Chapter Text
Scott was immediately on alert when he awoke to a pain he hadn’t felt in centuries. The bone deep ache of age seeped into his being, weighing down his movement. He peeled open his eyes only to be met with darkness. It had been over a thousand years since the last time the darkness closed in on him as a thief of his sight rather than a guiding hand. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, he became painfully aware of the weakness of the human body.
Because that's what he was now.
Human.
He remembered coming across Apo in his castle.
“Hey Apo.” He waved as he passed by. She had been standing at the end of the table; if she had been any more comfortable around him she might have leaned back against the chair, or maybe even sat down. But Scott couldn’t blame her for the distrust. Even if he doesn’t know why, he’s sure there was something wrong about the way he turned her. He crouched down by the chicken pen to grab the eggs that had been collected while he’d been out searching for Owen. (He had gone missing a week ago and, while he’d never admit it to the man’s face, he was getting concerned.) He didn’t even think too much about asking, “Do you need any food?” He could hear her bloodflow, and it was pretty stable, so he knew the answer, but it was polite to ask.
She seemed caught off guard by the question. “I’m fine,” she said, shifting a bit on her feet.
He knew she was telling the truth, but something about her was off. He realized he couldn’t smell any raw meat on her and rolled his eyes. “Here—” he held out some raw chicken “—you don’t have any food on you.” When she didn’t immediately take it from him, he sighed and turned to face her startled and guilty expression. He gave her a pointed look and explained, “Just because you don’t like me doesn’t mean I’m going to let you lose control of yourself because you decided you’d rather be thirsty than kill an animal.”
Instead of taking the food begrudgingly like he expected, she turned her gaze to the floor. “Why did you have to make this so hard?” she asked quietly. If he hadn’t been a vampire he likely wouldn’t have heard it. There is a pause where he expects her to elaborate before she looks up to meet his eyes. Her eyes, lacking the hint of red he had grown used to them having, filled with unshed tears. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
And then there was fire.
He’s in that vampire cell Avid made. The one he claimed to be for himself.
Oh how long that lasted.
He can’t even feel the burn from the silver decorating the cell.
“He’s awake!” he hears Avid call out. He turns his attention to the vampire hunter holding him at crossbow point through the bars and feels…
Nothing.
He had forgotten this feeling. He so rarely had an issue as a vampire due to how powerfully he felt everything. After he turned it had become sobbing and screaming, but now that it had been undone, the nothing was back.
He robotically tracked the doctor entering the building. “Hello Scott,” Legs greeted him, clearly trying for comforting and missing the mark slightly due to his audience being currently under threat of death.
Scott smirked, one that would normally be smug if not for knowing his eyes were empty of the emotion. “Well, hello Doc. At least someone here knows some manners.” He turns his gaze pointedly to Avid, flickering between his face and the crossbow. Avid’s expression gets darker, not lowering his weapon despite the call out.
“Are you feeling alright?” Scott turns his attention back to Legs, who seems… concerned? His gaze must have prompted elaboration as he continues, “You are the oldest we have given the cure to. There may be adverse effects we couldn’t account for from Apo, Cleo and Owen’s experiences.”
That explains where Owen disappeared to. Knowing the man, his turn wasn’t of his own volition either. He hopes the rest know to hide before they are found. (He hopes Shelby knows he didn’t abandon her.)
He must have taken too long to respond as the doctor calls out to him again, sounding like he actually cares, “Scott?” Even Avid had lowered his weapon slightly and pinched his eyebrows in concern.
Normally he would have taken this chance to mock the pair for being sympathetic to monsters they were supposed to be killing. But he just didn’t care. It was so hard to focus on the present when everything was so dulled and muffled. He gave them an empty smile. “Nothing.”
“I feel nothing.”