The Dark Side of the Mirror [30% Complete]

[Laura Vida]

Prompt List

• Luck
• Love
• Hot
• Spring
• Dark
• Gold
• Fear
• Dance
• Swim
• Obsession

[Laura Vida]

L U C K

[Laura Vida]

L O V E

[Laura Vida]

H O T

It was the middle of summer in Los Angeles, and Lance and Laura and flown home to visit their parents and give them status updates. Trevor and Tyler had accompanied them, if only because they were all going stir crazy in the city. While Trevor had been to Los Angeles more than a few times on hunting trips both with his father and Colt, Tyler had never been - let alone flown on a plane. It was obvious they were related as soon as the flight began taking off, though: neither of them were calm flyers, and it showed. Laura had passed out as soon as they hit their cruising altitude and Lance and Tyler traded a PSP around while Trevor just angrily sat sandwiched between two fat-asses on the next row over because Laura was a bitch and bought his plane ticket like that on purpose (she hadn't, but he was pretty sure she had).

  When they got to LA, they went straight to the "DiGrigorio" household (since none of the Vidas were dumb enough to use their real names on paperwork), where Tyler and Trevor met their parents and got settled in. The house was huge - like, ridiculously huge. Trevor was a little surprised. Laura and Lance never made any mention of their background, just that it was tumultuous and involved several spur-of-the-moment cross-country moves. It appeared as though their parents' hunting had settled down and allowed for them to buy a goddamn mansion (not really, but it was way bigger than anything either of the guys had ever lived in). They also found time to buy a boat, and after about two days of spending time with their kids and their friends, decided to go do that for the long weekend. So, Trevor found himself unsupervised in a huge house with his little brother and the Vidas from Thursday til Sunday.

Naturally, he fell asleep earlier than shit the first two nights because of jet lag. He apparently didn't miss much, either, since all he heard about the next morning as they ate was a bunch of X-Box bullshit he didn't understand. Sometime around Saturday, though, things got interesting. For starters, the power went out around three in the afternoon, and the temperature in the house rose to a retarded degree. They spent all day outside by the pool while Lance and Laura took turns calling their parents (who told them to cope with it) and the power company (who put them on hold for literal hours at a time).

Finally, Laura couldn't sit by the pool anymore, or on the phone. She went back inside, grabbed a battery-powered fan she found in her closet, then went up to the attic and started going through old boxes of shit. Trevor came with her, hoping to get some sexy one-on-one time, but as soon as he got into the attic he decided that it was a horrible idea. The only time his shirt came off was when it got so thoroughly soaked with sweat that he couldn't stand to wear it anymore, and it didn't even receive so much as a remark from Laura, who had dragged over a box of baby books and other random shit that she'd never seen before.

Since Trevor didn't have anything CLOSE to that for himself, he was interested enough to look through them while she worked on another box of old school stuff she and Lance had. Every once in a while she'd show him some awful macaroni art or a painting of what was supposed to be a house that looked more like abstract imagery. Lance was clearly the more talented of the duo in that regard. Laura distracted herself with an old notebook she and Lance used to pass notes in the hallway during their day, and Trevor resumed to going through other people's shit.

"Hey, Laura, look at this. Your birth certificates." He opened a dark blue binder and held them up for her to see, then frowned, pulling them away just as she reached for them. He ignored her surprised protest, widening his eyes as he re-read them again.

"I thought Lance was a year older than you?" he asked.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "He is. Can't you read, shortbus? It says it right there," she said, moving her milk crate over and sitting next to him. She tapped her finger where the birthdate was, though she clearly hadn't read it.

"Uh, yeah shortbus, I can read. This says you guys were born in the same year." He paused. "On the same day. Seven minutes apart." He held her birth certificate next to Lance's to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. "No, this definitely says you guys were born seven minutes apart, not a year apart."

"Let me see that!" she snapped, snatching them from him despite sitting right next to him. He let them go only because the paper was thin and he didn't want it to rip; had they not been legal documents he'd have held on tightly just to piss her off.

"Holy shit," she breathed. She jumped up and ran out of the attic. He could hear her calling Lance's name as she ran down the hall (like a goddamn elephant, he did not understand how she could be so quiet when they were hunting).

With a sigh, he pushed off of the milk crate and followed in her wake, muttering to himself. "Don't thank me or anything, I just found the damn things." Of course, none of them had any idea why they'd been lied to this whole time, but if anyone had to guess, they'd have said that Amanda wasn't their real mother - or something equally harebrained. They had no idea what the truth was, and since Amanda and her husband had gotten tired of their kids calling to whine about not having any power for a few hours, they had no idea what they'd be coming home to.

Ash, however, had been waiting for a very long time to receive that particular phone call.

"Do you know what Laura just told me?" Danielle said, cradling the phone against her shoulder as she swiped her credit card and waiting for the gas pump to turn on. "She said that they just found her and Lance's birth certificates and it says they're twins." She snorted. "Doesn't that make total sense? I mean, they look enough alike as it is."

"Yes, but you look like her, too, chere," Ash said calmly as he stopped stocking the rum for a moment. "It's just Vida blood."

"I guess," she said. "Anyways, she's flipping nuts. I feel bad for Amanda. Hey, what time was dinner tonight?"

"I can only imagine," he remarked. "I'll have it ready by seven. Try not to forget the salad this time," he reminded her. She excused herself at just the right time and Ash sighed, knowing he'd have to go pick some up on his way back to the house for sure. He set his phone down and leaned against the bar, his lips pressed together in a flat line as he thought. Lance and Laura flipping "nuts" was the least of his worries, very suddenly, as was an extra trip to the store to get a bag of lettuce that his girlfriend treated like plague-infested rats. He picked up his phone, then put it down again, debating on whether or not to make a rather important phone call.

[Laura Vida]

S P R I N G

[Laura Vida]

D A R K

[Laura Vida]

G O L D

Laura stood in the doorway of Lance's room, her warm flannel robe wrapped tightly around her. Lance was asleep - dead fucking asleep, actually - as was customary of her brother after sex. He'd be asleep for the next few hours, at least - it was only nine in the morning, but Laura somehow felt energized. Like she'd borrowed someone else's energy, actually, if she had to explain the particular feeling, but that didn't make any sense, now did it? She tilted her head a little, watching him roll over and mutter something about 'Merry fuck you, too' in his sleep. She blinked rapidly and realized that whatever he was dreaming about was at least time appropriate - Christmas was right around the corner, wasn't it? She slid away after another moment, finding that she took something out of watching her brother sleep like she never had before.

God, she was creeping herself out, now.

She went into the living room, absently straightening up around where it looked like a bomb had gone off. Leftover pizza, empty soda cans, a dead XBox controller, another dead Xbox controller (seriously, Lance needed to learn the virtue of fucking using the cord every once in a while) and a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved stuck to the table dangerously close to where he'd knocked over his nasty Gamer Fuel Mountain Dew to get her from Trevor the night before. She made a noise and cleaned up the spill, examining the disc as she held it by her index finger carefully. For as careful as Lance made her be with those, he sure as shit treated them like they were garbage.

Deciding that she had shit she needed to do, regardless of whether or not he planned to sleep all day, she aimed for her own room for a change. She showered, washing the shit water, which had now dried into a thin film, out of her hair. She marveled at the amount of dirt that came off of her body, thankful that this was a house where enough stitches had been popped in sleep to encourage sheets in very dark colours only. Once she was out, dried, and dressed, she sat down on her bed and looked at her phone. It had been destroyed by the river. Thankfully, she was used to that, and pulled out another from her dresser drawer. She turned it on experimentally and was happy to find that it still had a charge. Quickly, she pulled up her laptop, transferred her account information to the other phone, then waited a few seconds for it to take.

At the Browning-Brandt household, a phone on the counter of the island between the kitchen and the living room went off. It was on vibrate, and it vibrated itself straight off of the counter and into the trash, which was almost as tall as the counter anyways from Trash Jenga that the brothers had been playing. Lucky for Trevor, who had fallen asleep face-first on the couch after telling Tyler that he was pretty sure Lance was not his friend anymore, the last thing to have been put on the very top of the stack? Beer bottles. Three of them. When the phone fell, it hit the bottles, which tipped and fell themselves. The weight of them brought the whole stack of milk jugs with solid milk in them, empty cereal boxes, pizza boxes with nothing except the friggitellos and the little white things Tyler used to use as tables for his action figures' fortresses (dollhouses), and several half-full and very flat 2 litres of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sprite, and Coke (they liked both Pizza Hut and Domino's). At the very bottom of all this, and what rocketed out of the trash can and across the broken glass to spill all over the floor, was four-week old and very, very rancid Chinese takeout that they'd accidentally left in the fridge to grow hair, then in the can so long that it began to culture. Tyler and Trevor took turns spraying the pile of trash down with Lysol Lavender Vanilla (they had two cans added to the pile before long) so that their apartment wouldn't stink, but even as Trevor came home smelling of blood and death, he could tell there was a rotten, damp and decaying box somewhere in his house that strangely stank of antibacterial and cheap laundry detergent.

This was all important to know, because that Trash Jenga had also securely plugged off the smell of the liquified food at the bottom of the trash can. The trash can where the bag had fallen in as soon as Tyler put his first flat 2 litre in, so no doubt the inside of the can reeked just as badly and found itself coated in a thin layer of slime already. Now that the phone had danced its way off of the counter and onto the pile, sending everything out and across the dingy linoleum floor, the smell was very strong, and very quick to permeate the apartment. Tyler's door flung open at the sound, the bleary-eyed boy stumbling into the hall with his paintball gun (he'd grabbed it by mistake, he was so tired), and promptly squeezed off two rounds into Trevor, who made the mistake of startling him as he jumped off of the couch at the sudden situation.

So not only had Trevor had a horrible night, his morning was off to a bad start, too. He knew it would be Laura calling because it was her ringtone, but his phone was firmly planted somewhere within that mess of gunk at the moment, and he wasn't willing to put it anywhere near his head or face until he used a fourth can of Lysol on it and it alone. He turned to Tyler, who stood wide-eyed and alert, suddenly very awake at having put two bright pink blobs of paint on his brother's chest.

"I'm not gonna say anything right now, because I'll hit you," Trevor said through clenched teeth. "But trust me, it's coming. Right now, I need to use your phone." And with that, he pushed past him and went to Tyler's room, dialing Laura back. "You called? Sorry, could hear my phone ringing, just, uh, couldn't reach it."

"Yeah. Listen, I just wanted to let you know I was okay. I'm one-hundred percent, as usual, aside from some bumps and bruises that match up with hitting water hard enough that I should have broken a bone or two," she added.

Trevor frowned. There was something different about the way she spoke. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was definitely something off. The only way he could describe it was as though she'd made some sort of life altering decision; he could hear a strangeness in her voice, almost like she was faking interest. What the hell?

"Good," he said, brows furrowing on the other end. "I'm glad. Your brother seemed pretty pissed. He still want to kick my head in?" he asked hopefully. Maybe if he could talk to Lance, they could find out what Laura's problem was. It was like ever since they'd found out they were twins instead of normal siblings, they spent more time together - if that were even possible. But if anyone could talk sense into her, it was Lance.

Laura laughed. "No," she said honestly. "He was just scared. He'd have called you, but he's not up yet. Speaking of which, I'm sure you weren't up, either. I'll let you go. Give me a call later on, maybe we'll go grab food." She excused herself from the conversation, aware that she felt a strange emptiness for Trevor where she'd had a strong attraction before. She was unaware that it translated into her voice, but she wouldn't have been surprised to know he'd picked up on it. Trevor was human, but he certainly wasn't stupid. She set the phone down and sighed, then got up and went back out to the living room. She was starving. Between the magical and the physical last night, Laura realized that food should have been way higher on her agenda then it was.

On her way to the kitchen, a buzzing noise caused her to stop. It had to be Lance's phone - her own was silent. She went back into the bedroom, sitting down on the bed next to him as lightly as she could so she didn't wake him, and picked up his phone to see the display. Ash. She felt her stomach drop as she realized, running her thumb across the screen, that he'd called thirty-seven times, and over half of those were marked by new voicemails. There were also texts, those from Danielle ambiguously asking that someone call she or Ash as soon as possible. She turned his phone to silent with the press of a button and sighed, then kicked her feet up onto the bed and laid down. She didn't even bother getting under the covers, staring at the ceiling with a sense of foreboding in her stomach that made her physically nauseous with nerves. They were in trouble. Somehow, they'd been caught. She didn't know how, but she realized that it didn't matter much either way - caught was caught.

As if he could sense her in his sleep, Lance opened his green-blue eyes. He squinted in the golden light that filtered in through his curtains, Laura coming into focus more. She was laying on her back with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at the ceiling with her lower lip caught in a pensive bite. He could be half-awake or half-dead; he'd know that expression anywhere. Wordlessly, he threw the blanket over her, then reached out and put his hand firmly around her hips, pulling her until she was close enough for him to nuzzle into.

"What's wrong?" he asked, settling in against her.

As soon as he drew her in, Laura felt that strange energy rise. She worked hard to shove it back down into place, because there were more important things to deal with. "Ash and Danielle have been blowing up your phone since sometime last night," she said, sighing in spite of herself at the warmth of Lance's touch. She could feel his heart beating he snuggled on her, and it comforted her somewhat.

"What?" he asked, pulling away to sit up and ruining the brief peace she'd so desperately craved suddenly. "Are you serious?" He was certainly awake now, anyways. "Why?"

She looked at him flatly. "Why do you think?"

Lance dropped back against the bed, running his hands through his messy white-blonde hair. "Oh, man," he breathed. He was quiet just long enough that Laura thought he'd fallen back asleep - that was, until he spoke. "We should never have done it."

Laura jerked her head over to look at him like she'd been slapped. "What?" she demanded. That cut her more deeply then it should have, and she wasn't prepared for the reaction that came over her. She felt tears pinprick her eyes and pressed her lips together, sitting up immediately so she could get out of the room. Lance caught her by the arm before she could slide off of the bed, sitting up himself.

"Hey, hey, hey," he eased, moving over so that they were at an even height. "Laura, it isn't that... it's not that... " he sighed, frustrated with trying to phrase this delicately. "I love you," he said. He said it firmly, and the way he said it took her off guard - she believed him, as a matter of fact. "More than anything. And  I don't regret any decisions. But Laura, something... something took over last night. It wasn't us. You know it, and I know it. Obviously Ash knows it, which means that we may have bigger consequences than just whatever we're going to deal with from him."

Ever the calm, logical voice of reason, that boy. Unfortunately, the proximity had lit that fire again, and he stopped talking in favour of turning his head so that he could regain his composure. Laura exhaled sharply, trying to push whatever emotions back down, but she felt that boiling in her blood again, and however calm he acted, she knew he felt it, too.

"I guess we should call him back," she said slowly. She didn't want to, because she was afraid of what he would say. Lance nodded, and she started to get up, then realized he still had her anchored in his grasp. She looked back at him, stunned when he pulled her in for a kiss. He ran his hand along her face, cupping her chin in his hand.

"Whatever he says, we'll deal with it," he told her. "But that doesn't mean it changes anything. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"Trust me, Laura," he urged. "I won't let anything happen, to either of us." He adjusted the way he was sitting to allow her to fall into him, curling up in his arms. They stayed in that half-hug half-laying position for a long while, watching the traces of sunlight move slowly across the room until well after noon. Then Lance gently untangled himself from his sister and picked up his phone, dialing out.

"Ash? Yeah, we're on our way."

[Laura Vida]

F E A R

[Laura Vida]

D A N C E

[Laura Vida]

S W I M

The night had started off slow, but Laura could feel the tension in the air as only a hunter could, and she knew that it was going to get ugly before she was able to go home. Her suspicions proved right when she and Trevor had stumbled upon their usual nightly trouble - except there wasn't anything usual about it at all. They were parked at the base of an old bridge while Trevor called to check in on Tyler, and decided that was as good a place as any to take a break.

That was when they were attacked, naturally. Trevor threw his phone down and went for his trunk, popping it open and yanking out the first thing that his hands touched. The shotgun came out without any problem at all, and he racked it and fired quickly, blowing the head straight off the nearest vampire to him. They seemed young by the way they had attacked them so openly, but he counted at least six or seven of them, so it was still a problem.

Speaking of problems, Laura had her own. Two of them decided to double-team her, either not realizing she was a Vida or simply being too stupid to care. She was doing pretty well at avoiding their clumsy strikes while Trevor kept shooting, but he realized that she was overwhelmed because she simply couldn't reach for her knives while they were continuously striking at her. She finally ducked one and caused him to hit the other one, which gave Trevor an opportunity. He fired the last shell through the gun, making a hole in the chest cavity of the vampire that had just been punched in the face by his own team.

What happened after that, though, went way too quickly for him to react with any amount of effectiveness. The lone vampire, now in some sort of blood rage (new for sure, and obviously not too smart about feeding, which probably explained why they'd just jumped two hunters without a second thought), did something totally crazy. He grabbed Laura up by the waist, ignoring the knife that she finally managed to stick into his neck, and pushed forward.

Trevor watched in horror as the dying vampire and his best friend went straight over the bridge and fell a full two stories into the freezing water below. And it was freezing, too. The temperatures that night had gone into the negatives thanks to the wind chill, and though Laura didn't seem to be much bothered by the cold, he was pretty sure that if she spent long enough in that icy river, it would do more than cause her a mild irritation.

"LAURA!" he screamed. He ran to the edge of the bridge, every muscle in his body telling him to jump - but he didn't. He white-knuckled the concrete barrier as he scanned the dark water, eyes burning with tears of anger as he realized that aside from the sound of the river splashing against the banks, he couldn't hear (or see) anything. Just when he felt like he was about to vomit, he heard sputtering from the far end of the bank, and saw blonde hair as Laura clawed her way out of the water.

"Oh my god!" he yelled. He jumped in his car and drove to the other side of the bridge, broke through the chain-link fence that blocked access to the short road that ran along the water's edge, and jumped out, nearly forgetting to pull the parking brake (which he remembered as he felt the car roll forward, in a pants-shitting moment of panic). He scrambled out and down into the mud, grabbing her arms to pull her the rest of the way out. The water had made her heavy, and her clothing was so drenched with the cold water that it burned his hands to grab at her.

"Get... me.. to Lance.." she choked.

"We need to get you to a hospital!" he protested, scooping her up and balancing her in his arms as he ran up the muddy incline as carefully as he could. He didn't need to fall back into the river he'd just yanked her out of, after all. He threw her in the car, nevermind what the water would do to the interior, and ran around to the other side.

"No!" she protested. She grabbed his forearm so hard that it hurt, and he could feel her shaking as she held on. "Lance. He's closer," she said, biting the words off with a violent shiver. Trevor nodded, turned the heater on full blast, then sped to the twins' apartment, breaking every traffic law that existed, plus a few that they hadn't thought to invent yet.

[Laura Vida]

O B S E S S I O N