Chapter Text
“Good evening, Mrs. Luthor.”
Lillian Luthor opened the door to a twelve-year-old Kara, panting on the steps of the Luthor Mansion. She was wearing a dark red hoodie, jeans, sneakers, and a rather bulky backpack. Hands on her knees, catching her breath, Kara raised a finger before she gulped a couple of deep breaths.
“Did you run all the way here?” Lillian asked, smiling as she held the door open. Careful to avoid the dying rays of sunset, she gestured for Kara to enter as soon as she had caught her breath. With a cheeky grin, Kara ambled inside and headed straight for the nearby closet door.
“I did,” Kara nodded with a grin as she toed off her shoes, storing them properly before closing the door. “Is Lena still sleeping?” she asked as they walked down familiar halls.
Lillian was aware that to anyone else, the Luthor Mansion might have felt overwhelming, maybe even scary. Its ceilings were high, the halls cold, barely lit, if at all since most of its occupants and frequent guests did not need light to see. The rare occasions when her family accepted human guests, she was made quite aware of how insulated their mansion was. She remembered hosting the mayor’s family a long time ago and they came in wearing Fall clothing. It was in the middle of summer break.
But Kara Danvers, the youngest pup of the Danvers’ pack, walked the halls of the Luthor Mansion like it was her second home. Lillian liked to think it was, practically.
After all, Lena lived here.
“No, she’s been awake for some time now. I told her you were coming.”
Their footsteps and voices echoed as they walked.
“I brought some movies to watch. Mom also packed some food for me.”
“Ah, yes,” Lillian nodded. “Eliza had mentioned earlier that she was preparing something for you.”
“Two fat juicy steaks!” Kara said, her chest puffing up.
“I’m guessing by the size of your bag, that’s not the only thing you brought,” said another voice from behind them. Lillian glanced at her son with a knowing smile. She had sensed him coming down the grand staircase earlier.
“Hey, Lex,” Kara said with a sheepish grin as she turned to acknowledge Lex without breaking their pace. “I have some cookies and popcorn and I—I also brought Lena a couple of type O’s,” she admitted.
Lillian watched, now even more immensely amused as Kara removed two blood bags from under her hoodie before stashing them back almost immediately.
“Now why would you keep that there?” she asked, a delicate brow raised.
“The bank sells them cold, it’s pretty chilly outside too and Lena prefers them warm,” Kara shrugged.
“So you stuffed them under your clothes?” Lex asked with the same amused tone as Lillian.
“Wolves run warm,” Kara said simply.
“Is that why you insisted on running all the way here instead of having Eliza drop you off?” Lillian asked.
“Well…” Kara said, still grinning, “We get warmer as we run.”
“And what would you have done if the bags had torn open?”
“But that’s why I ran carefully,” Kara insisted.
“Of course, dear.”
Despite Lillian’s reservations, Lex laughed heartily.
They climbed up a winding staircase to another hallway and when Kara finally saw Lena’s door, she started running, only to crash into Lex who had quickly stepped in front of her.
“Lex, what—” Kara started, rubbing her nose with one hand and carefully patting her hoodie to check if the bags had ruptured.
Lillian glanced at her son who merely nodded back at her before looking at Kara.
“Kara,” he said, “I’m going to ask you to be a big girl for Lena today.”
Kara furrowed her brows. “I’m always a big girl for Lena. I’m taller!”
Lillian watched as Lex smiled. “I know. But you know Lena. She can be…stubborn. And right now, I need you to be more stubborn than her.”
Kara looked at the two Luthors. She nodded, resolute. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Luthor, Lex. I’ll take care of Lena.”
The unspoken part of being ageless, damn near immortal, is that eventually, you will have more memories that you’d rather forget. Not that Lillian’s life had been entirely tragic. No, for the most part, it had been uneventful. She was born around the time when humans and faes were ironing out how to coexist without outright trying to murder each other. This resulted in faes forbidding the turning of humans into their kind, unless for the purposes of marriage. And fae marriage was binding and eternal.
But that really didn’t concern Lillian much. After all, she married a good man and their marriage, except for that one instance of infidelity on her husband’s part, was ordinary… not that Lillian wanted it to be anything but.
Still, she was there when Lena’s mother gave birth to her. It was a difficult pregnancy, from what Lillian could gather. And certainly a rare one. Both the vampires’ high council and witches’ ancient coven had watched it closely, fully expecting it to fail.
After all, Elizabeth Walsh was a witch of little to no renown. She was the last of her family, her mother and sister having long since died. She was not part of any powerful coven and lived in near anonymity most of her life until she became part of the team Lillian’s husband, Lionel, was in. And weeks before finding out that she was pregnant, Lionel had already confessed his infidelity to Lillian.
But this was something no one could have foreseen, let alone expected. Vampire pregnancy was a rare, painful and exceedingly difficult process…for a vampire. Lillian couldn’t imagine how much worse it was for a witch who was vulnerable to pain, unlike a vampire.
But Lillian was Lionel’s wife and she had promised to support him. So, when Elizabeth decided against the wisdom of the Ancient Coven to keep the baby, and despite Lillian’s hurt, she prepared a space for young mistress Walsh, a room with its own fireplace to keep the pregnant woman warm.
The baby was still half a vampire, half Lionel’s. And Lillian had promised to love all that is Lionel’s.
She had to give it to young mistress Walsh, though. While she looked like she was in unspeakable pain the entire time, she kept it to herself as much as she could.
For her part, Lillian saw it as good practice. After all, after a long, lengthy discussion with Lionel and their son Lex, they all eventually agreed that they would keep the child, should it survive. And while they certainly wouldn’t have a problem with one more mouth to feed, there were not enough instances of a half-vampire surviving past pregnancy to know if the child would need blood or solid food for sustenance.
So Lillian, with the help of Lex and Lionel, began researching food.
It was interesting, and while none of them could taste it, Elizabeth, or Lizzie as she had preferred to be called, was their taste-tester. Their kitchen, mostly only used when there were guests, suddenly found itself busy with three vampires, deathly afraid of fire but nonetheless curious as to the whole process of cooking food. It wasn’t easy in the beginning and Lionel and Lex had to scour the cities for good cookbooks and recipes.
When asked what they needed it for, they would often tell the understandably suspicious humans that they were hosting a witch who was far from home and wanted to surprise her with a home-cooked meal, as a good host should.
Eventually, their mini-project reached the ears of the local wolf pack, who offered to help with the cooking.
That was when she met Eliza Danvers, who was also taking care of her adopted newborn pup, Kara.
Kara, for most of the time that Eliza was there to help Lillian with the cooking and taking care of Lizzie, could not yet shift to her human form and was a scrawny, loud, blonde puppy with the brightest, bluest eyes Lillian had ever seen.
She was also the only one who could keep Lizzie calm. Whenever she was around, Lizzie said the pain lessened, or was at least more tolerable. So, whenever Eliza had time, she brought Kara with her.
But near the end, and even with Kara there, the pain became so much that most of Lizzie’s waking hours were spent whimpering, begging for the end that would not come…not for a few more weeks anyway. After all, the baby had fully taken hold of her body.
During her last weeks, she could no longer consume anything solid. And by the end, she needed copious amounts of blood transfusions as the baby was draining her from the inside.
Still, and to Lizzie’s credit, she would not give up on her child, even with Lionel begging her to save herself.
And when the baby was born and Lizzie had given her name, she clung on to what little life was left in her, almost as if she was waiting.
Lillian held her hand then, kneeling beside the dying woman, and whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of Lena.”
Lizzie nodded and asked to be left alone with Lena.
She breathed her last just as the sun brought its first light to the day.
It was also the day they found out that Lena was immune to sunlight.
Lillian blinked, remembering.
And when she found the expectant, excited, determined gleam in Kara’s eyes, she felt the echoes of the not-so-distant past ripple past her.
“Go on. You don’t want to keep her waiting,” Lillian said, gently pushing Kara towards the door to the only room that had a fireplace, the only room that the sun touched.
Kara pushed the door open to find a single source of light in the dark room: a television silently playing what looked like cartoons from the seventies or eighties.
She put her bag down on the chair next to the door and pulled out a couple of notebooks.
“I brought homework,” Kara said softly to the pile of blankets bundled and blocking most of the light source.
Something beneath it moved, the only invitation Kara needed to proceed further into the room.
The pile was on top of a rather wide, thick rug beside a low, coffee table. She placed the notebooks on the coffee table and pushed it towards the sentient pile of blankets before sitting on the other side.
“I don’t know why you insist on letting me tutor you, Kara. You’re smart,” the sentient pile of blankets said. Nevertheless, a hand shot out of the pile and picked up the notebooks. “Math. History. Science.”
“Homework is fun when I’m doing it with you,” Kara said.
“You mean when you make me do it?”
Kara gasped, then lowly, “No…”
The blankets started to move a bit more, this time shuffling closer to where Kara sat.
“It hurts,” the tiny voice inside said, smaller than it usually was. And as much as Kara was taught empathy and sympathy, she had no frame of reference for this, except perhaps the time when Alex knocked out one of her front teeth while they were playing. It really only hurt for a second, and after their mom’s long sermon about the virtues of play-fighting safely, it just became something she and Alex had laughed at when Kara looked at herself in the mirror afterwards. It grew back in a few hours anyway.
But this was Lena’s first fang shedding before she got her permanent ones. Kind of like how Kara lost all her puppy teeth eventually, but in Lena’s case, it’s her fangs, which are quite important for vampires. Based on what her mom said, they can be quite painful.
And with Lena being an incredibly rare half-vampire, her tolerance for pain was much lower than a normal vampire’s. Almost human was how Lex had described it.
“What can I do?” Kara asked.
There was a pause before the blankets moved even closer so that they were now resting on Kara’s frame. Slowly, a hand emerged, pale and thin. The hand opened and closed before Kara gently took it, their fingers interlacing.
It had always been a fascinating thing for Kara, how Lena’s hands can feel both cold and warm at the same time.
“Tell me about your day,” the pile murmured.
“Okay, but only if we have a picnic outside like we planned last week.”
There was a disgruntled sound from under the pile but Kara, being Kara, understood exactly what it meant.
“You know you can literally fly, right? At least float. Which I still think is cool, by the way, but you don’t need me to carry you all the way out to the garden,” Kara said. She had not moved, their hands still laced together.
This time the blankets shuffled more, and Lena’s head finally popped out.
She and Lena had been best friends since as far back as Kara can remember. She had spent practically half her life in the Luthor Mansion.
She had always been amazed at how Lena just always seemed so still. Vampires, as they learned in school, are stoic and calm most of the time, but they certainly never start out that way. The other vampire kids in school were just as rowdy and just as ready to roughhouse with the wolves and all the other faes.
So, Lena had always stood out to Kara. She knew she could always find Lena by the spot of calm she created in the chaotic sea of bodies in school, especially during lunch.
But the head that popped out of the blankets was miles away from her cool, calm, and collected Lena. This one was miserable, with visible shadows under her eyes, her cheeks slightly sunken and even paler than usual. Her hair was a tangled mess and she had a pale line of dried blood coming from her mouth. Her lower lip, normally blood red, was now purplish red and bruised, as if she had been chewing on them the whole day.
Her eyes, however, were still the clearest green Kara had ever seen.
And they stared at her, defiant despite everything about her screaming she was in pain.
Kara sighed.
“Okay, fine,” she said, looking around. “Could you turn the lights on for a bit, please?”
Lena waved her free hand and the daylight-tinted bulbs that lined the ceiling came on.
Kara got up, or at least she tried to, but was stopped by a soft thud and the realization that she had just accidentally pulled Lena, who was still holding on to her, out of the pile of blankets she had wrapped herself in.
Kara smiled.
“You’re a child, Lena.”
“And you’re not?”
“Not right now,” Kara said. Finally acquiescing to Lena’s earlier muffled request, she knelt, offering her back. “Hop on.”
It was easy. They’d done this countless times because Lena couldn’t phase like all vampires, and Kara had always loved the feel of the wind on her face, the world passing by around her quickly. So, she had always offered to carry Lena so they could both be fast. And even when Lena discovered she could fly, something they think she could do thanks to her wiccan half, Lena still preferred to be on Kara’s back when the wolf had a bit too much energy she needed to expend.
Lena slowly, quietly hopped on, and when Kara was satisfied that Lena was safe, she proceeded to rummage through Lena’s closet, pulling out a pair of jeans and a hoodie which got her a raised brow from Lena.
“You’re still in PJ’s. We can’t have a proper picnic in pajamas.”
“Who says?” Lena’s voice was softer than usual, but Kara was only relieved that Lena was speaking at all. She had fully expected to carry today’s conversation on her own, which was not really a problem. Words, stories came easy when she was with Lena.
“I do,” Kara replied, still rummaging for some more extra layers of clothing she could pad Lena with. “It’s also a bit chilly outside, hence the hoodie.”
“But you’re warm.”
Kara paused to glance at the vampire on her back. “I’m not gonna hug you the entire time we’re having a picnic, Lena.”
“Why not?”
“How am I gonna eat if I have to hug you too?”
She felt Lena shrug. “Sounds like a you problem.”
“That you’re causing?”
“I still fail to see how this is my problem.”
“Wow, you’re sassier than usual today,” Kara said as she proceeded to put Lena back down on the bed.
A disgruntled noise came from Lena again before an, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Can you get changed or is it too painful?”
Lena gestured for Kara to turn around, which Kara did. “It’s really just around my head and my mouth. My head feels like it’s tearing itself open while the inside of my mouth is on fire and very itchy at the same time.” She paused. “I’m also just thirsty all the time now.”
Oh.
“I got you some blood bags.”
“I know,” Lena’s voice was low, almost purring. “I can smell it on you.”
Kara wrinkled her nose, sniffing at herself. “Is that bad?”
“No,” came the reply, impossibly lower. “You smell delicious.”
There’s a pleasant kind of thrum that filled Kara’s senses, something primal, something that called to her, a kind of energy that usually caused Kara to run, to get her heart pumping, to get in touch with her inner wolf. And even then, she felt the beginning of her turning, her senses ramping to a thousand percent until she heard a tiny, almost imperceptible whimper.
She quickly turned around and found Lena, dressed, and changed but holding on to her mouth and head.
“Hey…hey…” Kara said, closing their distance in an instant. She gently, effortlessly pulled Lena to her, one hand rubbing slow, lazy circles on her best friend’s back while the other wrapped protectively around Lena. “We don’t have to go outside if you’re really not up for it. We can just stay here.”
Aside from the ragged breathing, Lena was quiet for a moment before she slowly shook her head. “No. You did all this and I can’t let it go to waste.” She tested her jaw, winced a little bit but shook her head as she pulled away from Kara. “Besides, maybe a little warmth and a little distraction would be good for me.”
Kara watched as Lena slowly stood up with a kind of grace that Kara had only seen in movies from princesses and queens. If there was any hint of pain, she was managing to hide it so completely that any other normal person would be fooled into thinking she was okay.
She watched as Lena took a deep breath and managed a smile that Lena reserved only for her and her family.
“Come on,” Lena said, one hand open and stretched towards Kara.
Truth be told, Kara wasn’t sure when it was that she had first decided that Lena was the most important person in her life, but as she took Lena’s hand, she knew it was the best decision she had ever made.