Vampire Residence

XXXIV

As word of Avery's unexpected awakening spread throughout the house, everyone began to make their way to the living room, most of them entirely shocked. By the time everyone had congregated, there was a sense of both curiosity and awkwardness in the air as people waited awkwardly to speak to the man they had just now become aware had still, in fact, been living in the closet.

It was Jaro who was the first to break the silence, speaking in a mildly bewildered tone.

"So... that's Avery, huh?"

Avery, who was now sitting in a chair in the center of the room, looked up at Jaro and gave a nod as he responded in the friendliest manner he could muster.

"That would be me, yes."

Jaro, taking a moment to absorb the answer, now fixed Avery in a slightly perplexed look.

"And you've- you've been sleeping in a closet for, what, ninety years?"

Avery, noticing the look in Jaro's eye and the tone in his voice, responded, now with a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "Actually, ninety four years. But yes, I suppose that would be the main point."

Jaro, now looked almost too bewildered to say anything.

"And you just- for lack of a better term, woke up after all this time?"

Avery, now feeling that a simple explanation is in order, spoke with a slight hint of annoyance.

"It is a bit more complex than 'just waking up'. I had specifically requested to engage in a super slumber, to be awoken at a specific time. I had explicitly requested that I wouldn't wake up until then."

Jaro, now raising an eyebrow in perplexion, spoke in a confused tone. "And how long were you supposed to be in there, if you don't mind me asking?"

Avery, after taking a moment to recall the numbers in his head, spoke in a slightly defeated tone. "Supposedly, I was not supposed to wake up for another six years."

"No 'supposedly'. You were supposed to go to sleep and stay asleep." Daci grumbled from the corner that she had isolated herself in.

"And that's what I did." Avery responded, now slightly defensive. "I went to sleep, and I stayed asleep until approximately ninety four years after the fact."

"And that's all well and good, but I have to ask: why a closet?" Jaro asked, raising an eyebrow.

Avery was now rubbing his forehead in frustration. "I agree, it was extremely uncomfortable. I had explicitly told Daci before I went to sleep that I did not want to be moved, and that I would prefer not to wake with a crick in my neck. But she chose to ignore that request, and here we are."

Daci piped up from her corner. "How many more times are you going to bring that up? We needed the space for three extra people that were not taking a century-long nap."

Avery fixed her with a look full of disbelief. "And it never occurred to you that there might be any option better than sticking me in a closet like a dusty coat?"

Daci, now looking very much irritated, responded with a bite. "Not in this house."

"Bullshit!" Avery raised his voice.

Daci, completely unfazed by the rise in volume, responded firmly. "Did you think that the world would just stop spinning for a hundred years while you sleep? No. We acquired new people, and those people just so happened to be awake and in need of space- space that was being taken up by your stupid bloody coffin-"

"Hey, stop calling my coffin stupid, you-"

Avery, now becoming enraged, shot out of his seat, only to stumble and fall right back into it, bringing a hand to his forehead as a wave of dizziness hit him.

Daci, amused by the sight of him falling back into the chair, let out a small laugh. "Are you alright there, sleep boy?"

Avery, now holding his head in his hands, shot her glare. "Shut. Up."

Sybil spoke up from one of the sofas, unable to pass up the opportunity to get back under his skin after all these years. "Oh, is the baby upset because he woke up prematurely in a place he doesn't like? How tragic."

Avery, now looking as though he would very much like to punch Sybil in the throat, directed his next words at her. "How about you shut your mouth before I force it shut, you insufferable twat."

Sybil looked almost gleefully pleased at the look on his face.

"Oh? And how do you plan on doing that, hm? You are still sitting there, holding your big, aching head like a five-year-old."

Avery, who looked like he was going to go absolutely ballistic, now fixed her in a positively scathing look as he shot back in almost a snarl. "As soon as I've fed, I swear I am going to-"

Daci, trying to keep things relatively civil for once, spoke firmly. "You are both acting like children. I would advise you both to cease this ridiculous argument."

"Says you."

Dorothea, who had been watching everything unfold in complete silence and utter boredom, got up and made a beeline for the living room door.

"Sybil. Stop provoking him. And you-" she jerked her head in Avery's direction- "Stop letting yourself be provoked. It's embarrassing, and childish. Both of you."

Sybil, who now looked rather offended at being told what to do by Dorothea of all people, shot her a glare. "Who made you queen around here?"

Dorothea, now giving Sybil a look full of barely-concealed ire, shot back in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Nobody. I have just chosen to employ this little thing that I possess called common sense, which is clearly something foreign to you. And you-" She grabbed Will, who had been silently feeding off of their heated conversation for quite a while, by the collar as she was exiting the room. "You have had more than enough."

William Anderson, looking very much upset at being pulled out of his entertainment, opened his mouth to protest, but was immediately cut off by Dorothea.

"Oh, don't even begin with me. I will not even entertain a word you have to say right now, so you might as well save your breath."

Dorothea, now having an iron grip on the energy vampire's collar, was dragging him out of the room, glaring back at Sybil.

"You all have five minutes to compose yourselves before I return."