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

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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?

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Cisco has been throwing suspicious glances and questions at Harry for what felt like an entire age by now. Something was off. Different. Wrong. And Cisco is not okay with that feeling at all. Especially when he'd juuuust started really letting go of the face-bias. Harry knows how hard it was for him to let go of all that suspicion early on, because of what Thawne had done, how that whole fiasco had ended. Trusting Harry wasn't an easy feat for the engineer, but he'd managed, and somehow along the way he'd ended up entirely in the box of trusted people Cisco kept to one side.

And now he was making him question it all, all over again.

Late nights in the lab aren't uncommon, but quiet ones are. And they're the ones Cisco revels in because it's so rare their lives are anything like calm at all anymore. He also knows that any minute now, Harry should be emerging from whatever hole he shoved himself in during the day now. The evidence had been stacking, and Cisco was going to prove his assumption right tonight, one way or another.

Cisco may have thought of him as a friend, but the feelings were not reciprocated. Because if Harrison started to actually like these people, started to get attached, he couldn't do what was necessary. He couldn't stay here when it was done, either. No matter what happened, these were not people he could keep, and loss was not something he was willing to deal with any longer. Not if there was even a chance he'd be losing Jesse, too.

Keeping his current status a secret was imperative, and one would think paying better mind to the hours he kept would be vital. But he'd kept unconventional hours before the incident so why bother changing now? So it was well after dark when Harrison finally stormed through the Cortex, emerging from whatever room in the depths of the building he'd chosen to call home.

He didn't so much as glance at Cisco, as he headed to his workspace, mug in hand. Had he slept poorly? Been awake this whole time? Or was it just that normal, haggard, Wells look that was making him so pale and mussed? It was difficult to tell, sometimes.

Jesse knows what happened. Even if she DIDN’T know her dad well enough to recognize it, Zoom had bragged about it. Bragged about what he’d done to her dad. And why her dad had done it. This was her fault. He hadn’t turned her, of course; used his fangs, his claws to hurt her, torture her, yes. But he hadn’t turned her. He wanted her DAD to do that. Wanted to give her dad the chance to hurt her.

Because Zoom knew how much it would hurt him.

But she’s safe now. The nightmares keep her awake at night, but that’s okay. She’s gone without sleep before. She can keep a vampire’s hours. And she knows her dad. Knows what he’s doing. Or what he’s refusing to do. He’s not feeding. She can tell. He’s too pale, more irritable and mussed than usual. So she finds him, closing the door carefully behind her.

“You can’t keep doing this.”

She is her father’s daughter, after all. Getting directly to the heart of the matter.

Harry halted in his work the moment the door closed. He was tinkering with something that had been meant to slow Zoom down, but had completely failed. But the circuitry suddenly didn't matter the moment he picked up on the fact that Jesse was tense. No, more than tense. Anxious. It hung in the air to the point that he could almost taste it. Damn these new senses.

The moment Jesse spoke, he lifted his head. He didn't need to ask WHAT she meant. He already knew. Why did Zoom have to tell her? To hurt him even more, of course. He would have kept it all a secret from her. The what and the why. All to keep her safe. But that had been stolen from him. And of course the way Zoom told it robbed his sacrifice of so much by making it sound as though he'd done something monumentally stupid for his daughter.

Carefully, he set his tool down. Carefully because his hand felt unsteady. He didn't know if it would start shaking or if he'd put it through the table. Both seemed likely these days. He'd thought feeding on animal blood would be fine, it was all the same wasn't it? But animals weren't exactly easy to come by in a city, and it wasn't exactly something that could be easily bought. But he wound't even take from a blood bank. There were many lines he was willing to cross, but now that Jesse was safe, he had less reason to do so. And that was one he refused to go near.

"If we don't find a way to stop Zoom, he's going to keep coming," he said as if she could possibly mean working his crazy hours. Because the last thing he wanted to talk about was what she was obviously referring to.

She’s not going to let Zoom hurt her dad again. She won’t. He’s hurt him enough. She knows exactly why her dad made the choice he did. He was protecting her. Saving her. And yes, she hates that he did it, hates that he made that choice because of her. Because Zoom took her. But she loves him. She will always love him. No matter what. And it’s her turn to help him. To save him.

And she’s not afraid of him.

He’s starving himself. She’s been worried about him since Zoom had her, since the vampire had told her what he’d done. And he’s starving himself. She moves closer to him, and when she speaks her voice is gentle. Determined, but gentle. “We will. But we can’t... you can’t if you don’t feed, Dad. You need to take care of yourself. Let me help you.”

He doesn’t really have a choice. She’s going to help him. He’s done so much for her. Protected her. Loved her. It’s her turn, now.

There was always this point when he knew people were too close. One moment he was fine, and could ignore the soft sound of their pulse. Across a room was fine, he could still hear it, but it was muddled enough he could block it out. But there was always a point when he just couldn't anymore, like a switch being flipped and suddenly he couldn't ignore it. When their pulse went from a subtle background sound to being so loud he could barely hear them speak. That in itself wouldn't have been a problem if that sound did not have the effect of the smell of freshly cooked food on a man three days without.

His stomach twisted and lurched. His gums itched. He was fairly sure if he were still capable, his palms would sweat. For a fleeting moment, all he could think of was grabbing his daughter by the shoulders and---he shoved that down before he could even fully process the feeling. NEVER. That's why Zoom let her go so easily. Because of this. He knew this would happen.

Instead, he gripped the edge of the work table, taking a slow breath without looking at her. "Jesse." His tone low and firm. "You know I would never do anything to hurt you, and I would do anything to keep you safe." He closed his eyes, trying to focus on any sound that wasn't her. "Which is why I need you to stop this, right now, and leave."

There was something almost feral in that last word, as his entire body seemed to tense. Gripping the table so hard it would have bowed if it were a weaker material. He pressed his lips together, hard, trying to will the hunger away. Not her. Anyone but her.

She can pinpoint the exact moment, watching the way his whole body practically vibrates with tension, the way he grips the table so hard she’s wondering at how it’s not breaking under his hands. And it guts her. It absolutely guts her. This is why Zoom let her go. This is why he bragged, and why he turned her dad in the first place. To try and turn him into the same sort of monster that Zoom himself was.

But that’s not possible. She’s not afraid. Not of him. Never of him.

“I know, Dad. I know.” Tears are burning in her eyes, trickling silently down her cheeks. She can’t breathe for her worry for him. “I can’t.” Her words are desperate. “This is MY FAULT. You made this choice to protect me. The way you’ve always protected me. And I can’t let you do this alone. You’re my Dad.” She’s not going to leave. She’s not going to let him just starve himself. She loves him too much. And she's just as stubborn as he is. “Let me help you. PLEASE.” She takes a breath, hoping that he’ll just listen to her, listen and agree instead of arguing and refusing. “Feed. From me.”

He wanted to cut her off, to stop her tirade. In his gut, he just knew where this was going, but he didn't want to face it. He got out half-formed syllables, all with his back to her, all with his head turned away. Because the effort required to speak over her stole from the effort needed to hold himself in place. Did she have any idea how much it took to not do as she was about to ask? How often he'd considered just turning her to keep her safe? Once he did that, no one could hurt her ever again. She'd be safe from Zoom, safe from anything monstrous in this world. But it meant HE would have to hurt her first.

But when she finally said it, he suddenly whipped around. In a blink, he was on his feet, gripping her shoulders so hard his fingers nearly bruised her skin. Eyes wide and wild, so unnaturally pale and bright they seemed almost to glow in the dim lab. That that might have had something to do with the blood slowly darkening the whites of his eyes.

"NO!" he insisted, his voice a low, gruff whisper. "Never. Do you understand me, Jesse? I'll do it. From anyone else. But never from you. It can never be you!"

He’s suddenly there on his feet and holding fast to her shoulders and even with the blood slowly darkening the whites of her dad’s eyes, the tightness of his grasp, she’s not afraid. Startled, a little, because it’s one thing to know that vampires are fast and something else entirely to see it from someone she knows so well. It’s a little surprising, even though she knows better. But she’s not afraid of him.

“Why not?!” Her voice is sharp, desperate as she looks up at him with wide, determined eyes. She knows why, logically. He’s afraid he’ll hurt her. Thinks that feeding from her WILL hurt her. That he’ll kill her. Afraid to even take the chance. But she knows that he wouldn’t. He’d never hurt her. And she knows how much his hurting someone else, losing control with someone else, Cisco or Caitlin or Joe, anyone he dared to drink from, would kill him. Would tear him apart. The guilt would swallow him whole. She’s the logical one. “I make the most sense! I’m the one person you won’t lose control with. The one person you’re guaranteed not to hurt.” Because he couldn’t. “Trust me, Dad. I trust you.”

Cisco lifts his head when Harry rushes by toward his workspace, squinting a bit in his direction. He hadn't even heard him come in. It was creepy. The lack of even a glance in his direction had Cisco frowning slightly. He's being even more avoidant than usual lately and it's weird.

"Hey, Harry?" He spins in the swivel seat at his desk, sliding a couple feet out from it. "When did you become a fucking ninja, man?" Lame way to go about starting a conversation, probably, but it was something. He'd get to what he wants to actually discuss soon enough.

Barry couldn't imagine being in Harry's situation, worried sick over Jesse, desperate to do anything that he could to get her back safe. So, yeah, he'd been giving him some leeway for snapping at people, some. But after the fourth or fifth time Harry had snapped at Cisco for, frankly, being too observant, Barry decided it was time for a more active approach.

They all forgot it sometimes, but Barry had been a CSI for years before becoming the Flash, and he'd been doing his own share of observing. Something was different, he wasn't sure what it was, but Harry just wasn't the same as he'd been before. He never went outside during the day, or even in the evening before the sun was well over the horizon, he never came into the Cortex even on cloudy days, and Barry was sure that hadn't been a really weak mug. Harry had gotten bad news and had squeezed it until it shattered.

He didn't stay put, he set an alarm for 5 am and sped back to STAR Labs barely 15 minutes before the sun was due to rise again, and right on cue, he appeared in the doorway of the Cortex as Harry rose to leave it. "Morning Harry."

With anyone else, Harry could react before they were able to really do much of anything in their attempts to figure him out. He could thwart most of it with his shining personality alone. Or getting out of the room before they started asking too many question. But not Barry. Barry's speed, the very thing he'd come here to utilize, worked against him. With anyone else, if he heard them coming in close to dawn, he could be out of the cortex long before they made their way through the building. But not Barry.

At first, Harrison just glowered at Barry as he dropped his pen on the desk. At the very least he looked like a man who'd just spent an all-nighter in a lab. "If you think I'll be impressed that you're early. For once. I'm not." He just walked toward the door, and Barry, as if he expected the other to move out of his way.

Oh look who wasn't moving, look who was standing in the way with his arms folded, making sure there wasn't much room to get around him, it was Barry Allen.

"Were you up all night again? That's really not healthy, Harry.

He was pale, Barry thought, he was definitely whiter than he used to be, and not all of that could be chalked up to these weird all-nighters he kept pulling. He hadn't spent much time in the sun before anyway, but at least he'd been around during daylight hours. He was pale, and Barry could see he was on edge, even more than usual.

"You've been pulling all-nighters for a while. We never see you anymore. You ever think maybe you should take it easy, get some fresh air?"

Harrison halted mere inches from Barry, still staring at him with that sour, exhausted expression that seemed to be default. The face that said clearly just how much time he did NOT have. For all Harrison insulted basically everyone, he knew just how smart Barry was. He may have lacked some important skills when it came to putting together the big picture, but the kid's instincts were always sharp. And he was just a little too smart for his own good. One of these days, those things were going to get him into trouble.

"Allen." He snapped, just as frustrated as usual. "If you've forgotten, I'm trying to catch a madman. One who not even you can keep up with. So unless you have some brilliant idea we've not considered, I suggest you get out of my way."

He moved to just shove past the speedster. He would be fine since the cortex had no natural light, but he could still feel the prickling approach of dawn. He still had time, but he was going to get more irritable by the second, and that wasn't good for anyone.

"I haven't forgotten, I just think maybe it would be easier to do that if you were actually awake at the same time as the rest—whoa." Because Harrison did shove past him, and his hand was like ice, and even whiter than his face had grown over the last few weeks.

Barry's hand shot out in a little crackle of energy and wrapped around Harrison's wrist before he could get any farther past him. "Harry. Stop. Talk to me, what's happening? And don't try to tell me nothing's changed, we all know something's changed with you, what is it? We want to help you too."

That day his instincts might get him in trouble? Might just be today. Because he wasn't letting go until he got an answer or until Harrison made him let go.

Harrison yanked his hand away almost as fast as Barry had grabbed it. He hadn't considered how his skin might feel to others, that not feeding might have more effect on him than his mood alone. It made him cold and pale enough to look like the walk corpse he really was. Too bad he didn't have the emotions to go with it, then he might handle this a little better.

"What's changed, Allen, is that Zoom STILL has my daughter. While you've been off on your little dates or whatever it is you choose to do when you're not here, I've been trying everything I can think of to find a way to slow him down before he decides to KILL her. Help or don't."

At least he wasn't lying. He just wasn't addressing the the thing Barry was asking about.

"That's not a change, Wells, we know, we're—" Hell, when had Harry gotten that strong? Barry didn't have super-strength, but his grip wasn't usually that easy to snap out of. The image of the crushed coffee mug came back to him and he folded his arms and side-stepped again, back into his path.

"Okay. I get that you don't want to talk about whatever's wrong with you, but that's not gonna work for me. And I know you don't care about that either, but I could always toss you in the pipeline and tell the others you've been acting suspicious. Which, y'know, wouldn't exactly be an exaggeration. Up all night, already gone by the time we get here in the morning, and you look terrible. Are you even eating?"

"It's not that simple," he said, his voice dangerous and soft. His fingers tensed against her shoulders, not gripping any tighter. He wanted to shove her away, to run from the room. It had been bad enough to hear her pulse. But feeling it beneath his hands was almost too much. Because he did want what she was offering. He wouldn't have to stop himself. He had the power to save her. To ensure Zoom couldn't do anything more to her. But she would never forgive him. She would never be able to live a normal life. Stuck being so young forever. He'd lived his life already. She had everything ahead of her.

He fixes his eyes on hers, wishing he could just make her understand. "If you trust me, then you need to trust I can't. Not you. There's more at risk than just hurting you."

For a long moment, Harrison just stared at Barry. His expression said it all, really: he didn't have time for this, and it was none of Barry's business. He'd said it over and over. They weren't partners or coworkers. Barry and his team could help if they wanted, but otherwise Harrison was going to do it himself. Simple as that. He didn't answer to them, they didn't answer to him. Like roommates, only with more threats and fancier gadgets.

But these were facts that Barry never could get straight. The whole team seemed to forget that he wasn't their old Harrison Wells, and he never would be. He wasn't their mentor. He wasn't their partner. End of story.

"If you haven't noticed, most of these meta attack happen after dark. In fact, a lot of them happen in the middle of the night. Not all of us have the metabolism and vigor to be up all night putting out fires while also being awake all day long. So I'd rather put my energy into when these things actually happen. End. Of. Story." He didn't try to side step Barry again. He just kept staring at him. Daring him to try something.

Barry was already shaking his head slowly, real good at listening selectively when he wanted to, and he sure didn't hear that part about that being the end of the story. On the surface, yeah, it all made sense. Harrison didn't want to be their friend, that much was really obvious.

"Okay. Fine." He stepped aside, and then: "Sure you don't want to get a little sun first?"

It was a stupid suspicion. Wells as a vampire? When would it even have had time to happen? But they existed, it wasn't impossible, which meant it was possible, if improbable.

"I can take you out somewhere right now. Just for a few minutes." And he took one measured step forward, and dropped his hands, ready to scoop Harrison up and speed them both into the sunlight that had to be pouring over Central City by now.

As Barry stepped closer, Harrison stood up just a little straighter. His patience continued to wear incredibly thin, and he wasn't going to put up with it any longer. Because any sane and human man wouldn't play into Barry's stupid suggestions for a moment longer.

"What you're going to do," he said, his voice dropping lower. "Is get in that lab--" he pointed back to the cortex, "--and figure out how you're going to get faster. The more you stand around here, playing these stupid games, the longer Zoom has. And the more people he's going to kill. So unless you want more people to die, you'll stop--" he waved his hands at the air between the two of them. "--whatever this is!"

Flustered, angry, and demanding. That should be convincing enough. If only he had something to knock to the floor.

“It is.” Her heart is thudding in her chest as she gazes up at him, barely contained franticness in her worry for him. She doesn’t even know if Barry and the others know about him. Know what Zoom did to him. And she doesn’t want it to come out because he loses control. He’s protective of her, and she’s just as protective of him. Especially now. “It’s exactly that simple. Feed from me.” Why won’t he just listen to her?

“Don’t you think I know that?” He should know she’s smarter than that. She knows exactly what could happen. She knows that it would be incredibly easy for him to turn her if he fed off of her. But she also knows her dad. She knows he wouldn’t. “I know exactly what you could do, Dad. And I trust you. You won’t.” Her life would be in his hands, and she’s pretty sure there’s no safer place for it. He’d sooner kill himself than hurt her.

Which is why she knows he won’t. Hurt her. Turn her.

Which is why she’s the logical choice.

And maybe that’s why she does what she does, a reckless, stupid move, no doubt (and she’s sure her dad will tell her so, at length, afterwards), but she doesn’t care. Her dad is more important. She loves him too much. So she rakes the scalpel she’d palmed from S.T.A.R Lab’s medbay across her wrist; not deep enough for it to be life-threatening, but deep enough for blood to spill down her hand and trickle off her fingertips onto the floor.

“I know you, dad. You would sooner hurt yourself than hurt me. You won’t turn me. Drink. Please.” Her faith in him is unwavering. She believes in him. Even if he doesn’t.

He's too busy trying to put his thoughts into words, stuttering and stumbling, and just uttering gibberish as she keeps talking. He can't seem to find the words to stop her. He can't even put the way he feels into anything that makes sense. It's all impulses and urges that defy logic, defy language. Things as ancient as myth. But between his effort to speak, combined with his focus on not listening to her heart, he didn't catch her movement until it was too late. Until the scalpel broke skin.

The moment he smelled the blood, he was across the room. His hip slammed into his desk, knocking a few things over and scattering others to the floor. He had his hand held to her, as if to fend off an attack, his face turned away. To anyone else, it might look like he was going to be sick, his eyes and lips pressed shut.

"Jesse!" Though his voice was soft, it was commanding. Dangerous. "Stop this." It wasn't often he sound so desperate, so fragile. "You're wrong. I will turn you. I'll do anything to protect you, but if I do that I won't stop. You have to leave. NOW!" He suddenly turned and swiped several more items to the floor. He felt as though he were trying to hold onto a tiger by his fingernails.

Jesse didn’t think she could hate Zoom more than she already does, but she was wrong. She can and she does, with a violence that might scare her if he hadn’t hurt her dad. Her first instinct is to go to him, to reach for him, but she doesn’t. She’s pushing him enough. So she stays where she is, blood still pattering to the floor beside her.

He sounds desperate, fragile, and that terrifies her more than anything. She’s never heard him sound like that. And for a moment she hates that she’s the cause. But she has faith in him. Believes in him even if he can’t believe in himself right now. He needs to feed. And she’s the only one he’s guaranteed to not lose control with. “No I’m NOT.” There’s no hesitation in her voice. “I know you don’t believe that, I know you don’t believe you could stop. I know you’re afraid. But I know you, Dad. You would do anything to protect me. But you would never hurt me. You won’t turn me.”

"I'm not--" He started, but halted when she kept speaking. Let her interruption hide another fumbling of words. The smell of her blood in the air was making it hard to think, the hunger slowly filling his head with static that drowned out everything. He needed to get out, fast. But trying to leave meant getting closer to her. Closer was dangerous.

"I'm not afraid," he warned. He turned his head, but didn't quiet look at her. He couldn't. Then she'd see what his eyes were really like. "But you're right in one thing. I would do anything to protect you. But you don't know the...extent I'd be willing to go to. Just to keep you. Safe." He turned his head away again, eyes squeezed shut. "Jesse. Please. It can be anyone else, anything else. Just not from you." She could never understand just what a parent was willing to do, willing to sacrifice, to keep their child safe. And it was better she didn't know.

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

{Wanna hear your beating heart tonight

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