Chapter Text
Hunters and Hunted
Part 1: Remember
Elise lay on the bed she had once shared with her husband, under the quilt her mother had made, dying and afraid. But it was not death that she feared.
They would be here soon, she knew, and they would kill her son - because he was here with her, he was 'contaminated', not because he was Michael's son. They might take satisfaction in the boy's death because of his parentage, though, and Elise thought they had gotten enough satisfaction out of her family already. After all, they had arranged Michael's death...and her own, even if indirectly. But she wouldn't let them have Vincent. She was going to make sure he was safe.
He was in the corner of the room now, watching her but not coming close because she'd told him not to. Such a good boy, even at the tender age of five. Elise wished she'd get to see the man he'd become, but they'd taken that away from her, and from him as well. Summoning up a smile, one of the last things she had left to give him, she motioned him to come closer. He did, cautiously, and she knew that he could sense the change in her even though he could not see it and did not know what it meant. He was so much Michael's son. "Vincent, it's all right," she reassured him weakly, holding out her hand. "Please, come closer, it's all right."
He came, blue eyes huge in his pale, narrow face. Elise wished she could hug him, pull him into her arms and take that fear away...but it wasn't possible, wasn't safe. She contented herself with running a hand through the long strands of his golden hair, even filthy and snarled as it was right now feeling baby soft to her roughening fingers. It would darken, she knew, the gold buried under warm brown and only gleaming its natal color in the sunlight. But at least there would be sunlight, for him. She ruffled the tangled strands, careful not to scratch his scalp with her lengthening, blackening nails. "Mama does love your hair," she told him, and was rewarded with a sweet little smile. "Vincent, this is very important, so you must listen to Mama and do exactly as she tells you."
A nod; he would listen, and she knew he would remember. Vincent remembered everything. "Mama is...sick," she told him. It wasn't entirely a lie. "And you're going to have to go away so you don't get sick too. Remember when Papa took you to see the Nokonis at their camp in the woods? You need to go there, and you need to go right now."
His blue eyes got even wider, and he tugged at her arm. "You come too, Mama?"
Elise patted the little hand clutching at her torn, stained sleeve. "Mama can't come, Vincent; Mama's sick."
The little boy frowned and tugged again. "White Bear c'n make you better."
"No, he can't. I can't get better from this." This was so hard; she knew he didn't understand, and she couldn't, wouldn't explain it to him. "I'm going to go be with Papa," she explained. "I have to go, so I can't come with you. You're going to live with White Bear from now on, all right?" This was where it was going to get tricky, and she had so little time...so very little time. She pulled him a little closer, as close as she dared, making sure he was looking her in the eye. "Vincent, you can never, ever tell anyone you lived here with Mama and Papa, understand? And you have to use the new name we talked about, remember that?"
"I 'member." His frown deepened, though. "I want my name, an' to stay here, Mama. What if Papa..." He stopped before finishing that thought, remembering that Papa wasn't coming back. Mama had said so, and she'd told him that if someone who looked like Papa came back it would be a monster playing a trick. Vincent shuddered; he didn't like monsters, not one little bit. "Mama, please?"
"I can't, baby. I wish I could." Elise shuddered too, but for a different reason. He had to go, he had to go now. She let her hand slide out of his hair and patted his cheek, careful to keep her fingers away from his eyes. "Vincent, you have to remember you're a Tanner, all right? Remember you're a Tanner. And now...now you have to run, baby. There's a monster coming, and I can't protect you from it. Get to the Nokonis, and don't let anyone see you until you reach their camp, all right? There are lots of monsters right now, but White Bear and his tribe can keep you safe." One last caress, and then she pushed him away with a trembling hand, gentle but firm. "Go now, Vincent! Run!"
He ran, out of the room, out of the house, but Elise didn't relax until she knew he'd had enough time to make it into the woods. It had been so close, too close. Her nails scratched at the quilt that covered her, shredding the worn fabric patches into small strips beneath her cooling palm. She could feel the poison she'd taken working, but she hadn't been sure it would be fast enough, strong enough, to prevent the change from happening before her son could get away, before the real monsters came to find her with their bullets and burning torches. Elise smiled, a grim, sad smile. They would find her dead, and their torches would light her pyre. There would be nothing left, which was as she wanted it, as it should be, for Vincent's sake.
Tears glimmered in her dimming blue eyes and left a streak of red down one paling cheek. Her Vincent, their Vincent. He would be safe with White Bear, and these American hunters who were so monstrous and so unlike her noble Michael would not be looking for Vincent Tanner.
Elise died with a smile on her face, satisfied.