Chapter Text
Everything had been going swimmingly so far. Scott and Owen were close to acquiring human children. Their neighbors, Martyn and Cleo, had been suspicious for a while about them being vampires — and so had most of the other villagers. They hadn’t had much to feed on, but with children… well, they could just feed on them one by one. And when people asked too many questions, all they had to say was that the kids went missing and pay to keep it quiet. Money wasn’t an issue for them anyway.
It was finally the day — fittingly, Friday the 13th. Scott was picking up his “lunch” for the next few months: the kids he was adopting. He opted for four. He didn’t know much about them; he had barely skimmed the papers. He knew he was adopting a 15-year-old girl named Shelby, two 16-year-olds named Apo and Pyro, and a 17-year-old named Avid.
He was sitting in his car, knowing that turning up in his carriage might raise a few questions. He only used the carriage when humans weren’t around. Soon, he reached the pick-up spot and parked. As he got out, his coat swept around him like smoke — but how else would one dress if they had a flair like Scott’s?
He walked into the adoption center, paperwork in hand, and approached the front desk. After talking to the receptionist, he was shown to a room where the four teens sat.
A girl, whose nametag read “Shelby,” looked up at him with excitement, while the others looked on with a sense of weariness. Scott sat on a chair opposite them.
“Hello. I’m Scott, and I will be adopting you all today,” he said.
The oldest, whose nametag read “Avid,” looked at Scott with suspicion.
“That sounds like something a vampire would say.”
Everyone else rolled their eyes. The receptionist chuckled, though it was clear it was the type of chuckle that meant, Oh God, just please get these children away from me. Which, if Scott had heard one, was a promising start.
“He’s become obsessed with the idea of vampires existing,” the receptionist told Scott.
Scott just nodded and chuckled a bit. “Vampires, eh? Well, I’ve never seen one… and I’ve seen lots of things,” he said, careful not to let them know the truth — at least, not yet.
Avid sent him another suspicious glare. “Sounds like something a vampire would say.”
What Scott hadn’t realized was that Shelby had sat at his feet, trying to see what his shoe size was.
“Oh, um… hello there,” he said, unsure what to say.
Shelby just noted something down in a small pocket notebook.
“Nope. Not Bigfoot,” she muttered to herself as she stood back up.
Scott composed himself for a moment before speaking again. “My car’s outside.”
His car was a black 1971 Volkswagen Beetle — nice, sleek, not something these humans had ever seen. Scott just put their bags in the boot and slid into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll drive off if you don’t get in soon,” he said, turning the car on.
The teens scrambled inside. Avid sat up front, while the other three squished into the back.
“Seatbelts on,” Scott said, glancing through the rearview mirror. He didn’t need any of the teens dying… yet.
Avid glanced in the rearview mirror and froze. He couldn’t see Scott. Sure, the angle wasn’t perfect, but he should’ve been able to see something! Scott’s blue hair, or at least the edge of his coat. But there was nothing.
“I knew it! You’re a vampire!” Avid shouted, reaching for the car door.
Scott’s hand shot out, pressing the lock button. All the doors clicked. Central locking. Installed for situations exactly like this.
“Really?” Scott said, raising an eyebrow and leaning back in his seat with a smirk. “A vampire? That’s quite the accusation, Avid. You’ve been reading too many fairy tales”
Pyro and Apo exchanged wary glances.
“I—no, I saw—” Avid began, but Scott interrupted, waving a hand like he was dismissing a pesky fly.
“Look, I promise you’re imagining things. Maybe it’s the angle, the lighting, the trauma of being adopted by a highly fashionable human with impeccable taste. Nothing vampiric here. I assure you.”
Shelby, sitting in the back, looked up at him. “Really?” she asked.
Scott smiled. “Really. Absolutely. Now, seatbelts, everyone”
The drive home was quiet. Scott had expected children to be loud and irritating, but these ones just sat in silence. He’d expected to want to murder them all the second he saw them — but no. He didn’t.
Maybe they were growing on him.
Growing on him like a fungus infecting the mind.
But he couldn’t get attached. They were his food at the end of the day.
When they arrived home, Scott caught sight of Martyn and Cleo watching from their window overlooking his driveway. He looked up at them briefly but didn’t acknowledge them. What were they going to do? Put a stake through his heart?
Humans were laughable at times.
He opened the front door and stepped inside, the four teens following close behind.
“Welcome home,” Scott said as he grabbed a glass of dark red liquid from the counter.
Avid frowned. “Is that blood?!”
Scott looked at him, deadpan. While Avid was correct, Scott couldn’t exactly admit it.
“No. It’s grape juice. Thick grape juice. With… iron supplements.”
Shelby wandered off, inspecting the decor with wide eyes. “Ohhhh,” she breathed, staring at a particularly vampiric-looking chair.
Owen came down the stairs just as Avid grabbed Shelby’s hand, pulling her behind him and stepping protectively in front of the others.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Scott sighed, glancing at Owen before turning back to the kids. “This is my… roommate.”
“They were roommates,” Shelby muttered under her breath.
Scott shot her a glare — he’d clearly caught the implication.
Owen just grabbed a cup of “thick grape juice” and took a sip.
This was going to be an… interesting few weeks, that was for sure