A cottage sat atop a small hill in the center of the forbidden forest. The shudders creaked with every movement of wind and the roof was halfway caved in. A black cat sat on the singular fence post, her tail flicking lazily over the splintered wood.

A boy with large, circular glasses stumbled out of the cottage blowing and spitting at the pot in his hands that was currently on fire. He threw it on the ground and stomped the flames out on the blackened… food?

The boy took a shaky breath, fixing his glasses to his face and looked to the cat with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Agatha. Looks like we’ll be having acorns and stored fish tonight. Again…”

His sheepish smile fell and he grabbed his arm with a sigh. “Can’t even cook right. Why do you still stay here, girl? There’s gotta be someone better out there for you.”

The cat yawned, pushing her backside up as she stretched. The boy, Aston, chuckled softly and reached over to pet behind her ears. “What am I saying? I couldn’t imagine having to be out here alone. Thanks for being here, Aggy.”

Agatha pressed her head into his hand, a deep purr rumbling through her. Her ear twitched and she looked out to the forest. Without warning, she jumped down from the post and trotted into the woods.

“Ah- Well… I guess you gotta get your own food now anyway, so… Good luck!” Aston turned to go back inside, groaning as he realized he would have to clean up his ruined dinner first.

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Eating alone was something Aston had grown used to, but it never got any easier. The salty dried fish made Aston’s face scrunch up, but he continued shoving it down and focused on the book in his hand. He had read the manual more times than he could count, but he didn’t have much else to do.

He frowned at the sound of distant thunder. Setting down the book, Aston looked out the back window. The forest was quiet—preparing for the rain, Aston thought.

There was a thud and a clattering from the front door followed by a loud, drawn-out meow.

“Aggy!”

Aston scrambled to get up, knocking over his chair in the process. He quickly got to the door and grumbled at the loose knob before throwing the door open. “Oh, I was getting so worried! Did you manage to catch… something..?”

Looking down, Aston felt his chest squeeze. Agatha meowed again, kneading her paws on the back of a white-haired boy!

The boy groaned, weakly looking up at Aston. Deep, scarlet eyes stared into amber.

“Oh. Oh. Oh, stars! Oh, stars! You’re a vampire! Ohhhhh no…” Aston ran a hand over his face and he looked around for more coven members. There was nothing around.

Agatha meowed again, gartering Aston’s attention. Looking over the boy again, Aston could see the two puncture wounds on his neck and the deep gash on his side. Agatha hopped off the vampire and strutted into the house, looking back at Aston with a tiny mew.

“Oh, stars. What am I doing?!” Swallowing thickly, Aston reached for the boy’s arms. The vampire hissed weakly, but quickly gave up.

Dragging the vampire to his broken couch was difficult. Getting the vampire to take off his shirt was harder.

“I- C’mon, dude! I need to see the wound!”

The white-haired boy snarled and writhed, whining at the movement. “No! No, I’m a monster! Don’t touch me!”

“You… what?” Aston tilted his head curiously. “Where is your coven? Your sire or dam? What happened to you?”

Aston received no answer, just a pained whimper and hungry eyes. “Who do you belong to? I can probably get you back. I better be able to. I’m not gonna let some random fledgling die in my cottage for an angry coven to find.”

The boy looked away and it gave Aston another look at the bite wound on his neck. Aston frowned at that. Most bite marks were healed soon after turning thanks to the sire or dam’s blood. A still open wound meant one of two things and, considering the wounds were jagged, Aston had a pretty good guess. “You were turned against your will…”

Aston must have been correct because the boy tensed and a tear slipped down his cheek. He couldn’t imagine what the boy was going through.

“Look… I know this isn’t ideal, but you’re still alive. Er- well- You’re _not_, but you’re unalive? You… still exist?” Aston shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. My name is Aston. Will you let me help you?”

The boy glanced back at Aston with glassy, red eyes. “You want to help me? Even though I’m…”

Aston nodded, hoping his expression was enough to convince him. He must have convinced him considering the boy sat up and finally removed his shirt.

The wound on his side made Aston nauseous. Long claw marks punctured into his side, most likely from the offending vampire attacking him.

“I’m Callum…” The white-haired boy whispered.

“Okay, Callum. Um…” Aston, face white as a ghost, swallowed thickly as he examined the wound. “This- I can’t fix this without- without, um…”

He looked to Callum and frowned. “I cant heal this. Vampires are, uh, different from humans. They need blood to heal and you can’t get that on your own. Especially as a fledgling! You need a vampires blood.”

Pacing around the coffee table, Aston nervously chewed on his nails. “I could close the wound and numb the pain, but last time I did magic…” He looked over to the wall that had nothing on it and then down to the dozens of picture frames, herbs and shelving that were piled on the floor.

Callum followed his gaze and frowned. “You… do magic?”

Aston laughed incredulously. “Not very well!” He moved to the kitchen, grabbing a few different herbs and something to mix them in.

Sitting in front of Callum, Aston took a shaky breath and tried to calm his shaky hands. Callum watched with a concerned frown and Aston took notice of how his fingers clenched into the fabric.

“Calm down, Aston. It’s just magic! You can do magic,” Aston whispered to himself. A warm body pressed against his leg and Aston’s worries soothed—if only a little—at the sight of Agatha at his feet.

Then, with a gold light flickering in his eyes, Aston set to work.

Sweat beaded at his brow as he placed the herbal paste against Callum’s side. He tried not to wince as he felt the skin under his fingertips stitch itself back together. Luckily, the numbing seemed to work considering Callum was just staring jaw-dropped at the magic.

The heat from Aston’s hands was becoming painful, but he continued until the skin was smoothed over and just a little red.

Aston shook out his hands and willed the tears gathered in his eyes to go away. “Okay, Callum,” Aston’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “I don’t know how well that worked, but you should be able to walk around without bleeding out.”

No response. Aston looked over to see Callum was passed out. Out of reflex, Aston reached out to feel for a pulse. He started to panic at the lack of heart beat, but then remembered, “Ah, right. Vampire.”

Thunder rolled over the cottage and, if the small thuds on the roof said anything, it had started to rain.

The soothing sounds simply added to Aston’s exhaustion. A headbutt against his calf revealed that Agatha had brought over a blanket.

Aston pet the cat’s head and laid the blanket over Callum. “You’re a good girl, Aggy. Let’s get some rest, yeah?”