#he let Miriam go yes but he still expects payment from her in the form of her loyalty

[therabbitthatpostthings]

I checked twitter to see people talking about Dragon Age Absolution couples, rooting for a second season or memes. I definitely wasn't expecting to see people excusing slavery

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 129

129

Gearing up, Keith’s body shook as he strapped his gun into place. They had a lead. They finally had a lead worth chasing. Coran had been working hard behind the scenes, trying to match the trace elements found on the clothing Matt, Sam, and Shiro had, but it was a pissed off vampire that’d given them their lead. The fucking opera was a set up. An auction held for the rights to hand over Lance and Lotor to Sendak. Attending the opera had provided the evidence that Lotor was cooperating with VOLTRON, a move seen as going against Zarkon. The winning bid had the rights to present Lance and Curtis to Sendak, with the promise of some kind of riches from Zarkon over the return of his son to his side and the breeder for experimentation. Lotor had no clue there was a joint bounty on his head. His stupid ego probably thought no one would dare turn against him or sell him out. Lance’s existence had become the source of rumours in the vampire community. Keith felt sick at the way they spoke of his boyfriend like he was some kind of trophy.

Betrayed by the continual fail of payment, then removal and death of half their group, they couldn’t confirm the location where Lance would be being held, they’d given the address of the vampires they’d been betrayed by. They had no evidence Lance was alive, or what had happened to him since they’d been double crossed before they could personally make the apprehension. All they had were their damaged egos... and their heads seeing Keith hadn’t set eyes upon them personally. With confirmation of the intention of removing Lance and Lotor on private jet.

Pidge was a gremlin channeling her scary talents into tracking down the lead with such determination Keith felt compelled to find something. He couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t start hunting on his own if this didn’t pan out. He’d tried so hard to be the man Lance would want him to be. But it was harder by the day. 10 fucking days was too long.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, Krolia gripped it hard

“Keep your head in the game. If you mess up, I will drop you”

Like he’d mess this up. Their first real lead. Lance’s health and safety, alone with Curtis’s, took priority

“I know”

“If he’s there, we’re getting him out”

“I know”

“And if he’s not, you need to be prepared for it”

“I know!”

He knew all too well. The information was out of date and provided by angry vampires that could simply be looking to take advantage of the situation

“Good. You’ll be with me. Shiro will be leading the wolf squad”

Why were they being separated? Shiro was an exemplary agent, not... oh. Ohhh... They thought both of them too emotionally compromised to complete the mission without going off script. The wolves would stop Shiro, with Krolia stopping him if she felt he was acting out. Yeah. Keith might not be able to stop himself if the moment presented itself... but he and Shiro had earned the right to be there when their boyfriends were found

“Am I understood?”

“Yes, ma’am”

““Mum” is fine. I want him back too. I won’t fail you, Keith. If you think about it, he’s my son too. My family, too. That’s why you’re coming with me”

So his mother was saying if he interferes with her getting Lance out, he’d be expected to provide cover for the both of them. It wasn’t that she thought him inept. It was that she lost the love of her life and didn’t want him going through it too...

“I... mum... what do if he isn’t there?”

“Then we follow the evidence, even if we have to go it alone. I’m sick of this game. I’m sick of knowing you’re going through hell. I’m going to do whatever I can to bring him back to all of us. Him and Curtis... thank god these rooms are sound proof”

Keith found himself chuckling, almost immediately feeling guilty for the sound, sobering sadly

“I didn’t think I’d see the day you’d sideline the mission”

“I didn’t think I’d see the day when I did either. I think I spent too many years as a hunter and not nearly enough as a mum”

“To be fair, I wasn’t ready to let you in”

“And to be fair, I tried too hard. I love you, Keith. I won’t let you down”

Krolia was surprised as Keith threw his arms around his mother. Keith also kind of surprised. He could feel his mother’s warmth. Feel the way her body tensed, then instantly relaxed. She’d worked so hard. The bags beneath her eyes were next level. Not only was she working, she’d been there for everyone in their group. She’d even been out running errands for Miriam, then providing a buffer when Luis came to scream at Coran over his mother being apprehended. A lot of things had happened over the last ten days, but it was finally coming to an end. All those times he’d sworn to get Lance back were finally going to become reality.

As he was getting ready to leave, Pidge came rushing into the room, throwing her arms around his waist. Hunk hovering, but when Keith extended his arm, the big teddy bear came in for a group hug

“Be safe out there. I can’t lose another brother”

“I will be”

“Don’t be reckless. And don’t get hurt... and ...”

“Pidge, I can’t rescue Lance if I’m too reckless”

“I know... I wish I was coming with you. I want to see these bastards pay for what they did to us”

Hunk nodded

“Be careful, bud. We don’t want to lose you”

Hugs were such a strange thing. Keith felt almost invincible, or at least a hundred times more ready to face what was coming with a simple hug from his two friends. He’d been such an arsehole worrying about Lance. He’d barely been able to contribute. Pidge was a tech wizard, bullying her way into getting access to everything. Hunk was just as bad as her. Put the two of them together with Sam and all things tech related were at their mercy. Breaking the hug, Pidge pulled something out her pocket

“I have this. I know we can’t come, but if you need support you can reach us on this one. It’s the same as what the blades us, but I’ve keyed in a seperate channel for just us. It’ll also tell me your location...”

Just in case something happened. He got it. This time he was the one wrapping arms around Pidge. She was brilliant. Completely and utterly brilliant

“We’re going to get answers and we’re going to get him back...”

“And then I’m going to punch him in the dick for being kidnapped”

Keith snorted

“Not before I do. Okay. You guys should head back. It might be a while before you hear anything and Mami is going to need your support”

“We’ve got this handled. Take care of yourself”

“I will...”

*

Lance had seen enough movies to know when something was up. Lotor had been moved into the same room as him. Chained on the other side of the bed. Acxa, Zethrid and Ezor were chained together, with Curtis in seperate chains. Curtis had the most mobility of them, he could “waddle” around, waddling from where he’d been thrown into the room across to sit beside Lance. There were bruises across Curtis’s face. His horn seemed longer too, but his friend still smiled at him. Out of everyone, Lance was most relieved to see Curtis was okay. Tangling their chains together they clung to each other. After being silent for so long, Lance couldn’t find the words to tell Curtis how relieved he was. That and both he and Lotor had been gagged. The ball gag in his mouth was made from some kind of spiked metal. His lips taped over, with extra tape over the side straps of the muzzle device they’d forced him to put on. Curtis couldn’t get the tape off properly, the pain leaving Lance in tears... then again, he’d already been crying with happiness over seeing Curtis again.

Lotor’s gag was worse than his, as were his chains. Metal spikes dug into the vampires face leaving weeping wounds. His chains must have had a higher concentration of lead or mercury as the wounds around his wrists were no joke. Lance had had a lot of time to really break things down, he now believed beyond a doubt that Lotor had tried to trade himself to Sendak in order to secure their release, only to be betrayed by Narti and her own ambition. Him getting Shiro, Matt, and Sam out was the best he could do... and maybe he thought like Lance did that together they’d be stronger than what they turned out to be. He still didn’t like Lotor as a person. His ego made him want to smack the fellow vampires head into the closest wall until he learned humility.

When they finally came for them, Zethrid nearly had Lance laughing. He maybe, definitely, kind of liked her. She seemed kind of freer to be herself when Lotor was gagged. She had a joke for every occasion, including being led off into the unknown. Thanking the room for being “drab”, “filled with terrible company”, and “an experience she wouldn’t recommend”, she actually waved as she was led away. Lotor had seemed bored of her commentary, but Lance hadn’t been. She’d laughed a lot. Compared him to Keith with both of them being helpless and cute, and needing them to show up and rescue them. She’d made Ezor jealous as she complained about Lance not turning into a cute little bat. Ezor promised Zethrid could have a hundred pet bats if she just stopped wanting Lance for a pet. Zethrid pointing out that those bars didn’t have a cute human form that looked cuddly. Lance really was glad she hadn’t been gagged, though Keith would have pissed enough to gag her himself.

Between the three witches being taken and returning for them, hours must have passed in the matter of minutes. When they undid his chains from the bed, Lance held onto Curtis so fiercely that the vampire on chain duty couldn’t pry him off his friend, even with the threat of the cattle-prod. Spitting in his face, the two of them were let together, snarky remarks made about him being a “slut of a breeder and a mistake”, thrown around like leaves in a breeze. This was their final chance to escape, but now he’d gone and bonded with the others, he wasn’t okay with leaving anyone behind. Captive bonds and all that aside, it was true that Zethrid and Ezor had helped Keith at the shipping yard on his birthday. He at least owed them for that. Acxa didn’t say much, though Zethrid did tease her a hell of a lot about her possibly liking Keith. Alas for Acxa, Keith was his and he’d never willingly give him up, though Acxa did say that it more like kinship that love... Yeah. No. She’d not be left alone with his boyfriend when he finally got back to Keith.

Not moving fast enough, Lance was smacked over the head with the handle of the cattle prod, stumbling and nearly taking Curtis down with him. Both of them were already leaning against each other in an attempt to remain upright. How Curtis could stand being so close to him when he was a mess Lance wasn’t sure. He’d been too docile. He should have been louder. He should have screamed the house down and made things harder for his captors. Meeting Curtis’s eyes, Curtis smiled softly at him. It seemed as if he’d already accepted they wouldn’t be getting out of this. Well fuck that. If he had the chance he’d be taking it.

Seeing they were being moved, Lance got a good look at the place they were being held. Another set of stairs confirmed there were two stories underground, practically purpose built for housing vampires. The hallways dimly lit, wallpaper peeling in places. He tried to absolutely memorise everything down to the smallest detail. Depending on the outcome he wanted to have enough information to provide an airtight statement that couldn’t be rebuked by even the best lawyer. So everything was memorised. The size. The layout. The mould in the air. The creek of the floorboards. This place didn’t have much love poured into it. Not like his house. He always had sunlight streaming into every room. Warmth and love filled his home. He wanted to avoid the sensation of being trapped underground and everything stereotypical vampire trope.

Led through to a darkened living area. Lance’s knees went weak. Standing before them, in all his unholiness was Sendak. Disgusted by his surrounds, blood was splattered across the floor. Death hanging in the air. Narti’s body hadn’t been moved. The witch’s features still held the same almost surprised look, despite the decay of her body. The stench was as shocking as the senseless waste of life. As Lance’s body broke out in goosebumps, Sendak strode across the room, cloak billowing as if there was some kind of supernatural wind behind him. Taking Curtis by the horn, his friend was cast aside, Lance’s nails scraping his arms as he tried his hardest to ignore the urge to submit to the vampire in front of him. Taking him by the chin, Sendak’s eyes met Lance’s. Lance paralysed by the feeling of terror coursing through every fibre of him. Sendak’s ego was every bad thing that lurked in the night. Every bad thing in every depiction of hell. His touch felt scolding, as if a red hot poker had been driven through up his chin and into the core of his brain. This was a true vampire. An old vampire. A vampire that’d been reborn by the monster inside. No humanity remained in those eyes as black as charred flesh.

Tilting his chin, Sendak examined him. Lance knew very well he didn’t look presentable. Even in the days he’d let himself go with depression over his cursed state, he’d never let himself fall this far. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had some kind of facial hair messing up his handsome face

“So this is it? This is the thing all the fuss is over. Remove these chains. He’s hardly fit for much more than lying on his back, and that’s already been seen to. A full belly of human filth”

Keith was not filth. Their children were not filth. His body was screaming to submit, but he knew he could push past an ego now. He’d done it to Lotor. Lotor had tried to make his mind go all dreamy, but he’d fought it. He needed to fight past Sendak’s ego. He couldn’t even spit in the man’s face. The best he could do was sloppily take a swing when his chains were being removed. Sendak catching his fist and twisting his arm as he turned him, pushing up so hard something snapped and Lance screamed around his gag. How fucking dare Sendak touch him?!

“Do not think you can fight me. You’re valuable, even without those things inside of you. Accidents do happen. Load them up. I want them out within the half hour”

When Sendak released him, Lance dropped, cradling his very broken arm to his chest as he dragged himself over to Curtis. Curtis was awake, semi-dazed, and his horn ripped clean in half. The half showing a sick dark red, almost crystalline mess. He tried to say Curtis’s name, but all that came out was whimper in pain. Curtis was tough but this was cruel. Cruel like burning ants with a magnifying glass. He was only human. Letting go of his arm, he took Curtis by the hand, squeezing to let him know he wasn’t alone. Grunting in pain, the hunter returned the gesture. Curtis knew full well that Lance couldn’t go against Sendak. He knew all the shameful feelings being in the vampire’s presence brought up. If Curtis could have, Lance knew he would have tried to protect him from him. He couldn’t even lie and fake a smile. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t exhausted to the bone or that he didn’t have a glaringly obvious compound fracture. He wanted to. He wanted so badly to crack a joke and show Curtis he was trying. If he could just get his mouth free... He could get his mouth free. His hands were free. He was the freest he’d been in days. If he could... if Curtis could give him some blood... he might... he might be able to finally be useful.