Chapter Text
Montie woke up to sun on her face and a fluffy tail batting her nose. She groaned and shooed Mao the Persian cat away, checking her alarm clock. It read 7:43, seventeen minutes before she really needed to be up. As disappointing as that was, she got up anyway. Better to be up early than sleep through the alarm, especially today of all days.
It was a month since she'd been called up by the Temple Head, and exactly a month before her new college semester started, something she thought was funny.
Making her way into the kitchen from the bedroom, she turned the kettle on and got out the box of instant cocoa. She would've preferred to make it from scratch, but the baking cocoa had run out and she needed to go shopping for the week still. The cupboards were well-stocked, though, with things bought on various whims she had had while browsing the aisles. It bothered her if they looked empty, and there was a lot of space in this house, so she ended up buying things she'd never even heard of.
The house itself had been a sort of compensation for the favor she was doing for the Temple. Montie had insisted that they needn't have bothered, she was just happy to help, but they had insisted. It made some sense she supposed. Her old apartment was cramped enough with just her in it, let alone anyone else.
Which brought her back to thinking about that favor. In all honesty, she didn't entirely get what was going on. There was some being that had recently been killed, and sent to the afterlife, where he was intercepted or something by a priest at the behest of his god. Montie didn't get why exactly the real world was any more safe to keep some powerful person, who was evil and apparently a vampire, in than the afterlife, but what did she know?
There was, of course, a priest whose actual job it was to watch these kinds of people, but this one was special. They didn't want him near anyone with any sort of special abilities. If she had to hazard a guess, they picked her because she'd always stayed in close contact with the Temple, even if she wasn't a priest. Supporting Dad and her brother Soso was a big part of her life so everyone knew her. She was related to the Temple Head, after all.
In return for this job, her tuition would be paid, she'd get an allowance to pay for groceries, and a rent-free house in the middle of nowhere would be provided.
That was all well and good, of course. She was glad not to have to worry about finances, since she'd almost failed economics in school. It was just that she wasn't used to having that big of a place to live. It weirded her out. She had set up her room in the smallest bedroom and decided to give the master bedroom to the roommate, which helped put her mind at ease.
(Temple Head always called him a prisoner, and really, Montie understood why. He'd done some terrible things. But it made no sense to call him that to her. He'd never change if nobody gave him a chance to, right? He was a roommate to her, and that's that.)
Which brought her to now. The kettle beeped, and she poured herself the cup of cocoa.
She toyed with the idea of giving someone a call before she left to meet up with the Temple Head. Dad would be too busy, since he was working, and Sos... Well, he wouldn't be too happy about the situation, so she kept it to herself as best she could. Her non-Temple friends were out, too.
So much for that idea, then.
The rest of the morning was spent getting ready and doing some tidying up. Each of the rooms were triple-checked, and Mao was fed.
"It'll be nice to have some company, huh, Mao? Someone to spend time with!" Montie smiled excitedly down at the cat, who meowed in what she assumed was agreement. Or disdain. She never could tell with that fluffy tyrant.
With that encouragement(?), Montie got into her old used minivan and drove off to town.
The hand-off would be done at the house of Temple Head. Montie pulled up to it and grabbed her duffel bag from the back. She didn't know what the roommate had with him, but she'd figured the afterlife didn't have much for food so she had made some snacks.
The young woman walked up to the door and knocked.
It opened, and Montie stepped in. "Hello!" she greeted cheerfully.
Behind the familiar figure of Temple Head was a gigantic man, blond and handsome, and seething with rage. He was snarling like an angry dog, and was firmly handcuffed.
"Dio," Temple Head began. "This is Montie Eitiosu, my great-granddaughter. Montie, this is Dio Brando."
The sheer amount of fury pouring off the man was almost enough to make Montie want to run and dive for cover, but she steeled herself, swallowed her fear, and spoke.
"It's nice to meet you, Dio! I hope we can be good friends!" She happily ignored Temple Head's death glare, as well as Dio's.
"You think that I, Dio, would stoop so low as to--"
"Let's get going, okay? I have your room all set for you." She interrupted the threat, employing a tactic she used to use with Soso when they were both younger. She picked up the surprisingly light piece of luggage next to Dio and lugged it out to the van. Temple Head, sighing, nodded at a different priest, who escorted the large man to Montie's car and put him in the passenger seat.
"Now Montie," started the woman. "I trust you with this, don't get me wrong. But please, do keep in mind that he was still a vampire, and has killed many, many people."
"I'm sure I wouldn't forget that, Temple Head," she replied, a bit annoyed at the assumption.
"I know, I'm just," she took a deep breath. "Concerned."
Montie didn't have anything to say to that, so she just hugged her relative and smiled. "Trust me. I have a good feeling about this, you know."
"Hm. Well, get going, then."
"Wait, before you do," cut in another priest, who Montie recognized as Chel'Artu'Otron, a priest of the Good Potion-maker, and one of the major players in resurrecting Dio. "Take this." She handed Montie a rather large pamphlet. "It has the details of how he was brought back, and the limitations of his new body. Give it a read if you think of it."
Montie nodded, then did as her great grandmother said, climbing in the driver's seat and glancing at Dio. He was looking around himself, apprehensively. It occurred to Montie that he might not have been in a car previously. She felt a pang of sympathy for him.
"Don't uncuff him, do you hear me?" called Temple Head. "He's not safe!"
"Alright," called back Montie, a bit disappointed, even as the key sat in her pocket. He wasn't going to be happy in handcuffs, that's for sure, but she wasn't about to disobey anyone. Putting it out of her mind, she started the car and drove off. Dio quickly schooled himself and settled his expression into a quiet glower, staring out the window. The silence was crushing, and Montie really didn't care for it.
"Um, so," Montie started. "Did you... have a nice trip? From being dead, I suppose."
"Take a wild guess." the vampire snapped.
"Oh." The rest of the car ride was quiet.
She didn't bring up the snacks.
They got home around noon. Montie opened the door to the other side of the car, wincing as she saw the handcuffs. She didn't know what they were doing, really, he looked muscular enough to bend steel. Though, he was in a weakened state, so maybe that was why. But if he was, then she could easily defend herself, right? But Temple Head made it clear she didn't trust him.
On the other hand, if she didn't trust him, who would?
Man, those cuffs were painful looking...
"Oh, darn it all." Montie sighed. "Look, promise not to kill me, okay?"
Dio snapped his eyes over to her, a bit confused, before schooling himself again. "I suppose so. For now."
"Good enough." Montie unlocked the cuffs and tossed them in the back of the van. "Look, I never liked the whole chains and bars thing, so... Come on in." Gesturing to the front door, she grabs his sole bag. Dio (after reeling from how lucky he was to have been given to an idiot) took a single step out of the car, stumbled a bit, and gritted his teeth angrily.
"Oh, dear, let me help--"
"No!" Dio snarled and made his way to the door. It took a while, but at least the sun didn't seem to affect him anymore.
"Okay, that's fine, you need your space." Montie nodded quickly, opening the door and calling out, "Mao! C'mere! Meet our new housemate!" before she hunted down the fluffy feline. Dio leaned on the door frame, panting slightly, before he wass assaulted with a face full of fur.
"This is Mao, he's a sweetheart," explained Montie to the nonplussed man.
"... I see."
Mao, for his part, was not enthused at his new roomie. This human smelled like death, and he was not exactly thrilled that sweet-mother-human Montie was going to adopt this one.
Dio swore to himself he'd eat that cat, vampiric powers or not, just to spite this moron.