Don't Look at the Moon (Complete!)

Five

Virgil hadn't been able to become comfortable despite the chair he had pushed in front of the door, not expecting it to do much against a vampire, but a security measure nonetheless.

Virgil hadn't taken his eyes off the door since he shut himself in. He looked in the pack he had been given and counted the rations he had been given- enough for a few days if he spaced it out. He supposed it would have to be enough until he found some way to escape. The hunting kit he had been given was still nestled safely in his bag, the vampires not bothering to search the pack, probably too confident in their abilities to dream that Virgil would escape. Did vampires even dream? Nevertheless, Virgil was still determined to escape the castle, preferably without having any of his blood drunk by the creatures roaming the halls.

Virgil hadn't dared to sleep or even close his eyes for long for fear someone would break down his door- perhaps an irrational fear, but a fear anyways.

Virgil had just begun to think it was all some kind of fever dream when someone knocked at his door.

"Hi kiddo! Roman sent me to tell you that you should be ready for dinner soon! Virgil, right?"

Virgil was suddenly confronted with another problem. Did he answer the vampire outside of the door, or did he ignore them in hopes they would go away?

"Kiddo, I know you're in there, and I know you're trying to ignore me."

Well, shit. The second option was slowly fading from probability for Virgil.

"I know you're afraid, but I will swear on whatever you want me to that I won't hurt you, or let anyone else hurt you."

Virgil slid off the silk-sheeted bed and walked over to the chair that blocked the door.

He considered for a moment, before replying. "What's your name?" he asked, voice barely audible from behind the oak door.

"Oh, right! My name is Patton! And this is Logan, my husband," Virgil heard a quiet 'greetings,' from behind the door. "So anyway, kiddo, it's time for dinner, and you don't have to be afraid. Nobody here wants to hurt you."

Liar. All you want is to kill me, drain me, so you can all feast like animals, soaking yourselves with blood, Virgil thought. But despite his better judgement, he answered the vampires standing outside his door.

"You swear that no harm will come to me while I am in this forest?" he asked, choosing his words carefully. One could never be too cautious, especially with creatures of the woods. He knew a boy, once, who made a deal with the fae. They made the faerie swear that they wouldn't hurt him, and the faerie had agreed. What the boy didn't count on was the other fae killing him.

"I promise," Patton responded.

"Swear it upon-" Virgil hesitated for a moment, trying to decide what would be most precious to the vampire standing outside his door. "Swear it upon Logan's life."

A half beat of silence passed between the two immortals and Virgil until Patton replied. "I swear upon Logan's life that I will not let any harm come to you while you're here." Virgil thought he heard a quiet protest from Logan, but couldn't be quite sure.

Virgil hesitated one last time before removing the chair blockade and opening the door, and didn't expect to be greeted by two people who looked barely older than him holding hands.

"Hi! I'm Patton, and this is Logan. As you can probably tell, we're vampires, but it's not like what you hear in your town. Logan is probably better at explaining this than I am, but you really don't need to be afraid."

The other vampire- Logan, he remembered- adjusted his glasses and started speaking. "Indeed. While some of the stories you inevitably have heard are true, take all of what you heard with a metaphorical grain of salt. In addition, many of the stories you have been told about vampires aren't about us. Everything will become more apparent at dinner, but I can tell you that many of the rumors you heard were about Roman's father. Roman is not the original vampire in your town's stories."

Virgil stayed quiet, pondering the revelation as Patton and Logan led him down several twisting hallways, and he didn't fail to notice that the two vampires held hands as they walked beside him until they arrived in the dining hall.

Virgil looked around in awe, something he figured he should get used to doing while in the company of undead immortal creatures. The dining hall seemed like it could have easily fit his entire village in it with room to spare. A long table spanned the entire room, but Virgil counted less than a dozen vampires sitting at the table which could have easily sat a hundred.

Roman sat at the head of the table and Virgil tried not to make eye contact with anyone. Or was it better to make eye contact? He knew with the fae one should always look them in the eye, and you should never make eye contact with werewolves, but he knew next to nothing about vampires, especially now that he had been told that most of the stories he knew weren't even accurate, according to Logan.

When Roman nodded at him, everyone seated looked at Virgil, and he tried not to shrink down into his cloak. Patton and Logan sat down, unbothered with the stares of the other vampires.

"Here, kiddo. You can sit next to me," Patton gestured to the seat on his right, thankfully with no one on Virgil's other side.

Virgil prepared himself for some kind of bloody meal the vampires would devour, and put his hand over his neck.

Even if Logan told him most of the stories were false, Virgil knew for a fact they drank blood, and his would probably be next.