Chapter Text
We should not be here. This was the sentence that repeated in Apos's head over and over again while she walked beside Cherri in the woods that surround Oakhurst. She had been turned around, and reaching the town had taken longer than she hoped; the sun was about to set.
“You are sure that the town is in this direction? You don’t let me run in circles in hopes I give up, do you?” Cherri’s voice pulls Apo out of her thoughts.
"Yes, I’m sure this time. Besides, it would be dangerous to be outside here when it's dark; even if the vampires aren’t around, there are still monsters in these woods," Apo replies. She really hopes that the vampires aren’t around, that they had left even if Pearl said she would stay; after all, why would anybody stay at this cursed place by their free will?
“You really hope that the vampires are gone, do you?” Cherri asks, as she had picked up on how Apo had said the last part.
"Yeah, of course I hope they are gone; they are dangerous," Apo responds, and it’s the truth because the vampire that is the most likely to still be here is Pearl, which would be too bad; she was nice enough as a human at least, but if she were still around, Cleo might also be there, and they were the last person that Apo wanted to have near her, or Cherri, Scott and Sausage were close, but Cleo would be worse.
“Look over there, we are there.” Apo says as she spots the burnt trees that Abolish has left behind. And as the two walk between them, the village comes into view. The houses are repaired but completely still.
Apo thinks for a moment. “Let’s check Ren's cabin. If I can’t enter it, it means that he is still the owner, so none of the others should be able to enter it either.” Ren had never trusted the vampires, so he never invited any of them into his home.
"Okay, I can't go inside, so it's safe for you. I will be outside staying guard.” Apo tells Cherri after she has tried to enter Ren's house and found herself unable to do so.
"You let me sleep alone?” Cherri asks clearly Not the biggest fan of Apo's plan.
“Yes. It was your idea to go here, and you agreed to my terms, and my terms are to keep you safe," Apo responds. Cherri had pushed for a while for her to go back to Oakhurst with her, saying Apo was still there and that the best way to get away from there would be to go back there to actually find an end to her time there instead of just leaving.
Eventually Apo had agreed. Hoped that enough time had passed so that none of the other vampires were still there. And only if Cherri would listen to what Apo told her when vampires get involved. Apo takes a look through the windows at her sleeping girlfriend.
Normally she would lie beside her even if she avoided actually sleeping to avoid the nightmares that come when she closes her eyes. But lying beside Cherri had something relaxing, so she normally would spend her night doing that.
"Well, hello there. I hadn’t expected you to come back here.” Apo spun around to the speaker only to directly face two piercing red eyes staring into her. Peal giggles and takes a few steps back, putting a more comfortable distance between the two.
Apo's heart felt like it was racing even as it lay still and unmoving in her chest as always as waves of memories upon memories of red eyes staring her down broke out of the part of her brain where Apo had locked them away.
She tries to focus on the vampire in front of her, Pearl. Not Scott, not Pyro, not Owen and NOT Cleo. Pearl, who now looked almost concerned for Apo.
"Sorry, did I scare you too much?” She asked in a careful voice like she approached a scared animal. Well, Apo was scared, so it was probably the correct tone.
Apo manages to collect herself. "Why do you scare people in town, Pearl?" she snarls as her rising anger pushes back the fear in her stomach. “Is this how you greet visitors or what?”
“Nooo, most are already afraid, so we try not to add more, but most visitors don’t stalk women through windows." Pearl replies, "Who is she?”
“Cherri, my girlfriend," Apo answers slowly. There was no reason to hide it now if Pearl had already spotted her, but she still feels conflicted about telling the vampire about her.
“Ah, that explains the longing look through the windows. Why are you outside instead of in there with her?" Pearl asks. Still blunt and straight to the point, Apo thinks.
“Because I can’t enter, Ren never invited me; that’s the reason I picked his house because he never invited you either, so Cherri is safe in there from you!" Apo spits the last words out. She hadn't spoken to any of the people from Oakhurst since now, and she was already done with it.
Pearl blinks. “Ren is dead; the entire town belongs more or less to me and Cleo. I can enter as I want. In fact, she takes a few steps beside Apo and crosses the door without any issue. “I can invite you in. 'You are welcome into this house, Apo," she says and turns around to the stunned woman.
Apo is horrified; she had thought she could keep Cherri safe, but she had failed already. If Pearl had wanted, she could have just killed Cherri, and Apo would not even be able to enter the house to stop her. “Thank you, Pearl.” She stutters and tries to walk beside the vampire, only to be stopped by her arm.
“If you don’t mind, why are you back? You said you never wanted to see any of us or this place again. Yet you came back with your girlfriend. Why?" Her voice is calm, but Apo's mind puts a different question in her tone: “Why do you disturb my peace?”
Apo swallows. “Cherri thought it helped me to cope with the events if I came back here, and" – she hesitates for a moment – “I think she also hopes that there would be a vampire here that turns her.”
Silence
“What? She – Pearl points to Cherri, who is somehow sleeping through her suddenly loud voice – “wants to become a vampire?" Pearl pauses. "And doesn’t want to be turned by you?” Pearl asks, voice quieter this time.
"No, I don’t want to turn her; in fact, I don’t want her to become a vampire at all. It's a horrible curse, no matter what you all say, and if you even try to turn her, I will stake you.” Apo hisses.
“You don’t need to do that; I won't lay a finger on her.” Pearl replies, completely ignoring Apo's tread. “In fact, I agree with you. This," she gestures around herself, “is not something you really want. There are more horrible fates, but still not that great.”
"Wait, you actually agree with me?” Apo is surprised in her head; she has already started to make arguments. “Then why did you agree to become one in the first place?”
“To stop the bloodbath, and you know that, we explained it to you all. Or did you forget?” Peal answers, tension rising in her voice again.
“Of course not.” How could Apo forget that day, this wretched plan of Cleo, Scott and Pearl that cost the lives of the two people that Apo would have called friends in that damned town? The plan that took away her chance to become human again and left the monster that was responsible for all walking free. "It's just, you don’t seem miserable right now.”
Pearl smiles. “Just because I'm not mobbing on the floor doesn’t mean I'm not miserable.” Her voice sounds like she is in fact not miserable at all. “How about we continue this conversation tomorrow? I can pick you and Cherri up at dawn, then you can come to us in the castle, and we can speak about whatever you two want, maybe help you with moving one.” She gives Apo an uplifting look. “And don’t worry, neither me nor Cleo will turn Cherri. I give you my word for it.”
The idea to meet Cleo again sounds awful in Apu's ears, yet she still nods. “Okay, and…" She hesitates again, unsure if it would be wise to ask that of Pearl, who will tell Cleo, who will her ass for it, but it's for Cherri, so she has to. “Could you two maybe help me convince Cherri that vampirism isn’t something to be desired? I know Cleo likes it, seeing as they didn’t take the cure, but still.”
Pearls' face darkens as Apo talks about Cleo. “You better not say that in infront of them, Apo; they have reasons for not taking the cure that they don’t need to share with you.” Then her tone gets friendly again. “But we can definitely say some discouraging words about it or at least don’t sweet talk it because I assume you already told her what it feels like.”
“I did.” Apo sighs. “I really hoped you and Cleo had left. Why did you stay here? Surely there are better places than this cursed town.” It wasn't so much of a question and more just her thinking aloud.
"Well, cursed creatures in a cursed town, so it's fitting, isn’t it?" Pearl smiles, fangs glistening and sending a shiver down Apo's spine. “But in honesty neither of us had anything to go back to; we wanted a home to stay, and someone had to keep an eye on this cursed place. Seriously, you would not believe how many vampires are buried here."
"Any awake and hunting? Do we need to be careful?” Apo asked, alarmed at the idea that there were more vampires running around than she did know about.
"Now we've killed all of the ones that have woken up, and it normally takes a couple of days from us spotting the emerging grave to the vampire awakening. So unless I spot any changes, you should be in the clear.” Pearl assures her, and Apo relaxes at the knowledge that there are now wild vampires running around and that Pearl seems to have kept her attitude towards most monster who try to hurt humans.
Peal drops her arm that had still blocked the doorway for Apo and steps out of the cabin into the night as Apo fully enters it. “I will continue my round. Good night to you too," Pearl says and vanishes into the woods.
"Night," Apo mumbles back and slowly walks to the bed and carefully lays herself beside Cherri before she throws her arm around her and pulls her into a hug.