Chapter Text
The warm glow of a lantern casts shadows across the wooden desk, otherwise the space is cloaked within darkness. Cleo can hear the quiet of the night, night birds singing their tune.
“Mother, I finally understand. It's like the world is coming to sharp focus and I can see what it really is for the first time.
You didn't have to lie to me. Although I guess I understand how easy the lies are once you've been turned.
I would've done anything that you wanted. I would've walked through fire for you, and I think part of me still would,
and I hate you for that.
The monster that rose from the dead is nothing compared to the one that still lives in my heart.
All my love forever, Cleo.”
Cleo sets down the pen. She reaches for a simple white envelope and slips the piece of paper in, sealing it shut with melted wax. She writes an address, regardless of the fact it'll never be sent.
She tucks the letter away amidst her belongings, between a journal and a spare set of clothes. She stands up, blowing out the flame in the lamp. Using it is more of a habit than a need.
The vampire walks to the beds, taking off the top layers of her dress and crawling into the one beside Pearl’s. It's a far cry from a real bed, but as days pass in the rough wilderness, the wool blanket begins feeling like heaven.
-
Apo sits at the table in her sleeping garments, the candle she lit had extinguished hours ago. She's left sitting in a dark room that she can see too clearly. Even the torches on the walls had gone out.
Her eyes drag over to the beacon, a buttery color that's supposed to bring warmth to her heart. Instead she feels nauseous, weak.
A steak sits in front of her on a plate, cooked, but no longer warm. She's tried a few bites, after all Mr. M had cooked it for her after noticing her lack of appetite. Apo barely swallowed a few bits down, a bile gathering in her throat. The redhead’s vision swims.
With a groan Apo holds her head in her hands, staring at the well seasoned steak. “This is truly pathetic” she muses with a scoff that verges on both amusement and despair. Apo must be going crazy because the steak looks almost like it's mocking her.
As time ticks by, she picks up the plate and dumps the steak in a makeshift trashbin. Apo stumbles to bed, vision hazy and stomach growling.
-
The waters are peaceful, a slight shifting in the tides that creates a string of monotonous sounds as waves hit the beach.
Owen finds himself by the hole he'd dug himself in for two hundred years, yet he isn't sure why he's come back.
It's just.. easier to remember, reminiscing Louis. All the time he had laid there just thinking about him and yet It feels as if he's beginning to forget. First to disappear was the sound of his voice, then his touch, most recently the look in his eyes. Even vampires forget one day. It is torturous to remember, and still he hates the fleeting of the memories.
Owen lies down, looking up at the sky, examining the stars he has not names for. It feels wrong without him. Owen's been given a new chance at life and he isn't even here.
For a while the lumberjack thought that he could have an actual family for the first time in his life, but it's quite clear many here don't appreciate belonging to it.
Owen closes his eyes, the frogs’ croaking lulling him into a fitful sleep.
-
The moon gleams red, like it has for many days on end by now. On the edge of the broken down grand bridge are two furry bats. One's dark brown, a tad bit taller than the reddish one next to it. “Do you think sire is right, that being a vampire is for the better?” Pyro asks in the quiet, the answer should be obvious, of course not, they're monsters. Beings with urges to do horrible unimaginable things.
Shelby is quiet for a while, her gaze shifting from the crimson moon to the other vampire in the passing moment. “Well, it can't be that bad. Scott's been a vampire for hundreds of years and he doesn't regret it." That's a fairly good point he supposes. " Owen doesn't seem very happy.” Pyro retorts. “Then again, maybe it depends on what you make of it."
She inches closer to pyro. “Not like we can really go back now, scott said there's no cure, no matter what the humans say " at her reminder he lets out a frustrated chirp. “Sire’s often lacking honesty, how can we take his word for it?”
Shelby shifts, unsure. “Scott.. doesn't want to hurt us. We're his friends, his family." And that earns her a huff. "I certainly haven't had many, but I'm quite sure this isn't kinship.” neither of them want to argue, so they don't. Choosing the simple comfort of existing near the other. “Shelby, do you think we'll make it out of here?”
That question is followed by a long silence. Pyro turns towards shelby to ask again, but sees the other bat fast asleep. It had been a long day, shelby being quite freaked out over the new humans versus vampires status quo.
He sighs, extending a wing and enclosing it around Shelby, his fledgling.
not like moving somewhere else to sleep is really worth it. The castle is still in the beginning stages, being built up brick by brick. Honestly a miracle with how fast it's getting done, none of them are exactly acquainted with the area of expertise.
Just a manor lord, a scholar, a cryptic seeker and a lumberjack doing their best to build a grand palace. It almost makes him chuckle, hmm maybe they should've been less ambitious .
Casting his gaze up at the night sky, Pyro smiles, the big dipper is visible tonight.
He drifts away under the cloudless night sky, stars shining with a red tint.