Chapter Text
“I’m sorry,” was the first thing Avid said upon reentering the lab, guilt still pooling inside him despite Drift’s kind words.
Shelby, thankfully looking much better now, rushed to meet him. “Don’t be,” she said, sounding so certain in her conviction.
Avid shook his head, looking from them, to Legs, to Owen, “No, I should be. You guys have been so- so nice, sacrificing your time and your energy to stay with me and help me, and I… I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”
His vision blurred with tears.
“I- I betrayed you,” he said to Legs, “you trusted me, and I immediately turned around and took advantage of that to sabotage your work.” Legundo’s eyes flashed briefly with hurt, and then, a solemn sort of understanding.
“And- and it was unfair of me to be so rude to you before, when I thought that vampires couldn’t be anything other than evil. I wouldn’t listen to anything that so much as hinted otherwise because it scared me to find out I’d been wrong,” Avid said to Owen, who looked genuinely surprised at the admission, blinking rapidly and averting his eyes.
“And I basically forced you to turn me, Shelby, and then I made it a whole mess, and then I- I hurt you, after becoming this freak of nature…” Avid said to Shelby, whose face crumbled.
“I forgive you,” Legundo said, quietly.
Avid whipped around to face him. “You- what?”
“I forgive you,” the doctor repeated, louder this time. “You were confused. You’d just been turned, and were trying to cope with the trauma of that — of how to reconcile your reality with what you thought you knew to be true. Not to mention, you had… whatever this is coursing through your veins, likely fighting against the vampirism…”
Avid gaped, completely shocked. “That’s- but that doesn’t-”
“I forgive you, too,” Shelby said, looking far too sincere and far too kind, stepping forward to grasp his hands in theirs. “You were scared, Avid. And I let you feed from me, knowing full well that it might be dangerous. You never stopped caring about me, even when you thought I was a monster — it’s only fair you let me care for you, even when you think you’re a monster.”
Avid shook his head, unable to give in to the relief of everyone forgiving him of his sins, letting him off the hook so easily.
“I…” Owen started, and Avid’s eyes shot to his in utter bewilderment.
“I would… consider us even,” Owen settled on.
Drift rolled her eyes. “If anyone was in a position to understand where Avid’s coming from, I’d think it would be you,” she said, giving him a pointed look. “The both of you, sick and scared, holding unwarranted prejudices against a species you believe is wholly bad because they hurt you? Grieving the death of the person closest to you?”
She continued: “I guess vampires aren’t supposed to have reflections, though… And you couldn’t stand to watch a version of yourself be happy, could you?”
Avid felt unsteady.
He dared a glance at Owen, who looked equally unmoored.
“It’s alright, Drift,” Avid found himself saying, offering his friend a small, grateful smile. “Owen’s the one who thought I should get help in the first place.”
Drift studied him for a moment, lips pursed in thought, and then sighed, deflating. “Fine,” she relented, with a nod in Owen’s direction. “Thank you for that, Owen.”
Owen, still a little off-kilter, simply nodded, stiffly, before readopting his signature blank expression.
“So,” Legundo said, “let’s get back to business, shall we?”
“A demon,” Scott repeated, flatly.
Shelby nodded. “It’s what makes the most sense.”
“You mean to tell me,” Pyro drawled, eyebrows raised in disbelief, “that Avid came back to life as a demon-vampire hybrid after I staked him?”
Shelby’s face hardened. “Yes,” she bit out through gritted teeth, “that is, in fact, what I’m saying.”
Cleo laughed. “Oh, this is wonderful,” they exclaimed, shaking her head. “This is too good.”
“I didn’t know demonpires existed,” Sausage said, mystified.
“And we’re… okay with this?” Apo asked, glancing around at the other vampires uncertainly.
Shelby squared their shoulders, trying to appear as confident as she felt. “Yes, we are,” they replied. “Because he’s still Avid, and he’s still a vampire, and he can be extremely useful to us. He’s a lot more powerful.”
Before anyone could interject, they added, “And, he apologized to all of us for how he’s acted. He admitted that he used to have prejudiced beliefs toward vampires because of past trauma, and a lot of his erratic and paranoid behaviors can actually be attributed to the demonic infection not being able to properly manifest itself.”
For a moment, no one spoke.
Pyro shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the dining table, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “What does Owen think about it?” they asked.
Owen cleared his throat, then, announcing his presence. He walked toward the table. “I… I was the one who found him, after…” he began, trailing off a bit awkwardly. “And I brought him to The Doctor” — a few gasps — “because I recognized that he was… unwell, or- more accurately, that he had changed, and all of us came together to try and make sense of what had transpired.”
Quietly, he continued, “And, in the process, I found myself recognizing his newfound strengths and abilities, as well as the fact that I… may have been a bit… hasty in my initial judgement of his character.”
Owen didn’t meet any of their eyes, but the truth and weight of his statement hung in the air all the same.
A few voices rang out in protest:
“I don’t understand.”
“Seriously? Just like that, he’s forgiven?”
“You have to be kidding me.”
But Scott stood from his seat and commanded them to be quiet. “If you want to remain a living member of this coven,” he said, his voice light and lofty while still conveying the threat that lay beneath it, “you will accept Avid as one of our own. And under no circumstances will you harm him. Understood?”
Shelby smiled, shooting Pyro, Apo, and Cleo knowing glares until they agreed.
“Good!” Scott declared, clapping his hands. “So, then, where is he?”
Tentatively, Avid stepped over the threshold.
It was strange.
Sometimes, Avid was certain he’d entered some sort of parallel universe where everything had worked out, as if by magic. It all just felt too good to be true.
This was all he’d wanted.
If you peeled back all of his anxious, paranoid layers — if you looked past the stake in his hand, the scars on his neck — it was always there, threatening to burst out of him: the desire to feel as though he belonged.
It felt surreal, talking with everyone as if they were friends; as if they always had been.
Sure, there were a few jabs made in jest — references to his death, empty teasing threats — but it was as if everything that happened was in the past, like it was all a silly mistake they could look back on and laugh at.
The truth was that they were all impressed, at least a little, with Avid’s transformation. They recognized his use, now, and with all of the town contently existing as vampires, working together to rebuild Oakhurst before going their respective ways, there was little reason for conflict.
Avid felt like he was watching history be rewritten in real time: as Owen willingly spent time with him alone, speaking to him so kindly and companionably, his smile soft and genuine, recounting stories of Louis and listening in turn to Avid’s memories of Elle; as Pyro laughed and joked with him, sounding lighter and happier than he’d ever been before, the both of them able to truly feel as young as they were; as Apo teased him, lighthearted and without any hint of malice, excitedly telling him their plans to return to her lover; as Cleo came to accept him as more than a joke or an abomination, showing him around their garden and offering anecdotes from her past…
As Pearl confided in him after her own transformation, bonding over their shared hybrid status and ironic pasts as hunters; as Martyn urged him to show off his demonic abilities, cheering and whooping in delight; as Sausage asked question after question, eyes shining, rushing to take notes for his next novel; as Scott flirted and joked with him, pretending to be annoyed at his presence but unable to hide his smile; as Abolish seemed to respect him, now, even offering Avid a place in the Shadow Organization of Vampire Hunters, should he ever accept; as Ren sang with him around the campfire, listening intently to Avid’s ideas for original songs; as Legs invited him into his lab to run a variety of experiments, trusting his previous experience and trusting him again; as Shelby and Drift agreed to go with him on his search for Elle, the three of them vowing to never stray too far from each other…
It was all so nice. It was a refreshing change of pace, a much-needed breath of fresh air after all they had been through.
Slowly, Avid pushed away the remaining remnants of his pain and joined in the collective effort to move on.
With time, Avid allowed himself to forgive them, and he let himself believe that, maybe, they had all forgiven him, too — and that, perhaps, he deserved it.