Yay Spain!
"Hola, Arthur! Who's your friend?" I asked cheerfully.
"Wats-"
"Yao Wang." the Chinese man said, glaring at Arthur.
"Nice to meet you!" I said. "Come in, make yourselves comfortable!"
I led them inside, and had them sit on the couch. I also warned them to be quiet, since Lovi was taking a siesta and was always a bit grouchy when he woke up.
"You mean he's not grouchy all the time?" Arthur asked sarcastically.
"He sounds like you, Arthur." Yao remarked.
"So what brings you two here?" I asked.
"We want to know what happened to that spider demon who cursed you, and the man who the curse was actually aimed at." Arthur said. "It's alright, Yao's a sorcerer." he added when I looked doubtful.
"Oh, OK!" I said. "Let me think... well, the spider demon kind of disappeared and I never saw him again. He was a really good pianist..."
"What was his name?" Yao asked.
"Roderich Edelstein."
"That sounds familiar..." Arthur said.
"Does it? It's not a very common name... at least, not around here." I said thoughtfully. "Anyway, Vlad survived, but his curse was worse than mine."
"Oh?" Arthur looked intrigued.
"Si. You see, Roderich was always very creative with curses... I mean, who gives a guy the power to turn things into gold? He was probably trying to turn me into gold... anyway, he turned Vlad into a vampire... who's allergic to blood."
"So what did he eat?" Yao asked.
"He couldn't. He just kinda starved... but never died, of course. I imagine it was painful..." I said.
"Wait a minute. How often do vampires need to feed?" asked Yao.
"Once a day." Arthur replied.
"But you told me you hadn't eaten in a month!" the Chinese man exclaimed. "And yet you looked so healthy! Did you lie to me?"
"I'm an older vampire, Yao. It didn't feel good, but I could've gone much longer without eating if Matthew hadn't been bugging me about it."
"Why were you starving yourself?" Yao demanded angrily. I avoided meeting Arthur's gaze, as I knew Yao had hit a sensitive topic.
"Why should you care?" the Brit asked.
"It's what friends do ~ahen!"
Arthur blinked, taken aback.
"We're friends?"
"I guess so!" Yao replied, a bit loudly.
"Shh!" I reminded him. "Lovi's still asleep!"
"Sorry." he told me, though he was still glaring daggers at Arthur. However, it was the kind of glare I knew very well. That kind of loving "I hate you but I need you" glare.
"I can give you guys Vlad's phone number." I offered, trying to direct the conversation back to where it had begun. "We haven't spoken in a while, but I think he'll be up for a questioning. Speaking of questioning, why do you want to know all this?"
"Ask him." Yao said, gesturing to Arthur.
"Well, Antonio, surely you know of the string of supernatural murders?" Arthur asked. I nodded. "Uh... I had this dream... and Alfred told me to investigate the people who were involved in your curse."
"Who's Alfred?" Yao asked.
"Never you mind." Arthur hissed.
"Vlad would never kill anyone!" I insisted, trying to drag them away from the dangerous waters. "He really is a good guy!"
"Still, he might know something." Arthur said, looking relieved.
"Good point. Here," I said, writing down Vlad's number, "I'm pretty sure it's still the same as it was when we last spoke..."
Just then, a sleepy-looking Lovino walked into the room.
"What's this, the Spanish Inquisition?" he asked wearily.
"Oh, you're awake!" I said happily. "Lovi, you remember Arthur, right? And this is Yao Wang, a sorcerer."
Lovi took no notice of Yao, preferring instead to glare at Arthur.
"What?" the Brit asked.
"Let Alfred go to heaven, dammit. Being stuck between worlds sucks." Lovi said. Arthur looked stricken, and Yao looked like he was angry that we were hiding something from him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Arthur said.
"Like fuck you don't." Lovi said. "I was just having a dream, and he was there, and I swear I've never seen anything sadder in all the world."
"Lovi..." I said, "this isn't the best time..."
"Toni, that man died for this pair of eyebrows with a vampire attached. He deserves to go to heaven." Lovi said.
"Who are you to decide who goes to heaven?" Yao demanded.
"An angel." Lovi replied, crossing his arms. Yao opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then thought better of it.
"Yao, let's go." Arthur said. "We've got the information we need, anyway..."
After they had left, I pulled Lovi into my lap and sighed.
"I wish you had been nicer about that." I said.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you had seen Alfred." Lovi grumbled, though he did not reject my embrace.
You may be wondering why Yao introduces himself in the western order. This is because he lives in Britain and introducing himself as Yao Wang makes everybody's lives a little easier. Especially mine.
Geez, everyone was thinking that Alfred was a jerk in the last chapter... am I the only one who feels bad for him? Maybe that's just because I killed him...
