A Vampire Fairy Tale (Ronnie Radke)

Chemical Prisoner

        Bert slammed his hand down on Viktor's desk with fire in his eyes after Craig relayed the conversation he had overheard from outside of Ronnie's bedroom. He had been outsmarted, and when Viktor confirmed that this had been a plan of Annalise's design and not Ronnie's, it only made him angrier.

"You're sure she's turned, Craig?" Viktor looked up at him skeptically, "Ronald is sneaky, and every bit the schemer that I am. He very well may have sensed you and made it up."

"She's being taught to hunt tomorrow night. They wouldn't let her out in those woods without turning her," Craig sighed and sat in a chair, "And we all know that she'll have at the very least Ronnie and her brother with her the entire time she's out there; partly because they don't trust us to not try something and partly because of her condition. If that's true."

"It is," Bert growled as he balled his hands into fists, "My father could smell it on her when he was in that room after it happened. What's our play here?"

Viktor sat back and sighed, "We take our faction and establish our own order. I take my shares of the blood banks, and we go to civil war. Ronnie wants peace, I want to see humankind fall. To the victor go the spoils, but mark my words, we cannot allow a female heir to be born. We leave tonight, and if we act quickly we can regroup and attack at a vulnerable point. Get our men ready, Bert. I already know where we're going."

That night, as Bert and his faction left behind the old order to form the new order, Annalise stood in front of the entrance of the woods with Ronnie, Andy, Kellin and Vic. Ronnie looked down and said, "Use your eyes, Anna, and your ears. Following your nose won't get you far in these woods because there's blood splatter everywhere."

They all stood silent, and after a moment, Anna turned to the west and carefully made her way to the tree line with the four men following her with smiles on their faces. Their initial worries were slowly fading as they spread out around her, each taking to their own worn paths. Each of them were out for their own catch, but they always kept Annalise in their sight. When they came to the path closer to town, they all stopped and Ronnie frowned.

"Annalise, not so close!" Annalise simply held her finger to her lips and smiled, "Give it a second, and get in the trees, quickly."

Ronnie frowned at his wife, but he had seen this look on her face before. She knew something, and as the headlights in the distance faded and a chorus of curses came from a mile ahead, her plan became clear.

"Using future sight to hunt," Kellin mumbled, impressed, "That's a new one. We didn't hear that coming at all."

Andy and Vic nodded in agreement, but Ronnie frowned and leaned forward. He knew what Annalise was doing, and he didn't want her to go alone. He followed her, keeping in the trees as she approached the useless car and all the men standing outside of it.

"Oh, thank god!" Anna feigned surprised effortlessly as she stepped out of the tree line, "I've been wandering these woods for hours. I got separated from my friends."

"What's a pretty thing like you doing in these woods?" One of the men purred as he stepped away from the hood of the car, "Don't you know it's not safe at night for little girls?"

"Why's that?" Annalise frowned and cocked her head to the side before letting her eyes go wide as she chuckled, "Oh! You actually think there are vampires in these woods? Look, I was just out exploring with some friends. We wanted to go ghost hunting in the abandoned castle and got separated. My brother has my phone, can I use one of yours to call him?"

"Well see, honey," A second man started as he stepped forward, "Seems to me, if you need a favor, you should do us one. Is that fair?"

"That depends," Anna frowned and faltered. She hadn't prepared for this, but she wasn't going to give up this catch, "I can take a peek under your hood. My husband and brother taught me all about cars. I may be able to help diagnose the issue."

"Or," The first man stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders roughly, "You can let us take a peek under your hood."

Before Anna could respond, Ronnie stepped out of the woods, flanked by Vic. Ronnie bared his fangs with fire in his eyes as he growled, "You just made a big mistake."

The rednecks frowned and stepped back as they surveyed the two men, and their eyes widened when they saw their fangs.

"Look, we don't want no trouble, guys," the man who grabbed Annalise stammered as she wiggled free and rejoined Vic and Ronnie- who immediately kissed her and gave the three men a pointed glare, "We was just turned around looking for our deer lease is all."

Andy stepped up behind him and frowned, "This is marked as no hunting land. Try another lame excuse, please." He smiled and bared his fangs as Kellin casually opened the trunk of their car and laughed out loud.

"Were you really going to bury these girls out here? That's not smart, guy. You'd have been better off literally anywhere else," Kellin looked up at Ronnie as he said this, "Come to think of it, it explains why you wanted to violate our friend. They all kinda have similar features."

Ronnie stepped forward and pulled a steel bat from behind his back, with Vic following his lead.

"Normally, we'd just bite to subdue you, but we want you to feel very ounce of blood leaving your body, and that doesn't happen if we do it that way," Ronnie smirked, and in two swings, all three men were unconscious.

After the night's catch was stored, Annalise and Ronnie laid in bed together, with sunlight beginning to peek through the windows. Even though he was being affectionate, Anna could tell that Ronnie was angry with her about her strategy at the hunt that night.

She frowned down at her husband, who had his head resting on her chest as he absent mindedly rubbed her belly under her shirt.

"Ronnie?" Anna frowned as she played with his hair and sighed, "I'm sorry if I upset you. I only did that because I knew you guys were close behind me, and from the size of those guys, well, that's a lotta blood bags."

"Anna," Ronnie frowned and sighed, "I get why you did it, and I have to applaud the balls it took to do that. But we won't always be in a group like that, and you have to account for the butterfly effect. If I hadn't gotten to you when I did because I accidentally snapped a twig or some stupid shit, there's no telling what would have happened."

"But—"

"No buts, Anna. You can't take risks like that. Especially not now. This child is technically human until she reaches 18, and while it would take a lot to hurt her, well... it's possible. I don't want either of you hurt. You cannot ever, EVER do that again. And don't tell me you knew he'd step up to you. I could tell you didn't."

Ronnie sighed as he carefully kissed his wife's bump and then pulled himself up to her, "If I lost you, or her... I can't lose you again, and you putting yourself even remotely in harm's way puts me in a place I don't like." He kissed her gently and sighed, "So no more of using seduction to lure in prey. It can end badly."

Annalise nodded and then frowned as she looked at the open window. It was nice to see the sunlight dancing around the room for the first time in almost 6 weeks, but she couldn't shake the awful feeling that something was coming. As Ronnie drifted off to sleep with his arms around her, Annalise Radke laid awake in their bed staring at the sun and praying that she was wrong, even though she knew in heart that she wasn't. War was coming, it was close, and she would be the cause of it.