Chapter Text
Roma couldn't breathe.
She held in her breath, knowing that someone might hear her exhale, sense her fear. All of the abilities that she had once thought so cool, so interesting, now terrified her.
Up until four months ago she had wanted to be a vampire. Out of all the supernatural creatures out there, they fascinated her the most. After all, who wouldn't want eternal life? The fixation on blood was a little weird, but all of the other benefits seemed worth it.
It was those thoughts that had led her to Bree. The young blonde, well young looking blonde, had enticed her. Looked interested in her, didn't mind when Roma pestered her with questions. In fact, Roma's fascination seemed to turn Bree on. That should have been a giveaway, most vampires quickly grew bored of humans and their insistent behaviour. But Roma had been so excited, so hopeful at getting out of her boring old human life to notice.
Bree had invited her to a party. An exclusive party. Roma didn't have to be told twice. Sitting there at the high table with the vampires, not as a blood supply but as an equal, was so satisfying. She felt powerful in a way that she never had before, and she wanted more. That party led to more parties, more events, and more intimate moments with Bree. It was not long before the two shared a bed. Bree was a better lover than Roma had ever had before. Then a month in Bree had popped the question: did she want to be a vampire too?
It had taken all of Roma's self control to not jump for joy.
With as much composure as she could muster, Roma quickly nodded yes, she wanted to be a vampire. Bree grinned that wicked, beautiful smirk of hers, and told her to tilt her neck. Of course Roma had been extremely eager to do so, practically pulling a muscle because she moved so fast. Roma was practically giddy as Bree drank from her neck, and was ecstatic when Bree put her fangs into her own wrist and instructed Roma to drink. Roma did, but didn't get nearly enough of a taste, not enough to be a true vampire.
It was only too late when Roma realised Bree's true plans.
Roma was not to become a true vampire, but a vampire's spawn instead. Someone who could be compelled into doing their master's will. And do Bree's will she did. Whether it was simple things like "Roma fetch me my dress" or "Roma I accidentally dropped my paper in the garbage, get it out for me" to finding her unsuspecting humans to get blood from (and Roma was reminded repeatedly that she did not get to drink until Bree had her fill). Roma began to look forward to the tasks that took her away from Bree, because Bree got nasty when they were together.
With no need to hide them, Bree showed her true colours. She would make fun of others, get bored quickly, mock Roma mercilessly, and do things that terrified her. Everything that Roma had told her in confidence was used against her. She one time found herself locked in a room that was filled with spiders, once she was finally able to get away she remembered telling Bree she was scared of them. She was also scared of werewolves, so Bree made her do business dealings with them, and if things didn't turn out in Bree's favour Roma would be kicked, slapped, or whatever else Bree came up for her. Despite Bree never being short of blood, Roma was always kept deprived, was just barely given enough to not starve.
The final straw was when Bree had brought in someone to her home, a new blood source, Bree had said, one that Roma was entitled to all on her own. The person was Roma's ex, someone Roma had complained endlessly to Bree about earlier. The person, a woman named Lana, looked between them in horror and begged them to let her go. Roma joined in, telling Bree to please pick someone else. Bree responded by slapping her and telling her to be grateful, she's been hungry and so she brought Roma a drink.
And she had to drink all of it.
Roma fought against the compulsion like never before, until it felt like her head would rip apart. But in the end she just wasn't strong enough. Her lips met the neck of the person she regretted ever saying anything negative about and she drank until there was no blood left. Until all that remained of her ex was a corpse.
She had killed Lana.
While she threw up in disgust Bree laughed and said Roma should be thanking her, after all Roma had bored her to death talking about Lana. Now Lana was no longer a problem, and Roma was full.
As soon as Bree finally left her alone and Roma was in control of her head again she ran out of the house, crying and screaming as she went. She was a murderer now. Someone was dead and it was all her fault. She was a monster.
Roma hid in the forest for days, trying to decide if she wanted to find a wooden stake and end it all. But then she was approached by someone. A black haired woman walked by and noticed her crying, asked her what was wrong, if she could help. Roma said sarcastically that unless she could help her escape from an insane master, no she couldn't. The black haired woman frowned and asked what she meant. Roma's survival brain told her she shouldn't say anything, that explaining the situation might hurt the other person more than help, but the other woman looked at her with such conviction that Roma thought maybe she could assist in some way. So Roma told her what happened.
The black haired woman had listened, and said she could try to help. She was a witch, and might be able to find a way to subdue the urges from her master long enough for Roma to get away. Eager for a way out of the hell she found herself in, Roma quickly agreed. She told Roma to return to that spot the next day, that she'd have a potion ready for her. The next day there it was, along with instructions to meet at a park two days from then.
Roma quickly downed the potion. It tasted fowl, she had to force it down. But almost instantly she felt her mind clear. Soon after she felt a compulsion from Bree, telling her to get over herself and return. But unlike before it just felt like a suggestion, not something she had to follow.
To keep up the charade, Roma still followed it, acted like she had no choice. The past two days had been hard. No, hard was putting it lightly. Having Bree laugh at her for feeling guilty over being forced to kill someone and then instructed to clean the aftermath of one of Bree's parties (which contained another dead victim), was excruciating. Being somewhat free of the compulsion made it worse because she had to force herself to listen to Bree when all she wanted to do was run away.
But now the time was finally over, she had managed to sneak away from Bree under the guise of finding a new person for Bree to drink from. She was so close to freedom, or at least she was supposed to be. Where was that other woman?
The scratching sound of feet on pavement made her freeze. Was that a friend or foe? The dumpster she was hidden behind didn't offer a great vantage point. If it wasn't that woman, she could be in big shit and should stay hidden, but if she didn't check her opportunity to escape might be gone.
Eventually curiosity won and she poked her head out. She scanned the playground and saw...nothing. No one was there. Did she mishear? No, there had been a sound, a sound that had to have been made by a person. Right?
"Who are you looking for?"
Bree's vindictive eyes were staring right at her.
No! The fuck? Why? Not when she was so close. Roma's hands tightened into fists as she fought the urge to scream. What should she do now?
"Are you stupid?" Bree took a step closer. "I asked who you were looking for."
"Th-there was someone," Roma mumbled, barely able to speak. "G-gone now."
"Well that's a shame, looks like you wasted your time. There's a man a block over, you'll just have to seduce him and lead him to me instead." Bree began to walk away then stopped. "Well? Come on." Roma didn't move. "Excuse me? Start walking."
The ping of compulsion started again in Roma's head, softer than without the potion but harder than it was yesterday. No, it was wearing off. And with no way of getting more the potion, the compulsion was only going to get worse, potentially forever. Other woman or not, she needed to get out of there now.
She ran.
Over to the playground, past the swings with no other thoughts than she just needed to leave while she had some sort of control. She needed to go somewhere, anywhere far from here. "What the-" She heard Bree exclaim. "Get back here!"
Roma kept running, and in a few seconds she felt a hand grab her ankle and yank it up. She fell headfirst into the ground. "Who gave you the potion? Who is helping you?"
Roma turned to face upwards and with a face full of dirt said, "Please, please just let me go."
Bree kicked her side. "Ungrateful bitch. I take you in after your never-ending questions and this is how you repay me?"
"Please please," Roma begged.
Bree kicked her in the side again. Roma hissed at the contact. "Do you know how pathetic you look right now?"
Another kick. This time when Roma grunted, she picked up a handful of dirt. "If I'm pathetic, just let me go."
"And waste a resource? Waste not, want not, bitch. And annoying as you might be, you have your uses. Now get up and go back to that man." Bree said.
Roma threw the dirt in Bree's face. While Bree screeched Roma got up and ran again, this time towards the road in hopes of flagging down a car. "Ah! You bitch!" Bree screeched. Roma forced her legs to run faster. How could the road be so far away? How big did this stupid playground need to be?
There, a car was pulling in close, she just needed to get there and...whatever, do something. She was so close to it.
Sharp nails scrapped her scalp and gripped her hair. Roma screamed as Bree yanked her towards herself. "You are going to learn to obey your superiors."
Roma threw a punch towards Bree's face, which stunned her more than hurt her. "Let me go!" The hand on her hair slackened enough for Roma to force herself out of the hold, losing some hair in the process. Did that grow back when you were undead?
The look on Bree's face terrified her. Oh no, she was going to die, or be starved in a crypt for decades, or whatever other form of torture Bree decided on. Why did she do this stupid plan? Why did she not think of how much worse things would get if it failed?
But just as Bree's arms raised, a blast of light smashed into Bree's face. The vampire screamed and clutched her head before slashing wildly at the hand the light was emitted from. The motion caused the hood on the person's head to fall, revealing the black haired woman who had given Roma the potion. The woman quickly responded by saying a spell and releasing another ball of light, causing Bree to fall backwards in pain.
"Quick!" The black haired woman grabbed onto Roma's arm. This time Roma didn't fight back, quickly rushing with her into the car. The person at the front of the vehicle slammed on the gas even before the woman had a chance to shut the door.
Roma's eyes stayed glued to the window the entire time they sped away. Finally after fifteen minutes of driving she leaned back in her seat and let of a tentative sigh. "Who are you?" She asked the woman, who was also glancing out the window checking for followers.
Blue eyes turned to Roma. "Gwen," She said. "You're safe now."
Murphy swore internally as he got to the door. This could either go very well or very badly. No matter what the reaction was going to be big and have a huge impact on the pack, and why in hell did he have to be the one to deliver the news? Just because he was one of the few that didn't flinch when faced their Alpha's temper, which had been showing more and more in the past couple years, didn't mean he wanted to do this kinda thing. Being out on guard patrols where he didn't have to interact with anyone suited him just fine, but no he was stuck being messenger.
Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible he opened the door without bothering to knock on it. "Hey Bellamy," he said. "Got some news for ya."
Said individual looked up from his notepad. He was seated in a basic meeting room. Table, chairs that were just cushiony enough to be considered comfortable, a painting or two that Octavia made him put up. "What?"
Great, the Alpha was already in a shitty mood. "You know Connor, that loner werewolf in Mississauga that's been trying to get in our good graces?"
"Yeah, what about him?" Bellamy's gaze was already back on the notebook.
"He saw some security camera footage from an apartment building you'll be interested in." Murphy explained.
Bellamy waved him off. "I'll get to it later, I'm busy."
"You'll want to look at it now," Murphy said.
"I said I'm busy," Bellamy said with finality, now scribbling like Murphy wasn't even in the room.
Murphy braced himself before continuing. Here goes nothing. "He thinks he saw Clarke."
Bellamy froze.
Then he snapped his head towards Murphy. "What? Where is it?"
"Should be in your email." Murphy answered.
Bellamy opened his laptop with barely contained force. He cursed it for taking a second to load, then quickly went to his email. Murphy leaned over to see the video as Bellamy opened it. As it opened Bellamy's hands gripped the edges of the table. In the grainy footage, they saw a woman who was clearly not Clarke running towards a car. The woman was attacked by another woman just as the car door opened. In the scrimmage a person in a hoodie emerged from the car and light shot from their hand. The attacker swiped at them and the hood fell back, revealing their identity. The poor resolution and the dye job were enough to make you stop and hesitate, but it was Clarke, aka Bellamy's mate. Aka the reason why Bellamy had gone all snappy for so long.
The ends of the table bent in Bellamy's grip.
Murphy looked at the destruction, unsure of what to say. Was Bellamy going to be happy or explode? Thankfully he got his answer soon. For the first time in a long time, Bellamy grinned.
"It's time to get you back, Princess."