Love Bites

(Author’s Note: Of course, to fit the story, a line or two have been changed in the song. The song, obviously, is called ‘Love Bites’, by Def Leppard.)

If you got love in your sights,

Watch out. Love bites.


The coffin was being lowered into the ground, while light rain steadily fell. There was a massive gathering to pay their last respects. Ashley Hardy was crying into her husband, Matt’s arms, while a single tear ran down his cheek. An equally upset Stephanie Levesque was being held by her husband, Paul. Every single person had turned out for Selenna’s funeral. But, there was an extremely wide gap between the crowd, and the one person that everyone thought didn’t deserve to be here at all.

Mark stood there, unminding of the wide berth everyone was giving him. His tears mingled with the steadily increasing rain, the only sign he gave that he felt anything at all. His face was a blank mask, but the memories ran through his mind, each killing him all that much more inside. All the pain, all the heartache, all the torment that he’d caused her. And now, he could never tell her that he was sorry. That he’d been wrong when he told her that he’d be happier without her.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


When you make love, do you look in the mirror?
Who do you think of?
Does she look like me?
Do you tell lies?
And say that it's forever?
Do you think twice, or just touch 'n' see?
Ooh babe
Ooh yeah


“Mark…I don’t understand”, Selenna whispered, tears running down her cheeks. “Why do you hurt me like you do? Have I done something to make you do that?”

Mark sneered at her. “I do it because I can”, he said coldly. “I can do whatever I want. I’m the Undertaker. Women fall a my feet.” He then bent so that he was nose to nose with her. “Aww, don’t cry”, he said mockingly. “You were an awful good fuck. Nothin’ to be ashamed about.”

He watched as she bowed her head, her quiet sobs echoing in the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


When you're alone, do you let go?
Are you wild 'n' willin' or is it just for show?
Ooh c'mon


I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
No!
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
It's no surprise
(Love begs, love pleads)
It's what I need






Selenna had started to withdraw from him after that night. But, he would play his mind games with her. He’d go back, acting sorry, and of course, fool that she was, she’d take him back. Only for him to crush her hope again.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


When I'm with you are you somewhere else?
Am I gettin' thru or do you please yourself?
When you wake up will you walk out?
It can't be love if you throw it about
Ooh babe


So many times he’d take what he wanted from her body, only to leave her there the next morning by herself. He’d go off and find any girl that he wanted. And he knew that she knew it, too.


I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
Oh
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
It's no surprise
(Love begs, love pleads)
It's what I need

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


The night of one of Vince’s Christmas parties, he’d gone to the balcony to see her speaking with Ashley.

“I can’t go on fighting for a heart that’s not there”, she’d sniffled. “I’m leaving. There’s nothing left for me here.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve had enough of his brand of ‘love’ to last me a lifetime.” She raised her hands and did the quote gesture with her fingers.

As much as Ashley begged for her to stay, she’d left anyway. The last thing he remembered of that night was that she was standing at the front doors of the hall that Vince had rented, with her back to the room at large. She’d taken off her necklace, with had been a locket that he’d given her. She gazed at it for a little bit, and with a look of pure disgust, she’d dropped it into a little wastebasket that was by the door. She then slowly disappeared down the stairs and out of sight.

“Such a pity”, he heard Stephanie say. “He’d let the only one who truly loved him with all her heart slip through his fingers. Try as I might, I’ll have no pity for him once he realizes that.”


Ooh yeah
I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
No!
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
It's no surprise
(Love begs, love pleads)
It's what I need
If you've got love in your sights
Watch out, love bites
Yes it does
It will be hell


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Six years went by, and he did his best to convince himself that he far happier without her. But, everywhere he turned, he could hear her voice. He closed his eyes, and her face would haunt him. She plagued his dreams, and it finally got to the point where he realized that he’d been wrong all along. Deep down, he’d felt so strongly about her, and just now it hit him that he’d did the things he did because he was frightened of it. But now he knew better.

He’d hired a private detective to track her down. When he finally went to her, he wasn’t prepared for what he found.

Whatever love she’d had for him died the night she left. Now, she was in a deep depression, addicted to prescription pills and alcohol. He’d learned that the government had long since taken the twin children (HIS children) she’d had away from her, claiming her to be an unfit mother. He realized that not only had he killed the love she had for him…he’d also killed any love she had for anything else, too.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*




When he went into her house, there were liquor bottles all over the place. Empty prescription bottles littered her bedside dresser. The sweet, warm, innocent Selenna he knew was gone now, never to come back.

He’d found her on her bed, passed out. He knelt beside her bed, and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

“What the fuck do YOU want?” she slurred when she opened her eyes. “Come to admire your handiwork?”

He opened and closed his mouth a good ten times, unsure of what to say.

“If you got nothing to say, then get the fuck out.” She sat up, weaving a bit, and got up, wobbling to the bathroom.

He sat there, waiting for her to come out. He became concerned when she didn’t come out for a good fifteen minutes.

“Sel”, he murmured, knocking on the door. “Come on out, darlin’, I gotta talk to you.”

There was no answer.

He knocked again, and again, there was no answer. He gently opened the door, and saw Selenna on the floor, her body jerking and bucking erratically, in the throes of a seizure.

He whipped out his cell phone, and called the paramedics. He gathered her jerking body in his arms, whispering in her ear.

“Hold on, Sel, help’s coming”, he murmured, stroking her hair, helpless panic rising within him. “Hang on just a little longer.”

She continued to have her seizure, uncomprehending of his words.

When the paramedics finally got there, she’d gone unconscious. They rushed her to the hospital, where he waited in the waiting room, pacing like a caged animal. His stomach bottomed out on him when he heard the most terrifying sound he’d ever heard.

Selenna had flatlined.

The doctors did everything they could, but in the end, they couldn’t save her.

“I’m sorry, sir”, the doctor said when he came out, patting the big man’s arm sympathetically. “She’s gone.”


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Now, it was too late. He’d paid for her funeral services, and her doctor’s bills. Not that it did any good, but that was beside the point. She’d at least taught her babies who their father was, and he was going on a sabbatical from his job to care for them. Thank goodness for small favors.

Everyone had begun to wander off in the direction of the limousines. Long after everyone had gone, Mark was still standing there.

He finally broke, falling to his knees in the mud while the grave was being filled.

“I’m sorry!!” he sobbed, clutching handfuls of mud. “Selenna, I’m sorry!! I was wrong!! Please, forgive me!!”

The cold, unyielding headstone failed to give him any sort of comfort.

He continued to cry, kneeling on all fours in front of the grave. He stayed there until the sun had long since set, making him trudge dejectedly to his truck. With one last heartbroken look at the newly made grave, he drove away.

The time after that, he went on a downward spiral. The children that he and Selenna had created, he decided, would be far better off without him, and sent them to live with his brother. He couldn’t bear to look at those children and see her. He’d kept tabs on them though, and it was a small comfort to know that they were happy. They’d barely known their mother, and since they didn’t know him at all, it was better this way.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Six Weeks Later*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


There was an announcement on the news six weeks later.

“The WWE was saddened to learn that Mark Calaway, also known to wrestling fans as the Undertaker, was found dead in his hotel room last night, from a self inflicted gunshot wound. Sources close to him say that he was devastated by the death of someone very close to him, and that he had been exhibiting signs of mental disease because of it. He is survived by two children, Dana Rose, and Nathaniel Terence, who will now be raised by his brother, Anthony. He will be sorely missed by his co workers, and fans alike. And now, in other news…”

The End