Word Count: 3112 words

Genre: Mystery/Paranormal

The Originals crossover

Title: 'Family'

 

 

 New Orleans. Boram had lived there as a child just before her family moved to Korea. Her father had found a job as a contractor tasked to build a mansion for some rich guy. They only stayed a few months before the family was packing again. She liked the city for its vibrant atmosphere which helped her forget her misery having just uprooted from the only home she has ever known. The music, the Creole food and the myths made every memory forged her seem magical but the city changed, progressed into something she did not like. Boram was always observant, the smallest difference catches her eye, however, frankly she would not have known had she not gone to the French Quarter in the middle of the night.

 Boram was plagued with nightmares about lions and a red mist of blood. It made little sense to her but she always woke up coated in sweat, her heart racing and this feeling of dread. That night was worse than the others because she was sure she saw a face that looked more demonic than human right before she woke up. There was no point going back to sleep so she put on a jacket and began walking. Half way between her street and the Quarter, she realised that might not have been a good decision. The wind picked up quickly and soon it felt like a gale. Boram took shelter behind a tree. The lamps that lines both sides of the street blew up in a shower of electricity. It did not help that there was no moon that night. She wanted to take off and run but something kept her rooted to where she was.

 "You can't move, can you?"

 Boram peaked past the stem to see a young (judging by her voice) girl dressed in a simple white dress holding up her palm. At first, Boram thought she was speaking to her until she saw a man lying on the ground writhing with his face turned towards Boram. She did not know where they both got there because the street was empty only minutes before. He looked to be in a lot of pain. The girl moved closer to him, and to Boram who was scared she might be seen, and began chanting in some language Boram never heard before. Even with the wind raging stronger than before, her voice was still clear and carried power that seemed so familiar. What the hell is going on? Finally, it all stopped and when, Boram opened her eyes, the girl was gone and the man was not moving. Looking in all directions, Boram tried to go forward towards him but her legs remain in the same crouching position. It was like she could no longer control her body.

 "Hey! Are you awake?" Boram called out. She waited a few seconds before trying to get her hand to pick up a stone when she heard a low groan. "Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

The man was moving slowly using his arms to drag himself towards her. As he inched closer, Boram got a feeling from the pit of her stomach- the same feeling she always gets before something bad happens. She glanced around to make sure the girl had not come back.

 "Hurry."

Finally, there was only a foot between the two. Boram held out her hands to steady the man when she touched his face. It was wet and sticky around his mouth and some of the wetness dribbled onto her hand.

 "Look, I can't move much. Can you reach into my pocket and remove my pho-"

 It all happened too fast for her register. An excruciating pain gripped her and, for a while, she could not breathe. Something was constricting her chest, digging into her skin with such force Boram thought it would tear. Then whatever it was ended and she woke up lying on her back just as the sun was rising. There was a horrible metallic taste in , otherwise she was fine. There was blood, though. An awful amount of it was pooling around her body and had soaked into her clothes. Not the slightest injury on her even though she was sure something strong tore into her neck. She sat up ignoring the horrible squelching sound she made when that happened and looked around. Her phone was a few feet away from her crushed. No one was coming which made it easier for her to slip back to the house where she was staying.

 Boram tore off her clothes before she even made it to the stairs and sprinted up in only her underwear which, much to her dismay, was soiled like the rest. She came to stop in front of the mirror. There was blood dried up on and on her entire chest. This had to be hers since correlates with what she remembers but how did she heal? If the blood was hers, where did it come from? What if it was someone else's like the injured man? He was gone when she regained consciousness. Based on his condition, he could not have moved far on his own. She should go to the police and let them figure this out. God, why do these things happen to me?

 

~~~~~~~~

 "Miss Boram, how often do you fall unconscious or do you blackout often?"

Boram grit her teeth to keep from screaming in frustration. She was at the station, seated with a detective Bernard, a hefty African American in a coffee coloured suit, who spent the last forty five trying to make it sound like she imagined everything.

 "Not often. Rarely in fact but that does not change the fact that something happened last night."

 "Here is what happened the previous night according to you," the detective began seemingly reading his notes, "a girl attacked a man, whose face you can't remember but you do know he has an afro, without touching him and you could not move to help him. She left but you cannot tell me which direction she went. The man was hurt and you wanted to help him but you still could not move. Then he crawled towards you but when you told him to get your phone to call for an ambulance, something you cannot describe attacked you. Is that right?"

 "I believe so."

 "Look, I'll be honest with you," detective Bernard said dropping all pretenses of interest, "I think you may have made this up or-let me finish- you saw something and interpreted it otherwise. People come here expecting some voodoo nonsense and sometimes they think they've experience something supernatural. You're not the only one so there is nothing to be ashamed of."

 "I have been honest with you," Boram said her voice trembling with anger, "I know it does not make much sense but there is a lot of blood there and it may be someone else's. Why don't you go, do your job and see what happened."

 "I already sent someone and since you are a possible witness, your story is important for me," he pointed at himself with both hands, “to understand what happened."

 "Something attacked us, okay? I could feel it on me and it was like... it was draining me," Boram said, her voice was unsteady again. She turned her face away from the detective and wiped her eyes. "I thought I was dying and then I woke up, lying on so much blood that I can't have imagined this. I just can't have."

She was beyond exasperated. The stained clothes she brought should have convinced the man that there was some truth to what she was saying but he remained skeptical. He stepped away to answer a call and came back a few minutes later.

 "Turns out, you were right. There was a lot of blood and," he paused before clearing his throat," a wolf corpse was found nearby."

 "A wolf?"

 "Yes,"

 "So I was kind of right," she said more to herself than him. "The blood was from a person or the wolf? What about the man I was with?"

 "They are bringing it in for testing."

Boram did not know what to feel so she said nothing as the detective gave her his card.

 "You can leave. If there is anything else you remember, call me. Once we find anything out, we'll call you."

 

~~~~~~~~

 The bar was almost completely empty when Boram stepped in and she was glad for it. What she needed was quiet and maybe a game of darts which, after a quick scan of the place, the bar did not have.

 "So, what will you have so earlier in the day?" the pretty blond bar attender asked.

 "I don't know. Anything would be nice."

 "There you go," the bar attender place a glass of a pink coloured drink in front of her. It tasted fruity so Boram doubted it was strong.

 "You know stereotypes dictate that should pour my heart out to you right now." Boram blurted out after taking a few sips. The drink was stronger than she expected.

 "I'll listen then." The woman replied kindly. She even looked kind the way she smiled softly at her.

 "How many people have talked about being attacked by something unreal in this town?"

 "I don't know I haven't been here long. Why?"

 "Last night, something happened to me and I don't think it was a wolf."

 "I'm not getting you. Just start from the beginning."

Boram told her everything she told the detective but added the bit about the girl chanting something that had an effect on the man. That part she had left out on purpose when she saw the detective's face. He was not as expressionless as he thought he was. She also talked about how it could not have been a wolf since she felt no fur. If she was being completely honest, it felt closer to skin, human skin. Boram did leave out the part where she found blood in when she tried brushing away the awful taste.

 "And did you see where the girl went?" the bar attender asked. Maybe it was the effects of the alcohol but she looked anxious.

 "Why? You know her or something?" Boram asked setting the glass away. "I want another one."

 "Or something," was the answer she got before the door opened and the woman scurried away towards the new person. They exchanged words before the man stormed towards Boram. He took the seat besides hers and looked intently at her face. He was handsome with his red beard and wavy dark hair but Boram did not like the look on his face.

 "Cami tells me you may have seen a friend of ours. Can you tell me where she went?" he asked sounding really British.

Boram shrugged and said, "She disappeared. One minute she was standing there, speaking in some language and the next, gone. It didn't help that it was dark-"

 "She said something bit her neck but there are no marks," Cami cut in. She seemed really excited for some reason. "The police say they found a wolf but wolves don't go for the neck unless..."

 "Unless what? I'd like to be in the loop," Boram said her eyes flitting to the two of them. The man leaned in closer and Boram found herself staring at his eyes. They were green with spots of yellow and the pupil was dilating and constricting as he spoke.

 "Forget everything. You'll go back to the police and tell them you imagined everything."

The spell his eyes put her under broke.

 "Why would I do that?" she asked pulling away. "Something is going on here and I want to know what."

 "What have you been drinking?" the man asked angrily.

 "Ask her. I don't know-"

 "Except this. What else have you been drinking?" Cami asked. She seemed just as agitated.

 "Water, coffee, lemon tea and," Boram paused. There was something else but she did not know if it was important, "I bought something from this woman. She said she was a witch and if I drink it with everything, I'll be safe. I just bought for the sake of the gimmick, you know, and definitely not because I believed her. Why would any rational human being?"

 "Vervain,"

 "Ver-what?"

 The man's hands sprung out. Boram barely felt them on her face and neck before they twisted and crushed down, dead in seconds.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 Light shimmered into her eyes when she opened them. Death was more different than she thought it would be. Her neck throbbed violently, every part of the rest of her body was cold and burned at the same time. Boram always thought that pain would end as soon as you heart stopped. Was this what her mother felt even after dying? 

 "She's waking up,"

 "Relax, love. I've dealt with things like this before."

Following the sounds of their voices, Boram turned her head and was mildly surprised to find that she was alone. The place she was in looked like a storage facility with rows of different sized boxes. She could hear water moving, sounds of shouts, a loud trumpet and heart beats. Strangely, she could smell smoked fish and water, nothing like the tap water. This one smelt wrong, unnatural.

 "Knock knock?"

Standing in front like he appeared out of thin air was the man who killed her, smiling tedious that in doubt matched the words he had said early.

 "You didn't die like I thought you would. Any suggestions as to why that happened?" he said still looking bored. "Nothing? Then I'll tell you why my diminutive friend. You are, from of this moment, a vampire."

A vampire? "You can't be serious."

 "I am serious, love and I can prove it."

His face suddenly morphed into something inhuman with his eyes turning into yellow slits, dark veins pulsing underneath them. What was worse was the large pair of fangs emerging from his mouth.

 "That's impossible," she breathed unable to find the strength to scream.

 "And it gets even better," he continued changing back. His fangs had retracted faster than she could follow. "In order for you to become a fully-fledged vampire such as myself you have to drink human blood."

 "What if I don't want to?"

 "You die." he said simply.

 "Then I die," Boram shot back. She attempted to stand up before her legs gave out.

 "You're weak so I don't have much use for you but there is one thing you can do for me before you go."

As if on cue, a teenage boy walked forward from behind a large box. Boram realised then where the heart beats came from. Without a warning, the man lunged for the boy and bit his neck. The boy's facial expression did not show any sign of pain.

 "No! What are you doing?" Boram screamed. She managed to successful get to her feet when something hit her. It was a scent so heavenly that she moved towards it blindly. Only after she had her hands on the back of the boy's head did she stop.

 "Go on... you want to do it. Bite him."

She let go of the boy like he was on fire and went back to her original position. It was true that she want to sink her teeth into him but that was not natural. That was cannibalism. I am still human regardless of what anybody said. Boram found herself staring at the blood still spilling from the wound. Her heart rate spiked and her breathing became irregular.

 "You know, you don't have to take much," the man said pushing the boy forward. "Just a sip and you're done. It's better than the alternative."

 "What is the alternative?"

 "You'll die again like I told you but very slowly."

 "This is all your fault!" Boram shrieked looking away because she was afraid she might just do it. She began pacing, balling her fist and blinking away her tears at the same time.

 "Is it? To come back from the dead, you had to have vampire blood in your system."

 "I don't remember drinking any blood,"

 "That's precisely it. A vampire can make you forget. I'll tell you my theory." he said. "That man you saw being attacked by the girl was a vampire and when you tried to help him, he bit you and nearly killed you. To save you, he gave you some of his blood and here we are."

 "You still killed me. You are the one who broke my neck and for what?"

 "I take responsibility for that and I'll tell you the reason after you drink his blood."

Boram looked back at the boy and found him still looking dazed.

 "Why is he like that?"

 "It's a thing we can do. He doesn't know what is happening around him,"

As disgusted as Boram was, a part of her was glad. It then sickened her how much she was considering just doing it. If she held out, she dies again and her sister would be all alone. Wooram. How could Boram forget about her? How could she think of dying and leaving her sister all alone? Wait, Boram, what is the point of staying alive if you only live as a vampire?

 "I have family," Boram whispered. She knew the man could hear but she did not know why she wanted him to know.

 "Yes, you can still live like you did as a human. I'll show you how."

 She could still be with Wooram. That was better than nothing. Slowly, she went to the boy. The closer she got, the more she could smell his blood and it felt like it was summoning her. Her canines enlarged and grew longer as she closed around his wound. She teased the opening in what she thought would be the gentlest manner and the blood flooded into . It tasted unlike anything else she has ever had. Boram tightened her embrace and in some more, feeling her senses expanding. She could feel the boy's heart rate weakening. Just a bit more. Boram felt a pair of hands claw into her skin and pull her back. Unable to let go of the boy, she bit down harder. Pieces of flesh entered but she did not care because she did not want to separate from him.

 The hands pulled again, much stronger this time. Boram felt the boy fall away from her. She barely noticed her back hitting concrete and did not care when three of her ribs broke.

His head was hanging on with a few tendons. Even as she strained as heard as she could, Boram could not hear his heart thudding.

 "What did I do?"

 

 

Author's Note:

This part two to the Vampire Diaries cross over because why not. Yay Boram is reaper. For those of you who don't know, reapers get their name from the fact that they rip people's head off when they feed. There will be a part 3 and more because I like the Originals more than the parent series. Tell me what you think