Chapter Text
It wasn’t actually “a day just like any other”- in fact, Aron Levitt probably should have realized sooner what was going to happen. Not the whole vampire thing, but the fact someone, somewhere, was going to die.
It started with the storms. Rain was unusual in Reno, but for the last few days, Aron’s dorm window has been relentlessly pelted with droplets. The lightning was also intense, the thunderclap following each bolt shaking the very foundation of St. Catherine's School for the Unhomed.
On the morning of May 19, 2002, Aron woke violently from a dream, one of those dreams he couldn’t quite place, but the sinking feeling in his gut told him it was bad.
“You alright?” his friend, Elijah, asked.
Elijah was a foot taller than Aron. His strong Middle-Eastern features stood out against the cool darkness of the window.
“Yeah, I think so,” Aron sighed, “I think something’s up with the weather.”
His friend nodded. If there was anything he didn’t believe, he didn’t bring it up.
“C’mon, then, let’s go. St. Catherine is waiting.”
The walk to the dining hall was somber. Aron’s heart still beat furiously, and his stomach growled louder than he had ever heard it.
“I need a hamburger,” he complained, and Elijah smiled.
“It’s okay! I see salvation up ahead!”
Aron pushed Elijah, much harder than he had meant to. Losing his balance, Elijah sprawled out into the mud.
“Hey! How’d you do that?” Elijah laughed, “you could barely open the windows yesterday!”
Aron paused. He didn’t really know. He wasn’t weak before, but he wasn’t strong enough to push 170 pounds of muscle into the mud. “I guess I’m working out?”
“Alright, well,” Elijah dusted off his pants and extended a hand to Aron, “don’t do it too much, or you might take me down.”
By the time they made it to the hall, Aron’s stomach felt like it was digesting itself. Elijah pushed open the doors, and immediately a foul stench hit Aron’s nose.
“Oh, God, what’s that smell?” He pinched his nose, trying desperately not to inhale.
“What, have you decided not to get a hamburger? It’s not real beef anyway,” Elijah smiled.
“No, no, it’s… more than that,” Aron grimaced as he deciphered the smell, “I fuckin’ hate eggs. I’m going to be sick,”
Taking off to the bathroom, Aron locked himself in the nearest stall. Dry-heaving over the toilet bowl wasn’t how he expected to spend his morning, but it really couldn’t be that bad-
“Hello, Aron.”
Aron turns so fast he slams his head on the toilet paper dispenser. Dizzily, he grabs his head and attempts to stand. High-pitched ringing filled the room and Aron could faintly hear the sound of the mirrors shattering.
“Oh, did you not know this was coming?”
Aron’s limp body slammed against the stall, immobilized. It felt as if a thousand suns were burning through his wrists and ankles. His eyes were wrenched open to see the face of a young man peering up at him.
“Who do you think you are, Aron?” A fist connected with Aron’s left mandible, “how long do you think you can outrun me?”
“Who… the hell… are you…?” Aron spluttered, blood dripping down his shirt.
“Do you think you can outrun your destiny, you freak of nature? Do you think you could avoid our deal?”
Aron’s eyes drooped, and his energy drained.
“Oh, no, we aren’t done yet,” the demon’s hand softly touched the bruise from the punch, “you need to do something for me. I’ll let you go afterwards.”
“Anything, please, just let me go-”
Violently, a hand pulled Aron’s jaw down, forcing a bloody piece of meat into his mouth.
It was like a light switch was flipped in his brain. The ringing stopped and he dropped to his knees. The demon was gone, but everything was different. Even from inside a stall, he could hear the clinking of plates from inside the hall. Each voice was clear like he was standing next to each person. He could hear Elijah telling one of his friends he would go check on Aron, he was taking a while, you know how it is.
Fuck.
For the first time, Aron shakily looked down to his hands. No cuts, no bruises. Examining his wrist, he noticed twin bruises on each wrist, like he had been tied down.
“Holy fucking shit- Aron? Aron, are you okay?” Elijah banged on the stall, “Open the fucking door!”
Aron didn’t move, COULDN’T move. Hazily, he could see Elijah’s tall body rip open the door and saw his crumpled, beaten body.
“Ron? What’s wr-”
“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!”
Even beaten and bruised, he had no trouble getting to his feet and easily pushed past Elijah into the hall.
People. So many people. Aron was so hungry. When was the last time he had eaten? People?
“Aron, honey?” His school advisor, a stout old woman, touched his shoulder, “what’s going on with you?”
He couldn’t control it anymore. He was starving. He couldn’t stop it even if he tried. Sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of her neck was easy. Once he started, he dug his nails into her skin, trying desperately to get more, eat more. Overtly he was aware of the screaming in the room, dishes clattering to the ground, and Elijah, screaming at him.
“Get off of her!” Two arms hooked under his armpits, wrenching him off and forcing him to see the woman feebly touching the wound on her neck and falling to the ground.
He could see a police officer pointing a gun at him.
“What the fuck is that thing?”
“He’s not a thing- Something’s wrong with him!”
“That’s not a person- do you see it’s fucking teeth?”
Aron didn’t know at the time, but no one saw Aron Kutznetznov anymore. His teeth had morphed into daggers as if he only had canines. His veins were pronounced, and his skin stretched thin over his bones. The old woman’s blood dripped down his face and arms.
“Kill it, would you?” The officer yelled, his voice directed at Elijah.
“No, he’s my fucking friend!” Even as strong as he was, Elijah was starting to struggle to hang on to the flailing creature Aron had become.
“Let him go! We’re going to evacuate and then take care of this sonuvabitch!”
Elijah let go, and Aron pounced away to the dead woman. Aron could hear the commotion as the last few people were taken from the building.
All except the police officer.
“What the fuck are you? Look at me, you fucking lunatic!” The officer’s gun was aimed directly at Aron's heart.
Aron’s mind was flooded. He was a monster, that part’s all true, but was he really? He wasn’t doing this, right? He was human. But he was starving. Nothing had ever tasted as good as the blood which flowed from the woman’s heart. Then he heard the officer cock his gun, and the slight whistle through the air as the bullet connected with his right shoulder. Then another in his collarbone. And another through his left arm. The dull pains flowing through him were nothing, nothing, compared to the feeling of satisfaction he was receiving. It felt like everything was falling into place. The smells of gasoline and burning wood had barely reached his nose before his vision turned brilliantly white and every noise was gone.
There was no pain. His eyelids were heavy as he opened them to see right into the night sky.
The sky?
The memories came back in a tidal wave. The demon, Elijah, the- the woman. Aron doubled over and vomited onto the ground, which looked like a charred piece of a coffee table. He gingerly stood up, taking in his surroundings. The wood and the metal scraps. They tried to kill me, he realized, and it probably should have worked. Staggering, he made his way to the only place he knew he could go.
He didn’t know how late it was, but by the emptiness of campus it was probably incredibly late. No lights were on in the dorm building, which struck him as odd. Even though the lights-off policy was strict people still kept string lights or nightlights on. Even so, he could clearly make out the shapes and contours of the building perfectly. Climbing the staircase he approached the dorm he shared with Elijah.
Cracking the door open, he saw the faint glow of a lamp emanating from Elijah’s room. He walked towards it to see his friend buried in books, looking like he hadn’t ever slept.
“Hi.”
The taller boy looked up and nearly fell out of his chair from shock. His face immediately shifted to pity, but the way he got up and plastered himself against the furthest wall ignited Aron’s deepest fear- the only person he cared about was afraid of him.
“Aron? How the hell are you alive? They- they burnt that place to the ground after evacuation.”
“Evacuation?”
“They- they took everyone out. Home, I mean,” Elijah’s voice cracked as he tripped over his words, “they were worried you-” He looked at Aron fearfully.
“I killed her, didn’t I?” Knowing the answer didn’t make seeing Elijah’s nod less scary.
“They said you were a monster. They said you- were a warning sign from God. And- and that if I stayed, for you, I’d be cast into eternal damnation,” Elijah’s voice wavered more, tears welling up in his eyes.
Aron didn’t respond, any response he thought of couldn’t possibly account for what he’d done. He just looked Elijah in his eyes.
“So why did you do it?” Elijah spat, his voice thick with the tears streaming down his face, “Why?”
“I don’t know. I really, honestly don’t,” Aron tried to explain, but it was so much.
“Was that you? Did you break the mirror?”
“No! It was like being a prisoner to my body- after the guy in the stall I-”
“There was a guy in the stall with you?”
“No! Yes? I don’t think he was real- It was like he just appeared and he did that- he made me crazy- He was tall, tall and ginger.”
Elijah slumped onto his bed and put his head in his hands.
“What are we going to do?”
Aron stiffened. This wasn’t his friend’s fault.
“You’re not doing anything. I’m getting out of here,” Aron patted his pockets as if to signify he had all he needed.
Elijah flared, standing up to tower over Aron, “Are you fucking crazy? Do you think I’m going to let you just fucking leave?”
“Yes, I am,” Aron looked at Elijah, his orange-brown eyes meeting angrily with nervous brown ones, “I tried to fucking kill you.”
“No, you didn’t! You were- possessed, or fucking whatever.”
“I TRIED TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD!” Aron’s hands were caught by Elijah’s, bruises throbbing under his grip.
“You aren’t going to hurt me again.”
“You can’t know that,” Aron fumed, “It happened once, it could happen-”
Elijah captured the words against his mouth. The pain from Aron’s wrists dulled, if only for a moment. Realizing what happened, he pulled away, dumbfounded.
“What was that for?” meant to have more of a sting, Aron’s voice came out a whisper.
“If you were going to hurt me, you would’ve,” Elijah concurred, dropping Aron’s hands, “we’re going to get out of this. together.”
Aron swallowed. After everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours, Elijah still…
“Okay.” Aron nodded.