Boy Vampire Slayer Chapter 5
AN: For the new characters; Raivis= Latvia, Eduard=Estonia, Toris= Lithuania and from earlier chapters:
(In case anyone doesn't know) Sofia=Ukraine, Natalya= Belarus, Wang=China, Ivan=Russia, Francis= France, Peter= Sealand, Tino=Finland, Berwald=Sweden, Elizabeta= Hungary, Roderich=Austria, Gilbert= Prussia, Antonio=Spain, Lovino=Romano, Feliciano=Italy, Ludwig=Germany, Heracles=Greece, Kiku=Japan, Arthur=England and Alfred=America
And I'll mention it now, I'm only using Google Translate for other languages but if someone has a better method, just tell me in the review section.
Tuesday, September 25th
Arthur stood behind his counter as Kiku drew a stack of books out of his messenger bag. He had offered to renew the students taking out of the books but he had refused.
"Will you be checking anything out?" Arthur asked while typing in the confirmation of the books return.
"No, thank you." The Japanese man responded.
"You draw?" Arthur questioned, turning over the art philosophy and theory books in his hands.
"No, but Heracles does. We thought this would be easier than buying them, since he wouldn't be needing them for too long."
"Does he dabble in magic as well?" The spell book, which Arthur had read before, was intended for beginners who had gotten past the 'Never-Tried-It-Before' stage and not yet at the 'Completely-Confident-In-My-Skills-As-A-Beginner' stage.
Kiku looked over his shoulder and then back at Arthur, looking like he didn't want to answer. "Um, yes, we both do. He is better at it than me though." He explained quickly.
Arthur emerald eyes gleamed with an idea. "Are you doing anything after school?"
"Um, no." Kiku answered nervously.
"Can you and Heracles come here at like three? With the things you need to perform a few spells?"
"You believe in magic? Most people look at us strangely if we bring it up like it's real," Kiku told him, voice doubtful.
"I use it myself actually," Arthur revealed proudly. "Have been for a few years."
"Really? Do you need help?"
Arthur nodded fiercely. "Yes, very much. Could save the world." Well, he rationalized to himself, no reason in sugarcoating it.
Kiku's deep and dark brown eyes widened. "Okay then." He looked wary, his eyes shifting over Arthur. Arthur cringed. Probably thinks I'm bloody mad!
"Thank you." Arthur put the books on the cart behind him. "You can go now, tanks for returning those." Kiku nodded and backed away towards the door before turning around completely and exiting, the double door swinging behind him. He slapped his forehead lightly. "Dammit. Probably could've gone about that a better way."
He looked at the digital clock on the wall, its faded teal covering and its dastardly crimson red numbers, reminding innocent passersby how they were still stuck in school, how it was only twelve-twelve, and how they had another two hours trapped in the building. Another two hours…
He could do a lot in two hours. Call French-face and get him to find a way over. Call Tino, ask if he could take Peter directly from school, seeing as he taught at the school the young boy went to. Think up a training plan. Create some magic lessons for Matthew (it seemed like he would be good at it) and possibly Alfred (if the student had the patience. He would at least have to learn a little). Maybe...
1:45 P.M.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the back door leading to the parking lot. Arthur furrowed his brow, going over to the source of the noise. What in the world is out there? He had not expected to open the door to three figures in sweatshirts with their hoods up, umbrellas above their heads and rushing in to the library, not even seeming to notice Arthur.
He stepped back and stared at the three people who had just walked in, a little smoke floating off of them. They stood up with ranging degrees of difficulty, brushing themselves off and straightening themselves, standing straight and in a row.
"Who're all you?" Arthur questioned them, taking a step back.
The tallest of them, a male who looked seventeen with straight and flat golden hair, forest green eyes and thin glasses, stepped forward with an outstretched hand. "We're the Baltic Trio. Mr. Ivan sent us to talk to you about the next meeting between you and the vampires you've allied with. I'm Eduard von Bock." He spoke swift and surely, accent smooth, adjusting his glasses as he finished. Arthur took his hand, shaking it with confidence.
Eduard stepped back and a man, who looked the oldest at about twenty (give or take a few years) with shoulder length brown hair, Kelly green eyes and a kind smile put out his own hand. "Toris Lorinaitis." He introduced himself in a soft and lilting voice.
The smallest of them, a boy who looked no older than sixteen with curly strawberry blond hair and innocent violet eyes, introduced himself, his voice wavering and nervous. "Raivis Galante, sir, nice to meet you." He stammered out, accent growing thicker on each passing word. Arthur smiled and nodded at him.
"And I'm Arthur Kirkland, Watcher. Judging from the umbrellas and smoke I would say you three are vampires? Is there a reason you came to see me when it's such a sunny day?" He was right; the sun was shining bright and steadily, not a cloud in sight on the whole canvas of the pure blue sky.
Raivis was the one to answer, practically stepping on Arthur's words. "Mr. Ivan told us to get to you as soon as we could and that meant right as he told us. Which he did just a little bit ago."
Arthur's eyebrows shot up to his forehead. "But too much sunlight could kill you."
Eduard folded his arms sheepishly. "We know."
Arthur frowned. "So when do they want to meet again?"
Toris answered. "On Thursday, September 27th."
"And where?"
"There's a place in town called 'Hetalia'. You've heard of it?"
Arthur nodded. "Yeah. And what time?"
Eduard answered this time. "At 10."
Arthur's eye's widened. "That late?"
The three messengers nodded.
Raivis elaborated. "They want to be in the power of position in case you try to pull anything!" Toris and Eduard looked at him with respective shocked and wearily resigned faces; this was obviously an event that had happened before.
Toris laughed nervously. "Hehe, that's not true! Not at all! They just want…" he trailed off, not able to think of what he wanted to say fast enough.
Arthur spared him from having to end that thought. "I get it. Smart of them, I would've done it too. I must ask, do they mind how many I bring with me?"
Eduard shook his head. "They just can't be volatile. We don't want a fight." He added earnestly.
" I believe you. " Arthur assured him. Just then the library door flung open and in entered Alfred, taking his backpack off and tossing it onto the table. Arthur looked at him with inquisitive eyes. "What are you doing here?" Just as Alfred was going to answer, face sheepish, more students entered the library. There was Kiku, the pale haired boy from dinner at Tino's the other night and an two Asian boys one of whom had brown hair that was longer in the front and eyes the same color, the other with ruffled shorter brown hair and brown eyes. "Why are they with you?"
Instead of hearing Alfred's voice, he heard Raivis. "Li Xiao Chun , Im Yong Soo! I haven't seen you two in months." The short man's yell echoed around the high ceilings and spacious walls of the book filled room.
The shorter student responded bluntly. "That's 'cause I left Yao's house."
The taller one, with a voice teeming with energy, said, "Speaking of Yao, when can we come to visit him again? Alfred here said he had talked to him a few days ago and asked if we knew him!"
Arthur's eyes switched between the two of them. "Wait, which one's which?"
The shorter one answered, "I'm Li, he's Im."
"And why are you here?"
Alfred finally spoke. "I overheard them talking about Yao and thought they might be useful. Kiku's here cause you asked him to be. He's got study hall too."
"And… Emil?" He managed to remember the teenager's name.
" I didn't want to be alone in AP history, which I would've been since Alfred here decided to pull Li and Im down here against their wills."
Alfred looked insulted. "You have to admit, I didn't bring Im here against his will! He came fully willingly!" Li shrugged in a passive manner.
Arthur groaned. " You pulled them out of class to come see me? Alfred, you can't do that, you'll get us all in trouble."
Alfred wasn't paying attention to Arthur though. "Uh, who the hell are they?" He asked, waving a finger in the direction of the three vampires.
"We're the Baltics," Toris offered.
Arthur turned back to them. " I forgot to ask, what does that mean?"
" I'm from Estonia, Toris is from Lithuania and Raivis is from Latvia. The three Baltic countries, as I'm sure you know."
Arthur felt like his intelligence had been questioned. "Of course I know! I'm not an idiot like some here!" A ripple of confusion and insult passed through the gathered males. Arthur scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Heh, not that any of you are…idiots…." He trailed off, embarrassed and flustered.
"…Anyway…" Alfred cut in, " We got a plan? What're they here for?"
Arthur answered. "They're messengers. Francis, Ivan and the others wan to meet on Thursday."
Alfred straightened his stance until he looked heroic enough for his own standards. "That's awesome! We can get a whole bunch of people in a group and save the world! We can be like the Avengers!"
Arthur rolled his eyes, struggling to hide his amusement. Instead, he acted like he was completely done with the blond Slayer. "Yes, fine."
"Fine? I think you mean awesome. A hero's plan," he urged. He looked so sure of himself. It both warmed Arthur and made him want to slam his head against a wall. Damn conflicting feelings.
Toris began tremulously. "So, um…. Should we tell Mr. Ivan and the others to expect more than just the three of you that were at the last meeting?"
"Yes," Arthur responded, " and tell him that we will be prepared to defend ourselves if it's needed but we wont be openly hostile. Or stupid," he added, with a conspicuous glance to Alfred. The student looked offended. Good, Arthur snickered.
"Will do." Eduard snapped his fingers and pointed towards the metal door and, taking their umbrellas and bracing themselves, the three men shuffled over to the door, pushed it open and made their way to their red car with tinted windows. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, like caterpillars on a branch. Aren't those illegal? Well, he reconsidered, they are vampires. Probably don't care about laws.
"What now?" Everyone turned to the whispered question, just noticing Matthew's presence.
2:13 P.M.
The remaining people stood in a half circle, waiting for instructions from Arthur. He had only told them he would be showing them a basic spell because while he might prefer to do actual weapons training, that wouldn't be possible during school hours. Instead, he would say some Latin, mix a few plants and herbs, and create some small flames. They were to watch and learn, as magic was a necessary skill in the world of the Slayer. Kiku would be his helper, as he was the only other one with even the slightest experience.
While Alfred kept failing at keeping all of his ingredients orderly, Emil and Li kept throwing furtive glances over at Im, who was saying something about how magic originated in his home of South Korea to Matthew, who looked like he just wanted to get on with the lesson. Oh God, who else will this idiot bring me? Arthur questioned, and he could only imagine the gang of misfits that Alfred would deem worthy for his team of world savers.
"Alright then," Arthur began, "first, you crush the dried Allspice and blend it with the Amaranth root and crushed Anemone seeds." He paused, giving his students a chance to perform the task. Kiku was getting along fine, done within a few seconds. Actually, everyone seemed to be getting along fine except for… Alfred. The blond had gotten to the Allspice but seemed confused from there. And somehow there were seeds scattered all around him and his mixed herbs were sticky and crushed to a slight pulp. "What did you do?"
Alfred went on the defensive. "Why do I need a spell for fire when there are lighters and matches?"
Arthur groaned in exasperation. "It's magical fire. It has physical and mental healing properties, you dunce. And if there's no matches around, like in a natural disaster, it's useful." Alfred pouted.
"It's still stupid."
"I'll laugh when you need this spell and none of us are around to help you. Anyway," he spun on the ball of his feet and addressed everyone, "the next step is simple. Once you have those herbs mixed, you just say: et flamma non ardebit, florescant, et succendatur, et fumus, et cinis. That's it." He performed the spell himself and was rewarded with a bowl of flickering flames, the smoke rising in waving streams that widened and narrowed at random. He half smiled and looked up to see the others progress. Kiku was doing great; Im's flames were small but bright and steadfast, Li's were popping and eye catching, Emil's were steady, Matthew's small yet effective and Alfred's were better than Arthur expected. It would need work, but that was okay. "Alright. That's good for now. You'll be getting out of school in five minutes, so go to your lockers and get whatever you need. Alfred, get whomever else you want to help us, or whomever you can. I would like a list or number estimate. Not too many!" He added hastily as the student shot away, the others in tow.
Arthur sat himself down at the library tables. What was he going to do with Peter tomorrow night? Tino's was an option, but he didn't want to burden the kind man again, and he wasn't sure what he would do after the meeting. If it took to long, he might have to send Peter to send the night! Oh, I really hate not knowing anyone here! He thought with a groan.
"I'll just call him!" Arthur decided, not sure whether not he should. The two had exchanged numbers dinner that one time. It was only after the receiver had rung three times he realized Tino would still be teaching. "Oh, fuck!" Before he could hang up though, Tino picked up.
"Hei!" Tino answered, "Mr. Kirkland? Arthur?"
"Uh, hello Tino. Sorry to bother you during school, but I need to ask you something."
Tino laughed, the sound of it bringing a small smile to Arthur's face. "No, no trouble at all! My class is just having reading time right now. What do you need to ask?"
"I have an… important meeting tomorrow and it starts very late and goes very late. See, I wouldn't be asking you this unless I thought it necessary, but I don't want to leave Peter alone. Now tell me if this is too much to ask or imposing in anyway, but could you take Peter for that time?"
Tino faltered. "I, well, yeah. Would it be better if we came to your house and watched him until you got back? You know there's no school on Friday right? Teacher's workshop. And if you don't mind me asking, what do you need to do at ten at night on a Thursday?" Tino couldn't keep the shock out of his voice.
Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "That would be good, thank you. And um, it's a strange job. I've had it for years, and it's… yeah, strange."
Tino chuckled hesitantly. " Okay then. When do you want to bring him over?"
Arthur thought for a moment. "Is nine good?"
"Yep!"