Victorian Vampire Boyfriend |MxM|

Chapter 9

"Huh, I guess I can respect the brand."

The room they've entered is smaller than the main bar area, but similarly decorated with dark wood and what Orsino would consider antique knickknacks, but what probably are just from this time period. The smell of woodsmoke and ale lingers in the air. A middle-aged man sits in one of many chairs settled around a sturdy wooden table in the center of the room.

"Alaina, finally back from your little expedition. Who's this then?" asks the man looking up from the glass of whiskey he had been nursing. His voice is flat and gravely as though he'd been speaking too much. He's square-jawed and smooth-skinned, with heavy eyebags sweeping under pale blue irises. His ginger hair is short and stiffly swept back with streaks of grey running through it.

The woman, Alaina, takes a seat and smiling at Orsino, nods at him to follow suit as she says, "Well, it was an unexpected surprise, but I managed to scoop up a little bird who was in the process of flying the nest." Orsino is tired after the night he's had, and his head has begun to throb again reminding him of his earlier injury, this doesn't stop him from sitting at the edge of his seat, nervous energy still running wild within him. "Thank you, Georgie, you're a dear." Georgie sets two glasses of what Orsino guesses is an ale or cider of some kind.

After taking a grateful sip he asks, "So, uh, can someone explain what's going on now?

"Introductions are in order I suppose." Snapping a fan open she waves it at herself, "I'm Alaina and this is my associate Harley." Harley gives a dry nod.

"I'm Orsino."

"A pleasure I hope, despite the circumstances. You see, Harley, I, and a few others have been keeping an eye on some of the unnatural elements in the area. But you must know at least something of what I'm referring to, it's how I ran into you. We should be very grateful if you share your experience at the Darling House."

"I don't know..." Orsino fidgets, tracing the edge of the table and remembering the series of bizarre, yet intimate scenes he's witnessed over the course of the last two days (it's only been two days? Unbelievable). Despite the fear he'd felt on more than one occasion, and whatever weird shit was going on with Elliot, it feels like it's not his business to share with some strangers.

Alaina lays a hand on top of Orsino's, her face warm and open in the lamplight, and her eyes shining with some deeper emotion he can't quite name, "Please, Orsino, there is a darkness afoot in this town, and in the wider world, I have seen it and I have lost too much to it already. I know you have caught a glimpse of it too, and whatever you know it can be used to prevent any more such tragedy."

The grief in her eyes is real. Orsino wonders what it is exactly that she's lost. He decides to describe a shortened version of events, maybe that'll pacify her and give him some answers in return. "I can try, I guess. Elliot -- Mr. Darling, he was nice. He said I could stay with him until I got a place at school."

"School?" frowns Harley.

"Ah, I'm an art student at the university here?"

"Oh how charming! But please go on, I'm sure there's more." Alaina smiles encouragingly.

"Right, I was...lost, traveling here and he let me stay with him. He was always very polite with me and everything, I never got any bad vibes-- I mean, any bad feelings from him. But, I guess, sometimes I'd see something I shouldn't and I didn't really understand what was happening. And then, earlier tonight, we were sitting together and talking and all of a sudden, he uh--" The memory of Elliot over him still makes him flush, he hopes the low light in the room hides it. "It was like he lost control of... I don't know."

This makes Harley snort derisively, "Typical." Though it doesn't seem directed at Orsino.

Alaina nods with a bitter understanding.

Neither of them say anything else so Orsino continues, "And then a little after that, I wanted to see if I could figure out what was going on with him -- if everything was alright. That's when I saw, um, his teeth." He deliberately avoids the involvement of William's neck and any bloody biting that occurred.

"So, you did catch sight of Darling's true nature then." Alaina's voice has lost its warmth.

The more he thinks about this whole business the more he has to contend with the fact that vampires are real. Vampires are real, probably, and Orsino met one and was getting friendly with him. And Orsino is scared, by everything that he's seen and everything that has happened to him, but he also knows that the rapid beats of his heart now, aren't from fear. His fear is beginning to be eclipsed by a curiosity he can't shake.

Even better, it seems like people with answers are right in front of him.

"Then he is..."

"A vampire, yes. A creature of the night that feeds on the blood of the living, to fuel his own mockery of life."

"Are there other...creatures? Like werewolves?" And are they all cute boys who are in rival gangs that fight each other in the moonlight? Orsino almost laughs at the thought but stops himself with the realization that he is probably slap-happy, and a hysterical laughing fit wouldn't make a good first impression with these people.

"Not in the area, but yes, werewolves exist," says Harley over the rim of his glass. "Among other supernatural beings."

"And you and your friend, you... do what exactly?"

"We discover if they are a danger to the community, and then we deal with them," Alaina is icy, and her eyes are far off as she speaks. "Darling is an easy one. We already know he's dangerous. The fact that he chased you is only more evidence."

Orsino frowns, "What did he do?"

"He took my sister from me."