Bat Country

[Author's Note: I'm sorry to put this at the top of the page, but this is a formal warning. The end of this chapter is gratuitously violent. It's pretty graphic compared to what I've usually wrote. I'm not particularly comfortable with what I've done here, as I cherish Alexis as a perfect killing machine, that only kills when it's necessary. She's a badass vampire with lots of abilities, and the power to go psycho violent yet she never does. I have done so here. I hope it is as disconcerting and creepy for you guys to read as it was for me to write. I hope that you can feel the sudden and strange change in Alexis's demeanor. It's not much. As I said, I was uncomfortable writing it because I didn't feel like it was who Alexis was. But I like the idea of her slipping up and being the monster that Matt told her she could be in the beginning, despite her best to fight that outcome. I don't intend to do this often, if ever again, so please judge kindly. Enjoy, we're getting up on the juicy stuff now!]

"What do you mean you 'don't think so'?" Jimmy asked, putting his arm around Alexis and turning her out of Matt's grip.

"She goes where the fuck I say." Matt said in a low grumble.

Alexis's face contorted in exasperation and disgust. "Enough. I'm not a fucking child, Matt."

"You are for us. Technically. If your control were to start to fail, you'd need me to stop you and if they're dragging you away from me I can't stop you. Given that I'm having some sort of odd fucking difficulty feeling your emotions, I need every advantage I can get."

"If my control were to fail?!" Alexis gasped. "Then why would you even bring me here if you trusted me so little?"

"Alexis is right. That's enough." Now Zacky was interloping in their business, and given how it went for him last time, Alexis was honestly surprised. His arms pried between Matt and Jimmy. "Jimmy and Brian will be watching her. Being outside is better for her than being cooped up in here. Fucking drop it and just let her go."

Matt's eyes were fuming nearly but Jimmy's stance said he was not afraid of him and Jimmy straightened his shoulders and held a near smirk on his face.

Matt eventually turned around angrily and went back to the table. Jimmy shot a sincere grin at Alexis and they swiveled and jogged at human speed out of there to the enclosed patio of the club. Jimmy walked up to Brian, still dragging Alexis behind him.

"How big a fit did he throw?" Brian asked, placing a cigarette into Jimmy's waiting hand.

"Not too bad. We'll hear about it later though." He laughed.

"Brian, may we please talk?" Alexis nearly whispered.

He studied her for a minute before placing the lighter in Jimmy's hand and putting his arm around Alexis's back and leading her away from the group of people as much as possible.

"What's going on?" He asked, taking a drag off a cigarette. He looked so human right now. Alexis had never thought of a vampire ever smoking, but apparently they got some affect from it.

"Do you remember what Nikki said? About what I would have to do if Matt got too close?" Her words were forlorn.

Brian looked down and his whole face seemed to drop. "Yes."

"He can tell our bond isn't right. He's getting really close. I may have to use our last resort even sooner than we wanted to." Alexis sighed. "Brian...how fast can we get out? It's time to go."

Brian looked at Alexis and smiled, tilting her chin up with his index finger before leaning into her ear. "I sent Isabel out today to meet Nikki and Andy after Matt said we were going to be gone for the night. As we speak they are removing the big stuff. We have to get out whatever else we can later. We'll be gone in a week. If you can hold him off until then, you'll make it."

"But what about their scen--" Alexis stopped and grinned at Brian who smiled back at her.

"There will be no scent." He laughed leading her back into the small mass of people.

"Thank you." Alexis hugged Jimmy quickly before she maneuvered through the mass of people inside the club. She took her spot beside Matt quietly.

"You weren't out there long." He commented.

"I didn't want you to be too mad at me about it. It just wasn't worth it." Alexis said, studying and running a finger along the lines of her palm.

"I'm sorry I got upset." Matt twirled his fingers through Alexis's hair and she let him, watching all the people in this club dance and sweat and they smelled like pheromones and alcohol. Tonight it was an unpleasant aroma. It smelled to her, badly.

Finally, after a few awkward minutes of silence between the 5 people seated at the table, Isabel, Brian and Rev returned.

"What'd we miss?" Jimmy asked, cracking his knuckles as he settled back into his seat.

"Oh not much. I just made a mistake in letting us come here tonight. You are all antisocial as hell and we're all pissed at each other. I did this so that we could have a bonding night and move on from the bullshit, but we haven't done it. No one wants to eat. Fine. I've already hooked somebody. When you've all done so we may leave."

Hours passed and Alexis was silent the entire time, and was the last to hook someone. She tried to explain to Matt she wasn't hungry tonight and didn't need to feed but he was not having it so in protest she held off for as long as possible.

A woman, human, average height and thin with bright blonde hair like Alexis used to have came to the table making Brian's head snap up. No one seemed too surprised to see her. She seemed vaguely familiar, which she guessed was from somewhere within Matt's horde of memories that she still had.

"Hey, sweetie! It's been a long time!" She told Brian.

"Yeah, we've all had a lot of shit going on. We've not been able to make it out much. How are you?"

"Better now that I've seen you again! Shame you're wearing a lot more clothes than I'm used to."

The comment made Alexis's head snap up. Thankfully Matt was distracted talking to Zacky about what alcohol tasted best, clearly, when mixed with blood, but they were good at covering themselves.

"It's not going to happen." Brian said.

"Who said it's not? You always enjoyed it before."

"Jess, it was a long time ago." Brian said wearily.

"Not so long, I don't think." She said with a smile.

"Long enough that you should forget it." He told her.

The woman was seemingly more and more defeated. The smell of her blood told Alexis she was aroused and it was obvious this woman had had some sort of sexual relationship with Brian. That thought in itself made Alexis angry and when the woman looked around frantically looking for some way to make Brian accept her again, Alexis took the chance when the woman's gaze fell upon her.
As ferociously as she could, Alexis hooked the woman. It was like a hot knife through butter and once the woman was released, she shook herself and turned to Brian.

"Are you sure?" She asked Brian.

"Yes." His head came up. "Go."

After the rage subsided Alexis tapped on Matt's shoulder. "I'm ready to go."

"You got one?" He asked, turning away from Zacky.

"I did." Alexis said firmly.

"Alright. Let's all split up. Feed and we'll meet you back at the nest. Don't have out in the same areas. Spread out, and don't dispose of your bodies in pairs." Matt whispered to the group.

Everyone seemed to anxious and ready to leave and as they exited the back door of the club, they spread out in separate directions.

"You're going to stay with me." Matt told Alexis nonchalantly.

"Can I stay close? Is it at all possible that I can have privacy for this feeding? It's the first time I'm feeding off a woman and I'd like the privacy." As they left the door, Alexis smelled a familiar scent that she couldn't quite place. It filled her with dread, but it was faint, and was covered by so many other scents it was hard to decipher what it was.

"You fed off one of our maids before you were perfected." Matt said casually, his stride long.

"We had maids?" Alexis asked.

"Yes, we had maids. We removed them once Thor started staying with you. We couldn't risk you feeding on another one when he was adamant you be somewhat on the brink of starvation and unperfection."

Alexis shrugged. "Regardless, I don't remember it. The question still stands. May I have the privacy or not?"

"We can feed in different areas that are close to each other. You can have your privacy." He relented.

"Thank you." Alexis replied. She was only mildly hungry, and would probably feed a little off the woman, but she had intended fully to just destroy 'Jess'. She was both disgusted with the idea that she would basically kill her for no reason, and indifferent to it.

They walked a bit away from the club before summoning their prey to follow them. They all walked for a long time before Matt looked at Alexis and nodded. Turning around, Matt's eyes caught a glimpse of Alexis's victim. He stared for a long time before raising his eyebrows. "Brian's ex, Alexis? Really?"

"I didn't like the way she looked at you like you were next in her line of men to fuck." Alexis bluffed.

"Funny, I didn't see her do that."

"You and Zacky would rather have the argument over bourbon or a nice god damn cognac. Either way she doesn't get to look at you like that just because she's been turned down."

Eventually Matt shrugged. "Well you enjoy that. I hope she doesn't taste as sour as she smells. That's probably the reason Brian never tasted her."

"I'll let you know." Alexis said, walking up to Jess with a warm smile.

"Why am I here?" Jess asked, obviously confused.

"We're going camping." Alexis said sharply. Her intense jealousy was burning her up inside and while she knew this woman had every right to Brian before Alexis was even created, she didn't want this woman to have that part of him and be alive at the same time.

Leading the woman down a slope, they nestled in between some hills. Alexis took off her jacket, shoes, her shirt, her pants. Finally she stripped naked which confused Jess even more.

"I've never been with a girl before..." Jess told Alexis gently.

Alexis just looked at her and smiled. She should just let this woman go, but she couldn't. That itch inside of her, that lick of territorialism forced anger through her veins.

Smiling, Alexis walked up to Jess and held her face in her hands. "It'll be alright. Stay just like that." Alexis said, pushing Jess's shoulders back and correcting her posture before stepping back.

Staring at Jess, Alexis let the jealousy fill her. It pounded inside of her so hard that it was practically painful but still she went on. She thought of this woman knowing the way Brian felt, and smelled and tasted and she became even more angry. It angered her so much that in a fraction of a second, before she even knew the change happened, Alexis shifted her eyes and with one quick motion, had tackled Jess to the ground and bit into her throat. She shook her head wildly like a rabid wolf, shredding the arteries and esophagus with her teeth. It was clear Jess was in shock after only a few seconds and would die within the next minute, but with all brutality known for her vampiric type, Alexis, while Jess was still living stood up and placed a foot on her chest while taking Jess's upperarms and ripping the arms out of their sockets. Alexis continued, growling and furious until she was ripping skin and when nothing was left but tendon dripping with blood, she gave up one arm and ripped the other free from Jess and slammed it back down on her now dead body.

Alexis finally collapsed on the ground, her hair wild and crazy, blood all over her body. Her eyes dark. Eventually the hate subsided and she was left with only paralyzing guilt and terror. Her hands clamped over her mouth and she took a deep breath, appalled at what she had just done. This wasn't necessary and undoubtedly Alexis had not used her eyes on Jess. There had been no mercy and Alexis didn't even put her out of her misery particularly quickly. Instead she essentially let Jess die from blood loss and shock without ever saying goodbye to her family. Alexis in this moment, felt like the monster everyone already knew she was, and she hated it.

Hurriedly, she put her clothes back on and ran back up the hill, past where Matt was still feeding. She did not walk back to the nest, but instead started jogging, then running before taking off full speed. She'd want Brian's forgiveness for this. She needed to know that he could still forgive her for it, so she needed to get back before Matt did.

However when she arrived at the nest, Brian had not yet returned so Alexis entered the nest and ran right to Matt's room where she sat on the bed waiting for anybody to come home.

After an eternity, Matt's bedroom door opened and he stepped in.

"I knew she didn't smell good enough for you. Did you have any intention to feed from her, or were you just going to obliterate her from the beginning?" He said, his words feeling like salt on a wound to Alexis.