Camp Darkness

A/N: Pic to the side is Ankou. I've cast the Serbian model Andrija Bikic. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't someone outlandish or strange because I feel like necromancers are always shown as these dirty, disgusting creatures looking more like Voldemort than Jacob Black and this entire camp is about being more than the stereotypes people expect you to be

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Virgil was kissing Gideon right in front of her boss, the fire breathing dragon. This was a brilliant way to get fired really quickly, and yet Gideon and her Fury both froze, not expecting the open affection. Of course, no one seemed to be expecting the sudden, visible electrical jolt that zapped out of Gids and filled the room. All three of them ended up twitching on the floor for a few moments, unable to control their extremities until the last of the powerful Fury zap dissipated.

“Did you… *pant* seriously just…..*pant* KISS ME… *pant* in front of…. *pant* my boss?” Gideon asked, the simple question taking for longer than expected as she struggled to pull air back into her lungs.

That settled it, she was definitely in the middle of a Fury growth spurt. Fan-freaking-tastic. Her evolution was strange, because as a Fury she would grow and change as she came across creatures that her Fury self recognized as potential threats. Which told Gideon more than she had even guessed at yet; there was a creature here she’d never been around before. It made the aggressive hackles of the Fury raise as she realized that if her body is reacting to it by growing, whoever and whatever it was, was freaking dangerous. Immediately Gideon looked at Virgil, but he looked far too dazed still to really be the creature her Fury side reacted to, wasn’t he? With a frown on her face, Gideon looked back and forth between the dragon to the man pretending to be an empath and back.

“Yes I kissed you in front of the dragon.” Virgil replied, waiting to speak until he didn’t have to pant. His admission just had Doctor Cyr start chuckling to himself softly.

“Huh.” Gideon said calmly, and then kicked Virgil in the stomach from her position on the floor. It wasn’t a terribly hard kick but it made him gasp for air.

“Never without my permission.” Gideon snarled at the gasping man and ignored the laughing dragon. “Goodnight!” Gideon called out as she got up and left, not wanting to stay and get answers anymore.  If her Fury side was going into a growth spurt, she needed to be away from distracts, not having them come right up and kiss her!

Slipping into the darkness outside, Gideon could taste the night fading away as dawn became closer than dusk was. She still had hours to go before the horizon lightened, but it was closer now. Her strange sense of foreboding made Gideon hesitate as she looked out over the park. Something was warning her that it would be better if it was bright with sunlight out now, there was definitely something creeping in the dark.  Her cautious side wanted to warn the dragon, let him take care of it so she could use the rest of the time recovering her now shattered control, but her Fury side already had her striding into the darkness.

There was a faint taste of rot in the air, not quite the smell of dead flesh decaying but instead the putrid smell of the very earth being fouled. Gideon snarled silently, feeling her Fury side calmly strain against her weakened restraint. The darkness in her soul very much wanted to go meet the creature that could corrupt the Punt, but she held back , watching. With the attack that had occurred, and the nature of the damages done, Gideon suspected the problem source to be Trinity. To Gideon’s vast surprise, there was no trace of the witch. Instead, it was the thin shoulders and chest of Ankou.

In her mind’s eye, Gideon remembered the chessboard she played against her Fury self, how on her side the boy was corrupted but not evil. He had a chance to be saved, and if she was very careful, Gideon might just be able to be a hero instead of the villain she was so tired of playing. Pulling on her Fury self more, Gideon watched what the boy did, trying to fathom his motivations.

Putting her humanity on a shelf, Gideon watched with the critical patience that only the best hunters have: sharks and lions. That ability to not just watch the movements of the prey but almost predict the entire sequence of movements that would occur after the attack began. Where she to step out now, Gideon knew the boy would run. It would be quite the chase because he was slender and although thin wasn’t weak. Running on very little sleep her own self, Gideon knew she wasn’t quite at peak performance but it would be good to run…. Shaking her head and pulling her Fury side back a little, Gideon resisted the urge to pounce. She really didn’t need another fight and trip to the dragon.

The Punt itself glowed softly next to Ankou, and has his hand stroked it softly, Gideon noticed something odd. Where ever he touched, there was a strange glittering substance left behind. And from that rippled the new hue Gideon had spied in the Punt. There was a small jar that the boy had with a strangely hard to see paste inside. Using more than just her usual senses, Gideon looked at the substance and tried to really see it. The paste swirled with the mixed energies of many different species, the hair, fur, blood or nails of the creatures represented in the intakes. Gideon couldn’t resist the instinct that had her shooting out of the protective darkness to attack that jar, but the boy was rooted to the spot in fear as the jar shattered, spilling out the fluid. Gideon had the boy pressed against the Punt itself, nails gouging small tears into his throat, weeping soft lines of blood.

“Defiler!” Gideon hissed at him, hearing her Fury side layered over her human side. Apparently all it took for her own inner peace and balance was to find one of her kids performing an abomination.

The look Ankou gave her stopped the violence before it started though. The boy in her grip was limp with resignation, ready to accept whatever punishment Gideon paid out. He smelled of sadness, regret and determination, and through her grip on his skin, she got the tingle that told her he was following a geis. She set him down carefully and then really grossed the poor boy out by licking her fingers and rubbing it over the wounds she’d inflicted. He gasped softly when they burned, then slowly crawled closed.

“Whatever wound we cause, we can heal. It is our curse to be caretaker and destroyer in one.” Gideon’s Fury side explained vaguely, owing him some kind of explanation. “Why are you stealing pieces of your fellow intakes?”

For that’s what that paste was, a piece of all those others in the camp. He was using them and their unique energy signatures as a lure for something he was summoning. Gideon had seen enough of those to realize that this was the secret behind what was being done to the Punt. The Punt was semi sentient, could be convinced to relent if necessary, although most had to go through the dragon to achieve that. Only Gideon and a few others would even be able to see it, let alone interact with the Punt without it controlling them. Ankou was clearly able to see it and at least interact with it on the surface, so it had already been changed from its original state.

Ankou stared at Gideon, seeming to understand, not what she actually was, but what she was asking. He started to cry, these big, fat tears of hopelessness. The Fury in Gideon could resist and wiped one of the drops off the boy’s cheek to taste. He hadn’t wanted to be doing this. She got no more than that, but it was enough, the very taste of his reluctance clung to him. Gideon’s grip went from attacker to comforter as she slid an arm behind the boy’s shoulders and let him cling to her while he sobbed, overwhelmed by his own guilt.

“I-I-I-I d-don’t w-w-want t-t-t-to be here!” Ankou choked out between his tear induced hiccups. Gideon nodded but stayed silent, somehow finding a maternal instinct that told her this was his moment to confess or not, not her moment to be intimidating. It was a strange role for the Fury to play but since her Fury side was already undergoing a growth spurt, it somehow made it easier for Gideon to take on this new role as well. She felt her Fury side smirk and retreat, giving her control back even though normally it was a bitter fight ‘til the end.

“I want to look into the differences you know?” Ankou spoke again after another round of weeping. Gideon actually didn’t know but she gave a noncommittal head jostle that seemed to encourage him to keep talking. “It would be so good for her right now too. Give her something to focus on…” Ankou sighed again. He looked at Gideon, face pale and grey from crying so hard for more than a moment. The boy’s voice sounded exhausted and Gideon still had no real clue what he was talking about. Suppressing a sigh, Gideon just gave up on any hope for sleep and told the boy with the quirk of her lips and eyebrows that she wanted him to keep talking. She was listening, and that was what he so desperately needed in this moment, it was obvious. “I want to know where the line is between alive, dead and undead. How was someone like Ebony, beautiful Ebony, born a vampire? How is a vampire either born or turned? Why both? I want to know….” He trailed off and slumped in Gideon’s grip.  “I want to know what the limits of life and death are and where undeath fits into it all.” He explained. “But that’s not enough…” he sighed, closing off again.

“Who says it’s not enough?” Gideon asked, surprised to find her own voice again. I am no suited to the role of matriarch, this task is all yours. Gideon’s Fury side admitted without rancor.

“My parents.” Ankou breathed his confession.

“Ankou, is following your parents’ commands making you happy?” she asked, carefully edging around what it was his parents commanded him to do. The boy indicated negative softly and Gideon hugged him closer to her, realizing that he was shaking with torn emotions. Guilt, fear, remorse, regret, pride, shame, this boy young man was being battered by all of them with no options. “Do you need someone to override their command?” she asked, wondering if he knew what she was offering.

“I can choose not to.” He spoke softly.

“So why don’t you?” Gideon asked, wanting him to make the decision on his own.

“I-.” he stopped himself, then smiled. “I do. I choose not to do it anymore.” He nodded, then turned in Gideon’s grip and actually hugged her tightly. The tears on the boy’s cheeks this time were relieved. Gideon smiled for his sake and hugged him back, wondering  just how messed up this boy’s parents were to force their son to try and sacrifice a Camp full of strangers for the sake of a single summoning. And what the hell were they trying to summon?