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First there was nothing but sound- his own voice amplified hundreds of times over recycling other people’s horrors and then-
Silence.
Thoughts trickled in slowly- his name was Jon- he was somewhere else. Jon eventually came to the realization that he once again had corporeal form- largely aided by the fact everything about said corporeal form felt like it was put through a blender.
He opened his eyes to see a cobblestone alley in front of him, lit only by a single gas lamp several feet away.
Jon said something eloquent along the lines of “euuughh”. His mouth felt off but he chalked that up to traversing dimensions.
It was only then he realized someone was missing “Martin?” he called out.
There was no answer. Perhaps he had made it to this dimension, or a different one, or to none at all. Jon got himself into a sitting position so he could properly mourn.
It was then that Jon realized he couldn’t actually cry. There seemed to not be a drop of water in his body.
Hunger was what ultimately drove him out of the alley. He almost laughed at that- it seemed he had escaped the Eye’s influence after all. Jon hadn’t felt hungry for actual food in almost a year and an apocalypse. But instead of eying the now closed pie shops and bakeries he found himself following an old man. The man hobbled with the effects of some disease- he certainly had pustules aplenty on his face- but Jon didn’t care. Some predatory aspect, the one he had just celebrated being free of, rejoiced in the fact that the man couldn’t run.
Jon balked at that and froze. Why was he looking at this man like a meal? He didn’t have a statement. Jon wasn’t looking for a statement- he wanted his blood.
He lifted his hand to his mouth only to reveal what he had suspected. Vampire . Thankfully not the type that Trevor Herbert had hunted but a monster nonetheless.
While Jon’s mind spun down another spiral of self loathing his body acted. He sank his fangs into the man’s neck and began to suck that delicious, sanguine meal from his victim’s jugular.
Jon left the body. Partially because he didn’t know what to do with it and partially because he wanted to get caught. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t be a monster again.
The alleyway was the closest thing he had to home here so he returned, curling up in the corner and blocking himself from view with a few convenient barrels. Now that his stomach was full he was distinctly aware that this was not the London he knew- not even the fear-scape London he had last seen. If he had to guess, his new dimension was London from an older, harsher age- without the Eye and only based on what he had seen he couldn’t guess when.
Eventually Jon fell asleep.
He woke to his skin burning- more specifically his non burnt hand, as if this universe wanted to scar him too. It was the only part of him exposed to the wan sunlight of dawn. Motivated by the vampire knowledge of anyone from the twenty first century, he dove into one of the nearby buildings with a desperate hope it was empty, his ears catching fire as he ran.
It was a storeroom of some sort. He suspected he was in the back of a pub if the additional barrels were anything to go by. Jon patted down his ears, clothes and hair to extinguish the flames and curled in the corner.
He didn’t want to be a monster. But… he didn’t want to die. That treacherous self preservation instinct reared up once again.
Jon felt himself missing the Eye to a degree- it was hard not knowing anything after knowing everything. Instead he wracked his brain for any vampire lore he could think of. They drank blood, couldn’t do sunlight or garlic. They turned into bats sometimes?
Jon tried to see if he could turn into a bat. It might make things easier- he’d consume less blood and wouldn’t get tossed outside as quickly. He thought bat thoughts and tried to manifest the bat energy. Arm flapping was involved.
He remained human.
Jon swore softly.
As soon as night fell Jon ran out of the room. He didn’t want to chance it. Maybe there was a place he could hide for a while? An attic perhaps? Or an abandoned apartment? Perhaps a cave? Not a cave- he was pretty sure he was still in London and there was a dearth of caves in London.
Maybe he could try to find a night job? Maybe they were hiring? He could live a normal life maybe-
“Hello Jon” A familiar voice said, making Jon’s body freeze.
“ You ” He snarled at Elias, his fists clenched.
“The one and only- as Mr. Bouchard won’t be born for another one and a half centuries.” Elias somehow still looked like he was doing well. He was dressed in a long linen shirt with a red tailcoat. His hair looked somewhat anachronistic but he had dressed for the times in a way that left Jon feeling self conscious about his own attire. “Fortunately, the name Bouchard carries some weight still- I’m afraid I might need to arrange something to gain access to more than the wealth of a name…”
Jon didn’t care to hear his newest scheme. He lunged at him like a feral dog punching with all the rage he could muster. “How are you still alive! ” he hissed, pinning him to the ground.
Elias let out a choked laugh “Alive is… debatable.”
Jon tensed. Was he a vampire too? He looked at his teeth. The canines were slightly more pointed than they used to be.
“Do you mind? These streets aren’t clean, Jon and you’ll get something on my coat. And yours though you desperately need to change.”
Jon continued to glare.
“Jon…” Elias sighed. “There’s no reason for us to fight.”
“No reason?” Jon gaped at him. The audacity.
“Yes. I arranged a ritual, you killed me. I think we’re about even as far as the scales for this go.”
Jon just stared at Elias as if he were speaking ancient sumerian.
“And I’d like to make sure people don’t start panicking about vampires. I think that would do nothing but draw unfair suspicion to others in the community.” Elias pushed Jon to the side and got to his feet.
“Of course- you want to protect your own interests.” Jon curled his lip.
“And keep innocent people from dying and having their bodies mutilated. I have no interest in unnecessary violence and hardship”
“Because it no longer feeds you?” Jon kicked a pebble.
Elias chuckled “Precisely. Ah you know me so well. Come along Jon, let me take you to my rooms. I’m blackmailing the landlady because she disposed of an old tenant’s body.”
Jon narrowed his eyes. “I thought you no longer had a connection to the Eye.”
“I don’t. But unlike you, I was alive in 1816. And unless you want to meet this universe’s equivalent of Robert Smirke and his friends I suggest you not make it easy for them to track you.”
Jon just squinted at him. 1816… it was good to have the year. “If you’re alive why don’t you just hang out with yourself. I’m sure you’d love the company.”
Elias sighed “I actually looked to see if Jonah Magnus was around in this dimension.”
“And?”
“He died a few years ago.” Elias sounded genuinely distraught at that and he swallowed so he could finish the sentence. “Disease was… much more common now than you’re used to. And medicine was much worse.”
Jon didn’t share his sentiments. “Well that probably saved this world a lot of hardship.”
Elias glared at Jon. “If you leave another uncared for body I will put you down. You are welcome to come with me or you can take your chances with the dye factory you were staying in. I don’t think vampires can get arsenic poisoning but there’s only one way to find out.”
“Why not just kill me? If I’m such a liability to whatever scheme you’re planning, just put me out of my misery!”
“Because you’re the only man left who could possibly understand why I did it.” Elias’ voice was soft. “Or even knows what the Eye is. And in this new world, where the fears haven’t quite become what they once were, it would be nice to have someone on hand who could discuss taxonomy with who isn’t Robert Smirke.”
Jon sighed. “Fine.”
The rooms were nicer than the storeroom of the pub that was actually a dye factory. There was a bed, a kitchen, and something resembling a bathroom.
Jon stared at the bed. “There’s only one”
“Well I guess we’ll have to share.” Elias was sipping blood from a wine glass. “I used syringes to remove the blood from my last victim and store it for later. Care for a glass?”
Jon looked at him in disgust and sat in the middle of the bed so Elias couldn’t take it.
“I got him from the workhouse. It’s where I used to get statement givers and victims. No one ever questions what happens in a workhouse. Even Sampson.” Jonah laughed.
Jon vaguely remembered a statement about another avatar doing that.
“Then I decapitated the corpse and tossed it in the Thames.”
“Lovely” Was this Jon’s life now?
“I am glad I can be more open with you now Jon. I actually quite enjoy your company.”
Jon glared at him. “Do you? I didn’t get that impression- what with the murder and the manipulation.”
“I did what I had to. But now that chapter of both of our lives is over. We’re creatures of the night for some reason in a world with a whole host of other unknown supernatural entities and underformed fears. It’s an age of paranormal exploration !”
Jon, despite himself, was intrigued. He still needed to know. “How do you intend to do that?”
“Perhaps start another institute.” Elias shrugged. “I quite liked the last one.”
“Without the Eye?”
“The Eye will take us both as soon as it’s able to again. Or whatever is closest to the Eye in the new taxonomy.”
Jon shook his head “No- I’m not- you can’t make me!”
“I won’t. I didn’t last time. But do you think you’ll be able to stay away?” Elias took another sip of blood.
Jon wanted to stay away. He wanted to believe he would stay away. But he knew he wouldn’t.
Elias produced a newspaper and lit a pipe. The smoke was sweeter than Jon was used to.
“You can’t have gotten all of this through blackmail and the Bouchard name” He said.
“You’re right.” Elias blew a smoke ring at the ceiling.
“How did you do it?”
“How much do you know about vampires?”
Jon remembered his earlier bat transformation attempts and looked away “Not much”
“I used to be fascinated by them as a young man- any supernatural horror caught my attention in the days before I knew about the real ones.”
“Well now vampires are real…”
“Yes, now vampires are real,” Elias sighed. “But there are a handful of consistent rules across the vampire mythos. They tend to be those whose spirits have been corrupted in some way- curses are somewhat common, as is the devil’s involvement but I sincerely doubt that’s the case here.”
“What do you think is the case?” Jon hated how easy it was for them to slip into the role of teacher and pupil once again.
“I think we came back as vampires because we were too corrupted to be human, but too living to be dead. Thus, we were brought back in a state of un-death.
“I stabbed you.” Jon pointed out.
“And how long do you think it takes someone to die after being stabbed? Especially when that someone only needs their eyes to have enough of a blood supply to stay alive?”
Jon glared. “I should have stabbed those.”
“But you didn’t. And if it’s all the same to you I’d rather you not. Now where were we?”
Jon glared but swallowed his pride. “Undeath.”
“Yes- and in this world apparently undeath is a possibility. It’s entirely likely that the End has a weaker influence here.” Elias smiled at the thought. “But the specifics of the condition-”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?” Elias asked, pretending at innocence.
“How did you get the tobacco, the glasses, the rooms, and the clothes? Where’s the money coming from?”
Elias chuckled “Well amongst the common abilities given to vampires is a bit of… hypnotism.”
Jon jumped out of bed and hurried to the side of the room by the door, his body tense with fear. Elias, with the power to override his will- this was everything he hated in one horrible package.
“Relax Jon…” Elias blew another smoke ring. “I don’t think it works on other vampires.”
“Oh…”
“I’m not the Web and I have no interest in depriving you of your free will. I brought you here for insights. So- How do you suppose we set up a new institute?”
“Why would I help you with that?”
“Because we’re planning ahead. Do you want to wager that you’ll never need a statement again?” Elias raised a brow.
“I’m not connected to the Eye anymore.”
“For now.”
Jon sighed again. He knew he was right…
They spent the rest of the night ensuring that not a ray of sunlight would be able to enter the rooms through a blend of curtain arrangement and in one instance, boarding a window with a piece of wood. Neither of them were particularly good at that.
Then Jon took the bed, only to discover that Elias had taken the other side.
“Don’t worry Jon, I have no interest in molesting you.” Elias said conversationally.
An inhuman noise escaped Jon’s mouth.
“Unless you want me to. But I’ve come to understand you don’t enjoy such things?”
Jon got up and dragged his pillow to the floor. He wasn’t sharing a bed with that.
Elias gave an evil laugh. “More for me…”
Jon felt a sneaking suspicion that Elias had planned that.
The following weeks fell into a sort of routine. Elias would hypnotize the landlady into letting them stay rent free, then order various books from a catalogue.
“I didn’t realize those were so old.” Jon commented.
“The first catalogue was produced in the mid fourteen hundreds.” Elias began before launching into the full history of the catalogue.
Jon hated that he was curious about that too. “How did you find me?” he eventually asked.
“I heard about the body and decided to see if anyone interesting was around the area. Truth be told… I had hoped it would be you.” Elias smiled at Jon
“You did?” Jon hated the slight fluttering in his stomach at the praise.
“Better you than anyone else it could have been. And as I said before- I do enjoy your company.”
Jon broke about a week into it and decided to join Elias in his evening blood drinking and smoking. He wasn’t sure which one enticed him more.
“Perhaps given more time and opportunity, we could start bottling it like wine- create vintages based on people.” Elias mused.
“Alright Hannibal Lecter” Jon rolled his eyes.
“And yet you’ve joined me.” Elias took a sip of blood. “Or perhaps combine it with wine… see what it pairs best with.”
Jon was quiet for some time. “Was it worth it?”
“Hmm?”
“The ritual. Being ‘king of a ruined world’” Jon’s voice was dripping with resentment.
Elias considered “I didn’t anticipate how little control a king truly has.”
“More like a usurper" Jon countered
Elias looked smug “Perhaps.” His voice took on a wistful quality. “But… it was nice while it lasted. I’m glad I did it. Even if it wasn’t sustainable.”
“And damned every universe.”
“Not by my or your actions. Were it not for your friends I’d be dead and you’d be king in my stead. How did you like it?”
Jon looked down. “It… was beautiful. And terrible. And the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen…”
They sat in silence again.
“Well there you have it.” Elias took a sip of blood.
Jon took a sip himself. A toast to the yearning he didn’t want to admit.
It turned out that creating an institute was remarkably easy when Elias was able to hypnotize people into giving him money. He set it up in Lambeth, just across the river from the reconstruction of Millbank. From the river bank they could see the surveyors looking at plans.
“Without the fears or my influence that’s just going to be an ordinary prison isn’t it.” Elias sighed as he tossed a bit of bread down for the ducks.
“Probably” The concept seemed utterly foreign to Jon.
“No more panopticon… it’s a good thing this body won’t age.”
“It can still be killed.”
“Your body won’t age either Jon. And it pays to have some company when you live longer than most people.”
“You didn’t exactly have a lot of friends before, Elias.” Jon pointed out.
“That’s why I know the value of them. Loneliness becomes a way of life- you don’t even realize how deep you are until there’s no way of getting out.”
Jon was quiet. “How do you even stay sane? With all that time?”
“You find things to do.” Elias gave Jon some bread before tossing the rest of his off for the ducks.
“Like a ritual?” Jon crossed his arms.
“I never had any ill will towards you. In fact I was quite proud of you.”
“You were? Even when I stabbed you?” Jon’s heart fluttered at the concept that Elias could be proud of him.
“Even then I understood. Couldn’t say I was proud… ”
Jon laughed, startling himself.
Elias smiled back at him. There was respect in his eyes.
“What’s your plan now?” Jon asked. He tossed some bread over before the ducks left.
“For what?”
“You said immortality was about staying busy. You have the institute. What now?”
“Learn about the fears. Try to gain the Eye’s favor again.”
Jon didn’t know how he felt about that.
Once the institute was established they spent every night reading statements that were dropped off during the day and theorizing. It was a comfortable sort of domesticity, not that Jon would admit it.
“We have two stranger, one Vast, three web, a spiral, two lonely’s and quite a few that are some combination of fears.” Jon flipped through their statement supply. It felt good to be back. He told himself it was the thrill of the mundane but he knew better.
“But none for the End yet” Jonah noted then chuckled. “How easy it is to assign our old categorizations to a new world of fear.”
“It’s just a working theory- no categorization can truly capture all that is the fears. As for the End… maybe the Web did something.” Jon reached for a statement.
Elias looked at him with an almost prurient sort of interest.
“What?” Jon asked
“Do you want to read one?”
“I already have - how do you think I know what they’re about?” Jon froze. He was reading statements again. Working at the Magnus institute… He could feel himself tense, his breath coming out fast and shallow.
“What is it Jon?” Elias stood up and walked over to him, putting a hand on his back.
“I’m back- working for you… just like how it was.”
“Not quite. I’m not planning a ritual, Jon.”
“I’m… I need some air” Jon ran away.
“Come back before dawn” Elias called after him.
Jon walked to where his old flat was. To his old primary school. Nothing was where it should be- nothing was where it was before. Except him. He was right back to working with his evil boss.
And the worst part was, he didn’t even mind. He didn’t have anywhere else to go and he liked the statements.
The horror of the realization set in. As well as the fact that he Knew that Elias was currently taking a bath and thinking about doing absolutely obscene things to him while Jon was trapped reading a statement.
Once again Jon was reminded that vampires couldn’t cry.
The horror settled back to a typical level. The part of Jon that wanted to dig himself even deeper into a hole wanted to read more statements. And that part kept winning.
Elias would look at Jon whenever he thought Jon wasn’t noticing.
Eventually Jon couldn’t take it anymore. It was when he had just finished a lonely statement and Elias was looking at him as if he were a piece of pornography.
“Do you think I don’t Know what you’re thinking!” Jon snapped
Elias feigned ignorance “I’m afraid I don’t-”
Jon threw a pen at him.
“That’s unprofessional.” Elias commented
“So is thinking about fucking me!”
Elias’ eyes went wide and he let out a choking noise. “You know what I’m-”
Jon decided to backtrack, “I mean-”
“You’re the Eye’s again?” Elias’ mouth twisted into a proud smile.
Jon tensed “No- maybe-”
“Oh Jon…” Elias stepped towards him.
Jon stepped away.
Elias turned around. “I only meant to offer you comfort. I know how hard this must be for you.”
“You know or you Know .”
Elias smirked. “Both.”
So they were both the Eye’s again. Freedom hadn’t lasted long- perhaps they had both been denied it so long it was safer to return to the confines of what they knew.
Elias hadn’t acted on his thoughts which Jon appreciated. He was the consummate professional for the following weeks, organizing statements, generating theories, and getting them both blood.
Jon hated how much he depended on Elias. But not as much as he hated himself for everything he had done here.
Eventually Elias figured out how to mix blood with wine, something Jon enthusiastically took him up on. The blood complimented an earthy red the best they both decided after some trial and error.
Said trial and error was equivalent to about two bottles of wine apiece.
“And I said- I said to him- ye should ditch the church designs.” Elias slurred drunkenly. “No one- church doesn’... it’s about the fear- ”
Jon blinked “So- you designed the panopt-panipta- the eye tower”
“He thought about it first. But- but I brought it back. Because…because it should be there.” Elias gave a wild gesticulation that almost knocked over the bottle of white they experimented with.
“Should it?”
“I dunno, we both liked it. I saw you.”
“It wasn’ me?” Jon lied
“Was though. Ident’y’s fluid. People change. Sometimes into avatars. Who like being pupil”
“We’re too drunk for this” Jon said, setting his glass down.
Elias shook his head. “‘M not drunk.” He stroked Jon’s hair as if petting a cat.
“Yer drunk”
“Mmmm….” Elias mumbled before pulling Jon into a kiss.
Jon thought about pulling away. He knew he should have. But instead he returned the kiss, matching Elias’ drunken enthusiasm.
They woke up the next night in Elias’ bed.
“You planned this” Jon accused.
“No? I didn’t realize vampires could get drunk” Elias stumbled out of bed to vomit a large puddle of red liquid onto the street below.
Jon was tempted to do the same. “So your eyeing me like a slice of meat for the last few months…”
“Incidental. I don’t coerce or manipulate people into bed with me- I’m not desperate.”
“Well, it never happened.”
“You can pretend that if you want. It will only make it fester.”
“No it won’t.”
It did. Jon found himself curled up with Elias a week later.
“I hate you.”
“At this point I genuinely doubt it.”
Jon sighed “I wish I did.”
“ That I believe.”
It became part of their routine. They’d wake up together, research and read statements, discuss it over blood and tobacco and then go back to bed.
“Do you still hate me?” Elias asked one night over their wine.
“I don’t know. A part of me will never forgive you for what you did. Do you hate me?”
“No. But I am a bit afraid of you” Elias laughed. “Getting stabbed will do that to a man.”
“Do you love me?” Jon asked, curious about the answer.
That made Elias pause. “Not in the way that the poets write about- I doubt I could ever feel such a thing. You’re a comfort and I enjoy your presence in my undeath.”
Jon nodded. “I think… I feel similarly.” he leaned back against Elias. It was nice to have someone to share his time with.