The Vampire's Solace

The Vampire's Solace Part 6

Hello, everybody, I'm back with that extra-long part I promised! I'm a bit annoyed at Wattpad right now, since I had most of this update typed and ready to go and then Wattpad went and deleted it (grr) but I typed it up again and fixed a couple grammatical errors that I found. Enjoy! Also, there will be some pov switches, but I'll mark them so you know whose pov you're reading.

The walk to our rooms is mostly uneventful, except for this one hallway where Izuku pointed to an empty stretch of wall and asked, "Who's that?" Katsuki ignored the question, but I could see from the way his ears were flattened back that he was scared. But anyway, back to the present. We've just finished our pie (it was raspberry and delicious) and Katsuki has just stood up from the chair he's been sitting in. He stretches, baring his teeth in a yawn. He sets his plate down on one of the dressers and heads for the door. "I'll come get the plates in the morning," he says over his shoulder. "For now, though, I need to hunt. If you hear something weird, stay in your room. Shouto will probably join me, and you don't want a blood-deprived vampire anywhere near you. Even if said vampire has a remarkable amount of self-control. Basically, just stay in your room." We nod, and Katsuki steps out of the doorway into the hall, shifting as he crosses the threshold. A split second later, his clothes are in a heap on the floor and there's a large blond wolf standing in his place. It looks up at me, red eyes glinting in the light of the candles and lanterns everywhere. The wolf grins at us like a dog, then turns and bounds away down the hall, disappearing around a corner. "Huh" I hear from behind me. "Must be a family trait." Izuku yawns and climbs back onto his bed, pulling the covers up to his shoulder. "Night, Eijirou," he says before rolling over. He's asleep instantly. I guess he was more tired from the hike than I thought. I did offer to fly him, though, so it's his fault for not taking me up on my offer. I snuggle into my own bed, and within five minutes I'm dreaming of the sky.

Around midnight I'm woken to the sound of muttering from Izuku's side of the room. Looking around, I see glowing green symbols floating around the room, casting weird shadows on the walls. I breathe out a sigh of relief. No demon side tonight, just sleep-casting.

If you're confused (which you probably are), here's the explanation. (Yes, I know I said I'd let Izuku explain this, but he's asleep right now) 

Izuku is an insanely powerful mage. A while ago, when the strongest mage in the world, All Might, needed to find a successor, he chose Izuku. Since then, Izuku has been working on mastering his now much stronger powers. The problem is, Izuku is half demon. (On his father's side, his mother is a wonderful woman, as human as could be.) When All Might gave Izuku his power, the surge of magic woke up Izuku's demon side, which is basically an evil version of Izuku with a slightly different appearance and a vastly different personality. The demon side can use all of Izuku's powers, and has no qualms about it, either. Izuku fights it back, but if he uses too much magic at a time, the demon side takes over and Izuku goes rogue. It's pretty scary, and I've never even seen the demon side completely in control. I think that's enough backstory, time to get back to the present. Again.

I roll Izuku over so I can reach his face. I hold his mouth still, preventing him from casting. Without a supply of magic, the symbols fade away, leaving nothing but an afterglow burned into my retinas. I let go, and Izuku rolls over again, no longer casting. All of a sudden, I hear a knocking sound on the door. I open it, and see a misty specter of a person. He's taller than me, in a full suit of armor except for a helmet, which he holds at his side. He has short, blue-ish hair and glasses, and his eyebrows point up at the outer ends. He opens his mouth to say something, but Katsuki suddenly appears, walking straight through the strange boy and dispersing the mist that makes up his body. Still in wolf from, Katsuki looks up at me solemnly, standing on his hind legs and placing his front paws on my shoulders to stay upright. He pushes me backwards into the room, and when I'm seated on the bed, he licks my face before pulling the door closed with his teeth and curling up on the floor in between the beds. I take the hint and crawl back under the covers, pulling them to my shoulder before reaching down and petting Katski's head like I would a dog's. I roll over andsoon I'm back in my dream from before, this time with a passenger as I soar through the clear blue sky.

------------------------------------------------Izuku's POV----------------------------------------------------------------

I wake up with the taste of mint in my mouth- must have been sleep-casting again. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I look around at the room. It's large for one person, but perfect for two. I look over at Eijirou's side of the room and let out a snort of laughter. Kacchan is curled up next to Eijirou in wolf form, with Eijirou's arms wrapped around him and his head buried in Kacchan's fur. It's like how a little kid would sleep with a teddy bear, and quite cute. Kacchan's eyes blink open at the sound of my laugh, and he stares at me for a minute before moving a paw in a circle near his mouth.  I quickly cast a simple translation spell, and he makes several expressions that together translate to "Wake him and you're dead." I grin and whisper, "Don't worry. He wouldn't want you to move either." 

Timeskip, brought to you by a busy author who doesn't have time to write about all the awkward things that happen when all four people in a castle have crushes on another person in the castle but are too dense to tell that their crush likes them back.

It's been two months since we came to the castle, and I've seen specters left and right for most of that time. They know I can see them, and try to communicate, but the second they try to speak, they disperse back into mist. They can use sign language, though. I managed to teach the glasses boy Eijirou told me about, and he taught the rest of them. Now when they appear, we're able to have a conversation before they disperse. The longest I've seen one stick around was 20 minutes, from the boy with the glasses. Tenya, I think his name was. One of the others is a witch, and she managed to tell me about a spell that will bring all the specters into the physical world. It'll be dangerous, though- it takes so much power I'm guaranteed to go demon mode. I don't want Shouto to see me like that, so I'll have to wait for the next time he goes out on a hunting trip. So far, those can last anywhere between a single night to a week, either of which gives me plenty of time to do the spell and have Eijirou return me to normal. He can do a bit of magic, since he's a magical creature himself, and I've taught him a spell that allows me to regain control over my demon side. It only works if I'm partially in control, though, so it's not guaranteed to work. Still, I have to try. Those people have been trapped in the spectral plane for far too long already, and they shouldn't have to wait another generation for a mage that can free them without risking anything. I walk down to the entrance hall, where Eijirou and Kacchan are play-fighting, both in their non-human forms. Eijirou's dragon form is only about a quarter of its usual size to prevent accidentally squishing Kacchan, so they're about the same size. It's pretty funny to watch, since Kacchan keeps tripping over Eijirou's tail. I cast my translation spell and ask Kacchan when he and Shouto are going hunting next. He responds with "I'm waiting for him to come down so we can leave, actually." Nice how things work out sometimes, isn't it?

Hey again, everybody! That was the (I think, hopefully) extra-long chapter! I'm going to go pack for camp now, see you in a week or so!