Chapter Text
Winter 28th, Year 24
It ‘s 8 P.M. on the mountain, besides the lake, contemplating the moon, who was reflecting so much light that night he could almost smell himself burning, almost, the heat was weirdly comforting, it was weird to feel warm, normally he would drink the awful tasting potions that Rasmodius would provide him with, they made it so he could go under the sun for a few hours at a time, but he would get sick after the effect wore off, plus he was always cold, the warm moonshine was a welcome oddity that he could get used to. With a cigarette in his mouth sits a young “man”, soaking his feet on the cold lake, letting go the comfort of winter and bracing himself for spring and dreading the coming of the awful summer. He takes a drag of the item in hand, and he exhales, slowly, just like he did when he was alive, is he dead? Well, dead people don’t smoke, neither could they admire the beauty of the snow, slowly melting away, the grass barely surviving the harsh weather peeking through the thin layer of snow, which was liquifying on a rapid rate, enunciating the end of the year. He isn’t dead.
My name is Sebastian, I turned 24 recently, but that isn’t important anymore. I was cursed by an asshole 3 years ago, so forever 21 for me…. yippee….
Maybe my first curse was being born at all… he thought in an emo way, of course.
As he looked at his pale reflection on the water, opened his mouth and let his fangs slip out. The sight used to horrify him, send him spiralling for a week or two, but not anymore, he looked kind of cool, maybe with a couple of piercings, could he get piercings? Instant healing came to mind, so probably not. He of course had to ask The WizardTM maybe he has a solution to this silly predicament.
This mess of a train of thought was interrupted by a familiar, comforting and warm voice:
“Hey Sebby! How is my boy doing, here, in the cold”
Robin chuckled while getting closer, Sebastian could see her usual giddiness and charisma, how could he be his offspring? No idea.
“Hi mom, first,it is not that cold, tomorrow the spring begins and this place is the first that gets warm, second, what’s with the high energy this late?” He asked with a crooked eyebrow.
“Ya got me” She sighed as she sat down beside her first(and only) born “There’s a new girl that just arrived here; she’ll stay on that…” Robin hesitated while waving her hand looking for the correct words. “Humble cottage… yes, humble cottage, on the farm that’s southwest from here”
“Oh? Something interesting happening in Pelican town? No way”
“Yes way, she arrived today Lewis and I gave her a short introduction of ourselves, but…”
“But?”
“There are a couple of odd things that happened at the exact same time that she moved in” The tone change of his mother piqued his interest in this girl.
“Please elaborate” He pleaded
“Well, for starters, she arrived just this morning on the bus, and I passed through the bus stop an hour ago, and the bus is broken down, completely useless, and Lewis doesn’t know what happened to it”
“Well, not to be an asshole, but you know that Pam is not the most reliable driver ever, maybe while not sober?” Robin shot him a look of disapproval, the change on the air was palpable. Robin had always been defensive of the elders in town, the reason why was still a mystery to Sebastian, maybe she just sees the good in everyone, maybe that’s how she could stand asshole Demetrius. Maybe that’s why she loves him so much, besides being his mother, obviously.
“Mom, I know that maybe I sounded a bit harsh, but you know that it is not entirely impossible that Pam did something stupid while drunk, especially having non-restricted access to a 5-meter iron bus, maybe it’s for the better, you know? Maybe the bus can remain unusable until she gets a better grasp on her drinking? We both know she can do it.”
A defeated looking Robin nodded, then sighed “Maybe you’re right\, but that doesn’t solve the other 2 things that happened today” Sebastian raised his eyebrows expecting his mother to continue. “Besides from the bus, the clock on the very abandoned community centre is ticking again, and the rocks that are blocking the entrance to the train station rumbled just a teeny tiny bit” Robin looked at Sebastian, expecting.
“Well, I don’t have an explanation for either of those things”, he said as he stood up, stepping on the remainder of the cigarette.” But those things are small, so how about we wait and watch how things develop, huh? Now come on” he said, offering his mother a hand. “How about you keep me informed while I work to pay my bills” He knew his mother couldn’t resist the gossip, so he smiled as his mother grabbed his hand.
“Maybe you should go to sleep, it’s late” The vampire said, half-joking
“Hey, don’t send me to sleep, I’m not that old” The redhead scolded
That small affirmation made his heart sink, his mother would die someday, maybe not that soon, but still. He loves her, obviously, maybe he should put more effort into making it clearer… Before it’s too late.
As Robin made her way back into their house, Sebastian kept going into the west, then he turned south. He used to come to the abandoned farm with his friends when they were teenagers. Yoba, he felt old. That was 8 years ago already, and he remembered all of it like it was recently, not quite yesterday, but not so distant either. Ugh, just stab me in the heart already. He thought as he turned south, he wanted to just enter, like he did all those times, all those years ago, but he stopped himself, because respect, of course, for no other reason.
He didn’t need to go investigate right now, the farmer just moved in, they would likely stay for at least a year, that’s plenty of time for him to get to know this mysterious farmer girl.
Alright, back to work.
Spring 1st, Year 25
He woke up right in front of his computer. He must have passed out while working on that website for the lady who sells the crazy shoes. He had a lot of work as an independent freelancer, and it’s better that way. Thanks to his unusual hours and his usual lack of hunger, he had gotten the reputation of an efficient and dedicated worker, really cool in his opinion. Despite of the craziness of some customers with the expectancy that he makes both front end and back of a web site on 2 weeks (they should try doing it themselves if it’s so damn easy), he enjoys his job, there isn’t some loser breathing down his neck about deadlines and dress codes, jerk Demetrius covered that role good enough to make him never want to work at a company.
He stood up, then stretched for a moment, and looked at his computer’s little clock ,3:30 P.M, ok, early enough, time for some coffee, so he makes his way upstairs, as he crosses the hall, he hears his mother talking to someone.
“Welcome, did you rest well? “
“Thank you! I did rest well, the sound, or the lack of, made me sleep like a rock besides I might’ve woken up an hour ago.” A tired voice said. Is this the new farmer? I thought that she would be more energetic. Maybe it’s better this way.
“You sound like my son,” Robin said. “There’s a fifty percent chance that he is eavesdropping on us right now.” Oh hell no. Sebastian thought as he made his way back into the basement.
First, wow rude, he doesn’t sound like that, nor is he a gossipy person, sure he was eavesdropping, but it wasn’t on purpose , he had just a good hearing, even before he was cursed, now his hearing was much more sensitive, he had to soundproof his room/the basement in order to stop the constant headaches, and the also really fucking constant migraines, vampirism could make it so time couldn’t get you, but silly headaches could get him just fine.
He then heard a knock on his door, despite being 2 meters away from it, he decided to ignore it, for now. He must finish that magic hedgehog trainer’s website. His YouTube channel had surprisingly good comments, there is a surprisingly high number of hedgehog owners that are trying to teach them tricks. There is so much weirdness in this world, it is kind of comforting.
At 10 P.M, he made his way into the garage, he was really hungry, but he couldn't just start sucking off his fellow villagers, he’d get caught easily, as there aren’t many (or other than him for that matter) people that are way too pale and way into being inside while the sun is up, and outside when the moon is out. He made his way to a distant place, not Zuzu city, getting there would take until sunrise, and he couldn’t afford to do that.
His Monday meals were the worst ones, going to bars and seeing so many people (even 1 person was too many people) inside, on a Monday. It made him wonder what could possibly be so wrong with their lives that they would make the active choice to get fucked up every damn day. Ugh, so much sympathy, especially from a person eater, he couldn’t do it tonight, a poor forest creature would have to pay the price for his excessive amount of empathy. He felt so dirty every time he had to eat, disgusting even, but surviving is the goal of every single living thing on earth, probably on the whole universe. He didn’t make the rules, he was just another victim.
He parked his bike beside the road, took his keys, and entered the forest. It was dark, as expected, but he could see in the dark just fine, maybe even better than in the daylight. The animals making sounds, looking for mates or communicating with each other, he soon located a deer that seemed to weigh a couple of kilos less than him, sleeping peacefully under a bush. The forest fell silent, they knew, they all knew. He carefully made his way close to the already damned creature, pulled out the pocketknife that of course he carried when he had to eat.
The first (and last) time he killed something with his bare hands, he almost entered a psychotic episode, he couldn’t possibly feel any less like a person, then proceeded to jump in the ocean, it was good for grounding him, not for its original purpose though. He just laid there, on the ocean floor, looking at all the nocturnal fish and the distorted moonlight that reached him. He didn’t need to breathe, obviously.
He pulled the knife to the creature’s throat, then it woke up, but seemed to just give up, it didn’t put any resistance as it was put to rest, deer were intelligent creatures, he was grateful for that fact.
“It’ll be alright” he cooed, “I promise I’ll make it quick, and you won’t feel a thing” He said as he made a deep cut through the animal’s neck, most vertebrates die instantly when that happened“I’m so sorry, and thank you so much” he said as he lifted the corpse right into his mouth, he let his fangs slip out and bit down on the creature, as he kept eating he could hear steps, multiple of them, it seemed that he had a little audience, waiting for their turn. “Just let me finish, damn” he said slowly turning around. 4 wolves, all females, probably, were waiting for the rest of the deer. They stared, not even one of them blinked as Sebastian rose from his feet and walked away, leaving a dry deer corpse behind.
As he made his way back into the familiar road, he picked on the sweet scent that was still present on the staircase of his house when he went out, against his better judgement, he left his bike at his house and made his way into the farm. He pulled his phone out, no missed calls, no new messages, as usual. The screen showed 2:30. A.M, damn. Then he saw her, face down on the floor, she had passed out. She was wearing a black skirt, black shoes, crimson wavy hair that reached her upper back , as he got close, he could see the ridiculous amount of hair, despite not being long, it was a lot. It was well taken care of though, maybe a little frizzy, he probably should stop contemplating her hair, like a creep, maybe.
He walked over the shipping box, he knew the deal, it was empty. Fucking Lewis just left her there. The only choice that would let him sleep at night (metaphorically, obviously) was helping her. So, he turned her on her back, her face was round and had soft features, high cheekbones and round cheeks, thin lips, thick, groomed brows. He clearly had to stop, so he scooped her up, she was limp, as her head fell back, exposing her neck, for a moment he considered it, just a taste, she had already passed out. She should be smarter anyway, a wild animal could’ve gotten her, a wild animal like himself, he took a deep breath. For a moment he felt the young woman wiggle a little, her eyes glazed open for a moment and smiled at him, then fell back asleep. Sebastian felt her weight shift a little towards him, if he didn’t know better, he would think that she was trying to cuddle him, but he knew better, because there was NO WAY that this idiot was trying to cuddle with someone whom she doesn’t know at all.
Absolute dumbass.