Chapter Text
Morning gusted as the beginning of a storm, rattling the windowpanes in their frames and spitting rain across the glass. Becky blew a soft sigh up into the cold air of the bedroom, drawing the duvet tightly about herself and frowning. Of course Alexa wouldn’t have thought to put the heating on; she didn’t feel the cold. As much as vampires crowded to any available heat source, like cats looking for the warmest spot in the room, they didn’t always have the forethought to understand humans required warmth to survive, not simply out of preference. With another exasperated sigh, Becky got out of bed, jamming her feet into her slippers and pottering along the hall to the kitchen to turn the heating on. If she was going to spend the rest of the day stressing about what the fuck was gonna happen with Charlotte, she wanted to be cosy whilst she did it. As she climbed back into bed, she opened Charlotte’s text from the night before, frowning hard as she tried to decide whether or not she should reply. That “hi kitten” burned like a kiss, tugging at her heart and threatening let her tears bubble over. With an irritable sigh, she began to type out a reply.
“We have to talk. I’ll come over tonight.”
Bayley had come home in the middle of the night, as if borne on a prophetic wind. “Nice haircut,” Mella remarked as she unlatched the back gate, welcoming Bayley back into her garden. Bayley swatted at her, crinkling her nose in irritation, but there was the barest flash of a dimple as she suppressed a smile.
“Sasha’s been watering the flowers whilst you were gone,” Charlotte added, pulling Bayley into a bear hug, and almost recoiling as she hot scent of human blood hit her like a truck. Bayley was almost as bad as Becky in terms of provoking sheer bloodlust; Sasha called her blood “loud”, and said it smelled like vanilla and forest fires. Charlotte said it just smelled like blood. As they broke apart, Carmella squeezed in to envelop Bayley in an embrace of her own, her tears leaving dark splotches on her grey hoodie.
“She’s been nuts about this garden, she’s been chasing us away from the flowerbeds and everything,” Carmella sniffed, laughing through her tears. “We missed you.”
“I taught her well,” Bayley said gruffly, though she was clearly quietly pleased with Sasha’s efforts to keep her flowers in good health. “I missed you guys too. Where is she?”
“Upstairs; she wanted to meet you at the gate, but she’s still doing her makeup and probably hasn’t even realised that you’re here,” Mella replied, rolling her eyes at she gestured up at the house. With a curt nod, Bayley headed into the house, Charlotte and Carmella in her wake.
Charlotte could have practically counted down to the moment Sasha caught the scent of her lover’s blood; with a sound somewhere between a wail and a sob, Sasha exploded out of her room and barrelled into Bayley with such enthusiasm Charlotte had to catch them both to keep them from knocking poor Mella down the stairs.
“You’re back,” Sasha whispered, rubbing her face against Bayley’s chest like a cat, her small fists clutching uselessly at her hoodie sleeves. “You’re back.”
“I’m back, babe,” Bayley said gently, resting her cheek on the top of Sasha’s head as she played with her hair. She raised an eyebrow, pulling back as she noticed Sasha’s expression.
“You cut all your hair off,” Sasha observed between great tearful gulps of air as she tried to suppress sobs. She barely seemed to notice that the two had sunk to the floor in an embrace at Charlotte’s feet.
“I know, what’s she gonna pull on when she’s being a brat now?” Charlotte teased, as she made her way past with Carmella in tow to hide in the kitchen and give the couple some privacy.
“She’s always got your hair to pull, babe,” Bayley quipped, flashing Charlotte an easy smile, laughing as Sasha vainly tried to protest through her tears. “What gives? You gone soft? You haven’t even bitten me yet.”
Sasha pouted, pressing her face into Bayley’s arm.
“Was givin’ you a minute to get in and see everybody first,” Sasha said in a small voice, muffled by the fabric.
“Did my haircut upset you that badly?”
“No!” Sasha raised her fierce little face to scowl at Bayley, her tear stained cheeks shining. “It’s... it’s pretty hot. And the shaved part is soft...”
“You’re gonna be petting on me even more than usual now, huh?” Bayley replied, shivering slightly as Sasha tentatively reached to touch the undercut, shaved close at the base of her skull, already growing back in fuzzy. With a surprising ease for a human, she gathered Sasha in her arms and got to her feet, holding bridal style as though she weighed nothing at all.
“Hey Sash,” Bayley’s voice was so low, her whispered words were a velvet hum in Sasha’s ear as she took Sasha’s hand and gently pressed her palm to her pulse. “Are you hungry?”
Sasha’s face lit up, her tearful pouting melting into an expression of tightly controlled lust.
“I’m starving.”
It seemed Bayley had barely touched Sasha before she was coming into the palm of her hand, tangled in her lap, begging and trembling a song of devotion. She’d thrown herself down into the enormous winged armchair that sat by the fireplace in the corner of Sasha’s room, one leg thrown haphazardly over the arm of the chair, a sprawling invitation. She found herself smiling into the kiss as Sasha had clambered into her lap and immediately started pulling her hoodie off, her lips finding Bayley’s pulse as Bayley’s fingers wandered up her inner thighs, her other arm shaking around her waist to haul her so close Sasha could feel the blood rushing through her veins.
“What a welcome,” Bayley murmured between kisses, her breath catching as Sasha’s hands worked on the buttons on her jeans, fingers deftly slipping into her underwear and finding their mark immediately. Sasha slipped inside her the same moment her fangs pierced her neck, and Bayley closed her eyes, blissful and lost in a cacophony of sensation. Sasha felt drunk from the first mouthful, the velvet heat of Bayley almost unbearable in her hands, the sudden rush of her as Sasha began to feed, the rising warmth as she began to peak, whimpering in Bayley’s arms. It was a poetic mess, all hot breaths and murmurs and semi-drunk affections and blood that almost seemed scalding against Sasha’s lips. With Bayley, it was always different; she was never just a girl being fucked, the way she was with Charlotte. They seemed to melt into one another, and it was fervent and dark and felt like drowning, and Sasha had never known a sensation quite like it. Through the haze, her fangs still sunk deep into Bayley’s neck, Sasha was dimly aware of a commotion in the hallway. Lazily, Sasha pulled away as Bayley withdrew her fingers, wiping her mouth with the back of one hand whilst using the hem of her tank top to stem the flow of blood from Bayley’s bite.
“We should go see what’s going on,” Bayley said softly. Sasha shrugged, looking bored.
“Sounds like Becky’s back.”
“Becky?”
“...Yeah, maybe you should come see everybody. A lot has changed.”
Bayley raised her eyebrows, but said nothing, wiping her hands on her jeans.
“Should we go see what’s going on right now, or...?” Bayley prodded, quietly hoping Sasha would say no and insist they stayed in bed to cuddle. Much to her disappointment, Sasha sighed dramatically, as though she’d been gravely inconvenienced and got to her feet.
“Suppose we should,” she grumbled. “C’mon.”
As they tripped along the corridor to the kitchen, where everybody was gathered around the kitchen table as though awaiting terrible news, Bayley found herself pausing in the doorway in surprise; after all the furore about Becky, she hadn’t expected a human. A couple of other new faces flashed her nervous glances, before turning to look back at the pacing redhead. Becky’s motions were a swagger, the bravado a clearer sign of hurt than even tears.
“You know, this doesn’t have to be a family meetin’,” Becky said grimly. “S’tween me and Charlotte.”
“Subject A; Becky Lynch,” Sasha hissed in Bayley’s ear. “Charlotte‘s latest, and if the sounds from her bedroom as of late are to be believed, greatest squeeze. Human juice box, but constantly freaking out about something.”
Bayley wisely decided not to point out that Sasha herself was also known to subject the household to her frequent “freak outs”. Charlotte seemed to materialise from nothing, suddenly a shadow in the doorway, her eyes dark and fierce, fixed on Becky as though she was prey.
“Glad you decided to grace us with your presence,” Becky commented humourlessly. “Did you decide to turn the kitchen into Judge Judy’s jury, or are they just here because they know there’s drama?”
“I’m not their keeper, as you know quite well,” Charlotte quipped. “Ask them, not me.”
Bayley suddenly felt the uneasy ripple of embarrassment from around the table.
“We’re just here for moral support,” Liv offered unconvincingly.
“Also to make sure you two don’t kill each other,” Carmella added. Becky couldn’t hide a smile, though it quickly turned to a scowl as she clocked Bayley, desperately trying to melt into the kitchen cabinets.
“What, I was gone for a night and you had to pick up a shiny new human to keep your bed warm?” Becky asked cruelly, her mouth twisting unpleasantly as she made eye contact with Bayley. Charlotte let out a short, sharp laugh.
“I’d have to go through Sasha first; no, that one’s not mine,” Charlotte replied evenly. “If you came here to accuse me of sleeping around, you’re wasting your time. And you’re embarrassing yourself. We can either do this here, with an audience, or I can take you next door and we can talk this out like adults. Your move.”
Becky paused at that, her eyes darting between Charlotte and the assembled occupants of The Garden. Letting Charlotte take her into her bedroom was like purposefully climbing into a spider’s web; all it would take was a few kisses, and Becky would be forgiving and hating and full of the blind heat of Charlotte, scalding enough to make her forget why she was angry in the first place, and she couldn’t keep doing that to herself. But then again, engaging in verbal sparring with Charlotte in front of the found family who had welcomed her so warmly over the past few months was unthinkable.
“Okay,” Becky finally conceded. “Let’s go talk about it in private.”