Scenes From A Vampire Age	Scenes From A Vampire Age by EA Karras

 Author's webpage: http://parodigm.virtualave.net/karra/GrissomJourn.html

 Author's disclaimer: Due South belongs to Alliance

  

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 Title: "Scenes From A Vampire Age"
 Author: EA Karras 
 Rating: R 
 Series: The Mountie Slayer
 Pairings: Kowalski/Fraser
 email: ekarras@woodstock.com
 Disclaimers: Due South belongs to Alliance Notes: This is basically an AU
of Season 3/4 from post house fire on. DS in BTVS universe. Ray will start
out as a Doyle-type, and end up as a vampire. Unless you like it better
this way. My first actual DS fic. This particular story is to introduce
the series, then there will be full blown stories to follow. ------- 

 "Burning At The Stakes" 

 Ray was driving, his head pounding like someone had taken a steel drum
and just started whaling away on it. He became increasingly aware of the
fact that Fraser was talking, apparently to himself. Or the werewolf. He
gave him a look at the sudden thank you. "You're /thanking/ me?" He
suddenly glanced in the back, sure he'd seen a flash of red and an older
mountie in the back. But then it was gone. "..what the hell?" 
 "Ray?" Was that actual concern in the mountie's voice? He stared straight
ahead at the road. He was beginning to wish he hadn't taken Vecchio's car.
He rubbed at his eyes, then fumbled for his glasses. He had to act like
Vecchio, because obviously no one had told Fraser about the switch. There
had to be a reason for that. 
 "We need to uh..." He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "We need
to go through our..." He stopped the car, right in the middle of the road,
cradling his skull in his hands. He felt like one good tap would shatter
him. 
 "He's confused," the older voice said again. Ray bit back a sob. Not
again, he didn't need to be hearing voices again. He had enough trouble
with living people, he didn't need to deal with the dead too. That's why
he'd taken this job, to get away from the whole 'Detective Kowalski, can
you talk to my missing/dead daughter?' gig. "Ray, are you ill?" He stared
at the man who claimed to be Vecchio, familiar tinglings of concern in his
chest. He hated to see someone in pain, and this man was definetly in
pain. And if he was as unhinged as he was starting to believe, then Ray
Vecchio was in pain. And he couldn't have that. 

 But he still knew it wasn't Ray. 

 "I'm ok...gimme a minute," or a year. Or a millenium. His head felt like
it was splitting open. "Ah, geez..." Fraser stared, looking behind them to
make sure they weren't going to be rammed. The detective had managed to
stop on one of the least used roads, thankfully. "What is it? You're in
pain. Are you hurt? What's wrong?" He's more than just in pain. His body
is shaking fast and hard. 

 "Muh...muh...mother..." He's stuttering, his eyes squeezed shut. His
whole body was twitching as if being electrocuted with a thousand tiny
volts. 
 "Mother? Do you need your mother?" 

 "Garbo...Gret..Garbo!" He shouts, unnecessarily loudly and falls back
looking exhausted. "Oh...God. I really hate that..." He feels a cool hand
touch his face, and pry open his eyelids. "M'ok..." His voice is slurred,
as it always is when he's hit with a barrage. Like he'd had a stroke or
something, which Welsh had been convinced had happened the first time he'd
seen it. 
 "You're sure?" Fraser was unsure. He could see the detective was still
trembling. "You don't look all right." "I see things, sometimes. When I
need to." He felt Fraser making him lie down, his head on the mountie's
knee. "Little flashes." "Since when?" 

 "What?" He still felt disoriented. His head was spinning and he was
getting sick to his stomach. 
 Fraser looked down at Ray, concerned. "Since when do you have 'little
flashes'? If you're Ray Vecchio..." Fraser trailed off at the look in
Ray's eyes. No. This wasn't his Ray. But right now that didn't matter. 

 "Just...talk to Welsh, ok?" He closed his eyes. "Just talk to Welsh. I
can't. I can't right now, sorry..." He squeezed his eyes tight as he was
shifted a bit so Fraser could drive. "Ok?" "All right, Ray..." 

 The detective smiled as everything went dark. The mountie had called him
Ray. 
 *** 

 "I'm sorry, constable, I meant to tell you this earlier but I got a
bit...sidetracked." Welsh had just finished his story on Vecchio, the real
one's, undercover assignment. Kowalski, as the watcher had said he was
called usually, lay on the couch with a cloth over his forehead. Fraser
nodded, not saying a word. He stared at Kowalski, worried. He knew his
former partner could take care of himself. He had for many years. "Is /he/
ok?" 
 "I'm fine, Fraser." Ray sat up, slowly. "Just a little funny around the
seams." He blinked the cobwebs out of his head. "I'm not driving today,
though." 
 "All right." He didn't press for any details on what had happened in the
Riv. It was obviously not something any of them wanted to discuss openly. 

 Welsh cleared his throat as Elaine entered. "Ok. So, what do we know
about this Greta Garbo?" 
 "Vampire. Lover of Zoltan Motherwell, the arsonist. Visits him weekly."
Elaine handed Ray a copy of the files. "She's quite the busy breeder with
the vampire making. Except she screws with them. Curses them so they have
souls. Claims it makes them better artists." Ray swore under his breath.
"So basically, we're looking for a performance arsonist with a love of
gypsy curses, right? Great. Ok...Grab your stakes, Frayze. We're going
after her..." 
 "I'm afraid that's impossible." 

 "Why?" 

 "Well, I'm not licensed to carry a stake in the United States." 

 Ray hung his head, disbelief etched in his face. "What?" 

 "Too many legalities." He watched Ray stand up, shaking his head. "Ray?" 

 *** 

 They'd gotten Garbo rather easily, followed one of her 'children' back to
her apartment and arrested her. Ray had gotten shot in the vest, and had
thought that Fraser should stake her, but the mountie wouldn't. Couldn't.
Not legally. 

 The new Ray sat on the hood of the Riv, something Ray Vecchio would never
do. He looked different in the dark of the moonlight, calmer. Almost
serene, actually. He was petting Dief, something Fraser hadn't expected
considering the detective's reaction earlier to the licking and sniffing.
He'd been convinced the werewolf was going to eat him alive. He seemed
fine about him now. 

 "Fraser?" 

 Fraser looked up from checking the Riv out for scratches. "Yes, Ray?" 

 "You're a Mountie, the Slayer mounties or whatever. Right?" At Fraser's
nod, he continued. "So you'd know. How did...how'd all this happen? The
vampires and all that?" 

 "I'm not sure I understand." 

 Ray shook his head, "Where'd they come from?" 

 "I'm not sure, exactly." Fraser sat, gingerly, beside Ray. "The Inuit
believe that theyre a divided soul. That they are us, and we are them.
That they're our dark side. I'm inclined to believe that." 

 Ray nodded, "But the ones 20, 30 years back. They weren't like this. They
didn't try to kill everyone." 

 "I don't know, Ray." He paused, glancing at Ray with some confusion. "You
stepped in front of a bullet for me." 

 Ray nodded again, "Yep." 

 "Why? I thought you didn't risk your neck for anybody." 

 A small smile went on Ray's face. "Well. Not just anybody." 

 

 "Blood Moon" 

 Fraser watched Ray pace around the tomb, eyes closed. The glasses slipped
down a little, and he pushed them back up. Ray didn't seem to notice. A
small smile came to his face as he remembered what he'd needed to
remember, muttering under his breaths the exact steps he'd taken to get to
the local blood bank. 

 He could see it all in his inner mind, feel it all even with Fraser
touching his face. He could feel all their eyes on him as they waited. "I
was thirteen, and she was a vengence demon. Full blood, not one of those
rose up the ranks humans. She was untouchable, but I was workin' it. Lyin
like a maniac, which is really dumb to do with a vengence demon." 

 He could still hear her harsh, throaty whisper. "I think that man has a
stake..." They'd been on line to give blood, back when blood banks to feed
the vampires had been all the rage. Back when the vampires weren't
stalking everyone and everything. Back when the only way to kill one was a
well placed stake. 

 He could remember feeling scared, a sort of uncontrolled fear he hadn't
felt since. Remembering Ellery making all of them, except Stella of
course, get on the floor. Shoving a bag over to him. He'd wanted Ray to
fill it with donor bags. 

 He remembered standing up, and Ellery laughing. He'd had an...accident,
and Ellery was laughing it up. The humiliation he'd felt from Ellery and
the vampire patrons of the bank, from Stella running off. It haunted him
to this day. 

 She'd married him though. Not right away of course, but she had. It
hadn't worked out. She'd elevated to a higher form of Vengence Demon, and
had left him. He'd wanted kids, she didn't. She wanted power, he could
care less about it. 

 It was after that that he'd seen his first vision. The station's
parapsychologist had said the trauma of the nightmares and Stella's sudden
leaving had triggered some pent up, bogged down power in his head. THrown
his whole mental system out of whack. 

 His first vision had been of a litle boy who'd been kidnapped by his
father. He'd had it enroute to talk to the mother, and had crashed his
GTO. He'd met Vecchio then, but not Fraser. They'd been working on him at
the hospital, and Vecchio had had to come to take over the case. He
guessed Fraser had been with the Ice Queen. 

 It was a few months after that that he'd gotten this gig. With the freak
mountie who seemed to always know when something was up. 

 And he liked him, he liked him a lot. Maybe even loved him, which was
ridiculous considering he had only known the guy what? A month? It was
crazy. Right? 

 But maybe it wasn't. He'd felt like this with Stella, and he'd ended up
marrying her. 'No. No. Don't compare the two. They're nothin' alike.' 

 They weren't. Fraser was polite and liked him. Didn't treat him like a
stupid kid. He was...nice. 

 Oh yeah. He loved him. 

 *** 

 "What is that?" Ellery demanded, looking over at the kid who claimed to
know him. 

 Ray stared up at the reddening moon, and shivered. He'd known it was
coming, but he hadn't expected it to be so...red. "The blood moon." He
felt Ellery's eyes on him. "You really don't remember me?" He shifted
uncomfortably under the bank robber's gaze. "What?" 

 Suddenly there was a pain at his neck, and he remembered Fraser's
warning. Stay away from vampires on the blood moon. But he hadn't told
Fraser Ellery was one. 

 As the pain escalated to a full burning, he had to bite down to keep from
screaming. He'd expected an apology, or maybe even to stake the guy. He
hadn't expected to be attacked in a freshly dug grave. "Fraser!" He
shouted, futily trying to shove the heavy vampire off of him. "Fray-zer!!"


 Fraser was stumbling through the graves, trying to find his partner when
he heard Ray screaming for him. "Ray?!" He ran towards the sound of the
voice, Dief following close behind. He saw Ellery climbing out of the
grave, blood staining his lips. "Ray..." 

 An almost uncontrolled rage spread through his body, one he hadn't felt
in a long time. And he didn't even try to stop his werewolf when it
pounced on the vampire. He knelt at the grave, ignoring the sounds of the
vampire shrieking in terror and agony. "Ray! Are you all right?" 

 "I'm...I'm good," Ray sounded dazed. He wiped at something on his mouth,
and sat up slowly. "Yeah, I'm good." 

 --- 

 "Vampire Rising" 

 Something, as Ray would often say, wasn't right. Fraser watched his
partner, worried. Ray been in and out of odd dazes ever since he'd been
attacked by that vampire in the grave and then had been left to drown on
the Henry Allen. He'd managed to save Ray, and in the process they had
grown closer than ever before. 

 And then their current case, the voudon priest with the missing child.
It'd taken a lot out of his partner, the visions of dead people following
him, of the girl. And Fraser was sure that Ray had seen the constable's
father, at least out of the corner of his eye. 

 They were lying on Ray's bed now, half dozing. Or at least Ray was. Dief
was stalking around the apartment, attempting to find some sort of junk
food in the mess. 

 He was very worried, Ray was very pale. He was very thin as of late. He
was starting to sleep more, eat less. He was getting prone to attacks of
paranoia and became exhausted easily. 

 Touching Ray's face gently as the detective began to toss in his sleep,
he found the skin cold and clammy. "Ray." He whispered harshly, trying to
wake him up. "Ray. Ray. Ray!" 

 "I can hear, Frayze. I'm not your wolf." Ray sounded irritatated. He
wouldn't open his eyes. That alone had Fraser concerned. 

 "Open your eyes, Ray." 

 "Fraser, I'm tired. You're tired. Go to sleep. You can stare at my eyes
in the morning." 

 "Ray. Open your eyes." When Ray didn't comply, Fraser got his fingers
over the eyelids, prying them open. His pupils were dilated, his eyes
moving frantically. He bit his lower lip, grabbing a penlight from his
pocket. "Your eyes are tracking the light." 

 "Go to sleep. It's ok." 

 "Were you injured, Ray? Bitten again?" 

 "No." Ray sighed, seeing he wasn't going to be able to fend off the
mountie's concern. "It's ok. It's been like this for a coupla weeks. It's
just...I'm goin' over." 

 "Going ov...No. You can't, Ray. You didn't drink his..." A look of utter
horror came over Fraser's face, it was the first time Ray had ever seen
anything of the sort cross over his mountie. "You drank his blood?" 

 "I didn't want to." 

 "But you did." 

 "Yeah." He closes his eyes again, not wanting to recall that little
incident. "But, it's ok. Ok? 'cause he's one of the older ones, from back
when the vampire weren't all bad." 

 "Ray..." Fraser shook his head, not believing. 

 "Look!" Ray sat up, taking Fraser with him. "It won't happen right away,
and it'll be ok! If anything bad happens, you can just." He made a staking
motion. 

 Fraser stared at him, 'No, Ray...' he thought to himself. 'I don't think
I could...' 

 

 TO BE CONTINUED
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