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“Hey, Drift?” Avid stood outside, and there was an edge to his words that told Drift that something was wrong- or, something more than usual, at least.
“What’s up, man?” She glanced out the window.
He looked near tears, face crumpled into an expression that set off a dozen or more warning bells in her mind, a wooden stake clutched in his hands.
“Oh, hey, hey, Avid, let's get you inside-”
“No!” Avid's voice pitched up with anxiety. “No, no, no, don't let me inside, don't- I need to ask you to do something for me, Drift.”
Drift's brow furrowed. “You don't want to come in?”
“Well, of course I do, but-”
“Then why can't you?”
“-I can't, it's not safe, just- listen to me, okay, Drift?” There was pleading in his eyes.
“I'm listening.” She wanted him to come in- whatever was going on here, they'd be more comfortable inside, talking through the window wouldn't do.
She opened the door. If nothing else, she'd join him outside.
“I-” He flinched back when she approached him, breath quickening, eyes darting between her neck and her face.
“I haven't been bitten, if that's what you're worried about,” She soothed, “Whatever it is you're worried about, I promise it's gonna be okay.” She took another step towards him, tilting her neck so he could see-
“Don't!” Avid shoved her away roughly, taking one, two steps backwards, staring at her with wide eyes. “I'm so sorry, Drift, I'm- I-” His mouth closed, and he just kept staring at her like a vampire would leap out of the shadows at any moment.
She didn't let any hurt show in her expression. At least, she hoped he couldn't tell. “Okay, Avid? Look, I don't know what's going on or why you don't think it's safe for you to be inside, but this is our house, and right now, I don't think it's safe for you to be outside, with all the undead running around. C'mon, let's get you inside.”
Avid just stared at her blankly. Like he couldn't process what was happening, even as she gently looped an arm around him, pulled him into the house.
The fireplace crackled cheerfully as they sat down in front of it.
“I'm going to show you something,” Avid's voice was barely more than a whisper, “And I need you to take me seriously.”
“Of course.” She always tried to, even if the whole vampires thing seemed ridiculous at first. It wouldn't be the mark of a good detective, or a good friend, if she didn't.
Careful fingers reached up to the bandages around his neck, bandages she hadn't seen him remove even once thus far, slowly unwrapping them.
They were stained with blood, now, was the first thing Drift noticed. Red seeping through them, oozing from…
A pair of twin holes marked Avid's neck.
“I didn't do them to myself,” Avid bit out, like she would have assumed he had. Maybe she would have, if she were another of the townsfolk.
“I- I don't understand.” An admittance she didn't really want to give, because it showed her lack of surety, but especially because it meant he'd explain what happened, and there was a sudden, bone-deep surety within her that told her she wouldn't like what he was going to tell her.
Breathing was the only sound that hit her ears for a few moments.
“...It was Owen.”
“He… he stabbed you?” She knew that wasn't what had happened. They both knew that wasn't what had happened.
“He bit me,” Avid bit out, “He bit me, and- and I'm so sorry, Drift, I'm one of them.”
Drift felt bile rise in her throat, and she wished she didn't believe him. She wished she were like the doctor, or Cleo, and she could believe he'd faked the whole thing.
She couldn't. He wouldn't do that, wouldn't lie about it, she was sure of it.
“Are you sure?” She couldn't stop herself from desperate hope, though- “Maybe, maybe it was just an animal?”
“I swear to you, it was Owen, and he did it. I- I have fangs now, I can show you, just- please believe me, Drift, I need you to be with me on this.”
Drift placed one of her hands over Avid's. “I know. I'm there for you, alright, man? I promised, I'm never going to leave your side, emotionally, at least. So, you're a…”
“A vampire,” Avid choked, eyes closing for a moment, expression going unreadable, before he pulled away from her, holding up the stake he'd had before. “I- I need you to use this.”
“To attack Owen? I mean, I'm willing, if he hurt you, but I don't know that's such a-”
“On me.”
Drift went still. They locked eyes, silence stretching between them.
“You want me to kill you.” Her voice was flat.
“Look, Drift, I don't want any of this, I'm so sorry I let this happen, I'm so sorry I'm doing this to you. But I- I can't make myself do it, I'm not brave enough.”
And he said it the way Drift had told the few friends she still had that she wasn't smart enough to crack the case, like it was a flaw, like it was something bad, like if he'd had a choice, he'd be dead right now and she wouldn't even know.
“Give me the stake.” Her voice was carefully blank.
He passed it to her. “Thank you,” He whispered.
She stood up, every movement purposeful, and his eyes slipped shut as he tensed, braced for impact.
She threw the stake into the fire, watched the flames lick around it without satisfaction other than the knowledge that at least it wasn't right there, poised to hurt him.
His eyes flicked open, and he stared at her with unconcealed shock and horror. She couldn't muster any repentance. Not with what he was asking her to do.
“I- I have another, somewhere, we can find it-”
“I'm not going to kill you.”
His expression shuttered. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that of you. I'll…” He sighed. “I'll do it myself.”
“I'm not going to let you kill yourself either, Avid, the problem isn't me doing it, it's you dying!”
“Drift… I'm already dead.”
“You're not,” She insisted, “You're not dead.”
He bit his lip, grabbing her hand, and she didn't stop him as he pulled it to his chest, placed it against where his heartbeat should have been.
“Avid, can I be so honest with you?” She pulled her hand back, clenched it in a fist. “I don't care.” Vampires were- well, real, first of all, that was a new development- but, from what she knew about them, they were still the same as before, just needed blood now. And maybe they were kind of dead, but not really. Not when they were still awake to move and exist.
Avid was right about vampires, she'd admit that, but he was wrong about this. He was alive, and she was the one who came in to solve murders, she refused to be a murderer herself.
“I- I thought the same, but that's not…” His eyes closed for a moment. “Vampires look like people you care about, they act like people you care about, but they’re not them. I’m not him.”
And maybe he wasn’t. Avid would probably know more than her about how vampires worked, about what it was like to lose one’s humanity. But Drift knew something about refusing to accept things that were supposedly the truth. (She’d been told she was stubborn, and, maybe she was, but at least she wasn’t the kind of person to lay down and accept things like this.)
“Then why haven’t you drained me?” She challenged.
His eyes flashed to her neck again, and she remembered, vividly, how he’d flinched away from her earlier- when she’d outright given him the opportunity to feed on her, if he’d decided to take it, where, if he’d wanted to, he could have drained or turned her, but instead he’d pushed her away like the very idea of it would destroy him.
“I-” His mouth closed.
So, she decided to press it; “If vampires really aren’t the same people, don’t care the same, then why are you still trying to protect me, even from yourself.”
His hands were shaking. “Drift, please.” His voice cracked. “I’m not a person, I can’t be a person, I need you to get rid of me, just because I’m controlling myself now doesn’t mean- I’ll hurt you. Just like…” He trailed off, looking lost. Like he didn’t know what to do here, didn’t know what to say.
Drift could empathize; honestly, she didn’t know what to do about any of this, either, just that she didn’t want him dead. Whatever happened, she couldn’t figure it out alone, and she couldn’t figure it out by killing him.
“As long as I’m alive, I’m dangerous,” He finished.
“I get that, I really do, but I don’t think the solution to that is killing you, okay? We have other options.”
“We don’t know when I’m going to become like… like Owen, Drift, we just don’t know, and-”
“So, we can talk to the others, and maybe we can find a cure, or some way for you to manage it. Maybe we just need to give you blood, and you’ll be fine!” They could keep a cow farm, he could drain some of the cows every once in a while, they could talk to Dr. Legs and anyone else who might know things like this, and they could find a way to get through this-
“No!” Avid burst out, suddenly bringing himself upright. “Once I eat, I’ll get stronger, and then I’ll have a taste for it, and I'll hurt someone. I can’t eat.”
“Alright, I hear you, bud. No eating, I gotcha.” For the moment, at least. If not drinking anyone’s blood would kill him, she wasn’t going to let that happen. “We’ll figure it out, it’s all gonna be okay, alright? Let’s just settle down for a minute. Neither of us are going to hurt each other or do anything drastic tonight, can we agree on that?”
Avid was quiet for long enough that Drift, for a moment, thought he wasn’t going to agree, and she’d have to- she didn’t know, go find someone who would also fight to keep him alive, whoever that might have been? (Maybe Renhardt, she made a mental note to talk to him at some point either way.)
“...Fine. Just for tonight. In the morning, you’ll- you’ll realise what needs to happen.”
“And you’ll realise it doesn’t need to happen,” Drift countered, before softening, “Look, let’s just- you still need to sleep, right? Let’s sleep, and see how we feel in the morning.”
She wasn’t sure either of them slept. She knew she didn’t, eyes on Avid almost the entire night. She trusted him not to hurt her, but, right now, she didn’t know she could trust him not to hurt himself.
They’d figure it out, though. She’d promised she would, and she wasn’t someone to break her promises.