Redacted Alexis - Tumblr Posts

ugggggggg i love this its so f-ing cute

Undone

An abridged history of Sam, an abridged history of Darlin, and the present of two people who have each other despite it all.

CW: self harm (vampire lets the sun touch him), quinn and alexis as their own warnings, more comprehensive warnings on ao3

Mature, 2.4k words

also on ao3!

I.

Sam doesn’t know exactly what he was thinking when he first started sleeping with Alexis. It had been a while since his last relationship— he was… lonely. That wasn’t a feeling he was used to having; a long history of revolving-door relationships had made sure of that. And Alexis had told him that she wasn’t looking for anything serious either, she wasn’t looking for anything more than sex. 

And he believed her. Like a fool.

It was the kind of mistake that you couldn’t take back once it was made. Most mistakes were like that, but then again most mistakes didn’t damn you quite like this one.

It’s not like he didn’t try.

“This is the last time,” was something he said often.

“Famous last words,” was Alexis’s snarky reply. He always pointed out how that didn’t make sense and she always shut him up with a kiss.

Alexis’s kisses were like the best kind of toxin. They made his knees and resolve weak. And she knew it too. As long as he was within kissing distance, she may as well have had him in the palm of her hand. She didn’t often let him out of kissing distance.

Which is why Sam chose to sit across the booth from her the night he decided to try to break things off for good (again).

He chose his favorite diner in town. It was one he went to often in his days at D.A.M.N.. Maybe it was naive, but he was hoping the familiarity of the diner would give him the strength to officially break things off, that maybe having the home advantage would make it stick this time.

“I know why you brought me here, Samson.” She talked with the straw to her milkshake hanging to the side of her mouth. That habit of her’s always pissed Sam off. “Samson” pissed him off even more. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know why you keep trying this.” She leans towards him, “We were meant to be, don’t you get it?”

“If you knew why I brought you here, why did you come?”

She smirks at him and shrugs. “Wanted to see what happened, I guess. I wonder how you’ll do it this time.” 

“You know that I care about you, Alexis.” She stared at him unflinchingly, steely eyes boring holes into him. “Just… not in the way you want me to.”

“Bullshit.”

Sam takes a deep breath. “I think space would be good for us.”

“Denial is one hell of a drug, isn’t it?”

“I’ve talked to William.” Alexis goes still.

“Bullshit.” She’s not as confident this time, her voice is quieter. She was right about this one, though. Sam prayed to everything above that she wouldn’t further call his bluff.

“I’m serious, Alexis. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Well you didn’t have to go to my fucking maker about it, Sam,” she spit out.

“What else was I supposed to do?” He genuinely wanted to know.

She slides out of the booth and stands at the end of the table, making him look up at her. “I’ll be in the car.”

Sam doesn’t say anything but listens to the sound of her stomping boots as she storms out of the diner. She slams the door behind her and he’s half surprised he doesn’t hear the door break.

Their waiter approaches carrying two plates. A burger for Sam and a side of hashbrowns for Alexis.

“Did your date go to the bathroom?” No harm intended, but Sam still has to actively hold back a wince.

“Uh, no. Can I get the check, please?” The waiter gave him a sorry look before nodding and stepping away again.

He puts his head in his hands once the waiter is out of sight.

Once Sam slides into the driver’s seat of his truck Alexis says, “Space won’t make me love you any less.”

“For the last time, you do not love me. You hardly know me.”

“We spend so much time together, how could I not know you?”

“My name is Samuel, not Samson.”

She doesn’t have anything to say after that.

~

Out of all the changes and losses that vampirism brought to Sam’s life, he didn’t think he would miss the sun as much as he did. Some days he would just sit at his window and watch the shadows change against the trees outside. Some days he would draw his blackout curtains all day, wanting to forget the sun existed entirely. 

He missed how it warmed his skin when he stepped out of cold buildings, how it shined on the smiling faces of his friends, how it turned everything golden at the end of the day. 

There was one afternoon— it was close enough to the end of his bloodlust that the only reason he was still living at Wonderworld was because he hadn’t yet decided if he was staying with the clan or moving away— that Sam found himself outside, standing completely in the shade, but with a ray of sun peeking through the tree’s leaves just in front of him. Swiping his hand once, twice through the sunbeam barely felt like anything. Holding out his hand, he let it sit on his palm for a moment. He held his hand there until he felt sharp and scorching, white-hot pain and when he moved his hand into the shade, the burning didn’t stop. Clutching his hand to his chest, he bit his lip hard to keep from screaming. He holds out his hand to see the skin already starting to blister in a lopsided circle in the center of his palm. He doesn’t even have enough of a handle on his old healing abilities to fix his mistake.

The scar never fades.

He still misses the sun on his good days.

Sometimes he wondered what he did to deserve this eternal damnation.

II.

Darlin had never felt particularly welcome in the pack. They joined as a teen, when everyone else their age had already grown up together and formed bonds they could never hope to compete with. It didn’t help that they especially relied on their friendships outside of the pack and never tried to see the pack members their own age as people they’d ever be close to. 

It was a point of contention with David, especially after he became alpha. It got to a point where he confronted them about it after a pack meeting so boring that they fell asleep.

“Bore you to sleep did I?” Darlin couldn’t tell if he thought it was funny or if it upset him.

“Better than boring me to tears,” they joked.

David’s face stayed stoic. Shit.

“I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t sleep well last night.” A white lie never hurt anyone.

“Why don’t you come out to dinner with the rest of the pack after this?”

“As punishment for falling asleep?” they asked genuinely.

David scoffed. “No, because we are your pack and usually people like to spend time with their pack members.”

Darlin raised their eyebrows. “I’m good, but thanks for the invite.” 

They turned to walk away before David said their name, stopping them in their tracks.

“Come to dinner.” It wasn’t a question.

“Is that an order?”

David looked them over and considered his options. They looked tense. Their hands were curled into tight fists and their nose was twitching. It always did that when they were ready to fight. 

“I want you to know we care about you. We want you here in the pack.”

They roll their eyes. “Just saying that doesn’t make it true, David. I notice how the older pack members look at me when I walk in the room. I notice how I sit alone every at every meeting, even if I’m the first fucking person there. I notice how no one gives a shit about me. You don’t care, not really, so don’t lie to me to try to get me to hang out with these fucking people.”

David is at a loss. They’d never said that much to him about the pack before. He knew they were unhappy, he didn’t know the scope of it all until now. “That’s not true,” is all he can manage to say.

“Fuck off.”

“Come to dinner.”

“Is that an order?” If looks could kill, David would have been dead approximately one minute ago.

“No,” he concedes. Part of being an alpha was knowing when to pick your battles. His stomach sinks as he watches the door close behind them.

It was the last pack meeting Darlin showed up to for a long time.

That was when Quinn stepped into their life. They met through mutual friends and in the beginning he drew them in with smiles and kind words and even kinder gestures. At first, things with Quinn were easier than Darlin ever thought anything could be. He came into their life at the right time. Or the wrong time depending on who you asked. Eventually they started hanging out alone, ditching the mutual friends. Darlin kind of stopped hanging out with everyone after they met Quinn. Not on purpose, but something about him consumed Darlin entirely. He was all they could think about. But the happy stage didn’t last long and by the time it got scary, it was hard to get away. 

There was a point where they thought they might not even get out. That the pack would forget about them, that they’d live forever under Quinn’s thumb.

The only person brave enough to help them escape, scars and all, was one empowered friend of theirs. They had visited out of the blue one day when Quinn happened to not be around and when they had asked about Darlin’s various bandages, they were too exhausted to lie. 

Quinn didn’t let their friend live to regret helping them.

And when Darlin originally lied to David about the department capturing Quinn, they didn’t think it would take over a year for them to find him again. They didn’t think he’d be able to evade them as well as he had. Perhaps they should have learned their lesson the first time they underestimated him.

When David comes to give them hell about lying to him, their skin crawls when they realize what an oversight they had made when they chose to pursue Quinn on their own after the attack. The rest of the pack and their mates weren’t something Darlin had even thought could be impacted. Partially because they thought they could get a handle on it long before it ever got to the point it did, and partially because they were used to handling things on their own. And usually that had been just fine for them. But Quinn wasn’t quite like anything they’d dealt with before.

Sometimes it felt like all they did was lie.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

“No, I don’t care.”

“The department took care of Quinn.”

They kept everyone at an arm’s length. No one was allowed to get close enough to see them and if they tried, they were met with teeth and claws and anger. And that seemed to work for them– until they tried to fix their mistake with Quinn by themselves.

III.

“I bet you’d look beautiful in the sun, Darlin,” he says softly. “I’d give everythin’ to see how your eyes look during sunset.”

They tilt their head and look down at his hands holding their own. “Awfully sappy tonight, are we?”

His mouth twists into a crooked smile. “Only for you.” 

They want to push him away. They want to joke and laugh and bring things back to a level that didn’t feel so vulnerable. That’s how he made them feel: vulnerable. But they didn’t laugh, they didn’t joke, they didn’t put both hands on his chest and push.

Instead they reach up, holding both sides of his face, and pull him close. When his lips meet theirs, they feel like they're falling head-first into a black hole. They kiss him harder.

When they first met Sam, they think some part of themselves knew who Sam was going to become to them before they ever got to experience it. Maybe that was why they let him find them that night, maybe he was right after all about them being able to sense him when they entered Waterworld in the first place. Or maybe they were just too busy trying to find Quinn to pay attention. 

They’d never been a particularly open person, even before Quinn, but something about Sam was different. They don’t know what it is about Sam that seems inherently trustful. Darlin isn’t one to trust easily, and especially not with vampires, not anymore.

Allowing anyone, including Sam, to get close to them, choosing to trust felt like playing with fire. He never once made them regret it. If they ever got burned (and never by him), Sam was cool water and a bandage to heal the wound. He made them want to let him get closer to them, to let him in and show him all of their scars, physical and otherwise.

“I like moonlight better anyway, it's more romantic,” they say.

His eyes soften and wrinkle at the corners. There's a smile on his lips but a deep sense of loss in his eyes and an apology on the tip of his tongue. A “sorry” for being a vampire, for never being able to see how they look in the sun. For letting them love him. There’s nothing he could ever say to atone for the sin he believes he’s committed.

He never wanted this life. He could have— should have died happily as a retired healer. Maybe with a partner, maybe just surrounded by friends and loved ones. The prospect of eternity felt more like suffocation than freedom.

“I love you, Sam.”

Tears blur the person— the beautiful, shining, person, who may as well have shaped the sun with their own hands, that stands in front of him. He looks up and takes a shaky breath to keep from crying.

He supposes he might not have ever met Darlin if he was never turned, might not have ever come to love them in this way. 

“I love you,” they whisper.

Maybe this little bit of eternity that he’d get to have with them would make it all worth it.

Maybe they were enough sunshine to last him several lifetimes.

Crazy post

Good angst

Sam coming home after The Alexis IncidentTM and looking in a mirror, shocked to see bruises lining his skin.

But they’re not bruises, It’s Alexis’ smudged lipstick surrounding already healed bite marks.

i’m not a vincent lover guys but some of your takes actually have me on his side which is outrageous

did you guys listen to the summit with your ears up your bum holes or what? 😭

HEHE ITS ME!! i need alexis making marcus her puppet now 🙏🙏

I was talking abt duos i should post for moodboards cause i wanted to only post two at a time, but omg

I may or may not have randomly paired Marcus and Alexis and now everyone is saying fuckin bimbo Barbie and malewife Ken.

Crackships oml 😭 I will be thinking abt these dumbasses all throughout work thanks

Disclaimer; I don’t like either of them at all. I love how they were written. I love the way they are formulated. I would and do hate them as people 😵‍💫

Tag; @indigo-greer-collins @wuegh AND I FORGOT DAMIENS FYCKING TUMBLR BUT.

2nd of Redactober — Adam

i hate this twinkshdjdd

i headcanon that he’s a youngest sibling and didn’t really get much attention growing up. spoiled with things but mostly ignored yk

and a second headcanon is that alexis has turned him down before LMAO

🖤Redactober 2024🖤

🎃It’s that time of year again~!🎃

Event Notes:

If you don’t have the voice for Talktober or the dirty mind for Kinktober, why not take part in Redactober- a fun, low-threshold event meant to bring us together as a fandom and inspire us to create and share?

This year, we’ll be going a little more freeform. I give you a Redacted man, listed alphabetically, and you choose the prompt as long as it starts with that man’s first initial. (We’re gonna have to get creative with A-words, y’all.)

With that prompt, create something! Write a fic! Sketch some art! Put together some headcanons, draft a song, canva together a moodboard, wherever the Halloween spirit takes you!

Whatever you create, please tag it “#Redactober 2024” so we can look through them and share. Though I won’t be participating every day due to prior engagements, I’ll be making an effort to reblog all the entries 💕

Have fun 🎃

Fred and Bright one-shot - characters

I'm not dead guys, school just held me by the neck and my motivation for this comic has been wavering, so it won't be as long as I originally planned. I'm sorry gang, my attention got drawn towards my own personal comics and I wanna start getting them out to the world. The Fred and Bright Comic is still on its way but I will only make one long post about it, I don't know when. anyways.

Vincent- 5'9ft->175.26 cm

he/him

Lovely (Kunna)- 5'7ft->173.736cm

he/she

Alexis- 5'2ft-> 158.496cm

she/her

(i changed the style cause i needed to go quicker and i couldn't waste anymore time making them elaborate T-T)

(i did Sam incredibly dirty)

Sam collins 5'11ft->180.34 cm

he/him

William- 6'7ft -> 204.216cm

he/slay(/j)

Porter-5'11->180.34 cm

he/they

Fredrick-6'3ft->192.024cm

he/him

Brighteyes(Mairenn)-6'0ft->182.88 cm

they/them

That is all gang, i might be radio silent again, until I've finished the one-shot

genuinely tweaking up in here

Saw someone do something like this somewhere, no idea where the post went otherwise I would have linked it but whatever-

Assigning Redacted characters Mindless Self Indulgence songs (From someone who is very normal about that band) in no particular order and with the occasional quote from the song:

Gavin: Tight. [I didn't have a say in the matter, he picked it himself-]

Damien: Witness. [Me assigning him this song is a positive thing, I promise.]

Huxley: On It. [The Imperium is strong with this one...]

Kody: Get It Up. [ :) ]

Lasko: Revenge. [We all know this man just wants to bash some heads in and is doing his best not to.]

The Shaw pack in general: Ass Backwards. [Listen to the song, it's a vibe.]

Vincent: Molly. [Because Vincent was a good girl and he knew the reasons why-]

Sam: Bed Of Roses. [He deserves his little emo song, let him have it.]

Alexis: Evening Wear. [Originally planned on only doing voiced characters, but "It's not fair to be compared to you" is a line that just fit too well.]

William(/Vega): 1989. [*insert old man joke here]

Elliott: What Do They Know. ["Mess me up beyond all recognition. For what it's worth, I'd do it again" - because this man will sacrifice himself and everything for Sunshine with no regrets and we love him for that.]

Blake: Pay For It. ["I don't want you to hate me. I want you to wanna hate me. I don't want you to date me, I want you to wanna date me" - his constant internal struggle with his feelings for Bestie summed up very nicely.]

Regulus: 3 S'. [Doesn't fit 100% but the sentiment is there.]

Avior: Due. [I could quote a line from the song here, but I'd end up just putting most of the lyrics here. So. "Die, my darling" is the one I will go with.]

Guy: Bitches. ["This is how it should be done" indeed.]

Aaron: Mastermind. [No, I will not elaborate.]

Honorable listener mention:

Freelancer: Sex for Homework. [In homage to their humble beginnings.]

Because nobody asked, here are songs that make it very easy for me to write for/that I associate with certain characters (but this is only for the vampires because otherwise, this list would likely be too long for anyone to want to read it):

Sam: I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend by Girl In Red. [I will not explain. Just listen to the song and don't tell me you can't see Darlin' and Sam sitting on the couch with an acoustic guitar.]

William: Dream On by Aerosmith. [It's not that I'm refusing to explain. Rather, I have no idea how to explain this.]

Vincent: Honkai World Diva from the game Honkai Impact 3rd. [So majestic. Just like him TwT]

Vincent (again): From Now On We Are Enemies by Fall Out Boy. [Vibe. That's why.]

Alexis: Applause by Lady Gaga. [It really feels like her. Like, if songs had a human appearance, Applause would look like Alexis.]

Alexis (I had to): After Life by Band-Maid. [Alexis but happy :D]

Adam: Regret by 1stress. [Again, I have no explanation other than "the song looks like him."]

Quinn: Battle Cry by Shayfer James. [Yes.]

Lovely: Vampire by DECO*27 [I don't think I have to explain this one.]

Lovely (once more): The Title Track by Origami Angel. [You know, while I was going through my playlist, I was expecting to end up with hyperpop or a Hatsune Miku song for Lovely. Then I put on The Title Track and somehow it just clicked for me.]

Bright Eyes: Dream On BUT it's the Kasane Teto cover. [The cover that made me fall in love with Teto <3]

Frederick: Bleed Magic by I Don't Know How But They Found Me. [Haha trauma haha funny. But seriously, this was not the song I expected to give Fred.]

In honor of my name card post reaching 500 notes for some godforsaken reason, here's more of that as a thank you to everyone who enjoyed that post:

Vincent "You're the Lovely of My Life" Solaire

Sam "No violence unless it's hot and deserved" Collins

Lovely "Punches holes into walls as a hobby" Solaire

Alexis "I need to be really careful with what I put here or the fandom will hunt me down" Getty

Porter "Who?" Solaire

William "Are you even allowed to drink wine with your meds old man?" Solaire

Adam "Insert the bisexual anthem here" Jessup

Quinn "Swiper no fucking murder" Fox

Bright "Trespassing" Eyes

Frederick "What do you mean 'therapy'? I can't afford that" Collins

Imagine that as a thing to show off their wealth, vampire monarchs wear gems on their fangs because it keeps them from feeding on people (or at least makes the process more difficult) and therefore shows others that they have the money to just live off of blood bags (and that they have the money to get super expensive gems made into jewelry for their teeth but that's secondary right now-).

William specifically used to have a sapphire on each of his top canines (mainly because of his vow to never turn anyone and the added difficulty of even biting anyone through these accessories was supposed to have him rethink it if he ever so much as considered to turn anyone) but he had them removed after he turned Vincent and had them reshaped into earrings. He's never worn them and they slowly collect dust in a fancy little box.

Vincent has a heart-shaped ruby on his bottom left fang (he chose this placement because there the gem wouldn't get in the way while feeding) and after they got turned, he offered to get Lovely a matching one. They also go get it renewed together every one and a half years or so and make a cute date out of it.

Alexis, on the 50th anniversary of her turning, got herself a small diamond to put on her top right fang. Before that, she had an oval-shaped garnet on both her fangs instead. She says she wears them purely for the aesthetic, but if you bother her long enough she'll admit that she likes how people squirm as the jewelry digs into their skin.

Porter likes jewelry and nice things as much as the rest of his clan, but he was never fond of the inconvenience tooth gems pose so he never got any. However, William has offered to get him one or more custom-made on multiple occasions before he let Porter go off and do his thing away from the clan. If he ever were to get any jewelry for his teeth though, he'd get something done with amethyst.

Sam has a very subtle, diamond-shaped, white quartz on his top right fang. It was Vincent's suggestion (and he was the one to pay for the jewelry and the procedure of attaching it) to get Sam more comfortable with his new body.

Bright Eyes is not a fan of tooth gems, but they do have two silver fangs because ☆style☆ However, they do enjoy looking at different designs for them similarly to how they just browse tattoo designs without ever getting one done.

Frederick doesn't want any jewelry on his teeth either because he's worried about it somehow getting caught on his lip and injuring himself or something of the like. Sam told him that nothing like that had ever happened to anyone he knew to have tooth gems, but Fred still didn't want to get one.

Thanks for tagging me I almost missed this part! Also I really like your portrayal of Alexis because I feel like a lot of the time people only write her as one of two extremes (either "totally misunderstood and she can't do any wrong" or "she's an asshole and she can go to hell") so this was pretty refreshing to read -w-

Ok just one more punk progeny won't hurt~

Chapter 6: the double standard

(Trans ftm Bright eyes - he/him pronouns)

TW this Chapter contains an accurate not so positive view of alexis, regardless of your opinion of alexis please don't send death threats to either me or my proofreader.

Bright had been staying in the solaire mansion for a while now, so he wouldn't refer to what he is doing as "moving in", no, more like.....unpacking.

But alas, that's what William called it. Moving in.

He hadn't told anyone else that he'd made his decision, William reassured him that he wouldn't have to and that he was planning on getting everyone together for a "family meeting".

Bright was clambering over the mass amount of boxes he had scattered around the room in an attempt to organise his things.

Tank had recently given him a bunch of their old things, clothes, CDs, DVDs, comics all that good shit.

But he only now decided to actually get out the stuff they gave him and place it around his room.

Mabye that was because it wasn't HIS room till recently.

Suddenly, while looking around for a spot to dump one of the empty boxes, there was a knock on his door.

Bright had always lived with other people, granted it was never for very long, but within all his years of living, not one of those people ever knocked before entering.

So Bright was, understandably, more than a little startled when he heard a knock on his door.

"W-whos there?!"

Despite Bright's defensive tone, William responded sweetly.

"It's just me, Bright eyes, may I come in?"

Bright relaxed at the sound of his voice.

"O-oh yeah sure just gimme a sec"

"Of course~"

He continued frantically looking for somewhere to put the box down.

Eventually he chucked it onto the bed and went to open the door.

William slithered into the room and closed the door behind him, but not all the way.

"Good evening Bright eyes, how are you settling in?"

Every time Bright heard William speak his guard went down, his defensive nature was challenged and he felt safe.

At first this scared Bright and while he still hadn't gotten used to it

He didn't mind as much now.

"Yeah, I'm just kinda trying to put my stuff away....I mean....yeah"

Bright sheepishly gestured to the colossal mess he'd made of his room.

Despite Bright's new found comfortiblity with William, he still didn't know exactly how to interact with him.

Bright's almost bashful nature made William smile as he held back a giggle.

"Well that's good"

There was a moment of silence between the two that felt.....awkward.

William coughed.

"Well I'm glad your settling in, but admittedly, I didn't just come in here to check on you"

Bright raised an eyebrow as he waited for him to continue.

"You know that later on tonight I plan on getting the whole clan together for a meeting, and that during that meeting I intend on informing them of....you, but until then I will be out for a meeting with a friend, I'll introduce you tonight, Vincent and his partner will be making preparations for the solstice and Fred, Sam and his mate are staying at their cabin

So what I'm trying to say is-"

"Ill be home alone for the day?"

William gave Bright a smile that looked almost....painful...?

Like he was being stabbed but didn't want to cause a scene.

"Weeelll...not exactly-"

At that moment, the door he had left partially ajar, swung open to reveal somone Bright had only heard cautionary tales of

Alexis.

Alexis was a tall, pale woman. Her hair covered one eye and had a gentle curl. The eye that reminded seen was sharp and silver, not unlike William's, however while his eyes shined with a warm comforting glow, her gase was cold and penetrating, as if looking at her was the equivalent of being stabbed with ice.

Bright felt several chills shoot through him. He felt like he was being tazered.

William sighed as his excruciating smile dropped.

"Bright, this is Alexis, you and her will be the only ones in the Manor tonight"

Bright's head turned towards William as he shot him a look of pleading confusion.

"Alexis, this is Bright eyes"

The eyebrow that was visible raised

"So THIS is Sam's little underling?"

She looked Bright up and down

"Yeah, that tracks"

Alexis didn't know about Bright being taken in by William, that snarky comment alone confirmed that, which did make Bright feel a little smug, but that didn't mean he appreciated the audacity of this b*tch.

He scowled at her

She scowled back

And for a moment the two just stood there unblinking, scowling at each other.

William was glad that no one present could mind read particularly well, as they would both be able to hear him breathe out the words

"Give me strength!...actually no, if whatever cosmic force that is out there gave me strength, these two would be dead......give me patience!"

He breathed in heavily as his smile from before returned to his face.

"Well I better be off! Please have the Manor still standing by the time I get back!"

Before Bright could protest he "woodshed" out the room.

And he was left alone.

With the woman who turned the man who turned the boy who turned him.

A convoluted and yet overly simplistic way to put it

But it wasn't an inaccurate description.

Luckily, Bright had years of experience dealing with snobby older sisters so he took a moment to compose himself after the initial shock of coming face to face with the resident solaire clan's scapegoat.

And simply said.

"Look, I have a lot of unpacking to do and you seem like you have better things to do than babysit me so why don't you get out of my room and go do whatever it is you do when left unsupervised?"

Alexis scoffed and folded her arms as she leaned against the door frame.

"I'm sorry, YOUR room? What? Is Sam's cabin not good enough for you kid?"

Every word she said felt like it was being spat out at Bright.

He smirked.

"Aww well I'm sure you'd love to have an open invitation there~ but I personally can't think of anything worse than being stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with Sam and my maker, so I'm gonna stay here and unpack, thanks"

She looked flabbergasted that this kid she had only just met could muster up the courage to speak to her with such audacity.

But she wasn't about to let Sam's progeny get under her pearl-like skin.

So after what looked like her swallowing her rage, she brushed it off and retreated into the darkness of the hallway.

Bright chuckled softly to himself as he went back to his boxes.

She is certainly in for a suprise later tonight.

So will everyone else but Bright felt more smug about this one.

He didn't know anything about alexis, he could admit that.

All he knew was what she did, not who she was.

That and he knew what everyone thought of her.

Which prompted him to label her as the resident scapegoat.

Exept that's what HE had always been.....in every family he'd ever incorporated himself into, he was the scapegoat.

If he took that away from her when he became William's progeny.....what would she have left?

Or would she continue to play her part despite him?

If that would be the case then....what would he be?

These thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of.....music?

More specifically a piano, exept it was.....off

The tempo was too fast which caused the pianist to constantly slip up and hit the keys all at once in frustration.

While the Manor did give the impression that it was haunted, Bright could safely assume that the culprit for such musical crimes was alexis.

Part of him wanted to go downstairs to shut her up.

There was a lot of the Manor that he still hadn't seen anyway so this could be an opportunity for exploring.

But another part of him reminded him that his curios nature was what got him here in the first place....

Then he said "f*k it, you can't die twice!"

And went searching for the location of the instrument who's screams of pain echoed through the whole Manor.

While searching, he made a note of the decor that dawned the halls of the Manor.

It all looked....tacky but also in its own way decadent, as if the whole building was trying too hard NOT to look like a stereotypical vampire Manor.

Paintings, ornaments and various trinkets were dotted around in no particular order.

It was nice to look at, but it distracted Bright from his goal of finding the piano

And frankly he was getting sick of hearing the damn thing!

Or more accurately he was sick of hearing HER play it.

Eventually he finally found it.

The double doors were wide open, as if she wanted her music to reverberate throughout the whole Manor.

Bright stuck his head through the doorway and saw that not only was there a piano but also various instruments covered with white cloth and dust.

It was safe to assume that this was a music room.

Alexis still hadn't noticed Bright standing there in the doorway, gazing in awe at the room's beauty.

Bright decided to approach her, though she still remained engrossed in her frustrating attempt at playing.

Bright leaned against the piano as somthing dawned on him.

If alexis is supposed to be this big bad vampire then she must be like....SUPER OLD.

So how long had she been playing a song that she simply can't play?

He decided to find an answer to that question.

"How long have you been playing that thing?"

This sudden announcement of his arrival made alexis jump, which caused her to hit the keys with both hands again.

"God f*king damn it! What? What is it!? What do you want?!"

Once again she gave the impression that her words tasted bad and as such she wanted to spit them out.

But Bright was unfazed.

He just put himself back in the mindset of having an older sister.

"Didn't you hear me? I said 'HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING THAT THING?"

She hardened her gase.

Before answering, she hesitated.

"More years than you've been alive, kid"

Bright scoffed and did his best to hold back a full belly laugh.

"Damn you've been playing this thing for YEARS and thats the best you can do? How much longer will it take for you to realise that mabye this just...isn't for you?"

Bright felt as if he was poking a bear.

She shot him a look of unbridled fury, the red tint of her eye located around her sharp iris grew as she rose from her chair, causing it to topple over.

"If you think you can do better than be my guest!"

Bright went in front of the piano nonchalantly and began to play the opening to "bat out of hell" a notoriously hard piano solo.

Alexis was flabbergasted and enraged.

Bright turned his head towards her once he had finished playing.

"You know....it really doesn't matter how long you play it for....its about the tempo, the skill and most importantly you have to actually enjoy playing it! I mean arnt you tried of playing this old thing and not getting any better at it? Are you playing it cos you enjoy it or cos you've been playing it for so long that you've forgotten how to play anything else?...."

He got no answer from this.

Consider this bear poked and pissed off.

Bright saw her face go dark and knew that he needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Once one if his step sisters made the same face at him after he was caught reading her diary.

Bright still has the scar even after death.

"Weeeelll anyway I have some more unpacking to do so I better--!!"

Before he could get away, he was cut off by alexis pulling him back by his hair.

She spun around allowing herself to be infront of him as she pulled him down across the piano

Bright struggled but she was strong, very strong.

She had him pinned, the keys wincing in pain as his body slowly hit them as his head was pulled backwards.

"G-get of me!"

Alexis found herself almost pitting him.

"Shut up. I don't know what your....deal is, but for some reason William has taken a liking to you, despite you being Sam's progeny. I have an idea of what's going on but I really don't want to belive it. Now I sincerely hope that what I think is happening isn't happening. I mean why on earth would William want a washed up, snarky, bratty disrespectful little sh*t when he already has me and Vincent?"

Bright's face dropped into a scowl.

By this point he had stopped struggling.

"But in any case, if you are going to be William's next project then I guess we'll be seeing more of eachother, so tell me.....

What do you think of me? Your Sammy's progeny so I'm sure you've heard all about me hmm? I'm sure you think you've got me all figured out....well? Answer me"

Bright knew when it was his turn to talk.

But he took a moment to look her in the eye

Just to get used to the feeling.

Then he began.

"You know....maybe everything that everyone says about you is right

Mabye you are just a selfish b*tch that couldn't have what she wanted so she decided to take it

By force.

But if all that is true....then....then why dosnt everyone treat Freddy the way they treat you?"

Bright looked down as he said this, as if it actively hurt to say while looking her in the eyes.

Alexis was confused upon hearing this.......then she understood.

Once she did, she loosened her grip on him and backed away, allowing him to get up from the piano.

She studied his face for a moment then her expression hardened.

"Listen to me kid. I did what I did to Sam because I wanted him. It's up to you to decide wether or not the way I get treated around here as a result of that is fair.

But what Freddy did to you wasn't out of malice or selfishness.

It was out of fear.

Because you where, and now will always be, a couple of scared kids who had no idea what they where doing"

Bright couldn't tell if this was supposed to be words of comfort or torment.

Either way he didn't agree with her.

So ge continued to scowl at her.

"I do think the way you're treated is fair. What isn't fair is that if turning without consent is supposed to be this big taboo then why isn't Fred treated the same way you are!?.....what's with the double standard huh?"

Alexis looked bored and fed up with whatever this conversation was.

She had said her piece.

So she left.

Bright was alone in the dusty, dark music room.

He went over to the white sheets and whipped them off, each revealing a new instrument.

One of them was a slightly piano.

It was white as opposed to the burgundy one alexis seemed to obess over.

He smiled softly, then went back over to the piano stool to pick it up.

He dragged it over to the slightly larger white piano and once he was sat down he began to play.

The sound reverberated through the Manor just as it did before.

Exept the music was less harsh and more melancholy and oddly comforting.

Alexis heard it.

Her face sofend for a moment.

Then she shook it off.

Taggs: @darlin-collins @anexistingexistence @you-think-i-care-mate

Okay so first I was feeling sorry for Bright for having to put up with everything and now Vincent's gonna have to deal with.. all that. Well good luck to him-

Also Vincent calling Bright his baby brother gives me life I love that

Ok just one more punk progeny won't hurt~

Chapter 7 (part 2): Stirring the Pot.

(Ftm trans Bright eyes - Uses he/him pronouns)

Porter had sat himself between Bright eyes and Fred, which didn't leave Bright a lot of room since he was now between Porter and the end of the couch.

As William was thanking everyone for coming here, Bright and Porter took terns steeling glances.

But once William indicated that the "meeting" had officially begun, they composed themselves.

"Now first order of business, as some of you may know, about a week ago I made the suggestion that Bright eyes be transferred from Sam to me as a mentor-"

The reactions to this information varied.

Alexis sighed and thew her head back in disappointment but not suprise.

Fred was flabbergasted and tried to look past Porter to look Bright in the eyes.

But Porter was in the way, and even if he wasn't, Brights gase was focused on William.

Porter had already been informed by William that he was taking on a new progeny, however he wasn't exactly anticipating it being the same guy he'd picked up at a bar the other night.

"You said you where done"

Alexis interrupted.

William ignored her and carried on.

"Bright had told me upon hearing this that he'd like to think more on it before making a definitive decision"

Again, mixed reactions.

Both alexis and Porter looked confused as to why he wouldn't jump at the opportunity, except alexis looked more Insulted than confused.

Vincent had obviously already known this, so he was waiting in anticipation for Bright's answer.

"I reserved Sam's consent on the matter, and now I have Bright's answer"

Fred shot Sam a look of pleading confusion.

Sam avoided his gase.

"So....

Bright's coronation will commence during the solstice"

Vincent punched the air.

He was hoping that Bright would say yes ever since they hung out.

Sam shot him a look to say 'calm down' so Vincent coughed and restrained himself from jumping up and down yelling "IM GONNA HAVE A BABY BROTHER!"

Meanwhile alexis had her head in her hands.

"Speaking of the solstice, for those who arnt aware, I won't be attending this year"

"What!?"

Bright exclaimed.

The whole room fell silent, he hadn't realised that this was a don't speak unless spoken to tipe meeting.

William looked at him, as everyone else did.

"I'm sorry Bright eyes, I know how momentous of an occasion this will be for you and I'm truly sorry I won't be there to see it, but there's nothing that can be done"

Bright sunk into the couch in disappointment.

If he wasn't going to be there what was even the point?

"If your not gonna be there then who's gonna....you know?"

"Vincent"

William turned towards him.

"I know I've put a lot of responsibility on you and your partner already, but I trust you to be the one to do this, the crown will be delivered the day after next, cutting it short I know, but I digress"

Vincent had been very stressed planning the solstice, but he knew that this was something he wanted to do.

"You can count on me"

Vincent said while looking at Bright eyes despite him technically answering William.

"Thank you"

William continued

"There is one more thing, and it is imperative that you all pay attention.

You all know how gossip spreads and how stories can get.....misconstrued. and as far as the other clans are concerned the newborns don't exist. So here's what we're going to say if asked. After the wonder world tragedy I asked Sam If I could take on Bright as a progeny because I felt it unfair to dump all this responsibility onto him, so to take off some of the weight, I took in Bright and only now he has decided to come out of the shadows and make it official"

Everyone understood, mabye some better than others.

But essentially they were being asked to lie on William, Sam and Bright's behalf.

"Am I allowed to ask why?"

Bright asked sternly.

"The last time I took in someone else's progeny it was because their maker was abusive, Bright, I know you have your.....reservations about Sam, but if we tell them the truth they'll assume the worst and Samuel dosnt deserve that"

Bright scowled.

Why should he have to lie to protect Sam? Whatever, thought Bright.

He'd do what William asked of him, but the question is, would everyone else?

"I......appreciate this.....but....you don't need to lie for me-"

Sam tried to protest but William interrupted

"It's not up for discussion, I know the clans, they will blow this out of proportion and you don't deserve some ludicrous rumour hanging over you"

Vincent was reminded of the recent information that there was a rumour going around that he had....done something in order to get William to turn him, he personally didn't care and thought that it was no one's business and anyone who had the gawl to make up somthing like that should be ignored.

But Sam didn't want anyone to believe THAT bullshit rumour so why would he want anyone to think that about him?

"I hate this...."

Said Bright.

"I know you do, but it's what must be done and anyone that is intent on telling them the truth or feeding into this potential rumour won't be allowed to attend. That's final"

On that note, William ended the meeting.

The fellow clan members were free to convers with each other.

Bright was about to join in and possibly answer some questions but before he could, William stopped him.

"Bright eyes, there's somone I've wanted to introduce you to for some time now"

William gestured for Porter to stand and "properly greet" Bright eyes.

"Bright eyes this is Porter, an old friend of mine, Porter this is Bright eyes, as you know he'll be my new progeny as of the summit"

The two locked eyes, trying to contain their mixed emotions regarding seeing eachother again.

Until Porter gave him a.....look

Took his hand and slowly shook it.

"Charmed~"

Bright returned that....look and for a moment the two just stared at each other, with William watching over them.

Fred was still sitting down and to get up would mean bumping into both Porter and Bright eyes and he really didn't want to do that.

The current position he was in allowed him to watch their interaction quite closely and he wasn't sure how he felt about what he was being subject to witness.

William began again, interrupting the energy that the two had created.

"Porter, I know you haven't been here in a while but while Bright eyes has been staying here for some time now, I've been told that he hasn't done a whole lot of exploring, so I was wondering if you could show him around a bit? You know these walls better than most and it would be.....beneficial for him to get to know other vampires"

Vincent overheard this and called over from the other side of the room, once again to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry? Why on earth would you WANT anyone to get to know PORTER?"

This was obviously ment to be a playful jab at Porter, however Bright heard it as crule and insulting.

So he just scowled at Vincent and awaited an answer from Porter.

He turned back from Vincent to look at Bright eyes and said, just loud enough for Vincent to hear.

"I would be honoured"

And took Bright's hand in his again.

"Wonderful! I've wanted you two to meet for a while now, you have so much in common-"

"That is the meanest thing you have ever said!"

Vincent interrupted again.

"Oh hush!"

Growled Sam, smacking him lightly on the back of the head.

William continued.

"Oh! And before you go, Porter I assume that today you would want to retreat to your old room, but I regret to inform you that what was your room is now Bright's room, so you'll have to use one of the guest rooms. Or you two could just share!"

Both Bright and Porter felt like they were going to choke at that comment.

They needed to leave and assess the situation. Alone.

So they swallowed the smug feeling creeping up on them and left.

Hand in hand.

Fred, finally being able to get up from the couch, looked on at them. Even after they had left the room his eyes were fixated on the closed door.

What just happened?

As soon as the two were out of ear shot of the others, Bright dropped the coy exterior.

"OK so how'd you wanna do this?"

"Humm?"

"You wanna keep pretending like we don't know eachother? You wanna tell any of them that we've met before but leave out the more....graphic details?"

Porter chuckled a bit.

"Me and William may be close but we arnt that close, that is to say, I would never share the details of a particularly wonderful night with him. As for the others well"

He took a moment to ponder this.

"Well since you'll be a solaire member soon enough I suppose information such as that could really ruin a....specific members day"

Bright assumed he was talking about Vincent given his behaviour in the common room.

"You two seem to really hate eachother, what gives?"

Porter hesitated.

"If he hasn't told you then I suppose it's better we leave it as a story for another day besides I'd rather not burden you with such things, treasure~"

Bright rolled his eyes slightly.

"But I digress, last time we....spoke (not that there was a lot of talking involved) you didn't mention once that you where a solaire"

Bright moved closer to him.

"Neither did you"

Porter gave a one-note soft-laugh.

"Touché"

Bright thought for a moment, braking their gase.

"Well I mean...TECHNICALLY I wasn't, I still arnt"

Porter sighed

"You know what I mean, so, as of now, who are you?"

Bright's soldiers tensed

"I'm....a Collins"

Referring to himself as such made him shudder.

Porter was shocked but smiled as he scoffed and tilted his head in thought.

"Samuel Collins? HE'S your?-"

"Oh god no! I'm his...grand progeny...? I-i was...turned by the guy you where sitting next to in the meeting, HE'S Sam's. But yeah I guess Sam is...WAS my mentor"

Porter almost couldn't believe it. Samuel Collins, the same Samuel Collins he knew 5 years ago, took on two progenys within the time he'd been gone, he really had missed so much.

"Well...fancy that"

Bright felt like they were getting off topic.

"Soooo, we're gonna keep....this a secret ooooor what?"

Porter was brought back to the present with this question.

The "look" he'd given Bright in the meeting returned to his face.

"Well that depends"

He stepped closer to him, lowering his voice

"Where would you like...this to go?"

The Manor was huge, almost every hallway looked the same so it was easy to get lost in.

But alexis didn't see what the big deal was, Porter and Bright where both annoying little sh*ts, it makes sense that they'd entertain themselves for so long.

And yet everyone was getting all worked up about how long they were taking.

To ease their concerns alexis was sent to retrieve them so that William could have another one of his "private meetings" with Porter.

It took quite a bit of trekking through the hallways to finally hear a muffled sound behind one of the doors, she assumed it was Porter and Bright, who eles could it have been?

So she opened the door.

Porter dug his fingers into Bright's hips as his back continuously hit the wall.

Bright's hands lay either side of Porter's neck, his fingers becoming well acquainted with his jugular, their tongues colluding over eachother in a perpetuated motion.

They both kept their eyes closed, drinking in every moment of this.

But as Porter took a moment to catch his breath and migrate his mouth from lips to neck, somthing caught in the corner of his eye.

And then he locked eyes with....her.

Then she vanished into the hallway.

Bright hadn't seen her so he didn't know the cause of Porter's sudden panic.

Porter however didn't have time to explain.

He pulled himself out from in-between the wall and Bright eyes and for a moment continously hesitated between going after her and staying with him.

Eventually he made the decision.

"Damn it. I'll be right back"

And then he pulled Bright closer to him, allowing himself to softly but quickly collide his lips with Bright's cheek then wisked away into the hallway after her.

Bright was left dazed, confused and more than a little aroused.

He moved his hand up to his cheek where Porter had left his invisible mark on him.

What just happened?

Alexis was faster than Porter but he was skilled.

He swerved and tackled her to the ground before she could reach the door to where everyone was still congregated.

Once he had her in a hold, he rolled them both away into another hallway, as to make sure the others don't overhear any of this interaction.

"OOW GET OFF OF ME YOU BRITISH F*K TART"

"Fine, just don't tell anyone in that room what you just saw"

"Oh like hell I won't!"

Porter pushed her head to the ground.

"Vincent's gonna kill you for trying to bed his new 'little brother' on the first day of meeting him!"

Porter smirked.

"Actually we had already met, at a bar, on the night of my arrival"

Alexis's grin widened.

"Oh hohoho~ you-"

Again her head hit the ground

"Is there anything I can do to convince you to stay quiet about this?"

"No"

"Thought not. Then I propose a....compromise. and I think you'll find that this way of doing things will make things more....hard for Vincent to swallow"

Alexis stopped struggling for a moment.

Then her smile returned to her face.

"I'm listening"

Taggs:

@darlin-collins @anexistingexistence @you-think-i-care-mate @that-gothickitty

And what if I gave Quinn therapy instead of the death sentence? What if he was flirty with Sam and he, Sam, and Darlin' became a poly relationship?

What if I put Alexis on a path to redemption and there was a lot of opening up and heart to heart talks between her and Darlin'? And what if I put her, Sam, and Darlin' in an angsty slowburn poly romance?

What if- [gets decked in the face by angry fandom people]

I bought new crystal glassware a few days ago and god I need (someone else because I'm lazy) to draw our vamps holding them because oH MY GOD I LOVE MY CRYSTAL GLASSES

It's been months and I only now realized that I could have made a spaghetti pun with Alexis' name

In honor of my name card post reaching 500 notes for some godforsaken reason, here's more of that as a thank you to everyone who enjoyed that post:

Vincent "You're the Lovely of My Life" Solaire

Sam "No violence unless it's hot and deserved" Collins

Lovely "Punches holes into walls as a hobby" Solaire

Alexis "I need to be really careful with what I put here or the fandom will hunt me down" Getty

Porter "Who?" Solaire

William "Are you even allowed to drink wine with your meds old man?" Solaire

Adam "Insert the bisexual anthem here" Jessup

Quinn "Swiper no fucking murder" Fox

Bright "Trespassing" Eyes

Frederick "What do you mean 'therapy'? I can't afford that" Collins

Seeing the whole 'Solaire clan' drama arc happening right in front of me whilst im still at freelancer season 1 hurts so much..like I wanna know what's happening but I can't spoil it for myself 😭

Currently yearning for Alexis to make an appearance in an audio, or just a separate audio all together. [Vampire Mates’ possessive ex corners you] and it’s literally just Alexis threatening Darlin to stay away from Sam, and how they’re basically involving him with Quinn. “Are you sure you want to put Sam through what your little friend went through?” Even though Alexis literally put Sam through hell.

————————————————————

Tagging: @gumballsrightfoot @bittersweet-chaoss @whorefordarlin @romeo-the-homeo @ggothicfrog

WHAT IF SOME VAMPIRE BITES CONTAINED VENOM??? Like what if those large ass fangs store poisonous magic that could literally kill someone depending on how much they use.

-THE VENOM IS USED AS A TORTURE METHOD- and it can physically show it spreading throughout the veins in a persons neck (or wherever they were bit)- the veins turning a dark purple or even black depending on how much venom was used.

Now imagine Quinn using a little bit of this venom on Darlin just to watch them collapse and writhe in pain below him, smiling and teasing them on how ridiculous they looked. OR -Alexis biting Sweetheart (I hc that cannon Alexis works with Quinn) keeping them on the verge of death from the amount of venom used, and leaving their shivering whimpering form for the pack to find- preferably Milo <3.