Rating: Teen Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Fandom: A Vampire's Secret , Original Work

Relationships: Major & Shrub Grace , Av Emsie & Shrub Grace , John Firesword & Shrub Grace , Av Emsie/Major

Characters: Shrub Grace (Original Character) , Major (Original Character) , Av Emsie (Original Character) , John Firesword (Original Character), Mentioned Owain (Original Character)

Additional Tags: Vampires , Original Characters , A Vampire's Secret Original Characters , Character Study , Jealousy , Stake , Blood & Injury , Symbolism , Hurt No Comfort , Major Character Death , Grief & Loss , shrub is just reminiscing its fine haha , definitely not taken from the authors own experiences , nope definitely not

Language: English

Series: ← Previous Work [] Part 28 of We'll be fine even though we just might cross the line - A Vampire's Secret AU

Collections: Shelby's Fav Fics

Stats: Published 2026-03-20 Updated: 2026-03-20 Words: 1,457 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 2 Kudos: 5 Hits: 29

a whisper in the dark, ignites a hunger in my heart

ShelbyShubble

Summary:

Shrub stared at the portrait hanging solidly on the wall—a portrait of her and her Family Coven. The criss-cross of cracks in the glass make them think of happier times… And how those times got shattered.

Notes:

hihihihi! this 1 took a long time to write. it ended up drawing on a lot of my own experiences a lot more than i meant to haha xD i actually wrote this when i was back home at the anniversary of the events that inspried this. it was really hard 2 write tbh. writing this sat at his grave was weird haha. im still not entirely over it.

anyway!!! i hope u like it, i kinda 4got to include the actual canon characters in this part tbh, oopsies! theyll be back in the next part i promise ^.^ that parts gonna be bout shrub, major and infinity leaving pineheart and how shrub starts feeling better about their time there. itll be back 2 my usual multi pov style. i just wanted to keep this 1 about shrub and her story for pacing cuase it didnt work mixing the 2 stories together, it felt important 2 keep this just shrubs pov ^.^

anyway thank u every1 for ur support on my series, ive loved makign these ocs and adding them to the story <3 were almsot at the part where the stories start to intersect!

Shrub stared at the portrait on the wall. It was a portrait of her and her Family Coven. Major sat in the centre, on a throne. A wide grin on his face. His slightly curled, white hair was tied back, and he looked in control. That was how Major always liked to be. At the centre of everything, in control. At his right shoulder, was John. Seemingly hanging on his every word, with the way they were all but gripping tightly onto the throne's arm. His floppy white hair fell just below his red eyes, and he was looking at the viewer in a cold, calculating manner. They had a grin on their face that showed to whoever was staring at the portrait that they were happy here. He knew he had power here, second only to Major. Just behind the throne was a long-haired vampire, Owain. He lurked, apart from the group. He was always apart from the group, always decidedly doing his own thing. The way the shadow fell on his face reflected that.

And then, to the left of the throne, was Shrub herself. They at on the arm of it, beaming excitedly, a tiara with blood red jewels encrusted on it perched on top of their head. Major had given it to her, he was nice like that. This was her, and her family. Not a family they'd been born into, well… Not a traditional birth, at least. A family by blood, forged from sharing blood between each other. As was the way with vampires. Shrub was happy in her family. They cared for her, and she cared for them. She was so, so happy here.

At least… That's what she had to keep telling herself.

As Shrub looked at the portrait a little more, they could see some cracks in the glass protecting it. Large cracks running along from John's shoulder, past Owain, splitting both of them off from the other two. And a crack between Major and Shrub, leaving Shrub alone.

And as much as Shrub tried to tell herself it wasn't her fault, she knew that it was one action of hers that had caused these cracks to form.

Av had asked Shrub to be Turned. They wanted to do something good by turning him. He'd begged her, said it was the only thing that could save him. Shrub wanted to do it as painlessly as possible, so she dragged her fingers through Av's back. The tearing of skin satisfied the bloodthirsty urge that had been growing in them for a while. And Av died.

And then, he came back.

And that's when the first crack had formed.

Major never liked Av as a human. He loved to toy and play with him, loved to show him just why he should be afraid of vampires. So Shrub sort of expected her to be outcast by Major for turning Av. Her and Av had been friends as humans, Av the only one to listen to her bigfoot ramblings. And when Shrub had been turned, Av was the only Human to keep seeing Shrub as… Well. An actual person, as opposed to a monster. But despite this, Major still didn't like Av much. So Shrub expected their turning Av to be a vampire would cause a rift. What she didn't expect, was Major then focusing all of his attention onto Av. Shrub was happy! Happy that their family had gotten bigger. That more people had been added to the family.

So why did she feel so upset that Major was focusing all his attention onto Av? She tried to be happy that Av was so accepted. Major still loved her… Didn't he? She had no reason to think he didn't still love her. But he was a lot more distant now, focusing more on Av than Shrub. That was okay. They weren't entitled to all of Major's love and attention. Not in the slightest! She could share. It was just the way that Major now would ask for Av's opinion, as opposed to her. But, these were stilly thoughts. They were still a Coven, still a Family! Despite the Humans getting in the way, despite Av… Not replacing her, she wasn't replaced, more… Filling a similar role in the coven to her! Despite that, they were still a Family.

Shrub tried to ask John about these feelings. But John clearly didn't like Av. Not in the slightest. Shrub had noticed him getting more withdrawn for the last few days since Av's joining the coven. And despite the bond Shrub and John had, being the first two Fledglings, John being Shrub's sire… John wouldn't talk to Shrub. So they sat alone in their room. Listening to John and Owain's plotting and planning and rambles. They tried not to listen to the way words like 'Kill', 'Stake' and 'Av' came up frequently, putting their pillow over their ears to stop the words drifting in. It felt like another crack in the portrait was starting to form, and Shrub didn't like it one bit. Shrub wished they'd said something to Major about what she'd overheard. Before the crack became unbearably large. Before-

Av was… Av was gone.

Av was gone, and it was John and Owain who had shoved the stake in. It wasn't a Human who did that. It wasn't someone who hated Av for what he was. It was part of the Coven who had killed Av. Killed one of their own. Shrub wasn't sure how she felt. On the one hand… She wanted to cry, to sob blood red tears into her pillows until the white was stained red.

On the other, they felt rage.

It was the kind of rage that most vampires felt. She was upset, angry even, at what John had done. Of course she was! That was her friend, her family member. And they'd killed him. It wasn't even an accident, not that that would have made it any better. Shrub was angry. Av was the only one to listen to her, both as a human and a vampire. And she couldn't just sit here, sobbing into her pillow every night, living with this grief.

She needed to do something.

The stake Shrub pushed into John's chest didn't help much. As John turned to dust, Shrub cried.

That night, when they got home, Shrub cried even more.

Av was gone, and now so was John. And Shrub didn't feel any better. By all accounts, she should! The source of that rage was gone. John was gone, and Owain was outcast from the coven—in fact, he'd never really been a part of the core coven, he wasn't really a part of them, he was always someone Other, someone outside the coven! And yet… Major still spent all his time thinking about Av. Major had changed since Av's death. He wasn't the same cruel person that Shrub had been roommates with, in another life.

Major loved Av. A lot more than he loved anyone else, including Shrub. And it was because of Av's death that he was becoming a better person, actually agreeing to work with the Humans when Cleo had suggested it. But something felt Wrong to Shrub. This… This wasn't Major. This was… Someone else. Shrub didn't know how to respond to this new, kinder Major. If anything, it was just a clear sign that Major loved Av, more than he ever loved Shrub.

It was jealousy, Shrub realised, that they were feeling. Av's death turned Major into a kinder person, someone who would work with the Humans, and Traitors without a second thought, without any underlying manipulation, in order to help everyone get their way. Why had it been Av to turn Major into a nicer person? Shrub had tried so hard to be nice to Major, to show him that they could be friends to Humans. But she'd just been met with stakes left in chests, her house being burned down. She was angry, and this was why. They'd tried so hard to be someone kind, to help both the Coven and Humans see that maybe, just maybe, they could work together. But… No. Apparently not. Apparently, it was Av, whom the town and Coven hated, who could change things.

The glass on the portrait, now that Shrub thoroughly looked at it, was extremely cracked. The glass shattered in so many different places. Maybe it had been from the start. Maybe this family, this coven… It wasn't ever meant to be.

Shrub wished things could have been different. That the smiles on all of their faces could have stayed, immortalised in life, not just on canvas. But that's never really how life is, is it?

Notes:

im sorry, pyro. i miss u, avid. i wish things could have been different. but they werent. i hope u both found peace wherever u are now <3

Sgoldsmith1995 , InfiniteDrift , AbolishRegret and 2 guests left kudos on this work!

Comments:

InfiniteDrift

Omg so this is what you were up to when you were at Avid's grave!! Shelby this was written SO well omg!! I cried ;-;

ShelbyShubble

hehe thank u ^.^ me 2