Chapter Text
Chapter one
Leaving Savannah was supposed to be for the best for the Burns family. Despite their short stay in town, there was too much baggage for all of them now.
Apollo had yet to recover from the events at the bar that he could only remember the aftermath of. Talia and Jack argued constantly in the days before they left and the reason was obvious to their remaining children.
Talia did not want to leave their eldest son, whereas Jack was too loyal to the Guild to ignore their latest orders. Eventually, Talia agreed to go following a conspicuous trip to Oliver Fairmont’s house.
On Cal’s part, she felt grief for more than just her brother’s transformation.
It was exhausting to hate Juliette Fairmont when she saw her ex-girlfriend at school every day and was reminded that she was incapable of not caring about the guilty Legacy.
Moving away was the perfect opportunity to escape from all that, from balancing her love with her hate, her desire to protect with her need to kill monsters.
In the month that followed, she certainly succeeded in that last goal.
She and Apollo went on multiple hunts a day, taking down so many monsters that Cal no longer felt the need to count the stabs.
The plan of numbly following orders was shattered when they received their newest set from the Guild.
The Burns were officially trusted to return to Savannah, a fact that only Talia appeared to be happy about.
All the same, none of them complained as they packed and for the first time in the last month, Cal allowed herself to sleep during the night that her family were silently driving through.
The reason that she’d opted to sleep during the day materialised around her, it was the set of Romeo and Juliet, a production that had surely run its course by now?
Calliope didn’t spend any time looking around the theatre and instead instinctively scrambled from the bed designed for the most intimate scene of the play.
Once standing, she found that she was right to move so hastily.
On the bed, her ex-girlfriend sat in her gym clothes, just like during the most peaceful night of their relationship.
It was different now, however, rather than bliss, Juliette Fairmont was wearing a mask of surprise that became sadness.
“Calliope…” she said, something strange in her voice that Cal couldn’t quite identify. Was it reverence or maybe guilt?
The possibilities made Cal want to kneel in front of her and ask what was wrong. To allow herself only a moment to remember what it was like to be able to breathe freely, to not feel completely numb.
Pretending that she was facing one of the innumerable monsters her family had been cutting through systematically, Cal held out her hand as Juliette made to stand and said, “stay back.”
Juliette’s shoulders slumped and she dropped to the pillow in defeat.
“Why are you here?” Juliette asked sullenly.
“Like you give me the choice,” Cal bit back, “I had to change my sleep schedule because of what you did to me.”
Her fingers trailed over the bite site on her neck that had long since healed and Juliette rolled her eyes, “I didn’t do anything to you, Cal. I would never.”
Cal scoffed and Juliette sighed.
“Then why are you here?” Juliette asked.
Cal crossed her arms, remembering how exhausting it was to hate this girl, to not believe what she said. She had to do it though, she couldn’t let anyone else she cared about fall victim to a vampire because she was too trusting of a beautiful girl.
“My family were ordered to return to Savannah to help with the surge of monsters, I just wanted to make myself clear. I don’t want anything to do with you or your family while we’re here. Do you understand?”
Juliette ran her tongue over her lips and brought her legs together to sit up straighter, staring adamantly at the duvet cover.
“It’s perfectly clear, Calliope,” she said and then looked up vulnerably, “I’m pretty sure I know how to break our connection if you want to go back to a normal sleep schedule?”
Cal wanted to ask how she’d figured that out. Wanted to find out exactly what she’d been up to over the last month.
She really wanted to know why she appeared so resigned and what she could do to help her, but she had to push it all down.
It was just a remnant from the unfortunate time when she’d been tricked into loving a Legacy Vampire, so she said, coldly, “Of course I want you to break it.”
“Okay,” Juliette replied, hollowly.
Cal prepared to say something that she hoped would be biting but she didn’t get a chance to make a sound as she jumped awake instead.
In the backseat of her parent's car, Apollo was too enraptured with his headphones while their father pulled into the drive of the house they’d fled from four weeks ago.
If it was in another town, Cal would have been grateful to be back, it was one of the nicer houses they’d lived in.
As the tyres screeched to a stop, Cal ruminated on how she expected to feel different after a more effective severing, freer maybe, but the only word that came to mind was ‘empty’.
Shouldn’t she be happy to know that she had no reason to see Juliette Fairmont in anything but a strictly academic setting?
Her mother distracted her from analysing the feeling, “you know, Cal, we can call the school and tell them you’ll start back tomorrow instead?”
Stretching, Cal shook her head.
She knew that her parents were justifiably uneasy about who she was liable to run into at this particular school, not that she could blame them. Even she could understand why she garnered some mistrust, even if the Guild seemed to have accepted them back into the fold with their latest assignment.
Part of the assignment was identifying any monsters masquerading as students and she couldn’t achieve that at home, could she?
It was for this reason that she opened the door and replied, “It’s okay, mom, I have enough time for a shower so it’ll be fine.”
Talia bit her lip and glanced at Jack, who had been even more characteristically dutiful than usual since everything went down, so naturally found no objections from her husband.
Talia reluctantly allowed her children to exit the car to set up all of their belongings in yet another house.
S
Across Savannah, Juliette Fairmont also opened her eyes, though she did not jerk up and instead pushed her face harder into the pillow with a tired groan.
As lonely as her dreams had felt over the last month, it was preferable to what just happened!
Even with Calliope Burns back in town, it felt like something had officially ended. Like she’d almost gone back to square one, not that she would be able to stare at the hunter now thinking about how they were meant to be together now, not after she’d promised to stay away.
If it was what Cal wanted, though, she was determined that she could do it. Besides, she had other priorities, ones that she hoped would successfully distract her from her feelings until the Burns family inevitably left as quickly as they came.
Momentarily, the vampire considered starting her day by texting Oliver or Ben, sure that either of them would say something that would cheer her up, but ultimately decided against it.
It was difficult enough to convince people that she was happy with her grandmother’s arrangements, she didn’t want to seed doubt. It was more important than some doomed star-struck relationship that could never work.
It was this thought that gave her the energy to go about her morning routine.
After twenty minutes in the bathroom, she emerged in a simple shirt and jeans combo, no longer seeing any reason to agonise over her outfit.
Languidly, she entered the kitchen area, her parents silent as ever after the arrest of their eldest daughter.
“Good morning,” Juliette offered, bypassing the breakfast items to swipe up an opaque jug that deposited crimson liquid into her cup that would once have been filled to the brim with coffee.
She drank the blood in two gulps and automatically went to the sink to clear it out of the glass.
“Good morning,” Sebastian said after sharing a look with his wife.
Juliette had stopped taking notice of their concern at this point, it wasn't like she could go back on her promise now, there wasn’t any other Fairmont that could fulfil the duty because of her.
Making short work of packing some food into her bag (enough to convince her peers that she needed to eat) Juliette slung her bag over her shoulders and made towards the door but stopped as her mother finally spoke up:
“Are you sure that everything is okay, Juliette?”
The young vampire halted, so close to the exit and sighed, “why wouldn’t it be, mom?”
“You know why,” Margot replied, ignoring the warning look from her husband, “I understand that my mother made this all sound very life and death, but you’re free to change your mind right up until your birthday, you know that don’t you?”
“I love her, mom, why don’t you believe that?” Juliette asked exasperatedly.
“And what about Calliope Burns?”
The name sliced at Juliette’s heart and conjured images of the hateful twist to her face, how eager she was to have nothing to do with the vampire that had turned her brother. Of how little a month had done to alleviate her desire to hurt her.
How agreeing to sever the bond was more painful than any method the Guild could come up with to physically injure a Legacy.
Despite all of this, Juliette managed to keep it hidden behind a mask of indifference.
This only seemed to bolster Margot’s concern.
“What about Calliope?” Juliette asked.
“You loved her so deeply, I just can’t believe that you could feel the same for Allegra after less than a month,” Margot said, her eyes flicking up and down her daughter’s face for any cracks in her facade.
“I only knew Calliope for a couple of weeks, I thought you would be happy about this, mom?” Juliette said, looking to her father for support.
She was well aware that he wasn’t prepared for what was to come on her birthday but had hidden his distaste more successfully than his wife after she assured him that she really was prepared for this.
“I think what your mother is trying to say is that she only wants you to be happy,” Sebastian offered and Margot nodded in agreement.
“Grandmother said that this will help the family, that will make me happy,” Juliette reassured, though it sounded very much practised, so she rushed to add, “I really got to go to school.”
She didn’t give either of them the chance to stop her as she pushed through the door, but leaned against the wall next to it so that she could hear the rest of their conversation.
“She said she’s fine, Margot, we have to believe her,” Sebastian said softly, no doubt holding her hands.
“Weeks ago, she didn’t seem worried about our family,” Margot argued and Juliette closed her eyes against a wave of guilt, “She’s too young to understand what she had agreed to.”
“She is almost seventeen,” the DA said and Juliette was well aware that he was struggling to convince even himself, “Davina said that seventeen is older than some other Atwoods.”
“You expect me to be comforted by my mother’s assurances? Juliette only recently accepted the Malikia. I find it hard to believe that…”
“I’m sure that Juliette knows what she’s doing, my love,” Sebastian interrupted, accompanied by the scrapping of his chair that had Juliette unhitch from the wall and make her way to the bus stop.
She wasn’t too far away to hear her mother lament, “I hope you’re right.”
S
Calliope had strategically prepared for her return to this high school in a way she never had before.
They still had AP English, Physics and gym together but outside of that, there was no reason to admit that her ex-girlfriend existed. During the classes themselves, the answer was obvious, just focus on what the teacher said and don’t look in Juliette’s direction.
She could only hope that the bond severing meant that Juliette was willing to do the same!
It was this thought that had her stroll from the bus stop and into the courtyard with confidence, sharing a smile with the odd person that she recognised.
Unfortunately, a split second of distraction had history repeat itself, two bodies collided.
A pile of books scattered across the ground and Cal didn’t droop to her knees because she could feel exactly who it was before the vampire looked up at her guiltily.
It was the exact guilty expression that drove Calliope crazy, why couldn’t the Legacy Vampire just look like a monster on the outside?
Since her ignoring plan had failed within minutes, she went instead with plan B: scowling.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Juliette sighed and finished gathering her books, “I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she said and stood, refusing eye contact, “Don’t worry, Calliope, it won’t happen again.”
Now up close to Juliette Fairmont, Cal’s resolve faltered.
There was something off about her that was hard to explain. Perhaps it had something to do with her sister’s incarceration, her best friend leaving and her ex-girlfriend vowing to find a way to kill her?
Whatever it was, that certain spark had left Juliette. Even her clothes were less colourful and the instinctual part of Cal wanted to talk about it, while the other part of her didn’t want to risk falling into a conversation that could potentially have her edging towards forgiveness.
It was for this reason that she uttered something to shut down the possibility.
“Make sure it doesn’t.”
“Okay,” Juliette replied and was about to flee but stopped with widened eyes upon seeing someone approaching.
Cal followed her eye line and tilted her head, trying to figure out what warranted the reaction.
The girl coming over appeared to be around their age, but only just about. She was far too tall and gorgeous to be lumped in with the other high school students.
Briefly, jealousy burned unbidden down Calliope’s throat.
During her absence, she’d been far too busy hunting to consider another crush, but Juliette apparently had found another girl to stare at dreamily.
This jealousy blared into overwhelming pain as the girl veered over to them and connected her lips casually with Juliette’s, who stood shell-shocked but didn’t reject the kiss.
For the first time, she gave Cal eye contact to find that the ire had morphed into something else entirely.
It couldn’t be jealousy, could it?
“Good morning, Juliette,” the other girl prompted and the vampire cleared her throat and her mouth twisted into something that could pass as a smile, though it wasn’t as awkwardly cute as the ones that Calliope once received regularly.
“Hi, Allegra,” she said.
Allegra turned to look Cal up and down and the hunter couldn’t help but bristle.
“Who’s your friend?” she asked, not at all politely.
“Calliope,” Juliette replied and understanding passed over her companion, “We should leave her to get settled back in…”
Juliette attempted to take Allegra’s hand for another escape attempt, which had Cal’s hands ball into fists but was interrupted by a call from across the courtyard.
“Hey Jules, you got a sec?”
Juliette turned to find a member of the drama club waving at her. Undoubtedly it was a question about the sets for their next production, by far the most normal part of her life lately.
“Go,” Allegra encouraged, “I’m sure that Calliope doesn’t mind at all, right?”
“Not at all,” Cal replied through gritted teeth.
Juliette’s eyes flicked between the pair, giving the impression of wishing that this wasn’t happening before she scurried away in a manner that didn’t at all suggest that she was a badass Legacy Vampire.
Cal gave her full attention to Allegra, her ridiculous beauty even more annoyingly obvious now that Juliette was gone. She must have been a new addition to the school after she left so maybe Juliette had a thing for new girls?
The thought wrenched her from her jealous spiral and she actively sharpened her mind to tell herself that she was in a position to help Allegra even if every fibre of her being didn’t want to after witnessing her daring to kiss Juliette.
“So you’re Cal…” Allegra began, flicking up and down the hunter again, but the shorter girl didn’t notice the amusement in her tone as she launched into a rant:
“Look…I know she’s really sweet and cute and smart…that she seems like a great girlfriend…but there’s something that you need to know about Juliette…I’m not supposed to tell you this but she’s….”
“A vampire?” Allegra cut her off casually and Cal looked up shocked, trying to find any indication of the disgust that had her stake Juliette in that closet, but there was nothing. If Allegra knew the truth, it had to mean that their relationship was fairly serious, right?
How long would it have taken Juliette to tell her if she hadn’t figured it out? The pointless comparison was pushed from her mind as she asked, “How do you know that?”
Allegra looked from side to side, determining that no one was interested in this conversation before she opened her mouth and extended a pair of long, sharp fangs for a few seconds.
In an instant, Cal’s jealousy took on a more painful twist. For some reason, the possibility that Juliette was dating a fellow vampire was so much worse for a reason that she couldn’t settle on.
Maybe it was the immortality?
“You’re a vampire too?” Cal sighed, a strange numbness washing over her that prevented her from searching for a sharp, silver stake-like object in the crowded vicinity.
This increased the other teen’s smirk as she replied, “To be more accurate, a Legacy Vampire too…Allegra Davenport, Calliope Burns I assume?”
She extended her hand but withdrew it as the hunter eyed it venomously.
“Juliette told you about me?” she asked lowly, almost indignantly.
Allegra grinned in a cocky way that was annoying even without the fangs on display and replied, “why wouldn’t my fiancee talk about her ex-girlfriend?”
Cal whipped her head in the direction of Juliette.
Now alone, she could see the worry etched on her features even from this distance, obviously, she had misjudged the extent to which Juliette had moved on.
“Fiancee?” Cal repeated hollowly.
“It was a pleasure to meet you Calliope,” Allegra said with a signature laugh as she peeled away to approach her fellow Legacy Vampire.
Juliette continued to look at Cal until her future wife took her hand and finally pulled her away.
Calliope stood devastated long after the couple had disappeared.