Chapter Two: Vampires
Yep, it was decided. The world officially loved to troll Stiles Stilinski, and not even in the funny, 'haha you were born clumsy' way either. This time, it was the 'haha, your car totally broke down ten miles out of town and you have no cell reception-not to mention it's freezing' kind of way. The world was funny like that.
So, deciding it was actually closer to take a shortcut through the woods and go to Scott's house, rather than spend ages trying to get to his own, Stiles stupidly started trekking through the woods…
At night…
In a town well known for its 'dead body in the woods' count…
Smart move Stilinski, you total dumb shit.
Honestly, he didn't think it through, and was really starting to regret the idea when about two miles into the trail he heard branches rustling and birds being upset. It was straight out of an opening scene of supernatural really. Stiles bet that if he listened clearly enough, he probably would have heard tense orchestra music.
"Ah- is somebody there?" Stiles asked, not really expecting a response. More like expecting imminent death.
He got a response.
"Ooooh look! A puppy's going for a walk!" came a Brooklyn accent from very, very close behind him, like 'feel yo' breath on my neck' close.
Stiles whipped around, his heart jumping into his chest in the sudden thrill. He almost tripped over the various twigs and rocks scattering the ground, and would've felt embarrassed- if not for the utter terror of the situation.
There was a young guy, short hair- the colour of which Stiles couldn't tell in that light, cocky smile and he towered over Stiles. Not in the way big, buff guys like Boyd did…but in the way skinny, freakishly long guys like Isaac did.
"Dude- I don't own a puppy." Stiles told him, mostly faking his calm because, in all seriousness- this guy looked shady as shit. Like, who walked around in the woods at night and creeped up on unsuspecting teenagers? Serial killers, that's who… And probably Derek, but then again, Stiles wasn't exactly certain that Derek hadn't gone on an angst-filled killing spree at least once in his horribly depressing life.
The guy in front of Stiles cocked his head, studying strangely. Then, he took a step forward, way into Stiles' personal space and sniffed.
"Whoa, dude- personal space!" Stiles shouted, taking a hasty step back and shoving the guy away from him.
The dude just smiled.
"And BTW, that means 'by the way'- just FYI -FYI means 'for your information' BTW,…uh, my dad's the sheriff and if you kill me, no matter how much you think you've hidden the body!- he'll end up catching you, and the dude owns a gun. So be warned." Stiles glared at the dude, trying his best to feel intimidating, but really, he was nervous as hell- and with nervousness, came rambling. He really hoped this guy wasn't an axe murderer…Scott wouldn't be able to survive without him!
"I apologise, it seems I made a mistake earlier." The dude said, smiling brightly at Stiles- and even in the dark of night, he could tell the dude was cute. Nice straight nose, nice almond-shaped eyes, nice bone structure…nice teeth.
"Uh- on deciding to kill me? 'Cause not doing that is a really a great decision. I am totally, one hundred per cent, cool with that." Stiles replied awkwardly.
"No, I never really thought about killing you in the first place- I was talking about assuming you were a werewolf, though- by the way you smell it was an easy mistake to make." The guy still had on an easy smile, almost warm- it weirded Stiles the hell out.
"Hey! I don't sme- Wait. Werewolf?" Stiles looked at the guy, widening his eyes dramatically.
He just smiled in return, stepping closer, but holding his hands out in a 'mean no harm' gesture.
"Yes werewolf, and judging by the way you smell- like werewolf, you know a fair few of them." The dude frowned at that, seemingly disturbed.
"Well yeah, my besty is one, which is why I know only other werewolves can smell wolf on people." Wow, another wolf…How fucking many were there in BH anyway?
The dude, and Stiles should really stop thinking of him as 'the dude'…anyway, the dude stared at Stiles for a moment, his eyes comically wide, letting Stiles see the beautiful hazel they were…before he burst out laughing.
"I- ahaha! A wolf? You think I'm a wolf! Oh- oh my God that is rich haha!" The dude was laughing so hard he was doubled over, clenching his stomach. Stiles didn't see what was so funny.
"What are you then, if not a supernatural creature of the night?" Stiles asked angrily, pouting- the air of fear seemingly having vanished. The dude just seemed too cheerful and to be honest…harmless.
"Oh I didn't say I wasn't one of those- just not of the smelly lupine variety." The guy smiled, looking as if he was still on the verge of breaking out laughing.
"So…you're, what, a mountain troll?" Stiles asked, returning the dude's smile.
The guy bitch faced him for that, "No- I'm not a mountain troll. I'm a vampire."
Yeah right!
"Oh really?" Stiles asked, smirking.
"Really." the guy replied, smirking back.
"Show me your fangs then, oh mighty Vladimir." Stiles found banter with this guy intensely easy… which it shouldn't have been, since only moments before- Stiles had thought the guy was an axe-murder.
"Promise not to freak?" The guy asked him, stepping closer.
"Werewolves for friends remember Vlad?" Stiles replied, maybe leaning in a bit too…just a bit. Flirting with a total stranger, in the forest, at night… Only you Stilinski, only you.
"You asked for it." 'Vlad' said, and with a devilish grin, he revealed…perfectly normal teeth.
Which…. TOTALLY JUST ELONGATED, OH MY GOD!
"Oh my God!" Stiles squeaked, stepping back and stumbling over a root in the ground- he would've fallen on his ass too, if 'Vlad' hadn't caught him by the elbows and brought him in close…to press against his chest.
"You don't eat people…do you?" Stiles asked, deadly serious and totally wondering if the vampire could hear his heart rate skyrocketing.
The guy clutching him to his chest just rolled his eyes, still not letting Stiles go- even though Stiles totally thought he deserved some distance since this dude drank human blood.
Noticing Stiles' stress- 'Vlad' let him go, and took a couple steps back.
"No. I do not eat people- I, um, steal blood bags from the local hospital." He looked sheepish as he admitted it- but Stiles still gave him a raised eyebrow.
"Well I guess it's better than killing people." Stiles mused.
"Yeah, only some of us do that- and, like- not me! Totally not me! I am totally a modernised vamp- never, ever killed a human!" The guy seemed really anxious, like Stiles was gonna run away screaming.
"Dude, Vlad- it's fine. I hang out with a bunch of wolf-men- I can handle a vampire." Stiles assured him, and on some stupid instinct, reached out and placed a hand on the guy's arm to comfort him.
'Vlad' didn't shake it off…
"My name's not Vlad." The guy muttered, anger only half-hearted, as he was obviously trying to keep the smirk off of his face.
"Oh?" Stiles asked, smirking.
"Yeah, it's Toby actually." 'Vlad'…Toby, replied.
"A vampire named Toby?" Stiles asked- grinning at the guy in front of him.
"Yes, a vampire named Toby. We're not actually three-thousand year old immortal beings with really old names you know. I'm only twenty." Toby sassed.
"Oh, okay…My name's Stiles BTW." Stiles responded.
"Stiles?" Toby choked, obviously having difficulty with the name.
"It's not my real name! My mother was Polish, so I have this weird, hard to pronounce, Polish name- and trust me when I say it's a heck of a lot worse than Stiles."
Toby smiled, flashing his perfectly flat (thank God) teeth.
"Stiles it is then."
"What are you doing out here anyway?" Stiles asked.
"Oh- uh, going for a walk I guess…Vamps are nocturnal so…" Toby shrugged. "What are you doing here?" he asked, looking is if he was just now noticing how odd it would be for a human to be walking along a trail in the woods when it was so dark out.
"Oh! My piece of crap car broke down, so I'm walking along the trail to get to my friend Scott's house…he's probably the werewolf you smell on me actually." Stiles responded, smiling nervously.
"You decided to walk a trail at night…in a town that's well known for 'animal attacks' (which I assume your friends had nothing to do with)…in the freezing cold, when you don't even have a jacket?" Toby was frowning.
"Yeah- I uh, yeah, I'm a bit impulsive…and also stupid. But mostly, I'm freezing- thanks for reminding me." Stiles muttered the last part.
"I uh- actually better start getting to Scott's, you know, so I don't die of hypothermia." Stiles stated, and started walking back along the trail, ignoring the pang of regret he felt of having to stop talking to Toby.
"Wait!" Toby called, running up to him, really fast, "I'll come with you!"
"Really?" Stiles asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I- uh, It's dangerous out here, especially for a human, and especially in this weather." Toby rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Okay then, follow me!" Stiles called out cheerily, and started walking- pulling his hands up under his pits to try and warm up his body.
"You cold?" Toby asked, easily matching pace beside him as they walked through the forest.
"Yes. I thought we'd already established that?" Toby didn't need to remind him even more of his popsicle-like state.
He looked straight ahead, embarrassed at his fragile humanity, and heard the rustling of clothing next to him.
"Here." Toby said, as Stiles felt the warm weight of a jacket engulf his shoulders.
"Oh my God!" Stiles moaned, immediately pushing his hands through the sleeves and humming out appreciative noises at the warmth.
The heard a choked sound from next to him- and realised it was Toby.
"Uh you okay dude?" Stiles asked, scanning the area to make sure everything was all right.
"Yeah I just- yeah." And Stiles would probably blame the darkness for making him see things but he could swear the vampire next to him was blushing.
"Well, thanks for the jacket dude- it's really warm." Stiles smiled and burrowed into the warmth even more.
Toby just looked down, cutely embarrassed.
They'd been walking for about…half an hour? Maybe more, time really flew when you were having interesting, non-Twilight related (it was a sore topic apparently) conversations with your fellow vampire friends.
They stopped though, when Toby heard a noise, pulling Stiles behind him and hissing. Huh, werewolves growled, vampires hissed-good to know.
Toby's eyes were bright red, glowing red- more like flames than the ruby Derek's were. He also was crouched in a defensive position, shielding Stiles, his teeth elongated, pointing half-way down his chin.
"What? What's wrong?" then Stiles heard it…the growling, and saw it- a pair of glowing red eyes and a pair of glowing blue.
Werewolves.
"Friends of yours?" Toby asked, still shielding Stiles.
"How the fuck would I know? Don't have super senses like all of you mythical creatures seem to." Stiles muttered, feeling honestly, totally done with surprised and shock appearances for one night…maybe a lifetime.
"Stiles get away from him!" oh…well, Stile wouldn't exactly call them friends, but apparently Derek and Peter had joined the party- wolfed out too.
"Oh. Hey guys!" Stiles peaked from out behind Toby, to wave happily at the absolutely livid Derek and Peter.
"Nice night isn't it?" he asked.
"So they are friends?" Toby asked, settling down a bit, but still keeping his fangs and glowing eyes.
"Wouldn't call the, friends…more like random guys that I always seem to get stuck in shitty situations with. We don't like, play video games together or something."
Derek was growling loudly, Peter not doing much better.
"Stiles- get over here- he's a vampire." Derek hissed out the word like it was a particularly foul curse.
"Yes- and you're a werewolf- anything else that's not blindingly obvious?" Stiles asked, rolling his eyes and moving to step around Toby.
When he was stepping towards Derek, though, Toby clutched his arm and dragged him back- earning a big growl/snarl, from Derek.
"You said they're not friends?" Toby asked, glaring at Peter like he was a threat.
…
Well, then again, it was Peter.
"Well- no. But they won't hurt me, we have an agreement." Stiles tried to calm Toby down, noticing the situation quickly becoming out of hand.
"Have they ever hurt you before?" Toby hissed- still glaring only at Peter…even though Derek was doing a majority of the growling.
"No dude!" Stiles tried to sound calm, but it came out as desperate.
"That was a lie. I can hear your heartbeat. They've hurt you." Toby looked…enraged.
"I- okay, so there may have been some steering wheel- to head bashing, and some wall slamming…and some attempted bad-touch…but that's just because I'm annoying?" Stiles really wasn't helping the situation.
"Attempted Bad-touch?!" Toby grunted, his eyes growing impossibly redder.
"Okay, yeah- no. Bad phrasing…I just meant that Peter's a super creepy dude and you just get that vibe! No bad-touch…at least not in the way you're thinking!"
Oh God this situation was so not getting better.
"Okay, Toby. Stop! They're cool okay? No-one's gonna hurt anyone-same goes to you growly wolves over there…Toby's my bro." Stiles nodded, hoping his word cleared everything up.
"If they're so cool," Toby spat, "Then why does that one have blue eyes?" he nodded to Peter.
"Okay, so Peter's made some bad life choices…and granted, he's a huge asshole- but Derek (that's the red eyed, growly one) would never let him hurt an innocent again- I swear to God!" Stiles pleaded.
Toby just kept glaring.
"Toby- you can hear my heartbeat- They. Wont. Hurt. Me. Okay?" Stiles released the breath he was holding, as Toby calmed down and put the fangs away…keeping the glowing eyes though, probably as a reminder to the wolves.
Derek and Peter still looked pissed though.
"Oh my God! Same goes for Toby guys! I've been with him for like, 45 minutes…if he was gonna kill me- he would've done it by now! So put the fucking claws away!" Stiles didn't mean to sound so whiny- but he was fucking tired…and cold.
Peter turned back human…and after a moment, Derek followed suit, still glaring at Toby.
"How do you even get into these messes Stiles?" Peter asked, chuckling. Well, he sure seemed to calm down quick.
"It wasn't a mess until you mutts showed up." Toby glared.
"Hey- no racism from you!" Stiles warned.
"Yeah, like you didn't help- leach." And Stiles had to hold Toby from jumping Derek at that, Derek just smirking smugly at the guy,
"No racism from either of you." Stiles glared at Derek, pushing Toby back as he calmed down from the slur.
"I- uh, you should probably go…otherwise a fight will probably start." Stiles said to Toby, disappointment showing in his voice.
"You sure?" Toby asked still glaring at Derek.
"Yeah dude- I can walk the rest of the way…it's only a little bit to go anyway." Stiles assured.
"If you're sure then." Toby shrugged, but sounded put-out. Stiles nodded.
Derek was smirking, like he'd won a victory or something.
"Okay, then…I'll see you 'round some time then." Toby said, and, suddenly, leaned in and enveloped Stiles in his large, warm (which was weird, him being a vamp and all), embrace…holding on longer, and way more, uh…intimate than the situation would have called for.
"Y-yeah, bye." Stiles stuttered, awed, as Toby broke away and ran into the trees- disappearing from view.
"What was that?!" Derek growled, storming his way up to Stiles and glaring angrily at his shoulder- where Stiles was suddenly aware Toby's jacket still clung.
"Uh. A vampire, I'm pretty sure." Stiles responded, and heard Peter snort.
"Stiles." Derek growled, obviously not caring for Stiles' shit.
"Okay. Okay! So, my jeep broke down, an my phone didn't have service- and I decide it walk through the woods to Scott's- 'cause it was quicker that way and-"
"You WHAT?!" Derek shouted, grabbing Stiles by the shoulders.
"Do you realise how stupid that was?!" Derek seemed, if possible, even more livid than he was when Toby was there.
"Yeah- I know, Toby told me, probably a bad idea huh?" Stiles asked, shyly smiling.
Derek sighed, calming down and releasing his grip on Stiles' shoulders.
"Only you would run into a vampire when walking in werewolf territory. Jesus." Derek muttered, running his hands through his hair and looking hopeless.
"Hey! He was a lot nicer than you've ever been! I wasn't lying when I said you've hurt me!" Stiles protested, glaring at Derek.
…
"And he gave me his jacket 'cause I was cold too! You probably would have let me freeze to death!"
…
"Guess I got stuck with the wrong group of mythical-creatures…vampires seem a heck of a lot more civalised."
…
"And nice!"
Derek finally responded, laughing at that. Though, in Derek's case, laughing meant a small huff.
"You've only met one vampire Stiles- and that one was obviously an innocent. You haven't met a demon- vamp, have you?" the question was obviously rhetorical.
"Demon-vamp?" Stiles asked, raising an eyebrow.
Derek sighed, "Let's just say that there's a shit load more vampires that look like Nosferatu – than a pretty boy Edward Cullen."
"At least he didn't sparkle?" Stiles tried.
"Ugh. You're a hopeless cause- let's get you to Scott's so I can go home." Derek whined, dragging Stile by his wrist and up the path.
Stiles really, really couldn't agree more.