Chapter Text
Like Othello predicted, Eric recovers quickly. By the time the sun rises, he's stopped fighting and seems to all of them to simply be asleep. He wakes up after the sun, same as normal. Except for the fact that it's a full day later than he last remembers going to sleep, and there are four people in his house staring at him when he sits up. Alan he expects, but he doesn't even know one of the guys. They look weary of him like they expect him to attack or something. "What happened?"
Alan swallows visibly. "You transformed,"
He says simply. And, now that Eric is looking at him closer, he can see three stitches crossing over his nose and a barely-scabbed over wound crossing from the top of one eye to the bottom of the other. He looks down at his hands. There's black blood under his nails. He must look bad because Alan is quick to respond. "You weren't yourself," he tells Eric, cementing that it had been Eric that hurt him. "It wasn't your fault."
"It's a beast," the man he doesn't know chimes in. "You'll never be able to fully control it, but you can get better at it. The lore always mentions how the first transformation is the most dangerous."
"That's Othello. They're a researcher for HQ who's read about this sort of stuff," Alan informs him.
"You can trust them," Will says firmly.
"Yeah, 'course. My only condition is that I get to write about this in the future. Don't worry, I'll abstract away any personal information. Speaking of which," he pulls out a handful of notes and passes them over to Eric. "This is my documentation of what happened last night, as well as my notes on how to improve everything for next time."
"Thank you," Eric says, impressed with the extensive pile of notes in his lap. "All of you. And, I'm... I'm so sorry for everything that happened."
"You weren't you," Grell reminds him. "Plus, it was interesting to be the one thrown around for once. I think you almost left a bruise." He doesn't mention how she's leaning slightly against Will. "Same time next month?"
-
Eric and Alan end up following almost every piece of Othello's advice, all the way down to buying a cheap chunk of land on the far outskirts of the city. It's worthless for farming or grazing, but perfectly isolated for what they need.
At work, Eric spends his free time forging thick iron chains and a connecting locking collar. Grell helps him attach the free end of the chain to a wall of a barn. It's tested by having Grell and Alan both pull on it together with all their strength. It holds.
In one corner, Alan does his best to make the place look livable. He hauls a thin mattress onto a mostly-clean part of the ground, along with a boxful of pillows and old blankets.
A week before, they begin their animal acquisition. Three chickens and a pig are put into the barn along with a few bags of feed.
Then, night of, Alan is tightening the collar around his neck and attaching the iron chain. He keeps the key in his shirt pocket and retreats to the small camp they had set up outside. Eric feels warm, but he's lucid, even when he's screaming through the pain of his teeth growing. This time, he's still in his own head, even if he's not fully in control. Alan peeks his head into the door, staying a safe distance away, and Eric can understand the dog joke he makes, even if he can't quite respond.
The hunger eventually ripples through his body painfully, and his eyes narrow on one of the chickens. It fits perfectly between his palms.
He wakes up with blood up to his elbows and down to his neck, but none of it is black. Something in his mouth feels suspiciously like a feather, and he spits it out quickly. This time when Alan comes in and unlocks him, he's able to respond.
"If you wanted a lap dog, it's gonna cost more than this."
"Oh," Alan smirks, "is that true? It's gonna take more than just a few 'good boy's?" He brings a damp towel up to Eric's face, stopping him from talking by wiping around his mouth gently. When he's done with that, he pulls out the food he had brought for a human Eric. "Puppy want a treat?" Eric doesn't respond as he yanks it away.
-
After dealing with Eric's second full moon, Alan turns back to his own problems. Independently, he and Grell both follow up with Othello and ask about anything else they don't know about vampirism. They meet up later to complain about everything over tea.
Complaining does hold some solutions, in the end. The photosensitivity they had both grown accustomed to ends up being solved by tinted lenses. Ron asks about what brought on the change, but Grell just talks about all the benefits they have and he has his own pair by the end of the week. There is no fix for an allium allergy, so they grieve a lifetime without garlic or onion together.
Occasionally, Othello joins them too. They brainstorm potential long-term ways to store blood, something that will last longer than a simple ice box (nothing that works better than just keeping the blood in a human until you need it); attempt to figure out the exact strength of the effect on vampirism on metabolic processes and cravings (very strong); medical kits that are safe for them and can disguise black blood (super-absorbent black bandages and platinum needles); and alternative feeding techniques that focus on quick healing (stay away from joints). Really, neither of the vampires are expecting anything crazy when they meet up at Grell's place after work. It's more of a relaxing book club than the complaint-fest it had started as. "So what do your bat forms look like?" They ask innocently, more focused on adding the right amount of sugar to their tea than the question.
It's silent for a long moment, and Othello ends up staring at them both other their glasses. "Our what?" Alan asks anything but eloquently.