The next morning rolled around sooner than Adam wanted it too. He'd fallen asleep in his clothes from the night before, and hadn't even tried to get into bed. For some reason he was sat awkwardly in the chair by his desk. How he'd even fallen asleep there was a mystery to him, but it didn't really faze him given the recent events.
Adam checked the time and was stunned to see he had about ten minutes before he'd be running late. He rushed to change into his green and yellow school uniform and ran for the door, grabbing his bag on the way and slung it over his shoulder. He hadn't bothered (nor did he have the time) to do anything else.
"Bye mum." He yelled as he left the house and grabbed the spare set of keys.
"Home by four?"
"Home by four."
"Hold on! You didn't eat your toast. You didn't eat anything at your gran's either. Oi! Adam!!"
"What sorry?"
"TOAST!"
"Sorry, can't hear you!"
"ADAM!"
Skipping breakfast wasn't Adam's usual school morning routine, but like the day before he wasn't able to look at food without having the overwhelming feeling to be sick.
Adam ran down the drive and around the car, his mother chasing him at a moderate pace, frantically waving a piece of toast in the air. He continued to sprint down the last of the drive, on to the pavement, and started walking towards the bus stop. This lasted for about three seconds before his mother caught up to him and tugged firmly on his bag that nearly send Adam flying backwards.
"Toast." His mother insisted as he shoved what should have been Adam's breakfast in his face.
"No."
"Oh, give me strength. Adam, eat the damn toast!"
"I don't want to eat the damn toast." He angrily spat as he crossed his arms uncharacteristically.
Running out of patience with her son's new-found attitude, Sally decided the best thing that Adam could do was to "Buy something at break?". Sally then handed Adam some change. Enough to buy something small to eat.
"Alright, fine."
"Bye love." Sally said lovingly as she blew him a kiss, which only earned her a glare from Adam. Although she did get a small wave as he boarded the school bus just in time.
She ran back to the house, crumbling toast in hand. At least Adam would actually eat something she thought to herself as she walked up the drive.
———
Adam arrived at the school gates, and made his way inside the weird, yet grand building. As usual, Miss McCauley was ushering students inside, and breaking up fights that broke out between the same people each and every morning. She had to do all the work since the landlord or owner or whatever he was didn't really contribute anything to the school. The only thing he did contribute was a small sum of money and a clear crush on the headmistress. Something that certainly entertained the students.
Recently Miss McCauley had been much stricter too, since an ofsted inspector was coming to the school. Coincidentally on the same day as his birthday.
(A/N: I don't think the show ever specified if it was or wasn't Adam/Vlad's birthday in the transformation/Bad Vlad/whatever you want to call it episode, so I'm just writing this like Vlad/Adam's birthday was on the day of the ofsted inspection.)
Adam glumly made his way to his registry class at the thought of having to spend his birthday stressed out by a stuck up inspector with a clipboard.
He sat down in the back, alone as usual. He'd never really been the friend type. A girl called Erin had turned up at the school a while ago, and turned out to be quite friendly towards him, making her newfound friend Becky friendly towards him as well. Otherwise, he rarely spoke to anyone, unless he absolutely had to.
"Giles?"
"Here."
It was sad really. Everyone knew who he was. He wasn't exactly unpopular, not that he was popular mind you. Just not a loser like he'd been in his old school. People knew him here for being 'gothic' or 'odd'. It was hard to not stand out with such an alternative style, but he'd never been bullied for it like he was at his old school. It was a nice feeling, not being made fun of every second for how he looked or what he liked.
———
The gloomy day moved on slowly. One class faded into another. The next one as boring as the last. Adam hadn't bought anything from the cafeteria at break, but picked up a packet from the bin so his mother would be happy. As for the money, he just stuffed it in his jean pocket. All of this because he still didn't have an appetite. Well he did, but he still couldn't look at food without needing to vomit.
Trying to distract himself, he tried to focus on getting out of PE. He could be 'too tired' or could be 'feeling ill'. Granted, both were true but the PE teachers never let anyone off unless they had a note. Yet another reason he hated PE.
If he wasn't let off, he could always hide in the upstairs library. In other words, dodge. Something he did quite often. Luckily, his mother had never caught on.
Deeming asking the PE teacher to be let off pointless, Adam ran up the stairs and started to make his way to the library. But as he passed the door to where the owner and his daughter lived... He must've imagined it, but...
"Adam!"
Adam's body jolted, nearly making himself fall down a flight of stairs. He looked around to see if anyone had said his name, but all the students had either entered their classrooms or were entering. He was alone.
"Weird.." He muttered to himself as he looked down the stairs, thinking he might've missed someone.
"Come.."
There it was again. He was imagining things, surely. No one was here after all. Who could be calling him. No, whispering to him.
"I'm in the mirror room.."
It wouldn't hurt if he followed the voice, right?
"Look for the mirror."
Confused but intrigued, Adam opened the door and entered a gothic dining room. There was a large throne with an oil painting of a man sharing a few similar features with Adam above it. The room was dark and damp, only lit by a few well-used candles.
"Cool." Adam muttered to himself. The place really lived up to its expectations.
He creeped through the dining room and found himself in a corridor that's walls were slightly slanted. There was a few doors, but only the two right at the end of the corridor seemed to be used. Adam guessed this from the lack of dust on those two specific doors.
What Adam didn't expect was one of the doors to creek open revealing light and a silhouette.
In an effort not to be caught snooping around in someone else's house, Adam managed to leap to his side where he just caught himself again before falling down a rickety stair case.
He decided to venture further and away from whoever had opened that door, and was led down deep into what seemed to be a wine cellar. It had what must've been hundreds of bottles of red wine. All labeled with different names and dates Adam didn't bother to check.
Passing though the cellar, he weaved though a breeding ground for cobwebs, dust and dirt until he arrived in a small, dusty and dark room.
"Turn on the light.."
Following the voice's instruction, Adam searched the wall inside of the room for a light switch. After a few seconds of dragging his hand aimlessly against the wall, his hand passed over a rusty light switch flipping it and a single light bulb illuminated the room.
There were boxes covered with an old blanket and a thick layer of dust, an old tapestry hung up behind them, but it was the mirror that peaked Adam's interest.
It was a gothic, golden mirror, and two statues stood either side 'guarding' it in a way. Not that it needed guarding. What type of mirror needed to be guarded? Maybe it was priceless, or a family heirloom. Whatever it was, it was clearly quite important.
He stepped inside the room and stood parallel to the mirror, staring at his reflection. The light bulb flickered slightly and Adam could have sworn his reflection had winked at him, but that was absurd. Surely just a trick of the light. He approached the mirror with great interest of the ominous feeling he was getting, and Adam felt mesmerized by it, as if it had a pull, louring him.
A rush of adrenaline came over him in a great wave as he got closer to the mirror. The hunger from the night before was rising within him once more, stronger than it ever had been. But as the hunger grew, so what he assumed was his strength, his senses, everything. For some reason he felt some sort of power surge within him. He felt as if everything about him had been enhanced. But a silly antique mirror couldn't do that. His nutritiously active imagination was at it again today.
"That's right, I'm in here..."
Shocked once again by the whispers, Adam halted before he neared the mirror again. He got closer and closer. He was fully aware he must've been hallucinating or imagining things by now, but he could have sworn the statues had moved to look at him.
"I'm in here! I'M IN HERE!"
The feeling of power and strength overpowered Adam's hesitation and his fear of the old mirror. He reached out his hand and placed it on the mirror's cold surface as his reflection did the same as expected.
"No, you're too early." He, or rather his reflection said, because Adam hadn't moved his lips.
"Too early?" Adam uttered to himself in both terror and confusion. If anything, Adam expected some sort of response from the mysterious voice, but he heard nothing. The lack of response calmed Adam down. Maybe he was going crazy, but at least he wasn't having conversations with his reflection just yet.
What Adam didn't expect was a girl that looked to be about eighteen to grab him by the shoulders and turn him around. He must've been too transfixed by the mirror that he hadn't seen her reflection behind his.
"UAAGH!!"
"Why in the Devil's name are you here?!" The girl yelled as she recognised the uniform Adam was wearing. "You're supposed to be in class!"
Adam ripped away from this mysterious girl's grasp, scared witless by the way she'd snuck up on him. She already knew he was a student from looking at the Garside uniform, so it must've been a surprise to find him in her basement.
"I asked you a question." She continued, her face stern. She was terrifying alright, but a great deal of beauty veiled her rage and coldness.
Adam was still trying to piece things together. He just stared at her, clear confusion all over his face. The girl was obviously the owner's daughter. She had the same shade of pitch black hair as him, and some of the same facial features. Funnily enough she and Adam seemed to have some features in common as well.
Those features were showing more and more frustration as the seconds passed by.
"I- I got lost. Sorry."
"In our house?"
"Yeah... Sorry 'bout that.." Adam awkwardly apologized as he rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye contact.
"Well, get out of here before dad finds you, whatever-your-name-is." Said the girl, running low on patience.
"Oh, uh yeah. I'm Adam. Adam Giles." Adam said as he offered his hand to the girl, unsure of what else to do. Instead of shaking, the girl stared at him it disbelief. "What is that not-? I'll just go." Adam spluttered worriedly as the girl stared at him with her mouth hanging slightly. Was it really that rude to offer a hand shake to someone?
"Giles...?" She whispered to herself. She walked away, deep in thought, Leaving Adam with more questions than answers.
He shifted uncomfortably on the spot, waiting for her to leave. It felt like an eternity but once she did, Adam bolted up the rickety stairs, back past the wine cellar and the gothic dining room, arriving at the top of the school staircase once again.
He was going insane surely.
No one in their right mind heard voices coming from a mirror, and up until now Adam had thought himself to be pretty sane. But now, he was nearly positive that he might just be insane. No, he was certain that he was in fact