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Chapter Text

It's been almost an hour since a lone vampire began roaming the forest outside of Oakhurst. Meek sunlight seeped through the cloudy skies and between sparse leaves - not enough to burn his delicate skin. His footsteps carried soundlessly on the dry, ashy grass. The brown, dark eyes darted around nervously, looking for something... A source of nutrition. Some sort of poor, wild animal that he could catch and drain its blood. At this point, he was starving - the last thing that resembled a meal was whatever he took from a man who got turned into a vampire soon after. But that was almost an entire day ago. Since then, the taste of the thick, metallic, sweet drink filling his mouth was nothing more than a memory.

At this point, his hunger was slowly starting to drive Owen crazy. He could swear that the trees had eyes, and all were directed at him. At some point, he heard what sounded like the growling of an angry wolf - turned out it was just his own stomach. He stopped in the middle of a path, taking a few deep breaths to recollect himself.

"Come on... Anything, please..." He whispered. "Why don't my powers include something like, sensing where animals are?-"

He went silent the moment distant clucking reached him. Immediately, Owen dashed into a nearby bush, to avoid being spotted, and peeked out. A wild hen... Right when he needed it. Slowly, he scrambled out of the bush, which grabbed the bird's attention. It stayed in place, however, watching him curiously.

"Here, here..." He called out, his voice calm, but a little shaky from exhaustion. Even as he closed in, the hen did not escape... Did it feel bad for him? Well, probably wouldn't lay its own life willingly, but if he played his cards correctly... "Ha! Gotcha!"

Owen managed to grab the hen, tucking its wings so that it couldn't fly out of his hands. Immediately, the bird began clucking and screeching, struggling to free itself. Clearly, it was unused to human touch. Or, well, vampire touch.

"Shhh, it's okay... It'll be over soon, I promise..."

Then, Owen's fangs dug into the hen's chest. Immediately, the bitter, watery taste of animal blood filled his mouth. He began choking, a lot of the precious drink dripped down his chin and on his clothes. His grip on the bird lessened, allowing it to smack him in the face and run before the wound could become fatal. The terrified animal dashed into the bushes, leaving bloody marks on the grass.

"Wait! Crap..." Owen continued to cough, he fell to his knees. He didn't care about doing this whole blood drinking properly, because of his hunger - and now he was paying the price for it. He spilled half of the blood he managed to draw and looked like a total mess, his face, cloak and hands smeared with it. Not to mention, choking on blood did not feel particularly pleasant. His throat was burning, even air seemed to damage it at this moment. He curled up on the ground, waiting for the pain to go away. 

"Woooow... That was pretty pathetic!" All of a sudden, someone's surprisingly upbeat tone reached him. Unable to get up from the ground, Owen turned on his back and looked up at the sky. Soon, Scott approached him with a big, cocky grin on his face. "Two hundred years of experience? How have you not starved yet?"

"I spent most of that time sleeping," Owen explained himself, before slowly sitting up. "Where did you even come from...?"

"I was heading back home, actually. To my castle, I mean." Scott leaned against a tree, nonchalantly looking over his nails. "Didn't expect to find you here... I just heard someone choking, and I thought I'd come and finish the job."

"Well, I don't think it will work on me..." Owen sighed. His body was still shaking with hunger. Somehow, his fumble actually made the pain worse; he got just the littlest bit of sustenance, only to have the rest of his meal run away from him. "So? Are you just gonna leave me here, or what?"

"I should... But," Scott's red eyes shined dangerously. They've been like this ever since his vampiric bite turned another Oakhurst dweller, Pyro, into one of their kind. " I kinda feel bad for you, you know? If you keep messing up like this, someone is gonna find you out..."

"Yeah, they definitely will," Owen scoffed. "None of them believe in vampires. And the one that does, everyone thinks he's crazy."

"I mean, he might be either way..." Scott shrugged. "Besides, you're now living in my domain. And by Goldsmiths' customs, I should take care of you, and make sure you live up to your full potential..."

"Great. You pity me."

"More or less!" Scott grinned. Owen really wished this guy wasn't an elder vampire, because he really wanted to slap him. "Consider it an investment, if it makes you feel better. So that your incompetence doesn't rat us out."

"Wait, hold on," Owen pulled himself off the ground. The shaking in his legs had not yet stopped. "What about Pyro? Shouldn't you teach him first?"

"He needs to finish transforming first. Don't worry, I'll get to him soon enough..." Finally, Scott approached the younger vampire and wrapped his arm around Owen's shoulder. "First lesson: animals are a last resort. You only turn to them if you can't find a human to eat. Their blood is just so... Dirty, and fatty, and blegh..." He gagged in a quite exaggerated manner. 

"Well, I don't know if I'm gonna survive until I have a chance to feed on someone..." Owen chuckled bitterly. 

A thought crossed his mind at that moment. Gosh, how pathetic he was... He hated this. His life of eternal hunger and struggle. He wanted it to end as soon as possible. But when faced with the prospect of starvation, he was ready to do anything to survive... A hypocrite, is what he was.

"Fair enough... We have to keep a low profile, at least until Pyro gets better." Scott admitted, before leading Owen onwards through the forest. "Anyways... Chickens are not worth your time. They're small, their blood tastes like mud. If you have to feed on animals... Cows are not bad. Or pigs. Even wolves or dogs would do, but they are harder to catch." He smiled when he noticed Owen shiver at the idea of drinking a dog's blood. "I'll be honest, back in my hay day, I tried so many exotic animals I could really recommend... Lobster, octopus..."

"Gosh, stop... You're making it worse..." Owen whimpered, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Scott couldn't help but giggle. 

"But then again, nothing beats a tasty human. Especially when they're young. Not like, a child... Their blood is a little too sweet. But like, late teens, early twenties..." He smacked his lips. "Perfection."

"Stop... I'm gonna throw up..."

"Good luck! We vampires don't have a gag reflex."

"Wait, we don't...?"

All of a sudden, Scott's voice went silent in Owen's ears. He felt something- No, he could smell something. Something big, beefy, tasty... He turned his head, only to spot a wild cow roaming a meadow nearby. He would've dashed right at it, if Scott didn't grab him by the shoulder to stop him.

"Hold it! You're gonna waste this one, too?"

"I'm not!"

"Let me show you how to do it properly," Scott proposed, slowly approaching the cattle. The animal continued eating grass, but kept an eye on the two of them. "Without getting your hands dirty, without spilling all over yourself... As if you were a Goldsmith, too."

"Was Lewis such a posh prick too...?" Owen mumbled, slowly following behind the elder vampire. Scott's pointy ears twitched at the words. That name... It rang a bell. But not all of his memories from centuries ago had returned just yet. Maybe it meant something, but for now, he couldn't be sure.

The cow was surprisingly calm about the two strangers approaching it. Slowly, Scott pulled his hand over the animal's neck and shoulderblades, to get it to relax and calm down. Owen stayed a few feet behind, reluctantly watching. Sure, he could learn something important about hunting and sustaining himself... But it would stick with him much better if he wasn't so viciously hungry, that's for sure.

"Some vampires prefer their blood with some adrenaline... But it's not worth it, I think." Scott began explaining, continuing to stroke the cow. "It tastes a little bit different from animal to animal... And it can get you drunk, even. So if you really want to go for it, you have to be prepared for the before and the after."

"Yeah, yeah..." Owen sighed. Please, just get over it already, he thought.

"You wanna go for the neck, whenever you can. Ideally, you wanna aim for the artery, but sometimes you miss it..." Scott put two fingers on the cow's neck, then dragged them around its skin, trying to feel for the right spot. "If you're in a rush, just aim and hope you hit anything. It's not worth it to pull out, and then try again. You have to be one and done."

"Are you done?"

"Not yet!" Scott smiled at him once again. "You wanna keep your lips firmly planted, and take in quick sips, swallowing often. Don't hold it all in your mouth. If you get attacked, you risk spewing everything out. And your hard work goes to waste."

"Can I try already?"

"Let me demonstrate first... Here!"

Not even a second later, Scott's fangs struck the cattle right in the neck artery. The cow let out a terrified cry, but the vampire was way too fast. The animal's legs started shaking, and within several seconds, it collapsed to the ground. But the man wasn't finished just yet. He knelt over it to finish his meal - but he was clearly taking his sweet time. He didn't have to rush it. Even when he heard some rustling in the nearby bushes, his mind was at ease. He was older than this forest itself. He was in power here. Nobody could threaten him. Especially when he was feeding.

"Aaah... See?" Scott rose from his spot, then turned to Owen. The younger vampire looked quite devastated that his meal was taken from him so quickly. "You can always keep the corpse for snacking purposes... But if you do, you wanna keep some blood left. Otherwise, the meat gets dry."

"You aren't scared that you're gonna turn it into a vampire?" He asked, to which Scott answered with a chuckle.

"I don't think that's possible, actually... Although, a vampire cow would be quite an amusing sight..."

"What about humans, though? Where is the line between feeding, and turning them into one of us?"

"Oh, right..." Scott licked his lips, to finish his meal off properly. He wouldn't want to return to Oakhurst looking like a slob, of course... Something rustled in the bushes again. His ear twitched, but he ignored the sound for now. "It depends on the size. You just have to get a feel for it... Might give you a few tries, though. Too little, and they remain human... Too much, and they die."

"Gosh," Owen shivered. Good thing Lewis had experience... He could only imagine what would happen if his old friend overestimated how much blood he needed to take from him. Actually, the thought of Lewis actually drinking blood to survive... It never popped into his brain, until that moment. He shivered. He was such a nice, caring person... Who was a vampire. The fact that he could actually kill people to sustain himself did not add up in his head...

The rustling repeated once more, and this time, Owen heard it as well. Immediately, he turned in the direction of the sound. Was it another prey, waiting for him to catch it and feast? Or was it... Someone who came here from Oakhurst, and listened in on their conversation?

"Scott? You hear that, right...?"

"Huh?" The elder vampire turned to him. At that moment, he was too busy feasting on the dead cow, ripping its stomach apart with his bare teeth. "Oh, yeah, it came from these bushes..."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"It's probably not a big deal... Probably a hare."

Slowly, Owen approached the bushes. He could smell them, actually. Something pretty big, sweet, full of adrenaline... His hunger gnawed at him. He had to catch it as soon as he could, and he would drain the last of its juices-

"Aha!" All of a sudden, a human popped out of the bushes. Tall, with ashy hair, and holding a loaded crossbow in his hands. Owen took a second to connect the name of Avid to this face. "I knew it! I was right! I knew you guys were vampires!"

"Wooow, how perceptive..." Scott giggled, but seemed rather unbothered by the sudden arrival of the vampire hunter. "Owen, you wanna take care of him? You can have all the blood you want..."

"Oh, gladly," Owen growled in response.

"What? No, no no no!" Avid leaped out of the bushes and aimed his weapon at Owen. "Stay back! You're not getting any of my blood, you unholy fiend!"

"Listen, man" Owen sighed, taking a step in Avid's direction "I'm literally starving. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way."

"Stay back!"

The second the vampire hunter's crossbow fired, Owen's instincts kicked in. In the blink of an eye, his body morphed into that of a bat. He swiftly avoided the arrow, which otherwise would've pierced through his chest. He dashed right at the human, then turned back to punch him straight in the head. Avid tumbled to the ground with a scream. He reached to a stake attached to his chest, but Owen was faster. He fell on top of the hunter, his fangs cutting through the bandages on his neck, and digging into his soft skin. With his lips firmly planted (per Scott's instructions) he began taking quick sips, swallowing the blood often to not keep it in his mouth for too long. Avid continued to wail, but with time, his voice got weaker and quieter. Eventually, he fell limply on the ground. Owen grabbed him by the shoulders, tilting his head slightly forward so that his fangs would not leave the spot. A bit of the warm fluid dripped down his chin, but far from the amounts he lost last time. Finally, after what felt like eternity, but was probably not even a minute, the vampire pulled back and wiped his face with a satisfied grin. He couldn't recall if he had ever felt this full and satiated. And it felt so much more incredible than he expected.

"Not bad! Pretty smooth for a novice." Scott patted his apprentice on the back with a satisfied smile. "That transformation could use some practice, but other than that, you did well..."

"Is he dead?" Owen huffed. Scott's sight dropped to Avid, who was laying limply on the ground. He nudged him with his foot.

"I don't think so... I think you just barely missed it. You wanna finish the job?"

"Nah..." The young vampire couldn't stop smiling. "A vampire hunter, turning into a vampire... The irony is just too good."

"It is!"

Owen took a deep breath, then put his hand on his full stomach. He really did feel incredible... Powerful. Unbeatable. Maybe a little bit tipsy. Apparently, Scott was right with what he said about adrenaline. Even if it wasn't for everyone, he was probably going to grow to like it.

"You were right. Adrenaline does taste good."

"See? I told you! I'm always right!"

He then looked down at Avid, who started shaking and twitching, struggling to catch his breath. The vampire hunter tried speaking, but his voice stuck in his throat. Owen crouched down next to him, watching proudly the fruits of his labor - two small puncture wounds on his neck, which were now seeping blood all over his bandaids. They would have to take them off to hide evidence, and cover it up... Screw it. It was worth it, even if it was gonna tip someone off.

"Come on, man. Get up. We gotta drag you back to Oakhurst." Owen said with a cheeky grin.

"You..." Avid wheezed, his whole body convulsing as his transformation started slowly taking place. Eventually, Owen lifted him and supported him on his shoulder. "How... Could you..."

"Not gonna lie, you kinda asked for it." Scott admitted. He stood on the other side of Avid, but did not support him, letting Owen do the heavy lifting. "Eavesdropping is not nice, you know?"

"You... You're monsters..."

"And you're one of us now," Owen smirked. He then looked over Avid's head, to Scott "What did you mean about that transformation, though?"

"I'm just saying, this could’ve been a little smoother... You have the speed, but you lack the grace. But I can teach you..." This time, Scott's smile looked satisfied. Almost proud. "We have time. I'm gonna get you acting and looking like a proper vampire in no time."

"'Looking'? What do you mean? You're gonna get me a fancy, posh coat?" Owen chuckled. He started dragging Avid back in the direction of Oakhurst. Scott followed right after.

"That, too... But a true vampire wouldn't look so... Scrawny. You look downright starved, man... We gotta do something about it."

"Well, I mean, being a lumberjack paid fine, but food was always scarce..."

"It's fine. You're under my protection now. You'll never have to walk hungry again."

"I guess I can't say no to that..."

Avid tried listening in on their conversation, but the lack of blood made his head spin, and filled his ears with static. What a tragic irony... A vampire hunter, among the first to fall victims to actual vampires. He never had a chance against them, a chance to avenge his lost partner...

And now, he was going to become one of them.