Chapter Text
Pyro simultaneously felt like he was Burning at on pyre and was dumped in the coldest Ice bath. His brain's stalling and his body not feeling quite correct. It felt like both hours and minutes, till he finally felt something that wasn't endless pain. It was something coming up his throat. It took him a while to realize it was water.
He felt himself be dragged somewhere and then have his head placed on something solid. It felt almost soft. Something went through his hair petting him while making a strange sound, it should have disturbed him, but all he felt was comfort. He doesn't know how long it took for his lungs to stop aching, for his neck to stop feeling like ice and his arms like fire.
His eyes barely focus, feeling like they were in a pitch black room while being able to see everything, his head fuzzy from the pain. He couldn't quite recall opening his mouth. It's not words that leave him but sounds that do are not human. Something in him was changing and shifting and while it was painful he had never felt such comfort than whatever was holding him through it.
Eventually he felt something come close to his mouth. It smelled divine, all senses washed away with the taste in his mouth. sinking his teeth into whatever was giving him this taste of ambrosia. He latched on as long as he could before it was ripped away from him. He chased it until he was granted consciousness again, now remembering what exactly brought him both the pain and the comfort.
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Owen doesn't know what went over him when he placed pyro's head on his lap, moving his body to get out all the water that he was choking on. they are Undead they don't need to breathe but for some reason every part of him was saying to make him comfortable. After he got the water out of the new fledgling lungs he ran his hands through his hair. A purr dragged itself out of his throat as the turning kicked in. He was wet and damp from being so close to the water none of that mattered, all he needed was the new vampire to be safe.
“we should go back soon” Scott said from where he was standing “they'll get suspicious if we stay out here too long”
“he's not even awake yet” Owen barely growled out not moving his eyes from Pyro's face. Owen bit into his own wrist not even understanding himself what he was doing before bringing it to Pyro's mouth. He latched on quite easily causing another purr form in Owen's throat
“if you weren't coddling him then maybe he'd be awake by now” Scott tone practically impatient.
“I am not” Owen stopped and moved his wrist. He looked up at Scott with an annoyed look on his face about to start arguing with him. as if he could sense the disagreement pyro finally started to move, pushing himself up.
“what happened?” Pyro whispers, putting his hands to his head, holding it like he had a migraine. He looks around at the two vampires then subtly seems to remember what exactly happened. Pushing himself up almost trying to get away but not being able to. He falls, having gotten up too quickly. Owen moves fast grabbing him before he could hit the ground, purring already starting again as he helps him up.
“hey take it slowly” owen making his hands grip him tightly so he does not fall.
“ What did you do to me?” Pyro asks, looking at Owen then to Scott. His face got more and more frightened as he thought back to what happened to him.
Scott flashes a smile with his fangs bared and says “you've been embraced, be honored”
“oh Lord your vampires” he says his eyes widening before he flinches as if he was hurt.
Owen rolls his eyes “The Lord has nothing to do with it “ owen moves his hands to Pyros face pushing him to look at him “you're now one to”
“Why” he sounds defeated.
“I would say it's because we chose you that you were special but in reality you were there and we were hungry” Scott chuckles a little at the end as if it was an inside joke.
Owen rolls his eyes again and finally lets go of pyro “didn't you say we need to go back to town” as much as he didn't want to leave the fledgling alone, it was best to get out of there Now.
“you are correct I did say that, well then let's get a move on then” they both move to walk back to town before Pyro stops them
“ Is it safe for me to go back into town I could- I could hurt someone” His panic started all over again. His lungs start to work again just so he can heavy breathe.
Scott answers seeming to not understand what he's asking “oh it's perfectly safe for you”
“What about them?” Pyro's panic continued, not at all reassured by his answer.
this time Owen is the one to speak “why would they be important”
“I don't want to hurt anyone”pyro trying desperately for them to understand that he doesn't want to be a monster.
“ you'll get over that now come along there are things to do” Scott not even turning back to make sure they were following.
Pyro doesn't move but Owen grabs his wrist and pulls him as they're walking to town “best to learn now Or you'd be in for a very long eternity.”
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All three of the vampires make it back to town, Pyro being oddly quiet only asking a few things that are easily answered. whether he could sustain off of animal blood, whether certain vampire myths are true or false. They were just finishing explaining the level system to him when they got to the town walls. Pyro goes in wanting to get away from the two people that attacked him and turned him into something inhuman. Leaving Scott and Owen outside the walls.
“you sure have a knack for fledglings, I expected a lot more screaming” Scott says Owen before he can move away
Owen thinks back to what happened at the lake realizing what exactly he did now that pyros away from him. remembering the urge to comfort the second the Venom had kicked in. Feeling the wrongness coming in as he leaves.
“it was all just instinct” Owen says try not to tell Scott that was involuntary who knows what the Elder vampire is thinking he doesn't want a weakness.
Scott gives him a look that Owen can't quite place before nodding to himself “you're on looking after the fledgling Duty then”
“what are you talking about” his try at a tone of nonchalant leaving him.
“He's barely been turned for an hour he's going to eventually have some sort of crisis, whether it's because he gets too hungry and eats one of the humans or he starts telling himself he's a monster, you're going to look after him to make sure he doesn't out us.” Scott says as if it's simple. Owen understands his thinking but that doesn't make him any less mad that he's the one who has to do it.
“ I don't care if he kills one of the humans he's had a rough night he deserves it” honestly they could do without a couple of the humans that moved in.
“he can kill a human once we're not in Vampire Hunter Central”
“oh please like Avid actually knows anything he's running around like his head's been cut off, he doesn't pose any threat.” His annoyance at the self-proclaimed Hunter was obvious in his voice.
“He doesn't but the second someone else even slightly believes him they're all going to form a mob” Owen thinks back remembering the town converging over false evidence. remembering the laughter as their own mayor, the one person with kindness in that wretched town was burned at the pyre. He knows that the Elder is not wrong and he hates it. The idea of that happening to him and the fledgling is horrible; he knows that if anything happened to Pyro he'd cause another massacre and he would enjoy even more than the last.
“Fine, I'll keep an eye on him.” He knows he would have done it anyway but better the Elder think he'd listen to him. He doesn't know Scott all too well, he only knows the stories and every single one of them says not to get on his bad side.
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Owen didn't know what he expected when he came back into town but avid yelling at everyone about vampires probably should have been higher on the list than it was. They have only been there a couple of days but it's getting routine, even though Owen's been in town less time than most of them.
Owen went past them barely listening, putting his wood into the house that sasuge was building before going upstairs and sitting on the bed. Something was screaming at him and he didn't know what it was. As he placed his hands on the blanket laid over his bed a want built in his chest.
His instincts told him something his mind couldn't understand. Trying to figure out whether it's a vampire instinct or a leftover human one. It's on the tip of his tongue but he can't quite place it. It's going to make him more agitated than he already is. Being in a town full of humans isn't doing the best things for his mood.
He tries to shift on the bed before pulling off the blanket. Something in the back of his head shifts as he starts moving pillows and the blankets, finding more in the chest as he moves it around starting on the bed then moving to the floor. a merge of everything that could bring comfort. It helps but it's not quite right.
He tries to make it better, something has to be wrong, it just has to be one thing. something to stop whatever is telling him to do this, whatever Instinct that has activated in the past few days before he hears talking outside a little too close to the house. stopping what he was doing before looking around and realizing what exactly he was creating. Some sort of amalgamation of blankets, pillows in the softest of the clothes in the house, something in his mind is telling him that he built something important and it should not be anywhere near the humans.
He quickly moves everything back into place, not bothering to fold the clothes or the extra blankets just stuffing them in the chest and making the bed all over again. He's able to just barely finish closing the chest when sausage comes in, Martin and Legundo barely behind him, obviously wanting to show off the house.
“hello roomie” sausage says as he walks in seeing Owen “I haven't seen you in forever pyro told me that the two of you and Scott went to check out the forest, you found it another Beacon apparently”
“Yeah by the time we got there it was very dark so we circled back” trying to make his tone as non-hostile as he can.
“That's fair I was just showing Martin and the doc our house, don't you think it looks great” obviously boastful as he motions to what he made.
“yeah looks good I brought more wood if you want to do anything more I didn't realize how much you did” Owen was surprised at how quickly everything was made there were barely walls.
“oh perfect I have a few more ideas for a couple of little details”
A sausage was about to talk about the details he wanted to do the doctor pipes up “have you been out all night have you gotten any sleep” Legundo asks worry tinting his voice
“ I got a couple hours” Owen says quickly “ I don't sleep that long” even as a human he had trouble sleeping.
the doc nods like he understands probably having seen it before “try and get a few more hours tonight if it's too hard I can find something I'm sure”
“ I'm a good doc. I'm perfectly functional and I know what I need to sleep.” Owen is trying to pass over the topic not wanting to bring attention to it.
“ just making sure, Avid doesn't seem to be getting as much sleep either though I'm sure that that's different reasons”
“ I'm sure his paranoia doesn't help,” Martin speaks up. Owen finds it hilarious that the little vampire Hunter is helping him explain away a non-human trait. vampires don't need to sleep, Scott's nap was involuntary and Owens was less of a nap and more of a coma. “Then again we are all in a new place sleeping through the night isn't probably the highest on the priority list”
the doctor seems to concede to that. “I hope everyone starts to feel a little bit more comfortable soon, at least enough to sleep through the night with Avid's rallying paranoia. It's probably not the best for sleep deprivation to be added.”
“it's only been a few days I'm sure everyone will be right as rain soon enough” sasauge says “now let me give you the tour”
Owen leaves as he starts giving the tour getting out of there as fast as he can. He goes looking for Pyro, finding him with Cleo and Apo chatting outside what Owen assumes to be his house. The roof hasn't quite been finished and some of the windows aren't done but it looks to be coming along nicely.
“I mean we have more Oakwood than we do spruce so maybe for the flooring “ Owen hears as he gets closer
“hello Owen” Cleo says as she sees him approach being the only one facing him. Pyro turns around quickly
“ hi” pyro says his back turned to both of the girls, a little bit of fear in his eyes
Owen gives into the instinct to give him a small smile barely remembering to hide his fangs “hello I just finished dropping off some wood for the finishing touches of my house do you need any” he asks Pyro
“that'd be great” Apo says when pyro doesn't say anything quickly enough “Estimating how much wood you need for house has not turned out the best” apo winches a little not enjoying the fact that she has to admit she got her math wrong
“ not having the right amount of wood for something is the worst” Cleo says behind her “though it doesn't seem to be a problem for you getting what is what you've been doing nonstop it would seem”
“I'm a Lumberjack it's what I do”
“ that's fair “
“Where do you want me to put it” Owen asks
“You can go inside and place it with the rest of the wood.” The implied invitation with that sentence makes Owen almost smile again “it's the closest one to the door.”
As he moves closer to the door he sees the realization in Pyro's face that he's just been given an invitation to his home. silly fledgling he would have gotten the invite one way or another he moves all of the wood he has on him into the chest. he looks around the house noticing the two beds. he seems to instinctively know which one is which. he approaches Pyro's bed looking around the house defined an extra blanket and placing it over the bed. He'd try to sleep tonight just out of routine. He died while drowning; he'd probably get cold.