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This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Etho was supposed to win. And after, Etho was supposed to decide to spare the other vampire and chase him out of Cleo’s territory. He was supposed to return to his coven victorious.
But he lost.
So now Etho was trailing behind this chatterbox of a vamp, blue blood trickling down his throat from where the other had bitten him, had replaced Cleo’s claim on him with his own, and Etho hated himself.
If he was stronger, if he was better, maybe he could have fought hard enough to stay with Cleo and Bdubs and the others. She had chosen him all those decades ago, and this is how he repays her?
Maybe he wasn’t good enough to stand by her side.
Maybe he deserved this – a strange Coven Leader and an unfamiliar territory and the pulsing pain on his neck.
His new leader looked back at him with not a small amount of concern in his red tinted chocolate eyes.
Ah, right. He could feel Etho’s emotions now.
Great.
“You look like shit.”
Etho scowled. “I wonder why.”
The other vampire stopped and crossed his arms to look at Etho. “You should be honored! Everyone wants to be a part of my coven.” He rolled his eyes at Etho. “Now hurry up, we’re going to be late if you keep dragging your feet.”
“How could I possibly want to join your coven if I don’t even know who you are? And where are we going ?”
Etho ran into the other vampire’s back when he stopped suddenly, and he stumbled back a few steps, just in time for reddish eyes to meet his own again. “I’m Joel. Now you know who I am, and you’re a part of my coven. Congrats.”
The rest of their walk was spent in a tense, unhappy silence.
Finally they came up to a small apartment complex, and before Etho could even get a good look at the outside, he was ushered through the door by an impatient Joel.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, there were people staring at him.
Joel’s coven was big , and it was unnerving looking at all of those people.
Etho wondered why him.
“We’ve got a new member, don’t scare him too badly.”
And with that abrupt introduction (if it could be called that) Joel left trhough the front door, leaving Etho standing there awkwardly.
A pink haired lady spoke first. “Hello, I assume you are Etho? Joel said he was going to bring you back but I didn’t expect you would be so… bloody. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
The worst part of it all, is that Joel’s coven was nice.
Lizzie, the pink haired lady, she stuck to her word and patched up his throat and got him new clothes from somewhere, mentioning that Katherine - a very cheerful vampire who bared her fangs easily when she smiled - had made them for him.
The clothes were comfortable.
And then there was the kid.
He couldn’t have been older than 7, maybe 8, and already he was a vampire. Lizzie told him in a hushed voice that he and Sausage were rescued from a much crueler sire, so he shouldn’t be offended if the kid didn’t warm up to him very quickly.
Apparently she didn’t have to worry about that, because only a few hours after Etho got there, the kid was sitting next to him, playing a game on a switch. It was pixelated, and seemed to be mostly focused on farming from what Etho could tell.
He asked what it was called at one point, to the horror of many of the adults of the coven, but the kid answered “Stardew valley…” in a soft voice.
Etho wasn’t sure why the others were so amazed by this, but he wasn’t going to question it.
Instead, he sat with the kid and asked him questions about his game until he was chattering away about harvest seasons and a greenhouse and saving up for a barn while Etho nodded along.
Joel came back with a tote bag full of blood pouches, and he began handing them out, starting with the kid.
“Here you go, Hermes.” Joel’s voice was gentle, lower and sweet as he handed the kid the blood. The kid- Hermes , gave him a small smile as he took it.
And then all of Joel's attention was on Etho, and the eyes on him felt like they were burning his skin.
He held himself still, not even bothering with pretending to breathe, as Joel reached out to him.
His fingers gently, so gently, pulled the bandage away from his skin to look at the wound he left on Etho. Joel’s mark.
And then those fingers smoothed down the bandage, grazing over his skin lightly, before he handed Etho two bags of blood. More than Etho needed.
When he tried to protest, Joel ignored him, and none of the others would take the extra bag.
But when he finished with the first, Etho found that he was still thirsty. So he drank the second, flushing a little under Joel's knowing gaze.
That night Etho found himself curling up with Hermes on one side, and Joel on the other.
They were cold of course, because they were vampires, but Etho’s chest felt warm anyways.
Maybe it wouldn’t be bad here.
He’d miss Cleo and Bdubs, and Ren and Martyn too, but maybe this was for the better.