ACT I - Things to Do in Lima When You're (Un)Dead
It all started with a can of soup.
It was the day before the Samhain feast1 and Finn had made the offer to go to the grocery store and pick up a few last minute ingredients for his mom's famous korvapuustit2 because she was too tired from having to work an extra shift to go herself. Kurt had requested a number of items to use in his experiment to discover a new exfoliating treatment and offered to list Finn as a research assistant when he unveiled his results at the science fair.
So Finn had found himself squinting at the microscopic print on the back of two tins of condensed milk, trying to decipher which of the two brands had the thickest consistency, and wondering whether the extra credit he'd get for helping was truly worth it. As he made a decision through the tried and tested method of 'eeny meeny miny mo', Finn turned to continue down the aisle and find the next item on the list when he found himself facing a display of soup.
His mind turned instantly to Mr. Schuester; who hadn't been in school all month due to sickness, who was too kindhearted and friendly to be spending Samhain alone, and who lived less than five minutes from the store. Coming to an instant, intuitive decision Finn dropped a can of chicken soup into the basket alongside the eggs for the munavoi3 and then carried on down the aisle to find Kurt some lingonberries.
1 A holiday in the equivalent of late October to celebrate the harvest.
2 Cinnamon rolls.
3 Eggbutter.
The evening air was filled with the pleasant scent of fresh rainfall and moonlight glistened off the damp sidewalk. The streets were mostly deserted; as had become common ever since the terrible discovery in Schoonover park back in Mabon, the police were still encouraging people to keep their eyes open to possible dangers and an unofficial curfew was being followed by many.
Finn walked cheerfully through the growing darkness, the grocery bag held tight to his chest with one hand while he cycled through his iPod with the other, finally choosing Air Supply to keep him company as he made his way towards the apartment building where his teacher lived. He made the trip quicker than he had expected to and so killed All Out Of Love dead on the way up the stairwell, removing his headphones and clumsily tucking the music player into the pocket of his jeans one-handed.
He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet awkwardly after he had knocked, then knocked again when he got no reply. He'd almost decided to simply give up and leave when the door fell open, only to jerk to a sudden stop as it reached the end of the chain.
"Hello?" Through the small crack of space Mr. Schuester groaned his question. He looked tired and drawn, his eyes half-shut and the unhealthy pallor of his skin spread from his face down onto the patch of his chest showing through the open V of his robe.
"Hey Mr. Schue," Finn greeted cheerfully, "I didn't wake you did I?"
"Finn." The teacher pulled back from the door slightly, straightening his robe cautiously; "No, you didn't wake me, I- What are you doing here?"
"I heard you weren't well so I brought you some chicken soup," Finn answered, reaching into the grocery bag and shifting aside eggs and butter; yet unable to find the can underneath, "It's in here somewhere," He insisted, looking up to reassure his teacher, "Can I... Can I come in, I'll probably have to empty this whole bag out before I find it."
A flicker of hesitation crossed over the teacher's face before he reached a decision; "Sure, just a second." The door shut as the older man unlatched the chain and then was opened again fully, "Come in."
Finn could feel the older man at his back as he entered the apartment, he was familiar enough with the layout from his few previous visits to make his way towards the dining room. Once he'd set the grocery bag down he turned back to find Mr. Schuester standing in the doorway, self-consciously holding the V of his robe closed with one hand.
"H-How are you?" Finn asked, acknowledging the other man's discomfort by turning back to the bag of groceries and giving him some sort of privacy.
"I'm fine." His voice sounded normal, so Finn figured that it wasn't a cold or the flu and so perhaps the chicken soup wouldn't be much help, he kept searching for it nonetheless; "I think the worst is over and I'll probably be back at school next week."
"Really?" Finn asked, surprised; "I mean, you look awful... uh, no offense."
He felt relieved when he heard the older man chuckle, warm and pleasant like they were in the choir room finishing off a great rehearsal, "None taken."
"Found it," Finn said with relief, plucking up the can from the very bottom of the bag and turning to present it to the other man.
"Chicken noodle soup," The teacher quoted from the label as he accepted the can. Finn couldn't help but notice as their hands brushed that the other man's skin was very cold, "Thank you, Finn."
"Do you want me to cook it for you?" He offered instantly, his concern once again raised by the sickly man's temperature.
"I'm sure I can manage to heat up a can of soup," Mr. Schue replied, though he seemed more fondly amused at the suggestion than annoyed.
"Yeah but you're sick," Finn argued as he reclaimed the can from his teacher's lax grip, "So you shouldn't have to do stuff yourself."
The older man followed him into the kitchen a few moments later, carrying the bag with Finn's groceries in it and setting it down at the little side table.
"You don't have to do this Finn," He stated calmly, leaning back against one of the chairs with his arms folded and watching his student search through the cabinets for a saucepan.
"Too late," Finn answered cheerfully, brandishing the wooden spoon that he had already uncovered like a conductor's baton, "I'm helping and it'd take a Haltija4 to kick me out."
The teacher smiled and let his eyes fall shut with playful weariness, "Then I suppose I have no choice."
"Damn straight," Finn agreed with conviction that made the older man's smile grow wider, "Okay, saucepan; cool." Straightening up and setting the saucepan atop the stove, Finn turned to look through the drawers and directed his attention to the other man, "Hey, Mr. Schue where do you keep the..."
Opening his eyes as the young man stopped talking mid-question, Mr. Schuester watched as the young man stood still in the center of the kitchen with a slightly nauseous expression on his face; "What's wrong?"
"I just..." Finn started to explain and then stopped, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled heavily; "Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?" The teacher prompted, concerned by Finn's sudden change.
"Like, like bad meat," The young man answered, stepping over to the refrigerator and pulling the door open. There was nothing inside that might explain the stench, and the burst of cold air that flowed out when he opened the door almost washed away the strange scent. Pushing the door shut again he closed his eyes and inhaled heavily, "I've been smelling it for months," He explained, taking tiny steps across the room as he followed his nose, "No-one else can smell it, but it's like it's following me."
"Finn?" Mr. Schuester spoke uncertainly as the young man edged closer to him, "I'm confused, I don't-" Reaching out he placed a hand to Finn's shoulder and was startled as the young man's eyes opened suddenly.
"Lost it," The young man mumbled with frustration.
"Are you sure you...? I didn't smell anything," The older man asserted.
"Mom made me an appointment with an ENT at the hospital last Ilmataday," Finn said as he turned back to the drawers and resumed his search for a can opener, "He says I'm fine and thinks it might be psychological." There was a bitter note to his voice as he unearthed the utensil, turning around he held it out for the other man; "I'm sorry. I should probably go."
A flicker of indecision passed through Mr. Schue, just as it had at the door, but he reached a decision quickly. Reaching out, he closed Finn's fingers around the can opener again and simply said; "Stay."
4 Guardian spirit of a home.
They turned the topic to the Glee club as Finn set about heating up the soup. The conversation was familiar and friendly, so the tense atmosphere that had built during Finn's sudden confusion melted away easily and was replaced with the warm aroma of chicken.
The teacher couldn't help but grin when he heard the grumble of the younger man's stomach; "Do you want some?" He inquired.
Finn turned to face the older man, biting his lip and looking torn; "I can't take soup from a sick person."
"You can take soup from someone who's offering it," He retorted, "Besides, there's no way I'll eat it all myself."
"You're sure?" Finn asked. The teacher's nod seemed to be enough to convince the younger man because he reached up to retrieve a second bowl from the cabinet.
"Thanks," Finn said once he'd placed the two bowls down at the side table and taken the seat opposite his teacher.
"I should be the one thanking you," Mr. Schue returned, "You've been very considerate."
The young man ducked his head as the warmth of the older man's praise flooded him. Picking up his spoon he made a concerned effort to take his time and to have good table manners; his focus was so introverted that he failed to notice that the older man's attention lay on him. Mr. Schue was barely drinking the soup, he sipped a spoonful with stiff, forced motions in between large pauses where his gaze centered on the rise and fall of Finn's throat as he swallowed large gulps of soup.
"Finn..." The word was a startled gasp that fell from the older man's lips without his permit.
The student looked up obediently at the sound of his name, but couldn't meet the other man's suddenly flitting gaze, "Is something wrong?" He queried carefully, perturbed his teacher's inexplicable bashfulness.
Mr. Schuester stood abruptly, carrying his bowl across to the sink and pouring the remaining soup away. He stayed with his back to the younger man, his fingers clenching the edge of the counter and the column of his spine as tense as a support cable, "You should go."
Finn felt his stomach drop at the hard tone of the other man's voice, a sharp jerk like the feeling of riding a roller coaster; a perfect reflection of the sudden turn the conversation had taken. He'd upset the other man somehow, with his clumsy and socially ignorant manner and as was the normal routine he didn't have a clue what he'd done or how to fix it. Rising from his chair, he picked up the bag of groceries and started to slink out of the room with his tail between his legs. Pausing as he passed the deathly still form of his teacher long enough to place an apologetic hand to his shoulder and mumble, "Mr. Schue-"
The world fell away beneath Finn's feet, the tiny kitchen and all its mundane details became a swirl of color until he came to a stop with his back pressed to the fridge; magnets digging deep into his flesh as his teacher held him down. Cool breath from the other man's mouth raised goosebumps on his skin and he arched away, instinctively aware of the danger that presented itself a moment later; a set of bone-white fangs.
His muscles tensed against the body holding him down, he drew in a ragged breath to scream; but his resistance was quelled by the older man's eyes. They were bright, enigmatically luminescent and jade green and within seconds Finn's brain was smothered by contentment. The panicked look that had reflexively settled on his face gave way to an expression of dopey bliss.
An old TV screen played a black-and-white film of a gang of cowboys in the middle of a shootout. The house was darkened with the total consumption of Howltide and Finn snuggled deeper into the blankets, curled up on the couch with his head resting against his mother's side; her fingers casually stroking his hair away from his forehead. His eyelids were heavy, a deep yawn stirred from its slumber within his chest and he fought to hold it back. His mom's affectionate comment about his sleepy state was broken by the thick odor of rotting meat. The young boy gagged and clawed off the heavy blanket, pushing up from the couch and falling to the ground.
On the cheap linoleum floor of an apartment kitchen, amid scattered vegetables and canned goods, years after he'd watched old films with his mom alone in their house in the darkness. The air he pulled into his lungs felt icy cold, his chest heaved with the onset of a panic attack and he peered over his shoulder to the hunched figure hiding in the shadows.
"Finn?" The teacher spoke meekly, his curly-head hung low.
"Mr. Schuester," Finn replied, fighting to keep his voice steady and he got to his feet. The sight of the needle-sharp teeth jutting from beneath the other man's rosy pink lips sent a shiver through Finn's whole being; "You're a..." He gulped heavily as he considered the word, "...a..."
"Vampire?" The older man finished, "Yes."
"You, you were gonna..." The young man stopped, teeth chattering with fear and he dug two fingers into his throat to indicate his meaning, "...me?"
Mr. Schue dropped his head in shame, with the vibrant glow of his eyes gone Finn could only make out the man's silhouette in the darkened room, "I haven't fed in a long time. I'm hungry, and your neck caught my eye... I couldn't stop myself."
"But- but you did, right?" The young man reached up to his throat again, feeling the skin in a paranoid search for a gaping wound.
"Look at me, Finn." The vampire stepped out of the shadows and held his arms out to display his exhausted form, "I'm starving and sickly. I couldn't have stopped myself if I'd gotten a taste of you. You broke my Thrall somehow."
A cowardly urge inside Finn was crying out to back away from the dangerous monster before him, but his more charitable nature had an opposite reaction; "So, you still need b-blood?"
The submissive, ashamed stance that the older man had maintained began to fade, replaced by hesitant curiosity, "Yes."
"H-How much?" The young man asked.
The inquisitive look on the teacher's face grew deeper and he took a step closer, "A pint... perhaps a little more. Why do you ask?"
In reply, Finn held his arm out towards the vampire. His fingers twitched nervously, but the steady pulse at his wrist made the invitation clear.
Mr. Schuester advanced slowly, taking hold of the young man's arm and pressing his nose to the pulse point. Finn gulped; the gesture difficult due to the dryness of his mouth; and wondered whether the older man could sense the increase in his heartbeat.
"You are aware-" The vampire spoke seductively, stepping closer to the young man's body and abandoning his grip on Finn's arm to instead lean close to his neck, "-that you could die."
Finn gulped again, painfully aware of the hungry look in his teacher's eyes and the way that they followed the movement. Gritting his teeth together, the young man jerked his head up and down.
A hand settled on Finn's hip, another stroked up his torso and came to rest over the thundering beat of his heart. The young man couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the intimacy of the position; and tried hard to ignore the lurch of warmth in his belly. Soft lips caressed his skin, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses and he screwed his eyes tightly shut with the knowledge that this was a butterfly with teeth.
The hand on Finn's hip moved up the join its partner on his chest and the young man was caught off guard by the sudden push, falling away from the older man and landing against the side table.
"Go home Finn," Mr. Schuester commanded; speaking with the same confidence in his own authority that he used at school; before retreating from the room and leaving the young man sprawled against the table.
Finn collected the groceries from the floor, returning each one to the bag and trying to ignore the embarrassment creeping over him. He fought back tears as his whole body trembled like a leaf and tried to tell himself that he was relieved, but knew deep in his heart that the emotion he was experiencing was disappointment. With the last of his groceries recovered from the floor, Finn stood up and spotted something else on the counter that he decided to take with him.
Huddled in the stairwell with a knife in one hand and a measuring jug between his knees Finn licked his dry lips and; with the echo of Mr. Schuester's pained whine of 'I'm hungry' as motivation; pressed the blade deep into the palm of his left hand. He let out a soft hiss at the sting of pain, but didn't let it stop him from pressing deeper. Watching with a small measure of triumph as his blood started to drip into the jug, Finn squeezed the skin around the wound to encourage the bleeding.
As time passed and the trickle of his blood began to fill the beaker, Finn found himself praying that he was far enough away that the scent of his blood wouldn't attract his teacher's attention, and that no other resident of the building would find him and ask just what the hell he was doing.
It took fifteen minutes and several cuts across his palm, but Finn ended up with a jug three-quarters full of blood and a giddy, light-headed feeling of accomplishment. Pulling the sleeve of his jacket down to cover his palm and stem the ebbing flow of blood, Finn held the jug in his good hand and cautiously made his way back towards Mr. Schuester's door. Setting the jug and the bloody knife down outside, Finn took a few deep breaths and then knocked heavily; taking off down the hall at a sprint the second his knuckles had finished reverberating on the wood.
Stooping in the stairwell to collect the bag of groceries, Finn took the steps three at a time and kept the momentum up as he dashed out the front doors and onto the street. He eventually stopped two blocks away when his lungs felt as if they were on fire; collapsing against a building and slumping to sit on the sidewalk. Finn decided that if Mr. Schuester entered a crazed bloodlust and chased after him, then he would accept the fate of being exsanguinated.
When, several minutes later, not a single person had passed him whatsoever he concluded that he'd managed to get away with his unconventional blood donation and peeled the sleeve of his jacket away from his palm to inspect the wound. His whole hand throbbed with a warm pain and was sticky with drying blood, it had especially pooled between his fingers. Flexing them gingerly, he winced as the movement sent fresh pain to the wound, like the sting of burning razorblades. Pulling his sleeve over the wound again, he got to his feet to begin the journey home.
Returning to school after the holiday was a tense experience for Finn. His friends were happily sharing stories or jokes, bemoaning the stretch of time until Solstice and just generally returning to the school routine.
"Hey Finn, did you- What happened to your hand?"
"Hi Rachel. It's nothing, I fell on some glass."
For Finn it wasn't that easy. He bore the mark of his Samhain experience and even with his mom's professional stitching the scar would linger for years to come. Yet he waved away his friends' concern; and waved his bandaged hand as a gesture to support that dismissal; because he couldn't bring himself to load another with the burden of his new found knowledge.
Heading directly to the Spanish classroom he found Mr. Schuester rustling through a collection of papers in preparation for his first class of the day. The grayness had left his skin, the tiredness in his posture had vanished, he looked normal again; looked human again.
Taking a moment to confirm that the clove of garlic was still in his pocket, Finn announced his presence at the door, "Hey Mr. Schue,"
The teacher looked up quickly, "Finn, I- You-" He coughed uncomfortably and composed himself before trying again, "We need to talk."
"It's okay," Finn assured, closing the door behind him and keeping a careful distance between the two of them; "I'm not going to tell anyone that you're a..." He knew the word but he couldn't bring himself to say it. The passing days had reduced the intensity of his experience and standing before his teacher now; looking normal and entirely sans fangs; the concept seemed kind of silly.
"I'm grateful for that," The older man answered with a soft sigh of relief, "But are you okay? There was a lot of blood." Finn held his left hand up for the teacher to see, he didn't speak but rather watched the other man's expression for any hint of the hunger he'd seen in those eyes before. Instead of hunger there was only guilt and reproach, "You really shouldn't have done it, Finn."
"It was stupid," Finn agreed, "But I'm not sorry I did it." Holding onto the clove in his pocket for support, he took a deep breath before he spoke again, "I just want you to know that if you want to feed from me again, I'm... That's okay with me."
Mr. Schuester stared at Finn silently for a few moments before answering; "I don't know if that's a good idea."
The young man felt a burst of petulant dejection similar to the one he had experienced previously, "You said you hadn't eaten in a while and so you couldn't control yourself," He reminded, "That sounds kinda bad, so... so, if things get bad and you need blood you can have some of mine," He insisted, staring at the floor while he spoke. Clenching the garlic tightly with his right hand he hoped that the vampire wouldn't reject his offer again.
"I didn't want to involve you in this, Finn," The teacher answered. The young man felt his heart sink a little, but then the other man sighed heavily and continued, "But unfortunately it's out of my hands."
"What do you mean?" Finn inquired.
Before the older man could continue, the door to the classroom opened and a few students began to enter for homeroom, "Come see me later Finn," He instructed as the younger man turned to head off for his own homeroom, "We can talk more about... uh, your essay."
There wasn't a Glee rehearsal scheduled until Mielday and so Finn knew that Mr. Schuester would have free time at the end of the day. He told himself that was why he waited until last period was finished to head to the Spanish teacher's office instead of dropping by at lunch, but in his heart he knew that he was also worried about what the older man had to stood in the doorway for a moment and then knocked quietly on the open door, "Hi."
"Hey Finn," The teacher greeted him readily, "I almost thought you weren't coming." The small smile on his face showed that the joke was forced and so Finn didn't bother with feigning amusement, he simply closed the door and settled into the seat on the other side of the desk.
"What did you want to tell me?" Finn asked.
"I think I know what's happening to you," Mr. Schue answered carefully. Finn looked down at his bandaged hand and the teacher continued with a guilty frown, "Not, uh, not that. The thing the doctor couldn't explain. The smells that aren't really there."
"What do you know about that?" The young man asked curiously.
"When I tasted your blood I may have found the answer. There's just some questions I need to ask in order to make sure; they may seem a little weird but just answer honestly," The teacher explained, finding a sheet of paper and reading from it; "When was the first time you smelled something that no-one else could?"
Finn hummed thoughtfully as he considered it, "Mabon, Etherday," He answered after a few moments silent thought, "I woke up in the middle of the night and came downstairs to get something to eat. Mom had just got back from the night shift and I thought that the lihapullat5 had gone bad but she said they were fine."
The teacher nodded as if he'd expected the answer, "Was this before the murder in Schoonover park?"
"It was about the same time actually," Finn replied, furrowing his brow; "The news about the body being found was on TV the next night."
"How have you been sleeping lately?"
"What?" Finn questioned, confused by the sudden change of topic, "I, uhm, okay I guess. Not much really, but I'm not tired or anything."
"Have you been having any bad dreams?" When the young man didn't answer right away Mr. Schuester looked up, sympathy in his eyes; "It's okay, you can tell me."
"Some," He answered with a shrug.
"Okay..." The teacher set the sheet aside and held Finn's gaze firmly, "There's just one more thing. I need you to smell me."
"You need me to what?" Finn repeated, irrationally embarrassed by the request.
"Tell me what I smell like," He repeated.
"If you're looking for an honest opinion on whether you have BO, couldn't you just-"
"Finn," Mr. Schue cut across, his tone serious even if there was amusement in his eyes.
"Okay," The young man answered, shutting his eyes and breathing deeply through his nose, "You smell like..." He stopped, because the older man didn't smell the way that Finn had expected at all. Taking a deeper, more intentional breath he listed the scents rising from the man's body; "Like apples, honey and-" The last scent was lurking beneath the others, but once he managed to detect it he recognized it immediately; "Me. You smell like me." As he spoke the words he felt the same strange lurch in his stomach that he'd experienced when the vampire had been pressed close to his body.
5 Meatballs.
"What do you know?" He asked, opening his eyes and nervously picking at his bandage with the fingers of his good hand; "What's happening to me?"
"Finn," Mr. Schuester spoke his name with a wry smile, "I think you're a necromancer."
Blinking owlishly, Finn asked; "I'm a what?"
"A necromancer," The older man repeated.
"No, I heard what you said. What is a necromancer?" He clarified.
"Sometimes called Einherjar's descendent, or Valkyrie's brother," The teacher explained grandly, "But to put it simply. Finn, you're a magician of death."
"I'm a what?"
"A magician of-"
"I heard what you said," Finn cut his teacher off sharply; "Just tell me what this all means."
"It's sort of a long story," Mr. Schuester replied.
"How long?" Finn asked, impatient to understand.
"Well it starts with the creation of the world and goes from there," He answered with a sympathetic smile, "So we might be here a while."
Eons ago before the world came to be, the goddess Ilmatar was heavily pregnant and so lay down to rest for a time. Overhead a swan; also with child; was flying north in search of a place to land and birth her goslings. Understanding the plight of the bird, Ilmatar raised her knees up high so that the swan could nest in the crook between.
Seven eggs were laid and then the fatigued bird put her head under her wing and began to slumber. As the swan slept on peacefully, Ilmatar was experiencing a crisis. Her own son squirmed in her belly, her legs were growing tired and her back itched terribly; yet she did not wish to wake the swan or risk the eggs falling.
When she could bear it no longer, Ilmatar began to lower her knees as slowly and gently as she could. Unfortunately, her best was not enough to preserve the fragile nest; the swan awoke with a panicked honk and the clutch of eggs fell from her body and cracked on the ground below. It was from the broken eggs that the seas and oceans flowed forth and so in that moment the world was born.
Delighted by the new creation, Ilmatar's brother spirit; Ilmarinen; began to travel the virgin world, crafting the land as he went. When he reached the furthest corner of the new world he uncovered a treasure; one of the swan's eggs, entirely intact. Aware of the bounty that had sprung forth from the other eggs, Ilmarinen kept the egg for himself and cared for it until it hatched.
Inside there were two gosling twins, Kuu and Paivatar. Each was beautiful, full of vibrant life and saw the craftsman god as her mother. Full of adoration for the young girls Ilmarinen crafted the sky from their eggshell so that they would have a place to frolic and play. The girls loved their mother-god dearly and thanked him every day for the gift that he had given them, playing with one another in the open sky and learning to fly.
As time passed and the goslings grew older, each became still more beautiful and more and more like their mother-god. As their appearance became similar to his own, Ilmarinen began to see beyond their childish beauty and more to their womanly beauty. Filled with lust for their youthful forms he demanded that the girls become his wives. Still filled with love for their mother-god, the girls accepted his proposal. Delighted by their acceptance the craftsman gave each girl a gift. Kuu was given his finest silver and Paivatar his finest gold; then both were set to work in his house.
At first the sisters worked as one; caring for Ilmarinen, his home and smithery in absolute tandem, then returning to the sky to play when all their chores were done. Eventually Ilmarinen became tired of this arrangement. Seeing that there were two wives he established that each would work half a day each, while the other was free to play. The arrangement did not suit the sisters well. They were not used to separation or isolation and quickly grew to despair their new lives apart. Each begged with Ilmarinen when it was her turn to serve him to return them to the old ways, but the stubborn god did not yield.
When they were free to travel the sky, they wandered without joy; wracked with loneliness. This continued until the day that humans first came to the attention of Paivatar. Approaching the strange nomadic settlement of the early humans, she told them of her plight and begged them to attract the attention of her sister so that the two might commune using the village as an intermediary.
Kuu and Paivatar at first rejoiced in their reunion, but their knowledge of one another only served to drive the pain of isolation much deeper into their hearts. So between the two sisters a plan was formed to escape the servitude of their mother-god. The plan did not succeed and when faced with Ilmarinen's wrath each daughter discovered the unexpected consequences of their prolonged separation: egocentricity and the power to betray.
The craftsman god; angered by the sisters' lies; placed the blame upon them both and created a punishment for each girl:
Kuu was frozen within the sky and cursed to forever suffer slow petrification, then release, then renewed petrification, but for one month a year where she would be made to work in Ilmarinen's house. She is what we now call the moon.
Paivatar was set ablaze with eternal fire. She continues to work in Ilmarinen's house for half a day, on the other half she can be seen flying across the sky to try and soothe the burning of her tormenting flames, but for one month a year where she is permitted to bathe in the depths of the ocean and recover from her terrible burns. She is what we now call the sun.
Finn sat in impatient silence, listening to Mr. Schuester tell the fairy-tale story of creation that he had known since kindergarten. He tried to tell himself that the teacher had to be building towards some larger point, but as the story continued he started fidgeting and growing antsy.
"What does this have to do with anything?" He interrupted when he grew tired of waiting.
The older man stopped his recital, looking over at Finn for the first time and realizing how frustrated the younger man was, "Sorry. I'll get to the important point. Do you know what the Sampo is?"
The young man rolled his eyes, "Of course. It's a magical object that brings prosperity to whoever has it." His bored tone reflected his opinion, it was just another part of the fairy-tale.
"That's correct," The teacher replied, "But originally, the Sampo was created as a key."
Despite his derision Finn couldn't help but feel a flicker of interest, "A key to what?"
"Freedom," Mr. Schue answered with a small, sad smile, "The sister that finds the Sampo wins her freedom from the punishment."
The student nodded his understanding, "So what does that have to do with us?"
"Kuu and Paivatar weren't in a position to be searching for the Sampo themselves, so they created servants to find it for them," He answered.
"Servants?" Finn repeated, beginning to suspect what the story might be leading to.
"Kuu created the first werewolves. Paivatar the earliest angels. Since then, any magical being that comes to this earth finds themselves caught in a war between the two sides."
"Which side are you on?" The young man asked.
"Vampires are on the side of night," The older man answered.
Finn nodded, that made logical sense. Licking his lips nervously he asked his next question, "Which side am I on?"
He tried to tell himself that Mr. Schuester wouldn't have told him the whole story if he was only going to kill him. Tried to convince himself that the small smile flickering across the teacher's face was pleased, not anticipatory. Taking hold of the garlic in his pocket just in case, he breathed a sigh of relief when he got an answer, "Necromancers are on Kuu's side too."
The clock ticked past the figure one and the digits displayed at the bottom corner of Finn's laptop screen changed accordingly to accurately read that it was one in the morning. The young man lay on his bed throwing a basketball gently up and catching it again; as he had been doing since the night had waned into Tapioday; and ultimately failing to fall asleep.
The screen was displaying the Facebook homepage and Finn turned to it occasionally in the vain hope that an update might have appeared to alleviate his boredom and provide a needed distraction. A distraction from the looping cycle of thoughts filling his mind, from the knowledge that his teacher had shared, from the total confusion he had been experiencing since he'd stopped by the teacher's apartment a few days before.
A tiny beep from the laptop attracted Finn's attention and he noticed a warning that the device's charge was running low. Setting the basketball down on the bed, he got up and went over to the desk to shut it down; there was no sense in watching the unchanging website for an unlikely update any longer.
The room was darker when the luminescence from the screen vanished and so he made his way across to the window, looking up at the overcast sky and the gibbous moon lurking behind the cloud layer. According to Mr. Schuester, this was his world now; shadows and a star-speckled sky; and he was blessed with restlessness to enjoy it all. Finn let his head bump against the windowpane bitterly as he found himself again remembering the childish story that the vampire had told him, that the older man seemed to earnestly believe. In the condensation his breath caused on the glass Finn drew a smiley face out of childhood habit; the image stood there innocently for several minutes as its artist once again contemplated the view outside, but when the young man turned back to it the fingerprint smear across the glass actually produced a burst of unintended optimism.
Turning back to the bed Finn collected the basketball and then set about recovering his sneakers from underneath the bed. If he wasn't able to fall asleep then he wasn't going to spend the night hidden away in the back room of the house; there truly was a world out there and whether or not he was willing to consider himself a part of it, he was going to enjoy it.
Having sneaked out of the house with the silent precision of a safe-cracker who happened to also be a mime; or at the very least, without waking up his mom, Burt or Kurt; Finn made his way confidently across town. The unofficial curfew and the very late hour meant that the streets were almost entirely deserted, the houses he passed all still, dark and silent. The young man felt an anticipatory tingling in his stomach because the scenario was so reminiscent of a zombie movie and as he walked he found himself imagining fierce hand-to-hand battles with the undead.
For all his daydreaming, Finn arrived at Collett Street Park without incident and scaled the locked fence with ease. Bouncing his basketball off the sidewalk as he approached the old set of hoops and faded paint lines that made up the park's court, he took a shot from the side line and winced as a pain spread across the palm of his left hand. Collecting the ball he dribbled on the spot using only his right hand and then tried a one-handed shot, he grinned with pride as it bounced on the rim and then sank neatly through the hoop.
The young man spent half an hour taking shots from the 3-point line, collecting the ball and dribbling across court to the opposite hoop if he missed. He would probably have kept the game going longer, but as he made his way out onto the grass to collect the ball from a particularly hard rebound a thick, pungent scent smacked heavily into him. Stooping down to pick the ball up, he turned swiftly and threw it in the direction that the apple-honey smell was coming from.
"Hey," He greeted calmly, walking back over to the court.
"Hi," Mr. Schuester replied, holding the basketball against his chest, "You knew I was here?"
"I could smell you," Finn explained, "How did you find me?"
"I drank your blood. I'll be able to sense where you are for about six or seven days," The teacher answered, passing the ball back to the younger man.
"That's..." The young man paused and frowned at the tarmac for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion, "That's cool I guess." Bouncing the ball a few times he took a wild shot, a little embarrassed when he missed the basket by a large margin. Walking to collect the ball, the apple-honey smell was gone but he could still feel the vampire's presence behind him, "Is there something you wanted to say?"
"If things were different I wouldn't be here," Mr. Schue stated, tucking his hands into the pockets of his long coat, "I'd like to give you time to get used to the idea, but there's still a lot I need to teach you and we just don't have the time to be cautious."
Finn groaned audibly at the idea of listening to the teacher any more than he had earlier in his office; his mind was still swimming with the creation story and the sister goddesses' armies, and he didn't want to endure any more of it; but the warning worried him, "What do you mean?"
"This is going to take a while. We should sit down." The vampire started walking in the direction of a bench and the younger man followed reluctantly after him.
"Somebody broke a tenet," Mr. Schuester explained once they were sat at the bench.
"Should we take them to the hospital?" Finn suggested.
"No, it's..." The older man sighed and rubbed his temple wearily, "Let me start over. You remember what I told you, about Kuu and Paivatar?" Finn nodded. "Do you believe it?" The teacher asked.
Looking away from the other man because he didn't want to see the expression his answer might bring, Finn gave an honest reply, "No."
He looked up again when he heard the teacher give a small chuckle, "Good. Believe me you aren't the only one."
"Wait... so, you don't believe it?" The student queried, confused.
"Why should I?" The older man returned, "You said yourself, the Sampo is a fairy-tale. The war started before recorded history, before the Kalevala, before civilization. Like most beliefs from the ancient past, the scientific revolutions of the Renaissance brought about doubts. Representatives of the two sides came together and negotiated a truce."
"So the war ended?" Finn questioned.
"So long as both sides follow certain conditions. The rules that were outlined are called the tenets, they're the creed by which all supernatural beings must live."
"And somebody broke one," The young man added, recalling the teacher's earlier point.
"Yes," Mr. Schue agreed, leaning forward and looking down at the ground; "The first tenet, 'Ala laikyttaa syyton veri'."
"'Do not spill innocent blood'," Finn translated, a chill settling over him as he began to comprehend the truth, "The murder in Schoonover park?"
"A vampire," The other man answered darkly, his gaze still fixed on the earth beneath his feet.
"Is there going to be a war?" The young man asked, unable to keep the childlike tremble of fear out of his voice. He looked across the darkened park to the trees swaying peacefully in the light breeze, and further in the distance the roofs of houses. It was hard to imagine that his boring hometown was potentially on the precipice of becoming a war zone.
Finn turned back to the vampire and watched the hypnotic swirl of his misted breath dissipating into the dark night, waiting tensely for an answer, "Part of the truce was the agreement that the two sides would live separately, each side responsible for ensuring their members uphold the tenets," The older man answered eventually.
"So there's not going to be a war?" The student probed hopefully.
"Not yet at least," Mr. Schuester replied.
"What do you mean?" The young man asked, nervous about the uncertain response.
"Kuolema, Ovday; an exorcist came to Lima," The vampire answered, "A detective from another region, he talked to the local police about the body they'd found. There's no way he wouldn't have figured out it was a vampire."
"Is one death enough to start something?" Finn queried.
"It wasn't one death," The older man retorted, "The police have kept it out of the media, but when they dredged the lake they found close to a dozen bodies."
The young man felt a sick lurch in his chest and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat, "The same vampire?"
"Probably," The teacher answered, "There's no way to know for sure."
"So why doesn't this exorcist find the vampire and stop him?" Finn demanded.
"The sides are supposed to uphold the tenets amongst their own," Mr. Schue reminded, "Talvi6 is on the winds, so there's no way the other side would risk challenging us; but once the cold season passes and the sun is on their side again, they'll come."
6 Winter.
"There's got to be something that we can do," The young man insisted.
"There is," The vampire replied, "If we bring the outlaw to justice, then the other side will have no quarrel with us."
"Justice?" The student repeated, the hard tone of the older man's voice stirring a foreboding in him.
"Only a death would appease the other side," Mr. Schuester answered plainly.
"Perkele!" Finn cursed heavily and jumped up from the bench, "Someone makes a mistake so you murder them?" He turned around sharply and glared at his teacher, "Don't vampires get a fair trial?"
"It's not as simple as-" The older man tried to appease, but the student shouted over him.
"'Don't spill innocent blood'. Well, you drank my blood; shall we put you in the chair too?"
"If the guilty vampire is still alive by Vechir, the other side will be within their rights to slaughter every servant of Kuu in Allen County!"
Finn stood dumbly in the wake of the teacher's heated outburst for a few seconds, "Is that true?" He asked softly.
"You, me, people you've never met. Kids your age, or younger. They'll kill them all mercilessly." Mr. Schue spoke bluntly, his stare hard and unyielding.
"How many?" The student asked meekly.
"About a thousand, I don't know exactly," The vampire answered, softening slightly as he saw the dawning horror on the younger man's face, "Forty or so here in Lima, some of the are my friends."
"They'd really...? All those people, a-and children?" Finn asked, ashen-faced.
"The truce has to be upheld, there can be no rebellion." The student didn't know the source, but from his teacher's tone he knew that the words were a quotation, "Our side would do the same if they felt threatened."
"I..." The young man turned away and wrapped his arms round his torso, hugging himself and pacing back and forth on the lawn; holding back confused tears, "Why me? I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be a necro-thingy or to find out that you're a vampire or any of it! Why not someone like Tina, someone who'd want it? I didn't ask for this."
"None of us do," Mr. Schuester answered sagely, with a tiny wistful smile.
Finn looked up from the grass and felt a hundred questions rise in his brain when he saw the melancholy in the other man's face; he chose the first one, "How did you become a vampire?"
The teacher broke away from his memories, looking up as the younger man sat back down on the bench beside him; "It's not a very interesting story."
"I don't care," The student answered, pulling his feet up onto the bench and sitting with his chin resting on his knees, "Is it like in the movies?"
"Pretty much," The vampire answered, chuckling slightly. Finn felt a little warmth return to him at the sound, "I was out late one night when I was about your age. I heard some rustling in the bushes, then suddenly this huge thing was on top of me and it bit my neck. Three hours later I woke up and I was a vampire."
"You just knew?" The young man questioned.
"Not at all," The teacher answered smiling thinly, "I went home and got yelled at by my parents for staying out so late. About a week later I started feeling weak and thirsty; my dad took me to the hospital to see if I had diabetes and while I was there I met a girl named Maija. She knew what I was straight away and explained it to me."
"What, just 'Hey, by the way you're a vampire'?" The student prompted.
"That was about the gist of it, yeah," Mr. Schue answered, his bland smile twitching into something a little more amused.
"How'd you take it?" Finn queried, trying to imagine what his own response would be to the news that he'd become a monster from a horror film.
"I dyed my hair blond and started dressing like Kurt Cobain," The older man replied, bashfully breaking eye contact, "I think I'd convinced myself that I could be somebody else, be somebody still human." He looked back at Finn again with a small shrug, "I got over it. Maija left me alone until I was ready to cope with it all."
The younger man was the one to break their eye contact that time, he lowered his gaze to his sneakers and mumbled quietly, "Must be nice."
He looked up suddenly when he felt the vampire's hand land on his arm, carefully peeling the limb away from its grip on his jeans and entwining their fingers, "I know this must be hard, but if it's any consolation you're taking this much better than I did." The older man's eyes were full of sincerity and he squeezed Finn's hand reassuringly.
The student broke the contact as he felt the heated lurch in his belly again. The conversation was straying back towards denser topics, he could almost feel the weight of it in the air around them; so Finn leaped forward with another question to avoid the inevitable deep discussion, "Your hands are warm."
The older man looked down at his palms as if expecting to find something there, "Is there a reason why they shouldn't be?" He asked, bewildered.
"Before..." The student took a moment to shake off the phantom sensation of the vampire against his body, chilled breath and soft lips bringing electricity to the surface of his skin; "Before," He pressed on valiantly, "when you were going to drink my blood, you felt cold."
"With the exorcist around I didn't want to leave my apartment. I was scared to leave my apartment," The vampire clarified, "When my blood ran out I chose to wait until I'd be safe to leave again, and I suffered the consequences."
"The consequences," Finn prompted.
Mr. Schuester sighed heavily, then began to explain, "Vampires have no henki7, they have to steal it from other living things. My henki was running out and so my body started to die."
"The death that I smelled, that was you," The young man realized suddenly, horrified at the thought.
"There was no lasting damage done," The teacher reassured.
Finn frowned, recognizing the same insincere quality in the easy dismissal that had been in his own lie to Rachel that morning at school; "If you ever need blood again, come to me." Where as earlier the young man had made his offer hesitantly, now that he knew the potential outcome of the older man's actions he spoke the words as a command, a solemn vow.
The vampire looked up and the pair made eye contact again, silence reigned as he looked for any sign of hesitance in Finn before the older man nodded his acceptance, "Okay."
7 Life force, commonly thought of as breath or blood.
As the significance of the moment occurred to them both they broke the connection, looking away as though suddenly fascinated with the view.
"Does this mean that you'll help to hunt the outlaw?" Mr. Schue inquired with clearly false nonchalance.
"If my ability to detect funky smells can be of use, I'll do everything I can," Finn replied.
"Don't underestimate yourself Finn," The teacher advised, "You can be so much more if you put your mind to it. You could be extraordinary."
The young man looked across to his sanguine partner doubtfully, "Do you really think so?"
The vampire turned to face him, a strength in the honesty of his smile that made his response feel like a promise; "You will be."
The necromancer looked up into the sky; at the petrified goddess and the army of twinkling lights standing out against the great void of space; and made a tiny, introverted wish deep in his heart that he could live up to the expectations of the teacher he admired so much.
"So what do we do first?" The young man asked, falling comfortably into the familiar pattern of letting somebody else make the decisions.
"I'll have to teach you the tenets, help you adjust to a superhuman routine, get you to recognize gray energy and learn how to manipulate it. After you get good at that we'll summon a Nolla8 to help us find the vampire who caused this whole mess," Mr. Schuester mused, ticking each item in the list off on his fingers, "Before all that though we have to visit Maija."
"Why do we have to do that?" Finn asked, following the vampire's lead in standing up from the bench.
"To get you a protection spell," The older man answered with an exaggerated flourish.
8 Ghost.
The house was comfortably-sized with a neatly kept garden full of shrubs and flaking white paint on the wood paneling. Finn looked up at the house and then to either side to inspect all the similar houses on the silent, suburban street.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" The necromancer asked as he followed the older man up the weed-free, paved path to the front door.
"Of course," The teacher looked back over his shoulder as he climbed the porch steps, "Why wouldn't it be?"
"I don't know," The young man replied, spinning the basketball in his hands distractedly as he considered how to verbalize his thoughts, "I guess I was expecting a bell tower or something."
Mr. Schuester shook his head in amusement, a lopsided grin settling on his face; "You'll learn to get used to the disappointment of things not being as cool as you expect them to be," He explained, reaching over to press the doorbell. As if to reinforce the point, the motion only produced a standard shrill buzz and not the clunky dong of a Gothic bell that the student had been anticipating.
The pair stood in silence on the doorstep for several minutes, their stillness broken only by the older man reaching forward to press the buzzer again at regular intervals. As no answer proved to be forthcoming Finn found the silence growing more uncomfortable and he wondered idly what a stranger would think of two men ringing the doorbell of a peaceful, suburban home at post-2am.
"Maybe she's not home," He suggested. A second later a light appeared through the window, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. The young man took a step backwards, sheltering behind the vampire.
There was a scratching sound of the deadbolt being unlocked and then the door was thrown open to reveal a dark-haired, angry woman with a face like a stormy sea, "Blind Loviatar and her nine children, it's two in the morning!"
"Well, what better time to visit a witch than the witching hour?" Mr. Schue answered with a winning smile, unperturbed by the deadly glare she was sending his way.
"How about when the witch isn't asleep?" She suggested, "What the Piru9 do you want, Will?"
"I need a favor," He answered plainly.
"Are you out of juice already?" She sighed heavily; seeming to deflate before them; and crossed her arms over her chest.
"No, I need a spell for Finn," He answered, gesturing to the younger man.
Finn wasn't accustomed to being overlooked; with his sheer size and his reputation at school he tended to attract attention; but when Maija looked over at him she seemed totally surprised to find someone else on the porch, "Uhm, hi," He shuffled on the spot, shifting the basketball under his arm so that he could hold out a hand politely.
"Finn," She answered, taking his hand and self-consciously pulling down the hem of her nightgown, "My name is Maija." Releasing his hand quickly, she ran a hand through her hair and stepped to one side, "Come in."
9 Devil.
The tidy facade of the house ended quite abruptly at the threshold. The hall was cluttered with junk and a collection of shoes and jackets were simply left in a pile, rather than hung up in the closet.
"Is Karl here?" The older man inquired while Finn was looking around.
"No, he's working tonight," She answered, collecting a stack of papers on the phone table and straightening them, suddenly houseproud with the prospect of being judged.
The necromancer recognized the behavior from his mom's similar fits of motivation to clean whenever they were having guests and so made an effort to find something to compliment, trying to recall anything from Kurt's many monologues on interior design, "I, uh... like your wallpaper," He offered lamely.
The witch turned back to face him, a speculative look in her dark eyes and he flinched slightly at the notion of being judged in return, but her expression softened slowly and she seemed to reach a conclusion, "Thank you." Turning to face the vampire again she settled down to business, "You should come through to the kitchen."
For the first time since they had arrived at the witch's house, Finn's imaginative expectations were met by the reality. An old-fashioned range took up one corner of the room; black as tar, with the air of a sleeping beast; and a deep stone basin was built into the wall opposite it. The two old world relics were surrounded by mahogany counters and a few modern appliances, the largest of which was a bulky refrigerator with a dozen certificates and childish doodles held to the front with magnets.
"So what do you need me for?" Maija inquired, taking a seat at the dining table across from them, she looked at Finn specifically, sizing him up, "Pimple-be-gone, a love potion maybe?" She grinned teasingly and the young man blushed slightly, irritated by her insinuations.
"He's a necromancer," Mr. Schue answered plainly.
"Doesn't look like a necromancer," She critiqued.
"Well, you don't look like a witch," The student snapped back, "... No, offense," He added, regretting his outburst instantly.
"None taken, believe me," She laughed, "So what does the little necromancer need?" She turned her attention back to the vampire yet again.
Finn tensed indignantly at her actions and wished that he could take her by surprise and answer the question, but he was only there at his teacher's prompting and had no clue what they had visited the witch for and so he bit his tongue irascibly.
"Can you craft him a sielulintu10?" The older man requested.
The witch nodded compliantly, "Shouldn't take long." Turning back to the necromancer she gave him a short list of instructions, "There's an ax outside by the woodshed. Cut a branch off whichever tree takes your fancy and bring it back for me."
10 A protective totem carved from wood, most often into the shape of a bird.
After looking towards the vampire to confirm that he was safe to follow the command, Finn headed out the back door and collected the hatchet from beside the small mound of firewood piled up against the shed at the bottom of the garden. There were a number of trees planted in the wide backyard and the young man wandered listlessly for a few moments looking up at them. Dry, dead leaves littered the ground beneath each and danced across the lawn on the gentle breeze, with the leaves that were still holding onto the branches looking well on their way towards joining the unofficial ballet on the ground.
Settling on an evergreen pine so that he wouldn't have to concern himself with decaying greenery, the necromancer hacked clumsily at a low hanging branch, aiming the blade close to the trunk. When the ax had mostly sliced through he pulled hard and twisted until the limb came loose, falling back a few steps with the jarring motion of it. Pleased with his accomplishment, he returned the hatchet to its place and carried the branch back towards the house; pausing at the doorway when he heard talking.
"-trying to get the word around, but you know how the wolves are. They won't officiate a Gathering until Howltide and by then it'll be too late to do anything." It was the witch talking and she sounded openly worried. Peering through the window Finn saw her and the vampire seated at the table, she passed a mug across the table to the man and then started pouring herself a drink.
"You can't blame the wolves for upholding tradition. To them, their laws are as sacred as the tenets," The teacher answered, pausing to sip from the streaming mug; "We've got teams searching across the county, somebody will come through."
"Like this necromancer you've brought?" She challenged, sounding unconvinced, "How old is he?"
"He only got triggered recently, but-"
"That's not what I meant," She cut across. "It doesn't take a nero11 to see he's a vastasyntynyt12. He's a child, Will." Finn ducked away from the window, hurt by the witch's words.
"If I were in your place I'd think the same," The vampire assured, "But I know Finn, and you shouldn't judge him by appearance. I've seen inside him, Maija. He's a kotelo13."
The student blinked heavily and enjoyed the floating sensation he was experiencing from the praise. Pulling open the door, he took the branch into the kitchen and hoped that they'd attribute his rosy cheeks to the nighttime chill.
11 Genius
12 Newborn, or someone inexperienced.
13 Chrysalis, often used to refer to someone who seems to have a lot of potential.
With the pine branch laid out on the table as a centerpiece Maija had then started searching through the kitchen cabinets for a number of other necessary reagents. Frustrated by the two men getting in her way as she darted back and forth, she had insisted they vacate the room and leave her to work.
"So what exactly is the spell going to do?" Finn queried as he sat in an armchair and peered occasionally through the doorway.
"It's a protection spell to keep your itse14 grounded as you dream," The vampire answered distantly; preoccupied with taking books from the shelf and reading their blurbs.
"Oh," The younger man answered, picking at the chintzy fabric of the armchair for a few seconds before asking, "Why?"
"Just a precaution really," The older man replied, flicking to the first page of a battered paperback and skimming it with minimal interest.
"I won't have to carry a pentagram or anything will I?" He asked judiciously, "I already have to try to convince people I'm not gay. I don't want them thinking I'm a helvettite15 too."
"Nothing like that," The teacher answered, "Necromancers are magicians of death. In a way you could say that witches are magicians of life." He shut the book and placed it back on the shelf, turning to face Finn he settled into the lecture as if they were in the classroom, "The world works as part of a natural cycle, life and death combining as generations of people and animals walk the planet. Luontu are a special clan of Haltija that guard the flow of that cycle, a collective, sapient consciousness..." Mr. Schue looked at the blank face of the younger man and frowned a little, "You aren't getting this are you?"
"No, I am," The student insisted, sitting up a little straighter and compelling himself to comprehend; eager to show the older man that he wasn't as dumb as he seemed sometimes, "Hatija are guardian spirits and these lawn-too guys..."
"Luontu," The vampire repeated.
"Right," The young man nodded, "They're spirits that guard nature."
"Pretty much," The teacher answered approvingly, "But regular Haltija guard life. Luontu are only concerned with birth and death, not what happens in between." Finn nodded his understanding, "Witches are able to command Luontu. They can take the creative energy and use it to transform the physical world."
"So Maija is going to transform the branch," The necromancer rationalized.
"Yes, into a sielulintu," Mr. Schuester answered, "A Luontu totem that will protect you while you sleep."
14 Soul.
15 Devil worshiper.
An instant later Maija appeared in the doorway holding a wooden figurine delicately in her hands, "It's a little warm still," She warned as he handed it over, "The spirit will take a day or two to get comfortable inside."
Finn looked down at the figurine. The branch had been warped and contorted by the spell; the dark bark of the branch had been peeled clean and so the statuette was smooth and lightly-colored, but the spiny needles had been incorporated into the overall shape; becoming the stiff feathers of a bird in flight, "It's an owl," The young man remarked with a small smile, amused at the fact that the statue was in the shape of a nocturnal creature.
"A barn owl to be precise," The witch answered, folding her arms and giving the figurine a thorough inspection, "One of my better works. I guess they must like you."
"They?" The necromancer repeated.
"Luontu," She replied with a small shrug, "I make the magic happen but it's a partnership. You'll understand if you ever summon a Jalo Vaki16."
The young man turned his gaze back to the owl, certain that for just a moment there was a flicker of movement in the wide, wooden eyes.
16 High spirit.
The ohimo17 bell rang three times as the pair left Maija's neighborhood; Finn with a basketball under one arm and his sielulintu under the other, Mr. Schuester strolling along with his hands in his pockets and his coat tails dancing in the wind.
"It's getting late," The younger man remarked as the distant chimes died down.
"Technically, it's getting early," The vampire replied with a wry grin, "But there isn't much more we can do tonight."
"It's not that far to my house," The necromancer mumbled as he looked across to the street sign to get his bearings, "You don't have to walk me home or anything." He bit his lip slightly as his mind turned to the thought of walking a date home; he once again repressed the heated wave inside him at the mental image of a kiss goodnight from the older man.
"You're sure?" The teacher asked.
"Yeah," Finn insisted, aiming for nonchalance, "It's only like a five-minute walk."
"Okay," Mr. Schue answered, accepting the younger man's word easily, "I'll see you at school, Finn."
"Right," The student agreed, "See you at school, Mr. Schuester."
"Oh, that reminds me," The teacher said, turning on the spot to face the other man as he continued walking, "You should call me Will." The necromancer blinked owlishly as the other man elaborated, "One of the tenets, 'kaikki yhtalainen alle sita kuu'18."
Finn smiled at the sound of the words falling easily from the older man's tongue, then deeper when he realized the translation, "Cool," He mumbled quietly to himself, then shouted louder after the other man, "Goodnight Will!" The vampire's face lit up with joy and he nodded his recognition before spinning round to face forward again and carrying on down the darkened street.
17 Temple.
18 'We are all equal under the moon'.
Finn woke in the morning with the dawn light breaking in through the window, the lingering condensation on the pane producing a cascade of microscopic rainbows. Looking across to his alarm clock he saw that he'd only slept four hours, but he felt as if he'd had a full night's rest. Falling back onto the bed and staring up at the still unfamiliar rafters of his new bedroom, he concluded that it had to be a side-effect of his sudden entrance into the world of the supernatural. He took a few minutes to enjoy the novelty of being able to relax on a school day morning and then got up to take a shower.
Downstairs in the kitchen he found his mom, dressed for work and ladling sugar into a hot pan of puuro19. Without turning away from what she was doing she spoke, "Good morning."
"Morning mom," He answered cheerfully, peering into the refrigerator in search of the palvikinkku20 leftover from the Samhain feast.
"Finn?" She looked over bewildered and then up to the clock on the wall, comparing its display to the one on her watch, "What time is it?"
"About a quarter past seven," He answered, confused as to why she was asking since the clock was displaying the time accurately.
"Oh." She frowned thoughtfully, "I thought for a moment that the clock must be wrong."
"It's no big deal, I just got up a little early," He defended calmly. Uncovering the meat from behind a thermos flask of soup, he collected the loaf from the bread bin and started slicing it.
She hummed her confirmation as she turned the heat down to a simmer and served a portion into a bowl, "Are you going to want some too, or will the sandwiches be enough?"
Looking up from buttering the bread to consider the puuro, he breathed in the sweet, warm aroma and concluded, "I can manage both."
Serving up another bowl, she set it down at the table for him; bending down to press a kiss to his temple with a small smile, "I suppose I shouldn't worry."
"Why?" Finn queried, a panicked shudder sprinting through him.
"If you're still eating like there's a hole in your neck then you can't be an etiainen21 quite yet," She teased.
The necromancer looked down at the creamy oats and dredged his spoon through it lethargically as his mother walked into the hall and shouted a warning to the other two men of the house that they would not be able to blame her if their food was cold by the time they got to the kitchen. Finn couldn't quite put his finger on the reason for the joke striking a disharmonious chord; his mom made a concerned effort to understand him and had a good sense for when something was bothering him, so he didn't doubt that she'd detect a doppelganger in less time than it would take to boil an egg; but the thought that she may be able to sense the sudden change in him was one that stirred an uneasiness inside him. There was no way to know what she might think and for most of his life all he'd ever aimed to do was make his mom proud.
19 Porridge.
20 Smoked ham.
21 Doppelganger.
As Finn silently contemplated the true impact that being a necromancer might have on his life, Kurt wandered into the room; straightening the buttons of his waistcoat fastidiously, "Good morning all."
"Morning," Finn replied absently, still lost in thought.
"How's your hand?" Kurt inquired compassionately as he poured himself a glass of juice.
"It doesn't hurt so much now," He answered, looking down at the bandage and plucking a thread from a fraying edge.
"I still don't understand how you managed it in the first place," His mom opined, "Of all the places to fall down you have to land on a broken bottle." Smiling wryly to herself she settled into a chair between the two young men, "Definitely my son."
Eager to avoid the complicated thoughts that her comment prompted, Finn turned back to the other teen, "How's your science fair project going?"
Kurt frowned, "Tina's still mad about the rash. If she'd told me that she's allergic to currants I wouldn't have given her the cream with the lingonberries." He sighed dramatically and blew on a steaming spoonful of puuro to cool it.
As Mrs. Hudson asked about Tina's continued recovery, the father of the household sloped into the room and made his way directly to the coffee pot. Chugging down a mug, he leaned down to give his partner a good morning peck on the cheek, then settled into the remaining empty seat stretching tiredly, "I swear, these hours are killing me."
"It's just until Joul." She turned away from Kurt to smile reassuringly at the fatigued older man, "Then you'll get a couple of months off."
"Yeah." He lifted his head and straightened his shoulders, picking up his spoon, "So what were you talking about, that splotchy girl?"
"Dad!" Kurt reproached sharply, "You shouldn't talk about somebody's misfortune that way; besides, it's totally a patchy outbreak anyway."
Finn sat quietly; chewing a mouthful of crusty bread and salty palvikinkku; and observed the familial banter that unfolded. It was somewhat reassuring to see that the world he was used to wasn't going to just fade away and it gave him something to hold onto, a tangible motivation to slay the guilty vampire by Vechir and save the collective asses of the Allen Country servants of Kuu.
Tapioday waned quietly into Mielday while Finn stared contemplatively out of his bedroom window into the midnight blue sky, wondering if the vampire was out there somewhere but recalling the older man's ability to track him down he ultimately concluded that it would be reckless to wander the streets in the hope of attracting the older man's attention. If Will wanted him then the vampire would be able to find him and the necromancer would wait patiently until then.
Mielday meant the first Glee rehearsal after Mr. Schuester's return to school. The first ten minutes were filled with Rachel pompously reciting the progress they had made in the teacher's absence while everyone else quietly gossiped or played games on their phones. When at last he was able to regain control from the young star, Mr. Schue performed his usual act of summarizing the weekly challenge on the whiteboard.
"Change," He declared, underlining the word with a squeak from the board pen, "High School is all about change. You're all growing into adults, into the people you're going to be for the rest of your lives and that's a scary concept; but it can also be a source of inspiration. Everything you're feeling, everything you're going through, I want you to take it and express it in a way you've never done before. Partner up with someone different, try a musical style you wouldn't normally be comfortable with, I don't mind how you do it, just make a change; because if we're gonna rock at Sectionals, not just win, but totally storm the competition; it might be good to try something a little different."
"Mr. Schuester!" Rachel's hand was immediately in the air, a precursor to her criticism.
"Yes, Rachel." The teacher leaned back on the piano, his smile a little forced.
"I understand your intent to expose new areas of talent, but some of us are already aware of where our strengths lie." She looked behind her, trying to gain the eye of Kurt and Mercedes; both of whom dodged the bullet, "Don't you think it would be best to play to those strengths rather than wasting time and energy pursuing a different route?"
"Berry's got a point," Santana agreed, twirling his hair casually, "We know what we're good at. Besides, why should we go to all that effort when Sectionals is gonna be a walk in the park?"
"Not so easy lately," Puck retorted, leaning into the cheerleader's personal space, "A walk in the park might get you a chainsaw to the face."
Santana pushed him away with a disgusted scowl, "Don't be such a kyrpa22."
"Guys, please!" Mr. Schue clapped his hands together to regain the group's attention, "If anyone has an idea of something they'd like to try, they're welcome to step up now..." When nobody expressed a desire to take to the floor, he continued, "Okay then, how about we go over our number from Phantom of the Opera."
22 Dick.
Rachel leaped up eagerly, followed a moment later by Kurt once he had rummaged around in his backpack and retrieved his mask; Finn had thought the full costume was excessive until Kurt explained that he'd had it for over a year, so now the necromancer just thought it was kinda weird that he was living with someone who owned a cape and wasn't even a superhero.
The rehearsal wasn't a total disaster, but it certainly didn't rank among the top ten greatest moments in the choir room either: Kurt and Rachel spent more time bickering than singing, Santana opportunistically kneed Puck in the groin as they were going over the dance steps and Tina accidentally spilled her skin cream all over the floor; leading to a five minute break while they mopped up the spillage with paper towels; but with everyone so eager to vacate the room once practice was done for the day, nobody noticed Finn lingering behind.
He watched the older man sliding the stack of sheet music back into his book bag and recalled the easy smile on his face when Finn had spoken his name in the early hours of the morning, he wanted to say that name again but understood without having to be told that the privilege came with a list of restrictions so when he approached he said, "Mr. Schue?"
The teacher looked up as he slid the strap of his satchel over his shoulder, smiling softly, "Hey Finn, did you want to ask me something?"
The student tensed slightly; sparking a dull tingle of pain in his left hand; "Could we talk in your office?"
"Sure." A glimmer of concern ghosted across the vampire's face and he led the way into the smaller room, shutting the door behind them, "Is something wrong?"
"I was just sort of wondering." He turned away from the older man, looking at the posters on the wall as he continued, "That stuff you said about teaching me the tenets and about gray energy. That's still happening, right?"
"Of course," Will replied emphatically, settling into the chair behind his desk.
"It's just, last night..." The student mumbled.
"You have to understand Finn, I'm not a necromancer." The vampire sighed and rubbed his hands across his face wearily, "I'll teach you what I know, but I'm inexperienced and under-prepared."
The younger man looked up at his teacher again, then quickly dropped his gaze to his lap and picked at an invisible thread on his pants, "Something is better than nothing though, right?"
"You have a point," The vampire conceded. He reached into his drawer and pulled something out, placing on the desk in front of Finn, "Take this."
The younger man picked it up and spun it in his hands idly, he read the label but wasn't at all enlightened as to what the item was, "What is it?" He queried.
"Suet," The older man answered, "It's the stuff explorers take on expeditions to the north-lands. If you want to start your training you're going to need a lot of energy."
"So we're starting tonight?" Finn asked.
"If that's what you want," Will answered, "Eat it at sundown and meet me at the Woodlawn Cemetery at midnight."
The US History textbook lay open on Finn's desk, limp and ignored as it had been since the young man had opened it to the chapter he was supposed to be reading, skimmed the first two lines and then quickly drifted off into other thoughts. He had a hard enough time getting interested in the boring dates and important generals of the civil war before he'd become a servant of Kuu, but suddenly Finn found himself wondering if any vampires had fought in the war, any necromancers or witches? If they did, which side were they on and would killing someone in an unrelated war count as a violation of the tenets?
He recalled Will's explanation that the wolves had come from Kuu and the angels from Paivatar, but he hadn't thought to ask about the first vampire, or the first necromancer. Supernatural beings had been walking the world since before the Kalevala23 and somewhere in the course of history his bloodline had gotten a dose of that power; he was filled with a hundred burning curiosities, so unlike the way he normally felt during class.
23 A religious text, documenting the exploits of legendary heroes.
"Working hard I see," Kurt remarked sardonically, leaning casually in the doorway.
Startled by the sudden announcement, Finn jumped up from the bed, "I was just taking a break," He lied.
"Mm-hmm," The other teen remarked disbelievingly, waltzing into the room and running a finger along the open book, "This page is dusty," He declared, a casual accusation.
"So it was a long break," Finn retorted irritably, folding his arms over his chest defensively, "What do you want anyway?"
"I was wondering if you'd care to partner up for this week's Glee assignment," Kurt explained, flicking through the pages of the textbook perfunctorily, "I figure that if we're being made to forcibly select songs that are going to be hideously gauche, we could endure it together; perhaps lessen the pain a little."
"What's so bad about singing a different song for once?" Finn challenged, disagreeable without understanding why.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, Rachel made a good point," Kurt answered airily, "Most of us know what we do well, so picking something different to that range is going to end in tears; and not the poignant kind, the bad kind. I'll be weeping like I've just seen a man wearing socks and sandals."
"I'm sure you can find something a little different to suit your voice," Finn assured.
"Like what, exactly?" Kurt challenged, spinning to face him and leaning back against the desk chair.
"I don't know," Finn answered hastily, unprepared to give a suggestion on the spot, "You could start with songs by men and go from there."
Kurt flipped his head to one side snobbishly at the joke, but Finn could tell when he reached up to smooth out his bangs that he was also concealing a small smile, "Okay. So we'll stay solo on the assignment." He started exploring Finn's desk again, picking up items and toying with them before returning them to their place, "Do you have an idea of what you might pick yet?"
"I haven't really thought about it," He answered honestly, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.
"Well, if you want some inspiration you're welcome to take a peek at my vinyl and find something by a refined lady," Kurt offered, a teasing hint of payback lurking in his tone. The slender young man sank into the desk chair and span in circles for a few moments, clearly bored.
"You have nothing to do, do you?" Finn guessed.
"My exfoliation trials are on hold because Dad found the congealed remains of my egg-whites, condensed milk and cod liver oil combination," Kurt explained despairingly, "I'm allowed to start testing again as soon as I successfully scour the pot."
"How long will that take?" Finn asked.
"It's soaking with some detergent now," He answered, "But if it doesn't come clean this time I might market the recipe as an organic alternative to superglue." Spinning in the chair again, he came to a stop facing the desk and picked something up before spinning again, "What is this?" He asked as he came to a stop once again.
Finn looked at the block in Kurt's hands and quickly tried to form a plausible excuse, "It's suet. Coach recommended it, should help me bulk up a bit."
"So that you can play Paul Bunyan in the live action movie this summer," Kurt remarked sarcastically, returning the suet to the desk disinterestedly.
"So that we might stand a chance of winning a game this season," The quarterback corrected.
"You could combine practice with the Glee assignment," Kurt suggested, "Find a new tune to use as a distraction on the field." He laughed feebly, the sound quickly fading to a bored sigh.
"You know, if you want something to do; you could help me with this history stuff," Finn suggested.
"Alright, I can take a hint," The other teen remarked, getting up from the chair and leaving the necromancer in peace.
Looking across to the window and the fading light coming through from the setting sun on the horizon, Finn got up from the bed and collected the bar of suet. Peeling the wrapper away he took a small, experimental bite from one corner and chewed considerately; coming to the conclusion that it didn't taste bad but would probably be improved by the addition of some kind of sauce. Eating the entire bar as he had been instructed to, he threw the wrapper into the bin in the corner and then settled down to read the text book again. He managed to read a full page before a combination of disinterest and distraction resulted in the history facts being abandoned for the second time that night.
The night sky was clear and the temperature had dipped into the high 30s as Finn made his way towards Woodlawn. His ears were suffering from the sharp sting of the cold air because he'd not been able to locate his talvi hat and his mom's response when he asked her if she knew where it had been put was a pointed remark about why he needed it at that exact moment. He had at least been able to find his woolen gloves; curled up in the bottom drawer having a fraternal reunion with his collection of missing socks; though pulling the left one on over his bandage proved to be a challenge.
The gate creaked and shook slightly when he put his weight on it but the heavy chain and padlock kept it steady as he clambered over and dropped down on the other side. The cemetery was huge; a little over a hundred acres; and as he looked out across the sea of headstones the necromancer felt a touch of trepidation when he realized that the older man hadn't specified any particular meeting point. Checking his watch and finding it to be a few minutes past the hour, Finn rationalized that the front gate was a sensible place to meet and it was probable that the vampire was simply running a little late. However, since it was also possible that Will was out waiting in the grounds somewhere and he could always double back to the gate later if he didn't find him, the young man made up his mind and set off down the main path; past the tall pines lining both sides, with ceremonial karsikko24 scored deeply into their trunks.
24 Marks cut into a tree trunk when a person dies, the intention being that if their spirit returns to the world and begins to make their way home they'll see the mark and understand that they've died; so that they can begin their journey to the afterlife.
As he reached the end of the path and the cemetery opened out before him the young man paused for a moment to try and decide which direction to take. The soft aroma of decaying leaves reached Finn's nostrils and he blinked, filled with gentle consternation as he looked back to the evergreen pines beside him and tried to locate where the scent of deciduous flora was coming from. Setting off down a side path leading along a row of ceremonial uhrikivi25; following his nose; the necromancer wandered for several minutes before realizing that he'd been going in circles and the odor of syksy26 leaves was omnipresent within the cemetery walls. Irritably spinning on the spot in search of a familiar landmark by which to guide himself back to the front entrance, he stopped still when a new aroma struck him and set off instantly in the direction of the familiar apple-honey fragrance.
25 A monument to the dead where sacrifices and blessings can be made.
26 Fall/Autumn.
He found the vampire stood beneath an ancient oak tree, planted in an open space in the middle of a cross-section. The bark was infested with a variety of colorful mosses and smooth knots indicated former branches that had been removed by a tree surgeon.
"Keskiyo27," Will greeted, turning toward the younger man with a pleasant smile.
27 A greeting used by Servants of Kuu to similar effect as "good day."
"Hey," Finn replied, coming to a stop beside the older man and sinking into a relaxed stance; sliding his gloved hands into the pockets of his jacket.
"This is your last real chance to back out," The vampire remarked conversationally, "After tonight you'll have to see this through until the vampire is brought to justice, or..."
The necromancer considered the myriad of unpleasant possibilities in the void of silence and flinched away, turning to the relatively simpler topic of the former, "I promised you I'd help you find the vampire, but..." He shuffled slightly, kicking a stone skittishly, "I don't want to fight."
"That's understandable," Will replied.
"I'm not a coward," The young man insisted.
"I didn't say that you were."
"I'm not," He repeated, catching his teacher's gaze and holding it firmly as he explained, "You need to find the vampire who's responsible for all the bad stuff that's about to go down. Whenever you're around I can tell that it's you, so just teach me how to find this guy and I'll do it... but I won't kill someone. I can't."
"Finn." The older man's hand settled on his shoulder, the gentle touch easing the tension from him with its earnest desire to soothe, "Nobody is asking you to do anything you don't want to. Pacifism is a true virtue in the modern world. 'Eras seppa pitaisi tehda suoja edessa miekka'28."
28 'A blacksmith should craft shields before swords'.
"Is that one of the tenets?" The necromancer asked, a hint of a bitter challenge in his tone as he pulled out of Will's grip.
"Yes, one of the earliest," The vampire answered.
"Well it's bull," Finn bluntly declared, his back to the vampire as he walked towards the tree. He stepped on the thick roots carefully and dug his fingers into the gaps in the bark, tiny patches of moss falling into the wool of his gloves. He thought back to childhood summers climbing trees with Jack Wilson and wondered why fate had felt it fair to deal him the crazy nighttime superpowers while his elementary school friend only had to cope with moving to Canada before the start of ninth grade, "How can they make not fighting each other a rule and then make another rule saying that you have to kill someone?"
"They didn't have to make the truce at all," The older man answered plainly, "There was no motivation to lay down the sword except for the fact that it makes sense to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but there are members of both sides that legitimately dislike each other and would willingly start up the war again if given a good reason."
"So we kill one man to prevent a war?" Finn questioned, turning around and leaning back against the trunk of the oak, "A sacrifice to keep the peace."
"When it put it that way it sounds terrible," Will acknowledged, "But you have to understand that this person deserves what's coming to them."
"Because they're a vampire?" The necromancer demanded, "Because they need blood to live?"
"Pohja!" The teacher's handsome face contorted with his harsh curse; fangs appearing in his mouth and his eyes taking on an ethereal quality as the glow of the moon began to reflect from them. The younger man regretted his position instantly as the vampire stalked towards him, he had no way to retreat. "We're not animals Finn." Will leaned close to his student, one hand pressed flat to the tree behind and the other stroking tenderly across the young man's cheek, "We aren't beasts that attack on instinct alone. Vampires are hunters; we stalk and ambush with intent and conscious choice." He watched the enticing tremor of the necromancer's pulse point and the tip of his tongue brushed over his fangs; the younger man watching the movement with eyes filled with dread, his breaths shallow and rapid, "If I killed you now..." He spoke casually, his fingers reaching down to push the collar of Finn's jacket aside and fully expose his neck, "It would be premeditated. It would be calculated. It would be cold-blooded murder." He fell back from his captive, leaving the student to reach up and pull his jacket closed defensively, "Do you understand?"
Leaning against the trunk of the oak; deathly still but for the heavy rise and fall of his chest and the occasional shiver; the younger man's gaze was directed to the entangled roots he was standing on, but he was clearly unseeing. Lifting his head slowly he looked at Will with eyes that were almost black in the darkness, "I'm not a killer."
Fangs receded and the unearthly color faded from the vampire's eyes, his expression compassionate, "You don't have to be, but you need to accept that when the time comes this vampire will die. There's no other option."
The young man breathed deeply a few times before pushing himself away from the tree and walking back onto the path with the vampire, "No going back," He mumbled quietly to himself.
"Not after tonight," The teacher agreed.
Finn thought about his fledgling family life in the Hummel household, about his mom's affectionate banter, about his friends at school and his commitments to the football team and Glee club, about Jack Wilson in Canada who was probably having a normal Junior year. But for all those complicating factors, when he thought about the fate that would befall him come Hausos if the other side decided they'd broken the rules, the difficult decision became a simple choice, "I'm ready."
Will spoke as he led Finn deeper into the cemetery, the young man didn't know where they were going or even if the teacher had a particular destination in mind or was simply intending to circulate as they talked; either way, he was grateful to leave the tree; and all the uncomfortable emotions that had been invoked under its branches; behind.
"The full set of tenets is quite vast," The older man stated, "I couldn't tell you all of them because there are too many to remember, but the five early agreements that were decided during the first meeting to discuss the truce are the most important."
"Okay, so what are they?" The student prompted.
"You know three already," The vampire answered.
Finn thought about it and listed the tenets that the older man had already revealed, "Don't hurt the innocent, everyone's equal and it's better to defend that attack," He summarized.
"Good." Will nodded approvingly, "The last two are 'tahdikkuus edessa kuolevaiset' and 'nuo jotka ala totella nama opinkappaleisiin taytyy korvata kanssa liha'."
"Discretion in front of humans and those who break the rules have to die," The younger man translated aloud, a flicker of disapproval still present in his voice over the detail of the latter.
"Right," The teacher answered.
The two walked silently as Finn considered the earliest tenets, "So what else is there?" He asked once he'd accepted the ground rules.
"Nothing that matters for the moment," The older man answered dismissively, "I'll write a full set for you to look over yourself and if something important comes up I'll mention it, but right now..." The teacher stopped in the middle of the path and turned to face the younger man, "Are you ready to become a necromancer?"
Finn shrugged and gave a small smile, "It's not like there's much else I could be doing right now." Will returned the smile, similarly shaky in its sincerity and the knowledge that he wasn't alone in feeling uncomfortable raised the younger man's confidence a little.
"Okay; where to start, where to start?" The teacher ran a hand through his curls and turned a contemplative stare to the sky, "You know the nature of the human soul?" He questioned, turning with a speculative look towards the younger man.
"Sure," Finn nodded and recalled his religious studies lessons from elementary school, "Itse and henki."
"And you understand what henki is?" The older man prompted.
The necromancer smiled to himself with the memory of cold talvi mornings sat on the steps outside school with his friends, huffing and puffing out misty breaths in an effort to make their henki fight like they did in the cartoons, "Yes."
"Right, and the fundamental law of the conservation of energy, do you know about that?" The student stared somewhat blankly, dazed by the sudden switch of topic from spiritual concepts to rudimentary physics, "Energy can't be created or destroyed, it simply changes from one state to another," Will prompted in the face of the younger man's confusion.
"Uh, yeah." Finn nodded, the words sounded like something he might have heard in a physics lesson once.
"I'm sorry," The vampire suddenly proclaimed with a heavy sigh, turning and walking a few paces down the path before spinning on the spot to face his student again, "I don't really know how to explain this."
The necromancer's shoulders slumped, "You mean you don't know how to explain to someone as dumb as me," He corrected.
"Finn, that's not-"
"It's okay," The young man cut across, looking up and smiling forcibly, "I know I'm not good at learning stuff."
"It's me as much as it's you." Will walked back over, placing both hands to the other man's shoulders so that they were face-to-face, "We'll figure this out, don't worry."
The two started walking again, the vampire deep in thought about how to explain the abstract concept of death and the necromancer trying to recall the finer details of the physics lesson that had mentioned conservation of energy.
"Okay," The teacher spoke eventually, gesturing to the air around them and latching onto a new explanation, "The air around us is full of death. Most people can't tell it's there, but you're special."
"All I do is smell rotting meat," Finn replied deprecatingly.
"That smell is death," The older man insisted, "If you learn how to focus properly you'll be able to see it too."
"Wait," The necromancer paused and a playful flicker passed over his face, "Are you telling me that I see dead people?" His voice dropped into a whispered mimicry of the famous quote.
The vampire grinned and shook his head bemusedly, "Not exactly. Death isn't a consciousness the way that Luontu is."
"So it's like energy?" Finn guessed, recalling the concept of conservation mentioned before.
"Exactly," The teacher answered enthusiastically, "I've heard it said that the ancient necromancers called it Myst, but when they investigated using scientific procedure during the Renaissance they found that it's just another form of energy."
"Gray energy," The young man realized, the pieces falling into place in his mind.
"Yes," Will supported the conclusion, "When a person dies their henki is transformed into gray energy."
"So when I smell rotting meat it means that someone nearby is dieing?" The necromancer queried, a knot of panic starting to gather in the center of his chest as he considered all the times he'd detected the presence of death and wondered who it was that had one foot in the grave.
"Not necessarily," The teacher placated swiftly, "Illness and injury change henki to gray energy too, but not as much and when the body recovers the henki does too. Also, traces of gray energy can stay with a person if they're in an environment where a lot is present."
"Like a hospital?" He suggested hopefully.
"Yes."
Finn breathed a sigh of relief that his mom probably wasn't about to drop dead at any moment, "So how do I tell who's dieing and who's just sick?"
"If you learn how to focus you'll be able to see gray energy, that should help you to make the distinction," Will explained.
"So what do I do?" The young man queried, eager to attempt it.
"Your powers take a lot of energy to function efficiently, but with the suet you should have enough strength to focus your senses tonight," The vampire declared, "Just close your eyes and breathe steadily." The student followed the instruction, "Your sense of smell seems to work best. Take a deep breath and tell me what you smell right now."
"Syksy leaves," He answered immediately.
The vampire stood silently for a few seconds, "You didn't even-"
"I don't need to," Finn insisted opening his eyes again to look at the older man, "I already know this whole place smells like syksy leaves."
"Well that's-" Will paused for a moment, frowning before a smile slowly took over his face, "That's good. You must be better attuned to death than I thought."
The necromancer's face screwed up in confusion, "But it doesn't smell like meat."
"When henki is being transformed inside a living being, the process is destructive and opposed by the body's defenses; in a dead body the process goes uninhibited and so the gray energy produced differs in some ways. Gray energy from a living body is called pahan, from a dead body it's called hyvan."
"And hyvan smells like dead leaves," The younger man mused, "I think I prefer hyvan."
The teacher chuckled, "You should. It's less harmful."
"Harmful?" Finn repeated warily.
"Don't concern yourself with it for now," Will advised, "When the time comes to start manipulating gray energy we'll take every precaution to keep you safe, but you won't come to any harm just looking at it."
"You promise?" The young man asked.
The vampire smiled; his eyes open and honest; and clapped a supportive hand to his student's arm, "I promise."
"Okay," The necromancer accepted, shutting his eyes again and breathing steadily, "So what do I do?"
"Just breathe steadily and relax, try to let the scent of the gray energy fill your whole body," The teacher instructed.
Finn felt an irrational burst of panic when the older man's supportive grasp on his body vanished, but bit down on the desire to open his eyes and reorient himself with his surroundings. He breathed in heavily a few times to calm the squirming in his stomach and tried to ingest the smell as he'd been told to. The night chill lingered like a lover's touch on his bared skin and he licked his dry lips and twitched his fingers nervously, idly wondering what sort of reaction he was waiting for until he suddenly felt a dry, itchy sensation behind his eyelids that made him open his eyes reflexively.
His view was flooded with gray. A thick, oppressive mass that was a slightly lighter tone than the darkness of the back of his eyelids, but that was the only difference.
"Will?" He felt a tinge of embarrassment at the panic he could hear in his own voice.
"I'm here Finn," The vampire's voice called from the void, "It's okay."
"Where are you? I- I can't see you..." The necromancer took a few unsteady steps, waving his arms out in front of him, "I can't see anything."
A hand latched onto him from behind and his heart lurched as he found himself pulled back against the warm body of the older man, "You're safe Finn," The vampire whispered soothingly, his lips close to the young man's ear, "I'm here."
"Is this..." As the teacher's hands rubbed over his body; calming him; Finn began to understand, "Is this gray energy?"
"It is," Will confirmed.
The necromancer stared out into the endless gray and understood instantly why the ancient necromancers had called it Myst, "There's a lot of it."
"You can learn to see through it if you focus," The older man explained.
"You won't leave me, will you?" The student asked, his hand settling onto one of the hands holding him close and gripping it tightly.
"I'll be right here," The vampire assured.
The necromancer closed his eyes again; preferring the familiarity of darkness to the constant gray; and returned to breathing steadily and focusing on the hyvan in the air. He opened his eyes periodically to inspect the grayness and after ten minutes began to detect shapes appearing as if from heavy fog. It took roughly half an hour for Finn to adjust his sight enough to see in the Myst and Will stood protectively at the young man's back throughout, his presence a supportive link to the physical world.
"I can sort of see now," The student explained timidly.
"Do you want to try walking?" The older man inquired, his voice slightly gravelly from the prolonged silence and Finn felt the familiar heat in his belly tremble at the sound.
"Sure," He answered, hoping that he sounded more confident to Will than he did to himself and uncurled his fingers from their hold on the teacher's arm. The grayness warped and wavered around him, but he kept breathing steadily as he walked to the edge of the bubble of clarity he'd cleared in the fog and turned back to face the other man, "See, easy."
The Myst painted the entire landscape around him in gray, but when Finn looked back to the vampire he saw that the man wasn't affected by it, the brilliant green of his eyes and the brightness of his smile were a beacon in the drab surroundings, "You did great, Finn."
The necromancer dropped his gaze down to the ground, embarrassed but with a pleased smile stretching his cheeks out wide, "So how do I get back to normal?"
"That should be easier," Will assured, "All the energy that you breathed in, just breathe it all out again as fast as you can."
"Okay, I can do that," The young man declared confidently. Inhaling heavily, filling out his chest; he held the air inside him for a moment and then let it rush forth, the sound changing from the intended breath into a hearty burp. "Oh," He mumbled with mortification, a blush rising to his cheeks instantly as he observed the bewildered expression on the older man's face.
"Well, that's one way to do it," The teacher remarked, the expression loosening as he began to laugh like a lunatic.
"It's not funny," Finn argued, failing to stop a grin from appearing on his own face.
"Yes, it- Oh, it-" The vampire couldn't stop his laughter long enough to answer, the force of it sending the younger man over the edge and leaving the two of them deeply amused for some time.
After the first time it became much easier for Finn to slip into the trance state necessary to traverse the Myst. In some ways he was pleased to be making significant progress, but deep inside him there was a sting of disappointment that he no longer needed the older man's body pressed close to him as an anchor.
An hour before sunrise the necromancer found himself growing tired and hungry, so Will declared them finished for the night and suggested they continue the training the following night. Finn spent most of the day anticipating sundown and by the end of the second night he had started traversing the cemetery with Will while the Myst swirled and danced visibly in the air around him, learning how to cleave a path in the fog to travel by.
The necromancer was pleased with his progress and spent much of Etherday the same way that he had the previous day; distracted in class and waiting for the night to arrive. However, the consequences of his newly developed single-mindedness were brought to his attention during Glee practice.
"So." Mr. Schuester clapped his hands together eagerly and faced the club, "I can't wait to see what fresh performances you're going to be giving. Who wants to go first?"
An icy bucket was upturned on the quarterback as he realized that he had totally forgotten the assignment. His peril was averted however, when it became clear that he wasn't the only one.
"Anyone?" The teacher asked hesitantly, the smile sliding from his face, "Come on guys, I knew you weren't exactly excited about this but I thought you'd at least try."
Finn felt a fresh bucket load crash down over him as he witnessed Mr. Schue's obvious disappointment, he wished deeply that he had even the beginning of an idea about a performance but he was as clueless as to what he might choose to sing as he had been days beforehand when discussing the assignment with Kurt.
"Well..." The older man sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping; and Finn was sure that he was about to accept defeat and repeal the challenge, the thought striking deep in the young man's chest as being truly unfair; but then a spark appeared in those green eyes and one corner of his lips twitched up into a smirk, "I suppose it's up to me to inspire you all." Finn grinned in anticipation and the rest of the club whispered and fidgeted as the club director pulled sheet music from his book bag and handed it round to the musicians.
Collecting a guitar from the corner, Mr. Schuester turned to face them and leaned casually against the piano, tuning the instrument to his satisfaction. Turning to Brad at the piano, he gave a nod and began to sway slightly as the starting chords sounded.
"I'm infected," He sighed, the words deep and melancholy, while his gaze was downcast and fogged over with dejection. Finn felt his anticipation settle down into something more questioning as the music continued.
"I'm infected, by your genetics." The notes were held this time, sung rather than simply spoken but the vulnerable despondency didn't leave,
"Tartunnan, trust the doctor.
Tartunnan, I'm your father.
Oh, you are so sick!
Take your medicine."
Finn could feel the same flicker of confusion passing through the rest of the club as the one he was experiencing himself while Mr. Schue continued. He didn't recognize the song and the bitterness in the older man's words alarmed him.
"I'm infected, by your affliction.
I'm infected, with crimson addiction.
And I don't think that I can beat this.
No, I don't think that I can be fixed.
Tell me why, oh why are my genetics such a bitch?"
Everyone performed a double take at the curse; but Finn's own response was because of the despairing way that the question was posed rather than from simple shock. The teacher looked over at the quarterback briefly and the young man understood from the barest hint of fangs in the other man's mouth exactly what the 'crimson addiction' was. Mr. Schuester plucked at the guitar strings methodically; the calmness of his movements a noticeable contrast to his voice; and his posture strengthened as the song became more bitter and angry.
"It's this blood condition.
Damn this blood condition!
Kantaisa can you hear me?
Thanks for the disease!
Now I am sequestered,
Part of the collection.
That's what is expected when you are infected."
Finn turned away from the teacher's performance, partly overwhelmed by the controlled anger rising from the vampire in waves and partly curious to see his friends' reactions. The club appeared to be getting over their shock at the unexpectedly dark tone of their pleasant teacher's song and a few people had started tapping a foot to the beat or bouncing in their seat, but the necromancer could see no trace of understanding in any of them.
"How much of it's genetics?
How much of it is fate?
How much of it depends on the choices that we make?
Now I have your eyes, do I also inherit your shame?
Is there a culprit, a remedy...
Can I stop this, or am I a slave?"
The long last note stretched and then faded to an instrumental interlude, the vampire's face turned towards the neck of the guitar, watching his fingers for the chord changes and strumming away.
"I'm infected, by your affliction.
I'm infected, with crimson addiction.
What hope for a boy who is sick?
My dream of a life past this fence.
It really makes no difference.
'Cause I know that I'll never be fixed."
The song hit its climax and broke abruptly, a resonating note ringing out as the teacher looked out to his audience with a haunted veneer of reluctant acceptance on his face. Finn felt a tight pinch in his throat and swallowed past it uncomfortably, blinking back the tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes.
"Oh, I want to go outside.
Outside."
The music stopped completely with those last melancholic lyrics and Finn coughed to mask the discomfort he was feeling, hoping that nobody noticed him scrubbing the traces of dampness from his face.
"So, what do you think?" Mr. Schuester asked, the pain, anger and misery of his performance suddenly evaporating from him and leaving behind a smug charm.
The quarterback took a second to try and correlate his mixed thoughts and emotions enough to think about what he might say, but knew from the sound of a chair scraping backwards on the floor beside him that even with a mind as sharp as a tikari29 he wouldn't have time to speak before Rachel had her say, "Mr. Schuester." She stood upright and a little in front of the group, in her own mind a representative of the collective; an opinion that nobody seemed to share, "It was really good." Her stern expression broke into an approving smile.
"It was," Mercedes agreed, more to get her own opinion across than to support Rachel's, "I thought you were all show tunes and white boy rap, then you come out with some soul."
"Mr. Schuester." Brittany raised her hand, "Are you sick?"
The teacher blinked confusedly, "What? No."
"The song made it sound like you were sick," She mumbled, slowly lowering her hand to play with her hair.
"This assignment is about choosing a song that sends a different message," The teacher explained, "Showing off a different side to yourself."
"It was more than a side," Tina opined, "It was like, edges; lots of edges. Edgy," She grinned and ducked her head.
"Now I need you all to do the same," He instructed, "Find something new, and edgy..." He gestured to Tina with an approving smile, "...to push the boundaries. Now, let's make a start on the Phantom number."
29 Dagger.
Burt took command on the kitchen that evening, serving up trout and slightly lumpy perunamuusi30; he regaled them all with his opinions on the superior taste of fish that had been caught personally by the cook and apologized for the fact that they were making do with store bought, as he carried serving dishes of sliced carrots and turnips through to the dining room, but Finn was overly preoccupied by his thoughts and so only paid slight attention.
30 Mashed potatoes.
His mind was still stuck on Will. When practice came to an end, the teacher had bid them all goodbye fondly and wished them a pleasant siirtyminen31 but Finn had sensed that there was something not quite right with the older man. As he waited behind to collect his suet he'd casually inquired as to the vampire's mood and received a swift dismissal that only deepened his concern. For a man who had spent more than half of his life hiding his true nature from people, a simple thing like hiding his emotions would be child's play and yet in that brief burst of musical expression the necromancer felt that he'd gotten a glimpse of Will's true face, as much so as he had the night the vampire bared his fangs in his apartment. Now that he had seen beneath the disguise the young man assured himself that he wouldn't be fooled in the future and resolved to talk to the other man that night.
31 The weekend during which one month ends and a new one begins.
"Finn?" The young man broke out of his deep thoughts when he realized that his mom was watching him with concern, "Are you okay?"
"Huh? Wh- Yeah, I'm fine." He dropped his gaze to his plate and cut into his fish distractedly, "Just thinking."
"You seemed pretty far away," Burt remarked casually, "Anything you wanna talk to us about?"
"Just school stuff," He lied reflexively.
The parents exchanged a worried look and Carole set down her knife and fork before turning to face her son, "You know that you can talk to us about anything, right?"
The necromancer took a moment to wonder what her reaction would be if he answered honestly; my Spanish teacher is a vampire and he's teaching me how to reanimate the dead so that we can learn the identity of a killer from their murder victims and hunt him down, that's cool right?; the concept was amusing, but for obvious reasons he chose to lie again, "It's just this assignment for Glee club. We're supposed to find something that's different to what we normally perform and I was just trying to think of something."
"Oh." He didn't miss the relief in his mom's expression, "Well what have you thought of so far?"
There was a heavy pause as the young man tried to think of something rapidly, but he was saved from having to reinforce his lie by Kurt, "I suggested Judy." Finn blinked in confusion, his face betraying his lack of understanding; but both adults seemed to immediately comprehend who Kurt was referring to.
"That would be a good one," Carole chuckled.
"So how about you?" Burt turned to his son.
"I'm thinking of something by Pink," Kurt replied thoughtfully.
"You're singing a song by a color?" Finn questioned.
The other teenager gave a woeful sigh, "Pink is a punk-pop star who started out among the same generation as Britney Spears and while at the time she was seen as much more edgy, she is; ironically; now far more stable than our beloved batch of rehab junkies."
"I still think you should try singing a dude's song," Finn answered.
"Sure, forget Pink; I'll sing 'Pink Houses' again," Kurt replied sardonically.
"No!" He exclaimed instantly, "No, the punk-chick thing sounds good." He looked back down at his food while the two adults started snickering at their exchange.
While the creation myth still had no significant bearing on Finn, he had to confess that the vampire had been right in one detail; he was truly beginning to feel at home in the midnight world. The deep blue-black of the sky, the pinpoint lights of the stars and the petrified goddess herself hung majestically over the world and when he looked up at it, he felt the small shiver of awe and delight that made small children aspire to be astronauts. Down on the ground too, the night was a beautiful sight to behold; the dimmed palette of the world gave a glamor to the leaves and a sheen to the sidewalk that wasn't present during the day.
With the night's seduction commanding his eye, Finn failed to notice the car waiting at the end of the street until the vampire called out to him. Visibly startled by the unexpected voice, he tried to pass off his alarmed lurch as a shiver from the cold and turned back towards the voice. The vampire was lounging in the driver's seat with the window rolled down and an amused expression on his face.
"Hey Will." He backtracked until he was stood beside the car, "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet at the cemetery like normal."
"I have an errand I need to run first," The vampire explained, "It'll take a couple of hours so I thought you should tag along."
"Okay." Shrugging his acceptance and crossing to the passenger side, the young man shirked off the ingrained warning of 'stranger danger' that continued to follow him even now that he was all grown up and got into the car.
"Here," The older man collected a plain-looking notepad from the glove compartment and handed it to Finn as he buckled himself in.
"What is it?" The necromancer queried.
"I told you I'd write the full set of tenets for you," Will answered with a small smile, "Hopefully you'll actually read it, unlike the homework I set you last month."
The student grimaced and stopped thumbing through the pages, "I'm nearly done with that." The older man answered the assurance with an affectionate smile, shaking his head disbelievingly and starting up the car.
Finn meekly returned his attention to the notepad; the first page outlined the five earliest tenets that he was already familiar with, in the original language but also with English and Spanish translations provided.
"I put the Spanish in so that if anyone finds it they'll assume it's schoolwork," Will explained, seeming to sense the question that the other man was about to ask.
"Cool," The young man remarked, impressed by the show of ingenuity. Flipping casually through the pages he stopped when he reached a page with a header entitled 'Necromancers'. 'Aave aari inhottava'32, 'kuollut pitaisi nukkua rauhallinen'33, 'Vaki hallita kunnioitus'34, with dozens more on the following pages, "Does everyone have their own set of tenets to obey?"
"Each group within the sides was given more specified rules to follow, yes," The teacher answered.
Curious, Finn turned the pages until he found the tenets that vampires were expected to obey and read through some of them; 'Kyllin henki jotta elaa, ei enaa'35, 'ala kayttaa vaarin Thrall'36. He snapped the notepad closed with a pang of unease, the booklet seemed to be full of unjustified rules and reading them was frustrating.
"You okay?" Will inquired.
"Yeah," The young man sighed, throwing the notepad down on the dashboard and shifting in his seat to find a more comfortable position.
32 'Phantoms are abominations'.
33 'The dead should sleep peacefully'.
34 'Vaki should be respected'.
35 'Take enough henki to live, no more'.
36 'Do not misuse the power of a Thrall'.
Looking out of the window at the passing scenery Finn realized that they seemed to be heading out of town and felt the need to ask, "Where are we going anyway?"
"The Ottawa," The vampire answered, drumming his fingers on the wheel.
The student frowned at the reply and took a moment to reconsider the view, seeking a familiar landmark by which to orient himself and so calculate their proximity to the river, "Couldn't we just pull over here?"
"It'd be better to find a place where we'll be less conspicuous," Will answered.
The necromancer felt a flush creep over his cheeks as he thought of Puck's many tales of trips to the river's edge with a girl and the risque activity they got up to there, "What do you need to do down at the river?" He asked, shifting guiltily in his seat as he tried hard to stop the spread of blood to his groin that the memory of his friend's stories had started with the use of some less stimulating thoughts.
"I'll show you when we get there," The older man promised, turning away from the road to give a roguish wink.
Finn suddenly found the image in his mind melting away, a new one replacing it: Will at the river's edge, with his shirt hanging open and his jeans around his knees as he pounded hard into the dripping pussy of some wanton slut who was crying his name to Akka above. He immediately felt his conscious mind recoil from the image like something deadly; the exact same disturbing brand of brain melting horror that came to all teenagers with the revelation that their parents have sex; and yet something in his subconscious demanded he toe the dangerous depths and reconsider. Will Schuester was his teacher, but he was also a guy with all the urges and hormones that came with it; and while he had this whole chivalrous knight thing going on it wasn't very likely that his anatomy resembled that of a Ken doll.
"Finn, what's wrong?" The teacher turned away from the road again to give the young man a worried stare.
"N-Nothing," The necromancer spluttered, mortified by the idea of telling the older man that he'd just been considering the contents of his underwear. He tried to pack away his thoughts; compress them down and put them back in the box; but like an optical illusion, he had seen a different side of his teacher and now he couldn't look at the man without seeing the shadow of it within the larger whole. An idle thought meandered past as he struggled to accept this new facet, that he had been adjusting his view of his teacher quite a lot recently; though utterly innocuous in and of itself, it was that casual thought that reminded Finn of his earlier observations in the music room and provided him with a method of distraction, "How about you?"
"Huh?" Will replied inattentively.
The young man realized the space of time that had passed while he'd been thinking and so clarified his query, "Are you okay?"
The vampire turned slightly; a speculative light in his eyes; but after a mere glimpse at his traveling companion, the older man returned his gaze to the road, "Of course."
"It's just, after your song at rehearsal today..." He trailed off pointedly, leaving the conversation open for the vampire to explain himself or avoid the topic, whichever course of action he preferred to take.
Will exhaled; long and slow; and removed a hand from the wheel to rub at the back of his neck tiredly, "I should have known you'd see through it," He remarked with an appreciative smile. Exhaling again and drumming both hands on the steering wheel to psyche himself up, the older man stared steadfastly forward while he spoke, "I didn't have the easiest transition into vampirism. I was scared and pissed off, but I was trying to hide from it all so I buried everything I was feeling deep down inside. It took me a long time to accept what I am and although I'm not ashamed of it anymore, I think I'll always have that anger inside me."
"I think I understand," Finn replied after a few moments thought, "It must be hard."
"Not really," The older man answered, "It's not something that I think about all that much."
"That... that doesn't sound healthy," The necromancer critiqued.
"It's not," The teacher assured bluntly, but before the younger man could find a way to respond the car was slowing to a stop on the side of the road.
"So what exactly does that thing do?" The student inquired as he watched the older man hooking a saucepan on the end of a long pole.
"It scoops up the water," Will explained, as if the answer should be obvious and demonstrated by extending the pole over the river and dunking the end underneath the flow; slowly pulling it back a moment later and pouring the gathered water into a separate container.
Finn watched the maneuver expectantly, then looked back to the pole again when it was finished, "So why does it do it?" He asked confused.
"I need the water," The vampire replied, annoyingly refusing to elaborate upon the reason why.
"Do you need to take it one cupful at a time with the most impractical tool ever?" The young man challenged as he watched half the contents of the pan splash back into the river as the teacher pulled it back towards land, "Can't you just scoop it up with a bucket or something?"
"Vampires can't cross running water," Will answered, adding the remaining water in the pan to the trickle at the bottom of the container.
"Wait, so the movies got the part about sunlight wrong, but the running water thing is true?" Finn questioned, confounded by that conclusion.
"The sunlight thing was exaggerated," The vampire answered, "The early legends accurately said that we're weakened and injured by sunlight, but can survive it. As for not being able to cross running water, that comes down to Ensiksi."
"Ensiksi?"
"The first vampire," The teacher elaborated, "The legend goes that her itse fell into the Tuoni river and was washed ashore on earth; returned to her body; but all rivers flow towards Tuonela37, so any vampire that crosses running water will have their itse plucked from their body and dragged to the city of the dead by the current."
The necromancer observed the distance that the other man was standing from the water's edge, "That's not true though, right?" He asked hesitantly.
"I don't know, but I'd rather not risk it," The vampire replied with a charming smile, pouring the next load of water into the bucket.
Finn looked down at the inch of water in the bottom, "Maybe I should do it, I mean it'll take all night at this rate and it's not like my itse will be sucked out of my body, right?"
"You can't," Will dismissed calmly, "I have to get the water myself."
The younger man pouted slightly, "Why?"
"Just trust me, it's important that I do this on my own."
"Okay," The student answered, taking the older man's stubborn insistence at face value and settling in for a long wait.
37 The land of the dead.
The vampire was deeply immersed in his work; focused on carefully balancing the heavy saucepan each time he was retrieving it so as to spill as little as possible; which didn't provide Finn with much to distract him. He briefly considered asking for the keys to the car so that he could collect the notepad he'd left on the dashboard, but reading through the dusty old rules by the faint light of the moon didn't appeal to him all that much and so he concluded that he'd be alone with his thoughts.
Alone with thoughts that felt like strangers inside his own head, he amended mere moments later as he found himself watching the denim of the teacher's jeans cling obscenely to his backside when he leaned out over the water with the pole. The warmth in Finn's belly flared up and stretched out comfortably like a cat in a sunbeam, settling in to stay for a while and an odd tightness formed in his chest, squeezing his lungs gently with each inhale. He turned his head sharply away and forced his mind to go blank, watching the steady rise of his breath in the cold night air.
"If you did get taken to Tuonela, I'd bring you back," The necromancer declared after a few minutes quiet consideration.
Will turned away from the river, searching the younger man's expression curiously, "Like Lemminkainen38?" He suggested.
"Exactly," Finn agreed earnestly, "I couldn't just abandon you. You're my kumppani39."
"Kumppani?" The vampire repeated. The student felt a wave of embarrassment over the intimate interpretations of the word that he hadn't considered, but the teacher's surprised expression quickly softened into a pleased grin, "I like that."
38 A hero who, among other great exploits, traveled to Tuonela to rescue the soul of his deceased wife.
39 Partner, most commonly used in a business sense but can also refer to romantic partners.
Once Will had filled the container with water from the river he sealed the lid tightly and carried it up to the car, loading it into the trunk alongside the pole.
"So are you going to tell me what it's for now?" Finn questioned.
"It's the prime reagent for a spell," The vampire answered as he unlocked the doors to the car and they both climbed in, "Luontu is a conscious force and so I had to fetch the water myself or else it wouldn't deem me worthy of the spell."
"So that's why I had to get the branch from Maija's back yard?" The young man assumed.
"Yes."
"So what spell are you asking her to cast?"
"I visit Maija once a week and have her transform some water into blood for me," The teacher answered, "Or actually, a blood substitute. It sustains me just fine for a while, but I have to drink human blood at least once a month as well. She can't quite figure out what's wrong with the spell, but only having to drink once a month is better than several times a week."
"This may seem like a stupid question but, couldn't you save a lot of time by getting water from the kitchen sink?" The necromancer suggested.
The older man shook his head regretfully, "Luontu is a force of nature, it works best transforming natural materials. Tap water is filtered to remove impurities and has fluoride and other minerals added."
Finn paused to consider it, "I guess that makes sense. Still, she can turn water into blood... that's like, the sorceresses in the Kalevala."
The vampire snorted with amusement, "I'm sure she'd appreciate you saying so."
"Yeah, well; I'll believe it when I see it," He retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and sinking lower in his seat.
Unlike their previous visit to the witch's house, Maija seemed to be expecting them. She was dressed for a start; in a myrtle-green sweater and tan slacks, with her hair neatly combed and pushed back with a hairband; and she greeted them pleasantly rather than with exhausted frustration, "Keskiyo. You're here for more juice?"
Will nodded and gestured to the container of river water that Finn had insisted upon carrying, "I've got the reagent."
The woman looked across to the younger man, "I guess you're good for something after all." The necromancer frowned at the comment, unsure of whether he should be insulted or not, but before he could make up his mind the woman was standing to one side to invite them in.
She led them through to the kitchen and directed the necromancer to set the container down on the counter, shooing him out of the way once he'd done so. The student took a seat at the dining table beside the older man and watched the witch's activity with interest; she wandered around the kitchen, casually humming as she collected a few extra ingredients from her cabinets and set them down on the counter.
"How long is this gonna take?" The younger man whispered.
"Not too long," Will whispered in reply, "But you shouldn't rush Maija or she'll get mad."
Finn turned his attention back to the woman in time to see her summon a small flame from thin air to light the range with, he blinked in surprise at the first show of magic he had seen and felt an impressed smile creep onto his face, "Cool."
The woman left the fire to build and collected a large black pot that resembled a cauldron; setting it atop the range to collect the radiant heat; then turned back to the container of river water they had brought with them. Flipping the latches to unseal the lid, she filled a jug and poured the water into the cauldron; refilling the jug several times before she was satisfied. Picking up a yellow, waxy block she dropped it into the steadily boiling water and then stepped back slightly.
"Is she... singing?" The necromancer asked, straining his ears to try and catch the words. But as much as he tried, the sound was unintelligible; he got the feeling that the words were familiar rather than unrecognizable but the quality of her tone was poor, like the faint crackling of a poorly tuned radio.
"Luotes," The vampire answered, "The stolen spell words of Antero Vipunen and the gift received by all witches. Nobody but a witch can comprehend or use them."
"They sound really pretty," Finn remarked, which was a strange conclusion but one that he couldn't deny. Maija's voice held none of the refined skill that Rachel was so proud of, or the soulful power of Mercedes' vocal runs, but there was a mystical beauty in the obfuscated words that resonated in the young man's heart.
The pair watched quietly and with great patience as the witch's spell song continued and she added more water and reagents to the concoction; sprigs of lavender, birch bark, dried herbs and more of the waxy blocks. As steam began to rise into the air and the tang of copper and sweet honey filled the room, Finn recognized the golden blocks as honey and realized where Will's unique scent came from.
Before he could comment, a quiet voice sounded from the doorway to the lounge, "Aseveli140?" Turning to look, Finn saw that a young girl with sepia-tone eyes and sandy-blond hair was peering round the door frame with the believed-subterfuge of youth.
The vampire smiled indulgently at her and gave a small wave, "Hello Vivi." The girl beamed at the acknowledgment and skipped into the room cheerily, clambering up onto a chair directly opposite them and sitting with her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands.
"Vivian Orunitia, you go back to bed this instant," The girl's mother commanded, not turning away from the pot she was stirring.
"But mo-om," Vivian whined, spinning around to face the kitchen and pout, crossing her arms and letting her whole posture deflate with a huff, "I can't sleep, I had a nightmare."
Maija exhaled calmly, then pushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, "If I let you stay up, you have to promise to go to bed when your Uncle Will leaves, okay?"
"Okay," The young girl agreed instantly, spinning back round on the chair cheerfully and stopping when her gaze landed on Finn, "Who are you?" She bluntly demanded.
"My name is Finn," He answered politely, uncertain how to behave since he didn't have much interaction with young children.
"Are you aseveli too?" She demanded, her bright brown eyes wide with inquisitive interest.
Not recognizing the term, the young man stayed silent until the vampire intervened, "Yes he is, Vivi. He's my kumppani." Finn felt a flicker of delight when he heard the older man address him that way for the first time.
Vivi seemed equally awed to hear it, "You must be really, really cool."
"Um, thank you," The necromancer answered uncertainly, oddly amused by the girl's intense sincerity.
40 Brother-in-arms, a term dating from the times when the two sides were still at war, in more modern times the word is used as a respectful form of address.
While the witch in the kitchen continued to weave life energy into the pot with her song, her young daughter at the table joined in with the melody; humming tunelessly and swaying in her seat. The girl continued with her absent-minded tune for several minutes, then seemed to become more focused as she suddenly leaned across the table, "Uncle Will?"
The older man answered the call readily, leaning close to hear her whispered words, "Yes?"
"Is mom making magic?" Vivian asked, twitching her head to both sides conspiratorially.
Will nodded, cupping a hand to his mouth to mimic her attempts at secrecy as he answered, "She's making a really big spell."
The young girl's eyes lit up with excitement and she turned towards the kitchen again, "Mom, can-"
"Unless you're picked by Naisen41 herself, you are not casting a single spell under this roof," The witch cut across instantly, her tone filled with the practiced finality that could only come from repetitions of the same argument.
Vivian fell back across the table dejectedly, resting her chin on her hands and bitterly mumbling, "I'd be a really good witch if you'd just give me a chance."
"You would," The teacher supported her instantly, "The best."
The girl sat up quickly, "You mean it?" She asked suspiciously.
"It's the honest truth," He replied, his tone and face both sincere, "You'd be a little firecracker."
Her face lit up with pride, but also a tinge of embarrassment. She ducked her head and sat on her hands; starting to swing her legs and hum her tune again. Finn watched the short exchange and observed how comfortable the other man seemed, instantly sure from what he had seen that Will would make an excellent father and felt a latent pang of empathic regret for the way Quinn's baby drama and Will's divorce had screwed things up so badly.
41 The ancestor of all witches.
Finn relaxed into the conversation as the young girl babbled away cheerfully, moving freely from discussing her upcoming birthday; eighteen days away; to the local history project her class was working on and onto her opinions of a morning cartoon show; the name of which the young man didn't recognize. She was chatty, enthusiastic and he found that it was rather easy to talk to her once he'd given it a try.
"The spell is done," Maija announced, interrupting a philosophical discussion of whether a cupcake without icing was truly a cupcake.
"Great, thanks," Will replied, standing up and making his way into the kitchen to help her transfer the blood into bottles.
The girl turned and watched the two adults, her face calculating as she chewed her lower lip. When the vampire returned with the filled bottles, she looked up at her mother sweetly, "Mommy, can we have some hot cocoa?"
Finn didn't know much about children, but he knew enough to recognize the manipulative ploy for what it was and from the look on Maija's face, the mother knew it too; "Hot cocoa sounds good actually," He spoke up.
The young man tried to emulate the girl's innocent act as Will explored his face, the vampire smiled softly and turned to face his friend, "Would you mind sparing a cup for us?"
The witch rolled her eyes, "Take those out to the car, I'll heat up some milk."
The teacher picked up the blood bottles and looked between the two still seated at the table, an accusatory stare leveled at Finn, "Enabler." The necromancer met the stare openly, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. Will snorted with amusement and turned to take the bottles out to the car.
"I was right," Vivi whispered across the table with a big smile, "You are really, really cool."
"Hey, it was teamwork," The young man assured, holding out a hand for a high-five which the girl energetically met with more force than he'd have expected from a nine-year-old.
"You must be a good friend to Uncle Will," She thought aloud, "He doesn't smell lonely anymore."
The necromancer frowned at the strange sentiment and was about to question it when Maija asked how many spoonfuls of sugar they wanted in their drink, by the time they had replied Will had returned and the young man didn't think it would be a good idea to ask the question in front of the vampire.
The bottles were molded plastic and held exactly a pint of liquid each. They were transparent so the ruby liquid inside was clearly visible, slightly darker than actual blood.
"So this is like Tru Blood?" The necromancer asked curiously, inspecting the batch in the box he was carrying up to the vampire's apartment, "Synthetic but full of bloody goodness?"
"You watch that show?" Will asked, surprised.
"I live with Kurt now." Finn shrugged.
The teacher seemed to accept that answer, "Like I said, it sustains me; but unlike Tru Blood I can't live off it alone. I still need human blood sometimes."
"Like, tonight maybe?" The young man prompted as they reached the door and the vampire pulled his key from his pocket.
"What are you trying to say?" Will asked, pausing with the key in the lock to turn a curious eye to the other man.
The necromancer breathed in steadily, the warm familiar apple-honey fragrance reaching his nostrils; but without the personal undercurrent of his own scent that he had grown used to, "I was just thinking that if you need real blood, my offer still stands."
The teacher turned back to the door, but not before Finn recognized the green spark of interest in his eyes, "That's very kind of you, but I should be fine for now."
Following him into the apartment, the young man carried the box through to the kitchen and helped Will transfer the bottles to the refrigerator. The student hadn't been in the apartment since the night he'd learned the vampire's secret and the memories of that night flooded him; the feel of the other man's body against his own, fangs ghosting across his neck and the mixture of dread and anticipation warring for dominance inside him.
"You told me that you could sense where I was because you drank my blood," He recalled once the refrigerator was stocked, "But that it would only last five or six days."
"Yes," The older man confirmed, "So?"
Finn caught the other man's arm as he tried to retreat and pulled him close, as close as they had been that first night, "If we're going to be kumppani then it'd be useful for you to be able to find me when you need to," The younger man insisted, reaching up with his spare hand to pull aside his collar.
Cool fingertips traced his exposed neck and the vampire's fangs unveiled themselves on instinct, "I shouldn't," Will mumbled, even though his eyes were filled with jade green yearning.
"I want you to," The necromancer insisted.
The two men stood, almost embracing in the tiny kitchen for several silent moments; testing the others' will until the older man finally nodded, "Okay." Stepping away, he took a few slow breaths to compose himself, "Not here."
Finn compliantly followed the vampire through to the lounge with a mixture of anxiety and expectation, taking a seat on the couch when he was directed to and looking up at the older man with subdued ebullience.
"Just wait here a moment," Will instructed, backing out of the room and leaving the young man alone with the magma pit in his gut.
The necromancer took a few heavy breaths to calm his nerves and sank lower on the couch, letting his head fall back and his eyes fall closed. A quiet voice in the back of the young man's mind chose that moment to speak up, questioning his reasons to willingly let the vampire drink from him. Finn couldn't find a rational explanation for his choice, but he was absolutely certain that if their places were changed that Will wouldn't pause in offering to help him.
"Finn?" The teacher spoke and the young man felt the shift in the couch as the other man sat down beside him.
Opening his eyes, the student turned to look at the other man and smiled reassuringly, "So how are we gonna do this?" He asked, sitting up straighter.
"Well, to start you have to take off your pants," Will answered.
The necromancer choked on his startled inhale, "I h-have to w-what?"
"My fangs will leave a visible scar that will take several days to heal," The vampire explained calmly, seemingly unconcerned by the risque nature of his request, "I should bite you somewhere that you can easily conceal with your clothing for the next few days. The thigh is a sensible place."
"Okay," Finn answered, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible but also aware that his cheeks felt as like they were going to ignite at any moment. Hunching over to hide his face, he unlaced his sneakers slowly so that he could take several steadying breaths and then kicked the shoes off. Standing up, he fumbled open his belt and fly with clumsy, shaking fingers and pushed his jeans down; bunching them up and dropping them beside his shoes; he then sank back down onto the couch.
"I'm going to put you under a Thrall," The older man continued his explanation of the procedure, his calm demeanor helping to reduce some of Finn's uneasiness, "It's sort of like hypnotism and it'll act as an anesthetic during the bite."
"Okay," The young man repeated, thankful that he sounded less shaky than before.
Will shifted on the couch beside him, standing upright and then leaning down over the necromancer with his hands resting comfortably on Finn's broad shoulders. The younger man's mind flashed back to the pornographic image of his teacher; the vampire leaning down over the filthy whore with her legs spread on the hood of the car, his hard cock still thrusting into her wildly as he pressed bruising kisses to her slender throat; and he whimpered slightly with the thought, his eyes fluttering shut and his teeth grinding together as he felt the warmth of arousal settle into his groin.
"Look at me Finn," The teacher coaxed, his fingertips tracing the young man's tense face softly until he opened his eyes. Jade green filled the necromancer's vision and at once the tension in him eased slightly, "Just look into my eyes and don't fight it."
Finn felt the hands on his face and shoulder slip away and the colors of the room started to blend together like oil paints on a palette, becoming a swirling indistinct mass. Will slipped down and knelt on the floor between the dazed young man's open legs, one hand rubbing soothing circles on the inside of his thigh. The necromancer looked down into the infinite green eyes of the older man, a vague thought surfacing in the back of his mind; something he should be worried about; but a heavy blanket of contentment was settling over him and the warning voice was soon muffled.
The Kesa42 sun sent warm rays down onto a rich, green turf that was slightly yellowed from the prolonged Tuusan daylight. Finn walked along, holding on to the wrinkled hand of his silver-haired grandfather as they made their way towards a tall, white marble structure that reflected the hot sun like a lighthouse beacon. His grandfather read the message inscribed over the entrance archway and took him inside to show him where the name Christopher Hudson was in the lengthy list, Finn pressed a hand to the cold stone wall over the engraved name and tried to feel close to the father he had never known. Out in the sun some time later his grandfather talked to him about love and family while he chased the melting rivulets of his ice cream cone with an eager tongue, half listening to the speech and half distracted by his childish task.
42 Summer.
On the couch in Will's lounge with the older man placing two band-aids to the puncture wounds on his thigh. The darkness of the night was a sharp contrast to the bright memory and Finn blinked repeatedly, trying to adjust. As reality returned, so too did the nagging thought that had been pleading for his attention as he'd slipped under the vampire's Thrall; he was half-hard inside his skimpy Batman boxers and the older man's face was less than a foot from his crotch. The young man cringed, an icy panic steeling over his heart and spreading through his veins.
"There." Will smoothed the second band-aid down and turned aside to close the first-aid kit lying open on the couch beside them. He sounded as placid as he had before and so the younger man concluded gratefully that the other man hadn't noticed his state of arousal. Standing up quickly and pulling on his jeans again, Finn felt a little more comfortable that the clothing status-quo had been returned, "What did you see?"
The young man stiffened at the question, pausing in pulling on his sneakers; suddenly afraid that the older man had indeed noticed and was trying to casually drop the subject into their conversation, "What?"
"A Thrall is a little hallucinogenic," The vampire elaborated, "I'm just curious about what you saw. You don't have to tell me."
The young man breathed out his relief steadily and finished knotting his shoelaces before he sat back up and answered the question honestly, "I was with my grandpa, the kesa before he died." He smiled dolefully at the memory, with the detachment of the Thrall lifted he felt the old sting of loss when he thought about the man.
Will returned the smile sympathetically and stood up, working the tension out of his body, "You should probably go home and rest."
The necromancer looked up sharply, "What about the cemetery?"
"I don't think you should train tonight, not after you've lost blood. We should wait until tomorrow night when your henki has had a chance to replenish," The older man advised.
"Okay," Finn accepted the suggestion. He could feel the storm of emotions from the night fluttering in preparation to take to the winds and so the concept of heading home and falling into blissful unconsciousness appealed to him much more at that moment than the concept of training.
Will stopped the young man in the doorway, handing him a block of suet, "So tomorrow night in the cemetery like normal?"
"Sure, sounds good," The necromancer agreed, tucking the suet into his jacket pocket without meeting the older man's eye.
"Finn, is everything okay?" The teacher asked with obvious concern.
The student condensed everything he was feeling into a ball and pushed it as deep into himself as he could manage, "I'm fine," He insisted, "Goodnight, Will."
"Okay," The vampire replied solicitously as the younger man left the apartment, "Goodnight." Finn smiled over his shoulder as the older man closed the door behind him, then let the forced expression slip from his face.
Will sat on the edge of the bed; the unfamiliar bed in the unfamiliar room that still didn't feel like his own; and the man's eyes glowed with desire.
"So how are we gonna do this?" Finn questioned, stood before the older man and feeling bare and open.
"Well, to start you have to take off your pants," The vampire declared with a wicked grin, rising from the bed and dragging the zipper of the younger man's pants down. Finn moaned in delight as a daring hand pushed the material down off his hips and grasped the hard flesh of his eager cock. The hand on his erection was firm, but the kisses on his neck were feather soft caresses, "I want to taste you," The older man whispered, his voice filled with sexual craving and his lips pink and soft.
Finn woke abruptly with a headache, a sheen of fine sweat coating his skin and the instantly recognizable sensation of a sticky warmth in his underwear. It was still several hours until sunrise, but the feeling of his own come sticking to him was enough motivation to get up. The stained boxer shorts went into the laundry hamper, along with a wash cloth that he used to clean himself off. He redressed in a pair of pajama pants, then fell back into bed and huddled under the covers. Snippets of the dream returned to his hazy mind but he ignored them bluntly, turning to face the pillow and groaning wearily into it as he waited for sleep to claim him once more.
The weekend passed into Kurpitsa which meant a return to school. Finn continued to struggle with accepting both sides of his new life, trying to keep up a passable GPA in school and make good progress with his necromancer training; but it seemed that every time he'd started to accept the latest change a new revelation would come along to divide his focus even more. He couldn't look at Will without his mind flashing back; to the feel of the vampire's body anchoring him during his first trip into the Myst, the image of the pornographic fantasy man at the edge of the Ottawa, the dream-like feel of soft lips and firm fingers; and the older man had noticed his distraction, calling him on it in class and while he was trying to teach him to channel gray energy.
The young man was trying hard to work his way past the problem; he hadn't dreamed of the vampire again and the more he considered the filthy mental image of a couple fucking on the hood of a car, the more the man began to resemble his vulgar best friend rather than his good mannered teacher; but as he fell into bed in the early hours of Lemminday morning after an exhausting session in the cemetery, Finn couldn't help but cynically conclude that; in keeping with the current trend; something would appear soon to scramble his brains even further.
By his fifth period Spanish class that day Finn had lost count of the number of people who'd asked him if he was alright. His mom had started things off at breakfast that morning by commenting on his ghostly countenance and demanding to know if he was feeling sick while she held a hand to his forehead maternally. He'd managed to convince her of his health and set off for school, only to be confronted by Rachel at his locker before homeroom, the young woman expressing a similar opinion of his appearance and recommending high doses of vitamin C for the rest of the cold season. Since then he'd been told by friends, acquaintances and teachers that he looked ill and had simply run out of energy to lie. The words "I'm fine" had started to seem strange and alien, losing all meaning with the number of times he'd spoken them reflexively.
He didn't know the words to answer honestly. Couldn't think how he could describe the clammy chill inside him or the tight invisible fist that had grabbed him and was squeezing his stomach into a nauseous ball.
He was startled from his daze by a hand knocking loudly on the desk in front of him. He looked up into the speculative eyes of his teacher, belatedly recognizing the flurry of movement around him and realizing that the bell had rung while he was distracted.
"Sorry Mr. Schue, I guess I zoned out," He apologized, reaching down to pick up his backpack.
The older man sat down on the desk in front of Finn's, folding his arms and frowning with obvious worry, "No, you've been spacing out recently but this is something more. What's wrong?"
The student paused in putting away his things, watching the last of the class wander out the door; leaving them alone in the classroom, "I don't know," He answered honestly, "I woke up this morning and something just felt... wrong."
The vampire nodded thoughtfully and let his arms drop, tapping a rhythm against his leg distractedly while he looked with unseeing eyes towards a Spanish grammar poster, "I can't make it to Glee practice today; something's come up."
"Something?" Finn repeated, prompting an explanation.
"Get word to everyone that rehearsal's off," The teacher instructed, pointedly ignoring the opening in the conversation where he could elaborate, "Then meet me in the parking lot."
"But what is-"
"You should get to your next class," The older man cut across, standing up and walking back over to his desk. Collecting a block of suet from his bag, he passed it across to the necromancer, "Take this with you."
The student looked down at the bar warily, "For later?" He questioned, anticipating the answer with a sense of dread.
"Eat it now," The vampire asserted, "I'll see you later, Finn."
The young man nodded his reply and walked out of the classroom, the choking hold on his internal organs getting even tighter as he wondered what had happened. As much as the new world he'd stumbled into recently confused him at times, he understood with total clarity that whatever it was had to be bad news.
"This is horribly unfair!" Rachel declared, caught somewhere between distress and determination in the emotional spectrum.
"It's certainly a little sudden," Kurt agreed lackadaisically, adjusting the angle of his hat in the mirror inside his locker, "Did Mr. Schuester explain why?"
Finn shrugged, clueless, "He just said something came up."
"Do you know something?" Rachel stared intensely up at the taller man. Finn was idly glad of the fact that she didn't have a gun, because her current demeanor had 'shoot the messenger' written all over it.
"Honestly, I don't know what's going on," He insisted.
"You've been acting weird all day," She replied skeptically, "Then suddenly Mr. Schuester decides to cancel rehearsal right after your class with him. Is something going on? Is it Vocal Adrenaline? Because if it is, as your fellow co-captain I think I should be entitled to know."
Kurt slammed his locker with a sharp, satisfying clang, "I'm sorry for the fact that we'll all have to wait until the end of the week to hear the version of Mimi's arias you haven't stopped talking about since Ajatarday," He told Rachel, insincerity dripping from his tongue like treacle, "But unfortunately we need to get to biology, so we'll see you later." The young man smiled winningly and grabbed Finn's arm, dragging him down the hall. The necromancer glanced over his shoulder and smiled apologetically at the young woman's stormy expression.
"That was rude," Finn playfully chided once they were around the corner.
"That was a clean getaway," Kurt corrected, smoothly letting go of the taller man without pausing in his step.
Finn liked biology class because they were spending the semester studying ecology, which meant they were allowed to ask questions about who would win in a fight between a gorilla and a lion, and watching the discovery channel counted as homework. Even the boring parts weren't particularly difficult, though he did still tend to get confused by the difference between an environment and a habitat. As much as he enjoyed the class, when the bell rang to signal the end of the day he was as unenlightened as he'd been before he went in, having spent yet another lesson that day too distracted to focus.
"Don't worry," Kurt assured as he observed the blank look on his friend's face, "You can borrow my notes."
Finn smiled with relief, "Thanks."
"No problem," Kurt assured, swinging his backpack over his shoulder, "You need a ride home today?"
The necromancer turned his thoughts to the instructions he'd been given and shook his head, "I've got a thing," He explained vaguely, gesturing over his shoulder as though the unnamed task was looming behind him.
"Well Tina, Mercedes and myself are taking advantage of this rare break in our busy schedules to hit the mall, if you finish your thing before five you're more than welcome to join us," Kurt offered, "If not, then I shall see you at dinner," He declared, turning left as they exited the room.
"Yeah, I'll see you later," Finn replied, turning the other way and setting off towards his locker.
He dawdled deliberately at his locker, gathering the textbooks he needed for his homework and then neatly reorganizing the ones he'd be leaving behind for tomorrow. He was conscious of the steady traffic in the halls, slowly receding as everybody either went home or headed off to their club room. When he could remain behind no longer without his loitering become painfully obvious, he made his way out into the parking lot and found the vampire waiting casually by his car.
"Hey," He stopped on the tarmac beside the older man.
"Hi Finn, are you ready to go?" The teacher answered.
"Sure," The young man replied, shifting the strap of his backpack distractedly, "But where are we-" He cut his question off abruptly when he saw the figure marching round the corner, making a dramatic dive into the hedge that ran adjacent to the lot.
Hugging the dirt with a branch poking him in the side, Finn heard the older man call his name with concern; followed by the patter of determined footsteps and Rachel's sharp address, "Mr. Schuester."
Through a gap in the shrubbery the younger man could see the teacher's shoes turn to face the young woman's ballet flats, one tapping impatiently against the ground, "Rachel-"
"Why did you cancel practice today?" She demanded, her attack as forward and direct as ever, "It may only be Sectionals, but that will lead to Regionals before we know it and as great as we are right now, there's no way we can stand up to Vocal Adrenaline without a lot of work."
"Rachel, you're overreacting," Mr. Schue answered her perilous prediction with unshakable calm, "I have an appointment that came up at the last minute, I can't change it so I have to miss rehearsal today. We'll pick things up on Lempoday."
The necromancer watched the judgmental tap of his classmate's shoe for several silent seconds, then she answered, "Fine." She left a pointed pause and he could picture the fierce expression on her face, "But I'd like to say for future reference, that in a situation such as this you can count on me to lead a session of stringent vocal runs so that we aren't entirely unproductive."
"That's a kind offer Rachel," The teacher replied and Finn had to smother his laughter with his sleeve at the obvious reluctance in the man's voice.
Rachel appeared to hear neither his laughter, nor the lack of enthusiasm in the teacher's tone; "Great, well I should probably let you get to your appointment. Bye Mr. Schuester."
"See you tomorrow Rachel," The teacher answered, watching her out of sight and then turning his attention to the hedge, "You can come out now, she's gone." The student scrambled gratefully out from the bushes, dusting dirt and flakes of dead leaves from his clothing. "Are you two off-again at the moment?" Will inquired curiously, a lopsided smirk on his face.
"No, we're fine," The young man assured, "But she thinks I have secret knowledge about our rivals, that I've told you and we're gonna go on some crazy vengeance-seeking mission, without her. If she'd seen me with you it would have convinced her that she was right."
The vampire answered with a bewildered expression, "She really thinks that?"
"I don't know," Finn answered with a shrug, "She really confuses me sometimes."
"Women work in mysterious ways," The older man declared wisely, patting the younger man on the back and chuckling, a slight tinge of sorrow in the sound.
The student thought about Will's divorce and how fresh the pain of the separation must be for him, "Should we get going?" He asked, in an attempt to distract the older man from his thoughts.
"Yeah," The vampire answered, taking his keys from his pocket and unlocking the car doors.
Finn recalled the question he had been about to ask before Rachel had arrived as he climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up, "Where are we going, anyway?"
"The Linden street morgue," Will answered inscrutably, turning the key in the ignition.
Watching the school disappear behind them as the car pulled out of the parking lot, the young man concluded darkly that his gut instinct had been correct; whatever news the vampire had received, it did not bode well.
The Linden street morgue was located a short distance away from Lima Memorial Hospital on the east side of the city, it served a decent portion of the population and took the strain off of the hospital's own morgue.
Will parked the car on a meter a short way down the street and the pair walked the remaining distance. Outside the plain front of the building a man in a brown suit was smoking a cigarette, at first Finn presumed him to be an employee on a break but as they approached Will called out to him, "Karl."
The man picked the cigarette from between his lips and breathed out a stream of ash gray smoke, then dropped the remaining stub to the sidewalk and stamped the burning tip out. He looked up to watch them approach, a sharpness in his bistre eyes that unnerved the necromancer; "Will, good t' see you." He held a hand out and the vampire accepted it, gripping firmly for a moment and then letting go, "This the kid?" He nodded towards the student.
"This is Finn," The older man confirmed, turning to look at his student as he made introductions, "Finn, this is Karl; Maija's husband."
The necromancer felt something click into place with the revelation, the gruff man before him gave him the same sense of uneasiness as the witch, "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice has got nothing t' do with it," Karl declared, accepting Finn's offer of a handshake regardless, "He as good as Maija says?" He directed the question to Will.
"No," The teacher answered. An upset spark flared up inside Finn that was soon abated when the older man continued, "He's a lot better than that."
The intense bistre gaze searched the necromancer's expression, "Well he'd better be," Karl asserted, turning to lead them into the building.
The doors led into a small reception area; padded chairs and a coffee table straight out of the IKEA catalog, nondescript landscape paintings in tidy frames against a clean, white wall; the young man got the impression that this was not a pleasant place to spend time and the attempt to provide a comfortable environment could not counter the pervading bleakness. He stood close to Will near the back of the room and drew in a shaky breath against the icy hand clenching his chest.
Karl went across to the desk immediately and drummed his fingers on it as he waited for somebody to return from the back room, it took several minutes but as soon as a young woman appeared he reached into his jacket and removed a badge, "I'm Detective Martin, my colleagues and I are here to see a body."
The woman looked from the badge to the man's stern expression, back to the badge and then to the two men lingering behind, "W-which body?" She questioned, dropping her gaze to a list in front of her.
"One that was brought in this morning," The detective answered, putting his badge away.
"Right," She confirmed tremulously, tracing her finger over the latest page in the logbook, "Go on through. Dr. Taylor is in his office, he'll be able to help you."
The three of them walked uninhibited through into a tiled corridor with doors on both sides; the rooms had wide windows with blinds and so they could see that the first few were vacant; they found Dr. Taylor in his office as the woman had said, filling in forms at a cluttered desk.
"I tell you Sheila, this flu season is going to be the death of me," The pathologist remarked distractedly, looking up and realizing that his visitors were not who he was expecting, "Oh, I'm sorry. May I help you?"
"Detective Martin, I'm here about the body that was found at the Lost Creek Country Club this morning," Karl explained with calm authority.
"I see," The doctor replied, "I've only begun a preliminary report so far; there's not been time for a full autopsy just yet; but I intended to fax a copy of the results to the station once I was done. I don't understand why you are here."
"I'd like my colleagues to take a look at the body," The detective answered, gesturing to the two men standing behind him. Finn stood up straighter under Dr. Taylor's questioning gaze and tried hard to appear mature.
"Your colleagues?" The pathologist questioned, turning back to the detective.
"A haemophile," He indicated Will, "and a student of nocturnal necrology," He passed his hand over to regard Finn, "I believe they could provide valuable insight. If you don't want to cooperate I can return with a warrant," The sharp-eyed man challenged.
"No, that won't be necessary," The doctor relented, standing up from the desk and leading them through to the adjoining lab.
They passed an empty autopsy table and a small computer monitor on a desk that was hooked up to a much larger machine which Finn didn't recognize at all, he tried not to stare too intently at everything and aimed to look casual.
"This is her," Dr. Taylor declared, pulling open one of the drawers on the wall; one thing that the young man did recognize; and sliding out the body within, "We're having a little difficulty identifying her at the moment, I've got our odontologist working on it; but you could save her a lot of work if you find a match in the missing persons reports on your end."
"We're doing what we can," The detective assured, "Could you give me the rest of your report while we leave these two to examine the body?"
The doctor sighed wearily, rubbing a hand through his hair and displacing his comb-over, "I'll tell you what I can, but it's a standard case of exsanguination like the others." He continued talking as he and the detective returned to the office, the latter pointedly closing the door behind them as they left.
"What's nocturnal necrology?" Finn inquired once they were alone, as a way to break the intense silence.
"It's a fancy way of calling you a necromancer," Will explained with a small smile.
"Right," The young man nodded, then blinked when he thought about it, "Does that mean the doctor knows?"
"No, Karl just has an odd sense of humor," The teacher answered, stepping over to the open drawer and lifting the sheet, "She's young," He remarked with a sad smile and sedate distress settling on his shoulders.
The student drew a few shaky breaths into his clenched lungs and stepped up to the other side of the drawer, looking down at the corpse inside. The other man was right in his assessment; she was young, only appearing a few years older than Finn; she also seemed oddly familiar, he didn't actually know her but he felt a touch of recognition nonetheless.
"What are we doing?" The necromancer questioned, his gaze still on the pasty skin and breathless lips of the dead woman.
In reply, Will pulled the sheet back further; revealing a gaping wound in her throat with blackened blood dried around it, "It's been cut into to hide it, but there was a vampire bite there."
The young man took a number of shallow breaths, trying to settle his stomach and resist the urge to throw up, "He did this, the vampire we're looking for?"
"To her and a dozen others like her," The teacher answered bluntly, "We need to talk to her."
Finn felt the obvious answer on the tip of his tongue, but as he caught the older man's eye he understood, "You can't mean... I- I'm not ready."
"You can do this Finn," Will insisted with earnest conviction, "I know that I'm throwing you in at the deep end here, but you can do this. You just have to concentrate."
The necromancer looked down at the dead woman, then up into the determined face of his teacher and nodded hesitantly, "I'll try."
He breathed in the hyvanlaatuinen rising from the body before him and those closed away in the other drawers, letting the subtle scent of decaying leaves fill his lungs and opening his eyes to find the Myst filling the room.
"Okay," He breathed out slowly, keeping a steady rhythm of inhale and exhale as he looked up into the vibrant green eyes of the vampire, "You're gonna have to direct me because I'm flying blind here."
"Just start by finding a loose end and channeling it," The teacher instructed.
Finn squeezed his eyes shut wearily as he considered the spectacular failures that were his latest attempts to channel gray energy, "I can't do this Will."
"You can." A hand landed on his arm and squeezed tightly, rubbing up and down in a show of support, "Find a loose end."
Opening his eyes again, the younger man looked up into the heavy fog; squinting and staring hard to try and find a spot where the swirling mass linked together, "I found one," He announced after a minute of searching, intently watching it sway in the air so that he wouldn't lose sight of it.
"Now reach out and grab it," The older man commanded.
Keeping the rhythm of his breathing steady, Finn reached up to the Myst and closed his hand. The gray energy seeped through his fingers like smoke, "I can't. I'm no good at this." He turned away in frustration.
"It's alright," Will soothed, rubbing the young man's arm again until he looked up at him, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
The necromancer looked back down at the dead woman, eerily familiar and currently nameless; alone in the cold darkness of a refrigerated drawer; the latest victim of a murderous vampire. He looked at the stiffness of her face; not in any way resembling peaceful sleep; and breathed out shakily, "I want to do this."
"Don't try to touch it with your fingers," The vampire instructed as the young man searched for another loose end in the Myst, "Your senses are tangentially linked to your powers, but you've got to find that power within you; that's what will channel the energy." The advice was the same information that he'd given the first night that the necromancer attempted to channel, but Finn listened to it anyway; comforted by Will's presence in the same way that he'd clung to him on his first trip into the fog of gray energy.
Spotting a new loose end, he reached out towards it hesitantly; his fingers twitching as he compelled it to move, "I got it," He declared, watching the strand move in response to his gestures.
"Good," The older man answered, pleased by the news, "Now channel it into her, as much as you can." Finn nodded minutely at the instruction and put all his willpower into the tips of his fingers, dragging the strand of hyvan down and shooting it towards the corpse in the open drawer. His breathing grew sharper as he watched the body start to fill with Myst, then gasped aloud when he felt a sharp burn across his left palm.
When he opened his eyes the room had returned to regular focus and the gray energy had disappeared, but a translucent orb the size of a soccer ball was floating in the air above the still body of the dead woman. Will was watching it with wonder.
"Is that...?" Finn paused in his question uncertainly, he'd expected something very different.
The vampire nodded, "That's her."
"Can she speak?" The necromancer asked. The orb sank a few inches in the air, then rose up again; the gesture was similar to a nod and the young man decided to accept it as an affirmative, "How did you die?" He asked tentatively. The orb floated closer, the soft light emanating from it pulsed a few times.
"I think she wants you to touch her," The teacher explained.
"Okay," Finn answered nervously, lifting his hand and setting his hand down on the orb's surface.
The sun was setting and there was a chill in the air from the refrigerated drawer open in front of him, the dead girl's skin was tinged with sweat, her hair in disarray as she hobbled across the green; looking behind her to the concerned look on Will's face, his mouth falling open to scream, cry for help again as the thing chased after her. She could hear distant footsteps of Dr. Taylor returning, the murmur of Karl's voice trying to postpone the inevitable, the hulking beast with a mouthful of sharp teeth had her pinned to the grassy knoll and she choked on the scent of syksy leaves dissipating as the glowing orb disintegrated before them.
"Finn?" Will asked with concern, the tone of his voice making the unheard precursors obvious to the younger man.
He backed away, breathing deeply to regain his composure and tried to organize the jumbled mess of images inside his mind, "I s-saw it. Dreamed it maybe," The necromancer babbled, holding a hand to his aching head, "She looked f-familiar, I think I watched her d-die last night while I was asleep. Then again just now, she s-showed me." He fell easily into Will's arms, holding the older man tightly as his body trembled; pressing his face to the warm crook of the man's neck and breathing in the safe, pleasant aroma of apple-honey and home.
"You'll be okay," Will whispered, his hands running over the young man's back and holding him close, not breaking the embrace even as he heard the sound of the door opening.
"What's happened?" The pathologist questioned impertinently.
The older man turned to face the door, "My kumppani has responded badly to the body. It triggered some unpleasant memories for him," He explained, "I think it would be best for us to leave."
"Kumppani," Finn repeated shyly, taking a fresh breath and stepping out of the hug.
"If there's anything else you need to know it should be in my report, if not don't hesitate to come back," Dr. Taylor declared, facing the detective. The necromancer ignored the look the doctor directed at him as they left and the mumbled remark about overly sensitive medical students, he was too drained to be concerned with a stranger's opinion of him.
There was a Burger King two blocks from the morgue and Karl insisted that the best thing to help the student recover from his exertion would something to eat. Even with his mental distress Finn wouldn't turn down a free meal and so he complied with the suggestion, following down the street as the detective led the way. He could feel Will's watchful eye on him during the journey and even though the fresh air was helping to soothe his frayed nerves, it was comforting to know that the older man was still worried for him.
"Are you okay?" The teacher asked as they settled into a booth near the front of the fast food outlet.
"I think so," The young man answered, turning from watching the detective join the back of the queue to look out the window at the late afternoon sun, "Or I will be soon." He dropped his gaze to the table, drumming his fingers against the sticky surface while his brain relived the last memories of a dead woman.
"Did you see the vampire who did it?" Will asked, leaning closer and lowering his voice; the same gesture he had previously used when talking to Vivian, but the mood of the situation an almost total contrast.
"Yes, I- Sort of... nothing's really clear," The necromancer shook his head to clear it, "But Will..." He looked at the older man, raw emotion in his dark eyes, "He didn't put her under a Thrall." The vampire's eyes widened with comprehension and the younger man heard the echo of a dying woman's terrified scream choking down to a pained sob play again fresh in his memory. He thought about the promise he'd made to Will, he'd fulfilled that promise now; provided the means by which the vampire could be tracked down; but he knew that he didn't have it in him to walk away, "I want you to teach me how to fight."
"Are you sure?" The teacher asked hesitantly.
"I'm sure," The younger man answered confidently, turning to look out of the window again, "I want to find him and I want him to suffer for the needless pain that he's caused."
The older man's hand crossed the table and took the student's trembling fist, soothing the tight grip until the fingers were lax; then holding them with his own, "He will pay, Finn. We'll make him pay."
Finn looked down at their entwined fingers, thinking back to the first night in the park when the vampire had explained everything to him; he felt a twinge of disbelief at how recently it had happened because it felt like a long time ago. He looked up at the other man, "Kumppani?"
"Kumppani," Will confirmed with a small smile and a determined spark in his eyes.
The song Will sings is a tweaked version of 'Infected' from 'Repo! The Genetic Opera'.