Chapter Text
Logan sighed as Virgil bolted and turned to Roman who shrugged and said
"That went well."
Logan elbowed him and said "Save the sarcastic comments for later, we have a rather terrified newblood racing through the house right now, we must ensure all exits are locked so he doesn't get out before we can teach him properly."
Roman clutched his side dramatically and exclaimed "Oh I've been mortally wounded, however shall I go on" but quickly became serious as he registered Logan's words.
The two then began the process of making sure Virgil couldn't get out and endanger himself before meeting back up in the entrance hall.
"Now what? Do we search for him?" Roman asked and Logan would have replied if there hadn't suddenly been a huge booming knock on the door.
"Oh fuck." Roman managed to exclaim before the window closest to the door exploded and a form crashed to the floor among splinters of glass, followed by a much more graceful entrance from a second figure.
"What's up bro, did ya miss me?" The first figure asked, pulling Roman into a headlock and messing with his hair.
"Get off of me!" Roman shrieked indignantly while Logan exchanged a look of exasperation with the second figure.
"Remus, that's enough, we have more pressing business here other than aggravating your brother."
"Janus, to what do we owe this visit?" Logan asked in a neutral tone.
"Word on the street is that the honourable professor has kidnapped a mortal. A scandalous rumour to be sure."
Logan eyed Janus's blank expression in an attempt to try and detect any sort of emotional reaction to the supposed rumours but like always found nothing.
"Word on the street, as always, is misleading at best and complete falsehood at worst."
"And in this case?"
Logan chose his next words carefully, all too aware of the burning eyes focused on him, trying to detect the smallest sign he might be lying.
"A falsehood. No mortal was taken and I shall not ever take a mortal."
Janus eyed him for a bit longer before glancing to Roman who was a bit too slow to wipe the incredulous expression from his face at Logan's words.
"Roman. What of your opinion on this so called rumour?"
Roman's eyes flickered to Logan for a split second before he answered "What rumour?"
"The rumour that Logan or perhaps the two of you have kidnapped a mortal off the streets"
"A mortal? Never. They're so fragile and slow."
Logan almost groaned at Roman's response. For such a phenomenal actor he was a terrible liar and Janus's eyes flashed with triumph at the almost certain confirmation.
"Where are they?" Janus asked with a small smirk.
"There is no mortal here Janus, only a newblood." Logan said reluctantly.
"Baby Vamp? Ooooh where? Lemme find it Jan, please? I do so love terrorising them!" Remus suddenly yelled, his eyes full of excitement at the prospect of finding the newblood.
"A newblood? My, my, Logan, you have been busy haven't you? Where is this newblood?"
Logan grimaced. "He didn't react to his new state particularly well and has found refuge somewhere within the house, I am unaware of his exact location."
Remus's eyes seemed to grow larger as he turned to Janus with an almost pleading expression.
Janus looked at Logan's grimace and the slight guilt on Roman's face before giving Remus a rare smile and nodding.
Within seconds Remus had vanished from the room and the sound of his feet on the floor faded as he ran deeper into the house.
"You better have a good reason for turning someone Logan. You know the rules."
"I do. If Remus harms the newblood you will be held accountable."
Roman glanced between the two, the air and the silence that followed thick with tension.
After an uncomfortable amount of time the sound of a shriek in the distance seemed to bring the two elder vampires to their senses as they turned to the doorway Remus had left through.
Roman backed up as he heard the unmistakeable sound of his brother tearing towards them, making sure to be out of sight in case his brother decided to use him to brake.
A horrified looking Virgil darted into the room, eyes quickly scanning for a safe place and making a split-second decision as Remus came bursting in behind him.
Remus had an angry looking scratch across his face but had never looked happier as he bounded into the room with a manic grin.
"Come on out ickle baby, Remus just wants to play."
Janus clicked his fingers to catch Remus's attention before saying "Leave the newblood alone, he's likely still adjusting."
Remus dramatically flopped onto the floor with a pout and began to wail "Oh woe is me, you never let me do anything fun."
As he opened his eyes he caught a glance of the ceiling where he locked eyes with the baby vampire he'd chased through the halls who was now clinging to the ornate light fixtures.
"Found ya!" He exclaimed and everyone looked up.
A vicious sounding hiss suddenly erupted from the newblood and Remus's face lit up again.
"Come on down little baby, I don't bite, much."
"Remus. Don't." Janus said harshly and Remus let out a small whine but didn't argue.
Janus looked up at the newblood and spoke soothingly. "Come down, you are safe, I will not allow any harm to come to you. I only wish to help."
Virgil wasn't sure why he listened to the stranger, perhaps it was the soft voice or the fact he'd managed to control the crazed individual who'd chased him from his hiding spot, either way he found himself slowly climbing down, a strange warmth in his mind as he did so.
As Virgil dropped down closer to the stranger he scanned over his features cautiously, taking in the pale brown almost blonde hair that was poking out from under a black bowler hat and the sharp hazel eyes that gleamed with something he couldn't place. He was dressed in an expensive but tasteful looking black suit with a soft yellow shirt with black buttons that was left visible by the open suit jacket. A matching yellow bow tie and a set of black leather ankle boots tied it altogether and practically screamed that he meant business.
Virgil's eyes drifted towards a prominent looking scar across the left side of the man's cheek but quickly forced himself to look away, not wanting to stare and be rude as the man addressed him.
"There we are, what is your name?"
"Virgil."
"My apologies for Remus's behaviour, he's rarely allowed off the leash so he tends to get a bit over excited."
Virgil sent a worried glance at the individual called Remus and bared his teeth a little at the off-putting grin on his face.
Janus stepped forward and placed a gloved hand on Virgil's shoulder, taking note of the way he jumped and started breathing heavy before a brief frown crossed his face.
"Virgil, you have much to come to terms with. Allow me to help."
Logan frowned at Janus's words and stepped forward but immediately froze as Remus lunged forward, stopping so they were inches from each other.
"No sudden movements now, unless you want to give the baby vamp a demonstration."
"That will not be necessary, I doubt Janus would enjoy cleaning up his pet."
Remus grinned at Logan's words. "I could be your pet if you wanted."
"Brother! Do you have to say those kinds of things in front of me?"
Remus let out a cackle and leant closer to Logan who leant back to avoid their faces touching.
"Ignore them, they're always like this. Would you prefer to go elsewhere and perhaps sit down to converse about your new situation?"
Virgil nodded, trying to brush off the paranoid thoughts in his head that kept telling him he was in danger.
Janus lead him out of the entrance hall and down one of the corridors until they reached a room with some armchairs and a couch.
Janus sat on the couch and gestured for Virgil to join him, nodding reassuringly when he hesitated but eventually did so.
"You clearly have a lot of questions and concerns which I will gladly talk you through but first, how about you tell me what you remember about ending up here?"
Virgil frowned as the man's calm words once again made a warmth fill his mind but decided he didn't really have anything to lose by talking.
"I was walking home and noticed a man following me. I decided to speed up a bit and take a few different turns to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me and it turned it it wasn't. It was my own stupid fault, I should have been paying more attention. I tried to run but again made a dumb mistake and turned down a dead end alley. It was ridiculous because I know that part of town so well, especially the alleys and side streets but I happened to fuck it up this one time and found myself face to face with a mugger."
Janus listened intently and held back his own frown as he picked up on the clear anxiety and self-loathing radiating from Virgil.
Virgil continued. "Of course my luck meant the mugger didn't believe I'd given him everything when I gave him my wallet. I mean to be fair I get it, what kind of loser doesn't own a phone these days? Or even have a watch? This loser is who. So he gets mad and I'm guessing he stabbed me. I sort of thought he'd punched me at first until I saw all the blood. Then everything is a little fuzzy and I woke up here."
"And how did waking up here go?" Janus asked, filing away all the information he was gaining for later.
"Well at first I thought I was dead because I couldn't feel any pain anymore but that quickly changed to anxious when breathing suddenly felt weird, plus my skin was the same colour as the shirt I'd been given." Virgil grimaced as he looked down at the white shirt. "It had to be fucking white."
"I see, was anyone in the room with you?"
"No I was by myself and ended up leaving to try and figure out where I was. Not that that worked out because suddenly I'm in a place that looks like the furniture cost more than any place I'd lived my entire life combined. I wandered a bit more until I managed to find my way downstairs and ended up running into those two. I again wondered if I was dead and this was some weird afterlife but then they broke the news of me being a... a vampire and I sort of panicked and ran."
As Virgil concluded his recount he stared down at his lap and fiddled with the hem of the shirt, picking at one of the bottom buttons which had a loose thread.
"I understand this is a lot to take in and not something you could have predicted in your wildest dreams. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will answer them to the best of my ability and if it is an answer I can't provide then I will tell you upfront." Janus maintained eye contact when Virgil glanced up at him and smiled reassuringly.
"Um, ok, uh, why was I turned into a vampire?"
"I am going to make an assumption here so the validity of this will depend on if I can accurately predict how Logan and Roman's minds work but I'm fairly sure it'll mostly be correct. I'm assuming Logan or Roman noticed the situation you were in and happened to overhear or perhaps even smell the blood. They then likely felt bad for such an unnecessary loss of life and decided to turn you and bring you to live with them as one of their own."
Virgil crossed his arms with his brows furrowed as he thought over everything that had just been said.
Janus waited patiently and expected that the next question would likely be about what Virgil's family and friends would think or be told about the situation, or even about which of the vampire rules in pop culture were right or wrong. What he wasn't expecting was the words Virgil muttered.
"Why? I mean I'm nothing, why bother saving me? Why not just let me die? I was dumb enough to get into that situation so there was no need for them to help or fix the situation, plus it probably would have saved them a lot of hassle in the long run. That's something they'll probably regret sooner or later."
Janus decided then and there that if anything or anyone ever hurt or upset Virgil he was going to erase them from existence. The fact this poor newblood truly believed things would be more convenient for Roman and Logan if he'd just died, and kept blaming himself for what had been done made him think of all the bad situations he'd seen and even experienced himself.
The world could be a cruel place and Janus had bared witness to it too many times to count. Virgil almost reminded him of himself a bit, or at least when he'd been human that is. The self doubt and disgust brought on most likely by other people, the belief he seemed to deserve bad things or that he was followed by bad luck.
All that was missing was a history of abuse but, given the way Virgil had reacted when he'd placed his hand on his shoulder, Janus had some suspicions on that too.
"I can assure you they will not regret their choice and if I had been in their shoes I wouldn't either. You didn't deserve to die like that and it wasn't your fault. It was the man who stabbed you who is at fault for anything that happened." Janus mentally sighed as he saw the doubt on Virgil's face at his words, this would be a long process but eventually he knew he'd get Virgil to a point where he'd believe it.
"Do I have to kill people now?"
Janus raised an eyebrow at that question. "What makes you ask that?"
"Well vampires drink blood right? So don't I have to kill people now to survive?" Virgil asked, his mind already racing with all the ways he could mess such a thing up.
"No, we don't kill people. We don't actually need to drink until someone is empty and there are plenty of blood donation places for those like us, and of course the occasional weirdo who enjoys being drank from." Janus shook his head as he thought fondly of Remus but refocused quickly as he sensed more questions on Virgil's mind.
"Alright, what things has pop culture gotten correct about all this then?"
"Firstly we don't turn to ash in sunlight so no worrying about getting caught outside after sunrise. I'd just recommend an SPF 70 sun cream as our skin is more sensitive to UV but covering up with clothes is also a valid way to ignore such effects. Our basic abilities are heightened so keener eyesight, stronger sense of smell, faster reflexes and more durable bodies. Fire is something to avoid but then that's true no matter if you're a vampire or a human. We have no need for sleep or food or anything but you can still partake if you want to blend in better. Really the biggest threats we have is each other but given who's coven you're a part of now you shouldn't face many issues there."
Janus decided not to disclose the fact he himself would be ensuring no other vampire's fucked with Virgil as he didn't really want that getting back to Logan or Roman who would be certain to tease him for having a soft spot for the newblood.
"So garlic, silver, crosses and stakes is all bullshit?" Virgil asked, still struggling to process everything but trying his best to wrap his head around it all.
"Correct. No turning into bats, no needing permission to cross the threshold of a place, no issues with religious artefacts or holy water, no problems with consecrated ground and no problems with running water." Janus listed off the remaining ones he could remember.
"What's your name?" Virgil asked, having just realised he'd not done so yet.
Blinking in surprise as he realised he'd not shared that Janus quickly responded. "You may call me Janus and in case you didn't catch it earlier my companion is Remus."
Virgil nodded and then frowned as he was struck by a realisation. "Remus isn't a vampire, he has a heartbeat and smells strange."
"Very astute observation, Remus is a werewolf and yes those are also real. He's a bit boisterous but you'll likely get used to him in time as he's always showing up to bother his brother."
"His brother?"
"Oh yes, Roman and him are actually twins but Roman was turned into a vampire roughly a year before Remus became a werewolf. Remus loves to lord the fact he's technically the eldest over Romans head."
Virgil frowned again, trying not to get overwhelmed by everything he'd just learnt.
"I have so many more questions but I don't know if I can handle any more information at the moment." He muttered.
"Of course, that's understandable. Would you like to sit in silence for a bit or would you rather return to the others?" Janus asked, idly wondering what chaos Remus had caused in his absence and shrugging it off as he doubted it'd be anything worse than what had happened several months ago.
"I guess go back to the others." Virgil replied hesitantly, still uncertain how to feel about his new situation and how to feel about the people responsible.
Janus rose gracefully and gestured for Virgil to go ahead of him which he did but still held an air of nervousness as he walked towards where the entrance hall was.
Before they were even close they could hear raised voices and likely would have still been able to hear them with regular human hearing due to the volume.
"It's not even close to the full moon, why are you like this?"
"What? It's the best way to scratch an itch."
"That's clearly inaccurate, you just enjoy getting a reaction, especially from Roman."
"I could scratch your itch if you know what I mean."
"Remus! Stop saying that shit in front of me or I'll..."
"He wouldn't say this stuff nearly as much if you didn't overreact so much to it Roman."
"Overreact?! I'm not overreacting!"
"Are we playing the lies game again?" Janus asked, as he and Virgil stepped into the hall.
"Janus! Baby vamp!" Remus exclaimed with a grin and bounded over.
Virgil shrunk back slightly but relaxed when Remus ignored him and instead draped himself over Janus who just rolled his eyes.
"I've given him a rundown of the basics but to avoid overwhelming him we didn't go into too many specific details. He'll likely have more questions later on once he's settled better, but for now he needs to spend time processing the information he's already got." Janus addressed all this to Logan.
"Very well. Will you be leaving now or did you intend to stay?" Logan asked, pointedly ignoring the glare he received from Roman for offering such a choice.
Janus's eyes travelled from Logan to Roman and then to Virgil before responding. "That all depends on if you can handle the responsibility you've given yourself. I'll gladly assist to ensure that rules and laws are maintained adequately. Especially as Virgil here has yet to feed and I know certain people are less equipped for such things."
Logan nodded and turned to Roman. "He's not entirely wrong about that last thing."
"What? Excuse me?!"
"Ooooh are we talking about when Broman got all squeamish two weeks ago?" Remus yelled with a cackle.
"That wasn't my fault! I wasn't expecting things to be so... you know... gory." Roman trailed off sheepishly and looked away, trying to push certain memories out of his head.
"I suppose I will be staying then." Janus said, wincing slightly when Remus shrieked excitedly right in his ear.
Virgil looked around curiously, not quite sure what they were talking about but from what he could pick up it was something embarrassing involving Roman.
He inhaled and scrunched up his nose as he caught the smell of Remus again, it was like damp earth and wood mixed with something else he couldn't quite place. It wasn't exactly unpleasant but it still made him feel on edge.
Now that he wasn't in panic mode he got a good look at Remus and actually noticed the similarities between him and Roman.
The thing that'd thrown him was the hair as Remus's was shorter and dyed black with streaks of green and he had a moustache that also appeared to have been dyed the same. His hair wasn't styled at all and was sticking in every direction like he'd just rolled out of bed but given what little Virgil knew of him that seemed to fit. He was dressed very punkish with a violently bright green belt covered in metal studs holding up a set of distressed looking black jeans. He was also wearing a more distressed looking jean vest of a matching colour that looked as if he'd torn off the sleeves himself. Underneath it he was completely bare-chested which gave Virgil too good of a look at his prominent muscles and a hint of some scarring across his abs.
Another thing that Virgil noticed about Remus was the fact his eyes were a vibrant green that made him think of coloured contacts and as the man in question made eye contact Virgil realised he was correct and his natural eye colour was probably similar to Romans.
"See something you like baby vamp?" Remus asked wiggling his eyebrows with a grin.
"No, just curious about your contacts." Virgil replied quietly, hoping no one had seen his eyes wandering slightly.
Remus's grin widened and he clapped his hands excitedly.
"Oooo, they're real fun, Broman over there gets real grossed out watching me put them in or take them out, watch."
Virgil only had time to blink before Remus was scooping out one of the contacts and Roman let out a disgusted shriek.
"Won't you give yourself eye problems if you do that with dirty hands?" Virgil asked in concern as he spotted the dirt on Remus's hands.
"Nah, I'm made of tougher stuff. I'd probably be dead if I wasn't."
The way Remus said it was light-hearted and Virgil wasn't sure what to make of it but he noticed the way all the others had tensed up slightly and decided he'd find out more about that when he could.
"I must insist you stop doing that in front of me! Especially considering you're apparently staying the night." Roman exclaimed, looking annoyed and disgusted.
In response Remus bounded over to him and pulled the other contact out, cackling loudly when Roman shrieked again.
Logan pinched the bridge of his nose as he prepared himself for a long night of this before sighing and focusing back on Virgil.
"I apologise for the way things went earlier this evening, but you're safe here and we would love to help you get acclimated to everything."
Virgil shrugged and gave an awkward thumbs up, still feeling really out of his depth.
"Am I gonna be on the menu tonight?" Remus asked with a grin.
"I'm not sure if that would be wise. At least not for his first time." Janus cut in, sending Remus a stern look when he opened his mouth to likely make a comment about first times.
Virgil frowned in confusion. "What?"
"Your first feed. There are three different ways to satiate your thirst as a vampire but I agree with Janus that werewolf blood is probably the last thing to start with." Logan explained. "I do have some extra donated blood on hand though so there's no complications about actually trying to find yourself anyone or anything. We probably have a good amount of both kinds if Roman hasn't been at it since I checked last."
Right, feed. Virgil had almost forgotten that he was a blood-drinker now and he was not any more used to it than when he'd first realised he was a vampire. The sheer idea of the taste of blood made him feel sick.
Roman stepped forwards, giving his brother a wide berth, and put a reassuring hand on Virgil's shoulder as he spoke.
"It sounds gross I know, I'm still not really a fan and I've been doing it for about 70 years or so now, but it does get better over time. Plus if the idea of human blood makes you uneasy you can just stick to animal blood, that's usually what I do."
It took all Virgil had to not flinch at the sudden contact but he was somewhat touched at Roman's attempt to comfort him, even if it didn't really bring him much.
"I guess I'll give it a go but I doubt I'll do it right." Virgil mumbled, vaguely grateful that he was unable to blush anymore as he knew his face would be bright red out of embarrassment.
"Let's get this shit show on the road!" Remus exclaimed, cackling to himself as he received glares from all the vampires.