Young Writers Society

Note to future self: when sparring with an "anything goes" rule, Aleks will always go for a surprise attack from behind.

Télos really should have expected that by now. They had known each other for three years, and he had been watching Aleks fight on his own for one of them. Aleks didn't exactly fight dirty, but he did take advantage of whatever openings he could get.

And sometimes those openings happened to be the back of Télos' head.

So getting whacked by the flat side of Aleks' sword really wasn't that surprising, but it was hard enough to send him stumbling forward. He could already hear Lex berating Aleks for the rough attack, but Télos was more concerned with how close the floor was getting to his face-

He stumbled into a hard, stone wall.

Then he froze.

...Stone wall?

Better yet, wall?

Where was he? What was he wearing? Why was his hair down, and why were all of his senses so strong? He spun around and stared at the empty corridor he was in. There wasn't anyone in it. Just a few suits of armor, a couple of torches, and a lot of darkness.

Télos gulped.

"Hello?" Télos whispered.

There wasn't any response - besides the movement down the abandoned hallway.

A second later, he felt someone bump into him.

Even though there wasn't anybody there.

Télos turned several more shades of pale than he thought was possibly and went stumbling away.

"Gh-Ghost!" he exclaimed.

"V-Vampire!" the ghost replied at the exact same time.

They both fell silent.

Then Télos glanced around, hands automatically going for his neck. He still couldn't see where the ghost was, but now there was a vampire, too? This was not a good day.

He backed right into someone again.

Télos let out a startled yelp, spinning around to find himself looking at the vampire the ghost had been terrified of. But now that he was getting a good look at said vampire, he realized three crucial things.

One: the vampire looked suspiciously like someone he knew very well, with the addition of fangs and a new outfit.

Two: the ghost's voice had sounded like that person's.

And three: the vampire reeked of an invisibility potion.

"Télos?" the vampire hesitantly asked.

"Liiiii-" Télos started to reply, only to draw out his response when he realized he probably wasn't supposed to use that name right now. "-iiii-"

"Kaito," the vampire offered.

"Kaito," Télos repeated, giving a shaky grin.


They swapped stories as they walked towards where all of the noises and smells were coming from. Télos explained that he had been sparring with Aleks and Lex; Kaito explained that he had been with Claire, trying out her new batch of potions with Aquarius. Even though he was suddenly a vampire like Télos was, the invisibility potion's final few seconds had apparently carried over.

The two fell silent as they entered the main ballroom.

It was filled with vampires, and the scent of blood hung in the air. His gaze swept across unfamiliar faces - no matter where he looked, he couldn't find anyone that he knew. Kaito looked equally lost. After giving up, they decided to approach the table full of blood. Télos wasn't sure he was going to actually drink it, but it seemed like a good place to get information.

But midway over, Kaito bumped into a woman carrying a glass of blood.

The blood spilled mostly onto Kaito, but some did splash on the woman's white dress. Kaito's eyes widened in horror. Télos' did, too. It was paritally because he didn't want to stand out, but also because the stain looked bad.

"Oh gods," Kaito said. "I'm so sorry. Um, where can I get a towel...? There has to be something that can get the stain out-"

Before Télos could suggest a solution, Kaito seemed to come to one of his own.

"Let me get it out for you," he finally said, gusto in his voice. "I'm the chosen of the water god - I can manipulate water."

Kate glared at Saint Nick, "You've done enough," she growled, her eyes burning brighter as if to prove her point.

That fucking pompous mall-santa could go drown in a glitter bath for all she cared. He could go fling himself off a cliff. With how fae he was acting, his wings would catch him just fine. The prick.

xXx

Daisy carefully set her now-nearly-empty glass on a nearby ledge and got to work rolling her frilly sleeves out of the way. "Oh, it's alright," she assured the man good-naturedly, "It's just a dress." It wasn't her dress, though. Whoever it belonged to would probably be upset about this.

She'd just have to clean it up, then, or she could pay to have it replaced if these bloodstains didn't come out. Miss Elizabeth could have some very stubborn blood, for all Daisy knew.

"I think a bit of peroxide, soap, and water would do the trick," she decided, "And thank you gentlemen for your offer, but I do believe all I need are directions to a janitor's closet, or maybe a restroom?"

James could tell that the woman was trying the man’s patience, and in the effort of keeping the peace, flashed the man a smile. It was strange. He hadn’t had to draw from his past of putting on fake smiles in a while, but now that he needed to, it came so easily.

“You have no obligations here. You’re dismissed. You’re free to go off and enjoy the party,” he said, tucking the damp handkerchief back into his pocket. He had nowhere else to put it. He gave a little wave of his hand to encourage him.

Nova didn't need to be told twice.

He gave one last apology before disappearing into the rest of the crowd - observing the horde of vampires from within as he sipped his drink.


They exchanged a look.

"We haven't been here before," Télos said, wisely taking over when he saw how flustered Kaito was. He wasn't sure what exactly was the cause for the flushed cheeks, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was because he had been called a gentleman. "I'm not sure where the bathroom is, but we could help you find it."

Télos paused. Kaito still looked flustered.

"...Why does every fancy dance I go to involve running off to the bathroom?" Télos asked, more to himself. The comment was enough to snap Kaito out of his train of thought - and enough to make him stare.

"What are you talking about?" he slowly asked.

Télos dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "It happened at the space masquerade."

"The what?"

"...Did I forget to say where the dance was?"

"Yes."

Daisy gave a small laugh, mostly out of nerves. This was such a strange situation. "Well," she said with a smile, "it sounds like you live a rather exciting life." Suddenly, she remembered her manners and extended her hand, "I'm Daisy," she introduced herself, blushing at how long she'd gone without an introduction.

These gentlemen had been to parties like this before, then. Or, at least one of them had. They must be rather wealthy.

She chastised herself for even beginning that line of thought. It was beyond rude to speculate about someone's finances before she even knew them.

James wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing, but he had a feeling the woman in the colored glasses and the blood-stained sweater thrown over her gown was like him. In other words, not from here. But he couldn’t be sure just yet, and he didn’t know whether or not he should reveal the fact that he wasn’t of the vampire world normally. Unlike other times he’d been brought into other worlds, this situation seemed to try to make him blend in. If he’d been inserted as a human among vampires, he would’ve likely been dead in minutes.

He’d have to discover his purpose for being brought here, but he had a feeling he couldn’t be as upfront as he usually was. So he supposed it was time for small-talk.

Not a realization he loved coming to, but he could keep up the appearance of politeness without letting on how he was feeling.

“Ah. Sorry about that, Miss,” he said, turning to the woman as the man gladly took his invitation to flee her volatile manner. “The name is Tiberius Hemming. What’s yours?”

"I'm Télos," Télos replied, grinning and shaking the extended hand. "God-"

A second later, Kaito stomped on his foot.

"Ow!" Télos yelped. He winced in pain and abruptly withdrew his hand. A quick glance down proved that the stomp hadn't really done any damage; he couldn't even guess why Kaito had done it in the first place. He gave Daisy a pained smile - despite the interruption, he could still finish his introduction-

"I'm Kaito," Kaito abruptly said, shaking Daisy's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I, uh, just have to go talk to my friend for a quick second."

Kaito grabbed Télos by the arm and dragged him a few feet away. The music and conversations in the background was enough to mask their own conversation - not that Télos got why they were doing that in the first place.

"What was that for?" Télos said, shaking out his injured foot.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to say you're a god," Kaito whispered, comically holding a hand up to his mouth.

"You mentioned you were Aquarius's chosen," Télos pointed out.

"...Vampires can be religious," Kaito hesitantly said.

"...Have you met a vampire before?"

"Have you?"

"...Good point."

The two of them fell into a brief silence.

Then Télos glanced back over in Daisy's direction, giving her a quick little smile before turning back to Kaito. "So no god stuff, right? The water and gold are just party tricks."

Kaito nodded. "Exactly."

Télos gave a shaky smile. "...I think I can do that."

Kaito gave an equally shaky one of his own.

Their conversation finished, they returned to Daisy's side.

"Sorry about that," Télos apologized. "We just needed to talk about...about..."

He gave Kaito a desperate look.

"My...My boyfriend!" Kaito said. "He's, um...really sick. He wanted to come tonight, but he couldn't."

"He's my brother," Télos helpfully added. "The boyfriend, not Kaito. The, uh, party's nice tonight, isn't it?"

Kate kept her attention on her sweater, where she was still trying to clear off the blood. "Kate," she said shortly.

Finally, she got fed up and lifted the sweater over her head. Without asking, she took the glass of water from the man - she wasn't listening when he said his name - and poured a bit over the stain before putting the glass down and trying to work out the stain. At least there were no actual fae at this fucked-up parody of a vampire party. That would be even more insufferable than this was, and this was Infufferable, with a capital 'I'.

She glanced up to find the man was still there. "The fuck do you want?"



Daisy gave a confused smile when the boys returned. It was a little odd, to say the least, but maybe this boyfriend was just really private. Some people were really self-conscious about being talked about in front of strangers. She thought, anyway. She'd never met anyone like that, but there had to be some somewhere. Why else would they be so private about it?

"It is," she responded pleasantly, her smile matching her tone once she'd finished her puzzling, "It's a shame your boyfriend couldn't make it." A pause, "It's strange, actually," she gave that nervous laugh, "I don't actually know how I got here."

There was a long, drawn out pause.

For the first moments following Daisy's comment, Kaito and Télos just stared at her. She had seemed like she perfectly fit in among all of the vampires - it didn't occur to them that a stranger would probably say the same thing about the two of them, too.

Kaito immediately bridged the little distance between himself and Daisy. Télos quickly followed suit when he realized Kaito wanted to reduce the risk of being overheard.

"You're not normally a vampire, are you?" Kaito whispered, his voice tense.

Daisy shifted uncomfortably, glancing between the men as she took half a step back. Her smile faded slightly, became just a touch more strained.

They'd moved very close very quickly, and the tense tone Kaito was using made the hairs on the back of her neck raise. This was beginning to look suspicious, perhaps even dangerous. Did they have a problem with humans? She was beginning to remember something in the stories about that.

Yes, vampires drank the blood of humans. In the stories, they would hunt humans down. Surely that must be an exaggeration, though? Like Frank's grandiose tales from Europe he told just a little differently every time at the neighborhood gatherings. Never church potlucks, though. Even he wouldn't lie in a church.

She straightened her posture. She wasn't human, now, though. She had nothing to fear.

"No," she said pleasantly, her smile once again becoming easy, pleasant as her voice, "not usually. Today, though, I suppose I am."

He let her take the water.

Okay. She wasn’t interested in small-talk. Neither was he. She was still upset, focused on her sweater. But she was the only person in this place who he was at least mostly sure was recognizable as being in the same boat as him.

“Just a moment,” he said, stepping back to the bar to pester the server for a towel. He was quick about it, and came back with a simple hand-towel that he held out to her.

Kaito and Télos let out twin sighs of relief.

Neither one noticed Daisy's initial reaction; they were both too worried about being wrong, and too desperate to be right. Now that they knew Daisy was like them, all of the worry and desperation faded away.

"That's a relief," Télos said, leaning up against Kaito and letting out another sigh. "We aren't, either."

"We thought you were normally a vampire," Kaito added. He gave her a warm but awkward smile. "Did your outfit change, too?"

Kate took the towel and kept working on working out the stain. It took a long time, but eventually, she got it to fade to the point where it was barely noticeable. She dropped the towel on the floor and looked up at the guy. She wasn't going to waste her energy asking for his name. It wasn't like she needed it, anyway. She was leaving before the fucking nonsense got started. She learned her lesson last time.

"Why the fuck am I here?" she asked him instead, "And how the fuck do I leave?"



Daisy dipped her head, "Yes, it did. I'm sure the owner of this dress will be rather upset about the stain," she looked down at it, the corners of her lips dipping into a slight frown.

She looked back up, her smile returning, "It seems an odd way to invite people to a party," she commented, musical laughter in her voice, "I would have just sent cards."

The barbeque. How was she only remembering now? She still had to make soup for her neighbor, and wasn't Goerge coming over later? They'd be upset to find her not at home. She hadn't even called first! If only she'd had the chance. There wasn't much chance they would believe her if she told them what really happened, and she couldn't lie to her friends.

It seemed she was in a rather complicated situation.

Hm. Kate wasn’t about subtlety.

“Unfortunately, I do not know,” he said, keeping his voice low, and keeping an eye on the vampires around them. They all seemed to be occupied with their own conversations, especially now that the whole spill issue was resolved.

“I’m trying to figure out the same thing. I was brought here suddenly too. But I have a feeling we’re not supposed to draw attention to ourselves... I’ve been in situations like these before. This feels different.”

"I'm not sure we're supposed to be invited," Télos commented. He stopped leaning against Kaito, instead musing over it with his hand underneath his chin. "I feel like there would be more confusion if everyone here suddenly got turned into vampires."

Kaito frowned. "But why would we be here, then?"

Télos shook his head.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Something just feels...off."

His stomach growled.

Télos gave a sheepish smile. "Maybe it's just that I'm hungry-Oh."

He glanced between the drinks table and the two he was currently with, suddenly remembering that the thing that vampires ate was blood. Blood that presumably had belonged to someone before, and someone who presumably was dead from all of the blood loss.

...That wasn't a fun thought.