5. Chapter 5 (1/2)
try not to hate vlad too much; hopefully his motives will become somewhat clearer in this chapter. enjoy!
disclaimer: not mine.
vlad found bertrand sitting at the kitchen table, head in his hands. he leapt to his feet when vlad walked in."it's not robin's fault-""oh, i know." vlad kept his tone light, and that was when bertrand realised just how angry the boy was. vlad's casual tone of voice was one of the most terrifying weapons in his arsenal, the mere fact of being the chosen one notwithstanding. "which is why i want to know what the blood and garlic you thought you were doing.""it wasn't just-"
"do you know how close you were to his neck, bertrand?" the raw emotion in vlad's voice surprised him. "of course you do, you'd have been able to hear his heart pounding. it would have been so easy, wouldn't it, to just slip and bite him? if i hadn't walked in-""i would never-""i bet you said that about every
eather you've ever seduced. how many of them lived to walk away?" bertrand faltered mid-retort; vlad was right. he should never have gone near robin. he'd put the boy in danger just because he wanted him so much.
"i should talk to him, explain… that this has to end." vlad shook his head."i told him everything. he's gone back to stokely, where he's safe. don't follow him." then the chosen one was gone, and bertrand slumped back into his seat, all the artificial warmth he'd felt when he was with robin draining away and leaving him feeling colder than he ever had.
robin wandered back towards his house from the train station, barely glancing at the hearse that had dropped him there as it drove away. he wanted to go home, that was all he could remember; he'd had fun with vlad, but he'd missed his family. there was nothing more to it than that.
they were surprised to see him, but his mum quickly pulled another plate from the cupboard and loaded it with food and before long it was as if he'd never been away. his dad asked about his new kickboxing hobby, and robin frowned at him; kickboxing was hardly his kind of thing.
it wasn't until dinner was over, and night had fallen, that he heard a tap on his bedroom window. he grinned, seeing his old friend perched on the sill."miss me already? come in, mate." vlad sighed and, reluctantly, snapped his fingers. suddenly, everything came back – of course they'd asked about kickboxing – and he wasn't even aware of moving until vlad reeled backwards, clutching his face. "you hypnotised me again!""i had to, you weren't going to leave-""some friend you are.""robin, look, i needed to talk to you. away from the school. i'm sorry for what i did, but… we need to talk."
he didn't seem to be joking. robin flopped onto his bed and folded his arms."so talk."
bertrand stared up at the ceiling in the darkness, trying not to think of robin. robin, who would usually be sleeping just three floors above him; robin, who'd slipped past his defences; robin, who hadn't seemed to care what he'd done in the past; robin, who was gone.
he hadn't thought the boy would just leave like that – true, he'd only known him for two weeks, but he'd seemed so sincere in his enthusiasm for all things vampiric, for all bertrand's stories. clearly, though, he'd thought he was exaggerating, as vampires were wont to do. now vlad had confirmed their truth, and the boy couldn't get away from him fast enough.
he couldn't help resenting the chosen one a little, though – he'd even got bertrand's book in the end, the one important, valuable thing he'd ever really had – was it asking so much to hope that he might leave him robin? but he was right, he was right about everything. bertrand was a blood addict; he knew this. just because he'd never even considered biting the boy, despite his delicious scent, well, that didn't mean he wouldn't snap. he had taken an unacceptable risk with robin's safety and vlad had every right to be furious with him.
he did, however,
istle a little at the memory of vlad's earlier accusation. he hadn't just been using robin's hormones to get at his neck; he hadn't been planning to use the excuse of a makeout session turned tragedy when he inevitably sank his fangs in. he just hadn't thought – no, that wasn't right – hadn't listened to the little voice in the back of his head saying 'this isn't safe'.
and that had cost him robin.
"vlad, i knew all that stuff." the chosen one gaped at him and robin realised he was going to have to elaborate. "that first week, when you were all at school, i asked bertrand to tell me stories about what he'd done in his unlife. he told me all those; i knew. he's a vampire, i knew he was going to have a bit of a dodgy past."
vlad had just reeled off a long list of bloody, dusty escapades involving his tutor, and robin could tell that the fact he hadn't batted an eyelid was somewhat disturbing to vlad."a bit dodgy? robin, he could kill you at any moment.""yeah, but he hasn't, has he? he's had weeks." vlad shook his head."even if you're crazy enough to risk your life, if he bites you he
eaks the truce. did you consider that?""he won't
eak the truce. he's not an idiot."
the vampire sighed."you're being an idiot." robin grinned at his friend, ignoring the chosen one's weary expression."yeah, but i always am. so, back to your place, yeah?" vlad raised an eye
ow, heading for the window."yeah, sure, see you tomorrow. where was it, again?" then he was a bat, and then he was gone, and robin wasn't even impressed by the trick because he was too busy frowning down at his duvet.
where did vlad live?
bertrand swallowed the pain in his heart – his cold, unbeating, unfeeling heart, he reminded himself – and threw all his energy into training vlad, who reacted as if he was being punished in some way. well, there might have been an element of that involved, he supposed. mostly, however, he had nobody else to train and nothing else to do with his unlife, so he was going to push the chosen one harder than ever.
it took four days for vlad to get bored of flying and fighting and demand that they work on something more intellectual. bertrand suspected that what he actually meant was that he needed to sit down."fine. telepathy then." he handed vlad a walkie-talkie and a deck of picture cards, then strode off with another towards the other end of the school.