Chapter Text
Drift and Shelby sat patiently on the apartment stairs while Scott sifted through his belongings for their yearly visit to Oakhurst. To Avid’s grave.
The visits felt routine now. 200 years blurred into what felt like a few days. Like his death was just yesterday. But it wasn't. Plenty of time had passed and they had all finally reached acceptance.
Usually grieving doesn't take multiple centuries, but surely it worked differently for vampires. Owen had the same amount of time and remained stuck in that second stage of grief all the way until his demise.
Drift was glad she didn't let the grief consume her like that, despite how dreadfully tempting it was. Like the worst itch ever, whispering in your ear and pleading to be satisfied with your submission to it. But it would only destroy more than it fulfilled. She tried so hard to keep it together and it paid off. Now she and Shelby and Scott could live a semi-normal life, like they had been for the past two centuries.
Exactly two centuries.
Scott grabbed out two combs from his draw, looking intently at them before turning around to get the others’ input. “Which one should I bring?”
“Isn’t that the same comb?” Shelby whispered, only intending for Drift to hear.
Scott's pointy ears pricked up, his strengthened hearing easily picking up on what they had said. “They're literally made of different materials!” he replied, a hand pressed to his chest in offense. “I'll just take both.”
“Bare minimum, remember?” Shelby said, crossing her arms. “I'm not carrying your stuff like last time.”
Scott shrugged, tossing both combs to the side. “Fine. This is all I’ll need, then.”
He rose to his feet and grabbed the bag, his form weighing down a little because of its mass. "We should just take a plane. Get the full human experience… and not have to carry bags.”
“Absolutely not,” Drift said to immediately shut down that idea. “I know you've never been to an airport before, but you don't wanna know the horrors.”
“I'll take your word,” Scott chuckled. “C’mon, let's go.”
The trio took hold of their luggage and transformed into their bat forms, flying high above the city.
Drift flew behind Shelby, carrying her fairly light luggage with her feet. Scott trailed behind with his heavy bag, the strap situated in his mouth. This was going to be a long flight for him.
Living as a vampire outside of the boundaries of Oakhurst had its benefits. Prior to their escape, Drift found that she could only keep up being a bat for a couple of minutes before being forced to transform back into her humanoid form. Same with her invisibility. Outside of those invisible walls, it felt so free. She'd get tired after a while, sure, but there was no longer a timer pounding in her thoughts, screaming at her that her ability would expire soon.
Her wings flapped effortlessly, the wind blowing in her face as she felt almost weightless.
Weightless.
That was the word she used to describe the experience of being a bat to Avid.
Lost in her thoughts, Drift pushed herself further forward, hoping that thought would dissipate with the wind behind her. Instead, she unintentionally clashed with Shelby, earning a panicked hiss and causing them to lose their grip on their bag.
The bat behind them swiftly swooped in to catch it with his foot, now awkwardly gripping two heavy bags—a testament to his hatred of labour. “You're lucky I have a quick reaction time,” he squeaked out.
Shelby gave an acknowledging nod in reply. Well, the closest to a nod a bat can give.
Guilt and relief washed over Drift's mind, both fighting to take over and neither daring to pull back.
“I'm sorry, Shelby! I didn't mean to push into you,” she said, supporting Scott as he returned the bag to its owner, but not before a few books fell out of the unzipped front pocket. They descended down toward the water below, too far gone for any quick thinking to save.
“My books!” she whined, taking hold of the bag and pulling the zip shut on that pocket to ensure any remaining books wouldn't escape. “That’s my fault, though. Should've zipped it up…”
Drift felt prompted to double-check her luggage, too. Once she was sure there were no errors, they continued their flight.
A few hours passed before the vampires descended to stand on the cursed soil of Oakhurst.
Drift hated it.
Despite the lack of invisible chains binding the group there, stepping into Oakhurst felt like buckling herself in for a roller coaster, knowing that it would lead to her doom. One that she had ridden before and just barely made it out of.
But they were there to see Avid's grave. Not the town. This was just a pitstop in their journey. The town meant nothing.
She thought that maybe after hundreds of years of visits, she'd finally get over it. But no, the town obviously still had to haunt her mind.
Maybe she hadn't truly reached acceptance, but rather had been teetering on the edge of it for all those years. Maybe her emotional attachment hadn't ever truly left but was instead boiling into vapour that would eventually condense and rain down upon her.
By the gods she hoped it wouldn't.
The trio trekked through the town, admiring the beauty creeping through the ruins it was in. Flowers grew through the scraps of buildings, adding a pop of colour to their otherwise dead surroundings and leaves littering the ground.
Lilacs, alliums, sunflowers…
Orchids.
She never got to solve that case, did she? She said she would when she got out. She said she would.
Drift made a point to trample the next orchid on the path.
It wasn't out of any malice or lingering anger; all she wanted was to clear her head. And it worked.
Scott, no longer as affected by his heavy luggage in his humanoid form, led the group over to the bridge. They found that, every year, the bridge seemed to heal more and more from its once ruined state. Cleo and Pearl had been doing some work.
The castle was receiving similar attention, both the interior and exterior feeling more and more lively every visit.
Moving past the entrance—they'd greet Cleo and Pearl later—Scott guided them to the back of the castle. Drift cautiously stepped through the leaves, hearing them crunch beneath her feet.
They always visited during Autumn. It made sense as their initial time in Oakhurst was in Autumn, but it made the girl wonder what the environment was like in other seasons. Did the sun beam down in Summer? Did snow pelt down in Winter? Did flowers bloom everywhere in Spring? Or did the overcast, dull weather haunt the bleak town year-round?
She slowly began her approach to Avid's grave, a flower in hand. At least he was here to experience all the seasons for her.
Drift’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud yelp from Scott. She and Shelby immediately rushed to catch up, staring at the sight he was witnessing. Her eyes led her to see what the elder vampire was looming over—a grave.
An empty grave.