Victorian Vampire Boyfriend |MxM|

Chapter 9

The person stands up and offers Orsino a hand. She's a short young woman with a pale oval face, and a straight nose. Her brunette hair is bound up under a little floral pillbox hat, that looks like it belongs to a doll. The long, dark gray, ankle-length coat she's wearing, ripples in the night breeze, revealing blue skirts beneath and a pair of sturdy boots. If it weren't for the movement, she'd blend into the darkness.

Orsino's heart is still pounding and his breathing is heavy from his run. He looks at the hand offered to him, hesitates to take it. Who is this lady and why was she just in the woods? But any doubts about her are dashed from her mind when he hears a sound from behind them.

At his hurried glance over his shoulder, she says, "Deary me, is that Elliot Darling after you?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you-?" asks Orsino in befuddled reply as he takes her hand and she helps him stumble up.

"I feared this would occur when I'd heard he had a guest in the house. But it's of no matter now. Our first order of business should be to get you out of here. Come now, quickly before he catches up."

With Orsino's hand in hers, she pulls him along at a steady run. Somewhere behind him he thinks he hears someone call out his name, but the pounding of their feet on the forest floor makes it difficult to hear.

The woods begin to thin out again and, if Orsino wasn't already trying to catch his breath, he'd be breathing a sigh of relief that he no longer needs to watch his feet for vindictive roots reaching up to trip him. 

As they leave the tree line, the lady pauses and looks back into the brush head cocked to the side. "I think he's given up. He likely realized I'm with you. Good. That's the best protection I can offer."

Orsino loosens his neck-tie and looks up at the night sky, trying to resist the urge to yell, What the HELL is going on? He decides to compromise with a harsh whisper, "Sorry, what is happening?!"

"I'll explain soon enough. Come, let's head into town and we can talk over a drink! This woodland chase business is no good for a proper introduction." She smiles.

Orsino squints and sure enough, across the marshy clearing, covered in tall, reedy grass, is the light of a town.

It turns out to be Arborton, but it's so different from the bustling college city Orsino knows, that it's unrecognizable. Except, there is something in the way main street businesses are organized and, of course, the towering, ever-present bell tower, that holds a whisper of familiarity. The art school building that he spent most of his time in probably hasn't even been built yet, he thinks, and again, a tinge of melancholy tugs on him, despite often having much to complain about while in college.

The lady directs him to enter a little bar named St. George's. The walls are a warm cherry oak, and are lined with framed newspaper clippings and sepia photographs. Everything is warmly lit by semi-opaque gaslamps. Inside things are beginning to wind down, but by the state of the scattered chairs, and empty glasses, it looks like it was lively in here until recently. A harried, but professional-looking woman hurries through the tables cleaning up while getting drinks to the remaining clientele.

"Georgie, could you get two of my usual to the back room, please?" calls out Orsino's companion.

"Sure thing, just a minute!" replies the lady bustling around, as the two of them pass through the tables and by the bar, to a heavy oak door in the back.

"There's a Georgie at St. George's?" asks Orsino, still trying to get his bearings.

"Most certainly, and I guarantee she's a saint too. Georgie runs this place, and has graciously hosted me and mine for over a year now," she gestures for him to go through the door and he holds it for her as she enters after him.