Chapter Text
200 Years after the events of Oakhurst, Scott, Shelby, and Drift all reside in the city and state of New York. The elder vampire and the eccentric fledgling of his were roomies, while their friendly detective friend lived just a bit away though not far enough to cease contact, as both girls of their little coterie worked at a cafe that Scott rather enjoyed the feel of. While yes, he knows he and his girls can’t enjoy normal human etiquette and the grandeur variety of bites to eat, the calming atmosphere was quite enjoyable in his very meaningful opinion. Not to mention being able to just be close to his two companions.
And at that rather sappy thought, he clicks his pen – quite the flimsy thing it is, for the umpteenth time in that hour after he’d finished his 2nd book of the night. He can’t exactly sleep as a vampire, and god forbid Shelby scold him again for batting out in the open city night.
They had left the apartment right before sunrise, and now that it has just risen and soured his good-ish mood, he decided he will visit his favorite cafe – which was really the only cafe he had the motivation to visit, courtesy of Shelby and Drift’s pestering. Though he couldn’t leave before he drank enough blood to get him up to mid level 3, or before he did his hair. Because what in the name of hell was this rats nest of a mess. No way was he going out so unsightly looking and improperly wearing pajamas he didn’t need, as he notices when he walks to his vanity–yes, he had made Shelby buy him one so he could store his stuff and do his makeup, ironic for vampires to not see reflections.
Scott trudges over to the bathroom with his handy comb in which has served him well for the past 50 or so years. It was vintage and cost a minuscule amount of money to him, as what was a Goldsmith without gold? Certainly not a very appealing thought. He brushes his teeth just because he wants to, brushes his hair, does his nails because why not, picks out very fabulous clothing of this age, and fills up a flask of blood to hide in his butterfly gothic tote bag just in case. While this does take an hour and the sun is higher in the sky, it is a must as fashion doesn’t wait for anyone. And most certainly not for the sun, in which he hisses at through the window while glaring, a very unsightly event, but if no one saw, it never happened.
Scott grabs his vintage Sunglasses from a random shelf he bought because he thought it looked nice and carries himself out of the apartment while closing the door behind him. As soon as he stepped out, he was ambushed by a shit ton of fliers hanging on just about every wall and lying on just about every area of the floor. Oh right, there was a Circus in town. Supposedly it was really terrifying–perhaps not for one as old as him though, he was the horror to many. A massacre or three a while back, about 800 years or more he’d assume? But yeah, Shelby and Drift have been pestering him about buying their little group of three some tickets to visit. He said no of course, but knowing them, he’d acquiesce in less than a week.
Walking down the road, Scott saw a commotion in the happening. And because he was always a sucker for drama–get it? sucker–he couldn’t help but get closer to the scene. Ah, it was one of the circus freaks. A red jester on the ground this one seemed to be, getting harassed by a seemingly intoxicated man. Scott could see a purple-ish red hue start to form under the clowns eye, as they seemed to look down and wait for the brutish man to halt his abuse. The elder vampire would’ve walked then and there, but he was curious as to how this would draw out to be.
“Damned freaks! Get out of our city! We don’t need you pompous asses stirring up trouble and making people go missing!”
Now this was some new information. Accusations such as causing missing persons cases were quite the claim–especially since they were giving the wrong people credit, Scott had waisted his time trying to drain every one of them thank you. Perhaps Scott would humor whatever comes next.
Said elder vampire slowly made his way towards the center of the scene. And he must say, his timing is impeccable, because just as he reached the eye of the storm, the alchohol ridden man showed all the tale tell signs of going in for another strike. Then because he was so graciously in a good mood again, he brought himself to hault the swinging hand.
“Sir, I am not well versed in law as many others may be, but I believe this is what one would call public disturbance and harassment of one’s fellow person.” While yes, Scott has had 200 years time to learn of modern affairs and cultural norms, he hadn’t the patience to dabble in law, that was more a Drift thing.
The brute in front of him seemed momentarily stunned, by the strength of Scott’s hold or by the fact he had even stepped in, that wasn’t the vampire’s problem.
“And I do believe as well that it is quite inappropriate to be as intoxicated as you in public.”
“I- What the fuck?! Why the hell did you stop me! Can’t you see the curse that these freaks have brought upon our city!?”
Scott raised a brow at that. People these days still believe in curses? Yeah they were real, but humans were too stuck up to even think that there were races much superior to them much less the magiks used by the witches and warlocks of his time. Unless it was being used as a figurative sort of speech, which the term still confused him, but he was still learning so shush.
“I see no reason as to blame them, as people go missing quite a bit in the city of New York, even before the Circus appeared. And I am one who steadily believe profit is far greater than opinions.” Scott sighs, not enjoying having to explain to a human what it meant to have physical proof rather than mental ramblings. What was the saying Shelby used? Ah yes, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’
The stupid human before him gives a rather stupid attempt at a growl, even baby vampires knew how to fluctuate their vocals better than this man. “Damn it, you’re an idiot if you think these freaks aren’t at fault. Don’t blame me if your next in the line of death.” And the drunk man staggers away, swaying softly in his footsteps.
Well, with that dealt with, Scott refocused his attention onto the reason for his confrontation with the rather aggressive human–in whom he’d make his meal if possible later–and held out his own fingerless-gloved hand. His own gaze met the confused yet admiring expression of the red jester, who hesitantly reached out his own hand and gently accepted the opposing one. And as soon as he was up, Scott realized just how freaking tall the clown was, about a foot difference if not more from his own height.
Stepping back, Scott resisted the urge to wipe his hands with whatever cloth he could get ahold of, and properly greeted the giant before him. “I apologize for the inconvenience that man may have stirred. It is for reasons like this that I rarely am out of my apartment,” that’s a lie, he stays in the apartment because he sometimes starved himself to make sure his girls were fed which caused him to have the urge to drain any living being with blood of the red substance. This was one of the rare happenings of that not being the current case.
The red jester in front of him tilted his head with a smile, bells ringing at the motion. Scott can’t help but notice the slight exposure of neck that would take but a single bite to pierce through. But he can’t do that in public, not to mention Shelby would be on his case for saving someone and instantly draining them of life afterward.
“I sincerely apologize as I was not able to stop the first blow, and as I have not anything to help with your unfortunate injury.” Scott would offer any sort of bandage or extra handkerchief he could find, but because he was a vampire and didn’t live with or know any humans who were still alive on a personal level, he had no such bandage or handkerchief.
The jester seemed taken aback by the rather unmodern way Scott seemed to speak, before grinning and nodding his head as if thanking Scott for the thought of even being kind to him.
This conversation–if it could even be called one with the lack of voice from the one he was infront of, was starting to become slow and quite frankly boring in his opinion, which was very meaningful mind you. And so, the elder vampire decided now was a good time to leave.
“Ah, it seems I have forgotten, I am supposed to be meeting with some friends at a cafe nearby. If you could excuse me. And if your injury happens to get any worse, I would suggest you see someone.” Scott speaks with a rather apathetic yet awkward and kind-ish voice, before he begins to walk away towards the cafe his girls worked at. He could still feel eyes on his back, but he was a bit too overstimulated for his liking to care even the tiniest bit.
He mulled over what that drunk human male had said about the circus, and how they had caused the missing persons cases. Which was quite rude to give someone unresponsable–or atleast he thinks they’re unresponsable, his credit.
Speaking on the topic of the human, how long had it been since he had indulged in food? It can’t have been too long, likely only a week, and it’s not like he was that hungry. Plus, his girls held priority when it came to feeding. They would always question if he’d had any blood every time he gives them their portions though, which was stupid, because Scott Goldsmith was perfectly capable of taking care of himself thank you very much. And he would go hunting in one moon so he would be fine as the only concern was if others saw, but that would also mean more blood bags for the fridge, which was always a welcome possibility.
Walking down the sidewalk of the road, the cafe finally came into view. It wasn’t anything special from the outside, looking like any other cafe would. The windows were garnished with flowers underneath, camellia bushes surrounding the building like a force field of flowers and free matcha for the taking to humans.
When he reached the door to open it, a bell chimed, and he was instantly greeted by a head full of red hair and the excited squealing of Shelby, Drift watching on the sidelines while sweeping the floor, entertained by her girlfriend of 200 years antics.
“Oh hello, I missed you too Shelby.” Scott chuckled, it hadn’t even been 2 hours since he’d last seen Shelby, “Nice to see you too Drift.” He notices her in the back and she nods, sending her own greetings.
“Hey Scott, how’ve you been doin’ as of lately?”
“Pretty good, I read some of the books Shelby and you recommended to me, and I must say, hu-people, people these days have strange tastes in literature.” Scott almost slipped up, and he just knew he was going to get teased for it later.
He greets the girl’s boss, a rather kind man he was, letting Scott who didn’t even work there help behind the kitchen and sometimes is even given a pastry or two. Shame he can’t eat them without tasting ash and sand, so now he just has a fridge full of baked pastry goods and doesn’t know what to do with them, not to mention Shelby’s hobby of baking adding to the ever growing stash of sweets.
“So Scott,” Shelby titters and Scott has a feeling he is about to be folded, baked, frosted, and served. “How about buying us some tickets for that Circus, it would be fun and we could see what things we have missed in the years we’ve been traveling. wouldn’t that just be wonderful?” Drift nods along with Shelby as the elder vampire in question is wrought on the choice of upsetting his girls, or putting a rather medium sized hole in his coffers. The tickets were cheap, but they weren’t too expensive, a mere £22–or as they call it in America, $30–each, which would mean about £66 for all three of them.
Gods, why did they have to be so important to him. And where did his backbone go??? Did someone steal it? He bet it was Apo, the stupid girl was so fearful that it may have rub off on Scott.
Speaking of her, while he didn’t particularly care about her as much as he did with Shelby and Drift, he still cared for Apo, no matter how much the latter hated him. She was still his childe after all, she was his fledging as he was her sire and nothing could break that bond. Except for death, but no one believed their kind exists and it wasn’t very likely that someone would go around on the streets and start swinging a stake around like a madman, like how Avid used to.
Scott shook his head. Nope, not going there, those thoughts should be on lock and key then thrown into a pool of lava for him to forget about. But no matter how hard he tried, he would never forget about the events of oakhurst and the people he had met there.
Shelby and Drift, noticing his sudden downtrodden mood and his seemingly aloof thoughts, snap him out of it by betting that whoever could pick up the most fliers would get their own bag of blood to drink.
Of course, Scott agreed, he couldn’t care less if he won, if only to see his girls happy and smiling after everything they’d gone through. Nothing brought a smile to his face as much as the two vampires in front of him.
And if Scott could prevent harm from coming for them, even at the cost of his own life he would gladly gaurd them. It was the least he could do after what he put them through.