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Pyro was hungry. No- scratch that- Pyro was starving. When Scott had said they’d get used to the hunger, to the pain, they’d thought he’d meant- like- he didn’t know, a couple hours? How was he to know about the inner mechanisms of vampires?
Actually, that would be an incredible topic for his thesis—or it should’ve been a highlight somewhere within it—if he could actually sit down and write it. The last week or so had not exactly been the right time to put pen to paper, Pyro’s poor hands put to work instead in the means of logging, farming, and.. weaponry apparently? Obviously, tools were well needed in wilderness such as this. He’d made sure to take somewhat adequate equipment for the journey here, but the first hint of silvery armor laid across brazen shoulders had been a surprise. Or maybe it hadn’t, at least it shouldn’t have been one, since the undead seemed to plague this land like flies on a sweet drink.
He missed that part, at least, of living in the capital. Drinks that looked and tasted good, and not water that looked and tasted like- well- like dirt really. Even though the Doctor and Cleo both claimed it was fine. And the food too-
The pang in Pyro’s stomach almost sent him into the nearest tree trunk. He hunched there for a moment, face screwed shut as invisible claws raked down his abdomen. The pain. Compared to the way hunger felt after multiple all-nighters and skipping meals to study, this was somehow even worse. And it had only been a day, god, how had Scott kept himself so composed when he arrived? So many people to drink from, so many options. Everybody was so disorganized in the beginning too, it would’ve been so easy to pull one person aside and just- poof.
Maybe that’s what Avid saw in Scott. Pyro grimaced. Without a good explanation the accusation of murdering Shelby had been incredibly weak, but, knowing Scott now? It could’ve been done so easily. Even though he probably wouldn’t; Shelby and Scott seemed to have now become proper roommates.
You didn’t think he would kill you. And yet…
But that was besides the point. Point being: Scott was dangerous. …So maybe it actually was part of the point then. Scott hadn’t even done much to Pyro—besides the whole turning thing but whatever—but the man was weird. The deadly pallor, and the blue hair, the clothes and the way he held himself. Maybe he reminded Pyro too much of the nobles that had walked through their life before, but those nobles didn’t hold a candle to the vampiric manor lord. Even in the wind and rain he glided, like the weather had just made a unanimous decision not to mess with him. It was weird. It was unsettling. And he kept staring at Pyro from behind that skull mask like- like-
Like they were his prey all over again. The same smile, the same teeth now bared, but friendly enough instead of dug deep into his neck-
But he was fine now! The scar under his collar had barely closed and felt like it was dragging on each individual thread but he had more pressing issues! Like this hunger. He could not keep going out hunting alone, that was that. Half of the town was already suspicious of vampires. And the rest of the town had already started the beginnings of animal pens! Two more pigs just for him and Apo couldn’t hurt…
—
Pyro had never wanted a midnight snack more in his life. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon within the town’s presence, stumbling through Avid’s little house contest and trying not to let the hunger show on his face.
It had continued into the night and now the moon sat high in the sky and he hadn’t been able to get any more food since earlier and he was, frankly, going to starve. To death. Or undeath or whatever was waiting for him, he honestly didn’t know at this point. Did vampires believe in an afterlife? Silly question, as they weren’t a monolith, but just generally? That would be a good question to ask. Or could they believe in one even? Did the unholiness of their being physically stop them from being able to comprehend religion? Hmm, maybe that one was a bit too far fetched. But the whole thing with crucifixes and being unable to… what was it? Unable to touch them? Because it burned, or for some other reason? They’d have to watch out for that, maybe.
At this point all Pyro knew about vampires was that he knew nothing about vampires. And he should probably fix that soon, that would be a good idea.
Speaking of crucifixes. There was Abolish. The town was quieter than normal now, the wind whipping through tall grasses and the creak of loosely placed boards the only noise within the walls. Abolish, as well, did not make a sound as he moved to join Pyro, despite the obvious jangle that should have come from the dangling silver cross on his ear.
He and Pyro had dispersed from the already dwindling house competition party, and it seemed everyone else had dispersed from the town itself. Ah; that would explain the quietness then.
“Everyone’s gone,” Pyro offered awkwardly into the wind. It buffeted around Abolish’s dark form though the man himself stayed unruffled. It was odd. The longer Pyro watched Abolish the more he noticed how- it- he wasn’t bland, that would be rude, and also untrue because Abolish wasn’t bland. He was a butler or.. something, it would make sense that he would fall so easily into the background. That he would be so often blank faced. As he was now.
“They all left and went over there,” the man answered, nodding off towards the far end of town. “A group of nine all ran into the forest.”
“A whole group… that’s like- the entire town.”
Abolish offered the tiniest twinge of his lip at that, which Pyro was now taking as the equivalent to the man’s smile. Still odd, still strange, but at the same time growing familiar. Pyro hadn’t known Abolish for more than a week and yet his demeanor, while sometimes off putting, held a steadiness to it.
It wasn’t quite enough yet though, to knock away the feeling that if they kept their back turned something would get them out in the night.
They offered their own worried smile in return. “Well we can’t be just the two of the nine; let’s get over there!”
—
Pyro was glad he hadn’t stayed in town. At night and almost alone it felt way too eerily abandoned to sleep. Even though he.. really couldn’t sleep.. anymore.
But it was fine, it just left more time for him and Abolish to go traipsing through the woods! …Looking for the others. …Which they hadn’t found yet. It was only starting to get unnerving, the farther into the forest they went, with no sign of human sound and as Abolish kept stooping down, no sign of trampled foliage or tools left behind either.
The wind wrapped them in its cold embrace as Pyro pushed on ahead, making half hearted comments about how quickly a big group could’ve moved because seriously how had they just disappeared? He trusted that Abolish would lead him in the right direction but… he’d trusted Scott- no, no no Abolish wouldn’t do that to him, and Abolish wasn’t a vampire; his beating heart followed steady behind him. That didn’t rule out any other supernatural creature though. Werewolves, witches, even Bigfoot; Pyro was willing to believe Shelby now after…
Well, it would be a bit silly if he didn’t at least believe in vampires now.
Really they should’ve seen it coming; Oakhurst had this energy that simply suggested the supernatural. The beacons, a type of magic lost long ago, the cryptic runes that even the older or intelligent members of the town hadn’t been able to comprehend. Those things had to date back ages. Even Pyro’s research into the town’s history hadn’t unearthed this much magic; most of their sources claimed witchcraft but in the way that made it seem the public was grasping at straws for answers. The beacons hadn’t even been mentioned, the history of the massacres vaguely hidden, and the pictures taken blurry or grainy. Like the fog trapping them all inside had turned away every the previous curious mind. That’s what Pyro gets for trying to find out more, they guess. Trapped in place to collect information but unable to leave and inform the public. Shrouded in fog, quite literally.
They glanced at the man behind them, still steady in his movements and casting an occasional look between trees.
“Abolish, your family’s from here, right?”
Abolish didn’t look at them, but nodded anyway.
“Was Oakhurst always this…” Pyro nudged a gnarled tree root with his toe while he hunted for the right word. “..haunting?”
He cleared a log, then turned his gaze on Pyro. “Well I- their records are detailed but they’re more about the people of Oakhurst and less about the place itself,” he explained. “Like.. they have extensive notes on the layout of the town, but the Pale Forest is only vaguely mentioned. All I know about it is that it’s spread since 200 or so years ago.”
“Interesting.” Pyro muttered, more to himself as he focused on trying not to trip over the rocky and root covered hillside. “You’ll have to let me look through those notes sometime, that sounds really- like it’d be really helpful for my thesis.”
There was no answering hum, and Pyro immediately turned, just to check, just to make sure Abolish hadn’t been snatched up by zombies or something else. And he hadn’t. He stood below the ridge that Pyro was atop, eyes narrowed at the sheer wall just higher than himself. Pyro leaned down to offer a hand as the man took a running jump; their hands latched together briefly before Abolish landed gracefully at the top.
He was so nimble! What kind of a manor would he work at that would… hmm… Pyro looked down at his own hand sheepishly for a moment, glad Abolish hadn’t actually needed too much assistance otherwise the both of them might have ended up at the very base of the hill. A fall that Pyro’s weakened state and Abolish’s mortal body would’ve taken some pretty bad damage on. Thankfully, Abolish seemed very attuned to this kind of stuff, which, again, what kind of manor would need a butler to do something like that? The help that had sometimes frequented Pyro’s home had never been like this. Strange. But not unwelcome!
“Thanks,” Abolish said, moving to help Pyro upright. They opened their mouth to accept the gratitude… and froze, the scent of iron hitting the back of their throat. Their eyes drifted down to Abolish’s palm—the one they hadn’t grabbed but were now being offered—and the scraped skin at the base of it. Blood pulsed underneath the thin layer, pulsed loud in their ears for a moment; Abolish’s slightly sped up heartbeat was the only sound in the forest.
It subsided. But the hunger stayed. Pyro grasped Abolish’s hand, his own hand taut under his crumbling resistance. Once upright Abolish looked at him for a long moment, as Pyro strained against the urge to lick the fresh blood from his fingers.
He needed to find the rest of the town out here. He didn’t want to know what would happen to Abolish if he didn’t. Growing hungrier, and hungrier, and more desperate. Yes. He had to find the town.
“You alright?”
Pyro ran his tongue over his teeth then sighed. “Y-Yeah. Yeah just fine.”
Abolish looked him over one last time, expression revealing nothing, then he nodded slightly and turned on his heel.
Pyro followed behind this time, face pinched.
“So what are you writing your thesis on?
Right, right. Right. Focus on his thesis, focus on that.
“Well when I- when I started it, it was gonna be on the history of Oakhurst, but there weren’t many resources I could find.” The lack of information had also been a huge prompt into writing the piece, Pyro mused, if he ignored the meticulous scrubbing of his name from the will. “So I- I came out here myself. Who would’ve guessed we’d get stuck here running around, yelling about vampires and whatnot.”
Abolish did not echo Pyro’s low chuckle. They cleared their throat and fell into step behind him.
The silence in the forest could be glaring sometimes. Pyro had never really.. gone outside much in the capital, preferring to spend hours hidden away in the libraries or their own study. In their mind, the nighttime was full of sound: crickets, and owls and coyotes when they braved the bustling streets. It seemed though that even if the wildlife here was more prevalent, they were also more scared. Of what, they weren’t sure, because Abolish barely made a whisper through the brush, and while Pyro wasn’t the most graceful thing in the world he did in fact know how to walk. So what was it, that kept the night scene so empty?
…On another note, the emptiness was probably a good thing. Pyro wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back, the low boiling of hunger having, a while ago, turned to sharp pangs that radiated from his gut all the way to his jaw. With no other injuries or bodily feelings it was all he could focus on, and all he could do not to give into the desire of snatching some poor animal off of the ground below. Whether Abolish was watching or not. Well… he’d really have to try not to do that with Abolish here, even as in the back of his mind he started to contemplate how exactly he could manage to get his hands on some of Abolish’s blood. He was so careful, it seemed impossible for the man to get hurt in a way that would cause significant bloodshed, and Pyro wasn’t about to- to harm him on purpose, no. That would be awful and Abolish would probably never want to look at Pyro again; he would have betrayed his trust.
Maybe it didn’t have to come to that though. Maybe… he said his parents were from here, so maybe he did believe in the supernatural that plagued these lands. Pyro had never heard Abolish speak out against Avid’s ramblings, but he’d never heard him agree either. Maybe… maybe that was a good place to start.
“Hey everything that Avid’s saying,” Pyro blurted out, then winced as his voice nearly shook the forest. “Do you… do you believe in.. all of that?”
Abolish hummed contemplatively for a moment, seemingly not as started as Pyro had been by the sudden sound. “I mean… I can’t put it against him. I- I know what he’s saying sounds ridic… ridiculous, but…”
“It sounds a little crazy, but… I don’t know there’s just- this place is just so weird.” Pyro kept talking, speeding through the words as some sort of cruel hope sprouted in his chest because it hadn’t been a no. “I’m- I’m a scholar, and I’m starting to see some things that just don’t really line up.”
Abolish had made a hand gesture as he’d spoken earlier—that Pyro hadn’t paid much mind to—that stretched the thin skin and left a lingering haze of iron in the air. Pyro shook his head violently as he walked through it. “Th-they dont make sense. Like.. these tombs, the beacons, everything!”
“They don’t; it doesn’t make any sense,” Abolish agreed, seemingly tracking their way up another hill where a crypt sat tall and waiting. Paying equally no mind to Pyro’s jerky reaction. “Like, I’ve read stuff, I’ve heard the stories about Oakhurst and all the craziness that goes along with the scientific stuff. And this lines up with it but… it’s just.. weird that it’s true.”
Pyro’s heart soared, or it did the vampiric equivalent. Abolish didn’t sound disgusted, or scared, or angry, just kind of confused and, honestly, who wouldn’t be. Pyro himself was still very confused as to how all this worked. He just had to bait for it. Make Abolish suggest vampires before he himself did. Because this conversation could easily be brought back to town, into their ears and out through their mouths as they pointed suspicious fingers at Pyro. And the only reason the town hadn’t already heard was because Abolish trusted him and wasn’t that scared of the supernatural. It had to be, right? Pyro knew the other was perfectly capable of taking off back to town the second Pyro had started asking questions that could be framed as ‘enabling Avid’s ramblings’. He could’ve shut Pyro down in an instant (and Pyro would let him). But he hadn’t.
Pyro’s fangs dug uncomfortably into his lower lip. Okay. If Abolish didn’t react any further, then Pyro would ask. Just a nibble! Just a little nibble, he’d say, and- and maybe if- if Abolish wasn’t cooperating then he could… could threaten him? No. Nonononono that would be awful and bad, no. He could, he could… well. Maybe asking nicely would do it! That would probably work. It kind of had to work. Pyro would be gentle! So gentle and nice and such a good vampire that Abolish wouldn’t need to tell the town. Wonderful. Okay.
“So you’re thinking not vampires then? Or…”
Pyro caught up to Abolish’s shoulder, attempting to deter the man from his direct beeline towards the crypt looming ahead. He had to catch his attention before they entered… or… well, maybe they should do it in the crypt, that would-
Abolish slowed to match his pace, dark eyes dragging from the crypt’s lights finally to Pyro’s face. “Maybe? I don’t know, like, I don’t think the stories are true, but if they were, at this point, I- I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Good enough.
The two slowed to a stop outside the ancient stone structure. Abolish regarded it with an almost scathing neutrality, jaw set as he lifted a foot to start the ascent to its center.
Pyro opened their mouth and no words came out. Damnit. They threw themselves forward, catching Abolish’s shoulder with their hand and stopping his momentum. Their eyes locked, and Pyro still had not regained control over their mouth, feeling akin to a fish flopping on shore as Abolish looked concernedly on at them.
“Abolish.”
“Hm?”
“I have a… strange request.” Even from Pyro’s end the words sounded strangled. They chose not to focus on it.
Abolish still seemed unfazed but a much bigger crease had appeared between his brows. He motioned for Pyro to continue speaking.
“I uh-“ Here we go. “I’m… hungry, and I just- you don’t- you kinda believe Avid, right, but you don’t- like- if- if someone came up to you. And asked if they could drink your blood. How would you react.”
Pyro swallowed with great effort. “Hypothetically, of course.”
Abolish barely moved an inch but his shoulder had gone incredibly tense under Pyro’s palm. He hadn’t broken eye contact, however, even as Pyro seemed to feel their lost pulse come back to them, pounding in their ears. Abolish blinked. “You want to drink from me?”
“No no nononono I just I’m so-“ Pyro couldn’t stop himself. Abolish’s own pulse hadn’t even spiked so he couldn’t be scared- wow, he could hear it so clearly now. His feet pulled him forwards on the promise of food, of a satiation to the ever growing hunger, and even if Abolish didn’t exactly want to be here he was sure he could hold him down long enough. Scott had done it to him easily enough and he’d said he was starving also. …Maybe not drowning, but on the ground? The ground was good, or against a tree or the wall of the crypt…
Abolish hadn’t moved his eyes from Pyro’s face. But one hand rested on top of a pocket, and the other sat lightly on the hilt of his sword. His silver sword. He slowly stepped backwards, easily clearing the uneven and unseen ground behind him and suddenly, his stone faced expression was not as comforting as it had been before. He’d never been overtly friendly before, but the blankness left room for a disturbing apathy. He might try and kill Pyro. And then Pyro would have to kill him.
Thread scratched uncomfortably against torn skin.
They couldn’t do this. Damn the hunger, they couldn’t do this to Abolish.
“No,” they muttered to themselves, shaking their head viciously before turning bloodshot eyes to the man that was so carefully sizing him up. “No, no I don’t- I-I’m sorry I think Avid must’ve snuck up into my mind somehow, ha, uh, I’m just.. really.. really hungry so if you have some.. potatoes or something-?”
Abolish stopped his retreat at the backtracking, but kept his hands by his sides. Just as Pyro was getting the hang of reading him it seemed another layer of indifference was thrown over his face.
“Who turned you.”
Pyro froze. “…T- turned.. me? I don’t.. know what you’re talking about. I’m not-“
“Earlier you asked me if I believed in the supernatural things going on here.” Abolish, despite it all, somehow managed to look bored. Outing and confronting a vampire, in the middle of the woods, at night. As if this was no more than a normal Tuesday for him. “I said I wouldn’t be surprised. …Do I look surprised, Pyro?”
“You- I’m- I’m not a vampire.”
It might’ve been Pyro’s imagination, but it looked like Abolish’s eyes softened as he suddenly took decisive steps forward.
God, the smell. It the went straight through their head like an arrow and it was so incredibly clear. Pyro was used to the smell of blood but now it sang through his senses; he could hear the way it pulsed through Abolish’s body compared to the sluggish beat of his own veins. Could physically feel it as Abolish stepped further and further towards him-
“No! Don’t- don’t come closer I- I…” Pyro stammered, stumbling as well as Abolish pushed into his space, still somehow unfazed. What would it take for this man to-
Abolish’s hand graced Pyro’s jawline and suddenly his sluggish veins burst alive again. He could feel exactly how the blood rushed to his face, to his neck as the man’s thumb came to rest on his chin, pulled it down. He had such pretty eyes. No, nope, focus. Well- it’s- it’s not like he could look in many other places anyways. Abolish’s eyes were searching his for something, which he found a moment later, humming to himself as he lowered his hand and then promptly started removing his jacket.
Pyro stood, shocked in place until the jacket had been removed and his shirt sleeve rolled up neatly and entirely. Then the blush got worse as Abolish’s made direct eye contact again, and Pyro sputtered, “I don’t need this! I mean- I- what? No! No. Stop.”
“You’re starving.” There was no fear, no disgust in his tone, but no compassion either. If anything, a hint of confusion over the apathy. “You’ve been starving and I… I don’t know what whoever turned you’s been doing, but-“
“I haven’t even said that I’m a vampire!”
Abolish paused. “I mean.. it’s not obvious, but I kind of have… experience, with this sort of stuff.”
“Ex- what do you mean experience!?”
The hint of confusion turned to uneasiness. “Well like- like I said, my family’s from here, so obviously they knew about the rumors, and the stories about Oakhurst…”
Pyro was dumbfounded. Not even a week of being a vampire and already someone had found him out. He couldn’t be a human right and now couldn’t even do this right. His parents had been right. He slumped as the hunger continued to claw at his belly. “Did they tell you about vampires?”
“Kind.. of?” Abolish quickly scanned the small clearing they were in. “Look if… if we’re going to do this, let’s just get it over with before someone sees it and assumes.. badly.”
There were no more words that they had left to try and prolong it. To try and distract from the gaping hole in their gut. Abolish was basically offering a full course meal to a starving person. How he was being so nonchalant about it was entirely beyond Pyro, and his explanation of having ‘experience with this’ prompted further questioning, but…
In the lack of human sound to focus on, Pyro’s ears turned to the heartbeat staining the clearing. It was so close, so loud in his ears. And Abolish was offering this! It didn’t have to be bloody, didn’t have to be painful, it could just happen, and then they’d go back to town and everything would be-
Abolish’s arm twitched upwards. Pyro’s fangs met the crook.
A soft whine fell from their lips as the blood hit their throat, sweet and singing through their system. They hadn’t thought as they’d taken the skin and muscle between their jaws, their mind inferior to the instincts that wrapped around it, swaddled it and played their motions in front of them. He pushed his fangs in deeper. Writer’s hands, scholar’s hands, which should never have to know violence, bloodshed, came up to grasp desperately at Abolish’s forearm and his fingers slipped against the ensanguined skin.
The arm twitched as a rustle of fabric cued a glove’s removal. Pyro could feel each tendon flex, against his teeth, against his tongue. The blood was so warm. He hadn’t realized, though he should’ve, that as a vampire his body would have trouble creating heat. It’d been an afterthought, as his fingers numbed and fell asleep while he dragged himself back from the lake. Even just moments ago he’d still felt like he was back there, soaked to the bone and freezing while only standing on the forest floor. Now he could easily feel the heat radiating between himself and Abolish, their bodies pressed together.
It was in a similar fashion that a hand was brought to rest against their sternum, a brief pressure, and in response a growl grew in the clearing’s silence. They didn’t initially even process where the sound was coming from, but they could feel it, the low rumble coming deep from their own chest. How dare Abolish try to take away what he’d freely given just seconds ago! They tried to surge forwards, they weren’t even close to full, Abolish couldn’t-
Their meal moved away from their mouth. Pyro snarled.
There was immediately a hand in his hair, at the nape of his neck pushing down, not forcibly but not gently either. It didn’t matter. If it served to bring his meal back, good. The tang of iron was back in his mouth and that was all that mattered. That’s what he told himself, even as the offending hand left his hair and returned to his chest, taking its same place yet again, albeit softer this time. Another growl sparked but died out quickly as the hand found its place and stayed.
The instincts that had grabbed them so viciously returned for a moment, then started to subside. Their hearing cleared as they drank longer, making way for the—honestly kind of disgusting—gulping noises they had been making, and they pulled back a moment if only just to quell the sound. The forest blurred back into focus, the greens and the browns and the red- oh god.
Pyro started, their head jolting back into Abolish’s hand, which had returned to their neck and forced it down towards his arm.
“-No no, I’m- I’m- I’m good,” Pyro sputtered, spraying bloody specks all over the offered arm which only made him try to squirm away even more.
“Keep your head down,” Abolish said, soft, although it felt as if it bounced around Pyro’s mind, ping ponging. “You don’t have to take any more. A- actually it’s.. it’s probably good if you don’t take any more.”
“What do you mean by that?” they slurred, blood and drool dripping down into the grass. They cringed, a strange sense of deja vu and the bitter taste of bile at the back of their throat.
“Here.” Abolish didn’t answer the question, instead raised his arm up to meet Pyro’s mouth. He tried to flinch away but the man’s hand held him steady. “Lick the bite so it stops bleeding.”
Pyro’s brows furrowed. “Wha- how does that.. even work?” he mumbled around the bloodied skin right in front of him. Again Abolish did not say a word, only pressed the skin of his inner elbow closer to Pyro’s lips. At the salty taste Pyro moved, not much of their own accord, tongue lapping at the still flooding slits in Abolish’s arm. The stream slowed as they went until they were licking the skin itself clean, but coherent thought and embarrassment alike returned and lifted their head, or.. tried to, as Abolish’s hand had not moved. They, again, jolted awkwardly against it.
Abolish retracted his arm from Pyro’s view and something twanged in the back of their mind. Not something melancholy, but bittersweet perhaps? It was odd and left before Pyro really had a chance to analyze it further. It was quickly replaced by a looming awkwardness as the silence stretched and Abolish still did not remove his hand. That was.. odd.
“Uhh. Abolish?” Pyro said quietly. They could see the man flexing his bloody fingers in their peripheral but not much else. It was growing unnerving.
Abolish, however, broke the silence with a resigned sigh. “I should’ve moved this near a stream or.. something, I forgot how messy fledglings are.”
It trailed off into a mutter, not angry, just contemplative. Or, at the least, not angry.
“Sorry,” Pyro mumbled anyway, managing to spray even more blood across the ground and narrowly missing Abolish’s shoes and pants. He snapped his mouth shut, fangs sliding along his bottom lip. “Ow.”
“It’s fine. …Careful.” Abolish’s voice matched the calmness of the clearing around them. It was really nice to listen to, steady, warm. Warm, god, Pyro was so warm, it was unfair he had to be so cold before. With Abolish pressed against his side now there was this never ending wave of slackness through his limbs, but the good kind, the kind he’d feel crashing into bed at the end of a long day. He felt like he’d woken up from a long nap in the sun. No wonder Scott had been so eager to rip into-
Pyro froze, the tension returning to his shoulders. The mess of a scar on his neck stung. What had become of him? That he was so eager to tear through Abolish like he was nothing more than a meal-
They’d called him a meal! Food! Sustenance! When a whole, living, breathing person had stood beside them and offered their literal lifeblood to them. And they’d called him a meal.
Pyro didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see the damage he’d caused, the ragged tears through skin and the blood- it was in his mouth. It still coated his entire tongue, ran between his teeth and- he’d swallowed all of it-
He was going to be sick.
Their head was shaking; they only realized through the readjustment of Abolish’s grip.
“Keep still for a second.”
“Abolish, I’m not- not feeling too hot,” Pyro half heartedly laughed, swallowing down the threat of bile.
Abolish hummed, the hand at his side stilled and- since when had it not been covered in blood? “I should’ve stopped you feeding earlier.”
The word ‘feeding’ sent a disgusting chill down his spine.
“I-“ Bile. Nope. Nope, breathe, swallow. Breathe. Pyro bit his tongue and yelped when his fangs pierced into it.
Something shifted in his peripheral. Abolish.
“Easy,” he murmured. His face was half in view now. Breathe. “You’re not looking too hot.”
Pyro let out a half keen, half laugh, eyes screwing shut for a moment. They opened again, on the floor, catching a glimpse of Abolish’s unbloodied hand and, yes, focus on that, how did his hand go from covered in- eugh- go from dirty to not dirty?
Easy. He was wringing a handkerchief between his fingers, echoes of the- the mess Pyro had made staining its corners. They’d have to remember to apologize for that too. Without meaning to his eyes drifted upwards, and he prepared to swallow another rounds of bile but… it never came. Faded russet streaks littered Abolish’s forearm, but the crook of his elbow held no such stains. The wound wasn’t even open, the crescent shape now covered in a pale pink film of skin. It was… healed. And… clean? No oozing blood, no torn skin; it looked as if a toddler had tried to nibble on his arm and not a… well, a vampire.
It healed. Pyro watched as his own hands reached to the arm, wrapped around it with a desperation as Abolish tensed, an impressive amount of strength keeping his arm locked in place.
“Pyro…”
They let go. “Uh- that- um- healed. Yeah.”
They couldn’t keep his eyes off of the wound. But that didn’t last for long as Abolish brought his rusted handkerchief into their vision and then further, brushing the soft, if slightly stiff, fabric along Pyro’s jaw. Their eyes snapped to Abolish’s dark ones in shock, then immediately back to the floor, the blood in their system running yet again.
If god hadn’t smited them already he was sure to do it now, blushing over the smallest bit of soft contact while human blood ran down their chin. Like some kind of monster. To make matters worse, Abolish had shifted his opposite hand off of Pyro’s head to settle between his neck and shoulder, steadying. It would most likely be needed, seeing how Pyro now felt sick and faint. And that was just what he needed too, to faint like a silly maiden into Abolish’s strong arms- Nope. No no no. Not the time for those thoughts, time for focusing on not getting sick all over the man holding him upright.
Abolish pulled the handkerchief back on a second pass at Pyro’s jaw and the waft of iron made them immediately screw their face shut. They felt a short chuff of air as Abolish made some sort of reaction, then brought the handkerchief along the other side of their jaw. He tilted Pyro’s face up farther from where it had been facing down for so long. Pyro bit his tongue, but more carefully this time.
The night’s chill did very little to cool the warmth on his face.
Eventually he had to open his eyes again, awkwardly staring over Abolish’s face in the hopes that he wouldn’t comment on it. He didn’t. His lips only pressed into a thin line as they took in the sight of Pyro’s visage. “Please do not-“ his face wrinkled in thought for a long moment, “…give ..my ..blood ..back to ..me.”
Pyro winced. “Do not make me laugh.”
And Abolish blinked, his focus broken for a split second. “I wasn’t trying to.”
Oh. Uh. Hmm. Social blunders abound. Pyro was going to have a positively great and not at all awkward time heading back to town with Abolish- oh. Oh, they had to go back. To Oakhurst. Back to the skeptic hunters but hunters nonetheless. Back to the people that could easily kick Pyro out to the wolves. Back to Scott.
Pyro heaved. Nothing came of it, thankfully, even as Abolish snapped their neck to the side, precautionary.
“Sorry,” he hummed, now looking with at least a bit of sympathy as Pyro swallowed, throat like sandpaper. “Sorry I kept holding you down earlier too. I was trying to make sure you wouldn’t stain your clothes too badly. Or mine. We don’t need anyone asking questions.”
Right. Yeah. Questions. Yep. They’d be asking those, the town, if both Pyro and Abolish came back from a walk in the woods covered in.. viscera. If they didn’t believe in vampires right now, then that would certainly raise plenty of suspicions. God, Scott would kill him too, again, if he blew all of their covers like that, so quickly and thoroughly. He’d spent so long in town trying to gain the human’s trust, and Pyro would come along and ruin it in one fell swoop. Just because he got sick, because he couldn’t stomach the monster he’d become. The monster he truly was.
“Pyro?”
They blinked. Had Abolish’s face always been this close-?
Focus, please, for the love of anything!
“Pleasedon’ttellthetown.”
The words tumbled out of him and, judging from Abolish’s expression, had sounded just as jumbled as the thoughts that had prompted them were.
“I- please don’t tell anyone. That I’m a vampire.” His voice was so quiet in the clearing. So inconsequential and yet Abolish’s answer would decide his fate. Why would Abolish not tell them? Pyro was a threat, obviously, judging by the fact that they had ended up here, deep in the woods with his fangs dug deep into, really, a strangers arm. Abolish didn’t owe Pyro anything. Pyro had done this to himself, given into his desires, his wants. He would understand if as soon as Abolish broke through the palisade, he immediately pointed everyone to the wolf almongst their flock. To the monster in their midst. To the burning scar and the flashing fangs and the deadly hunger in Pyro’s eyes.
He would understand if Abolish wanted him dead. But he didn’t want to die.
Abolish had averted his gaze, brow pinched in a way that suggested he was turning something over in his mind. Pyro’s fate. Somehow Pyro also managed to feel bad that he had put this pressure on Abolish.
Abolish hadn’t asked for this, Pyro had been the one to ask. It wasn’t fair, to make Abolish decide this. Yet he still met Pyro’s eyes again, steady.
“I can’t promise that,” he murmured, breath warm on Pyro’s face. “I can’t promise I’ll keep that when the town could be in danger. But I- I get the concern. Would they believe me? Maybe? But.. you wouldn’t want to risk that would you…”
He continued brushing Pyro’s cheek, eyes focused but mind distant as if he were talking more to himself. Pyro, despite himself, pushed his face against the contact, eyes fluttering shut as Abolish sighed more warm air across his jaw.
“I won’t tell them.”
Pyro watched half lidded as Abolish chewed at his lower lip for a moment. “But. You have to tell me how and who turned you. And you have to stick to eating animals, or asking people for blood. And… controlling yourself a bit better.” An apologetic smile snuck its way onto his face. “Hopefully this helped,” he mumbled, “but, otherwise, I’ll start telling people.”
Pyro let out a breath he didn’t need to, relief washing fast over him. “Okay. Okay I- I will, I…”
He took a deep breath. Finally his expression sat somewhere with no tension, his hunger satiated, the pain gone entirely. He didn’t know if he could show enough emotion to get his gratitude across. He tried anyway.
“Thank you.”
Abolish stared up at him for a long moment, before blinking rapidly and looking away, face hidden beneath the curve of his hair. Uh oh. Pyro’s lips thinned as he debated whether reaching out would make it better or worse. It couldn’t make it better could it, and he very well had just messed this up.
But then Abolish turned back with a reserved smile that he squandered not as quickly as usual as he muttered, “No problem.”
Okay. Okay. Pyro’s undead heart could still have a heart attack, but it was fine! Everything was fine, Pyro was fine, Abolish was fine, this was great!
Abolish took a step back and swayed on his feet.
“Shit!” Pyro stumbled forwards, nearly tipping Abolish over further as they grasped his shoulders, then, hesitantly, his waist.
“‘M fine.” Abolish’s face was smushed and warm against Pyro’s neck, which was odd since he’d lost a lot of blood, but maybe everything just felt warm now that Pyro was loosing the heat from the fresh blood. They ignored the heat rising to their own cheeks as they awkwardly flexed their fingers over the small of his back.
“You alright? Well, y’know… besides…”
“Mhm.” Abolish blinked, shaking his head slightly. “I’ll be… fine in a second, just…”
He inched away from the embrace and Pyro let go, but kept their hands hovering just in case. They would have thought that the blood loss would have affected Abolish immediately—they were honestly surprised the man had stayed upright the entire time and even held them up for part of it. But as they carefully watched Abolish steady himself and stretch his limbs a bit they couldn’t seem to find an answer as to why the wooziness had taken so long to kick in. Maybe Abolish’s… circulation took a while? That didn’t make sense. Maybe it was a vampire thing, that warded off the lightheadedness until later? Maybe Pyro hadn’t noticed it in their similar half woozy state.
Anyway, it didn’t seem to last long; Abolish stood now, steady as ever, watching Pyro’s still awkwardly grasping hands hold nothing but air. They looked down, then quickly brought them to their sides, turning away. They coughed. “Well. Uhhhm. We should probably get back to town, now.”
Abolish offered a stiff nod.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Pyro aggressively repeated the nod and started walking back towards the path they’d taken.
“Pyro.”
They spun back on one foot, eyes wide.
“We should.. probably check the crypt. While we’re here.”
“Oh.” And Pyro laughed so genuinely at that. “Right, right, I kinda.. forgot that was there.”
As they rambled about the ridiculousness of having forgotten the ancient tomb currently looming beside them, they could easily see Abolish’s face twitching into that same hesitant smile from before; this time it lasted for just a little bit longer. Still not enough for Pyro to truly understand what he was thinking, but enough for them to recognize in it one thing regardless.
Trust.