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The town was splitting up, they wanted to search for and consecrate more of those beacons. Scott, Owen, and Legundo ended up in a group together due to being the last people that arrived.
“So, where are we going?” Scott asked, smiling as he always was. “I hope it's not too far, I don't want to walk.”
Legundo pointed in the general direction he’d been given by one of the more traveled townsfolk. “We're going to the ruined tower. It's somewhere over there, apparently, though I admit I'm not the best at directions.”
Scott groaned and put his face in his hands. “Seriously? Isn't that one the farthest away from town?”
“I'm not the one who picked it, it was just the last one left.” Legundo responded.
Owen, who hadn't spoken to anyone yet, said, “Let's just get it over with. The sooner we start walking the sooner we'll be there.”
Scott made a pouting face, but started to walk in the direction the doctor had pointed to earlier. “Fine.”
The three started the long journey to the ruined tower. It took them much longer than it should have, considering the fact the only one who had some sense of direction or where to go was Owen.
They talked on the way there. Not about anything that really mattered, just to fill the silence. Actually, the only one who really talked was Scott. Legundo didn't say much, and the only time Owen spoke was to give directions.
Eventually, the group made it there. The men were crouched around the beacon. Owen and Scott stayed a bit farther away than what would be considered normal.
Legundo was thirsty after the long walk, so he reached into his bag to grab his bottle of water. He felt the cool glass in his hands, so he pulled it out.
It wasn't his water. It was some silvery and lilac colored liquid. What was this? Why was it in his bag?
“Oh, what's that?” Scott said as he stood up and tried to grab it from Legundo's hands.
“Stop it!” The doctor said, pulling the glass away. “I don't remember what it is, but I don't want you to break it or do something with it.”
Scott hummed. “Fine.” He turned, seeming like he wasn’t interested anymore and had given up.
He had not.
Legundo went to put the glass back in his bag, and Scott quickly turned and grabbed it. It slipped from his hands, and shattered on top of the beacon.
The doctor sighed and put his head in his hands. “You're an idiot. Now there's broken glass everywhere.”
Scott turned. “Whatever, we should get out of here now. The beacon is consecrated.” He turned and started walking away, but got knocked backwards.
“What the-” Scott tapped on what seemingly should have been air, but it made a barely visible ripple. Scott turned to the other two. “I can't move past here.”
“Stop trying to scare us you-” Owen went to walk past Scott, but also slammed into something. “Oh shit, you're right.”
Legundo tried to touch the air on his side, opposite of the other two. He stuck his hand out and was met with something warm. He pressed more. It rippled a bit, like how air around a fire does due to smoke, but he couldn't pass through. The other two were correct. They couldn't leave. “We should check around to see if there's any spot where we can get through.”
Owen tried to walk down the stairs of the tower with no luck. They couldn't leave through the bottom either. It seemed they couldn't leave the area where you were close enough to convert the beacon, which neither vampires were happy about due to the slight nausea it caused.
Everyone was feeling around at the invisible barrier, and eventually came to the conclusion that there was no way out currently.
Scott sighed. “What would you do if we were stuck here forever?” he asked, looking at Owen.
“Kill you both and then myself,” Owen replied immediately. His hand shot up to cover his mouth. “What the fuck? I didn't mean to say that.”
Scott smirked. “How many times did you trip and almost fall on the walk here?”
“Five.” Owen tried to muffle the sound with his fist, but couldn't. Anger was showing on his face. “What are you doing to me you little-” Owen lunged at Scott, aiming for his throat.
“Hey!” Legundo yelled, grabbing Owen and pulling him back by the collar of his shirt. “This isn't time for us to fight, and it would be a lot harder to treat your injuries when we can't leave this place. We need to be working together if we want to get out of here. There has to be some explanation.”
Owen sat down, looked away from the others, and grumbled something. He was upset at Scott. Why was the blue haired man trying to blow their cover? Even if the doctor didn't find out they were vampires, knowing Owen didn't have issues killing them both wasn't good for anyone.
Scott sighed dramatically. “Fine, be boring. I don't understand how we're getting out of this. Or how we are saying things we don't want to.”
Legundo didn’t even really question Owen’s answer. Not being to leave at all would just end up in them all slowly starving to death or dying from dehydration. He didn’t even blame Owen for wanting to end that sort of suffering. The doctor had seen it before, and it was horrible.
Finally, something in the doctor’s head clicked. He remembered what the liquid was. He'd found a recipe for truth serum in an extremely old book. He didn't think it would work, it wasn't logical, but testing it seemed like it would be interesting. He wasn't going to let someone else drink it, so he put it into his bag so he could drink it in front of a few townsfolk and have them ask him questions.
Now it was on the beacon, and it seemed to have an effect on the people trapped inside. Seemingly, none of them could lie. “I remember what that liquid was. It was some sort of truth serum that I found in an old book. It seems like it may be interacting with the beacon somehow.”
Owen shot Legundo a glare. “Looks like it fucking worked.”
“Does that help us at all with getting out of this?” Scott asked while he sat on top of the beacon and kicked his feet.
“Not much, but maybe it will go away if we wiped all of it off the beacon? It seems to have some sort of reaction to the beacon so stopping the contact could do something.” It was strange, immediately telling the truth before you even comprehended the question.
So they tried that. Legundo pulled out a towel from his bag (How much stuff did he have in that bag?) and wiped all the truth serum off. He still needed to study it, there could be a number of things causing them to not be able to leave. There had to be.
Owen was the one who got up to check the invisible wall after the truth serum was gone. Sadly, the barrier was still there.
Everyone was officially out of ideas, and there wasn't anything to do in the middle of a forest on a beat up tower.
Owen sat with his knees to his chest, face turned away from the other men he was stuck with. He still looked, and was, angry with Scott. He thought about covering his ears. Maybe if he didn't hear the questions, his body wouldn't be forced to answer them? He couldn't bring himself to do it, though. It would make him seem like he cared too much.
Scott was flat on his back laying on top of the beacon. He was staring at the sky, seemingly paying no attention to the people or the world around him.
That wasn't quite the case. He took note of how Owen was still upset and how the doctor had finally sat down. Scott wondered if Legundo had the book he found the recipe in with him. It was apparently from an old book, and the liquid in the glass had looked familiar. That's why Scott grabbed the vial in the first place. It might have been something Scott heard of or used before.
Legundo was sitting on the ground. He made sure to be, far, far away from the broken glass that there was currently no good way to clean other than moving it to the side with the damp towel. The doctor grabbed a small notebook and began to write some notes and questions about the truth serum that he could test when he got back.
They continued like this for somewhere between five to ten minutes, then Scott broke the silence. “Watch this be some bullshit like us having to spill our darkest secrets to get out of here.”
The doctor groaned. “I hope not.”
“Well,” Scott sighed dramatically, something the people around him were noticing he did quite often. “If none of you will make the sacrifice, I guess I can try first.”
Owen rolled his eyes.
“I'm really awesome, I've been with a few kings before, I was born with blue hair-”
Owen cut him off. “You were born with blue hair?”
“𝘠𝘦𝘴, Owen. I was born with blue hair. My whole family was. We can't lie in here, remember?”
Owen still seemed confused, but just nodded and went back to trying to ignore the much louder man.
“Anyway, after that 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 interruption” Scott shot Owen a glare. “Where was I?”
As Scott opened his mouth to continue talking about himself, he was hit in the face with a rock.
“I don't care about whatever the fuck you're saying. Please just shut your mouth so we can think. You are probably the most distracting person who I've ever met.” Owen had a pile of small rocks next to him, clearly ready to throw a few more if needed.
Legundo snorted. He didn't like that they were throwing rocks at each other, but they were both grown men and it was better than trying to rip each other's throats out.
Scott was angry, very angry, but he did his best to not show it. If the doctor wasn't here he'd have torn Owen to shreds. It wasn't worth the risk, currently. “Can we do 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? I am so bored right now. It would be fun to do something related to this forced truth thing.”
Owen rolled his eyes. “What, do you want to play truth or dare like a bunch of fucking little girls?”
Scott tilted his head, strands of light blue hair falling out of place. “Why not? It would be less truth or dare and more like truth or pray to whatever you believe in that you can cover your mouth in time.” Scott smiled. “It sounds fun.”
The younger vampire huffed. “Fine. Whatever.”
Scott looked over at Legundo. “Are you playing, doctor?”
He put his notebook down. “I'll play, it's getting a bit boring.”
Owen moved himself to face the other two men better. Scott sat up, not wanting to face the sky for their game.
“What are the actual rules?” The doctor asked. “Are we just asking questions and if you don't want to answer you cover your mouth, or are we asking if the person wants to answer or cover their mouth before?”
Scott thought for a moment. “I think just asking them will be funnier, that way there would be less warning to cover your mouth, but it would feel like less of a game. I think if a person tried to cover their mouth and we could still make out what they said, we make them do something when we get out of here.”
“Alright then.” This was going to be… interesting. Not being able to lie and responding without control of yourself made the game seem much higher stakes than it really was. Legundo had to force himself to remember that it was a version of a game that children played.
Owen chimed in. “Who goes first?”
“I'm going first,” Scott said quickly. “Then Legs, then Owen.”
“Why am I last?” Owen asked.
“Because you're the shortest.” Scott didn't have a choice in responding with the truth, but he would have said it anyway. The order he used was tallest to shortest and it was even funnier that Owen was upset about it.
Owen scrunched his face up in annoyance.
“Anyway, Owen.” Scott looked Owen in the eyes. “Truth or try to shut up?”
“Truth.”
“Who do you think is the most annoying in town?”
“Avid.”
Scott nodded. “That checks out.” He turned to Legundo. “Your turn, doctor.”
“Alright then, Scott,” The man started. “Truth or try to shut up?”
Scott rested his head in his hands and looked off into the distance. “Truth.”
Legs thought hard. “Why were you wearing that skull earlier?”
“Mainly to scare Avid.” Scott responded. Phew, that was close. It turned out, saying ‘Mainly' or ‘Mostly' something instead of saying it all was possible, but took more effort than he'd like to admit.
It was Owen's turn now. “Doctor, truth or try to shut up?”
“Truth.”
Scott huffed. “Everyone has picked truth so far! We need to make it interesting next round.”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Shut up.” Owen turned back to Legundo. “Why did you come to Oakhurst?”
“I wanted to help. A lot of towns and villages this far out don't have access to a lot of medicine that could help them significantly, so I was traveling around to places that seemed like they might need me.” That wasn't something the doctor minded answering, he'd told everyone that already. Owen must not have heard him yesterday.
“How… noble.” Owen had a look in his eyes that was almost unrecognizable. A mix between disgust and anger that was clearly trying to be concealed by fake positivity.
Nobody commented on it.
“Alright then!” Scott threw his hands in the air as he spoke. He was always animated during conversations, the emotion he wanted so desperately to convey usually making itself known rather quickly. “My turn!”
Legundo remembered the water he was trying to get before all of this started. He opened his bag to actually get it this time. The doctor took out a price of garlic he'd been given yesterday, it was in the way, and he finally got the water that had started this mess.
Scott, for a reason Legundo did not know quite yet, was very focused on and repulsed by the garlic. “Truth or try to shut up?”
“Truth,” the man immediately responded.
Scott repressed a groan. Everyone was so 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. “Do you believe in vampires?” He asked.
Owen squinted at Scott with suspicion. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵?
“No. I believe in things that can be proven. The only things about vampires that I've seen are story books and tales told to children so they behave. If I can see one with my own eyes, I'd believe in them. I currently have no reason to believe in their existence, though.”
Scott smirked. “That's a sensible answer, Doctor.”
“Do 𝘺𝘰𝘶 believe in them?” The man asked, forgetting about the game.
“Yes,” Scott and Owen both responded. They both looked briefly shocked and shared a quick look, but it was quickly replaced by annoyance.
Before Scott had a chance to tell the doctor that he'd done his turn without asking the question, the doctor asked a question once more.
“Why?”
“Because I am one-” Scott attempted to cut himself off by biting down on his arm, but managed to be a few seconds too late.
Unfortunately, biting his arm had more consequences than simply the pain of being bitten. The action had caused his fangs to be on full display. There wasn't a way he could get out of this.
The doctor froze, but it was short enough that he didn't think it was noticeable. “So, Avid wasn't lying?”
“No.” Owen said bluntly.
Scott made an exasperated expression. “Sadly, no. I think his suspicions were not made for any good reasons, they weren't based on anything concrete. He clearly knew 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 about vampires and then saw a few things and started yelling.” The blue haired man sighed. “At least he was crazy enough about it that the townspeople weren't inclined to believe him.”
“Could you-” Legs cut himself off, trying to figure out what he really wished to say. “Could you tell me more about vampirism?”
Scott smiled the way he always did, like someone confident enough to think he could have anything or anyone if he wanted to. “It would be a pleasure, doctor.”
Scott began to explain to the human about everything there was to know about vampires. From turning, to the powers, and to how hard they were to kill. All the basic information along with a few things that were less commonly known.
Owen made a small comment once or twice, but spent most of his time focused on pretending he wasn't listening. He'd never admit it to anyone, particularly Scott, but he didn't actually know that much about how vampirism worked. His time as a vampire where he was actually 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 was less than a week at this point. The only person he'd wanted to learn about it from had been ripped away from him.
Once Scott was done educating the people around him, though it seemed he was performing as much as he was teaching with all the exaggerated body language, Scott turned his attention to the doctor. “I don't think it's fair, doctor, that you asked a question without asking if I wanted to answer it first.”
Before Legundo had time to respond, Scott asked another question.
“How many people have you killed in your life, doctor?” Scott smirked as he said it, like the question wasn't enough to crush the soul of the man in front of him.
“6,313.” Legundo couldn't stop himself from responding. The horror caught up to him quickly, and was made infinitely worse by the fact that Scott was 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.
“𝘞𝘰𝘸, doctor. I suppose everyone has a past. I'm always impressed by how much humans can do in their short little lives.”
The human stood up and took a few steps back, nearly touching where he knew the stupid barrier sat. “Just- just 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 with that laughing! I'm trying to repair as much of the damage as I can, and then I'm done here. I don't deserve to think I could ever be forgiven, and all those lives don't deserve to be laughed at.”
Scott put his hands up. “Yeesh, doctor. Didn't realize you were so sensitive about it.”
Legundo didn't respond this time. The man sat back down and scooted himself as far away from Scott as he could get.
He was upset about the the invasive question, but he supposed he 𝘥𝘪𝘥 deserve it in some sense. He asked Scott a question without warning too.
Scott played with a piece of his hair to distract himself during the silence. “How did you do it?”
“Some were just the usual things that happened in the war, but the majority of it was from poisoning.” This wasn’t information he wanted to share, not right now. He didn’t know these people. He wasn’t in control of his mouth anymore so he didn’t really have a choice.
Scott whistled.
The doctor ignored him.
Owen stared at Legundo with an emotion unknown to even him, but this went unnoticed to the other two men.
Once the doctor moved himself to where the barrier was supposed to be, something strange happened. He could still feel the barrier around him, but his back was passing through it. He looked puzzled, then tried to push his arm past the clear bubble keeping them all trapped here.
His arm went through, to the surprise of himself and the vampires he hadn't realized were watching him.
The doctor turned to the other two. “Can you two pass through at all?”
Scott and Owen both went to the nearest part of the barrier. Despite a considerable amount of effort, neither could get past any more than they had earlier.
“Can you get out of here?” Owen asked, looking puzzled.
“Let me see.” Legundo leaned more toward the invisible wall. It would have been easier to try and step through it, but there was so little space that the only way he could do that would be stepping off the tower. Some days he wouldn't mind that, but today wasn't one of them.
The doctor managed to get all of his arm through along with his shoulder. He stopped being able to push through it at around where his ear was. Strange.
He tried a few new things, and came to the conclusion that only about a third of his body was able to go past it.
“How are you doing that?” Scott asked, the closest he's sounded to genuinely confused since the other two men had known him. “Whats so special about you?”
Legundo shrugged. “There's nothing special that I know of. Maybe try saying something you really didn't want to? That's what I was forced to do, after all. I can't fully get out anyway.”
Scott looked to consider it for a moment, but his expression was replaced with the usual happiness that seemed closer and closer to a mask the more the doctor looked at it. “Whatever, we can get out of here eventually.” Scott was reassured by the fact that he was able to say such a thing, considering that they supposedly weren't able to lie in here.
Scott resumed his earlier position of staring at the sky, and the men fell into silence once again.
Legundo was writing something down in his notebook, probably about the truth serum or about vampires.
Owen sat with his knees to his chest, staring off into the distance like he had been before the stupid game. It would be hard to tell what he was thinking from an outside perspective, but his mind swirled with thoughts about how the doctor wasn't the perfect person he'd tried to make him in his head.
This went on for a while, and it was approaching noon according to the sun's position in the sky. They set out quite early in the morning, so they have been stuck for a few hours at least. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘺𝘦𝘵?
The sun was getting on Scott's nerves. Owen was a bit uncomfortable, sure, but he was still a level one. Scott was level two and also laying on his back staring directly at the sun. He could hear his flesh sizzling, and he didn't know how much longer he could handle facing the sky.
After a few more minutes of burning, Scott gave up. He hopped down from the beacon and sat down, facing away from the sun. Sadly he was facing the other two now.
Owen was looking at him strangely.
“The sun is starting to burn.” Scott said, and the lumberjack just nodded slightly and went back to picking at his scarred hands.
They needed to get out of here, and 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯.
Scott took the time to truly think their situation over. The only one who had been able to get out at all was the doctor, and that was after he said something he didn't want the men around him to hear. Huh. When Scott said earlier ‘Watch this be some bullshit like us having to spill our darkest secrets to get out of here.’ he didn't actually mean it. But maybe he was right after all?
If that really was what needed to happen, Scott wasn't going to test it on himself. He also couldn't test on the doctor, he did it already, so that left Owen. “Can I ask you something, Owen?” The oldest vampire questioned.
Brown eyes met his, and they both got a curious look from Legundo. “If you must.”
“What's something you don't want me to know?” Scott knew this would likely make the lumberjack angry, but that was half the goal. He couldn't watch the clouds anymore, sue him for wanting entertainment.
Unfortunately for Scott, Owen succeeded in covering his mouth to the point where he heard almost nothing.
Keyword, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵. Scott heard one word loud and clear. 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘦.
Scott smiled and stood up. “What was that about your sire?”
Owen covered his mouth with his arm again, though it seemed to take more effort than it had previously. Almost like he physically couldn't move his arm.
Scott strolled over in a few quick strides and grabbed Owen's arms. He pulled them behind the shorter man's back and held them there. “What did you say? I couldn't hear you.”
The doctor looked like he was about to intervene, but with a glare and a show of his claws the man backed off.
“I said that his name was Louis, that he was the kindest man I've ever met, and that they burned him. They didn't even know he was a vampire! I killed every man, woman, and child in Oakhurst and it still wasn't enough. Then I went to sleep for 200 years.” Owen was shaking with both rage and the effort to move. Scott didn't have the right to ask him questions. He didn't have the right to ask about 𝘩𝘪𝘮. Once he could move he would rip the elder vampire's face off.
“A bit of an overreaction if you ask me, humans are much more useful alive. Well, most of them are. Either way, I think I did it better.”
Owen could barely think in his rage. Scott knew 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. He didn't get to say that it was an overreaction. Louis was worth the lives of every person on this wretched earth.
Scott shifted to Owen's side, the shorter man could just barely see him now. “Tell me more about Louis.”
Owen tried his hardest to not answer, he really did. He tried to clamp his mouth shut, bite his tongue, to do 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, but his efforts proved fruitless. Whatever the doctor had found in that book was unbelievably strong. “He was the mayor of Oakhurst. He was the only one who saw me as an actual person, not just a sick man who should be kept away from everyone. I was dying, and he offered his gift to save me.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Scott let Owen's arms go and took a few steps away. He remembered Louis, he was one of the last fledglings he ever turned. He always was such a kind man, it was a shame to see what they did to him. At least he clearly never changed his ways.
The lumberjack got up almost instantly, launching himself at Scott. He wanted to rip, to tear, to do whatever he possibly could to make the man in front of him hurt.
He wasn't very successful at it.
The second Owen landed on Scott, he was swatted away like nothing. He went flying far enough he was sure he'd be splattered on the ground below without the barrier.
He almost 𝘸𝘢𝘴 splattered on the ground. Most of his body was dangling off the edge of the tower. He should have fallen off, he wasn't even holding on. He barely even registered the pain.
Owen could feel the barrier around his torso, he couldn't move past it more than he had already. Was this what happened to the doctor?
Speaking of the doctor, the man was currently grabbing Owen's hands and pulling him up.
“Are you okay?” Legundo asked. Truth be told, he was extremely worried. He'd just seen the lumberjack get flung with force he hadn't thought possible. Hitting the barrier, even if most of him went through, had to have hurt like hell. It was made worse by the fact that the man was in the air when he hit the invisible wall, which meant that he also hit the ground after. He landed right on his chest, which was never a good thing.
Owen nodded silently. “Can you get through any more? I think I got farther out than you did.”
“I'll check.” Legundo reached his hand out to where he knew the barrier was. He felt his arm go through like it had before, then his shoulder, then his head. He couldn't bring his other shoulder through, but it was significantly more than he could get out before.
Owen turned away from the doctor to look at Scott, who had gone back to sitting on the floor. “Can you get out at all?” He asked. Owen was still 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, but it was clear that he had underestimated the man. Revenge would sadly have to wait until they got out of here.
Scott turned and hit his fist off of the invisible wall a few times like he was aggressively knocking on a door. “Nope!”
The doctor and Owen shared a look. It was becoming abundantly clear that there was only one way out of this, and the only person who had to do something now was Scott.
Scott knew it too, of course. He'd had a feeling since the beginning. He still didn't 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to do it. Why would he? Who wanted to spill their guts to two people he'd know for mere days? He didn't even know what he'd tell them.
Owen grinned, fangs and surprisingly sharp teeth on full display. He looked a bit deranged, honestly. Maybe revenge 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 have to wait. He turned to Scott. “I think I have a few questions for you, Scott.”
“No need to look so scary about it, you'd think you wanted to kill me or something!” Scott knew Owen absolutely wanted to kill him, and it was hilarious. Owen was a baby compared to him, the fledgling couldn't hurt him if he tried. He 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 ask him questions, though. Which wasn't ideal but Scott knew he had to get it over with if they wanted a shot at getting out of here.
“No, I would never even dream of it,” Owen said sarcastically. “When you said earlier that you ‘did it better’ when I told you about killing the humans, what did you mean by that?”
“Well, my sire got burned too, you know. Instead of killing literally everyone in sight, I played it smart and kept the useful humans alive to do the manual labor for me and to feed off of.” Scott didn't like where this was going. He kept anything about his sire close to his chest, people weren't supposed to know about him. They always had some sort of bad reaction for absolutely no reason.
Owen thought he was doing a great job at keeping his expression from changing. This was going to be 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. Scott's sire seemed to be a touchy subject, which was perfect. This was possibly one of the only times Owen could get personal information about Scott. “Hmm… interesting. Tell me about your sire. Don't give me a little answer, I want details.”
Scott felt his mouth begin to move against his will. “We met when I was 12 at a party my parents were hosting. He soon became my teacher and he turned me when I was 17.” He forcibly cut himself off there. This was already information he didn't want to tell them, it was worth a try to see if he could leave now. “I’ll see if I can get out now.”
Owen, who stood above Scott, put a hand on the older vampire’s shoulder to prevent him from getting up. “I don’t think so, not yet.” The crazed look on his face never left him, and he would look 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 to the majority of people.
Legundo stood to the side looking concerned. It was clear Owen had been extremely upset with Scott, and he finally got the chance to get a taste of revenge. Their roles looked completely reversed from how they were previously.
“That’s just not 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 enough, Scott,” Owen began. “Come on, I don’t think your sire was perfect, with the way you turned out. Was there something bad he did to you? Give me something big enough that we can get out of here, I don’t want to be here all day.”
“He killed my parents so I could take over for them, then he turned me without telling me what he was doing.” Scott was freaking out, for lack of a better term. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘮? Scott couldn’t move any part of his body. He was screaming at his arms and legs to just 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦, but they wouldn’t. All he could do was stare while his body refused to listen to his mind. Owen was in for a world of pain once this was over. He’d have to wait until the doctor was gone. He could see that he might deserve this 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵, but it didn’t matter. Owen needed to learn his place.
Owen smirked and took a few steps back. “There we go.”
Before he even realized, Scot had gotten up and slapped Owen in the face. The crimson liquid poured from Owen’s face as Scott turned on his heel to walk down the stairs.
Fortunately, he managed to get through perfectly fine. Legundo went through next. Owen was last, and as soon as he was all the way out there was a loud shattering sound. All of them jumped a bit, whether they’d admit it or not. Owen reached a hand out to where he stood seconds ago.
“That barrier is gone,” he said.
The doctor nodded. “Good. I’m sorry about all this, I shouldn't have been so careless with that bottle.”
Owen side eyed Scott. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Scott turned back to the others, the mask of constant happiness back on. “Listen, we don’t tell anyone about what happened here.”
Legundo nodded. “I agree.”
Owen nodded as well, but paused for an almost uncomfortable amount of time before he spoke. “We should get back to town, I know the way.” He started walking.
Scott and Legundo followed him.
_____
“Scott!” Shelby yelled, running over man and practically tackling him to the ground. She hugged him hard enough that someone who needed to breathe might have suffocated. She let him go after a moment and asked, “What happened?”
Scott laughed a bit and tucked a strand of the blue hair he was playing with behind his ear. “There were a few things, Shelby. We accidentally interrupted the beacon twice, One of them was because we were getting attacked by birds. Then we got turned around a few times on our way back here.”
The doctor chimed in. “We went in a giant circle for about an hour, and then I think we managed to take the longest way back that there possibly was. I swear we saw at least ten different buildings before we got to Oakhurst.”
Shelby laughed. “I’m just glad you three are okay! We went out to look for you but none of us could find you.”
Scott continued to talk to his roommate, and Legundo stepped away to have a conversation with Abolish. Owen managed to slip past them all and go to the home he shared with Sausage. Luckily for him, the scratch mark was gone already. It wasn’t so lucky for the chicken that decided to be the first animal to walk past them, but oh well.
None of the men knew if they came out worse or better from the experience. Sure, they learned more about each other, but at what cost? Was it worth the information they had no choice but to share with people who may as well have been complete strangers?