Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 18

Arthur and Lukas returned home, both feeling anxious. They were worried about Vlad, partly because he was ill, and partly because a vampire was looking after him. They still had a hard time trusting Feliciano.

They found Alistair, ready to leave. Arthur grabbed his brother to stop him.

"Do you have any idea what's going on with Vlad?" Arthur asked.

"I have a few," Alistair said. "Someone is tampering with the protective spells surrounding him. What makes this worse, the magic's been passed on along the bloodline. At least some of his ancestors knew that there would be trouble."

"Who would interfere with protection spells?"

"I don't know. But Feliciano also said something interesting that I need to do some research on."

Arthur and Lukas shared a look, before focusing on the older male again.

"What did he say?" Arthur asked.

"First, do you know that Feliciano is a vampire?" Alistair asked. The younger two flinched, and Alistair nodded knowingly. "Yeah. He's reacting to Vlad in a way that he should only react to another vampire. Specifically, Feliciano said that he's mating with Vlad."

"What?!" Arthur and Lukas exclaimed.

"It looks like Feliciano is trying to resist, but I've read about the subject in enough books to know that when a supernatural being started the mating process, it's not going to be easy to stay away," Alistair continued. "Especially if Vlad shows signs too."

"W-w-wha… How can we stop this?" Arthur asked. "And what signs should we even be looking for?"

"As far as I know, the only way to stop the mating process is to kill one of them. As for signs… I'll bring you one of the books on this subject."

"I want to know how this is even possible," Lukas said. "I mean… Vlad's human. You said that Feliciano should only be reacting like this if Vlad was a vampire."

"That's also what I want to look into. Vlad's ancestor was a dhampir, right? Normally, it should fade from the bloodline after a few generations, and shouldn't really be affecting him anymore. So, unless something else is going on, it shouldn't be that."

Lukas and Arthur exchanged a look. Both of them remembered what Vlad had told them about his ancestor, and both came to the same conclusion. Arthur turned back to his brother, his mouth opening, before he closed it again. His family was a bit harsher when it came to the matter of demons, and he didn't want Vlad to suffer more than he was already suffering.

Fortunately, Alistair looked at his watch, so he didn't see his brother's hesitation. He looked up and sighed.

"Anyway, I need to get going," Alistair said. "I'd recommend that he should stay at home tomorrow. Someone's messing with those spells, and the smaller the risk of exposure, the better. I'd also recommend that you let the vampire stay here. I don't think Vlad should be left alone."

"But you're okay with leaving a vampire to look after him?" Arthur asked.

"A vampire who's instinctively protective of him. It might not be the best, but it is still better than nothing. And you two need to look around tomorrow at the university. See if you can find a candidate for whoever might be tampering with those protection spells."

"How are we going to do that?" Arthur asked. "I mean… the campus is huge!"

"But we don't have to look through the entire campus," Lukas pointed out. "Just the places that Vlad would go. His classes, the library, the cafeteria… And I happen to know that he has a friend in one of those classes. A supernatural."

"And you've got your first suspect," Alistair said. "Just be careful, Artie. Protective spells that have been passed down along the bloodline… Makes me worried about what his ancestors were afraid of."

Arthur felt a chill go through his body. Alistair was right. It was worrying. They needed to go to Vlad and see for themselves how he was doing.

They saw Alistair out, and then they went to the guest room, where Alistair told them Vlad was still staying. Arthur was glad that he'd listened to his parents' suggestion to keep a room like this available. The two stormed in, and froze when they saw Vlad, who was paler than the vampire sitting next to him. Feliciano looked up at them with a pathetic expression.

"I don't know how to help him," Feliciano said. "His pulse is all over the place. He's also way too hot."

Arthur noticed the rag on Vlad's forehead. He touched it and found it to still be damp.

"Has he had any medication for his fever?" Arthur asked.

Feliciano inclined his head, showing the bottle of pills.

"He already drank two of them," Feliciano said. "His breath smells like blood. I hate it."

Arthur wanted to say something biting, but decided that it wouldn't be worth it. Instead, he placed his hand on Vlad's cheek. He noticed two things. First was that Vlad was extremely hot. Second was that Feliciano tensed at the contact.

"We need to keep him hydrated," Arthur said. "Feliciano, could you get us some water?"

Feliciano hesitated for a moment before he nodded, grabbing the empty glass that was already on the bedside table. He paused at the door before he turned back to look at them.

"Just to be clear, I can hear everything," Feliciano said. "And I know you don't trust me, but I wouldn't hurt Vlad. I can't. And if my grandpa finds out about this, then Vlad's going to be in a lot of trouble, so I'm not going to tell anyone about what's happening."

Arthur felt a wave of guilt as he realised that Feliciano had heard their conversation with Alistair. Arthur was torn between being critical of Feliciano for being a vampire and seeing Feliciano as a person. He turned back to Vlad. Vlad didn't have this kind of problem. He didn't seem to have the power to be prejudiced at all, which made his current situation even worse. He didn't deserve this.

Lukas walked over to Vlad and stroked his finger over Vlad's nose. After a second or so Vlad's face scrunched up, before slowly opening his eyes. It took a moment for him to focus on Lukas before he glared.

"What are you doing?" Vlad rasped.

"We need to talk," Lukas said. "Where are all the places you go on campus?"

Vlad frowned.

"Why?" he asked.

"Someone is tampering with those protection spells," Lukas said. "We need to find who's doing this, and it should be someone you're in contact with. Also, if you know any supernaturals, you need to tell us who and where, and maybe even what."

Vlad pursed his lips, before he looked around.

"Where's Feliciano?" Vlad asked.

"He went to get you some more water," Arthur said.

"And Alistair?"

"He left."

Vlad nodded his head. He then focused fully on Arthur and Lukas.

"I think I met the spirit of my ancestor," Vlad said. "And… He said some things."

"Like what?" Lukas asked.

"There's another vampire I'm in contact with regularly, asides from Feliciano. That vampire is possibly responsible for all of this. Or at least, in part."

"But where would you possibly get in contact with another vampire?" Arthur asked. "I mean, we spend our evenings at the café. Are you saying that there's another vampire among our regulars?"

"It's possible," Lukas said. "I mean, Feliciano doesn't stay the whole night. And there are other regulars during the rest of the night."

Vlad's eyebrows furrowed.

"Did he say anything else?" Arthur asked.

"D-da," Vlad said. "He said… there are two types of enemies. Those from without, and those from within." Vlad paused to cough, and Arthur frowned when he saw the droplets of red. "He said that I'm dealing with the latter."

"What does that even mean?"

Vlad didn't answer immediately, but he turned his attention to the door and smiled. Arthur turned around to see Feliciano, looking as though he was trying to make himself seem smaller.

"H-here," Feliciano said, handing the glass of water to Vlad.

"You heard everything, right?" Vlad asked, before he started sipping the water.

"Y-yeah…"

"So then, you'll probably have an idea about the other vampire, wouldn't you?" Lukas asked.

Feliciano flinched, before he bit his lip.

"Please, don't make me say it," Feliciano said. "I-if he found out…"

"Are you saying that you'd rather leave Vlad to suffer?" Arthur demanded. "And if he got worse?"

"Arthur, don't push him," Vlad said. "Vampires are hierarchical beings, and if someone higher up the hierarchy demands something from someone lower, then it's important for the lower one to not make the higher one mad in any way. Not only is this a vampire that ranks higher, but it's also someone with magic, so he can do a lot more damage. Am I right?"

Feliciano slowly nodded, not removing his eyes from Vlad.

"I'm really sorry," Feliciano apologised. "I've seen what he can do, and I… I can't…"

"It's okay," Vlad said. "I understand."

Arthur didn't think that it was acceptable for Feliciano to be a coward, especially when it involved Vlad, but he decided not to push it. He knew a bit about how vampires acted, and he could see that Feliciano might have been a weakling in their eyes, and would not be able to defend himself if the others turned on him. He just wondered what it entailed if he truly was mating with Vlad.

"Maybe we should leave the vampire business alone for a moment," Lukas said. "You said something about dealing with an enemy from within?"

Vlad nodded, a slight frown crossing his face. He brought his knees up and placed his chin on the knees. Arthur had a bad feeling about this.

"You know something, don't you?" Arthur asked.

"He… He told me something that… that made him different from other vampires," Vlad said. "And that made his child different from other dhampirs. Before he could… conceive his child, he was infected with a demon. And it… passed on."

"What?! You're telling me that there's demonic influence in your bloodline?"

Vlad curled in on himself further and nodded. Lukas smacked Arthur on the arm and turned his attention to Vlad.

"What does that mean?" Lukas asked. "For you?"

"I'm not sure," Vlad said. "But I think that is the reason why I'm feeling sick. There was a bunch of protective spells used on me, and my ancestors. All to protect the bloodline. All to protect me."

"…That family curse. It's not really a curse, is it? Not in the traditional sense. It's the demonic influence resurfacing. Your ancestors must not have been able to withstand it, and so it led to early deaths, or deaths before they managed to have children."

"Possibly."

"If this is true," Arthur said, "then we'll need to tell Alistair about…"

"No, not Alistair. Razvan – my ancestor – told me to be careful of who I can trust, but that you three are definitely trustworthy."

"Three?" Arthur repeated, before he looked over towards Feliciano.

The vampire also looked surprised. Arthur wanted to challenge the point, but then he remembered that Feliciano was supposedly in the process of mating with Vlad. Perhaps being trustworthy was a symptom of the process.

"How do you know that you can trust your ancestor?" Lukas asked.

"I'm not sure," Vlad admitted. "I just… I didn't think that he would lie to me."

"That's a bit risky, if you ask me," Arthur said.

"Maybe not," Feliciano said. All eyes turned to him, and he flinched back. "I… I just remember something from a long time ago. Someone told me that you should trust the spirits of your ancestors. They don't usually lie to you, unless it's something else pretending to be your ancestor, so then maybe you should be careful, or if your ancestor is really evil, but just because he's a vampire doesn't mean he's evil…"

Arthur had a sneaking suspicion that Feliciano deliberately added that last bit. Well, Arthur already made the choice to trust Feliciano to take care of Vlad. Whether he liked it or not, the vampire was a part of this too.

"At the very least, we should start doing research about this," Lukas said. "We should reserve judgement until we know more. We should also look for any protective spells we can use. If the lack of protective spells is making Vlad sick, then hopefully the addition would make him feel better."

"It's worth a try," Arthur said. He chuckled bitterly. "What a great way to be reminded how inexperienced we are."

"Well, that just means that you can grow, right?" Feliciano said.

Arthur paused. It was a good point, and the words were kind. The way Feliciano also said it was filled with so much kindness that Arthur felt a wave of guilt for his hostility.

Vlad swayed a bit in the bed, and Lukas immediately moved to steady him. Arthur noticed Feliciano tense before he shook his head and relaxed, though it seemed forced. And Arthur realised that Feliciano was dealing with many instincts that he had to ignore.

Arthur made a note to look into vampire mating, and whether or not that would be a problem for them.

"I think you should rest," Lukas told Vlad. "We'll get you some more water, and then you can sleep. If you need anything, just yell."

"C-could I help with that research?" Feliciano asked. "I-I don't need to sleep as much as you do, a-and I can make myself useful."

"…Alright," Arthur said. "Though, you'll have to forgive me if I'm careful about which books I give you."

"What does he need to do to earn your trust?" Vlad asked.

"This isn't about trust. Some of the books are enchanted to keep non-mages away from them."

It was true. Some of Arthur's ancestors had a lot more trouble with the supernatural community than they currently had. Things were relatively peaceful, he would say. Some of the tomes they acquired were also in the sights of others that wanted them, and so they needed to be enchanted to keep them out of the wrong hands. Those books were especially dangerous.

"Okay then," Feliciano said. "Give me the books that you think would be safe, and I'll start looking as soon as possible."

Arthur nodded. He would go look for those volumes when they were done there. With that in mind, he turned back to Vlad.

"You should get some sleep," Arthur said. "You won't be able to help in your current state, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to be anywhere near magic at this point. There's no telling what could set you off."

Vlad nodded.

"I'm going to sleep now," Vlad said. "As soon as I brushed my teeth. I can still taste blood, and I'd like to get it out of my mouth."

Arthur glanced in Feliciano's direction, though the vampire looked more worried than anything else. Feliciano kept his eye on Vlad, and when Vlad stumbled after standing up, Feliciano was at his side in an instant and caught him.

"Feliciano, could you take him to brush his teeth?" Arthur asked. "We don't want anything to happen. I'll look for the books."

"And I'll make some coffee," Lukas said. "I have a feeling that we're going to need it."

Arthur nodded. Even though he preferred tea over coffee, he couldn't argue that coffee sounded more appealing at the moment. He threw Vlad one more look before he left, Lukas close behind him.

"Do you think Vlad's going to be okay with Feliciano?" Lukas asked.

"I think so," Arthur said. "I kept an eye on him. He seems to have grown very protective."

"I noticed it too. He just needs to be careful that he doesn't get possessive. Those two are very different things. And if something is coming after Vlad, then a vampire might be a good defence."

"I'm just a bit worried. The curtains are fairly dark, but I don't know how well they can block out the sunlight. And Feliciano wouldn't be able to enter some rooms during the day, like the kitchen, so Vlad would have to get his own food and water."

"Or we can leave enough for him in his room. He doesn't have to leave, except to go to the bathroom. Unless you know of a spell to prevent certain body functions for a limited time?"

"I think there are spells like that, but those are very advanced, and if we bungle it, then we might put Vlad's life in danger."

"Okay then. I just hope he gets better soon. What's happening to him now…"

Arthur could only nod. He'd heard many things about what happened whenever demons were involved. And from what Vlad said, not even a vampire could handle being infected by a demon. But why was it resurfacing now? Vlad had many ancestors with magic throughout the centuries. Why didn't it manifest with them?

Unless… it did. The branches of Vlad's family tree were unnaturally bare. If the demon was responsible for it…

"We need to find a solution to this demon problem as soon as possible," Arthur said. "There's a chance that it might be fatal to Vlad."

"I know," Lukas said. "It might be fatal, or worse. And Feliciano, I know you can hear us, so you know to keep a close eye on Vlad."

Asides from Miguel, Arthur hadn't had friends growing up. Most of them were intimidated because of his family's wealth, and also because they could sense, on some level, that he wasn't the same as them. He had worried about his housemates and how they would get along. He hadn't expected for them to be like him.

He'd finally found people outside of his family that he could truly connect to, and he didn't want to lose either of them. He would find a way to help Vlad, even if it killed him.