Personal Demon [Cassie]

[Dacian]

Dacian eyes opened with difficulty. Sometime during the day, the lids had tried to heal together the raw edges and opening them brought on a new pain. He could not focus, it was as if he was looking at the world though a murky filter. Both eyes had a milky film to them. The right sclera was still red and burnt and the iris pale under the glassy cornea. The left had healed a little, and at least it was merely bloodshot and he retained partial vision through it.

Moving was almost impossible. Everything he tried was slow and all his limbs were stiff as if he had not used them for days. He could breathe now, and he gasped as he managed to lift his chest from the floor. The weeping skin had almost adhered him to the tiled floor. Water from last night which had not yet evaporated had formed puddles on the floor which he discovered with one of his palms. The liquid was welcome, and he resisted the need to lap from it. Water would not help him. It was a human necessity. He needed something thicker, redder.

With excruciating slowness, he got to his feet. From when he could see from the blurred vision of his one eye, he was in some small pale room. Instantly he began to feel confined once he realised he was in a small space, as if the walls were closing in. He tried to shrug the feeling off, but it lingered and served to agitate him further. The vampire tried moving, and had to catch himself on the sink edge. He recognised the room now. It was Cassie’s bathroom at the Three Broomsticks. The rest of his skin was numb but he could still feel with his fingertips. The engraving on the sink was familiar to the touch, and he was glad at least he knew he was somewhere safe.

Dacian was dreading to discover what sort of damage he had taken from Lumos Solum. He’d never been touched by sunlight in his six-hundred and ten years in the dark, but at least he knew from other’s experiences that the effects would not be permanent. From the growing ache in his stomach however, he knew the damage was severe enough that this would not be a swift recovery.

He didn’t need to see himself in the mirror over the sink to know his pupils would be blown wide, his mouth half-parted and fangs visible at the corners of his mouth. The hunger was growing and his hearing was working perfectly. Cassie was in the next room, her heartbeat stressed. At least she was awake. Asleep would be too much of a temptation. Hunger like this was hard to deny. He barely resisted her last time. At least awake she might try and defend herself. He should stay in the bathroom, though he knew he couldn’t ignore the gnawing hunger and the walls were still pressing in to drive him out.

With stuff shuffling steps he made it to the door. His hand fell on something soft and towel-like hanging on the back of the door. A robe of some kind. Oh yes, he was sans-clothing. It took an eternity to get the thing on. He cracked open a few healing scabs that oozed blood on the inside of the robe. Thankfully he had not much feeling over most of his skin, so the robe only aggravated the lesser burnt parts of him. Cassie’s heartbeat was turning into a luring mantra, and he tried to shake the trance. He couldn’t afford to fall into the trap. She’d helped him – again – and he was determined not to repay her by drinking her dry.

Opening the door took more mental effort than it should have, and he squinted at the glaring light that cracked through the door. For a moment he thought it was daylight, his eyes watered at it and he turned his face away. Then he realised it was candlelight, and his one working eye was too sensitive to make use of the light. All he could see was the glare from them. He couldn’t even make out the walls. He knew Cassie must be somewhere in front of him, but he couldn’t see her either. He felt a headache start to form and that annoyed him more. It throbbed in time to Cassie’s heartbeat and he had a death grip on the bathroom doorframe to hold himself up.

At least the constricting feeling of the bathroom was fading, though the sudden overwhelming sounds and scents of Cassie was almost less appreciated. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to be there, he wanted that very much, but she was in danger again and in typical fashion he doubted she would do anything to help herself. It would be up to him to keep her from harm, and that was doubly difficult when it seemed he was always the danger.

[Cassie Vimes]

Cassie had worked herself up into quite the bad mood. She hadn’t dropped off until well into the early hours of the morning and what little sleep she had managed to get had been fitful at best, the previous evening’s events playing heavily on her mind. That in turn had almost made her late for her shift at Scores. When she woke with hardly any time to pull herself together she almost chickened out and decided not to bother going in at all.

Silas was probably going to fire her anyway what was the point. Cassie didn’t go back on her word though, so she’d scrambled about, cursing the fact that Dacian was in her bathroom so she couldn’t even freshen up. Work had been hell, the conversation she’d had with Silas too awkward to think about about (it wasn’t like she could have snapped and called him a sick fuck like she’d wanted to) and she’d had to work extra hard to make it up to the other girls for skipping out on them.

All in all Cassie hadn’t had a good day and when she got home all she had to think about was Dacian. How dare he tell her to leave! She had a good mind to storm into the bathroom and give him a piece of her mind, but just remembering his burnt and blackened flesh was enough to put her off. He’d bitten her, kidnapped her and almost cost her a job and she’d still been willing to help. He’d thrown all that back in her face. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn?

She heard shuffling movement from the bathroom and looked up just in time to see the door crack open an inch. Cassie stifled a gasp as she caught sight of Dacian in the dim light of the candles that lit the room. Under any other circumstances the fact that he was wearing her pink fluffy dressing gown might have been amusing, but the fact that every inch of skin was covered in scabbed over burns and his eyes were a disturbing mix of filmy white and bloodshot red rather took away from the humour.

She stood, starting over to him before she stopped short, taking in the way he was shying away from the light and extinguishing all the candles with a flick of her wand. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and then she was moving towards him again. ”Dacian! Are you-” Cassie cut herself off, that would be a silly question. ”You look like shit.” She settled for instead. Not exactly sympathetic, but hey, she was still pissed off.

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[Dacian]

She moved. Functioning senses honed to predict her movement. Closer. He groaned. Why did she always have to come closer? Did she have some sort of compulsion to look death in the face before it took her? She was utterly impossible. He told her not to help. She helped. He told her to go, and she came back. Alright so the ‘don’t help’ suggestion didn’t come out how he hoped, but damn, he was both relieved and irritated that she had. Cassie Vimes had a death wish.

He’d heard the mattress decompress before she started coming toward him. Her soft footsteps suggested bare feet, and he knew enough about her gait and the distance between the bed and the bathroom door the she must be half way across the room. Far back enough to get a good look at the state of him, but still close enough to be in his lunging range. Her scent was invasive, and he couldn’t help but analyse every detail. She’d been out. She smelt suspiciously like she’d been to work but he was fairly sure it wasn’t still that same night. Was the stench of that place ingrained in her clothes? Had she not changed? She smelt of worry, that tangy scent fuelling his niggling hunger. Worry was a diluted form of fear, and fear was generally associated with the hunt and ultimately food. Perhaps it was a good thing Cassie was not as scared of him as she should be, else she’d be a lot more appetising than she already was.

The sudden blissful darkness distracted him. He felt a flash of panic. Was he completely blind now? How? He felt his eyes open and for a moment, he was convinced his eyesight was completely gone. Then his left eye slowly adjusted and he could make out a vaguely pale shape in the dark room. Cassie. She’d moved forward. She couldn’t be far out of arms reach now. Her voice was welcome, and he enjoyed that almost exotic accent. He might have smiled if it didn’t hurt to do so He tried to frown, and that only brought a grunt of pain. She sounded like she was surprised, though he supposed he would be too if someone survived what he had. She also sounded annoyed. What exactly had he done? He was convinced this was at least the night after the incident, and yet she smelt of Scores. He’s asked (told) her not to go back, and even after seeing what Silas was capable of, she had? A rasping growl caught in his throat and he pulled cracked lips back from his teeth.

“Oh really? Thank you.” He retorted snidely. “I wouldn’t know, on account of my eyes being burnt all to Hell.” His hand clenched on the door frame, the wood creaking under it. “But my nose works just fine. You went back, didn’t you? Even after I warned you. Even—.” His voice broke into a wheeze and he drew in another painful breath to continue. “Even after seeing what he’s capable of. He could have killed me, permanently, yet you’ll—.” Swallow. Breath. “You’ll purposefully go to him…” He trailed off, thinking coherently for a moment. “He made you some sort of perverse deal? Your life in exchange for your employment.” Pause. Growl. “Your services?” The wood splintered in his grip. “Sick bastard. That better be it, or whatever your reason, it better be worth me risking my life for you.”

He could almost taste her heartbeat in his mouth. The anger wasn’t helping. Pretty soon he was going to be proving his point about her being a pain in the neck. Two points. A pain in her neck. He wheezed another growl. She was driving him insane.

[Cassie Vimes]

It seemed Dacian was in an equally foul mood as he snarled at her, bearing his teeth, yeah because that had worked so well on her before. Cassie could sort of understand why, it was hard to have a sunny and positive attitude when he likely hurt all over and lets face it Dacian had hardly been Mr. Happy to start with. It wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go though. She was supposed to be mad at him]. Not the other way around!

He was supposed to be grateful and then maybe she would forgive him and they could do something about the fact that his skin looked like he’d been drenched in glue and then rolled around in cornflakes. Instead Dacian seemed intent on ragging on her about work of all things. Like that even mattered! Cassie scowled, trying to push down the guilt that reared it’s ugly head every time she spotted the way he was clinging to the doorframe for support or she heard the way every breath rasped in his throat. He didn’t even need to breathe, he was just doing it to torture her!

As he spoke she found it easier to suppress her guilt and be angry instead. He was being absolutely ridiculous! He didn’t get to dictate what she did and didn’t do and there was no way in hell he was putting the blame for this whole mess on her head. Cassie let her eyes widen, her lower lip trembling. ”Oh, its terrible Dacian. He’s forcing me to waitress for him and there’s nothing I can do!” She cried dramatically. ”And then he touched me in bad places.”

She dropped the act, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips, her brow furrowing into a deep frown. ”Don’t be so stupid.” She snapped angrily. ”You know what would be nice? A little gratitude. I saved your life! You’re right, he could have killed you, but I stopped him from finishing the job.” Cassie paused, taking a deep breath and trying to slow her racing heart. She needed to calm down before she started shouting, she didn’t really want everybody in The Three Broomsticks to overhear.

”I didn’t ask you to kidnap me from work.” It was much easier to argue with him in the dark, when she couldn’t see how much he was hurting and she didn’t have the chance to get afraid because she couldn’t see how close he was to snapping. He was getting there though, if the deep growls were any indication. ”I didn’t ask you to jeopardise my job and I certainly don’t want you risking your life for me.” Every time he did that he ended up hurt and Cassie was very quickly learning she didn’t like to see him like that.

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[Dacian]

He had the distinct feeling she was mocking him. Could she take nothing seriously? There was a reason she was still alive. Vampires had rights. What Silas had done was illegal yet Cassie was still walking around. Silas was a man that would do everything for a reason. If Cassie was still alive, then there was a reason for it, even if she chose to ignore the obvious. “That is not amusing, Cassandra.” He grumbled, resisting the urge to reach out for her. He could almost pinpoint her with her voice. One quick lunge and he’d have her.

“He employs a harem of scantily-clad women who dance to music and take what little clothes they have on off. He lends them out for money. What parts of that am I not supposed to mistake for prostitution? His ‘club’ is a brothel! I will not permit you to work for that whoremonger. He owns you, and now he knows you’re mine, he can use you.” Dacian was clearly adamant about Cassie not seeing Silas, though he might have chosen his words more carefully. Implying Cassie was a prostitute was not going to be a winning argument.

“Gratitude, hah.” He spat. “For all that I sacrifice for you, I’ve heard no word of thanks. You should have left me to the rising sun if you’d rather keep me from you because that’s what it will take.” He sounded angry at that, even though he had just brazenly announced nothing but near death would keep him away from her. “You’re an impossible woman. You’re audacious, immature, you defy my every word. You’re too tall, too lean, too blond yet I still want you. Explain it to me, because I sure as Hell don’t understand how one measly mortal can do this to me.” Every breath he took to speak was ragged now, and he was having trouble keeping himself upright. He needed to drink, yet the only source available was strictly off limits. He was close to breaking.

He must have been delirious, he decided as he realised what he had just said. The growl returned, low and deep. “Do you think I asked for any of this? I don’t want this.” He hissed. It was as if Cassie was a trap he couldn’t escape from. The bait, the cage, it was all too impossible to resist and escape from. It was easier to blame her than peg it on any of his failings. It was entirely unfair, and she did not deserve it, but what else could be expected from him? He had warned her, after all.

[Cassie Vimes]

Why was it whenever anybody was angry with her they used that name? No wonder she hated it. ”Don’t call me that.” She retorted with a wince. Coming from Dacian it just reminded her of their previous argument. They were walking a dangerous line and it would only take one bitter comment too many to send this fight down the same path. She couldn’t watch him walk away from her again, not without falling apart.

”Prostitution?!” Cassie practically shrieked, so much for keeping the volume down. ”So I’m a prostitute now?” God he was so infuriating! She was inches away from slapping him, burns be damned. ”I serve drinks Dacian. The men don’t touch me and I don’t touch them! Silas runs a legitimate business, stop being so melodramatic.” She shot him a dirty look, he was still talking like he owned her, like Silas owned her. ”And I’m not a fucking object, nobody owns me!”

What he said next shocked her into silence for a moment. The paranoid fear that he was going to leave her, a fear she didn’t even know she’d been clinging on to, eased and her expression softened a little. Cassie turned her head, trying to hide the weakness from him and forgetting that he was almost blind anyway, she couldn’t let him win this fight. She shouldn’t be pleased at his words at all they were obnoxious and insulting. She wasn’t going to just melt into his arms.

”Oh yeah, thanks for scaring me half to death by almost getting yourself killed.” Cassie grumbled, not managing to sound nearly as angry as she wanted too. ”You’re not exactly perfect yourself.” She shot back, still smarting from the mortal comment, like he thought she wasn’t good enough for him. She was better. ”You’re sexist and possessive, you’re arrogant and you don’t listen. And your clothes smell like a field.” Cassie threw in for good measure, if he was going to take low blows then so was she.

”If you don’t want this then leave.” She regretted saying it as soon as the words spilled from her mouth. She didn’t want him to go, but it seemed she couldn’t resist pushing her luck. Perhaps she’d been emboldened by his admission that only death would keep him away from her. But why did she feel the need to test that theory? She bit her lip to keep from taking the statement, she was too stubborn to back down and it might ruin everything.

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[Dacian]

Whoops. The implications of all of what he said hit him with her outraged reply. He winced as if it were a physical blow. He’d been cruel to her before, but he’d at least been able to leave her then. Now he couldn’t even move an inch without epic pain. He couldn’t escape the consequences, something he was not used to. His growl turned inward, becoming more frustrated than angry. “I didn’t say that.” He’d believed her – mostly – when she’d told him she was only serving drinks, but that didn’t stop the patrons looking at her, thinking about her in that way. Jealously welled up, and he tried to swallow it back down.

Her silence was worrying, but then she spoke again. Her emotional response was at least angrier than during their last argument. Compared to the tears, he much preferred the antagonism. He knew how to deal with that at least. Her irritated name-calling was nothing he didn’t know about himself already. They were the general traits that defined him. Insulting his personal hygiene though? That was a low blow. He probably deserved it.

He was starting to sway. He was going to have to sit down soon before his legs gave out. And falling on Cassie was hardly appropriate retaliation. She sounded like she wanted him to leave – not surprising – though he would have to disappoint her. He couldn’t leave now, even if he wanted to. “I can’t.” He sighed, breath rattling from his lungs. Where would he even go? The forest was too far, and the threat of Silas was too real in this familiar territory. “I do appreciate your help – I just wish I didn’t need it.” His left knee buckled and he lowered himself hastily to sit in the doorway. The movement stretched and broke multiple creases of skin and he bit back a gasp.

“You need to go.” He mumbled in defeat, not enjoying the gelatinous feeling of certain parts of his back on the hard doorframe behind him. “You’ve seen what damage like this does to me. I’m hungry, Cassie, and I can’t keep that promise for much longer.” He felt his hair fall forward around his face as he bowed his head. He needed to tie that up; it was getting in the way. He tried lifting his hand to push it back but even that easy movement was now impossible.

[Cassie Vimes]

”It sure as hell sounded like it.” She scowled again, he’d just implied she was whoring herself out and now he was trying to back-pedal. At least he probably hadn’t meant to insult her, although his dislike of her workplace was another matter. It would take more than an outraged shriek to get Dacian to back off on that one. He’d walked away from her and taken with him any right he had to interfere with where she worked. Not that he seemed to be following the rules.

Cassie’s breath gave a little hitch, the worry flooding back as he swayed unsteadily on his feet. She took an anxious step forwards, hovering close to him and feeling helpless. The last of her already fading anger was melting away as she listened to his laboured breathing, each intake of air brought a painful wheezing sound to her ears that piled on the guilt. What was she doing arguing when he was on the brink of collapse? And if he did collapse there was little she could do, they may be same height, but he was far stockier.

She echoed his sigh with one of her own, though it was prompted by relief. It was incredibly selfish of her, but Cassie found she didn’t care that his injuries were forcing him to stay, so long as he didn’t leave. She gave a snort that might have been amusement. Even after all this time he was still so typically male, unwilling to accept anyone’s help even if it hurt him in the process. It was probably as close to gratitude as she was going to get.

The small flicker of a smile that had formed on her lips died as he sat abruptly. She knelt with him, leaning closer as worry creased her brow. ”No!” Cassie denied, stubborn streak coming out in full force. ”You can’t even stand, you can barely see. If you don’t get blood what will happen?” Fear seemed to make her chest tighten, making it hard to breathe, she couldn’t leave him like this. Couldn’t stand not knowing. ”Let me help.” She whispered.

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[Dacian]

Dacian decided it was Cassie’s personal duty to ignore or disobey anything he said. She knew from first-hand experience that when hungry, he could only just resist her. Ordinarily she might just be an object of his strange form of affection, but he could hardly deny his need for blood if she was the only one within reach. He had promised not to hurt her and he hadn’t, much. Cassie seemed to be purposefully making it impossible to keep that promise.

He heard the movement of her clothes as she presumably hunkered down next to him. He grumbled under his breath. “I’ll survive.” He snapped. Eventually some hapless human would come in here, or he would find the strength to leave the room and locate one for him self. At least he was at ground zero for a fresh supply of blood. Once Cassie was gone, he felt no remorse about having to feed from everybody else in the vicinity.

Her heartbeat altered, and her breath caught. What was she thinking? He found out soon enough, and he replied in a loud and outraged voice, “No!” He reached out blindly, capturing her wrist. He’d intended to push her away, but his fingertips felt the beat of her pulse there and he held on. His stomach warmed, anticipating a meal. His mind rebelled. It was a strange feeling to be at war with him self. Yesterday had been a mistake, if she was offering her own blood, he had to refuse it. “No, Cassie.” He said, quietly this time. “I don’t want your help, not this time. Please go?” His hand didn’t relinquish her wrist, though, and her pulse was making his jaw ache to sink teeth into it.

[Cassie Vimes]

Her mind flashed back to the evening after he had been burned with the crucifix. Dacian’s lips had grazed her neck then as he came within a hairsbreadth of drinking her blood. Cassie’s heartbeat sped up, echoing the fear she’d felt then. This time though she wasn’t fighting it, she wasn’t frozen with terror and hoping he could resist. She didn’t want him to resist, if she could just do this for him maybe it would erase some of the guilt.

”How do you know?” Cassie asked, uncertainty making her voice waver. Anybody else would have died with burns this severe, but instead of this reassuring her that Dacian was tougher than she gave him credit for it only made her think he was already living on borrowed time. ”You need blood.” If not her, then who? Jazmyn when she came in to clean the room or maybe Rickie should the vampire find the strength to make it down the hall.

Cassie couldn’t let that happen to either of them. Who knew how much blood Dacian would need. She couldn’t understand why he was fighting it. He was quite willing to just take from anybody else and yet he still resister her help. Cassie flinched at his roared protest, her first instinct was to try and snatch her arm away from his grasp, but she suppressed it, pushing into the touch. The skin of his hand was rough, yet more evidence that the damage of the burns was extensive.

”Why not?” She begged, leaning closer still. His glassy gaze, while directed at her didn’t quite meet her eyes. It threw her off balance. She hadn’t realised before how much they relied on eye contact. ”Please?” Cassie’s voice was quiet, but no less insistent than it had been when they’d been in the middle of a fully-fledged argument. ”I can’t leave you. Not like this.” With his fingertips pressed into the pulse point on her wrist there was no way he wouldn’t be able to feel the way her heart was racing.

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