![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladydeathfaerie) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
marysuevirus2008-04-02 09:32 pm
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
anyhow, here's my newest bunny, though the idea had hit me some time ago, back when Gin started The Mutant Sue Virus. a few things to clear up before you read. i've altered canon big time here. you'll see what i mean when you finish this little bit. but this is for a good reason. if i didn't do this, the Sues couldn't come in to save the day. so hopefully you'll be cool with the way things are handled here.
many thanks must go to Gin for being my sounding board, my own plot bunny wrangler and the beta for this story. *smoochies* she and i are dangerous together. first, this alternate reality. next.... world domination! muh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! ahem. sorry. couldn't help myself there.
Title: The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Prologue: Anita
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea and Silverfoxchan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
enjoy! i hope.
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link
My name is Anita Blake. I'm a necromancer. Probably one of the most powerful ones the world has seen in some time. I'm also a fully licensed vampire executioner. That's what they call me. The Executioner. I'm a sworn U.S. Marshall. It helps with the jurisdictional problems, allowing me to cross state lines in the hunt for rogue vampires. When the police need answers, they call me. I'm their preternatural expert. I'm also the human servant of the Master of St. Louis and I've got a small army of men at my personal disposal. I've collected the powers of the different Master Vampires I've come in contact with. My life is a huge soap opera that I've been trying to get back under my control.
I'm also dying.
It shouldn't have happened. I'm not completely immortal, but I'm pretty damned invincible with the powers I've gained just from knowing Jean Claude and the others. That shouldn't have happened, either. But something happened when he married the marks between me, him and Richard. And now, I'm something I don't think there's even a name for. I'm still all of those other things. But I'm more. And I'm dying. There's no way to stop it.
It was an ambush. Right now, laying here, I can see that I stepped right into the trap. I should have been more on my guard. Paranoia had kept me alive this long. And I'd been careless enough to let that guard drop. I'd gone to another town for a couple of things. There was a young woman who'd petitioned the local pard for membership. My pard. Micah had already met with her and had given me the go ahead. He felt she'd make a good addition to our small family of wereleopards. She was fresh from college and had told Micah that her pard didn't hold the kind of atmosphere she'd be comfortable returning to. He and I had both checked it out and found that she was right.
While the alpha in charge of the girl's pard hadn't been as bad as Gabriel when he'd been running my pard, he didn't win any awards for his leadership. A few discreet inquiries had brought me more information than I'd needed. The pard's alpha been 'recruiting' his own members and Minette, the girl, had been one of his victims. I'd gone to pick her up, as well as consult on a mysterious death. The town sheriff had called me and asked me to come as a personal favor. It was a perfect chance to help train Animators Inc.'s newest employee.
She'd been the one to bring Minette's proposal to me at the same time she'd gone to Bert and begged a job. He had hired her and told her to follow in my footsteps and learn everything I had to teach her. I hadn't wanted to take the girl with me. She was so green, she could barely raise the newly dead. But Bert had insisted, had told me to show her the ropes. And the girl had stuck to me like glue. I'd been surprised when she'd taken notes and asked intelligent, pertinent questions. She'd even managed to determine what kind of assailant the cops were looking for without my having to prompt her. Aedan had been more help than I'd anticipated. And now she, and Minette, were stuck watching me die.
We'd been on a lonely stretch of road, on our way back after picking up Minette and her things, when it had happened. Something had come streaking out of the near darkness and had actually slammed into my car. It had hit hard enough to send us into a spin. A moment later, shadowy figures had loomed up out of the darkness, almost too many to count. I'd pulled my Browning, glad for the weight of it in my hand. But I'd been vastly outnumbered. I'd known that I didn't have enough ammo to fight them all off and my passengers hadn't had enough fighting experience to be of any help. Aedan had begged me to just drive and put them behind us, but I'd heard in her voice that she hadn't believed I could do it anymore than I did.
I'd climbed from the car after issuing a curt command that they stay inside of it. I'd even dug my spare crucifix out of the glove compartment and pressed it into Aedan's hands, told her to use it if she had to. The door had clicked shut behind me, the sound a loud note of finality in the silence of the night. Browning held out before me, I'd swept my gaze along the group of attackers. Vamps, weres and even plain humans had been watching me. It was over before it had even started.
Blood soaked the ground around me, the Browning still clutched tightly in my hand. They were gone. My attackers. My murders. My executioners. As soon as they were sure I was dying, they'd slunk back into the shadows. High pitched laughter had followed them. A moment later, the car doors had flown open and Minette and Aedan were kneeling next to me, one on either side. Both were studying my wounds with a clinical look that told me everything I needed to know.
I didn't know the extent of my injuries. Couldn't feel most of my body. I did know that my left arm had taken the brunt of the initial attack. A vamp had sunk his fangs in and held on, shaking his head like a dog with a bone. When he'd let go, he'd taken a chunk of skin with him. One of the weres had dug his claws into my belly, ripping and tearing at the soft flesh to leave a gaping hole behind. There was another bite to my shoulder. Anything else, I couldn't see or feel. "I called for help," Minette whispered softly.
I tried to smile, ended up coughing up blood. "Too late. They won't make it in time," I replied, voice thick in the still air.
"Anita..." Aedan frowned, her hands reaching to press against a gaping wound in my side. "You shouldn't talk. Just rest and..."
"I've been in enough fights to know when someone's dying," I shook my head, a slight motion that took far too much effort. I felt a soft caress of cool wind at the back of my mind and knew that Jean Claude was aware something was wrong. Immediately on the heels of his cool presence, the musk of wet fur and forest filled my nose. Richard.
"Ma petite?" His voice slid like velvet through my mind and I couldn't stop the smile that slid across my face. "What has happened?"
"Anita?" Richard's voice was next, less assured than Jean Claude's but filled with the same concern that I caught from my vampire lover.
I thought for a moment about how to answer him. There was only one thing I could say. "Je t'aime, Jean Claude." Then I shut him out of my head. "I love you, Richard. But shut up and go away. I'm busy dying." I tried to push him out, but he clung stubbornly. I didn't have time for this. I had things I needed to do.
"Anita! Where are you? We'll come and..." Panic laced his voice, the love he had for me underlying it. It made my heart clench. So much time wasted between the two of us because of our inability to find common ground. And now, there wasn't any time.
"Let me go, Richard. You can't help. Find someone else to love. Take a wife, have fat babies. Just let me go." It took more strength than I wanted to spend, but I finally managed to push Richard out of my mind. I closed the links and turned my attention to the two girls beside me. I had to do it fast, for the sake of those I loved.
Nearly all of the preternatural community in St. Louis was tied to me in one way or another. And I knew that they would die with me if I didn't do something to prevent it. I'd known that for a long time. It was one of the reasons I'd taken a trip to see Marianne. Things had been worse than usual where my life was concerned and I'd sought out a way to make sure that my family would survive if something ever happened to me. It looked like I'd been smart in that respect.
"Listen to me. I need you to do something for me," I coughed again, blood welling up once more. I could tell I didn't have long. I was fairly certain that I could do this. I just didn't know what it would do to the two women with me. The gun fell to the ground, a heavy thud as the weapon was forgotten and I reached for their hands. Both curled their own around mine and I could feel how much warmer they were than I was. I almost smiled at how easy that had been.
"What is it?" Minette asked, eyes wide and earnest.
"I need you to take care of my family for me. Jean Claude, Asher, Edward, Nathaniel, Micah, Jason, Damian, Richard..... All of them. You have to protect them, watch over them."
"Of course, Anita," Aedan assured me, glancing over at Minette with worry crawling across her face. "Just relax and don't speak anymore. I'm sure the paramedics will be here soon. They'll get you patched up."
"Promise me," I rasped out, gathering up what strength I had left. "Say it out loud. Say that you promise!"
The girls spoke as one. "We promise."
"Thank you," I sighed. All of the strength I'd mustered was put to the test then. I drew that part of me that had made me what I was to the front, bringing my power and everything that came with it to the very edges of my being. Memories tumbled with the magic and power, swirling like a vortex of color and light, and I had one last chance to watch my life and see that love that had been mine. It was blinding and it hurt. None of what I was wanted to go. It wanted to stay deep inside of me. But I had to do this. I had to protect everyone. I had to save them. I'd promised them that much.
Power and memories flooded out through my hands, pouring into the two women holding my own in the dark. I heard them suck breaths, felt them tense, as everything that I had and as everything that I was poured into them like water rushing to fill a hole in the side of a ship. For a moment, it looked as if the air around the three of us shimmered and time held still for me, a shimmering shard of memory that showed me both of their lives. In that single instant, we were joined as one. We saw and knew everything. Then the moment fractured and I felt my gift to them being sucked away from me.
The very second all of my power and memory passed into them, the contact broke. Their hands were jerked from mine and I could hear them gasping for breath in the darkness. There were sirens in the distance. Minette was suddenly leaning over me. "Hang on, Anita. Damn it, don't do this!" she spat at me. Then her hands were on my chest.
"Keep your promise," I whispered, my eyes closing. The final darkness was coming for me. I wasn't afraid. Not for me. And not for my family. I'd done what I could for them. They were safe now. The two women surrounding me were the key to their survival. "Take care of them for me. All of them. Jean Claude will need you. Don't deny him anymore."
"We'll keep our promise, Anita," Aedan's voice was faint. My fingers were limp when I found the butt of my gun. Words failed me. Aedan picked the Browning up and put it in my hand. I shook my head slightly, made a feeble attempt to hand it back to her. It fell from my grasp. Aedan picked it up and held it. My last gift. She was going to need it.
A sweep of lights poured over us, almost blinding. Colors swirled and coalesced and voices shouted. But it faded away on a tide of peaceful tranquility. Then it was gone.
"Je t'aime, Jean Claude. Je t'aime."
no subject
no subject
as i said in my opening remarks, i did it that way to open the door for the Sues.
no subject
I'm grinning like a fool...
Can't wait to see what ya'll have come up with for your Sues *hint*.
no subject
i've got basics from Daz and SFC. and you, of course. we can get into specifics later, i suppose. and i need one from Nan.
this should prove interesting, to say the least.
no subject
That was good! Not to mention sad as hell! Great job LDF! I can't wait for Chap. 1!
no subject
that was a quick type up for me. two or three hours, i think. short for me, too. but i didn't want to get too long winded there. the prologue set the tone for the story and made an opening for the Sues.
i hadn't intended it to be sad. but i guess that means i managed to convey some feeling in it.
the ideas for chapter one have been swirling since last night. hopefully, it'll be just as good as this was. i'm glad you enjoyed it.
no subject
no subject
i'm pleased you liked it.
and i love you, too.
no subject
no subject
just goes to show you that my definition of crap differs strongly from everyone else's.
glad you enjoyed it, sweetie.
no subject
no subject
also. glad you still like it!