chapter 3

After a half hour of shopping, Roman was happy to finally be back at home. He pulled into the driveway, in the middle of laughing at a joke Patton had told, but when he saw the door open and the lights on, he knew something was very wrong.

Before Roman could stop him, Patton had thrown the door open, running to the house. Roman cursed as he shifted gear into park, then he ran after Patton, a mixture of fear and dread settling in the pit of his stomach.

“Remus!” Patton yelled as he stumbled inside, “Where are you?!”

No answer came, and Patton pulled his switchblade from his pocket, flicking it open without hesitation. Patton seemed to be completely calm, but Roman knew better than that, especially when he saw how the older man’s hand trembled.

Roman grabbed the iron fire poker from beside the fireplace as Patton began searching the various rooms in the house, and he felt his entire body grow cold as he heard the most inhuman wailing he’d ever heard in his entire life. Even when his parents had died in front of him and Remus, he’d never heard anything like this, and he chased after Patton, having to turn away to vomit at what he saw in the bathroom.

There was Remus, in a heap on the floor, blood around his mouth, neck snapped at an unnatural angle, fang marks on his shoulder, his phone on the floor beside him, Roman’s contact pulled up. Roman was pretty sure Patton had fallen to his knees, but he couldn’t check to look, couldn’t see his brother like that, lifeless and pale and so so wrong.

“I’m killing him.” Roman rasped once he caught his breath, “I’m killing that fucking vampire!”

Patton hiccuped as he continued to sob, and Roman grabbed his arm, tugging him so he was out of the room, “Lets go! Now!”

Patton stumbled along, and normally, Roman would have comforted his crying companion, but they didn’t have time, because each second they weren’t killing the vampire from before was more time his brother’s murderer got to exist, and Roman wouldn’t let Remus die in vain.

Roman broke every speeding law to get to the house they’d been watching for days now, and he didn’t hesitate when breaking down the vampire’s door.

“Hey! What the **** do you think you’re doing?!” a familiar voice asked, and Roman felt rage take him over.

Roman had the vampire pinned swiftly, stake slammed just below his ribcage, and Roman would have normally felt joy or at the very least pride in the choked gasp the vampire released, but he just wanted it to be over with, he wanted the vampire to die quickly and to be burned and turned to ash.

“You’ve gone completely crazy.” The vampire choked out breathlessly, blood dripping from his mouth now.

“I should have killed you in that alleyway!” Roman sobbed, twisting the stake so it slid against the vampire’s heart, “I should never have let you go!”

The vampire groaned and grabbed Roman’s wrist, though his grip was weak at best, “What are you going on about?”

“Don’t play dumb, you killed my brother!”

The vampire looked up, then trembled as the stake grazed his heart, legs completely weak, “I haven’t touched your brother.”

“Then tell me why there are bite marks on his corpse!”

The vampire whimpered and turned his face away, “Anything I say will piss you off more. You’re going to kill me either way.”

Roman sneered, “You’re right, so lets get this over with.”

“Wait!” Patton sobbed, tears still falling, “Roman, he’s drinking from blood bags.”

“So?!” Roman demanded.

The vampire sucked in a sharp breath and tilted his head back, fighting another full body shudder from the agony of the stake being buried in his chest, “I don’t drink from humans. Haven’t since ‘72.”

“That doesn’t prove-” Roman started.

“Why would I kill your brother?” the vampire demanded, only to slam his head back against the wall with a hiss of discomfort, “I have no reason to! You never posed a threat to me!”

Roman swallowed hard, choking back a sob as he looked away, “Would you be able to find who did it?”

“Can’t do that very well with a stake in my chest.” the vampire laughed humorlessly.

Roman tore the stake out, throwing it to the floor before he released the vampire, letting him fall to the ground, “I’m not going to kill you. But if you did this, I’ll make you wish I had.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” the vampire nodded quickly, tugging his shirt over his head to survey his wound, which was still gaping and bleeding, “Mind getting me a blood bag, love?”

Patton looked at the half finished one on the coffee table and reached for it, but Roman grabbed it first, then crouched in front of the vampire, “First, I want your name; your real one. I need to be able to find you if you even try to run.”

The vampire took in a steadying breath, fangs already out as he none too inconspicuously eyed the blood bag in Roman’s hand, “Virgil. Virgil Adams.”

“Now, Virgil, here’s how this works: you do what I say, and if you don’t, next time I won’t stop.” Roman growled, “Understood?”

Virgil shivered at the blood loss he was experiencing, curling in on himself with a quick nod, “Y-Yeah, fine!”

Roman tossed the blood bag on the ground, not bothering to hide his disgust as Virgil snatched it and drained it fast, chest heaving as he drank as fast as he could. The wound on Virgil’s chest healed, skin and muscle stitching itself back together, and once Virgil had finished the blood bag, he slumped back against the wall, eyes shut as he laughed.

“Guess I was wrong about you.” He said, voice much less strained, “Looks like you could take me down, you just needed the right motivation.”

Roman stared down at Virgil, eyes devoid of emotion, “Can we get a move on?”

Virgil opened his eyes, looking outside, “Sun is down, just let me change into clothes that aren’t covered in blood.”

Patton and Roman made sure to keep an eye on Virgil as he tugged on a new shirt (Roman payed a bit too close attention, if you’d have asked Patton), and then the trio were off to the house where Roman and Patton had come from.

Patton and Roman stepped in, but Virgil stopped in the doorway, hands in his hoodie pockets.

“Oh, you are not backing out on this, leech.” Roman snarled.

Virgil raised a brow, an amused smirk making its way onto his face, “I think the real problem is that you haven’t invited me in, darling.”

Roman felt his face heat from embarrassment as Patton spoke up, “Come inside.”

Virgil passed the threshold, following the smell of blood until he reached Remus. He knelt beside the corpse, and gently scooped him up, much to Roman’s objection.

“Hands off of him, leech!” Roman growled.

Virgil ignored Roman, stepping into the living room where he placed Remus on one of the couches, careful even though he was handling a corpse, “You don’t want him waking up near vomit and his own blood, trust me.”

“Waking up?” Patton squeaked, fresh tears falling.

Virgil sighed softly, glancing over his shoulder at Roman and Patton, “Whoever did this didn’t kill him. They fed him their blood before killing him. He’s going to wake up and have to make the choice of whether or not to become a vampire.”

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