Hunting vampires, as it turned out, was very boring.

That was what Roman told himself as he forcefully bumped shoulders with the vampire he’d been tracking for the past week.

The vampire stumbled a few steps, then looked at Roman, steely gray eyes narrowed as he assessed Roman. He was pretty much the walking stereotype that was a vampire. Dressed in black, pale, with eyeshadow under his eyes to make his dark circles more prominent, and he even had on black nail polish. If Roman hadn’t been so good at finding vampires, he’d have thought he was just some emo, or someone going through a bad phase, or an idiot trying to look like a vampire, but after watching the young man who was now looking him over for an entire week, and catching his hand burning and blistering when he’d reached outside his home for a package that was on his doorstep, Roman had figured it out.

That didn’t make it any less terrifying that he had a stake up his sleeve, and vervain on his person, and that he was going to stake the stupid thing and kill it before it could get a word in.

What Roman hadn’t counted on, though, was that the vampire would laugh at him.

“Kid, you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep pulling this stupid crap. Go home.” The vampire snickered.

“... What?” Roman asked dumbly.

The vampire grabbed Roman by the front of his shirt and tugged him in close, smoothly sliding the stake from Roman’s sleeve, holding it up with a raised brow, ignoring how his fingers began to blister from the wood that had been soaked in vervain extract, “You’re not slick, and I’m much too old to fall for things like this. Leave the hunting to mummy and daddy, and go back to whatever it is teenagers in this day and age do.”

Roman’s face fell, and damn him, because he just gave the leech more fuel.

“Oh, that’s precious. Lemme guess, you and the party you’ve got in that van across the street lost your parents, and now you’ve dedicated your lives to taking out the big, bad vampires.” the vampire released him, shoving Roman with such force that he fell flat on his back, his stake landing on top of him not a second later, “Unless you’re dealing with newly turned vampires, you won’t stand a chance. Don’t get yourself killed over something so stupid.”

Roman scrambled to sit up, fear causing his chest to constrict, “I’ve killed vampires before.” He said dumbly.

“Oh, I’m sure you have, but the thing about vampires is that when we age, we become stronger, faster, and because of our experience, better at avoiding you lot. You caught me because I don’t exactly hide it, and I don’t hide it because I can handle a child coming at me with a stake. Do yourself a favor and get out of here, stop looking for us, because I may have the patience to deal with you, but others won’t.”

Roman growled and jumped to his feet, lunging for the vampire, who easily side stepped him and sent him to the ground again. Roman was going to get up again, but a hand moved to his hair, and he was slammed against an alley wall as his head was forced back, opening his eyes to see the vampire with its fangs out.

“If you drink from me, you’ll just get sick.” Roman choked out, “I drink vervain.”

The vampire looked confused for a fraction of a second, then laughed, releasing Roman, “You think I’m going to drink from you? Kill you? If I wanted you dead, your neck would have been broken five minutes ago. I’m proving to you that you aren’t half the mighty hunter that you think you are.”

“Good enough of a hunter to figure out your name is Jason Wilkes.” Roman grinned, but what the vampire said a moment later made his cockiness disappear.

“Not even close, Roman Prince.” He said as he flipped his dyed purple bangs from his face, “If you wanted to find a paper trail for me under my real name, you’d have to go back to the Revolutionary War, and even then, all you’ll find is that I worked as a bloody stable hand,” suddenly, the vampire turned on his heel, waving a hand as he walked away, “I’ll let you two nurse his wounds, he’ll be pouting for the next week at least.”

Roman wondered what the vampire meant, but when he was tackled from behind by his hunting partners, he realized the vampire had known all along exactly where everyone was and if help was coming, and had just been toying with them, and Roman didn’t know whether to be angry or impressed.

“We’re killing him.” Roman said immediately as he stepped into the small house he, his brother Remus, and their best friend Patton were staying in.

“He hasn’t killed anyone.” Patton pointed out, “There haven’t been any vampire attacks in an over seventy five mile radius of here. If he were killing, I’d agree, but he just sits around at Starbucks and glares at people who walk too close.”

“Maybe he has a dungeon full of humans for him to feed off of!” Remus interjected excitedly.

It was a dumb suggestion, Roman knew that, but any excuse to kill the vampire they’d seen for the fifth time that week was good enough for him, “See?! That could be it.”

“Or he could have gone on a diet of animal blood.” Remus mused, only to yelp as Roman swatted his ear, “Hey, what’s your deal?!”

“We aren’t killing him, Ro. What if that just makes other vampires angry? We can’t just kill him because you don’t like him.”

“Well, we promised Delos vampire blood, and we haven’t gotten him any yet.” Roman pointed out, “And he said he needs it as soon as possible.”

Remus looked up from where he was scrolling on his phone, “Just texted him, he said it’s fine and that he’ll figure out something else until we can get it for him.”

“Remus!” Roman groaned, “Come on, we’re supposed to be hunting, not letting any leech who doesn’t commit a murder in front of our eyes go! We can take the Brit out tonight!”

“We’re being safe, Roman.” Patton said softly as he grabbed Roman’s hands, “Listen, do I need to remind you about what happened to Logan? It’s been almost six months and we still haven’t heard back from him since Ontario. We can’t risk losing another person because we’re being hasty.”

Roman looked up, feeling his heart break just a little as he saw that Patton’s eyes were damp with tears.

“For this family, will you please listen to me?” Patton pleaded softly, “I can’t lose another one of you.”

Roman finally nodded, “Okay, I promise. But the second he hurts anyone, we take him out.”

“You know I’d never disagree with you on that.” Patton said as he pulled his hands away, looking around the tiny house with a sigh, “We should go shopping. This place is empty, and another night of takeout probably isn’t a good idea.”

“While you two do that, I have some Netflix to catch up on!” Remus giggled, sprawling out on the couch.

“Call us if you need us?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, yeah, course.” Remus waved a hand, attention on his phone screen as the opening credits of a tv show started up.

Patton gave Remus’s hair an affectionate ruffle, then headed out the door with Roman, “Love ya, kiddo!”

“Love you too!” Remus called out as the door shut behind Roman and Patton.

After a half hour of shopping, Roman was happy to finally be back at home. He pulled into the driveway, in the middle of laughing at a joke Patton had told, but when he saw the door open and the lights on, he knew something was very wrong.

Before Roman could stop him, Patton had thrown the door open, running to the house. Roman cursed as he shifted gear into park, then he ran after Patton, a mixture of fear and dread settling in the pit of his stomach.

“Remus!” Patton yelled as he stumbled inside, “Where are you?!”

No answer came, and Patton pulled his switchblade from his pocket, flicking it open without hesitation. Patton seemed to be completely calm, but Roman knew better than that, especially when he saw how the older man’s hand trembled.

Roman grabbed the iron fire poker from beside the fireplace as Patton began searching the various rooms in the house, and he felt his entire body grow cold as he heard the most inhuman wailing he’d ever heard in his entire life. Even when his parents had died in front of him and Remus, he’d never heard anything like this, and he chased after Patton, having to turn away to vomit at what he saw in the bathroom.

There was Remus, in a heap on the floor, blood around his mouth, neck snapped at an unnatural angle, fang marks on his shoulder, his phone on the floor beside him, Roman’s contact pulled up. Roman was pretty sure Patton had fallen to his knees, but he couldn’t check to look, couldn’t see his brother like that, lifeless and pale and so so wrong.

“I’m killing him.” Roman rasped once he caught his breath, “I’m killing that fucking vampire!”

Patton hiccuped as he continued to sob, and Roman grabbed his arm, tugging him so he was out of the room, “Lets go! Now!”

Patton stumbled along, and normally, Roman would have comforted his crying companion, but they didn’t have time, because each second they weren’t killing the vampire from before was more time his brother’s murderer got to exist, and Roman wouldn’t let Remus die in vain.

Roman broke every speeding law to get to the house they’d been watching for days now, and he didn’t hesitate when breaking down the vampire’s door.

“Hey! What the **** do you think you’re doing?!” a familiar voice asked, and Roman felt rage take him over.

Roman had the vampire pinned swiftly, stake slammed just below his ribcage, and Roman would have normally felt joy or at the very least pride in the choked gasp the vampire released, but he just wanted it to be over with, he wanted the vampire to die quickly and to be burned and turned to ash.

“You’ve gone completely crazy.” The vampire choked out breathlessly, blood dripping from his mouth now.

“I should have killed you in that alleyway!” Roman sobbed, twisting the stake so it slid against the vampire’s heart, “I should never have let you go!”

The vampire groaned and grabbed Roman’s wrist, though his grip was weak at best, “What are you going on about?”

“Don’t play dumb, you killed my brother!”

The vampire looked up, then trembled as the stake grazed his heart, legs completely weak, “I haven’t touched your brother.”

“Then tell me why there are bite marks on his corpse!”

The vampire whimpered and turned his face away, “Anything I say will piss you off more. You’re going to kill me either way.”

Roman sneered, “You’re right, so lets get this over with.”

“Wait!” Patton sobbed, tears still falling, “Roman, he’s drinking from blood bags.”

“So?!” Roman demanded.

The vampire sucked in a sharp breath and tilted his head back, fighting another full body shudder from the agony of the stake being buried in his chest, “I don’t drink from humans. Haven’t since ‘72.”

“That doesn’t prove-” Roman started.

“Why would I kill your brother?” the vampire demanded, only to slam his head back against the wall with a hiss of discomfort, “I have no reason to! You never posed a threat to me!”

Roman swallowed hard, choking back a sob as he looked away, “Would you be able to find who did it?”

“Can’t do that very well with a stake in my chest.” the vampire laughed humorlessly.

Roman tore the stake out, throwing it to the floor before he released the vampire, letting him fall to the ground, “I’m not going to kill you. But if you did this, I’ll make you wish I had.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” the vampire nodded quickly, tugging his shirt over his head to survey his wound, which was still gaping and bleeding, “Mind getting me a blood bag, love?”

Patton looked at the half finished one on the coffee table and reached for it, but Roman grabbed it first, then crouched in front of the vampire, “First, I want your name; your real one. I need to be able to find you if you even try to run.”

The vampire took in a steadying breath, fangs already out as he none too inconspicuously eyed the blood bag in Roman’s hand, “Virgil. Virgil Adams.”

“Now, Virgil, here’s how this works: you do what I say, and if you don’t, next time I won’t stop.” Roman growled, “Understood?”

Virgil shivered at the blood loss he was experiencing, curling in on himself with a quick nod, “Y-Yeah, fine!”

Roman tossed the blood bag on the ground, not bothering to hide his disgust as Virgil snatched it and drained it fast, chest heaving as he drank as fast as he could. The wound on Virgil’s chest healed, skin and muscle stitching itself back together, and once Virgil had finished the blood bag, he slumped back against the wall, eyes shut as he laughed.

“Guess I was wrong about you.” He said, voice much less strained, “Looks like you could take me down, you just needed the right motivation.”

Roman stared down at Virgil, eyes devoid of emotion, “Can we get a move on?”

Virgil opened his eyes, looking outside, “Sun is down, just let me change into clothes that aren’t covered in blood.”

Patton and Roman made sure to keep an eye on Virgil as he tugged on a new shirt (Roman payed a bit too close attention, if you’d have asked Patton), and then the trio were off to the house where Roman and Patton had come from.

Patton and Roman stepped in, but Virgil stopped in the doorway, hands in his hoodie pockets.

“Oh, you are not backing out on this, leech.” Roman snarled.

Virgil raised a brow, an amused smirk making its way onto his face, “I think the real problem is that you haven’t invited me in, darling.”

Roman felt his face heat from embarrassment as Patton spoke up, “Come inside.”

Virgil passed the threshold, following the smell of blood until he reached Remus. He knelt beside the corpse, and gently scooped him up, much to Roman’s objection.

“Hands off of him, leech!” Roman growled.

Virgil ignored Roman, stepping into the living room where he placed Remus on one of the couches, careful even though he was handling a corpse, “You don’t want him waking up near vomit and his own blood, trust me.”

“Waking up?” Patton squeaked, fresh tears falling.

Virgil sighed softly, glancing over his shoulder at Roman and Patton, “Whoever did this didn’t kill him. They fed him their blood before killing him. He’s going to wake up and have to make the choice of whether or not to become a vampire.”