In Which Justin Turns

this one is a little out-of-date with the current world-building.

Something hissed from the bushes.

Zahar wasn’t even really looking for trouble at that point. He just wanted to go to Tee and Gee’s rehearsal. But of course, of course that couldn’t happen.

He looked into the bushes and immediately regretted it.

Not really regret. He hated what he saw, yes, but if he hadn’t looked, he wouldn’t have found them, and if it wasn’t him who found the poor thing...

Well. Being a vampire’s hard enough when you’re ready for it.

This person... clearly wasn’t.

“Hey, hey. Can you hear me?” Zahar asked lightly, moving toward the fresh vampire slowly. The kid hissed again, but not in a way that seemed like a response. Gods, they were young. Who even turns people that young? Oh, people who don’t care about the law or morals, that’s right.

Nothing for it then. Not like the cops around here would help with this. Zahar picked up the kid, careful to avoid any injury, and rushed home. He was definitely missing the rehearsal.

Justin woke up in a dark room he didn’t recognize. He could vaguely hear someone talking on the phone through the door. He stayed still, pretending to be asleep. Were there people after him because of Tim? Tim was dead. Even if he wasn’t, he didn’t tell Justin much about his “business” anyway. They had agreed that would be safest. Even if he knew anything, Justin wouldn’t tell anyone willingly.

Not that it mattered, since Tim was dead, and his business likely with him.

The door opened a bit, and a tall sun elf peaked in, still talking on the phone.

“-try to make it next week. No, I’m checking on them now. It looks like they’re still asleep. You don’t have to- no, you don’t have to come by, you’re busy. I don’t think that’s a good idea anyway, they might not appreciate even more strangers.” A pause, then the elf continued in a hush, “Well, considering they were assaulted and forci- no, I know you have experience, but they’re probably not in a trusting mood.”

What? If they were talking about him, then... oh, gods. Justin tried to sit up, and failed. He did succeed in catching his host’s attention, though.

The elf’s ears twitched as they turned to Justin. Geez, were those ears long and ragged. This guy must be old. “They’re up, I’ll call you back,” said the elf, and then they put the phone away. “Hey. You feeling alright?”

“Hurts,” said Justin. “Where...? Who’re you?”

The elf frowned. “I’m Zahar. You’re in my house, I found you injured in the bushes last night. Do you remember anything?”

Justin sighed. “Vaguely. Think it had to do with my boyfriend’s business.”

“What does he do?”

“He doesn’t do much of anything lately,” Justin laughed, his voice cracking, “he’s dead.”

“Oh.” Zahar stayed silent for a while. “I’m... sorry for your loss.”

Justin smiled wetly. “Thanks. I couldn’t tell you what he did anyway, we agreed he wouldn’t tell me anything after the first time I got threatened.”

Zahar looked conflicted. “Did you... get threatened often?”

“Mm? Oh, No. Not often, and never by the same person twice. But enough about that. I heard the tail end of your phone call.”

“...Ah.” Zahar shifted on his feet. “You... you know about vampirism, yes?”

“Yeah?” Justin frowned. He didn’t like where this was going.

“So,” Zahar started, “oh I am still so bad at this,” he said under his breath, “You have been... forcibly Turned, and your Sire ran off. So. You’re- just, woefully unprepared, and... as an established vampyre, I’m offering to help you with... anything you might need.” He sighed. “Also, I have a phone line. You should let someone know about all... this.”

“...Yeah. Yeah, can I have a moment?”

“Of course. Yell if you need something.” Without another word, Zahar left the room. He wasn’t quite fleeing, but Justin could tell he wanted to.

There was really only one person he could call. And she was going to be out of contact for a while, at least another month, more likely two… Fuck. He should probably leave a message or something. He picks up his phone.

“Hey, Leigh, I know you’re out of contact right now but I figured you would want to know that I… Ugh. I’m a vampyre now? God. This is… An older vampyre picked me up. I should be fine, but. You know. Call me back when you get this. Hope your thing went well.”

He should probably call into work. He really, really didn’t want to. Could he get Zahar to do that for him?

He did say to yell if he needed anything.

“Zahar?”

“Hey, kid,” Zahar said, entering the room again. He was carrying tea.

Justin realized that he didn’t have his boss’ number saved on his personal phone. Or any of his coworkers. He wasn’t carrying his work phone, because it had been his day off and he valued being unreachable.

Fuck. He was so fired. At least there was tea.