A Reason To Stay {THE LITTLE VAMPIRE) RUDONY [COMPLETED]

A Reason To Stay

When he was seven years old, a man came to live with him and Rookery. He was very nice, and when he first met Tony, he gave him a little brown teddy bear. "Hello, my name is Manny. What's yours?" he had asked Tony. The little boy immediately knew he liked the red-headed man far better than Rookery.

Manny read stories to him every night when Rookery didn't tuck him into bed. Rookery never did that for Tony, but Manny did.

Rookery was always working at night, so he was asleep by the time Tony left to walk to school in the morning. Then Manny started to drive Tony to school. He would even pick him up if he had time, even though he always looked tired and had deep bags underneath his eyes.

Manny read Tony stories about knights and dragons, princes and princesses in castles, but Tony liked the one about vampires the most.

It was about a vampire in the mountains who met a young boy. They went on many adventures together. It made the horror stories of vampires Rookery told him so much less scary when Tony knew there were at least some good vampires out there. Manny didn't like the story all that much, but read it to Tony anyway.

Manny once even told Tony of a vampire he had seen when he was a child. It had jet black hair and gleaming fangs. He had waved at Manny with light purple- almost gray hand. Tony asked Manny to tell that story over and over to him, describing the vampire with more detail each time.

Tony loved Manny like a father. He was the closest thing he had ever had to one since his parents.

He hugged Manny each night when Rookery yelled for him to start working. Tony would listen to Manny's retreating footsteps until he could only hear Rookery's shouting. The young boy hated it the most when Manny would say something back, because that would normally be followed by a hard slap, and he always knew it wasn't Manny who had done it.

Rookery frightened him more than ever, so he would stop speaking whenever Rookery entered the room. If he was reading a book or playing with his stuffed animals, he would drop it and stare at the man, wide eyed, until he left. He had been Rookery's child for over four years, and he still felt like a stranger to Tony.

Then, when Tony was ten years old, Manny was gone. Manny had tucked him in like every night, but this time after he left, when Rookery was yelling, Manny shouted back so loudly it shook the little house. Tony listened intently, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Then Rookery's voice, for once, lowered to a near silent murmur, and the front door slammed.

The next day, Tony had woken up alone in the house and walked to school. He just assumed the two had stayed out working for longer that night. But when Tony came home, Rookery's door was closed and Manny wasn't there.

He had waited for Manny that night, and the next, and the next, but Manny never came back. Tony didn't even get to say goodbye to him. Manny never even said goodbye.

When Tony was twelve he finally figured out that no one would ever really care about him, and the ones he thought did love him would leave him just as soon as they came. Rookery had made him learn that when he began to turn his anger towards Tony.

When he was thirteen, Tony was looking out the window one night when he saw a stunning brunette teenager walking down the street with his friends. Tony's breath caught in his throat when he saw the boy look at him. He smiled and winked at Tony, who waved sheepishly with a blush creeping along his cheeks.

The teenager quickly reached in his pocket and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. He walked up to the house and climbed the drainpipe where Tony opened the window for him.

The boy held on tightly to the windowsill and looked up at him. When he saw Tony's eyes flick to his lips, he smirked. The brunette brought his lips to the blond boy's gently. Tony gasped.