Blood and Chocolate [Ed/Dacian]

Edward was on top of the world or so he seemed to be anyway, more customers were in since Dacian had been forcibly removed and he’d slept with a really pretty nameless girl the night before. For the first time in weeks he served people with a smile and Rowdy say happily on the bar. It felt as though a great shadow had been lifted off of the Hog’s Head and a weight off of Ed’s shoulders. Although there still was a vampire living in the Hog’s Head. Vivian, Ed liked her a lot more than Dacian. Even though she was probably twice as dangerous she was easier to get along with.

The door to the pub opened and, out of new found habit, Ed looked expectantly over. She wasn’t there and after Dacian’s bitching she’d probably never be back. Cassie was too busy fucking the vampire to hear his side of the story anyway, not that he’d regretted what he’d done. Disgusted at himself for letting it happen, Edward stalked out back to the storeroom. Thinking of Dacian touching her was painful but the thought that she’d chosen that humourless, narcissistic, ungrateful, spiteful prick over him made his heart sink and chest feel hollow.

For a distraction he busied himself by taking stock, or pretending to anyway. Bending over caused the cross he wore around his neck to slip out from under his shirt and dangle innocently out in the open. Such a small thing had inflicted such a large amount of pain, a fact Ed revelled in. The man had never thought he’d see the day when something from Silas Rosier would become one of his most prized possessions.

An epically loud crash behind Ed sacred the absolute shit out of him. “HOLY FUCK!” for a moment he thought Dacian was back for him, he wouldn’t put it past the vampire to attack someone from behind, coward. Instead he was relieved to see it was Vivian. “Hey, jeez you scared the crap out of me,” the man laughed, steadying his hearbeat.

“You don’t need to apologize; I’d love to take you to Honeyduke’s, I’ll pick up Rowdy and we can go” Edward jumped at the chance to get out of the pub, sure Rowdy would be glad of the exercise too. The chance of some fresh air and chocolate put Ed back in a good mood and the puppy could sense it. Stepping out the door of the dingy pub and into the crisp white world was a shock to the system. Wow that was a lot of snow.

Rowdy, unfazed, jumped from the doorway and disappeared into a drift of snow. All that could be seen of the Labrador as he forged a path up the street was his black tail looking much like a shark fin. Laughing some more, Ed led Vivian towards Honeyduke’s.

Maybe things weren’t that bad. Out in the quiet village of Hogsmeade Edward forgot about Cassie and Dacian as he walked beside Vivian. Seeing her happy was a contagious feeling and he couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. If felt like years since he’d last smiled, there hadn’t really been much to smile about. The thoughts of Cassie being with Dacian, although there, were pushed to the far reaches of his mind.

It was a good feeling to have company that respected you and treated you like a person. Yes Vivian was a vampire but vampire shmampire. She was good company and that was all that mattered to Ed. “Hey no problem, it’s my pleasure and I’ll take ya out anytime you want,” the man smiled warmly at the girl and gave a sharp whistle when he saw Rowdy had gotten too far ahead. Tongue lolling to the side, the puppy bounded back, awkwardly big paws kicking up a mix of snow and mud. Instantly the dog was at Vivian’s side, since Dacian’s departure he’d been her almost constant companion.

Vivian’s offer caught Edward by surprise but it was an entirely welcome surprise. “I’d love for you to work in the bar, hell I’ll even pay you,” he said cheerily. What a good day, here he was out for a walk with his dog and good company and he'd just gained a much needed employee.

Things were actually starting to look up and optimism wasn't usually his strong point. Ed had loved once, there would be another girl out there for him, and after all he was only twenty. His whole life lay ahead of him which meant plenty of time to find a girl, fall in love and settle down. “You know you don’t have to live in the basement anymore? That was Dacian’s idea, he’s a fan of dark and dingy, probably thinks it’s sexy or something,” Ed laughed lightly, “there’s a room upstairs you can have, no one actually stays at the Hog’s Head apart from the occasional ‘escort’ and client.”

“Hey you do any kind of work for me you get paid, simple as that. Don’t worry about board and the rest, now that I’m getting more people in I’m no longer hovering on the poverty line,” the man laughed again, he’d been doing a lot of that in a short space of time. He did have two and a half weeks to make up though. Yakov, Ed had forgotten about to owl and wondered whether Viv would mind him using him.

“I do indeed have a room upstairs, just across the hall from my place. If you want, I’ll help you move up there when we get back. I should have told you about it ages ago,” Ed smirked apologetically but what he’d said before had been true. It had indeed been Dacian’s idea to hide out in the basement. He was sure the girl would appreciate getting out of there and into a proper bed surrounded by proper furniture.

Looking over at Vivian, Ed spotted Rowdy dutifully trotting at her side. It puzzled him why the dog acted so differently around the girl. Around Dacian he had been a quivering winning wreck but with Viv he was normal. Strange dog. As Vivian spoke again, the puppy gave an excited yip and once again raced ahead, looking backwards expectantly at the girl as he did so.

At first Ed laughed at the dog but as soon as he heard Dacian’s name mentioned the smile turned into a pained smirk. So the vampire hadn’t told Viv what had happened the other night, too proud to admit he was beaten by a mortal. “Heh yeah, Dacian was a bit of a troublesome guest but you’re not. You can stay as long as you want,” he smiled weakly at her before shrugging off the thought of the older vampire.

The conversation had lapsed into a happy sort of silence. Things were looking up now. This was just what she needed, she realised; something to look forwards to, motivation for the future. Sitting in a basement with noting to ponder on but a doomed existence didn’t do wonders for ones psyche. Life could still move on though, she could still become a productive member of society right? Well, once you got past the ‘society is out to get you’ and ‘those who don’t run like hell are probably necrophiliacs’ thing. Still, as long as there were people like Ed and Adrian around she should be fine, but how long until she became as bitter and jaded as her mentor?

Putting such thoughts in the back of her mind she instead watched Rowdy make his way around again. The dog was certainly quite aptly named. For a moment she cruised on Ed’s brainwave; the pup was terrified of the other vampire but not so much of her. Could he sense something in Dacian that no one else could that was separate from the whole vampire thing? Or was it because she was newer to the whole undead business and somehow less tainted? She hoped it stayed that way, animals had always been her passion and the last thing she needed was hoards of creatures fleeing from her presence to make her feel crappier about it. The more she thought about it the more becoming Dacian seemed inevitable.

All of a sudden she spotted something. Vivian stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the spot where Dacian had just disappeared between the buildings. Well, they do say ‘speak of the devil and he will come’ and he was the closest thing currently haunting the village. Or had she seen him? It was damn near impossible to tell with the light fading so fast. Hogsmeades little magical lamps would be flicking on by themselves soon. She squinted, peering. ”I sink I just saw him,” she said unsurely.