Torment

'I never said that I want this,
This burden came to me,
And it's made its home inside, (oh, oh, oh, oh.)
- Monster, Imagine Dragons.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, Christie awoke suddenly, her entire body aching and burning in such a way that it had her frantically trying to muffle a sob of pain.

Her skin felt it was though as it was on fire, sweat stuck her hair to her face and neck. Her gums and eyes were burning and when she raised a hand to her mouth and pressed her fingertip against her tooth, a sharp gasp escaped as pain erupted in her finger and she pulled it back to reveal a drop of dark red blood that sprung up from the small tear in her finger.

She scrambled off the bed and lunged at the shard of glass from the broken mirror. With a shaking hand, she raised the glass and stared -mouth open- at her reflection. She could barely see herself; her face, neck and shoulders were faded, as though she were a ghost caught on camera.

She hesitantly opened her mouth and almost immediately began panicking, razor sharp fangs had taken the place of her usually small, blunt -in comparison to the fangs- canine teeth.

Her frantic eyes snapped up to meet her reflections eyes and she was taken off guard at the dull yellow orbs, they had nothing on Dwayne's blazing, golden eyes ringed with red, but they were still rather intimidating.

"No. No. No!" she cried, throwing the glass away from her. She stumbled backwards and collided with the wall, sliding down and burying her face in her hands. A strange tingling sensation drifted across her forehead and she pulled her hand back, a scream exploding from her at the sight of the long, sharp claws. "No! T-this can't be happening!"

She continued screaming in anguish, claws leaving bloody lines across her skin as she scratched at her burning arms in quick, sorrowful swipes.

"What the hell are you screaming at?" came the furious voice of David.

Christie paid him no mind, keeping her head down as her screams turned to sobs and she continued tearing at her arms, unaware of the blood dripping onto the floor and slowly turning into a small puddle.

"Christ, that's a lot of blood." Marko whistled, keeping to the shadows to avoid the sun.

"We gotta stop her before she bleeds out," Paul input tiredly.

A pair of cool, tanned hands closed around hers, prying them from her bloody arms. She raised her head weakly, her yellows locking on his dark ones. His brothers immediately began whispering about her eyes and fangs.

"Why?" She found herself asking in defeat. Her shoulders drooping. "Why did you do this to me?"

"Because you belong to me," he answered as if that made it alright, as if he expected her to be okay with him turning her into a monster because of his possessive nature.

"H-how do I make it stop?" she pleaded.

"Focus on your human side," he explained, surprisingly lightly. His fingers dancing over her burning skin. "Reach inside of yourself and find the part that's still pure."

Christie did as he said, reaching inside herself for the part of her that remained pure, untainted by the vampire blood coursing through her veins. She had thought it would be her family that would bring her back, but she was taken completely by surprise when Dwayne's face appeared in her mind and the slight admiration she felt for him consumed her and had her fangs shrinking back into her human teeth and her eyes fading back to the vibrant, forest green.

"There you go." He tapped her nose playfully before rejoining his brothers and the four of them disappeared back into the darkness, leaving Christie sitting on the cave floor, her scratch marks slowly ceased bleeding and began to heal over.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Christie drifted aimlessly through the boardwalk, her usually bright green eyes dull and distant, overcome with anger and sorrow–she knew that he was a monster and so were his brothers, but she hadn't thought that she would be tricked into consuming vampire blood and becoming like them... she still didn't know how they had managed it, but she was certain that she didn't want to.

She was unsure of how much time had passed since her discovery this morning and her decision to bathe before she had to walk to the boardwalk to meet Derek.

"Hey stranger!" Derek grinned happily at the sight of her. "I thought you were gonna stand me up."

"Sorry... got held up," she mumbled vacantly.

"S'okay. Glad you're here now," he said, tucking his hands in his coat pockets with a wry grin. "Wanna take a walk?"

"Sure," she agreed, a small smile appearing on her lips. "I would like that."

"I fancy a corn dog, what about you?" Derek queried, linking their fingers together.

"Uh... actually, I'm allergic to corn dogs," Christie admitted.

Derek nodded thoughtfully. "Cotton candy?"

"I could do with some cotton candy." Her smile widened, she tightened her grip in his hand.

"Shall we?" he bowed at the waist and gestured for her to lead the way.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"There's no way. I don't believe you." Christie shook her head, a giggle bursting free.

"It's true," Derek exclaimed loudly, gaining attention from passer-by's. "I was so wasted that I allowed my friends to dress me up in a pink dress, white heels and... put make up on me." The last part was a quiet confession, said so lowly that he obviously didn't want her to hear, but to her surprise, she did. And she let out a stream of loud laughter, filling the air with her infectious amusement.

"You poor guy," she teased, slapping his shoulder.

"I know. I'm so unfortunate," he played along, feigning sorrow.

"You're an idiot," she said fondly. Her green eyes had regained their brightness, growing lighter every time her gaze was drawn to him.

"That's why you like me." Derek gave her a quick wink as he tossed the empty soda can in the trash along with the remainder of the cotton candy.

"I guess it is," Christie murmured as her eyes flickered over to the watch on his wrist. She internally winced, swallowing as she realised that the sun was about to set at any moment and the boys would wake up, to discover her gone. "I have to go," she explained when he gave her a questioning look. "I have to meet some people."

"That guy from last night," Derek guessed flatly. His expression turned sour.

"I'm really sorry. But I live with him, so I kinda have to." She set a hand on his arm, causing him to turn back to her. "Besides, I know for a fact that he won't like me spending time with you... and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not scared of him, Christie," Derek said, gently rubbing her knuckles.

"You should be," she sighed and reluctantly tugged her hands free. "Next Friday, there's a concert on. Do you wanna go with me?"

"...I would love to," he agreed without a second thought.

Christie nodded in relief, her worry at him being angry disappearing. "I'll see you next week, at about 9:00?"

Derek agreed and kissed her cheek before walking away and vanishing into the crowd. Christie sighed and reluctantly turned, dragging her feet as she headed for the small convenience store to buy some food, hoping that it would convince them that she hadn't been meeting up with the guy they had ordered her to stay away from.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Where the hell have you been?" David demanded, grabbed her arm tightly.

"I-I was exploring," she responded, struggling against his grip. "And I was shopping."

"Didn't I tell you what would happen if you ran off?"

"No. You leave them alone!" Christie barked, a fire igniting within her. "I won't let you hurt them."

"You can't stop us," David countered as they were flanked by Marko, Dwayne and Paul.

Christie felt the familiar burn in her gums and eyes as they changed to fangs and yellow orbs. David let out a short curse and yanked roughly on her arm, pulling her towards the deserted area of the boardwalk. She snapped her teeth angrily as she was thrown into an alleyway and blocked in by the four males.

"Christie, turn back."

She shook her head, her hair falling in messy waves around her face. Anger kept building up inside her, along with desperation and a fierce sense of protectiveness that she'd always carried for her family. A sharp growl emanated from her chest, her whole body quivering as Dwayne attempted to step towards her, to calm her down.

"I won't let you touch them." Her yellow eyes grew brighter, glowing in the darkness. "You will die first." She directed at David, who raised an eyebrow in disbelief at her sudden strength, her lack of fear.

It happened suddenly, Christie pounced, tackling David without a second thought and the two of them went flying through the air, doing a forward roll and ending up in a crouch, glaring at one another. If it had been any other time, Christie would've been cowering from his monstrous features, but not tonight... not when he had threatened the lives of her family. She wouldn't let him near them.

Marko, Dwayne and Paul stood by, watching intently at the scene before them. They all knew Christie wouldn't survive in a fight against David, not when she was only half vampire. Her human side wouldn't be able to cope with the violence that David would inflict upon her. But none of them made a move to stop the hard-headed, angry halfling, they were far too intrigued to stop her. They wanted to see what she was made of first, and then they would step in, if she had any skill in fighting, they would break it up, separating the two vampires until they had calmed down.

"You stupid girl," David growled at her.

Christie lunged again, intending to claw at his face, but David was ready, and grabbed her roughly around the neck, pinning her to the ground and chuckling as she struggled uselessly against him. His amusement only fuelled her anger and she twist her head around, sinking her fangs into his arm and scratching his neck with her claws. She slipped out from beneath him and kicked him in the side, watching in satisfaction as he fell over.

David shot back up and tackled her, digging his claws into her neck and throwing her away from him, she landed back first on the cold ground and the breath was knocked out of her. Before she could retaliate, David was suddenly there, grabbing her arm and twisting it roughly behind her back. Christie cried out as her shoulder was pulled from the socket and pain flared up in her entire arm. She attempted to use her other arm to break free but it was stopped by David and he put pressure on it, listening intently as the sound of bones snapping met his ears.

An agonized scream tore past her lips and, even as her broken arm went numb, she continued to struggle, surprising the four males at her resilience, her unwillingness to back down, to submit to David's authority. Her head snapped back and collided with David's nose, he released her in favour of forcing his nose back into place and wiping the blood from his face. Christie staggered backwards, her left arm hanging limply by her side.

"You should give up. You won't beat me."

"I'll never bow down to you," she hissed, and before she could lunge again, a familiar pair of arms locked around her, yanking her backwards away from David. "Let go of me!" she shrieked angrily, fighting against Dwayne's unbreakable hold.

Dwayne rolled his eyes and put a tiny amount of pressure on her broken arm, pushing down on the limb, causing her to cry out and slump against him, falling unconscious from the amount of pain she was in. He turned his attention back to his leader, who was wiping the rest of the blood from his face.

"Take her back to the cave, don't let her leave," David ordered and Dwayne nodded. "She will learn the hard way what happens when she fights against us, or questions my authority."