throwingstuff | And just one mistake Is all it will take is all it will take....

Entry tags:

vampire au

And just one mistake Is all it will take is all it will take....

This was not what Harrison had planned. Then again, he'd not realized he was up against an actual supernatural creature until it was too late. He'd thought he'd created a monster with the particle accelerator, but he'd just made an existing monster stronger. Then again, if someone tried to tell him vampires weren't only real, but right in his own back yard before it all happened, he would have mocked them. Mercilessly. The very concept of the undead defied science itself. It just wasn't possible.

Then he discovered just how possible it all was.

He'd made a deal with Zoom to get Jesse back. Trading blood for even the chance at her freedom. He didn't care if he was hurting the people he'd been trying to protect. She took priority above all else. But it was never enough. Not for Zoom. But in the end, it came down to a simple choice: His life for Jesse's. He'd assumed Zoom just intended to kill him. Drain him until there was nothing left. He didn't even hesitate. Anything for Jesse, even if he didn't get to see her again. At least she'd be safe.

But he'd been wrong. He woke up after it was over. Different. Changed. And still, Zoom wouldn't release Jesse. There was one last thing. Always one last thing. It never ended with Zoom. But now, it was the truest end. Bring Barry to Zoom to be turned as well. A command he found incredibly difficult to ignore. It sickened him, but still that drive remained: anything for his Jesse.

Time rolled on, and the team continued like normal. Harrison refused to say why he was more upset than normal. Refused to entertain any suspicions that he was different. No, he wasn't just going out at night, that was just coincidence. They needed to work faster. Find a way to render Zoom not only weaker, but turn him human. Killing him wasn't an option. No, he wasn't stronger, that was just a really weak mug. Stop asking so many questions, Ramon, and get back to work.

With each passing hour, he struggled with one decision. Did he tell Barry the truth, or just take him to Zoom?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For a moment, Harrison just continued to glare at Barry from his place in the shadows. It was made more ferocious by the fangs and eyes, but it was still the same long-suffering glare he always gave the younger man. He didn't move right away though, he was afraid to move. If he moved, it would be toward Barry, compelled by his hungry for that rapidly beating heart.

Why couldn't anyone understand this? He wasn't going to FIGHT Zoom. He was going to stop him. He was their secret weapon, now. He could use his own blood, his own samples, to find what could defeat Zoom with the least amount of fighting. But he lacked the patience at the moment to even start to explain that. Or justify why he hadn't fed. That much should have been painfully obvious.

"This is me working harder, Allen. Now if you won't leave, I will." With a faint growl, he tore himself from the wall, putting all of his effort into not diving for the door to get away from Barry.

But Barry wouldn't be Barry if he didn't have his own ~~misguided~~ ideas on how best to help people, people he considered his friends, even though he knew Harry would scoff at the idea and tell him off for it. So when Harry started stalking for the door, carefully evading the slice of sunlight, Barry sped in front of him, but he miscalculated how fast Harry could move now and ended up right up against him, hands fumbling for Harry's shoulders to steady himself.

It wasn't a good idea to be this close to a hungry vampire, obviously, and Barry should know better, but he still trusted Harry, and he trusted his own speed to get him out of it if he needed it. He'd be fine. He looked at Harry, at the sharp red eyes, the too-white fangs, and said, "This is stupid, Harry. Let us help you."

Harry came to a sudden halt as Barry appeared before him. He could have bowled the younger man over, pushed on though and escaped. But for a moment, he didn't want to. His hunger would allow him to move another step, not when exactly what he needed stood immediately before. Touching him. He knew he should pull himself away before anything happened.

But in Barry looking him dead in the eye, he just couldn't resist any longer. An instinct that wasn't entirely his own kicked in and his pupils dilated. "Don't. Move." The words came out as a harsh, almost strained whisper. He'd reached out with a power he still hadn't entirely understood, the mind control that Zoom had mastered and allowed him to command the metas. He needed to pull away, but the smell of Barry, so very close, the sound and feel of his pulse, called to him with more ferocity than the heat of the sun behind him urged him inside.

"Wha..." And the rest of the word dissolved as Harry's words poured into him, slinking along his veins. He felt light, like his feet weren't quite touching the ground anymore, but at the same time his limbs were heavy and slow, they'd move like they were underwater if he wanted to move. But he didn't. He didn't want to move. He would never even consider moving. Harry wanted him not to move. He should do what Harry wanted.

"...okay," he murmured, hands still on Harry's shoulders.

Even with Barry so close, Harry knew, deep in his heart, that he should pull away. He could dash inside and get passed Barry, get away from the sun and let himself calm down. He had things to tide him over, but bags from the blood bank were no better than a human living on stale bread. And here Barry was, like a gourmet meal laid out before him. He felt something inside him shudder as he tried to pull away.

But instead of moving to the side, he surged forward. He yanked Barry closer at the same time, striking like a viper. Fangs bit hard into flesh, before he even tried to tell himself to stop. It was too late.

What was also too late was that his powers of hypnosis were weak at best. Once eye contact was broken, the effects faded fast, and the pain of his bite would only hasten that even more.

What came back first was the sensation in his arms and legs, that dim crackle of speed that was always there in the background, and following right on its heels was pain, hot and vivid. Oh god, he was, he was biting—it hurt—

Barry's eyes flew open and his hands gripped Harry's wrists, pushing hard, and it didn't do a thing. "H-Harry," he managed, barely, a hoarse, wet-sounding whisper as he thrashed in that superhuman grip. "Harry, stop—"

The moment Barry's blood hit his tongue, it was like the whole world changed instantly. Why had he fought this? Why had he resisted so long? He felt as though power rushed into him with every swallow, like he'd been asleep all this time and only now he was starting to wake up. It took Barry to make him see that, to push through all that was holding him back. Really, Barry brought this on himself. He deserved it for pushing him. All while a small part of him still cried out in horror, fully aware of what was happening. Of what could happen if he didn't let go. If he just kept going. But oh he wanted to keep going and never stop.

Even as Barry tried to pull away, Harrison gripped him tighter. A low, wet growl sounded from the back of his throat, refusing to let go. He just bit down harder, tearing deeper. The beast inside him had been deprived too long and insisted on making up for all that he'd missed. Even trying to pull himself back wasn't helping. It just felt too good. And it became more and more difficult to fight himself, even knowing it was Barry he was hurting. Because if he had this kind of power all the time, if he felt this as often as possible, maybe he'd have the strength to defeat Zoom himself.

Barry's head was fogged over, he couldn't escape, a small part of him still didn't want to, but his instincts as a speedster were shouting at him to run, so he stopped trying to pull away and pushed forward, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist, and he ran. Lightning streamed behind him and he left a bloody trail to mark his path, but finally they were evenly matched.

They ended up in the room where they'd failed to catch the Reverse Flash once upon a time, the place Cisco had died once in another timeline, and Barry was gasping for air when he stopped short and shoved. He was operating on instinct by now, but his instincts had been right, he managed to send Harry flying across the room, and he zipped to the opposite corner, a hand clasped against his slippery throat, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.

It was strange. Harrison was both aware of the sudden speed and at the same time not. Because he didn't want to let go. He just held on tighter, part of him knowing that if he let go it would be far too long before he had this again. Barry could heal, that part of him reasoned. Barry had healed from impossible injuries. Things that left people permanently disabled, he'd healed from in a matter of days. What was a little blood loss? All while the part that was still Harry bellowed in rage, trying to pull himself free before there was irreversible damage done.

Sp entrenched in this internal battle, he didn't have time to brace or prepare for their sudden stop. Strength meant little with that kind of force. His hands jarred free as he was thrown from Barry. Hitting the far wall, he slid to the floor in a seemingly unconscious heap. But the concussive force was enough to bring him back to himself rather rapidly, complete with the horror of all that just happened.

He started to get up, making it only to one knee before stopping. He reached up to wipe the blood from his lips, staring at it. "Damn it, Allen!" he growled. "I warned you!" As if this were entirely Barry's fault, even though he knew it wasn't.

Barry heard the words, he heard the tone, but it came through as if he was underwater. He was sure his breath shouldn't sound like that, and the edges of his vision were starting to go a little fuzzy, and, and, and how hard could he squeeze on his own neck, not too hard right, what if he suffocated while he was trying to stop the bleeding, and...

"H...arry," he whispered, pushing to one knee and immediately falling backward to slam against the wall, the palm of his other hand skidding on a smear of blood on the floor before he could get his balance back. "Harry," he tried again and it sounded awful but he had to keep going, "Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

They cloying scent of blood still hung in the air. At first, Harry blamed the smears still clinging to his fingers and lips. It had invaded his nose and now it wouldn't leave, taunting him with what he'd done, and what he still craved. But it was too heavy and thick to be mere remnants. That's when he realized Barry's unsteadiness wasn't entirely out of fear

For a moment, Harry froze, staring at the fallen speedster over his own hand. He was still bleeding. How could he still be bleeding? Harry had experienced it himself. Even humans healed impossibly fast from a bite. Had he done not done something? Had he missed some important detail? No, Barry's own super healing would take over. It should have closed the wound enough to keep him from bleeding over the floor. So why wasn't it working?

Then it hit him. Two healing factors, one from the inside the other from the outside, attempting to do the same job. Instead of stacking and making each one work faster, they were getting in each other's way, slowing each other down. A wound like that couldn't just be bandaged and left to heal. He'd bitten too deep. Barry would bleed to death without immediate intervention.

Before he could think it through, he was dashing across the room, his own wrist coming up to his lips. He tore into it as he dropped to one knee in front of Barry. Seizing the younger man by the hair, he shoved his now bleeding wrist against Barry's mouth. "Don't ask questions," he growled. "Just drink it."

The way he felt, Barry wasn't certain he could have managed to ask questions. He gripped Harry's shoulder with blood-slicked fingers before warm skin was pressed to his parted lips and his tongue flooded with the taste of tin. He licked, a reflex, and swallowed, and his body vibrated and calmed. He could feel the Speed Force sparking through him again, and he felt that familiar hunger that came from expending too much energy, he was hungry and he swallowed again and again.

With every warm mouthful he felt better, more energized, stronger, everything now a low-level hum, and he hardly noticed when that pushed past the threshold of his ordinary strength.

Knowing what it felt like, Harrison was prepared for adverse reactions. The blood could have an obscene, profound effect on body and mind. A single drop felt like life essence itself. A mouthful was unlike anything else in the world, like everything had been turned to full volume, full intensity. But he knew just how difficult it was stop. He'd clung to Zoom's arm more than once. Even after fighting and trashing against it. Even after all Zoom had put him through, he could not force his fingers to loosen.

But as he watched Barry, even without a grip on his arm, he could tell something wasn't right. He couldn't place it. He'd only ever experienced it from the inside before, but his gut told him this was wrong. Even if he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was, at his very core he knew this wasn't normal. Not for a human, and not for a speedster.

"That's enough," he said. His hand planted on Barry's shoulder for stability and support as he pulled his wrist away.

Vampire blood did different things to different people, his clinical scientist's mind told him. It depended on the health status of the human, the circumstances, there were dozens of factors. It looked like the Speed Force was one of the factors that hadn't been calculated yet.

Barry ducked his head after the wrist and licked it once more before falling forward, rolling onto his back with his arms spread as if he was going to make a snow angel right on the Cortex floor. More like a blood angel, he thought giddily as he grinned and started laughing, fledgling fangs gleaming in the overhead lights.

He could have caught Barry, but the fall wasn't far enough to even bruise and for as worried as Harrison was, Barry kind of earned it. None of this would have happened if Barry had just left well enough alone. And now he was left inspecting his wrist, expecting to find that same strange delayed healing. But instead, the marks were fading already, most of it was just blood on the surface of his skin.

He looked up to yell at Barry again, when he saw tell-tale fangs starting to form. It was as though the floor dropped out from underneath him. His heart still hadn't stopped beating. It had taken hours of screaming agony and terror for him to get that far in his own transformation. He had a feeling Zoom had done something to make it worse, but nothing could make it this fast.

In a snap, he was on top of Barry, one hand planted against his chest, the other gripping the young man's chin. "Allen!" He growled. "Barry, you need focus. You need to--I don't know--vibrate, phase, something. The blood it's not--you're not--this isn't right!" He leaned closer, voice growing more urgent. "You're turning, Allen. We need to stop it!"

The weight was enough to get his attention, the hand catching at his face made him focus on Harry's face, but not quite his words. "I am focused," he said dreamily, letting his head fall back again, running his tongue along the inside of his teeth, licking the last few drops of red from his lips. "You need to relax, Harry...you're so tense, why are you yelling?"

He brought his hands up to grip Harry's wrists, not to pull them away, just to hold on, he felt weird, lightheaded. "No yelling," he whispered.

This wasn't right. This was miles from right. He himself didn't understand vampires well enough yet to understand exactly what was happening. He could guess, he had theories. Was it even possible to turn without dying first? Shouldn't Barry's healing factor be more powerful than the blood? Why? WHY?! He was an engineer. A programmer. He handled technology. Gadgets, machines, programs. This was biology and crypto-something or other. This was as far from his area of expertise as was possible to get.

This was Caitlin's area. But she wasn't here. Even if she were, time was slipping away. There wasn't enough time to even get her up to speed on everything, and that was even assuming she got over the "yes, vampires are real" thing quickly.

In a moment of panic, he pulled his hand free of Harry's grasp and slapped him across the cheek. It harder than he'd intended, but he knew the other could handle it. "ALLEN!" He barked, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. "If you don't stop this, you're going to be like me. Neither of us wants that!"

The pain, the attack brought Barry back to himself, a few fragments of what Harry was saying finally managing to get through. His eyes went wide and then he blurred as he tried to, to filter out the venomous blood from his system, the way he'd gotten rid of the tranquilizer Oliver had shot him with, and the suit grew slick and darker red, but he couldn't chase it all out. It wasn't foreign to his system anymore, he'd already started to change.

"I, I can't," he gasped, finally coming to rest again. "I can't, that's, I can't get any more out."

Pulling his hands back from Barry's body, Harrison stared down at the sheen of red sticking to his fingers. It wasn't enough. It was too late. It had been too late the moment Barry collapsed, perhaps the moment he took that first sip. In a blink, Harrison was on his feet, a fist pressed to his mouth as he tried to think, tried to not just start yelling at Barry for being so stupid. But it was his fault. He'd panicked. He should have just bandaged the speedster and hoped for the best.

"This is bad..." was all he could manage to say, and it sounded more like a threat than anything.

Barry swallowed, and felt the scratch of a dry throat. His stomach felt empty, but he could chalk that up to his speed emptying his reserves, right? He shifted, sat up slowly, everything ached, like a bad flu. His tongue probed at the sharper teeth, not as prominent as Harry's but...but sharper.

"I need to eat," he said, a little stunned, and climbed to his feet slowly, and went looking for Cisco's high-cal protein bars. They'd have to do. They'd be fine. He just needed one of those.

But they were far from the cortex and Cisco's special food stores. He did not have the patience to explain that food like that flat out wouldn't work. In fact, it would be like trying to eat sawdust, in taste, texture, and nutritional value. But he was still stuck on trying to figure out how this could even happen. Zoom had fed him blood more times than he could count. It never did this. It never came close. He'd done it all the same. What had he missed?

"Food's not what you need," he said, almost under his breath. But he knew Barry could now hear him clears as if he'd spoken properly. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, still not turning to face the speedster. He wanted to yell and throw things. Something to get this weight out of his chest.

"Well food's what I'm having, Wells!" The panic was still low-level, but Barry could feel it creeping in around the edges as he thought about Cisco's protein bars and found himself feeling a little sick at the very idea.

It took a bit longer for him to realize that he shouldn't have been able to hear Harry all the way on the other side of the room. He gritted his teeth and slammed a closed fist into the wall, then stared in horror for several moments before slowly pulling his hand out of the dent in the metal. It hadn't even hurt.

"No. You're not."

Slowly, he turned to face Barry. He'd been trying to remember all he could about his own turning. It had been slower, he knew that much. Not just from the blood. But the effects after, those had blurred into hours of agony and hunger. He'd let himself believe that it was just the turning, stretching on and on, it was easier to think of it that way. But it only ended when he'd...well, there was a reason Jesse ran away after she'd been rescued.

But as much as he didn't want to remember it, there was a reason he needed to. The very reason Zoom had locked them in the same cage. Kept insisting he feed. Zoom had never outright said why, but Harrison had figured it out, even in his half starved haze. It finished the job, sealed it and made it permanent. If he could just get Barry somewhere he couldn't hurt someone. And that he would, if that dent in the wall was any sign.

"I know what you need," he said, his tone level. "Just come with me." He turned and started down the corridor.

Barry trailed after him, scowling, feeling itchy in his own skin in a way that hadn't happened since right after he'd opened his eyes from the coma, before he'd gotten the hang of his speed. This was his fault, he'd only wanted to help Harry, but he'd pushed him too hard, and now this—

No. No, they could fix this. They'd talk to Caitlin and Cisco, he'd admit it was his fault, he'd keep them away from Harry, they'd have to out Harry as a vampire but he was a vampire now too, it wasn't like they could hide it.

"Where are we going?" he asked, irritated, frustrated, angry, distracted.

As they moved down through the building, Harrison was silent. Not only did he not talk, but he made no sound as he moved. Each step fell in such a way that it produced no sound. Only the faint rustle of fabric and fabric marked his movement. A sign of just how careful and calculated he'd been until now. Now that Barry knew, he didn't need to hide it.

"To get you what you need," he said simply. "Because, Allen, it's not hunger you're feeling."

They reached the room that led to the Pipeline, and he turned to Barry. "It's thirst," he said as he hit the control panel to open the door.

And just one mistake Is all it will take is all it will take....

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)