Chapter Text
“Baby please just hear me out!” Nicole hears her cry out behind her, but just barely over the blood pounding in her ears.
The hot summer air engulfs her as she walks out the front door all too aware of the footsteps following behind her. Just as she goes to open her car door she feels a set of warm hands on her shoulders, stilling her. Shae’s hands were always warm, but the thing is, Nicole hates warmth, always has. She feels sweltered by it, trapped in a sense.
“Nicole just listen please.” Shae’s forehead gently comes to rest on her back between her shoulder blades, shooting more unwelcomed warmth through her. “My heat it uh… came early and I was having a really hard time without you baby.”
She feels hot and itchy everywhere as if she were enveloped in a giant fur blanket. Her wolf was gnawing at her harder than usual, she wanted to shift so badly in this moment, but she knows that Shae can coax her wolf with ease, but she won’t let her. Not this time, not again.
Shae’s hands are nudging at her shoulders, almost aggressively, to get her to turn and face her. And when she does Shae drags her fingers and dips them under her shirt and runs the pad of her thumb over her shoulder. Neither of them can actually see it, but they know it’s there; the mark Shae had left on her mate over two years ago.
She had let Shae mark her almost instantly after meeting her, well it had truly only been 6 or so months after they met, but in her eternal life 6 months felt like an instant. At the time it seemed like a good idea, at the time she was sure. She didn’t even care that Shae hadn’t let her mark her back. She claimed she wasn’t ready and Nicole didn’t want to pressure her, although her wolf was certainly not pleased. She figured the girl was just scared, mating wasn’t something to be taken lightly, she knew that now. Her recklessness with it all had left her in an inescapable bond, that she was no longer happy to be a part of.
She was so helplessly in love with the girl, still is, and probably always will be and the mark on her shoulder constantly reminds her of it. So she put up with it, the constant nagging from her wolf urging her to sink her teeth into the other girl, the heart wrenching feeling she’d get every time she’d see her lover with someone else, and the not so subtle manipulation Shae used to have her way with her, and not just in the bedroom.
It took a lot of time and pain for her to figure out that Shae wasn’t scared, she was consumed by the power she held over her. She marked her to claim her, to possess her in every single way, so that she could go and do whatever or whoever she pleased with the reassurance that Nicole would be right there waiting for her with open arms when she went home every night.
The first time she caught Shae cheating, it was apparently her own fault. Shae told her she wasn’t around enough, and she wasn’t entirely wrong, but it's kinda hard to be ‘around’ when you’re being hunted by some wannabe vampire slayer. So Nicole forgave her, well, Shae didn’t exactly ask for forgiveness and it was Nicole who ended up saying sorry, but whatever, she let it go. And she let it go every other time it happened, because what was she supposed to do? Shae was her mate and she wore her mark, she belonged to her, or at least that's what she was taught. So who was Nicole to go against the laws of mating?
But this? This time Shae had crossed a line. Seeing her mate being fucked by said wannabe vampire slayer in her own bed was too much. And god she hoped she would be shot dead right then and there, but the hunter seemed too horny to even notice Nicole was a vampire, well half vampire.
“Nicole, baby please…” Shae brings their foreheads together, still caressing the mark to remind Nicole of her place. “You know I was thinking about you the whole time, right? I always am.” She brings her lips to ghost over Nicole’s ear, pressing their bodies flush together against the car door. “No one can please me like you do baby.” She starts running her hand down Nicole’s abs, tracing over the slight bump each one makes over the thin fabric of her shirt.
And Nicole can’t keep her body from reacting to her mate’s voice as she feels her cock start to throb against her tight jeans, probably not the best choice of pants whilst on her rut, but she wasn’t exactly expecting to stay in them when she made her way over to her lover’s house.
Part of bearing a mating mark was that Nicole’s rut was synced to Shae’s heat, and Shae wasn’t lying when she said it came early, but that’s hardly an excuse.
“You want me.” Shae states planely, backing up slightly and cupping Nicole almost painfully.
And it’s true. Nicole does want her, but that isn’t enough. She wants Shae to want her too, only her. Was that too much to ask for?
She has never felt so conflicted in her whole life. Her heart hurts, like someone had reached inside her chest and squeezed the organ. At the same time, her cock was painfully pulsing against the weight of her girlfriend’s hand. She didn’t know which needed relief more.
“Let me take care of that for you.” Shae whispers, gesturing at the growing bulge between them, as she starts to sink down to her knees.
She almost takes her up on the offer, because anger and lust go well together, like gasoline and a match. But she knows it would only leave her aching for more. So she grabs her shoulders instead, stopping her midway.
“Woah baby if I had known you had a threesome planned I would’ve cleared my afternoon, but I gotta get back to work.” The hunter teases stepping down the porch stairs as she adjusts her gun holster.
Nicole has seen her before, right before she had killed one of the other hybrids from her pack. She peeks a look at the infamous gun they call ‘Peacemaker’ hanging from the hunter’s waist; the only weapon that could kill vampires and hybrids.
She shoves her hands into her pockets, a nervous habit of her’s, and quickly averts her eyes, not wanting to look suspicious.
“Fuck off Wynonna.” Shae hisses, noticing the shift in Nicole’s demeanor.
Nicole has never actually told Shae that she knew who the hunter was, she thought it’d be safer to leave her out of it. After all Shae was only a wolf, so it wasn’t really her problem.
Wynonna laughs at that. “Until next time, doctor.” She says, winking at her latest conquest before heading towards her truck.
Nicole watches the hunter leave up until the blue and white pickup bends around the corner. She had to be certain this wasn’t some ploy to kill her, but some part of her kind of wanted it to be.
She looked back at Shae unsure of what to say. Nicole has always been a woman of few words, she figures doing stuff is more significant than saying it. But her silence is too often mistaken for disinterest or ignorance, and she can’t let Shae think she’s forgiven her again.
“Can you please say something?” Shae pleads, tugging at the sleeve of Nicole’s shirt.
Deciding she had no more chances left to give, she gently pushes Shae away from her, opens her car door, gets in and not so gently closes the door. She can hear Shae’s muffled voice calling her name. She looks at her mate for a moment before shaking her head and reversing out of the driveway.
They’d been through this countless times before, but the way her heart is slowly sinking into her stomach as she drives away gives her a sense of finality she hadn’t felt before.
There was really only one other place she had to go to besides the home she shared with her mate; her pack’s trailer park, which is essentially just a hang out spot/homeless shelter for other hybrids like her.
The park is only about a 10 minute drive from her house, but it feels as though she’s been driving for hours and she’s not even halfway there yet. She’s met with a red light at every traffic stop, which only pisses her off even more. She debates turning the sirens of her cruiser on, but Nicole wasn’t one of those cops who abused their power. Instead she lets out a huff of frustration and waits like the rest of the civilians.
She looks down at the persistent protrusion in her pants, squeezing it down with the palm of her hand to get it to settle, but to no avail.
She jumps slightly at a honking noise coming from behind her and she realizes she’s been too busy hand wrestling her cock to notice that the light had turned green. Goddamn mating cycles.
Once she finally reaches the trailer park she grabs her stetson from the back seat and holds it in front of her crotch as subtly as she can, as she gets out of her car and heads to Bobo’s trailer.
Bobo Del Rey was the oldest member of the pack and the owner of the trailer park. Not the nicest fella but he and Nicole got on pretty decently as long as she could keep the feds away from whatever illegal shenanigans he got up to.
She enters his trailer and immediately regrets it when she’s shes met with the sight of him balls deep in a girl that was definitely way too hot to be fucking Bobo Del Rey.
“For fucks sake has anyone around here ever heard of knocking?!” He shouts, untangling himself from the blushing girl beneath him.
“Uh, sorry I-” Nicole couldn’t help but watch as the girl scrambled to get dressed; taking in her perky breasts and caramel skin. The girl looked good enough to eat and she wasn’t exactly helping the pre-existing situation in her pants.
“We’ll continue this later Rosie.” He says to the girl, smacking her ass and she exits the trailer.
“Well, what do you want Haught or is cockblocking part of police brutality now?” He pulls a robe over himself and sits down on the edge of the bed, lighting a cigarette and offering the pack to Nicole.
“I’m good. I need a place to stay.” She explains, swatting away the pack of cigarettes.
“Why? What happen to your place and what about that doctor of yours?”
“That’s really none of your business. Do you have an empty trailer or not?” She asks, getting irritated.
“You see Haught this is my trailer park, so I think it is my business.” He states matter of factly, blowing a ring of smoke right at Nicole’s face.
“We uh- broke up.” She says, because that’s what they had done right? She fiddles with the edge of the stetson still positioned over her crotch as a precaution, but she figures she doesn’t need it anymore. Bobo Del Rey is the biggest turn off she could think of.
“Ha! Broke up? You’re mated, there is no breaking up.” He laughs obnoxiously as he lifts himself off the bed and walks towards her. “Rumor is you’re marked but she isn’t.” He circles around her, too close for her liking.
When she doesn’t respond he takes that as a confirmation. “You must be some kind of moron Haught. That girl will hold an unreciprocated power over you for the rest of your life. And judging by the way your holding that stupid hat over your dick tells me you know exactly what I’m talking about. Should’ve at least fucked her before leaving.”
She shifts uncomfortably, gripping the hat to keep her growing anger at bay.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you a trailer and help you out with your mating situation.” He says, stopping to come face to face with her.
Her ears perk up at that. What did he mean he could help? As far as she knew there was no way out of a mating bond…
“What do you mean?” She knits her eyebrows together.
“Are you deaf Haught? I said I can solve all your problems… for a price of course.” He states, taking another drag from his cigarette.
“I’m listening.” She looks at him expectantly.
“I’ll give you one of our finest trailers and tell you how to break your mating bond, if you do something for me. Tit for tat.”
Could she really get rid of mating bond? And if she could, was that what she really wanted? She knows he’s not happy with Shae, a part of her thinks that she still loves her only because nature has compelled her to, and not by her own freewill. Quite frankly she was tired of the endless loop of fucking and fighting with Shae.
“Define something.”
“I’m going to be getting my imports from the states for a while and I don’t trust those border security guys enough to get them in on it. I need to find a way to get them in and I want you to be the inside man. Once they’re over the border they’re in your jurisdiction. All you have to do is seize the imports and bring them to me.” He explains, pacing around the trailer as he speaks.
“And what exactly are these imports?” She questions, but quickly decides against it. She supposes ignorance is bliss in these kinds of situations. “You know what, I don’t really care. Deal. Now tell me how to get rid of this thing.” She says shoving the collar of her shirt aside to expose the mark.
“Oh no. You can’t get rid of the mark. But you can get rid of the bond.”
She raises an eyebrow at him, urging him to go on.
He takes a moment to put out his cigarette before continuing. “Flip the switch kid.”
“What?! Don’t fuck with me Bobo a deal is a deal.” She exclaims. She had heard the phrase before; alluding to the myth of the humanity switch.
“I’m not fucking with you. You can’t be bonded to someone if you can’t feel nothin.” He says as if it’s the most obvious solution.
“And how the fuck am I supposed to flip this switch exactly?” She asks flailing her stetson in the air.
“I don’t know the logistics of it. But go and see Mattie the blacksmith. She knows all about it. She’s even done it for some of the boys back in the day.” He scribbles something down on a piece of paper and hands it to her. “And how about I send one of the girls to your trailer, unless you want to walk around with a boner all day.” He chuckles throwing her a trailer key.
---
Nicole heads over to her trailer and is fumbling with the lock when she hears an unfamiliar voice behind her. “Hey!”
Nicole jumps at the voice stumbling a couple of steps back. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry! Um… Bobo sent me. I’m Rosita, but most people just call me Rosie.” She explains, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.
Of course Bobo would send over his sloppy seconds. Nicole couldn’t lie though, the girl was hot. She could totally see herself destroying her, in more ways than one.
She runs her tongue over the roof of her mouth when her fangs start to push out at the thought of devouring the girl.
“Oh. Uhhh- I’m okay. Thanks though.” She mutters as she goes back to trying to unlock the trailer. “For fucks sake!” She huffs, wrestling with the key before smacking the door, causing the whole trailer to nearly tip over.
“Suit yourself.” Rosita says, raising an eyebrow at the taller girl. “I’ll be around if you change your mind.” She reaches over and unlocks the trailer with ease. “You have to pull on the door as you unlock it no need to hulk out.” She laughs lightly, before walking off.
Nicole plops onto the small bed as soon as she enters the trailer. She’s all fanged out, horny, and worst of all; hot.
She sits up with her feet planted on the side of the bed and takes out the piece of paper Bobo had given her. It was an address, Mattie’s she assumed.
She doubts the switch stuff is even real, she probably just got played by Bobo. But she figures she might as well check it out.
---
There’s nothing but a sketchy looking barn at the address Bobo had given her. She walks up to the door slowly, pistol in hand, and knocks tentatively on the already creaked open wooden gate.
When she gets no response, she gently pushes the door all the way open and is met with an open flame being pointed directly at her face by a dark haired woman she assumes is the blacksmith.
“I, uh- I’m sorry. The door was open. Bobo sent me, said you could help me out.” She blurts out, dropping her weapon and throwing both of her hands up in the air.
“Ugh Bobo? What rumors has that gaslighting sociopath been spreading about me now?” She lowers the torch and starts to walk back into the barn. She stops to look back at Nicole and nods her head slightly, which Nicole takes as a gesture to follow her in.
“He said you know about the humanity switch.” She explains trailing behind the other woman.
Mattie comes to a dead stop at that. “No one has asked me about that in decades. What’s it to you?” She gives Nicole a weird look.
“I was told it can erase a mating bond.” She says, sliding her hands into her pockets.
“Yeah that and anything else you hold precious.” Mattie laughs lightly, before continuing. “Turning it off numbs all emotions, wipes all memories that trigger any intense emotions, and makes you succumb to your primal urges. ”
“So it basically turns you into an animal?” She asks.
“Less than. Animals can feel more than we accredit them to.”
“So I’ll lose all my memory? Will I know that I’ve lost my humanity?” Nicole asks, picking at a new found hole in her pocket.
“Not entirely. You’ll remember who you are and the people in your life, but any memories you share with them that spark love, joy, sadness, etcetera will be lost. You will no longer feel connected to your mate, but you’ll remember that she was once your mate. And yes you will be aware that you gave up your humanity.” Mattie explains, fiddling with the torch in her hand, before turning it off completely.
“So how does one flip the switch?” She questions, watching the flame go out.
“This isn’t a light switch you’re flipping.” Mattie spits out, her face going hard and serious. “It’s extremely dangerous. I’ve seen people go on killing sprees, feeding off anything with blood in sight, raping men and women. It takes a great deal of self control to be able to live that way without becoming a monster.”
Nicole has always taken pride in her self-discipline. She knows she can police herself through anything. And she couldn’t really think of any precious memories that didn’t involve Shae, she hadn’t exactly led the most exciting life. She had no real friends, her family was dead. The way she saw it, she really had nothing to lose. She couldn’t even remember the last time she felt true happiness, she figures her life won’t be much different after losing her humanity. Maybe she had already lost it in a sense.
“And what if I’m willing to take that risk?” She asks, clenching her fists inside her pockets.
At first Mattie looks as if she’s about to refuse to help her, but then she looks up at the ceiling and something seems to change her mind. “Hmm. It’s a simple spell, I can do it for you. For a price of course.”
“Name it.” Nicole already knew this wouldn’t come without a catch.
“I need you to bring me a girl. Alive. She should be working today, at this address.” Mattie jots down the address and hands it to Nicole.
“Done. But you have to do the spell first, that way I won’t care about the fact that I’m a police officer willingly kidnapping someone.” She reasons, looking down at the address.
“Fair enough.” Mattie shrugs, before starting to chant in a language Nicole couldn’t distinguish.
“Oh you’re doing it like now?” She asks growing uncomfortable, and shoving her hands back into her pockets.
“Shut up.” Mattie continues with the spell, rolling her eyes at Nicole. And that’s the last thing she sees before everything goes black.
---
Nicole wakes up after an unknown amount of time later, drenched in sweat and a sticky note stuck to her forehead. ‘Didn’t know what you would be like when you woke up. Left some blood to take the edge off. Don’t forget the girl’
It’s now dark outside so she’s probably been out for a while. She looks around and realizes Mattie had somehow brought her to the woods, presumably for her own safety.
Her head was throbbing and there was a painful burning sensation in her chest; god she was hungry. Her fangs slip out with ease as she grabs one of the blood bags Mattie had left and sinks her teeth directly into it the plastic.
Before she knew it all three bags were gone, but the burn was still there. She needed to feed off fresh human blood.
She hasn’t hunted in years, not since her father died. She remembers it being a thrill like no other, especially when they know they’re being hunted.
She closes her eyes, mouth agape, and takes a deep breath, letting her ears take over. At first there’s only a ringing, then there are footsteps, and then there’s laughter.
She tosses the blood bags aside without a care in the world if they are found and heads in the direction of the now very clear voices. She spots a tent in the distance and stalks her way near it, where there is a family of four huddled up around a fire; two kids and parents, picture perfect.
She is aware of the fact that it’s risky. If she kills them it’d only be a matter of time before the town went ballistic. Purgatory hasn’t had an ‘animal’ attack in a long time, not since Bobo’s boys had settled down after Nicole struck a deal and agreed to make the police department his ally.
She always thought camping was stupid. It’s like these humans were begging to die.
The fire in her chest roared louder and she figured that in a world full of 8 billion people 4 less wouldn’t make any difference.
---
Nicole felt great; faster, stronger, and sharper than she has ever been. There’s nothing as rejuvenating as fresh blood, she wonders why she ever stopped hunting in the first place.
After disposing of the bodies, she decided to head to the address Mattie had given her, she might as well get this over with.
Once she reaches her destination she looks up at a big sign that read ‘Shorty’s’. Nicole has heard of the place, but she wasn’t much of a drinker and bars entailed too much unnecessary temptation, so she had never actually been inside.
She pushes the door open and steps in. She sees a girl scrubbing down the bar and makes her way over. The girl has her back turned and doesn’t seem to notice Nicole’s presence.
Nicole clears her throat loudly and the girl abruptly turns around, a hand flying to her chest. “Jeez, you scared me.” She breathes out.
When Nicole finally gets a good look at the bartender, her breath catches in her throat.
The first thing she notices is her hair; free and wavy, flowing like an endless brown river. Her eyes wander to the not so subtle cleavage put on display by her skin tight crop top, and then to the expanse of her toned legs visible below her short skirt. The longer Nicole looks, the hotter the room seems to get.
“Uhh… we’re not actually open anymore. Bar closes at 2.” she says, blushing slightly under Nicole’s gaze.
Nicole has never seen a girl so beautiful in her life. She almost forgets, but when she remembers the reason why she’s here, she starts to feel incredibly uneasy.
“Oh gosh! There’s blood on your collar. Are you hurt?!” The girl exclaims.
Nicole looks down at the small bloodstain on her shirt and her heart starts to feel heavy as she thinks about what happened in the woods. Panic washes over her, when thinks about what she had done.
What the fuck. She wasn’t supposed to feel remorse, she sure as hell didn’t feel it after tossing their bodies into the lake, why was she feeling again all of a sudden? Had the spell not worked?
Her anger flares at the thought of having been deceived by the blacksmith. There’s no way she is going to hold up her end of the bargain if the spell hadn't worked. She needed to talk to Mattie. And she really needed to get out of here before the bartender started asking too many questions.
Her thoughts start to jumble together as a rush of emotions flood her entire being.
On top of it all she could feel herself getting turned on as the girl quirked an eyebrow at her when she didn’t respond. Oh right… she was still in rut.
She could faintly hear the other girl’s pulse beating against her neck. The urge to sink her teeth into the smooth skin was almost as enticing as lifting that skirt up and burying herself between her thighs.
“Um…” the girl begins again, and Nicole realizes that she hasn’t said anything since she walked in and the girl is probably 10 seconds away from calling the cops.
“No. I-uh. I’m fine. I just lost track of time. Sorry.” Nicole says trying to sound as calm as possible.
“I’d offer you a drink but my sister pretty much drank us dry.” She chuckles in a way that Nicole can’t help but find cute.
“Oh.” is all that she can manage to get out.
The girl walks around the bar and leans back on both of her elbows against the counter top, right next to Nicole.
“Tell you what. Come back tomorrow during open hours and your first drink is on the house. Tell the bartender I sent you.” She beams, smiling brightly.
“And you are?” Nicole asks. She might as well get the girl’s name in case she had to track her down again.
“Waverly!” She says, smile never fading as she puts her hand out for Nicole to shake.
Nicole takes her hand and feels a sharp pang in her chest. “Nicole.” She says pulling her hand back almost immediately.
Waverly gives her a weird look before her eyes start to wander from her own and settle down at her crotch. Nicole snaps her own head down and sees what had grabbed the girl’s attention.
“Uh… it’s a uh- it’s a strap on. I lost a bet.” She stutters out, feeling herself getting even hotter with embarrassment.
The smaller girl just giggles and nods her head.
Nicole decides she’s had enough of this mortifying encounter. She takes a couple of steps closer to the girl and places each of her hands on the counter on either side of the brunette, causing her to stumble backwards into the counter.
She instantly feels the warmth vibrating off the other girl, and for some reason it doesn’t irritate her like usual, it calms her instead.
The proximity is driving her wild and it’s hard to focus on anything but the tingling in her lower belly, but she takes a deep breath and locks eyes with the girl, immersing herself in the whiskey coloured orbs. Waverly looks like she’s about to say something, but Nicole beats her to it; “You’re going to forget what just happened here.” She says, loud and clear.
“And why would I do that?” Waverly asks, chuckling nervously.
What the hell was happening? As far as Nicole could tell Waverly was human. Why couldn’t she compel her?
Nicole shot backwards, distancing herself from the other girl. This was bad.
How was she going to get out of this one?