Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Legundo wasn’t happy about being separated from the rest of his unit, but he was confident in his ability to survive on his own. He pushed his way through the woods for a few hours before he came across a broken down town.

“Hello?” Legundo wandered the abandoned streets before running into a small group.

“Hello?” A man around his age responded. His purple eyes were filled with fear. Behind him was a girl with reddish brown hair, a man with blue hair, and a man with a long beat up coat.

Legundo realized in that moment that he was still holding his weapon and that was most likely what was causing the others to look uneasy. “I’m sorry, I got turned around while out with the military. Do you happen to know where we are?”

The man in the coat spoke. “Oakhurst, but I’m not sure about what is in the area surrounding us. I think the forest disoriented all of us.”

“That’s not promising, but it’s going to be night soon. I can set up some temporary shelter for us.” Legundo tried to appear relaxed and nonthreatening, but his military training remained very visible in the way he held himself.

Over the course of the night various other people stumbled into town in various states. Each of them introduced themselves with some level of hesitance. The broken down buildings worked well enough for shelter, but they gave the entire town a haunted energy that was hard to ignore.

Just after sunset, a shadowy figure knocked on the poorly held together door at the front of the building Legundo had chosen. “Come in.”

The door creaked open and a tall figure with long brown hair walked in. “Sorry to intrude, but the only other house with room in it was with some raving lunatic named Avid.”

“I’d rather sleep in those creepy woods than in his house.” Legundo laughed. “Feel free to come in any time. I’m Legundo, by the way.”

“Owen.” The man responded. He didn’t look to be much older than Legundo was. “I think I heard him say something about vampires earlier. He kept saying ‘Nobody is invited into my house!’”

“Oh wow. I don’t think I’ve seen someone seriously believe in monsters since I was eight.” Legundo remembered the many stories children in the capital would tell each other in an attempt to freak each other out.

Owen tilted his head to the side. “There’s no military ghost stories?”

“None that anybody actually believed in. We just told them to pass the time.” Legundo glanced over to his military supplies in the corner of the room. He wondered if he would be labeled a deserter.

“Well, there’s not much going on right now. Tell me one.” Owen sat down on the floor, unbothered by the dirt and leaves.

Legundo searched his mind for the best story. “Some soldiers say that if you go MIA or decide to desert then when you die your soul gets taken by some strange group of spirits. They put your soul into an infinite loop of death games and they change the rules every time. Then they just watch all those former soldiers kill each other over and over for all of eternity. I can’t remember the name of the group for the Life of me though. I think people just say that to stop soldiers from deserting.”

“Most ghost stories have some sort of underlying agenda. For example, vampires teach you not to invite strangers into your house.” Owen shrugged.

“But if you never invite the strangers in then they’ll never stop being strangers.” Legundo yawned.

Owen leaned his head back on the semi stable wall of the building. “I guess the vampires were the friends we made along the way.”

When Legundo woke up in the morning, Owen was gone. He was half convinced he had dreamed the entire previous night, but the imprint in the dirt where Owen had been sitting proved him wrong.

“Vampire!” Avid’s terrified voice pulled Legundo out of his shelter. He saw Scott holding a skull over his own head while Avid cowered in fear.

Legundo rolled his eyes before going to intervene. “Do vampires often look like skeletons?”

“No, but maybe he killed someone and drank their blood! That could be their skull!” Avid’s voice began to give him a headache.

“Scott, leave him alone. I can’t deal with this much yelling this early in the morning.” Legundo positioned himself between Avid and Scott.

Scott crossed his arms. “Fine, but I’m keeping the skull on. If you need me, I’ll be building my house with Shelby.”

As Scott walked away, Avid threw his arms around Legundo in a one sided hug. Legundo stood there, unsure of what to do until Avid let go. “He’s a vampire, trust me.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Legundo muttered before quickly trying to get back to the building he had slept in.

As he walked back into the building, a shadowy figure in the corner caught his eye. He quickly pulled himself into a fighting ready stance in case it was one of the many creatures of the night.

“Woah, at ease soldier, has that lunatic gotten to you?” Owen’s voice came from the darkness.

“Just a little on edge. We’re taught in the military to always be alert.” Legundo relaxed his stance.

Owen walked into the light. “I got antsy last night, so I went out and chopped some wood. It should be enough to patch this place up and make it nice.”

“Might as well. Maybe we could line our door with silver to keep the vampires out.” Legundo joked.

Owen laughed. “If we have extra wood we can carve them into stakes.”

“Well, we might as well get to work.”

Owen had found himself in a strange situation. After Legundo had fallen asleep, he had wandered into the woods. He found Scott and Pyro near the water. The dark energy told him everything he needed to know. He flashed his fangs at Scott and they did what needed to be done.

To avoid suspicion, the duo, now trio, agreed to align themselves with different people. Owen had already gotten himself a permanent invitation to Legundo’s home, and he didn’t mind having a trained fighter on his side.

After a few days, the town settled into a routine. A thick fog had trapped the group in the area which made construction more frantic. Small factions had formed, but the only person showing any active hatred was Avid.

“Maybe you’re all vampires!” Avid pointed at Owen and Legundo before pivoting to Scott and Shelby. He had been causing a disturbance in the town square for ten minutes.

Legundo sighed before he walked up to Avid and Drift’s house. He cracked his neck and then kicked the door in, fully separating it from the rest of the house. He stepped on the door as he walked in. “No invitation.”

“Wow.” Owen felt himself say involuntarily.

“Looks like Mister Military isn’t all talk.” Scott whispered to Owen.

“Get out of my house!” Avid ran over to Legundo and his now useless door.

Legundo shrugged. “I was just making sure you knew I wasn’t a vampire. I know other ways to draw blood though, so I’d watch your mouth.” Legundo walked out of the house, hitting Avid with his shoulder as he walked past.

For the first time since arriving in Oakhurst, Avid was completely silent. Owen enjoyed the moment of calm. He had also enjoyed watching Legundo make himself into a spectacle.

“Hey, Legundo, do you need any help up there?” Owen called out to Legundo, who was working on the roof.

Legundo shook his head. “All good up here!”

After a moment, Owen ignored Legundo and used a nearby tree and climbed up on the roof. “These planks aren’t super well aligned.”

“I’m a soldier, not a builder.” Legundo didn’t stop hammering with the makeshift tools he had made.

“Let me help.” Owen reached for an unused plank.

Legundo looked at Owen’s hand. “You’re covered in bandages. It’s better if I handle this.”

“At least let me help you line these up. They’re all crooked.” Owen fought back.

Legundo reluctantly let Owen help him. The pair worked on the roof until sunset. The moon rose and made the sky red.

“I’ve never seen the sky go red for so many nights in a row.” Legundo stared at the moon.

“It’s probably some cool astronomy thing.” Owen dismissed his concern.

“It just feels foreboding. It doesn’t help that there’s fog trapping us here with a town full of people who don’t seem to be all there mentally.”

“Has anybody ever given you a nickname?”

Legundo moved his gaze from the moon to Owen. “No, I’ve always just been Legundo.”

“Well, I think you worry too much, Legs.”

Chapter Text

“So, you were in the military too?” Legs had run into Apo while he was wandering the town.

Apo gave an awkward nod. “Yeah, they sent me here. They didn’t tell me that there would be anybody else stationed here though.”

“Oh I wasn’t stationed here. I got separated from my unit and now I’m stuck here.” Legs explained.

Apo fidgeted with her hair. “And you’ve never heard anything about other soldiers from other units?”

Legs shook his head. “I can’t say I have. Some people in my unit have friends I’ve never met, but there’s nothing super interesting about them.”

“How did you get that scar on your cheek?” Apo quickly tried to change the subject.

“Battle scar.” Legs responded. “I got caught off guard and took a knife to the cheek. I’m honestly shocked it’s not a larger scar with how much it was bleeding afterwards. Are you okay?”

Apo had gone pale. “Yeah, I’m fine. Actually, I just realized I have to go… do something.”

As Apo ran off, Legs heard Shelby call for him. “Legundo! I need to ask you something!”

“Is something wrong?” Legs turned to where Shelby’s voice was.

Shelby shook her head. “You’ve traveled with the military. Have you seen any monsters or paranormal creatures?”

“No, just the normal war and fighting things.” Legs was quick to dismiss her.

“No bigfoot or werewolves?” Shelby pushed further.

“Nope.” Legs answered.

“Oh, well, thank you anyway." Shelby walked away.

Before Legs could get more than a minute of quiet, he ran into Renhardt. “Mister Legundo, there’s something sinister in the air, don’t ya know.”

“What?” Legs stared blankly at him.

“The hustle and bustle of the town has gotten too much for me. I’ve decided to build my house outside of the town walls.” Ren continued.

Legs continued staring. “How is this relevant to me?”

“You’re a man of the military. You should be made aware of concerns so you can protect us, don’t ya know?” Ren fixed his glasses.

“I… uh… mhmm… yes. Thank you for that.” Legs gave up trying to understand whatever Ren was saying.

Ren turned to leave. “You’re a good man, Mister Legundo.”

After a full day of dealing with the townspeople, Legs retreated back to his house. He threw himself on to his bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before Owen’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Long day?” Owen was on his own bed.

“If I didn’t know any better I would think I was roommates with a ghost.” Legs realized he hadn’t answered Owen’s question. “And yes, a very long day.”

Owen nodded. “I don’t know how long we’re all going to last in this town. The creepy forest seems to be driving everybody mad.”

“Not everybody. Abolish and Cleo seem pretty sane.” Legs offered.

“I guess that makes four sane people out of fourteen.” Owen rolled his eyes.

“It’s better than nothing. I’m sure all four of us could at least take Avid in a fight.” Legs sat up.

Owen stood up. “Legs, you could beat Avid in a fight alone. I know you’ve had a long day, but do you want to do some more work on the house?”

“Might as well.” Legs got out of bed.

The pair walked outside and Legs used a tree to climb on to the roof. Owen followed behind him and Legs held out his hand to help him up. Owen took it and noticed that Legs didn’t seem to care about the uneven texture of his skin that wasn’t covered by bandages.

“You’re really cold. Take this.” Legs took off the jacket of his military uniform and handed it to Owen. This left him in his short sleeve white undershirt.

Unsure of how to respond, Owen took the jacket and put it on. “Thank you.”

“I can’t have you freezing to death and leaving me with only two other sane people.” Legs smiled.

“Aren’t you cold?” Cleo had run into Legs just outside of the town.

“I run hot.” Legs assured them.

Cleo crossed their arms. “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

“What?”

Cleo sighed. “You kicked a door in not that long ago. It seems like your temper runs pretty hot.”

“He had it coming!” Legs shouted back before he realized he had proved Cleo’s point. “I see it now.”

“Just try to keep your head on straight. Infighting won’t help us, and I don’t know how long we’re all going to have to live here together.” Cleo warned Legs.

“I know. I’ll try.” Legs was being honest, but he had little faith in himself.

The vampires met up at the ruined castle in the middle of the night when most of the town was asleep. Their newest recruit, Shelby, was also at the castle.

“Thinking of enlisting, Owen?” Pyro asked as Owen walked in.

Owen glanced down, realizing he was still wearing the jacket Legs gave him. “Very funny. He just convinced himself I was cold and I didn’t think ‘Actually I’m undead’ was the best thing to tell him.”

“What a gentleman.” Scott joked. “And you’re still wearing it because?”

“I just forgot to take it off. I didn’t want to raise suspicion while Legs-” Owen was cut off by Scott.

“Legs? You’re calling him a nickname now?” Scott laughed.

Shelby butted into the conversation. “Leave him alone. You turned your roommate into a vampire. I think that’s a step above sharing jackets.”

“I didn’t turn you.” Scott rolled his eyes.

“Only because Pyro got to me first!” Shelby countered.

Pyro cut in. “Sorry about that. Again.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you. Mostly.” Shelby half-smiled.

“Now that that’s all settled, what’s the plan?” Owen redirected.

Pyro shrugged. “Slowly turn everyone?”

“Yes, but how? It’s going to be difficult with people like Avid around.”
Owen clarified.

“We should turn Legundo.” Shelby offered. “He’s a soldier and it would be good to have him on our side.”

Scott shook his head. “He’s already hotheaded and impulsive, making him a vampire would intensify that.”

“And being roommates with a human is a good cover for me.” Owen added.

“I guess we could turn Apo. She was in the military too.” Pyro half heartedly suggested.

“We’ll see.” Scott walked away.

“What is this shack?” Legs studied the structure Avid and Drift were standing in front of.

“It’s a vampire clinic!” Avid proudly declared.

Drift nodded. “We thought it could be good to raise awareness!”

“Do you have any medical experience at all?” Legs asked.

“Well, no, but-” Avid started.

“Then why are you building a clinic? People go to school for years to do this.” Legs felt his blood begin to boil.

Drift stepped in. “He’s not claiming to have medical knowledge, he just wants to help.”

“Help people with an issue that isn’t real!” Legs walked past Drift and over to Avid.

“Look, there’s no other care center in town, so unless you want to go build one this is all we have.” Avid taunted.

Legs sighed and went to turn away before quickly turning back and landing a punch solidly on Avid’s jaw. Avid fell to the ground and Drift gasped.

“Why would you do that?” Drift shouted.

Legs stepped back, processing what he had done. “He was putting people in danger. He has no medical experience!"

Drift ran to Avid’s side. “You also think vampires aren’t real, so he wouldn’t have treated anybody anyway.”

“Whatever.” Legs walked away, leaving both of them on the ground.

“Woah, what happened to you?” Owen asked Legs as he walked in.

Legs groaned. “Avid.”

Owen kept pushing. “I heard yelling. Must have been a lively conversation.”

“I punched him in the jaw.” Legs admitted.

“I wish I’d seen that.” Owen thought about how much he would have loved to have sunk his fangs into Avid.

Legs took a deep breath. “Cleo is going to be so mad at me.”

“Why’s that?”

“She just warned me that I should keep an eye on my temper to keep things calm.” Legs sat on his bed.

“If it wasn’t you, someone else would have snapped sooner or later.” Owen tried to be comforting.

Legs silently noted that Owen was still wearing his jacket. “Thank you, even though that reasoning won’t save me from Cleo’s wrath. I don’t know what I’d do without someone normal to talk to.”

Chapter Text

The tavern didn’t seem to be fully structurally stable, but it had become the main social area of the town. It was nice to talk to people in an area that wasn’t the middle of a dirt road, a half built house, or the creepy forest.

When Legs walked in, Martyn, Mr. M, and Ren were sitting around a wobbly table drinking. Martyn was animatedly explaining something to them. “We can just go spy on that castle that Scott has been working on. Something is up.”

“I dunno.” Ren responded. “There’s a dark and deadly energy about that place, don’t ya know.”

Mr. M agreed. “I’ve written enough books to know that this won’t end well. Maybe ask Cleo!”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Legs finally spoke. “I just wanted to check this place out.”

“Mister Legundo! Would ye like a drink?” Ren offered.

Legs shrugged. “Why not?”

When Legs was handed the drink, he hesitantly took a sip. He wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be, but it wasn’t as bad as he had assumed alcohol from the middle of nowhere would be. It was still nowhere near good though.

Martyn took a sip of his own drink. “So, Legundo, would you like to do a bit of recon and see what’s going on at the castle?”

“I’ll think about it. I don’t think Scott would be happy if he saw us.” Legs stared at his drink.

Martyn stood up to leave. “Well, I’m going to go ask Cleo. Come find me if you’d like to come.”

“Got it.” Legs absentmindedly responded.

After finishing his drink, Legs wandered to the nearby lake. There were no mirrors in town, so he had to use the reflection of the water. Some of the other townspeople carried pocket mirrors, but he had quickly gotten tired of asking to borrow them.

Legs knelt down to the water and splashed some on his face. After the ripples stopped, he checked his face. The most jarring thing was that in the time he had spent in Oakhurst his hair had grown longer than it had been in a while. By most standards his hair was still short, but if he returned to his unit he would have the longest hair of any of the men. He started to mess with it, not sure of how he wanted to style it.

“You look fine, Legs.” Owen said, a couple paces back from the water.

Legs turned his head to look at him. “You have the lightest footsteps I have ever heard.”

Owen didn’t react. “You’ve been staring at that lake for a while.”

“You’ve been staring at me staring at a lake for a while.” Legs stood up and stepped toward Owen.

“I wanted to know how vain you were.” Owen stayed where he was.

Legs sighed. “It’s just weird. My hair has never been this long before and I’m not wearing the top half of my uniform. I don’t think I look like a soldier anymore.”

Owen rolled his eyes. “You look more like a soldier than most of us.”

“I know, but…” Legs trailed off. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he didn’t hate it when he saw himself. He had assumed that he would have the urge to fashion a razor or some scissors from silver and cut his hair when it got long enough, but he didn’t. He looked into the lake and saw himself, but he didn’t know who he was if he wasn’t a soldier. “I need to go find Martyn.”

“Oh, alright then.” Owen said as Legs ran off.

“I want in.” Legs ran up to Martyn. He had found him talking to Cleo.

Martyn nodded. “You’re just in time. Cleo and I are about to head over. Do you have any tips?”

“Keep alert and don’t rush in. If we see something strange we should report back to the town for reinforcements. It does nobody any good to get ourselves hurt over what are honestly unfounded suspicions.” Legs felt his voice slip into a more military tone.

“Did Apo not want to join? She was in the military just like Legundo.” Cleo turned to Martyn.

Martyn shook his head. “She was super weird about it. I think Scott unnerves her or something.”

With nothing left to say, the trio left for the castle.

Owen flew to the castle to talk to Scott. “Nothing new to report from town. They have alcohol now though.”

Scott was sitting at the broken down table with Pyro and Shelby. “Is it good?”

“I decided not to try it. Getting a little drunk isn’t worth the nausea of drinking something that’s not blood.” Owen answered. “I’m assuming Apo rejected the offer to join us.”

Pyro nodded. “She thinks she can just live in town like nothing happened.”

“I think she’ll come around.” Shelby added hopefully.

“I doubt it. She seemed terrified when I turned her.” Scott bragged.

Before the conversation could continue, Owen heard a muffled voice yell Martyn’s name. The weak back wall of the castle broke open and he saw Martyn, Cleo, and Legs standing there. He briefly made eye contact with Legs. His vivid green eyes were even brighter than usual, as if his humanity was shining out of them. They burned Owen worse than the sun ever could.

Martyn ran in, followed by the other two. Owen ran out and made his way to the hill that overlooked the castle. He turned around to make sure that he wasn’t followed and saw nobody there.

Once Owen was on the hill, he had a good view of the battle that had started on the castle bridge. He wasn’t sure where Shelby had gone, but he saw everybody else. Scott swung at Martyn, making him stumble backwards. As he was about to fall, Legs grabbed him and pulled him to safety. As soon as Martyn was safe, he ran off. Legs then turned his attention to Cleo. They were fighting Pyro, but Pyro was about to land a bite on their neck. Legs ran over and landed a punch on his face. Owen saw him spit a tooth out.

For a brief moment, Owen was so impressed that he forgot he was supposed to be rooting against him. He watched Legs pull a silver knife from his boot and point it at Scott. With the other hand he grabbed Cleo’s arm and they both ran.

Chapter Text

“Has anyone seen Legundo?” Abolish wandered into the tavern. Most of the town had ended up there after the news of vampires broke.

Cleo responded from her table with Pearl. “I don’t think anybody has. The last time I saw him he was muttering nonsense as we ran from the castle.”

“He seemed to be pretty close with Owen. I can’t imagine how I’d react if it turned out my roommate was a vampire.” Mr. M said from behind the counter.

“You’re literally an author. Have you never written anything like this?” Apo asked.

“They were a little more than close.” Martyn cut in. “When we were at the castle he let Owen run right past him.”

Cleo fought him. “He also saved your life. If he had run after Owen then you would have fallen off of that bridge and there’s a chance Pyro would have bitten and turned me. I think he’s earned the right to go missing for a little bit to straighten out his head.”

“I was right!” Avid’s voice cut through the air as he ran into the tavern. “I was right and you all called me crazy. Where’s Legundo? He punched me in the face for believing in vampires!”

Drift awkwardly stood and walked over to Avid. “It’s probably best to stay away from him. He was close with Owen and doesn’t seem to be taking any of this well.”

“But he punched me in the face!” Avid pouted.

Drift placed her hand on Avid’s shoulder. “I know, but he also just saved Martyn and Cleo. He was also really close with Owen, so I think if you go and taunt him now you’ll be leaving with a few fewer teeth.”

“So I don’t get anything out of being right and everybody just forgets what he did?” Avid asked rhetorically.

“You get to be right.” Cleo asserted.

Mr. M decided to try to turn the conversation away from Avid. “So, what do we think was going on with Owen and Legundo?”

Abolish was the first to answer. “It wasn’t entirely platonic. We all saw Owen wearing his jacket.”

“I think he still is.” Cleo added. “He was wearing it at the castle.”

“Do we have the materials for a cake?” Drift asked.

Avid rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we could write ‘Sorry the man you had a close but undefined relationship with turned out to be a vampire’ on it.”

“What about Shelby?” Drift said. “You cared about her and she’s a vampire now. Can’t you have any empathy for him?”

“That’s different!” Avid stepped back.

Pearl took a small sip of her drink. “Anyway! I think we should be worried that there are vampires living right outside of town. We need to stop them from getting back in. Apo, you know the most about this kind of thing. Any suggestions?”

“I don’t know anything about vampires!” Apo put her hands in the air.

“I meant military strategy. I would have also asked Legundo, but…” Pearl gestured vaguely.

Apo relaxed. “Right. That. Well we should reinforce the walls and start taking turns keeping watch. I’d recommend duos so that nobody gets caught alone and turned.”

“And we need to be honest with each other.” Pearl added. “Don’t hide it if you’re turned. We might be able to find a cure or something, but not if one of us goes rogue.”

“Agreed.” Cleo said. “It’s for the best if we don’t keep things like this from each other.”

Abolish raised his hand. “Now that we’ve all promised to be honest, I’d like to go back to Legundo. I’m still concerned that we currently have a highly trained and highly capable soldier in a state of severe distress. I know we’re happy that he saved Martyn and Cleo, but we really shouldn’t leave him alone.”

“He was definitely a mess when we were running from the castle.” Cleo recalled. “He ran perfectly fine at first, but as soon as we were back in town he started stumbling. It was like the reality of everything hit him all at once.”

“You should go find him, Cleo. He’ll listen to you.” Abolish suggested.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Cleo stood up and left. They walked to Legs’ house and knocked on the door. When there was no response, they pushed the door open and found the house empty.

Chapter Text

Legs snuck out in the storm that rolled in to go let off some steam. He climbed up the side of a hill and started punching and kicking trees. During one of his brief breaks, he felt someone watching him.

“Owen, I know you’re there.” Legs spoke softly.

“How many people, Legundo? How many people did you run to and tell I was a vampire?” Owen remained invisible.

Legs tried to keep his voice even. “Nobody. It was Martyn and Cleo who spread it.”

“How am I supposed to trust you? You knocked out one of Pyro’s teeth after trying to spy on us.” Owen’s voice was angry.

“I only went with them because I was having that stupid identity crisis. I thought if I could do an easy recon mission then I would feel like a soldier again. I didn’t think I’d find out that you were a vampire.” Desperation crept into his voice. “And I punched Pyro because he was about to kill Cleo. Now they’re both still alive. Please, believe me.”

Owen suddenly appeared, still wearing the military jacket. “I know how you can prove yourself.

Legs stepped closer. “Anything.”

“No need to turn, but I’m very hungry. I’d like some human blood to satiate me.” Owen shrugged.

Legs looked at Owen and felt his heart begin to race. “If it’s what you need. Go ahead.”

“Take a deep breath.” Owen moved behind Legs and got ready. Legs felt Owen’s fangs pierce his neck. He kept breathing but closed his eyes. After a few seconds he felt his head go cold and he got nauseous. As soon as Owen’s fangs were out of him, Legs collapsed into Owen’s arms. “Woah, I didn’t think I drank that much.”

Legs grumbled indistinctly. After a few moments, Legs woke back up. “That wasn’t pleasant."

“You’re shivering. Do you want your jacket back?” Owen went to take the jacket off.

“No, it looks better on you.” Legs forced a smile.

Owen froze. He hadn’t wanted to give the jacket back, but he was still shocked. “Well, you should get back to town. Just pretend to be sick if they question you.”

“Your eyes are red.” Legs squinted at Owen.

“It’s from the blood. No point in trying to fight it now that the whole town knows. Now go, people will get suspicious.” Owen pulled Legs to his feet. Legs couldn’t find anything else to say, so he just nodded and walked away

Abolish rolled his eyes as soon as he saw Legs. “You ran off into a storm and got yourself turned?”

“I wasn’t turned. I’m just feeling a little sick.” Legs stumbled slightly.

“You have a bite on your neck and you’re pale.” Abolish didn’t raise his voice, which was worse than if he had shouted.

Legs spoke before he could think. “Yeah, because I let Owen drink my blood. He didn’t turn me.”

“That is only slightly better.” Abolish sighed. “I refuse to watch one of the few trained fighters on the human side get reduced to a stumbling mess by a crush.”

“It’s not like that!” Legs responded, louder than he had intended.

Abolish rolled his eyes again. “So you would have let Scott drink your blood? Or Pyro? I don’t know what you’re playing at, but giving up your blood makes you weaker. We can’t afford that right now.”

“I just can’t lose him.” Legs muttered.

“Do you think he feels the same about you?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t seem to want to hurt me. I passed out and he tried to give me my jacket back when he saw me shivering. I told him to keep it since honestly I prefer how it looks on him. I don’t think it ever really fit me correctly.” Legs rambled.

Abolish cut him off. “The jacket that would have at least partially hidden your neck?”

Legs scrunched his face and nodded as everything set in. “Yeah. Yeah, that jacket.”

“You’re acting like all the other weirdos in this town who you claim to be better than. You should sort out your head and your heart and start thinking about this logically. Strategically.” Abolish crossed his arms.

“You’re right.” Legs agreed before he left.

“You look more energetic than usual.” Scott told Owen.

Owen looked around the castle. “I just got some blood.”

“Cow blood from the town?” Scott asked.

“Human blood, actually.” Owen smiled.

Scott gasped over dramatically. “You turned someone?”

“No, I just took a drink from Legs.” Owen explained.

Scott thought for a moment. “Did he let you or did you just grab him?”

“He let me.” Owen answered.

“Oh this is painful to watch.” Scott walked closer to Owen.

“What?” Owen stepped back.

Scott fixed his cloak. “You’re running off into the woods to see him. You’re wearing his jacket. He let you drink his blood. It’s so obvious!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Owen tried to keep his face blank.

“So you’d be fine getting rid of that jacket?” Scott asked.

Owen knew if he still had a heartbeat it would be racing. “Of course. It’s really comfortable though.”

“And it smells like that soldier boy.” Scott added. “I can smell it too. Sometimes I think a human has infiltrated the castle, but it’s just you.”

“I’ll get rid of it.” Owen relented.

“One other thing.” Scott stopped him. “Stir up some drama while you do it.”

“Hey, Legs.” An invisible voice woke Legs from a nap.

Legs rubbed his eyes. “Owen?”

“You need to take your jacket back.” Owen’s voice was close to Legs’ head.

“It would be helpful to hide my neck.” Legs agreed.

Owen became visible and took the jacket off. “Here.”

Legs sat up and took the jacket. “Did the other vampires tell you to do this?”

“No, I just realized it was a bad look if I’m going to get anything from the other vampires.” Owen lied. “I have no allegiance to anyone. Anything I do is for myself and for… for myself.”

“For who?” Legs leaned forward.

Owen rolled his eyes. “It’s not important.”

“I gave you my blood to get you to trust me.” Legs fought back.

“His name was Louis. I was sick before he turned me. He was kind to me. Then the town took him from me and burned him. Then, I killed them.” Owen looked away.

Legs didn’t move. “You killed them?”

“Violently.” Owen nodded. “They deserved it for what they did, and I’d do it again if I could.”

Legs didn’t say anything.

Owen stood up and walked to the door. “One other thing to prove that I trust you. Apo got turned and is lying to everybody about it.”

Legs watched as Owen turned into a bat and flew away.

The nightmares started after Legs got his jacket back. He would wake up in Oakhurst, but he would be older. He would be wearing surgery robes and he could only see out of one eye. There was also a massive scar on his face.

He would get up and wander the streets, and every time he would find the same graves. Ren and Martyn were in the town, Pyro was by the water, and Avid was on a hill. The first few times it was a dull nightmare, but then he stumbled upon Owen’s grave. He reminded himself that he was just asleep, but that only helped a little.

The worst night was the one where he found a grave he didn’t recognize. It was labeled “The Doctor” and didn’t say anything else. He found a flower to lay on it, and as soon as he did he got a rush of memories. This was his grave.

Legs woke up and couldn’t do anything but cry until his eyes were red.