Chapter Text
Coming into Oakhurst again was quite the scene, a scene Scott saved no expense in dressing up. Using as much holy magic he could muster, he made the sight truly something to behold, all the while carefully avoiding killing the vampires surrounding him.
Owen wasn’t there, luckily, but that hardly mattered. Eyes were drawn to him naturally, as his coat blew in the wind like wings, his hair having paled slightly from the lake. That was quite alright, white hair only made him look more vampiric.
The villagers stood in silence as he arrived. “Hello, all! Sorry, we got a bit sidetracked.” Cleo approached first. “How’re you, Scott? Owen told us a bit about…well, your company.”
“Where is he?”
Cleo bit their lip. “Currently making a jail for them. I feel as if we’ve all, well, come to the same conclusion.” Sausage raised a hand. “Hey, why didn’t we all figure this out before? It seemed so obvious!”
Scott shrugged. “Most of us knew, right, Avid?” He knew, of course, Avid had no clue, but Scott was being far too intimidating at the moment to allow for anyone to really disagree. They grinned and nodded, and Scott didn’t hurt them.
Things settled down, after that. Scott went back to being the cute dhampir, Cleo was essentially his sister, Owen was his dad, and Abolish was his ward. And things were normal. Until, Scott was hanging out with the girls and Cleo.
They were just hanging out, nothing serious. When…well, a curious topic of conversation came up.
“So, when’s Owen gonna get turned?” Pearl asked, eyes bright with excitement. She wanted the town to be united, most likely. Scott didn’t. He needed one human, besides himself, of course, to be alive. Otherwise, who would spread the word of a village of monsters? Plus, the witch hunter aspect was too good to give up.
Cleo seemed to agree, though for very different reasons. “Remember the code, puppy?” She ran a hand through Pearl’s hair, making the likely mixed breed of vampire and werewolf to rumble with pleasure. Gross, affection. “It’ll only cause problems if he gets turned. It’s best we just keep him around, like…a pet.”
Shelby nervously sat up from Drift’s lap. “Is that…okay? What if he doesn’t want to be?” Drift hummed awkwardly, tilting her monocle slightly. “Then we can hypnotize him, most likely. I’d much rather he be alive, after all, since I need information.”
“Information?” Scott queried, making Drift chuckle. “W-well, uh, sire, uhm...you know. About that serial killer. He was staking the coven, and...I never found him. But, if he’s related to Owen, or if Owen knows him, then…it’ll go a long way.”
Scott nodded along, as he silently wished they had mirrors, so he could check his appearance. Oh well. Apo spoke up. “What if he’s the serial killer?” Drift shook her head. “No, it was fifty years ago, Owen’s way younger than that.” Scott smirked. “Is he? For someone so young, he acts far too old for his age.”
Shelby hugged a nearby pillow tightly. “How…many people do you think he has killed, though?” Apo sighed. “Probably more than all of us, though I can’t really speak for Scott, given there’s no memories there.” Scott giggled. “Got me there! Though, all life is sacred, it feels…wrong to hurt people.”
Cleo rolled her eyes, and patted him on the head. “Scott, we drink blood, and only people really satisfy us. Hurting people’s part of the process.” Scott puffed out his cheeks. “That’s…hmph.”
He made more cute gestures, as he carefully tracked the eyes of the others. None of them seemed to recognize Scott’s nature, which means the heart rate dampener was being extremely effective. However, their eyes were fascinating to him.
Shelby and Pearl’s eyes were on their companions, though they often rested when looking at Scott. He was a source of power, while their partners were a sense of comfort. That difference was quite the important one, as that meant they didn’t quite respect him, which made sense, given his carefree nature thus far, but it wasn’t animosity they felt. Kinship, perhaps. And Scott wasn’t sure he wanted that out of them.
Cleo’s were always on guard, except when they looked at Scott, when rather they were slightly wider, like she felt some other kind of platonic love for him. He’d mastered the art of manipulating his own eyes, a thing he’d mastered long before this village came across him, but still. Perhaps Cleo had done the same, and this love was but a trick. He wouldn’t be shocked.
Drift was interesting, hers were eyes of wonderment and confusion, putting pieces together that Scott had set, despite them being entirely false. It was a quality that not many people got from Scott, that being the fact that Drift was a naturally inquisitive person, and Scott was a man of a million questions.
He’d encountered many in the past of a similar nature, where they continued to pester him with personal detailed questions, and yet, every time, Scott maneuvered his way through. Be that with flirts, jokes, or jabs as responses, no one could ever get the straight truth out of him, and that was the way he liked it.
The truth was a fickle thing, after all. And that was very much true when it came to Apo. Apo, the neutral party, that Scott simply hadn’t taken much of an interest in. Perhaps in another life, he could be bothered to care, but not this one. The girl was...somewhat entertaining, always acting as something of a straight woman for the group, despite definitely not being straight. Perhaps it was because there was nothing Scott could do with her.
Apo was completed, she’d clearly self-actualized herself ages ago, and she had what she wanted out of life. She was here upon the wishes of her sire, her lover, rather, and Scott knew from first glance this woman was absolutely whipped. She’d do just about anything for her lover, and while that was nice or whatever, Scott honestly could not care less.
Like, wow, congrats, you’re in love. Scott’s only loves came when it benefitted him first and foremost, a philosophy he’d certainly never share to anyone, else his reputation be hampered, but it stayed tried and true for most of his life. Her eyes were hardly paying attention, loosely glowing whenever she heard of danger, but in the same way a human’s would. Because really, aside from the obvious qualities of vampirism, Apo was evidence to the theory that vampires were just humans with sharp teeth and strange cravings.
And that, frankly, was so boring. Scott wasn’t to make subjects out of normal people, would he? How lame would that be!? Worse yet, it brought something to light that Scott hadn’t quite considered before. While most people would be absolutely blessed to be in his presence, most of these vampires included, Apo actually had very little reason. She already had a sire, she seemed to be very happy with her life, and Scott didn’t like her enough to keep her around for entertainment.
And, well, what could that mean?
Scott approached her when the ‘slumber party’ ended. A curfew had been established, with Owen often patrolling the night, so Scott quickly hid himself from view to get into Apo and Sausage’s shack. He didn’t quite know why these were even necessary to invest so much time into, as it wasn’t like they were actually using them, though perhaps it was to protect from the sun? That was his best guess, anyways, because apparently camping was a foreign concept to these people.
Climbing through the window, Apo jolted from atop the ceiling, and landed softly down onto the hardwood floor. “Uh, hey, Scott.” Scott smiled demurely, hands behind his back, hidden by his cloak. “Hiiii~, I was just wondering, you’d mentioned your sire often, no? Could you tell me about her?”
Apo blinked, before smiling. “Oh, of course! Her name’s Cherri Fire, and she’s very kind to me. We met when I was in the military, and I got stranded off the side of a military outpost. She took pity on me, and brought me to her cottage. I realized what was going on, but since I was, uhm…a little enamoured, I let her bite me instead of running away.”
Wow, someone who wasn’t a total coward? Color him shocked. This Cherri girl definitely seemed like something of a manipulator, though. Just saying.
“I was scared of blood for a long, long time, but eventually, she goaded me into becoming more comfortable with it. I still have trouble without her though, but I’m…managing.” Scott hummed. “Is that so? That’s so cute!” Apo laughed and scratched the back of her neck. Scott swore, if she had blood, she’d be blushing. That was so embarassing, could not be him.
“Ehehe…th-thanks, Scott. I really miss her, though.” Scott frowned, and tilted his head. “I mean, that’s why Pearl wanted to turn Owen, right? So the beacons will let us go?” Apo startled. “Uh, what?”
Scott sat down on her bed, smiling. “Avid told me, apparently, those beacon that are all over the place are what are keeping us here. Crazy, right? Anyways, Owen keeps blessing them, or something. Consecrating, maybe? I wasn’t really paying attention. Point is, if he’s a vampire, or dead, then we can turn them all and leave!”
Apo’s eyes were predatory again. “Is that…so?” Ohoho, this was what he liked to see! “Yup! Why, you want to take him out? He’s patrolling again.” Apo bit her lip. “N-no, no...no, I shouldn’t…but, maybe…?”
Scott saluted with his free hand. “You could! I wouldn’t tell anyone, promise!” Apo ran to the windowsill, peering over it. Scott stood up, and watched over her shoulder. “Oh, look. There he is.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You could totally do it, I promise, no one would hear a word of it. Just say you’ll do it, and I’ll make that promise, that nobody but you and I will know what’s about to happen.”
He couldn’t see Apo’s eyes at the moment, but that hardly mattered. He knew exactly what was running through her head. Murder. Blood. Escape. Cherri. Cherri. Cherri. Ah, what love did to a person.
“I’m…I’ll do it.” Apo got ready to transform, and Scott grinned, covering his face with the cloak’s hood. “Glad to hear you’re taking one for the team.” Apo was about to chuckle and, likely, retort, when suddenly-
A hiss echoed through the night.
Scott drove a stake through her heart, covering her mouth as she bit at him. “Shhhh, shhh, shhhhhh…” He murmured, plunging the stake deeper in. Again. Again. Again. “There there, I’ll come for Cherri next, don’t worry. No loose ends, right?”
Eventually, Apo was dead. Finally. Scott really didn’t want to do that, but, so be it. His blood had been drained a bit, but he wasn’t a vampire. Though, he’d have to bandage this up. It might get complicated if anybody saw.
Speaking of…
Sausage was still around. He wasn’t in the house, of course, but that wouldn’t last long. So, he took his tools out. Rope and some matches. Using the spell of Lantern Thrash against the wood of the house, he quickly lit holy flame, and dropped it. Coming down the stairs, he could already smell the smoke. When he heard the flap of a bat’s wings, he quickly hid.
Sure enough, Sausage came quickly. “Apo!? Apo! Where are you!? What happened!?” The writer had shouted, completely oblivious, as always. But, no matter. Brandishing a silver pickaxe, since Scott would never waste a quality silver sword on a useless man like Sausage, the pick went into Sausage’s head, and while he was certainly still alive, tying him to the burning house would probably do the trick, as the holy flame did nothing to Scott, but it did everything to Sausage.
Sausage wasn’t a useless man, per say, not like how Apo was useless, but he wasn’t what Scott wanted. An author was fantastic, sure, but his skills were too…embellished. Scott much preferred it when he saw Cleo or Avid write in journals. Now that was truth. But Sausage? Scott didn’t want to be a fictional character. He wanted to be real, and nothing but.
Of course, that was justification for senseless violence, but lying to Cleo was hardly a thing he cared about. Granted, killing the two of them did have some sense to it. He needed a bit of chaos to stir so he could cement himself as a great leader, and the two of them didn’t seem to have much of a coven going, so it was no great loss.
And besides, it was mildly more convenient. So all in all…
This was a pretty good night.