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Honestly, Patton couldn’t pinpoint when exactly the random bumps on his limbs started appearing, but he did know that they weren’t going away, at least, not for long. Some days he could keep them away but covering his entire body in clothing, going as far as to put gloves on, but the next day they would reappear bigger than normal.
“Please tell me you’ve tried more than covering up.” A friend, Logan, spoke on the other line.
“I’ve tried everything! Bug spray, new blankets and sheets, but nothing! Do you think it could be rats, or mice?” Patton suggested with a tint of panic in his voice.
“Doubtful, nice and rats and often more scared of humans than we are of them, not to mention those creatures don’t tend to leave marks like the ones you’ve shown me. If anything, based on the double marks that tend to show up, you might have a spi-“
“SPIDERS?!” Patton practically screeched into his phone.
“It’s only a theory, a weak on at that, and I doubt that’s the real problem, maybe it’s something completely different, but-“
“Oh nonono! I don’t want spiders! They’re awful and… they’ve been biting me every single day?! Should I see a doctor, go to the hospital, burn the house-“
“Calm down, you’re being irrational. It’s unlikely that you’ve been poisoned if it’s been going on for so long with no ill effects. But, it the thought still bothers you, try spraying some peppermint around the house, and more so around your room.”
“Okay, you’re right, I’ll uh, I’ll just head out now to get the stuff…” Patton stiffened, eyeing the walls for any sign of a web.
“Good, call me back in a couple days, tell me if anything has changed, then we can move on from their. Alright?”
“Yep-yeah, I’ve got everything completely handled! See you soon!”
Logan gave an affirming hum before hanging up, leaving Patton to all but race out of the house. He pat his clothes down while he walked to his car, driving to the nearest store.
A small scratching came from Patton’s walls as a tiny human looking creature paced back and forth in a panicked state.
“Oh god, he’s getting too suspicious, should I move? Should I change when I feed? Uugghh! Of course I pick a house with a human terrified of bugs!” The small vampire, Virgil, changed into a just as tiny bat and raced back to his cluttered little home in the wall.
He began to rummage around, moving blankets and such out of the way before spotting two caps, one over the other. He moved the one on top only to find a stained red bottle cap.
“Crap, I used the last of my reserves last week when the human was on vacation! How did I never even bother to refill?!” He shouted at himself, burying his face in his hands.
“Okay, maybe he won’t notice one more day. I could be careful and just refill what I need. That should be enough blood to last me until I find a new home. I hope…”
Patton returned home near dusk, heavily armed with every brand of peppermint spray and oil he could find. He quickly unpacked them all and began spraying them in every room as much as he could before even he started to hate the smell. But just for good measure Patton double sprayed his room and put peppermint oil in a diffuser he also got.
“T-there. No more spiders or other crawlers will be staying in this house. Or at the very least stay out of my room.” He shivered as he walked into the living room to watch some cartoons.
Several hours into the night, Patton decided to head back to bed, slowly making his way to his room, into his pajamas, and under the covers.
The hours stretched on as the thought of what’s lurking in the night coming for him; however, as midnight came around, Patton started to slowly drift asleep, believing that his peppermint experiment is working.
An impatient, and incredibly panicked Virgil stood by a small opening, waiting, hoping the human fell asleep soon so the vampire could escape as soon as possible. Though he didn’t particularly like the scent coming from the house, he could manage, especially since he knew if Virgil didn’t get reserves tonight, he could starve trying to find a home. With that thought, he gripped his bottle caps and rubber band, tools he uses to keep the blood in place, together, waiting for a chance to strike.
As the human began to physically relax, Virgil took that chance to change into a bat, grab his supplies and make a dash for the human’s arm. Landing on top of the bed, he changed back, bared his fangs, and after a moment of hesitation, bit down on the side of the human’s arm. He went to grab his cap, but then, the human’s eyes shot open, his eyes quickly darting to the sharp pain in his arm. Virgil quickly changed into a bat, grabbed his caps and band before bolting straight to the walls entrance.
Patton was just about to drift out of consciousness before a small, but sharp pain came from his left arm. His eyes shot open from both panic of a spider, and the sudden pain. All he could do was watch in horror as the silhouette of a bat fled from his room and into the walls.
Just as the bat made its escape, Patton jumped out of bed and all but sprinted to the living room, dialing Logan’s number in the process. After a few moments of ringing, a very tired Logan answered.
“What’s your reason for calling me this late… or I guess early?”
“It’s not a spider!” His screaming caused Logan to completely wake up.
“Wait, what? What’s going on?”
“It’s a bat! A bloodthirsty bat! It bit me then- then it flew back into the walls!”
“Wait, a bloodthirsty bat? Patton, vampire bats don’t live in America, much less Florida. Are you sure you just didn’t see something else?”
“All I know is, the pain in my arm woke me up, it’s now bleeding, and then something that looked like a bat flew into the walls when I tried to see what did it.!”
“Alright, calm down, just stop the bleeding, and call an exterminator in the morning. Just stay awake, as it seems to go after you while you’re not vigilant.” Despite Logan’s exhaustion and mild irritation, he tried to hide those feelings away to help his friend.
“Okay, yep, I got it, no problem. Clean the wound, wait until an exterminator is open for business, and hope they get rid of the bat! Thank you Logan! What can I do for you since you’ve been helping me out so much lately?”
“Let me sleep? It’s 1:30am…” Logan said, getting pulled back into sleep.
“Oh! Right! Sorry, good night-Er- morning.” Logan hung up without saying a word.
And with that, Patton turned on all the lights in the area, brewed coffee, and sat down to watch Aladdin.
Inside the walls, Virgil was in a full blown panic attack. The sighting and the mention of the word “exterminator” sent him off the deep end.
“Why did you leave so soon! Now the human knows I’m here and he’s gonna call someone to have me killed… or worse!” He banged his head against the siding. “I have to leave, right now- but I have no reserves and I haven’t eaten for over a day now- maybe I can grab a sip on my way out- ugh, the human has all the lights on that won’t work either!”
This back and forth between Virgil kept going on and on until he was struck with a realization.
“This human enjoys the company of other humans and never once wanted them to be hurt. Maybe if I… maybe if I talk to him, in my more human form… he might not call the exterminator. And maybe, if he still wants to call the exterminator, I can have my bags packed and bite him on the way out before he comes to his senses. Ugh, I don’t know! Look at you Virgil, all these years of isolation are causing you to not only talk to yourself, but consider negotiating with a human!” Virgil sat down, hugged his knees, and looked at the messy, cramped, area that was his home.
6 hours of a Disney marathon later, an extremely tired Patton decided that nearby exterminators should be open for business. He opened his phone and began looking for some when-
“No, don’t call anyone!”
Patton’s head whipped around the source of the pleading scream. His eyes landed on the top of a bookshelf, where a tiny man with a black and purple stitched cloak stood.
“W-what?” Patton wanted to say more but couldn’t find any words.
“Please don’t call anyone! I promise I’ll leave, I just needed to have something so I could make it to a different house!” Tears pricked out the corner of his eyes, from fear or desperation he couldn’t tell. But the lack of an answer made Virgil ready to make a bolt out of the house at any second. However, after a few moments the human spoke up.
“I- what are you? And what are you talking about?” Patton said, stepping closer to the bookshelf, causing Virgil to step back.
“If I tell you, you’ll want me dead…” Virgil eyed the wooden floor beneath him, wanting to just get to the point and get some blood, his stomach growled, god I need some food he thought, gripping his sides a bit.
“Wait, why would I want you dead? I don’t even know your name, kiddo.” The human’s gaze softened a bit given a small smile to help calm Virgil down. “Here, I’ll start. Hi, my name is Patton.”
The vampire looked slowly at the human, not seeing an inch of anger or fear or anything other than a welcoming smile. “I’m… Virgil”
“Well, Virgil, I can tell you I never would want to hurt you, so why would you think that?” Virgil noted the bit of a hurt tone in the hum-Patton’s voice. After a few moments that seemed like years, Virgil spoke up.
“Because I’m the vampire that’s been biting you for all these months.” The vampire winced, assuming that’s when Patton snapped and killed him. But nothing came. Virgil slowly looked up to see the human looked shocked. After Patton didn’t speak up Virgil decided to continue.
“I only eat what’s enough for me to survive, but as of a couple weeks ago, I’ve been getting less and less. My reserves are all out, and now you’re gonna call an exterminator on me. I have to leave, but I just wanted enough blood to last me a few days. Just enough to find a new home. I have everything packed, but I haven’t eaten anything for over a day now, and I just needed something.” He continued to ramble on until Virgil noticed Patton’s gaze shift from shock to sadness.
“I’m sorry.” Virgil looked in surprise at the human’s words.
“What? Why would you be sorry? I’m the one who’s been hurting you.” Virgil couldn’t understand in the slightest why the human would even care about him.
“If I had known about you, I wouldn’t have been leaving you without… what you need to survive. So I get why you bite me… and since I haven’t turned into a vampire I guess that means I’m safe around you.” Patton’s attempt at humor went unnoticed as Virgil spoke up.
“I never wanted to be seen in the first place. Not by you or any other vampires.” Patton didn’t pry on what the other vampires, but Virgil continued, a bit more stern this time.
“I just need some blood so I don’t starve while leaving. If not, then just don’t call the exterminator… please?” That caught Patton’s attention.
“I won’t be calling anyone, so don’t worry. I told you I would never want to hurt you.”
“But, over the phone you-“ Patton held out his finger.
“Over the phone, I was concerned that I was being attacked every night by some feral animal. And with the exterminator, even if I didn’t know you, I would have just said to capture the bat so we can put it in a better place other than my apartment. I don’t like hurting animals or people. Spiders on the other hand.”
That got a mild laugh out of Virgil causing Patton to grin.
“I have an idea.” Virgil’s attention was brought back to the current situation.
“How about you stay here, you don’t have to worry about food or things like that again,” Virgil’s eyes shot up at the thought of such a life, “on one condition,” Virgil gripped his bag suddenly terrified. “You have to take care of any bugs or spiders that enter this apartment.” Virgil let go of his bag, this was something he could very much do.
The human held out a finger in front of the vampire. “Sound good?” Virgil knew what Patton’s action meant, so he grabbed the finger with his hand and shook it. “Thank you.” Patton just continued to beam.
When the finger didn’t move, Virgil looked at the human quizzingly, “Didn’t you say you were hungry?” A confirmation wasn’t required as Virgil took the hint and gently bit down, drawing blood from the finger until he felt sated.
“You should probably wrap that up now so it doesn’t get those annoying bumps.”
Patton just eyed the injury, “Good to know for the future! Thanks kiddo!” As he was about to leave, Virgil shouted, “And Patton?”
Patton looked over to Virgil in question.
“Try to get some sleep.” Virgil said before grabbing his bag, moving an electrical socket, and making his way inside the wall.
Patton said nothing and only had a small smile as he wrapped up his finger and collapsed on his bed. He couldn’t wait to tell Logan and Roman about what he saw.