#werewolf!patton

Roman's head turned towards the sound, locking onto the two figures who had burst through the door. 

"Get away from him!" One of the figures shouted, as Roman automatically took a step in Patton's direction to shield him. But he barely had time to take in the sight of the black jacket that one of them was wearing before he saw it blur before his eyes. He quickly grabbed something silver from his pocket, and stuck his arms out and around his back to protect Patton, and braced for impact...but he wasn't hit. Instead, the speedster attempted to go right for Patton, stopping short of barreling into Roman's arms circling his form. He very obviously eyed the silver in his hand, and backed up a few steps, watching Roman all the while. 

Roman turned, expecting him to have done something to Patton, entrance him or similar, but all the stranger did was stand there, watching him. He chanced a glance at the other figure at the door, who had taken a few steps into the house, and he saw as second, bespectacled figure close the door. Roman gulped, reluctant to turn his back to an unknown yet clear threat, but he turned his head back to look at the first stranger. 

And stranger was certainly a good descriptor for someone who looked stranger than anyone he'd ever seen. Now that he was in the same position for a bit, he noticed his arms. Specifically, raised out in front of him, his hands that were clawed out, with literal claws. His eyes were dark and sunken, and most startlingly, he could see fangs. Then, he could see them even better when the fanged mouth opened up into a low hiss.

This all happened in under five seconds. He processed. He inhaled sharply as he came to a realization. 

"You must be V," he sneered. "What is that short for- Vampire?" Patton gasped from behind Roman's cage of arms. 

"I never thought of that before," he whispered to himself. He was being so brave in the face of his tormentors. 

"Brilliant deduction," the creature sneered, showing off the telltale fangs again. "Now get the hell out of our house." He glanced at Patton who was not cowering, not exactly, but just this side of uncomfortable, and Roman knew that he couldn't leave.

"Oh, I suppose you know all about hell," he sneered right back, feigning the confidence that he didn't feel at all, "considering as that's where you crawled out of, you monster!" And at that, Patton audibly flinched. Poor thing must be accustomed to getting some form of retribution at any sign of sticking up for himself. 

"You don't know anything about him." A sharp voice cut in coldly from behind him. And the stranger with the glasses stepped into his peripheral vision, before standing next to the vampire.

Not that he'd forgotten about the other one. It was just. The vampire was a more immediate threat. Of course, if this other… creature? He couldn't be sure what sort yet; appearances could be deceiving, after all. If anyone knew about what was happening with Patton (clearly some sort of vampiric control or manipulation involving keeping Patton captive,) then they were just as guilty!

"And don't you try anything with him either!" The vampire snarled at Roman, one arm twitching to point his sharp nails forward. Roman very specifically didn't swallow nervously, like he wanted to. Instead, he puffed his chest out more.

"I won't have to if you let Patton and me go." Patton made a sound, but Roman just stared the creature right in his eyes, which were glowing slightly, even in the light of the room. "Let him leave with me," he held steady, "and nobody gets hurt." Whoever wound up being hurt if they didn't comply was quite another matter, altogether. 

The vampire laughed lowly as the other one shifted closer, joining in the barrier to prevent him from leaving with their prisoner. It was clear now that he was in on the vampire's plot, too, whatever it was that he wanted with Patton to begin with. 

"Yeah," the vampire smirked, "nice try, but no." The smirk dropped from his face. "He's not leaving, especially not with the likes of you," he spat. "How many other of your little hunting buddies are waiting for you?" He glared at him, as though trying to squint the answer out of him. 

"Wh-" Roman was slightly surprised. Did he know? 

"He doesn't," a quiet voice came from behind him; Patton, he chanced a glance back, was avoiding everybody's gazes. "I asked him, nobody knows he's here that would…" he trailed off. Roman couldn't believe it. He'd betrayed him! That's why he'd been asking about backup? He thought he'd been worried about him! But, then again, he'd heard stories about vampires. Maybe he was under some form of control. Patton had seemed so genuine… he was sure there was a way to break his hold on him, or to run away and promise that he would never be punished again. He wasn't quite sure, maybe a mix of both.

"I, you-" He tried turning his anger into defiance, but the vampire rolled his eyes and misinterpreted his confusion. 

"You reek of silver." He moved his face closer to Roman's, like he was trying to intimidate him. He didn't back down. "I could smell it all over the street." 

"Additionally," the one in glasses spoke up, "both your gait and how you're distributing your weight implies that you're carrying weighted items, that you're unused to carrying, in your pocket." Roman looked at him, and now he staggered back a step, as he paled considerably. 

The second man's left eye was lit up.

That wasn't a figure of speech, either, not as though he was excited. It was physically emitting a light. It was moving, up and down, and it seemed to be scanning him. 

Roman felt all the words leave him, mouth now suddenly dry. Not only was he inhuman, but he wasn't like any sort of monster he'd seen or heard about before. He realized after a few moments that he'd been talking, but hadn't heard him over the rushing of blood in his ears. "...and furthermore, the material of your clothing would indicate-"

"What are you?!" Roman swallowed now, trying his best to put on his brave face again. If he could fake it in front of a vampire, he should be able to fake it in front of anyone. The vampire snarled again as the unknown creature's jaw snapped shut mid-sentence. Patton whimpered.

"I am human," the creature stated, and Roman narrowed his eyes. He didn't believe that at all. "I just have," he adjusted his glasses, and his eye shone brightly through the lenses, "some extra features." He tone was colder now, not that it hadn't been cold before. 

"It doesn't matter," the vampire snapped, quite literally, and he jumped, turning immediately to focus his attention on him. The so-called human wasn't as immediate a threat as he was. "You don't get to know about us, you don't get to ask the questions, you shouldn't be here anymore." His eyes locked onto Roman. "Now get out!"

"Not without Patton!" He stood his ground, not breaking his eyes away from the vampire's. He growled, something more feral than he'd have expected, even from a blood-sucking vampire. He flinched, blinking his eyes. He flinched even more when he punctuated the end of the noise by turning his head sharply towards Patton, the other pointed accusingly at him. 

"If Patton hadn't let you in, we wouldn't even be dealing with this idiot right now!" He glared at him, and Roman tried to compose himself, glancing behind his shoulder as Patton ducked his head down, avoiding everyone's gazes again, while the vampire's looked thunderous. "What were you even thinking, letting him in?! Didn't you realize how dangerous he could be?!" Roman squared up his shoulders at that. How dangerous he was?!

"I'm sorry," Patton sniffed, and oh no was he crying? "I just thought…" he trailed off, berated into feeling sorry for reaching out for help from these monsters. The other one sighed.

"What's done is done," he put a hand on the vampire's shoulder, which seemed to placate his mood a little, intense frown leveling out. "There's no use in arguing about it now."

Well, that almost seemed like he was trying to help Patton out. Whatever he was, whatever his part in this was, maybe he wasn't as bad as the vampire, Roman supposed. "Incidentally, I'd advise against trying to get to attack us with an eating utensil." The mechanical man put in, turning to look at him coldly, all traces of kindness and sympathy gone. His hand jolted back, and when he looked down he saw that, indeed, the silver he'd grabbed was a fork. "It will not go well for you," his eye flashed again. 

"Listen," Roman tried again, desperate for any way out of this that led the both of them out of these monsters' clutches. "If you could just-"

"No, you listen!" The vampire turned to him, snarling. "Whatever sick plans you have for Patton, you're not going to get him." He heaved a breath. "No matter what. If you take him, we'll hunt you down." The corner of his mouth lifted briefly. "Isn't that some irony? The supernaturals hunting the hunter." But Roman was frowning, confused. He tried to not let it show, and instead yelled back.

"My sick plans?" He'd have been insulted had the monster not proven himself to be capable of manipulation. "I'm trying to protect him, and get him away from your monstrous plans, you monster." Patton whimpered again as the vampire squinted his eyes at him. 

"What are you-" But the mechanical creature put a hand in front of his face, and he blinked, looking up at him. One of his eyes lit up again, and he felt a shudder of horror go through him as he watched him scan him. There was nothing he could do to combat something like that. He hurriedly tried to picture himself stabbing the two of them, in case he could read minds. 

"I believe," he began, light fading from his eye, "that he doesn't know about Patton." And the vampire's eyes widened, looking back and forth at the monster next to him, Roman, and Patton, who Roman was not looking at. Something was happening that he didn't understand, didn't like, and didn't trust at all. 

"I know plenty about Patton!" He insisted. "I know he's being kept here against-" The so-called human raised his hand, Roman stopped speaking, but eyed the appendage warily.

"Patton," he enunciated. "While I would not ask of you to put yourself in undue danger," Roman scoffed loudly. He was ignored. "I'm correct, aren't I?" Roman heard some movement behind him, but Patton didn't speak. "As I suspected." Apparently Patton had nodded. "Well, perhaps if you could tell him-"

"He's-!" The vampire protested, but the machine man merely stopped him with a hand again. 

"Could tell him that he should leave," he continued, "because you are in no danger."

"Bullshit!" Patton made an upset noise behind him. "I would never believe that he's safe here; not with everything I've seen, and everything he's said," both monsters turned towards Patton, who shuffled again, "all the things he's implied, and not to mention that you'll probably prey on him the second I turn my back."

"I…" that was Patton, and it definitely sounded like he'd been crying now. Roman daren't have attempted to turn around to console him, but he offered up his upturned hand behind him. He didn't take it. "I think I should tell him." The mechanical man went silent, eyeing him, and the vampire's eyes widened and then immediately narrowed, frowning and snarling again. 

"He's right there!" Okay, Roman was confused, but that was clearly directed at him and he frowned again. "You don't have to put yourself in danger to get rid of him!" A shiver made its way up his spine, but quite frankly, he couldn't understand how they were possibly twisting this to make him the bad guy.

"No, no, it's fine, I just." He heard an inhale and an exhale. "But, Roman?" He turned his head slightly while keeping his eyes on the other two. The air was so tense, he could practically cut it with the fork he clutched in his hand, so tightly his knuckles were white. "Could you step back a bit, let me have some room?"

"Don't-"

"But they'll-" The vampire and Roman seemed to have similar objections to Patton…doing whatever it was that he was doing. 

"It's fine." Patton insisted, voice strong. "Virgil and Logan won't hurt me, right?" The other two nodded, the vampire, Virgil evidently, was still scowling. "And Roman, you won't either, right?"

"Of course not! I would-"

"Promise? No matter what?" Patton was smiling, but he seemed melancholy. Roman nodded dumbly, getting an uneasy feeling. 

"Promise." He went back a few feet, keeping an eye on the other two, but one eye watching Patton to see what he was doing. Whatever it was, they were oddly compliant with Patton's directions. Which was not at all what he would have expected. That only served to add to his unease. 

"Okay." Patton took another step back, closed his eyes, his hands balled into fists, and his face scrunched up. This seemed to become quite a bit more scrunched than he expected, until he realized that his face was getting longer. 

Roman paled as he watched Patton's body start to change shape, grow hair, become pointier. Roman shut his eyes, vampire and his accomplice be damned, until he heard panting, and then a sharp bark that sounded like Patton's laugh. He looked, and there was a huge light-colored dog- no, wolf standing there. His jaw dropped open, and he heard the other two say something, as though they were calling out, a warning, but it sounded fuzzy and far away. Roman very suddenly realized that the conflicting information that he'd gathered about this place made sense now. It wasn't one monster, it was three. 

And then, his eyes rolling back into his head, Roman fainted.

-----

Patton scratched at his neck absently, stroking his hand through Virgil's hair in his lap. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

Virgil looked up from his position curled up in Patton's lap. "Yeah?"

Patton swallowed and cleared his throat again. "Well, so, um, see the thing is, you know how the full moon is next week?"

Virgil rolled onto his back and stared up at Patton, concern written all over his face. "Yeah, next Wednesday. Why, is something wrong?"

Patton shook his head quickly. "No, no, it's just... it'll be my first transformation since we started dating?" When Virgil didn't respond, Patton bit his lip and blurted out, "I... I wanted to ask ifyouwanttostaywithme!"

Virgil's eyes widened incrementally. "Stay... like through the transformation?" He sat up slightly and reached up to stroke his thumb over Patton's cheekbone. "Are you sure? I know it's a big deal to you to have someone else there." He paused, leaving space for Patton to think before replying.

"I'm sure," Patton replied after a moment. "I feel safe with you, and I know that you'll be safe too."

Virgil chuckled, laying back down. "You've got me there. Can't turn a vampire, now can you?"

Patton leaned down and dropped a kiss on Virgil's nose. "No, you can't." He pulled back to smile at Virgil. "So? Do you want to stay with me?"