A/N: I feel like I messed up my pace a bit but I like this chapter actually. So enjoy my friends!
CW: Blood, Umm child abuse?, self hatred, minor character death, sad.
Nico POV
He didn't come back.
After all the pretty words and giving the money back, he left.
It makes sense. He should be with normal people and be able to go wherever he wants, and not have to live with someone who sees him as a snack.
I don't blame him, I'm not upset with him. He did what anyone else would.
I just thought he wasn't like anyone else.
I'm glad he's back home though, glad he's got his life back, his freedom.
I'm happy for him, happy he made the right choice and left me.
Unfortunately he choose some pretty terrible timing, seeing as it's already been far too long since my last feeding.
So now for the third time I'm looking for a food source.
I'm driving in one of dads cars to the city. The route is almost familiar now, after the many shopping trips and visits to the library. Im still close enough to the mansion that the roads are made of uneven dirt that no human has likely walked on since before the city was built.
Until now.
A small boy with dusty brown hair stands at the side of the road waving his arms wildly at me.
Sh*t.
I'm starving.
I pull the car to a stop and the boy stares at me a look of relief in his eyes.
" I got lost and I don't know how to get home," he asks smiling brightly "can you drive me home?"
He looks up at me a strong gleam of hope in his eyes.
The world is spinning. I can hear everything. The sounds of the city, a frog in pond somewhere, a bunny jumping through the brush, two men arguing over a game of cards, but over it all, overwhelmingly so, is the boys heartbeat.
It's louder than rapids in my ears and more enticing than anything in the world.
His brows crease.
"Are you okay, sir?"
And then I strike.
I hear him cry out in pain but I ignore it. His blood is delicious, it's as sweet as ambrosia but it's not as sweet as Will's. Whatever, it will do.
I suck more blood a steady stream filling my mouth. He boy is crying now but I don't care. I need this. His struggle soon stops and he goes weak in my arms, completely empty.
I lick the last bit of blood off his neck and then the world starts spinning again and everything around me quiets again.
Except my head. My head is quite loud with the realization that I just killed someone.
I just kind of sit there for a second as it sinks in, when it does it feels like drowning. I'm drowning in this boy's death, in his blood.
I throw up desperately trying to get rid of the blood, but it doesn't bring the boy back, of course it doesn't. That's not how it works, he's dead and he's not coming back, because I killed him.
I killed him.
The same three words run through my head again and again.
A tear falls my eye, followed by a hundred more. I cry over the boy's lifeless body. That doesn't bring him back either but I can't stop.
For once I'm not even feeling bad for myself. I'm not feeling bad for myself for killing this man, I'm feeling bad for this man for being killed. I'm feeling absolutely awful for taking away his life, not for breaking my promise to myself. I'm feeling like a god damn monster because I drained him, not because I pity myself.
Because I think I just relised how selfish my self pity was.
I wipe my tears fast and grab the body, placing it gently next to me in the car.
The drive back lasts forever. I'm in my head the whole time, muttering apologies under my breath.
I bury him in the back yard. By the woods, but not too close, because his body would be eaten in a second by another monster if I buried him there.
I place a gravestone, but it's blank which I'm sure is extremely disrespectful but I didn't know his name, didn't bother asking before I f*cking killed him.
I walk a couple steps back from his grave. It's sloppy done in a hurry by a man drunk on his feelings and maybe blood, but I can't do any better so it'll have to do, as much as I hate it.
I slowly turn away from the grave, the shade from the woods falls onto the mansion at this time as if it's showing respect for the boy as well, or maybe it's just trying to tell me there's no light for me.
I crawl into my bed without changing. It's still the middle of the day but I can't stand to be awake any longer. To be awake is to think and I don't want to do that right now.
Thankfully the world takes mercy on me and I fall asleep quickly, dreamless as always, I didn't even know about dreams until Will told me about one of his.
When I wake up I have a few seconds of bliss where I forget everything that happened yesterday, and then it call comes back crashing down on me like a wave. Jules is pounding on my door, much more aggressively than usual. I must have slept in too late.
Except when I open the door it's not Jules.
It's the boy. Very much alive and covered in dirt.
He's crying.
He wraps his arms around me. Sobbing into my clothes.
"What." I know not the most intelligent thing to say but I'm not sure what's happening.
"I-I don't know you... you bit me and then I woke up and I was under dirt and it was scary."
I frown. His way of speaking is very different from Will's and he's much smaller, and I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be dead.
"How old are you, boy?" I guess I should be apologizing for killing him but I'm still not sure if I'm dreaming.
"I'm eight." The boy says between sobs. His nose appears to be leaking down his shirt which is covered with dirt.
I decide the apologies and questions can wait and I lead him to one of the baths.
He gasps when he sees the rubber duck laughing and hugging it.
I close the door leaving him some of my clothes to wear when he gets out.
Why is he alive? I killed him. He went limp in my arms and I buried him in the dirt.
Then it hits me. So obvious it hurts.
I turned him.
He's a vampire now, which is probably even worse than killing him, because now he's gonna be like me. He's going to be a monster who lives forever.
There's a knock on the frount door. I reach to open it assuming it's probably Jules but I hesitate. So far I've had awful luck opening doors when people knock.
So this time I ask who it is.
There's a moment of silence. Then a voice starts.
"Um it's Will, but you know that right, dad?"
Dad?
I open the door with a swoosh.
It really is Will.
He's standing there in the snow with some very ripped up clothes and eyes red from crying and the cold.
He wraps his arms around me, and I hug him back, because as weird as everything has been, I'm happy to see him again.
A/N: Yeah.... This is a mess. Btw if you see any inconsistency, no you don't ❤️