Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The world felt different.

He opened his eyes and for a moment he couldn't see anything, as he expected in the darkness. But then his eyes adjusted and he could see despite the utter blackness. While he adjusted to that, voices started to filter through the haze. 

And he was hungry. He was so hungry, and he could never remember such hunger.

Standing over him in the dark room with his arms crossed over his chest, holding his elbows as he scowled at Thranduil, Elrond darted a glance toward the newest turned, "What were you thinking?  You've done nothing more than bring the hunters down harder on us."

"He clearly wasn't," a strong voice still in the shadows said and it took the form on the ground time to remember what his name was, through the hunger. The hunger was everything but he remembered.

Kili. His name had been Kili. He wasn't sure it still was.

"It simply happened," Thranduil said, normally blond hair dark and Kili thought he recognized that one, had heard of him in times past but he couldn't remember. 

"It just happened?"  Elrond snapped.  "That's your justification for turning the hunter's nephew?"  His hands moved in an aborted motion like he couldn't decide whether to strangle Thranduil or rake them through his own black hair.

"It," Thranduil protested, not quite growling but he bared his fangs. "It was an accident. Would you rather I let him die?"

"It would have been wiser," the voice from the shadows said and Galadriel stepped out, silver and golden hair glowing in the dark. "A death would anger them not--not this," she said and when Kili finally pushed himself up on his hands her head whipped around to meet his eyes. "He's awakened."

Elrond's lips curled back slightly in response to the sight of Thranduil's fangs, "Did you even think to have something once he woke?"

"There wasn't time and then you lot came in," he growled back.

"And of course you have nothing in the near vicinity.  He's in no state to be able to hunt yet, and dawn's near enough that if we're to go out and make it back, we'll be cutting it close before sunlight," Elrond shook his head.  "You never think.  That's always been your problem."

The door opened and Legolas entered, his blond hair pulled back, "Ada," he started to say and froze when he caught sight of Kili, "Why...why is there a hunter in the front room?"

Thranduil turned. "He's not a hunter anymore."

"Your father has made him one of us," Galadriel said, moving across the room and bending down on one graceful knee to look Kili over. "Do remember your name?" she asked, tilting her head and her long hair cascaded over her shoulders.

"Kili," he rasped.

"Interesting. Not all remember that at first, or ever."

Legolas looked uncertain at that and very uncomfortable with being in the same room as the former hunter, rocking back on his heels toward the door, "The twins haven't gotten back yet. Sometimes they bring prey home. Shall I see if they have?"

"Yes, he'll need it more then they," Thranduil murmured as Galadriel tilted her head the other way.

"Do you remember who you are?" She meant beyond the name as he’d already answered that.

"Yes," he said again, trying to focus on her face and not the way his hearing had changed, or his sight, or the hunger. "Yes, I do. And what I was."

Still hesitating, Legolas glanced toward Galadriel, not certain whether he should act without her confirmation.  Elrond spoke quietly, "I have to agree with your sire for once.  I recommend he be fed."

"Go," she said, waving a hand in his direction without turning her head.

That was all it took for Legolas to vanish out the door to see if they were in luck. Elrond watched him go before looking back to Galadriel and the newest of their number, "Do we honestly think this will work? And how long before we can expect the hunters to come after us for this?"

"I'm sure you've noticed, Elrond, but they're always after us," she said, reaching out and smoothing a hand down Kili's cheek and he wanted, suddenly to bite it. Though he knew better, there was no blood that he could drink there.

"Specifically for this, milady," Elrond replied evenly.  "It's one thing to be hunted while we hunt, another to risk attack in our home.  This may be what they would need to come to the nest."

There was a scuffle on the stairs and a soft growl and thud before Legolas dragged the prey into the room.  Bound and stunned, the man he held wasn't struggling, but still had a strongly beating heart. Elladan and Elrohir trailed after him, miffed at having their meal taken, but curious about the new vampire too. 

"They would still have to find us," she said, rising in one long motion and stepping back, Kili's eyes on the human and suddenly unblinking. "Which they have not yet. Besides, no matter how you worry, it is done."

Legolas considered the most recently turned before shoving the human forward, sending it crashing between them.  He'd already eaten that night and could faintly remember the initial hunger.  Stepping back, he leaned against the wall to listen to their elders.  Elrond sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "You're right of course.  For how little it stops me worrying."

"You worry too much," Thranduil said snidely as Kili froze, past warring with how much he wanted to eat, his fangs having grown out without him realizing.

"Eat," Galadriel said and no one could disobey that command.

"I happen to worry just enough," Elrond replied with a soft growl, drawing his temper back before he turned on Thranduil.

"Worry shall not help us," Galadriel said, watching the angry hunch of Kili's shoulders as he drank, his eyes squeezed closed.

Elrond opened his mouth to speak again but Legolas spoke first with his gaze focused on Kili, "Antagonism's going to make it worse on him.  The transition's hard enough."

"It is," Galadriel agreed, offering Legolas a vague smile. "We will talk about it more in the morning, when he sleeps."

Elrond frowned, glancing at Legolas as the blond spoke again, "It's also hard enough with only a few people."

"Ah, do you mean us?" Elladan asked, and grimacing slightly, Elrond nodded once, "We'll speak after dawn then."  He pushed the twins out of the room with him as he left. 

Galadriel waited until he was gone before leveling Thranduil with a long look. "You were foolish," she said softly and he scowled.

"I am not of your line," he reminded her tartly before shaking his head. Inclining her own, looking more amused than angry she swept from the room, door clicking closed behind her.

Legolas watched her go and glanced at his sire before turning his attention back to Kili as he spoke, "She's not wrong, though, Ada."

Thranduil scowled but before he could reply Kili jerked his head up and pushed himself back on the floor from where the human's heart still beat. "You should kill him," Thranduil said, voice low.

"No," Kili shook his head, hair hanging in his eyes.

"You're not going to afford to have a conscience," Thranduil remarked, tone still mild. "It would be kinder to him now."

"There are others in this building who would do it if you won't," Legolas supplied quietly.  "But you can't leave prey breathing.  It's a good way to cause the hunters to find you."

Thranduil sighed as Kili's expression turned mutinous. "Legolas, take him away," he said, waving a hand. "We'll work on rules later. But are you sure you're not still hungry?"

Kili just narrowed his eyes and he shrugged.

Legolas frowned, wanting to protest the orders, but deciding that it was best to pick his battles and that was not one he wanted to have.  He hauled the unconscious human out of the room and handed him off to one of the others with instructions to give it to those that still most needed to eat that night.

Watching Kili, Thranduil took a careful step forward. "You'll need to rest when the sun rises," he said, holding out a hand.

"You're the one who did this," Kili murmured, voice still rough and he wanted to scream but he wasn't sure his vocal cords would allow it. "You should have just killed me."

"That would have been a waste," Thranduil said. "Come," he held his hand out again and motioned with it and instead of taking it Kili bowed over on the ground. Once his forehead was resting against the cold floor he covered his ears and hoped if he could block out the world and stop hearing it would all go away. Watching him a long moment Thranduil took a step back and leaned against the wall, waiting. When Kili came back to himself he held out his hand again.

This time it was taken.

-0-

Fili woke up, eyes groggy and he frowned at the ceiling before turning his head. The other bed jammed into the alcove of the room was empty, and he'd fallen asleep with a book on his chest. Voices were yelling downstairs and he couldn't believe he had managed to fall asleep before Kili came home. Pushing himself up, he closed the book and went to the head of the stairs to see what was going on as Thorin's voice bellowed up the stairs for him.

Fear heavy in his chest, he clattered down the stairs, coming to a stop in the foyer. "What? What is it?"

Dis was leaning against the wall of the foyer, white as a sheet, her gaze focused on Bofur who stood before their leader with his hat doffed and his eyes downcast.  Bofur tugged on a lock of his hair as he glanced up at Thorin again, "We got separated.  I looped back around but I was too late, they were dragging him off.  He'd been bit and there was blood on his lips."

Fili froze, still braced against the stairs. When he remembered to breathe again he shot a look at Dis and then one to Thorin. The leader of their band stood, head down and hands braced on the small side table, hair that was getting too long again falling into his face. He quickly went over who had gone out that night and who was home. But they were all braced as if waiting for a storm to come down the stairs and he felt his insides squirm at the possibility of what he feared.

"Not Kili," he said, voice hollow and sounding wrong to his own ears. "He wasn't--He went with Gloin tonight I thought. He--" Thorin shook his head slightly and the motion caught Fili's eyes.

"Gloin was injured," Bofur murmured in response.  "Oin's trying to see to him now. He might need the hospital."  Dis drew a sharp breath, finally pushing off the wall to move to her brother's side, placing a hand next to his on the table so it would be visible to him rather than on his shoulder.

Thorin didn't move but he nodded slightly in acknowledgement of her.

"Kili," Fili repeated, the sound almost a keen. "They took Kili?" Bofur had danced around the issue since he came down the stairs. 

Dis looked to Bofur again, keeping her voice steady, "You're sure you saw what you saw?"

"It was dark enough I may have been mistaken about the traded blood, ma'am, but the bite on his neck was clear enough," his tone was muted and sorrowful that he had to bear that news to them.

Fili stood frozen for another moment before he was suddenly moving, sleep gone from his motions when he punched Bofur in the cheek and slammed him against the wall. "You let him go?" he screamed, certain that would wake up anyone still sleeping.

Bofur cried out but didn't fight back, grimacing as his head knocked back against the wall, "I couldn't do anything for him.  Gloin was bad hurt and I had to get him back here."

"So you left him?" Fili demanded, shaking Bofur again. Later, perhaps, he would feel bad for Gimli's sake as much as Gloin's for saying that. He felt anger, not realizing yet why he was angry, numbness keeping the realization out.

"Fili!" Thorin barked but his nephew only shook Bofur again.

Bofur met Fili's eyes, "If I could have brought him back to you, I would have.  I swear I would."

Dis stepped away from her brother and to her eldest's side reaching to touch his arm, "Fili, stop this.  Let him go."

Muscles still tight Fili didn't move for a moment before dropping Bofur and stepping back. "I don't believe you," he said, meeting Bofur's eyes in turn.

Bofur dropped his gaze, picking up his hat from where he'd dropped it as he spoke softly, "Whether you believe me or no is your right. I'm a coward, I'll be the first to admit that.  But I stand by what I said.  Gloin was injured and although I may have been mistaken I don't believe I was when I say that I saw traded blood on your brother's lips. If I had thought that I would be bringing your brother back to you, I would have."

Shaking his head, Fili spared another glance for Thorin who was still held immobile by his grief  and another for his mother before pushing past the gathered onlookers and back up the stairs. He was sure he could see Ori's eyes peeking out from the railing and he slammed back into the room he'd shared with Kili. They'd always shared it because there wasn't space and they couldn't really imagine a reason to change their ways.

He wanted to rip it apart and didn't dare touch a thing of Kili's in case Bofur was wrong, because he had to be wrong but Fili screamed again in case he was right.

-0-

Bofur's shoulders sagged when Fili left and he glanced at Dis who murmured a quiet dismissal that sent him slinking up the stairs to his own room where he locked himself in.  Dis drew a deep breath before turning to the onlookers and ordering them on their way before she moved to her brother's side again, "Thorin."

He grunted, still not having moved and when he lifted his head to look at her it looked as if it took all his willpower to move that much. She lay a gentle hand on his arm, murmuring, "Let's get you upstairs."

"I can't--" he started. "We need to plan, we have to--"

"Thorin," his sister closed her eyes, unable to believe that she was going to say this, "We both know it's too late.  No matter what's happened."

"If he--if he's been turned," Thorin said, no inflection in his voice. "If he remembers--"

Dis swallowed hard against the knot she could feel forming--there would be time for that later, "Then, then we deal with that.  Standing in the middle of the foyer does no good to anyone, though."

"He could remember where we are, what we do," he said faintly.

"No matter if he does or not," she murmured, feeling something inside of her break as she spoke, "it won't be him.  If he has been turned, it's no longer him.  No matter what memories it holds.  It still cannot cross this threshold without an invitation and has no beating heart.  We deal with that chance if it comes to pass.  Tonight we can do no more."

He nodded slowly before looking back up the stairs. "Fili..."

Dis could sense her calm facade cracking at that, her voice taking on a faint tremor, "He will not easily mend if he ever does.  I hope for his sake, Kili has fallen and will not stand again."

"But tonight," Thorin said and couldn't quite figure out how to finish his thought.

"Tonight he's caught between belief and denial.  Tonight is a night for grief, brother and when morning dawns we shall see what remains of any of us," she murmured, her gaze drifting toward the stairs her son had ascended.  "They were always so close."

"They were," Thorin agreed, still incapable of thinking of walking up the stairs.

Dis took a shuddering breath before finally admitting, barely audibly, "I have to go up before I break here."

He nodded, slinging an arm around her waist and taking the first step, hoping the next one would be easier. Dis slid her arm around her brother, lending him what strength she could even as she focused on the warmth of his touch to ground herself.

-0-

Not even an hour later Ori pushed the door to Fili's room--his alone now and that thought made his head and heart hurt--having been unable to sleep. Moonlight came through the window and Fili had lit a candle and those were the only two points of light. Fili himself sat with his back to the desk, knees up and head bowed and he didn't stir when Ori entered.

His things were in disarray, and Ori had to pick his way carefully through them, noticing that it was only Fili's own things he had thrown or torn, Kili's possessions still sitting pristine. Leaving the cup of tea he cradled next to his chest on the desk by Fili's shoulder Ori retreated by a different path and closed the door softly behind him.

He fully expected if the sun rose in the morning--and why should it when everything had gone so wrong?--the cup of tea would still be there, stone cold and untouched. But making the tea was all he could do.

-0-

Bofur had barely slept the night previous, but he hauled himself off of the couch he used instead of a bed and ran a comb over his short brown hair, glancing in the small mirror hung on one wall and quickly looking away from the bruise that was blossoming on his left cheekbone.  He picked up his hat and grabbed his coat, seriously considering taking a long walk and not coming back until just before sunset.  He exited his room and headed downstairs, pausing briefly outside of Fili's door but shook his head and moved into the entryway instead.

"Good morning," Ori said from where he was curled on the couch, having seen both his brothers walk out the door to their respective jobs. They did not make much money, but between that and the odd jobs others held it was enough to keep the family afloat. He had a book propped open, looking like it was from Dori’s collection about supernatural creatures.

Startling very slightly at that, Bofur looked toward the door, but changed his direction and joined Ori, "Hello.  Your brother's would have a fit if they saw you readin' that."

"They have a fit every time they realize I know what a vampire is," Ori remarked dryly back.

That earned a weak smile, "They just want you to be safe."

"Well, they chose a really great profession for that," Ori remarked, turning the page over.

"You know it's not always so much of a choice," Bofur murmured, looking toward the stairs and carefully leaning against the arm of the couch, resting his chin on his hand and covering the bruise on his cheek as he did so.

"And yet Dori seems convinced if I keep my head down and pretend I don't know what's happening I'll go to art school and nothing will ever phase me," Ori said, watching him cover the bruise. "Have you ever put ice on that? It looked like he hit you pretty hard."

Bofur shifted his fingers unconsciously to better hide the discoloration, "I hadn't, no.  It'll fade and the swelling's not bad.  Can you blame them?  Your brothers I mean.  They want more for you than this."

"He hit you with his right hand though," Ori mused, rising and tucking the book away behind a pillow. "And my brothers may want many things, but no one gave Fili or... they didn't really get offered a choice here."

"Wouldn't have mattered if he'd led with the left, he's just about equally strong with both," Bofur murmured before he shook his head.  "They didn't get a choice, no.  But your brothers are trying to give you one.  An option that gets you away from all of this.  From the dark streets and the death and the monsters in the night.  And I ask again, can you blame them?"

"I can't blame them," Ori said, moving to the kitchen and pulling open the freezer. "But thinking that I will never be in danger--Look," he said, pulling out an ice pack and wrapping it in a towel. I'm really not saying I want to go looking for trouble or danger or anything like that but look at our lives. We're hunters, we're supposed to hunt the darkness and it's in our blood. One day I'm going to get myself in danger and trouble and if I have no idea what to do, I'll be dead. So I'd rather know and try to avoid it anyway. And Fili leads with his left more than his right."

“For what consolation that is.  He's still damn strong, and he was angry and hurting last night--it adds strength." Accepting the ice pack with a murmured thanks, Bofur cradled it against his cheek, wincing as it made contact with his skin, "Hunters, sure.  And we see how well that does for everyone involved."

"Frankly I'm surprised he didn't hit me when I left tea," Ori said and shrugged. "Well it's a life that sucks. We live we breathe we pretend to have jobs and every night, like for the last several hundred years we go out at night and see how many vampires we can kill. It's heroic and noble and in our blood, isn't it?"

"Heroic and noble and suicidal and what good does it do in the long run?"  Bofur asked before he thought about it, looking at Ori.  "And I don't know where the 'we' and 'our' are from in this conversation."

"Well, my family has this in our blood, I'm still trying to figure out what you and yours are doing here," Ori said, leaning against the counter. "I'm not sure it's supposed to do good, it's about killing vampires. I'd say it's a vendetta but I like to think we might be saving people by doing it. We in a family sense not in a me sense as I'm not allowed."

"I've no idea what we're doing here either," Bofur sighed.  "I don't fit here, that's for sure.  But here we are and I doubt we could do anything but stay.  Killing vampires is all well and good, but if we lose our own, is it worth it?"

"I'd like to think we're protecting those who don't know," Ori said softly. "But I can't convince myself of that most days."

"And if Kili really has been turned?"

"What do you mean?" Ori asked, tilting his head. "Do you mean like if we've utterly failed? I mean if he's dead we've already done that."

"I mean what then?" Bofur responded, looking away, "What happens when Fili comes face to face with him and forgets, or hesitates because it looks like his brother?"

"You think I would hesitate," Fili said behind him in the doorway and Ori jumped, having not seen nor heard him. His hair was in disarray and there were deep circles under his eyes.

Bofur paled and turned to face Fili, "That, no, that's not what I....That's not exactly what I..."  He swallowed and tried again, "I don't know.  I don't think you would, but I also don't think it's easy to face a loved one who's turned."

"Would you know?" Fili snapped, wanting to wince when he saw the bruise and the ice pack but his anger not letting him.

"Aye, I do know," Bofur responded before he realized how close he was to admitting something he never spoke of.  "It wasn't a sibling.  It wasn't someone like Kili, but I know what it is to have familiar eyes looking at you at the other end of the stake."

In the silence that fell Ori moved suddenly. "I'll make the tea," he said, bustling around to do that and try not to think about the way Fili was staring at Bofur.

"Is that why you're here?" Fili asked, not wanting to admit how much of the conversation he had listened to while he decided whether to enter the kitchen or not. The thought of food made him sick but he understood too well how much his body needed it. And he still wanted to make his uncle proud, even if it meant taking care of himself. "A vendetta kick?"

Bofur's expression closed off at that, wanting more than anything to retreat and not deal with any of this, and he shifted the ice pack against his cheek, giving himself some sort of excuse to look away from Fili even briefly, "No.  You really think a coward like me could hold up a vengeance anything?  I'm here because my brother and cousin are."

"It's not much of a reason is it?" Fili said, voice cold and Ori looked over from where he was fiddling with the kettle.

"Family's always the reason," he said and Fili's eyes snapped over to him.

Bofur closed his eyes briefly before pulling the ice pack from his cheek and setting the hand towel on the counter.  He put the pack back into the freezer and glanced in the fridge to make sure he had an excuse, "We're just about out of eggs and milk.  I'll go out an' get some."

Both the younger men turned their gaze to him in startlement. "What?" Ori asked and Fili dropped his gaze down, trying to convince himself not to throw up. Because what did eggs or milk or hurt feelings mean anymore?

Raking a hand over his hair, Bofur shook his head, he was so far beyond not ready to be in the same room as Fili and he would take any excuse, no matter how sudden, to retreat. He drew in a deep breath before he finally glanced at the golden-haired man and murmured, "I'm sorry I didn't do more for your brother."  He didn't know what more he could have done without risking all three of them, but knowing him there were probably several things that didn't cross his mind because they held just a bit too much danger.

Fili's entire body tensed and he looked like he wanted to punch Bofur again. "Go get the eggs," he snarled and slammed out of the room, the thought of food entirely forgotten.

Bofur managed to hold himself steady and not flinch like he wanted to at that.  He told Ori he'd be back later and slipped quietly out the kitchen.  The front door closed behind him a minute later and he leaned against it for a long moment, biting down on the first knuckle of his right hand to hold back the urge to scream that he could feel in his throat. It took him a handful of minutes before he was finally able to push off the door and head down the street toward the nearest supermarket.

Ori watched them both go before pulling the kettle off the stove and making the tea with automatic motions. Lifting the book he'd been reading he hesitated before going and leaving the main mansion to return the book to Dori's library.

-0-

Several days later grief and pain hung heavy over the mansion. Thorin was only seen on his way out to the hunt, ink stains from maps on his hands.

Fed up with everything to the point where Nori rarely came in from the former game keepers cottage anymore, he declared that they were going out to a party. Ori had turned wide eyes on him and Balin had huffed. When Nori took the steps up to Fili's room Fili had looked like he was sincerely considering breaking his fingers and instead slammed the door in his face.

However, Nori was persistent, which was how Gimli, he, and a few of the others had ended up at a club, the music pounding in Gimli's ears and only making him feel more miserable about the entire thing. Such a public place was nowhere to grieve. With a dark sigh he shook his head, looking across the dance floor and wondering how Nori could be dancing. Not only was the loss of Kili like a hole in his chest he couldn’t fill, but he’d been visiting his father in the hospital whenever he could spare a moment and the smell of that place always made him want to curl up on the floor and not move again. He rubbed his eyes, aimlessly looking around. Across the room a flash of blond caught his attention but didn't fully draw it around. 

In the shadows on the other side of the club, Legolas looked around the dark club with a grimace.  The shadows that existed in the building were an ally, but the noise was far too loud, and the humans were more plentiful than he cared to deal with.  He didn't mind a solitary stalk, or even a small gathering--they often gave the best sorts of reward--but the press of people in the club was too much for his senses.  He slunk along the edges of the crowd, stopping next to Galadriel and speaking just loudly enough for her to hear, "Why here, tonight?"

"Because it is intriguing," she said, waving a hand back over her shoulder as if to dismiss his annoyance. "I should have brought Arwen," she said, shaking her head. "She at least appreciates the potential. There are many lost souls to be found in a place like this." With that she stepped forward and across the floor Gimli froze.

He watched the tall graceful figure breeze through the dance floor as one in a trance, enrapture by her height, the way her golden and silver hair that almost glowed was twisted and tied back from her face to flow down her back as she moved, scanning the floor.

Not seeming to notice him, he followed her anyway.

Legolas bit back a response that Arwen preferred to play with her prey in a dance half the time rather than the hunt itself.  He watched Galadriel sweep away, his eyes roaming around the club for any out of the ordinary motion and he spotted the compact form following the starlit lady.  His eyes narrowed very slightly and he slunk through the club, still sensing for a worthy prey for himself but never losing sight of the man following Galadriel--recognizing the way the other moved as one who was not born to the darkness but who had adopted it.

With every sway of her hips and tilt of her head, Gimli was more and more sure that the woman he felt so enraptured by was far from human with her lethal grace and dark pant suit and starlit hair. Yet he kept moving forward anyway, wanting to see more, to better understand why he was still following.

Legolas watched for another moment before moving to intercept Galadriel.  He fell into step next to her, "Do you know you've entranced a hunter, milady?"

"Have I?" she hummed, shaking her hair back over her back again. "That could be annoying. Scare him away would you?"

He inclined his head to her, "Of course."  Melding back into the crowd again, the younger vampire slunk up next to Gimli and caught him by the shoulder, speaking into his ear, "Do you know who you're following?"

Turning quickly, Gimli tried to hit whoever was so close behind him in the face, not quite managing it though and he wasn't sure if it didn't have anything to do with how inhumanly beautiful the other was or not. Dodging the swing smoothly, Legolas caught the hunter's hand and used that and his momentum to start propelling him toward the backdoor.  He dragged the other out the door, tossing him away from the entrance.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" Gimli snarled, a horrible feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's just say that you're better off with me out here than you were following her in there," Legolas looked him over, considering whether to cause more trouble and permanently deal with the young hunter or just warn him off.

Gimli paused, looking him over once in the dim light before digging in his coat for where he was sure he had a stake stashed.  "That I'm not sure I believe."

Legolas' brow arched and he slowly strolled nearer, "You were following the starlit lady.  You've heard of her, I'm sure."

Gimli paused, thinking about the lore he'd read, growing up on his father's knees and around the other hunters. "Damn," he managed before pulling the stake out and holding it in front of him. "Stay there."

The vampire just looked bemused at that, taking another two steps forward as a challenge and keeping his eyes on Gimli's, "You sure you want to use that?"

"If I have to," he replied. "Because you're like her, aren't you? Except not nearly as old. And probably a lot less powerful as a result."

"Do you want to test that theory?  What if you're wrong?  What if I'm like you?"  His voice dropped to nearly a purr.

"You're not human," Gimli replied, meeting his eyes. "Which means you're probably a vampire."

"What a clever lad you are," Legolas murmured.  "Do you have a name, clever hunter?"

"Do you?" Gimli demanded. "If I looked into the books would you be there?"

"I asked first," he replied lowly, taking another pace nearer.

"I am not so stupid as to give someone as dangerous as you my name," Gimli said, finally giving in and taking a step backward.

"I could probably take a guess, given enough time.  You've evidently been raised knowing about those who make the night their home which indicates a hunter's heritage."

"Hunters aren't the only ones who pay attention to the likes of you," Gimli said, even though it was entirely true.

"No, but they're the ones most likely to be carrying a stake.  And currently they're the ones to have the deep grief that hangs on you like a pall," Legolas replied, stepping closer again.

Gimli opened his mouth, not daring to ask if Kili had been turned. No one had confirmed it yet and he ducked his head down rather than ask. Taking another step nearer, Legolas reached up to touch Gimli's cheek and trail his fingers down and over the hunter's pulse, "So, little hunter, will you share your name if I offer you one?"

Gimli jerked back and ended up with his back pressed against the alley wall. "What?"

"A name for a name.  You asked for mine and I asked for yours, it seems a trade in your favor since you might learn more about me from my name than I would with yours," he murmured, placing his hand flat on the wall next to Gimli's head.

"Are all vampires this touchy?" Gimli demanded, holding the stake up to the vampire's chest but his hand was shaking and he was barely pressing it against his clothing. "Gimli then, if it would please you so much."

"Legolas," came the response.  "And we, like you, have some who are more tactile than others."  He glanced down at the stake, "You've never actually encountered one of us have you?"

"Surely you couldn't be surprised," Gimli managed, hand still shaking. "I've not heard of you."

Hand rising to coil around the stake as well, Legolas shook his head, "I'm not surprised you've never heard of me.  I'm hardly old enough to have left my mark."

"But you intend to I'm sure," Gimli said, eyes widening and trying to dislodge Legolas' hand from his stake.

"Isn't that what everyone wants in the end?" the vampire tightened his grip on the stake, but didn't move to take it from the hunter.

Gimli tried kicking him in the shin. "Not everyone, you know. Don't try and project your desires on everyone else."

That earned a faint growl when Gimli's foot connected, "Then what is it that you desire, clever hunter?"

"For you to let me go," Gimli said. "To live life entirely in peace without danger or troubles and a happy family. The chance to create something beautiful. Glory can be for those who wish to die young. Since I can't have those things though, I'll take killing as many vampires as I can."

"What's to keep you from creating beauty while doing so?" Legolas murmured.

"It's different to devote your life to something else," Gimli said and shook his head, trying to push the other away without staking him though he was starting to want to.

Legolas considered that for a moment before stepping back, releasing the mortal.  He watched him carefully, "You would devote your life to creation if you could?"

"Yes," he said and got a firmer grip on the stake finally, holding it out. "Now what is that to you?"

"It's the most surprising thing you've said since we've been standing here is all," came the response.

"And why is that surprising?"

"Because I don't expect hunters to think much about creation."  He backed off enough to lean against the opposite wall, "What would you create?"

"Anything!" he snapped, taking a step forward now, gesturing with the stake instead of even trying to position it as a weapon. "Bridges, homes for those who have none, sculptures forged of metal and displayed to make a place more beautiful. Anything that isn't this."

Legolas tilted his head to one side, looking the mortal over, "And that's what I find surprising.  I mean, I'm sure there are more of you who would rather have a different life, but I don't think I've heard much of that sort of hunter."

"Because the most vocal would never be," he said quietly and shook his head, not wanting to turn his back on a vampire but suddenly wanting to get very far away.

Looking toward the door back to the club and remembering that he still hadn't finished his hunt that night, Legolas nodded very slightly, "I suppose that's true.  Go carefully this night, clever Gimli, and learn not to hesitate with that stake.  Not all will let you go due to your family's grief."

For a moment Gimli considered throwing the stake at him in anger but knew it would be a useless and petty gesture, walking backwards into the club and trying to weave around the dancers there until he reached Nori. "We're going home!" he yelled in his ear and Nori jumped.

"What? Why?"

"Because Galadriel is on the hunt you idiot, and who knows how many others!"

Nori paled and looked like he was considering protesting again before simply nodding.

Legolas slipped inside after him, watching his progress through the club before turning his attention to his own hunt with the intention of being back to the vampire's mansion well before dawn.

-0-

Pushing the book cart from the back of the stacks, Bilbo paused, pulling a step-stool over and climbed up to put the higher books away.  He wasn't especially tall for a human.  He paused when he encountered a recently added volume on vampires and he set it on the cart.  Once he was through with returning the books, he ended up at the main desk, setting the most recent vampire-based acquisitions next to him. 

Thorin Durin hadn't been in in well over a week, and he was doing his best not to glance at the door to the library every five minutes as he read.  There was a lot you could tell about a person from their borrowing history, but Thorin's confused him.  The man spent much of his time checking out books on the occult, but occasionally would pick up a book completely unrelated, and the librarian found him intriguing.

Luckily for him, considering that Thorin had not been in for over a week, that day he pushed open the doors. Balin had finally won the argument about him walking out of the house for something other than work. When Thorin had agreed to go to the library Balin had winced and then agreed that that would be wise.

He paused when he saw Bilbo at the desk, looking over at the books next to him and raising a brow.

The librarian offered a faint smile, answering the unspoken question, "They're the new acquisitions.  You tend to look for the newer volumes, I thought I'd save you the search."

"Odd, considering how long it has been," he said, lifting one of the books and looking like he wanted to throw it across the room rather than read it, grief still an obvious shroud over him as well as anger.

Bilbo's gaze swept over the man as he picked up on the emotions.  He spoke gently, "What's happened?"

Thorin paused, the book still in his hand before he set it back down. "Nothing," he said, an obvious lie but he could hardly explain that it was not just grief over his nephew, his youngest child in every way that mattered. But grief over what he might have become. "It's not," he tried again and decided it would have been better to remain locked in his room than follow Balin's advice.

Brown eyes following the motion of the book, the librarian nodded very slightly, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Such as?" Thorin asked, pushing back the thick black hair that was starting to grow too long again.

"I don't know. I don't know what's happened, but it's not nothing," Bilbo considered his words carefully.  "Even if it's just someone to talk to, or to have listen to you.  I mean, if that's something you needed."

"I live in a manor full of people who would listen if I spoke," Thorin said, except that Fili had found a way to avoid him no matter where he looked and everyone else dropped their eyes as if they were too afraid to look at him anymore.

"Except they see you every day and you have to live with them.  I'm not saying you have to talk about everything, but it could help to have someone who doesn't know everything about you there to listen when you need it," Bilbo replied, watching Thorin carefully.

"Perhaps," Thorin agreed. "But what of you? What has happened in the world since I shut it out?"

"Not a whole lot, actually.  People come and go and the books on the shelves get checked out and returned.  I rarely hear from my family and when I do it's to tell me that I'm foolhardy and should come home--barring that I should at least be very very careful," he stopped there before he said too much.  "In other words, the world keeps turning and we all turn with it."

Thorin blinked, finding no comfort in any of those words and he berated himself for looking for anyway. "Ah."

"But something's stopped yours in its orbit, hasn't it?" Bilbo murmured before dropping his gaze, "Sorry, you've already indicated you don't want to talk about that."

"The world always seems to stop in its orbit when you lose someone you love," Thorin said. "And it seems to freeze for longer every time." He dropped the book again with distaste, wanting to tear the pages out and bury the streets of the town in ash from vampires.

Bilbo looked from Thorin to the books and the pieces began fitting themselves into place in his mind, but he knew well enough to keep his mouth shut on that subject.  He'd met most of those that lived in the old mansion with Thorin and he hesitated over his question, "Who?"

Thorin opened his mouth and closed it again, having not used Kili's name since that night. "My nephew," he settled for finally. "The... the younger."

Skimming quickly through his memory to locate the face to go with that description, Bilbo found an image of a laughing face and dark hair, rarely apart from a slightly older youth with blond hair and softer smiles.  The boy would have been well suited among the aelfin and faerie folk for his love of mischief and laughter.  The librarian drew a steadying breath and shook his head, "Gods, Thorin, are you--no that's an idiotic question of course you're not.  When?"

“Over a week," he said, though he could have counted it down to the hour and minute.

"May I ask how?"  He knew he was treading territory that was probably off-limits and he resisted the urge to look again at the books he'd fetched.

Thorin’s eyes landed heavy on the books. "It was an accident," he said and shook his head. "I should go. It was foolish to try and come out today."

Bilbo reached for the books, sliding them under the counter and out of Thorin's sight, "Is there anything I can find for you to take with you?  I mean, if you've ventured out to be here surely you should return with something?" The other customers in the library were completely out of his mind.

"And what would you read for grief?" Thorin managed.

"For grief?"  He shook his head, "That's different for everyone.  But I would say that it should be something that you have read before that, well, that you found somewhat comforting.  Surely you have something like that?"

Thorin paused, actually thinking about it. "Perhaps when I was a child I had something like that."

Bilbo blinked at him for a long moment, "Right, if you're not checking out books on the occult you seem to read Russian authors.  Neither of which I suspect will work in this situation."

Thorin smiled thinly. "No, they rather do not."

"I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest for you.  I read books of legends when I want comfort without a guaranteed happy ending, but you're an enigma to me and I don't know that those would suit you," Bilbo murmured.

"An enigma," Thorin repeated and shook his head. "If you say so."

"I don't say things I don't mean," Bilbo replied.  It was more that he couldn't say things he didn't mean than that he didn't, but that was a matter of semantics, "But it's really neither here nor there.  How, how are you all holding up?"

Thorin simply gave him a long look before shaking his head slowly.

"Right, of course, stupid question," he murmured more to himself than to Thorin.

"I am alive," Thorin said finally. "My heart is still beating for no reason I can determine. I should go, thank you though for your time."

"Always," Bilbo answered before he thought about it, startling himself, that surprise distracting him from how uncomfortable the thanks made him.  "I mean, if you ever need anything please let me know."  Alright, that wasn't much better than 'always' had been.

Thorin hesitated from where he had been turning to leave. "Always?"

Mentally cursing his lack of brain to mouth communication at the moment, the librarian nodded, "For as long as I'm able.  You're no burden on my time and you're always welcome to it."

"There's that always again," Thorin murmured. "It's an interesting amount of time. Have a good day then."

"Take care," Bilbo replied quietly, catching himself before he responded with 'good day to you as well.'

Thorin's smile was cold and bitter. "Perhaps I shall try."

-0-

There was no reason for him to be standing there.

Vampires were not sentimental about their past lives, and they often retained no ties to their former family members or loves and yet Kili found himself standing outside the old mansion on a night with no moon.

He couldn't say why he was there, but he wished he could hate how different it looked with new eyes.

Shaking his head he was about to turn and go, hunger driving him when the door opened and Fili stepped out, already lighting a cigarette in the night air but close enough to bolt for the door if he had to, a stake also stuck through his belt to be accessible.

Kili remembered as if in a dream when he had been angry at Fili for picking up smoking to try and cope with his stress, badgering him to finally quit barely a year ago. He vaguely felt a curl of anger about it still, realizing what had driven Fili to pick it back up.

Before he could examine those emotions or turn to bolt back into the darkness Fili lifted his eyes as he exhaled the smoke and they both froze as their eyes met.

The moment stretched long between them before it was Fili, oddly, who moved first with his slower human reflexes. Dropping the cigarette he took a step forward and Kili ran. He bolted into the night, twisting and turning away from the mansion as quickly as he could go, suddenly not hungry though he was sure he would regret it later in the day when the sun shone high in the sky.

Legolas reached the vampires' modern mansion at about the same time as Kili did, though he had the benefit of a successful hunt.  His gaze scoped over the other and he arched an eyebrow, "You're in a state."  Opening the door, he held it for the other, waiting for Kili to enter.

Kili almost kicked the door in rather than step through it being held open for him. "Am I? I hadn't noticed," he tried.

"Of course you haven't."  He frowned as he closed the door again, "You went back, didn't you?"

"What?" Kili turned to look at him. "No. I mean, no of course not."

"You are a terrible liar, did you know that?"  Legolas asked as he crossed the large, open foyer.

For a moment Kili's jaw worked like he really wanted to disagree. "Perhaps," he said finally. The foyer still brought him up short and he tilted his head back.

The blond vampire turned at the bottom of the wide staircase and looked the other over, "What are you staring at?  You've seen the entry before."

"Yes," Kili said, eyes snapping back down to Legolas. "It still surprises me."

“How so?"  He reached up to untie his long hair from where he pulled it back while hunting.  It would probably be more practical to cut it at that point--it might draw fractionally less attention to him as well.

"Well, vampires," he managed. "Sorta still figured you hide in holes and crypts with lots of candelabras, not, this," he said, motioning to the wide spaces with white walls and black highlights with light wood floors. Open stair cases went up to the other floors and the only thing missing from the modernist setting there the large windows.

Legolas snorted at that, "No, that would be your people."

Kili gave him a hard look, aware he should not be offended and yet still hating the jab. "We... They cannot afford to move anywhere else. I suppose that's not a constraint you would have."

"Not especially, no," Legolas rolled his shoulder in a dismissive shrug.  "So with your trip to the past you can't have back did you happen to remember to eat anything tonight?"

Snarling, fangs growing out Kili stomped up the nearest staircase, throwing himself onto the couch in the side room. His lips curling into a mirthless, yet almost self-satisfied smile, Legolas followed him up and leaned against the door to the room, "I'll take that as a 'no', then."

"What's it matter to you anyway?" he demanded.

“Why shouldn't it matter to me?  We share a sire, for whatever that's worth--some put more stock in that than others," Legolas replied, pushing his hair back behind his shoulder and deciding that he was definitely going to speak to Arwen and see if she could cut it for him.

"I'm not feeling the need to put much stock into it myself," Kili drawled.

"Thank goodness," Legolas replied with mock relief.  "I was so worried that you would."

Kili paused, mouth twisting. "And if I did put stock in such nonsense what would that entail anyway?"

"If you want an example of it taken to extremes, watch the twins around Arwen," Legolas replied, strolling further into the room and sprawling in one of the chairs.  "As I said, that's an extreme example.  On average? I would hazard that it entails making certain the other isn't doing anything suicidal--like watching a building where more than a dozen hunter live--and is eating.  I couldn't say really, it hasn't come up much."

Kili bared his fangs again. "You're a comforting, warm one aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, was I supposed to be?"  Legolas paused for a long moment, running a finger over the upholstery of the chair, "It's not unusual to go back and look at the life you had, you know.  But it's never a good idea."

"Really? I was given to believe it was entirely unusual," Kili snapped and paused, wondering if there was a wound there he could press. "Did you go back?"

Legolas weighed whether he should answer that or brush it off and settled for another dismissive shrug, "Once as I recall.  It took me longer to remember who I was than it took you."

"Lucky me," Kili managed. A reprieve from his memories sounded like a wonderful way to start a new life. As did not thinking about the expression in Fili's face or his haggard appearance. "So what happened?"

"Nothing of any real note," he replied.  Though that hadn't been entirely true, his mother had expressed surprise to see him and he'd wanted to snap her neck for greeting him as though he'd just stepped out for groceries when he'd been gone for weeks.  And his father had pitched something at him--it was a blur after that, but there had been a new gravestone in the local cemetery not long after and he had settled quite comfortably into his new life with no nostalgia.

"Were you close?" Kili asked, not sure he really cared about the answer but there was still a gnawing knot of anger about the cigarette.

"Do I look like I'm suffering through my afterlife?" Legolas offered as an answer.

"How nice for you then," Kili snapped.

"You might ask Arwen, rumor has it she went back once," Legolas suggested, picking up a small box from a table nearby and opening it, though he knew it was empty.  "She was quiet, well quieter, for weeks after that.  She's since shown she has a cold vicious streak and has taken to her position as Galadriel's favorite, but she was I suppose subdued is the right answer about a month after she was turned.  No one could figure out the exact cause and she never told anyone. Of course this is all second hand knowledge, I wasn't born yet."

Kili watched him, completely still, not needing to breath but still feeling the urge. "I might," he said warily.

Tracing his fingers over the tiling on the top of the box, Legolas didn't look up, "Look, it's probably pretty clear that I don't really like you, but you're likely to be around for a long time.  Just because I don't like you, and probably won't if I'm being honest, doesn't mean you should suffer.  Ada saw something in you that caused him to change you instead of simply draining you and leaving you in whatever back alley he found you."

Kili's shoulders tensed at that description, still not liking to think about how much his existence hung in the balance of one person's decision. "Suffer?" he asked, curious. "And how are you going about making that better anyway?"

"Me?  I think I just made it clear I don't like you.  But I can point you in the direction of people who might have come closer to what you're going through if you want to deal with that at all," Legolas replied, leaning back further in the chair and resting his right ankle on his left knee.

"So why don't you like me?" Kili asked, arching a brow and considering the pose. "I'm told I can be quite charming. I mean, you're a pompous bastard so there's that but seriously."

"It's an indefinable quality you have," Legolas replied, the lie slipping from his lips easily.  "It reminds me of pond scum and roaches."

Kili blinked once, aware he had started it by calling him a pompous bastard but he snarled, fangs growing in his anger again, closer to hissing than anything. "You really are a right old bastard."

"You used that insult already.  I mean, really, I know you grew up in a decrepit ruin of a mansion, but surely you can be more creative than that," Legolas drawled, looking distinctly unimpressed.

Kili rose to his feet in one long motion, ready to either strike the other or inform him he was just getting jealous that his sire might have a new favorite and then who would care for him except suddenly Thranduil appeared in the doorway. He'd arrived there silently and brought Kili up short. "Can you two not get along?" Thranduil drawled.

Legolas tilted his head in that direction, hiding his surprise well, and rose to his feet gracefully.  He shrugged, "It's not my fault he's idiot enough to go back to watch said decrepit old mansion."  With those words he started toward the door, hoping to pass their sire without further interaction.

Thranduil shot him a quick look. "You're not one to talk, Legolas."

"My family weren't hunters," he reminded with a shrug.

"You still went back," Thranduil said, leaning against the doo rframe. "Be nice, you know what the transition is like."

"No, I know what the transition is like for someone who prefers this afterlife," Legolas shot back. Thranduil arched his brows and Kili just looked like he wanted to punch someone, probably Legolas. "May I go, now?"  Legolas asked, ignoring Kili and meeting Thranduil's eyes.

"Was I ever stopping you?" he asked mildly.

He considered Thranduil's position by the doorway and then shrugged, stepping past and tossing over his shoulder, "One thing I do remember about the transition--going for more than twenty-four hours without a meal was difficult at best and painful at worst."

Kili's fingers dug crescents into his palm as Thranduil turned his regard onto his newest child. "Did you not eat tonight?" Thranduil asked, mild.

"It doesn't matter," Kili snapped.

"Because you went home," Thranduil said. "It would have been better for you to not remember."

"Well I did and it's been a ball of laughs since," Kili said, sinking further down into the couch and Thranduil considered the bright shirt he wore.

"Is that some kind of protest?" he asked, gesturing to the shirt Kili was twisting his fingers up in to and Kili stopped suddenly. "Going against the grain of creature of the night stereotypes?"

Looking down Kili shrugged. "Does it matter much? Besides, in the lore you were blond and now you're not."

Thranduil laughed by the sound didn't come across as amused. "The same hair, the same style, it gets boring after the first few hundred years. Dying one's hair is so easy now."

"Brown is pretty boring," Kili remarked idly, "Though after dealing with Galadriel I could see what you might want not to be compared quite so much there."

"This has nothing to do with Galadriel," Thranduil snapped and Kili raised his brows, not having expected that sore spot to exist.

"If you say so," he murmured, looking down again and Thranduil took a step toward him. Raising his head Kili watched him, not moving again. "Why did you turn me?"

Tilting his head, Thranduil raised his brows again. "What?"

"Why didn't you kill me?" Kili pressed, wishing he would keep his mouth closed and not aggravate either Legolas or Thranduil but he kept thinking about Fili and vampires weren't supposed to care about their former kin.

"You're too interesting," Thranduil said. "Eternity gets boring you know."

"That's a damn shitty reason," Kili managed and Thranduil let out another one of those non-amused laughs.

"Perhaps," Thranduil agreed. "Perhaps you have some purpose to serve."

Kili suddenly moved, one moment sprawled on the couch the next standing in front of Thranduil, bare inches away and Thranduil only blinked once. "I will not serve a purpose for your amusement," Kili snarled and Thranduil smiled.

"Eternity gets boring," he said again, taking an almost mocking step backward. "You might yet, whether you realize it or not."

"I've served other's purposes since I was born," Kili snapped. "I will not be doing it again in this life." He shoved past Thranduil and the elder vampire watched him go quietly.