Chapter Text
It was fairly accepted that werewolves and vampires could not coexist. For as long as the two existed, there had been a rivalry between them. Vampires treated werewolves like ordinary dogs and werewolves thought vampires were stuck-up, arrogant douchebags that liked to stroke their own ego.
Roman had been alive for about a hundred years and he had never understood the feud between the two kinds. After all, weren’t they both monsters in their own ways? People that should have died, but were granted a second chance at life by a questionable force? Didn’t they both somehow become something beyond human? Something they needed to deal with and hide, or risk infecting others with that force? He spent the first years of his vampire life surrounded by other vampires, ones that had been alive for at least a century, if not more. He went along with their cruel ways, but he could never understand them. After a few decades, he went his own way and he still didn’t understand. He just hoped that he would never end up like them.
Logan had only been a werewolf for three months and he was still very new to this strange world. He’d been attacked on a walk through a forest close to his hometown. People nearby had heard screams coming from the woods and called the ambulance. The doctor said it was a miracle he was alive. But a few weeks later, he found out that, maybe, death would have been a more merciful outcome. He was caught off guard when his bones shattered and reformed, his organs shifted and his entire body changed into something so far from human.
Patton had died seven months ago, when he slipped and fell down the stairs, hitting his head against one of the steps of the staircase. Understandably, he was quite confused when he woke up several moments later, only to see his own body in the hallway. He had a thousand questions and no one that could answer them for him. He had never been so lost and alone and he simply didn’t know what to do about it.
Remus and Janus only had each other. They were just two werewolves on the run for a past they wanted to leave behind. One they could never truly leave behind them. The only safe thing, the only trusted thing, was the other.
On one fateful day, Logan had left his house to do some groceries. There would be a full moon in a few days and he wanted to prepare for it. Around a full moon, he learned that he ate more — meat, specifically — and he felt more active and energetic. His body was preparing for the change as well, and so he needed to make sure he had enough food in his fridge to satisfy his needs. He didn’t know the best way to handle these changes. For now, he retreated to an abandoned part of the woods, far away from the city, but he knew that it wasn’t perfect. There was a chance that he’d hurt someone, and that was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t want to drag anyone into this mess.
As he walked through a narrow alley to get to the supermarket a little quicker, someone else appeared in front of him, a vague metallic scent hung around them. Even if it was a relatively clouded day, the stranger hid their eyes behind sunglasses, grinning down at the shorter man in front of him.
“Looking a little lost there,” they taunted as they stepped closer. Logan frowned as he backed up a little. He didn’t know who this person was, but there was an aura of bad around them. One filled with malicious intent and blood. Someone else came up behind the stranger in front of them and they locked eyes behind their sunglasses.
“What do you say?” the first one asked their friend. “You think he looks good?”
The second stranger gave Logan a quick look and smirked. “Think he looks perfect.”
The duo approached Logan menacingly and he backed up quickly, turning around to make his way back home as fast as he could, but one of the two grasped his arm in a strong grip.
“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” they hissed.
“I think he is,” a third voice spoke up out of nowhere.
In the moment of surprise, Logan felt the grip on his arm slacking and pulled himself free quickly. He turned around to see a man in a red leather jacket over a white shirt glaring at the two others. He was taller than Logan was and quite intimidating, but he didn't even look at the werewolf. His anger was directed only at the two men before him.
“Seriously, what the hell do you think you’re doing in the middle of the day?” he scolded the other two harshly as he passed Logan. His careful demeanour didn't match the anger in his voice at all.
“I mean,” the first one tried, “we…”
“Getting overconfident, are you?” the newcomer continued. “Thinking nothing can hurt you? What if someone would pass by? If they saw you, what would happen next? Did you ever think of that? You’re taking quite some risks out here, aren’t you?”
One of the other strangers puffed up their chest and tried to fight back against this new guy. “We were careful about it. There’s no one around, is there?”
“Not now, no, but you’re not gone yet, are you?” the other raised an eyebrow and it was clear that he had enough of this discussion. “Now get the hell out of here before I tell Jackson you almost got your asses arrested, see how he likes that.”
“We didn’t-”
“You really want to test me? I’ll do it and you know that.”
The two others muttered some protests, but when the taller man took a threatening step closer, they started to see where they stood in this discussion. They shut up immediately and shrunk away, albeit with some soft mutterings and a few glares at Logan and the stranger in the red jacket. Once they had disappeared, it was just that stranger and Logan, who had been nailed to the ground as the three had their discussion in front of him, head spinning rapidly.
The stranger turned to Logan, using his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight as he studied the man in front of him.
“You’re a new one, aren’t you?” he asked Logan, looking around as he leaned his back against the wall.
Logan blinked in confusion, unsure what the other was talking about. “Excuse me?”
“You. Werewolf. You’re new, aren’t you?”
“You… what?” He lowered his voice slightly as he looked around to make sure there was no one around to hear this conversation. Luckily, the alley was empty and there was no one to be seen in the area. “How do you know I’m a...?”
The other seemed rather annoyed at Logan’s confusion as he pushed himself up, squinting against the light. “Right, allow me to show you,” he sighed before his eyes turned black completely and he opened his mouth to show off his sharp fangs. “I’m a vampire. So were those guys. We have a tendency to smell people like you. That’s how I know. Thought you would have caught on to that.”
“Right,” he mumbled, “should have seen it coming.” It shouldn't have come as a surprise to him. After all, didn't he pick up on that metallic scent and bloodied aura? However, this guy didn't have that same aura around him at all. He was different.
Logan had heard about the existence of vampires. Even if he stayed away from anything supernatural as much as he could, he had heard that vampires existed. He had never met one, though. And now that he knew, Logan eyed this vampire with newfound wariness upon this realisation.
“Hey, don’t give me that look,” the other defended as he raised his hands. “I could have let them tear you to shreds, you know? Or maybe they’d have taken you, let you compete in a dogfight in a few days time. I doubt you’d survive that.”
Logan frowned, the vampire’s words unsettling him quite a bit, but he decided he did not even want to know what he was talking about. “Why didn’t you, then?” He crossed his arms as he looked at the stranger in front of him.
“Can’t a guy save someone from the goodness of their heart?” the vampire asked with a shrug. “They’re assholes. Most people in that scene are. Someone needs to call them out every now and then. No one else seems to be doing it, so it's up to little old me.”
Logan nodded. He couldn’t say he wasn’t happy this man interfered, but he didn’t want to blindly trust a vampire of all creatures. Even if this vampire might have saved him.
“So I take it you have quite some power over them, then?”
The vampire scoffed. “Far from it,” he said with a shake of his head. “They don’t like me and I don’t like them. Besides, I make too much trouble for their liking. No, they just know I can make more noise than them.” He gave Logan a smug grin. “Attacking someone in the middle of the day? That’s risky, even if it’s a werewolf. Imagine if bystanders would have seen, imagine if they called the cops!” Can you imagine how disastrous it would be if they arrested a vampire? We don't show up on camera, they would have exposed us. I don’t think anyone would be happy about that. And their superiors are never the kind type of people, so I doubt they’d have gotten away with it if I told them what happened. Especially if I twisted things just a little.”
Logan hummed, studying the man before him, strangely smug about his supposed ability to create trouble. He didn’t seem quite as intimidating as before, but Logan didn’t think it would be wise to trust a vampire regardless. He had only run into a few — three, to be exact — but he knew that they did not like werewolves. On top of that, they were generally stronger and faster than he was. He’d be better off getting away than staying here for another second. And yet, he was oddly reluctant to leave.
“I suppose not,” Logan decided finally. “Well then, I thank you for your interference… I should go now.”
He pushed past the vampire, wanting to go to the store, get his groceries and go home, but he was stopped by the casual voice of the other.
“I’m not sure you’d want to do that,” the man spoke smoothly. “They know you’re here now. They're gone now, but they won't leave. If you want to be safe, I’d go home if I were you, before they can catch your scent again. Lay low until after the full moon.”
“After the… but-”
“Yes, I know that’s an issue,” the vampire interrupted. “But if they catch you before it, you’ll spend your full moon in a cage facing off against an innocent human with a knife, fighting until the death for their entertainment. Is that what you want?”
Logan struggled to respond to that. Vampires hated werewolves, he had learned that much in the past months. But that sounded horrifying. Did that actually happen? Were there actually vampires that enjoyed that? Seeing a werewolf and a human fighting to the death? He shouldn’t even be surprised, but he couldn’t quite believe it. That was disgusting.
The vampire scoffed slightly at Logan’s expression, although it wasn’t ill-intended. “Come on,” he said as he approached the other. “I’ll help out. Might help cover your tracks, too."
Logan eyed him warily, but he didn’t protest as the vampire followed him to his house. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to trust just one vampire, right?