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Even the floor was starting to look like a good place to nap to Dan. At night his biology wouldn’t let him sleep and during the day his dear friends usually kept him up. And he wanted to hang out with them so badly that he endured it. What was a bit of sleep deprivation when you aren’t lonely anymore?
He was starting to regret that thought when he was running after an over enthusiastic Seán who had just stolen one of his hats. The man in question was running through the mansion with the victorian style hat placed firmly on top of his head, laughing slightly maniacally.
“Seán I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME BACK THAT HAT I WILL NOT TELL YOU WHERE I FOUND NEW BONES FOR YOU AND KEVIN!” Dan shouted in a desperate attempt to get Seán to give the freaking hat back. It had the desired effect, because Seán stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Dan.
“Bones?” He questioned, a familiar glint in his eyes. Dan reached out his hand.
“Hat first.” He said. Seán obeyed, quickly handing over the hat to Dan. “Thank you. Yes, bones. I heard about a place somewhere in the forest where someone apparently stashed a bunch of bones. I was planning on keeping it a surprise but here we are.” He continued.
It wasn’t a lie. He’d heard about some monster hunters burying things in the forest recently. And if there were any people who’d want to dig up dead things for their bones it would be Kevin and Seán. A bright smile spread over Seán’s face.
“Let’s get Kevin and find those bones! You’re coming with us, show us where they are!” He exclaimed. Dan looked outside wearily. He’d hoped to be able to catch some sleep today, he’d barely slept the past two weeks and it was catching up with him. His thoughts were harder to nail down and every once in a while his vision seemed to fade for a bit.
But Seán looked so happy, so excited. How could he say no? He looked back at Seán.
“What’s the weather like?” He asked.
“It’s cloudy! So cloudy you could walk outside without getting hurt! Come on! Let’s go pick up Kevin!” Seán answered, already grabbing his phone to call Kevin. Dan sighed and nodded his head.
“Give me five seconds, I need to grab my coat.” He said, walking to the closet and grabbing it. It was a nice, slightly Victorian looking one (just like most of his clothes and suits) He practically threw it on and started to walk to the door, pausing when his vision went black for a second. He stuck out his hand against the wall to catch his balance.
Seán cocked his head, slightly concerned. “You alright there Daniel?” He asked. Dan blinked fast, his vision luckily returning. He nodded.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” He said, pushing himself away from the wall and walking to the door. “You drive.” He said to Seán. Seán nodded.
“No offence Daniel, but I wouldn’t let you drive even if you asked. You don’t have a licence.” Seán said, making Dan chuckle. Hopefully they would be back before dusk, so he could catch some more sleep.
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After picking up Kevin they started driving to the forest. Kevin was riding shotgun, giving Dan the chance to lean back in the backseat and try to close his eyes. His head was swimming and his thoughts felt sluggish. He-
“DAN! Where do we get off? You didn’t say where the bones were!” The shouting of his name, coming from Kevin, jolted him out of his thoughts. He blinked a few times, trying to catch his thoughts.
“It’s. . . It’s the exit after this one. It’s about ten minutes walking from. . . Daithi’s field.” He said. Was it just him or was his speech starting to slur? It seemed like Kevin and Seán hadn’t noticed, so he decided to not pay attention to it.
Soon enough they turned into the dirt parking lot at one of the entrances to the forest. Immediately after parking Seán and Kevin started to sprint, only realising after a few seconds that they didn’t know which way to go. Dan stifled a laugh into his hand at their confused faces.
“Take a left onto the first path.” He said. But that was a mistake, as Kevin and Seán took off again, and he had to sprint after them. If he was thinking clearly he would have turned into a bat to keep up, but sleep deprivation wasn’t very good for logical thought.
They ran and ran, Seán having transformed into a wolf and Kevin jumping on his back at one point. Dan running after them and desperately shouting directions in an attempt to not lose his kids friends. After about 15 minutes of running they arrived at the spot Dan had seen the hunters. His vision started going spotty again. It felt like a headrush, like he hadn’t eaten enough (could vampires have low blood sugar? Dan didn’t know) But what was concerning was that it wasn’t clearing up. Instead his hearing also seemed to be fading. He vaguely heard Kevin ask something, but he couldn’t respond as his consciousness finally left him.
Seán jerked around at the sound of someone hitting the floor. He’d just transformed back to his human form when he heard the noise, but what accompanied the sound was something he didn’t like. The sight of Daniel lying unconscious on the floor scared him more than he liked to admit.
“Daniel!” He shouted, immediately running over to him. Kevin arrived at Dan first, crouching in front of him and trying to figure out what happened. “Is he hurt?” Seán asked. Kevin paused for a second, then he shook his head.
“Not from what I can see, although he doesn’t look that good. I’d almost say he looks… pale? Can vampires even look paler than normal?” Kevin questioned. Seán shrugged. Kevin reached out and shook Dan. It took a few seconds, but then Daniel opened his eyes and tried to get up. But Seán gently pushed him back down.
“Careful Dan, you passed out. Are you okay?” He asked. Dan blinked in confusion. His thoughts were still sluggish and he felt out of breath. He tried to nod and push himself back up, but the fast movement made his vision go spotty again and he sat back down quickly.
“I- I’m fine?” It came out more like a question than an answer. Kevin frowned and crossed his arms.
“Dan, what’s going on. Are you hurt? Do we need to get Brian? Do we-” He paused, realization striking him like a bomb. “When was the last time you slept?” He finished his question. Dan frowned. Was he really that obvious?
“Is that important? I can go on, I just need to sit down for a bit.” He deflected. It was at this point that Seán started to really frown as well.
“I was about to tell Kevin to let it slide but I don’t like the way you try to deflect the question. When was the last time you slept?” He asked. Daniel sighed and rubbed his temples.
“What counts as sleep? I took a nap yesterday.” He said. Kevin made a motion akin to wincing at the words.
“I meant a full 8 hours of sleep Dan.” He said.
“That would be. . . two weeks? Give or take a bit. It’s fine. I’m fine.” Daniel said, avoiding Kevin’s and Seán’s eyes and looking at a very interesting patch of grass. Seán physically jerked back at the revelation.
“Jesus Christ Dan, that’s not good. Why didn’t you say anything for god’s sake?! You’re not invincible. We wanted to have some fun, not knock you out! We’re heading back to the mansion.” Seán said. Dan was about to protest, but the genuine hurt and anger radiating from Kevin and Seán made him stop. “Can you walk? I can carry you if you need.” Seán said, softening up a bit. Dan thought for a second, before pushing himself up from the floor.
“I can walk. Just. . . take it slow.” He said. Seán nodded and they headed back off to the car.
Later he would remember stumbling over a branch and almost face planting into the dirt. He vaguely remembered Kevin catching him and asking if he was alright. He also remembered Kevin calling him a self sacrificial idiot who needed to be honest when he needed to sleep and that this shouldn’t happen again. But what he remembered most was just being able to finally sleep, but not before hearing Kevin mockingly go,
“I’m fine, he said, I can go on, he said.”
He also remembered being very glad that when he woke up the whole mansion was still intact and no one was hurt.
Maybe he didn’t always have to babysit his kids friends. And maybe one day he’d actually always get enough sleep, but that wasn’t very likely, now was it?