experimental weirdness, part 11
Title: An End Has a Start
Rating: R, defo
A/N: Um... this chapter seemed darker than normal... *ahem*
A/N 2: follow the tags for previous
Summer took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down.
The creepy guy was gone.
He’d left a little while ago saying he was hungry and she needed to calm down and think of a way out of this. She took deep, calming breaths as she let her eyes adjust to the dark.
She tried to survey the room, but it was slightly confusing.
Honestly, she expected them to be in a cave, or a warehouse or something like that. All those movies Seth had made her watch, all the captives had been taken to really remote, creepy places.
This just looked like someone’s basement.
And she realized, when she noticed the little window up near the ceiling, that it was a basement.
She was strung up in someone’s basement.
It should’ve made her feel better, but she felt worse. What if Seth and Ryan went looking for them in every cave and warehouse in town, but never thought they’d be in someone’s basement? Basements were common. Everyone had basements.
The sickening thought came that maybe Seth and Ryan wouldn’t find them. Maybe they weren’t even looking? Maybe Parker hadn’t gone to them; maybe he’d just skipped town?
Oh god, no one was coming for her, and Taylor still wasn’t waking up and she was really starting to worry.
She didn’t even know if Taylor was alive.
Summer tried to focus again. If no one was coming for her, she’d have to find her own way out. So she focused on her hands. She’d been trying to move her fingers ever since she woke up and she could finally feel the first tingle that told her blood was rushing back to them. Now she could feel the chain wrapped around her wrists and her heart sank a little.
They were tight.
She pulled at her wrists, trying to turn her hands different ways, but she couldn’t slip through. At this rate, she’d dislocate a shoulder before she got free.
She gave up and was about to start on the task of seeing if Taylor was alive, when she heard the distinct sound of someone walking down stairs, and something thumping down.
God, they really were in a basement.
“How’s that working out for you?” the creepy guy said when he came in, nodding up at her hands.
She was about to glare or say something in response, but he tugged something out from behind him and threw a whimpering girl onto the floor in front of her.
“Oh God,” the girl sobbed, looking up at Summer. “Oh God, help me.”
“Sorry,” the man sighed, “God doesn’t seem to be taking calls lately.”
He reached down and grabbed the girl’s hair, tugging until she stood up.
“Stop,” the girl sobbed, mascara running down her face as the man tilted her head to the side and Summer watched in horror as an extra set of teeth dropped down. The girl saw it, too, and screamed, struggling against him. “Help me!” she screamed, eyes shifting to focus on Summer.
Summer watched the man bite down on the girl’s neck, unable to move.
Not because of the chains.
She just couldn’t make herself move.
Blood pooled out from the man’s mouth and ran down the girl’s neck, over her shoulder, across her collarbone. Her sobs got lower, softer, less frequent until she finally went limp.
Summer watched the light go out of her eyes.
…
“Blood,” Ryan said, standing up from his crouched position.
“Taylor’s?” Parker asked from behind him, shifting from foot to foot.
“I don’t know,” Ryan sighed. “I’m not a fucking vampire, I can’t just tell whose blood it is.”
“Tire tracks,” Seth called from a little further out into the parking lot of Parker’s apartment building. “I’m guessing whatever it was got them into some sort of truck and took off at a pretty high speed.”
Ryan nodded and looked around for any security cameras.
It seemed like Seth had the same idea, because he walked back over. “Hey, are there any cameras here?” he asked Parker.
“I dunno,” Parker shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. “I can’t remember.”
That was pretty much when Ryan’s patience ran out.
He knew Seth wanted him to be civil, but this was ridiculous.
“Who the fuck took them?” he asked, turning to face Parker straight on.
“What?” Parker asked, backing up a step. “I don’t…”
“Shut up,” Ryan commanded and Parker’s jaw snapped shut. “You know who did this. There was a picture taped to your door. That’s not an accident, that’s a message. And now you’re gonna tell me who did this.”
…
Summer shook as she worked out her arms.
The tingling was almost painful, but she didn’t care. If she could feel her arms, that meant she could use them.
Not well, because they were still chained behind her back, but if - when - she got out of this, she’d at least have her arms. She’d been afraid of permanent damage from blood loss.
She still wasn’t sure how she’d managed to make the guy let her down. All she remembered was yelling really loudly about being strung up and she threatened to keep bitching until he either killed her or let her down.
It had, surprisingly, worked.
So now she and Taylor were in the corner of the room, secured to chains from the wall. She didn’t exactly want to know how they had gotten there.
Had the vampire installed them himself or was there like, some company called Dungeons R Us that sold chains and chaining accessories?
At least in this position, she could lean over and hear Taylor breathing.
She was alive.
She couldn’t say the same for the girl on the other side.
The vampire had decided it was hilarious to put the corpse of the girl right next to Summer, with her face turned toward her, eyes still open. If Summer turned to the right, she could see the accusing stare.
Why didn’t you help me?
“You know,” the vampire drawled, moving to sit on the floor in front of her. Just out of kicking range. “Your friend’s looking a little dead.”
“She’s not,” Summer said, looking over just to make sure. She could see Taylor’s chest rise and fall steadily.
“Shame. If she were dead, it wouldn’t really matter if I ate her or not.”
“But she’s not,” Summer said again, trying not to panic.
The vampire smirked and shifted forward so that he was leaning over Taylor, and Summer watched in horror as he bent down and licked some of the blood off her temple.
“She’s tasty,” the vampire grinned, standing back up. “I’ll give Parker another day to get here, otherwise I’m eating his girlfriend. Oh!” he breathed, looking elated, “you know what would be hilarious? If I turned her and let her go, so she could pretend she was still alive! Then Parker would be all thankful and bam! she’d turn on him.”
Summer’s heart skipped a few beats as she tried to think up some logical reason for him not to do that.
“Why do you want Parker?” she asked, because it was the only thing that came to her head. “I mean, this isn’t some random kill. You really seem to want Parker to suffer.”
“Suffer?” the vampire asked, looking slightly offended. “I just wanna freak him out a bit. I wanna see the look on his face when he realizes it’s me doing this. That’s gonna be so funny.”
“This is all a joke to you,” Summer whispered, more to herself than to him.
“Well, yeah,” the vampire said, frowning at her. “This is a joke. That’s what friends do.”
…
Parker tried not to twitch as he sat on his couch, Seth and Ryan standing in front of him with their arms crossed. He took a deep breath and began.
“Ethan’s always been… He was that kid in school that always had way too much energy and was always getting in trouble for some stupid prank or something. He was my best friend since we were three and he was always getting me in trouble. I mean, I never thought up the pranks or anything, it was always his idea, and I just kinda followed. In high school he got worse and started hanging with these weird goth kids and I was playing baseball and hanging with jocks, so we kinda split. That’s when I hurt my knee.”
“This is great backstory,” Ryan said through clenched teeth, “but I don’t really care.”
“This is… it has a point,” he tried. He looked over to Seth for help, but it seemed like he’d worn out his welcome there, too. “One day in senior year, we hung out, you know, for old time’s sake. That’s when we ran into this gang of bikers. Or, we thought they were bikers, but Ethan pissed them off and it turned out they were vampires and they killed him. I ran. Messed up my knee even more, but… I just ran and left him to die.”
“So they turned him,” Seth said. “And now he’s after you for letting him get killed?”
“What? No,” Parker said, shaking his head and closing his eyes as he tried not to remember. “This isn’t vengeance… he… a couple days after that, I came home from school and found my dog on my bed. He’d killed it. Just like… ripped it open and left it on my bed. As a joke.”
“A joke,” Ryan said. It wasn’t a question, it just seemed like Ryan couldn’t believe it.
“That’s why I left home. I just ran, cause I didn’t want Ethan doing the same thing to my parents or my sister. I just got the hell out of there, and that’s when I found out about this library. I thought Ethan would’ve forgotten about me by now, but I guess not.”
“Alright,” Ryan said. “He wants you? Then he’s getting you.”
“Ryan,” Seth hissed. “We’re not just gonna sacrifice the guy.”
Ryan sighed. “Fine.”
“He doesn’t wanna kill me,” Parker said, standing up now. “I mean… he wants to turn me so I can be a vampire with him, but he doesn’t hate me or wanna kill me dead or anything. This is just a joke. He thinks it’s funny.”
“He took Summer and Taylor as a joke?” Seth clarified, looking pale.
Parker didn’t even see Ryan’s fist before it hit his face and he blacked out.
…
Summer was seriously trying to keep it together.
But Taylor was still out and the smell of blood from the dead girl was making her gag and she just didn’t know how much more of this she could take.
The only comfort she had was that the vampire - who had officially introduced himself as Ethan - was totally on board with her plan.
He thought it was funny.
She’d managed to convince him that it was a good idea not to kill Taylor.
Because wouldn’t it be funnier if he waited until Parker got here? Wouldn’t it be funnier to kill his girlfriend in front of him?
Ethan knew she was only suggesting it to keep Taylor alive a little longer, but he still seemed to like the idea. He’d even gone out and gotten her food and water and let out some of the chain, so she could reach over and clean off the cut on Taylor’s head.
Because it would be funnier if Taylor was alive and well when Ethan killed her in front of Parker.
“You know, I was thinking,” Ethan said sitting on the ground a few feet away. “I could always turn her,” he nodded toward Taylor. “That way, when I turn Parker, he’ll have someone. If you want, I can turn you, too. You’re hot and I kinda like you. Can you imagine it? It’d be the four of us, wreaking havoc on the nation! The Fanged Four, like Angel, Spike, Darla, and Drusilla!”
“Oh my god,” Summer groaned. “Is that a Buffy reference?”
“You watch it?” he asked, looking elated.
She closed her eyes and tried not to cry.