by Aidan Wayne
Vlad swallowed and did.
“She’s so soft,” he said, stroking her a few more times. She opened her mouth and Vlad froze. Then she yawned and closed her eyes, nuzzling farther against Darren’s leg.
“I think she’s cool with the petting,” Darren said, amused. Vlad looked back up at him. A few of the birds had flown away, but one was clearly trying to preen Darren’s hair. Vlad actually let out a soft laugh, which Darren immediately latched on to.
“Oh my god, laughing. What? What is it?”
Vlad shook his head, still smiling. His teeth were very white. “Nothing. You just make quite a picture.”
“Yeah yeah, Disney prince. You said.”
“It suits you, if it helps,” Vlad said. “You look very much like a fae from a storybook.”
“Oh I know,” Darren said breezily. “I make this look good.” They lapsed back into silence, Darren enjoying himself, his restless energy calmed some by being more in his element, and Vlad carefully petting the fox and finally just being somewhere else.
“I missed this,” Vlad said after a while.
“Mmwha?” Darren asked. He might’ve been dozing a little. “Missed what?”
“Being outside. I used to do it a lot. I liked taking walks. I haven’t since—” He stopped abruptly. “And petting something. I used to have a dog.”
“Maybe you could talk to Tabby about it,” Darren said, sitting up a little. “She’s allergic to cats, but she might let you get a dog.” She probably wouldn’t be against another thing to love you, he absolutely did not say. “It might be a good idea, getting you something to take care of. You’d have to leave the house to walk it, though,” he added thoughtfully.
Vlad drew his hand back. “I couldn’t. I’m just as bad around animals as I am with people. Blood is blood.”
Darren looked at him incredulously. “Uh, what? Dude, what do you think all this is?” He picked up one of the squirrels and gently waved its tiny paw. “Nice to meet you, Vlad,” he said, voice squeaky. “I am totally a real live animal that you have been around for like twenty minutes without going into a feeding frenzy.” The squirrel jumped out of his hands and curled around Darren’s neck, making it look like he was wearing a fur collar. Darren smirked and leaned back against the tree again. “Uh yeah, these guys don’t exactly look like they’re frightened for their lives. And you haven’t suddenly morphed into an apex predator.”
Vlad frowned, looking torn. Like he really wanted to believe things were getting better, but just couldn’t bring himself to. Poor guy.
“Hey,” Darren tried, “you said that the blood-aware thing was supposed to go away eventually, right? Maybe it already did! And you just didn’t notice because you haven’t left your house for a while.”
Vlad stilled and tilted his head, looking directly at Darren. His eyes flashed gold for all of half a second, and in a flurry of movement every single animal took off into the woods. “I don’t think so,” Vlad said as Darren stared at him.
“Okay, doing whatever power-thing you just did and getting sick anytime you’re around a living thing are totally different,” Darren said, rubbing at his neck—the squirrel had scratched him up a little in its haste to get away. “You just need some practice getting used to people. Then you won’t even think about it anymore.”
Vlad was staring at Darren’s neck. “You’re bleeding,” he said after a moment.
“Point to you,” Darren said before realizing that Vlad’s pupils were dilated and tinged gold. “And the no-biting-me rule still stands. I mean it, Vlad. I like you, but if you think you’re that unstable, I will The Birds the hell out of you.”
Vlad swallowed and blinked slowly, shaking his head, his eyes full-on green again. “The birds? What?”
“It’s a movie,” Darren said, trying not to feel like he was backed against a tree with a maybe-unstable vampire. “Birds attack people. Stuff gets set on fire. Are you okay?”
Vlad took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yes. I’m fine. I already said I wasn’t going to bite you. It just took me by surprise. Especially right after the—after I made the animals leave. I’m okay. I can control myself,” he added, scowling.
“You sure?” Darren asked, trying to sound less doubtful and more concerned.
“Yes. I can—” Vlad glared at the ground. “I wouldn’t hurt you. Or anyone. That’s why I didn’t want to do this.”
“Whoa, hey! Vlad, chill, come on, it’s fine. You’re fine, I’m fine. I just got a tiny nick. That happens all the time with animals. It’s no big deal. And all you did was make some woodland creatures run away. You didn’t even try to eat any of them. Not even a little bit. This is good!”
“Good?” Vlad growled.
Darren nodded emphatically. “Yeah. I mean, how else are you going to learn what you can and can’t do if you never practice? When was the last time you were even around living things besides me and Tabby?” Vlad didn’t say anything. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought. The point being that you didn’t even know you could be around animals without losing it, and clearly you can!”
“But they were your animals,” Vlad said. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t….” He trailed off, looking uncertain, and then went back to staring at Darren’s neck. Darren sighed. He had thought they were getting somewhere.
“Vlad, this is barely a scratch. Is it really that distracting?”
“No, it’s not that, I—” Vlad brought his hand up to his mouth and sucked on a knuckle, obviously thinking. “I think I can—do something about it.” He made an aborted motion toward Darren, and Darren got a flash of an idea.
“Vlad! Vlad, do you think you can heal it?” At Vlad’s surprised look, Darren gestured at his neck. “You said you might’ve wanted to heal me before. Do you think you can?”
“I don’t know,” Vlad said, clearly unsure. “I’ve never tried it.”
Darren leaned forward a little and tilted his head, pulling his collar down. Vlad looked up, visibly startled. “Try, then! Try to heal me. Just don’t uh, lose it and bite me. Even if healing means biting, that’s a no. I will punch you in the mouth, I swear.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Vlad dithered, but he was inching forward, hovering his hand over Darren’s shoulder.
“Something in you seems to, otherwise you wouldn’t keep wanting to try it. Some powers come as instinct. Go ahead, do whatever feels right. As long as it’s not—”
“As long as it’s not biting you,” Vlad said, rolling his eyes. “Yes, Darren, I understand. Although I must say, sticking your neck out to a vampire is not what I would call the best survival method.” Despite the sarcasm, his hand was actually shaking when he finally laid it down over the scratch on Darren’s neck that was still sluggishly bleeding.
A minute passed with them both sitting still, Darren waiting for Vlad, Vlad trying to figure out what to do. “I think….” Vlad stopped.
“No, what? You think what? First thing that comes to mind, come on!”
“Don’t you dare make fun of me.”
“I won’t! You got this!”
“I think I want to lick you,” Vlad bit out, looking murderous.
Darren clamped down on the first thing that flew into his brain and promptly discarded the second thing as well. “Uh, okay?” he eventually managed. “Lick, like, lick me? Or my neck? Or the blood on my neck? You got anything else?”
Vlad closed his eyes and breathed deep. “The… scratch,” he said, eyes still closed. “I think—that might be how I heal others?”
“By licking.”
Vlad opened his eyes, set his jaw, and pulled his hand away from Darren, wiping it on the moss. Then, looking determined, he brought his other hand to his mouth, licked his thumb, and quickly dragged it across the scratch, his eyes flashing gold as he did so.
They stared at each other. Darren was the first one to move, and the moment he did, Vlad dropped his hand away. “It doesn’t hurt at all,” Darren said. “It stung a bi
t before, but now I can’t even feel it.” He felt around the area, only to find that the scratch had scabbed over.
“Huh,” Darren said. “I think you did it.” And then it really hit him and he full-on grinned. “Vlad, you did it! You healed me. You figured it out!”
Vlad ran a finger over the scab, a little shell-shocked. “I did,” he said, like he couldn’t quite believe it, and then he was smiling too. “I did!”
Darren was never one to avoid taking advantage of momentum. “Let’s try something else! Maybe—maybe concentrating on an animal and not freaking out?”
“I—” Vlad hesitated for a moment, but he glanced again at the healed scratch and looked back at Darren, determined. “Yes. Okay. Let’s try it.”
Darren resisted fist-pumping in triumph. Barely.
THE SUN was starting to set by the time they got back to Tabitha’s house, Darren only slightly nervous about the fact that he’d done no homework yet. That was forgotten with how Tabitha ran to them when they went inside.
“You’re back!” She lunged at Vlad, who froze as Tabitha wrapped him in a hug. Vlad just stood there, clearly unsure about what to do with this turn of events. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“We just went out to the woods,” Darren said, looking between them. “Was that… not a thing we should have done?”
“No, no.” Tabitha pulled back. “That’s fine! It’s good. I’m very happy you did.” She leveled Vlad with a significant look. “It’s about time. I just—your books were still here when I came home, and I couldn’t find you. I… worried.”
“Books!” Darren said. “Hang on a sec. I’ll be right back.” He could hear snatches of the conversation going on in the living room as he gathered his things, and slowed down in an attempt to be quieter, to hear it.
“…know how happy I am that you’re starting to feel safe here. But your wards—you need them renewed when you leave.”
“I thought I was warded already.” Vlad sounded really unsure there. Wards? What? Bethany had mentioned something about wards before, but Darren just figured that was the house. Not for Vlad specifically.
“You were, when you first arrived,” Tabitha was saying. “But since you didn’t want to leave, I stopped reinforcing them regularly.”
“I… I was out unwarded?” And that—Vlad sounded terrified. What was going on? What was he being warded against?
“Vlad, Vlad, honey, it’s okay! You were only out for a couple of hours. No one knows you’re here, remember? I’ll reinforce them again tonight, okay? It’s fine. Don’t—please don’t let this stop you from exploring again.”
That was probably Darren’s cue. He leaped to his feet and dashed back toward the front hall. “All set!”
Tabitha smiled at him, but Vlad looked absolutely miserable. What the heck! They’d had such a good afternoon. Time to steamroll that mood right out of Vlad.
“Okay what?” Darren said, shrugging his backpack on. “What’s with the face? Have I been banned from hanging out with you or something? You decided my Disney prince ways might mar your manly image? You found out I lied about the American government?”
“You didn’t ever tell me anything about the American government,” Vlad muttered.
“And I probably never will,” Darren said solemnly. “Beth could, when you meet her. Which—not pushing! But since she and Trish are my best friends, and you are also my friend now, it kind of goes without saying that you’re all going to have to meet one of these days. Even if it’s not tomorrow. Though the invitation still stands.”
“Thank you,” Vlad said, glancing at Tabitha and then down at his hands. “But I think… not right now.”
Darren nodded. “Okay, not yet. Not yet is cool. We can discuss it again at some point in the future. But yeah, I should probably get at least some of my homework started before tomorrow. And also eat something, which, speaking of, probably you should do that too.” He turned to Tabby. “Sorry for keeping him out so late.” Then to Vlad he said, “We should do this again soon, yeah?”
“I’d… uh, I’d like that,” Vlad said.
“Awesome! We can go out to the woods again. Give you another chance to play with your powers and stuff. You know, outside. Ooh, and bring food with us. Outside picnic! Really get into some experiments. Best way to learn. Not tomorrow, but maybe Sunday? Provided you’re not sick of me yet.”
“Sunday… um, Sunday would be nice,” Vlad said. He looked a little flabbergasted, but Tabitha was beaming.
“Cool, it’s a plan, then,” Darren said. “I’ll see you then! G’night, Tabby.”
“Have a good night, Darren.” She smiled at him. “We’ll see you back here on Sunday.”
Vlad opened the door to let Darren out. Darren waved at the both of them and turned to walk home, shoulders drooping just a little once he was sure he was out of sight.
It was a lot to think about. Darren already knew that Vlad had left Ukraine in kind of a rush. And he was a newly turned vampire but not only that—he didn’t know how to use or control practically any of his new abilities. He was just figuring it all out blind. But why? The very abridged vampire lesson Darren’d got from Trisha had made a point to mention that newly turned vampires could spend months reacclimating to the world, and that they never went without a teacher. Why the heck was Vlad going it alone? Even if vampires were super rare or whatever Vlad had said when he was totally dodging the question, there had to be a least one or two who could fulfill vampire teaching duty.
And the thing with the wards. The wards that Vlad and Tabitha both were scared to go without. Vlad not wanting to leave Tabitha’s house made more—and sadder—sense now. From what Bethany had said, the house was warded to kingdom come.
It almost felt like Vlad was hiding from something. From something that was still a problem.
That wasn’t a topic Darren could bring up except very carefully. And it also wasn’t really his business either. He should probably keep his nose out it.
It just… bugged him, was all. Vlad was nice, underneath all the aloof posturing. And he was really scared to do, like, anything that might make him happy. Meeting new people, maybe getting a dog, freaking leaving his house. He was scared of his own powers.
That was a really awful way to live.
Chapter Three
SATURDAY MORNING found Darren trying to get some more homework done before he went over to visit Trish and Beth. By the time he was ready to leave, he felt a little less like he was falling behind, but he knew it wasn’t going to last. April was almost half over and finals season was rapidly drawing near. He really needed to bring up his grades as much as he could.
Darren shouldered his backpack, grabbed his bike from the garage, and made his way over to Trisha’s house. As he wound his way through his suburb and crossed McGee, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander to Vlad again. He’d been thinking about him a lot since their last meeting.
Vlad was newly turned and didn’t know anything. He wasn’t being trained, instead trying to learn things by himself. He’d left his home in Ukraine and got sad when his parents came up. He was scared to leave Tabitha’s house. And said house was warded so strongly, adult werewolves couldn’t smell him in it. He was hiding from something, no question.
Or from… someone?
He did get upset when other vampires were brought up. Shoulder-hunchy and everything.
But who was he hiding from?
When Darren came back to reality, it was to discover that he’d missed the turnoff for Trisha’s street by about two blocks. Sheepishly he turned around and headed back the way he came. By the time he made his way up the stairs to her room, Bethany and Trisha were already looking at him expectantly from their sprawl on Trisha’s bed.
“Hey, guys,” Darren said, setting his backpack on the floor and plopping down next to it. “What do you want to work on first? Because I vote for going over my math.”
“Math can wait,” Trisha said, propping up her head in her hands. �
��Tell us everything!”
Darren hadn’t even gotten his notebooks out yet. “About?”
Bethany rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “What do you think? Your new friend, duh.”
“What’s his name?” Trisha asked. “What’s he like? How come he never leaves Tabitha’s house?”
“Yeah,” Bethany chimed in. “You invited him, didn’t you?”
“He, uh, he didn’t want to come,” Darren explained. “He’s kinda… not good around people? And his name’s Vlad.”
Bethany and Trisha stared at him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bethany said, adjusting her glasses. “He’s a vampire named Vlad?”
“I know, right? That was my first reaction too! But, uh, yeah.” Darren fiddled with his backpack. “He’s from Ukraine, and apparently it’s a common name there, so maybe don’t give him a hard time about it when you meet him.”
“We wouldn’t,” Trisha said, because she was good and pure and earnest like that. “So? What’s he like?”
“You’re the resident expert,” Bethany pointed out when Darren hesitated. “No one else has even really seen him. So? Details. And what does he look like? I’ve been dying to know.”
“He’s….” Darren thought about it. “He’s really nice. But I think he doesn’t want people to know he is? Like, when we first met, he glared at me and pretty much told me to go away, but in the same breath he tried to take me to the hospital?”
“The hospital?” Bethany asked, confused.
“His, um, vampire powers picked up on my period, and he thought I was maybe dying?”
Trisha looked absolutely delighted. “Are you for real?”
Darren nodded solemnly.
“Oh my gosh, that is hilarious.”
“In hindsight? Oh yeah. Absolutely.” Darren grinned. “I’m gonna give him a hard time about it basically forever.”
“That’s kind of weird, though,” Bethany said, frowning.
“What is?”
She shook her head. “Period blood is a pretty specific smell. He should’ve known what it was. It doesn’t smell anything close to dying.”