I feel like an actual author right now. After some complications, LibreOffice decided to stop being bipolar and download properly onto my laptop. :3 Butyeah, no more using Wordpad! Woooo! ( although this program is so alien... sheesh... )

Anyway, in case you didn't see, I actually left a review on my last chapter to give everyone updates about what's going on and all~ Be sure to take a looksie if you haven't already. Soooo, in this chapter we'll be starting the morning Vlad wakes up with his new friend. Slowly throughout the next few you'll start to understand what's going on, and hopefully I can manage a good 20-30 chapters total before this thing is finished. It still wouldn't really be the length of an actual book, since my chapters are all tiny, but who cares? It's still always nice to see a 30-chapter book that won't leave you like, "WANT MOAR SOB."

Annnnd, no. My rambling isn't quite over yet. It's been months since I've said anything, what do you expect? XD

After this is COMPLETELY FINISHED I'll either do a sequel or start a new project on FictionPress; something original. If I get good feedback from this I'll probably do the sequel. Then again, I can be pretty unpredictable, so who knows?

Enjoy!

Chapter 7: I'm So Awkward

Standing in a small room, pastel tiles decorating each symmetrical, windowless wall, Vlad... didn't know where in the world he could be. Perhaps a bathroom, the boy mused thoughfully, eyeing each pale, square block uncertainly. Casting an equivocal glance in each direction in search of toietries and other instruments commonly found in bathroom—he'd yet to see one without a shower or commode, of all things—he frowned when only walls greeted him. There wasn't even a door.

He was trapped in a big, pink box made of bathroom walls, it seemed; which coudn't actually be the case.

Then again, he was half-vampire. Clearly, if anything worked the way the laws of science proclaimed, or at the very least how it should, he wouldn't exist. Unless, of course, he didn't actually exist. But now was not the time for philosophy—there had to be a way out.

Slamming against one wall, palms clapping far too loudly against it than he'd prefer, the young Goth suddenly became aware of a few dazzling sounds and smells. A sizzle he knew all too well from his time as a young boy made him lick his lips in delight, the smell following confirming his assumptions. It seemed that this wall sounded and smelled like eggs. He could hear them frying, the sound seeming to stick right in his brain. Yet... it also felt so far away.

God, how he wanted it, too.

Despite the blood bags he'd devoured during that hazy while he'd spent locked up in his room, Vladimir felt like he was starving. In fact, he would eat this ugly... cage?... if it wouldn't make him worry for his personal health. Not that he was a hypochondriac or health freak or anything. It just didn't seem like a good idea to eat walls. Plus, he was sure they'd taste bad. After all, they were only walls.

Just as his throat began to ache with the threat of a scream, the walls of the box started to crumble, chipping off and floating into darkness. "Wha-What?" Plenty of beautiful words could be used to describe this scene, but the best way to put it, was simply that it was like a freaking Zathura scene.

He didn't remember getting sucked into any suspicious boardgames, however the previous night hadn't been the most memorable. In fact, he couldn't quite recall what happened at all. Maybe he'd somehow managed to get drunk off of his bloodbags, and was now suffering from the oddest hangover known to man.

Below him, chips of the floor also fell. Through panicked gasps and little whimpers, he scrambled to stay supported with what pieces of the floor remained. As there weren't many, and they were quickly disappearing into the black void as well, it's safe to say that he had a hell of a time.

And then, finally, he slipped.

The black morphed into a collection of rainbow and plaid, gelatinous forms appearing now and then, and what he had expected to be a horrible trek to ground or perhaps even a black hole if the was the work of a magic boardgame turned out to be a leisurely float further down a lava lamp.

Had he taken drugs before going to bed? He'd never done it before, but he'd always assumed the atmosphere looked a bit like a lava lamp when you did.

Just as he began to stop questioning the odd reality and simply enjoy the ride, however, everything disappeared. All he saw was darkness, and this darkness happened to be one he was actually familiar with.

With the help of fluttering lids, now before the teen was a small, messy room. Not his.

He remembered now. The angel.

Now that he was well-rested and thinking properly, Vlad took in his surroundings. He'd always expected angels to be very clean creatures, but obviously this wasn't such an angel.

Still, he'd couldn't quite picture the man in a scary fashion. That day he'd appeared in his window, intruding on the raven-haired vampire during his practically decrepit state had, admittedly, been a horrifying experience. But at the same time, he'd brought him food, so there had to have been obvious good behind it.

Yes. He remembered everything now. Especially how his mouth tasted awful from the lack of personal hygiene he'd practiced in the past while. Along with that was the horrid stench emitting from him. He didn't know how—what had he called himself? Robert?-had managed to deal with the putrid stench. It seemed to be emitting straight from his pours, in fact, so he dared not risk lifting his arms to stretch despite desperate longing for the act in fear of what the obvious areas for stink to hide would be like.

After a few moments, he took note of the sound and smell once again. It seemed that they had not, in fact, come from his strange dream; but rather, Robert himself.

The last thing he wanted to do was impose... but then again... the eggs were oh so tempting. And, if the man had been able to bring him bloodbags, that probably meant that he had a few more at his disposal. And he couldn't see the harm in it after he'd already slept with the man.

Well, crap... I sound like a total slut right now. Nelly would have my head! And... wait... and he's a guy. Great. It really spoke that he'd taken the thought of sharing a bed with a man sexually, but he wouldn't have himself considering homosexuality with all he had on his plate.

What did he have on his plate, exactly? Snow and him and split up. But they hadn't been right for each other. With his current feeling of wellness, he'd clearly gotten over that nasty mourning stage. Henry and him weren't speaking, which was all his fault, and he wasn't even sure why he'd thought that would solve anything in the first place. While that was a problem, he was sure he could work through it since he and the other boy had been best friends for so long.

He wasn't sure, but he dismissed the thought anyway, simply not wanting to think about it.

Dragging himself out of bed to see how good of a cook his angel was, Vlad cautiously stepped out of the room. He couldn't help but feel a little timid with how foreign this house was and the lack of interaction he'd had with the gracious one he was company to. Luckily, the building was small with few rooms, so he could easily navigate his way to the kitchen with smell.

"Hello, Vladimir. You slept through most of the day," he greeted warmly as soon as he entered the room, not looking up from the stove. Now it appeared he was frying bacon, and the eggs he'd smelled earlier was placed in a plastic plate on the counter, "That's yours, by the way. I thought you'd be hungry. Feel free to eat and get cleaned up here." He paused. "Actually, you should probably stay for a few days. Clearly, you weren't doing well on your own. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm worried about you."

Vlad stared at him. He stood for a bit, not moving, and then finally blinked and stepped over to a stool by the counter, slipping awkwardly into it. Looking out the window, it appeared that it was still light out, so he assumed six o'clock would be rolling around soon if he'd slept through most of the day.

"You don't know me. Why would you worry?" He didn't really realize he'd said it; he hadn't meant to. But, it was a question he'd had to ask. If he didn't, it would probably gnaw at him for a while.

Robert smirked. "Vlad, I'm part of an organization that deals with suffering children. We're like counselors, but we take action. I've taken a particular interest in you, and it seems that I've done so at the right time, too."

"I'm not a child."

"You still are, no matter what you say. Just because you're out of school doesn't mean a thing." After a long pause, Robert began to gaze at the boy thoughtfully, as if considering something. "I'd really like to help you get on your feet. And I can look past you being a vampire."

Vlad frowned. He still didn't know how he'd found out. "Who told you?"

"Hmm? No one. You were careless and when you were running around crying you let your fangs slip, that's all."

The chill that went down his spine at this explanation told Vlad he was lying, but he decided to accept it for now. After what he'd already dealt with, it didn't seem like it would hurt to let whoever did it get away without any grief from him; and they'd get a lot of it if he found out.

"Well," he paused, biting his lower lip, "I really hate you right now. But at the same time I'm really grateful. So, thanks. And maybe I'll stay for a few days."

Unable to help but flinch when suddenly the counselor reached out and patted him on the head, the little Goth's nose wrinkled in distaste. Not necessarily at the action itself, but more so at the way Robert decided to laugh at him when he flinched. After a moment, though, his little snarl settled into a small smile and he was handed a fork, a few pieces of bacon dropped onto his plate.

Okay, so it wasn't blood. But it still looked pretty good.

I worked on this for you guys for over two hours, until 4am. XD Hope you're as happy with its turnout as I am.