Chapter Four

The Misconceptions of a Vampire: Part Two

Arthur found himself rudely awakened by his unmannerly guest for the second time that day.

"Artiiie! Artiiie! Wake uuup!" Alfred was harshly rocking Arthur's body back and forth, albeit careful not to let him topple out of the bed.

Arthur stirred a bit before slowly sitting up, eyes still lidded and his hair more ruffled than usual.

"Great! You're awake now! I've been looking through all those books you loaned me and if we want to see the whole world, we gotta get going now!" Alfred positioned his hands at Arthur's sides and easily lifted him up onto his feet.

Grunting at how rough and loud Alfred was being, Arthur rubbed at his eyes hastily and opened his mouth to berate him, but Alfred interrupted him as usual.

"The first thing I wanna see is..." He was rummaging through a fallen stack of books, tossing a couple aside until he found what he was looking for. "This!"

Alfred pushed the book into Arthur's face and used one of his fingers to point at a very detailed drawing of an airplane. Arthur recognized it immediately as the one he drew while he was at the airport for one of his yearly trips to the United Kingdom. When Arthur first realized he was the only one to see spirits and other supernatural beings, he would record everything about them in journals he carried everywhere as a reference to others to what he was seeing. Eventually, it turned into a habit where he would absentmindedly begin sketching where ever he was and whatever he saw. He supposed he had several dozens of journals now.

Alfred disturbed his thoughts once again. "Now pack whatever you need and let's get going!"

Finally given the chance to speak, Arthur finally voiced "Alfred, we're not travelling the world! That's impossible!" Although, Arthur found that he was finding Alfred's intentions quite adorable and charming. He had put as little anger as he could in his voice, not wanting to completely put Alfred down.

In spite of Arthur's consideration, Alfred still made a dejected look as he stopped his bouncing and cheering. "Huuuh? What do you mean?"

A thought occurred to Arthur at that moment though. He was sure that once he was good enough a wizard, he would be more than capable of transporting not only his belongings to and fro where ever he pleased but also himself (and perhaps another). Maybe finally out of this town— to greater cities or even other countries. "Well, at least not now... Someday..." Arthur smiled surely at these words, but Alfred on the other hand was looking a bit impatient. "It probably won't be as close or clear as you'd like," Arthur almost whispered, embarrassed at how unnecessarily kind he was trying to be. "but I'm certain we'll see an airplane or two today... That is, if you don't mind staying within the town... with me." The last two words were almost inaudible, but he wasn't looking at Alfred to see if he had heard.

Whether Alfred had heard it or not though, he was already his buoyant self again. "That'd be excellent!" He had his mouth stretched into a big toothy grin, and Arthur couldn't help but give him a small smile back even though it probably looked awkward and as embarrassed as he felt.

"We better get going then." For a brief moment he pulled his pocket watch out to read that it was two o'clock. Realizing that neither of them had eaten yet, he figured he'd save Alfred the torture of being confided in the house any longer and decided that they'd just eat lunch while they were out.

"Haha, this is going to be the best day ever!" Alfred bellowed with his fists in the air.

Arthur's face had turned completely red. He'd never heard anyone claim anything like that while having to do something with him. Whenever his teachers assigned partners or groups for projects, he was often met with groans and heads banging against desks from the people he was forced to work with. It was just as well, he hated them also but kept to glares and hushed insults. Yet Alfred was jumping around like a child, more than happy to share an entire day with Arthur.

Glancing at Arthur's frozen figure, Alfred seemed to have caught how red his face was. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked in a worried voice. "Listen, if you're not feeling well, I don't mind waiting a little longer. There's still a ton of books I haven't read yet too and—"

"No, no, it's okay. I'm fine," Arthur assured him. He strolled to his drawers to look for something to wear. As he carelessly pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt featuring the Sex Pistols, it occurred to him that Alfred was still wearing his unusual attire. "Uh, you can't go out wearing that though. You'll draw too much attention."

"You mentioned something like that before." Alfred reminded himself. "But it's not like I have anything else to wear!"

Eyeing Alfred for an instant, he knew that his clothes would be too small for Alfred's larger body. Feeling a little hesitant, Arthur gradually resolved to "borrow" some clothes that would fit.

"Where are you going!" Alfred shouted after him alarmingly, as Arthur dashed up the staircase, out the door.

"Stay where you are!" Their shouting echoed loudly, seeping through every room in the house. Luckily, said house was still magically entwined so closer neighbors and passers-by wouldn't hear a new obnoxious voice they didn't recognize.

While running to his third eldest brother's room, he chanted a reverse spell to undo the hex he placed on the doors. Upon entering, he looked left and right for wherever clothes may be kept. They never went into each other's rooms— a sort of unspoken rule— so naturally, Arthur felt like he was committing some terrible crime and he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, wasting no time admiring his brother's sloppy room. There, buried under a stack of filthy clothes was a low narrow set of drawers. Arthur leaped over the various scattered objects on the floor, shifted a set of dirty magazines out of the way, and quickly pulled out a red hoodie and pair of jeans out of the drawers.

Mission accomplished, Arthur bound back to his room where he found what looked like a fort made out of the dozens of books Arthur owned. He assumed it was a fort, because Alfred was secured inside, his cowlick hovering out of it. For an instant, Arthur was impressed at how quickly Alfred had conjured it, but remembered that Alfred wasn't exactly human either.

"Do I even have to ask?" Arthur drawled in an unamused voice.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelped as he sprung out of his little fortress, pushing himself forward uncomfortably close against Arthur. "You should have at least told me where you were going! Instead of making me wait here all by myself! Lucky for you, I'm a hero and came up with the idea to make a magic barrier myself!"

Sure enough, when Arthur took another glance at the stack of books, he realized that they were in fact his books on sorcery and magic. But rather than berate him on what a stupid and useless idea it was, Arthur began laughing lightly at how simply ridiculous Alfred was for believing that just by having a book about magic was in its essence magic too.

Not at all pleased with Arthur's lack of appreciation, Alfred armed himself with crossed arms and a big pout. "What's so funny? I thought it was a brilliant plan!"

Arthur wiped the tears at his eyes and placed one of his other hands loosely over his mouth. "You are, you fool," he said in between laughs. "Simply, having books on sorcery doesn't necessarily make it magical property." He picked up one of the books that made up the upper layer of the fort— Magic for the Advanced. "Like how having a kitchen doesn't make you a chef or owning a camera makes you a photographer." Setting the book back in place, Arthur looked back at Alfred who was no longer pouting, but seeming like he was thinking hard about what Arthur had told him.

Grasping that they were no ready for going out as they were when Arthur had gotten up, he tossed Alfred the clothes he retrieved and turned the other way to let Alfred change and do the same himself. Apparently Alfred had finished thinking about Arthur's earlier analogy and asked him what were cameras and photographers. Glad that Alfred had done so, it eased Arthur's uncomfortableness of changing clothes with some else doing the same right behind him. He told Alfred about photographs being tangible memories— it was the best he could come up with since he never dawdled about how technology worked. In spite of that, Alfred appeared very interested, and Arthur even offered to lend him his camera.

"C'mon, c'mon! Let's go now, Artie!" He was bouncing up and down, his knees bending and straightening at a fast pace as he waited for Arthur to grab his wallet and camera.

"Calm down, the town isn't going anywhere," Arthur affirmed. He was in a good mood right now and let Alfred get away with calling him 'Artie'.

Alfred wouldn't take that response though and shot back "Well, time is! So let's get going!"

As soon as Arthur tied his shoelaces, Alfred grabbed his elbow and dragged him almost painfully upstairs. They were close to getting out the back door until Arthur warned him.

"Hold on! There's one more thing we need before we go out!" He pried himself from Alfred's grip and instead headed towards the front door.

"Artiiieee...! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Alfred droned. He let his back hunch and arms dangle in front of him like how he did when Arthur wouldn't let him stay outside previously as well.

"Shut up. This is for your sake, so be a little grateful." Next to the front door was a thin bin containing five umbrellas. Arthur picked out the smallest and lightest one and held it out for Alfred to see. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Alfred perked once more and ran next to Arthur, ready to leave at last. Arthur had barely open the door when Alfred had bent down and slid himself under his arms to finally get out of the house.

"Freedooom!" he sang so loudly that Arthur could swear that the entire neighborhood heard.

He pushed his hand down Alfred's head sharply so they could see eye to eye. "Be quiet! Or else I'll change my mind about this whole thing and lock you with the ghost mice!" he said it in a loud whisper, but it was filled with the same amount of threat it would if Arthur had yelled instead.

Alfred nodded quickly under Arthur's hand and straightened himself in a dignified manner. He stopped shouting— generally not speaking at all.

Feeling that string of guilt tug at him as it seems to always do whenever he threatens Alfred like that, Arthur neatens up his stance as well and adds "I didn't say you couldn't talk. Just stop being so unnecessarily loud. It'll cause us a lot of trouble— especially in a place like this." His head was slightly bowed down, but his eyes were tracking the houses that surrounded his own.

"No more screaming. Got it." Alfred's smile returned, and he looked pleasantly at Arthur. "Shall we?"

Arthur could feel his face redden, but he kept a composed face and he started walking out of his yard onto the sidewalk laced along the other driveways, with his companion eagerly hopping beside him.

"These houses are enormous!" Alfred bellowed, albeit loud enough for only Arthur to hear. "They're all so pretty too! Just look at how colorful all their yards are. Course, they're not as gorgeous as the garden at your place," he added casually, giving Arthur that pleasant smile again.

It was almost as if he was purposely trying to keep Arthur's face red the whole day. "T- Thanks, I try my best to keep my garden 'gorgeous'—"

"You mean you take care of the garden!" Alfred stopped, too surprised.

Arthur stopped as well to glare at Alfred. "Is that a problem?"

"No," he simply replied. "But you sure are good at a lot of things, aren't you?" he mused, then continued walking down the street.

Still in place, Arthur didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't really want to tell Alfred that gardening was actually one of the only few things he was actually experienced in. Instead, he dragged the topic back to that of the houses and caught up to Alfred. "It's normal for houses to be that size. Is it different where you live?" He believed he knew the answer to that, but at the same time, Arthur wanted to hear it from Alfred.

"Plenty different. The size, the shape, the material..." He put his hands in a pair of pockets he just discovered at the front of his hoodie. "Mm, the clothes are very, very different too." They were passing a group of young ladies in bright short dresses as he said this. He seemed to be only looking at their clothes though, Arthur noticed. "I like it. It's so comfy. But those girls over there are showing an awful lot of their skin," he said almost uncomfortably, turning to face forward.

"That doesn't really matter anymore. People these days are more or less open-minded about their appearance. Or rather... they've become as shameless as they could ever be about it." He wasn't paying any mind to the women either.

Alfred let out a loud laugh and some children playing catch had their attention on him. He simply waved at them and shyly they did the same back. "Those kids don't happen to be vampires, do they?"

The question took Arthur by surprise and he almost couldn't answer immediately. "No. Of course not," he replied, actually considering the possibility that he had blood-sucking children as neighbors. "What makes you say that?"

Alfred put his hands at the back of his head. "I've heard more than once that human children are practically the devil's spawn."

Arthur gawked. "Who is telling you all this rubbish?" He knew children could be very annoying brats, but they were overall very innocent and not at all hell's offspring.

"They're just little rumors that travel through the village. So I'm guessing you don't train babies to impale us with wooden stakes?" Alfred added jokingly— or not— but he was most definitely in a fit of giggles again.

Arthur chuckled lightly at the prospect, joining Alfred. "No, we certainly do not." He decided to be a little evil. "We give them guns, you idiot."

Abruptly, Alfred froze in place, looking horror-stricken at Arthur, who was having a hard time not bursting into laughter. "What the hell is wrong with you peo—"

"Joking, Alfred! Joking!" he interrupted, deciding that he couldn't keep from laughing anymore.

"I believed you!" Alfred shouted, but he was laughing as well. Although it did look like he was trying to keep his enraged look from earlier, judging by his eyebrows that seemed unsure as to whether they tilt downwards or upwards. "Stop trying to fill my brain with more 'rubbish' about humans. And what you said about handing little babies guns was worse than the rumor." Still smiling.

Arthur's laughter was dying down, and then he remembered his camera. He handed it to Alfred, explaining the basic functions, and allowed him to hold onto it for the rest of the day. He was wildly taking pictures of everything— a fruit tree in someone's front yard, a man jogging, several passing cars. But most of all, he took an overbearing amount of pictures of Arthur. Arthur would catch Alfred taking pictures of him while he was animatedly explaining about the pixies living in one of the older house's yard, when he pointed forward to motion them to walk faster, stopped to tie his unlaced shoes— the little clicking noise the camera produced was going off nonstop and Arthur had to resist the urge not to pry the camera away from Alfred.

"That thing will die out if you keep it on so consistently long." It wasn't a lie, and Arthur didn't want to hear Alfred's complaints if he took the camera by force.

"This thing looks like it can do anything though!" He held the camera high above their heads.

"There are still a lot more impressive stuff to see, Alfred. Put that thing away until you see something that is actually interesting."

"What are you talking about! I got a bunch of interesting things on this already!" He pressed the triangular button just as Arthur had shown him and moved closer to him to show everything he'd been taking pictures of until now. "See?"

Several pictures flashed before him— a lot of them of the more unique houses or the things people usually put in their yards like flamingos and bird baths and gnomes. There were some shots of joggers and children playing along the road too. In between each picture though was a set of three or more pictures of Arthur. One of them stood out from all the rest though.

It was a picture of Arthur in the middle of his explanation about the pixies. He had a dazed and overall silly look on his face and was smiling goofily. Arthur had reached for the camera to snatch it from Alfred's evil clutches, but Alfred was much too quick and held the camera in the air again.

"I'm keeping this one. It's my favorite." Alfred winked.

"I look ridiculous!" he yelled. But he wasn't sure if he was more happy or embarrassed at Alfred's previous comment.

"No, you don't. And this is a great picture of you." Alfred smiled, seemingly trying to imitate same look Arthur had in his picture.

Arthur was seething, but instantly straightened himself and crossed his arms. "I'll just delete it when you give me my camera back." Arthur said triumphantly. "Or I can do this." He chanted loudly so Alfred could tell he was uttering a spell— the spell he would use to gather books and the sleeping bag. Just like that, Arthur's camera was— ...Still in Alfred's hands, very tightly.

"I don't know what you just did, but that's not fair!"

Arthur looked confusedly at Alfred, then his own hands. That was the first time he had ever failed casting a spell. He thought maybe he chanted it wrong, so he did it once more. But nothing happened again. He glanced at Alfred who was holding the camera against his chest now. It was possible his spells were chanted correctly— No, not 'possible'— I surely said them right, he corrected himself, but it was Alfred who was interfering with it. As a magical being, Alfred must naturally have at least some magical resistance as well. Figuring he wouldn't get his camera back until Alfred was willing to give it up, Arthur settled with the latter of his plan.

"I don't want anyone seeing me like that!" he let Alfred know.

"Well, you showed me, so!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Listen, I won't show it to anyone else, so you don't have to worry, okay?" Alfred was looking very serious as he said it for some reason.

Arthur didn't know why he was so insistent on keeping such a terrible picture of him. He closed his eyes, and began walking again, letting Alfred's last words seep into his mind. "If you really do show anyone that picture, I will rip your heart out of your chest, then beat it with a stake. I just might even feed your remains to the ghost mice."

Alfred was smiling until Arthur's last statement, but continued to look at the picture fondly after anyway .

o o o

Hearing Alfred's frequent comparisons about where he came from provoked Arthur's curiosity about vampires— what they truly were. Overall, Alfred spoke of the type of little village that would appear in stories or diaries he read from before the 1900s. It sounded like a secluded place since Alfred hadn't even seen cars or airplanes before. Not to mentions his clothing. His past comments being "Don't you ever get hungry? Where are your herds?" and "If all you guys ever grow are flowers, and no fruits and vegetables, you won't get all the nutrients you need. Grow some crops!" Arthur wanted him to go more into depth as opposed to just saying vague statements. However, he knew how much Alfred wanted to talk about humans for the day anyway, and surprisingly he didn't mind letting Alfred have his way. He'd have plenty of time to ask Alfred questions about his village another time.

"Ah, this is the school— the high school, that is. It's where older children or young adults, like me, go to learn on the weekdays." They had reached it before Arthur had even realized, but he didn't want to spend any unnecessary time at the place. It was practically the bane of his life after all.

"This is even bigger than the houses!" Alfred yelled, his eyes wide, and elbows and knees bended. "There must be thousands of people who go here!" He was snapping pictures like crazy at different angles and heights.

Only Alfred's first statement was true. It was an overall small town and had a small school to match. And Arthur was completely grateful for that. He was never good at socializing, but it wasn't exactly like he loved people either.

"Maybe one or two thousand? We should go though, it'll be suspicious if we hang around here when its the weekend." Not waiting up for Alfred, he continued walking.

Alfred took a couple seconds before following after Arthur. "What's it like?" He was looking at Arthur with such interest with his bright blue eyes.

Arthur could tell Alfred was hoping for him to say how unbelievably amazing and wonderful school was. But he didn't want to lie to Alfred. "Honestly... It's hell... For me it is anyway," he sighed. He was recalling all those times being humiliated by his peers— mostly by Francis, who had always been so nice to him as a child. Then he thought that his miserable life probably made everyone elses all the more enjoyable and entertaining. "If you ask anyone else though I'm sure they'll tell you how fantastic it is— besides the homework."

Alfred was smiling at him sadly. "Maybe you're just not making the best of it."

"What's there to make the best out of?" Arthur scoffed. "You have to spend most of the day with people who hate you or you hate." An image of Toris and Kiku suddenly came to mind as if reminding him that not everyone is as evil as Francis. "...The rest of the day just isn't enough."

For a moment, the two of them were quiet. Not quite sure what to say to the other. Then a pair of teenagers passed by— one riding a bicycle, the other on a skateboard.

More than prepared, Alfred whipped out the camera and took at least three pictures already. "Amazing! What are those! Ow!" The two passers-by turned to glare at them, and before Alfred could say anything more, Arthur had pinched his ear and began briskly walking away, Alfred in hand. "Artie! That hurts!"

They kept walking like that until he was certain the two boys were back on their merry way. With a sigh of relief, Arthur let go.

"What did you do that for!" he demanded, rubbing his now reddened ear.

"You need to stop acting like we're at the damn zoo. You'll get us in unnecessary trouble."

Alfred was still checking if his ears weren't about to be dismembered, but he nodded his agreement.

"Good. Now let's get going. It's blazing hot out here and I haven't had a bite to eat yet." He eyes Alfred. "Are you feeling well?"

"No, I think my ear is about to come off. Let's go see a doctor—"

"Oh shut up, your ear is completely fine." Although he wasn't checking Alfred's ears at all. "I was referring to the heat."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I think I am feeling a bit weak, " he said in a low voice. "Maybe we should take a break." Alfred's knees were wobbling now and he was falling forward.

"Alfred!" Arthur had caught him halfway through falling and helped him up. "Are you okay? Dammit, I knew I should have just opened the umbrella from the beginning! Get up, I'll take us back home." His voice was laced with complete worry. He struggled with unstrapping the umbrella while holding carefully onto Alfred. "In the mean time, is there anything you n—"

Alfred suddenly started laughing very loudly against his ears. "Haha! I got you! Hahaha, it actually worked— ow! Ow! Artie, cut it out!"

Arthur began beating Alfred not so gently with the umbrella he brought. "You— Are— A— Complete— Twat!" He hit Alfred with all his might at every word.

Alfred spread his hands all over his face so he wouldn't get bruised or jabbed in the eyes. "I was only joking!"

"That wasn't funny! I thought you really were hurt, you idiot!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd react this way!" He stopped holding his hands to his face and dropped them to the side instead even though Arthur was still striking his shoulders. "I'm sorry," Alfred said sincerely. "I really am. I mean, thinking about it, that was too much..." He was looking into Alfred's eyes, so very bright and blue, and Arthur couldn't help but remember the words he read over and over again in one of his books on monsters.

"...uses its piercing, alluring eyes on humans..."

Arthur wasn't sure if he was seeing Alfred as Alfred right now or as a decietful vampire. He looked away hoping to break whatever enchantment was being placed on him, but he still felt his heart clench at Alfred's apology. Keeping his jaws clenched, Arthur growled "Fine. I accept your apology." He could tell Alfred was smiling right now, but he didn't want to face him while he was still feeling so unsure, so he kept his head either bowed or turned from Alfred as they walked further into town.

Author's Notes:

I present you a chapter with an actual decent amount of words. Twice as much as the last ones have been. oTL I've been working on this for the past two days and here I am submitting it at 2:18 in the morning. I had no idea I was taking so long with the editing! /n\ And the more the story progressed, the more I also added events in already completed parts— the whole thing with Alfred and the camera for example.

And since I'm such an idiot with technology and am still so confused with this site's functions, this things probably won't really be up until three. oTL

I really would appreciate reviews on this chapter, seeing as I put more into it and it has, by far, the most examples of my writing style.