Chapter Text
It was 10:38 on Saturday the 13th of September and doc was stressed.
Pyro knew!! How did pyro know, what did Scott and Owen do??? Why had they hurt him-
doc needed to calm down, his emotions had been getting away from as of late, probably another side effect of his current condition he hadn't been told about.
He reached pearl & Cleo's house. he could hear voices inside, they were speaking in somewhat hushed tones, but legs decided not to listen in, that would be rude after all.
Just as doc was about to knock on the door it swung open, standing in the doorway was Cleo looking up at the doctor looking quite frankly awful; her eyes looked tired, her ginger hair was unkempt and she was clutching a mug like her life depended on it.
pair stared at each other for a moment the silence stretching for far too long, Legundo regained his composure and broke the silence. “Ah Cleo, good to see you” the doctor started as he straightened up and took a step over the threshold “are you ok? You look... dishevelled.”
“Wow thanks and a good morning to you to” Cleo replied sarcastically. Doc visibly winced at the inflection, internally scorning himself for not considering his words.
“my apologies Cleo, I too have had a long night” the doctor chuckled internally at that, she had no idea the calibre of ‘a night’ he’d had, it was only then that doc realised how refreshed he felt despite his lack of rest, another thing to ask Scott about-
“What did you want doc?” Cleo’s words slipped legundo out of his thoughts, she was clearly growing tired of the brief conversation.
“Ah yes, if it isn't too much of a bother could you brew some tea, I don't have a kettle” doc added sheepishly.
“sure” Cleo yawned “come back in a couple minutes” she added quickly before ushering him away slamming the door.
‘Well, that was rude’ doc thought to himself, he didn’t know why he cared so much but something nagged at him to correct her, he tried his hardest to swallow that instinct but in doing so he became aware of a much more pressing issue. His ears began to ring as a headache cleaved through his skull almost making him collapse to the floor, only managing to steady himself on the side of Cleo and pearl’s house. He could hear everything. From the scuttle of bugs beneath his feet, to the flap of wings above him, even the hum of the beacon in town (which was usually imperceptible even as a vampire), It was just all too much. He strained to get a rational thought through the cacophony, eventually he decided to head to Scott's as fast as humanly possible, surely, he could fix this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pyro needed a game plan.
He was still in doc’s place (clinic? house?) awaiting tea and legs to return along with it.
Doc was acting odd, he seemed spacey and flustered replacing his usually calm demeanour, pyro couldn't help but wonder what happened to him if something had at all, he glanced down at his wounds; his arm was properly bandaged and felt much better, he lightly patted the wound to find it felt more like a bruise then a gash though there was still a small indent , it was most definitely going to scar, his leg was now in a cast it was suspended in the air by a silver hook and some cloth, strangely, like his arm, it felt better than expected. Pyro had had his bones broken broken bones before, and they knew more than anyone not to expect them to heal overnight but something was different this time.
‘did doc just have incredibly powerful potions of healing?’ pyro mused to themself, no back in the capital he had the best doctors in the city available to them there was no shot a traveling doctor had the materials to make a ‘never before seen extra strong health potion’ just on hand and even if he had one on standby, he wouldn’t waste it on something as trivial as a broken leg, besides why would he bother putting it in a cast if he was just going to instantly heal it. So, in conclusion, no it wasn’t the doctor that made this time so special. There was only one other variable that had changed with this injury, their current location.
This town was strange; there were crypts with books that gave you strange powers if you read? (ate?) them, there was a strange barrier preventing anyone from leaving, there were vampires for peat’s sake... and then there were the beacons, the beacons possibly the strangest things here, they were almost intangible in form but reacted physically to their surroundings, specifically to humans, they seemed to artificially create a sense of calm when consecrated but he didn’t know if they had the same effect on vampires. ‘What a great research topic’ pyro mused to themselves, the possibilities whizzing in their head, he just had to study them.
They needed to focus. Vampires were dangerous and unpredictable, there was no way he could take either of them on his own, no they needed allies but who would be willing- heck who would believe him; Shelby would but Scott was her roommate and they seemed to get on pretty well so she probably wouldn't fight him, drift is a detective so with being shown the right evidence she may believe him but she didn't have a mean bone in her body, she had offered to live with avid and that takes a strong mind, M may believe him but from pyros brief time here they knew he was useless in a combat situation, pearl knew her way around a sword but he doubted she would believe him, Cleo would just laugh in his face, knowing their roommate she wouldn’t believe him, legs had just told them that he wasn’t going to believe in vampires, though ren seemed like he tried to stand for what he views right he also dismissed the notion of vampires, Martyn was sceptical about pretty much everything and abolish... pyro didn’t really have a read on abolish but he seemed logical enough to not believe him. So that left one, pyro let out a deep sigh, he knew deep down it would come to this despite their best effort to will it out of existence, but sadly he would have to rely on avid.
Just then there was a small tussling with doc’s door handle as someone tried desperately to pull on it, after a minute of frantic pulling, the door finally opened inwards to reveal a short, raven-haired man standing in the doorway with an armful of potions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legundo walked briskly across town trying his best not to look too forced in the ordeal, he exchanged the regular pleasantries with the rest of the towns folk he saw, polite smiles and all that, but his mind was still overran by noise except now it was even worse, not only could he hear everything and everyone in and around town, most disturbingly he could hear their heart beat and the sound of blood rushing through their veins. Suffice to say legs was not having a fun time.
After what felt like an eternity for doc, he finally reached Scott and Shelby's residence. Once again before the surgeon could knock the door swung inwards revealing a well-dressed man wearing a skull politely holding it open with one hand.
“Do come in doc” Scott’s voice emanated from the skull.
After the doctor took a moment to regain his composure, he trailed after Scott into the vampires surprisingly well-lit house; it opened into a small living room with a large window nearly encompassing the entire northern wall, it had a cobblestone fire place built-in to the eastern wall with a sofa sitting directly opposite it, an incredibly ornate armchair sat at an angle next to the sofa when Scott or Shelby had the time to make that legs had no idea.
“Make yourself comfortable doc” Scott called from what he assumed to be the kitchen before he quickly exited with a tray of mugs and a porcelain tea pot which legundo doubted was actually tea. Doc thanked him as Scott poured a suspiciously dark red liquid into the two mugs.
“Where did you get this” legundo enquired after being handed one of the mugs
“Oh, it’s just some sheep blood” Scott replied cheerily “me and Shelby had some mutton last night and I gathered some while she wasn’t looking, now why did you want to speak to me doc? It must have been rather urgent judging by how fast you got here.”
Doc was slightly taken aback by the curt pleasantries, but a sharp pang of pain didn’t allow him to ponder that for very long. Legundo clutched his head and winced in pain.
“Ah... your head, eh? I wouldn’t worry doc this is very common it should clear up in a cou-” Scott was cut off before he could finish his sentence
“it’s not just my head... Scott...” the doctor snarled. It took him a second to realise what he’d done, not only had he bared his teeth like some feral animal, but he’d also gripped the sofa so tight the fabric had ripped. Scott was giving him a murderous look.
“I'm sorry it's just...” legs replied apologetically “my senses are going hay wire, my hearing in particular, I can hear everything Scott... and it's pushing me over the edge, so how do I make the noise stop?”. Scott looked much more content with this answer.
“Well, which one of the rules did you break?” Scott replied with a smile
“What do you mean ‘rules’?” the doctor replied, a dead pan expression carved into his face.
“The vampiric rules silly” Scott replied with what doc assumed to be a smile though it was hard to tell under the skull. Legundo just stared back blankly. “You know, the things that us as vampires can’t do” Scott continued with the doctor still staring at him.
Scott was about to speak again before he paused seemingly listening for something, doc tried to ask why he had stopped mid conversation but was only met with a raised hand.
Doc was quickly shown the reason as a short redhead burst through the doorframe, nearly startling doc off his chair. Shelby was a kind girl if not a tad spacey at times, she stood at around 5’4 with sharp red hair, amber eyes and some thick rimmed glasses, she believed in all sorts of things a little too much for doc’s liking to the point where sometimes she thought she was playing it up, her father was apparently killed by a werewolf something doc would have called insane just yesterday but with his knew found situation it was something he would have to revisit with fresh eyes.
Shelby began rocketing around the small house gathering an assortment of miscellaneous items “hi Scott, Drift decided to go bigfoot hunting with me so we’re heading ou-” Shelby paused when she saw the doctor. “Oh, hi doc” she said with a smile before quickly carrying on “any way ill probs be back by tomorrow cya soon bye” and with a slam.
“Ok see you then” Scott shouted after her, “and don't forget to tell avid this time” he added before turning back to the doctor expectantly “well where were we?”
Suffice to say legundo was fairly bewildered by the whole ordeal, enough to take his mind of the pain. This brief respite was short-lived however as the aforementioned pain came searing back in an instant.
Legundo tried his best not to collapse in pain as he clutched his forehead in pure agony, the noise was overwhelming; every voice in every conversation, every footstep on the earth, all the ambiance of the world was suddenly all shoved atop one another, overwhelming leg’s thoughts with the cacophony of guilt streaming around him.
“D..t...r?” something faint and muffled started to emerge over the hellscape of noise.
“Le..un..o?” it continued growing slightly louder as it tried its hardest to break out over the cacophony plaguing the doctor.
“Le..s.” it grew louder still, resting atop the rest of everything going on instead of sinking into the rest of the noise.
“Legs!” the noise finally made itself heard, snapping legundo out of his spiral.
“it’s alright doc, it’s going to be okay, just focus on my voice” Scott continued calmly, he had a hand on legs' shoulder and was smiling at him warmly.
Slowly and surely as Scott kept talking the noise began to dissipate, leaving the doctor in an almost blissful calm. He floated on this sensation for a moment before he was pulled back to reality as Scott removed his hand.
“What was that?” legs enquired after a moment of confusion.
“That my friend was your first taste of magic.” Scott replied with a grin. “Now what was it that actually caused your predicament”
“I couldn’t tell you honestly” doc replied after a moment, “I didn’t do anything I wouldn't normally do it just-”
“Legs need I remind you that you aren’t normal anymore, you're a Vampire legs you can't expect everything to just go back to the way they were before!” Scott cut in, anger beginning to well in his voice before he seemed to catch himself, he straitened up and continued, “forgive me doctor, just tell me what you were doing when this all started.”
“I was just exiting Cleo and pearls house” legundo replied slowly, clearly taken aback.
“Well did you get permission to enter?” Scott asked
“No?” legs answered confused.
“you've got to have permission doc, honestly do you know nothing!” Scott looked almost disappointed, disappointed in who now that was something doc couldn’t determine
“I never was one for the supernatural” doc replied sheepishly, Scott let out a deep sigh
“well seeing as you clearly know nothing of vampires I suggest later today all of us...” Scott gestured at himself and Legundo to clarify “should go out to teach you the basics, let's call it a ‘fishing trip’, for now just do your best to keep up appearances and just carry on as normal, now are there any more questions?”
The doctor racked his brain for a while before answering, he was sure he had wanted to ask about something but the splitting headache, which was slowly returning, had pushed him incredibly far off track.
“Ah yes, what happened with pyro, he knows about you and Owen so he must have seen something !?” legundo asked.
“Damn it” Scott muttered to himself “I was hoping he’d think that was dream.”
“So, it was you who did that to him, just to clarify” Legundo’s expression hardened, clearly unhappy about his patient's predicament.
“eh yes and no” Scott replied “that’s a story you don’t have time for right now, in fact I suggest you drink your ‘tea’ and get going, from the sounds of it Cleo is nearly finished and I think you should get there in a timely fashion, it would be polite after all” Scott’s inflection had changed, he had gone back to being the uptight vampire rich boy again. It was clear at this point, their conversation was over, so doc should leave.
With a sincere thank you legundo quickly swallowed the rest of the blood in his mug and properly left.
“don’t forget about the fishing” Scott called after him as he left, with a slightly happier disposition then he first time he sauntered across town back over too Cleo’s house, upon arriving he quickly found pearl and Cleo chatting amongst themselves.
“Good timing doc” Cleo said as she gathered the mugs, “it's just finished steeping”
“it's only polite” legundo replied with a smile, he had elected to stay outside the premises this time
With tea in hand, he turned to his home but was stopped as a short man with raven hair exiting his house.
“Avid-” the doctor said in a stern tone making him nearly jump out of his skin “-what are you doing in my house?”
“I- er I was-” avid stuttered his voice faltering “-I was-I-I-I'm not in your house” he replied weakly.
Doc sighed in annoyance, “alright then, what were you doing in my house?”
“I was just er... visiting pyro...yeahhh...” avid responded, he was clearly lying or at least not telling doc the whole truth about something, but for the sake of his sanity doc decided to drop it.
“Alright, but just ask next time, you have to understand that it's slightly unnerving to see someone exit your home when you haven't invited them in in the first place” legundo continued dejected.
“haha... yes... Will do” avid chuckled nervously as he quickly scurried back to his home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was Avid standing in the doorway, with a frantic look on his face, it didn’t seem like he’d slept at all.
“Oh! Your awake!” he exclaimed, his expression growing more shocked.
“Good morning(?) Avid” Pyro replied, “at least I think its morning, doc never did give me the time.”
“I'm sorry to disturb you I just thought I'd come check up on you and-” avid began to ramble.
“Avid.” pyro tried to cut him off but to no avail
“-I tried on these new potions if I have my measurements right, they should accelerate-” he continued not paying any attention to any thing around him
“Avid.” Pyro tried again slightly louder this time, but it still wasn't getting through to him.
“-I was up all night making them, as soon as I handed you off to doc I started, I may not have gotten a wink of sleep but-”
Avid was pacing pretty fast at this point but Pyro had enough range of motion in his arm to grab him as he went past, Avid paused at the sudden touch and stopped the incessant flow of word that had been pouring out his mouth.
“Avid, you were right.” Pyro said definitively.
“a-about the potions?” Avid stuttered confused.
“Wah- no, well probably about those two, but that's not what I mean” Pyro replied, rater taken aback by Avids response, “I meant that you were right about Scott and Owen, they're vampires!”
Now it was Avids turn to be put off by pyro, “y-y-you do!?” he responded bewildered
“Sadly yes, I've seen it with my own eyes” pyro replied dejected, in response Avid did something rather unexpected, Pyro had expected him to be just as terrified as they were but instead he began to giggle, and quite manically at that, his cackles increased until Pyro was sure that all of town could hear him.
“heh-he-ha-har I was right!” he finally tapered off, his smile falter at that as if he were just realising the implications of this discovery, “I didn't want to be right” he muttered solemnly a hint of remorse and guilt in his voice. “So, what do we do from here?” Avid asked expectantly.
“Well, I don’t know!? This is completely new to me! Besides aren't you the monster hunter?” Pyro retorted, why would he ask them, they didn't know what the hell they were doing.
“I was an assistant to a monster hunter, big difference, the only stuff I know is what she told me!” avid replied slightly annoyed with their new (accomplice? Friend? Partner?).
“Well, what do you know?” Pyro relied with a huff “could you put it into a list maybe?”
“now that I can do” Avid confirmed before pulling a small book from his satchel and pulling a page of lined paper out before he set it on the table, on closer inspection it was in fact Avid’s journal but that wasn't pertinent to the situation at hand, after a moment of intense scribbling Avid handed them the note and it read as folles:
Vampire strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Fangs
- Retractable claws
- Enhanced senses
- Enhanced healing
- Invisibility
- Flight (bat transformations)
Weaknesses
- Garlic
- The sun
- Silver
- Holy water
- Stakes
The writing was surprisingly legible considering how quickly it was written.
“Right... ok this I can work with this” Pyro said as he studied the parchment, “well I suggest we focus on defence more than anything, seeing as we can't out class them with just pure offence.”
“Wait your helping me?” Avid asked confused.
“Yeah? I can't just sit back when there are vampires on the loose” Pyro replied in earnest, “we should work on a place to meet up for once I get out of here which I expect won't be long seeing as my arm and leg have healed remarkably, almost supernaturally quickly.”
“Ooh I have a theory on that” avid cut in, “I reckon it's the beacons; they seem to heal things incredibly fast.”
“Good call avid.” Pyro replied, “but for now just focus on the silver, something tells me we’re going to need a lot of it moving forwards.”
“Can do” Avid replied gleefully “I'm so excited to have a monster hunting partner again!”
“Alright, alright” Pyro chuckled “but I think you better go, doc should be back soon, and I don’t think he likes you very much.”
“okidokie partner” he called back cheerfully as he exited the doctor's house.
As much as Pyro didn't like it, he and the town mad lad were now ‘partners’, suffice to say this wasn't exactly how he thought this trip would go.