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The castle walls provided a shadowed sanctuary from the harsh sunlight that even the frequent cloud cover could not give. Owen appreciated the dark stone, different than the warm town center it had been when he had lived.
Oakhurst was in a momentary lull. The humans licked their wounds and the tensions among his fellow vampires simmered, red hot embers ready to light at the next provocation.
If Owen thought the momentary peace would last he might have taken steps to set them ablaze. After what had been suggested, what they (he) had wanted to do to him, to take from him in the name of "curing" him -
No.
Thankfully, at this point, there were few doubts among those that claimed space inside the castle walls. For all the problems among the vampires - and there were many - he had been sure to lay the facts down. The beacons had to be changed - and the humans were not going to let them turn them peacefully.
(It was a good reason never to turn Martyn. As long as he was alive, the humans would never fully listen to calmer voices that made a pretense at trust. Martyn was the perfect weapon against the humans themselves.)
The lull was annoying in some ways - it allowed Cleo to continue their own machinations. It made his teeth itch, to see them sliding in and out of town and castle. Scott, to his disgust, seemed to be delighted in the fact he couldn't figure out what Cleo was up to.
It had some benefits, these few days of peace. Drift and… Avid. The new fledglings. Both seemed to be coming around much easier than even Shelby and Pyro… and certainly easier than Apo and Cleo.
(The middle children, part of him whispered. He ignored it. Fledglings weren't children.)
That didn't mean they were entirely used to their new powers, for all they were learning quickly.
As could be seen by the vampire who had wormed his way out of the back of the castle and stood under the bright sun instead of inside the welcoming shadows… practicing jumping.
At least, that was what it looked like to Owen, who had stopped by a window to stare.
There were numerous problems with the picture Avid made. One, practicing vampiric abilities in the sunlight was an idiotic idea. They could use them of course. But why? Doing anything in the sunlight just made things more difficult. At the very least if he couldn't wait until night, Avid should have been inside the castle - or under the shadows of the trees if being cooped up had him that on edge.
(Owen knew the feeling.)
Second - where was… anyone else? Avid had expressed a complete turn away from the human's agenda by the fact it required Shelby's death. That at least Owen could respect - but where was she? Or Drift, considering the two had stuck to each other like glue as humans? From what he had heard, Avid had at least managed a jump before, between the two fledglings they should have been working it out.
He certainly wasn't going to be helping Avid out. He hadn't turned him, nuisance that he'd been as a human. Even if he had been sick. Dying.
He had offered his expertise to Shelby and Pyro in their early days and what had that gotten him? Betrayals and turncoats.
He shifted his weight, watching Avid try another lunge toward the top of a tree - and stutter halfway. His fall was only mildly entertaining - as much as he would have thought him to fall in an ungraceful heap of limbs, unused to his new vampiric agility… alas. If that had happened, Owen had missed it by coming upon the scene too late. Avid landed with a barely audible frustrated sigh, lightly on his feet, and circled the yard to try again.
He muttered to himself as he trotted around the tall grass they hadn't cleared out from the back of the castle. Owen didn't pay attention to the words, but it was interesting to note that habit remained. The former hunter seemed so… settled in comparison to how he had been a few short days ago. A bit calmer.
Healthier.
It was almost disappointing. As annoying as he had been - at least Owen had a few moments of amusement from messing with him.
Even on the hilltop - Owen had batted at him, annoyed as the fledgling got distracted by playing with the creatures of the night not themselves rather than listening to him. Dug his claws in to make the lesson stick. And Avid had laughed. Giggled, really. And settled.
It hadn't been… the same as the rush of fear that had a human's heart pumping, smelling like prey. But it was more interesting than hurt or belligerence. He had, perhaps, felt a twinge of amusement at Avid's laughter.
And that… made Owen curious. Like Shelby and Pyro listening to him initially, it was likely a one off. Just as likely, the fear would return now that they weren't post battle, post blood rush.
That would be… less interesting and ultimately annoying. But he could get one or two chuckles out of it first.
That was worth shifting himself out of visible sight and stepping outside. He could say he was "helping" the fledgling when he expressed his usual anxious fear and snapped at him in retaliation. Easy enough to turn it around as his own fault for practicing in daylight.
And if he responded more like he had on the hilltop? Unlikely. But. He could perhaps give him a hint or two. If this one bothered to listen.
He crept across the yard on silent feet. He paused halfway when a rock slid gently out of place, barely making a sound - and Avid instantly paused, brow furrowed. The young vampire cocked his head, clearly listening. Owen stood perfectly still. While many vampires did breathe by old habit, they didn't need to. So Owen didn't.
After a long minute Avid huffed a breath. "Probably just the chickens again."
(Louis had warned him how overwhelming his new senses could be at first. How hard it might be to tune out distant noises across town that now sounded as loud as a person speaking in the next room had been before. Owen had made that easier on himself by simply murdering everyone. He had adjusted quickly thanks to all the screaming.)
Avid continued muttering to himself. Maybe this was why Drift, just as new and easily overwhelmed, wasn't currently around. "Focus. I'm gonna get this. I did it once - and you see him do way higher jumps than this. You can do this Avid."
He turned away from where Owen stood. He looked up at the tall dark oak spreading thick branches above them. Perfect to hide amongst the leaves. If someone could manage to get up there.
Avid took a deep breath he didn't need. Shuffled a few steps. Owen smirked in his shroud of invisibility and leaned forward.
For him, it was as easy as taking a step forward. The world blurred, just as Avid tensed, on the very edge of leaping himself -
- and Owen was suddenly behind him, lips inches from his ear. "Having trouble?"
Aivd, one foot already off the ground, shrieked and leapt into the air. His lunge was technically well done this time. He left the ground, high into the air - and headfirst into the tree trunk. For a wild moment, there was a flailing mess of claws and limbs as Avid fell back toward the ground, catching himself halfway on a tree branch, clinging to it while Owen -
- Owen wasn't bothering to muffle his snort of laughter. Well worth the yelling yet to come.
Except - it was more laughter that joined him. Louder. Happier. Sharing in his amusement. "C'mon, really? Really?"
"You seemed like you needed help," Owen said, not bothering to hide his very unhelpful tone.
"Uh huh. Then I guess I have to thank you." Avid wriggled his way to sitting on the branch, then after a moment of testing his balance, climbed to his feet, a little less certain of his new grace when he wasn't on solid ground. "This is… actually higher than I've made it before."
Owen considered the fledgling a moment. He wasn't terrified. Or angry. He seemed… relaxed. Despite Owen's trickery. Maybe even in part because of it.
Interesting. Maybe not all of the fledglings were entirely a lost cause.
He leapt up to a neighboring branch, and newly red eyes followed him without a hint of true fear. A hint of nerves still there, maybe. Then again, even now that seemed to just… be Avid. The anxious energy was calmer than it had been… but never entirely gone. He watched Avid in return and said, "I heard you managed to get out of the hole in the crypt just fine."
Avid grimaced, shifting from foot to foot. "I mean - yeah. No. Kind of? From halfway or so. But I can't seem to even get that distance again. And I've seen Scott jump the town walls with room to spare!"
"Scott has a great deal more practice," Owen said with a snort. "So do I."
"Which is what I'm doing," Avid countered, a hint of a whine in his tone. "Practicing."
"Badly. You've been out here since sunrise and this is the farthest you've gotten," Owen pointed out, biting.
"Before sunrise," Avid mumbled, wincing at Owen's pointed look. "Okay, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was being that loud."
Owen frowned at that. "I didn't say you were," he said, slow.
"You didn't have to," Avid sighed. "It was pretty obvious what you meant."
Avid's various perception issues were not Owen's problem. He rolled his eyes and leaned over to take a swipe at him, unsurprised when the younger vampire fell right out of the tree.
He rolled to his feet when he landed, and he came up smiling again. "Okay, okay! Fine! What were you saying then, mister know it all?"
Maybe not a lost cause, but still an annoying one. Owen relaxed on the branch, letting his feet dangle. "You're doing it wrong."
Avid groaned, and spread his arms out wide. "I know that. It's like I get part way through and I just - lose all momentum. I've tried pushing harder off the ground, less hard, a running start - I tried it directly after a delicious bottle of blood. Pyro can do it so it can't just be practice. He said it all came easily to him!"
"Did he?" Owen muttered. Sure, he hadn't given Pyro step by step for every ability, but he certainly remembered giving him a few early pointers. And at least trying to get him not to be seen since - "Pyro also thought nothing of walking around town with newly red eyes. You need better sources."
"Yeah?" Avid licked his lips. His eyes darted to Owen and away again as he shifted, practically bouncing on his feet like he was getting ready to run. If he had still smelled like prey Owen would have been getting ready for a chase. As he didn't the behavior was just - odd. "So - So how do you do it?"
Owen considered him but - it was better, in the end, to have a vampire that could help instead of hinder in the next fight. "When you turned into a bat the first time, were you thinking of how a bat works? How the transformation works?"
"Well. No. I - was thinking I wanted to be a bat. To fly. To… be free. That's how they described it." Avid stilled, watching Owen. "Actually, come to think of it, how does - "
"Don't," Owen said, short. Exasperated. "Or next time you try to be a bat you'll have the same problem."
He waited as Avid considered that. He could practically see his mind whirling over the different possibilities. "Are you… saying I'm overthinking it?"
He raised an eyebrow and gave him a very slow, very sardonic round of clamps. "Give the vampire a prize."
Now Avid rolled his eyes, like Owen was being the annoying one. He started to move below him, pacing back and forth. "Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm overthinking it. Okay. That - makes sense. Yeah. Story of my life. I'm overthinking it. I'm overthinking it! I can fix that."
Avid stopped by the tree. Looked up, perfectly still. Owen waited. Avid took a deep breath - still unnecessary but one problem at a time - and shifted his feet. Nothing happened. Not for a long moment.
Not until Owen leaned forward, watching the fledgling closely and his lips twitched into a smirk. "Still overthinking it."
"I knooow!" Avid wailed, head dropping down. "I can't help it. You said I'm overthinking it and now I'm overthinking overthinking."
Maybe he was a lost cause. "Really?" Owen groaned, glancing toward the castle. As much as he liked to say the hierarchy didn't exist, surely this was, if anyone's, Shelby's problem?
"It's fine! I know what the problem is. I'll get it eventually!" Avid flicked a glance to him, then away. "You've been a big help. Really."
Owen narrowed his eyes. Now the fledgling didn't want his help? Or at least - was pretending he didn't. His teeth itched at the disrespect.
He dropped down beside Avid, claws already out and launching for him.
He wasn't sure why he expected him to dodge. Or at least move. Avid rocked back at the scratch but this time wrinkled his nose, looking more confused than afraid. "Hey, what's that one for? You wanted to leave!"
Owen… didn't bother acknowledging that, just let a hiss threaten him from between his teeth and took another swipe at him, digging claws into his shoulder -
And Avid still didn't move. He hunkered down against the tree, looking awfully like a puppy that wasn't sure why it was being bapped on the nose but was very sorry for whatever it had done. "Ow! Owen, what, what?"
Between Drift declaring she wasn't afraid of him and this, Owen decided that actually, the two newest fledglings just had zero survival instincts. At this rate, he could pull out a stake on Avid and it wouldn't matter. Fine.
A change of tactics then. If he wouldn't run - "Hit back. You have claws of your own, you know."
"I - yes?" Avid's first attempt was halfhearted at best.
Owen didn't even need to dodge, and he returned it by cuffing the idiot fledgling across the back of his head. "Avid!"
"Fine! Crazy man with crazy training methods - " This time Avid actually tried.
It still wasn't great. Owen dodged, but at human speed. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow and took a step back when Avid's annoyance had him trying another. Another step back, another swipe. The next time, as Owen snorted his derision, he needed to take two.
Finally, Avid tried to pounce at him. Not quite a lunge - not yet - but it let Owen actually start the chase. He led him around the yard, rolling his eyes at Avid's whining and shouts, tuning them out. The words were meaningless - the cadence of movement was what he was after. The longer it went on, the smoother Avid ran.
Just like how Avid had landed lightly on his feet when he wasn't thinking about it. "You haven't managed to hit me once, you know," he taunted - and stepped into a leap forward. Purposefully, he kept it short. Let the vampiric speed drop early -
And Avid crashed into his shoulder. His own leap forward, from farther back, meant to land at where he instinctively knew Owen should be. If Owen hadn't landed short. Hadn't landed where Avid's earlier jumps would have landed him.
They crashed to the ground. Owen rolled away and back onto his feet easily, on edge in case Avid's instincts demanded they keep going - but when he looked back Avid was blinking big red eyes at him with dawning delight. "Did I just - I wasn't thinking about it at all!"
"Yes," Owen drawled, slow, like one explained to a particularly stupid student. "That. Was the point."
Avid laughed, flopping back down into the dirt. "Oh! I - hehe. It really was that easy! I wanted to get out of the pit - I got out of the pit. I wanted to catch you - "
"I let you catch me," Owen interrupted. He wasn't going to have that settle into his head. Not that Avid had really 'caught' him. More like slammed into him and then completely lost any follow through in the shock of it all.
"Obviously! But I did it! I got it. Oh, that was fun!" Avid grinned up at him. "Is that how everyone learns? A game of tag?"
Is that how he saw it? A game? That… wasn't entirely inaccurate to what they had been doing. From a certain point of view. "No," he answered shortly, and started to walk off.
He had satisfied his curiosity and - paid back Avid more than enough for the entertainment value. The fledgling might be a step up from how he had been as human - but he still hadn't turned anyone. Now that he was less useless, there was no need to spend more time out in the daylight.
"Hey - wait! Owen!" There was a scramble of limbs in the grass and dirt. "Please?"
Owen could reward a rare show of good manners. He paused, looking over his shoulder. Avid halted, rocking back on his feet. He huffed out a sigh. "Yes, Avid?"
The shuffling of feet. An unnecessary swallow. Red eyes looked away from him and he nearly snapped at him before Avid said, quiet, "Just - thanks. It was fu - useful? It was useful."
Owen didn't know what his expression had done to make Avid change his word choice halfway through, but he made note to try it out again sometime. "...You're welcome." He took a few paces forward and then stopped, aggravated at the twinge of a job left undone. "Avid."
"Yeah?"
"Everything is easier when the sun is down. Stop practicing in the sunlight." He stepped forward, then sped through the doorway into the castle, vanishing from sight again.
He lingered a moment, comfortable in the castle's shadowed hall, to watch Avid shift on his feet. In the next second, the fledgling turned, stepped forward - and leapt to the top of the tree. All one unthinking movement. He landed for a moment poised perfectly - and then fell about himself in surprise at his own success, laughing as he nearly tumbled down through the branches before righting himself, perched perfectly between two of the top most limbs.
He stayed there long enough Owen realized he wasn't coming down anytime soon. Avid had tucked himself into the shadows of the branches - out of the sunlight.
Owen wasn't going to be tricked again into believing there was something in this wanna be coven of vampires that wasn't. Not this time. But. At least it had been an interesting way to spend an afternoon.
Perhaps he could see how Drift was doing with her new abilities. Just to keep away the boredom.