Chapter Text
Vampires had family dinner, as it turned out.
Avid had a new collar— an actual collar, the band as wide as four fingers, made of buttery soft leather and brass buckles and an iron clasp to loop a chain through. Someone had even hammered decorative rivets into it, making Avid slowly start to suspect that they weren't going to get sick of him and kill him any time soon.
At least, not today.
The dining room was a long banquet hall, with a dark polished table so heavy and grand it looked almost stone. It was dark in the room, with only two grand chandeliers hanging far above on glinting brass chains, and sconces along the walls holding guttering, heavy wax candles.
Avid could smell the faint hint of ozone that meant they were magically lit— or at least, he was assuming so. The only time he had seen such expense had been the lectures he attended in his free time at the academy, and even that had been in passing. The only other way to light them would have been servants with ladders, and he hadn't seen any servants as he was led by Scott to the dining hall. The hallways had been long and empty and lavish— but clean enough considering the size. None of the doors they passed had been open, and all the windows had heavy velvet and brocade drapes pulled over them, not a single wink of light peeking through.
He didn't have much time to ponder it, hugging the walls as he made a circuit of the dining hall he had been left in, anxiety causing him to reach around and itch his fur with his teeth, to try and relieve the crawling prickling feeling. He had cleaned himself of most of the blood and smoke smell, grateful that he had water in the cage to remove the taste from his mouth when he was done, but he could still smell remnants of yesterday on him.
Owen's touch, hay, and smoke clung to his fur. He could almost smell the faint sheep smell of the crate they put him in, and the reminder made his heart pound until he finally gave in and crawled under the table, to roll on the thick woven carpet there. He would smell like dust, and wood polish, but better that than anything that reminded him of what almost happened.
"There you are!" called a voice, cheerful.
Avid sprung back to his feet so quickly he barked his head on the table, and went darting out, almost knocking over two chairs. They clattered back down to their feet instead as the voice gasped in surprise, and Avid hid himself behind a suit of standing armor positioned midway down the room.
"Oh! I'm sorry," said Shelby, where she was standing by the open door with her hands over her mouth. "You're kinda jumpy, huh?" she laughed and rounded the table to approach the suit of armor, and Avid behind it.
He wasn't as scared of Shelby as he was of Scott, or Owen— or even Pyro. It was hard to be, when she looked so friendly, and open, and crouched down without a single thought of how close it brought her throat within reach of his teeth.
He would never— the mere thought made him sick to his stomach. But Owen's words from the day before ran through his head. 'Dangerous,' he'd called him, but not in the same way that villagers said it, or his family. He wanted to tell her 'No! Keep away, you should just let me go,' but he couldn't. Instead all he could do was growl at her outstretched hand, and immediately flinch at the sheer gall of it, licking his lips and hunching down away from her touch.
"It's okay! Here, Owen said you'd like these—" she dug into a pouch at her side, and Avid couldn't help the sudden drool that pooled in his mouth at the smell, ears straightening and tail wagging slightly where it was caught between his legs.
"They're dried chicken livers! You know, I never knew Owen knew so much about dogs, but I guess it makes sense," she stretched her arm out as far as it would go to put the treat down on the wooden floor, before drawing her hand back. She was crouched on her heels, her skirts long enough so she wasn't indecent but the careless way she was sat made Avid think of Elle. Of village girls playing stone and marble games on the pavement, or of friends gathered around the laundry to gossip. "He always seemed like a dog person, and he knows a lot about wolves and foxes. More than Scott, that's for sure, I don't think he's ever been near a dog," Shelby laughed.
Avid pressed himself flat to the floor, and wiggled forward, ignoring the grin Shelby gave as she watched him— the fact that she was out of arms reach of him helped, and he finally snagged the liver treat with his very front teeth. He drew back so fast with it that he almost knocked over the armor with a clang and a clatter.
He was so hungry.
"Whoah. You like that? Here, here's another," and she set it down in the same spot. Not trying to draw him closer, not trying to make him… uncomfortable. Avid was slightly quicker this time, and grabbed the treat, snapping it up. The texture was dried, but it made for an even better feeling between his teeth. Close to the cartilage caught inside bones, and he licked his lips when he was done and stared intently at Shelby for more.
"Don't give him all of those Shelby," Owen said, and Avid didn't flinch nearly as hard as before at the surprise of someone coming in the room without him hearing. His hearing was very good, but these vampires all moved like cats. "He's all bones, you'll make him sick."
Avid felt a burn of humiliation, lowering his head— he wasn't. He wouldn't… make himself sick.
Although hadn't he, at one point before? The village before Oakhurst had been hard to reach, and he hadn't been able to transform the entire journey. It was only slightly easier to hunt in that form, when he was so hungry he was blind from it, and couldn't feel the shivering revulsion at being covered in fur, and eating things bloody, and raw. But the fear had caught hold of him and hadn't let go, he couldn't seem to make himself change, even though he'd been starving.
Avid had no teeth, no claws, and he his traps never seemed to catch anything for the entire time it took to reach the city of Path. He hadn't eaten in four days. When he finally got to town he had overpaid four coppers for a meal, and ate the stew they had over the fire so fast that he had hardly tasted it.
It had all come up back behind the building later, Avid hunched miserably, still weak and wobbly and faint from hunger, but unable to keep anything down.
"You're the expert," Shelby chirped, standing and smoothing her skirts. She flounced to one of the chairs to the side of the large, grand one at the head of the table, beneath the large stained glass window. She stood next to the chair, Owen opposite her at the right hand, and Pyro stood next to the chair beside him.
Alone by the armor, Avid felt vulnerable, and exposed, although the vampires weren't... weren't looking at him, they were very pointedly not looking at him in fact, and he felt even more nervous at the idea that they might have discussed him at some point.
'Why?!' he couldn't help but think, frustrated. 'Why are you doing this?'
He didn't have time to get any more nervous than he was, as Scott strolled into the hall.
He had left Avid here and gone away, and apparently changed into a dining outfit in that time. He had done other things perhaps, but Avid didn't have any way of knowing what a noble vampires duties day to day looked like.
He had a long red cape clasped at his throat with a silk cravat, and a gold brooch in the shape of a star. Eight pointed, with a small tasteful garnet glinting at the center. His vest was midnight blue with gold thread picking out depictions of birds, vines, and flowers, with matching embroidery on the cuffs of his blue velvet coat.
Owen hadn't changed, and neither had Shelby or Pyro, but Avid assumed this was normal since they did not comment on it. Scott walked in the comfortable silence that fell, heels clicking against the stone. He reached Pyro first, and touched the younger vampires neck, drawing him in.
Avid heard… heard them purring from here as Scott touched cheeks to him, their fronts pressed together in a casually intimate embrace. The other vampires didn't seem surprised, or startled— in fact, Shelby was beaming, and Owen looked bored.
Scott moved to Owen next, the sight of Owen ducking his head to allow Scott to do what he wanted was startling. Owen had seemed so… so intimidating, and here he was allowing Scott to press lips into his hair, and rub their cheeks together with a clear sort of respect, if not affection. Scott had not stopped purring, looking smug and satisfied as he moved among his coven and touched all of them. Owen made a rusty, ill-fit sound that took a moment for Avid to realize was purring as well, although his face looked as if he was sucking on a lemon throughout the process.
Shelby laughed and threw her arms around Scott when he got to her, and he returned the embrace, giving her a small indulgent spin before setting her down on her feet, and kissing her head. It was more than a family greeting— they all. They all smelled the same now, or frighteningly similar. Avid wasn't used to relying so much on his eyes, but he realized now that they all shared that same coven scent stemming from Scott.
That seemed to be the last thing Scott required, because he untangled himself from Shelby, and stepped up to the grand chair at the head of the table. He swept his cape behind himself before taking a seat, and as soon as he had done so, the rest of the vampires did as well, with the ease of long practice.
Avid sat in silence for a moment, before Scott turned his gaze towards where he was hunkered by the suit of armor. "If you change back, you're more than welcome to eat at the table," Scott said, shooting a quelling look at Shelby when she opened her mouth to say something.
In response Avid hung his head, and slunk under the table, unable to even fathom changing back, let alone here being viewed by four vampires. In a collar.
For the first time, Avid saw someone besides the vampires, as servants began to file in, carrying various dishes, silent and soft-footed. His ears pricked up in interest, drool gathering in his mouth and curiosity causing him to extend his head out far enough so he could see what was happening.
(He did so near Shelby, who looked down and smiled slightly at him— but otherwise left him be.)
The servants were simply dressed in smocks and frocks and coats, finer than what someone might be wearing down in the village but far from the elaborate clothing the vampires were wearing. They looked fearful— but not terrified. Slightly anxious, and Avid could smell the sour dampness of sweat under their arms or the small of their backs, beneath their clothes. The humid scent of fear, as the servants went about setting the table, and removing cloches from the top of brass and gold plated serving dishes.
There was evidence here and there of feeding— delicate pinpricks on one serving girl's neck, barely hidden by a demure scarf. The butler, who was supervising with less fear than the other servants, who had the shape of Pyro's mouth scarred over his wrist. but for the most part no one was mauled, and Avid was… surprised that the vampires kept their employees in such good shape. Although, he supposed if you wanted someone to keep your castle clean, you couldn't be killing them all the time.
The food was blood, mainly. Blood and cream whipped into a savory mousse, and a delicate roe of fish eggs on top. Slivers of various organs were arrayed on platters, fresh and still bloody, and a whole shank of rare bloody beef was carved directly off of the still steaming and charred bone, to be placed in front of each vampire. A tureen of soup sat at the center of the table, smelling like blood and simmered brain, studded with herbs and onions that had turned translucent and pink in the broth.
There were other things on the table, either too unfamiliar or elaborate for Avid to identify. Bowls and plates and platters, soups and jellies and carafes of various blood and goblets at each occupied chair. It was an entire five course meal, for vampires.
Avid's stomach growled. He was so hungry, he could barely listen to the conversation that started over his head. Owen was speaking of the state of things in town, Scott was commenting about the taxes, and Pyro was relaying some project he was working on— he recalled vaguely that they were in school. How that worked Avid had no idea, but the idea that some of the lecture he had attended in the city were occupied by vampires didn't seem so far fetched as it once did.
(They had let him in after all, once he had forked over a few coins for the privilege.)
Shelby's hand came below the table, holding a sliver of meat in her hands.
Avid stared.
He looked towards where he could see Scott's neatly crossed feet below the table, his boots heeled and polished and tucked demurely under the chair he was seated on. He couldn't see anyone's face from here, but he had to assume they wouldn't notice.
Hunger finally drove him forward. Avid held his breath, delicate as anything, and took the meat from Shelby's fingers.
It was so good.
He thought it might be a young animal by the taste, sodden with blood, so fresh that he growled quietly in excitement. He bit the sound off abruptly and swallowed, tail wagging— the conversation had stuttered momentarily, and it made him nervous. 'Were they upset?'
When it continued, he knew he was in the clear.
Shelby's hand came down again, and this time Avid barely hesitated. He sniffed her fingers for good measure, interested. Shelby smelled like blood, parchment, and ink, and just a bit like mothballs. He took the next sliver of meat from her hand, and —in one of those instances of his body doing something he could not control—
Licked her fingers.
Mortified, he moved back across the table, ignoring the sound of Shelby's giggle and pressing himself over to Pyro and Owen's side instead. Pyro even moved his feet slightly backwards, although Avid couldn't tell if it was because of a turn the conversation was taking above him, or genuine concern for there being room for Avid. He had to weave himself around the legs of the table— grand, heavy things that came from the center, and spread out in a clawed foot each, about three feet across.
Pyro's hand came near, and to Avid's embarrassment there was more food there, although Pyro didn't pause in his explanation of municipal sewer structure. Owen's boot was irritably tapping, which Avid took to mean this was a relatively common topic of conversation.
Avid reached out and took the food with careful fingers, sitting back on his heels and miserably wondering if this was how he was stuck eating for the rest of his life. Scraps under the table.
Pyro stopped talking. There was a pause, and even Owen's foot stopped tapping.
"…Pyro?" Scott asked pleasantly. "Something wrong?"
"No, not at all sire," Pyro said, reaching down and scratching between Avid's ears, feeling. Avid was too scared to move, as Pyro ran careful fingers over his ears, then down to his eyes (which Avid closed, wary of the sharp claws so close to something so delicate), and over his muzzle and damp nose.
Satisfied, Pyro drew his hand back, and once he continued speaking, it was only a a short moment before the same hand returned with more food. Avid wagged his tail, and licked the mousse off of the spoon Pyro was offering.
"Alright, enough," Scott finally sighed, the conversation halting into a guilty silence. "Marick, make our guest a plate please," he called out, and that same butler moved forward from where he had been standing sentinel along the wall, with the other silent servants.
"Of course, m'lord," he said, and it was only a moment before the man was setting a plate down next to Scott's chair.
It was piled with modest cuts of meat, ladles of the jellied soup poured over, hot and still steaming from the tureen. There was even a shank of bone, split down the middle to reveal the creamy marrow within, blackened and roasted and fragrant. The plate was more of a platter, and the the butler had even bothered to fold a napkin next to the plate, and pour a goblet of water.
Avid stared. They had even been sure not to give him too much, as Owen instructed, in case he got sick.
The conversation continued above his head, and it was only once he was sure the vampires were distracted that he crept out, tail wagging, and started to eat.
After dinner, Scott brought him into the forest. Owen followed silently, after the two had scented and said goodbye to the two younger vampires— Scott with a veneer of affection, and Owen with stilted formality.
Avid felt different, after a good night sleep, and a full stomach. Scott didn't say anything beside gesture for him and Owen to follow. Avid didn't even consider refusing, nerves causing his stomach to flip and the food he had eaten to settle heavily.
They wound their way through the castle, Scott ahead and Owen behind, and out a side path toward the trading gate. The few servants they encountered bowed their heads and stepped to the side of the hall, pressing against the tapestries and walls and alcoves. Scott didn't give them a glance, but Avid did, his nose almost clipping Scott's heels as he followed, ears laid flat.
The servants didn't look afraid, just flat. Carefully emotionless.
Eventually the three of them went out a side door, and it was as they were crossing a narrow footpath and bridge out to the forest, that Avid changed back.
One moment he was staring out at the trees, rare longing gripping his heart as he imagined running, and not stopping until he was safe.
The next, the air was cool on his skin and his feet were cold against the stone pavement of the bridge, as he walked. He didn't even stumble, and it took two steps for him to realize what had happened.
He stared at Scott, who paused in surprise and stared evenly back. Owen stopped walking behind him, and chuckled.
Avid took one step backwards, hands cupping his elbows and shivering, before Scott tutted and stopped him. "No, don't be silly. Come along."
When Avid didn't move, heart pounding, Scott frowned and turned to face him properly. "I said come along, I have something to show you— is it the nudity?" Scott rolled his eyes although Avid didn't say one way or another, and unpinned his cloak, holding it out to Avid whose fear increased exponentially the closer Scott came to him. Nonsensically, he looked at the side of the bridge, at the water far down below.
Owen did not move, watching, his gaze burning a hole in Avid's back.
He didn't move, and it was only when he felt Scott's patience reaching a thin breaking point that Avid reached out to take the cloak. His fingers were shaking so hard he almost dropped it— but he didn't. He took it and threw it over his shoulders, drawing it in both hands under his chin. Like a child, who had slept-walked out here into danger.
Scott nodded in approval, and gestured, and Avid followed obediently. Owen was only a moment following, and Avid was too afraid to look back and see the expression on his face.
'They're bringing me out here to kill me,' he couldn't help but think— although. They had fed him, which they probably wouldn't do if they were going to kill him. There was a collar, heavy on his neck and requiring at least an hour's work to craft. That was another chore they wouldn't have wasted, if they wanted to just kill him in the forest.
Not to mention, they could probably just kill him in the middle of the dining hall and no one would blink an eye. Why make the effort to come out here?
They reached the flat land on the other end of the bridge, the dirt and flattened stones of the footpath gentle enough on Avid's callused feet. This was far from the first time he had found himself naked outside, and he was depressingly used to it. For a moment he tried to will himself back— he was cold, and his skin was prickling as if claws were already sinking in and tearing him apart. Fur didn't do much to protect him, but it was better than thin human skin.
It did nothing of course, and Scott smiled as if he could tell what he was trying to do.
Night was almost over— Pyro and Shelby had been on their way to sleep, he remembered, as the dawn started to lighten the trees around them, and cast sloping daggers of light from the mountain tops. The light didn't reach them yet, nestled as they were in the valley and surrounded by deep river basins.
"What's your name?" Scott asked, not moving from the spot he had chosen. Halfway between the start of the small foot-bridge to the castle, and the beginning of the treeline. Owen leaned against the post of the bridge, arms crossed, eyes glinting crimson in the gray morning light. He hadn't said a word since they had left, and Avid couldn't help but feel betrayed by his silence.
He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "A.. Avid," he whispered, and a human wouldn't have heard him, but Scott nodded in satisfaction.
"Avid then. I have a question for you," he put his hands behind his back, looking thoughtfully out over the forest. Birds sang, and Avid could hear a fox yowling in the distance. No doubt scenting a rabbit, or wild chicken to hunt, and Avid felt jealous for a moment. "Do you want to run?"
Avid stared at him blankly. He heard Owen shift behind him, and he shivered under the cloak. "Wh… I'm sorry, what?"
"Run? Do you want to leave?" Scott asked, his voice pleasant, his smile kind. He looked like a snake, curled under a bush. "I won't stop you from trying."
Avid looked back at Owen, and flinched at how close he had come, head hung low, and he looked more wolfish than Avid in that moment.
"I… Is this a trick? I run, and and… what, you kill me?" Avid asked, angry and scared, shoulders raised around his ears. "Please just... Just tell me what you want," he begged, throat tight and he was not going to cry in front of these vampires.
"Yes," Owen said, the first words he had spoken. "You run, we kill you."
Avid stared at him.
"This forest is my domain. I know everything that happens, I know every person in it, every creature, every cow between here and the next border. It would take you two days running to leave, and that would be if you even knew the way," Scott moved closer, meandering, as if he was speaking of dinner plans, or explaining something to a child. "If you try to run alone, we will catch up. You cannot outrun something that flies. If you try to hide yourself, we will find you. You go to the village for help, and if they don't kill you, we kill you."
Scott added the last fondly, stepping forward until he was too close to Avid's front— but with Owen behind him he had nowhere to go. He felt like he was still in the cage, still in the crate, shivering, eyes wide as he stared at Scott. "Where will you go? You were half dead when you got here, and it's only Shelby's mercy that you're still alive. My mercy that you have a warm place to sleep, and food. So I'll give you an ultimatum. You run, now, your only chance, and we will chase you, and if we catch you, we will kill you."
Scott reached up and rested a hand against Avid's throat, feather light. The first time he had touched him, and Avid willed his legs to stay locked, to not fall down. His heart was pumping so quickly he knew the two vampires could hear it. He could hear Owen inhale behind him, scenting, and that alone made him despair for losing them in the forest.
Even if he was inclined to run.
Where would he go? He wasn't welcome anywhere, this had been one of… many stops since he had left home. Since he had run away. Only Elle had… had ever…
Tears poured down his cheeks, and he finally shut his eyes, whimpering, and Scott's grip on his neck tightened until he had Avid by the collar.
"I think you could be useful here. Owen, thinks you could be useful here. I have spent many many centuries making myself unassailable here, in Oakhurst. No vampire, no human, no government will intervene in my business."
Owen circled around coming near, and Scott reached his free hand up to cup his cheek. Owen leaned into him. He only came up to Scott's shoulder, but he rested himself against it anyway, eyes shutting, and Avid saw pain cross his face. Something fracturing for just a moment as Scott rubbed a thumb under his jaw, and purred reassuringly. "Vampires in my coven are safe here, but I think someone such as you could help make us safer. We're weak in the daytime, after all, making us vulnerable to mobs or to the witches pyre. But werewolves? Well. They would not be able to come and burn us in the day, not with someone such as you here."
Avid was speechless, locked in place by the hand at his throat, and watching the tenderness that Scott used when he brushed Owen's hair back, and pet him just as reassuringly as Shelby had pet Avid, when he was being collared in a bloody, burning town square.
"If you won't join us, then you run, and we kill you now— and I'm telling you Avid, I will not make it quick, and I will not make it merciful. Owen will get a turn, and then me, and you will wish the villagers had finished what they started in the square. Do you understand?"
Owen's eyes opened, and he stared at Avid in glinting promise. In the morning light, he and Scott looked as far from human as he had ever seen.
"I… I won't run," Avid whispered, his throat moving against the fingers curled around his throat.
"Once more, please," Scott said fondly, Owen lifting his head and moving away.
"I won't run," Avid said, stronger, swallowing.
"And one last time, for tradition," Scott said gently, his newly freed hand moving up, and cupping Avid's cheek. It was still damp, because Avid had not stopped crying.
"I won't run."