![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
There was no getting through to Deirdre. It was worrying Pierre more than he could stand. And he knew there was nothing he could do. Well... there was one thing.
Pierre grabbed his mobile and found Peter's number. Thank god he'd saved it. Peter would know what to do. He was always able to help Deirdre. Always.
The phone rang...
It was past midnight, making it very early Thursday morning. Peter was awoken by the insistent ring of the telephone. His blood ran cold and his first thought that was it was Claire calling to say something had happened to Avery. He leapt out of bed and grabbed the phone in his room.
"Hello." He said, trying not to sound so sleepy.
"Peter, it's Pierre. I'm very sorry to call you so late, but I think... Deirdre needs help. More help than I can give her. She is ready to go homicidal Peter, and I do not think it is all bluffing."
"What!?" Peter said before he could stop himself. He was frantic. Not another one. Not Deirdre. Not number 7.
"Pierre...I'll be there right away. If she tried anything DON'T get in her way. Please. Don't."
"Thank you, Peter. I'll see you soon."
He hung up the phone and made his way downstairs to wait. Something told him not to switch the lights on, though he couldn't place why. Did he just not want Deirdre to know he was waiting for someone?
Or did he want to be able to surprise her if she came down?
If he didn't care so much about Deirdre, he would almost want to let her past. But that would be wrong. He couldn't lose sight of that. He couldn't.
If he did, he was no better than Tasha.
Peter ran to his closet, throwing on some clothes. Liz was waiting for him in the hall, having been awoken by the phone. "Liz. I have to go out. Watch Lydia for me, please." Liz just nodded, confused. Peter slipped into Lydia's room and kissed her forehead while she slept. He hoped he'd come back soon and everything would be allright. He hoped he'd come back at all.
Peter took Liz's car, knowing she wouldn't care and it would be faster than a taxi. He parked in front of Deirdre's house. The house was dark and foreboding. Peter swallowed his fear and walked up to the door, knocking lightly.
Stephie shut the lid of her laptop and pushed herself out of her chair, leaped off her bed and landed in the hall. "Deirdre!" she called as a warning, before banging on the door. "You don't open this I'm gonna come in anyway."
Deirdre growled and spun around, slamming the lip of her laptop shut. "GO AWAY!" she screamed and she grabbed the sides of her head. None of them understood. So much blood, so much blood.
Stephie pushed the door open anyway, closing it behind her. "Deirdre, CALM DOWN!" She said, trying to sound forceful without sounding angry.
Pierre leapt up from the couch and was at the door in an instant. "Peter," he said, giving the man what would have been a smile under different circumstances. "Thank you for coming. She's upstairs."
Deirdre's eyes were flashing black. "SHE ALMOST KILLED HIM! Fucking cunt deserves to die." Deirdre fell to the floor, her hands gripping the sides of her head. She emitted a sort of low pitched groan and then a sob escaped her throat. She pounded the floor with her hands. "FUCK IT! FUCK IT FUCKFUCKFUCK!"
Stephie dropped to the floor next to Deirdre and tried to hold her steady, dragging the girl into her lap to stop her hurting her hands. "Deirdre! Deirdre shh." She wanted to say it's alright, or it'd be alright, but she couldn't bring herself to promise anything of the sort. "Deirdre hurting yourself isn't helping, it's NOT WOTH IT! She's NOT WORTH IT! You gotta calm down, D!"
Peter nodded to Pierre and followed the boy upstairs. "Which room is hers, Pierre?"
Pierre pointed to the left of the office. "In there." As Peter moved past, Pierre laid a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, man."
Peter nodded. "It might be best if you left. If you stay here just...don't come in. No matter what you hear, stay out here."
He knocked on the door lightly and let himself into the room. Deirdre was on the floor in Steph's lap. Peter's eyes widened. Steph had no idea what she was dealing with.
"Steph...come here. Leave Deirdre on the floor and come here."
Stephie turned round and looked at Peter (who looked a little worse for wear himself, and said, incredulously. "No. I'm not gonna leave her, she's upset!"
Pierre stayed outside, but well within earshot... at least, if there was shouting. He could hear Peter's muffled voice from within...
Oh God, did he just say Steph?! Pierre's eyes widened, and he was ready to throw Peter's advice to the wind if need be... Common sense prevailed for the moment though, and he stayed back. It was Peter. He'd be able to handle this. Right?
"Stephanie...please. You don't understand. PLEASE just come here."
Deirdre's fingers tightened around Slink's leg. "Deirdre...let her go. LET HER GO!"
Stephie ignored Peter, ignored the sudden pain of Deirdre's fingernails in her leg, and pulled Deirdre up, using on of her hands to turn Deirdre's chin towards her. "D, please list-" Stephie froze. Deirdre's eyes were completely black.
Okay. Shit.
"Deirdre." she said again, quietly, as all her muscles tenced up at once.
Deirdre closed her eyes and covered her ears and screamed so loudly the house shook.
Peter's blood ran cold, hearing the scream. He was losing this. But if he grabbed Steph, that would only make Deirdre fight harder to keep her there. He took a step closer to them, extending his hand. "Steph, take my hand. Please. Just do it." He said, trying to keeo his voice as calm as possible, while still being heard over Deirdre's scream.
Pierre staggered back against the wall, his hands pressed to his ears. GodDAMN!!
He had to shake off the impact, the ringing in his ears. Had to make it to the door...
Shit.
The door wouldn't open. Even with all of his considerable strength, he couldn't make it budge. What the Hell was going on in there?!
Stephie pressed herself back against the bed, staring at Deirdre. The sound- her scream was impossibly huge and the ground underneath her was shaking? What was this? What was this? God, it felt like her ears were about to start bleeding.
Without thinking, she launched herself at Deirdre, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "DEIRDRE! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Peter groaned and without letting Deirdre react, he lunged forward, pushing Steph out of the way as Deirdre's scream escalated. Her hands shot forward to grab whomever was shaking her and the fell on Peter instead of Slink. He turned to Steph who was lying near him. "GET OUT!" He screamed at her as Deirdre tightened her grip on his arms making him cry out in pain.
Fuck it. Pierre kicked at the door with all of his strength.
Nothing.
A blow like that should have broken the door. This didn't make any sense. Well... what did you expect from a girl who lived through a full-on impaling without an extended trip to the hospital?
Stephie rolled into Deirdre's computer leg and scrambled up, never taking her eyes off the scene on the floor. There was something about this...- but she refused to think on it as Peter was yelling at her and damned if it wasn't the most serious command she'd ever heard come out of his mouth. She scrambled over the bed and made for the door, but the handle turned and nothing happened- it was stuck. "Fuck," she muttered, and turned back to Deirdre and Peter.
Deirdre kept her eyes shut and all she could see was blood red blood everywhere blood and knives and Avery and Renee DEAD and that fucking bitch was alive and laughing laughing laughing and AUGH She was going to kill her needed to kill her to make the world stop spinning make the blood stop gushing flowing everywhere red
"Oh Jesus Christ..."
The handle had turned. It had to be Slink trying to get out. It had to be. And goddamn it she was stuck inside! Why had she gone in there?!
"Slink!" Pierre yelled, for all the good it would do. This was all going to shit. And he was absolutely powerless to stop it.
Peter looked up at Slink, his eyes watering. FUCK. She couldn't get out and Deirdre was going to KILL him and she was going to have to watch him die and then she'd be next. Fuck FUCK.
Deirdre's grip on his arm tightened and tightened. He had to get her to open her eyes. She had to see that it was him and not anyone else. "Deirdre! DEIRDRE OPEN YOUR EYES! OH god..." Pain, so much pain. Ignore it. "DEIRDRE OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES!"
Stephie looked frantically around the room, desperate for something to do to snap Deirdre out of this, this fit. There was a water bottle on Deirdre's bedside table. Maybe the shock of that in her face... would that do anything to help or would that make it worse? There was no way she could know but she had to do something... She unscrewed the lid and crawled across the bed again, then upended the bottle over Deirdre's head. Please let this do something to quell her...
Deirdre refused to open her eyes, but she stopped screaming. "FUCKING KILLED HIM FUCKING....AVERY!!! It's everywhere. It's EVERYWHERE!!!" She shook Peter hard, though she didn't know who it was in her hands. In her mind, it was Tasha. She opened her eyes, and Tasha was in front of her. She sneered evilly. "I am going to kill you for what you did, Bitch!"
Something wet splashed over her head and Deirdre growled. She stood up and pulled Peter with her. She pulled him towards her so his face was centimeters from hers. "FUCK YOU!" She screamed and she threw him. She wasn't watching where she threw him, however, and he landed on the floor, his back against her bed. Then Deirdre backed up into a corner and turned away from then, banging her head against the wall.
Peter felt himself pulled up and then he was thrown backwards. He groaned as he hit the bed but it wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting. He stood, glad to be free of her grip. Deirdre was in the corner. "Deirdre...turn around and LOOK at me! Deirdre...Avery is still alive and Tasha is not HERE. Deirdre STOP."
"He's right, Deirdre!" Stephie said, coming to stnad beside Peter. "It's us, Peter and Slink, it's us! Listen!"
Deirdre stopped banging her head and she covered her ears, sinking to the floor. Loud racking sobs emerged from her body and she curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. "Everywhere. It was everywhere." She said softly. The windows started to rattle frantically in their settings but they stilled and then Deirdre fell silent.
Stephie took a step towards her, then stopped and turned her head to Peter. "She okay?"
Peter waited. He was terrfied that it was a trick. A ruse to get one of them to go over there and then she'd snap their neck like Svetlana had snapped Thomas'. Deirdre stayed still and Peter took a tentative step forward. Then he took another and another. Finally he reached her and he knelt down, pulling her into his lap. She smacked him across the face, but he ignored it.
"Deirdre. It's Peter. It's PETER. It's okay." He held her close to him and rocked her back and forth.
"She was baiting me. She wanted me to hurt her, Peter. She WANTED me to hurt her. She said Avery was crazy. She made it sound like he was better off dead. Oh god....oh god Peter....I'm so sorry..." Deirdre fell into his lap sobbing again.
Stephie breathed a massive sigh of relief and turned in a circle before sitting down, hard, on Deirdre's bed. She chuckled, breifly, out of shock and relief, then slid down next to the pair and put her hand on Deirdre's cheek, for just a moment.
Everything had died down. What did it mean? Hopefully it meant this was over, but what if...?
He had to be prepared for the worst. As Pierre turned the doorknob, he did his best to steel himself against the sight of Deirdre standing over the bloodied corpses of Peter and Slink...
But it wasn't like that. The room was in disarray, to be sure, but Deirdre was by no means a blood-soaked victor here. She was sobbing in Peter's lap in the horrid aftermath of whatever had gripped her. And Slink was there with her. They were all more or less okay. They were all alive.
Slowly, he lowered himself to the floor and put a hand on Deirdre's shoulder, the only comfort he could really offer in amongst Peter and Slink.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked softly.
Stephie nodded, silently. It was true enough for now. "Heh, sorry about the water, D."
Peter wasn't so sure everything was okay yet. He wanted to ask them to leave him with Deirdre but in this case would that really be better. He'd have to explain to Slink what she's seen. And he HAD to find out why Deirdre had slipped like this. This shouldn't have happened. She was doing so well.
He rubbed Deirdre's back and she started to calm, her sobs turning into sniffles. "W...water?" She asked Slink, opening her eyes and looking at her. She didn't remember any water. Only blood. There was only blood as far as the eye could see. But Peter noticed, with relief, that Deirdre's eyes were clear and blue.
"I think a cup of tea might be a good idea? Something...anything."
"Let's go downstairs," Pierre nodded. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around Deirdre, ready to help her up if need be, but also not wanting to spook her. "Is this okay, Deirdre?"
"Yeah, arright..." Stephie said, getting up. "Oh, hey," she said to Pierre, only just noticing him there. She blinked a couple of times then shook her head to straighten her thoughts out. They seemed to be all over the place, everything all muddly... a cup of something probably would be a good idea.
After Deirdre had nodded her assent, Peter helped Pierre help Deirdre up and then down the stairs. Peter sat Deirdre in the living room on the sofa, opting for a more comfortable place than the kitchen table. "You two can go get something if you want. I just want to speak to her alone for a minute if that's alright." He noticed the objection hiding behind Pierre's eyes.
"It will be fine, Pierre."
Pierre nodded and turned to Slink, taking her hand lightly. "Let's get something to drink," he said. "We can bring Deirdre and Peter something in a minute."
Pierre needed something to eat, too. All of this stress had left him starving.
Stephie nodded and let Pierre take her hand. "Coffee." She said. "When in doubt, coffee."
They wandered into the kitchen, and Pierre made a bee-line for the fridge.
"Coffee and... leftover pizza?" Pierre asked as he foraged about and discovered the remains of a pizza Deirdre had made. Deirdre pizza was the best kind... better than anything you could buy at a pizza shop. He didn't know if Slink would have the same hungry reaction to the situation as he did, but it seemed impolite not to ask.
As soon as the other two had left the room, Peter turned to Deirdre who was looking terribly guilty. In a small voice she asked, "Are you mad at me?"
Peter just stared at her for a second. Was this really the girl that had just attacked him. Was this the girl he had thought was going to kill him. "Yes. Yes, Deirdre. What was that up there?" He knew that it was hardly logical that she would go from being perfectly fine to that with no inbetween. "You came to see me the other day. You said you were going to tell me something and then you told me about Renee. What were you going to tell me that day, Deirdre? And don't lie this time, it won't get you anywhere. You're on thin ice as it is."
Stephie nodded, suddenly hungry. "Yeah, sounds good!" she said, reaching across the bench and picking off a peice of bacon, popping it into her mouth. "Reheat away."
Deirdre sunk back into the couch as Peter scolded her. She hated that she's disappointed him. She frowned. So he'd known that she was lying then? Damn.
"I came to see you because...because I'd been going to clubs to..." Deirdre hung her head and sighed. She felt so weak. So shaky. Images of that damn kitchen still danced in front of her eyelids and she shook her head, trying to shake them away.
"I was feeding off of people. In clubs there's so many people, so much energy it's like it floats in the air. I can feel it and feed off it and it doesn't hurt ANYone! But then...then I started needing it. I wanted it all the time. And I took it from people. People in the shopping market, people in Renee's ward...I'm...I'm as terrible as Josie is!"
Pierre smiled for the first time in too long and piled the pizza into the microwave, practically drooling at the smell of it.
"I'm glad you're okay, Slink," he said as the pizza rotated behind him. "I was really worried about you. When I couldn't get in there..."
"Deirdre..." Peter was horrified. And she'd TRIED to tell him and he'd been fucking DRUNK. Goddammit. Well he certainly knew NOW didn't he.
"And you hadn't...you hadn't done that tonight had you?" Deirdre shook her head. Withdrawl and trauma and some stupid ignorant person baiting her. Of course.
"I wouldn't have killed Tasha! I just wanted to SCARE her is all, I swear!" Deirdre said, her voice high pitched. "But then all I saw her blood and her and the blood was everywhere and she was taunting me...."
"Deirdre, stop. I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were smarter than this." She looked so upset, and she shrunk back smaller and smaller into the couch.
"I understand that you slipped. It's normal to screw up, but do you see what happens when YOU screw up? You have a great responsibility Deirdre. Greater than most people. You CAN'T mess around with things. No going to clubs." She opened her mouth to object. "Deirdre. No."
Deirdre nodded. He was right. It would be too risky. "I'm terrible. I'm a terrible person. I am so sorry, Peter. Did I hurt you?" She couldn't remember. Had she hurt Pierre or Slink!?
Stephie shrugged, watching the pizza instead of Pierre. "No biggie. I've seen people angry like that before, heh," she rolled her eyes and smiled wryly. "I've been angry like that before. It was just... a bit of a shock to have it coming from Deirdre."
Peter looked down. Every muscle in his body hurt but she didn't need to feel MORE guilty. "I'll be fine, Deirdre. You're not a terrible person. You're not like Josie. You want to be good and you want to change but, Deirdre...you can't mess up again. You can't. I...I don't want to lose you too, Deirdre. Please."
Deirdre nodded. "I won't. I'll try harder. I'll stop everything bad, I WILL. When I was with Renee I didn't want to. I didn't even remember I did it. She made it better."
Peter knew that Deirdre had said it to reassure him, but Peter wasn't so sure that was a good thing. That was just going from one addiction to another. "Deirdre, I am glad that she makes it better, but you need to be better yourself. Renee has her own life and her own worries. You can't trust that she'll be there all the time. Do you understand?"
Deirdre nodded. That made sense. Renee couldn't be responsible for this. What if they argued. What if she...oh god, not again. Not Renee.
"I understand. It's going to be hard. Will-will you help me?"
Pierre nodded. "I know what you mean." All too well. He'd seen this before...
The microwave beeped, and he didn't have to think about those things anymore. He served up the pizza, and handed the nicer looking half to Slink.
"Anger is such a useless emotion," he said, half to himself. "I wish I didn't let Tasha make me so angry. I understand how Deirdre felt, especially since she's so much closer to Avery than... well, anyone except for Jake and Jack, really."
"Of course I will." Peter sighed. Everything was going to change now. Deirdre had taken one step down a very bad road and it was much harder to go backward than forward. He still believed that she was a good person and that she could do it, but it would be 10 times harder, if not more. He didn't even want to imagine what would have happened had Pierre not called him. What could have happened to Steph.
"Peter..." Deirdre looked into his eyes and then leaned up and against him, making him wince in pain but she didn't notice. "There was so much blood. I couldn't let them clean it up. I didn't realise it would make me so sad. I didn't realise...it was...it was everywhere. I kept pouring it away and pouring it away and there was more and more...Avery..."
Stephie nodded. "I know, it's stupid. Anger, I mean." She took a bite of the pizza and chewed it over for a moment. "God, poor D. Poor Avery. This is insa- EW! Pineapple." She pulled a face. "You think we should take them something to eat?"
Peter put his arms around Deirdre. "He'll be okay, Deirdre. And then you can tell him how much he is loved and needed here. You can't do anything until then. It was very sweet of you to do that for Avery's family. Very thoughtful. You had no way of knowing what would happen. And I am sorry that this Tasha girl wouldn't leave you alone. You need to ignore her. Don't listen to a word she says from here on. You're a demon, Deirdre. You can't do things like other people do. Other people would get mad and punch a pillow and it would be over. You can't let yourself get mad because you'll cause real damage. Let your friends take care of you. And LISTEN to them.
Pierre nodded his assent, as his mouth was currently full of pizza. He grabbed their drinks in one hand, piled the last of the pizza onto a plate, and turned towards the living room...
"Don't listen to a word she says from here on. You're a demon, Deirdre. You can't do things like other people do. Other people would get mad and punch a pillow and it would be over. You can't let yourself get mad because you'll cause real damage. Let your friends take care of you. And LISTEN to them."
"Um." Stephie said, standing in the living room doorway with a coffee clasped in her hands. She shook her head slightly, unable to ignore what she'd just heard. "What?"
Peter and Deirdre both looked up at once.
Bollocks
"Come sit down, Steph. Pierre." Peter cleared his throat. "Do you remember what you saw up there? Did any of it seem odd to you?"
Deirdre looked at Peter oddly. Was he going to tell Slink about this?! She supposed he was. Pierre already knew. Slink could keep a secret. It would be okay....she hoped.
"Odd?" Stephie echoed, sitting down in one of the armchairs. "The whole thing seemed odd! But no, okay. I know what you mean. Um, yeah. Odd." She looked over at Deirdre and gave her a half smile, then finished off the last of her pizza.
Pierre absently placed the food and drink on the table, all but forgotten. This situation was almost as heavy as the one upstairs. Silently, he sat down to listen, and offer support wherever it was needed.
The cat was most definitely out of the bag.
Peter sighed. Steph needed to know. If she was going to be stubborn and force herself on to people, she needed to know what she was dealing with. He had to admit that he admired her for being so loyal to Deirdre, but it wasn't the right track to deal with her. Anyone else, yes. A demon, no.
But how do you just say 'hey, your housemate is a demon. Have a nice life.' It's not so simple. But he HAD to make her understand.
"Well you already heard what I said to Deirdre. And it's true. She's not the same as you or me or Pierre. She's stronger, faster...and she has more of a temper. She's controlled it very well up til now. She explained to be why she slipped this once, and it shouldn't happen again." He cast Deirdre a stern look. "But if it does, please...don't repeat what happened tonight. Leave her alone and call me. You're only endangering yourself by staying with her. When she gets like what happened tonight, she doesn't realise what is going on or who is with her. It's dangerous." He turned to Deirdre. "Is there anything you want to say?"
Deirdre shrugged. "Just...that I'm sorry. It won't happen again. It WON'T. I didn't mean it." She looked away and heaved a sigh.
Stephie rearranged herself, folding her legs underneath her then settling back down. Okay, clearly something was being left out here, and it did seem completely ridiculous... but not if she thought about it. Not if she thought about the boy with wings and the ghost in the attic. She looked over at Deirdre, all small and still damp and Deirdrelike on the couch, but it hadn't been a trick of the light this time: Deirdre's eyes were blue and there was no way she could have mistaken them for black. Stephie looked over at Peter. "Still, calling her a demon is a bit harsh." she said, testing the waters around the subject.
Father Peter smiled in spite of himself. "No, Slink. That's what she is. I wasn't being rude or anything."
Stephie stared at Peter for a moment, then raised two fingers to make horns on her forhead, and looked at them both questioningly.
Deirdre looked away. "I can show you if you want. But I don't want you to be afraid of me, Steph."
"D, you're still D, whatever else, you know." Stephie waved her hands about in the air, having a temporary vocab blank. "I'm not going to be afraid of you."
"So you want me to show you?" Deirdre asked and she looked at Peter. Even he looked slightly trepidatious. She wondered if he'd ever seen a demon's wings before.
"Yeah, go on then." Stephie edged forward a little on her seat, leaning towards Deirdre like this was the climax of a thriller movie- she caught herself thinking this way and tried not to be so obviously- what? Enthralled or cynical?
Deirdre nodded and then she stood up. She'd only made her wings show up once more since Josie at the ward. And then, only to see if she could do it whenever she wanted to. After that she'd tried to forget about them. But if Steph needed proof, she needed proof. And she'd seen Avery's wings. It was only fair....
Deirdre concentrated, and a cold wind blew into the room. She closed her eyes and then with a POP she knew that they could see her wings. She opened her eyes, which she knew would now be black again. But she didn't mean them any harm, so she made it all disappear quickly. She didn't want to see the fear in their faces for any longer than she had to.
It was done.
Pierre leaned forward, immensely curious. He didn't want to make Deirdre feel like some sort of side-show freak, but he couldn't help it. This was something entirely new to him. If he'd had any kind of doubts left about... all of this, they were gone now. Pierre believed.
"Do they work?" he asked, looking into her eyes, trying to show that he wasn't afraid of her, that things were okay. "I mean... can you actually fly?"
Peter just took one look at her with her wings and her eyes and then he looked away. He'd seen too much of it to want to see it again. Sure he'd never seen a demon's wings before, but he knew enough to never want to see them again.
"I don't know, Pierre. I-I guess."
"Woah." Stephie remained frozen in her seat, unable to take her eyes off Deirdre. That temporary loss of vocabulary seemed to have come back, and all she was able to do was ogle Deirdre, wings and eyes and- what could she call that? Her glow? But it wasn't really a glow, it was a shift in the light, a change in the air around her that Ry would probably have a lot of pretentious multi-sylable words for, but all Stephie could come up with was: "Okay, wow."
As everything faded back to normal, Stephie became aware of a niggling sensation in the back of her mind, reminiscent of some memory. She found herself thinking of Jude, remembering the feeling she'd picked up from Jude's letters that maybe something wasn't quite right here. A feeling she'd ignored out of selfishness because she hadn't wanted it to be true. This- with Deirdre- was kind of like finding out that Jude was actually a little rich girl: it was actually pretty cool on the surface but there was this massively dangerous undercurrant just waiting... Not to mention both revelations had completely flipped her world view and she was going to have to reassess everything. Again.
But no, maybe that niggling feeling was everything suddenly piecing itself together. Either she was in more shock that she was letting herself believe or, somehow, she'd been subconsciously reassessing her world since- since when? Since Avery? Since Dennis? Before that, even? Or was all that in her imagination.
"That was," Stephie searched for the right word, "kind of crazy. Heh."
Deirdre just nodded and collapsed back onto the couch again. She wanted it to go away. She wanted all of it to go away.
"Oh D," Stephie said tenderly, slid off the chair and sat down next to her friend. "It's alright, see, not scared." She gave Deirdre a grin.
Pierre moved closer to Deirdre and carefully wrapped an arm around her. She was under control now, he knew it. He just didn't want to be intrusive. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know," he said quietly.
Peter sat back, letting Deirdre's friends take care of her. He'd said what he needed to say.
"I am ashamed." Deirdre said quietly. Peter slid forward in his seat.
"Deirdre. We're all still here. We wouldn't be if we didn't love you. It will be all right" he said, softly.
"Peter's got a point, D." Stephie nodded, taking her hand. How on earth was a hand this dainty so strong?
"I love you," Pierre told her gently, holding her closer.
Deirdre looked up at her friends. She really COULD trust them with anything. She couldn't imagine what they thought of her...of what she'd just done. But Peter was right. They were still here. They hadn't run away screaming or anything.
"Okay. I love you too, Pierre." She held Slink's hand tightly, but not overly so. Not like Peter's arms. "Neither of you are allowed near knives and that is final."
Pierre gave Deirdre a small smile. "I never did like knives. Done."
"Okay, sure." Stephie aggred, patting her hand with the one not holding Deirdre's. "Not even when we're cutting up our dinner. We shall use spoons."
"And possibly sporks. Because I have decided. No more freinds impaling themselves and cutting their own throats." Deirdre put her face in her hands, but she didn't cry.
"Yes. Very sound advice." Stephie nodded.
Peter wasn't sure what he should do now. He knew that Deirdre no longer posed a threat and he knew that she was probably better off in the care of her friends. He wasn't sure, however, how Steph and Pierre would feel without him there.
"Before I forget...Steph, Pierre, Deirdre told me about your involvement in saving my daughter. I don't have words enough to thank you, but know that I am incredibly grateful. What you did was very brave and I won't forget it. That being said, would you like me to stay here for awhile or would you like time alone with Deirdre?"
"It's nothing," Stephie told Peter, "what's a trip to Paris without solving a good kidnapping? And, uh, I don't know. What do you want, D? And, uhm... what are we going to do about Jude?"
Pierre smiled at Peter. "You're welcome. I'm glad we could help. We should let you rest. You'll be okay with us, right Deirdre?"
He was glad that Peter was thankful and appreciated what they'd done for Lydia. He would hate to think that Peter thought they'd somehow endangered the girl or something. Parents could be weird, after all. Just look at Renee's.
Deirdre just nodded to Pierre and Slink. She'd be fine without Peter there. Now anyway. If he hadn't been there before...
"Don't...don't tell Jude. I don't want her to know. Or Ry. Or anyone. Please..?"
Peter stood rather painfully and looked around at them. "I think it's best for Deirdre to tell the people she wants to know, unless not knowing would endanger them. If Jude would stick around with Deirdre being like she was tonight, then perhaps she should be told sometime. If she would leave, then it is up to Deirdre. I'll see you all very soon."
He moved over to Pierre and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You did the right thing, calling me, Pierre. Thank you." He turned to Deirdre. "Call me, anytime, Deirdre. About anything." he waved to them and made his way out to Liz's car.
Once behind the wheel, with the doors closed, he let go of all his pretenses that hide the pain he was in. He slid down into the seat, moaning. He wondered how he would even get home considering his arms felt useless. In the end, he sat there for an hour before he could manage just to sit up straight and lift his arms to the wheel. He drove home slowly, as corners were quite perilous. Once home, he made his way into the house and up to his bed, where he collapsed.
Pierre would have patted Peter on the back as he left, but stopped himself at the last moment, not wanting to hurt the man. It was quite plain to see that he was pretty tender all over after whatever it was that had happened in Deirdre's room.
"Don't worry, Deirdre," he said soothingly. "We won't tell anyone about this. It's your decision to make, and nobody else's."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone, I swear." Stephie said, seriously. "I just thought... what if something like this happens again and, say, Jude's the only one home and she reacts like I did and there's no Peter this time? I'm just... worried, you know?"
Deirdre nodded. "I know. But Jude doesn't like it when people get emotional. Usually she leaves at the first sign of that. I'm not to worried about her sticking around. Like you did. Thank you, Steph. Thank you for trying to help me. And...I'm sorry for not being helpable. But...that won't happen again. It WON'T." She said firmly, hoping it was true.
"But you were helpable," Pierre said. "I knew Peter could do it. He's always looked after you."
He sat down next to Deirdre once more, trying to comfort her. "I know you're worried about hurting us. But Slink, Peter and I, and you... we all know what we are dealing with now. And that will help us. I think... things will be better now, Deirdre. And we know who to call if something does go wrong."
He leaned over to hug her, much closer this time. "It really will be okay."
"Alright," Stephie said, still a bit uneasy. But thinking about it, maybe it was a good thing, at least for now. She knew what Jude's schedule was like this week and adding more stuff to her already overcrowded brain might be a bit much. Not that she really understood what was going on inside Jude's head these days- she only knew it was bad, potentially really really bad, and, well, thinking her flatmate was a demon might make her think she was actually crazy. "And, that's okay, about the helping. I just did, well, what I did." She shrugged and smiled at Deirdre.
Deirdre looked at Pierre, so much love and affection in her eyes. He was her rock. She scooted next to him and curled up in his lap. "Thank you. Both of you."
She sighed and then said "I miss Avery" before falling asleep in Pierre's lap.
"You're welcome," Pierre replied quietly. He stroked Deirdre's hair softly as she curled up in his lap, falling asleep almost instantly. She looked so peaceful now, so vulnerable. Nothing like the black-eyed, winged creature she was able to become at will. It made him wonder if that creature was within them all... not physically like it was with Deirdre, but buried deep within their hearts. It would certainly explain why there could be people like Tasha... not that there was much burying going on there.
He didn't want to move and disturb Deirdre, so he just let her sleep there in his lap, all the while still stroking her hair.
Pierre grabbed his mobile and found Peter's number. Thank god he'd saved it. Peter would know what to do. He was always able to help Deirdre. Always.
The phone rang...
It was past midnight, making it very early Thursday morning. Peter was awoken by the insistent ring of the telephone. His blood ran cold and his first thought that was it was Claire calling to say something had happened to Avery. He leapt out of bed and grabbed the phone in his room.
"Hello." He said, trying not to sound so sleepy.
"Peter, it's Pierre. I'm very sorry to call you so late, but I think... Deirdre needs help. More help than I can give her. She is ready to go homicidal Peter, and I do not think it is all bluffing."
"What!?" Peter said before he could stop himself. He was frantic. Not another one. Not Deirdre. Not number 7.
"Pierre...I'll be there right away. If she tried anything DON'T get in her way. Please. Don't."
"Thank you, Peter. I'll see you soon."
He hung up the phone and made his way downstairs to wait. Something told him not to switch the lights on, though he couldn't place why. Did he just not want Deirdre to know he was waiting for someone?
Or did he want to be able to surprise her if she came down?
If he didn't care so much about Deirdre, he would almost want to let her past. But that would be wrong. He couldn't lose sight of that. He couldn't.
If he did, he was no better than Tasha.
Peter ran to his closet, throwing on some clothes. Liz was waiting for him in the hall, having been awoken by the phone. "Liz. I have to go out. Watch Lydia for me, please." Liz just nodded, confused. Peter slipped into Lydia's room and kissed her forehead while she slept. He hoped he'd come back soon and everything would be allright. He hoped he'd come back at all.
Peter took Liz's car, knowing she wouldn't care and it would be faster than a taxi. He parked in front of Deirdre's house. The house was dark and foreboding. Peter swallowed his fear and walked up to the door, knocking lightly.
Stephie shut the lid of her laptop and pushed herself out of her chair, leaped off her bed and landed in the hall. "Deirdre!" she called as a warning, before banging on the door. "You don't open this I'm gonna come in anyway."
Deirdre growled and spun around, slamming the lip of her laptop shut. "GO AWAY!" she screamed and she grabbed the sides of her head. None of them understood. So much blood, so much blood.
Stephie pushed the door open anyway, closing it behind her. "Deirdre, CALM DOWN!" She said, trying to sound forceful without sounding angry.
Pierre leapt up from the couch and was at the door in an instant. "Peter," he said, giving the man what would have been a smile under different circumstances. "Thank you for coming. She's upstairs."
Deirdre's eyes were flashing black. "SHE ALMOST KILLED HIM! Fucking cunt deserves to die." Deirdre fell to the floor, her hands gripping the sides of her head. She emitted a sort of low pitched groan and then a sob escaped her throat. She pounded the floor with her hands. "FUCK IT! FUCK IT FUCKFUCKFUCK!"
Stephie dropped to the floor next to Deirdre and tried to hold her steady, dragging the girl into her lap to stop her hurting her hands. "Deirdre! Deirdre shh." She wanted to say it's alright, or it'd be alright, but she couldn't bring herself to promise anything of the sort. "Deirdre hurting yourself isn't helping, it's NOT WOTH IT! She's NOT WORTH IT! You gotta calm down, D!"
Peter nodded to Pierre and followed the boy upstairs. "Which room is hers, Pierre?"
Pierre pointed to the left of the office. "In there." As Peter moved past, Pierre laid a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, man."
Peter nodded. "It might be best if you left. If you stay here just...don't come in. No matter what you hear, stay out here."
He knocked on the door lightly and let himself into the room. Deirdre was on the floor in Steph's lap. Peter's eyes widened. Steph had no idea what she was dealing with.
"Steph...come here. Leave Deirdre on the floor and come here."
Stephie turned round and looked at Peter (who looked a little worse for wear himself, and said, incredulously. "No. I'm not gonna leave her, she's upset!"
Pierre stayed outside, but well within earshot... at least, if there was shouting. He could hear Peter's muffled voice from within...
Oh God, did he just say Steph?! Pierre's eyes widened, and he was ready to throw Peter's advice to the wind if need be... Common sense prevailed for the moment though, and he stayed back. It was Peter. He'd be able to handle this. Right?
"Stephanie...please. You don't understand. PLEASE just come here."
Deirdre's fingers tightened around Slink's leg. "Deirdre...let her go. LET HER GO!"
Stephie ignored Peter, ignored the sudden pain of Deirdre's fingernails in her leg, and pulled Deirdre up, using on of her hands to turn Deirdre's chin towards her. "D, please list-" Stephie froze. Deirdre's eyes were completely black.
Okay. Shit.
"Deirdre." she said again, quietly, as all her muscles tenced up at once.
Deirdre closed her eyes and covered her ears and screamed so loudly the house shook.
Peter's blood ran cold, hearing the scream. He was losing this. But if he grabbed Steph, that would only make Deirdre fight harder to keep her there. He took a step closer to them, extending his hand. "Steph, take my hand. Please. Just do it." He said, trying to keeo his voice as calm as possible, while still being heard over Deirdre's scream.
Pierre staggered back against the wall, his hands pressed to his ears. GodDAMN!!
He had to shake off the impact, the ringing in his ears. Had to make it to the door...
Shit.
The door wouldn't open. Even with all of his considerable strength, he couldn't make it budge. What the Hell was going on in there?!
Stephie pressed herself back against the bed, staring at Deirdre. The sound- her scream was impossibly huge and the ground underneath her was shaking? What was this? What was this? God, it felt like her ears were about to start bleeding.
Without thinking, she launched herself at Deirdre, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "DEIRDRE! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Peter groaned and without letting Deirdre react, he lunged forward, pushing Steph out of the way as Deirdre's scream escalated. Her hands shot forward to grab whomever was shaking her and the fell on Peter instead of Slink. He turned to Steph who was lying near him. "GET OUT!" He screamed at her as Deirdre tightened her grip on his arms making him cry out in pain.
Fuck it. Pierre kicked at the door with all of his strength.
Nothing.
A blow like that should have broken the door. This didn't make any sense. Well... what did you expect from a girl who lived through a full-on impaling without an extended trip to the hospital?
Stephie rolled into Deirdre's computer leg and scrambled up, never taking her eyes off the scene on the floor. There was something about this...- but she refused to think on it as Peter was yelling at her and damned if it wasn't the most serious command she'd ever heard come out of his mouth. She scrambled over the bed and made for the door, but the handle turned and nothing happened- it was stuck. "Fuck," she muttered, and turned back to Deirdre and Peter.
Deirdre kept her eyes shut and all she could see was blood red blood everywhere blood and knives and Avery and Renee DEAD and that fucking bitch was alive and laughing laughing laughing and AUGH She was going to kill her needed to kill her to make the world stop spinning make the blood stop gushing flowing everywhere red
"Oh Jesus Christ..."
The handle had turned. It had to be Slink trying to get out. It had to be. And goddamn it she was stuck inside! Why had she gone in there?!
"Slink!" Pierre yelled, for all the good it would do. This was all going to shit. And he was absolutely powerless to stop it.
Peter looked up at Slink, his eyes watering. FUCK. She couldn't get out and Deirdre was going to KILL him and she was going to have to watch him die and then she'd be next. Fuck FUCK.
Deirdre's grip on his arm tightened and tightened. He had to get her to open her eyes. She had to see that it was him and not anyone else. "Deirdre! DEIRDRE OPEN YOUR EYES! OH god..." Pain, so much pain. Ignore it. "DEIRDRE OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES!"
Stephie looked frantically around the room, desperate for something to do to snap Deirdre out of this, this fit. There was a water bottle on Deirdre's bedside table. Maybe the shock of that in her face... would that do anything to help or would that make it worse? There was no way she could know but she had to do something... She unscrewed the lid and crawled across the bed again, then upended the bottle over Deirdre's head. Please let this do something to quell her...
Deirdre refused to open her eyes, but she stopped screaming. "FUCKING KILLED HIM FUCKING....AVERY!!! It's everywhere. It's EVERYWHERE!!!" She shook Peter hard, though she didn't know who it was in her hands. In her mind, it was Tasha. She opened her eyes, and Tasha was in front of her. She sneered evilly. "I am going to kill you for what you did, Bitch!"
Something wet splashed over her head and Deirdre growled. She stood up and pulled Peter with her. She pulled him towards her so his face was centimeters from hers. "FUCK YOU!" She screamed and she threw him. She wasn't watching where she threw him, however, and he landed on the floor, his back against her bed. Then Deirdre backed up into a corner and turned away from then, banging her head against the wall.
Peter felt himself pulled up and then he was thrown backwards. He groaned as he hit the bed but it wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting. He stood, glad to be free of her grip. Deirdre was in the corner. "Deirdre...turn around and LOOK at me! Deirdre...Avery is still alive and Tasha is not HERE. Deirdre STOP."
"He's right, Deirdre!" Stephie said, coming to stnad beside Peter. "It's us, Peter and Slink, it's us! Listen!"
Deirdre stopped banging her head and she covered her ears, sinking to the floor. Loud racking sobs emerged from her body and she curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. "Everywhere. It was everywhere." She said softly. The windows started to rattle frantically in their settings but they stilled and then Deirdre fell silent.
Stephie took a step towards her, then stopped and turned her head to Peter. "She okay?"
Peter waited. He was terrfied that it was a trick. A ruse to get one of them to go over there and then she'd snap their neck like Svetlana had snapped Thomas'. Deirdre stayed still and Peter took a tentative step forward. Then he took another and another. Finally he reached her and he knelt down, pulling her into his lap. She smacked him across the face, but he ignored it.
"Deirdre. It's Peter. It's PETER. It's okay." He held her close to him and rocked her back and forth.
"She was baiting me. She wanted me to hurt her, Peter. She WANTED me to hurt her. She said Avery was crazy. She made it sound like he was better off dead. Oh god....oh god Peter....I'm so sorry..." Deirdre fell into his lap sobbing again.
Stephie breathed a massive sigh of relief and turned in a circle before sitting down, hard, on Deirdre's bed. She chuckled, breifly, out of shock and relief, then slid down next to the pair and put her hand on Deirdre's cheek, for just a moment.
Everything had died down. What did it mean? Hopefully it meant this was over, but what if...?
He had to be prepared for the worst. As Pierre turned the doorknob, he did his best to steel himself against the sight of Deirdre standing over the bloodied corpses of Peter and Slink...
But it wasn't like that. The room was in disarray, to be sure, but Deirdre was by no means a blood-soaked victor here. She was sobbing in Peter's lap in the horrid aftermath of whatever had gripped her. And Slink was there with her. They were all more or less okay. They were all alive.
Slowly, he lowered himself to the floor and put a hand on Deirdre's shoulder, the only comfort he could really offer in amongst Peter and Slink.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked softly.
Stephie nodded, silently. It was true enough for now. "Heh, sorry about the water, D."
Peter wasn't so sure everything was okay yet. He wanted to ask them to leave him with Deirdre but in this case would that really be better. He'd have to explain to Slink what she's seen. And he HAD to find out why Deirdre had slipped like this. This shouldn't have happened. She was doing so well.
He rubbed Deirdre's back and she started to calm, her sobs turning into sniffles. "W...water?" She asked Slink, opening her eyes and looking at her. She didn't remember any water. Only blood. There was only blood as far as the eye could see. But Peter noticed, with relief, that Deirdre's eyes were clear and blue.
"I think a cup of tea might be a good idea? Something...anything."
"Let's go downstairs," Pierre nodded. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around Deirdre, ready to help her up if need be, but also not wanting to spook her. "Is this okay, Deirdre?"
"Yeah, arright..." Stephie said, getting up. "Oh, hey," she said to Pierre, only just noticing him there. She blinked a couple of times then shook her head to straighten her thoughts out. They seemed to be all over the place, everything all muddly... a cup of something probably would be a good idea.
After Deirdre had nodded her assent, Peter helped Pierre help Deirdre up and then down the stairs. Peter sat Deirdre in the living room on the sofa, opting for a more comfortable place than the kitchen table. "You two can go get something if you want. I just want to speak to her alone for a minute if that's alright." He noticed the objection hiding behind Pierre's eyes.
"It will be fine, Pierre."
Pierre nodded and turned to Slink, taking her hand lightly. "Let's get something to drink," he said. "We can bring Deirdre and Peter something in a minute."
Pierre needed something to eat, too. All of this stress had left him starving.
Stephie nodded and let Pierre take her hand. "Coffee." She said. "When in doubt, coffee."
They wandered into the kitchen, and Pierre made a bee-line for the fridge.
"Coffee and... leftover pizza?" Pierre asked as he foraged about and discovered the remains of a pizza Deirdre had made. Deirdre pizza was the best kind... better than anything you could buy at a pizza shop. He didn't know if Slink would have the same hungry reaction to the situation as he did, but it seemed impolite not to ask.
As soon as the other two had left the room, Peter turned to Deirdre who was looking terribly guilty. In a small voice she asked, "Are you mad at me?"
Peter just stared at her for a second. Was this really the girl that had just attacked him. Was this the girl he had thought was going to kill him. "Yes. Yes, Deirdre. What was that up there?" He knew that it was hardly logical that she would go from being perfectly fine to that with no inbetween. "You came to see me the other day. You said you were going to tell me something and then you told me about Renee. What were you going to tell me that day, Deirdre? And don't lie this time, it won't get you anywhere. You're on thin ice as it is."
Stephie nodded, suddenly hungry. "Yeah, sounds good!" she said, reaching across the bench and picking off a peice of bacon, popping it into her mouth. "Reheat away."
Deirdre sunk back into the couch as Peter scolded her. She hated that she's disappointed him. She frowned. So he'd known that she was lying then? Damn.
"I came to see you because...because I'd been going to clubs to..." Deirdre hung her head and sighed. She felt so weak. So shaky. Images of that damn kitchen still danced in front of her eyelids and she shook her head, trying to shake them away.
"I was feeding off of people. In clubs there's so many people, so much energy it's like it floats in the air. I can feel it and feed off it and it doesn't hurt ANYone! But then...then I started needing it. I wanted it all the time. And I took it from people. People in the shopping market, people in Renee's ward...I'm...I'm as terrible as Josie is!"
Pierre smiled for the first time in too long and piled the pizza into the microwave, practically drooling at the smell of it.
"I'm glad you're okay, Slink," he said as the pizza rotated behind him. "I was really worried about you. When I couldn't get in there..."
"Deirdre..." Peter was horrified. And she'd TRIED to tell him and he'd been fucking DRUNK. Goddammit. Well he certainly knew NOW didn't he.
"And you hadn't...you hadn't done that tonight had you?" Deirdre shook her head. Withdrawl and trauma and some stupid ignorant person baiting her. Of course.
"I wouldn't have killed Tasha! I just wanted to SCARE her is all, I swear!" Deirdre said, her voice high pitched. "But then all I saw her blood and her and the blood was everywhere and she was taunting me...."
"Deirdre, stop. I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were smarter than this." She looked so upset, and she shrunk back smaller and smaller into the couch.
"I understand that you slipped. It's normal to screw up, but do you see what happens when YOU screw up? You have a great responsibility Deirdre. Greater than most people. You CAN'T mess around with things. No going to clubs." She opened her mouth to object. "Deirdre. No."
Deirdre nodded. He was right. It would be too risky. "I'm terrible. I'm a terrible person. I am so sorry, Peter. Did I hurt you?" She couldn't remember. Had she hurt Pierre or Slink!?
Stephie shrugged, watching the pizza instead of Pierre. "No biggie. I've seen people angry like that before, heh," she rolled her eyes and smiled wryly. "I've been angry like that before. It was just... a bit of a shock to have it coming from Deirdre."
Peter looked down. Every muscle in his body hurt but she didn't need to feel MORE guilty. "I'll be fine, Deirdre. You're not a terrible person. You're not like Josie. You want to be good and you want to change but, Deirdre...you can't mess up again. You can't. I...I don't want to lose you too, Deirdre. Please."
Deirdre nodded. "I won't. I'll try harder. I'll stop everything bad, I WILL. When I was with Renee I didn't want to. I didn't even remember I did it. She made it better."
Peter knew that Deirdre had said it to reassure him, but Peter wasn't so sure that was a good thing. That was just going from one addiction to another. "Deirdre, I am glad that she makes it better, but you need to be better yourself. Renee has her own life and her own worries. You can't trust that she'll be there all the time. Do you understand?"
Deirdre nodded. That made sense. Renee couldn't be responsible for this. What if they argued. What if she...oh god, not again. Not Renee.
"I understand. It's going to be hard. Will-will you help me?"
Pierre nodded. "I know what you mean." All too well. He'd seen this before...
The microwave beeped, and he didn't have to think about those things anymore. He served up the pizza, and handed the nicer looking half to Slink.
"Anger is such a useless emotion," he said, half to himself. "I wish I didn't let Tasha make me so angry. I understand how Deirdre felt, especially since she's so much closer to Avery than... well, anyone except for Jake and Jack, really."
"Of course I will." Peter sighed. Everything was going to change now. Deirdre had taken one step down a very bad road and it was much harder to go backward than forward. He still believed that she was a good person and that she could do it, but it would be 10 times harder, if not more. He didn't even want to imagine what would have happened had Pierre not called him. What could have happened to Steph.
"Peter..." Deirdre looked into his eyes and then leaned up and against him, making him wince in pain but she didn't notice. "There was so much blood. I couldn't let them clean it up. I didn't realise it would make me so sad. I didn't realise...it was...it was everywhere. I kept pouring it away and pouring it away and there was more and more...Avery..."
Stephie nodded. "I know, it's stupid. Anger, I mean." She took a bite of the pizza and chewed it over for a moment. "God, poor D. Poor Avery. This is insa- EW! Pineapple." She pulled a face. "You think we should take them something to eat?"
Peter put his arms around Deirdre. "He'll be okay, Deirdre. And then you can tell him how much he is loved and needed here. You can't do anything until then. It was very sweet of you to do that for Avery's family. Very thoughtful. You had no way of knowing what would happen. And I am sorry that this Tasha girl wouldn't leave you alone. You need to ignore her. Don't listen to a word she says from here on. You're a demon, Deirdre. You can't do things like other people do. Other people would get mad and punch a pillow and it would be over. You can't let yourself get mad because you'll cause real damage. Let your friends take care of you. And LISTEN to them.
Pierre nodded his assent, as his mouth was currently full of pizza. He grabbed their drinks in one hand, piled the last of the pizza onto a plate, and turned towards the living room...
"Don't listen to a word she says from here on. You're a demon, Deirdre. You can't do things like other people do. Other people would get mad and punch a pillow and it would be over. You can't let yourself get mad because you'll cause real damage. Let your friends take care of you. And LISTEN to them."
"Um." Stephie said, standing in the living room doorway with a coffee clasped in her hands. She shook her head slightly, unable to ignore what she'd just heard. "What?"
Peter and Deirdre both looked up at once.
Bollocks
"Come sit down, Steph. Pierre." Peter cleared his throat. "Do you remember what you saw up there? Did any of it seem odd to you?"
Deirdre looked at Peter oddly. Was he going to tell Slink about this?! She supposed he was. Pierre already knew. Slink could keep a secret. It would be okay....she hoped.
"Odd?" Stephie echoed, sitting down in one of the armchairs. "The whole thing seemed odd! But no, okay. I know what you mean. Um, yeah. Odd." She looked over at Deirdre and gave her a half smile, then finished off the last of her pizza.
Pierre absently placed the food and drink on the table, all but forgotten. This situation was almost as heavy as the one upstairs. Silently, he sat down to listen, and offer support wherever it was needed.
The cat was most definitely out of the bag.
Peter sighed. Steph needed to know. If she was going to be stubborn and force herself on to people, she needed to know what she was dealing with. He had to admit that he admired her for being so loyal to Deirdre, but it wasn't the right track to deal with her. Anyone else, yes. A demon, no.
But how do you just say 'hey, your housemate is a demon. Have a nice life.' It's not so simple. But he HAD to make her understand.
"Well you already heard what I said to Deirdre. And it's true. She's not the same as you or me or Pierre. She's stronger, faster...and she has more of a temper. She's controlled it very well up til now. She explained to be why she slipped this once, and it shouldn't happen again." He cast Deirdre a stern look. "But if it does, please...don't repeat what happened tonight. Leave her alone and call me. You're only endangering yourself by staying with her. When she gets like what happened tonight, she doesn't realise what is going on or who is with her. It's dangerous." He turned to Deirdre. "Is there anything you want to say?"
Deirdre shrugged. "Just...that I'm sorry. It won't happen again. It WON'T. I didn't mean it." She looked away and heaved a sigh.
Stephie rearranged herself, folding her legs underneath her then settling back down. Okay, clearly something was being left out here, and it did seem completely ridiculous... but not if she thought about it. Not if she thought about the boy with wings and the ghost in the attic. She looked over at Deirdre, all small and still damp and Deirdrelike on the couch, but it hadn't been a trick of the light this time: Deirdre's eyes were blue and there was no way she could have mistaken them for black. Stephie looked over at Peter. "Still, calling her a demon is a bit harsh." she said, testing the waters around the subject.
Father Peter smiled in spite of himself. "No, Slink. That's what she is. I wasn't being rude or anything."
Stephie stared at Peter for a moment, then raised two fingers to make horns on her forhead, and looked at them both questioningly.
Deirdre looked away. "I can show you if you want. But I don't want you to be afraid of me, Steph."
"D, you're still D, whatever else, you know." Stephie waved her hands about in the air, having a temporary vocab blank. "I'm not going to be afraid of you."
"So you want me to show you?" Deirdre asked and she looked at Peter. Even he looked slightly trepidatious. She wondered if he'd ever seen a demon's wings before.
"Yeah, go on then." Stephie edged forward a little on her seat, leaning towards Deirdre like this was the climax of a thriller movie- she caught herself thinking this way and tried not to be so obviously- what? Enthralled or cynical?
Deirdre nodded and then she stood up. She'd only made her wings show up once more since Josie at the ward. And then, only to see if she could do it whenever she wanted to. After that she'd tried to forget about them. But if Steph needed proof, she needed proof. And she'd seen Avery's wings. It was only fair....
Deirdre concentrated, and a cold wind blew into the room. She closed her eyes and then with a POP she knew that they could see her wings. She opened her eyes, which she knew would now be black again. But she didn't mean them any harm, so she made it all disappear quickly. She didn't want to see the fear in their faces for any longer than she had to.
It was done.
Pierre leaned forward, immensely curious. He didn't want to make Deirdre feel like some sort of side-show freak, but he couldn't help it. This was something entirely new to him. If he'd had any kind of doubts left about... all of this, they were gone now. Pierre believed.
"Do they work?" he asked, looking into her eyes, trying to show that he wasn't afraid of her, that things were okay. "I mean... can you actually fly?"
Peter just took one look at her with her wings and her eyes and then he looked away. He'd seen too much of it to want to see it again. Sure he'd never seen a demon's wings before, but he knew enough to never want to see them again.
"I don't know, Pierre. I-I guess."
"Woah." Stephie remained frozen in her seat, unable to take her eyes off Deirdre. That temporary loss of vocabulary seemed to have come back, and all she was able to do was ogle Deirdre, wings and eyes and- what could she call that? Her glow? But it wasn't really a glow, it was a shift in the light, a change in the air around her that Ry would probably have a lot of pretentious multi-sylable words for, but all Stephie could come up with was: "Okay, wow."
As everything faded back to normal, Stephie became aware of a niggling sensation in the back of her mind, reminiscent of some memory. She found herself thinking of Jude, remembering the feeling she'd picked up from Jude's letters that maybe something wasn't quite right here. A feeling she'd ignored out of selfishness because she hadn't wanted it to be true. This- with Deirdre- was kind of like finding out that Jude was actually a little rich girl: it was actually pretty cool on the surface but there was this massively dangerous undercurrant just waiting... Not to mention both revelations had completely flipped her world view and she was going to have to reassess everything. Again.
But no, maybe that niggling feeling was everything suddenly piecing itself together. Either she was in more shock that she was letting herself believe or, somehow, she'd been subconsciously reassessing her world since- since when? Since Avery? Since Dennis? Before that, even? Or was all that in her imagination.
"That was," Stephie searched for the right word, "kind of crazy. Heh."
Deirdre just nodded and collapsed back onto the couch again. She wanted it to go away. She wanted all of it to go away.
"Oh D," Stephie said tenderly, slid off the chair and sat down next to her friend. "It's alright, see, not scared." She gave Deirdre a grin.
Pierre moved closer to Deirdre and carefully wrapped an arm around her. She was under control now, he knew it. He just didn't want to be intrusive. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know," he said quietly.
Peter sat back, letting Deirdre's friends take care of her. He'd said what he needed to say.
"I am ashamed." Deirdre said quietly. Peter slid forward in his seat.
"Deirdre. We're all still here. We wouldn't be if we didn't love you. It will be all right" he said, softly.
"Peter's got a point, D." Stephie nodded, taking her hand. How on earth was a hand this dainty so strong?
"I love you," Pierre told her gently, holding her closer.
Deirdre looked up at her friends. She really COULD trust them with anything. She couldn't imagine what they thought of her...of what she'd just done. But Peter was right. They were still here. They hadn't run away screaming or anything.
"Okay. I love you too, Pierre." She held Slink's hand tightly, but not overly so. Not like Peter's arms. "Neither of you are allowed near knives and that is final."
Pierre gave Deirdre a small smile. "I never did like knives. Done."
"Okay, sure." Stephie aggred, patting her hand with the one not holding Deirdre's. "Not even when we're cutting up our dinner. We shall use spoons."
"And possibly sporks. Because I have decided. No more freinds impaling themselves and cutting their own throats." Deirdre put her face in her hands, but she didn't cry.
"Yes. Very sound advice." Stephie nodded.
Peter wasn't sure what he should do now. He knew that Deirdre no longer posed a threat and he knew that she was probably better off in the care of her friends. He wasn't sure, however, how Steph and Pierre would feel without him there.
"Before I forget...Steph, Pierre, Deirdre told me about your involvement in saving my daughter. I don't have words enough to thank you, but know that I am incredibly grateful. What you did was very brave and I won't forget it. That being said, would you like me to stay here for awhile or would you like time alone with Deirdre?"
"It's nothing," Stephie told Peter, "what's a trip to Paris without solving a good kidnapping? And, uh, I don't know. What do you want, D? And, uhm... what are we going to do about Jude?"
Pierre smiled at Peter. "You're welcome. I'm glad we could help. We should let you rest. You'll be okay with us, right Deirdre?"
He was glad that Peter was thankful and appreciated what they'd done for Lydia. He would hate to think that Peter thought they'd somehow endangered the girl or something. Parents could be weird, after all. Just look at Renee's.
Deirdre just nodded to Pierre and Slink. She'd be fine without Peter there. Now anyway. If he hadn't been there before...
"Don't...don't tell Jude. I don't want her to know. Or Ry. Or anyone. Please..?"
Peter stood rather painfully and looked around at them. "I think it's best for Deirdre to tell the people she wants to know, unless not knowing would endanger them. If Jude would stick around with Deirdre being like she was tonight, then perhaps she should be told sometime. If she would leave, then it is up to Deirdre. I'll see you all very soon."
He moved over to Pierre and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You did the right thing, calling me, Pierre. Thank you." He turned to Deirdre. "Call me, anytime, Deirdre. About anything." he waved to them and made his way out to Liz's car.
Once behind the wheel, with the doors closed, he let go of all his pretenses that hide the pain he was in. He slid down into the seat, moaning. He wondered how he would even get home considering his arms felt useless. In the end, he sat there for an hour before he could manage just to sit up straight and lift his arms to the wheel. He drove home slowly, as corners were quite perilous. Once home, he made his way into the house and up to his bed, where he collapsed.
Pierre would have patted Peter on the back as he left, but stopped himself at the last moment, not wanting to hurt the man. It was quite plain to see that he was pretty tender all over after whatever it was that had happened in Deirdre's room.
"Don't worry, Deirdre," he said soothingly. "We won't tell anyone about this. It's your decision to make, and nobody else's."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone, I swear." Stephie said, seriously. "I just thought... what if something like this happens again and, say, Jude's the only one home and she reacts like I did and there's no Peter this time? I'm just... worried, you know?"
Deirdre nodded. "I know. But Jude doesn't like it when people get emotional. Usually she leaves at the first sign of that. I'm not to worried about her sticking around. Like you did. Thank you, Steph. Thank you for trying to help me. And...I'm sorry for not being helpable. But...that won't happen again. It WON'T." She said firmly, hoping it was true.
"But you were helpable," Pierre said. "I knew Peter could do it. He's always looked after you."
He sat down next to Deirdre once more, trying to comfort her. "I know you're worried about hurting us. But Slink, Peter and I, and you... we all know what we are dealing with now. And that will help us. I think... things will be better now, Deirdre. And we know who to call if something does go wrong."
He leaned over to hug her, much closer this time. "It really will be okay."
"Alright," Stephie said, still a bit uneasy. But thinking about it, maybe it was a good thing, at least for now. She knew what Jude's schedule was like this week and adding more stuff to her already overcrowded brain might be a bit much. Not that she really understood what was going on inside Jude's head these days- she only knew it was bad, potentially really really bad, and, well, thinking her flatmate was a demon might make her think she was actually crazy. "And, that's okay, about the helping. I just did, well, what I did." She shrugged and smiled at Deirdre.
Deirdre looked at Pierre, so much love and affection in her eyes. He was her rock. She scooted next to him and curled up in his lap. "Thank you. Both of you."
She sighed and then said "I miss Avery" before falling asleep in Pierre's lap.
"You're welcome," Pierre replied quietly. He stroked Deirdre's hair softly as she curled up in his lap, falling asleep almost instantly. She looked so peaceful now, so vulnerable. Nothing like the black-eyed, winged creature she was able to become at will. It made him wonder if that creature was within them all... not physically like it was with Deirdre, but buried deep within their hearts. It would certainly explain why there could be people like Tasha... not that there was much burying going on there.
He didn't want to move and disturb Deirdre, so he just let her sleep there in his lap, all the while still stroking her hair.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}