Take a Bite - Willowanderer (2024)

Chapter 1: They're in Love, your honor

Chapter Text

Given how generally horny Remus and Janus were for eachother, it was kind of strange they hadn’t f*cked yet.
It had been three full moons since misadventure had outed them to each other- not only as deeply in a mutual crush, but more importantly, as a vampire and a shifter. It certainly hadn’t stopped their brothers from f*cking with appalling regularity and enthusiasm. It might have had something to do with the way Remus’ emotions made his mental images broadcast, as well as having him skim off Janus’ to add to that. They had spent an entire night wrapped up in each other and making out while increasingly horny images danced through their heads.

So, f*cking or not, they had no objections about their relationship.

It was wonderful but not what Janus expected.

He felt foolish that he’d expected anything. Remus had been one chaotic curve ball after another since the first moment he’d spotted him across the club, hot, sweaty and a visible disaster.

Janus supposed he’d expected Remus to match up with his club appearance, which in retrospect was silly. While Remus’ unusual fashion did leak into his day wear, it was generally more subdued. Frankly Janus was starting to suspect that Remus only wore clothes when he wasn't alone in his house.
Which was understandable, more or less.

Janus, however, was very fond of his clothes. Laced vests, polished shoes, fitted waistcoats, cravats and gloves. A range of different hats for different occasions. Tidy braids with beads and clips. He just liked to look fancy. Despite the care Remus took when he went out and a fondness for soaps with mica in them, Janus soon got used to finding him wearing just yoga pants- or running shorts, or sometimes a skirt if he came over to visit. Remus might or might not find a tank or a crop top, and Janus was fairly sure that the only underwear he owned was jock straps.

Not that Janus was necessarily complaining.

His first attraction was after all physical, it would be silly to deny that attraction just because he was attracted to Remus’ sense of humor as well. In fact given how fast he could get dressed, Janus suspected that his sense of humor went into his outrageous clothing as well. Some of the stranger shirts, Janus discovered, Remus made himself.

One wouldn’t expect an Etsy-seller-income from a punk with silver highlights in wavy dark hair- well, not a man with visible body hair and a well groomed mustache. But that’s what Remus did (apparently in the nude) he made custom shirts and clothing, as well as a double handful of other crafts. He owned a Cricut and peripherals for goodness sake. The staff at Joann Fabrics greeted him by name, albeit with an occasionally terrified rictus of a smile.
(Janus had now been in a Joann’s for the first time in his life, and it was surprisingly fun. He didn’t know what half the things did, but he was considering taking up oil painting.)

Remus thrived on the chaos that took up the main room of his half of the house, finding inspiration at odd times, but very impressively meeting all the deadlines, even if it meant hand embroidering an order instead of using a machine because the machine was in pieces for a repair. (Repairs he did himself, with a screwdriver behind each ear and a flashlight stuck in a baby pacifier held in his mouth. Realizing that he found that attractive, Janus became more convinced that something was wrong with him.)

So looks, humor, skill and a steady income- on paper, without details, Remus was perfect. And praise to the moon and back, he was now Janus’ perfect disaster.

The disaster of course was his bombastic creative personality, his eccentric wardrobe (and attitude about it), his occasionally fits of nearly theatrical clumsiness, his large but profane vocabulary and lack of any kind of filter. Not to mention the small but relevant fact that he was a vampire.
Which should have been a deal breaker, but Janus was surprised how little that mattered to him.
Well, he’d known Remus was something of a disaster when he signed up.

Remus was kind of over the moon. Having spent months scoping out possibly the hottest person in the local club to find out that he was interested was fabulous- he’d been so jealous when his brother had come home with the news that the snarky moon-pale bitch that he’d been chatting with had turned out to be the brother of his lust-crush.

Oh, and Ro had a good chance of getting lucky, since he’d made friends with his banter-buddy, but Remus only thought about his brother’s sex life out loud, to bother his brother. Of course, if Roman had managed to snag the other one, with the braids and the butt, Remus might have indulged a bit- but nope, he was apparently into skinny white boys. Well, white-skinned, at least. Without the albinism, Virgil (who was, Remus had to admit after talking to him, very entertaining) would have been just as dark as his brother.

Virgil looked Remus in the face and laughed when he’d asked about his brother, which in hindsight might not have been mean, but actually amused. Janus- and wasn’t that a pleasantly exotic name, it felt good to say- was even less friendly than Virgil was, according to Virgil at least. So Remus had tried to put it out of his mind, though he had to admit a bit of jealousy when Roman started talking about him in friendly terms, having gotten to know him by virtue of hanging out with Virgil. Despite their frequent presence at Silvered, the Archer boys weren’t really social butterflies, they just liked the music and dancing. The people, beyond eyewash, were really just a background to that. Fair enough, they certainly added ambiance themselves. Well, Remus thought so. And so did Roman, and when the two of them agreed it was usually a big deal.

Then Janus had come by and hilariously co*ck-blocked Roman when he and Virgil had just gotten their sh*t together. Hilariously, and hysterically, more emotion showing in his face than Remus had ever seen before, and it was hot as hell. Hot as the hidden just under the surface thoughts that starred Remus. The flash of wrong in the seconds between forms, as he’d gracefully moved from animal form to animal form, before disappearing into the forest, was if anything hotter than the curve of his dark ass in the moonlight.

Remus wanted to follow and f*ck him like an animal, but he didn’t, trusting Janus would actually come back and talk. The hot fantasies that Remus had gleaned from his mind were not the sort that one could dismiss easily. They certainly didn’t leave his mind quickly.
He had worried that actually getting to know him would kill his boner, that’d happened before, but instead he developed an enormous heart-boner instead.

They had been at the club together several times now, and had spent a great deal of time in each other’s homes since they properly met, classic date nights had been passed by in favor of takeout and pirated videos. Remus was tactile as allowed, draping himself across Janus at every opportunity, and placing kisses on whatever patch of bare skin he spotted.

All told they’d been ‘dating’ for two full moons, not counting the first one. Almost three months now.

Finding out that Janus spent his full moons naked in the woods had only made Remus find him more attractive. While he enjoyed it, Janus had always found the need for three nights, moonrise to moonset, every month as … excessive. There were other things he could be doing, rather than shedding his thumbs and romping with the extended family, or simply stalking through the night to burn off the extra energy the full moon filled him with.
Janus loved being a shifter, loved the feel of his muscles moving and changing, the freedom of flight as a raven, or the feeling of leaping and pouncing as a fox, or the content calm of a snake finding a warm rock. But the extra energy around the full moon was just bothersome. It made him jumpy and nervous and far too instinctual.

Other shifters they knew used that energy for frantic f*cking, and someone else claimed that he had worn themselves out on a treadmill, though frankly, Janus felt that was unlikely and kind of a miserable replacement for letting loose in the woods. f*cking however- he’d never really had an opportunity to try that. Even his excellent control of his shifting got a little loose on the full moon, so doing it with a human probably wasn’t a good plan. Not all shifters were comfortable being shifted in an intimate context. He’d never met another shifter, or any of the small population of other ‘magical’ human-adjacent he felt worth his time. Janus knew Virgil had, probably when he was too young for it. He rather thought that Remus might be into that; but wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

Janus supposed he could have started thinking about it while they were making out and let the information slip to Remus’ psychic abilities, but that seemed like cheating, and anyway while they were making out Janus’ higher thought processes were impaired anyway.

Chapter 2: Date Night and Kink negotiaton

Chapter Text

“You should just spit it out. Saying it is the worst part.” Virgil said, applying eyeliner while he talked.

“Oh so you’ve talked to Roman about this I suppose.”

Virgil turned and looked at his brother directly rather than through the mirror.

“Of course. Pretty much as soon as we started. Roman confessed to being a vampire, which, hot.”

“Oh for-” Janus rolled his eyes.

“Like you have a leg to stand on.”

“Two to four.”

“Anyway, yeah. We talked about it. Same as we talked about him being a vampire.” Virgil went back to what he was doing. “Not that my sex life is your business.”

“I don’t want your details.” Janus sneered. “I just need to know you’re safe.”

“We’re using protection if that’s what you mean. And I’m still on the pill.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Virgil sighed.

“Roman wouldn’t hurt me in anyway I didn’t agree to. This is getting stupid. Next you’re going to give me a hard time about the two year age difference. Talk to your own Xanderson.”

Janus made a face, he hadn’t meant to, but he was fairly protective of his brother, just generally. Virgil had always been a little more delicate, both physically and emotionally. Janus had just gotten used to the idea that he needed to run interference for him. He would come when he cried, or try to talk him down when he was agitated, even now.

But the thing was Virgil wasn’t agitated, except from what Janus was doing. He’d been doing his job, managing his anxiety, and was even managing to keep down the very specific anxiety that this relationship would fail. It wasn’t normal for him, but Janus couldn’t help but feeling a bit proud for him.

“So are you meeting Remus at the club or what?” Virgil asked, giving a little shove at Janus’ shoulder to get him to stop leaning on the door frame and get out of the way.

Janus shifted just enough Virgil could get by and looked at himself in the mirror instead.

“Not tonight. Remus said something about going on a proper date, so who knows what he means by that.”

“You didn’t ask?”

“No.”

Virgil made another face.

“For someone so into communication, you’re sh*t at it.”

“Shut up, he explained.” Janus tucked a braid behind his ear and turned to look at Virgil fully. His younger brother raised his eyebrows expressively.

“Talk to him.” Virgil repeated. “And maybe jump on his dick, you need to chill out.”

“Speaking of talking to people; are you going to show up for more than one night this month?”

Virgil threw him a double bird as he walked out.

When Remus arrived, Janus had been stewing on it for a while. Fortunately the appearance of Remus in a suit was distracting. While artfully rumpled, he was red-carpet ready, in black and brilliant green and silver.

“Just where are you taking me?” Janus laughed.

“Well, gotta tart it up for you; you’re a fancy boy.” He kissed Janus hand, and wiggled his eyebrows. “Gonna do a different kind of dancing tonight.”

“Oh I do hope so.” Janus responded, curling his fingers to tickle Remus’ palm.

Remus grinned.

“Anyhow, hop on, we have a reservation at Tuscan Dream.”

“I’m impressed already.”

The Tuscan Dream was one of, if not the fanciest restaurant in the city. The food was excellent, the atmosphere elegant, and it featured a lovely dance floor, and live music. It served Italian food that ranged from the traditional to the pseudo traditional to the esoterically related.

It was almost impossible to get a reservation at, and Janus had never even tried. He wondered who Remus had killed to get it.

They arrived and were shown to a table overlooking the dance floor, but not directly on it.

The wine list as big as the menu. Janus was amused at that, especially when Remus discussed the options with clear knowledge.

“I just love being unexpected. So f*ck yeah, I drink wine. It doesn’t do much for me, but sometimes the dry ones taste kinda like dirt, and it is easier on the stomach than actual vinegar.” Remus paused. “I’ve also drunk ‘good’ wine but frankly it’s an absolute crap shoot if it’s actually good or not.”

Janus laughed at that, and suggested one that he recognised at least.

He had less luck finding something he could recognise on the menu.

“I’m gonna have something with obscene amounts of garlic, so you should too. It’s good for you and then our breath won’t clash.” Remus winked.

“Isn’t it bad for you?”

“Eh, like milk really. I get a little bloated but it isn’t too bad.”

Janus decided that this was as good an opening as he was going to get.

“I was curious; Roman seems to think bloodletting is a fun-time activity, are you missing out?”

“Mnn nah.” Remus flapped a hand. “Honestly, drinking human blood is way less fun than it sounds.”

“Don’t you need it?”

“Did you know you can just buy pig’s blood at the butcher shop?” He shrugged “That takes care of the occasional craving, but we don’t really need it the way a real vampire would.”

“That only raises more questions.”

Remus gave high pitched chuckle.

“Hey, answer one back, first.” He winked. “Disappointed?”

Janus did him the courtesy of thinking about it for a moment.

“No, can’t say that I am.”

“Then we’re good.”

Their conversation paused as the waiter came and took their orders.

“I haven't done much dating myself.” Remus admitted. “Not the romantic type.”

“I never would have noticed.”

“You’re a special case.” the tips of his ears darkened. It really drove home the fact that he’d dressed up for the date, though he still wore dangling earrings with what was probably real bones. “So talking. Third best thing to do with your tongue.”

Janus was very curious what the first two were, but instead he asked-

“‘Real’ vampire?”

“Oh right-” there was a nod. “So when a vampire makes a human think that he loves them very much, for a prolonged period of time, there’s a chance of pregnancy.”

“What.”

“I mean it’s not great. Seven out of ten times it kills the mother, two of the remaining three the kid dies at birth or nearly cooked. Me and Roman are one in a million!” He took a sip of his wine- a different one than Janus’ a much more tannin rich dink, from what Janus could smell. “Not only dhampir, but twins?!”

“That is ridiculous, frankly.” Janus agreed. “I feel very lucky.”

Remus grinned back at him happily.

“I know right? Gotta keep up being ridiculous.”

“So what makes you not a real vampire?”

“Don’t have to drink blood or stay out of the sun mostly. Some people think they’re cursed, because of the whole dead mother sh*t, but magic powers are pretty cool. Hey.” He co*cked his head. “Is shifting magic or is it genetic? The mechanism?”

Janus contemplated that for a moment.

“It’s genetic magic. If you mean a more physiological transformation, no one’s been able to make it work more than I think the last record is twice; it’s too hard on the body. Most times when people attempt shape changing to animals it’s one time and it takes a while while the body replaces itself. There’s legends of it going faster but I think it would be near-lethal. If anyone asks one of us about it, they’d be told not to. Non-shifting magic though, that works, it would just take a lot of magical energy.”

There was a pause in the conversation as the waiter, looking a bit confused dropped off hot bread and a combination charcuterie and antipasto board. Honestly, Janus had eaten worse dinners.

“I dated a magic user for a while.” He admitted. “At the time I thought he was just very interested in sharing the experience with me, but given everything, she was probably just studying me.”

“If that’s all he saw in you, he’s too much of a asshole to be given the power to shift.”

“Can vampires change shape do you know?”

“None of the ones I know. Thought they might not tell me if they could.”

“Why not?”

“Oh horny on the main, for one thing. Also they don’t tend to like us.” He took a bite of a roll before continuing. “The whole killing vampires thing.”

“We’re coming back to the horny thing;” Janus lifted his eyebrows, grinning as he tore a roll apart and buttered it. “Killing vampires?”

“Yeah, legends say we’re vampire predators. Dhampirs are like, mostly immune to vampire powers, and we’ve got sh*t going on in the psychic range, which is apparently undetectable by magic.”

“Oh of course.” Janus said. “So that’s why you wanted to know about the shifting.”

“Well, also it’s hot as hell.” He nudged Janus’ foot. “Speaking of which, what’s your feelings on the Harkness test?”

Janus gave a cackle of laughter.

“It’s kind of an ongoing debate.”

“Oh I’m a master d’bate.”

Janus honestly couldn’t tell if he wanted to stick Remus and his uncle in the same room or make sure they never met. Why did he love him so much? Gods, Remus was wiggling his eyebrows like he was going to take flight.

“Stop that. You’re going to blow out the candles.” Janus smirked. Remus continued for a moment, then just grinned.

“Well?”

There was no real consensus among shifters about having sex while shifted. Some people thought it was great, some were in favor- but only with other shifters. Some shifters were monsterf*ckers, plain and simple, and some honestly seemed to think that even thinking about it was disgusting. There had been actual tooth and claw fights about it in larger gatherings. For the most part people tended to hang out with people who shared their opinions.

Janus had always wanted to try but never found anyone interested. Well, no shifters or witches, at least. This area was fairly permissive; he knew for an embarrassing fact that his uncles had. He tried not to think about that. But there’d never been anyone there that he’d really wanted to f*ck, and he wasn’t going to hook up with someone just to try it.

“I don’t really have a regular form that would have the equipment for it.” He admitted finally.

“Not that it wasn’t hot as hell.” Remus shrugged philosophically. “Long as we’re playing twenty questions, why not a wolfman?”

“Honestly.” Janus rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “Unimaginative shifters turn into wolves. It’s like a mental block, they just can’t picture turning into anything else. Well, I met a girl once who could only turn into a rabbit. But that was a personal problem. Generally only people with incredibly inflexible personalities take a half form; they just can’t picture themselves as an animal properly.”

“Huh, never thought of it like that.” Remus seem to consider it. “It was still a pleasure to watch you shift and move, so I’d like to see more anyway.”

“Are you disappointed?” Janus asked, amused.

“Little, but-” He took Janus hand from across the table, rubbing his thumb along the other man’s wrist, and tipped his head. Janus nodded, and let the feeling of affection and lust that Remus was projecting wash over him. It really made him feel loved. Oh he was fairly sure the emotional transferal could be manipulated, but it was easy to feel like it was nothing but the truth. The warm fish of emotion, tinged with lust shifted over to more lust, and an image formed.

Remus, naked and wrapped in a very large snake. The realization that said snake was him, shifted, slammed into him as the fantasy showed the muscular body dragging all over Remus’ bared skin.

“Well… that’s certainly possible.”

Remus stroked his thumb over Janus’ inner wrist in a caress and pulled back. There was a moment of semi-awkward silence as they adjusted their seats.

“And if you ever wanna experiment with a little semi-necromantic blood play, say the word.” Remus assured him.

“That is the weirdest way I’ve ever heard a vampire described and I love it.”

The conversation drifted as their entrees arrived, settling into the comfortable back and forth they’d found about fashion, fiction and politics. Remus held some very intense opinions, none actionable, but all very entertaining.

From where they were sitting, they could just barely see the bandstand, but the music floated over the sound of diners, with punctuating peals of laughter and there were flashes of dancers on the floor. It was different from the pounding bright-to-dim-to-bright haze of Silvered, but it was a nice change, and much easier to talk. Even in the club’s booths and bar the thump of the music made it hard to have a real conversation.

The people watching wasn’t as fun, and frankly, as good as Remus looked in a ruffled tuxedo shirt and waistcoat, Janus kind of missed his chaotic clubwear.

“So do you know how to dance, or is it just wiggle and bump?”

Remus grinned.

“Nah, I know how to grind and drop down low pretty good too. I did drag shows for a while. Seems to have worked for you.”

Janus chuckled, sipping his wine.

“You do a pretty good goth wiggle yourself, when you do.” Remus challenged. “What about you?”

“Oh I know how to waltz- our mother taught us; and I took some swing and ballroom in highschool. Our school let us take extracurricular classes in place of gym, as long as we brought in a note from the instructor saying that we’d actually attended.”

“Ooh nice.”

“Virgil only knows how to follow because I made him practice with me. He took gymnastics when he was a kid, but switched to aerial dancing in highschool.” a bit after he’d figured out why his shifted forms were always male, actually but that wasn’t Janus’ story to tell.

“Oh ho, now that’s a surprise. Does he do a hoop or a pole?”

“Rope mostly. He likes to be high. He used to sit on top of the fridge. He did it so much our parents had to get a bottom freezer because he’d eat all the popsicles.”

“Yeah but you all knew how he got there.”

“Well, to be fair, toddler-age ravens don’t fly well. They’re still growing feathers.”

Remus cackled.

“Oh he musta looked like he had mange!”

“I’ve seen a shifter with mange!” Janus told him. “He’d been sleeping as an animal because he was homeless, and got mange, and it transferred over to his human form! It was pathetic, and he had to get treated as an animal.”

Remus laughed so hard nearby diners turned to stare disapprovingly.

“Man, I wish I had stories like that to share.”

“Don’t worry, you’re entertaining enough on your own.”

Remus stood up and walked around the table, offering his hand.

“Let’s show them some moves.”

“I think we’d need something a little more uptempo to really show you off.” Despite that, Janus put his napkin on the table and rose.

They weren’t quite the only same-sex couple on the dance floor; a pair of women were cutting quite the figure, skirts swirling. As they settled into the music, there was a brief tussle until Remus willingly submitted to Janus’ firm lead.

Remus could tell people were watching them, and dismissed it as they were just f*cking hot. He was justifiably proud of his appearance, from his sculpted hair above an under cut to the chain of silver skulls that glinted around the ankle of his polished boot. And then there was Janus with the ends of his braids swinging, his skin like dark satin with milk (or something) spilled on it, dark eyes enticing, sharply dressed as a hornet. This was such a good idea. A belly full of tasty food; a song in his head and Janus sweeping him around like a princess. They should go on dates more.

After several songs,s Janus leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“I am really quite good at shifting. We’ll see what I can come up with, hmm?”

Really, no one had ever filled his heart and his dick the same way.

They returned to Janus’ house late that night, just short of tipsy and giggling all the same. When it became clear that Virgil wasn’t there, Janus backed Remus up against the wall for a long, deep kiss, before dragging him through the nearby door of his room.

Their clothes could be ironed later.

They certainly weren’t important now.

Chapter 3: They get Found out about f*cking around

Chapter Text

The next full moon, they decided that it would be better to spend it with their family and the other local shifters, rather than with the Xanderson boys. They had kind of been avoiding it. Virgil because he didn’t like talking to other shifters, and Janus because he didn’t want to talk around why Virgil wasn’t there.

Janus had risen from a late afternoon nap, to hear Virgil on the phone in the livingroom, talking quite animatedly to someone on the other end.

“I’m just saying find out.” Virgil said into the phone in his business persona. Janus raised an eyebrow and his brother flapped a hand indicating he should wait. “Look, you’ve recommended I acquire properties that weren’t officially for sale before. I like this one’s location.” he paused listening to the other end. “Well what if I want to have a real estate monopoly in the area, did you ever think of that? Look, the landlord is sh*t, so he probably doesn’t actually want the property, make him an offer.” He listened for a long moment. “Thanks. Get back to me on that when you’ve found out.”

Janus leaned lazily against the doorframe.

“Hunting a little early tonight? What was that about?”

Virgil flapped a dismissive hand, and tucked his phone away. He was still wearing a tie, loosened so plainly he’d gotten some work done earlier that required leaving the house.

“Just a passing thought.” Virgil pulled his tie loose the rest of the way. “Is it wrong that I like making other people nervous?”

“You’re just sharing the wealth.” Janus told him dryly.

“I thought you were just going to sleep all night. You were snoring when I came in.”

“I was gathering energy for being out all night.” Janus said like he didn’t have blanket folds still impressed on his face. “Uncle Logan wants us to come to dinner before the run.”

“Ugh. I hate eating outdoors in human form.” Virgil whined. “Couldn’t you have gotten us out of it?”

“Maybe. If we’d shown up for socialization anytime recently.”

“I said we should go see them without the moon to throw them off, but no, you were busy.”

“I had a deadline!” Janus protested with dignity.

“Because you were busy sucking face.” Virgil jeered.

“Right.” Janus said airily. “‘Face’.”

“Oh gross.”

“Virgil, please. Hypocrisy looks much better on me.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, then, unable to keep straight faces, snorted with laughter.

“I’ll go get changed.” Virgil said.

Irritatingly they had to drive away from the park to get to their uncle’s place. Janus and Virgil’s place was closer to the edge of it; though Logan and Patton lived closer to the main entrance.

Aldo Leopold National Park and Reserve was an uneven shape on the north side of the city, perhaps twenty miles across at it’s widest. It contained some of the oldest trees in the state, conservation areas, a camping and recreation area, as well as hiking trails, a large lake, and at any given time a half a dozen shifters.

The size was uncertain because there were several areas of technically buildable land that just wasn’t built on, and farms with wooded backlots that backed up against it, the border barely marked with signs. Some of the hiking trails and picnic areas were even accessible only a few miles from some apartments and condos. Condos like the one Janus and Virgil owned. Virgil was actually a property manager and nominal landlord to several properties near the park, and this was by design. He’d inherited most of the properties after their parents death. It was generational land ownership and their long term renters were by majority, other shifters.

When you could turn into an animal at any time, safety and family became very important. That isn’t to say that there weren’t terrible families in the shifter community, the drama within was dense and varied. But the ideal was close knit families, because another shifter was the first person a shifter could trust.

In theory.

That was after all, why he and Virgil lived together as grown men, for instance. They enjoyed fussing at each other too much for either to really move out.

And most of the time, Janus liked his uncles. They’d supported he and Virgil after their parents died, after all. Logan was a wonderful conversationalist, with a wide breath of knowledge that went far beyond his employment. Patton was a wall of hugs and positivity, but was well read, though he tended to mix up names and dates.

Virgil in fact was very fond of Patton, letting him dote on him, though he was very particular about his limits on that.

They lived on a decently large plot of land that was butted directly onto the park, and there was only a mile from their old farm house to the main official entrance. Logan ran his veterinary business out of a converted barn. While most of his clientele were standard pets, he did have qualifications for large and exotic animals. Patton meanwhile was a park warden, able to walk to work most days, as well as help to hide the presence of shifters in the park. In fact, he was in line for promotion to head ranger.

They were also upstanding leaders in the local shifter community. Janus and Virgil’s parents had moved to a bigger city, with more urban shifters, which was where they’d grown up. They’d only moved to Timucan as young adults, since their parents had owned property there, and there was a good college, as well as their uncles.

It was only when Logan started making huffy leader noises, or Patton pulled out a disappointed face that Janus had trouble dealing with them. Yes, they were the defacto leaders of the area shifters, organizers, helpers, mediators, and occasionally referees. Yes, Logan was their only living relative, and yes, fussing was a love language in their family. But that didn’t mean either of them liked their life styles commented on, no matter how well intentioned.

When they pulled up to the farm house, they could smell the barbeque going, with that faint undertone of char that meant Patton was doing it. Bless the man, he wasn’t great at working a grill, but he didn’t let that stop him. It had gotten better, recently, when Logan had bought his husband a gas grill instead of charcoal. Ironically, Patton was perfectly good at cooking over a campfire.

The sun was still over the horison, giving them plenty of time to visit before moonrise.

Rather than knock, Virgil headed around the edge of the house to the back patio.

“Virgil! My favorite little rain cloud!” Abandoning the grill Patton leaned over the edge of the patio and lifted Virgil in a hug, strong enough to actually lift him up onto the deck with him. Virgil gave a little grunt, but allowed the hug and even returned it. Janus took the opportunity to get on the deck without being hugged.

Patton was an affectionate giant, nearly six and a half feet of freckles and ginger hair, with round cheeks and thick arms and thighs. Virgil was probably the only person he wouldn’t look pale next to, though the mass of freckles obscured it.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, slick.” Patton reached out as if to ruffle Janus’ hair, but pulled back. Janus bared sharp teeth for a moment, but then settled into a smile, letting Patton give him a hug.

“Please pay attention to the grill, I don’t need charcoal in my diet.”

“Oh right!”

There would be snacks later, non shifter family would generally have a bunch at the gathering point, because shifters burned a lot of energy.

Logan came out of the back door, carrying a tray of toppings for the burgers that Patton was now hovering over.

Virgil plopped himself into a deck chair and waved at him.

“Good evening.” Logan called, setting the tray on table. “I’m glad that you made it tonight.”

“Well you are out favorite uncle.” Janus drawled.

“I’m your only- well.” Logan huffed. “We wanted to talk to you privately.”

“Oh are you finally adopting?” Virgil asked, looking up from his phone.

“What?” Logan said, and Patton gave a half hearted laugh.

“Not yet.” Patton said sheepishly. “We’d need an orphaned shifter for that. Though-” He tapped his finger to his mouth thoughtfully. “I was thinking about mentoring a couple who were having trouble with their parents.”

“Patton, not now.”

“Oh right.” He turned the burgers and peered at them thoughtfully. “We should have gotten steaks. I’m better at steaks.”

“It’s not as if we will be effected by underdone meat, Pat.” He was pouring wine into glasses for himself and Janus- something they had in common, while Virgil and Patton preferred soft drinks.

“Just grossed out. Medium well please.” Janus added.

“At any rate this is a good way to get vegetables into them.”

“If I wanted to eat vegetables, I’d have an herbivore form.” Virgil grumbled, but took a bun and started making selections from the tray.

“So what is it?” Janus asked, as Patton declared the burgers more or less done and turned the grill off.

“Ah, yes, we wanted to speak about your ‘hooking up’ at Silvered.”

Janus accidentally snapped the stem off the wineglass he was holding.

“How is that your business, and I wouldn’t call it hooking up.”

“Is there different slang now?” Logan asked, tipping his head to the side, but looking at Janus

“Wait wait wait-” Virgil protested. “You guys don’t even go to the club. You hate the noise-” He pointed at his uncle “And you hate the rudeness, it always gets your fur up.” He indicated Patton.

“Yes?” Logan agreed, as if not sure what the point was.

“HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND OUT?!”

“Please Virgil, it’s not as though you were subtle.”

Virgil slumped sullenly into his jacket.

“What was that?” Patton asked. “Sorry, pupper, didn’t hear that?”

“I said I THOUGHT I WAS.”

“Aw,” Patton said fondly. “That’s so cute!” He ruffled Virgil’s hair and got a growl out of him, making Patton laugh.

“At any rate that’s hardly the point.” Logan looked over at Janus.

“Logan I respect you, but I don’t understand why it’s any of your business.”

“Normally I would agree with you, but in this instance I feel I need to comment on it.”

“Why?” growled Virgil.

Logan sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Because they’re vampires, of course.”

Chapter 4: f*ck Romeo and Juliet

Chapter Text

“I beg your pardon?” Janus demanded, while Virgil’s scowl deepened.

“I rather think that you understood me perfectly well.” Logan retorted.

“Then allow me to rephrase: I beg your f*cking pardon? Is this supposed to be news to us, because I assure you, we are aware.”

“Well, yeah, that’s why you can change forms.” Patton said with a brittle smile, trying to defuse the situation. Logan gave him a despairing look.

“Beyond that, it’s still none of your business who we choose to date!” Virgil snapped. “We’re adults! And not even your kids!”

“Aw, pupper.” Patton said, sounding a bit hurt.

Virgil’s mouth thinned, but he held his ground

“I- we aren’t telling you who to date, I am simply urging caution. These things don’t end well.”

“‘These things’?” Janus demanded sharply.

“Getting involved with vampires.”

“Oh are we at war? Like in the movies? I wasn’t aware of that.”

Patton gave a sad ‘awwoo’ under his breath. The argument was briefly suspended for Logan and Janus to share a commiserating look. It wasn’t that they didn’t like wordplay, it was more Patton not having any sense of timing.

“It’s just that they can’t understand. You can’t trust them to help you how you need, if you need it. And moreover, they may need more than you’re willing to give. They might not mean to hurt you, but they will.”

“You don’t know anything about Roman.” Virgil snapped.

“I doubt Remus would hurt me in any way I didn’t agree to.”

“Ew, dude.”

“Oh please, I saw both of your asses not three days ago.”

“Please take this seriously.” Logan demanded.

“You have no idea how seriously I’m taking this.” Virgil frowned at him.

“I can see you’re taking offense, but I don’t think you’re comprehending the situation properly. How do you even know?”

“I think we’re at a bit of an advantage in this, seeing as you’ve never f*cking met them.”

“Can we please take this down a notch?” Patton asked worriedly looking back and forth between them. Virgil snarled at him, then screwed his eyes and face up, taking a few deep breaths and letting the flush fade from his face. While Janus had not been yelling, Patton held his eyes for a moment before turning to Logan, who looked annoyed, but was clearly taking a few deep breaths of his own.

“Okay-” Patton himself took a deep breath. “Kiddos, I’m sorry if this seems a little overly invasive to you. I didn’t think we were coming in like we were trying to dictate your lives. We are coming from a place of concern.”

“So, racism.” Janus responded, flatly. “‘Their type’ is ‘not to be trusted’ and so you can’t possibly trust our opinions on the matter.”

Logan frowned, but Patton’s hand landed on his before he could say anything.

“Yeowch.” Patton grimaced a bit. “I can see how it looks like that. There may even be a bit of that in there, and I’m sorry. But our concerns are real, even if you don’t like them. Love can make people see things with rose-colored glasses that aren’t as good as they seem. It might be that you’d be bad for them, too, not meeting their needs and wants the way someone more like them would.”

“This isn’t even a case of a polyamorous person trying to date a monogamous person, Patton.” Janus pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he refused to admit he’d gotten from Logan. “And even if it was, it’s not your business to tell us who we can date. That’s on us, not you.”

“I wish you wouldn’t stop dismissing our concerns as if they were groundless.” Logan snapped.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be having groundless concerns.” Janus shot back.

“That’s how your parents died.”

“Our parents died,” Virgil snarled, like his mouth suddenly had too many teeth “Because they decided to follow a madman rather than think for themselves.”

People sometimes acted like they couldn’t possibly understand what had happened. But Janus had been fifteen, just too young too try and strike out on his own when their parents had died. Virgil may have been thirteen, but he knew what death and politics meant. They understood why they had suddenly been moved from a city townhouse to a house in the country. They understood their parents were dead. They understood what their parents had been doing, and felt lucky that they had not tried to include them.

They had told their boys what they were doing, and had, in fact, kept them from trying to get involved, despite the fact they wholeheartedly believed in the cause- and its’ leader.

Rufus Himmel was a vampire with a dream. A world where the supernatural was natural, accepted and not shaded. He attracted many to his dream, vampires, shifters, witches and ‘monsters’. All the creatures that the modern world pretended were fake, or at least gone. He had something of a plan- and more dangerously a passion. He could get the different types working together, something they were notoriously bad at. Rufus had convinced hundreds of people around the world to follow his ideals.

Unfortunately for his dream, it wasn’t humans that enforced the separation between the two worlds. While there was no secret council, there was something of a Magna Carta of the Magical; an agreement that it was better that their existence remain in the urban legends of the human population. Humans were, if anything more xenophobic than the worst elitist vampire. After all, most vampires and shifters, however social were very singular- no one was quite like the other, so being understanding of other kinds was almost built in.

They didn’t mix a lot, due to differences of opinions and motivations. The shifters were excellent land stewards and farmers, forming generational wealth- vampires were movers and shakers, gatherers of favors almost as much as the fae, but with greater grounding in the world.

(The fae as a rule, didn’t have much stock in the world, having their own existence in the place between; they just liked to have fun. Sometimes with people, no matter what type they were.)

Humans lacked the natural power to take down shifters and vampires, but they were very clever and excellent at hating. This was easily known, as most creatures came from humans, and lived among them. For the last several centuries they’d been fairly amicable, if generally separate, the supernatural being unobtrusive- and the humans being unobservant.

The general consensus was changing that status quo was too dangerous to be tolerated. It was mocked, called pop-culture-chasing, egocentric of Himmel, and a cult. That didn’t stop it, however, and it was starting to gain more support the longer it went on. In the end, the movement was dealt with; but it took extreme measures to do so, and the deaths of many people, Orion and Effie Archer among them.

Leaving Orion’s brother to take in his children- Janus might have fought it; tried to make it on his own, if it weren’t for Virgil. Besides, he had to admit that it was nice to be cared about.

Though that had limits.

The wind whistled through the treeline not terribly distant from the back deck. Light dimmed in the sky, and the moon started to crest over the edge of the trees. Logan buzzed with unexpressed power. There was a strength in his shoulders beneath understated polos and button ups. Most of the time, he had a steady, appealing calm attitude. He shared with his older brother and Janus trait of being exceptionally strong with the magic that fueled shifters. He lacked the charisma his brother had had, but with Patton, he was an excellent leader and organizer for the community.

There were over a hundred shifters in the city, and more in the suburbs around it. Not everyone came out for the full moon, or all three nights of it, but most came by sometimes. Some lived closer to the city and really appreciated the chance to cut loose.

If Janus really listened, he could hear the occasional car go past in the distance, heading towards the parking area of the state park, left open by Patton before returning home for dinner. Eloise, who liked a fox form and had dyed pink hair, also worked as a park officer and was technically there to watch it.

Logan took a deep breath frowning.

“I am sorry. That was out of line.”

Virgil gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement and glared at his burger instead.

Janus took a moment longer, still frowning.

“Are you forbidding us from dating them?” he demanded at last.

Logan paused, looking a bit conflicted, but finally he shook his head.

“That would be foolish, an order given to be ignored.”

Janus huffed, and nodded.

“I would prefer to retain your respect, even if you do not respect my experience.”

“I understand.” Logan looked conflicted.

“Maybe we could meet them?” Patton suggested. Logan’s eyes widened and his jaw tensed but he didn’t say anything.

“What?” Virgil asked flatly, staring at Patton.

“If we meet them, maybe we’ll feel better about the situation?”

“You want to meet our boyfriends.”

“Yes!” Patton said brightly.

“Perhaps.” Logan allowed.

“... I’ll ask.” Virgil mumbled.

“Oh God, it’ll be chaos.” Janus snorted. “Remus will find it hilarious. You may end up being more upset by him as a person than the concept of vampires as whole.”

“And you wonder why I might question your taste in men.” Logan said blandly, and Janus kicked him in the ankle under the table, but with a small genuine smile.

In the distance there was a yodeling warbling cry.

“And Kai is early again.” Patton sighed.

“I had hoped the therapy would help with that.”

“A little extra time cutting loose isn’t going to actually hurt anyone.”

“Except squirrels.”

“They deserve it.”

“Patton.”

Chapter 5: Why Vampires have Balls

Chapter Text

Unlike shifters, who tended to form a loose community, there wasn’t as much of that among the vampires. They weren’t really called to socialize, the way the full moon gave shifters a chance to be around others of their kind. These days there were plenty of ways to get what they needed, but older vampires would sometimes talk about how competitive they would get for different villages, since they often weren’t big enough to sustain two vampires. Small, insular families. The smart ones started doing each other favors and steering rather than clashing, and network of debts and alliances formed. Though the system was different now, that kind of currency remained.

Not having a genetic inducement to socialize, these days vampires did host get togethers about four times a year; especially on the longest and shortest nights. Getting to know the other vampires in the area was a great way to not cross territories or step on other people’s feet. Plus it was a great chance to show off, which vampires loved to do.

Fiction aside, vampires might live nearly indefinitely until they were killed, but it was hard to accrue generational wealth when it was broken up with pretended deaths. According to legend it was easier in the past, when someone could just show up and claim to be the heir, but not in modern areas. Less than half had any kind of savings, and there were definitely working class vampires who fed in seedy bars and worked nightshifts to afford crappy apartments with tinfoil lining the windows.

At any rate, the Solstice Ball was approaching, and Remus had been hired to decorate- mostly because the owner of club Plazma was a fan of his work. Even if he was under the impression that Remus was just a very odd vampire.

Well, Remus had to admit Morgan had him dead to rights on the very odd part.

It was actually kind of fun, like designing a theatre set. When Roman had been really into acting, Remus had tagged along. While he loved to belt music and he could act- just as well as Roman, thank you- playing pretend on someone else’s script didn’t really tickle his pickle. But the practical effects, the lies and layers of scrim painting and the mechanics of moveable sets, that he loved and got very good at.

He liked to keep his hand in, because he was sure they’d cycle back to it. Roman enjoyed the pageantry and theatricality of the fine jewelry job he had; but he was already itching to go back to full creativity; he’d been in the first stages of writing a novel for months. Remus had gotten the impression that getting down with Virgil had made Roman more eager to do that, rather than less.

“Okay, I wasn’t sure about it, but I like it.” Morgan had his hands on his hips, looking around. Remus grinned. He had set up mirrors all around the dance floor, making the modern sized floor look more like a ballroom, an impression enhanced by the supporting columns suggested by drapery coming down from the ceiling. “It’s elegant. Good for a masked ball. I’m really excited. It doesn’t even look like a club anymore.”

“Yeah, it’s really working. And as a bonus, it’ll be hilarious to find out who has a reflection and who doesn’t.” He wiggled his eyebrows and Morgan snorted covering his face.

“Oh you’re awful.”

“No unblooded human’s going to be there, right?” Remus asked, glancing up at the walkways above the floor.

“Not as far as I know. I’m not handling the catering, so there may be a couple there, but I think that’ll be fine.”

Remus was torn between amusem*nt and mild distress at the idea of calling it ‘catering’. The animal diet, despite it’s presence in media, had never really caught on to the larger vampire population. Drinking medically preserved blood, tainted or otherwise was a disgusting stupid idea that Remus was fairly sure had originated in fiction. At any rate, a vampire feeding didn’t hurt a human much more than giving blood unless they worked at it. Probably even less, though persistent feeding would result in anemia and other weakness. It was said that humans could even build up a resistance to it, over time, but that also resulted in them building up a resistance to vampire powers; though they did become almost addicted to the sensation. Humans that had been fed on like that were called ‘blooded’ and were considered a subset of the community, valuable as helpers and bridges to bits of the world vampires had trouble touching.

“Anyone I know?”

“What on the menu or ?” Morgan gave an impish grin.

“Who’s organizing whor*-de-vores?”

“You’re nasty.”

Remus nodded cheerfully.

“Anyhow, I don’t think you’d know him, he’s not really new in town but he definitely only operates in the upper crust, and I know your opinion of them.”

“Rather sit with the band, yeah.”

Morgan shook his head.

“Ridiculous. You and your brother clearly come from good blood.”

“Well, Mom’s family had money.”

Morgan just shook his head, laughing.

“So anyway, I heard you were on a date the other night.”

“f*cking hell, do vampires feed on gossip or what?” Remus grumbled, checking the hang of a decoration. Morgan laughed again, and clapped his shoulder.

“It’s just a coincidence, one of my boys saw you. They were on a date of their own.”

“Just admit you’re stalking me. It’s okay, I won’t go to the police.” Remus felt that teasing the older vampire was a perfectly good thing to do in this instance.

“Remus, kid, if I was stalking you, you’d never know.” He smiled brilliantly, fangs flashing for a second. “But since I had to fill my gossip gizzard, I can add that people’ve seen you over at Silvered too, looking smitten as heck.”

Considering this a moment, Remus broke into a huge grin.

“You’d be smitten too. I am absolutely smote.”

“So given that, I thought you might like tickets to the ball. In thanks for your great work here. Oh- in addition to the payment promised.”

“Good because you already paid me and I ain’t giving it back. whor*s get the money up front and so do artists.”

That made Morgan give another whoop of laughter.

“You’re so funny.” He shook his head. “It’s not something I’d expect out of you but you sound happy. So would you like to come?”

Remus snorted and wiggled his eyebrows. He did however think about swirling Janus around and attracting envy of all who saw in the lush ballroom he’d transformed the club into. It was a bit of short notice, only a couple of days, but he was sure Janus would rise beautifully to the occasion.

However- vampires would know what Janus was, beyond a tasty snack. And hell the fact it would be hunger as much as lust directed at the anaconda he wanted some of. That would probably be uncomfortable for him, even if he played it off. Hell, it felt a bit uncomfortable for Remus to think of. He didn’t think Janus would get spirited away by some full blooded asshole with entitlement issues but the possibility existed. Vampires tended to be on their best behavior at the solstice balls, leaving violence behind for snarkiness and clique baiting.

If Janus was a vampire, no problem, hell if he was a human (he’d never be normal, he was just too incredible for that) or witch, he’d just set him loose and watch the chaos. But the chaos of a shifter- that would be a little different. Might be fun. But different.

“Hmnn, I don’t know he’d really be comfortable. Not his kind of thing.”

“What about your brother? Would he like the tickets?”

Roman had previously gone to balls and found them fun. Trying to picture Virgil in a room full of vampires, half of whom he’d be paler than was pretty entertaining, but Janus could at least be counted on to use manners.

“Ro might, not so sure about his boy toy. I mean I can ask.”

“Are they not blooded?” Morgan asked suddenly. “I can see how that might be awkward.”

“It’s not that. I guess I could ask.” Asking wouldn’t hurt. Might be a good laugh.

Morgan looked unusually serious for a moment, as Remus thought it over.

“So it’s true then? You’re dating a werewolf.”

“Nah, he’s a shifter.” Remus said without thinking.

Morgan set a hand on his shoulder in a very faux parental way.

“Are you sure you know what you’re getting into.”

Remus made a face.

“No, he’s very good at changing shape and it’s a constant surprise what’s in my bed.”

This startled another laugh out of Morgan, breaking through the concern.

“Not gonna lie, Momo, but it isn’t any of your business. I mean I could give you details, but somehow I don’t think you want ‘em.”

“It’s just what they say about shifters-”

“That they’re great in the sack? That’s absolutely true. Mr. Toad’s wild ride only X rated.” He showed teeth in what was technically a smile.

“Well I suppose I’ve never talked to one.” Morgan said with a bit of a chagrined expression. “Tegan generally does when it comes up.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Actually I think he has a shifter client, come to think.” Morgan stared into the distance, for a while, eyes glazing over as he thought about something. “I wonder-”

Remus had known Morgan long enough to recognise a flight of fancy incoming.

“Uh, not to kick you right in the Kumba-yaya, but given that even your first response was to play shifter bigot, I don’t think we’re ready for an integrated dance.”

“Aw.” Morgan frowned but shrugged. “Maybe you can sponsor a mixer sometime? Understanding has to start somewhere!”

Janus had treated him to a blow by blow discussion of how his family had reacted to the news that he and Virgil were dating vampires. The end result had been nearly cult like, and a few of the other shifter families had tried to set them both up on dates with people they thought less likely to ‘take advantage of them’.

Which, Janus allowed, was better than all out war, or pooping on the twin’s front lawn. Remus neglected to mention that the second one had happened a couple of times in the last few weeks. He’d thought that it had been a statement from the HOA, not a prank from the shifter community. He didn’t give a sh*t about the sh*t, but the lawn, franticly reseeding itself with native plants, ate it up.

“I don’t think I’m going to run a dance hall anytime soon. But there’s plenty of mixing going down and going down on over at Silvered.”

“Oh that’s right.” Morgan laughed at himself this time. “Maybe I should check it out. Might give me ideas.”

“Only if you’re planning on adding another level.” Remus snorted. Plazma had the basem*nt bar for the lower income vampires, then the high scale exclusive club upstairs, taking up two levels with an enormous skylight, that someone clever had rigged to have stars projected on it because stars weren’t really visible in center of the city where it was. “It’s different then anything you got.”

“Well I’ve got this entire building, and the office space is empty right now. I could repurpose it.”

“You should build a sick parkour gym.” Remus suggested.

“I’ll take that under advisem*nt.”

Across the room, some of his employees were making sure the bar was well stocked. Since Morgan was throwing the ball, and he owned the venue, he could close it down for several days for the event. Remus knew perfectly well that his partner Tegan was having a few serendipitous repairs done while the main room was decorated. There was an executive lounge and bar on the top floor, and that was still open for it’s exclusive clientele, only some of which were vampires, but all of which were rich. Morgan loved a good laugh, but he was very good at comfort, elegance, and luxury.

Made Remus wonder why Morgan liked him.

A door opened on the other side of the room and Tegan entered with another man, taller with dark hair, holding a conversation. The dark haired man looked around the room, nodding thoughtfully, and pointed to a few places. Tegan made a few notes in his ever present planner.

“Oh!” Morgan exclaimed, pleased. “If you have any questions about the catering, that’s the man to talk to. Mr. Vassili has a range of connections to find people willing to help with that. I’ll introduce you.”

Privately Remus figured Morgan just wanted to bill and coo at his partner, but he was fine with that, wiping his hands off on the sides of his work pants, and strolling beside him to where Tegan was discussing logistics.

Mr. Vassili turned into profile pointing at something else, and Remus noticed that he had a good profile.

Reminded him a little of Roman, actually.

Chapter 6: Some vampires are Assholes

Chapter Text

As they approached, Tegan looked over to Morgan and gave a little nod before centering his attention back on the caterer. It looked like they were discussing logistics and placement. Since ‘food’ for vampire was a bit more bulky than crap on crackers and spinach puffs, it would have to be more spread out, probably with areas where more decorious vampires could snack privately. Chances were no one would do a deep feed, but repeated nibbles would probably put the donors under a lot of stress, venom aside.

“- don’t worry about it.” came a melodious voice. “I assure you, I’ve got an excellent handle on my stock. Some are a little new, and might be nervous, but there are enough who are fully Blooded that people will be able to take their pick. The idea after all is to offer a treat for everyone.”

“You did come quite highly recommended. Good evening Morgan. This is our decorator for the event, Remus, who is something of a local artist. Remus this is Alexander Vassili; he’s a procurement broker.”

Alexander turned to offer Remus his hand, and Remus was struck with a strange feeling of deja-vu as though he’d met the guy before. But more strikingly he felt a weird sort of tremble in his guts, like food poisoning, and it got worse, slowly, as Remus looked over the vampire in front of him. He almost didn’t want to shake his hand, but he took it anyway.

The strange nausea spiked, and Remus held his mind tightly to his emotions so as not to reflect back as he was struck with a terrible certainty.

Alexander Vassili was his father.

He and Roman had never technically met their father. According to their mother, he had wooed her with promises and romance for years, from the point she was quite young, and left as soon as it became obvious that she was going to survive giving birth. By Remus’ count, that meant the c*mshot of a bastard had spent less than a week in their company when they were infants. Even in vampires, not in the running for father of the year.

Hellen Kostas raised her sons with serendipitous help from her family, mostly enduring being a single, unwed mother with two bastard children. Two uncanny, odd bastard children. Things changed when they were about ten, and Hellen accepted an invitation from a highschool friend to move in, bringing the three of them to a different country. They were still in a tiny two bedroom cottage on the edge of the city, but no one seemed to care as much. ‘Aunt’ Thisbie was a witch, and she was the one who taught them about what had happened to their mother, and how to handle the abilities they were given.

They didn’t give their father a thought until they were nearly adults. The more they interacted with other vampires, the more different they realised they were. Vampires could be born, sort of, but they didn’t become vampires until they died. Roman and Remus had more in common with turned vampires then they did these proto-vampires. Once they found that out, it was only a short jump to learn that they were expected to become vampire hunters, if only to find and destroy their father.

Remembering their childhood, and the emotional damage he’d left behind, both of them were on board with that concept, even if they never killed another vampire.

The problem was, they had no idea how to find him. Their mother was against the idea; not for any loyalty to him, but for worry for her sons. All they had was the name Alexander- the one that gave them their surname; and the occasional comment that they looked like him as they got older. Not a lot to go on.

By the time they’d moved to Timucuan they’d all but given up on trying to find him, settled into their lives, and sticking together because they would miss each other more than they would enjoy being separate. With their Mom and Aunt dead, peacefully buried in the town they’d lived their lives out in, they were all they had.

And now, after all this time, Remus had stumbled on their father by sheer back-asswards chance.

And given the gormless expression on the man’s face, Alexander had no idea.

“So what are your preferences?” Alexander asked with a smile.

“Huh?” Remus asked, brilliantly.

“For feeding? Do you have type? B negative for instance.” He laughed. “I assure you I’ve heard all the jokes, but most people do have things they like more. That’s why I offer a wide catalog.”

“Uh, not so much.” Remus looked him over. He was taller by a couple of inches, but there was something settled and comfortable about Alexander that made it not matter much. Strength, power and confidence. He’d have to tell Roman when he got home. He’d especially have to mention the thin mustache and the faintly oily look the other man had.

“You must be younger than you look, then.” the good nature in his voice rankled Remus, and he struggled with himself. He had to keep his emotions inside himself, because- well f*ck, he had no idea what would happen if they leaked out.

“Not something I think a lot about.” Remus admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets and co*cking a casual hip. “Is it hard to get that sh*t organized?”

“Oh, only at first. I’ve gotten very good at managing them. It makes people more comfortable to have someone else organize that kind of thing. Plausible deniability and all that.”

Tegan made a slightly discomforted grunt.

“Since we have you both here, are there any considerations?”

“You guys can get as much blood on the walls as you like, it’s your place.” Remus said, which made Alexander give an amused bark of laughter.

“I don’t think it’s that kind of party.” he said with no trace of irony. “However, I was just asking Tegan, there seems to be a kind of large alcove in the balcony area- do you have enough drapery to sort of cordon it off?” he flashed a winning smile that irritated Remus for some reason. “Some people are shy, after all.”

“Yeah, I could get some seraglio-style-sh*t going on. I’ve got some translucent cloth I can rig up. Might clash with the grand ballroom a bit.”

“Oh as long as the colors match it should be fine.” Morgan assured him.

“We’re going to finish the walk through.” Tegan gestured with his clipboard.

“Okay-” Morgan darted in and kissed his partner’s cheek, and was indulged.

“Well it was a pleasure meeting you.” Alexander said, his smile more of a smirk. He offered his hand to Remus again.

For a second Remus wanted to refuse. He didn’t know what this man could do and the last thing he needed was for him to get clued in on Remus’ emotional unrest. f*ck he even smiled a bit like Roman, there was no f*cking way Alexander couldn’t recognise himself in them- unless he was one of the vampires who didn’t have a reflection. Remus stuck out his hand to shake and contemplated the smooth, well groomed look of the vampire. There was that precision that came from doing it by feel and memory. His suit was neat and he shared Roman’s habit of wearing multiple necklaces, but there were no touches that indicated that he spent much if any time looking in a mirror. He took his hand.

The grip was firm, just short of testing.

“Be sure to let me know if you want to develop a better palette. It’s the little things that make living this long great, after all.”

Remus looked after him, frowning as soon as he was out of view. He’d take catering jokes from Morgan, who he knew cared about the blooded humans he took from. There were plenty of vampires he would. But sometimes, they really seemed to care less for the donors that fed them then some people felt about goldfish. Not even dogs or cats, goldfish . Interchangeable, replaceable, and at best, slightly entertaining.

Grumbling, he scrubbed his hands off on his pants and went to find that curtaining material. If he didn’t finish before he told Ro, he’d forget what the f*ck he was doing

Like Remus even knew what the f*ck he was doing.

Well.

He was probably going to show up at the ball, he guessed. Maybe it’d be fun to make a scene.

“Hold on, I’m googling him.”

Remus stared at his brother.

“Ro-bro, what the f*ck. You can’t just google a vampire by name.”

Roman raised his eyebrows at his brother.

“You would be surprised what you can google.”

“Don’t challenge me.”

“Touche.” He stared back at his screen. “It’s not like I’m expecting to find a wikipedia- vampipedia- entry for him. There’s no Bloodbook. But if he’s using the name he was introduced as, he’s got to have an online presence in this day and age. Especially if he’s a big networker.”

“Not everyone is as terminally online as you-”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who sells obscene candles on Etsy.”

Remus made a rude noise.

“You know they took those down.”

“I think I’ve found him.” Roman sounded surprised. Remus leaned over the back of his chair and peered at his phone screen.

Sure enough, there was a photo of Alexander Vassili next to his name.

“Well f*ck me.”

“No.”

Remus had left Roman to his investigations. While Roman had an even shorter attention span than Remus most of the time, he could wiki-dive with the best of them, and would often get very focused on researching things for his artistic endeavors. When he’d gotten a job at the high end jewelers he worked at now, he’d spent an entire weekend learning about stones and metals, followed by actually learning how to make jewelry. While he was primarily in sales, his bosses thought his ability to repair jewelry was a great boon.

So if anyone was going to find out more, Roman would probably be it.

Roman hopped over the back of the couch, to squish in between Remus and the arm, and pulled up some pages on his tablet.

“There wasn’t a whole lot, but I'm finding two companies attached to him. We have Special Occasion Staffing, which offers extra staff for galas, events and functions, that looks pretty legit, but seems to serve a very narrow window of people. On the other hand we have Advanced Beauty Opportunities and More, which is billed as a modeling and talent agency, and looks like an escort service.”

“Or a menu.” Remus pointed out, looking over the headshots and ‘artistic’ photos of the second site, which was mixed between men and women at least. “But yeah, it’s probably functionally a escort service.” He blinked and frowned. “Well high flying racist donkey dicks, is the logo for that really ABO+?”

“I thought it was a reference to blood types?” Roman looked a little confused.

“Yeah, and dicks with knots, not to mention being a racist slur.”

“What do you mean, ‘dicks with knots’?”

Remus giggled and bounced up and down in place, clapping his hands together.

“Oh google ABO. I want to watch your face.”

Sadly for Remus’ glee, the first things that came up were about racism, not about Omegaverse. But he got there eventually and made the kind of faces Remus had been hoping for, so there was that.

“So both of those are probably fronts for bloodmolls.” Remus concluded. “I guess there’s more corporate vampires than I thought.”

“There must be.”

“Well I hear it’s a job.”

“I’ve met a few. They’re like sugar babies, people give them money for their company and bodies.” Roman pointed out.

“So, yeah, whor*s.” Remus nodded. “Our dad is apparently a pimp.” He made a face.

“Not exactly a ringing endorsem*nt.” Roman agreed, frowning. “He’s the sole owner of Advanced Beauty. But I haven’t found any real beef with their business model.”

“I hope it’s got some structure.” Remus grumbled.

“For his employees if nothing else.” Roman agreed. “I think we should go to the ball.”

“You do?”

“We can’t just go in blind. You’ve met him once, and you said he didn’t show any kind of recognition, right? We can learn more, and find weaknesses to exploit.” He frowned, thoughtfully rubbing his mouth. “We shouldn’t underestimate him, he’s probably a very strong vampire, and we haven’t gotten any proper fighting practice in years.”

“Speak for yourself, I’m in a bare knuckle ring once a month.”

Roman flapped a hand at him.

“Yes, yes you’re very tough and quirky.”

“Roman.” Remus said quietly as his twin flopped out a vague plan. “I got a horrible thought.”

“You usually do.”

“Horrible in a different way.”

“Horrible as in you think it’s horrible?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

Roman grimaced and settled himself in his seat.

“Okay, right so. I know the plan was we should kill our dad if we found him, right?” Remus scrunched up his nose, and heaved a sigh. “Thing is, I’ve been thinking about it, and yeah, I want to take him apart sloppy-style. But thing is… do we have a right to do it?”

Chapter 7: So what are we going to do about it?

Chapter Text

Roman stared at Remus for a long moment.

“What are you talking about?” He demanded raising in his seat a bit. “Why wouldn’t we? It’s our destiny, Remus. It’s why we were born.”

“We were born because our parents f*cked raw, Roman.” Remus corrected, and Roman made a face.

“You know what I mean.”

“The thing is, yeah, f*ck, maybe we're destined to kill him, in a thematically dramatic fashion.. but… do we have a right to? All we really know is that he is a crap dad, and we can't just kill every terrible parent out there.”

“I mean we could…” It was plain Roman was just looking for a flaw in the argument.

“No.”

“What about just vampires who are?”

“Smaller number but still probably not a great idea.”

“I think it's a brilliant plan.”

“Yeah, me too.” Remus admitted. “But it’s not like you ever liked killing people much. I mean hell, I’m not that fond of killing people in practice, too much clean up and not enough of the fun bits, fiction is like so much better.”

“Why are you so quick to give up on our destiny?” Roman demanded. “We have been planning, nay, training for this our whole lives!”

“And why? Because some old folklore said we should?”

“Aunt Thisbie-”

“Was just repeating what she’d been told.”

“I can’t believe that you’re just giving up!” Roman fumed. “When we were younger you thought up all of the terrible things you’d do to him first, and now you just want to let him go?”

“Nah. I met him once and I kind of hate his guts. Shaking his hand felt slimy in a bad way, and you know I like slimy.”

“... on that note, clean the bathroom better on your turn.”

“Yeah, probably not going to happen.” Remus laughed, then sobered. “I do want to kill him, Ro-bro. Much as ever. Much as you. But I’m just saying we need to think about it first. Really grok to what we’re doing.” he paused and then sang “~Pre-med-it-ate-d Muuuuurder! We’re doing class ‘A’ felony! Becoming public enemy, we’re doing a Pre-med-it-ate-d Muuuurder!~”

Roman hit his brother with a couch cushion.

They’d devolved into rolling on the floor, knocking the coffee table over and upsetting a chair, when there was a knock and Roman’s phone announced he had a message. Remus let go of Roman’s shirt which he had his teeth in, as Roman squirmed free, looking for his phone, which had gotten batted about in the mess.

Righting a chair, Remus came to his feet, and went to the door.

“Oh! Virgil and his brother are-”

“Are we interrupting anything?” Janus arched his eyebrow. For him, he was dressed casually, in loose skirt-like pants and vest with blouse-like shirt. Virgil peered around him, raising his sunglasses to look at Remus’ disheveled state. Fortunately for him, Remus hadn’t gotten to showering yet after coming home, so he was still in work pants and a sleeveless shirt. He was blocked for a hug by the large pot in Janus’ hands.

“Virgil!” Roman said cheerfully trying to smooth his hair.

“Hey!” Virgil said raising his hand. “Janus is incapable of making a reasonable batch of curry, so we thought we’d bring it by.”

“Virgil wants to make out with Roman.” Janus retorted, as Remus let them in, and pointed towards the kitchen. “And thinks it’ll go better if they both have curry breath.” He set the pot down on the stove. “Also the recipe makes a great deal, and I was given an absolutely lovely leg of lamb. There’s only so much we can freeze.”

“Oooh nice, is it spicy?” Remus asked, sneaking under Janus’ arm and lifting the lid. “Marry me.”

“Maybe later.” Janus shoved his head away, then relented and tugged him closer instead, cradling his face fondly.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” Remus added.

“He can’t.” Virgil retorted.

“I can.”

“Being able to cook two dishes really well doesn’t mean you can cook.”

“It’s more than you.”

“Yeah, but I can reliably follow directions.”

“I have an intimate knowledge of takeout menus myself.” Roman admitted.

“I made a stove explode!” Remus said gleefully.

“He didn’t.” Roman corrected. “The problem was the pressure cooker. It did kill the stove though.”

“And you gotta admit it was cooked!”

“I admit nothing, you shouldn’t have eaten it.” He smiled at Janus, unaware that his hair was a complete mess. Frankly, Janus found it kind of endearing. But then, look at the brother he’d chosen. “Will you join us for dinner then?” a frown flickered across his features. “You know, you might have valuable insights on a problem we’re having.”

“I always love telling people what to do.” Janus responded, and Virgil kicked him in the leg.

“Sure, prance-a-lot.” Virgil said, propping himself against a wall. “Where’s the fire?”

“Oh that’s a thought.” Remus mused.

“Ix-nay on the operty amage hey.” Roman muttered.

“Property damage is a great solution. Problem? Molotov co*cktail! Boom. Problem gone.”

They continued to banter, but not say anything much about the problem while Janus reheated the pot of curry and made some rice. The Xanderson household did not have a rice cooker, but he made do.

Roman took Virgil into the living room, in theory to right the furniture, though Janus was sure it wouldn’t take as much time as they took.

“So how long are you going to keep us in suspense, because it’s starting to get to me.” Virgil asked, after they gotten servings and settled into their seats.

“Sorry, darkling.” Roman dropped a kiss on Virgil’s temple, and Virgil rolled his eyes, but the faint blush was visible.

“Okay, so-” Remus started around a mouthful of curry. “The Solstice Ball is coming up, right?”

Despite a tendency to ramble and digress, Remus managed to lay out the basic problem they were having before Roman finished his bowl of curry.

“Actually this is great.” Roman said, as his eyes watered. “We can just ask if you’d like to accompany us to the ball.”

“A formal vampire meeting, called a ‘ball’ yeah sounds like fun.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

“They can be really quite entertaining.” Roman told him, ignoring the blatant sarcasm. “Once I went to a themed one and it lost cohesion and basically became a night club halfway through.” He laughed. “Oh, the elder vampires were so annoyed! They’d set up waltzing, and everyone was just cutting a real rug! Flips and dips everywhere.”

“They don’t generally get violent, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

Virgil looked at him skeptically.

“Look, most of the shifters in the area get along, and we still have at least one skirmish every month. Sometimes it’s even a fist fight.”

“Usually it’s more of a formal duel.” Janus rolled his eyes. “Far too many of them believe that whole ‘alpha’ thing.”

“The f*ck. That study’s been bullsh*t for ages.”

“Yes, but bullsh*t that’s appealing for a certain kind of person.” Janus pointed out. “Usually the kind who thinks picking fights will resolve things.” He tipped his head towards Remus. “So just to make sure, you’re not planning on starting a fight?”

“Not planning no.”

“You just want to stalk your dad?”

“It sounds fun if you put it that way, Virgie.” Remus laughed.

“More fun than a vampire ball.”

“You’re telling me that shifters don’t have balls?”

“Only if they’re neutered.” Remus joked.

“Usually made of rubber.” Janus said at the same time.

Virgil sighed expansively.

“I don’t know why anyone takes you seriously.”

“Still that wasn’t a no.” Roman batted his thick eyelashes at Virgil. “Will you accompany me to the ball this weekend.”

“It’s f*ckin’ Thursday, Roman.” Virgil pointed out. “You think I have formal wear just sitting around my closet?”

“Oooh! We could go shopping tomorrow morning. I’ll buy you something to wear.” His eyes shone brightly. “You could dress all in black and I could dress all in white and we’d look fabulous.”

Janus snorted into his drink as Virgil looked distinctly unsettled.

“Please?” Roman added.

Virgil heaved another sigh.

“You know what Charming? You’ve never asked me for anything except for me to let you love me. Not a single thing that I’ve even hesitated on. So, sure I guess. I’ll be your date and dress up.” He leaned against Roman’s shoulder like he was melting, probably from the brilliant expression that shone on Roman’s face. “Maybe some silver or purple accessories.”

Roman could hardly sit still he was so excited, setting his bowl down he pulled Virgil into his lap and tucked himself around the smaller man, settling his chin on Virgil’s shoulder. The fact Virgil let him spoke volumes.

“I suppose I could be convinced to play dress up with you.” Janus smirked at Remus “Is there a theme?”

“Nah, just kind of ‘grand ball’ you’ll see all types, fancy as they can. Please be fancy. And say it’s not dry clean only.” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“I suppose so- what are you wearing? Should I dress to match?”

Remus tipped his head.

“I do have something I was saving for a special occasion I could wear. But you can wear whatever. The fun part is taking it off later.”

Chapter 8: Panic! At the Vampire Ball

Chapter Text

Janus had no idea where Roman had taken Virgil, but it took all day. He suspected if there had been more time, it would have taken more than that.

Frankly, it was a testament to how much Virgil liked Roman that he let his boy friend dress him up. Hilariously to Janus at least, and he was more than willing to share his opinion about this, Virgil’s highschool boyfriend had actually broken up with him over Virgil’s unwillingness to get dressed up and go to a dance.

Which is to say Janus absolutely took a picture on his phone, managing to catch Virgil and Roman looking like a prom picture, which he was absolutely going to threaten to send to Patton- well, at least once he met Roman.

There was even a corsage, a splash of red against the black of the fitted suit.

Virgil’s hair was freshly redyed a deep purple, and he’d switched out his normal contacts for tinted ones to match. The suit itself was velvet with satin lapels, the luster making the black seem even darker, and the matching splash of purple on the tie matching perfectly, with a flash of silver in his jewelry.

It contrasted hard with Roman’s spotless white suit. The deep red shirt and golden tie he wore managed to save him from looking like he was taking first communion. Even though he was properly wearing a tie, it was decorated with golden chain, matching the shirt studs.

Awkward pose aside it was much more red carpet than prom.

When Virgil got a picture of Janus’ shocked and pleased face at Remus’ reveal, he couldn’t even muster up enough sarcasm to care.

Janus had gone as far as he could, black satin jacket gleaming, gold beads in his hair, matched to the buttons on his gold-on-black brocade waistcoat. He’d polished up a special fancy pair of wingtip shoes, also black and gold, and dusted gold across his eyelids. He’d gone back and forth on a hat before finally choosing to wear it, even though manners would suggest he shouldn’t wear it inside.

“Hell yeah, you look like an escapee from a emperor’s harem.” Remus crowed, moving forward in a rustle of taffeta. His jacket was emerald green, with long extended tails turning it halfway into a dress, but the top looking very much like a fitted double breasted suit. The design might have started life as a woman’s coat, but Remus owned it, even pairing it with a pair of heeled boots making him taller than his brother and Janus.

Janus rather wanted to bury his face in Remus’ chest and stay there. There were little snake skulls on his hair clips.

“How did you manage to be so much in such a different way as your brother?” Virgil demanded.

“I’m talented.” Remus rustled his not quite a skirt at them, showing them towards the door. “C’mon into the car, the night’s not getting any longer.”

The Solstice Ball started at sunset, and officially continued until dawn. Not everyone stayed the whole time, though it was easier at the summer solstice ball, but enough did that the party kept rolling. There were easily as many people milling about in Plazma as there were in an average Friday in Silvered. It was a bit concerning that the majority of them were vampires, but only a little. Janus even recognised a few who were as much regulars at Silvered as they were. It was reassuring, in a way. So far no one had so much as mentioned their presence, though a few had admiringly stared at them.

Music and perfume filled the air, conversation getting louder and louder as more people arrived. There were a few early dancers on the floor, dancing with skill and enthusiasm. Despite the over all formality of the event, a good portion of the waitstaff wore shirts with rolled up sleeves and open collars. It puzzled Virgil for a few moments before he realized why. They were there to be fed on the vampire guests. It gave him a queer shiver down his spine. Roman squeezed his hand, and smiled warmly, plainly not understanding what was bothering him. He decided not to mention it now. After all he was fairly sure he wasn't in any danger, and he’d probably feel just as uncomfortable at any gathering of this size. At least shifters rarely brought dates to the moon gatherings, and whatever prey they ate wasn’t serving the potluck.

Janus was watching the mirrors and the crowds. Less than fifty percent of the vampire population lacked reflections, but with the crowd it was still noticeable. That was probably why he didn’t notice the approach of a lean handsome, flashily dressed man before he spoke.

“R’N’R! My good bitches what up?” While the suit the vampire wore was well fitted, it was rumpled. He wore sunglasses, even in the dim club, which Janus could barely make out his eyes behind. Though his thick black waves of hair looked like he’d slept on them, Janus could tell that it was deliberately styled to look that way.

“Damn, R.” Responded Remus. “How the f*ck are you plastered this early?”

He leaned down, letting the other man kiss his cheeks before sneakily making a loud smack in front of his lips.

“Who is this?” Janus asked. He wasn’t jealous, just confused.

“Oh this is Remy.” Remus said, letting his hand rest on his shoulder. “We’ve known him for years. He's cool.

“I didn’t know you were in town.” Roman added.

“And I didn’t know you were into shifters.”

“To be fair, sometimes he’s into me.” Remus teased.

“Nice.” From the movement of his face, Remy must have winked at Janus, who raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m impressed, no one else seems to have noticed.”

“I know people.” Remy tapped his nose, his bombastic energy dropping a bit. “And I’ve got some decently enhanced senses, which helps with that, though not so much at sweaty clubs.”

“How did you meet them?” Janus asked, interested.

“Oh they look up to me, of course. I’m the best kind of social butterfly. Also I used to be a dhampir.”

“I didn’t know that was a thing people could stop being.” Virgil asked, a little uncertain.

“I’m one of the unlucky ones- or lucky, depending on your perspective.” Remy admitted. “My father killed me, instead.” He pursed his lips. “Don’t think he woulda if he’d known who I was, but ya know, I wasn’t the only bastard, I guess.” he clapped his hands together. “But guess what bitches! I’ve got news-”

“What is it?” Roman asked eagerly.

“I think I met your dad! I woulda called you, but I lost my phone a couple years ago you know how it is;” Remy gestured with the hand not holding a drink. “It’s gone and then you’re like, wait, what was that number, and you end up just making whole new friends and then your calendar is just booked, and it’s impossible to find your old ones. But I heard mention he’d been moving his business again, and remembered you guys were talking about Timucan, so I thought, why not see if I can run into them, since you guys had no clue?”

“Damn, Remy, too little too late.” Remus tsked.

“Not that late.” Roman pointed out. “You found out yesterday.”

Remy wheezed out a laugh, putting a hand on Remus’ shoulder to support himself, as he continued.

“Kismet. Fate. Bullsh*t karma, my dudes. Still would have felt bad if I just left it till we ran into eachother again.”

“How’d you know it was our dad though?” Roman asked.

“You clearly haven’t seen him yet. He’s like your evil twin.”

“Hey!” Remus protested. “I’m the evil twin, I earned that title fair and square.”

“More evil twin then.”

“Well now he has to die.” Remus joked.

“Obviously.” Remy took a sip of his drink. “He’s such a f*cking tool, and that’s coming from me, babes.”

Roman looked a bit shocked at that, frowning at Remy.

“Is that an implication of guilt in there, my friend.”

“I wouldn’t spread such hot goss without you buying me a drink at least.” He fluttered his eyelashes coyly.

“It’s an open bar.” Virgil said flatly. “Is there some idiot-to-idiot conversation going on here, or am I missing something?"

“What he’s not saying is that he works as a justicar. Vampires don’t have many hard rules, but they do give people authority to enforce them, because they tend to get it in their heads that they can’t be stopped.. It’s better to give that power to idiots than to people who enjoy the authority. Remy might be high as a eighties executive, but he’s perfectly willing to smack people down verbally or physically if it comes to it.”

“It can be fun, and it keeps me moving.” Remy said cheerfully. “Got the job after I killed my dad. I mean, he got me first, but I lived, bitch.”

Janus raised his wineglass, but barely wet his lips before he spoke.

“Did you have anything to do with the Himmel situation?”

“Himmel, Himmel.” Remy tapped his lips with the straw as he thought. “The name sounds familiar for sure. Wasn’t he the absolute waste who got shifters and witches involved with his weird spirit quest? Nah, babe, I wasn’t in the states then. Heard about it though.” He tipped his head. “Now how does a nice shifter like you know about it?”

“Collateral damage.” Janus answered, and didn’t elaborate.

“Right, keep your secrets then, bitch.” Remy looked over at the twins. “You going to make a scene? I need to make sure I’ve got space on my phone for the footage.”

“We aren’t planning on it.” Roman said talking over Remus’ cackle.

Remy stayed to chat for a good half hour, as the night went on. There was a few brief shouting matches by the bar, and a shoving match when two couples collided on the dance floor but all in all, it was perfectly calm. Remus and Janus even got some dancing in themselves, though Roman was discovering trying to get Virgil to go on the floor was a hard sell. Remus did spot them on the edge of the dance floor with their arms around each other swaying to a rather masterful instrumental version of MCR’s ‘Helena’, so they seemed to be having a good time.

After a while, Janus did notice that some of the servers started sporting hickeys in distinctive patterns. On the neck, on the wrist on the inside of the elbow. Just one or two a person, but obvious. Janus wasn’t sure how he felt about it, honestly. Remus didn’t either. In theory, it was a reasonable job, giving vampires blood as employment. Most vampires took less than a blood donation, and a fairly regular trait was a mild healing stimulant as the saliva dried. Some of those bruises would be gone in a day. He was coming to the conclusion that perhaps it wasn’t a proper choice, which left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

They were passing the steps up to the upper level when Janus stopped and looked up them, lips parted slightly.

“What is it?”

“Someone…” he took a deep breath. “Someone is crying. And they’re terrified.”

Chapter 9: Unsatisfactory Working Conditions

Chapter Text

“The f*ck?” Remus said. “This isn’t that kind of party. Also how the f*ck do you know? Can you smell it? Because that’s hot as f*ck.”

“I’m on alert.” Janus admitted. “It’s not the kind of thing that I normally would register. Other than more people watching the dancers and drinking, what’s up there?”

“That’s where there’s a curtained section for shy eaters. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be.” Remus threaded his fingers with Janus’ and raised his hand to his mouth nubbling on one knuckle then kissing it. “Shall we go check it out? What do I smell like?”

Janus let Remus tug him up the stairs, and snorted.

“You smell horny, and like that bodywash you use.” Which actually smelled like the ocean, in that salty, slightly rotting things sort of way. Janus would never admit that he’d started to like it, and he had no idea where Remus got it. “It’s less distracting than it used to be.”

“Aw you think I’m distracting.” He giggled gleefully.

The upper floor was perhaps half the size of the dance floor. Remus had said normally it was ringed in booths for those who wanted a place to sit and socialize away from the pounding beat of the dancefloor. Now translucent fabric hung from the ceiling draping down to make a gauzy maze that obscured the booths and a few low, overstuffed couches. Honestly, Janus could definitely see finding them a niche somewhere for some solid makeouts, if it weren’t for that bitter tang of fear.

Technically speaking it wasn’t emotions he could smell, but the sweat emotions produced. The difference between happy, sexy sweat, work sweat, sickness sweat and fear were something that had to be learned, and he could be wrong. However, Janus had developed his palette, as it were so he could get a leg up on conversations with people. No different than learning body language to manipulate them, just unique to his particular abilities.

He’d never admit it, but he’d practiced partial transformations when he was younger, and trying to establish dominance by being an even weirder kid, so when the kids at school called him weird he’d be there to snap back. Changing eyes and teeth were things he’d pretty much mastered- little things that could be explained away with makeup. Unfortunately, snake eyes did not see well at all, and cat’s eyes weren’t suited to reading, so he did get a bit of a reputation as clumsy until he learned to balance it out with other senses.

Now he followed the smell of tears through the long drapery, narrowly avoiding places where minor assignations were taking place, Remus now trailing behind him, like they were looking for a good place to be indecent themselves. Remus caught a glint of gold in Janus’ eyes in place of the normal dark brown and f*ck, that was hot as hell, how did he get this lucky?

His mind only refocused when Janus found an alcove that wasn’t- more of a place where the booths weren’t. And in that space was a young man, eyemakeup smeared, though he plainly swallowed down his tears when he made eye contact with Janus. He arranged his face in a somewhat unattractive scowl in fact.

Janus squatted down, looking him over calmly. The boy glared at him defiantly, tears still coming but slower, and almost angry. A trickle of blood was visible creeping over his clavicle, interrupted and smeared by a silver chain that supported a small disk.

This was one of the ‘employees’, not a random attendee.

Rather than the black button downs and red vests of the servers that were wandering around the ball, the employees in the curtained area wore sheer white shirts that lacked buttons and skinny jeans that revealed a lot about both their musculature and underwear situation. Remus had seen several in passing. Some of them seemed normal enough, and some seemed deeply dazed.

The kid wasn’t either.

“Are you alright?” Janus said in a non carrying voice, deep and rich enough that Remus would certainly do anything for him.

“What do you care?” the boy growled. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

“One of ‘them’?” Janus’ head tipped.

“Don’t be stupid. Vampire.”

“Ah, no, I’m not, as it happens.”

“Bullsh*t.”

Janus chuckled at that, tossing his braids back. He pointed back at Remus.

“He’s a vampire, sort of. But I’m not.” He leaned forward a little bit.

“So you’re a snack too?”

“He sure is!” Remus giggled, standing behind Janus blocking the view of the little alcove from the rest of the party. “But nah, I don’t bite him. He’s not into it.”

The anger melted into incredulousness, and a bit of confusion.

“So now that we’ve got that covered, are you alright? I didn’t think they let children donate.”

The kid scoffed.

“I’m not a kid.”

“How old are you then?”

“I’m twenty.”

Janus laughed at that.

“Try again.”

“Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen soon.” He frowned. “Look, working an agency is better than the streets. Everyone says it.”

“Woop woop, pimp-ass-bitch detected.” Remus muttered.

“Also, I don’t think you believe that.” Janus added. “My name is Janus Archer, what about you?”

“Is this a kink thing?”

“Oh yes, I just love cornering crying teenagers in crowds. Such a rush.”

“I’m not crying.”

“Did somebody hurt you with a bite? They’re not supposed to.” Remus pointed out.

“Like anyone gives a f*ck about that.” He frowned and curled up tighter. He wasn’t crying now, but Janus could tell from the stiffness in his shoulders he was still scared. “You can call me Andy, I guess.”

“So Andy, did you not know about the vampires before tonight?”

“Nah, I’ve been with Advanced Beauty for a while.”

“So why are you scared?”

He scoffed.

“I’m not scared.”

“Right, not scared and not crying.”

Andy scrubbed at his cheek, smearing the makeup further.

“Maybe I’m a little worried. Look, sometimes people don’t come back from individual hires, and usually someone doesn’t come home from one of these big things. I’m not scared, that’s just normal.”

“Oh of course.” Janus drawled. “But…?”

“Brucie.” Andy admitted after a long moment of scowling. “My friend, he helps keep me calm, but he was looking rough already. I told him to tell Mr. V, but he said he was cool. He always says he’s cool, and he’s so smart, so I believed him. Besides, Mr. V said nobody got the night off.”

“Did he now.” Remus said gleefully. “I’m liking him more and more the more I hear.”

Andy stared at him weirdly.

“You kinda look like him.”

“Janus, are you going to let this kid slander me?”

“I’ve never met the man. It might be a good thing.”

Remus laughed.

“So what happened with Brucie?” Janus prompted.

“I was under this guy, and Brucie was pretty much next to me, right, and he like…” Andy stiffened and gave a full body shake. “And he just passed out.”

“Hey, kid.” Remus asked. “Normally wouldn’t ask, but shake my hand, okay?” He stuck it out, nails glinting with glitter in the dim light. Andy looked at him uncertainly, shifting so Janus was mostly between them before reaching out and touching Remus tentatively. He relaxed, tipping forward. And Remus clutched his hand tighter, pulling him into Janus who almost fell over.

Remus’ eyes were a little damp when he let go.

“Seizure. Then the kid here tried to yank away from the vampire who had him to help. Got shoved around and yelled at, and they took his f*ck buddy away.”

The limp calm went away and Andy shoved away from Janus, leaving a bit of blood on him.

“We’re not- What the f*ck was that?”

“Sorry, his ‘want to f*ck’ buddy.” Remus corrected. “Also, apparently f*ckups and whiners get sent on the escorts that people disappear from the most, so Arm-Candy Andy is sure he’s gonna get disappeared and no one will miss him. Kid’s got some strong emotions.”

Janus swiped at the blood, then raised it to his nose, giving in a solid sniff. He frowned, and sniffed again more deeply.

“We need to get Andy out of here.”

“Huh?” both Andy and Remus said in unison. Remus recovered first.

“There’s a staff door over there.” He pointed at a not so distant drape. “Hall goes into the back but also ends in a firedoor to the stairs. That do?”

“I can’t leave, I’ll be dead for sure.”

“Things could be worse.” Janus insisted coming to his feet. “I know people who’ll protect you annoyingly but with your best interests in mind. Did you have many repeat ‘customers’?”

“Not really?” Andy seemed confused as Janus pulled him up. “Why does that matter, if I was snacked on by one vampire or lots? Do I have like vampire AIDS or some sh*t? I had syphilis last year.”

“And I’ll bet it didn’t last long.”

“Felt pretty long.” Andy grimaced. “Look, I don’t want to join your cult or whatever. But… can you help me find Brucie?” he jerked his head towards the door Remus had pointed out. “I tried it but it wouldn’t open.”

“It’s not-” Janus breathed out heavily. “I’m going to be really blunt here. You’re a Shifter. If you haven’t shifted yet, you probably came in contact with another shifter who didn’t realize.”

“What?” Andy demanded.

“Werewolf only better.” Remus supplied. Andy swore in a language Janus didn’t recognise, something Asian, he was fairly sure. It matched Andy’s features.

“I got lycanthropy as an std, well f*ck, I didn’t even know that was possible; but with my luck sure.” He stopped and stared at Janus, as Remus opened the staff door without trouble. He liked to steal keys. “You did have cat eyes!”

“Well spotted. Look, if vampires have been drinking your blood unaware, they can get unstable.”

“Is that what his problem is?” Andy asked quietly, as Remus ruffled his way up to the firedoor and began fiddling with it.

“Oh no, he’s naturally talented.” Janus smiled fondly.

Chapter 10: The Reason Shifters and Vampires aren't supposed to date

Chapter Text

“Okay.” Remus said as they all stepped into the concrete box that was the stairwell. “I’m going to go tell Ro what’s up. If you go down like three flights, there’s a bunch of empty office space. Just hide there for now, okay?” He leaned over and kissed Janus’ cheek.

“Why not the stairwell?” Andy asked as the door shut behind Remus. Momentarily, Janus mourned the fun part of the evening, but he shook his head.

“Only two directions to run. Even with locked doors, there’s more options out of the stairwell.”

They headed down the stairs footsteps echoing.

“Uhm. Do you think there’s any chance we’ll be able to get my stuff?” Andy asked. “Only I still have Percy’s tablet, and I don’t want to lose it.”

“Shouldn’t you leave it back with them?”

“She’s dead. Pretty sure. Mr. V said that she and Missy got better offers, and all their other stuff was gone, but Percy wouldn’t have left her tablet behind, and I’d borrowed it to watch a movie. I’ve only got a phone.” he explained. “... what’s going to happen? You’re not going to try to send me back to my parents are you? Because I’ll take my chances with the vampires.”

“Even if your parents were shifters, which I doubt, I’m sure you have your reasons.”

“This is still pretty hard to believe. I mean, not that there are werewolves, I figured if vampires were real why not, but- I am I dangerous? Am I gonna kill someone?” He paused again, rubbing at his nose. “Okay, who’s Ro?”

“Remus’ less attractive identical twin. And probably not.”

“Right.” Andy scrubbed at his nose again, and Janus peered through the small glass window before trying the door, and swinging it open as quietly as possible.

They entered a hallway, dimly lit by emergency lights. Through open doors, Janus could see rooms that were populated by abandoned desks and cubical partitions. He let the door close again, holding onto it until the last second. Legally, it couldn’t lock, but he still stared at it suspiciously before moving away.

“Let’s find a place to wait. Maybe there’s a board room with some chairs.”

They move easily into in the dimness, though Andy keeps twitching a bit, especially when they pass an open door. Finally Janus stopped.

“What is it?”

“I keep hearing something.” Andy complained. “It’s… it’s bad.”

“Very informative.” Janus deadpanned.

“No really!” he frowned and tipped his head. “I…” without saying anything else, he dashed off down the hall. Janus followed him.

The empty offices were like a maze, an endless series of unlocked doors and rooms. Janus had no idea where they were by the time Andy stopped- there had even been a flight of non-fire stairs involved.

Suddenly Janus was hearing it too, and smelling blood. It sounded like distress, but less panicked than Andy’s. Tossed rather carelessly on a table was the body of a young man maybe a year or two older than Andy, with a head of tostled black curls and clearly curated facial hair. He was bleeding sluggishly from his neck and wrists, staining the white of his shirt. His lightly tanned skin was washed out, and a thin strip of white was showing between cracked eyelids. Despite his apparent lack of consciousness, there was tension in his body, all along the lean lines, like a dancer or swimmer poised to burst into movement.

“Brucie!” Andy clutched at the other boy. “He’s still alive!”

“It seems so.” Janus produced a handkerchief and pressed it to the worst of the wounds. The skin was worryingly chill. He stripped off his jacket, lamenting the cleaning bill and wrapped it around Andy. “Cuddle up, he needs all the help he can get.”

Andy blushed a bit, but obediently hopped up and pulled his friend against him, tucking the jacket around them both. “Is he dying?”

“Not just yet, but he could without care.” Janus looked around the dimness of the room. “Why is he here though?”

“Some things are best kept secret.” A voice purred in Janus’ ear, just as a hand clamped down on his upper arm like a steel handcuff. Andy yelped, and hid his face in Brucie’s hair. “I am curious where you’re taking my employee.”

Craning his neck around, Janus had a bit of a shock. This could only be Alexander Vassili, Remus and Roman’s wayward father. The resemblance was short of uncanny, but obvious.

“Aren’t you an exotic one.”

Janus was wrenched around, and he scowled down at the vampire.

“Just lovely. Whose guest are you?”

Janus opened his mouth and hissed, an inhuman noise, pulling away in a fashion that only coincidentally put himself between the boys and this man. Honestly, if sh*t was going to go down, Janus would rather escape personally and worry about them later. But maybe he could bluff. He tossed his head, getting back to speech.

“You haven’t introduced yourself.” Janus twitched his shoulders trying to pull his arm free again, and it didn’t work any better. The hissing had been entirely instinctual, and he’d rather not complicate matters. If this man didn’t know he was a shifter, better to keep it that way. This wasn’t about that.

“Well, my name is Alexander Vassili; I do hope we’re going to be friends, if you’re so attached to being polite.”

“You know I don’t think we are.” Janus retorted. “I don’t care for people who are grabby.”

“Your name?” Alexander asked, voice soft and pleasant. It felt like a cat trying to get around a closed door, poking in the nooks and crannies of Janus’ mind, pawing for entry. “Come now, fair is fair.”

Other than his experiences with Remus’ projected and received images, Janus had never really come in contact with a vampire’s abilities. Remus had said that his brother could enchant people with his voice, making them more inclined to like him and go along with him, but this wasn’t what Janus had been picturing. The longer he kept his mouth shut, the harder it was to do so. Finally, he gave in to the pressure.

“Janus Archer.”

“Now that’s an unusual name.” the pressure eased, and when it came back, Janus was prepared for it, and could hold strong. He supposed it was true that shifters were resistant to vampire’s powers. Which might explain why Andy was so ready to see his employer’s flaws. “I would still like to know how it is you came to be here, however.”

Janus gave a thin smile, but didn’t answer. He could feel the pressure building back up, and the hand on his arm tightened.

“This way!” a voice came in the distance. Alexander turned and frowned at the door, giving Janus a chance to try to pry himself free. Janus was shoved roughly into the table, as Virgil appeared in the doorway, with Roman and Remus right behind him. Behind them Janus could just make out Remy.

“Sweet sons of Saturn.” Roman breathed, hand finding Virgil’s shoulder. “You were right, Remus.”

“Why do you keep being surprised?” Remus demanded

“Because you’re a head case.”

“Rude.”

Alexander looked between them for a moment, uncertainty and confusion curling his lip for a moment.

“Oh.” He said suddenly. “You lived.”

“Oh goodie!” Remus grinned fiercely, teeth sharp. “You’ve caught on. This should make things easier.”

“I fear you’re a little old for child support.” joked the vampire. “And while I don’t know what other skills you may have, I’ve no need for an artist of any stripe.”

“You’ll find we’ve no interest in that.” Roman retorted. “Or, for the most part you; though I at least will give you a chance to explain why we shouldn’t simply kill you outright.”

“What in front of all these witnesses?” Alexander gestured. “Casual for murderers, aren’t you?”

“Blame our lack of a father figure.” Remus retorted, smile not fading. Janus pushed back against the edge of the table, but it was firmly in place, and he didn’t manage to move it back any.

“Surely you don’t need to do this.”

“I realize that we haven’t properly met, but my name isn’t Shirley, and we absolutely do.”

Janus could see Virgil’s hand go to his collar, loosening the tie. He felt the same urge. To strip away their finery to be able to take claw and tooth to their lovers enemy. It would probably be the smart thing to do; neither of the twins were armed, and Alexander was older and presumably stronger and cannyier as well.

The movement seemed to catch his eye.

“And you? You don’t have any stake in this? Why are you here?” Janus could feel the way the attention was focused on his brother, and the brief look of confusion flash across his eyes. “Perhaps you could be the voice of reason? A pretty, clever boy like you must realize that-”

A horrific snarl startled everyone, Virgil jerking free of the half enthrallment as Roman shoved him behind himself before leaping.

The sound of tearing fabric and breaking bones filled the boardroom, as to everyone’s shock, Roman transformed. He grew to twice his original size fabric falling away, as his flesh stretched and his bones rearranged themselves. Alexander managed to roll with the attack, both of them skidding over the top of the table to land on the other side as Janus shoved the boys away behind himself.

“Holy sh*t.” Remus breathed, as Roman reared back from a punch that sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a side of beef.

A second look was no kinder, the tanned flesh of the creature stretched tight over bones, ribs and spine visible. Patchy fur crept up the body here and there, the most concentrated around the head and neck, not obscuring the pointed ears at all. All of the teeth were pointy, and clearly visible from curled back, thin black lips in a thrust out pseudo-muzzle. White bands were visible where the fabric had snapped as the flesh changed shape. From Janus’ angle, he could tell there was no tail, and lamentably, that it was a definitely male form.

It was the most hideous wolf-man shape he had ever seen, and it was being worn by a vampire.

While vampires had a large range of abilities, they couldn’t change shape. They just lacked whatever it was that made it possible. They couldn’t become bats, or wolves or turn into mist, no matter what the media claimed. Shifters didn’t really mind too much because it would throw people off the scent of any misbehavior, and vampires, for their part would often claim they could anyway. It was easy enough to convince someone that they’d seen something they didn’t.

But they were definitely seeing this. Remus looked back and forth between Janus and Virgil, as Alexander threw another punch that saw Roman reeling back before shedding his coat and leaping over the table, just as their father threw himself backwards into the wall.

That was a mistake. Roman leapt on the opening, his jaws clamping shut on an arm raised to ward him off. Remus grabbed a hold of Alexander’s other arm as he raised it to strike, and broke it over his thigh. The older vampire’s roar of pain turned shrill. Roman shook his head tearing through flesh and Remus slammed Alexander’s head into the wall, breaking through plaster to crash against the concrete.

Remy came up into the doorway to stand next to Virgil, and hooked his sunglasses down. His expression was full of wonderment and glee.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing this.” he breathed. “Look at that. That’s one in a million.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Virgil asked, aghast.

“Oh naw, bitch, the boys are going to turn him into a red smear.”

“Not him, ROMAN.”

Remy looked a bit surprised.

“I mean, probably. Not a lot of this sh*t on record.” As if to remedy that, he raised his phone to film. Janus stepped in front of him.

“I’d rather you didn’t if it’s all the same to you. This…” he looked back as Remus grunted in pain, but then looked back at Remy. “This shouldn’t be common knowledge.”

Remy tilted a bit to keep watching.

“Think I could swing telling people it was a dhampir thing? I mean, would Rere have done it if he’d been threatening you?”

“Remus would do it for sh*ts and giggles if he could.” Janus pointed out. He glanced back to see Andy had passed out, probably from hyperventilating, given how he’d started panicking when Alexander had shown up. He might not have seen it. “If you have a moment, I’d like your… delicate opinion on this kid.” He gestured at Brucie, half hidden under Andy.

“For f*ck’s sake help me!” Screamed Alexander at Remy.

Remy wiggled his fingers in a farewell, and went over to the boys. Virgil kept watching, but Janus decided he didn’t need to see it. Remy shifted Andy to the side and started checking on the other boy. He licked his thumb and wiped blood away. He then repeated the action, and did it again on the throat.

“He might live.” Remy said at last, at about the same time the noises of the fight died off. “Got a better chance than that asshole.”

“Right, bad dad gone now, Robro, calm down…” Remus’ slightly thick voice was broken into with a growl. “Virgie’s fine, see he’s right over there.”

The growl turned into a groan, which turned into a much more pained and more human groan, undercut with the sounds of flesh and bone changing. The initial transformation had been over in seconds, only slightly longer than an unskilled shifter, but returning seemed to be taking longer.

The first word out of Roman’s mouth was

“Ow.” Followed by Virgil’s name. Virgil approached carefully, picking up scraps of Roman’s clothing as he did.

“You uhm. Might want to wipe down.” He offered. Roman looked at the scraps in dismay.

“Oh no, is that?”

“Your new suit? Yeah.”

“Aw, f*ck.”

Remus burst out laughing.

Chapter 11: Happily After That

Chapter Text

When the dust had settled, no one asked too many questions about Alexander Vassili’s disappearance. Remy took it on himself to smooth over the disappearance. He assured them that it was normally one of the jobs of vampire justicars, to make sure that anytime a dispute did go south, nothing came back to haunt the community.

Except for ghosts, and Janus wasn’t sure if he was serious about that.

Due to Remy’s presence, and the fact that Alexander hadn’t told Morgan about some of his company’s habits, there weren’t any challenges over the twin’s disposal of their father. Morgan’s club was normally a fairly neutral location, but he also had a fairly strict ‘no killing humans or non-consensual blooding’ policy. While many of the ‘catering staff’ had been employed under a fairly reasonable contract; there were just as many who’d been talked into it, compelled, or just not given the option to leave if they changed their mind. While the youngest at the ball, Andy wasn’t even the youngest employee.

Vassili’s second in command was given precise instructions to mend this, and a new friend in the form of Remy to make sure that he did, including monetary bonuses for those who wanted to leave. There was nothing that could be done for the people who had just disappeared. On a certain level, vampires as a whole accepted that it just happened sometimes.

As depressing as it sounded, shifters would sometimes disappear as well, either killed by other shifters in arguments, or the ‘Wild Syndrome’. Nonshifting relatives would also sometimes disappear, though it was thought at least some simply left and started new lives elsewhere.

No one mentioned Roman’s sudden ability to shapeshift. It did mean that Janus was brought up, as being a shifter who’d been involved, and Remus was more than willing to imply that he had been plenty savage in his attacks and they couldn’t really prove, given what was left, that he and Roman hadn’t just torn their father apart with their bare hands.

That didn’t really improve their popularity in vampiric circles, but it was accepted. Rare as they were, dhampir tended to fuel the gossip mill for decades, and it was very snidely suggested that anyone who fathered them got what they deserved, despite almost every vampire taking a mortal lover at one point or another.

There was still a great deal of distrust in the idea of vampires and shifters being together. Some of the vampires thought that the shifters were a bad influence on the Xanderson brothers, and some of the shifters thought that the Archer brothers were in danger from their vampire lovers.

Fortunately, Patton and Logan were more than willing to give them a fair shot, especially when Janus told them how Remus had helped ‘rescue’ Andy without even blinking. Patton actually cooed and gave Remus a hug which he clearly had no idea how to deal with and he just kind of stayed limp until he was put back on his feet. Roman was kind of jealous, but he wouldn’t have to wait long for his own hug.

Logan was of course more reserved than his husband, but he was fascinated by the concept of dhampirs, which he’d only encountered in vague legends.

In the end Virgil and Roman did tell them about what had actually happened. Honestly, Janus wasn’t sure if Logan was more fascinated or horrified. Roman’s sickly-looking shift didn’t improve the second time he saw it.

In fact, since the light was a bit better and Roman was holding still it was a little worse, despite the fact that the fur was a bit more filled in looking less like a sphinx cat. Remus leaned his chin on Janus’ shoulder, and they both watched as Logan poked and prodded, while Roman awkwardly held a towel over his crotch.

“Oh f*ck.” Remus suddenly said. “My bro’s a chupacabra.”

Janus managed not to burst out laughing, as Roman’s ears swiveled and he glared at Remus.

“That actually is a solid theory.” Logan said thoughtfully. “Despite the unease of our respective cultures, I doubt that this is the first instance.” He looked at Remus and Janus thoughtfully. “... I wonder.”

“We should go. That’s his humanity on holiday face.” Janus murmured to Remus.

“It’s clearly a transfer of blood that brought about this ability, as you aren’t partaking in that particular act, correct?”

“Not the fluids I’m slurping, nope.” Remus agreed. “Jan’s not interested.”

“If you ever change your mind, please let me know. While I doubt it’s a desirable thing for either species, it would be fascinating to track how the change takes place.”

“Oooh, call me a species again, I get chills.” Remus giggled.

“Stop flirting with my man, Uncle Logan.” Janus said idly, looking at his nails.

“I… wasn’t?”

The bafflement on his uncle’s face made Janus smirk, as Roman groaned his way back to human form, perhaps a hair faster than the last two transformations.

“How do you deal with this?”

“Well it doesn’t hurt unless you do it really wrong.” Virgil pointed out.

“Are you done? Is it safe to come out?” Andy called from the back door, hand over his eyes. “Why are you doing this in the yard?”

“I could ask the same question frankly.” Roman agreed as he pulled on a pair of pants. “While I hardly have anything to be ashamed of, what if someone saw?”

“I’ve already seen too much.” Andy grumbled joining them. “I think turning into an animal would be much easier if it weren’t for the nudity.”

“Well, I can say that it is certainly more comfortable not tearing clothing to pieces.” Roman sighed.

“Ugh, why hasn’t anyone figured out how to wear clothes as an animal?” Andy had been taken in by Patton and Logan. Janus had correctly identified him as a late shifter. While most shifters were born that way and grew up moving from one form to another, a smaller subset were neutral and nonshifting- unless they came in contact with another shifter who was active. That was where the rumors of werewolves being contagious had come from. So far Andy had managed to get partially to the shape of a feline of some sort before panicking and returning to his human form.

Janus was fairly sure Andy would manage it soon enough. He had an excellent level of mental flexibility, even if he did tend to read conspiracy theories, and was having a hard time separating fact from fiction. Brucie had taken a job being Remy’s personal assistant, though Remy was threatening to put him through college.

Remus settled his chin on Janus’ shoulder again, then shifted to gently gnaw on his shirt. Janus relaxed against him. Remus ad fully admitted he didn’t know what was going to happen after they killed their dad. In theory it would restore some of their humanity, making them less like vampires. But he still occasionally got a yen for blood, and his powers were still there; in fact he had recently started to get words s well as images. Not to mention Roman’s change. Remus was a little jealous, but he wasn’t going to push anything.

Janus stayed where he was for several long minutes, watching the others bicker in a friendly fashion. Then he slowly reached up and undid his tie, slowly pulling it from place and folding it neatly, and his vest followed. The vest took a bit of wiggling, but he stayed pressed against Remus anyway. Remus took it in stride, keeping his arms around Janus during the weird little striptease.

“I’m in the mood for a walk.” Janus said, finally standing up and carefully removing his shoes. He walked towards the woods, and looked over his shoulder at Remus. “Coming?”

“Bitch I might be.” Remus gleefully leapt to his feet, and let Janus lead him into the woods. Even if he ended up eaten, it’d be worth it, he was sure. Beneath the branches of the twilight lit forest, he caught a gleam of skin. His eyes lit up as he watched the transformation before him and stretched out his hands to Janus, as clawed hands cupped his face. “Tell you what, Jan if you want you can take a bite out of me.”

Chapter 12: Notes

Chapter Text

Characters

Virgil Archer: african american, leucistic (like albino, no real pigment to speak of.) dyes his hair purple. The Archer family is kind of rich and owns a lot of property, buying and maintaining houses near state parks, which they mostly rent to other shifters. Virgil keeps the books, and does management. Generally tries to be an exemplary landlord. Trans. Owl, racoon, lynx

Janus Archer: african american, has non-symmetrical Vitiligo. Wears his hair in braids with yellow/gold extensions and beads. Likes to be fancy. Works from home doing art. Raven, anaconda, fox, forest cat, but he’s talented and can change into almost any animal if he wants to. Some are harder than others.

Roman Xanderson: Greek ethnicity, dhampir, a half breed vampire meant to kill it’s father. dark hazel eyes, bronze skin, dark wavy hair, and good profile. Roman has a very enchanting voice, Works at a fine jewelry store

Remus Xanderson: Greek ethnicity, dhampir, a half breed vampire meant to kill it’s father. dark hazel eyes, bronze skin, dark wavy hair, and good profile. Wears his hair longer with a sort of undercut-mohawlk hybrid. makes stuff and sells it on etsy. can share images and emotions with receptive minds, and read the same

Alexander Vasili: Their dad a vampire who does not give a sh*t. a real piece of work and a human trafficker vampire caterer

‘Remy’: a vampire who knows both the twins and their father. Used to be a dhampir, but died and became a vampire. Remmintion Eustance Marquiss

Logan Archer: The brother of Janus and Virgil’s dad. Raven, wolf, deer - veterinarian.

Patton: Logan’s partner. Pigeon, large dog, moose- Park Ranger

Tegan: Vampire who is kind of technically an organizer, lawyer, mostly civil contracts, I think he’s some sort of psychic vampire as well

Morgan: Tegan’s partner, social organizer, owns Plazma

Andy: an employee of Alexander’s, underage, late shifter

Brucie: Another employee of Alexanders, barely of age

Missy and Percy: Former employees of Alexander’s

Princeton: A shifter, brother to

Marmaduke: shifter

Eloise: Shifter, fox form, works with Patton

Danny- shifter, only one in his family, could use therapy, wolf man (so far)

Kai- Shifter, chronically ill, symptoms non-apparent during shift (this isn’t important and they probably won’t appear on screen I just thought it was a cool thought)

Orion Archer: shifter, Janus and Virgil’s father, deceased

Effie Archer: shifter, Janus and Virgil’s mother, deceased

Rufus Himmel- vampire, wanted a united supernatural front and supremacy over non-supernaturals (deceased)

Helen Kostas- Roman and Remus’ mother, deceased

Thisbie Cocco- Helen’s ‘best friend’ deceased

Places

Timucan- the name of the city

Silvered- local club, neutral ground
Aldo Leopold National Park and Reserve -state park that is a shifter refuge
Tuscan Dream- Dinner and dancing with an Italian-fusion theme
Blu Jay’s Diner- Better than Denny’s
Plazma- a rather on point name for an exclusive club, mostly frequented by vampires. There is a basem*nt level with a separate entrance for vampires who couldn’t afford the membership of the main club, which is more like a bar.

Worldbulding

‘Blooded’- slang for humans (and non humans) that let vampires feed from them. Legends have it that long term exposure to this grants the humans powers, and some vampires claim that that’s where witches came from; the descendants of blooded people.
Wild Syndrome- when a shifter disappears into an animal form and never returns, or returns after a prolonged period of living as an animal.

dhampirs- children of vampires and humans. legend has it they are destined to kill their vampire parent (usually father; some documented mothers) often still born, or kill their mother in childbirth. If a vampire kills their dhampir child instead, the child becomes a full vampire. They are resistant to vampric abilities, have vampire-like abilities and bloodhunger, and are completely unaffected by sunlight. they can be killed by most normal means, but their aging slows once they finish puberty, in their mid-to-late twenties, generally.

Shifters are one of the few creatures other than vampires that are a consistent threat to vampires. Vampires who can command beasts can command shifters and the shifters f*cking hate it. It is legend that the blood of shifters can give new powers to vampires, and that it’s very potent- vampires claim that vampires who drank blood of shifters is where the stories of vampires changing forms came from. Likewise, shifters are supposed to gain prolonged life and vitality by ether being around vampires or killing them, reports differ

Most shape shifters have two to three favored forms- these range from a form that flies, a form that runs/a form that hunts- forms that hunt are typically warm blooded, and a form that swims is liked though generally amphibious, rather than gill-breathing. Also common in modern times is a form that blends such as a dog or cat, sometimes even a squirrel.
It’s important to point out that there are generally no half-forms. They are people or they are animals. the exceptions are generally regarded as inflexible mentally.
Some shape shifters have only one form. This is usually a large predator, and it has been thought this means they’re slow and unsubtle. People who shift late in life frequently have this problem.

Vampires drink blood of course, but almost always after sunset. During the day, most appear almost entirely human, though they tend to avoid direct sunlight. Some are more sensitive and avoid all daylight. Their senses are enhanced, and many vampires avoid bright light, strong smells and scents, or make a point to treat themselves with perfumes and cologne so they only smell like what they want to. Other traits seem linked to regions; a vampire from northern Europe would be different from one in India.

The closest they come to transforming is being one with the night, which makes them drift; and would be disturbed as turning into fog or a shadow, enabling them to fit through things they shouldn’t. Their bodies produce chemicals that affect their victim’s endorphin levels, mostly in the saliva, along with other effects. They can be addictive to their victims. They also have low level telepathy, and other mental powers. (like Roman’s enchanting voice, or Remus’ touch empathy/teleimagery)

not featured are psychic vampires, who are pretty much humans who can increase their energy, strength and longevity by 'eating' the energy of other humans. They are rumored to be related to dhampirs, but are not.