Chapter Text
Virgil had come out of his room to pour himself a glass of coconut water when he heard Patton’s door open and both Patton and Roman came out. They stood still for a second, looking at him in a somewhat strange way.
‘Hey guys, what’s the matter?’
Roman came closer but didn’t answer at first.
‘Is coconut water working well as a substitute?’
Virgil froze. Did they know? How was he supposed to react? In a split second, he decided to act dumb.
‘A substitute? For what? What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean, don’t you? I read about it online. The structure is very similar to blood plasma.’
Virgil panicked. They knew. He stepped back, fear spread across his face. Roman looked very pleased with himself.
‘I was right. You two are in fact vampires, aren’t you?’
‘What the heck!? Where did you get that idea? That’s ridiculous! We’re not vampires!’
Patton stepped closer. Virgil backed away. What were they going to do? He realized that his panicked denying hadn’t been a very good idea. It probably would’ve worked better if he’d agreed and disappeared into his room, leaving them wondering whether or not he’d been bluffing. Then, when they’d asked, later on, he could’ve said that people had thought they were vampires since their youth because of their weird allergies and everything. But it was too late for that now. Patton stepped closer again, and he backed away again, hitting the counter.
‘Back off!’
‘Don’t worry, kiddo, I don’t want to hurt you.’
Virgil scoffed.
‘Apart from the word “kiddo” that was exactly what that guy in 1837 said!’
Roman looked up in surprise.
‘You guys have been around for that long? I forgot that vampires can get super old!’
Virgil looked at him suspiciously. He still didn’t believe that they weren’t going to hurt him. Then he saw that Logan was standing behind them.
‘I see that you two have found out about our condition?’
Roman quickly turned around.
‘Yeah, I was reading that book and suddenly I realized. So you’re really vampires? That’s so cool!’
‘Wait, you’re not scared or angry or whatever? You just think it’s cool?’ Virgil couldn’t believe his ears.
‘I mean, yeah, you know we’re both fantasy geeks right? I took you to my parents’ house, but they’re still happy, healthy human beings, so I take it you don’t really want to hurt anyone.’
‘Well, we do need blood from time to time,’ Logan said, ‘Only the coconut water and vitamins don’t seem to satisfy enough. We go for hunts in the park sometimes, but even then, the blood of mice also can’t seem to do the job completely.’
Roman looked at Patton and back at Logan. He wasn’t sure if the thing he was about to say was the wisest, but he wanted to help his friends.
‘You can have some of mine if you want.’
Logan looked at him in surprise. Behind him, he heard Virgil move. He half expected to feel teeth in his neck, but instead, he heard his roommate’s voice.
‘No. We can’t. We just need to find a different solution. No way we’re going to drink your blood!’
Logan, however, took out his phone to google something. He started mumbling calculations on how much blood one can lose safely:
‘The average person has 4 to 6 L of blood, males usually have more than females and of course, the bigger the person, the more blood they have. We have a tall male, however, I do not want to risk anything, so we’ll go with 4 L. One can lose about 14% of their blood without experiencing any side effects apart from feeling light-headed or dizzy. One can lose up to 30% of their blood with mild side effects such as feeling nausea and pale skin. 14% of 4 L is about 0,5 L and 30% is exactly 1,2 L.’
He looked up at Roman.
‘It’s your choice, Roman, how much are you willing to give?’
‘Go for the 30%, you two need it.’
‘Thank you, Roman, we’ll both have 0,6 L then. Any ideas on how to measure it?’
Logan received two answers, one from his brother and one from Roman:
‘No way, I’m not going to drink Roman’s blood! Have you got any idea what could go wrong?’
‘A glass of water is about 200 mL, so you could both have about three glasses. I’m not very keen on seeing my blood in glasses, so I’m going to trust your ability to estimate how much you’re drinking.’
‘Ok, that’s an even worse idea! We’re going to estimate how much we can drink before Roman dies?!’
‘Virgil, calm down for a moment. If we get over the 30% mark, he won’t immediately die. We would need to drink 50% of his blood to make that happen. Also, I’ve done the calculations with the amount of blood one would expect in a small female’s body. The 30% I have calculated could be only as much as 20% of Roman’s total amount of blood. And if it really makes you feel better, estimate two glasses instead of three. Then we’ll surely stay in between 14% and 20%.’
Virgil still wasn’t giving in. Roman asked about some more practicalities.
‘So, do you need the neck, or is the arm good enough? I feel like my arm would be safer, even though, if it’s easier, I’m kinda curious what a bite in the neck feels like. I may or may have not fantasized about it and actually want to know what it’s like.’
‘In that case, yes, the neck would be easier. You might want to lay down because there is a good chance you will get very dizzy as the blood will leave your body quite quickly.’
Roman walked to the couch and sat down.
‘Before we start, can I see your teeth?’
Logan nodded and pushed out his teeth. He pulled up his lip and opened his mouth a little to show Roman, who looked way too excited for someone who was going to willingly undergo a vampire’s ‘attack’.
‘Cool…’
Patton walked over.
‘May I see them?’
Logan turned around and Patton looked very impressed. He then stepped back again.
‘I may need to leave the room, not very fond of the sight of blood.’
‘Yes, of course. We’ll warn you immediately when we’re done.’
‘Thanks, one more question, Roman won’t turn into a vampire himself?’
‘Oh, no, of course not. It is not the bite that turns someone into a vampire, but the drinking of vampire blood. If every person bitten would turn into a vampire, everyone would have been turned into a vampire a long time ago.’
‘Makes sense. Ok, I’ll be in my room.’
They waited until Patton had disappeared, then Roman laid down and Logan kneeled next to the couch.
‘Well, here goes nothing!’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, of course, come on.’
WARNING! From here on I will describe Logan and Virgil drinking Roman’s blood, if this triggers you, skip until you see END DANGER ZONE. In the endnotes, there will be a quick summary of what happened.
And with that Roman turned his head away and revealed his neck. Next, he felt Logan’s teeth sink through his skin. It hurt a little, but not as much as he’d expected it to. He felt Logan carefully counting his ‘sips’ and the blood leaving his body. As Logan had predicted, he got very dizzy, but not much more. Logan stopped drinking after what he thought was about two and a half glasses of blood. He kept the holes in Roman’s neck closed with his fingers and looked up to Virgil.
‘Are you sure you don’t want any?’
‘I can’t, I-’ He got interrupted by Roman.
‘Virgil? It’s okay, this might look dramatic, but I’m only a little dizzy right now. If you give me a moment to get some more blood to my head and drink slowly I’m fine.’
Virgil still looked hesitant but gave in. The smell and sight of his brother finally drinking human blood again was too much to resist. They waited a couple more minutes before Virgil kneeled down. Roman looked at him, smiled, and closed his eyes.
‘Go ahead.’
Logan removed his fingers and Virgil bit his friend in his neck, next to where Logan had bitten him. Slowly he started drinking. The taste of blood filled his mouth and Virgil almost made a weird sound of satisfaction, counting his sips carefully and stopping after what he thought was about two glasses of blood. While he was drinking Logan had walked to the bathroom to get bandages. As soon as Logan had covered the holes, Roman moved to the side of the couch, hanging his head over the edge to get the blood back quicker.
END DANGER ZONE
Logan’s calculations had been correct, Roman looked a bit pale and felt a little nauseous, but apart from that, he felt fine. Virgil walked over to Patton’s room and knocked on the door. The door opened and Patton’s face showed, looking a bit pale as well. Apparently thinking about what was going on behind his door had been unpleasant enough. He looked down and grabbed the doorframe.
‘There’s still some on your teeth and face, Virge.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, one moment.’
‘It’s okay, I’ll have to get used to it eventually, otherwise living with two vampires might get hard. How are you, Roman?’
‘Exactly like Logan predicted I would be; dizzy, lightheaded, bit nauseous, that’s it.’
‘We have to thank you sincerely, Roman, I do not know for how much longer we could’ve gone without human blood.’
‘You’re welcome, Calculator Watch. Thank you for the experience, was fun.’
‘You’re unbelievable, Princey, “was fun”...’
‘You surprised?’
‘Not really.’