Chapter Text
Sometimes Tyler was still getting used to being a vampire. He'd been one for decades but he'd still catch himself about to leave the house without any protection from the sun or freak himself out when he walked past a mirror. One time he'd had to replace his deeply cracked phone screen when he absentmindedly went past a mirror in front of a store and scared himself into dropping his phone. Tyler had never been so embarrassed.
Sleep was weird too. He was for the most part nocturnal but his insomnia stayed with him even after he'd been turned. It meant that while he never slept at night he was sometimes up in the day too until he'd conk out in the middle of the afternoon and sleep in through the evening. Some of his friends had started becoming suspicious as to why he was never available at that time until he got his job at the haunted house where he usually only worked nights and so had an excuse to sleep through his days.
To most people the fact that Tyler worked at such a place seemed strange. Is that all you want to do with your life? they'd ask without realising that he'd had too many careers for a lifetime, Tyler was content with a job that gave him a reason to get out his apartment. The temptation and irony of the fact that he'd be pretending to be a vampire while actually being one was also something he couldn't pass up. He giggled for the rest of the night when he'd found the job advert in the first place.
The hardest part was getting blood however. He could still eat food but it was like a human drinking nothing but water, it wasn't enough. Tyler had had to find a nurse who could sneak him packs of blood from the nearby hospital once he'd cut himself off of getting it straight from the source. Sometimes he felt sick when he thought about it too much. It turned out that some nurses had underground businesses where they'd supply vampires with blood for cash, at least Tyler knew what it was like to have a drug dealer. It was awkward to say in the least.
There was a buzz from Tyler's phone and he paused the game he was currently playing to check it. Mobile phones were still such a weird concept to Tyler, he could remember when landline phones started becoming popular. How revolutionary and exciting it seemed at the time.
brendon: HEY U GOTTA COME IN TOMORROW
Tyler frowned. Tomorrow was his only day off, not that he was actually going to do anything. But still.
you: can't you get someone else to take whoever's shift you're trying to fill?
brendon: nah we getting a new employee, we all decided u have to help him thru his induction shift lmfao
There was a strangled groan from Tyler, he'd completely forgotten they had hired someone recently. Their attraction usually got more popular around Halloween so it was common for new people to be brought on to help the staff.
you: only if i'm getting paid time and a half at least
There was a couple of minutes of silence from his coworker until a reply came through.
brendon: apparently ur getting paid double time u lucky asshole
you: :D
brendon: shut up unironic smiley face usage ass up joseph
Tyler could only grin at Brendon's message, feeling his incisors start to show, before he picked the controller back up and went back to his game.
-
There was a yawn from Tyler as he parked in the staff parking and got out of his car. He patted it before locking the doors and nearly running straight into Brendon.
"Damn it, you came."
Tyler laughed sleepily, "I know how much you wanted the double time man, sorry."
"Are you though?" Brendon asked.
"Not really," he beamed at his coworker only to further annoy him.
"You even have the fangs in and everything, your dedication to your vampire role outshines us all Joseph." Brendon slapped him on the back before Tyler could respond and started making his way to his own car. He self-consciously tapped one of his teeth with a finger. He could keep them in if he wanted but it irritated his gums most of the time and today had not been an exception.
Passing the visitor car park he made his way around the back to the staff room, it was a reasonably sized demountable building in a clearing near the main house. Tyler was personally glad for it, the attraction creeped him out sometimes. During this time of the year the house was vamped up even more than usual and the morbid atmosphere only got more intense, he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the decent pay and the fact that he could hide in plain sight as himself.
Tyler pulled the cape from his costume across his front from habit as he approached the door of the demountable and entered. God, the building really needed better lighting.
Sitting at the small table in the kitchenette was a brown haired guy who was, in Tyler's humble opinion, ridiculously attractive. He looked nervous however, casting anxious glanced around the empty room before his eyes landed on Tyler.
"Are you supposed to be the new employee?" Tyler said as he walked towards the table. The guy had dark irises in his eyes that unnerved him, almost seeming larger than normal.
"Uh, yeah. You're a vampire I'm assuming. I'm Josh." He held out his hand for Tyler to shake, he felt blessed that Josh had held out his tattooed arm.
He took Josh's hand. "Nice, I'm Tyler. I'm supposed to help you with your induction. You might want to put on a jacket, it's cold out there." Honestly, Tyler wouldn't have known if he hadn't seen Brendon decked out in a large scarf and overcoat. He was usually cold no matter the temperature, Tyler had had a few years to get used to it.
"Ok, cool." Josh grinned, bearing his teeth before grabbing the jacket he'd left on the chair next to him but he didn't put it on. Suit yourself then.
"Before we leave though I'm probably meant to tell you that this is obviously the staff room. Label any and all food you leave in the fridge and I apologise in advanced for when Brendon inevitably eats it anyway."
Josh raised his brow in amused confusion, "thanks?" he said.
"You're very welcome now let's roll."
Tyler took him around to the front of the house where a long line had already been formed despite the fact that it wasn't even dark yet, the sun had only just started setting. It was way too early for him to be awake as he tried to stifle a yawn.
"Alright so this is the line up area, you'll probably get a few shifts here. Mostly you'll just be letting people in as groups and making sure no one's drinking or doing anything dumb." Josh sent Tyler a look. "It happens, especially when teenage boys decide they wanna do it shit-faced."
They walked past the lines and into the lobby. Tyler hated working in here, it was such an eerie room. It was set up in a Victorian-era Gothic theme with lit candelabras everywhere, a safety hazard that he had pointed out many times despite no one listening, and a horrifically gorey skeleton on the ceiling with it's flesh pulled apart and tacked to the wall like a sadistic kid might do during a biology dissection. It's guts hung low, threatening to brush the top of guests' heads.
"Ignore that," Tyler said as he gestured to the ceiling.
"Kinda hard to."
"Welcome to your new job." He didn't mean to sound bitter but it came out like that anyway, Tyler just wanted to be in bed.
"We'll come back here later just so I can help you learn how to use the register but I'll show you around the house if you want." Tyler bumped his fist with the attendant at the entrance and they entered.
"Uh, is this part of the induction?" Josh sounded nervous and grabbed onto Tyler's shoulders.
"It's not but if it's too much just say so, there's exits everywhere man."
Tyler had been through a million times by now. He knew where everyone was posted and which routes were the scariest, Tyler was usually upstairs in the dining room during his shifts.
He warned Josh before the worst of the jump scares and went around bumping fists with his coworkers when they recognised him before he quickly introduced the new employee and moving on. The grip on Tyler's shoulder tightened despite how calm Josh tried to be.
"Hey so what do you wanna do more? The zombie area in the back of the house or do you wanna go upstairs and see the vampires and cannibals?" Tyler was grinning, these tours were more fun when you knew what went on behind the scenes.
"Oh man, what a tough choice."
"Zombies it is then," Tyler led him down a corridor on the right after warning him of the six armed lady that jumped out down the end.
That part of the house was the one that Tyler considered the least scary, no one actually did anything except try to get as close to you as possible however if you tried to run they'd start sprinting. A lot of the employees had a weekly betting pool about which one could scare the most people into running away. Haley always won.
"Hey Joseph!" It was Joe, one of the zombies. He always tried to dress as weirdly as possible when in costume, countering every complaint with 'well no one gets to choose what they're wearing when they're bitten' and so for the past month had been wearing a nuns outfit. He was, to no one's surprise, losing the betting pool terribly.
"What's up man, this is Josh. New guy." Joe raised his knuckles for Josh to bump with his own, he wasn't going to question why everyone single person they'd come across had done this.
"Shit, nice to meet you dude."
Josh was about to respond when they heard a scream from behind them.
"Better go before they run into us," Tyler said as he waved Joe goodbye.
They found an exit soon after that and Tyler led them back to the lobby where it had gotten much more crowded. Josh was then taken behind the register so that he could practice while Tyler stood behind him baring his fangs at guests and telling Josh everything he could about the place.
"Hey, since employees are meant to dress up did Pete ever tell you what you were meant to do?"
Josh didn't turn around as he stamped the hands of a couple of girls. "Uh, werewolf I think."
Tyler nodded in response before he realised Josh wasn't facing him.
"You think you got the rest of your shift handled? I think you finish at like ten and then you just gotta sign off on the roster in the staff room." Tyler was itching to get home and sleep. He didn't want to admit that he hadn't eaten in a few days and there were too many people in the room for him to handle right now.
"What? Oh, yeah. I'll be alright," Josh grinned behind him and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks man."
"Glad to have you here." It sounded awkward and forced but Tyler couldn't stay any longer to correct it.
He made himself retract his incisors as he hurried out through the back. He didn't trust himself sometimes.