AngstFest 2023 Day 01
Title: Just One Bite
Chapter Title: Wicked Thoughts
Summary: Vlad had spent so long planning and so long waiting for just the right time to strike. He was not prepared for this much improvising.
Danny didn't think much of the last-minute family trip up north for his parent's college reunion. He should have asked to stay home.
Tags: Vampire AU, Vlad POV, Danny POV, No One Knows AU
You can read on AO3 or down below the cut
Ch 2 | Ch 3
When he saw the obnoxious RV pull up his long private driveway, Vlad didn't bother hiding his grin. He’d been waiting so long for this and was beyond thrilled that they had actually come.
After all this time, all he needed was a simple invitation.
His face fell when the children stepped out of the vehicle.
He didn’t invite children. Children were not part of the plan.
He sighed, of course, Jack would mess up his plans.
At least the children were teenagers so they wouldn’t need constant supervision.
They wouldn’t need their mother with them at all times.
And then she stepped out of the car. As beautiful as ever.
In fact, she was more beautiful now than she was twenty years ago. She aged like wine.
“Welcome,” he said as he stepped out of the doorway and onto the covered front porch. “Hope the drive wasn’t too bad.”
“Vladdie!” Jack greeted with a surprising amount of enthusiasm for a man who had presumably driven for several hours straight.
“Are we the first ones here?” Maddie asked as she looked around the empty driveway.
“Well, you are a day early.” He said pausing only long enough for their confusion to sink in before he added, “Which was intentional. I figured with how close we used to be, and how long it’s been, we could use the extra time to get reacquainted.”
He kept his eyes on Maddie the entire time. She couldn’t hold his gaze.
That was fine. They had 24 hours.
The only problem was the children.
He did not account for children in his plans.
“Anyone need to use the bathroom?” He asked, keeping up the good host role.
Both Jack and the daughter raised their hands immediately.
Two down, one to go.
“Right this way,” he said, gesturing to the doorway behind him.
The family followed him in. He gave them a moment to gawk at the entryway.
He had spent quite a lot of time restoring this old Victorian, and it was nice to have his hard work recognized.
“Jack, you can go to the first door on the left.”
Vlad waited for Jack’s stomping footsteps to die out before continuing, “And just up the stairs and three doors on the right, is for you, miss,” He hesitated slightly because he had no idea what these kids' names were.
“Jasmine,” she offered before running up the stairs herself.
“That’s a pretty name.”
“Thanks, it was Jack’s idea.”
“Oh?” Vlad wasn’t expecting that.
“Yeah,” Maddie said wistfully, “he wanted a pretty name for his little princess. So we looked up flowers.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t pick Rose.” He didn’t know that Jack knew there were other flowers.
“It was a contender, but we figured with the possibility of her getting my red hair, we decided against it.”
“What else didn’t get picked?” the son asked.
Maddie thought for a moment, idly tapping her chin as she thought. Just like she used to. “Let's see, I believe it was Lily, Violet, and Daisy.”
“Wasn’t our hamster named Daisy?”
“It was! Ironically Jazz came up with that on her own.”
“Why don’t we go to the living room while we wait for the others?” Vlad suggested, moving forward with his plan.
The group went further into the house, the living room was just past the stairway.
There was a mix of modern amenities and old-world charm. To him, it helped keep the room timeless. Mixing old with new so it didn’t look like it was stuck in any one era.
“Have a seat anywhere you like.” Vlad offered.
The boy sat on the couch. Or perhaps dropped was a better word for it.
Maddie, on the other hand, declined. “I’m going to keep standing if you don’t mind. If I sit for one more second my spine is going to explode.”
“It’s no problem,” Vlad said, knowing full well that Maddie wouldn’t want to sit still. She never really liked it. She was always moving. Never was a fan of having to sit through long lectures back in college.
He was right to assume that wouldn’t change.
“If you’d like to stretch your legs a bit, I can give you a quick tour?” Vlad offered as if that wasn’t part of his plan all along.
“Yeah, sure. That’d be nice.” Maddie said with a smile.
Oh, he missed that smile.
“Wonderful.”
“Can I come?” the boy asked.
What?
“Of course, Sweetie,” Maddie said before he could react.
No!
Vlad turned towards the doorway to start the tour and hide his annoyance.
What was he going to have to do to get rid of this kid?
Despite the setback, Vlad carried on.
He had them follow him back to the front door and told them the history of the house. He pointed out areas that he had restored, to pieces of furniture that were antiques and which ones were reproductions.
He pointed out the bookcase in the hall and mentioned the collections it held. He did not mention that there was a book that when pulled would open the bookcase like a door and reveal an extra room.
He would show Maddie that later, when they were finally alone.
At some point, the daughter, Jasmine, joined them. He had greeted her but he wasn’t really paying attention then. He was in full realtor mode as he talked about his house.
Other than the children, this was going just as he had expected.
“This must have taken forever,” the boy, who he had learned was called Danny, said as he looked about the final room of the tour—the living room, back where they had started.
“It did take time, but it was a labor of love.”
“It shows,” he said simply.
“Thank you.”
Vlad hadn’t been expecting Jack’s son to be so thoughtful. Then again, he was Maddie’s son too.
Jack finally found his way into the living room, “Oh there you guys are!”
Vlad wasn’t sure he did a very good job at hiding his grimace. Luckily the family was too busy greeting him to notice.
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It wasn’t until dinner that Jack said something that reminded Vlad of all the ugly details of his plan.
He took a very long drink of his wine instead of replying.
How exactly did Jack expect him to respond anyway? Thanks for leaving me for dead and then the only proof he got that his friends weren’t dead as well, was a wedding invitation.
Yeah, sorry I couldn’t make the wedding, I actively dying. But don’t worry about it. I’m better now.
How could that man be so stupid?
How did he even win Maddie’s heart?
She was smarter than that!
But maybe she wasn’t? She did have two children with him. They were clearly their children.
Even if he was trying to pretend that they were adopted.
Vlad did what he could to remain civil for the rest of the night. There were many things he didn’t say.
A lot of murder and violence that he did not commit.
Not yet.