“Chris…? Come on, wake your lazy butt up. You’ve got to be starving by now.” Someone’s voice roused Chris from darkness, and his eyes flew open. So he was in hell? He had imagined heaven to be brighter, and better furnished, and with more people “Good, you are awake. You don’t know how much you’ve been worrying us, even Aden and the Master.” Chris heard a hiss at Aden’s name, and his anger flared.

“Why is Aden here? I thought vampires didn’t die that easily. Unless he committed suicide for what he did to me…?” The girl next to him stared, not sure what to make of him. She looked at him like he was insane.

“You mean why is Aden in the coven? He got bit, same as everyone else here. What, did you think you’d passed on?” Chris was alive? He couldn’t feel his body. He could see, though, and hear. The girl was looking a little nervous now. Chris tried to sit up, tried to move his upper body in an upward and forward direction, but only succeeded in flinging himself against the far wall. He could feel a burning hole where his stomach should be, and he moaned.

“I think I’m hungry.” He grabbed at his stomach, feeling springing into his fingers. He could feel his fingers almost clawing at his skin, through soft clothes that had to be fraying; he could feel right through them. His stomach, silent, ached for sustenance. He’d have to hunt. At the thought, he started to salivate, and the girl who was with him took a defensive posture.

“Just so you know, I need to hunt too. I’m waiting for Aden so we can all hunt together.” At Aden’s name, another surge of anger. Chris could feel himself hiss this time. He was not happy “Did Aden turn you? You keep hissing whenever I say his name. Are you holding a grudge?”

“Adrian, I’m afraid that the matter is not for your ears. It doesn’t exactly concern you, hm?” Aden had appeared, a smile on his face as he spoke to the girl. It was barely a second after he happened to glance over to Chris that Chris let out a snarl, and jumped for Aden’s throat.

“I should kill you! I should rip out your throat and stuff you full of leeches!” Chris wrapped his fingers around Aden’s throat, digging in with his fingernails. Aden seemed calm and unaffected, staring up at Chris.

“I don’t see how any of that will help you now. It’s what you had wanted from the second Jacques bit you. I don’t see what harm it did you to get turned earlier than expected. Unless… of course, this must be instinct talking for you. Your mini-grudge shows itself.” Aden didn’t seem at all bothered by Chris’s attack. He easily subdued him, detached him, and stared him in the eye.

“I’m not doing this for me. I’m going to kill you for Jacques. I’m going to tear you to shreds and burn you, piece by bloody piece, with a low flame.”

“Oh, I see. That makes about the same sense. You could feel him with your mind, yes? Just like I told you. It must have been because you’re so close to him that you could feel what he felt so early.”

“I heard you talking about me. With him, with the Master. You let him think I was dead! You let him cry over me! It was unnecessary! You could have told him I was alive!” Chris’s anger burned brightly in his stomach, and he doubled over. He was in pain, and he wanted to feed. He wanted blood, and he knew it in every cell of his body.

“Hungry, are you?” Chris hissed at him, feeling pain pulse up through his throat, until the hiss died out in a choke.

“I don’t want to see your face any longer. Where is Jacques?”

“Out. He’s feeding himself right now. Honestly, he doesn’t even know you’re still here. He thinks we buried you two days ago in the chapel cemetery. He wouldn’t let anyone convince him otherwise. He’ll get quite a surprise, but I’m not sure either of you will be very happy with each other.”

“I forgave Jacques everything the instant he came looking for me in that house. I can only blame you if he’s upset at the sight of me.”

“Well, as long as you’re planning to see him, you might as well feed yourself beforehand, so you aren’t writhing in pain, or digging your fangs into him.” Chris begrudgingly let Aden stand, and he hurried him out of the room. There was no one in sight besides him, even as they traveled the halls. Chris could smell the way out, the way to the surface. It smelled like blood and rain and dust. It smelled like fresh air. He left Aden behind, and ran to get outside. Maybe he could find someone nearby enough to bite.

“How do I find someone?”

“That depends. Do you want just anyone? Or do you plan to hunt a certain type of person in particular?” Chris tried to think, but he was almost too hungry to hear his own thoughts clearly.

“What do you mean by ‘a certain type of person’?”

“Well, Jacques hunts for criminals and bad people. His sister hunts for the rich and privileged. And the Master hunts for younger men and women. I personally think it’s all too much trouble to filter my food, and I take whatever I can get around here. It’s bad enough that food here is getting scarce; I don’t want to make myself weed out the already small herd.”

“I don’t care right now. I’m starving.” Chris ran outside, ready to kill. It was night now: a safe time to hunt. No one would bother one more vampire just joining the fray, would they? Aden stopped him with a hand on his shoulder before he could get far from the church.

“Let me get this one for you. We need to help you get established in the coven before you can hunt by yourself. An elder wouldn’t recognize you or your scent, and they might attack. You might be strong due to your youth, but an elder is far stronger, and has patience and strategy to spare.”

“And why should I trust you to do this, when all that you’ve done for me so far has been pain and disappointment.”

“You are a vampire, and you are one of us now. I created you, yes, and I apologize for the pain that you went through. I take responsibility for you until I see fit to give that responsibility to someone else, or until I think you are able to take full care of yourself. Meaning for the first few days, someone will either bring you your meals, or they will accompany you on the hunt. Understand? Now, please, wait inside for me to return. You can handle any trouble you might get into, I’m sure. But you’ll need to get a few lessons on vampire etiquette and the rules of the coven eventually.”

“So I’m like a baby bird? You need to teach me to hunt and behave among the other birds? Do you want me to call you ‘Mama’?” Chris’s voice dripped acid, and Aden simply stared.

“I hope you know how much of a favor this is to you. One day I might need your help with something. I can only pray that you’ll be as indulgent as I’m being right now.” Chris shot Aden a glare, but marched back into the chapel anyhow. Once inside, he dropped into a pew and got ready to wait. There was someone nearby, but they were young as well, and no threat to him. He was hungry, but he was strong, and an attack from another young vampire would be simple to handle. But he waited for the other vampire to leave, or even move. They didn’t. Were they 

spying on him? Or were they there for some other reason? They were making him nervous and jumpy, and it bothered him.

“Who is that? Who’s there?” They moved, but they moved away from him. Then they came back “Who’s over there?” They emerged from behind the wall, coming out from a shadow.

“I had hoped that the rumors were true, and that my beloved Jacques was weeping for a corpse.” Valerian sneered at him from across the room. Angry heat rose in Chris’s chest, and he hissed, readying for a fight. Valerian came towards him, a smug smile on his face “He sees no one, you know. No one, except a very lucky few. His sister… me…” Chris hissed again at the thought of his Jacques alone with Valerian.

“You lie.”

“Do I? Is it so hard to believe that I got what I wanted after your death? I applaud you on your timing, by the way. I was just about to go to him and confess my love for him anyway. Your passing made it easier for us to become intimate.” Chris hissed, and his anger was beginning to bubble over his limits. He wanted to kill Valerian now and dance on the corpse.

“Bastard! He may have tolerated you, but he would never change his opinion of you so quickly. You have a lion’s share of the blame for what happened to me.”

“Amazing how impulsive one gets after a loss. Looking anywhere for comfort. He came to me, desperate for someone to lean on. Someone to make him feel… better, if you know what I mean.” Valerian leered at Chris, poisonous smile growing ever wider with each word. He was very close now, only ten feet away. He would get no closer, Chris realized, unless he truly wanted to die. Chris knew what all vampires knew: new, young vampires were unpredictable and volatile. An angry new vampire was demolition waiting to happen.

“Liar! He would never come to you!”

“Once he saw your body, lying there, cold and stiff, he couldn’t handle his grief alone. He came to me, and I helped him leave his sorrow in the past. I helped him forget you.” Valerian looked utterly triumphant. Chris wanted to sink to the floor and weep, but his instincts told him to stand and fight. He looked into Valerian’s mind, trying to discern lies from the truth, but found it blank. Was Valerian stupid? Or did he know what Chris was trying to do?

“Why would he ever come to you? You tried to kill me. You were the reason I left, and the reason I was turned. Why would he come to you, the reason for his mourning? Why would he ever come to you? You’re so weak compared to him. So young, and weak, and stupid.”

“You’re young and weak as well. And I doubt you’re intelligent, even after becoming one of us. Why don’t you ask him yourself who he would rather have? He should be coming back from the hunt any minute now. He won’t think of you as real. He’ll think you’re a hallucination. You’re dead, so how can you be here now? He’ll come with me, and won’t even consider you. Because you aren’t me, and because you don’t exist anymore.” Valerian smiled at him, and Chris jumped for his throat, hissing.

He collided with Valerian with a resounding crash, falling to the floor with snarling and growling reminiscent of bears. Chris tried to bite Valerian’s neck out, but hands pried him away. Instead, Chris grabbed at Valerian’s left arm first, pulling on it. Valerian struggled against him, hissing, and claws dug into one side of his face. Chris realized, with satisfaction, that he had more weapons at his disposal. He clawed at Valerian’s eyes, trying to blind him.

Valerian screamed. It sounded like an eagle calling. A high, keening screech, and Valerian’s right eye was gone. Chris’s instincts screamed at him to keep going, and rip apart his enemy. 

But Valerian had other plans. He rolled to the side, pinning Chris to the ground beneath him, and wrapped his fingers around Chris’s throat.

“Fuck you! Get the hell… off me!” Chris kicked and flailed, but Valerian only smiled down at him, despite the bleeding remnants of his eye.

“I’m going to make your death painful and slow. In fact, I’m sure there are some lighters around here somewhere, hm? Let’s see how bright you burn.” Chris remembered the lighters and matches in his pockets a second too late; Valerian had already seized them, and was trying to start a lighter one-handed.

“I hope the Master slits open your arms and legs to let you rot from disease, asshole!” Chris bit at Valerian’s wrist, drawing blood from higher up his arm instead. Valerian hissed and let go out of reflex, and Chris darted out from under him before he tried resuming his grip. The lighter clicked on with a ‘fitch’ and Valerian held it up with a smirk.

“You’re just as vulnerable as I am to this thing. And while I have Jacques and a loyal following of vampires to nurse me back to health if I get injured, you have no one. That makes you far more likely to keel over than me. And you haven’t had a drop of blood yet, have you? A pity.” Valerian kept the flame going, but Chris knew the lighter in Valerian’s hand better than Valerian did. It was stubborn, and was low on fluid. If he could get the little flame to die, Valerian would be caught without it, off guard, and Chris could easily disable him more.

“Like Jacques would ever want to help you heal yourself. You’re a lying, ugly, cheating bastard, and he knows it as well as I do. He wouldn’t help you unless absolutely necessary to his survival.” Chris circled Valerian, making him move to avoid any attacks. If he did it right, Valerian wouldn’t even notice that the lighter had gone out.

“Well maybe I’ve replaced you in his life, hm? Maybe he doesn’t need you, the one who already left him once, and he’d rather have someone more stable, someone far more reliable than you ever were.” Chris lunged, and Valerian ducked out of the way too quick. The lighter flickered out, and Chris went in for the kill. He wrapped his fingers around Valerian’s neck and bit into him. The keening screech was all he could hear as he tried his damnedest to bite out Valerian’s throat, but Valerian struggled hard, clawing at Chris and foaming at the mouth like a rabid wild animal.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll-” Valerian clawed a long gash down Chris’s shoulder towards his stomach, ripping his shirt nearly in half and making him flinch “Asshole!” Chris bit down hard into Valerian’s neck, and pulled out the flesh with his fangs. Valerian screamed louder, clawing at Chris’s face. Cuts decorating his cheeks and nose now, Chris pulled one of his lighters from Valerian’s pockets, and easily lit it one-handed.

Valerian heard the ‘fitch’ of the lighter and tried biting for Chris’s neck too, but Chris sacrificed his free hand to deflect Valerian’s attack. Sharp teeth and the familiar venomous pain invaded his palm, but he barely moved, except to catch Valerian’s shirt and pants alight. Chris waved the flame around near Valerian’s side, catching as much cloth as possible, avoiding Valerian’s desperately groping claws. He jumped back, as far away as he could, as Valerian began to burn. But Valerian got up, already aflame, and continued to attack him.

“I’m not going to die alone! I’m killing you for good if I’m going to die like this!” Valerian ran for Chris desperately, but in his pain, he was too slow to catch up. His whole torso was lit like a bonfire now, and his gaping wounds were charring at the edges. Flames licked around his half-missing neck, and he screamed in agony and fell to the floor as they engulfed him. Chris 

couldn’t watch for very long, and as the shrieking died out, the sounds of sizzling and crackling grew louder. Soon, all Chris could hear was the occasional crackle of the fire as it burned through its fuel, and his own sobs. He was crying.

He reached up to feel his face, and it was dripping. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the coven’s master staring down at him. If his heart had been beating, it surely would have stopped. The Master looked displeased, to say the least.

“A duel was never arranged between the two of you, for which I should tie you out in the sun. Likewise, a fire in the coven not attached to a candle or a fireplace is an offense punishable by burning.” Chris feared for his life now, and the Master had just told him in as many words that he was going to be burned to death, just like he’d done to Valerian “However, since you are not even a week old, I will allow you to live, though the Council might disagree with my choice.” Relief washed over Chris, though his tears hadn’t yet stopped “You are young and uneducated in our ways, and you have not yet fed. I would advise that you not only feed as quickly as you can, but find someone to teach you the proper conduct for a vampire.” Chris could only nod, and the Master walked away, revealing someone much more important standing behind him.

“Jacques!” Chris’s eyes widened, and his face lit with a smile at the sight of Jacques, his Jacques, standing there staring at him. But when no reply or movement came from his elder, Chris stood up tentatively and went to Jacques’ side “Jacques, are you okay? Please, speak to me.” Jacques just looked at him, his expression a mix of shock and disapproval. Chris stood in front of him, awkward and nervous “Please say something?”

“You’re dead.” Chris could feel his own silent heart wrench in pain. He cringed, and tears threatened to flow again.

“I’m not dead, Jacques. I’m just like you are.” Chris could barely speak above a whisper. Jacques continued to stare at him.

“You ran away from me, and let Aden kill you, and you’re here?”

“He turned me, Jacques. I’m not dead.”

“But you are dead. Don’t you get it, Chris? We’re both dead. Why did you let him kill you? Why didn’t you get away from him?”

“I couldn’t! Do you honestly think I could have outrun him? Do you think he would have let me get away, if he really wanted to kill me?” The tears were making his vision blurry now, though they didn’t escape his eyes. Jacques could see Chris’s eyes sparkle wetly, but he had to say it.

“So you let him? Did you even try to get away, or did you just let him have his way with you too?” The dam broke, and the tears began to run down Chris’s face. He couldn’t get the words to come out, though he wanted to say so much to Jacques.

Instead, he hit him. Jacques stood there, stunned, as Chris stomped off outside.

“Chris, wait!” Jacques caught up to him easily, and Chris rounded on him, still crying and red in the face.

“I should have listened to you and gotten myself killed for good! It’s obvious you still don’t care one way or the other! I was right to leave, and I shouldn’t have ever let myself get dragged back here!” Jacques felt like Chris had slapped him twice instead of just one time. Chris pushed open the chapel doors, and Jacques followed him outside “I don’t know why I thought you’d gone back to how you originally were with me. I defended you, despite what that bastard 

Valerian said, but he was right the whole time, wasn’t he? You two holed up together once you decided I was good and fucking dead, didn’t you?! I should have ignored him and gone hunting, or even better, I shouldn’t have fought back against him! I should have let him kill me!” Jacques just followed Chris as they walked out into the city. Chris didn’t bother running anywhere, and Jacques wasn’t going to argue that he would never catch prey that way. He was more concerned about what Chris was saying to him.

“I did what with Valerian?”

“I’d like to know the same thing, actually! Did you actually wait before replacing me, or did you just shack up with Valerian right away?” Chris could feel the tears stopping already, though his heart ached as he spoke. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the response to his inquiry.

“I never talked to Valerian after you… after I saw your body.” Jacques sounded hurt, but Chris lied to himself that he didn’t care. He knew that Jacques had only hurt himself, really, and Chris was the channel he’d done it through. Chris’s new state was a plus that was just a coincidence of the situation. Chris stopped walking, and looked at Jacques’ face. He wasn’t crying either, but he looked sad enough to start any second.

“Valerian was lying?”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said you’d come to him as a replacement for me. He said that he’d comforted you, that you’d gotten intimate.” Chris nearly retched at the thought, and he could only see Valerian’s bleeding, burning, screaming body in his mind’s eye. He quickly thought of Jacques, and the look of disgust on his face “I told him he was lying, but he kept telling me otherwise.”

“They were lies, if he said anything besides that he confessed that he loved me. He was probably still bitter that I rejected him.”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes.” From the look on Jacques’ face, Chris could tell that he wasn’t lying, but he couldn’t believe it was the absolute truth. Valerian’s words burned holes in his thoughts, and they stayed rooted there like weeds. Chris kept thinking about what his dead enemy had said, until Jacques embraced him in a vice grip. Chris gave a small cry of surprise, but it was muffled by Jacques’ chest against his face. Chris could feel how soft Jacques shirt was against his cheek, and he could feel Jacques’ breath ruffling his hair just a little. And he could only think that he wanted to stay like this with Jacques forever.