A/N: Double update! Woo! Only two more chapters left. This chapter is a bit more Angst-y, but I kinda suck at severe angst right now, so we'll save that for another story.
"Oh lookie! He's awake!"
Baz whirled around in the cage as Malcolm and two other people, a guy and a girl, all came out of the bushes and stood in front of him. The two other people looked like twins, both with, mesmerizing, bright pink hair and dark eye-liner.
"Malcolm!" Baz snarled. "Let me out of here, you son of a—"
"Ah ah ah!" Malcolm chuckled. "Acting like that will get you nowhere, Basilton."
The girl blew a bubble with the bubblegum she was chewing and nodded to Baz. "Is this him?"
"Patience, Michelle," Malcolm growled. "Yeah, this is him."
The girl-Michelle-looked Baz up and down before looking at her brother. "Little one, isn't he, Keith?"
Keith nodded. "Mal, you sure this guy's a vampire?"
Baz paled as Malcolm scoffed, "Course I'm sure." He then turned and squatted down to eye level with Baz. "You see them? These are my cousins. Know what else they are? Two of the world's best vampire hunters."
"How'd you get in my room?" Baz demanded harshly, glaring daggers as best he could through his terror of what lay ahead.
Malcolm shrugged off the question. "Knocked your little friend out as he was going back into the room."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Come now, Basil. You should know that we can't have monsters running around Watford, trying to kill people."
"I was not trying to kill you!" Baz gasped. "And I'm not a vampire!"
Malcolm shook the cage and Baz stumbled. "Don't lie! I saw your fangs when you tried to kill me. Now you'll die just like every other one of your kind."
Baz gripped the bars of the cage and looked around, frantically. "Malcolm," he panted. "You don't know what you're doing. I'm not—"
"Sorry, boss," Malcolm laughed. "I guess you're not a clever as you think you are." He took out a knife. "Now, how're we gonna kill him?"
"Stake through the heart should do," said Michelle. "Hey, you sure this guy's a vampire? We're not supposed to kill students unless we're absolutely certain they're monsters."
Malcolm turned to glare at her. "Why do you keep asking that? Of course I'm sure!"
"Sorry, it's just… by now; vampires are usually all vamped up and ready to fight for their freedom. This guy just looks scared… not evil."
Baz wasn't sure whether to take that as a complement or an offence.
"Ugh! Fine, I'll prove it to you." Malcolm pulled out his keys and unlocked the cage; then he reached in and grabbed Baz, quite roughly, by the arm. "Come on, you."
He yanked Baz out of the cage and punched him in the stomach, hard. Baz yelped and Malcolm hit him again, pain curled up his chest and fury started to burn through him.
No! He told himself. Don't bring out the fangs; that's what he wants!
Malcolm hit him again and he cried out.
"Malcolm!" barked Keith. "That's enough! The kid ain't changing."
"Dammit, Basilton!" Malcolm snarled and brought out his knife again. "Show yourself!" He plunged the knife into Baz's side and Baz screamed in utter pain.
Michelle took two steps forward and punched her cousin in the face. Malcolm let go of Baz and he dropped to the ground, clutching his side where the knife was still buried.
"What's wrong with you!" he heard Michelle shouting as agony started clouding his vision.
Stay alive! He told himself fiercely. Just stay alive!
But he was losing consciousness fast and so Baz used one of his last resorts. His fangs came out and he felt more powerful and in control suddenly, but that blinding pain was still there.
"Great mother of Merlin!" gasped Keith. "He is a vampire!"
"Ha!" laughed Malcolm. "Nothing's keeping you alive now, Basilton!"
Baz's eyes fell closed as he tried to focus on staying awake. Surprisingly unhelpful.
"Nothing except me!"
There was an explosion of shouting and the sound of fighting. Blood was seeping through Baz's shirt; he could feel it, hot and thick. There was a splash and a shriek.
The pain was clouding his eyes; Baz could feel the life ebbing out of him. He thought about trying to pull the knife out of his side, but just the thought hurt him.
Then Simon was there. There and swearing like never before as he took in what was in front of him.
"My gods, Baz," he gasped. "Did you try to kill yourself?"
"I'm not that stupid, Snow," Baz choked out.
"I know," said Simon. "I'm just trying to calm myself down by making you sound like the idiot."
Baz coughed, his entire body jolted and he spit blood. He felt Simon gently grab the knife and winced. Every part of him wanted to say not to pull the knife out but he knew it would be better if Simon got it out of his side.
There was a sharp pain in his side and Baz yelped as Simon quickly pulled the pointed object out of his ribcage.
"Are you okay?" Simon asked as he pressed his hands to Baz's side, attempting to stop the blood.
Baz managed to open his eyes and looked at Simon. He had his eyes narrowed at the spot where Baz was bleeding as he covered it with his hands and placed pressure on it.
"How'd you know?" Baz breathed and Simon looked up.
"Malcolm knocked me out as I was about to come into our room. You could say I was fairly certain something was going on."
"I mean." Baz hated how weak he sounded, how feeble his voice was. "how did you know I was here?"
Simon, who also seemed to notice how terrible Baz sounded, winced and shook his head. "Later. Right now, you need to relax and try not to pass out."
"But—"
"Shhh…." Baz's eyes widened in shock as Simon placed one, gentle finger on lips, silencing him. "Just relax, Baz. I'll answer all of your questions later."
Baz took a shuddering breath and nodded.
In truth, he tried to stay awake, he really did. But eventually, he fell asleep.
# # #
When he woke up, it was morning. Simon was still next to him, head resting on his knees as he gazed at Baz with clear blue eyes.
"Where're Malcolm and his friends?" Baz said softly.
Simon raised his head. "Um…." He glanced over his shoulder at the moat. A merwolf tail flicked out of the water and disappeared again. "They left."
"Oh." Baz looked back at Simon and slowly narrowed his eyes. "We should go." Before Snow could protest, he struggled to his feet and started walking back toward the fortress. He didn't want Snow thinking that they were all cool now, because in Baz's opinion, they were anything but 'cool' right now.
They quickly crossed the drawbridge and were about to enter the building when Simon spoke.
"Baz, we need to talk."
"Nope." Baz pushed past him and went inside. "We don't."
Simon didn't give up. "Baz! Come on, why won't you talk to me?"
"Because you shouldn't care!" Baz snapped. "No one else does. My dad sure doesn't."
"That's what this is about?" Simon was almost shouting now, but that was okay, so was Baz. "You're dad does care, Baz. He probably cares a lot and just has a terrible way of showing it! I don't know why he said what he said to you, but that doesn't mean nobody can love you!"
Baz tried to walk faster but Simon grabbed his arm.
"Just stop it!" Baz snarled and yanked himself free of Simon's grip. "I don't care anymore! Nothing matters!"
"Baz, you can't just ignore how you feel about things," Simon protested angrily.
"It doesn't matter what I feel!" Baz's voice was high. "You made that perfectly clear! So just leave me alone!"
Simon looked stung. "Why do you do this!" he shouted.
"Why do you always try to make it sound like everything's going to be okay?!" Baz screamed back, his voice shaking. "Sometimes, it's not going to be okay! Sometimes, you're not gonna get there in time! And sometime, I am going to die—!"
"Shut up!" Simon shrieked. "Why do you always talk like nobody cares about what you're feeling? I care about what you're feeling, okay?! And whether that's hard to believe or not, it's true. That's why I wrote those god damn letters in the first place!" He grabbed Baz by the wrist and forced him to look Snow in the eyes.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Baz's voice bounced off the walls over and over again, he wondered how many people had woken up because of them. "I wish you'd left me to die! At least then I wouldn't have to look at you anymore, you feeling manipulator!"
He wrenched himself away and raced off; hoping to Merlin's time and back that Snow wouldn't follow.
When he got to their room, rushed inside, and slammed the door, Baz slumped against the hard wood and buried his face in his hands. He finally let a few tears fall before looking up and fixing his silver eyes on the locked drawer where he kept all of the notes that Simon had sent him…. Every. Single. One of them.
He unlocked it and wrenched the drawer open; papers were carefully stacked inside of it. Baz started grabbing them, and ripping them in half, then ripping them in half again and disintegrating them into dust. Baz tore paper after paper, putting all of his bottled up fury into shredding the things that had once brought him joy.
Luckily, Snow never showed up and Baz was able to destroy the notes in peace, soon he'd reached the last one… the first note that Simon had ever sent.
I've noticed that you're always sad lately and wanted to let you know that whatever it is that's making you miserable… you can talk to me.
Baz stared at the paper for a long moment, eyes tracing over the words over and over again as if they had been written in a foreign language. He was shaking again, he felt ready to explode.
He knew they'd just gotten back, but something very bad was going to happen if Baz didn't get out of there.
Quickly, he crossed the room, flung open the window, and leaped out.
Teaser: Having someone hold him down by the shoulder wasn't exactly comfortable, but Baz certainly wasn't going to move. Not with that stake sitting only inches away.
