He didnât want to see Lenore right now. Actually ever, if he could help it. He couldnât trust himself around her yet. Not while he still shook like this, while she still appeared in his nightmares, just out of his reach and hurting the people he loved. He couldnât trust himself not to do something heâd regret.
Not that he would regret it, but he would regret hurting Oscar in the process. Thatâs the last thing he wanted. Well, no, the last thing he wanted was for Oscar to die, and for Jude to know it was his fault. To know he could have done something and should have done something and didnât. He couldnât do that again. Maybe it was a worthy sacrifice? Oscarâs love for his life.
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on the first day of fic fest my author gave to me...
(for context: Jude had a nightmare and heâs making bad decisions about it. This isnât where I wanted to end it, but itâs getting late and Iâm tired. This is a pretty good indicator of Jude and Lenoreâs character at least)
@originalficfest
âYouâre here to kill me.â
Jude jumped at the voice and fumbled with his stake. He spun back around and held the weapon to his chest like a lifeline. Lenore hadnât moved, but her eyes were now open, a dull red glow frowning at him. She sighed, and drew herself in into a sitting position with a dramatic sweep of her hand. âI suppose I always knew it would come to this. I hoped for Oscarâs sake that it wouldnât, but I canât say Iâm surprised.â
âI-Iâm not-â
âYouâre not here to kill me?â She glanced at the stake in his hand with a raised eyebrow. He clutched it tighter.
âIâm just doing what has to be done,â he said. âYouâre a vampire, Iâm a vampire hunter, it never would have worked out.â
He knew where the heart that no longer beat lay, beneath ribs and a⌠loose t-shirt with âsleep is for the weekâ across the front.
He couldnât stake her while she was awake, even during the day a vampire was a force to be reckoned with.
âLook this is kind of new territory for me too, but youâre dating my brother so I think we can try and reach an agreement. What would Oscar say if he knew you were here?â
Jude knew exactly what Oscar would say. He made his position very clear the night before. But those words didnât echo in his head the way the screams did, didnât force him into action like knowing that Oscar, at any point, could be moments away from a death he wouldnât see coming. The dream felt more real than real did, and he knew it wasnât just a dream. It was a warning. It was a promise. It was his chance to not make the same mistake again. Even if it hurt Oscar in the process.
âIâd rather see him leave than see him die.â He glanced at the window, tried to be subtle about it. The thick curtain was bound to the wall with a wooden frame, making it more like art than a window. Itâd be impossible to rip it down before Lenore stopped him, but he did have a knife.
âHey, come on, letâs think clearly about this. And donât try and rip my curtains down.â
He shouldnât even be having this conversation.
âYou know Iâm not a danger to Oscar, Iâve been living here for years, if I wanted to kill him I would have done it by now. The last thing I want is to see him hurt.â She gave him a very specific look. âBy anyone.â
If you enjoyed this and want to see more of it
hereâs a synopsis, a character sheet for Jude, and one for Lenore
Not really a last line tag. More like a normal excerpt. But Iâm covering my last line tags with it just because. @indecentpause @raevenlywrites @forlornraven @reining-in-the-fire-writing and @sleepy-and-anxious have all tagged me in the last week, I tag you all back! Also tagging @tea-arts and @panismightier but mostly just bc i want youse to see it.
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âWhy do they call you traitor?â
Connie grimaced. âItâs not what it sounds like,â she said. âI never worked for them. Not willingly at least. But when I was human I became part of a group of scientists investigating vampires. A lot of the same sort of thing I do now, but from the human side. It was going to be a massive breakthrough, but youâd never have heard of us now. One night we were all working late and our lab was stormed by Night Walkers. I donât know how human societies explained that away, but no one was left alive. The last thing theyâd want is for humans to be able to defend themselves.
âI donât know why I was picked in particular, but instead of killing me, they turned me, and I became part of the experimental program at Wardenâs Under Green. They wanted a scientist to get an edge on the rebels, I suppose, and they tortured and brainwashed me into doing their work.â
âHow did they do that?â
Connie paused. âHave you ever been somewhere thatâs so loud or so bright that itâs almost unbearable?â
âLike sensory overload?â
âThe first weeks after being turned into a vampire is that, for every sense, all at once, constantly.â
Jude shivered at the thought.
âAnd while youâre that vulnerable, and still learning how to control your abilities, whoever finds you when youâre like that can pretty much make you do anything they want. And by the time youâre a person again youâre in too deep to leave.
âBut I was lucky. The rebels staged a raid on the Wardenâs facility a few months after that, before I could do anything too damaging. I managed to escape, and ended up working for Camille, willingly.â She averted her gaze. âAnd I donât know what to do. The Night Walkers are awful, but most of the ones who end up at the end of Lenoreâs stakes arenât. Theyâre disposable and replaceable and thatâs the whole point, thatâs why theyâre doing the grunt work. Killing them isnât going to stop the Night Walkers, not in the long run, but I donât know how to talk about that without sounding like a traitor. Camille imprisoned Lenore for an obviously false accusation, imagine what sheâd do if I said anything even close to sympathetic towards Night Walkers.â
Jude groaned, laying back and kneading his eyes with the balls of his hands, trying to prevent the spiralling of his thoughts. And while he nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at his dwelling door.
He gritted his teeth. âFreddie, if this is you, Iâve turned my phone off for a reason.â The last person he wanted to see right now was his cousin.
The knocking came again. Not from the door, more a rattle of glass than the thump of heavy wood. The window?
Oh, he was wrong. That was the last person he wanted to see.
âPlease tell me I have the right place, otherwise this is super embarrassing.â
@originalficfest i talk a lot about Lenore climbing through windows for the Drama. This is the second instance. I donât know if Iâll keep this scene, but it does give you an idea of the tone Iâm going for with for my novel.Â
