Trees of auburn, mint and sunshine yellow, cast shadows over the small clearing in which something lurks. Hidden by the trees, buried deep within the shadows, and invisible in the darkness as humans stroll past his hideaway, Patton watches. His freakish eyes of liquid red stare out toward the town, curiosity and wonder flickering through them. Head tilted, eyes blinking, Patton lets out a sigh, yearning to be apart of their world.

Despite the fact blood filled bodies, and some even in metal monsters with lights, Patton can see them so clearly. Watching how each individual rushes to where they need to be, brushing past others, wafting their scent closer to the vampire that is loitering in the trees like some sort of wild animal.

Steering away the urge of temptation, Patton forces down the thirst within his burning throat with a large gulp. Blood and pain still stain him. His pale, yet freckled hands shine with a hint of faded crimson. Memories and emotions he can't seem to get rid of after his kill three weeks ago. The kill that caused him and his victim so much torture, so much agony.

Blood has never been a problem for Patton. It's the stalking. The killing of his unwilling sacrifice, who is later turned into nothing more than a corpse for someone else to find.

It's the killing that hurts Patton the most.

It's the agony of feeling someone else's pain as if it were your own, burning you from the inside out. The spine tingling fear, screams that sound like a death sentence in themselves. The chorus of plea's -

Please don't hurt me.

Her fear was now his.

Let me go.

Her struggle was now his.

I won't tell anyone if you leave me alone.

Her anxiety was now his.

Just… please… stop…

Her last breath, her gut wrenching pain, her numbness.

Were now his.

Those. Those are the things that torture Patton's mind and deadened soul. Those are the nightmares that flood his head with a sea of anguish, that he wishes he could just delete. Empty his mind to bring back some of his sanity… some of his innocence… Bring back something he had lost a long time ago. His purity is gone, dead, just like his soul. And all because he was a bloodthirsty monster.

Monsters are not part of society. They can never involve themselves in the world of humans, not unless their intentions are to feed from them. Patton had never agreed to any of this. But Patton is just one Vampire, and his council would never agree to his plea's of letting him free to join the humans… even for a little while.

So this is why he watches. Watching from a distance is not ideal for him, but it's something at least. It helps him pretend that he is one of them. That he is part of their world… That he feels like he is somewhere he should belong… even when he's not.

"No, Rem! I don't want to get involved in this!" Patton's head shoots up, locks of mousy brown hair falling into curls to obscure his eyes. His ears focusing on the sound of anger filled words, yet the voice they belong to seems so smooth and light.

"C'mon, all ya gotta do is pretend. Until the party, that's all." This voice is more laid back, almost lazy, sleepy, even. Patton watches from afar as the one speaking steps a few feet closer to the smaller male, who is buried in an oversized purple hoodie.

"And I said no."

"Do you wanna to go or not? 'Cause we can't without an invite… I mean, not unless you wanna crash it..." They wave a small paper cup up for emphasis before taking a large gulp from it.

There is a long pause, Patton staring intently as the scene unfolds right in front of his blood red eyes. A party? What was one of those? What did they do? How did they work? The questions flooding through Patton's mind cease their swimming as soon as the 'Cute Hoodied Human' speaks up.

"We are not crashing a party, Remy! And I'm not going to pretend to like someone just to get an invite!"

A frown spreads across Patton's, pale and freckled features as he continues to watch the encounter between the two humans. His dead heart would have been beating to an inch of its life if it could right now. Just the thought of someone pretending to fall in love with someone else makes Patton's stomach twirl into something awful. It's like his intestines have decided to tie and tangle themselves together into a metre of knots and loops.

"He won't know unless you tell him you're pretending." The male Patton knows as 'Rem, or Remy,' continues to reason with the other, taking another sip from the paper cup.

"Then why don't you do it if it's that easy?!"

Patton sees one of Remy's eyebrows peak from over dark glasses, throwing an arm up in exasperation. Patton can tell that he's not exactly happy about this just as much as the other human is. He can feel it. Feel the doubt seeping into his own stomach, burying itself further into the very pit of it, like a bug burrowing inside of it… just as it does with Remy.

"You know that I'm not the one Roman likes…" The words slip from Remy's lips with ease, almost shrugging it off.

The Vampire watches as the 'Cute Hoodied Human' steps closer to the other male, jaw clenching, eyes like smoke and ash as he stares at the taller male. "Fine. But if he figures out I'm using him… I'm done."

Remy's lips turn up and into a thin smirk. "He likes you, don't worry."

Patton watches as Remy walks off into the opposite direction that they had both came in. Leaving the other human… The 'Hoodied Human,' behind to stew in their own thoughts and feelings. Patton can feel nothing but an eruption of self-hate. Like rusted daggers twisting in his belly. Chills creeping up his already dead, and cold skin.

Patton can feel it.

His Self loathing now becomes Patton's.

Patton can feel everything.

His Anxiety and guilt now become Patton's.

And that's why it hurts.

Because Patton can feel it… Feel him.

The trees cast darker shadows as the sun starts to disappear behind the clouds, but still, Patton watches. Watches until his eyes bleed from too much staring.

He watches.

He feels.

He hurts.

The Hoodied Human sits not far from Patton's hiding place. They have been there for a little under an hour, sitting, staring just as hard as Patton has. Watching. But this is different, and Patton can't help but wonder why the human is there, slumped on a wooden bench in the middle of the park.

It's almost as if Patton could stretch his hand out and touch the human, that is only a few feet away from his hiding spot. A smile spreads slowly across Patton's grey lips, stretching so that one of his fangs rests oddly on top of his bottom lip. It's only when fingers colder than ice rest themselves on his shoulders, that the smile on his lips fades into nothing but a straight line.

"What are you doing out here?" His voice is sickly smooth, almost like when you've eaten too much ice cream you can't take any more of its sugary-goodness.

"W-watching…" Patton whispers, eyes never leaving the human.

"We've talked about this, Patton. You can't keep going out without my permission."

That's when Patton's eyes flicker upward, landing on the pale, disfigured skin of his master. His only friend. "I'm sorry, Decan… I-I was just…"

Decan's fingers squeeze themselves around Patton's shoulder, hard, until the young Vampire lets out a whimper. "I need you to understand that Humans are dangerous! You know you can't keep wandering off into Wonder-Human-Land."

"I'm s-sorry… I won't do it again…" Patton lets out another strained whimper, biting his lip to keep from being too loud. His eyes trail back over to the Human… the one without a name. The one with swirls and roses painted up their neck, hidden by a purple hood.

That's what he'll think about.

That's what will keep him sane.

The Cute Hoodied Human.