AN: I am incapable of writing anything but angst, but this is a present, and so take this chapter as an apology for somehow turning vampire Au into angst.
It had been hectic. Oz woke up that morning with yesterdays fatigue still drenched over him. If Oz were being honest, he would have felt like crap if it were not for the fact that beside him lay the two most precious people in his life, Gilbert and Alice.
In Oz's mind it felt like Jack telling Oz what he really was and Gilbert remembering his past happened in another universe. Sadly, those events occurred and were very real. Gilbert's missing arm was proof enough for the legitimacy of the events that transpired not too long ago. Alice… Oz had always felt as though they had a connection, but never in Oz's dreams would he have guest this is why he felt a pull towards her radiance. Oz, the name given to a little toy rabbit chain, that is who Oz was. Gilbert was a Baskerville vampire, Alice was born for an experiment, the world turned upside down so fast, or perhaps, the world turned right side up after a long period of being wrong.
Come to think of it, Oz wanted to see what Gilbert looked like as a vampire. Alice was an odd case as she was a half vampire. Alice's parents were both vampires, but the mutation does not always pass on… perhaps her birth in the realm of the familiars known as the abyss caused her to become an anomaly known as a half vampire. From Oz's understanding, this meant that Alice did not have a taste for human blood, but had strange urges to bite things and an unquenchable love for meat.
After Oz was satisfied with his observations of the sleeping Gilbert and Alice, Oz began to bounce on the bed while still seated. Gilbert's face began to morph into irritation as he turned to face away from Oz, promptly falling off the bed with a loud thud. Alice, who had not been affected at all by the bouncing, woke up with a start at the sound of Gilbert falling.
"MINI ALICE'S!" Alice exclaimed, frazzled from being thrown out of her dream.
"Shut up stupid rabbit," Gilbert moaned, picking himself up sorely from the floor. "Oz, do you need something?" the raven-haired man inquired, ignoring his pain.
Oz's mischievous grin amplified, "Yes, actually. Show me your vampire form. The full thing! Even your eyes."
Alice suddenly was snapped from her daze and turned to Gilbert, "Oh yeah. Last I saw you in that form you were so tiny, but your eyes were still golden, so you weren't fully in your vampire form. Go on, let's see it," Alice mused in her typical commanding manner.
A flush rose down Gilbert's face as he oriented himself back on the bed, "It's not that special."
"Pleeeeaaaaassssse," Oz pleaded in a childlike manner. Gilbert could not refuse.
"Fine, but look away first," Gilbert sighed. He was getting too old for these antics. That being said, everyone on the bed was over a hundred years old, in a manner of speaking.
Oz complied and went over to Alice to cover her eyes before he turned both of them around. Most unfortunately for Oz, Gilbert had known Oz long enough to know he would try to take a peak at what vampire transformation looked like, and so Gilbert left the room to transform.
"Let go of my eyes," Alice huffed before biting Oz's hand. Oz retracted his hand with a wince.
Not a second later, Gilbert reentered the room with his eyes shut.
"Ooooo," both Oz and Alice chimed as Gilbert walked in with his blush still evident.
Gilbert did not look too different, Oz thought. The young man's canine teeth were enlarged, his finger nails longer, and his ears pointed, but other than that he looked relatively the same.
Oz hummed, "Open your eyes."
Gilbert flinched, "Oz, vampires that are able to hide their eyes do it on instinct. It's makes us vulnerable to show our eyes. Even though all Baskervilles are vampires we still kept our eyes like a human's when we were together in our vampire forms."
Alice waved her hand, "Even if you are vulnerable it's not like I would hurt my indirect/direct manservant."
Oz nodded his head, "Gil, there is no reason to feel like we are going to hurt you because of your eyes."
Upon hearing those words, Gilbert's shoulder relaxed a little. Slowly, Gilbert opened his eyes. No longer were they pure gold, but instead they were golden with red pupils. Oz was unused to the site, but Oz found it alluring in it's own way.
"Your eyes are interesting," Oz commented, skipping up to Gilbert.
Gilbert darted his gaze to the side of the room, "t-thanks."
Alice moved to Gilbert as well, but instead of commenting on his eyes, Alice jumped up and pulled on his ears.
"What are you doing?!" Gilbert snapped, stretching taller and away from Alice.
Alice broke out into a large smile, "Your ears are pointy"
Gilbert's face found its way to his palm in disappointment. Oz could not help but bubble.
Suddenly the grin dropped from Oz's face and was replaced by a look of puzzlement. "Hey Gil, if you require human blood after while… how did you survive all these years?"
Alice began to quiet down, also seeming to ponder the same thought. Gilbert scratched his head, Oz did not ask an easy question.
"I actually did have blood," Gilbert confessed.
Oz's puzzled face only grew more confused. Gilbert elaborated, "When I was with you ten years ago I had a limited supply. Baskervilles carry vials of blood in their coats wherever they go. When I woke up in front of the Vessaliuss manner, I had the vials with me. I did not know what they were so I kept them. My craving for blood made me weak, and my instincts lead me to drink small portions of the vial when I got too weak. It wasn't enough though, so I was growing weaker, but I was trying to conserve the vials of contents that I did not know. Rather, I did not want to know."
Alice nodded, processing the information. "I don't know how you didn't smell it, but how did you make it after you ran out of the vials?"
"I did smell it, but I thought of it as medicine. I was in my human form when I drank blood, and that is something that can only occur under very severe hunger in a dire situation. My senses were dull, and I was physically stuck in my human form. When the vials were out around the time that Oz was dragged to the Abyss. When I moved in with the Nightrays, Vincent was, without my knowledge, putting blood in my food when my need became dire enough to allow me to consume blood in human form. Vincent was taking care of me without my knowledge," Gilbert continued.
"Do you need blood now?" Oz inquired as he stared at Gilbert's scarlet pupils. Once Oz concentrated, he could see Gilbert's pupils seemed to resemble a snake's eye in this form, or a cat's eye. Of course, Gilbert would not be thrilled to hear that he resembled a cat.
Gilbert looked uncomfortable, as he spoke, "No."
A mischievous grin found it's way to Oz's youthful face. "Ooooh, really now?" Oz began to prance around Gilbert, a certain sway to his taunting steps. Gilbert did not have a good feeling about this. "Well then, AH-" Oz had tripped, his acting was superb, but Gilbert knew this was all part of Oz's plan. Oz fell in such a manner that a small portion of his delicate skin was scrapped against the bedside. Not in a significant portion, but a petty amount of blood began to surface around his scraped skin.
"Oz!" Alice exclaimed at the blood. "My man servant can't go hurting himself like that!"
Oz gave her a tender smile to indicate that he was, indeed, fine. Turning his head, Oz flashed a wicked grin to Gilbert.
Gilbert's heartbeat resonated loudly in his ears. This was the first time he had been in this form in many years and now there is blood near him. All of Gilbert's senses were heightened in a manner unimaginable to a human. The smell of Oz's blood… so sweet.
Golden eyes widened at the thought. Gilbert would never drink Oz's blood. No, that was a wrong thought.
"Gil, could you help me bandage this? It might get infected if we don't clean it," suggested Oz innocently.
A vein pulsed on Gilberts forehead. "Brat," he muttered. The taller man walked towards the cabinet, having already known where the first aid was due to Gilbert needing to take care of his own missing arm. As much as it pained Gilbert to admit it, he was more prone to injuring himself now…
After gathering the disinfectant and the bandages, Gilbert made his way over to Oz, noting that Alice had fallen asleep on the bed.
Oz stuck his wrist out to Gilbert and chimed, "Thank you~"
Gilbert took Oz's wrist into his hand, his instincts screaming at him, but his mind saying otherwise.
"What does my blood smell like to a vampire?" Oz prodded.
Gilbert swallowed, "The distinctive smell of an individual can appeal to some of us more than others. Your blood smells sweet, but… there is a sour scent in it as well. It's very odd."
"Hmmm… do you like it?" Oz hummed.
The raven-haired man looked away from Oz's hand, his fangs peaking out from his lips. "I would never drink your blood, Oz."
Oz patted Gilbert on the head as he assured, "Gil you burned your arm off for me. It is not as though it is going to kill me to give you blood, and I trust you."
"You do not owe me anything."
"If you need blood I want you to have mine."
Gilbert wanted to protest with every fiber of his being, but Gilbert could not. Cheeks dusted with scarlet, Gilbert brought Oz's wrist to his mouth, inhaling the scent of Oz's blood.
"It's okay Gil," Oz reassured. The blond boy had to admit, Gilbert looked very alluring right now, but that was a trait of vampires. They had to be able to draw in their prey.
Oz could have sworn he heard Gilbert mutter an apology as Gilbert's tongue ran over the small injury. It was an odd sensation, but not unpleasant.
The taste of Oz's blood flooded Gilbert's senses; it was unlike any other. Was this how Jack's blood tasted? Gilbert had never tasted Jack's blood, Vincent did, and he had described it has tasting of too many flavor to understand it was.
Gilbert pulled away.
"What is it?" Oz cocked a brow. Gilbert had not bitten him.
A low laugh came from the vampire. "Just a lick was good enough for me. I would never take something from you, including blood. I am a vampire; I know how to collect blood for myself, even after all these years of not hunting. Thank you for the taste. It was very unique. I've been told Jack's blood tasted of a myriad of things, and so it was impossible to distinguish its flavor. Your blood is not like that. It is many things, but at its core it was… a gentle caring warm flavor that reminds me of home. You are you, Oz."
Oz tried to hide the blush that was forming prominently on his cheeks. "Gil is so cheesy, but…thanks," Oz's mumblings were hoped to have been lost to Gilbert's ears, but there is no escaping a vampires hearing.
Smiling, Gilbert stood up, patted Oz's head, and left the room as his vampire features began to shift back into those of an average human.
When Gilbert was out of the room Alice woke up, perhaps the sound of Gilbert's footsteps woke her? "WHOAAAA!" Alice fired up.
Oz was taken aback, "Alice? What is it?"
Without another word, Alice sprang up after Gilbert. The poor man was walking down the corridor when Alice pounced on him, and ripped his shirt off.
"Stupid rabbit?!" Gilbert had called out as he was knocked down with a thud.
Oz had no idea what was going on at this point.
"Turn back into a vampire seaweed-head!" she commanded.
"What!" Gilbert was overwhelmed by Alice's impeccable energy.
"JUST DO IT!"
Sighing in defeat, Gilbert requested them to, "close their eyes," and after they complied, he shifted back into his true form.
"You can open your eyes," Gilbert instructed, once again feeling very old at that moment.
Alice studied his torso, leaving Gilbert in a flustered and confused state, while Oz was still trying to comprehend what Alice was doing and if it was appropriate for him to be present right now.
"You don't have wings." Alice concluded, "If you did, I would see them now."
Oz's eyes lite up light Christmas lights at the idea.
Gilbert had spoken into his collar, and so Oz and Alice did not hear.
"What did you say, Gil?"
This was going to be a bad idea, Gilbert knew it, but it was better they found out now, rather than in battle. With great effort Gilbert told the two teens, "I do have wings. They are retractable."
Reim Lunettes could have sworn he saw a flying Gilbert carrying an Alice and Oz on his back in the sky that day, but perhaps pressure was getting to him or he simply needed to clean his lunettes.