by Aidan Wayne
“We’re cool,” Darren mumbled, petting Vlad’s back. “We did it. You’re safe. I’m safe. Everyone’s safe. Safe as houses. Those are pretty safe. Even without wards now! No more wards for you.”
Vlad muttered something against Darren’s shoulder, and then something warm and wet started tracing his cuts. It took Darren a second to realize it was Vlad’s tongue.
“No,” he said weakly. “You’re not eating me after all that. It’s not allowed.”
Vlad pulled back just a little to meet Darren’s eyes. “Never,” he said fiercely. “Not if I live to be a thousand. I… I just….” He hesitated, then, voice small, said, “You’re hurt. I wanted to—”
“Shhh, it’s okay,” Darren said, pulling Vlad in again. “I am down with healing powers.”
“Besides,” Vlad mumbled against Darren’s shoulder, “you taste like grass.”
“Ugh no, I’m not a lawn weed, yick.”
Vlad weakly chuckled and then let out a pained whimper, burying his face into the crook of Darren’s neck.
So, of course, that was when Tabitha flew down out of the sky, and Darren’s dad materialized in the faerie circle, both with an army at their backs.
“CONTAIN THE threat!” someone—Darren couldn’t see who—yelled, and a group of adults swarmed around Katarina. He could hear Tabitha chanting something, and… possibly his dad? That sounded like his dad. Which made sense, if they were going to use the power of the faerie circle to keep Katarina under wraps.
Honestly Darren wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. Vlad was still nearly sobbing in his arms, these horrible, choked-off little coughs, and that was mostly where his focus was.
Suddenly his mom was there, crouching down in front of them still in her suit, heels sinking into the moss on the forest floor. “Oh my god.” She sounded kind of teary herself. “Darren, Vlad, are you okay?”
“Been better, Mom,” Darren managed. “Hi. It’s, um, I’m glad you’re here.” This was definitely a situation that needed a mom.
She hovered anxiously, trying to hug them both and being wary of their injuries at the same time, and Darren was happy to let her fuss, because it also meant he could mostly turn off his brain. The adults were taking care of things. So he could maybe just… hold on to Vlad and close his eyes….
Then someone was shaking his shoulder. “Come on,” his dad said before gently hauling them both to their feet. Vlad’s hands clenched in his shirt one last time before he stepped back, and Darren’s dad shifted to pretty much support all of Darren’s weight. “Let’s get you boys home.”
Vlad took one aborted step forward. “Um!”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“I’d… can I go with Darren?” he asked quietly.
“Let’s all go,” Darren’s mom said. “You too, Tabitha?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course. Vlad?”
“I, um, can I stay with Darren? Please?”
Darren’s mother put a gentle hand on Vlad’s shoulder. “You can go through the circle with us.”
“Thank you,” he said, looking at the ground.
AT DARREN’S house, Tabitha whisked them both upstairs to Darren’s room so she could treat and bandage their injuries. Vlad insisted Darren be worked on first. For Darren it meant he got to lie down with his head in Vlad’s lap, so he had absolutely no complaints either way.
“God, I’m tired,” he mumbled after Tabitha had finished.
“Then sleep,” Vlad said. “I’ll… I’ll be around when you wake up.”
“Promise?”
Vlad brushed some of Darren’s hair off his forehead, touch achingly gentle. “Promise.”
Darren smiled up at him and then let his eyes fall closed.
DARREN SPENT the next few hours drifting in and out of consciousness. He blearily woke up to the sound of his father on the phone, talking quickly and quietly.
“And you’re sure she’s no longer a threat?” he was asking, the hand not clutching the phone a warm press on Darren’s side. “…good. Make sure she stays contained.”
From that, Darren got they were all pretty safe. He let darkness take him again.
The next time Darren woke up, it was to his mother carefully coming into his room and rifling through his closet. Oh, probably stuff for Vlad. Darren distantly hoped that Vlad had also been offered a shower. He knew how sensitive Vlad was to smell, and the sooner he got crazy vampire lady’s scent off him, the better.
When Darren woke up a third time, he felt a lot less addled, even if he was still exhausted. His mind was clear enough, anyway, to know that he needed to make sure Vlad was okay right this very minute. And Vlad wasn’t in Darren’s room, but he’d promised to stay, so that probably meant he was downstairs. Which meant Darren had to go downstairs. Even if his whole body protested at the thought.
Decision made, he rolled over and opened his eyes to see his dad still there, sitting in a chair next to his bed, texting furiously.
“Mblg,” Darren managed.
His father looked up. “Darren! How are you feeling?”
“Not so great,” Darren croaked. “What’s going on? What happened to crazy vampire lady? Where’s Vlad? Is he okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” his father said immediately. “Katarina is under wards and still unconscious. We’re trying to figure out what to do with her. Vlad is downstairs in the kitchen with Tabitha and your mother.”
“Is he okay?” Darren asked again.
His father shifted. “As well as can be expected. He took a shower and changed, which I think helped, and we’re trying to make sure he eats.” He sighed. “He was very apologetic.”
“What for?”
“For almost getting you killed.” At Darren’s probably outraged expression, his father continued. “Your mother made sure to nip that thought in the bud, but Darren, you have to understand how Vlad must feel right now.”
Darren had an idea. Guilty. Ashamed. Wanting to retreat.
Screw that.
“I’m gonna go see him,” he said, pushing himself up with a groan.
His father put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t I just go get him?”
Even sitting up straight had given him sort of a head rush. “Yeah, okay,” Darren said, sinking back down.
He was just starting to drift again when Vlad stepped through the door to his room, followed by Tabitha and Darren’s mom. He was carrying his “not a morning person” mug and was wearing one of Darren’s T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants. The shirt was just a little too tight across Vlad’s shoulders, which Darren would totally be appreciating had he not just almost died.
“Hey, there you are,” Darren said weakly, smiling at him. “Hi.” He waved a hand toward the chair his father had vacated. “Sit. Are you okay?”
Vlad sat down. “I am fine,” he said, stilted. “How are you?”
“I’m great,” Darren said. “Just tired. I am about a minute from coma-ing out, but I wanted to check on you first. How are you?”
Vlad frowned. “You just asked me that. I said that I am fine.”
Darren stared at Vlad for a moment, then swiveled to look at his mother. “Mom, Tabby?”
“Yes?”
“Could you, um… give us a couple minutes?”
They both nodded. “We’ll just be back down in the living room if you need us,” Darren’s mother said. “I can bring you up something to eat, if you feel up to it.”
“Blugh, I’m too tired to eat right now, but thanks.” Darren’s mother nodded and came forward to press a gentle hand to Darren’s back before she and Tabitha left the room, closing the door behind them.
“So hey,” Darren said after a minute of Vlad refusing to look at him, “we almost died. That was a thing that happened today.” Vlad said nothing. Darren continued, “And I dunno about you, but I was scared out of my mind. No shame in admitting it.”
“I’m sorry,” Vlad mumbled, shoulders hunching, hands curling around his mug.
Darren blinked slowly at him. “Sorry for… trying to sacrifice yourself to save my life? What, do you regret it now?”
Vlad’s eyes snapped up. “Of course not! How could you even think—no.”
“Yeah, didn’t really think so,” Darren said. He pushed himself up until he was sitting more or less upright. “But it got you looking at me.”
Vlad’s gaze skittered away again, and when Darren reached out a hand, Vlad flinched back. “I’m sorry,” he gritted out. “I’m sorry for putting you in danger, for thinking I could—for thinking I could live without her hanging over my head—for thinking I could be normal again—”
“Vlad,” Darren interrupted. “Can I please hug you? Please.”
Vlad swallowed but nodded, setting down his mug on Darren’s bedside table and gingerly taking a seat on the bed, opening his arms.
Darren surged over to him, wrapping around Vlad and spilling into his lap. “I get it’s hitting you hard,” he murmured into Vlad’s ear. “And I think that when this is all over, you should be talking to someone about this, about all of it. But don’t you think for a minute that anyone blames you. Don’t do that to yourself. Please don’t do that to yourself. You’ve done it long enough, don’t you think?”
Vlad’s arms shakily came up to wrap around Darren, hold him too. “Darren, I—”
“I was so worried that you’d just go with her. God, you have no idea—so freaking terrified that you’d have to dive right back into whatever nightmare you’d escaped from, because of me.”
He heard Vlad inhale sharply at that. “I… I just wanted you safe.”
“Right back atcha,” Darren said, pulling back just far enough to look Vlad in the eyes. “I want you safe. And I don’t think it’s too much to ask to want you happy, either. I get that you’re still afraid. It sucks that you’re still afraid. But if I’m scared, it’s for you, not of you.”
“Oh,” Vlad said.
“Yeah. And… my dad said she’s locked up tight. Still unconscious at last check too. The town council’s trying to figure out what to do with her.”
Vlad clutched Darren a little tighter. “Okay.”
“So are you… how are you?” Darren asked again.
Vlad was quiet for a long while.
“I think I will need some time,” he said at last. “But I think I’ll be okay.”
DARREN SLEPT like an absolute rock that night, and well into the morning, and the first thing he did after he’d dragged himself downstairs and wolfed down some food was check up on what was going on.
“The mayor, along with Charlie and Tabitha, contacted the Ukrainian council, as well as the one from the greater united region of the state,” his dad told him. “Politics in Ukraine aside, here she attacked two minors, attempted to kidnap one who was here under political asylum because of her, and committed illegal thralling and blood glamour. She’s going to be going away for a long, long time.”
“Good,” Darren said vehemently. He stood up and wobbled. “Um,” he said. “Could you drive me over to Vlad’s?”
“What, you don’t think you can walk the two blocks after calling down lightning yesterday?”
“Dad.”
His father laughed. “Of course I’ll drive you. Let’s go.”
The weakness in his bones aside, Darren did feel pretty silly being driven to Vlad’s house, but considering that, once there, he barely made it up the steps, he figured it was fine.
Vlad took one look at him and turned toward the living room.
“Not your room?” Darren asked, surprised.
Vlad looked unimpressed. “You think you could even make it up the stairs?”
“Hey!” And then, grudgingly, “Yeah, okay, you’re probably right. I maybe feel like I’m going to pass out.”
Vlad’s teasing expression sobered immediately, and he sat down close next to Darren on the couch. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t mean—”
“Whoa, I thought we were done with apologies. Talked it out yesterday, remember?”
Vlad swallowed and stared at the floor. “I’m sor—” He sighed. “I was up most of the night. Thinking. I… I have nightmares. And I was… I was thinking more about how you don’t deserve me. Deserve this.”
“Vlad….”
“I just… I have a crisis every other day, it seems. And just because Katarina is defeated for now doesn’t mean she’s gone. She’s still part of me, and she always will be, and—I just will keep dragging you into my problems.”
“Hey now,” Darren said immediately. “I’ve only been dragged like twice, and that was crazy vampire lady’s fault, not yours.” He put a hesitant hand on Vlad’s back. “Just you wait. I’ll totally have a crisis soon, and then you can be the one comforting me, okay?”
Vlad snarled, managing to hunch even lower. “I hate this. I hate feeling like this. I hate that she did this to me and that she’s a part of me.”
“I know,” Darren said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
“How can you just—how can you just deal with this? With me?” Vlad asked, glancing up. “I don’t understand why you are not… running screaming.”
Darren bit down on the reply that he’d screamed plenty yesterday during the fight. This was serious-talk time, not joke time. “Well. I mean—” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, trying to pick out the right words. “—I know you,” he said at last. “And I like you. And honestly, you, personally, have pretty much done nothing to make me want to run away screaming. Hug you sometimes, yeah, kiss your face a bunch sure, maybe shake you once in a while, okay, but that’s just general frustration. Don’t even get me started on how many times I wish I could just shake Beth until she stopped being right about everything. But, Vlad, I don’t mind being here when you need me. I meant it when I said I’m probably due for a crisis soon. We’re teenagers. With, uh, weird magic powers. It happens. With my track record, I’m probably gonna turn into a flying lizard next week or something.”
“I bet you’d enjoy that,” Vlad mumbled, wiping at his eyes.
Darren smiled gently, happy to be getting somewhere. “Guess we’ll see, huh? If you still want me around.”
“If I want—?” Vlad clamped down on whatever he was going to say and then sighed. “Of course I do. I just wish I did not come with so much… drama.”
“Oh, this is nothing,” Darren said easily. “What’s one crazy vampire lady among boyfriends? I go to high school. Wait till color war next year.”
Vlad let out a hiccupped laugh and sat up fully, which Darren counted as a huge victory. “Nothing ever fazes you, it seems. I’m… jealous of that.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see how calm I am when I turn into that lizard,” Darren said, bumping Vlad’s shoulder with his own. Vlad gave him a weak smile, which Darren returned until he had to yawn so hard he felt his breath catch.
“You’re exhausted,” Vlad said quietly, putting a hesitant arm around Darren’s waist and pulling him in closer. Darren slumped down until he could lean his head on Vlad’s shoulder. That was nice; that was awesome. He went to say so and ended up just yawning again.
“Yeah, I was not ready for that sort of energy expenditure,” he said. “I’m torn between wanting to just like, take a hard-core nap and wanting to wrap you up in blankets and feed you soup while we watch the most lighthearted movie ever created.”
Vlad cleared his throat. “I… all of those things could be arranged. If you want.”
“Hell yeah,” Darren mumbled against Vlad’s shoulder.
DARREN FELL asleep twelve minutes into the movie, tucked against Vlad on the couch. His father gently shook him awake a couple hours later to take him home, so that he could at least sleep in his own bed.
He managed to get home and into bed, just barely, before he passed out again. He woke up to eat something, woke later to drag himself to the bathroom and back, but mostly he stayed under his covers.
Vlad came to visit him the next afternoon, when Darren was between
naps. He was carrying a small bundle of dandelions, the ends wrapped in a wet cloth.
“I brought you a snack,” he said, sitting down carefully next to Darren on the bed and holding them out.
“Did you… did you actually go and pick these yourself?”
Vlad shrugged. “I remembered that you like them.”
That was amazing.
“Wow,” Darren said, pushing himself up to take them. “You’re actually the best ever. Thank you.”
“How you are feeling?”
Darren groaned. “Ugh, so worn out you don’t even know. Even the shrinking wasn’t as bad as this. I didn’t feel this terrible yesterday.”
“Sometimes it takes your body a while to realize it needs to shut down,” Vlad said.
“Yeah, don’t I know it,” Darren said, pulling off a dandelion head and nibbling on it. “That lightning really hit me hard. Or, you know, didn’t hit me. I feel like this would be a different scenario entirely if it had.”
Vlad patted his shoulder. “You can get hit by lightning next time. When we’re not facing down a horrible monster, maybe.”
“Ha! You are in a good mood. I’m glad.”
Vlad shrugged, ducking his head. “Charlie came by to talk to me. About what happened, about how I should feel. It… it was helpful. I’m going to, um, be seeing him still to train, but also to just talk about what, um, what happened to me.”
“That’s great,” Darren said with feeling. “That’s really important. I’m glad.”
Vlad nodded. “And, ah….”
“Yeah?”
“The negotiations finished last night too,” Vlad said. “They wanted to move quickly because it was an international affair involving a minor.”
“Okay,” Darren said. “And? I’m guessing… good news?”
“Because of her status, they can’t imprison her here,” Vlad said in a rush. “But I’m glad—she won’t be here, then. She’s, um, she’s going to be banned from the United States and fitted with a tracker and kept under surveillance at home.”
Darren blinked. “So they’re, like, putting her under house arrest?” Vlad nodded. “In… Ukraine.”
