Work Text:
~{♡|–T^T–|♡}~
"Well, this is awkward."
Owen was staring at the beacon in front of him, one that had started to be desecrated. This could only mean one thing – the sniveling little nobleman in front of him was also a vampire.
Scott had always been an afterthought, the 19 year old had stumbled into town crying, asked everyone if they had seen his… friend? Mother? Bodyguard? Maid? Nanny? Sister? He still didn't know – (they had not, the description given of a woman with red eyes and pink hair tied up in two buns was pretty distinct) cried some more when they told him they hadn't, decided to cling to Shelby like a lost puppy, and got himself lost 15 times in 3 days, or so it seemed. He was so pathetic that not even Avid had thought him a vampire!
…Maybe that was the point.
"How old are you?" Owen asked, because what if this was all a ploy to get him underestimated?
Scott seemed to think for a second, and goodness, was he really so old as to not know his own age without taking a moment to calculate it? "600," the vampire eventually shot out.
Shit. That was older than Owen, much older. He'd be around Louis' age when Owen got turned.
…Why did his mind have to go there?
"Well, I'm only 200, so I guess you get dibs," Owen relented, not wanting to piss off an elder vampire, and certainly not wanting to continue down that train of thought.
Scott seemed confused, before a look of sudden realization crossed his face.
"Oh no! You can have him!" Scott said, which caught Owen off guard.
"Um… what's going on?" Pyro called from below. The scholar had come along with the duo without knowing he was in the presence of two vampires, which to be fair, Owen hadn't known Scott was a vampire either.
"Nothing!" Owen called quickly before turning back to Scott, "why are you giving me this? I'd think an elder would jump at this chance. It's free."
"Oh, um… I prefer sustenance of a different quality."
That made sense, Pyro was covered in dirty pond water and smelled like a dying rat. Scott was probably some pompous stuck up noble who only drank the best of the best. Not that Scott could get that out here, but if the elder was too stuck up to notice that any human was the best he would get his fangs on… well, the more for Owen, the better.
"Alright. I won't pass this up if you don't want it."
"Can someone please explain?" Pyro asked, concern lacing his voice, "pass up on what, the beacon?"
"No~" Owen said, giving the scholar a fanged grin, "pass up on you, silly!"
He lunged at Pyro before they could run, clamping down on their neck and drinking deeply from them. He was so famished from his 200 year long nap that he didn't notice Scott flinch. Didn't see Scott scuttle away into the tree. Didn't see a strange fox scamper through the forest.
Didn't hear a scared voice recite the mantra, "Pretend like you are the strongest in the room, assume someone else is," over and over under his voice.
No, he had his meal to enjoy.
~{♡|–T^T–|♡}~
Standing next the river, Owen stared down at the bloodied girl before him, her hand clutching her neck while a wide eyed look of shock was on her face.
Owen turned to face Pyro, who seemed be in strange state, staring off into the distance with a look of donning horror as blood ran down his face.
"Well, that went poorly," Owen muttered, "I wasn't planning on there being another fledgling."
"Why did you attack her then?" Scott asked from where he stood by the trees. The elder had his thirst so completely under control that he hadn't even itched to jump after Shelby.
"I just wanted a meal," Owen said with a shrug, "Pyro seemingly had other ideas."
"I-I just went after her… just like that," the vampire in question was muttering.
"Yeah, yeah. You'll get used to it," Owen said, patting his back.
"You really think that was a good idea?" Scott said, "what, were you going to attack her and let her live to tell town? Or were you going to kill her and have the humans stumble upon her completely drained corpse, giving more cadence to Avid's mutterings? Besides, they're the only one in town that's even remotely tolerable, besides maybe Pearl."
Owen would hate to admit that Scott was right, so he wouldn't, instead walking over to the newly turned to say, "Welcome to your new unlife, Shelby. I hope you aren't as murder happy as Pyro."
~{♡|–°^°–|♡}~
Pyro was desecrating a beacon in a crypt, Scott standing across from him with a hand placed on the glass.
"So, what can you tell me about the history of vampirism?" Pyro asked with a grin.
Scott seemed to think for a moment before saying, "well… let's see, we've recently seen a rise in conflict between the Sânge and the Vulpi, which is sure to whittle down the already small amount of Vulpi even more. Ummm… the Wysteron Coven recently got completly wiped out and no one knows why, some say the Veylockes are behind it, though that's just rumors… I don't know, I've never much paid attention to anything beyond my coven."
Pyro frowned, they had been hoping for more, but then again, Scott was clearly a vampire with a different focus than them.
Scott's stomach rumbled and Pyro looked up.
"Oh, are you hungry? Here!" He said, rummaging through his coat and pulling out a bottle of blood, "I have extras."
"Thank you…" Scott said through gritted fangs, which confused Pyro, but then again, maybe to man wasn't a fan of handouts, "I'll drink it later, but till then, we have company."
Footsteps approached the entrance, and the two vampires turned to face Owen as he entered, Apo on his side.
"Hi there!" He said, "I thought you might be hungry."
~{♡|–v^v–|♡}~
Apo stood on the ruined bridge, axe hidden on her back. They breathed in and out slowly, ready for anything. Soon, a vampire would come here, expecting her to have brought them a sacrifice, and she would chop off their head with her silver axe.
They were a little concerned, seeing as these creatures were fast and strong, much more than they were, but they had to do this. She had to protect town.
Time wore on, and all she could do to not freak out was count her breaths. Eventually a vampire came to meet her. It was Scott.
She… didn't know how to feel about that. Better than if it were Owen, that's for sure, but a part of them, the part that wanted answers, had wanted it to be Pyro. That part of them had wanted to scream at their roommate, to shake him down until he explained himself and apologized. That part of her had also wanted to break down crying, punch Pyro in face and then hug them tightly. She guessed she was just so confused about Pyro, so it was probably a good thing he hadn't shown up.
No, Scott was probably the best of the vampires to show up. He was at least reasonable, having held back his associates and suggested that they make a deal instead hunting her down for sport. He also hadn't chased them like a dog, either.
"I'm surprised that you came," Scott said, "If it were me, I'd hide in a mine until I have too much silver to hold then cower by the beacon while begging Avid for garlic."
"I came because I can't let you hurt anyone else!" They said, drawing out their axe and swinging it at the nobleman.
Scott yelped, stumbling back and falling on the floor. She heaved her axe down as Scott rolled to the side. She tried again, but this time, Scott let out a yip as he scrambled back, a puff of smoke surrounding him. When it dissipated, all that remained was a fox kit, with fur of both silver and blue.
Apo blinked. She didn't know vampires could do that. They thought that vampires turned into bats, not foxes.
"What?" Apo just said, so shocked that they dropped their axe on the ground.
The fox (Scott?) looked at the axe for a few moments before dashing forwards, biting the handle of the axe and flinging it off the bridge into the water below.
"Wait! No!" Apo lunged after it, but if was too late. Their only silver weapon – and only axe – was tumbling into the water below.
She sank to the ground, peering over the edge of the bridge, "I needed that."
"I'm sorry. I kinda freaked out."
Apo spun around, finding that Scott was human…noid, again.
"So what now, are you gonna kill me?" She spat.
"No."
"I-wait, what?" Apo was confused.
Scott offered a hand, which Apo hesitantly took.
"Can you come with me?" Scott asked.
Apo wasn't sure if she should or not. On one hand, he could be luring her away to a secluded place where he could slit her throat. On the other hand, they really wanted answers. And besides, Scott was the most reasonable of the vampires.
She nodded and followed him into the castle ruins and down into the castle crypt.
"I want answers," Apo said, "why are you being nice?"
Scott sighed, "I want to warn you. Owen will not be happy with you for not keeping up with the deal, and he will find out. When he does, he'll either kill you or turn you. So you really should take my advice when it comes to gathering silver and hiding out by the beacon."
"Why are you telling me this?" Apo asked.
Scott shrugged, "because I'm a vampire, not a monster. There are only 3 ways that a vampire of Owen's type can die, starvation, live cremation and a stake through the heart. The first is rather hard to achieve and the second requires some set up, so I recommend you take this." Scott tossed her a sharpened piece of wood.
"Why are you helping me if you're with Owen? Why are you with Owen if you're helping me?" Apo asked as they caught the stake, deciding that the latter was probably more important.
Scott seemed to chew on his cheek, "I don't want to harm people. I don't want to side with Owen. But Owen is an elder vampire, around 200 years of age. I… well, I'm a fledgling. I've only been a vampire for about a month. I lied to Owen and Pyro, so they think I'm 600, but I'm not. Owen could kill me, and he will if he figures out."
Apo blinked, "but why? Why would he kill you just for being young?"
Scott sat on the giant sarcophagus in the center of the room and looked up at the intricately carved ceiling, "because… there are different types of vampires out there. And the type he is hates the type I am. If he learned that I'm a Vulpi, even more a Vulpi fledgling, he'd kill me. I don't want to die."
"Oh," Apo muttered, "why not hide with town then?"
"Avid."
"Fair enough. I'm guessing that the fox thing is a your type specific thing then?"
Scott nodded, "you should really get back to town. If you want to live and stay human in the process, you're gonna need all the time in the world to prepare."
"But what about you?"
"I can take care of myself. I am an excellent liar."
Apo stared at the child (because if he got turned at 19 and has only been a vampire for a month then that's what he was) with worry but decided to leave the crypt. She needed to get back to Cherri, and if she wanted to do that, then she'd need to take his advice.
~{♡|–=^=/–|♡}~
Cleo was seriously regretting doing this.
They had just wanted to keep in the good graces of Martyn and doc! Just for those idiots to try to spy on the castle, where, surprise surprise, about 4 vampires were desecrating the beacon. Then Martyn, impulsive idiot that he is, decided to rush the castle!
Stupid!
And now, that had led too them to right now, being pinned on the ground by Pyro as Martyn continues to be reckless.
"Can we please just talk?" Scott was begging.
"You tried to take the beacon!" Martyn accused.
"It's our castle! I'd think we'd be allowed to have the beacon!"
Martyn was flinging fire every which way like it was going out of fashion while Scott dodged his attacks.
Cleo rolled, chucking Pyro off of her and over the side of the bridge. He squeaked, turning into a cloud of bats and catching air before returning to the fight. Cleo calculated, mind racing as she studied everything she could about her opponent.
Pyro was far from professional, clearly not used to combat. They fight like a rabid animal backed into a corner, though are unbalanced and untrained. Bat form: vampire bat, so he's a Sânge and most likely a hungry one.
Pyro lunged and Cleo rolled, knocking into Scott who tumbled backwards, turning into a flurry of bats. Cleo swatted the illusions out of her way then paused, noticing something.
The illusionary bats Scott summoned when he transformed were bigger than Pyro's. They grabbed an illusion out the air and studied it. It chirped and disipated in her hand. A flying fox. A Vulpi? Seriously?
They had been so distracted that they didn't notice as Pyro slammed into their back, sending them sprawling forwards. Two sharp needle-like points of pain flared up on her shoulder and she felt herself drain away.
~{♡|–~^~–|♡}~
Abolish was not currently enjoying himself.
Pearl and Cleo had decided it was a wonderful idea to go book hunting at night, and while Abolish trusted them to handle the dark, Pearl was quite infamous in town for getting lost. The two had promised that they'd stick together, but low and behold, when Cleo had returned to town, their roommate was not with them.
So that meant the others had insisted on search parties, and Abolish had been placed with Avid of all people.
Abolish did not like Avid.
The ametuer hunter, for that's what he was, had been raving about vampires, crying about Shelby's "betrayal" and making enough noise to wake the dead.
Point is, it was certainly unsurprising that a vampire found them.
Teal hair peaked its way through the trees, and the elegant form of a nobleman emerged from the shadows. Scott. Abolish didn't know what to think of Scott.
The nobleman had been an absolute wild card, as while they could rely on Owen to be agressive, Pyro to be performative, and Shelby to be kind, Scott was a murkier picture. Abolish hadn't originally clocked him as a vampire like he had Owen due to his facade as a young, inexperienced and scared noble. In reality, he'd been there for both turnings (and possibly the third unconfirmed turning that Abolish had been theorizing about)(Cleo) and had thrown out a couple threats, but he hadn't actually turned anyone himself, had ran when confronted and Apo was weirdly defensive of him. His current guess was that Scott liked to talk the big talk, but wasn't a good fighter. That didn't explain Apo, though.
"Scott!" Avid shouted drawing a stake from his holster and pointing it at the vampire, "What are you doing here?"
Scott shrugged, "honestly? I just wanted to get some time out of the castle. Owen's rants about the cruelty of humanity gets boring after the fifth rendition."
"Yeah, like I'd believe that!" Avid said, thrusting the stake at Scott, who simply side-stepped the fumble of an attack. There was little fear of it, which could mean he was just that nonchalant. Of course, Scott could also not be a Sânge.
"Seriously? Can't a guy go on a walk!" the noble turned to Abolish, "are you seeing this? Absolutely ridiculous!"
"I couldn't agree more," Abolish deadpanned, "Avid, now is not the time to go after a vampire who has done nothing. We have a town member to look for."
Avid groaned as he reholstered the stake, Scott looking inquisitive, "you're looking for a town member? Who?"
"Why would we tell-?"
"Pearl," Abolish interrupted. Now was the test.
"Oh, Pearl? She's back at town. I found her in the woods a few minutes back and walked back to town with her," Scott said.
Avid opened his mouth and then closed it, then opened it and closed it again, "why were you walking with Pearl?"
"Cause she's nice and I enjoy her company? Plus, she's one of the few town members who don't attack on sight."
Abolish shrugged, "alright. Avid, let's get back to town. There's no more point to being out here."
Like there ever was one in the first place. Pearl could handle herself, this was far from the first time she'd wandered off!
Avid looked like he wanted to protest, but Abolish didn't care enough to stay around to hear it. He spun on his heel and marched off into the trees, followed but the sound of frantic footsteps as Avid tried to keep up.
There was one thing Abolish had noticed, and that was the Scott seemed to be… swaying, as though he were about to collapse. Vampires only do that when starving, but that didn't make sense. If Scott had been starving, he must've had some extreme self control to not attack him and Avid. Or he was the type that didn't drink blood, but if that were the case, Scott shouldn't be starving, and besides they were rare, extremely so. Unless… this meant that the vampires were running low on blood.
Abolish would've smiled if he weren't, well, you know, Abolish.
A plan of attack was in order.
~{♡|–□^□–|♡}~
Everything was going wrong!
The town had attacked the castle (rude!) and killed their chickens, burnt the forest to stop them from hunting, Abolish had cut Shelby down with an axe (why? She hadn't done anything but turn Avid at his own request!) and now they were here stuck on rebreeding duties as a stage 1 vampire.
She… she just didn't know where it all went wrong! They thought that they had friends in town! What about Drift? She had been at an attack on the lake beacon! Shelby thought they had been friends! Why did everyone hate the vampires? What did they do to deserve this?
What did she do wrong?
They wanted to scream! To let out all the anger that had been building up inside them since Martyn had burned them alive all those weeks ago!
But she didn't, because that would scare the chickens and she needed to breed the chickens to replenish their blood supplies.
Light footsteps came down the stairs to the crypt and Scott opened the door to enter the farm.
"Are you done down here? Owen's called a meeting to discuss 'recent developments'" Scott said.
Shelby stood from the chickens, clutching the bottles of blood they had collected in their hands, "sure. I have a good haul, so everyone can take a bottle of blood each!"
Scott gained a slightly pained expression at that and Shelby heard his stomach rumble. She couldn't agree more, 1 bottle was not enough.
But, well, they all were in dire straights. Because even Scott had run out of excess blood bottles and he used to always have a bottle on hand. So, Owen had called for a ration of blood. No vampire was to drink more than another, and at least 2 bottles must be stored from every haul. That was simply it. Blood was split evenly and saved for later and yet they were still being stretched too thin.
The meeting hall was still as grand as ever, with a long table where everyone had a seat. Owen was sitting at the head with Pyro by his side, Shelby on their sire's other side, with Avid after that. On Owen's other side was where Scott sat, followed by an empty seat in which Cleo was supposed to sit. The afformentioned vampire was not here, but that was quite normal for them.
Owen glared at Avid when he entered the room, making the fledgling cower behind Shelby. She was still shocked that she hadn't been punished for his turning when Owen had expressly forbid it, but Scott had stood up for her, great roommate that he was. Owen may have the most influence in the coven, but Scott was the eldest. Though, Shelby was sure that if Owen and Avid just talked to each other they'd realize how great each other was!
Pyro cleared his throat, "I notice Cleo isn't here right now."
Owen seemed to scowl at that.
"Of course they aren't. They can't just leave town to join our meetings whenever! If we want to keep our spy, then we need to understand that she can't be at every meeting," Scott said. Shelby noticed something, Scott was hunched over. That was strange, the noble had always kept perfect posture, but now he was curled in on himself with a hand clutching his stomach. He must really be hungry, especially with how pale and gaunt he was compared to everyone else.
"Well, I have a bottle of blood for everyone!" Shelby said, showing her haul to everyone. Avid's eyes locked onto the blood with an eager look. Shelby passed him a bottle first.
Once everyone had been given their bottle, the meeting started. It was a normal meeting, discussing efforts to breed more chickens, take beacons and stop the humans (Shelby winced at the last one.)
Throughout the meeting everyone was sipping from their bottle. Everyone but Scott, who hadn't even opened his bottle.
"Scott, why haven't you drank your blood yet?" Shelby asked during a lull in the conversation.
"Um, I'm saving it for when I get hungry later," Scott said, which caused Shelby to pause. Scott never umm-ed. Ever. He always knew what to say. Always.
"Scott," she asked tentatively, "why aren't you drinking your blood? You're clearly hungry."
Scott flinched. Shelby was worried, so worried. They hadn't seen Scott seem so fragile since he first arrived in Oakhurst.
"I'm saving it," Scott muttered, "for someone who it wouldn't be wasted on."
Shelby shot up, hands on the table. Scott certainly- he couldn't- did he actually think that?
"Scott- you can't be serious!"Pyro shouted.
Scott was shaking, but he also looked confused.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding…" He said.
"There better be!" Pyro yelled, and Shelby couldn't help but agree.
"Cause it sounds like you are implying that you think you don't deserve food and aren't worth enough for it!" Shelby barked.
Scott blinked and then buried his head in his hands, "That was definetly my fault! I absolutely could've worded that better, that's not what I meant at all! But it's nice to know that you care about me enough to be worried by that statement."
There were a few moments of silence before a calm voice spoke up.
"What did you mean by it, then?" Owen asked.
Scott froze and then dashed out the room, Shelby following close behind.
~{♡|–□^□–|♡}~
She found him in the crypt, sitting on the lid of the giant sarcophagus and staring at the ceiling.
"You know, the last time I was down here alone with someone was Apo," Scott muttered.
Shelby was confused, "when have you ever spoke to a human alone, let alone Apo- wait, no, if you were to speak to a human alone, it'd be Apo. They like you."
Scott snorted, "it's because we have an understanding. We both are stuck here, with someone we want to return to and just winging it while trying to find an escape."
Shelby tilted their head, "winging it? Scott, you're one of the most well prepared people here! You always know what to say! You know the most about vampirism! Heck, you have 600 years of experience-!"
"-19."
"O- what?"
"19, I lied about my age. I'm only 19, and only, like, 3 months of that have I been a vampire. And most of that time a vampire I've spent here in Oakhurst. I-I haven't a clue what I'm doing!" Scott shook, voice fragile, "and- and I miss her! She always had a plan! She knew what she was doing! She was smart, and kind, and was going to help me! I know nothing! I was relying on her to help me! Vampirism was supposed to be an out! This all was supposed to be an out! The pain and fear was supposed to go away!" He was full blown crying now, "she promised."
Shelby just scooped him into a hug, unsure of what to say.
19, Scott really was just 19. That made him younger than Shelby, heck, that made him younger than Avid! They had no clue what to say.
Scott shook in her arms, tears streaming down his face.
"She should be here," he whined.
"Who is she?" Shelby asked.
"My sire!" he cried, "she had helped me, and- and we got separated and I don't know where she is or what to do and I'm scared and lost and I just want to go home!" It was at this point in which Shelby realized something. That the sad, scared noble who was way out of his depth and disappeared after Scott was outed as a vampire was not a front he had put on to be underestimated like Owen had said.
He buried his face in Shelby's shoulder, "and I'm so, so hungry," he whined.
"Then why don't you eat?"
"There you are!" A voice shouted and Shelby turned to face the hall, seeing Owen followed by Pyro and Avid, "these two were worried after you ran off."
"Did you get him to eat?" Pyro asked.
"No…" Shelby muttered.
Owen groaned, "Scott, if you don't drink your blood, I will force feed you it myself, elder vampire be damned!"
Scott drew back from Shelby's hold, fear in his eyes. Oh. He was scared of Owen. Probably because he was 200 years old.
Owen basically shoved a bottle of blood into Scott's hand, and the vampire watched as the blood swirled around. Shelby didn't know why he was against drinking.
"Scott," Owen growled, "eat."
Scott hesitantly pulled out the cork, pausing to look at the blood with fear and disgust.
"Please," Avid quietly begged.
Scott quickly took a big swig of blood, and a pained look crossed his face. His whole body shuddered, and he started coughing and stumbled to the wall of the crypt, placing a hand on it. He hacked hard, coughs turning into gags as all the blood he had ingested was unsummarily disgorged.
Everyone just stared at the growing puddle of blood on the floor as Scott threw up.
"Well," a sarcastic voice said from the balcony, "that's one way to get outed."
~{♡|–=^=/–|♡}~
Cleo was looking down at the crypt after having followed the coven down there. She had come to the meeting late just to see Pyro hurriedly leaving the meeting room and decided to see why. Now, she was watching the entire coven discover that Scott was a Vulpi.
They hopped over the railing and landed by the ladder, making sure to not land in the puddle of vomitted blood.
Scott was staring at Owen with an intensity that made the lumberjack shift around.
"So, are you gonna kill me?" Scott asked.
Owen blinked, "…no? Why would I kill you for throwing up?"
That was surprising, wasn't Owen meant to be a 200 year old Sânge elder? He should know what this means!
"Because you're a Sânge?" Scott sounded confused, which, same.
"What the fuck is a Sânge?" Owen asked.
Cleo raised an eyebrow, "Owen, how old are you?"
"200-"
"No, how old are you actually, because even a vampire who's only been turned for a week would know about the different types of vampire!"
"There's different types of vampire?" Pyro asked.
Owen looked at the floor, "ok, so I am 200… I just happened to spend 200 of those years sleeping."
"Of course!" Cleo groaned, "you have got to be kidding me! We have another fledging! Do we seriously only have one fully fledged vampire in this coven?" They hung their head and sighed, "I guess it's time for a biology lesson! Scott do you want to take it from here?"
Scott nodded, "there are 4 different vampire types out there, Sânge, Vulpi, Soare and Umbră. While most drink blood, Vulpi don't. Instead, we eat fruit."
"Well, fully fledged Vulpi eat berries," Cleo added, "but yeah, Vulpi don't drink blood from humans or animals. And Sânge, the classic vampire for which every other vampire in Oakhurst is, have a rivalry with Vupli."
"Understatement," Scott said, "most Sânge are actively hunting Vulpi down. So I ask again, are you going to kill me?"
Owen shook his head, "Scott, I couldn't give a rat's ass about vampire rivalries. Especially when there are humans running around causing havoc."
Scott turned the Cleo so she shrugged, "same with Owen. We have more pressing issues than the petty squabbles of elder vampires."
That and they'd never be like them, even in the small ways.
Scott nodded, before harshly clutching his stomach and doubling over. For a second, Cleo thought he'd throw up more blood, but he stood back up fine, if still swaying on his feet and holding his stomach.
"Nothing to worry about," he muttered, "just a stomach cramp."
Cleo short circuited. What? But that would imply he was starving, and even if he didn't drink blood, there was food for him in the boundaries! Apples from the trees! Berries in pine forests! He shouldn't-
Unless…
No, he can't, could he?
"Scott," Cleo tentatively asked, "how old are you?"
The look on his face told them all they needed to know.
"Where is your sire‽" She shouted.
Scott winced.
"I know your type! Vulpi elders never leave their fledglings alone! How would you- why-?"
"We got seperated…" he trailed off.
"So there isn't a single fully fledged vampire in this coven, and one of us is actively starving with no way to fix it, this is great!" Cleo sighed, "we were doomed from the start."
"Wait! Why is Scott starving? Why can't we fix it?" Shelby asked.
"Because Vulpi fledglings only drink the mana of their sire," Cleo said.
"What's mana?" Shelby asked.
Cleo sighed, just done with everything. They pulled out a small dagger that Pearl had given them and sliced the back of their hand, letting the shimmering pale liquid slide down their arm.
"This is mana," Cleo said, "liquid life magic mixed with a little bit of blood. It runs through the veins and marrow of all the undead, and delivers the life magic needed for the undead to, you know, function, throughout the body. Most of the mindless undead, like zombies and skeletons, have a limited amount of the stuff, hence the rotting. Vampires, on the other hand, produce it themselves by taking a substance, usually blood but Vulpi prefer fresh fruit and Soare can supliment with bugs, and processing it into life magic. Though, plants are much harder to process into magic, and Vulpi's bodies don't know how to do it. Hence, they have to ingest the mana of their sire, both to extract the life magic but also to extract memories of how to refine fruit into mana. Then, once all the magic and memories are extracted, the inert blood is thrown up like a cat would cough up a hairball. If a Vulpi fledgling doesn't have a sire, they starve."
Shelby, Pyro and Avid looked horrified, and even Owen looked a little concerned, but Cleo knew better, it was probably just the crypt's shit lighting.
"There has to be something we can do! We can't just let him die!" Shelby begged.
"Shelby," Scott started.
"No! I'm not giving up on you, you're my roommate!" Shelby put their foot down.
"Yeah!" Avid added, and Pyro nodded vigorously.
Cleo shrugged, "vampire process magic slower when in bat form. And while a desecrated beacon can't replace life magic, it can supplement undead life magic with dark magic."
"Scott, turn into a bat!" Shelby demanded and Scott nodded before bursting into a cauldron of illusionary bats, the only real one in the bunch crawling up Shelby's arm.
"Congratulations Scott," Owen said sarcastically, "you're on castle beacon guarding duty indefinitely!"
~{♡|–♡^♡–|♡}~
She stalked through the woods, tail swishing behind her. These woods were dark and charged with a strange energy.
She wasn't a fan of it, but she could feel it. She was getting closer.
There, right ahead of her was a clearing where two women stood. One was obviously human, with brown hair and a long trenchcoat, the other had ghostly white hair and blood red eyes, a vampire then.
But their magic signature, it was wrong. She scrunched up her snout, Sânge fledgling.
She hated Sânge because of how cavalier they were with their fledglings. Just because Sânge fledglings were the most independent of all fledglings didn't mean they didn't need a sire to guide them! She bet this poor girl's sire didn't even let her siphon off them before abandoning them in the woods.
"Thank you for meeting me Shelby," the human said. She watched from the bushes as the two conversed on an island in a small pond, a tall black obelisk stretching to the sky.
"Of course! You're one of my only friends in town," the vampire replied. Town, huh? There was a town out here?
"Yeah, sorry about them. The militia can be… eager, and they pressured me into the fight at the beacon. Their nerves are certainly not helped out by the recent… silence."
The vampire, whose name was apparently Shelby, nodded, "yeah, we're just… occupied. Apparently, vampires can experience weeks of sleep deprivation without getting drowsy if they're worried enough."
"Yeah… Cleo told us about the whole situation. Apo's been worried."
"So has the doc, he's been helping us."
"Really? He hasn't told us that…" the human, Drift apparently, muttered, "but that's not why I asked to you to meet me here."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Turn me."
"What?"
She couldn't help the hackles of her pink fur raise on her back. Fledglings shouldn't be turning fledglings!
"All of my friends are in the castle-" castle? "-you, Avid, no one in town really has my side, well, save for Pearl, but then, she's nice to everyone. But either way, my only friends are with you. And plus, I don't want to be scared anymore."
Hmmm, this Drift person should probably think a bit before getting turned. Vampirism was permanent, and she didn't need to be a vampire to still be friends with Shelby and whoever Avid was, and if she did then she should get better friends who were less prejudiced. Plus, vampirism wasn't a one stop shop to bravery, she knew many vampires who were cowards, heck, there were a few in her own coven! And many of the bravest people she knew died human.
"Are you sure?"
Drift nodded, and Shelby stepped closer. The vampire drove their fangs into the human's shoulder, and after a few minutes, she felt the magic of vampirism flare up in Drift.
When the two fledglings drew back from each other, Drift stumbled a bit before Shelby had her a bottle of blood.
Why aren't you letting her siphon your mana from you? I know Sânge don't need to but it helps the body become accustomed to vampirism much quicker. The sooner, the better.
"Excuse me ma'am, but you really should let your newly turned siphon from your mana," she said, returning to human form because she just couldn't help herself.
"Ah! Who are you‽" Shelby shouted.
"How did you get passed the barrier?" Drift inquired.
"Barrier?" She intoned.
"Yes! There's this magic barrier around town, no one's been able to leave for months!" Shelby explained.
Huh, strange. She didn't feel any barrier… seems like something Scar would be knowledgeable of.
"No, I didn't feel any barrier. But that doesn't matter. You should still let your fledgling siphon from you. It will help her be accustomed to the transformation quicker."
Shelby raised an eyebrow before turning back to Drift and raising a wrist to her mouth. Drift seemed equally confused before biting down, ingesting a few sips of mana before drawing back.
She nodded, turning to face Shelby, "is your sire around? I'll be having words with him for letting a fledgling turn new vampires."
The fledglings stared at each other, before turning back to face her, "you never told us your name, or why you're here."
"Many call me Lizzie, and I'm looking for a vampire. Teal hair and eyes, robes of a nobleman, thin and pale, about yay high, you seen him?"
The girls looked shocked before Shelby nodded, "yes! He's a friend of ours, back at the castle!"
"Take me to him," Lizzie demanded.
~{♡|–☆^☆–|♡}~
He was so, so hungry. His stomach felt like it was eating itself alive, and he just wanted food. He just wanted her.
He whined from his spot on the beacon, much too weak to do much else. Once the coven decided to not kill him, he was no longer in danger, and had crashed hard.
The castle doors swung open, and three figures entered the building. One in the lead, with Drift (for some reason) and Shelby following up behind.
And he must be dead, because he recognized the lead figure, with her bright pink hair tied up in two buns reminiscent of ears and bangs that fell over her face like fangs, ruby red eyes shining with determination. A white cravat around her neck fell like a scarf in the back, which faded to black in a way that looked like the tail of a fox. Her hands were clad in black lace gloves that matched her stockings and boots. She wore her usual pink poofy dress with a white apron lined with lace, and her pointed ears were adorned with golden studs.
"Vulpes Mea," her voice, still silky smooth and full of care, called as she came close.
She ripped a glove off and a kind hand was placed on his head. He couldn't help but lean into it, despite knowing that it wasn't real. It couldn't be real, she couldn't be here.
But he didn't care as he felt a wrist be pushed into his mouth and liquid life pour down his throat.
He drank greedily, and let out a whine when the arm drew away.
"I'm sorry Vulpecula, but I can give you more later."
He closed his eyes, unwilling to let this moment go, even if it was a hallucination. A hand ran gloved fingers through his fur and he relaxed greatly. When he eventually opened his eyes, he was greeted by a face he'd never thought he'd see again.
Scott squeaked excitedly, springing off the beacon and flying into the hair of his sire.
She giggled, "I missed you too, Scott. I missed you too."
Art by me!