AngstFest 2023 Day 02
Title: Just One Bite
Chapter Title: An Illusion of Control
Summary: Vlad had spent so long planning and so long waiting for just the right time to strike. He was not prepared for this much improvising.
Danny didn’t think much of the last-minute family trip up north for his parent’s college reunion. He should have asked to stay home.
Tags: Vampire AU, Vlad POV, Danny POV, No One Knows AU
You can read on AO3 or down below the cut
Ch 1 | Ch 3
Vlad waited until everyone had finally gone to sleep. He waited for hours.
Then he slipped out of his room and silently crept down the hall.
He waited just outside the closed bedroom door as the couple inside slept.
He waited in the dark.
Sometime after two, Jack got up to use the restroom.
Now was his chance.
The door was left open.
Vlad whispered for Maddie. Called to her softly from just beyond the threshold.
He just needed her to wake up enough to try and find the source of the sound but not enough to identify it.
Just enough to make her curious.
He whispers one last time as she starts to stir and then slips back into the dark.
Carefully he leads her out of the room and down the hall.
It took a lot of practice to move about without a sound, but he had plenty of time to practice.
He led her to the bookcase with the secret entrance. He was just far enough ahead that he could slip inside and the door could close before she made it around the corner.
The door softly thumped closed. It wasn’t very loud, but he knew she heard it.
He made himself comfortable in his secluded den as he waited for her to figure out which book was the lever.
It didn't take long for her to enter.
She was so smart.
"Hello, my dear." He greeted from the comfort of his large winged armchair.
"Vlad?" Maddie said momentarily surprised before she regained her composure.
"Were you expecting someone else?" He teased.
"More like something else." She muttered.
He decided to ignore that for now.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"In my house?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "why are you awake at this hour? It's almost three in the morning."
"I could ask you the same thing."
She pauses for a moment, realizing she walked right into that. She took a moment, as if considering something, before she spoke again, “Something woke me up and I followed it here.”
“Still chasing the things that go bump in the night?”
“You say that like you don’t believe anymore?”
“On the contrary my dear, I’ve moved passed belief. It’s knowledge now. Truth.”
He stands up from his seat and takes a few paces towards her, “knowledge that I will gladly share with you.”
She narrows her eyes and watches him approach, “What’s the catch.”
Clever as always.
“When the reunion ends, say your goodbyes to everyone and stay here with me.”
“I can’t just leave. I have a family! I’m married!”
“It’s called a divorce. Plus, your children are teenagers, they’ll be fine.”
“Are you even hearing yourself right now?”
“Madaline why are you being so difficult? I’m promising you so much.”
“I’d be giving up even more.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“I could as you the same thing,” she said using his own words against him.
“Maddie please, you aren’t even thinking it over. There’s so much I can share with you.”
“At the price of my family?”
“It’s not like I’m asking you to kill them. Just leave them behind. It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”
“I’ve never-!” she started, but he cut her off.
“Liar!” He yelled.
She stared at him like a deer in the headlights.
He took a breath, “You left me. I was trapped and you both just left me there. Trapped in that house.”
In this house.
“Vlad I’m sorry. We were young and scared. We shouldn’t have left you there.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
She was quiet for a moment. Thinking over what was said before she spoke again.
“If you’re still mad about that, why do you want me to stay with you?”
He ignored the fact that he had every right to be mad after all he had been through. This wasn’t about that.
He wasn’t mad at her.
He could never be mad at her.
“Maddie, my dear, I’m willing to forgive you. I’m ready to. I just need you to stay.”
“You didn’t say why.”
‘“Do I need to?”
“Yes,” she said bluntly.
“Maddie,” he really was just going to have to say it, wasn’t he? “Maddie, I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
She shook her head.
Why was she doing that?
“No.” She took a half step back but kept her feet planted firmly. “No, you don’t.
“What are you talking about? Of course, I love you.”
“You may have had a crush on me in college, and for whatever reason you fixated on it, but you don’t love me. You like the ideal dream version of me that lives in your head. That girl isn’t real and she certainly isn’t me.” then she took a step towards Vlad, “Now I’m going to turn around and open this door. If you try anything, I’ll show you how I earned my black belt in Jiu-jitsu.”
Vlad didn’t move.
He didn’t say a word as she opened the door and walked out.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
She wasn’t supposed to say no.
Why did she say no?
“Mom?”
Vlad perked up at the voice. Maddie’s son was down the hall.
“Oh sweetie, what are you doing up at this hour?” she said with a voice so sweet that you would never guess she had just threatened a man two seconds ago.
Vlad had let the door close, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a way to watch.
He flipped open the false book on the table by the door and pulled out the remote control. A button press later and one of the shelves that lined the outer wall opened to reveal a screen that showed the hall.
“Couldn’t sleep. The house kept making weird noises, then I thought I heard yelling. Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine dear. I was having a hard time sleeping too.” She brushed the hair away from his forehead and kissed it, “why don’t we go back now? We really shouldn’t be wandering around another person’s house this late.”
“Actually I’m a little thirsty.”
“Alright, I’m sure it’ll be alright if you get yourself something to drink in the kitchen, but then right to bed okay?”
“Okay,” Danny said with a sleepy smile.
The pair hugged and then parted ways.
Vlad just stared.
Maddie’s rejection was bad enough, but to see the way she doted on that boy of hers was even worse.
She needed to pay.
He needed her to hurt like he hurt.
To do that he needed to take away something she loved. Take away the thing she loved the most.
It wasn’t her husband.
Nor the daughter.
Vlad smiled to himself as a new plan started to come together.
