Fixing What's Broken (Mac / Darian)

[Aubrie Carpathia]

The house wasn't exactly what Aubrie had been expecting.

With Darian's flamboyance and taste in the extravagant, the psychic had thought for sure that he'd acquired for them some long-abandoned mansion, but instead it was just a simple, rundown farm house several miles outside of Atlanta. There were no neighbors around for miles, which would be good for Mac, but it worried Aubrie a little, as she still didn't entirely trust Darian. Who could really blame her?

The limo pulled up the long, rutted driveway and stopped in front of the house. Darian got out first, still holding Mac, then gestured for Aubrie to follow, which she did. After paying the driver extravagantly--which was his style--Darian moved quickly up the creaking, half-rotten steps and entered the house, with Aubrie right behind.

She was surprised at the home's interior, for it was quite well furnished and clean. After seeing the dilapidated state of the outside, Aubrie simply hadn't been expecting the place to be so nice. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. The ground floor had some four or five large rooms, all completely furnished and decorated, and a nice sized kitchen as well, fully stocked with several weeks' worth of food. There was a stairway leading up to the second floor as well, though she didn't take the time now to check it out.

"There's even a large, empty field behind the house," Darian told her, "that my pilot assures me he can use to land the jet. And we're far enough away from anyone that it won't attract a lot of undue attention. Now, I have some matters to take care of in the city. Stay here with her until I return. And make yourself at home," he added with a slight smile, "because I think you'll be here for quite a while."

With that, the vampire seemingly vanished, though Aubrie knew he was just moving too fast for her to see. Looking to where Mac lay sound asleep on the couch, Aubrie pulled up a chair and sat near her, pulling out a book from her purse.

"Well, Mac," she said softly to the sleeping woman, "I guess you're really stuck with me now, huh?"

[morgancaine]

Mac woke, rubbing her sleepy eyes and looked around. Fear instantly washed through the young empath. This wasn't the plane. This wasn't where she had been. Where was she? Where was Dari?

Looking over she saw Aubrie standing there. She stuck her tongue out at the woman before getting up. The pains were gone. Nothing whispering in her head. Mac liked that, though she could sort of feel Aubrie, though not to the caliber she had felt in the mall.

She rubbed her head, walking past Aubrie, peeking her head into the hallway. "Dari?" She whispered. Where was he? Ignoring Aubrie she walked into the hall, her head peeking into other rooms. "Dari!"

He had been here before. Where did he go? "DARI!" She ran through the house looking for her friend. Her heart pounded inside of her chest. She didn't like this. Stomping her foot she turned to Aubrie. "Where?!"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie smiled reassuringly, trying her best to exude calm and happiness.

"He went out for a little bit, to get us some things we need. Like food and stuff," she told the other woman. "He'll be back soon, don't worry. Do you want to have a look around the house with me? We're going to be staying here for a while, so we should get to know it. I haven't even had a look around yet myself."

Not for the first time, Aubrie found herself feeling incredibly relieved that Mac's empathy seemed to be only receptive, and not projective. If Mac were able to receive emotions from those around here, and them amplify them with her own distress and project them outward again, it would just be an endless cycle of madness. Also not for the first time, Aubrie wished her own abilities were stronger, so that she'd be better able to help Mac get hers under control.

Oh well, Aubrie thought, keeping up the smile and the constant flow of positive emotions. I'll do everything I can to help her anyway, no matter what...

[morgancaine]

Mac was not liking Aubrie any better. Dari thought Mac was broken. Thought this woman would make her better. He was wrong. Mac had been broken since she was a little girl. No one wanted her because of it. Sent her to the place with the bad men in white coats. Always stuck her with needles. Made her sleep.

She glared at the woman. This wouldn't be any different. Mac just knew Dari didn't want her now. Not as she was. Mac loved Dari though. So for him she'd try. Even if it made her sad and angry to do so.

Wrinkling her nose Mac started to run away from Aubrie, not wanting to play this game. She'd play a different game. She grinned and giggled making sure to lose Aubrie in the house before slipping into the pantry and sitting on the floor. Hide and seek was one of Mac's favorite games. There weren't many places to hide on the plane. Maybe this would be fun after all.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie watched as Mac scampered off.

Alright, if she wanted to play a game, then Aubrie would play. What else did they have to do here anyway? So, after giving Mac a few moments' head start, Aubrie eventually went on the hunt.

The place was massive, she had to give Darian that, so at least they'd have plenty of space and privacy while they were here. That though led her to wonder just how long, exactly, the three of them would be stuck together. It wasn't that she didn't want to help Mac, she really did, but the idea of living with Darian sort of made her skin crawl.

It doesn't matter, she thought as she looked around for Mac, I'll do whatever I have to to try and help her...

Even though it was probably cheating, Aubrie closed her eyes and focused, trying to pick up any mental or emotional trace of Mac. Her own powers of empathy were admittedly weak--like pretty much all of her psychic abilities besides touch-reading--but she was certain she'd be able to pick up something from the other woman.

Sure enough, there was a faint trace of her in the pantry, and that was where Aubrie headed. When she reached it, she stood outside the door for a moment.

"Hmmmm," she wondered, looking around. "I wonder where she is... She has to be around here... somewhere!" And with that, she pulled the pantry door open.

[morgancaine]

When Aubrie jerked the door open, Mac screamed at the top of her lungs. It was blood curling. Mac didn't know what was going on. She had gotten lost in herself, gone far away inside. She was rocking back and forth and the darkness was scary. Then the door opened and there was light. Bright bright light.

She continued to scream and batted at Aubrie. "Nooooooooo!" She screamed again. "Out, out, want out. Not here. Not there. Make them go away!"

Them being the people in Mac's head. She hated them. Always mean. Never nice. She was hiding. Why was Aubrie opening the door? Pulling herself farther into the pantry, Mac started banging her back against the old rickety wood. "Leave alone!" She screamed again.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Not for the first time, Aubrie said a silent prayer of thanks that Mac wasn't a projective empath as well as receptive.

Still, despite that, Aubrie could sense a bit of the turmoil within the other woman, and she had to clamp down to stop the inflow of fear and anger and sadness and everything else that had tried to come rushing in. It took a moment and a bit of concentration, but eventually she managed to shield herself against it, thankfully.

Turning her attention back to Mac, Aubrie found herself legitimately unsure about what to do. The obvious thing seemed to be to just leave Mac alone for a time, to let the blonde woman have some time to herself to try and work through everything. But could Mac even do that? Did the way her mind worked even allow something like that? Could she work through her current situation on her own, or should Aubrie try and help her again?

True, doing that hadn't had much success earlier...

"Mac, listen," she said softly, refraining from reaching out to touch the woman, mentally or physically. "I'm going to just leave you alone for a little bit, okay? If you need me, I'll over in the next room. If there's anything I can do to help you, just let me know, alright?"

Smiling reassuringly, though she had no doubt that Mac wasn't even paying attention, Aubrie gently closed the door again and turned her back, sighing heavily. She was in over her head, that was for sure...

But there was no going back now.

[Darian Raniari]

Weeks passed, and Darian grew more and more impatient.

Whatever it was that Aubrie was trying to accomplish with Mac wasn't only not working, it was actually making the poor woman worse. During his visits--which were admittedly infrequent do to both his business concerns and his constant plotting against his brother--Darian found Mac to be more and more distant, if not outright violent and angry. No, whatever it was that Aubrie was doing hadn't eased Mac's suffering at all. Rather, it had made her into a monster.

And maybe that was the whole point, Darian mused as his limo pulled up in front of the farm house. Waving the driver off, Darian quickly mounted the steps and strode in through the front door, his mind turning. She planned this, the bitch, he thought angrily, his fists clenching and his eyes narrowed into a fiery glare. She's turning Mac against me...

Turning a corner, Darian found himself standing int he entry way to the living room. Aubrie looked up from her place at the end of the couch, closing the book she'd been reading and setting it aside. For just a brief moment, Darian saw the look of fear in her eyes, and for good reason. This wasn't the first time he'd come for a visit and been forced to stress the importance of this job to Aubrie... In fact, the woman still sported a black eye from his last lesson.

"Where is she?" he asked flatly, catching Aubrie's eyes with his own and seemingly holding them in place, not letting her look away.

"Uh, she's upstairs, I think..."

She thinks... What a worthless endeavor this has been, Darian thought, shaking his head.

"Is that so?" he asked rhetorically, walking slowly toward her and reveling in the delicious fear that crept across her features. "Well, I know this has been difficult for you, my dear. Being stuck out here all alone, exhausting yourself in your unending efforts to help our beloved Mac..." He smiled charmingly, trying to disarm her as he stopped before her. He would have reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, but he knew that doing so would only make Aubrie more uncomfortable. "That is why I have some very, very good news for you."

"Good news?" she asked softly, nervously tugging at her gloves and cringing away, despite Darian's attempts to make her feel at ease.

"Yes," he said with a nod, "very good news indeed. You see, Aubrie... I have decided that your services are no longer necessary. You have done quite enough."

Before Aubrie had a chance to react, Darian reached out lightning fast, grabbing a handful of her hair and using it to swing her around and throw her across the room. She crashed into the wall with enough force to knock dust from the ceiling, and as she slid to the floor, she could feel blood flowing down her face and the back of her neck. Blinking her eyes to try and clear them of the sudden blurred vision, Aubrie struggled to crawl away, toward the door, but Darian was already waiting there for her.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, his voice harsh and cold. "You don't want to leave without getting what is owed you, my dear. Say what you will of me, but I always like to make sure that those who work for me get exactly what they deserve..."

Pulling his leg back, he delivered a rib-shattering kick to Aubrie's mid-section, sending her hurtling back across the room again, where she struck the back of the couch with such force that the piece of furniture toppled over backward, landing atop her. In the blink of an eye, Darian was there, grabbing the couch and tossing it aside as if it weighed nothing. The vampire knelt down beside her, a cruel smile on his lips as he reached out and took her hand in a strangely gentle fashion.

"For what you have done," he said, threading his fingers between hers and tightening his grip just a little, "I will see to it that you experience as much pain as possible before the end. And that, my dear, dear Aubrie, is a promise."

And, with that, he clenched his fist and crushed Aubrie's hand.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

The pain didn't register right away.

Aubrie's eyes widened in shock as she felt the strange sensation of her bones snapping and breaking. The sight of her hand, crushed and contorted within the vampire's grasp, seemed unreal to her, and all she could do was stare in disbelief as Darian tightened his grip even more, his eyes alight with a wicked gleam. More bones broke, and parts of her gloves became stained with red as splinters of them punctured her skin.

Then the pain hit her.

Clenching her eyes shut, Aubrie screamed in agony, her body twisting and writhing as she sought in vain to escape Darian's iron grip. Every time she tried to pull away, he simply squeezed a little bit harder, which sent waves of fresh torment tearing throughout her entire body. Tears streamed down her face, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming again, her teeth cutting through flesh and causing blood to fill her mouth.

Finally Darian let go of her mangled hand, standing up to walk a slow circle around her, as if surveying his handiwork. After a moment, he reached down swiftly to grab her by the hair again, lifting her up until they were eye to eye. The hatred and madness that Aubrie saw there chilled her to the bone, momentarily overpowering the hot agony that seemed to engulf her entire body, emanating from her broken hand. With a bestial snarl, Darian backhanded her across the room, where she bounced once or twice like a rag=doll before finally coming to rest on the rough wood floor.

He was instantly at her side again, and though she knew of his vampiric abilities, this display of inhuman speed both amazed and frightened her. Crouching down, he reached for her other hand, and all she could do was whimper and try to hide it, though she knew that she had no way to stop what was coming. Once Darian had hold of it, he slowly and purposefully began breaking her fingers, one at a time, prolonging the suffering expertly.

All Aubrie could do was scream, and cry, nearly choking on her own tears as the pain became too much to bear.

"I can only imagine how terrible this must be for you," Darian said, speaking loud enough to be heard over the woman's cries. "You use your hands to make your living, yes? You use them to shuffle your cards." Another finger snapped. "And to lay them out, of course." Snap. "And we mustn't forget your touchreading, which you primarily perform with your hands, yes?" He crushed another digit, chuckling darkly when her entire body spasmed from the pain. "And your work with the police... They often entrust you with a gun to defend yourself, don't they?" As he broke her last finger, Darian stood up and began pacing before her, his expression one of undisguised malice.

Trembling with shock and agony, Aubrie tried to crawl to safety once again, doing her best not to look at the mangled remnants of her hands. The pain was all-consuming, and she clenched her eyes shut and tried to block it out, to no avail. She'd barely made it a few feet when Darian moved to cut her off, standing between her and the door once again.

"You don't think I realize what you've been doing here?!" he roared, his voice seeming to shake the entire house. "You didn't think I'd find out about you turning her against me? I trusted you, trusted you to help her, and this is how you repay me?!" Growling, he reached down and picked her up effortlessly, shaking her savagely. "I can understand your hatred for me, but using Mac as a pawn in this little game of yours? Using her to get to me, to hurt me?" He shook his head and threw her violently across the room again, where she struck the wall with a sickening crack.

As he moved toward her once again, slowly and purposefully this time, Aubrie could only find herself grateful that shock was setting in, and darkness was starting to engulf her.

She was already unconscious when the beating began.

[Darian Raniari]

Darian washed his hands clean at the kitchen sink.

As he watched the watered-down blood run down the drain, he felt a faint bit of hunger, wishing that he'd fed on Aubrie rather than just beat her to death. Well, almost to death, really. It was faint, but when he closed his eyes, Darian could still hear the weak beating of her heart. That sound again made his mouth water, but he clamped down on his hunger as he turned the sink off and leaned against the counter.

His hunger would keep him sharp, and focused. If he were to feed now, then he'd find himself feeling full, and sluggish, and he couldn't afford that. Not with the battle still to come... Though Quicksilver and several of his compatriots were now several hours out of town after having broken Madison's brother out of prison, that didn't mean that the hunter hadn't left some protection back at the house.

Lily...

And no doubt the two of them had been preparing for his inevitable move against them. Well, now it was time. Darian was ready, far more ready in fact than he'd ever been before. He had even decided to bring in a little extra muscle, so to speak, and had turned Madison's own slightly unstable ex-husband, creating a lackey both driven and determined to wrest the young doctor away from Sastre. It was all so perfect, and all that stood in Darian's way was his own niece, whom he knew to be a formidable hunter in her own right.

Intruding into these thoughts of vengeance came the realization that he had to find Mac, call for his driver, and see to it that the girl was safely away on his jet before the fighting began in earnest. Moving swiftly and silently, Darian did a sweep of the ground floor, but he found no sign of Mac. Recalling Aubrie's words from earlier, that she thought Mac was upstairs, Darian moved his search up there, still finding nothing.

Something was wrong.

Closing his eyes, he extended his vampiric senses to their maximum, listening for the sound of her movement or heartbeat, sniffing the air in search of her familiar scent... Nothing. Wherever Mac was, it wasn't anywhere near the farm house. Cursing himself, Darian dashed back into the demolished living room, kneeling down beside the unmoving and blood-spattered form of Aubrie. She was too far gone to even hope to get information from...

Damn, where could she have gone! Darian thought frantically, the alien feeling of panic beginning to well up inside of him. Closing his eyes again, the vampire got his breathing under control and forced himself to relax. Mac was tough, and resourceful, and had survived years on the street before Darian had come along to play guardian angel. Wherever she was, he was sure she'd be alright for the time being.

The fact of the matter was, Darian had a limited window of opportunity to pull off his plan, and that time was now. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way he'd be able to go searching for Mac at the moment. There was too much riding on this... Once he was finished with this bit of business, though, then he would search for the girl. With his network of contacts, and with his nearly limitless wealth, it would only be a matter of a few short days to track her down again. Pulling out his cell phone, Darian put his concern for Mac aside as he called his driver, instructing the man to return to the farmhouse.

There was work to be done.

((Finished))