Veronica Cothry

Ivan was still surprised with himself. He’d never in a million years thought he’d ever get over Harper. And - seeing as she was his first love, and such a huge part of his life - he would probably always have a spot for her in his heart. But, he’d never thought that he’d ever be happy with someone else; much less more happy than he’d been with Harper.

Ivan felt a fire spread through his veins and his lips caught hers as his hands gripped the fabric of her shirt. He didn’t care that they were cramped into his car. He needed her and he needed her now. He pulled his lips back from hers and yanked her shirt up and over her head, tossing it to the floor board. He scooted sideways in the seat before turning them so her back laid against the seat. He was suddenly very glad he drove a classic car with it’s ridiculously wide seats. He was also suddenly glad that he had the maximum legal tint on the windows so no one could see inside.

And Ronnie really did want to believe him. 

A grin came to her lips as his hands found her shirt and started tugging it upwards. She knew where this was heading and this was a great distraction from all of the serious decisions she knew she was going to need to make in the very near future. This she could handle. 

Despite the fact that he was still considered “young” in the vampire community, Adrian felt as though he’d lived more lifetimes than most. He’d been in his fair share of bad situations but this one, well, it had been a while since the vampire had ended up in a situation like this. For the near two months that he’d been locked in - wherever the hell he was- Adrian couldn’t help but wonder where exactly he’d fucked up.

Letting out a breath the vampire leaned his head against the wall he was currently leaning on. He gave another pathetic attempt to tug at the silver chains that were currently around both of his wrists as if hoping that they were somehow becoming weaker each time he tugged on them. At this rate he was going to have to feed on humans when he eventually got the hell out of this place - because he was leaving his hell hole…eventually.

He was three centuries old, like hell he was going to go out being some V junkies personal blood bag.

As if on cue the basement door opened. Adrian didn’t bother standing up from his not so comfortable spot on the cold ground, he wasn’t in the mood for putting up much of a fight today; truthfully, it was more like he didn’t have it in him. Logan, or whatever this assholes name was, tossed him a bottle of TruBlood a couple times a week but that was it. What a considerate guy.

"If you’re coming for more the least you can do is toss over a six pack," the vampire chuckled, looking dully up at the ceiling. It was then that Adrian realized his current companion was in fact an entirely different person - he didn’t recognize her scent. He couldn’t see the women from where he currently sat but Adrian knew she was there. “He’s getting others to do his bidding now? I only threatened him a couple of times…I’m harmless,” he joked, forcing a grin on his face.

But for some reason she checked it anyways. There were a zillion phone calls and texts from Logan and the gang. The earliest went something like "Ron, we got the fanger. WE ACTUALLY GOT THE FANGER. Get your ass over here and check him out." And the last one went, "UR SUCH A BITCH. I'VE DONE SO MUCH FOR YOU AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO JUST DISAPPEAR. I HOPE YOU'RE DEAD IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE." 

As Ronnie scrolled through the texts, her heart sank. Logan truly may have been one  of the stupidest people on the planet. Did he really think he was going to get away with holding a vampire captive and using it as a blood bag?? Not only was that a new level of fucked up, but it could get everybody in his 'gang' killed, and while Ronnie wouldn't mind if Logan was sucked dry by some vampire, some of the others weren't so bad. Ronnie knew she had to act. 

Waiting until it was late enough that Logan and his goons would all be getting trashed at some bar, Ronnie took off for Logan's place. As she approached the house, though she wasn't really sure it could be called that considering how... crappy it was, she was struck by the thought that while she felt like a truly different person than the girl who had walked into Logan's house over 3 months ago, his house was proof that nothing had changed back here. And for the first time ever, Ronnie realized that it probably never would. Logan wasn't ever going to allow anything, anyone around him to change. And Ronnie couldn't be apart of that any longer. 

Steeling herself, she snuck in through the back door, the front was too creaky. She glanced around nervously as she walked into the house, the wreak of weed and an assortment of other drugs assaulting her senses. Slowly, and as quietly as she possibly could, even though no one was there, Ronnie made her way to the basement where she knew Logan would be keeping the vampire. She descended into the basement at a snail's pace, terrified that Logan had left one of his goons to watch over the vampire. But luck was on her side, and as she finally stepped off the last step, and her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw that she was alone with the vampire. Although, if she thought about it, was that really a good thing? 

Just as she was about to take another step, the vampire spoke. Shit! So much for stealth. Ronnie slowly edged her way towards where the vampire was tied up. As her eyes fell upon the brunette she couldn't help but notice that he was a pretty attractive for a vampire who'd been held captive for who knew how long. "Lucky for you, I'm not here to do Logan's bidding." she said firmly as she approached him, trying to keep the smirk from her face. This was a serious situation, goddamnit! You don't flirt with vampires who've been locked up for Lord knew how long and who would probably drink you dry the second you set them free. But it sure was hard not to when he was grinning up at her like that. 

He could all too clearly remember the first time they’d been this close in the bar. They’d both been about three drinks in, they’d been swept by the crowd out onto the dance floor, and for a moment they’d just stood staring up at each other. He remembered thinking to himself You’re just supposed to be friends, you shouldn’t be thinking about- but the thoughts had ended when one of his hands reached out and pressed to the small of her back, bringing her closer to him. The sparkle in her eyes and the way her lips just barely pulled up at the corners… He’d been sunk. And he’d kissed her.

Ivan let out another breath before really pulling her into his lap, gripping one of her legs and pulling it over him so she was now straddling him. His hand that had been at her neck now gripped a fist full of her hair at the nape of her neck and he gazed up at her, his head turned up to meet hers that was turned down. “Who said that this…” he started, “has to end just because we’re back here?”

He leaned up a bit to catch her lips and his hand on her thigh gripped her tightly, as if she were his oxygen supply. His tongue danced against hers and then his hand on her leg trailed up, over the curves of her body to rest on her waist, pulling her body closer to his. He pulled back from the kiss eventually and caught his breath for a moment before saying, “I know that there is… a lot that makes this more complicated here than it was there… But if you want this, I will go down fighting for you.”

And if she was honest with herself she wasn't sure if he had ever made her feel that way. 

In a dysfunctional, horrible way, Ronnie had almost preferred their relationship to be like that. Sure, it sucked and he manipulated her all the time to get what he wanted out of her. But Logan never truly had real power over her. Not the way that Ivan did. Ronnie was completely at Ivan's mercy and it scared her to death. She couldn't control herself whenever he was around and letting someone have that much power over her sounded like a great way to get herself hurt. And Ronnie had learned to look out for herself from day one, it was hard to think about being that vulnerable. 

As she let him situate her body over his, it was just another testimony of how under his control she really was. She almost pulled away, instinctually revolting against being told, even if she liked it, what to do. But as her brown eyes locked with his hazel eyes, her mind flashed back to the time they had had a very similar conversation. 

The morning after their first night together, Ronnie had snuck out before Ivan had woken up. Again, he had scared her with all of the feelings he had managed to pull out of her. But instead of getting pissed off and loosing his patience with her, Ivan had called her to him again, invited her to sit next to him at his piano bench, and played the most beautiful of songs that he'd written for her. He knew she was scared, and through that song he had promised that if she trust him with her heart, he wouldn't break it. 

And so far, he'd kept his word. 

As his lips leaned up to press against hers, she'd found herself almost pulling away. But after a brief moment of hesitation, she'd pressed herself to him, getting swept up in the kiss that so easily made the rest of the world disappear. He tasted of liquor and smoke and everything that was beautiful in her world and as the kiss deepened, her hand slid from around his neck to grab ahold of his shirt, as if she needed something to hold onto, to keep her grounded. 

She nipped at his bottom lip as he pulled away, tugging it as if trying to pull his lips back to hers and when he spoke, she had to wait a few seconds to let the fog in her head clear before she could even think about an answer. Her eyes lowered to where her tiny fist still clenched his shirt as she contemplated not only what he was asking of her, but also what he was offering her. 

Chewing on her bottom lip nervously, Ronnie contemplated her escape routes. But no matter what ideas came to mind, she realized she wouldn't be happy. She couldn't be happy if Ivan wasn't apart of her life anymore. And as she came to that realization, she spoke for the first time since he'd kissed her. 

Ivan hadn’t realized how quickly real life could settle in. He supposed the past three months had been real life, too… It had just seemed like it’s own bubble, like a separate time line from the life that they both had left here in Oxford. Of course, Ivan had only been in Oxford for a little under a month when he decided to take off to New Orleans; Ronnie had been escaping much more than he had.

He honestly hadn’t expected any of what had happened to actually happen. The original plan was to go to New Orleans for three weeks. One week was dedicated to a music festival that Ivan and his band had been invited to perform in, and then two weeks to just… Be a tourist. He’d ended up inviting Ronnie because she needed to escape; and because she was his friend. It was just supposed to be an escape for her, a little bit of therapy in the sense that she didn’t have to deal with the bullshit going on in her life.

It had turned into so, so much more.

Drinks after performances in dark bars where they were wholly too close to each other had ended up in longing gazes and dirty dancing… And that had led to the clash of mouths and tongues that preceded clothes being (almost literally) torn off. From that point on, things changed. Eyes lingered, smiles became more frequent, hands were held… Ivan felt connected to someone for the first time since Harper. And it was… amazing.

He’d written songs for and about her, he’d serenaded her every night, and they’d spent the last two months of the trip like a lovesick couple on their honeymoon. The problem? This life in New Orleans couldn’t last forever. And one day they’d looked at each other and known it was time to go back to real life.

The drive back from New Orleans was long, but it was all too short for the two of them. Ivan clutched her hand for most of the ride home, as if holding on to the last lingering moments of the world that was so easy for them. Because he didn’t know how things were going to go once they got back. And after dropping the guys off at the house, he’d pulled out of the driveway and headed back towards where Ronnie lived.

It wasn’t until he pulled up in front of the house that he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. His grip on her hand tightened and he turned off the car before looking over to her. Their eyes met, and he knew that she was thinking the same things he was. The silence that hung in the air was so thick and tense that you could cut it with a knife. And so, without much thought, he released her hand and let it come up to hook behind her neck and then slid over to her, pressing his lips against hers.

And yet, here she was in Ivan's car, driving back to fucking Oxford, Mississippi and the painful reminder that she was driving head on, back to the real world made her realize just how real the last three months had been. During this time in New Orleans, Ronnie had learned to let someone in, all the way in, for the first time. There hadn't been any walls between her and Ivan. She had been forced to let him in and they hadn't kept anything from each other since. He'd seen every part of her, the good and bad, and somehow he still wanted to stick around. Again, she wasn't really sure how this could all be real. 

But after a lot of complaining from Ivan's bandmates that they had all been stuck on a perpetual honeymoon because of her and Ivan, and coming to the realization that they had to get back to their real lives sooner or later, Ivan and Ronnie begrudgingly packed up everything, it was amazing what all you could accumulate in three months, and piled into the backseat of his car with his bandmates. They convinced the others to take turns driving because everybody knew they'd just be making heart eyes at each other the whole time anyways and nobody wanted to die on the way back to Oxford, so that they could sit together in the backseat. It was almost as if they couldn't waste a precious second by not being wrapped up in each other. 

They'd spent the ride back staring at each other a lot, touching each other's faces, as if to memorize every inch of each other, and of course, laughing and joking with Ivan's bandmates, who Ronnie was pretty convinced were some of the most hilarious but also idiotic guys on the planet. And it had all gone by far too quickly for Ronnie. 

As they dropped the guys off and then moved into the front seats so Ivan could drive her home, the two of them fell into silence. What did the real world mean for them? Ronnie was plagued by this question and in the silence, she could tell Ivan was too. She didn't dare look over at Ivan, for fear of falling completely apart from the nerves that were driving her crazy as she tried to think of a way that their New Orleans life could also become their Oxford life. Instead, her eyes stayed locked on the road in front of them as she tried to hold it together, while her thumb traced countless circles into his hand. 

When he finally pulled into her driveway and turned to face her, Ronnie reluctantly turned to meet his gaze. Looking at Ivan was almost painful int his moment. Their time together had been so unexpected, so perfect, and the thought of it all really coming to an end was too painful. 

Yet, Ronnie seemed miles away, causing Rose to furrow her brow with a bit of concern. She nudged the other girl a little bit, letting out a small laugh. “Earth to Ronnie, come in Ronnie. I thought I was supposed to be the half-comatose one here. Got any good gossip for me?” She took another small sip of her coffee and waited with baited breath. Anything that would send Ronnie that far into La-La-Land had to be good.

"Wait, what?!" Rose nearly spat the coffee back out before gripping Ronnie’s arm and turning the girl towards her. "Tell me more! Details! How was he? Was he nice? Did anything crazy happen?!"

Okay, so yeah, maybe Rose was smart, and maybe she was good at giving advice, but, well… The girl also seemed to have a proclivity to attract the supernatural. Including vampires, who somehow never really seemed to terrify Rose. At least not so far. Certainly helped when the only vampires you knew were either terrified of you or just seemed like all they wanted was in your pants.

She chuckled at Rose's order of questions, shaking her head. "I'm fine, I'm fine." she assured. Then she voiced the really scary part. The part that had kept her up almost all night the previous night as she tossed and turned trying to figure it out. "He was looking for me, Rose." she said quietly. "I think I'm the reason he came to Oxford." she added, once again taking her bottom lip between her teeth. 

"I’m looking for an old family friend," he began, tearing his eyes away from the brunette and looking around them for a moment. Family friend was hardly the right word, but he wasn’t planning on going into specifics with a total stranger. "Veronica Cothry. And before you start questioning my motives, I can assure you I won’t harm the girl," he added, turning his attention back to her now. "But I won’t further waste your time or mine, love, so I’ll spare the details."

And then all of a sudden, Ronnie went rigid. Veronica Cothry. Why the hell was he looking for her?! Unable to keep the fear that threatened to overtake her at bay, Ronnie swallowed slowly, though the huge lump in her throat made it extremely difficult. Her parents had never mentioned having an old, family, vampire friend. None of her foster families had ever had anything to do with them either. So this guy was either lying to her or... no, Ronnie couldn't think of any other option. He wasn't a friend of hers and as judgmental as was, being that he was a vampire, Ronnie thought that his intentions with her couldn't be as noble as he claimed they were.  

For a moment, Ronnie thought about saying she'd never heard the name before, walking away and forgetting this ever happened. But then a nagging suspicion that it seemed far too coincidental that he could've stumbled upon the person he was looking for by accident and not know about hit her and she panicked as she wondered if he really did know who she was and was playing with her. There went all thoughts of running away.

When he passed her, she rolled her eyes again. Between the amount of eye rolls the two of them did while in each other's presence, you'd think their eyes would get permanently stuck looking up at the sky or something. At this point, eye rolls were practically considered a show of affection. "I have never needed babysitting, thank you very much!" she called over her shoulder as he walked into the kitchen and she closed the door. 

So when someone heavily plopped down on her ramshackle cot, bouncing Rose about an inch into the air, she merely groaned and rolled over, flinging an arm over her eyes to block out the florescent lighting. “Ten more minutes.” She sleep-mumbled, not really sure exactly who it was sitting next to her yet. Best guess was either Allyson, Ronnie or Jaden. Though Allyson or Ronnie were more likely. Jaden usually took the night shift of Rose-Watching.

But when the scent of the sweet sweet caffeinated nectar of the gods drifted into Rose’s olfactory senses, that meant only one thing. “Veronica Cothry, have I told you yet this week that I love you and will put on Ring Pop on it as soon as you say yes? Because it’s true. I will.” The girl lifted her arm away from her eyes to peek at the brunette next to her, gifting Ronnie with a grin.

With a small groan as her muscles protested the terrible sleeping arrangements Rose had gotten herself chained to, she sat up and wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee, taking a few scalding sips to try and jump start her engines. The groans turned into soft sighs, then as the warmth rolled through her system. “You’re a goddamned saint, Ronnie. Really you are. But dear god do not let me sit here and half-sleep ramble for a hour until the coffee does it’s work. Please tell me you’ve got some gossip or big plans or something because otherwise I’ll just sit here singing your praises for bringing me coffee like I do every other day.”

She cocked a brow at her friend's proposal... literal proposal, and shook her head. "We both know you couldn't afford the ring pop." she teased and then released the coffee to her friend as she sat up. "But you know as soon as you save up enough for it, I'm all yours. This finger is forever reserved for you, and you alone, my dear." she added, extending her naked ring finger toward Rose to show her. 

As she watched Rose take the first few sips of her coffee, though Ronnie sobered up a bit. Memories from the previous night came flooding into her consciousness, as did the million questions that had kept her up most of the night, and without realizing, Ronnie's mind drifted off. Why was an age old vampire looking for her? What could he possibly want with her? She had nothing to do with vampires. In fact, he was the first one she'd really had a conversation with. How had she gotten wrapped up in something like this? 

And then Rose nudged her and Ronnie was brought back to reality. After asking Rose to repeat her question, Ronnie began to chew on her bottom lip. She hadn't told Logan about Flynn's request. She hadn't told anybody. But she needed to tell someone and considering she didn't really have many real friends, Rose seemed the obvious choice. Plus she'd be smart enough to have a good suggestion about how to handle it all. 

He was funny, okay? 

"Are you suggesting, Dark Knight, that I am a heathen?" she asked, offendedly placing her hand to her chest as if the very thought was more than she could bear. She laughed and then thrust the large bag she had been holding, some of it may or may not have been stuffed with her own personal stash of drugs, into his arms. Not even asking if he'd hold it for her while she got out her keys to let them into the building.