Fic - Vampire - 1/1

[evandar]

Title: Vampire
Author: Evandar
Fandom: The Hobbit
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit and am making no profit from this story.
Summary: Bard is more than a boatman, but the Dwarves are safe for now.
Author's Notes: I'm so, so sorry. I saw Dracula: Untold too many times and now vampire!Bard is a thing I want in my life.

Also, I'm doing the DVD Commentary Meme, so check it out and ask me anything.



He smells them before he sees them. Blood makes his mouth water and he leaves his boat to stalk them along the shore. A group of Dwarves, one of them badly wounded, and the battered barrels of the Woodland King.

It's the barrels that give him pause. The Dwarves, whoever they are, and Thranduil's prisoners, and the Elvenking is one of the few who look upon him with compassion. He will not risk that alliance, no matter how much his fangs ache to bite, and he notches an arrow to his bow instead of attacking outright.

He makes sure the clouds remain firmly overhead, regardless of the wind.

He is spotted only when he intends to be, by a Dwarf sitting separate from the others, emptying water out of his boots. His eyes widen, and it's only with his cry that his comrades realise that there is a stranger in their midst. They are nothing to him, even though they bristle and threaten with stones and harsh words. Rocks, iron; things like that mean nothing to a creature out of legend - only Thranduil has heard of his kind before, and he has sworn friendship as long as Bard never preys on his people.

He shoots a rock out of a Dwarf's hand before it can be thrown, and when he speaks he lets his fangs show.

"Who are you?" he demands. "And what are you doing here?"

The Dwarves stare at his mouth, at the razor-sharp teeth that peek between his lips, and he wonders if they know just how much the realms of the North have changed in their absence.

Comments

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

*Nice*. Now I am deathly curious about the backstory behind this snippet; how did Bard become what he is? Does he still have kids? Is he hiding what he is from the rest of Laketown? How *has* the North changed? Do the dwarves have any idea about what he is?

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it <3

This was very much an exercise in 'I wanted it so I wrote it on my lunch break', but it's definitely an idea that I want to flesh out more. I think he hides it from Laketown, certainly, but that he was initially found/helped by the Elves after being attacked and that's why Thranduil knows. I like the idea of the darkness spreading through Mirkwood being represented by more than just spiders, and maybe a descendant of Thuringwethil living in the mountains there. That's kind of where I'd like to go with it, if that makes sense.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

I, for one, will be absolutely over the moon if you decide to keep working on this idea. It makes sense; it makes a lot of sense, including Bard's continued association with the elves - he's going to outlive absolutely *everyone*, makes sense to keep up contact with the relatively immortal. I am torn between hoping that he got attacked pre-marriage and kids so that his offspring don't die before him, even though that means they'd share in his curse (think being a descendant of Girion was tough? Nothing compared to being part-vampire), and praying that he got attacked post-kids, so they remain innocent and the best of him.

Though I have to wonder why Thranduil didn't just kill him upon finding him - he doesn't seem inclined to give 'dark creatures' a chance. Come to think of it - vampires may be to men what orcs are to elves; beings twisted from what they once were by a dark, dark power...

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

If I did it so that he was turned pre-kids, he would have no kids at all. I'm very much not into the half-vampire/dhampir/whatever you call them trope, so even though it would erase them from the story, he wouldn't have to watch them die. That said, I'm leaning more towards him being turned post-kids and having that drama.

I'm inclined to believe that Thranduil was at least passingly familiar with Bard before he was turned and knew enough to know that he was a good man - then kept him alive long enough to know that he hadn't lost his mind and then encouraged him to remain a good man.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

I find that my taste for said trophe depends on the fandom, and how it is addressed. I wonder if he would tell his kids about his curse? It really depends on the circumstances; on the one hand, he might just pretend that nothing's changed because he can't bear to see them hate him, but on the other - it's really better if they do know, so that they know there are *reasons* he's acting the way he does. Such as adopting a night- and cloudy-day schedule...

Well, nothing passes in the Woodland Realm that the king does not know of (theoretically, at least). He'd have to at least been aware of Bard as a human, collecting barrels... I find that the more I read, the more I ship Bard and Thranduil as friends, at the very least.

I rather believe that Bard positively gluts himself on animal blood during his outings from Lake-Town, just to cut back on the temptation of going after all the humans he's surrounded with on a regular basis.

[lynndyre.livejournal.com]

I love this so much.

I also love the woodelves feeding him the blood of various creatures.


....what are your thoughts on Thranduil letting Bard drink from him? Is this the 'only animal blood ever or you'll end up evil' kind of vampirism, or the 'be careful not to noncon feed on anybody' kind?

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm glad you like it.

I'm very much leaning towards the 'be careful not to noncon feed on anybody' kind of vampirism, and I can definitely see Thranduil feeding Bad from himself - especially at the beginning, if only to protect his people because let's just ignore PJ's characterisation, shall we? from any possible accidents.

[longbca.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! If only the dwarves knew the full truth..

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

Thank you!