Chapter Text
“We’ve been over this, and I told you M: drop it. I’m not going”
“Oh, come on! Don’t be ridiculous! The place is awesome!” said M, with what can only be described as the most excited face ever. “They have all kinds of things to do, places to go. We’ve been doing nothing for almost thirty years now, it’s time”
“You’ve been dragging me around for centuries now, and I always tell you I go because, usually, I don’t have anything better to do.” Vamp was, as usual, lying on the living couch, reading one of her incomprehensible books and addressed M while reading—because of course Vamp would never consider anything or anyone more important than a book. They’ve had this argument a million times over the last four months. Long story short: M wanted to go to college, again, and Vamp wanted nothing to do with it. They were both addicted to books, but of a different kind, and the last time Vamp had shown the tiniest interest about anything, it was during the 80s. Ever since then, she spent half her days complaining, and the other half reading, or sleeping.
M snorted at that. “Yeah, right. Whatever you say, bro. This could be a great chance though. Think about it: it’s the 21st century” it was Vamp’s turn to snort now, “I know, I know; but people are finally starting to realize things. Just look at these guys” they said while turning their laptop so Vamp could see it “They have a course called ‘queer lit’!! This is amazing! Come on man, I don’t want to go alone. We could like, rent an apartment near campus—don’t worry, it’ll be kinda far so the noises will not annoy you—and I could go to college while you do... Whatever it is you do. I heard they have an existentialist philosophy course.” They said grinning. They knew she was obsessed with Sartre and Camus (although Vamp would probably yell at them for three hours if they called him an existentialist), and she’d be interested in anything that was related to them. If this didn’t convince her, nothing would.
Vamp sighed, and M knew they had won. Seriously, sometimes she was so predictable.
“Fine, we’ll give it a shot. You have one month to prove me that ‘university life’ nowadays can be as rewarding as our days back at Princeton. If, by the end of the month, I still don’t like it, I’m going back to Italy.”
“Yes!!! Yes!!!” they said, jumping around the apartment in excitement.
“Oh, shut the fuck up! I’m trying to read here, you know”
“Whatever. You have three weeks to get ready, so don’t worry. We have time” They said as they exited the room, getting ready for university life, again.
It was move-in day and, as it could be expected, the campus was filled with what Vamp described as “overly-excited dimwits, and brainless frat-dudes”, running around with bags and all kinds of items, trying to settle in and get used to their new (for them) home. M had managed to get an apartment on the most remote corner of the campus. It was close enough to walk to class, and far enough so Vamp wouldn’t be annoyed by—or temped to eat—any of the students. It was a nice enough place: it had two bedrooms, a big living room, and a relatively small kitchen—a thing neither of them cared about, since the only thing they usually had was blood, and the random bottle of booze. It was on the fifth floor—Vamp refused to live anywhere with a shitty view; and a small garage so they could keep Vamp’s motorcycle and M’s car.
Vamp had just finished putting her books into place (they occupied almost every wall of the living room), when M came in carrying a lot of boxes.
“Oh my god! Did you bring every single book you own?! Where am I going to put mine?”
“You’re kidding, right? This is not even a third of what I have back in the Villa, and as far as your books go, you have a room, don’t you? I won’t have any of your shitty literature on my shelves.”
“Are you calling William Shakespeare shitty?!” they hissed.
Vamp rolled her eyes. “Fine, maybe you do have some taste; probably got it from me.”
“Ha! As you say, bro. If you excuse me, I have things to do. Classes start soon, I gotta get ready”
Vamp rolled her eyes, again—after so many centuries, how they haven’t gotten stuck in the back of her head is a miracle, really. “I still don’t understand how, after so many centuries, you still manage to be as excited as a teenager. I thought after the fifth time you’d have calmed down.”
“It’s queer lit, bro! How can you not be into it?!” now they were putting the booze in the kitchen. They’re finally doing something useful.
“Uh, why? Because I’m queer too? I’d rather take a girl home than read a 300-page essay on how to ‘correctly arouse’ my partner” she said, smirking.
“That book was good, okay? You didn’t read it, so you don’t get to talk!” they said. They were really passionate about their books. Deep down, Vamp really admired them for it, though she’d never admit it out loud. They had a point though, this acceptance of ‘queer stuff’, as she so gallantly called it, was pretty new and refreshing. At least it was one thing less to hide.
“Whatever. I’ve finished here, so I’m going out. I still have to see what classes I’m taking. I’m thinking a philosophy major with a math minor, what do you say?” it’s not like it really mattered what she was studying, since she probably knew more than all the teachers combined, but at least she could make sure she enjoyed her time here.
“Sounds good, bro. Have fun”
Vamp exited the apartment, and started walking through the quad towards the main building, where all the offices were. One would think that, since it was almost night-time, there would be less ‘kids’ running around campus. Well, one would be wrong. She made her way through a very sweaty, very horny mass of barely-not teenagers—ignoring the whistles and pathetic attempts of flirting thrown her way as she walked by—until she got to the office. Luckily for her, M was right: the University actually had a few classes on existentialism—Sartre, Nietzsche, the usual. They also did have a decent science program, and since she hadn’t had the chance to fully study quantum physics, she thought she might as well make the best of it, and actually learn something for a change.
As she got out of the office, she ran into someone, quite literally. She was so focused reading the paper they’d given her she didn’t see the girl who approached her, carrying way too many books for a regular human. She heard the sound of said books falling to the ground, and saw a very clumsy, blonde girl kneeling to pick them up.
“Ugh, crap. I’m so, so...” she looked up and raised her eyebrows. Poor thing, she looked so lost. “...Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, cutie.” Vamp said with a grin. She probably could have been a bitch, as usual, but she actually felt a bit sorry for the poor girl, looking so lost. She didn’t look like a freshman though, so she was probably just very clumsy. Whatever, it wasn’t her problem. She turned around and kept walking. Thanks to her vampire hearing she caught a little “Wow” that made her smirk a little bit—so predictable, and yet it was always fun. Maybe this place would have its fun after all.
The first week went by without any real excitement, and by the time Friday came along, Vamp and M found themselves drinking at their favourite bar in the city. It wasn’t too far away from campus, just far enough so they wouldn’t run into too many students. It was a really old bar, previously owned by this German guy who kept making crappy jokes in a very strange mix of German and English. How the clients didn’t lose their shit and left was beyond vamp, though she actually liked the guy. He really liked her too, since Vamp could speak German and talked animatedly with him about ‘the good old country ’. She didn’t really know what’d happened to him, nor did she know who the new owner was, but she did know the whole staff—talk about regulars. M usually came along for the ride to be with their bro, though the main reason was the free booze. M’s relationship with booze was probably what was defined as ‘true love’, it was quite amusing to see, actually.
The good—and bad— thing about being a vampire was that they could get really drunk as any other human, but the effect lasted a very short time. At least they didn’t have hangovers, so there was that. That particular condition made them the best drinkers, and most of the time people ended up wanting to compete—and losing, of course—against them, which basically meant one thing: free booze. The other main reason why they came to this bar was the bartender, Carly. She was a lovely curly-haired lady, probably in her mid-twenties, who loved to chat with both of them. M simply adored her, and even Vamp, who was known for hating everybody, seemed happy every time she was around.
“Hey Carls, you lovely human!” slurred M, as their third bottle of wine was brought to the table.
“M, this is the fifth time you greet me tonight” said Carly, nice as always, a small smile on her lips. She was probably amused; M did this every single time they came.
While M continued what could only be described as ‘praising’ Carly, Vamp rolled her eyes and gave poor Carly a very, very generous tip; and when she tried to give it back to her, as she always did, Vamp simply said “Carls, all the money on the world wouldn’t be payment enough for standing this useless bum” she said, nodding towards M.
M began saying something but was cut off when Vamp carried them out the room. “Have a good night, Carls!” She could hear Carly’s soft laughter as she walked out of the bar.
Vamp was Italian, and loved Italian food, but Mexican was one of her dirty pleasures, especially tacos (both kinds, but let’s stick with food here, shall we?); which is why she found herself every afternoon walking towards the stand that was located near the labs. A few weeks had passed and she had noticed that, every time she went to buy tacos, there was another girl doing the same. At first she didn’t give it much thought, until one day there was only one taco left, and it was reserved for this very same girl. She offered a lot of money for the damn thing, but it seems whoever was in charge of selling the food was a friend of this girl, and refused to give it away. Vamp, rightfully annoyed, waited until said girl showed up, to see if she could figure out a way to convince her to give her the remaining taco.
The girl finally showed up, and Vamp had to cover her mouth to help the uncontrolled laughter that threatened to escape her lips. The girl was wearing a very baggy Rainbow shirt, and a hat that was as gay as a hat could get—Vamp had never thought hats could be gay, but this was living proof they could.
By the time the girl bought the taco, Vamp didn’t even want it; she just wanted to annoy the poor girl—how do you see someone dressed like that and not feel an impulse to drop, at least ten snarky comments? And, since she always did whatever she wanted, she snorted and the snarky comments began rolling off of her tongue.
“Nice outfit there, Little Rainbow”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m afraid the gay parade is that way, though” she said, pointing towards a random direction. As the she finished her comment, she saw something in the other girl’s eyes, a tiny yellow glow; something that, hadn’t she been a vampire, she wouldn’t have noticed. She had read enough mythology books to know what it meant: this girl was a shifter, and not just a shift as she was, but a real one. She didn’t really know what she could turn into but, if the dragon-tooth necklace was any indication, it was exactly that: a dragon. Shifters were really rare, and said to be very dangerous. They could live almost a thousand years, and got more powerful as they got older. And even if, unlike vampires, they did age; they did so very slowly, so their age was very hard to pinpoint. This girl looked like she was in her twenties, but she could be 80 years old and Vamp wouldn’t know the difference. She decided it was probably wise not to mess with the reptile; at least until she knew exactly how old, and powerful, she was—not that she could ever be more powerful than her, being centuries-old and all, but it was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. She might heal way faster than a human, but the pain was the same.
The girl snorted, actually snorted. “Wow, that’s real original, Elvira”
“Elvira?”
“Oh, come on. The black clothes, the long hair, the deep voice. You kinda look the part”
“Whatever”
“Was there anything you wanted, or are you just being annoying?”
“Actually, there was. But, you know what? It’s not worth it. See you around, Mushu” she said as she turned around, leaving the girl to wonder about what the nickname actually meant.
It wasn’t until next Thursday that what she said became true. Vamp was bored at their apartment—she had already re-read everything she needed to read for her Friday classes, and was now playing some GTA V, when M opened the door, a thousand books in their arms.
“Come on in, Nar. Oh, and don’t mind my roommate over there, she’s an ass.”
Nar was about to say something, when she actually saw who they were talking about “It’s you!” she growled.
Wow, the universe has a really dark sense of humour “Well, well. What have we here? Missing me already, Miss Rainbow?”
“Wait, you two know each other?”
“Yeah, she’s the taco girl, bro” Vamp said, as she killed some Merryweather assholes with a bazooka.
M burst out laughing. Vamp had told them the whole story, even her suspicions, but they never expected that girl to be Nar, one of their classmates. They weren’t exactly friends per se—not yet anyway—but they got along pretty well. They shared a few classes, and M knew she was queer too, so that gave them some comfort. As much as they liked Vamp, she was a handful, to say the least, and sometimes they just needed someone “normal” to hang out with.
“My name is Nar, thank you very much”
“If you say so. You can call me Vamp”
“Vamp?” she snorted “What kind of name is that?”
“A fake one. That’s all you need to know, Rainbow girl”
“Please don’t bite her head off, Vamp. She’ll be coming around here pretty often, we’re working on a project together.”
“How amusing. Fine, just don’t make too much noise; I’m in the middle of something”
“Yeah yeah, bro. See ya later” they said as they led Nar towards their room.