Luck Be With Me

[sakura_inverse]

Emma stumbled down the road, crickets chirping in chorus with tree frogs in the moonlight. There was no question she was drunk. She thought she’d be responsible by walking to the party and getting a ride with whoever she hooked up with. But there was a slight complication with her plan. No guy, or girl, caught her fancy. Even the warm, content feeling that came with being drunk couldn’t fill the void in her love life. She knew she didn’t want to lower her standards but what could she do in small town America?

As fate would have it, she found herself walking by a river. She couldn’t help but shine her phone’s flashlight on the bank of its gently flowing current. She knew it’d be dangerous to go for a dip, given how cottonmouths prowled the tall grass at night. But they didn’t call booze liquid courage for nothing. Plus she didn’t exactly mind making a mess of the low cut tank top and the cutoff daisy dukes she was wearing. Still, she had to sigh knowing that she could attract attention… just not the right attention.

“Luck be with me!”

Emma didn’t know why she yelled that. She always figured it was some weird thing she uttered in her childhood and it stuck. But it was her way of saying “Geronimo!” right before doing something bold. In this case, it was her bolting off the road and leaping off the riverbank. She plunged into the water and felt the cold current carry her downstream. She stayed under the surface for a few short seconds before swimming upwards and surfacing. She took a deep breath of the night air and scanned the surface of the water.

The decision to jump in the river wasn’t entirely reckless. Her home was a couple of miles downstream and she was accustomed to using the river as a way of getting home. But this was her first time doing this drunk at night. With her phone in her hand, she said to herself “Now let me see when I’ll get home… Oh dammit!”

No matter how hard she tried, her phone wouldn’t respond. “Ugh! Why did I jump in this stupid water?!” she cursed. “Stupid drunk me…” She lay back and let herself float downstream, the current babbling around her. “Actually, you know what? I need to upgrade my phone anyway.” With that, she carelessly dropped it into the water. “Screw it, all my stuff’s backed up to the cloud.”

Emma lay back and let herself float, letting the water fill her ears. She closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her beating heart, noting the slight irregularity that came from drinking heavily. She felt content, drifting in peace. “I’ll find someone special” she said aloud to herself. “Someone out there has to sweep me off my feet and get me out of this Podunk backwater. I’ll live in a nice big city with a nice big house.”

She heard the sound of a truck driving by, prompting her to roll over and scan her surroundings. She saw a set of headlights cross a bridge that ran across her river, causing her to say “Damn, I’m home already? I must’ve lost track of time…”

She swam towards the bank. It was here she realized she should’ve thought about the cottonmouths that could very well be lurking near the bank. But she still had enough liquid courage to think she could keep her eye open for any slithering scales in the moonlight.

Anti-climactically, she never found any.

Emma trudged her way onto the shore where she found a familiar dirt road that led to her home. As she walked down it, the moon disappeared beneath the canopy of trees that arched over the road. Now completely in the dark with only the chirps of crickets and frogs to guide her, she bemoaned “Damn, why did I destroy my phone? I could’ve used that flashlight… stupid Drunk Emma…”

Emma took a brave step forward into the darkness. But little did she know the peril in front of her. She lurched forward, hearing an audible squelch as she found herself trapped knee deep in something wet and thick.

“Oh what the fuck?!” Emma exclaimed. “What am I even…” She tugged at her legs, but they wouldn’t budge no matter how hard she strained. As she reached down to her knees, she felt the surface of what she was trapped in. “Ugh, is this mud? This high up on the road?”

Deep down, she knew there was something off about this mud. She’d been stuck in mudholes on the river before and the river’s silt would always let her go. But whatever she was stuck in held onto her like glue. She grunted and screamed in frustration as she twisted and turned. But was stuck fast.

She only stopped when a mysterious voice called out to her. “You shouldn’t struggle, love. You’ll only sink faster.”

Emma froze. She looked around for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?” she called out. “A little help?”

“A little help?” the voice repeated with a noticeable English accent. “Now why would I do that after setting such a nice trap for you?”

Emma heard a pair of fingers snap in the treetops above her and she looked up. A bright yellow flame appeared in the air which hovered above an upturned palm. The flame illuminated a pale face framed with raven black hair accented with violet highlights. To match, the face was accented with purple eyeliner and lipstick. But the most striking feature of this face was a pair of red eyes that glowed with sinister intent.

“Is this a joke?” Emma shouted. “Get me out of here!”

“Let me think…” The mysterious woman in the tree replied, her finger pressed on her lips as she looked up towards the night sky. She then directed her glance down towards Emma, replying with a short “No.”

The mysterious woman smiled and to Emma’s shock, she saw two sharp fangs poking out where her eye teeth should’ve been. This prompted Emma to ask “So what are you? Some kind of emo goth bitch? The nearest Hot Topic’s like… two hours away!”

The mysterious woman chortled. “Two hours? Now why do you bloody Yanks refer to every distance in time? Why can’t you use kilometers like the rest of the civilized world?”

Emma glared at the woman in the tree, folding her arms in front of her chest as she felt the mud ooze up her thighs. She opted not to answer her captor’s question, replying instead with “What the hell do you want with me, Twilight?”

“Now there’s a good question” the woman answered. “And by the way, my name’s not ‘Twilight.’ I don’t exactly sparkle in the sun. My name’s Catherine and I can assure you I’m a real vampire. Now to answer your question…”

Before Catherine could finish her explanation, Emma laughed. “You’re a fucking vampire? You crazy bitch…”

“Language!” Catherine snapped. “You’d have been lashed and hanged for talking to me like that back in my day!”

“Back in my day” Emma mocked in a fake English accent. “What are you? Some kind of princess?” Before Catherine could reply, Emma snapped “Well get your royal ‘arse’ down here and pull me out!”

Catherine responded with a smile. She snapped her fingers once again and caused several more fireballs like the one in her hand to appear. They fell around the edges of the mud and illuminated the scene around her, causing Emma’s eyes to wide with shock.

Emma could easily see she wasn’t simply standing the middle of a mud puddle. Black lines stretched across the mud’s surface, forming a pentagram she was standing the middle of. Then to add to her horror, she saw Catherine floating down to the ground. She watched as her captor’s glossy black heels touched the surface of the mud. But instead of sinking, she simply stood as if she was atop solid ground. The mud rippled like water with her ever step as her stocking-clad legs flashed through the hem of her black gown.

Catherine stopped just out of reach of Emma. She smugly grinned while she said “I believe I’ve brought my ‘royal arse’ down to your level. What will you do now?”

Again, Emma defiantly refused to answer her captor’s question. Booze kept her from being overwhelmed with fear but she still knew better than to lash out. She looked up at Catherine, asking “So what are you going to do with me?”

Catherine brought her finger to her lips as if to think once again. “Well I could tell you… but only if you promise not to interrupt me.”

Emma rolled her eyes before locking her gaze on her captor. The mud lapped at her cutoffs but it didn’t concern her. “Fine.”

“Good. Now to million quid question. What Am I going to do with you? Well I was going to feed off you but…” Catherine paused to sniff. “You just absolutely reek of booze. I’m going to be sloshed if I go in for a drink.” She tapped her foot, folding her arms in front of her. “Hmph, what rotten luck!”

The wheels turned in Emma’s head. Normally she’d be a little more tactful to ask this question but with liquid courage being filtered through her liver, she took her chance. “Does this mean you’ll let me go?”

“Let you go?” Catherine asked, while politely stifling a laugh. “I’m just going to wait for you to sober up a tinge. Having a little bit of drink in your blood is like having a goblet of wine. But biting you now would be like chugging a bottle of gin.”

Emma gave an irritated sigh. She felt herself settle just a little deeper until the enchanted earth wrapped itself around the waistband of her cutoffs. “So… am I just supposed to sink in this… quicksand until I sober up?”

Catherine perked up, her smile taking a more inquisitive look. “Ah, you’re not afraid of a little mud?”

Emma shook her head, her right palm turning upwards as if to bring up an obvious point. “I’ve been playing in this river all my life. Quicksand ain’t nothing new to me.”

“But not like mine.”

“Not like…” Emma caught herself before she got herself too wrapped up in the conversation. “You mind telling me what the hell is this stuff?”

Catherine arched an eyebrow. “Curious, are we? Very well, I’ll humor you.” She slowly paced around the pit, ripples spreading in the mud with her every step. “Do you believe in magic?”

“You mean the magic quicksand I’m obviously trapped in? I guess I do now so get to the point.”

“Well!” Catherine said raising her eyebrows. “You’re certainly full of vigor! I haven’t come across anyone like you since my chambermaid was alive. But I suppose it’d be rude if I didn’t show you a few spells.”

With that, Emma’s captor snapped her fingers and watched as Emma yelped. Something warm and slimy snaked through the mud and wrapped themselves around Emma’s legs. She screamed in both shock and disgust as they worked their way up her body.

"What the fuck is this?!" Emma's voice sharply pierced the darkness around her. It briefly echoed through the trees and cross the flat grassland plains. It briefly filled her with hope that someone would hear her and save her from this crazy vampire woman. She even took a slight pleasure in watching Catherine jolt in surprise.

But a smile returned to Catherine's lips. "Oh good, I'm glad you stayed still. An experienced mudder like you would've probably found a way to break my spell. But now that I have you tight..."

Emma completely ignored Catherine's musings. All of her attention was on the tendrils mummifying her body. They wrapped her arms tight, stopping short of the tops of her shoulders. She jerked as if she could somehow fly out of her bondage. But alas, she was only left with one act of rebellion. She screamed "You bitch! Let me go!"

"Temper temper" Catherine playfully scolded with a wag of her finger. "Do I have to gag you?"

"You'll have to kill me!" Emma screamed while baring her teeth.

Catherine sighed in response. She snapped her fingers and made a tentacle slink around Emma's mouth to gag her. "That fiery temper of yours reminds me of someone I used to know. She was my favorite chamber maid. She..." Catherine paused to gracefully wipe a tear away before it could well up in her eye. "She always pushed back against me whenever I lorded my status over her..." Catherine looked down at Emma who was glaring at her. To pass the time while she waited for her prey to sober up, she asked "Would you like me to show you what she was like?" She paused for a second to give the gagged and bound Emma a moment to seethe. "Of course you do, you don't have much of a choice."

Emma briefly saw the sinister red glow in Catherine's eyes flare before falling into a trance-like dream. She found herself laying in a dark chamber lit by candles and lamps. She felt silken white sheets pressing against her skin on a pleasantly cool night. Then she heard a knock at the door. Her body moved on its own. She sat up and got out of bed, walking with delicate steps in a darkened room before opening a weathered wooden door. There she found an eerily familiar-looking maid in a grey gown carrying a silver tray with a single cup of tea. But instead of taking the tea, she nervously glanced down the hallways. She then turned her attention back to the woman and planted two kisses on her cheeks, feeling a sense of mischievous satisfaction as she watched her blush.

For Emma, the vision had a tinge of familiarity she couldn't explain. The vision showed her kissing the woman but at the same time, she swore she could feel being kissed. She also felt her cheeks flush red and her eyes involuntarily widened in shock.

Emma's involuntary reaction wasn't lost to Catherine. "Did you like that? I could show you more if you wish..." Then she mused out loud "It certainly would help pass the time..."

But then somehow, inexplicably, the tentacle gagging Emma slipped. She could've screamed, swore, or threatened her captor in a futile act of defiance. But what she said would shock the both of them.

"Are you fucking crazy?! They're going to see us!"

The mood shifted in an instant. Emma fell silent once again, unsure of what she said or why she said it. But Catherine's eyes locked onto her prey. A shocked glare painted her expression, as if she was staring at a ghost. "What an odd thing to say..." But soon an assured smile crept across her lips. "You know, I'm jealous of your generation. You can be so... open with who you are."

Emma, who was getting over her shock, replied "Yeah, it's great. It's better than being shipped off to marry your own cousin."

Instead of retorting with a comeback and re-establishing her dominance, Catherine let the glare in her eyes melt into a heavy sense of melancholy. "Such is the fate of every princess, I suppose..." She loosened her magic tentacles and let Emma sink again. She watched her prey's hips settle into the mud which immediately began swallowing her midriff. "Since you're so clever, I don't think I have to tell you about how I ran away and hooked up with a vampire?"

Emma noticed that her arms were still bound. Any sense of freedom she might have enjoyed was replaced by a dreadful sinking feeling. She still smirked and with a tinge of curiosity, asking "Did you at least bring your chamber maid along to kiss you goodnight?"

Catherine smirked again to let Emma know who was in charge, but that smirk failed to meet the cold eyes of someone who was deeply insulted. But instead of saying anything, she placed Emma under another hypnotic trance. This time, Emma found herself crouched in a stone tunnel. She was peering through slits in the wall which gave her a view of her torch-lit castle. But the sight she saw horrified her. She saw her chambermaid tied to a chair while a man in a hooded mask struck her repeatedly with a whip.

"Where is Princess Catherine?" The man growled.

"I don't know!" the maid cried. "Please, believe me!"

Emma felt herself turn away from the slit in the wall. She quietly scurried through the passage way as she heard the echoes of her maid's anguish echo through the halls.

Emma snapped out of her hypnosis. Tears filled her eyes as guilt and regret drove themselves deep into her chest like a knife. She looked up at Catherine to see what her captor had planned. But to her horror, the smirk she wore had disappeared. Emma could feel the anger radiating off of her. She knew she should've been scared, she knew she should have been begging for her life. But she couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the monstrous woman who wanted to end her life. Without thinking, she said "It's okay, Princess. I forgive you..."

Upon hearing these words, Catherine aggressively stepped closer to Emma. The tentacles around her prey's arms tightened themselves enough to elicit a squeal of pain. With an angry growl, she shouted "What the bloody hell would you know?!" The mud parted beneath her feet to sink herself down to Emma's level. She didn't care that her dress was ruined or that Emma was still a little too drunk for her to feed. All she cared about was seeing Emma expire in front of her. She leaned forward to sniff the artery in her prey's neck. It was here she growled "Do you have any last words? I'm going to savor ending you..."

There wasn't enough liquid courage in Emma to muster any bravado. Feeling Catherine's breath on her neck, she knew she was about to die. She knew her captor wouldn't be gentle or quick about it either. She shut her eyes, squeezing tears out as she whimpered the phrase she always loved to say.

"Luck be with me... Luck be with me..."

Emma braced herself for the pain of her flesh being torn asunder. Seconds passed as if they were each their own cruel eternity. She felt Catherine's hot breath on her skin. Every exhale felt like a cruel tease from her captor like a cat toying with a mouse. But instead of feeling fangs pierce her neck, she felt the tentacles around her arms loosen. They let her go and disappeared into the mud, letting her settle to her chest. She cautiously opened her eyes and found her captor still poised to end her.

But instead of a bite, Emma heard a breathless whisper.

"Emily? Is that you?"

Somewhere in Emma's mind, an island of confusion rose from a sea of fear. She knew that her next answer could mean the difference between life and death. She didn't know how to bluff her way out of her predicament, so she told the truth.

"Um... yeah? But I just go by Emma and..."

Catherine dove into Emma's neck. But instead of plunging her fangs in for a drink, she buried her face into her prey's skin. After a brief moment of silence, she squealed "Oh my god! It's you! It's really you!"

Emma felt Catherine's tears on her neck. She didn't know what was happening. All she knew was the fear and confusion in her mind was slowly being replaced by an urge to comfort her captor. She gently returned Catherine's embrace and said "It's okay Princess..." She had to pause. Without thinking, she said aloud "Wait, why am I calling her Princess?"

Catherine felt Emma freeze in place. Being an experienced hunter, she learned to read her prey and she knew Emma realized she made a mistake. But rather than take advantage of the situation, Catherine pulled back to look into Emma's eyes. She radiated a warm smile as she excitedly said "Dear me, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about..." She paused, pondering how to explain what she knew. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Seeing Catherine smile instantly put Emma at some sense of ease. She still didn't know what to think of her captor's rollercoaster of emotions, but she replied "I... guess?"

"I could spend hours telling you who you were in a past life but I think it'd be easier if I showed you... that is, if it's okay with you."

Emma could only nod. No sooner had she done so, Catherine's red irises glowed once more. Emma found herself back in the castle. She experienced Catherine's most cherished memories with her. Conversations they had while she fitted Catherine for dresses, the sarcastic quips she would give every time Catherine brought up her status as a princess, the hushed arguments they would have every time Catherine wanted to sneak out of her castle at night, and of course sneaking out at night. Every act of mischief Catherine cajoled Emily into always elicited a familiar phrase that the princess grew to love.

"Luck be with me."

Catherine once again squealed with excitement as the memory ended. She held Emma tight and rocked her side to side. "Five hundred years! Five hundred years! I thought I'd be alone! I thought I..." A drop of pain spilled into her chest and spread like a ripple in a still lake. Guilt gripped her heart and tore out any joy she felt from being reunited with her long lost chambermaid. She stopped playfully rocking Emma and with a sudden shift in tone, stated "It's all my fault. My last memory of you, I... I just left you to be tortured. I should have stayed. I could have begged father for mercy and had him spare you. I..." tears stole her breath away, causing her words to come out as a whisper. "I'm so sorry."

Emma held Catherine in her arms. She didn't know why, but she felt the memories of her past life slowly creep into her mind. She remembered the last night she saw her princess and the turmoil she witnessed. "Weren't we supposed to run away together? I think I remember something about a wedding."

The pain from that night flooded Catherine's mind like a bad thunderstorm. Every terrible moment that led to her fateful decision flashed through her psyche like a bolt of lightning striking her. "I was to be wedded to my first cousin in Austria. Father wanted an alliance between our two kingdoms and he wanted to keep the family bloodline pure..."

"Hey, I don't blame you. That shit's kinda fucked up. I'd have gotten out of there too."

Catherine gripped Emma tighter. "I won't blame you if you hate me..." Her voice cracked. She knew what she wanted to say next needed to be said. But at the same time, she knew it would break her heart in two. "I'll get you out of this mud. I promise you'll never see me again."

Hearing Catherine promise to rescue her reminded Emma that the mud was lapping at her collar bones. But instead of being worried, she gently let her embrace loosen which caused Catherine to pull back. It was here Emma saw a mixture of fear and guilt in her captor's eyes. Even a veil of tears couldn't hide the turmoil she couldn't control. With a smile, Emma replied "I'm just glad I was a ride or die bitch in my past life."

Catherine blinked. She couldn't believe what she just heard. No sooner had a smile crept across the corners of her lips did she burst out laughing. Every laugh sent small ripples across the mud that Emma was all too aware of. After a few seconds, Catherine just had to know "So you're not mad at me?"

Emma shrugged, or she would've had if she wasn't well and truly stuck in the mud. "I guess I've had a few centuries to get over it. Now do you think you can get us out of here?"

Emma's concern seemingly bounced off Catherine. Rather her face lit up with an excited idea. "Ooh! Let's go see the bloody world! Just pack your things and we'll head out at sunset tomorrow. Just the two of us!"

Again, Emma would've shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

With a tinge of shock, Catherine replied "Wait, you're just fine with leaving everything you have behind?"

Emma looked Catherine dead in the eye and replied "Princess, I've spent my whole life in a Podunk backwater where the only opportunities I have involve being a manager at the Walmart three towns over. I'll gladly be your maid again if it means leaving this place and never coming back... Oh and don't drink my blood."

"About that..." Catherine trailed off. But before she could say anything else, she pulled Emma close and planted a kiss on her lips. She kept the kiss, feeling no resistance from Emma. Catherine broke the kiss and pulled back, noting how Emma's eyes had gone wide with shock. "Two things, actually. First, I don't want a maid. I want the life we should've had in England all those years ago..."

Hearing Catherine pause begged and baited Emma to nervously ask "...And the second thing?"

Another brief silence echoed across the mud. It poured over the tops of their shoulders like wet cement and pooled around the base of their necks. The smile disappeared from Catherine's face as she said "I'll need some of your blood."

Emma scoffed "You can't be serious."

"Emily!" Catherine pleaded, her voice awash with desperation. "Please, I can't let death separate us again... I promise it'll only hurt for a moment."

Seeing how she couldn't move, Emma gulped and silently consented to Catherine's request. She knew she should've been scared. She knew she should've been screaming for her life. But instead, she merely winced as if she was waiting for a vaccine. She felt Catherine plant a fatal kiss on her neck which was followed by two sharp fangs plunge themselves inside her flesh. She sharply inhaled and held her breath as the pain Catherine promised flooded her being. Her fingernails instinctively dug themselves into Catherine's back as if her body was putting up one last futile act of defiance. But then she felt something she didn't expect. The pain melted away by a feeling she could only describe as serene. She closed her eyes and moaned, keeping as still as she could while her Princess fed.

Meanwhile the mud coldly swallowed the two of them. It rose over Catherine's lips and quickly cupped Emma's chin. Emma meanwhile dwelled on the idea she was going to disappear. She imagined search parties combing the river and how they'd eventually come across a stretch of lonely dirt road where her scent would vanish. Then she sank past her lips and to her nose. The thought of taking a final breath never crossed her mind. Her survival instinct, the one that should've told her to fight for her life, was silenced. Here she was about to sink into a bottomless pit of magical mud with a vampire's fangs in her neck and she never felt safer in her life. She felt the mud rise over her closed eyelids.

All that remained of the pair were two tufts of hair placed precariously in the middle of a magic pentagram. No sooner did they disappear did the fireballs that illuminated the mud snuff themselves out. The pentagram disappeared and the mud which claimed the pair had reverted to a dusty old road. Emma was gone to the world and she would only appear at Catherine's pleasure.

[GTaggert]

Great story, especially for the current season!

[ghostofmyeyes]

A delectable, character-driven convergence of kinks. As a QS drama fan, I'm starving for this kind of thing these days - thank you.