Day 30. Vampire

When the thing bites her, it <i>hurts</i>. Sharp teeth sink into her hand, clamping on like a steel trap. She blasts it with a firebolt, leaving a burnt corpse, and goes to Merle to get it fixed up. When he touches her, though, channeling Pan’s holy energy, it burns so badly she screams. Davenport has to clean and wrap her hand because every time Merle touches her, it hurts like she's dying.

She goes to bed that night exhausted and achey and falls into the deepest sleep she's ever had. She sleeps through the day and doesn't wake up until the next night. When she opens her eyes, she sees Barry sitting at her desk, and her stomach rumbles. He hears her sit up, and turns around. He looks tired, like he hasn't slept. There's concern etched on his face, and he stands up to move towards her.

“You're awake. How are you feeling?”

“Sore and real hungry. Like eat-a-whole-horse hungry. How long have I been out?”

“Just about 24 hours. We were worried you-” His voice catches in his throat. “We thought you were in a coma or something.”

“Nah. Takes more than a little bite to put me out of commission. I'm fine, babe, I promise.”

Barry squints at her, frowning.

“Are you sure? You look really pale, and your eyes…”

Lup leans forward, trying to catch her reflection in the mirror hanging on the back of her door. What she sees is bedsheets rumpled up where she is, and absolutely nothing where she should be.

“That's not good.”

And as she's moving around, she feels… Weird. Cold and numb and hungry, gods, all she can think about is how hungry she is.

“Lup, you look… babe, you look rough. How do you feel?”

She traces her teeth with her tongue, almost in a fugue state, feeling like she's watching herself from outside her body. She's brought back to reality with a start when her tongue catches on her canine. The coppery tang of blood fills her mouth and it makes her salivate as her heart beats faster.

“Oh, fuck,” she says.

Barry sees her, sees the red smeared on her white teeth and the way her pupils narrow, then expand as a dribble of bloody drool runs down her chin.

“Oh fuck,” he echoes.

Lup is just looking at him, wide-eyed like she's waiting for him to tell her none of this is actually happening. He stays quiet, though, and moves closer to her, bending down so they're face-to-face.

His thumb wipes away the drool on her chin, and he doesn't stop looking at her fangs.

“Can I…?”

Lup holds her mouth open wide as Barry looks over her teeth. His thumb traces the sharp curve of her canine and she is suddenly <i>way</i> too aware of how close he is, how warm he is, how she can feel his pulse, how badly she wants to sink her teeth into his neck-

She jerks back, getting his fingers out of his mouth and scrambling to the other side of the bed, putting as much space as she can between the two of them.

“Lup?” His eyebrows are knit together and he looks concerned but she can't keep her eyes from flicking back to his neck, again and again.

 She realizes her mouth is open and she's panting. One of her fangs nicks her bottom lip as she closes her mouth, and as blood wells up, Barry crawls onto the bed and reaches out a hand like he's going to wipe it away.

“Don't!” she growls, and moves to stand on the other side of the bed. The blood from her lip is running down her chin and Barry has a look on his face- it's not <i>fear,</i> he's not <i>scared</i> of her, he's… Interested? Concerned? Definitely not reacting like he should, though they're almost fifty cycles into this sick game of running and dying and regenerating so she can't blame him for that. Reacting appropriately to weird scenarios is a skill they've all lost.

Lup’s stomach growls so loudly Barry hears it, and he gets a look on his face like he just solved the greatest mystery of all time.

“You're hungry,” he whispers, and Lup sees the gears turning in his head.

“No,” she says, “nuh-uh, no way, NOT happening. I am <i>not</i> biting you.”

“Then how are you going to eat?”

“Dunno. Not by exsanguinating my boyfriend. Maybe I'll pull a Fantasy Twilight and go vampire-vegetarian. But I'm not going to fucking <i>bite you</i>, Barry, holy shit!”

“What if I want you to?”

“Why the fuck would y- ohhh, my gods. Bar, you can't be serious.”

He's bright red (hot blood just under the surface of his skin, so close she can almost taste it) and he can't take his eyes off her fangs.

“No,” she says, “no! I'm not going to suck your blood while you jerk off! And don't get it twisted, I'm not kinkshaming you, so don't even <i>try</i> that excuse-”

“I'll tell you when to stop! I'll just let you take, I dunno, a few pints?”

“Barold. You're a <i>scientist</i>. You <i>know</i> the thing you just said is fucked.”

“Okay, maybe just one pint, you're right, just-” He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and peers at her sheepishly, hopefully. “Please? You need to eat, and I… Gods, Lup, this is one of my biggest fantasies, please.”

Her stomach grumbles again and she feels her willpower fading. This is such a shitty idea but she doesn't have enough strength to be the voice of reason on this one.

“The second you feel lightheaded, you tap, yeah? And if I don't stop, you do whatever you have to do to get me off of you. Don't let me kill you, Bar, <i>please.</i> I can't live with that. I can't do this without you.”

“I know. I won't. This'll be fine, Lup, I promise.”

“Okay.” Her head is spinning at the thought of getting a meal but she's clinging to lucidity as best she can. “Take your shirt off. Binder too, I don't know how messy this is going to get.”

Barry obeys, wriggling out of his shirt and binder and throwing them on the floor. He's so… Alive. She can hear his heart beating fast and she's so hungry.

“I'm gonna get a towel and sit on the bed, okay?”

Lup nods, fists clenched, trying to ground herself. She lets Barry get situated before she climbs onto the bed next to him.

“Tell me if it hurts,” she whispers, voice raspy. Barry nods, and tilts his head to the side, baring his neck. Lup takes a few deep breaths before resting a hand on his shoulder and leaning in. She drags her tongue over his neck, tasting his pulse, trying to find the best place to bite. When she bites into him, she feels him flinch and she's about to pull away to apologize when she tastes his blood welling up around her fangs, in her mouth and it's all she can think about.

She takes her teeth out of his neck and sucks hungrily at the punctures. His blood is hot and sharp and <i>delicious</i> and her head is spinning, her brain is hazy, she feels like a starving animal. She drinks and drinks and she doesn't realize Barry is telling her to stop until he yells her name and tugs at her hair, hard. The pain brings her back down to earth and she pulls away, lips smeared with his blood, still hungry but more clear-headed.

Barry is… A mess. He's grabbing the towel, pressing it to his neck and breathing hard and getting turned into a vampire must have done something to her senses because she can still smell his blood, his sweat, and…

“Did you come?”

He looks at her, face far too flushed for someone who just lost blood, and Lup sees his hand still shoved down his pants. He pulls it out, smearing wetness across his stomach, and somehow manages to turn a brighter shade of red. Lup just stares at him as an incredulous grin spreads across her face.

“Oh my gods.”

“Why'd you <i>stop</i>?”

“Because you were pulling my hair and yelling my- oh my <i>gods, Barry</i>!”

He has the decency to look embarrassed, and Lup brushes a hand over his cheek before taking over holding the towel against his wound.

“It was hot,” he mumbles, and Lup kisses his cheek, smearing blood against his skin.

“I love you so much, you fucking dweeb. Sit here, I'm gonna go get you some orange juice.”

“Thanks, babe. You feel better?”

“Yeah.” The adrenaline is fading, and she feels tired. “Thank you.”

Barry gives her a lopsided grin. “My pleasure.”

“Gods, you're the worst.” She gives him a quick kiss and heads for the kitchen. She licks her lips, cleaning off the residual blood. The cycle’s half over, thankfully, but she doesn't think being a vampire for five more months will be that bad.