Fangs And Fur

S is for Sunlight

Roman was woken up by a scream. It was more like a screech, actually. And then there was the cursing. Roman wasn't actually sure if it was cursing or not, since it was in a language he had never heard before. But he was pretty sure that it was cursing by the way it was spoken.

He sat up in his bed, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, before he stood up. He stretched a little, before he walked through the house, hoping to find the source of the weird sounds.

Roman son came to the guest room, where he could hear Virgil cursing quietly in the weird language. He knocked on the door, wondering if Virgil would open it.

And Virgil did open the door. He looked annoyed, and a bit tired. And like he had just had a nightmare. His pale purple hair was a mess, and his long braid had been destroyed, so his very long hair was hanging free. Though, Roman was pretty sure the Virgil had taken the hair tie out of it before he went to bed.

The eyeshadow mimicking eyebags had been taken off, and Virgil didn't have any eyebags under it. That made Roman slightly curious as if to vampires were able to get eyebags. Virgil's skin was snow white, but now, Roman was able to spot a few freckles on his skin. 

Virgil was just wearing his t-shirt and jeans, which meant that Roman could see all the scars littered on his arms. And there were a lot, which made him wonder how many scars that Virgil had. He also had a lot of tattoos, in very different colours and styles. Some were simple and black, while other were more elegant and bright purple. While some again were words in different colours. He had a tattoo saying "Dancer" in dark red ink, that looked like blood, on his wrist. Another, halfway hidden by the sleeves of his t-shirt, portrayed a moon with an arrow through it. Virgil raised an eyebrow at him slightly. "Yes?" He asked, sleepiness in his voice.

Roman bit his lip slightly. "I heard a scream and some cursing. What happened?" He asked, making Virgil sigh, and step out of the doorframe. On the floor, inside the guest bedroom, a naked woman was lying on the floor. She seemed unconscious or dead. Her dark hair was long enough to reach down to her knees, and was covering some of her up, and she was laying on her stomach. She had white skin, which was glowing slightly in the darkness of the room.

Roman looked from the woman to Virgil, who looked like it was normal to have a body on the floor. He cast a glance at the woman, but didn't seem guilty or anything like that, at all. "W-who is that!?" Roman demanded, pointing at the woman.

Virgil walked over to her, and kicked the body so she turned, now laying on her back. "I think you mean "What is that?"" He remarked. The Woman didn't have any eyes. Instead,she had deep black voids, that even though she was most likely dead, had what looked like visions of Roman's worst nightmares in them. Her teeth were all sharp and way too long for a human mouth. They were also kind of yellowish. She didn't have a nose, and instead of normal ears she had what looked like bat ears.

Roman cringed, and was about to ask when Virgil answered, as he had probably guessed what Roman was about to say. "It's a Mare. And no, it's not a horse. These things are the reason nightmares are called nightmares. They sit on your chest, and suffocate you while they give you nightmares. They're easy to kill once you wake up. But if you don't wake up quickly enough, then you're practically doomed."

Roman took another look at the Mare. "And I take it you woke up quickly?" "You can't suffocate someone who doesn't need air." Virgil replied, making Roman widen his eyes a little. "You dreamt the nightmare until it ended...?" He asked, carefully now. Who knew what would happen if he did something wrong around Virgil?

Virgil nodded slowly. "Yeah. And mental pain is the only one I don't enjoy." Roman wanted to crack a joke, but since he didn't really have any idea what to say, he ended up mentioning, "Well, you're probably the world's biggest masochist then." Virgil snickered. "That sounds about right." 

Virgil took another look at the Mare, and then looked back at Roman. "You need to carry it into sunlight." He said, casually, as if it didn't matter much, and was just an everyday task. Roman made a face of disgust. "Why me!? You killed her, you dispose of the body! And how did you manage to kill her..?" Virgil shrugged, and kicked the body lightly again so some hair fell off it. It revealed bite marks in the shoulder of the Mare. Roman looked horrified for a minute. 

"You sucked her blood!?" He asked, glaring slightly at Virgil, who just shrugged. "It was a midday snack, besides you should thank me." "For wha-" "She would have come for you if I hadn't done it." That shut Roman up. A vampire had saved his life? He definitely needed to get used to having Virgil around. If he kept him around, that was. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to or not. 

Virgil destroyed his train of thought by saying. "Now, you take the  body and place it in sunlight." Roman looked bewildered for a moment, and walked over to the curtains. "Why don't I just do-" "Roman no!" "-this?" Roman drew back the curtains, and sunlight filled the room. He heard some sizzling coming from the Mare, and turned to see her slowly turning into steam.

He then heard a hiss. Of pain. Virgil.

Roman spun around to see Virgil clutching his arm close into his chest. He was glaring at Roman, and had quickly retreated back into a corner of the room. And Roman could have sworn that he saw his pupils dilate for a moment, before they went back to normal. "Roman, what in the name of Jupiter made you think that was a good idea!?" He hissed at Roman, and held his arm tighter into him. Roman tried to find the words to explain, but Virgil cut him off. "I literally burn in sunlight for Apollo's sake!" 

Once again, Roman couldn't find the right words to apologize with. After about ten seconds of angry silence, Roman finally managed to stutter out. "I-I'm so so sorry!" Virgil scowled at him. "You better be." Roman couldn't help but feel slightly hurt at the tone that Virgil used. He also sounded hurt. Just a little, but it was definitely there. And it made Roman have the unmistakable feeling of guilt. Why did he even do it in the first place? Why had he let Virgil stay!?

Virgil took a deep breath, which he most definitely didn't need, and closed his eyes. "Close the curtains, Roman." He demanded. "And leave." Roman shakily nodded, and did as told. As soon as Roman was a single step out of the door, it closed behind him, making Roman sigh. 

He wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, so he went into the kitchen, and began to make himself breakfast.