Chapter Text
After the reveal of their big secret, the next few days kept Jesse and his friends extremely busy.
As per the agreement made with the Monster Hunters of Massachusetts, he had been going around to all of the households in Gravewood, checking in on the residents, and that was already on top of his regular school and volunteer work. Every day, as soon as the bell rung to release them, he was rushing over to the monster neighborhood. It was like ever since he shook hands with Veronica Dawson, he hadn’t had a moment to breathe.
He’d yet to actually have his first meeting with the hunters, as he was still waiting for them to contact him, but he wanted to be prepared when it did happen. Hank had made sure everyone in the neighborhood was aware of the deal and that for their safety, Jesse would have to talk to them every week.
It was quickly determined that in order to keep up with the hunters’ demand that he give them regular updates on Gravewood’s residents, it would be easiest if he just talked with them one-on-one, interview style, instead of trying to wrangle the whole neighborhood in a meeting each week. A list for him to go in order was drafted up, fitting everyone’s schedules, and he was currently in the middle of working through it.
If there was any silver lining to this whole situation, it was that it granted him the opportunity to finally learn more about monsters, as he was now able to ask them questions he couldn’t outright before. He tried to reason to himself that it was purely out of a desire to help Gravewood, as knowing more about monsters in general could give him an edge over the hunters, or at least even the playing field. But to be perfectly honest, it was mostly to satisfy his own curiosity. So many times over the past year he’d have to bite his tongue to stop from asking some stupid question that would out himself as a human. But now that the whole neighborhood knew their secret, he could ask all the stupid questions he wanted.
And it was through one of these stupid questions that he learned a surprising fact about Ronnie Gitterson.
“Hold on.” Jesse pointed at the framed picture Ronnie had just been showing him. “You’re telling me that’s your aunt?”
“Great aunt,” he corrected. “And can’t you see the family resemblance?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Upon entering his and Donnie’s house on Lurker Lane and being invited into the living room, they began their interview, but after a while he got distracted when he recognized the famous picture that was displayed on their fireplace mantle. When he asked the man, “Isn’t that Bigfoot?” he dropped that bombshell on him.
He really shouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point, but finding out that one of his personal friends was related to the Bigfoot felt like the monster equivalent of meeting a celebrity’s relative.
Also, apparently Bigfoot was a woman.
While he was still processing this information, Donnie came into the living room, a tray of drinks in hand.
“Is he subjecting you to that old story?” he said, handing him a glass of soda before sitting on the couch next to his roommate. Every single household he had visited so far had offered him a drink, something that he knew from his mom was just good manners, but he still thought of it as a gesture of good will. Hank had reassured him that nobody in Gravewood blamed him for the monster hunter incident, but only now were his worries starting to be put to rest. “I swear, he’s told that one to everyone in Gravewood at least twelve times.”
“Jesse’s a regular human,” Ronnie defended. “I thought he’d get a kick out of it. Besides, he asked. So anyway, like I was saying, Great Aunt Patricia was just out for a walk by the creek, minding her own business, when these two bozos on horseback come thundering down the trail. They started pointing and gawking at her, making a real nuisance, so she turns around and just walks away.”
He laughed.
“Aunt Patty was never one to care if any humans saw her; she was usually twice their size, you know? She feared nothing. Even when those men pulled a rifle on her, all she did was glance back at them before continuing on her merry way. Then later on, she found out that one of them had a camera on him when she saw her own photo in the local newspaper. She was quite pleased about it, until all the hubbub brought even more humans trying to hunt her. It took years for the area to become quiet again, and she had to find a new hiking trail to walk. And to this day, Great Aunt Patricia is still the most famous sasquatch to ever live.”
Donnie coughed into his hand, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like Yeti.
Ronnie ignored him. “I think that about wraps up everything you need to know about me. Ever since moving here to Gravewood, I don’t go past the barrier all that often. Unlike Donnie.”
“There aren’t any good large bodies of water around Gravewood.” He shrugged. “I mean, Crystal Green Pond is nice and all, but I like to relax in an actual lake every once in a while.”
“Do you ever go to the beach?” Jesse asked him.
“That’s saltwater. I’m a freshwater monster. I can’t go into the ocean or else I’ll- fftttzz-” he made a sort of hissing noise while drawing his arms and legs close to his body. “Shrivel up and die from all the salinity.”
“Oh, I’m...sorry?” He tried to gauge what the appropriate response was. Was it like learning someone was lactose intolerant?
He waved him off. “Nah, don’t be. Freshwater is much better anyway. I don’t have to worry about giant squids or any nightmare fish that lurk deep underwater.”
For a brief second, he debated asking about the existence of deep-sea monsters, but then he thought better of it. From all of the things he’s learned and pictures he’s seen of regular deep-sea fish, he decided he’d rather not know.
“I don’t have any plans to go out anytime soon, though,” Donnie continued. “So you can tell those monster hunters they don’t need to worry about me.”
“Got it.” He jotted the information down in the notes app on his phone. At some point, he might have to consider getting an actual notebook, depending on how long these meetings and interviews were going to go on for. “And if you guys ever do want to go past the barrier, let me know so I can cover you, alright?”
Ronnie shook his head. “I still say it’s crazy they’re making a middle schooler do this.”
“Well apparently, they’re not opposed to turning kids into soldiers either,” Donnie muttered.
Alongside the deal Jesse had made, everyone in Gravewood was also now aware of the roles that Veronica and Reginald Dawson played in the monster hunters, as well as what they did to him and the vampires that Halloween night.
“You don’t have to worry about me. I have my friends to help me out.”
Even though it was Jesse who had made the deal, his friends were more than willing to share his burden, which he was grateful for. He couldn’t imagine speaking to every resident in Gravewood on his own on a weekly basis. At the moment, they were all conducting their own “interviews” with other households, spreading the workload into a more manageable size.
“That’s all for now,” he told the roommates as he got up to leave. “I’ll talk to you again next week.”
They saw him off at the door and he started making his way down the street and over to Bloodhill Boulevard for his next stop: the Den.
A part of him was nervous; it would be his first time visiting since smoothing things over with Damien. His friends had offered to come with him, but he declined. He was the one who was on the best terms with the vampires anyway.
As he walked by, a few monsters who were out in their yards or on their front porches waved at him, as friendly as ever. He returned the gestures hesitantly. It still felt surreal, going around Gravewood without his vampire disguise. He felt almost naked, his tongue occasionally running over his teeth where his fake fangs usually were. While the residents treated him the same, he still couldn’t help but feel guilty for lying for so long, even if they had already figured his secret out.
When he came to the Den, he let himself into the unlocked enclosure before knocking on the front door. He fully expected Damien to answer, since he knew he was coming over today, so he was a bit surprised when someone else opened the door.
“Oh, it’s you.” He didn’t know the vampire by name, but he’d seen him around with the others sometimes. And of course he’d been there during the hunt a few days ago. He looked to be around the same age as Damien and the most notable thing about him were the numerous different piercings he had all across his face, from his eyebrows down to his chin.
“Uh, hey,” Jesse said as the vampire stepped to the side to allow him into the house. “Is Damien here?”
“He’s busy upstairs.”
There were a few other vampires hanging out in the living room, maybe about seven in total, and they all stopped whatever they had been doing to stare at him.
“What about Ricky? Or Trace?” He suddenly really wished a familiar face was with him right now. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, having the gazes of all these monsters on him made the back of his hair stand on end.
“They’re busy, too,” the vampire said coolly, crossing his arms.
“O-Oh, okay.”
He shifted his feet awkwardly, glancing over at the staircase that led to the second floor. He was just starting to wonder if he should go look for Damien himself when the vampire spoke up again.
“I see you’re not wearing your fake fangs. But you don’t really need them anymore, do you? Everyone now knows that you were just pretending to be one of us.”
Jesse winced. “Yeah, listen, I’m really sorry about that-”
“Sorry you did it, or sorry you got caught?” he interrupted. “You were all too happy to lie to us for a whole year.”
Another vampire joined them from the living room, the rest following not far behind. “I bet if that whole debacle didn’t happen last week, you’d still be masquerading as a vampire.”
He... couldn’t exactly deny that. Taking a deep breath, he replied as calmly as he could, “Look, things got out of hand, but I never meant to hurt you guys.”
The first vampire scoffed. “Oh, is that right? ‘Cuz the way I hear it, you’re now playing messenger boy for your little hunter friends.”
He took a menacing step forward, and Jesse stepped back, deeper into the Den. A pit settled in his stomach as he realized that the vampires were all blocking his path to the front door.
“They aren’t-” he started, but they weren’t hearing it.
“How do we know that you didn’t lead those hunters directly to us in the first place?” There was a wicked gleam in his eyes, one of pure malice. The sight of it made Jesse’s heart skip a beat.
He had been naive to think that everything would be cool between him and all the monsters of Gravewood after what happened. Why should they take him at his word when he had been deceiving them all this time? Honestly, something like this should have happened sooner.
The vampire kept advancing, forcing Jesse backwards, until he felt his back press against the wall. He wanted to say something, anything, to defend himself, but the words got caught in his throat. For the millionth time, he was once again reminded of the illusion of Damien in the Waylor house, only worse, as he was now surrounded by almost a dozen vampires.
“I’ll give you a message to tell your human friends.” He bared his fangs at him, ready to lunge.
“Hey!” A voice shouted from above.
Jesse looked up. The wall he was backed against was actually a part of the staircase, and on the landing to the second floor right above him stood Damien. He watched as he planted his hands firmly on the banister before vaulting over, a loud THUD echoing through the house as he landed in a crouch directly between Jesse and the other vampires.
“Something going on here I should know about, Nash?” he asked as he stood up, drawing himself to his full height. He wasn’t that tall, in fact the vampire Nash was taller by a few inches, but that didn’t matter as he still commanded respect all the same.
Nash balled his fists, but kept them firmly at his sides. He wouldn’t dare do anything to his leader. “Nothing important. Just wondering why this human is still coming over to our Den.”
“Isn’t it obvious? He’s one of us.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Nash pointed past him, at Jesse. “He’s a liar! He’s been pretending to be a vampire to take advantage of us! Those monster hunters-”
“Wanted to kill him too that night, in case you forgot. Or you just didn’t believe me when I told you.” He narrowed his eyes, as if daring the other vampire to challenge him.
“How can you still protect him, after all he’s done?”
“Because,” he drew out the word. “I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for him.”
He raised his voice as he addressed all the vampires that had been watching their exchange from the sidelines.
“Listen up, ‘cuz I’m only gonna say this once. Jesse may be a human, but he saved our asses Halloween night, and if any of you have a problem with him, you’re gonna have to go through me first.”
“And me.”
Another voice joined in from above. Trace was standing on the landing, where Damien had just been, with Ricky right next to her. He gave Jesse a small nod to tell him they were with him too.
Nash glared, clearly not wanting to back down, but with all three of them on Jesse’s side, he had no choice. “Whatever.”
He stalked away, and with that, the rest of the crowd also reluctantly dispersed, either heading upstairs or out of the house entirely, trying to avoid Damien’s ire.
“Sorry about that, Jess,” he told him. “I thought I’d made it clear on where we stand with you, but I guess I was mistaken.”
Trace shook her head. “I always thought Nash was annoying, but I never expected him to try to threaten you to your face like that.”
“Is it going to be a problem if I keep coming over?” he asked. “I don’t want to cause any drama.”
“Nah, you’re fine. Nash just... he cares a lot about the Den. Almost as much as the three of us. He doesn’t want to see anything happen to the home we’ve built here.”
“And you don’t believe what he was saying? About me secretly being a part of the hunters.”
Damien scoffed. “Are you forgetting I was there when they kidnapped us? I saw first-hand how they treated you.”
“And I saw your deal with the Dawsons,” Ricky piped up.
“If all that was some elaborate hoax, it’s gotta be the stupidest plan of all time. I mean, you’d think they could come up with something better than knocking their own member unconscious like that.”
“I’m glad to hear you believe me anyway.”
As they spoke, the trio led him into the living room, and they settled on the large sectional, Jesse facing the three of them as they sat next to each other.
“You know my offer to teach you boxing still stands,” Trace said. “If you’re going to be dealing with those monster hunters a lot, I think you should learn how to defend yourself.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” he agreed. “And speaking of the hunters, I’m still letting them think I’m a vampire. So if you guys could teach me more-”
“Yes!” Damien punched the air with a grin. “It’s time for your first official vampire lesson.”