#vamp!host

(Sort of a sequel to This but I couldn't figure out how to fit Sia and Evan in but shhhhhhhhhh it's another AU we'll jsut say that)

Everyone stands around in a circle, looking at each other.

"... So... how do we go about this?" Bim asks. "Are we going to Boxcar Children up a makeshift shelter? Risk getting a hotel? I think I have about two thousand dollars left."

"I have an apartment."

Everyone looks at Doc.

"It's small, but it's somewhere to start."

"... Don't the people hunting you know about it?"

"Oh. Right. ... Do you think I'll be able to go back to gather some things?"

Dark shrugs, sitting down on a stump. "Depends. Who exactly is hunting you?"

"I don't fully know."

"What do you know?"

"... I was leaving work, a late shift at the hospital. I'm a- ... was a, surgeon. I guess I can't... do that, anymore."

"Oh, dude... that sucks." Bing gives Doc a pat on the shoulder.

"And now so do you," Bim says, snickering a little. Yancy elbows Bim, giving him a sort of... disappointed-big-brother type look. Bim rubs his arm. "Sorry," he huffs.

Doc shrugs. "It's accurate. Anyway, um, I was leaving work, and I was all alone walking to the bus stop. And then I... I don't know. Someone grabbed me and said something about... I think about 'rescuing' me?"

Dark tsks. "Yeah, a lot of other vampires consider turning someone to be saving them."

"... They weren't a vampire. Their hand was warm."

Dark perks up, surprised.

"They hit me over the head, and I woke up somewhere just..." Doc flounders for the words. "... Just horrible. Like a um, like a room in a cheesy movie about satanic cults."

"The candlelight flickered over the walls, somehow seeming to take away light instead of grant it, the shadows deeper than should be possible in the corners of the room."

Doc glances at Host, eyeing him warily. "Yeah. Like that."

"The Host was a horror writer."

"... Oh. So then... you can probably guess what happened next?" Doc desperately hopes he won't have to be the one to describe it.

"The Host doesn't need to guess. He can Know. ... ... ... Doc was pushed into the middle of a circle painted on the floor, the stench of rotting blood making his stomach churn. He looked up as a man approached him and tried to demand to know what was going on, only to realize he was gagged. His mind was still foggy."

Doc shakes a little as Host recounts it. Bing leads him over to another stump to sit down.

"The man knelt down and stroked Doc's hair. 'Here, and now, we have begun The Recompense,' he said in a voice as soft as the candlelight, and just as haunting. He stood, and threw open his arms. 'We at last fulfill our destinies!"

"The man pulled a vial out of his robe, something bubbling and the color of Sickness itself. He pulled Doc's gag out just slightly, and poured it into Doc's mouth. The taste was almost indescribable, thee only word for it being repulsive. The man forcefully closed Doc's mouth, and didn't let go until Doc finally had no choice but to swallow. The man put the gag back in after that."

"He gestured to one of the people hovering in the outskirts of the shadows. A person stepped forward. Doc's heart began racing as he saw their eyes were glowing red."

Bing rubs Doc's back. Doc clamps his hand over his neck, getting paler by the second.

"The leader of this stranger group stepped out of the way, and the vampire knelt down before Doc. They smiles warmly at him, their fangs glinting in the demure candlelight. 'It's my honor to be your Release,' they said, reverence in their words."

"They tilted his head to the side. Doc's breathing became fast, his heartbeat almost painful in the panic. The vampire brushed their fingers along his neck. 'Don't panic. Soon you'll be free from Mortal Fear.'"

"They sank their fangs into Doc's neck. Doc let out a scream, muffled by the gag. He felt thee blood being sucked from his body, his neck getting the staticky feeling of a limb falling asleep, the feeling spreading so very rapidly."

Dark tilts his head. "That's not a usual feeling for someone being turned." He looks around at the others. "Is it?"

There's a murmuring of answers, the consensus being a complete "No."

Doc shudders, and Wilford is suddenly by his side, draping a shock blanket over him. Doc jumps in place, but accepts the comfort.

"When it was over, Doc collapsed into a heap. He shivered and twitched on the middle of the circle, his veins empty yet his brain still functioning, though that term applied very loosely. He wasn't dead, at the very least."

Now, the others look sick. "You shouldn't have been awake by then," Bim croaks.

"You-you should've passed out when-when you lost enough-enough blood," Eric whispers.

"The group around Doc were speaking, but Doc couldn't understand the words. But even if his mind had been functioning well, he wouldn't have had any better idea. The words were ancient, a lost language, made for magic."

"As the chanting droned on and on, however, Doc grew more and more... alert. But not aware. Not awake. Simply alert. And hungry."

"I attacked someone," Doc croaks out, shaking. "I don't know what happened, I just- all of a sudden I was pinning someone to a wall and-and drinking blood and they were screaming around me-"

"But not because of fear. Not because of grief over their lost friend. Doc had become Feral faster than they expected. They were screaming because of their plans being ruined."

Doc puts a hand too his mouth, stifling a sob.

"When Doc came back to his right mind, he only had seconds to process before realizing he had to run. And even as he ran he could feel himself changing, feel the cold setting in-"

"Please skip this part," Doc whimpers.

"... Until at last, Doc slammed into Eric."

There's silence. A long, long silence, the only sounds being Doc's muffled sobs and the crinkling of the shock blanket as Bing rubbed his back.

"... I woke up, too." Mark breaks the silence. "... I was trying to take a hike. Job sucked, life sucked, I figured it would help. But I got jumped, and woke up while they were carrying me somewhere. I ran away, and it... it was so..."

Mark struggles to find the words.

"Yeah," Doc says, knowing what Mark meant still. "Just... yeah."

...

...

...

...

...

Bim stands up. "So. When do we go back to raid your apartment?"

"But I thought-"

What kind of things would you like to see some one-shots for?

Like... anything. Anything you want to see a character do, or like... a situation, or...

Like, do you wanna see a-day-in-the-life stuff with any of them? More important things? Creepy? Fluffy? Angsty? Throw things back to when Dark was still Damien? To before The Party? AUs of the AU? Something else?

Just like- spew your ideas at me. For full one-shots, which with me can range from like... 400 words to apparently 3,000+. 

:D Thank you very much! And thank you for asking, I know there’s a lot to go through so I’m always happy to answer questions about the lore and characters!

He is! He was The Author originally, one of the very few humans who already had powers before becoming a vampire. Dark saw that he had powers and that was what made him start to befriend Author with the intent of turning him.

He turned Author after the events of Danger In Fiction II, because Author was dying and Dark was like “Hey I can save you,” and Author was like “Well then do it!”

He had been going to visit Author, smelled the blood, and realized he’d have to push up his plans.

I haven’t figured out how the eye loss thing happened. I’m thinking that being turned is what changed Author’s powers into the powers of The Host, and either he took his own eyes out because he kept getting visions and couldn’t handle them, or the mutation of his powers came with some disastrous consequences.

He’s the only one of the family who’s ever successfully deceived Dark long-term. He pretends like his powers aren’t nearly as strong as they truly are, and only gives vague answers when asked questions, claiming it’s all he can do.

In actuality Host can see and know pretty much everything. He views everyone as characters, and their lives as a story. He loves watching Mark and The DA’s struggles against Dark, and Doc’s struggles against Dark.

He keeps it vague because he doesn’t want to effect the story too much in Dark’s favor. It’s boring that way. This is his entertainment! He’s not going to rush it to the end, he’s going to let it go on until it reaches it’s natural conclusion!

Using his powers makes his eyes bleed even worse than usual, so he has to have a body or bags of blood on hand before he uses them. He also needs to feed more often, because of the bleeding. 

“The Host begins his narration.”

“The wind blows gently, cool and crisp in the late winter air. A light dusting of snow covering the ground, soft and fresh, lays undisturbed as most sleep in their warm, cozy beds.”

“Undisturbed, that is, except for the footprints of a lone man walking down the street.”

“He wears only a suit, no coat or jacket to keep the chill out of his bones. He has no need. His bones are already chilled, his bones and his heart, and have been that way for years. The cool night air sharpens around him, better described as icy. He looks up, stopping, in front of a door.”

“Snow begins to drift down from the heavens around him. It comes to rest on his hair, his shoulders, his face. His face is as white as the snow. His eyes, though blazing red, are colder than the little white flakes that remain unmelted on his frigid flesh.”

“He knocks on the door and waits.”

“After a moment someone answers, blinking the sleep from their eyes and pulling a cardigan tighter around them against the chill.”

“The man’s eyes have turned brown, a usually warm and comforting color, yet his gaze remains as cold as ever.”

“He speaks, clear yet soft. ‘I’m sorry to wake you, I’m afraid that my car has broken down and I left my cell phone at my office. Do you have one, or perhaps a home phone I could borrow, to call a tow truck and maybe cab?’ ”

“The person at the door is about to say no, but when they speak they agree, feeling a sense of calm overtake them.”

“The man grins and steps into the house.”

“... The Host is unsure if he should continue the recording. While he is not one to shy away from the topic of death in his own stories, this feels... distasteful.”

Mark is provided blood by The Hunters. He’s not allowed to get his own. He is assured by them that it’s all from willing donors who know that he’s getting it.

They are lying. That’s why he never has any feelings of an unfinished feed. They give him all the blood from a person.

He doesn’t know about unfinished feeds and how they work, so he doesn’t realize this.

The DA also gets blood from them.

They, being only half vampire, don’t need as much or need it as often.

The younger vampires in the Iplier household still have some color left in their skin instead of being totally pale.

Dr. Iplier is, however, the palest of all of them.

Since he only feeds when he absolutely needs to, he goes out in the sunlight the least often out of any of them. Practically never, in fact,

Bing is a cyborg, mostly android though, turned after he became a cyborg.

The Googles are androids that Dark found and reprogrammed. They don’t actually need the blood they “drink”, they basically just like... gather it up and bring it home so if one of the other Ipliers needs some urgently they’ve got it on hand.

The Googles’ “hunger” is a program that alerts them when the emergency blood supplies need replenishing or replacing.

They do bite people for it. There’s not a like, practical reason or anything, Dark just... wanted them to be “proper” vampires.

Wilford does have his reality bending powers in this AU. How? Why? I dunno. He just does.

Dark doesn’t have the shadow aura, or the ringing, or the blue and red. I know! I am sad about it too, but given the lore of this AU it wouldn’t make sense. He does have an invisible aura though, it just makes people around him feel like he’s trustworthy and safe and they like him and all that.

Eric was after the bus accident, literally right afterwards.

Host was turned immediately after losing his eyes and going form Author to Host.

Bim? That boy is a kiss-up to Dark.

Dark likes how obedient Bim is but he would never actually like... put Bim in charge or make him his right-hand guy or anything.

Hmm... oh jeepers I gotta think here...

Well, their friendship would probably mostly consist of storytelling. Him telling them the story of The Ipliers and Dark, probably having told them it’s all fiction. He’s just been waiting to be able to tell someone this story, he’ll appreciate their reactions and stuff a lot. Better than just narrating it in his room all by himself.

There wouldn’t be like... hugs or things. It would seem like a very formal, kind of cold friendship to other people.

For them though it’d be very important and meaningful, especially for Host. He’s never really had a friend, even before he was turned. Author really only thought of people as characters to control. To some extent Host does see everyone as characters still, but now that he’s not all about trying to control people he’s a little better at just... being around people. Not great at it. But like, he’s not as much of a dick anymore.

Having someone to tell his stories directly to, being able to know their reactions as the story unfolds, it’s special. He never had that as The Author. He wrote his books, and they became bestsellers, but he never really paid attention to the readers and their reactions. Turns out it’s pretty rewarding to know how involved and captivated your audience is.

And he’d probably break his rules just a tiny bit and use his foresight to help alter his friend’s day. Try to advise them in a way that could push them towards a really nice day when it otherwise could have been just awful, for example.

He would probably also be good at making sure that the friend is safe. Like, he could best protect them from being killed or turned. He wouldn’t mind too much if they were turned in some ways, but also then their whole thing of him telling them the stories of The Ipliers would be sort of ruined. Yeah, he could tell other stories, and they could just chat over some tea or something, but it wouldn’t be the same. 

He could just use his powers, see what could maybe lead to Dark taking notice of this friendship/his friend, and alter things just enough that that’s avoided.

Not really. Most of the others are accepting of their life, resigned to it, or happy with it.

Yancy is resigned, Bing is accepting, Host is accepting, Bim is super happy and like good for him I guess but also dude you’re kind of a dick, and Eric is accepting. 

And of course Wilford is really... “happy”, but Dark does have to have Wilford watched by either a Google or himself most of the time for non-escape relate reasons. Like, “If he does too much murder it could expose us” reasons. And “he’s a danger to other and frankly himself as well” reasons.

I think it's a little of both.