her, looking her up and down for a moment, before she felt herself blush. She’d put a bit more effort into her outfit, and realised she’d already told her dad she was going out with Emily that night.
“You look lovely.” He said, and she shrugged.
“It’s nothing.” She held her bag tighter against her, unsuccessfully shielding herself from him. He seemed to take the hint, though, giving her a sad smile.
“Well, have a wonderful time and be back,” He seemed to flounder for a moment. “At a reasonable time.” He turned away from her, and she felt a stab of guilt.
“Dad.” She said, waiting for her to turn around. “Thanks.”
“For?” He asked, and she rolled her eyes, but then smiled at him.
“Just being generally great, really.” She looked up at him, feeling strangely emotional as he reached out to touch her face.
“I don’t want to lose you again, love.” He gave her a slightly watery smile. “And you’re a bright girl, and beautiful, and whatever decision you’ve made, you have my support.” He seemed to think for a moment, quickly adding. “Your mother’s, too.”
She smiled at him, reaching forward to hug him tightly.
“I really like her, Dad.” She mumbled into his shoulder, unable to look him in the eye and admit something like that.
He stiffened, and then squeezed her into a tighter hug.
“If she breaks your heart she’ll have to deal with me.” He chuckled into her hair, and she felt him take a deep, shuddery breath. When he pulled back, he wiped his eyes, and she felt the need to wipe hers as well. “And I’m actually quite relieved I don’t have to worry about you falling pregnant.”
“Oh God, Dad.” She shook her head, screwing her face up, as he grinned at her kindly.
“Have a good night, love.” He leant forward and kissed her forehead, and she was relieved when a car horn tooted outside and she could leave this alarmingly emotional interaction, and what she had just admitted, for the first time, out loud.
V^^^^^V
They sat in the park with a bottle of wine, Emily watching the stars as Naomi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, staring at her.
“What do Tony and the rest of them do, exactly?” She asked, taking another drink and taking a drag from the spliff Emily had been kind enough to get for her.
“Well, Tony had these grand ideas of universities and careers but I don’t think the others really went for it.” Emily put her arms under her head, smiling at Naomi. “Michelle talked him down, said they didn’t have to go that far to be able to, well, not exist solely as vampires.”
Naomi exhaled, wondering for a moment about her own future.
“Sid and Chris were arguing about an ‘Old Tony’?” She raised her eyebrows at Emily, finishing the spliff and feeling a grin stretching across her face.
Emily blinked thoughtfully, before shrugging slightly. “He was worse than any of us, once. I didn’t know him then though, so for me he’s always been this Tony.” Emily went quiet, and Naomi lay down next to her. “The sunlight nearly killed him, or did something like it.”
“So what, the near death experience made him appreciate life or something?” Naomi frowned, staring up at the stars. There was so much she couldn’t comprehend, the least of which was the fact that there were so many stars in the sky, so many different planets and solar systems. She thought of Cassie and extraterrestrials, and blinked because Jesus Christ she was stoned.
“Yeah.” Emily rolled her head toward her, smiling.
“Should we lock Katie outside on a sunny day and see if she has a change of heart, then?” She giggled, though it fell short when she noticed that Emily had frowned.
“I don’t know how to help her.” Emily sat up, putting their belongings back into the bag she’d brought, and Naomi felt like she was deflating with disappointment because she didn’t want to go home yet.
“Already?” She sat up, sighing.
Emily gave her a small smile. “It’s late, and your dad won’t like it if I keep you out all night.”
Naomi snorted. “Please, he’s just glad I won’t get pregnant.” She grimaced slightly when Emily blinked at her in surprise. “He knows you’re, well. He knows.” Naomi mumbled.
Emily leant forward and kissed her quickly, pulling back before Naomi had time to react.
As Emily pulled the car up outside her house, Naomi took her time unbuckling her seatbelt.
“Coming in?” She asked, avoiding looking at Emily because she sounded far too hopeful and hated it.
“I can’t.” Emily told her, turning to face her. “I haven’t, well. I didn’t have time after college before I picked you up and…” Emily shook her head. “Anyway.”
Naomi blinked. “Right.” She said, wondering that the thought was relieving as opposed to terrifying. “Well then.” She leant toward Emily, grinning as their lips touched.
It was the spliff, probably, that made her moan before their tongues had even touched. Probably the wine that made her grasp at Emily’s shoulders, and pull her half out of the driver’s seat and onto her. Naomi felt her head pushed back against the window, felt the eagerness with which Emily kissed her.
She wasn’t sure who deepened it, but when Emily moved to her neck, she bit her lip. “Oh God.” She groaned as one of Emily’s hands moved to her tit, and cupped it, her thumb finding her nipple and pressing.
She clutched at Emily’s shoulders, Emily’s lips against her neck, tongue licking a path back to her cheek, before Emily pushed their mouths together again. She felt the sharpness, felt Emily still, and wanted to swear because it was just getting good.
Emily pulled back, her eyes and mouth squeezed shut, and Naomi brought a hand forward to cup Emily’s cheek.
“Emily.” She whispered. “Emily.” She said it more firmly. “It’s okay.”
Emily shook her head, making is if to move back, and Naomi brought her other hand to other side of Emily’s face and held it.
“Emily look at me.” She whispered, staring resolutely into Emily’s eyes as she opened them.
“I don’t want you to see.” Emily mumbled, bringing up one of her own hands to cover her mouth.
“I want to see.” Naomi whispered again, and she did.
Emily hesitated, before opening her lips slightly and moving her hand away, wincing when she revealed the fangs in her mouth.
“Oh.” Naomi couldn’t stop staring at them. She shakily moved one of her hands to touch them, Emily’s eyes slipping shut when Naomi’s thumb lightly dragged across one of the fangs.
Naomi pressed the flesh of her thumb to one of the teeth, wincing slightly when the pressure broke the skin. They were sharp.
Emily’s eyes opened in panic, but Naomi stared at her resolutely, slipping her thumb into Emily’s mouth. Emily groaned, low in her throat, wrapping her lips around the thumb and sucking.
Naomi pulled her thumb away after a moment, realising somewhere through the haze of spliff that she was incredibly fucking turned on.
She bit her lip, gazing into Emily’s eyes when they opened.
It was like she was watching herself when she tilted her head to the side, and offered her neck. Thought the surprise on Emily’s face should’ve mirrored her own, and yet she wanted it. Wanted to be the one who satisfied her at least in some way.
“No.” Emily mumbled, but Naomi shook her head.
“I want you to.” Naomi smiled at Emily, did her best to make it reassuring, even as Emily visibly shuddered in front of her.
“No.” Emily mumbled again, even as she was leaning forward.
Naomi gently moved her hands to the back of Emily’s neck, and pulled her to her own. She felt Emily press her mouth, open, against her and then the slightest tinge of pain. She hissed when the skin opened, though it was as much because it hurt as because it felt, well, fucking incredible. Emily was so gentle, so loving, the horror of it was forgotten.
Naomi ran her hands over Emily’s back, and Emily moved one of her own back to Naomi’s chest. She shifted her legs awkwardly over the space between the seats, ignoring the discomfort of the doorhandle digging into her back. Emily brought her own legs forward, climbing on top of her, and again Naomi marvelled at just how much she enjoyed having Emily this close.
One of them groaned, but she wasn’t sure who. Felt Emily’s hips lightly grinding down onto her own, felt her own hands settle below Emily’s waist and aid her movements.
“Fuck.” She muttered, lifting her own hips in a futile attempt to get closer to Emily.
Emily pulled back, then, licking her lips and resting her forehead against Naomi’s. Emily’s body stilled for a moment, and she gently took her hand away from Naomi’s chest, and brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit it.
They stared at each other as Emily coated the wound on her neck with her own blood, and Naomi forgot that it had hurt at all once it healed.
“That was…” Emily whispered, her eyes slipping shut.
“Uhuh.” Naomi whispered back, before Emily leant backwards and turned to slide her body back into the driver’s seat.
“You can come in now.” Naomi blew out a breath, her eyelids hooded as she straightened, wincing only slightly when her back cracked.
“You’re sure?” Emily asked, and Naomi wanted to roll her eyes. Emily giggled, awkwardly. “Right, of course.”
Naomi giggled as they walked up her stairs in the dark, trying not to make any noise. She was unbalanced, though, and kept falling into the wall as Emily snorted behind her.
She threw off her jacket when they were in her room, carelessly throwing it into a corner, and she grinned at Emily when Emily giggled.
“You’re wasted.” Emily said, before snorting again. “Fuck, so am I.”
Naomi nodded, smiling tantalisingly at Emily. She laughed, though, ruining any illusion of sexiness when she tripped over her own feet and fell on the bed. She clambered onto it, rolling onto her back and opening her arms.
Emily kicked her shoes off, teetering slightly, before climbing onto the bed toward Naomi and laying her head onto Naomi’s chest.
Naomi wrapped her arms around her and closed her eyes with a grin.
“Vampire.” Naomi giggled, turning her head so she could press her lips against Emily’s forehead. “Honestly.”
Emily lifted her face, kissing Naomi clumsily.
“Please, it took me years to get used to it, and I am one.” Emily smiled against her mouth, and Naomi found she had difficulty keeping her eyes open.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” she mumbled. “What about when I’ve got my period?” She snorted when Emily groaned into her shoulder, and she wrapped her arms tighter around her.
“Fucking hell.” Emily gave her a pointed look as she propped herself up on one arm and broke the embrace. “Do you actually want to know?”
Naomi yawned, loudly, blinking at Emily for a moment before screwing her face up. “Possibly not.” She said.
Emily smirked at her, and Naomi pulled her back down.
“What do you want to dream about tonight?” Emily nuzzled her, actually nuzzled her, and Naomi giggled at the feeling.
“Something nice. Relaxing. Surprise me?” She felt Emily’s hand lightly stroking her arm, and fell asleep with a smile on her face.
She dreamt she was lying on a yacht, topless and sunbathing while the ocean gently rocked her. The sun was beating down on her face, and her skin felt lovely and warm. There was music playing on an old fashioned radio, and she didn’t wonder how it had gotten on the boat. It was music she hadn’t heard before, and as a shadow fell across her vision, blocking out the sun, she heard Emily’s voice.
“This is my favourite song.”
Emily moved to sit down near her, also topless and wearing just a sarong. She was tanned, and smiling.
“Hungry?” She offered Naomi a platter of different coloured food, and Naomi eyed them all, only barely registering that Emily was eagerly eating from the tray.
“Not especially.” She smiled, closing her eyes and propping her head up with one arm. The movement caused her chest to jut out slightly, and when she opened her eyes Emily was staring at her tits.
Emily blushed, and there was something that ached, even within the dream, to see it. To watch Emily’s chest as it rose and fell with breath, until she realised she was blatantly staring at Emily’s tits as well.
“I could put shirts on us?” Emily asked shyly, licking her lips and setting down the tray.
Naomi beckoned with one hand. “Or you could come here?”
Emily grinned before crawling over to her, laying her head on Naomi’s chest. Emily’s hand began to trace lines on Naomi’s stomach, and Naomi swore she could actually feel it.
“This is nice.” She murmured, turning to kiss Emily’s forehead, relishing the sunshine and warmth.
Her own hand trailed along Emily’s bare shoulder, and she could feel Emily’s tits pressing into her skin.
Emily lifted her head, turning to face her, and Naomi snaked an arm around her shoulders and pulled.
Emily’s lips were warm, inviting. Her mouth opened, and Naomi slipped her tongue into it, Emily’s hand moving from her stomach to her breast as she did so. Emily cupped her tit, her thumb lightly swiping over her nipple, before she tore her mouth away from Naomi’s to replace her thumb with her tongue, gently sucking the nipple into her mouth.
Naomi moaned, her hands grasping Emily by the shoulders, her hair. Emily was rolling her nipple in her mouth, and after a moment lifted her head to give Naomi a cheeky smile.
“Is this still nice?” Emily’s voice rasped, and Naomi smirked back. She lifted her head and caught Emily’s mouth in reply, pushing against her until they had rolled over and Naomi was on top.
Naomi ran a hand over Emily’s chest as her tongue pressed against Emily’s. She moved her hips, slipping her legs between Emily’s and reaching one hand down to grab the outside of Emily’s thigh and pull the leg around her waist.
“Jesus.” Emily moaned against her mouth, before gasping when Naomi brought the hand at her thigh around to slip between their bodies and press against her cunt.
Naomi’s eyes jerked open, and Emily jumped, startled. She leant away from Naomi looking incredibly guilty, and still somewhat stoned, though Naomi could only see her by moonlight.
“Fuck.” Naomi croaked, realising she was incredibly wet and Emily was no where near being close enough to her, had instead rolled to the far side of the bed and gone quiet.
“I’m really sorry, I’m a bit stoned and got carried away.” Emily whispered, and Naomi shook her head, still half asleep and slightly confused. “I can go?”
“Or you could come here?” Naomi reached an arm out, and remembered saying that exact thing in the dream. Or whatever the fuck that was.
Naomi didn’t hesitate when Emily was close enough, grabbed her by the shirt and pulled until their lips slammed together. She kept pulling on Emily’s shirt even as she pushed back against her mouth. She had never been this turned on in her life, ignored the fumbling they hadn’t had in the dream, or the exasperated pause when Naomi kicked the covers off her legs so Emily could lie on her properly.
Emily slipped her thigh between Naomi’s, pressing hard enough to make Naomi gasp. She moved her hands to Emily’s back, quickly pulling her shirt up and though she hadn’t intended it, was nonetheless agreeable when Emily took it as a sign to take it off.
Naomi cupped Emily’s tits, staring at them in the moonlight before bringing her mouth to one and sucking.
“Harder.” Emily groaned out, holding herself above Naomi and squeezing her eyes shut.
Naomi complied, raking her teeth over the nipple before pulling back and looking at Emily, who had her eyes closed and mouth open, fangs extended. Emily looked down at her after a moment, eyes hooded, and Naomi felt herself smile and tilt her neck to the side with a raised eyebrow. She was breathing heavily, and Emily looked at her softly for a moment before leaning down and lifting Naomi’s shirt.
Emily licked her stomach, placing kisses against her hipbones, and dragging the waistband on her pyjama pants down with one hand, her lips following. Naomi lifted her hips, and Emily pulled the pants off her, throwing them somewhere into the dark room.
Naomi felt her legs open of their own accord, exposing herself completely, and would’ve bothered about decency if she wasn’t so fucking ready. She remembered the club bathroom stall, and trembled with anticipation.
Emily licked at the juncture between her groin and thigh, and Naomi hissed and spread her legs wider. Emily lifted one of Naomi’s legs over her shoulder as she settled herself between Naomi’s legs, running her other hand over Naomi’s stomach lightly and grinning at her before dipping her head.
Holy fucking Jesus Christ, Naomi thought as her eyes slammed shut and her back arched. Emily’s tongue licked the length of her cunt, before fluttering at the skin just beneath her clit.
Naomi reached blindly either side of her, finding nothing but blankets and gripping them as Emily moved her tongue slowly but surely over her clit, the hand on Naomi’s stomach snaking it’s way down until Emily lifted her head away, and replaced the motions of her tongue with a finger.
“Alright?” She whispered, and Naomi felt herself give a shaky smile.
“Oh yeah.” She moaned as Emily added a little more pressure, smirking.
Emily’s head moved to the juncture of her groin and thigh, and Naomi braced herself for the slight pain of Emily’s bite. But it didn’t come. Instead she felt the bed shift slightly as Emily moved back up her body, kissing a path back to her mouth, before nestling her hips so they were positioned between Naomi’s legs. Naomi moved her hands to the waist band of Emily’s jeans, pushing insistently until Emily sat back, removing her hand from her clit to undo them and slide them off, her underwear following.
Emily leant forward again, Naomi sighing when Emily’s hand resumed the motions against her clit.
Emily leant down, kissing Naomi softly, before turning her head to Naomi’s neck. Emily’s finger slowed, and Naomi felt Emily move her hand lower. She was about to ask what was happening when Emily bit her neck, simultaneously sliding two fingers deep inside her, and Naomi cried out.
“Fuck!” Naomi was breathing so heavily, was so lost in sensation she didn’t care if anyone heard her, let alone her dad.
Emily pulled her fingers out of Naomi, sliding them in again as she sucked at Naomi’s neck, making the smallest of noises in the back of her throat. Naomi clutched at Emily’s shoulders, her hips slowly grinding down into Emily’s hand.
She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing, but one of Naomi’s hands eased between their bodies, her fingers finding Emily’s clit after a moment, and Emily sucked harder at her neck. She moved her fingers experimentally, groaning when Emily curled her fingers inside her in response.
Naomi could feel a liquid heat low in her stomach, couldn’t quite grasp onto any other concept than “More.”
Emily added a third finger, and Naomi tangled her free hand in Emily’s hair, pulling Emily even closer into her neck.
Emily was rocking her hips against Naomi’s hand, causing the back of it to grind into Naomi’s clit. Naomi was swimming in sensation, an orgasm approaching so fast her toes were already starting to curl.
Emily thrust her hips forward faster and Naomi began to pant against Emily’s ear.
“Fuck. Please don’t stop.”
It was getting too much. Emily’s fingers curling, her hips thrusting, her mouth sucking. The feel of Emily against her fingers, familiar and foreign all at once, and the shudders going through her as she moaned into Naomi’s neck.
“Fuck, I’m going to come.” Naomi moaned breathlessly, before time and everything else suddenly halted and stood still.
“Me too.” Emily groaned out, before sucking on her neck so hard Naomi thought she was going to pass out.
She was gasping for breath, felt like she was standing in the ocean with a wave building behind her that she couldn’t see. It would obliterate her, crash over her head and send her flipping through the foam.
She welcomed it.
V^^^^^V
Part Two