T/W in general for Talia lol

Chapter sixteen

Emma stared at Rowan as she finished recounting her journey to Storybrooke.

She wasn't really sure whether she was more surprised about the fact that it was possible to cure vampirism or the fact that Rowan had managed os survive the horror that had been haunting her for the past six years.

As strange as her life had been since she had met Talia, and then stranger still after Henry had brought her Storybrooke, she still found herself caught off guard more often than not and this was no exception.

Even if she now knew that she was the vampiric daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, there was still a part of her that thought that she would eventually wake up from a dram and find herself in one of her many foster homes, or some kind of mental institution.

However, as she fell down into the deputy's seat and placed her her head in her hands with a deep sigh of exasperation, she decided that now as not the time to focus on that possibility. Her girlfriend was currently in the grasp of her psychotic ex-friend and her ex-girlfriend was stood before her looking at her with what appeared to be a mix of relief and sympathy. Emma had to assume that she was probably happy that she had survived the past six years on the run from Talia, but she felt her stomach twist when she remembered just how she had been so successful in running away.

She'd honestly thought that she would be safe in Storybrooke from Talia considering that no one was allowed to come in or leave, but she had obviously underestimated just how powerful she actually was.

She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to force herself to not think about the probability that it was her fault that Regina was currently in danger. If she had simply remained single for the rest of her immortal life, than everyone would h ave been safe.

Right now though, she needed to focus on saving her girlfriend, she could focus on how it was completely her fault after she kicked Talia's ass.

"Emma?" Rowan said cautiously when she decided that the blonde had enough time to process everything that she had said.

The sheriff looked up at the former vampire and said, "so let me get this straight…you're human?"

Rowan smiled sadly at the blonde. Even if she technically looked the same age as the last time she saw her, she was still distinctly different. She didn't look like the same 'baby vampire' who had entered the clan's club all those years ago, being the saviour of Storybrooke definitely suited the woman.

"My father has been working on a cure for a while now for people like you who never chose to be bitten," Rowan replied and reached into her pocket to out a phial, "which is partly why I'm here…It has only ever worked for me but I thought that I should at least give you the choice…"

Emma's eyes widened as the other woman held out the green liquid towards her and she felt her throat constrict before she pushed her hand away and shook her head. The thought of being cured would send her mind down a rabbit hole that she really didn't have time for right now.

Honestly, she had given up on the idea a long time ago, which was why she hadn't really spent much time considering the possibility that she could be cured, even when she had come to a town where literally anything seemed to be possible. Ultimately, she had decided that she didn't want to spend her families's limited life trying to find a cure since it would mean that she was wasting time that she could just be spending enjoying being with them.

She had long since decided that she wouldn't think too far into the future, since that would mean that she would have to think about what she would do when everyone in Storybrooke was gone and she would have to go and build a life somewhere else.

There was also the fact that Rowan didn't sound particularly certain about the effectiveness of the cure and Emma just really didn't want to deal with that right now.

"Not until we find Regina," she replied.

Rowan frowned, but she still pocketed the phial. It made sense that the blonde wouldn't want to give up her abilities while her girlfriend was still in trouble but she wasn't too convinced that she would be willing to talk about it later.

"Okay," she replied and crossed her arms over her chest.

Emma swallowed hard and stood from the chair as she asked, "how did you find me?"

"I'm not sure that I actually explained how my powers worked to you," Rowan replied, "I was able to see in almost anyone's mind, but for some people, the connection was stronger…"

The saviour frowned, she was pretty sure that she understood what kind of connection she was talking about and her stomach clenched when she realised that same principle probably applied to Talia as well. It really was just her luck that she would sleep with two psychic vampires and that one of them would end up being insane.

"So for people who you had…this connection with…?"

"I didn't need to be in the same room as them to hear their thoughts…I knew there was something special about you Swan, but I didn't think you could be a princess," Rowan laughed.

Emma actually cringed, though a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Since the curse had broken, she had actually often thought about what Rowan's reaction to all of it would be and her expression was almost exactly what she had imagined, somewhere between shock and amusement.

The saviour's little smile fell away though when she thought back over the other woman's words, "you didn't need to be?"

Rowan sighed and nodded, "humans don't tend to be able to read minds, my powers are fading."

Emma swallowed hard and ran her hand over her face and she said, "I'm sorry…"

"Don't start with that, Swan," Rowan said and raised her hand to cut her off, "nothing that has happened is your fault, I'm just here to help your girlfriend and stop that bitch from hurting anyone else."

The sheriff nodded, though she couldn't quite believe that none of this was her fault and she asked, "and do you have a plan?"

"I kind of assumed that you would know how to find her…with magic?"

Emma frowned and shook her head, "I'm actually not really good at it…"

Rowan rolled her eyes and the sheriff was about to reach into her pocket to pull out her phone to call in help but she suddenly remembered it cracking in her hand and she reached over to grab the receiver off the deputy's landline.

The phone rang for a couple of seconds before the man on the other end, "hello?"

"Hi dad," Emma replied, ignoring the way that Rowan's eyebrows shot up at just how easily she had said that word, "I need you to convince Gold to come to the station…Talia has Regina."

Talia was pissed.

She had been certain that there was no way that Regina would miss the chance to save Daniel. After all, the man seemed to constantly take up a portion of her thoughts, but she was currently refusing to do anything.

That meant that she was watching her first love die over again over again with silent tears falling down her cheeks but refusing to anything, because in her mind, if she did then it would mean that she would be thirty years older than Emma and that Henry would never be born.

It was infuriating because the vampire had been sure that Regina would never chose Emma. She was only with her because she couldn't have the man who had been taken away from her.

It was the only thing that made sense to her since the alternative would mean that Emma and Regina were actually meant to be together and there was no way that her mate could have another mate. Even if the second mate would be dying in the coming decades, she knew that she wouldn't be able to live in a world in which Emma had been so deeply in love with another.

She was determined to prove that their relationship was only on borne out of circumstance and not out of any kind of actual destiny.

However, Regina was not helping with that considering that she was currently choosing Emma and Henry over Daniel over and over again, no matter how much it seemed as though it was physically hurting her.

She clenched her jaw as the scene reset again and she asked, "are you really going to do nothing?!"

Regina's head lolled to the side and but her eyes remained on Daniel who was once again fixed in his position of hugging her younger self again. She had absolutely no idea how long she had been here, but she was just trying to focus on the fact that Emma would eventually find her so all she had to do was stay strong until that happened.

As harrowing as it was to re-watch Daniel's death over and over again, there was a huge part of her mind that knew that nothing would change if she saved him. This was obviously just a trick from the insane vampire's mind, but the longer that it went on, the less that Regina was able to keep that in mind.

She had spent years thinking about what she would do if she had the chance to go back in time to this very moment. Before she got Henry, the answer was obvious that she would save the stable boy and get to live the life that her teen self had dreamed of, but having a son complicated that image, especially now that she knew it would be essentially impossible for him to be born if she didn't cast the curse.

There was now also the fact that when she imagined her future, she no longer thought about Daniel, she thought about Emma who she couldn't be with if they were to both be the ages they should have been.

"What did you expect me to do?" Regina asked and her eyes moved to look at Talia with all of the contempt that she could muster.

Talia bit the inside of her cheek, she didn't want to have to admit that she had thought that there was no chance that Regina would actually choose Emma, it was because she knew that this was simply a simulation. The former queen was simply too smart to fall for what she was sure that almost every woman would have given into at this point. She could see in her mind that she had been through more torture than anyone should have ever be subjected to, so it made sense that she would be able to see through her rouse, especially considering her years of magical training.

In Talia's defence, this was the first time that she had ever had to deal with a witch, so she just tried reassure herself that there was a certain learning curve involved with what she had planned.

"Are you telling me that you're not even going to pretend that you would try to save him?" Talia asked, looking back over to the frozen man, "you could at least pretend to move instead of crying."

Regina just clenched her jaw but made no attempt to say anything else, she had the distinct feeling that there would be absolutely no point in trying to convince her to set her free. Reason was not something that this woman dealt in, so she figured that she would just need to make sure that she survived long enough for Emma to find her. She figured that she could stand to be a little patient considering how many rescues she had been involved in up to this point. The heroes of Storybrooke may not be the most efficient of teams, but they were certainly effective when given enough time.

The vampire narrowed her eyes at her when she offered no response and she knew based on the little smirk on her face that her assumptions were correct. The mayor was smug because she knew that nothing that happened here would have any long term effects, which Talia was determined to change.

Regina's little smirk fell away when the scene before her disappeared before her eyes. Only a second later, the rest of her senses registered a change in her surrounds as the fresh air and the stables also disappeared.

The former queen drew her eyebrows together as she registered that she had never actually been in the stables which meant that she had lost the one thing that was keeping her somewhat grounded. While she could hear the horses, she could think about the plan that she and Emma had made to go on a horse-riding date in the coming weeks.

"I can see that I'm wasting my time with that, you're obviously too selfish to save him," she sneered and leaned closer to the brunette's face.

Regina turned her face away from the other woman, cringing as she protracted her fangs. As aroused as she would have been if it had been Emma, she felt disgust churn within her stomach at the sight of Talia's.

"It would change anything," the mayor replied, still refusing to look at the vampire, "I'm not foolish enough to think that your powers extend to time travel."

"I guess I should make it less elaborate then," Talia said, "the pain stops as soon as you admit that you could never love Emma as much as I do."

Regina was about to ask her what she meant but she got her answer when Talia ran her fangs over the skin of her neck, exactly where the fading scars had been left by her girlfriend and that same disgust reared its head again. However, as much as the thought of Talia taking her blood disgusted her, she was finding it difficult to be afraid considering that she knew exactly what it was like to have her blood taken by a vampire.

She moved her head as far away as possible from the vampire, who reached up to release one of her hands from the binds and not for the first time, Regina wished that her magic would come rushing back but to no avail.

"Do you think that will hurt m…" Regina began, but her words cut off when the fangs sank into her wrist and she screamed out in pain.

Talia grinned as the foul tasting blood flooded her mouth and she spent a couple seconds drinking greedily before she leaned back with the arm still in her hand and she said, "that's the thing about vampire bites, your majesty, it's all about the permission."

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