Curse the Darkness
is a Frankenstein fanfic by Ajestice.
Several years have passed since the novel's end, but the Creature hasn't died after all. He has been Walking the Earth, still seething with rage and never feeling himself at home in the world — until one day, his wanders bring him to the house of Helena Dubois.
Tropes featured in the fanfic:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Earlier, Samson used to wish for a mate created like he was. Now he has sociopathic, murderous Lilith throwing herself at him, and he is decidedly unhappy about it.
- Beyond Redemption: Stated verbatim in Samson's third-person limited POV regarding Lilith when the latter tries to kill him right after being offered sympathy, forgiveness and a chance to start her life anew.
- Canon Character All Along: It's revealed that twelve years ago, Helena was the girl the Creature rescued from drowning.
- Dark and Troubled Past: After getting made, Lilith is kept in a cage, turned into a test subject for experiments, and regularly raped by Dr. Waldman. While her actions in the story are still undoubtedly horrifying, one can see where her massive hatred of humankind stems from.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Jacob Stanford, being Helena's evil ex, seems to be the villain of the story at first. Nope, he is killed before the climactic scenes and is revealed to have been a mere Mook all the time.
- Driven to Suicide: Lilith attempts it towards Helena, arranging for her to be seduced and abandoned by Jacob. Although Helena is deeply traumatized, the plan fails.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lilith always believes in the worst in people, unable to digest they can feel love, or gratitude, or forgiveness.
- Foil: Susanna/Lilith for Samson, being an artificially-created human being like himself who felt embittered and angry at the world, eventually becoming a vicious killer. However, Samson changes for the better, while Lilith refuses to do it.
- Forgotten First Meeting: When Helena was a child, Samson saved her from the river. It takes a while for each of them to realize it.
- Insecure Love Interest: It takes a long while for Samson to decide to proceed with his and Helena's relationship. He believes someone like him doesn't have the slightest chance with someone as good and kind as her.
- Love Redeems: Samson's romance with Helena and friendship with Margot and later the rest of the Dubois family circle cement his Heel–Face Turn.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Lilith fully intends to kill Helena and seems to actually believe that simply removing her from the equation would immediately make Samson love Lilith.
- Mythology Gag: Lilith calls the Creature Adam, a reference to his "I ought to be thy Adam" line from the book.
- Named by the Adaptation: Thanks to little Margot Dubois, the Creature is soon named Samson.
- Neat Freak: Gregoire is very particular about keeping his rooms organized and always remembers exactly how his things and the furniture are supposed to be arranged. That's how he starts to suspect someone else is living in the house: Samson isn't as careful, and can, for instance, leave a book he read opened rather than place it on a shelf.
- Redemption Rejection: Samson sees the similarities between himself and Lilith and decides to spare her life and offer her to find redemption and happiness like he did. Lilith tries to strangle him in return.
- Relative Error: Samson briefly gets very jealous after seeing Helena embrace Gregoire, but she quickly tells him it's her brother.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Helena sees Susanna glare at her with hatred, she thinks the latter is probably jealous of her and Jacob Stanford – never mind that Helena can't stand Jacob after the way he treated her. Susanna/Lilith is jealous indeed, but it's because of Helena's relationship with Samson.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Susanna, a.k.a. Lilith, is very beautiful from the start, unlike Samson, whose ugliness shocked Frankenstein. That leads to her getting repeatedly raped by the man who created her.
- Übermensch: In Lilith's opinion, the artificially-created humans are a separate and superior race, the Melius, and they should stick together.
- Uptown Girl: Helena is a Viscount's daughter, and Samson has literally no family at all after Frankenstein's death. To his astonishment, the Dubois family accepts him immediately.
- Yandere: Lilith for Samson, big time. She pursues him for years and is ready to kill and manipulate innocents because of that, but she really doesn't know much about his soul and can't figure out why he would choose Helena over her. His final rejection causes an If I Can't Have You… attempt from her.
