Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were still in the crypt, but the positions had changed. Scott and Jimmy are standing in front of the platform sharing a tight hug. Shelby decided to wait outside at the Beacon, giving the two more privacy. Scott felt lighter, like a huge stone fell from his heart. The last time he felt like this was roughly 700 years ago, just before everything went downhill.

Releasing Jimmy from his grip, he took a small step back to look at him, not letting him go in doing so. “I can’t believe, I forgot the brown eyes of yours, they are so stunning”, he mumbled, coming closer again he leaned his forehead against the other, shutting his eyes in doing so.

With all the memories his feelings came back like a punch in the stomach, giving his status as empath he felt everything twice as much as Jimmy, rightfully so, did nothing to hide his emotions. “We see each other after so many years and the first thing you do is to compliment my human eyes?”, he heard the other chuckling. Leaning back, he blushed a bit “I’m sorry, this is all very overwhelming and it’s not really my fault that you are so pretty, but you are right too, I can't wait to see those beautiful blood red eyes again”

Now it was Jimmys turn to blush, grabbing the hands of the oldest, he smiled. “It’s fine, it’s not like I didn’t missed your looks as well”, squeezing his hands, his happy smile turned into a sad one, “Where were you? We felt the snap too. We waited like you told us to, but you never turned up”, he mumbled, laying one hand on Scotts cheek, whipping away the lonely tear.

“I’m so sorry. I couldn’t think straight, especially after feeling it all, my mind went into panic mode and I thought you all were gone”, closing his eyes, he leaned into Jimmys touch, “Thinking you were gone was too much for me Jim, I lost it. I killed them all except the kids. I did horrible things, but I forgot, I forgot it all and now it’s there again. It hurts, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”

With wide eyes, Jimmy pulled Scott in his arms again as the other cried, repeatedly apologizing for all the things that he did. Slowly rocking them back and forth, Jimmy looked over Scotts head toward the door. Shelby stood there with a shocked expression, after everything that happened in the past weeks, she would never have thought to see the oldest so vulnerable.

Sighing, Jimmy nodded for her to come closer, tightening his grip on Scott, feeling him start to shake. “I have the feeling you don’t know my Scott, Shubble”, he mumbled, trying his best for the other to be calm to help him not to get more overwhelmed. “He’s the sweetest soul that had to go through way too much, even back then, losing his family and all. Whatever mask he had on for the time you knew each other, that’s not the real Scott, even if he seemingly couldn’t remember any of our past”
Hugging her former roommate from the side, Shelby looked to Jimmy, smiling a little bit. “If that’s all true, I’m excited to meet the real Scott then. I’m sure the others would appreciate this as well, it’s not like he was bad to us, but he could be quite intimidating and scary at times”, she said quietly, earning herself a confused look in return. “What do you mean with the others? Are there more? How many are you?”, Jimmy asked, letting out a relieved breath as he felt Scott stop shaking.

“Uhm, with you we are now eight. Scott and Owen were Vampires before, the other four and me were just turned recently. I think, I forgot to tell you about this”, she explained, rubbing her forehead. Thinking about this, he had another question, “In which year are we? We never spoke about this” After having his answer, he did the math’s, leaving him flustered. “Wow, I was in a coma for 150 years”

Feeling another set of eyes on himself, Jimmy looked down to Scott, brushing his hair away. “There we go, feeling better after letting all the coped up emotions out?”, he asked quietly, giving him a quick kiss on his forehead after Scott nodded. Hearing Shubble loudly gasp, the two of them looked to her excited form. “Oh, my goddess, why am I so stupid, it’s so obvious. You are boyfriends, right?”, she asked, hopping up and down.

Chuckling, Scott tightened his grip on Jimmy. “We aren’t just Boyfriends, we are married, not officially, but married is married” laughing at her bewildered state, he took a deep breath and took a step back from Jimmy. “We should head back to the castle. I think it’s time to tell you everything”, grabbing the hand of his husband, Scott lead the way, with a still shocked Shelby following them.

~

Arriving at the Castle, Scott asked Shelby to gather everyone in the sitting room, giving him and Jimmy a bit more time to speak. “Please tell me, when did you and Louis decided to come back and not wait any longer for me?”, he asked, grabbing the coat of Jimmy. “Uhm, I think about 200 years after that day. We equally waited and travelled for it. We were trying to find you as well”, he mumbled, earning a nod from Scott, seeing him smiling a bit. “So, am I right that you both funded Oakhurst on the ruins that I left behind. Your old Surname and the one of Louis speaks for themselves”, poking his chest. “Hey, you were the one who gave us the surnames Oaksmith and Goldhurst after your family and Oakhurst was the better name for a town than Goldsmith”, Jimmy chuckled, shaking his head. “I can show you something later, seems like you haven’t found my little library, it has all your answers to what Louis, and I were up to after you disappeared”, he said, earning himself a quick kiss.

“Looks like a date, but first, we should tell the Fledglings our story”, Scott said, pulling the other Vampire to the sitting room after sensing that everyone arrived. Entering the room, every conversation halted as everyone looked at the two incomers. Smiling brightly, Scott came to a stop at the head of the table, squeezing Jimmys hand.

“Shelby here, had a little secret for the past week, but that’s okay, because it brought me something back what I didn’t knew I missed dearly”, he said, pushing his husband a little bit forward to introduce himself. Clearing his throat, Jimmy waved before scratching his neck. “Uhm, hi? I’m Jimmy and apparently was in a coma for the past 150 years. Scott and I have known each other for, uhm almost a thousand years now. Oh, and he’s my husband”, proud about himself that he was able to leave the other six Vampires in a state of shock, he took a step back to Scott, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Cleo was the first one to react, quickly standing up, letting her chair falling backwards. “Are you kidding me?!”, stepping up to the two elder Vampires, pushing Jimmy back at his shoulder. Owen was quick to react after this, standing next to her, holding her back. “Relax, let him explain. Listen first, action later”, he mumbled, wrapping his arms around her.

Confused, Jimmy watched the two. “What’s going on?”, he asked, raising his brows as Cleo let out a laugh. “Oh, you tell me Mister Jimmy Oaksmith. You should be dead, your diary heavily implied it”, crossing her arms, she let out a heavy breath. “What, how did you know about my diaries? The only one who knew about it is… oh”, Jimmy interrupted himself, “and its Goldsmith now”, he whispered, earning himself another shove from Cleo.

“That makes it so much worse! This whole family-dynamic sucks. First, I got turned because Scotts fledgling was like an overhyped puppy and now, he’s my grandfather for real”, shaking her head, ignoring Pyros offended gasp. Scott had to bit his tongue not to laugh but quickly composed himself. “Care to elaborate further?”, he asked Cleo and Owen with an amused smirk.

“Oh, that’s easy. He adopted my mum, at some point turned her into a Vampire, she adopted me, she told me everything about her and Jimmy and was killed by hunters around my 18. Birthday. Because of that I came to Oakhurst to find his secret library, and we did. I mean, Owen did it, but we explored it together with Legundo. Because of his diaries we knew that you knew Louis too”, Cleo explained.

“Maria got killed?”, Jimmy asked sadly, having to lean against Scott, feeling sick at the thought. Nodding, Cleo sighed, taking a step forward she touched his shoulders. “Yes. I’m sorry I said that so bluntly, it was almost six years ago. I had enough time to process it. She loved you so much, she never stopped talking about you, you were a great dad and I have to admit, I bet you’re going to be a great grandfather”, she squeezed his arms, smiling a little.

Doing the math’s in his head, Jimmy’s eyes widen as he grabbed Cleos arms as well. “Wait, that means you are 23? You are older than my turning age, please don’t call me grandfather”, chuckling, she agreed. “How old are you?”, intrigued about how ancient Scott and Jimmy really are, she asked both of them.

“Oh, let me think. Scott should be somewhere around 1.200 years old but looks about 24. I got turned at 20, but I’m around 970 years old by now”, Jimmy explained, leaving everyone speechless again. “Now, it makes sense why Scott is so intimidating, he’s a millennia older as me”, Owen whispered to himself, looking towards the oldest.

Grinning, Scott watched everyone flinch as he clapped his hand. “Now that we have this question solved. Please get comfy. Jimmy and I want to tell you all what we did for the first 700 years of our lives.

Chapter Text

Being the youngest in a really huge family is not always pleasing. Even if you are 250 years old, you still get babied and it’s not really helpful if you have a babyface to begin with. Coming from one of the strongest bloodlines in Vampire-History, Scott Goldsmith was one of the last to be born of his kind. With to many siblings to count, his mother didn’t want any more kids after him, dooming him to a life of being the youngest forever.

He grew up being sheltered and even after he stopped maturing at the age of 24, he wasn’t allowed to leave the castle. Some things changed over the last 100 years. It wasn’t just Vampires in the castle. Humans helped with the animals, it being the livestock for all of them, sharing is caring, you know? He heard that some turned Vampires lived in the town, helping the Humans with more manual labor like building homes or communal buildings, it makes sense, Vampires are way stronger than Humans after all.

Scott never had to do an ounce of manual labor in his life, he had everything handed to him on a platter. But there was one thing he was allowed to do. He was in charge of any Human children that were left at the castle gates. It doesn’t happened often, because they had an Orphanage in town, but sometimes some were left here.

The last time that he had overlooked children growing up and leaving was roughly two and a half decades ago, leaving him bored with nothing to do for seven years.

It was a cold winter night as he was called to the gates. He cooed with a sad smile as he saw the little baby girl and her brother who were crying his eyes out. Lifting both up in his arms, he managed to save the letter that the boy held on to for dear life. Scott quickly got back inside to warm the two little humans up and not long after that, he put them both together in a crib, holding his chest as the boy immediately wrapped his arms around his sister.

Sitting down, Scott opened the letter, reading it he was shaking his head. “Don’t get intimate if you don’t want kids and you had one already”, growling, he threw it away, looking fondly at the sibling. Joel just turned two and little Gem was only a few months old, sometimes adults are the worst.

In the last 16 years, the siblings turned out to be quite the troublemakers. They were always polite to others, Scott makes sure of it, but if they were left unsupervised all hell broke loose. Especially Joel had fun to terrorize other Humans or even Vampires, he was smart, learned quickly how to fight for himself and was always protecting his younger sister. Gem was the charming one out of the two, if Joel was smart, she was smarter and always there to stop her brother from doing something stupid or reckless.

But they aren’t the only ones under Scotts care.
A few years after the siblings arrived, two other kids were brought to them from the Orphanage. The poor souls each lost their parents after an accident in the woods, a hunting party gone wrong and left the two of them alone. The carers at the Orphanage decided it was best to bring them to the castle, because they both refused to go outside as everything reminded them of their loss.

At that time, Eloise was nine and Oli was six, afraid of everything and being the youngest of the kids he never left her side, always followed her everywhere. Scott lost count of how many times he and some of his siblings had to search the castle for the poor lad after they accidentally got split up and went into hiding.

Growing up, both of them flourished under the Vampire, he quickly found out their interest and pushed them to excel in it. Eloise was really athletic, no day went by in her not practicing something she was focused on. It came in handy that she and Joel were the same age, more often than not Scott found them training their combat skills together to tire themselves out.

It was no surprise for the Vampire that Oli turned out to be quite ambivert. He warmed up to Gem and Joel quickly and had fun watching them causing mischief, but he also needed his alone time, and it was then that Scott saw his potential. After a busy day he could always find the kid in the music room, playing with the instruments and teaching himself how to master them. Now, at his young age of 15, he almost mastered every instrument they had in store and was the happiest when he could play a little concert for his friends.

Around six years ago, another addition came to the Castle. It was a warm spring day, and Scott was busy getting the siblings out of trouble as a young teenager busted through the gates, followed by two adults screaming for him to come back. The boy looked for the next best person, that Scott was himself, and covered behind his back. “Don’t let them take me back. I don’t want to live in the Orphanage with all the screaming children”, he mumbled, grabbing the Vampires vest.

Resolving the issue quickly as Scott immediately felt protective about the teenager, he was left in his care, thanking him multiple times. Louis was 13 as he was orphaned after his mother died of an unknown disease, his father was never in the picture so the was left at the Orphanage but decided quickly that he was better off at the castle. Being introverted and not sure about himself, all he wanted was to have a little peace and quiet but that was quite a heavy task surrounded with children upon children screaming and playing around him.

As the years went by, Scott noticed about Louis that he was a really open person. He never feared sticking just to one role, experimenting with his style and was comfortable with dresses and suits alike. As he got older and more mature, he turned out to be a beautiful, androgynous man, out of all the kids he adapted to a noble role quickly, was always polite and knew his manners well. Now, as the oldest, he tried his best to be a role model for the others, helping Scott if he needed it.

It was only the five of them for the longest time and Scott was more than fine with it. He never had so many Children and young Adults under his care, and he loved it. As they got older his role switched more from the loving caretaker to a great friend for all of them. It wasn’t a lie that he enjoyed the company of Louis the most. Technically they were just 5 years apart in age and more often than not Scott forgot that he was 250 years old at this point.

But it turned out that his group got another addition but for a whole other reason. In his years of being a carer for many children, he was never so angry about something as he was now.

In the middle of the night, it knocked on his door. Opening it, a nervous servant stood in front of him. “Uh, would you follow me, Master Scott? We have a problem”, he mumbled. Having a bad feeling in his chest he followed the other to the medical wing. “The guards found him passed out at the bridge, he just woke up and is very terrified”, the servant said, opening the door.

Scott winced at what he saw. A boy around the age of Gem and Oli sat at the back corner, knees to his chest and a very scared look in his eyes. What saddened Scott the most was his state. He was badly beaten, his arms were covered in bruises, he had a black eye and a cut on his eyebrow. “Oh, no”, Scott whispered to himself, taking a deep breath, smelling more open wounds on the poor boy.

Carefully he neared the kid, stopping whenever he flinched. “It’s okay. I promise, you are safe here, we just want to make sure you’re okay and get your wounds cleaned up”, Scott said calmly, kneeling down a few meters in front of him. “Can you tell me your name and how old you are? I’m Scott and 24 years old”, putting his hands were the boy could see them, he watched him thinking.

“My name is Jimmy and I’m 16”, the teenager said after a few moments. Nodding, Scott smiled and asked another question. “Would you mind telling me who did this to you? I promise you won’t get in trouble, you are safe” It took another few minutes until he had his answer and he had some troubles to hold his harmless demeanor.

“It was my dad”, Jimmy whispered, pulling his shoulders up, clearly a trauma response. It’s safe to say that it was a long night for all of them all. With Scott trying to reassure Jimmy that nothing bad would happen to him, he managed to get him out of the corner onto a bed and convinced him to let the doctor check his injuries.

The days after that were stressful, thankfully Louis agreed to supervise the others so that Scott could concentrate on Jimmy. As the days went by, he found out more and more about his upbringing, and he got angrier with anything Jimmy told him.

He was beaten almost daily after confessed to his parents that he liked boys. Being the only son of a wealthy family, his father tried to beat his sexuality out of him. Scott never really thought about his own sexuality, but it disgusted him deeply that some could think like Jimmy’s farther. He couldn’t really understand why it’s an issue to love someone of the same gender, even going as far as to harm his own child for it.

Scott never showed Jimmy how angry he was about this, and he most probably never will but he couldn’t let this go unpunished. One evening he sent some of his most trusted guards to teach his parents a little lesson.

He never had so many children under his wing and most of the time, they left as soon as they reached adulthood. The six humans didn’t left, they stayed, and Scott would never admit it out loud, but it meant so much to him.

At this point he considered them family as well and no one should harm them.

Chapter Text

Scott never thought once about leaving the castle. He never really questioned why, he liked being pampered after all even if it’s annoying sometimes. Growing up, he watched his older siblings come and go. Some of them left but most of them were still here and had the freedom to go wherever they wanted.

He never thought about why his parents let him watch over the human kids either. Maybe they saw them as toys for him, maybe they wanted him to learn how to take care of others if something would happen and he was left alone for himself, he was the last born Goldsmith after all.

Leaning back in his chair, swiping his white hair out of his face, he let out a deep sigh and looked from Joel to Jimmy. “Please Scott, it’s my birthday today and one will turn 18 only once in their life, that’s my only wish and we will be careful. Louis will come too”, Jimmy pleaded, using his biggest weapon against his friend.

Wincing at the kicked puppy look the younger did, Scott knew he was defeated. Everyone in the castle knew that he had the biggest soft spot for Jimmy.

Scotts father decided almost two years ago that the boy would stay in the castle despite not being an orphan at all. He couldn’t stand abuse either, after he heard that his parents suddenly left the town without their only son and his knowledge about the protective feelings his youngest son had for the human the decision was quite simple, really.

After his wounds were all healed up and he could finally be himself, no one really guessed that Jimmy was an extroverted troublemaker like Joel. The two of them clicked instantly and no one was safe from them either, even Scott got pranked and he didn’t know till today who of the two had the idea.

Today was indeed the birthday of the young adult and he desperately wished to visit the town. Since Joel grew up in the castle himself and never left the gates either, the young man wanted to go as well. Scott found himself in a pickle, sure he could allow it if Louis was with them, he couldn’t hold them here anymore since there are adults now, but if the others found out then it would mean they wanted to go too and he couldn’t let Louis watch all of them alone.

Deciding he knew, he would regret it later, the Vampire took a deep breath. “Okay, you can go but under one condition. The other three and I will come with you, and we will all stay together. No sneaking away and we have to disguise ourselves, if we get caught, I will get punished for that and I don’t want that. Am I clear?”, he asked, standing up.

Scott smiled after seeing the young adults get up cheering. “Go get the others and dress yourselves in coats with hoods, we meet each other at the gates in fifteen minutes”, he said, watching them go. Sitting down again, Scott was already stressed. “This will either be the best or the worst day of my live”, he mumbled to himself, thinking about what they could do in town until it was time to meet the kids.

~

Don’t ask him how they did it, but they managed to sneak around he guards and were now on their way to the town. Watching the younger one, he smiled. It was weird feeling to be in the forest, but he wasn’t alone, so it was okay. Next to him, Louis shook his head at an exited Joel, who couldn’t stop talking.

“Thank you for doing this, Scott. You have no idea how long the two of them had this plan but were too nervous to ask you”, he said, bumping into the Vampire. Nodding, he looked to the now 21 year old, “I know. They are not really secretive or able to stay quiet about something. It’s cute, really”, he answered, looking ahead again.

Arriving at the outskirts, all of them pulled their hoods up, Scott reminded everyone to stay close and together they explored the town. With Jimmy taking the lead, he took his time to show them every one of his former hiding spots and told them some of his experiences with the Vampires in town.

“The most of them are really friendly, helping everywhere the can and one almost brought me to the castle one day, after he found me crying in a tree, but we were caught by some servants of my parents that were looking for me”, he explained, looking around, “But some other Vampires are really mean”, he mumbled, scratching his head

Furrowing his eyebrows, Scott touched his shoulder to stop Jimmy. “What do you mean exactly?”, he asked, getting the attention from the other five as well. Shrugging his shoulder, the young adult looked to the Vampire. “I heard that some are not nice and always tried to pick a fight, especially with some of the new townsfolk. Shortly before I came to you a group of new People came into the town, at first they were super friendly but after they got told that Vampires are living here too, some of them directly moved away again and others stayed mostly to themselves and didn't interact with anyone”

Nodding slowly, Scott looked around, observing the people around them a little bit. Engrossed in Jimmys places and stories, he didn’t noticed how quiet it was for a bigger town. Everyone seemed a bit distant, and the mood was not what his siblings told him. They always explained to him that the town was full of life, with children playing on the streets and opened market stalls that sold their products with a bright smile on their lips.

“It was not like this eight years ago”, Louis mumbled quietly, just for Scott to hear. Looking to the oldest human, he gave him a quick nod. The two of them often communicated like this, Louis is a great observer and if your life so long as Scott did, sometimes you overhear things that don’t seem important, but sometimes there are and Louis was there to remind him of that most of the time.

Wrapping his arm around Jimmys shoulder, not trusting the mood one bit, he slowly makes his way to the next exit. “Don’t worry Jim, sometimes people just don’t get along, and we can’t force them to like each other”, he said, but he was not really sure if he tried to convince the human or himself.

Walking back as it was getting late, his mind eased watching the others talking excited about everything, feeling Louis bumping into him, he turned to him smiling a little bit. “Are you okay? You looked worried, despite saying to Jimmy to not worry”, the human said, raising his eyebrows. Chuckling, Scott nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. The town was just different from what I expected. My siblings always told me that the mood is the complete opposite” Giving him a confirmed hum, Louis briefly looked to the others. “As I said, when I was a kid, the town seemed far livelier. I wasn’t outside often because I had to care for my mum, but I could hear the other kids playing”

Arriving the bridge, Scott saw his older brother standing on the other side with crossed arms. Gulping he quickly grabbed the oldest hand, giving him a little squeeze. Nodding, Louis ushered the other kids into the castle, giving Scott a concerned gaze before following them.

Coming to a stop in front of him, Scott didn’t have the courage to look up, flinching as he heard him let out a frustrated sigh. “You are lucky nobody else noticed the seven of you were gone. What were you thinking Scott?”, he asked. Looking up, the younger one blushed a little bit. “Uhm, it’s Jimmys birthday and I couldn’t say no to him. I know apart from Oli they are all adults and can decide for themselves, but I didn’t want them to go alone and maybe I was a little bit curious too”, he mumbled.

Understanding, his brother nodded towards the castle. “I get you and I will let it slide this time but promise me not to do this again. Our parents would be very disappointed, go inside” Quickly agreeing, Scott thanked him and went inside.

Turning back to look over the bridge, his brother took a few steps back and closed the gate, letting out a deep sigh.

In recent years the dynamic with the town changed. After a new group of humans arrived more and more reports came to the castle that Vampires in the town vanished without a trace. They investigated it of course but they found no evidence until a few months ago.

Nothing was confirmed but their father was convinced that they had hunters in town, especially after a group of guards found a bag full of stakes and bottles of Holy Water. Since then, nobody of the family was allowed to go into town.

Danger was near and nobody knew when things would escalate.

Chapter Text

In the last 252 years the castle had to fend off a handful of attackers, and it was never anything serious. Sometimes it was a group of rouge Werewolves, sometimes it was a coven of cocky Vampires that tried to fight against his family and he always knew that he didn’t need to worry, especially because he never had any Humans in his care when something like this happened.

Now he had a bunch of kids under his wing, he was worried, even a little bit angry. Scott was used to it, that he isn’t told everything and most of the time just got the basics if anything at all. He wasn’t stupid, he knew something was up and he tried his best not to worry his kids and it turned out to be difficult.

His father rolled out new rules in the past few weeks. One of them was that Scott and the kids were only allowed to go outside in the morning with a bunch of new guards. Eloise was really pissed about it as she loved to join training sessions with the combat staff, but they only trained in the evenings so she couldn’t attend it anymore. Joel and Jimmy were sulking too, because they were supervised at any second of the day if not by Scott himself then by guards and therefore couldn’t plan any mischievous things.

Oli and Gem either didn’t really care about the changes, or they didn’t voice it out. The two of them were in the music room most of the time, with Oli practicing and Gem turned out to be quite skilled in the handiwork of making bracelets and any other jewelry. It was no surprise that Louis mostly stayed at Scotts side. Sometimes he would wander the corridors, trying to hear something that he could tell the Vampire, but he was just a Human and the others always conversed quietly if he was near.

In the past few days Louis presented himself more feminine, wearing dresses or skirts and opening up his low bun to let his long hair fall down his back. As of now, Scott was the only one who knew that Louis decided for himself that he didn't care about just sticking to masculine pronouns. If the two were alone, it became natural for both to use neutral ones as well.

Currently, the two of them are in Louis’ room, as the Human got older and has gotten comfortable in expressing himself with their clothes, he has tailored most of them himself ever since. Showing their newest pieces, Scott had a big smile on his lips. “That looks beautiful, Louis”, he said as his friend spined around in their finished dress. “Yes! Thank you! I love how it feels like if I spin around”, they giggled and let themselves fall next to Scott.

Grinning, the Vampire had an idea, “Would you mind tailoring something for me?”, watching as Louis' eyes grew double the size, he could swear he never saw the oldest human that excited before. “YES”, they basically screamed getting up, “Let me get my tape and some paper to take your measurements”, watching them running around the room, Scott got up too, taking off some of his clothes to make it easier for Louis.

Standing still, he let the human take his measurements but not without having his fun distracting them every now and then. Chuckling at the pouting face, the two of them got interrupted by a sharp knock. Frowning, Scott put on his vest again and opened the door.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak with you, Scott. Would you mind following me and Louis? I need you to pack a bag with some of your things, a guard will come get you soon”, his oldest brother said, which means it must be really serious. Scott rarely speaks with him, because it often means nothing good. Quickly nodding, he turned to Louis “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything later”, giving him a small smile and he followed his brother.

Walking silently next to him, Scott raised his eyebrows as they came to a stop next to the entrance of the family crypt. “What are we doing here?”, he asked. “Orders of father. I hoped to give you good news, but he expects an attack every moment now and its different from the other times. We know now that we have a large group of Hunters in town, and they slowly managed to get most of the humans on their side”, he explained and walked down the staircase.

“There was an accident last night. A Vampire in town got jumped by some juvenile Hunters, she managed to defend herself but in doing so she injured one of them pretty badly. He died this morning because of this, and you can guess the rest”, he elaborated further and stopped at one wall, pressing a hidden button to open a secret door.

Looking inside the room, Scott found it to be a small apartment, there was even a small kitchenette in one corner. Going in and looking around, he saw a bunch of mattresses with pillows and blankets in one corner. Turning back to his brother, he leaned against the doorway and pointed to a hidden lever to open the door from the inside. “Father had this room built as soon as the first Vampires in town suddenly vanished, it should be big enough for you and your kids and everything is stocked to last you for a few days. Your humans should arrive soon”, taking a deep breath, he walked up to his youngest brother putting his hands on Scotts shoulders.

“We need you to stay here until the danger is over. I know this sounds scary and you are still much too young, but you have everything in you to be the next heir in case the worst case happens. Everyone in the castle will do their best to keep you and your humans safe, okay? We never dealt with Hunters and maybe we overestimate them, but we better be safe than sorry, alright?”, he squeezed his shoulders and looking back to the door, “I have to go now”

Turning around, he was stopped by Scott, as he grabbed his hand. “Wait, Joey”, he said with wide eyes, trying his best to not show how scared he was suddenly, “Please stay safe, be cautious and I…I love you”, he mumbled, looking up he saw his oldest brother watching him with a sad smile. “I love you too, baby brother. I promise, I will personally get you, okay?”, he said, quickly squeezing his hand and then stepping aside as guards brought the humans in the room.

Relieved that Scott was distracted getting the kids settled in, he closed the door. Nodding towards the guards, they left the crypt, hoping that nobody would find them.

Taking a deep breath, he sat down between Oli and Gem, wrapping them in his arms. Gathering the other around, he quickly explained what he got told.

Scott didn’t know what suddenly was wrong with him. Sure, as Vampire he felt every emotion a little bit stronger but not like this, not like he felt right now. He could feel the worry of his brother shortly before he left. Looking at his kids, he could feel how scared there were.

Wincing, he rubbed his chest, he was terrified because he never felt like this. Scott flinched as someone grabbed his shoulders, he didn’t even noticed that he closed his eyes. Blinking he opened them and looked in Jimmys eyes. “Is everything okay, Scott? You seem overwhelmed”, he asked, squeezing his shoulders.

Gulping he shocked his head. “I don’t know, somethings changed. I can feel everything”, he whispered. Sometimes he forgets that all of them are basically adults now, even Oli was really mature as a 17 year old. Louis, Joel and Eloise are in their twenties already and together they all looked like a group of friends rather than young adults and their caretaker.

And because of this he decided to tell them what’s wrong with him. After he finished, he looked around, calming down as the other doesn’t seemed to be that scared anymore. Relaxing his shoulders he leaned back, letting out a deep breath.

“Maybe that’s you individual power? I heard some guards speaking about something like this”, Eloise said, shrugging her shoulders. Agreeing, Jimmy turned back to Scott, “Yeah, I have read about this as well, it’s definitely a possibility”, furrowing his eyebrows as everyone turned to him with questioning looks, “What? I like reading, which was basically the only safe thing I could do at my parents’ home”, he said sassily.

Chuckling, Gem looked back to the Vampire, “I once found a book about varying powers, and it mentions something like this. Maybe you are an Empath? They are able to feel what others feel”, she explained, watching him nodding “That makes sense, but why should this be a power? Right now, it seems like the opposite”, Scott mumbled, confused why now. He is basically a stage 3 Vampire since he stopped maturing and never showed any signs of an individual power.

His thought process got interrupted quite abruptly with many things happening at once.

He suddenly heard a loud noise, followed by screaming and he felt something snap in his head. Panic consumed him as this happened a few more times, squeezing his eyes shut and holding his ears close. The humans could only watch in horror as Scott flinched every time, he felt it snap, wincing and whimpering rolling himself up.

Reacting quickly as the vampire started to claw at his ears, Louis immediately grabbed his hands, keeping them secure in his own lap. Together they worked together to try and calm him down a bit, stroking his back and arms to just gave him the feeling that he wasn’t alone.

Scott knew almost instantly what the snaps meant, the time between them got longer, but they still happened after a few hours every so often, but the Vampire lost track of how many it was and how many were left.

If he was full of emotions right before this, he was an empty shell right now. Starring ahead with his hands still secured in Louis’ lap, the others catch up quickly, realizing what’s going on. He could hear Eloise and Joel sniffling, Gem and Oli quietly sobbing, Louis and Jimmy continued to speak to him, but their voices got shakier by the minute, but he was frozen.

His eyes finally teared up, and a quiet sob left his lips as he felt it for the last time.

Snap. Joey.

Snap. Mother.

Snap. Father.

Scott was the last living Goldsmith.

Chapter Text

The last two years were hard, especially the first few months after that fateful day. They made the small room in the crypt their home for that time and the humans finally had the chance to care for Scott for once. He was just functioning, barely did the minimum and refused to leave the room. He was not ready to see the mess that was left of his home.

And it was a mess indeed. Eloise and Joel were the first ones who had the courage to leave the room after a week, but it was mostly because they ran out of food. As they got told to pack their things, Eloise ran to fetch her favorite weapons, sharing them now with Joel because the two of them were the only ones out of seven who knew how to use them properly.

Sneaking through the corridors everything was destroyed, it was hard for them to find enough food and blood but in the end, they managed it, packing Eloise pockets full. Next, they went to their former rooms in hope to get more personal things for everyone. Up until now, they had more materials for Gems to make more jewelry and some books, Notebooks from Oli with all his composed songs and his personal guitar that Scott gifted him and right know they were in Joels room.

Grabbing his favorite blanket he almost threw a fit. “They used Holy Water”, he growled, letting go of the soaked fabric. Turning to his closet, he unlatched the locket for his secret compartment and grabbed his most prized possessions. Hugging them to his chest he took a deep breath. Those were the first and only things Gem and he were gifted from Scotts Father. Giving that his sister was a baby, she got a blanket in which she was swaddled most of the time. Being a toddler, Joel got a smallish bear, and he didn’t know what kept it possible, but that small thing still smelled like Scott.

Quickly packing them in his pocket, he got up and looked to El, “We can go, I have everything”, he mumbled. Nodding, she gave him a small smile, “Okay, let’s go to Jimmy next, he asked for some books, they should be in his closet too” Humming, he followed her, and they gathered his things. Eloise just brought a few spare weapons and for Louis they got some of his tailoring things.

Standing in front of Scotts bedroom they hesitated. It was rare that they were allowed in, it was mostly in their childhood years if one of them had a nightmare, but other than that, they only met him in his own sitting room. Taking a deep breath Joel opened the door, going in he smiled. Other than his well-maintained looks, his bedroom was totally chaotic.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that”, Eloise said amused, shaking his head he could only agree. “Let’s look for something he would appreciate”, he said, looking around. It took them a bit, but El found a loose floorboard, picking it up, she grabbed a notebook and surprisingly some art supplies. Curious, she opened it and gasped amazed. “Joel! Look at this!”, she said, giving him the notebook. Browsing through it he blushed as he found a portrait of himself and Gem, they were small, so it had to be done when there were only three of them. “I never saw him paint”, he mumbled, smiling at a picture with all of them. Looking up as he heard Eloise choking up, he saw her looking through another book with tears in her eyes. “He painted all of his siblings and his parents too”, she whispered, closing the notebook and hugging it to her chest.

Standing up, Joel put all the supplies in his pockets, holding out his hand for her. “The wounds are still too fresh, but he will appreciate this”, helping her up and pulling her in a hug, “Let’s go back”, he said having gathered everything and some clothes too.

Going back to the staircase, they walked through a corridor with many windows, seeing something outside, Eloise stopped, took a look and she gasped in horror. “Oh no”, she whispered in horror and started shaking, not sure if it was because of anger or sadness, probably a bit of both. Turning to her, Joel saw it too and clenched his hands to fist, he was definitely angry. “I will kill them all”, he growled.

In front of the bridge lay the remains of a massive pyre, covered in ash.

~

The months after that were busy. Joel and Eloise, where the ones who left the castle grounds regularly to hunt for food, mostly for Scott, on the other hand Gem started to get a little farming ground ready for the rest of them. Louis tended to a farm of sheep, shearing them often to have enough wool to make more clothes and to keep himself productive he started to make more blankets and pillows because they couldn't use the ones left in the castle as everything had remains of Holy Water on them. The youngest of them used his creativity to tinker around their room, making it bigger in the process, crafted a lot of useful things to help his friends and continued to entertain them in the evenings with his music.

Scott had a mission of his own, after getting out of the first stages of grief and he started to expand the crypt with Jimmy. He was keen on creating a tomb for everyone in his family, digging out enough space for them. Meanwhile Jimmy ventured into the castle to gather as many personal things for each tomb as possible and together they spent a lot of time to decorate them with the utmost care. After every finished one, the group always had a little ceremony closing them up, paying their respects in doing so.

They had to be careful as well, because every once in a while, people turned up to investigate the ruins, probably to take intel if more Vampires returned to the castle. Luckily, Gem and Louis placed their farms in more secluded areas, and they were never found but it was dangerous, nonetheless.

The Humans of the town got more daring and after a few almost fatal run ins they had to decide. It was not ideal, especially for Scott, but they eventually agreed it would be best if they moved to the town.

After a bit of experimenting, Louis was able to create a dark hair dye for Scott that was semi-permanent and because it was longer than usual at that time the Vampire was able to hide his deep red eyes with it quite well. It turned out to be quite easy to settle in, as many houses that were previously homes to Vampires were empty and the new leaders of the town were happy about every new resident.

To blend in more, everyone except Scott started a job. Unsurprisingly Joel and Eloise managed to secure a spot with the town guards. Louis was hired by a well off tailor after presenting him their work. Giving his abilities, Oli worked as a teacher for the kids in town, teaching them to play instruments and how to craft basic things.

Gem was their supplier for food, working at a farmers market she managed to stock up on raw meat for Scott and vegetables and ingredients for soups for the rest. Besides Joel and Eloise, Jimmy managed to get himself a job within the town registration, his gained knowledge in the castle library turned out to be quite helpful for that.

Scott himself was busy too, after never having to do anything, he took it upon himself to keep their house clean and tidy, given how he neglected his own bedroom at first it was a struggle for him. Many things broke in the first weeks because he lost patience and sent them flying. But again, most of the time Jimmy was there to calm him down and show him how most of it worked.

All things considered, they did great, leading to the current time.

In the past months a topic started to spark not only in Joels mind, but he was the one who couldn't hold it in anymore. They were all together in the sitting room, enjoying their evening as he nervously looked to Scott. “I have a question”, he said, catching the attention of the Vampire, “Have you ever thought about turning us?”

All of them turned to Scott to wait for his answer. He just blinked with an empty head. He never thought about it and for a good reason, his knowledge about turning someone was very, very limited. He knew the basics and that was it and that’s exactly what he told his friends.

Furrowing his brows, Joel did a quick look around, before focusing on Scott again, “But isn’t that enough?” Widening his eyes, the oldest shook his head quickly “No!? What if I do something wrong? I lost my family just two years ago! I’m all alone when I lose you too. I won't turn you for selfish reasons, it's hard enough that you all will die eventually”, he said in a panic.

Not satisfied with this answer, Joel stood up, crossing his arms, “Please let us make that decision, okay? We are all friends, hell we are a family. I will kill everyone myself if someone tries to tear us apart. I’m not a weakling, I was raised around Vampires for goddess sake” Earning himself agreeing hums from the others. Jimmy turned back to Scott, grabbing his hand, “He’s right, Scott. We love you. I love you. We'll not let you alone, okay?”, he said softly, smiling a little bit.

Wrapping an arm around the Vampire, Louis let out a quiet sigh, “I understand your worries, but we all thought about this for months at this point, we trust you, Scott. It terrifies me, to think about how we all turn old and grey and eventually leave you behind. You cared so much for us, you raised us basically and we just want to give you something back. We care for you too”, he mumbled, hugging him to his side.

Chuckling, Oli spoke up too, “Yeah, to think that I will look older than you is weird”, everyone laughed because of that and even Scott smiled a bit. Thinking about this and feeling how all of them are dead set on this he let out a deep breath.

Nodding to himself he got up, “Okay, but we go back to the crypt for this. It’s safer there, just say that you all need a few days off so that it wouldn’t be so suspicious that we are all gone for a few days. We need to prepare a lot, and we have to think about the future. We can’t stay here for long because the town will eventually notice that we don’t age”

Its needless to say, they stayed up the whole night planning because they were all too excited to sleep.

Chapter Text

In the end, turning his friends was not as bad as Scott first thought. Giving into his instincts he managed to do it without any complications and after a few days he had six fledglings to care for. Consuming so much human blood had another effect on him. His individual power was stronger.

He found out after he had to go back to town because Joel forgot to pack something and wanted it so badly that he terrorized Scott with it until he caved. The Vampire had a run in with some town guards, it was at nighttime and therefore out of the set curfew that the leaders had enforced. He successfully escaped an interrogation as he cracked some bad jokes and unintentionally changed the moods of the guards from angry to happy, distracting them from himself and snuck away before they could notice.

Realizing this on his was back he tested his new powers more as some humans still ventured of to the castle, playing with their emotions without them even seeing him and managed in just a few weeks to scare everyone off, dooming his own castle to be a haunted and dangerous place.

Turns out, Scott loved mind games, and if it means keeping himself and his fledglings safe, he will happily play it every time someone that is not welcome turns up. But even in doing this, he always makes sure not to harm any of them, sure, he scared them, but he still was too good to physically hurt them.

In the next few years, they still lived in town, with their new abilities, Joel, Eloise and Jimmy even got promoted, they worked even closer with the town leaders and especially Jimmy did a great job. He secretly found and destroyed every information, hidden or not, about the first ambush on the castle, every Vampire that once lived in town and every Goldsmith Family member leaving it to turn into a distant memory and bedtime story of the aging townsfolk and Hunters that were left.

The other two had their own play of mind games going on. With time the old guards that helped the Hunters in the ambush retired and without their stories to tell, Joel and El took it upon themselves to put a little doubt in it. Without the knowledge of Holy Water, the young recruits quickly believed that some things were not right. Where the Vampires really the bad ones? They all got killed and didn’t even defend themselves, because there were just a couple of casualties on the human side.

With the evidence of the past gone and a planted seed that the vampire were the innocent ones, the group left the town after a few decades, they were no longer able to hide that they didn’t get older and there were to many generations left in town who believed the Hunters.

They returned to the Castle and renovated it from the inside out. Eventually the new Vampires got themselves to the last stage as well and surprisingly two of them had an individual power, with one of them really helping their disguise.

Oli was able to cause illusions for a short period of time and together with Scott, the two of them were unstoppable in defending their home from intruders. The oldest Vampire quickly knew that Louis would have an individual power too, because he had never felt the bloodlust like the other five and was really quickly on his feet after getting turned. To be compassioned like this was rare and it was not his only power. Giving his past favorite activity to be the ears for Scott, Louis could read the minds of people, but only if he really wanted to.

That came in handy one night, almost eighty years after they got turned. Everyone did they own thing, keeping themselves busy and leaving Scott and Jimmy in the living room, cuddling in front of the fireplace. It took the older a long time, but eventually he realized that all the protective feelings he had for the younger wasn’t because of pity or sympathy, no, it was because of love and after everything that Jimmy did to help him after the death of his family, he couldn’t hide it anymore.

Luckily for him, Jimmy was on the same page and ever since they left for the castle, he wasn’t scared anymore to open their relation to their friends. They weren’t stupid, they knew the two had something going on but didn’t say anything, especially because of Jimmys past.

Talking about their day, Scott had the younger laying on himself and slowly stroking his back, smiling about what Jimmy had to tell as the front door opened, and four teenagers stumbled into the castle. Instantly feeling the illusion of Oli, Scott gently placed his boyfriend to the side and got up. “Stay here, I’ll be with you shortly”, he whispered, giving him a quick peck on the forehead.

He positioned himself at the door and got ready to scare them as Louis interrupted him. “Wait, keep them calm, they have interesting things to tell”, he mumbled, smirking a little bit. Waiting for a bit, Louis went to meet the humans, seeing Scott turning invisible to follow him. “Good evening, would you tell me, why you are here?”, he asked the teenagers, thanks to Olis power he stayed in the shadows for them.

The obvious leader of the group, a young man, looked around, trying to find were the voice is coming from. “We heard some rumors about the castle and wanted to find out more”, he said, sticking to the truth because of Scott’s ability. Chuckling, Louis took a step forward, revealing himself to the kids. “And what are those rumors, young man?”, he asked again, amused for the wide eyes and open mouths from them, wanting but not being able to feel scared.

“That all Vampires got murdered in cold blood, without a chance to explain or defend themselves”, he winced, taking a step back and looking at the entrance hall in aww as Olis illusion weakened. Smiling, the Vampire leaned against the banister of the staircase, “What if the rumors are true? What would the town leaders say?”, grinning as he finally understood why his best friend had so much fun playing with someone's mind, he mustered the group, not surprised by the next answer, coming from the only girl.

“The town leaders have gone crazy. They said they had evidence but there was none and then they tried to punish everyone who said that the ambush was unfair and that the Vampires were innocent. My parents said that there is a group of rebellions trying to overthrow them and most of the town is on their side right now”, she explains with agreeing nods from her friend.

Quickly looking back to see Joel and El shaking hands for their great work, Louis turned to the humans again, smiling as Scott turned visible next to him. Stopping his powers, Scott chuckled as the teenagers gasped at the same time. “You guys are brave, stumbling into a castle without knowing if somebody could live there. Your rumors are true, and the town leaders are fools for keeping up their lies for so many years.”, the oldest Vampire said, taking a step towards them, “I don’t want to threaten you, so please keep this conversation to yourselves. I promise, we will watch over the town, making sure no one gets punished or hurt and when the leaders are eventually gone, we will bring back the former glory. Wait for a few years and we will meet again”

After the humans left, Scott took a deep breath, turning back to his family. Mustering every one of them, he smiled. “I’m proud of you all. Our plan has worked, let us get our town back”, he flinched as he was suddenly surrounded by his fledglings, grinning as the day ended with a big group hug.

~

Scott took his promise seriously, the took turns watching over the town, getting out every to be punished civilian and continued to sprinkle some words in favor for the Vampires as they turned up to meetings of rebellions invisible. It took roughly two more years but eventually a fight broke out and before it came to any casualties they interfered, calming down the situation.

After they let the town decide what they should do with the leaders, they all sat together to form new rules and changes. With Louis power they could easily make out who was genuine and who had the ability to share leadership, because if Scott learned something out of the tragedy than it was that the Town needed representatives as Leaders on both sides.

They set up that Louis and Jimmy would stand for the Vampires and the leader of the rebels, who was surprisingly the father of the young man that lead his friends to the castle two years ago, and another trustworthy human would stand for them.

Joel and Eloise found themselves back with the guards, but this time as their leaders. Oli could teach the kids again and with his new ability, he was quickly the most respected teacher in town. Gem decided to share her skills to make jewelry as well, selling her own products in doing so.

Scott enjoyed his life, after almost 85 years without his family, he remembered what Joey told him just moments before he left. Sitting on top of the castle roof, he looked to the big full moon. “Am I making you proud?”, he whispered to himself, smiling as he saw a shooting star, taking it as an answer.

Sensing that Jimmy and Louis are coming to him, he sat up straight, looking towards them. Wrapping his arm around the youngest and leaning against him, he looked up to him smiling. “What’s up?”, he asked, giving his boyfriend a quick kiss. “We wanted your opinion on something regarding the townsfolk”, he said, hugging Scott to himself.

“I caught many of them thinking about wanting to be Vampires too, what are your thoughts on that?”, Louis asked, smiling at the couple. Blinking, Scott nodded, already having his answer ready. “I knew this would come someday and I already thought about it. The rules regard turning under my father’s reign were strict, but sometimes there were stragglers, and I don’t want that. No turning for people who are already strong, healthy and have a family. I’m fine with turning young people who are sick with no cure and with humans who are alone, with no family left. The wish to be turned must come directly from them. No consent, no turning”, he explained, locking his eyes with his best friend, “I don’t want this to sound rude, but the only ones who should turn are you, Louis and me. I trust you with your compassion the most”

Agreeing they both turned to Jimmy, waiting for his answer. “It’s okay, it makes sense. The risks of some of us turning someone and losing control is too big, the bloodlust is still there sometimes”

Many steps of Scotts plan are finished, and the next one is near: repopulate the town with Vampires again.

Chapter Text

Scott was happy. Everything was peaceful and together the family restored the former order, for the elder Vampire, his life was almost back to normal. He changed, but for the better. His family is significantly smaller, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. They all lived in the town, but the castle was always their home, it’s almost like their vacation place when they all need a little bit of peace and quiet.

Over time, the townsfolk got more and more open to same gender relationships, making it easier for him and Jimmy to live their life. Given Jimmys horrible past, they didn’t want to push it too fast on the people, so they were really relieved of the natural acceptance.

A few years back, Scott decided to take their relationship a step further. With the help of Gem, he planned out a cozy date at the lake, with the goal to propose to the love of his life. The night went beautifully, they finally had the privacy they often lacked, made the most out of it and had wonderful conversations. As the sun came up on the horizon, Scott presented Jimmy with the handmade ring from Gem asking the question he had for years. It was highly emotional for both of them and of course Jimmy said yes.

Gem was beaming about how this all turned out, and she instantly went into planning their wedding. Strolling through the town, she was on her way to a workshop of hers. She taught them how to make jewelry every other week and seeing that most of the participants were female it always was like a big girls night.

Arriving at the place she saw familiar faces and new ones, smiling about that because she loved it the most to show beginners that wonderful art. “Okay guys, I see we have some newcomers here, thank you so much for coming”, she said excitedly, taking place at the front desk. “We will start with something easy and working our way up, please don’t hesitate to ask questions or if you need a break, I tend to forget this when I’m focused on my work but it’s important”

After everyone got their instructions and Gem took her time to show the beginners how to start, she settled down working on her own project. She wanted to make an individual piece for everyone in her family and so far, she finished just the one for her brother. Sketching out a necklace for Eloise, she got interrupted by Oli, knocking on the front door.

Standing up she went to him, opening the door, “Hey, good to see you, what’s up?”, she asked, smiling. “I hope I don’t interrupt something important. The kids asked me to ask you if you could come around to teach them how to make bracelets? Apparently, they want to make friendship bracelets and I’m not good at this”, he answered, scratching his head.

Gasping, Gem basically hopped up and down, “Of course! I’ll teach them! Ohh this will be wonderful, I love those kids”, she said grinning.

Nodding, Oli thanked her, they said their goodbyes, and he was off towards his house. He had a long day, but seeing all the kids happy made it so worth. He had three classes for children today, first the advanced, then the beginners and at the end the young kids who just wanted to play and have fun. He wouldn’t admit it to anybody but that was his favorite class of the day.

Watching the little ones experiment with the instruments reminded him of himself back in the day. Getting the hang on something and understanding how it works and to use it accordingly was and still is the best feeling. Seeing this on excited children was even better.

That class was also the one that enjoyed having a little quiet time and Oli used that to train his illusion power, sending them happy experiences or silly adventures. He loved to entertain people, but he was glad to have his own four walls to calm down and to work on his art.

Gem gave him the task to compose a song for the wedding of Jimmy and Scott and that kept him busy for the last couple of weeks as the date came closer. Grabbing his notes and his trusted guitar he settled down on the roof as it was his favorite spot, especially at night with the moon and stars out.

Playing some tunes and scribbling down in his book, he was so immersed in his task that he didn’t even notice that Eloise was sitting next to him. She laughed as the younger finally looked over to her, flinching and almost dropping his guitar. “Sorry, I didn't want to scare you. I heard you play and wanted to say hi”, she chuckled, leaning back on her hands.

The two of them knew each other their whole life, even before they lived in the castle under Scotts care. Their parents were best friends, and they basically lived under the same roof. Both of them were home alone as the accident happened and were found after two days, because a neighbor noticed that the adults never came back from the hunting trip. They left the two alone and locked the door as it should have been a quick trip into the woods, so the two kids had to raid the cupboards for food but actually managed really fine.

Ever since then they both were like siblings and took care of each other. Oli showed her how to play the piano, and Eloise taught him how to defend himself. It meant so much for her that they all were able to fight against all danger.

Eloise was mostly in charge of training the new Vampires that got turned. It was mandatory for them to learn and after that they were free to do whatever they wanted. Some were happy to do so, others not so much but they all had this information before they decided to get changed. Over the decades, word spread that there was a town that cared for the sickest of people, so they greeted new townsfolk almost every week.

With the set rules that Scott and Louis set up for turning, not all of them got the gift, but they never turned anybody away from the town. Training the newly turned Vampires after they got over the bloodlust was always fun for Eloise. She always made sure to pair them up equally, the ones that knew the basics of combat and the ones who knew nothing about it.

A few days after she visited Oli on hi roof, she had another training session for a small group. Crossing her arms, she watched over them, helping them if something wasn’t right and encouraging them to keep on doing. Sensing someone nearby, she smiled, shaking her head. “Don’t even try it Joel, you can’t scare me”, she said, turning to her best friend.

Stomping on the ground, he groaned, “Someday I will get you Eloise, watch out for this”, he growled with a smile. “Just give up, you didn’t got me in the past 184 years”, grinning she turned back to her group. “How are they doing?”, Joel asked, leaning against a house wall, watching the new Vampires fighting against each other.

El nodded to a beginner who was surprisingly very skilled and learned fast. “He’s a bit of an overachiever. Louis told me he had some kind of neurological paralysis that slowly killed him. Now he's almost too cocky, but extremely clumsy. I think we should keep an eye on him, he might cause trouble and I’m not sure if that would be accidental or intentional”, she mumbled quietly, earning an agreeing hum from Joel.

“Alright, I get some Human guards on it as well. Better be safe than sorry”, he said, looking back to his patrol. “I need to get going, see you tonight”, quickly giving her a hug, he joined his group of guards. Eloise was in charge of the Vampires and Joel for the Humans. Training the new recruits and joining them on patrols every so often.

He was the leader of another, more secretive group of trusted Humans. A group that only the seven Vampires knew of. Scott didn’t needed a repeat of moles and hunters in their town. They decided to train a group of trusted guards to be their ears in the town. Little spies some could say. The oldest Vampire first was hesitant, he didn’t wanted to lose the trust of the townsfolk, Joel on the other hand was fine with it. He wasn’t like his friend. He would not hesitate to harm somebody that would turn out to be a threat for his family, especially his sister. If he could, he would happily hunt down every descendant from the hunters to end them all.

After they finished the round, he left the guards alone, stopping by Louis’ own tailor store. Going inside he smiled as he saw the latest projects of his friend. Stopping in front of his own suit, he turned towards Louis as he appeared out of his back room. “These are looking so good, you outdid yourself Lou”, he complemented the older, watching him blush a little. Waving away, they stood next to Joel, “I just did what you all wanted, it was more fun to me as a job”, they smiled, looking at the clothes. “I guess you are here to take your suit and Gems dress to your house?”, Louis asked and started to pack the items in a bag.

Giving their goodbyes it didn’t take long for Eloise to show up to grab the suites for herself and Oli. Sitting back down in his workroom, he looked down on his sketches, most of them were custom orders from the townsfolk, some where his own ideas.

Leaning back, he thought about all the new People he got to know. He put a lot of trust in all of them, having promised himself to never read someone’s minds for his own curiosity. He mostly only did it to find out if the reason to be wanted to turn are genuine.

After a few hours he got up again as he heard the front door open, he knew exactly who it was, giving that only his own dress and one suit was left. Smiling he left for his show room, seeing a nervous Scott pacing in front of the clothes. “What are you so scared for? You know he will say yes”, he chuckled, going to his best friend and grabbing his shoulders.

“But what if I mess up the vows? If something goes wrong? This is supposed to be the best night of his life”, the older Vampire rambled. Shaking his head, Louis squeezed his shoulders a bit. “It’s the best night for the both of you. Don`t worry, gem has everything planned out to the second and even if you mess up, he won’t love you less for that”, he managed to successfully calm the elder Vampire down and got him and himself ready for the small wedding.

Arriving at the castle, everyone got ready, and they had a wonderful ceremony, nobody forgot his vows and together they had a fantastic night.

Scott had everything he could wish for. A loving husband, a small family, he had his castle, and the town was thriving under their leadership. His Coven grew almost every day, and he trusted every single one of the Vampires in town.

After everything that happened, trust was one thing he valued the most.

Trust is a delicate bond, and it could be broken at the most unexpected times.

Chapter Text

In the life of a Vampire, there always comes the time that birthdays don’t matter anymore. Age is just a number and to be truthful, most Vampires forget about it anyway as years blend together and the only sign that you have gotten older are new technologies and ways to simplify living for the Humans.

Scott didn’t care about his birthday either, most of the time he forgets his own age as well, but thanks to Jimmy, he knew that he turns 500 this year. He didn’t know when his birthday was exactly but that didn't stop his family from planning a little party.

Currently he was blindfolded and dragged through the forest by his husband. The party should be a surprise for Scott, but a part that never changed about Jim in the past 244 years as Vampire was that he still couldn’t hide anything from the elder Vampire. He played along though, loving the feeling of happiness that radiated from his husband.

The ground underneath his feet changed from the soil of the woods to a familiar stone, knowing exactly that Jimmy probably just took a different path to the castle to confuse him, he almost couldn't hide his chuckle. “Are we there soon?”, he asked, squeezing their hands, smiling as he heard him giggle. “Almost, have patience Scott”, Jimmy said, biting his lip.

The younger lead him through the castle, down the crypt into their old save heaven. Smiling, he pulled the blindfold away and all of them began to sing Happy Birthday. Looking around, not knowing what he should do, Scott leaned back against Jimmy, thanking them once they finished the song.

A few seconds later he found himself in a group hug, overwhelmed from all the happy feelings he left out a quiet laugh. “You are all so cute”, he mumbled, as he was guided to sit down. Watching them all suddenly growing nervous, Scott raised his eyebrows in question. “We, uhm, we have a few presents”, Louis said, scratching his neck.

Leaning back, the oldest Vampire smiled, feeling all warm and cozy. “I’m sure, I will love every single one of it”, he answered his best friend. Turning to Gem, as she called dips on being first, she presented him with a little box. Opening it, he found a pocket watch, clearly changed to his liking by his childe. “I love it, Gem. Thank you so much”, giving her a quick hug, chuckling at her reaction. “Really? I brought the watch from a merchant, added the ornaments and did the chain myself”, she said excitedly, proud of herself for her work.

Louis shuffled forward next, giving him a bag and sitting down next to him, silently playing with his fingers. Looking inside, Scotts smile got even bigger. “That’s not necessary, but thanks Lou”, he said, bumping into his best friend. Pulling out the clothes he was really amazed. Louis made him a red vest, with golden buttons and various stitching’s on it and a black cloak with a trim in the same red color. In his head this would look great with a white dress shirt. Wrapping an arm around his friend, he gave him a hug, not many words are needed at this point for both of them to know how thankful Scott is for this.

Turning to Oli as he cleared his throat, he grinned at the flustered state of the youngest, who sat on a chair with his guitar. “I composed a song, it’s for all of you but I thought today is the best day to play it”, he mumbled, playing a few tunes before starting. (Play song here)

After he finished, everyone was quiet for a minute until Scott got up and embraced him in a crushing hug. “This is a beautiful song, Oli. Thank you”, he whispered before gathering everyone for another group hug.

All of them settled down again apart from Eloise and Joel, both of them were a little bit nervous for what’s coming next. “We have something for you too, Scott”, Joel started, scratching his head, “It’s actually yours, but we first haven’t found the right time to give it back to you and then we eventually forgot about it”, he explained further, blushing a bit. Eloise gave him two wrapped boxes, before anxiously playing with a loose thread on her coat.

Unpacking them, realizing what it was, Scott choked on a breath and looked to the two with wide eyes. “I thought they were gone”, he whispered, hugging the books to his chest, feeling his eyes tearing up. Carefully browsing through them, he smiled sadly as he got to a painting of his siblings and parents.

Taking his time to look at everything he painted in the past, he almost got uncomfortable with all the compliments he got from the other four who haven’t seen this. Getting up again, he embraced the two, “Thank you so much for getting this back, it means so much to me”, he mumbled only for them both to hear.

The seven Vampires stayed for most of the night, after they got over the emotional part they quickly returned back to a happy mood. The siblings, Eloise and Oli, were the first ones to go, because the two teachers needed to prepare some things for their next classes and the two guards had some work to do as well.

Scott actually had to convince his best friend and his husband to leave him alone for a bit. He wanted to be near his family after he got his paintings back and wanted to do this on his own. Standing outside of the castle, he said his goodbyes to Louis already, he was waiting for Jimmy on the other side of the bridge, giving the lovebirds some privacy.

The two husbands shared a hug. “Take your time, I will give you my present later, okay?”, Jimmy asked, smiling after both took a step back, still holding hands. Nodding, Scott squeezed them. “Can’t wait for that. Thank you for the surprise, it was wonderful”, he answered, giving him a kiss and waved as he went over the bridge. “I love you, Jimmy!”, he shouted, laughing after the younger screamed back, “I love you too!”

~

In the meantime, Eloise, Joel, Gem and Oli were almost out of the forest, still animatedly talking about the wonderful night, not noticing that they were being watched. Suddenly Joel stood still, hearing a branch nearby breaking, but it was too late.

In the blink of an eye, the four were surrounded by thrice as many Vampires. Standing back to back, with the younger ones more in the middle, the two Guards knew that they couldn’t take on twelve Vampires and made sure the other two weren’t harmed at the same time. Eloise squinted her eyes as she recognized some of them. “What’s going on?”, she demanded, clenching her hands to fists, instantly having a bad feeling, they were betrayed.

As it was established, the turned Vampires were free to go, after they got themselves together with the ever so present hunger and completed the mandatory training. All the Vampires she knew that are currently standing in front of them, left the town a long time ago, almost immediately after they were finished with the training.

Seeing as that was a very hostile situation, Oli tried desperately to form an illusion, but something blocked him in doing so. Looking around he saw a Stage 3 Vampire standing behind the circle focusing on him. Quietly wincing, he reached out to El, “There’s a Gifted, he’s blocking me”, he whispered.

Everything after that happened in a blur. Vampires with thick gloves on were throwing nets at them. Joel reacted quickly and positioned himself in front of Gem, resulting in them getting captured together. Eloise and Ole were caught separately and all of them hissed in pain. The nets were woven with silver, weakening them instantly. In less than a minute they were dragged deeper in the woods.

They were taken to a clearing, where many more Vampire waited, one of them immediately was recognized by El, despite looking different being a Stage 3 Vampire as well. It was the weird, cocky overachiever. Trashing in the net and hearing Joel growling as he saw him too, she screamed out, “You TRAITOR”

Furrowing his brows, he looked to the group that captured them. “Thats not all of them, there are supposed to be six. Find the other two and bring them here”, he said calmly before turning to the four. “It’s nice to see you too”, he chuckled, crossing his arms.

“It’s unbelievable how trusting you all are towards strangers. Didn’t you know how easy it is to manipulate a mind reader? A little sob story here and a potentially deathly disease there and you have built yourselves an army that you didn’t even wanted. It was foolish of you to stay here, as the word got spread, everyone knew that there was a Goldsmith left, who else would take over the town near the old castle after the Hunters died out”, he explained.

Joel watched him with wide eyes, while having his sister hugged closely to his body, hoping she touched as little from the net as possible as it hurts like hell. “This was planned from the beginning? Are you mad, lad?”, he asked, squeezing Gem a little bit closer as the other let out a loud laugh.

“The Goldsmiths took everything from me and now it’s time that their reign is finally over for good, I will finish what the Hunters couldn't 248 years ago!”, he said chuckling, earning himself confused faces from the others. “You weren’t even alive back then, what do you mean they took everything from you?”, Oli questioned him, trying to stay as still as he could.

“Some guards were on a mission and invaded the town my ancestors ruled over, taking everything and leaving them poor and starved. We had everything, we were powerful and now the name Woodhurst means nothing, and my goal is to change this”, the Vampire explained, clenching his hands as he paced in front of them.

“That sounds nothing like the guards. They always stayed at the castle, they were peaceful, every Goldsmith had a kind heart and never meant to do any harm. I really think you misunderstood something, please, let us talk about this before you do something you will regret later”, Gem pleaded, at this point she was scared for her life.

Smirking, the Vampire stopped in front of her and Joel. “Thats really sweet of you, but no thank you. I will bring back the former glory and power to my family, and nobody will stop me” Trashing in her net again, Eloise was furious, “You are a fool if you think you will succeed! All of you are Babies compared to Scott, he will never let you come through with this”, she shouted out, masking her fear with anger.

Rolling his eyes, he gave a signal towards others and turned to her. “Thats why, we will bring him down to his knees first. What do you think you are here for? You all are all his weaknesses and its sad that I can’t start with his two closest people, but you all will do the trick as well. Thank you for training me, Eloise, but it’s time to end this now”

After hearing this, El and Oli locked eyes, trying to rob towards each other but eventually someone grabbed the nets, pulling them further apart. Gem and Joel hugged tightly, the older brother trying to calm his panicking sister down with gentle back strokes and nuzzling her hair, taking a deep breath of her smell for his own mind.

~ (I’m so sorry, now it’s time for Scotts to crash out)

Arriving at the town, Scott cut his stay at the castle short after he felt a weird feeling in his chest. He could sense many different emotions but couldn’t exactly pinpoint where they came from. Something is wrong.

Standing in the middle of the town, he looked around, trying to find someone in his family walking around. It was then that he felt a rush of terror run down his spine and too many things happened at the same time.

Watching in horror as the four houses that he and the others occupied exploded in flames, everything around him turned into chaos as Scott stumbled down to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his hands in the soil.

His biggest dream to never have this horrifying feeling again was diminished as he felt the snaps, another family bond was destroyed, they got taken from him again and something in him broke for good.

Looking up with tears in his eyes, he got up again, hands still clenched at his sides. His mind was so far gone already, he couldn’t grasp what really happened. “You killed them all? First my family and now my friends? You fool! Try to run as fast as you can, but I will catch you and kill you all myself!”, he managed to growl before his brain shut down, his sight turned red, and he acted purely on instinct.

The overachieving Vampire only thought about the possibility that in murdering the family of Scott Goldsmith, the elder Vampire would turn into a vulnerable mess, and he was right in a sense. But before that could sink in, the sadness was quickly replaced with wrath and a Vampire on the loose that's only goal was to kill everyone he could get between his hands, even other Vampires. His cocky self-made the mistake to go into the warzone that was the town, where no one was safe at the moment, walking right into his own demise.

Scott managed to come back to his senses as his arm was stuck in the chest of a Vampire with his hand wrapped around their heart. Taking a deep breath, smelling his family and the betrayal of the Vampire in front of him, he said nothing as he ripped the heart out, watching him fall backwards, squishing the organ in his hand.

Taking a step back to look around he winced at the destruction he left behind, but his mind was quick to guide him back to his grief and anger. He couldn’t find the body’s, his brain was too overwhelmed with everything, he couldn’t think straight for a minute, not realizing that it was four snaps and not six.

Falling back on his knees, the poor soul hugged himself tightly, letting out a blood curling, terrifying scream.