#tim henson gif | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

poppy-in-the-woods · 6 months ago

Text

Playing God | Chapter Three: Look But Don't Touch

Plot: Sadie is a vampire hunter with a problem: the members of her favourite band are vampires. She spent the last five years since she found out training to take them out, one by one, beginning with the youngest, guitarist Tim Henson. But things rarely go as planned, and Sadie's life will be turned upside down after her first encounter with Tim.

Cross-posted to AO3

Pairing: Vampire!Tim Henson x Vampire hunter!OFC

Word count: 4315

Rating: Mature/Explicit.

General tags: vampire au, arranged marriage, smut, violence, blood, biting, implied homophobia, misoginy, lgbtq characters, slight gore.

Chapter tags: talks of slut shaming, alcohol consumption, asshole brother, asshole boyfriend

Author's note: As always, English is not my first language, this is not proofread, yada yada yada, you know the drill already. Hope you enjoy, and if any of you want me to be tagged into this, let me know.

@veronicaphoenix

After her comments about the potential existence of good vampires, Jack and her father took turns watching her. On Saturday she went to bed early and did something she hadn't done since she was a teenager: she put a couple of pillows under the covers and climbed out her bedroom window. They had agreed that Tim would pick her up at the end of the street, so, after putting on her heels, she ran to his parked car.

“Ready?” he asked her as she put on her seatbelt.

“Pedal to the metal!”

For some reason, she felt excited about going to a party, and after a couple of minutes of thinking about it, she realized why: as an adult she had never gone to a party for the party itself, but to kill vampires. The last party she had gone to with the sole purpose of enjoying herself had been her prom, and it hadn't ended well.

“What's on your mind?” he asked.

“My prom. My date tried to grope me while we were dancing, so I broke his face,” she said. “I literally broke his jaw with a punch.”

“Shit!”

“I didn't mean to do it, but I was so angry I went too far,” she confessed.

“Remind me never to piss you off,” he said.

She couldn't help laughing, and he joined in soon after.

“Do you have any stories about dances?” she asked him when she could stop laughing.

“No, not really. I missed a few, that's for sure. As a teenager I spent a lot of time grounded for smoking pot,” he said, smiling wistfully, “and I even got arrested a couple of times, so to stay out of trouble I took up playing the guitar.”

“So that's why you're so good.”

“And because of my mother. She's Chinese, you know, and Asian mothers are a little crazy. I started playing the violin, and even though I didn't like it, she made me rehearse and rehearse,” he confessed. “There's no denying she taught me discipline.”

“Do you speak Mandarin?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, no. I mean, I can speak it now, but I never learned it as a human.”

“Oh, that's too bad. Did you know there's a way to tell if a vampire learned a language as a human or if they're using their gift of tongues?”

“Ah, yeah? Which one?”

“If they have an accent of their mother tongue when speaking the other language, they almost certainly learned it as a human.” She explained. After that, they were silent for a while. “Tim, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What does it feel like to be bitten?” she wanted to know.

“It hurts, obviously, but only for a couple of seconds. We have substances in our saliva that numb the pain. It makes the experience euphoric,” he said in a dreamy tone. “But I was only bitten to be turned, so my experience is minimal.”

“I guess I'll have to ask the fleurs-de-lis.”

“Exactly. We're here.”

The party was at a hotel, small and exclusive. They had booked one of the rooms that normally hosted weddings, and a hotel employee was checking to make sure no one entered without an invitation. Her anxiety grew as they approached the door; there were too many vampires there, and she didn't have her stake with her, nor any of her weapons, just in case she had to go through a metal detector.

“Your invitation, sir?” asked the stewardess politely.

“I have it here,” he replied, taking it out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

“Of course, have a nice evening,” the woman wished them after reading it and returning it to him.

They entered. The room was filled with vampires of different ages, genders, and backgrounds, plus several human waitresses moving among the people, carrying trays of glasses of champagne or blood. The pressure in her chest increased.

“I don't know if this was a good idea, Tim,” she whispered.

“Relax, no one is going to hurt you,” he assured her. “You are my guest, and that means that it is forbidden to touch you without my permission, okay? Look but don't touch.”

“Look but don't touch,” she repeated, taking a deep breath. “I need a drink.” Tim took a glass of champagne from a nearby tray and handed it to her. “Thank you,” she said, and proceeded to drink it in one gulp.

“Slow down, you beast, you're going to get a good bender if you keep it up,” he said, amused. “Would you like to dance?”

“Okay.”

Sadie left the empty glass on the tray of a passing waitress and let herself be led to the dance floor. They swayed for a while (neither of them knew how to dance to the kind of music that was playing), until a vampire (male, about forty or forty-five years old apparently, with a beard and graying hair) came up to greet Tim, followed by an obviously human woman, a statuesque blonde wearing a scandalous red dress.

“Hi, I'm Claire” the woman introduced herself as the vampires spoke. “I've never seen you around these parties before, are you new in town?”

“Sadie, nice to meet you,” she replied, shaking her hand. “No, I... I'm not a fleur-de-lis, I just came with him,” she explained, nodding to her date.

“Oh, I see. If he gets tired of you, or you get tired of doing it for free, call me, okay?” Claire said, holding out a card to her. “You won't know what it's like to earn real money until you're one of us.”

“Does one really earn that much?”

“Right now, between clothes and accessories, I have about five grand on me,” Claire confided. “Of course, you have to know which vampires to associate with, but here in Los Angeles are some of the richest vampires in the country.”

“No offense, but isn't that like being a very expensive hooker?”

“Luxury escort,” Claire corrected her. “Luxury bloodscort, if you will,” she added, laughing at her own pun. “The vampires have paid for my breast augmentation, liposculpture, my house, my closet and my car. And all that in just five years.”

“I assume not everyone will earn that much.”

“No, of course not. Again, it depends on where you operate and the contacts you have,” acknowledged the fleur-de-lis. “Besides, this job is not for everyone. There are girls who have tried it and soon quit, and they were just as happy.”

“Because they didn't want to sleep with their clients?”

“You don't have to if you don't want to,” the woman assured her. “They pay you to drink from you, nothing else. Any extra service is paid for separately and in advance.”

“I get the feeling you're trying to recruit me.”

“I like you, but no, more girls mean more competition. I'll tell it like it is, and you can decide what you want to do. What do you do for a living right now, if you don't mind me asking?” Claire was interested.

“I'm a gym instructor, part-time,” she replied.

Everyone in Sadie’s family had to have a job since the moment they turned sixteen, because the bills didn't pay themselves, and hunting didn't make money, but nothing that would take up so much of their time that they couldn't fulfill their duties.

“You'd make more in the two minutes it takes them to drink from you than you would in a month's work,” Claire said.

“Does it hurt a lot to be bitten?” she asked.

“Oh, no, just a few seconds, and there are even vampires who do it so gently that you hardly notice,” Claire assured her. “They have something in their saliva that makes it not hurt. It's even... not orgasmic, but post-orgasmic. You know that feeling you get when you cum really hard and for a while your brain feels like cotton candy? Like that.”

“I don't think I've ever felt that,” she lied to get Claire to keep talking. She had experienced it a couple of times, but it had been a long time ago.

“Oh, well, you don't know what you're missing, it's a wonderful feeling.”

“And do you... do you have sex with him?” she whispered, glancing sideways at the vampire accompanying her, who was still talking to Tim.

“No, though I do with others. Men and women. You haven't had real cunnilingus until you've had it done by a female vampire.”

“I believe you. Tim,” she called him, “I need to go to the bathroom, can you come with me?”

“Sure. Nice talking to you, Antoine. What did you think?” He asked her when they were far enough away.

“She's nice, but too intense for my taste.”

“Yes, I agree with that,” Tim approved, amused. “She's not on drugs, in case you're wondering; the rules of the fleurs-de-lis prohibit it. That's just the way she is. If you'd like to meet some less intense ones, I can introduce you to them.”

“Yes?”

“Besides, I need a sip of fresh blood,” he said.

“Oh.”

The disappointment must have shown on her face, because Tim replied:

“Unless you offer, and I know you won't, I have to eat.”

“I don't want to be bitten, not by you, not by anyone,” she confirmed.

“So that's it. Let's go.”

They went to a couch area, where there were several human women chatting with each other and drinking, though not alcohol.

“Hi, girls,” he greeted them with a big smile, “My friend and I are tired, can we sit down?”

“Anything for you, handsome,” said one of them, an Asian-looking brunette, patting the free space next to her.

“Jia, my flower, can I have a drink?” he continued, sitting down.

“Sure, drink,” she agreed, offering him her wrist. “But don't forget to pay me after.”

“You know I never forget.”

Fascinated as well as disgusted, Sadie watched as Tim bit into the offered wrist, but still making eye contact with her. Disturbed, she looked away.

“Why aren't you feeding your vampire?” asked another of the fleur-de-lis, a redhead with very large eyes.

“Oh, no, he's not my vampire, we're just friends.”

“Ah. I don't want to be rude or anything, but if you're not one of us, and it's evident that you're not, and he's not your boyfriend, what exactly are you doing here?”

“Sadie is going through a somewhat difficult personal situation,” Tim answered before she could do so, saving her from having to lie, “so I offered to take her out of the house for a while, to distract her from her problems.”

“And you brought her to a fleur-de-lis party because…?” asked Jia.

“Because you throw the best parties. And because I still have to eat.”

“Yeah... Where's Anya, by the way? We thought you were coming with her,” asked the redhead.

“We've called it quits,” said Tim. The fleurs-de-lis let out exclamations of disappointment in their support. “No, it's okay, she wanted something from me that I couldn't give her.”

“She's a romantic, that's why we never told her to join,” said a third fleur-de-lis, a blonde, in a knowing tone.

“That's not why, we haven't told her because she's practically a bite junkie,” said Jia in a dismissive tone. “She doesn't have what it takes to do this job and not end up dead. I'm sorry, I know it sounds awful, but that's the way it is; the poor thing doesn't know when to stop and never has.”

“I think she's changed lately,” Tim defended her. “I mean, she's the one who broke up with me.”

“Because she wanted to be your girlfriend, not because she wanted to stop,” replied Jia. “She's a bit too much of a party animal, if you know what I mean.”

“A piece of advice: don't be blinded by glamour,” said the blonde. “Always be very clear about the reality of the situation.”

“And that is…?” Sadie wanted to know.

“They're vampires, and we're just beautifully packaged food. They pay us well, it's true, but most of them don't appreciate us,” explained the blonde fleur-de-lis.

“There are always exceptions, like Tim, but it's not the norm,” Jia added. “This is all purely transactional, and if a fleur-de-lis hangs up her robes for one of her clients, it's because she's pretty sure she'll end up a vampire.”

“There are several old fleur-de-lis among the ladies with fangs tonight,” said the redhead in a tone of confidence.

“Yes, but let's not talk about work anymore, huh” -said Jia.

“Oh, I have a hilarious anecdote! Do you know what happened to me the other day? I went to a friend's birthday party, and her little daughter…”

They were chatting and laughing for a while, until, after having had several non-alcoholic cocktails, Sadie had to go to the restroom for real this time.

“Go out that door and continue down the corridor,” said Jia, pointing to the door in question with the hand that held her glass. “The bathrooms are on the right, you can't miss them.”

“Thank you.”

Before she could reach the door, however, a vampire woman stepped out in front of her. Tall as a model, with dark skin, very long braids decorated with gold rings and a golden dress with stiletto sandals. She looked like a representation of some primordial goddess.

“Good evening, little flower!” The vampire greeted her. “I haven't seen you here before, are you new in town?”

“Yes, I... well, I moved here a few months ago.”

“If you need a friend, I can be your friend,” the vampire continued, smiling. She took a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing waitress and handed it to her. Sadie took it out of inertia. “My name is Chantal,” she introduced herself, toasting her and taking a sip from her own blood-filled glass.

“Sadie, nice to meet you. It's just that I, uh... I already have a friend,” she replied, feeling the heat rise in her neck and face.

“Oh, I'm sure they don't mind, besides, a girl like you should have lots of friends.”

Was that vampire flirting with her or had she just mistaken her for another fleur-de-lis? Or both at the same time? Unsure, she took a sip of champagne.

“Thanks, I guess?”

“Girl, don't be ashamed, there's nothing wrong with this!” The vampire laughed, “Besides, I know you're one of mine, I've seen how your eyes went to my cleavage.”

“Oh, well, it's just that it's a spectacular dress, and you look great in it,” she excused herself.

“Thank you, it's an exclusive model,” answered the vampire, running one of her hands along the bodice of the dress. “In every way.”

“I don't want to be rude, I really don't, but I was going to the bathroom and, anyway, I'm not a fleur-de-lis, I was just invited to the party.”

“You're not? Oh, sorry, with that mouth-watering smell and that appearance I just assumed you had to be. Anyway, if you ever feel like meeting up, you can give me a call,” Chantal added, holding out her card.

“I'll think about it. If you'll excuse me...” she said, pointing to the door.

“Of course, go ahead. I'll see you around, little not-a-fleur-de lis.”

After that, it didn't take her long to find the washroom, and she was already washing her hands when a woman about her age came in, crying.

“Are you all right?” she asked the other girl while drying her hands with a paper towel.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I thought no one was there…”

“Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm Sadie, did someone hurt you?”

“Rose, nice to meet you. No, it's just... my boyfriend just broke up with me,” she confessed.

“Wow, I'm so sorry. What happened? If you want to talk about it, of course, you don't have to tell me.”

“I started this job to put myself through college, you know? Nothing else. Two years ago, I met Kenneth, and we fell in love. After a year together, I felt it was time to tell him what I was doing,” Rose explained. “I wanted to be honest with him; that was my biggest mistake. I don't have sex with any of my clients, ever, I just let them drink from me, but Kenneth didn't like it and that's when the fights started. He says if I really loved him, I'd get another job. Another job! I pay for everything, my expenses and his, and he has the nerve to tell me...!” She couldn't finish the sentence, because she started crying again.

“You're better off without him,” Sadie assured her, rubbing Rose’s back in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

“But I love him!” Rose protested.

“Sometimes it's not enough. Kenneth takes advantage of the benefits of your job, but he judges you for it, is that fair?” asked Sadie.

“No.”

“And is it fair for you to stay with a man who, on top of that, doesn't trust you?” She continued. “Because if I understand you correctly, one of his problems is that he thinks you're cheating on him.”

“Yes, that's a big problem for him,” Rose confirmed.

“But you haven't cheated on him, even though you could earn more if you did, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then, is it fair that he doesn't trust you even though you've never done anything to betray his trust?” she reiterated.

“No. But I shouldn't have come to this party... he warned me, that if I came, he would leave me.”

“Why did you do it? I mean, why did you come to the party if you knew Kenneth wouldn't like it?”

“Because several of my vampires have moved out of town, and I need to get new contacts,” Rose explained, wiping away her tears.

“You came to do business. To make sure you're still making enough money to support both of you,” Sadie said. “He has nothing to complain about, and he shouldn't have given you an ultimatum. I assume you share an apartment” Rose nodded “and that your name is the only one on the lease.”

“Yes.”

“Well, time for you to give him an ultimatum,” Sadie said. “Either he gets out of your fucking place, or you call the police and have him removed. Tonight. You don't want to see him when you get back.”

“But where's he going to sleep? Besides, if I call the police, I run the risk of being reported for prostitution... I don't want to be filed.”

“I came with a very nice vampire, maybe he can throw Kenneth out and erase his memory,” suggested Sadie. “And as for where he's going to sleep, that's not your problem, it's his for putting you down like that.”

“Okay... Anyway, now that he's left me, the rules say he has to forget everything.”

“Well, let's go.”

Tim was still chatting with Jia and her friends when Sadie returned, accompanied by another girl, who looked like she had been crying. Sadie waved him over.

“Excuse me, I'm wanted. Is something wrong?” he asked, approaching.

“This is Rose, her boyfriend had the nerve to dump her over the phone,” Sadie informed him.

“I'm so sorry, Rose, but what have I got to do with it?”

“Her ex is at her apartment right now, and since he knows what Rose does for a living, he needs his memory wiped.”

“Oh, I see. Well, we'll have to fix that. Are you here with someone?” He wanted to know.

“No, I came by cab because my car is in the repair shop.”

“All right then, we'll give you a lift.”

Following Rose's directions, he drove to her home in Boyle Heights. On the way, Rose calmed down enough to think about doing a little networking with him, who kept his card and promised to call her.

“So, you're not her boyfriend?” Rose asked.

“We're just friends.

“How did you two meet?” Rose wanted to know.

“At a club,” Sadie answered laconically. “Is that your building?”

“Yes, we've arrived. You can park in the number seven spot, Tim, that's mine.”

Rose lived on a third floor. As the elevator went up, her nervousness increased and her confidence disappeared; Tim could sense it in the way her thoughts swirled, spinning uncontrollably. Sadie must have noticed it too, because she grabbed her hand.

“Don't worry, we're with you,” she said.

Rose nodded. The fleur-de-lis hadn't noticed, but now her new friend held the knife in her other hand. Tim looked at her, questioningly, but she merely shrugged her shoulders slightly. He understood her to mean ‘just in case.’

Rose went in first. Even though it was almost midnight, her boyfriend was in the living room, watching TV, dozing. He barely turned toward the noise when Rose opened the door and walked in, but straightened up, wide awake, when he saw that she wasn't alone.

“I can't believe you brought one of them to our home,” he said dismissively, looking at Tim.

“Our home?” Rose repeated, incredulous, and suddenly very angry, “Our home?! This is my home! You just live here for free. And you know what? You're going to leave right now.”

“Are you out of your mind? It's midnight! Where am I supposed to go?”

“I don't care,” Rose replied, “I went to that party to work, and you have the balls to break up with me via text? And on top of that, when I get back you're still here. I remind you that it's my name on the lease!”

“I was hoping you'd change your mind,” said Kenneth, disappointed.

“What?” Rose asked, puzzled.

“I thought that if I dumped you, you'd come back, and we'd make peace,” he explained. “I thought you'd change your mind about continuing to be... a whore, basically.”

“Oh, for all the angels in heaven and demons in hell, I've told you a thousand times, I don't have sex with my clients!” Rose exclaimed, exasperated. “Why can't you believe me?”

“Why did you bring them here, if not for a threesome?” Kenneth countered.

“I brought Sadie to give me some moral support, and Tim to erase your memory,” explained Rose. “I'm sorry, but those are the rules: you can't go on knowing of their existence now that we're no longer a couple.”

Kenneth wanted to get up, but before Tim could intervene, Sadie did.

“Sit back down,” she ordered, threatening him with the knife. Kenneth obeyed. Sadie moved to his side and pressed the blade flat against his cheek. “Stay very still; if you move, the tip of the blade will go through your lower eyelid and into your eye, do you understand?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good. Tim, do your thing before this idiot stabs himself in the eye, and we have to take him to the emergency room.”

“Kenneth, look me in the eye and listen carefully...”

After Rose’s problem was taken care of, as Tim drove her back home, Sadie felt his eyes on her every few minutes.

“Look at the road,” she scolded him.

“Girl, that was... even I was scared,” he said after a while of silence.

“Liar,” she accused him.

Vampires weren't afraid of anything, least of all humans; they were at the top of the food chain, and they knew it. Not even a young vampire like Tim would be afraid of someone like her, unless she managed to catch him by surprise, and in that case, he shouldn't even have time to be afraid.

“No, I'm telling you the truth,” he replied. “It made my testicles shrink and everything.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.”

“I swear. You'd make a terrifying vampire, even as a newborn.”

“I wouldn't last two days as a vampire,” she contradicted him.

“Why not?”

“I'd hate myself so much I'd kill myself.”

“But you don't hate me,” he said. “Or do you?”

“I don't hate you, but it's different,” she said. “I may not like that you have to drink blood, but I accept that it's what you have to do to survive. If I had to do it myself, I don't think I could.”

“You would. Your instinct would take over,” he assured her. “It disgusts you now, but when you're a vampire you see things differently. We've arrived,” he announced, stopping the car. “Do you need my help sneaking in?”

“No, I'll be fine. Thanks for tonight, Tim,” she said, and surprising herself, reached up to kiss him on the cheek. “See you, sweet fangs” she said goodbye, leaving before she could think too much.

Sneaking back into her room was not difficult for her. However, when she landed with the softness of a cat on the carpet, the light on her bedside table came on: Jack was waiting for her.

“Where were you?” he asked.

“Out.”

“Where?” insisted his brother.

“At a party.”

“A vampire party?”

“No, I didn't go hunting, it was just a party. You know what they are, don't you?” she asked, sarcastically, as she started to change into her pajamas.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Sadie? You've never acted like this before.”

“Like what?” she asked, annoyed.

“First you don't kill that vampire, even though you don't seem to have a problem with taking out any of the others, then you start saying ‘let's see if it turns out there are good vampires, and we don't know about it’, and then you run off to go to a party like you're a fucking teenager,” her brother enumerated.

“I don't have an answer that can satisfy you, Jack,” she replied. “Now, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave, I want to sleep.”

“This won't stay like that,” her brother warned, getting up. “Arthur and Dad will know about this.”

“You can kiss my ass, all three of you,” she replied. “Now, get the hell out of my room.”

#polyphia #polyphia fanfiction #tim henson #tim henson fanfiction #tim henson fic #polyphia fic #tim henson x ofc #vampire!tim henson x vampire hunter!ofc #vampire au #vampire!tim henson x ofc #playing god the fanfic #poppy writes

9 notes · View notes