Undead
Word Count: 4k Rating: Mature Warnings: explicit descriptions of violence, lots of violence, like seriously, blood, injury, attempted cannibalism ?, the horrors of turning into a vampire, gremlin I am sorry for doing this to Sabine
@dark-rider-pr
Montana knew this had been her idea. She was the one who had come up to Sabine with the proposal, the idea of being the one to give her the potion after she turned. Was she still mad at the Dark Rider for attacking her back then? Yeah. Was she still furious about the claw marks that now covered the lower half of her face? Fucking hell she was. If it hadn’t been for doctor Eiren and druid medicine who knew how long she would’ve had to deal with the wound reopening (not to mention the risk of it getting infected out in the wild).
But the memories of her first feed, the terror and realization of what she had done, of seeing Judy’s torn up body and lifeless eyes and the taste of blood in her mouth, were even more vivid. It was burned into her brain, a shiver running down her back every time she thought back to it.
No one should have to go through that, not even someone like Sabine. Being lucid while feeding on a person was one thing, it was a whole different ordeal if you couldn’t control yourself. To be trapped in your own brain, aware of what you were doing and how you were acting, to feel your teeth and claws rip at flesh and arteries. Screaming and begging with your body to stop and still being unable to compose yourself even the tiniest bit because of the gnawing hunger and primal instincts that didn’t feel like yourself-
Shaking her head the former blacksmith turned her focus back on to the potion brewing in the small pot in front of her. Cornelia had been kind enough to let her make a copy of the recipe that witch- Sive- had given the other vampires. The news that there was a potion, a supplement for the blood, had been the best news Montana had heard in weeks (even if her first reaction had been to be mad over the fact that all these months she could’ve just been drinking a damn potion instead of having to feed on humans). During the first four days in their little safe-space (which would not be safe at all once Sabine woke up again, it was more so to keep the outside safe from them) she had taken to stashing bottle after bottle of supplement around the circle. Always in pairs of two and a certain distance away from each other. It was the closest thing she had to a strategy; dump two bottles down Sabine’s throat and go for the next pair. Jay had explained how for Lisa, who had been in hibernation when they found her, a total of four bottles had been needed.
“Let’s go with six. Although you better have some more ready, just to be sure.”
They were right, of course. There was no chance in hell that Montana would be able to get six whole bottles down Sabine’s throat before she would start fighting back. The Dark Rider was already a ruthless fighter without the addition of "vampire’s first feed" feral. Bloodshed was a certainty and not because of the fact that she’d have to somehow keep the other girl somewhat still.
Sabine had gotten infected while they were feeding Anne, Cornelia had lost two fingers to Lisa and neither of them had been alone while going up against the feral vampires. Montana had no one but her axe and anger once the Dark Rider woke up. Which was just fine for her. Not that there were many other viable options other than her; Katja and Jay were still suppressing their magic (plus Sabine was their sister), Cornelia had already been injured before. Lisa wasn’t the type of person to do something like this, there was no chance in hell Sabine would allow Florence to and Anne was Aideen-Knows-Where. This way no one else but her would have to risk getting hurt or even killed while going up against a Dark Rider.
A feral, hungry Dark-Rider-Vampire that was a foot taller than her and would be out for blood. She could almost hear Justin’s voice in her head yelling at her that ‘that’s not a plan, that’s a suicide mission!’
Yeah, not telling him about this had been for the best.
As the liquid inside the pot bubbled she let out a groan before turning around and looking over to where Sabine had curled up. The Rider looked exactly like a stage four zombie; eyes and cheeks were sunken in, her body nothing more than a skeleton covered by a thin layer of unnatural, purple skin. A few wefts of hair were still clinging to her skull while the rest had fallen out over the course of the past two weeks.
It wouldn’t be long until she woke up again, until they could finally leave this damn circle. The fight that was slowly creeping closer as the minutes ticked by wasn’t what was making her restless. It wasn’t the cold or being separated from Onyx or even being stuck together with Sabine (though, granted, it wasn’t like the two of them had been able to hold much of a conversation).
But being confined to a tiny circle in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but sit around and cook what was essentially soup? That part was, perhaps, making her a little restless. (And yes, the space Jay had made for them wasn’t small per se, but after spending months out in the open having to be stuck in a single area was driving her up the invisible walls).
ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅ઇଓ
Montana had been staring at Sabine’s unmoving form for at least an hour when the first sign of life came. The growl had been low, quiet. Something that could easily be chucked up to one's imagination if it came out of nowhere. Not if that someone had spent the last few months in a constant state of survival mode with the added bonus of enhanced hearing.
Eyes fixed on the corpse- vampire? undead person?- lying on the other side of the circle the former blacksmith stuck her axe into the ground, the wooden handle facing towards the direction of the Dark Rider. With two bottles of potion held in one hand she started walking towards Sabine, fluffy snow crunching beneath her boots as the blizzard around her seemed to grow stronger. Despite what every fiber in her body told her she kept a slow and steady pace. Alerting the Dark Rider right at the start of their fight and risking sending her into an early rampage would only complicate things. The former blacksmith apprentice had to use the window of time she had between Sabine regaining consciousness and going feral to get as many potions as possible down the others throat. After that nothing was certain.
Still, she had made a promise.
Once only a few feet separated them Montana started to uncap the first of the bottles, magenta eyes never leaving the quivering, gurgling form of Sabine. The second, still closed potion was dropped in the snow before the former blacksmith apprentice rolled the Dark Rider onto her back. Her chest, all skin and bones, was heaving in slow motion. Eyes, soulless and emitting a faint glow the same color as her own irises, staring right at her. The knowledge that at some point she herself had looked like this sent a shiver down her spine.
Not wanting to waste another second Montana kneeled beside Sabine’s head, pinching her nose and pressing the bottle of supplement against her lips. Its contents quickly flowed down the other’s throat as her swallow reflex set in. The bony chest was starting to rise more frequently, more rhythmically.
‘Better hurry this up’
Discarding the empty bottle somewhere in the snow the former blacksmith reached for the next one. The movements were almost mechanical. Open the lid, press it against her lips. Watch out for any form of movement. With each gulp of liquid going down Sabine’s throat her heart started beating faster in anticipation of something.
Half the potion was gone before the Dark Rider’s eyes widened. Arms and legs, albeit slow and clunky, started to move. Montana cursed under her breath. With a quick motion she shifted her position, moving one of her legs over and across Sabine’s shoulder and collarbone while the other one stayed on the snow-covered ground. Bony hands started clawing at her legs and torso as the Dark Rider started to regain more control over her limbs. Sharp collar bones dug into her shin, sending wave after wave of pain through Montana’s body.
As soon as the second potion had been downed and the bottle removed a bat-like scream tore through the air. Had she not removed her hand quickly enough it most likely would’ve met the same fate as Cornelia’s had. The struggle beneath her leg grew as the potion did what was its job, help Sabine recover. Unfortunately for Montana the other’s mind, unlike her physical strength, would only return once the feed had been completed.
Time was running out and quicker than she had expected.
The next batch of potions wasn’t too far away. Using Sabine’s chest as a stepping stool and causing a screech to leave the vampire's lips, which she definitely did not smirk at, no no, Montana scrambled to her feet.
Her heart was pounding like crazy, the blood pulsing in her veins warming her up enough to no longer feel the biting cold of the blizzard around them. Only a couple more steps. Behind her Sabine was screaming.
Just as she was about to reach the bottles something sharp dug into her leg, piercing through fabric and skin. She cried out in pain before being violently pulled to the ground. Her face smashed into the cold snow, a muffled groan leaving her lips as her forehead and nose collided with the frozen soil. Quickly reaching out with one of her hands her fingertips almost brushed against one of the bottles before the distance between them grew again.
‘Shit!’
Dirt and stones were scraping across her face as the claw on her leg dragged her backwards. Behind her the gurgling and uncanny sounds that sounded a lot like incoherent zombie blubbering grew louder. Her foot hit something solid, bone-like and Montana took it as her cue to turn the fuck around. Twisting her upper body she got a perfectly good look at one of Sabine’s hands digging into her left calf as the other was reaching for her other leg.
“Fuck off!” With as much force as she could muster she kicked the heel of her right boot up against a bony jaw. Another kick followed, this time straight into the middle of Sabine’s face. It took two more of those before she could finally pull her leg free from the claw.
Ignoring the stinging pain in her calf Montana decided against going for the closer potions, instead sprinting towards the direction of her axe. She couldn’t get another potion down, not without a proper weapon by her side for defense. And while the knives on her were pretty useful in certain situations they wouldn’t be of much help in this one.
Hearing the screaming behind her Montana managed to turn around just in time to evade an attack aimed directly at her face. A stretched out claw nearly grazed her cheek as Sabine’s malnourished form stumbled past her, barely managing to stay on her feet as she did so. With the Dark Rider trying to regain her balance it gave the former blacksmith apprentice enough time to raise her balled fists in anticipation, fuchsia colored flames engulfing her hands.
As the Dark Rider turned around to face her again their face was met with a fist of fire. Two, three, four times. Each time Montana’s knuckles connected with her opponent's skull she could feel the pain sending shockwaves through her entire body. On the fifth punch Sabine finally fell backwards.
Extinguishing the flames, the former blacksmith apprentice continued her run towards her camp. Her knuckles felt like they were on fire, scratched open and bleeding from repeatedly hitting against what was essentially pure bones. There was a roar this time, guttural and angry and heading in her direction.
She really had pissed her off now.
Grabbing one of the nearest bottles and stashing it away in the pocket strapped to her thigh, Montana pulled her axe out of the ground, its metal blade glistening in the afternoon sun.
Sabine was half running, half crawling towards her like some weird cryptid-type-shit monster while screaming like a banshee.
The smaller vampire shifted her grip on the weapon, wrapping both hands around the wooden handle as she got into position. She dropped her shoulders, eyes narrowing at the rapidly approaching form of Sabine, raising her harms and-
There was a loud clang ringing through the air as the flat side of the metal blade collided with Sabine’s bony cheek. The Dark Rider’s body was thrown to the side, landing face first in the snow, unmoving.
In a matter of seconds Montana had jumped on the others back, slamming the axe into the ground beside them before pressing her full weight down on her shoulder blades. She pulled at the remaining hair on the other’s head, ignoring the ear-ringing screaming and lifting the skull just enough to wrap her legs around a thin neck. Her legs were propping up Sabine’s head while her free hand pinched and pulled at her nose. Pulling out the bottle and opening it with one hand she waited for another scream to leave the Rider’s lips before pressing the bottle against them.
Staying somewhat stable atop of Sabine’s restless form turned out to be more of a challenge than she had anticipated. Her legs tightened around the others neck as the other vampire shifted beneath her, clawing at the ground and moving her legs-
The realization of what her opponent was trying to do came too late. Sabine was already standing up, albeit hunched over, before the last drop of the potion left the bottle. Claws tore open more of Montana’s pants and the skin on her legs. She was holding onto wefts of hair and bony shoulders for dear life as Sabine trashed from side to side, screaming and roaring like a wild animal.
In the end her attempts to cling onto her were futile. Even in this form the Dark Rider was still a foot taller than her with the added difficulty of not offering much to hang on to.
Montana was thrown off, her body flying through the air before hitting the ground once, twice. She gasped, ears ringing and limbs aching as she tried to get back on her feet. ‘Keep going, keep going. You can’t waste time.’
Axe. She needed her axe. It wasn’t too far away.
Neither was Sabine.
With another scream the vampire lunged at her. There wasn’t enough time to move out the way. Both vampires rolled through the snow. The Dark Rider was going for her head, claws pressing her shoulders into the hard ground as fangs tried to get a bite out of her face.
Dodging the attacks (which was just moving her head from side to side) the girl reached for the knife strapped to her thigh. Once she got a hold of the blade she pulled it out of its pocket before ramming it into the other’s side. With as much pressure as she could she dug it as deep as her strength and position allowed for, twisting it around before removing it and repeating the action below the first stab wound. Sabine cried out in pain, one of her claws leaving Montana’s shoulder and trying to get a hold of the hand that was attacking her. With one of her shoulders freed the former blacksmith apprentice used her chance and flipped them both over. The knife was rammed into the middle of Sabine’s ribcage who in turn fully let go of the smaller girl.
Even with her unsteady legs Montana managed to get to her axe before the Dark Rider recovered enough to get on their feet.
Three potions. She had already managed to get three down. Just three more.
No biggy. Not at all.
She eyed the pair of bottles closest to her before turning back to look at Sabine, scrambling back onto her feet and screaming and screeching at her. Montana changed the grip on her weapon as the feral vampire started running towards her once again, the knife still embedded in the middle of her chest.
She couldn’t kill her. That would defeat the whole purpose of this, not to mention what Dark Core would do if they found out she had killed one of her Dark Riders.
Dropping to her knees just before the Rider had a chance to get a grip on her she rammed the shorter side of the axe into their shin and immediately pulled it out again.
It wasn’t deep enough to sever the leg, just a flesh wound to slow the other down (she might be suicidal but not crazy enough that she’d want to experience Florences’ wrath for cutting off her partners limbs).
Sabine toppled over her, crashing face-first into the snow while screaming in agony. In a matter of seconds Montana dove over to the potions stashed in the snow. Behind her the Dark Rider was already crawling towards her, snow and dirty flying through the air as she did. The last few meters were a half-walk-half-crawl attempt from Sabines side before she once again lunged directly at her face.
One of her hands which had been holding a bottle of supplement came up as a reflex and this time it was Montana's turn to cry out in pain. Fangs pierced through cloth and flesh, digging into muscles and threatening to crush the bones of her forearm.
Reaching for the knife still stuck in the other's chest, which had disappeared almost completely between skin and bones due to her fall, the smaller girl pulled it out before ramming it back into purple skin, aiming for the patch of skin between shoulder and collar bone. She gritted her teeth, twisting the knife around the wound and, finally, her arm was freed. Putting all her energy behind it Montana kicked her leg up and against Sabine’s side, sending her to the ground, right next to the second potion.
Her foot slammed down on the vampire's chest, pushing her flat against the snow before dropping down to her knees. One hand quickly pinched the Riders nose as the other uncapped the bottle, pressing it against her lips. Nails scratched against her legs and torso causing her to let out a pained hiss.
The empty bottle was thrown away, lost somewhere among the mix of white and red snow, Montana’s hand immediately reaching for the next potion. She just so managed to avoid having her arm chomped on a second time before thrusting the next bottle against Sabine’s lips. ‘One more. Just one more’ The thought kept pinging around her head as the second bottle was emptied. She had to hurry, had to get to another stack of potions, fast. Just as soon as she had stood up Sabine had scrambled to go after her. Something pierced her leg again, a scream ,not unlike the ones from Sabine, leaving her lips as teeth and fangs bore into her calf. Without thinking too much about it Montana turned around, grabbing her axe and swinging it at Sabine’s side. The metal pierced through skin and flesh, a scream that almost made her blood freeze ringing through the air.
This was fine. It would be fine. They had Lisa and Cornelia and Florence. They could patch up Sabine.
Leaving the weapon stuck in the bigger vampire’s side the former blacksmith apprentice made a run for the nearest potion stack, picking up both bottles just in case. One was put into her pocket, the other she kept in her hand.
As she sprinted back to where Sabine was kneeling on the ground her free hand reached for her axe and pulled it out the Ridere’s side. The unopened potion was put between her teeth in order to wrap both hands around the wooden handle. She raised her leg, the sole of her boot colliding with the Rider’s chest as she kicked her opponent flat onto their back.
Heart racing she swung the weapon down.
The scream that followed as metal pierce through skin and bones would’ve sent birds flying if there were any. Sabine was struggling against the blade, screeching as the more she moved the deeper the metal cut into her shoulder. It had cut through flesh and bone, going straight through her shoulder and into the snow-covered ground.
Sabine was effectively pinned down.
Montana’s hands shook slightly as she uncapped the bottle, squatting down beside the raving vampire and pinching her nose. One of her knees dropped to the ground as her other leg pressed against the pierced shoulder. An almost perfect mirror of the position she had used to get the second potion down her throat. As soon as another scream tore through the air the girl pressed the bottle against Sabine’s lips.
Once the last drop of liquid was gone Montana removed the bottle, standing up on shaky legs and simply letting the glass fall from her hands. Her whole body was trembling. Heart racing. ‘This was enough, right?’
The next scream that tore through the air pulled her back to reality. She hurried to pull the axe out of the Rider’s shoulder, the cry cutting through the forest as soon as the metal was removed being more reminiscent of a wounded animal than a human being.
Which they weren’t. They weren’t human beings, why should they sound like them?
Panting from exhaustion she started to back away from Sabine, dropping her axe only a couple meters away while her shaking legs carried her a bit further. She watched as Sabine cried and screamed, curling up on her side as the red area around her shoulder grew bigger.
The Dark Rider wasn’t going after her anymore, that meant the supplement must’ve been enough.
Right?
Only after the axe marked a sort of halfway point between the two vampires did she allow herself to collapse in the snow. The purple seemed to slowly fade from Sabine’s skin.
The freezing winds cutting across the bite wounds on her leg and arm weren’t even half as bad as what she had done to Sabine but god, did they still hurt like a bitch. She was faintly aware of the claw marks scattered across her body, though they were only a dull ache compared to where Sabine’s fangs had nearly crushed her bones.
God, how bad must the Riders shoulder and leg hurt, then?
Somewhere in the back of her brain she could register that the barrier had fallen, at least if the shocked gasps to her left were anything to go by. The area must’ve looked like a battlefield. Both of them were drenched in blood, their own as well as from the other, while at least half of the once fluffy snow that covered the area had turned into pink slush.
In a matter of seconds Florence and Khaan were by Sabine’s side, trying to calm her down and assessing the damage. The screaming and crying did send a pang of guilt through Montana’s stomach. She had beaten her up pretty bad.
Then again Sabine had messed up her face. They were basically even now.
Florence was shaking her head as her hands did their best to sooth Sabines crying from.
“Fuck me, Montana. We’re you trying to fucking kill her?”
“This was kinder. Trust me.” After trying, and failing, to get back onto her feet the former blacksmith let out a pained groan. The leg that had been bitten by Sabine was aching horribly. She felt like passing out. “And for the record, no, I wasn’t trying to kill her. I was trying to stay fucking alive while she went for my head. Multiple times.”
