Chapter Text
Shelby was excited. Well… Maybe that was an odd word to use. But since she’d entered Oakhurst they had so much hope and excitement about these new prospects. What made it even better was the friends she’d already made! People didn’t call her weird or crazy, and sure, maybe some of them would laugh at her. But Scott liked her! So did Drift!
That was progress! Surely it… It would be better than Sunny Side. Shelby knew it would be. It had to be.
So she walked with a spring to their step as she, Scott, and Owen walked through the forest.
Owen seemed a little… Odd. Not that Shelby could blame him, nor that they could judge. She wouldn’t judge him, though. He was nice enough, had gotten lumber for so much of the town.
The Dead Wood was eerily silent. The grayed leaves pointing upwards. She looked closer at the bark, something not dissimilar to the wither roses that seemed to also be dotted around. A prime example of why Shelby knew there were supernatural creatures here. If not Bigfoot, then something. What that was.. They were still figuring that out. But she knew! There had to be evidence of the supernatural… What would they do if there wasn’t? Go back to Sunny Side? Brave the cruelty again? No!
They had to think positive, she would prove it existed. Her dad wasn’t crazy! He hadn’t been a drunk, he hadn’t been… Shelby would’ve known. They would’ve known!
“What are you two arguing about?” Shelby glanced over her shoulder at their two friends, “We’ve got a Sasquatch to locate!”
She hopped off the tall roots of one of the dead trees. The gray moss felt.. stiffer than the moss in the living woods around Oakhurst. That made sense, it was just another thing to add to their notes. She pulled their notebook out of her bag, writing everything down and sketching the tree into an empty page.
“Let’s go.” Shelby grinned, “There’s got to be something here, right? I’m sure there wouldn’t be the one thing Scott found earlier.”
“Can I at least get a bite?” Shelby swore she heard Owen mutter.
“I suppose that would be fine.” Scott sighed impassively.
Shelby felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. Vampires. That’s what they had to be. Shelby had come out into the woods with two vampires. Evidence! Proof! Her dad wasn’t insane! Oh.. but she was in the woods with two vampires. They whirled around, seeing Owen bare his fangs. Fangs, he had fangs.
“I knew it!” Shelby exclaimed, a pause, the two vampires standing still. Clearing confused at her sudden exclamation.
Shelby used it, turning on her heel, and sprinting through the Dead Wood. They would not have a lot of time, she needed to hide. They had evidence! She had evidence, no one could call her crazy! But she had to live first. Her heart was pounding which… Wasn’t ideal when they were being chased by two hungry vampires. Okay… Okay. Scott and Owen were her friends, what were the odds of them killing them?
If they were hungry that would drop it down to maybe a seventy-five percent shot of survival. Owen had wanted “a bite”… So that dropped it down to a fifty-fifty. Scott had said yes… shit.
What were the odds of Shelby making it to Oakhurst? She wasn’t even going to waste her time running the numbers, they were not beating two supernatural creatures on a run through the forest at night. So.. where did that leave Shelby? Well… Maybe they were nice, did turning them count as her friends killing them? Were they even friends? Or was Shelby just food— they were her friends!
They ducked behind a tree, breath heaving out of their lungs. Okay. This.. wasn’t great. Would they kill her, that was the real question. Shelby didn’t want to die, she certainly wouldn’t mind being a vampire, but they also weren’t entirely certain what kinds of vampires these two were. Maybe— no, Avid would’ve just killed them on sight. He wouldn’t stop to think if they were nice or not.
Maybe this was the time to prove her dad’s other hypothesis. Supernatural creatures.. were just like humans.
“Shelby~” Scott hummed, “We aren’t going to hurt you.”
Shelby took a slow breath in, time to test that hypothesis. They stepped out, rolling up her sleeve, “I trust you.”
Owen and Scott looked at her, surprise and.. borderline concern for their sanity was painted on their faces. Scott eventually recovered, well faster than Owen did.
“Well, my dear, this is certainly a surprise.”
Shelby steeled their resolve, “I came to prove that the supernatural were real and to prove they were like the rest of us. I trust you.” She repeated.
Please let her dad’s hypothesis be correct. They didn’t want to die. They really didn’t want to die. Dying from having her blood drained from every part of them… That wouldn’t be pleasant. That sounded slow and painful and Shelby really didn’t want to die.
Owen stepped forward, raising Shelby’s wrist to his mouth. The prick was painful, then it molded into nothing… Did vampires.. have a numbing agent? They would have to write that down. She felt a little woozy after Owen released them. Then Scott walked forward. Biting their wrist just above where Owen had.
She lost feeling in their legs first. Owen caught her before they could fall in the stiff moss. Her entire body felt fuzzy.
The last thing they remembered was the thought of simply hoping that she would wake up after this.