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[Behind the scenes, only additional cameras on]
“On action, right? I’m sorry, I’m still new at this documentary kind of thing…”
“Don’t apologize, my darling, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
“Thank you, love, I appreciate it. You know, I’ve always wondered who’s gonna watch it.”
Viago frowns. “I’m not entirely sure. I think the kids on the ether-net.”
“Internet, love.”
“Yes, that. Apparently, they liked the last production.”
Anton smiles. “Well, that’s a relief. So, when…?”
Viago links his arm with Anton’s. “In a moment, they said to wait for the green light. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you when it is.”
Anton smiles apologetically at the operator. “Wolf vision, mate. I am a bit of daltonic.”
“Oh, see, Kate on camera 2 is ready… here we go.”
Camera starts rolling.
+++
"You see," Viago begins. "There's no proper etiquette when it comes to dating between werewolves and vampires."
He looks around sheepishly. "I mean it's not exactly forbidden…"
"But it is uncommon, that's true" Anton completes. "Probably because other werewolves didn't meet you, babe", he adds with a wink.
Viago giggles and ducks his head. "Don't be silly, dearest! Of course I've met plenty of werewolves, just didn't feel the need to date one of them before."
Anton smirks. "That's right. One and only."
"Cut the flirting", interjects Deacon from the other side of the room. "You're already together, for Someone's sake!"
Viago hisses.
Deacon hisses back.
"Calm down babe" says Anton soothingly.
Viago gives one last nasty look at his friend before clearing his throat politely. "Thing is, vampires and werewolves have been at odds since the Beginning of time. No one really knows why, really."
"It's just one of the things that people assume it's normal because it's been imposed on society. You know, just like gender."
Viago nods. "Yeah and I mean, who's decided anyway? The Church?" he coughs a little around the word. "Not on my cold, dead but still handsome body."
"I'm making him attend meetings at the Unholy Queer Association", says Anton proudly.
"Yasss queen!" he says cheerfully, trying and failing to snap his fingers.
"And that's from binge watching RuPaul", Anton informs the camera.
Viago floats happily, clearly pleased with himself.
"Anyway, as they say, we're living one night at a time."
"Yeah, we're making it up as we go. Together."
+++
The clock reads 17.55.
“This is the time where I usually double check the curtains around the house”, Anton says to the camera. “It’s common courtesy making sure your boyfriend and roommates won’t be burned down to a crisp.”
He pulls tightly the curtains in their own room. The coffin lid is still sealed shut.
“For Viago is a scary moment,” he explains. “So I go ahead and see for myself. He’s always taking care of the others, it’s only fair that somebody does that for him too.”
Anton gives the camera a little smile. “I’ll go wake him”, he says, gesturing for them to follow.
He carefully opens the lid of the coffin. “Rise and shine, babe”, he calls. “It’s a nice evening out.”
A sleepy noise follows the comment.
Anton chuckles. “C’mon, it’s date night, you don’t want to miss it.”
Viago rises slowly, eyes still closed.
He puckers his lips and Anton catches him mid-air in a kiss.
Then he helps him out of the coffin, gently holding Viago’s hand.
+++
“It is a nice way to wake up”, Viago tells the camera. “Date night means that Anton doesn’t have to be up early in the morning, so we can spend more time together at night.”
“I work part-time at a shop that sells sports gear”, Anton explains. “That’s convenient because I can get a discount to get the tracksuits for the guys. You can’t imagine how many pairs they manage to get through every month.”
Viago pats him encouragingly on the arm. “You work very hard, my dearest. Your pack is almost perfectly behaved.”
“I’d attribute quite a lot of it to a people-positive management style”, he comments pensively. “You know, I’m really trying to change the way people see werewolves. We don’t necessarily have to be brutes, you know. There’s a lot of prejudice around our species.”
Viago nods. “I was guilty of this narrow vision too. Thankfully, being Anton’s boyfriend has helped to open my mind”, he smiles, ducking his head.
"I've met his packmate and they're quite nice once you know them; even if I'm buying a lot more dog treats than I've ever done in my whole life, but as they say, you never stop learning", he shrugs.
+++
“I mean, Viago obviously has a biased opinion”, says Vladislav.
“But that’s understandable when you’re young and in love. I was the same when I was with the Beast” he confides, his gaze lost. “You’re smitten with each others, you have great sex everywhere and the next thing you know is that she tries to remove your head in the public toilets.”
Vlad sighs. “Romance is a tricky business.”
“The point is”, Deacon continues, pointing his finger at the camera. “We cannot expect our friend to be objective. He thinks his boyfriend hung the moon in the sky…”
“Don’t be racist, Deacon!” Nick interjects. “Just because he’s a werewolf doesn’t mean Anton has anything to do with the moon.”
“I’m not being racist!” bellows Deacon. “Do I look like a racist to you?”
“You were a Nazi, man, it’s a big one on racism..”
“I was a Nazi a century ago, people change!”
Nick hisses. Deacon hisses back.
They turn into bats, taking the fight into the air.
Camera 3 zooms on the bats.
“Sorry, what was the question again?” asks Vlad.
+++
“Usually, we go out on date night”, Anton tells the camera. “Sometimes we go dancing, we take a walk in the park or we go to our favorite restaurant for a snack.”
“The one where we went on our first date”, Viago chirps in. “They make the best bloody gelatines in the whole of Wellington.”
“Tonight we’re going to the beach”, Anton continues . “There should be a music festival.”
They’re holding hands as they make their way down to the ocean; Viago swings their hands between them.
He really likes holding Anton’s hand.
They’re both in casual attire for the occasion: Anton is wearing shorts and flip flops, while he has put a jeans jacket with lots of pins on it over his usual flowy ruffle shirt.
Anton has got him a nice pink matching pants and tee with pineapples on it, a little too uncovery for his taste, but still a nice gift after all.
He’s going to eat tonight, though, and doesn’t want any blood stains on it while it’s still brand new. Maybe next time, he muses.
“I hope they’ll play Taylor Swift”, Viago says. “She’s very nice. Stu has put her music on my 3 pm music box.”
“Mp3”, Anton corrects him gently. “I can download some more music on it, if you want to.”
When they arrive, the beach is packed and the music is already blasting from the speakers and people are jumping up and down to the rhythm.
Anton grins at Viago. “How about a dance, gorgeous? Then we’ll go grab a snack, what do you think?”
Viago beams and drags Anton into the crowd.
They’re not playing Taylor Swift unfortunately - a guy is apparently discussing the shape of the human body which is interesting, he supposes - but Anton is pressed right up into him, with his strong arms wrapped around his neck, so he’s not going to complain.
Viago sneaks his hands on Anton’s hips, under his soft shirt, on his oh so warm skin. Anton hums approvingly and tucks his head right into the side of Viago’s neck.
It’s the spot where he usually would sink his fangs into, if he were to take a victim, where the jugular loudly pumps the blood.
(Well, where he would, only that sometimes he misses the big vein and accidentally sinks his teeth into an artery instead.)
Anton presses a kiss there, lips scorching hot against his icy skin.
Viago doesn’t float away only because he’s holding on his boyfriend’s body like a lifeline - no pun intended.
He wonders, idly, if his victims do feel like that, moments before he drains them, with their neck exposed and vulnerable and yet - left wanting more.
Which, in Viago’s case, it’s very fortunate, since Anton is very happy to trail pecks from his neck to his jawline, while humans at that point would have already been dropped dead.
However, there are different kinds of thirst which happen to be strictly intertwined with each other when you’re a vampire; from feeling horny to feeling bloodthirsty is a short step.
“I think I found you a snack”, Anton whispers against his ear, as if he’s heard his thoughts, jerking his head slightly toward a group of drunk men.
They’re loudly laughing and making nasty comments about the ladies present.
Assholes never taste good, that is true, but the predator inside him is already rejoicing.
A sharp smirk makes his way on his face.
Whatever face he’s doing, Anton evidently likes it from the way he presses a little harder into him.
Viago turns his head to look down at him, pupils dilated and cheeks flushed. “Thanks dearest”, he says, framing his face with his hands and kissing him soundly on the lips. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Anton smirks. “Take your time, babe. I’ll wait for you on the shore.”
“Be careful not to get too close to the water”, Viago tells him. “Werewolves don’t really like getting themselves wet. You’d think it’s something that only werecats don’t like but..” he trails off, shrugging.
“You may not like following me for this bit”, he offers apologetically to the camera guy. Then, as the next song starts, he beams. “Nice! They put Taylor Swift!”
He turns into mist and swiftly pulls himself around his victims.
+++
“I guess, my only problem with Viago and Anton’s dating is that, you know, they’re dating”, Deacon says. “Until Viago’s got Anton, it was just us mates, you know?”
He waves a hand from where he’s sprawled across the couch.
“I mean, we still hang out, the three of us, but you know I miss the old times. When you’ve been flatmates and exclusive friends for seven decades, it can be quite a big change. Can you pass me the yarn? I’m trying to crochet these days.”
He begins crocheting, a line creased between his brows. “Stu said I should try it, since I’m very good at knitting”, he says conversationally.
“I’m making little puppets of us in the house. Then I’ll put a little rope here and then they could be hanged upside down like bats. Or like me, when I’m asleep”, he adds pensively. “Coffin makes me feel a little claustrophobic, you know. And when you’re a vampire you don’t have to worry about blood going to your head.”
As he crochets, the shape of a little head quickly starts to form. “I guess, I feel a little lonely, that’s all. I should take another familiar, maybe”, he mutters.
He jerks his head up from his work and waves at someone behind the door. “Hey, that’s my friend, Stu!”
Stu nods at the cameras. “Want some company? Nick is off clubbing and I think Vlad is having an orgy in his torture chamber.”
“Is it a Tuesday?”
“Yep.”
“Then you’re right.”
Deacon straightens up and pats the place next to him.
“Looks like I’m not that lonely after all”, he offers to the camera.
+++
Viago stumbles a little, making his way towards the shore.
Probably he’s drunk too much; those guys he drained definitely did.
However, the buzz under his veins is a pleasant one; he spots the familiar silhouette of Anton, sitting on the cold sand, which has an even better impact on his good mood.
“So it’s gonna be forever or it’s gonna go down in flames..” he sings-songs to himself.
“Well, let's hope we don’t burst into flames”, Anton says, turning his head in his direction.
Viago giggles and plops down next to him. “Flames are bad”, he drawls. “Very bad for vampires.”
“Quite right, babe”, Anton nods, opening his arms so that Viago can lean against him. “You have a little pink in your cheeks, you know.”
“‘S because I drank a lot tonight. All the blood is spinning right round, baby, right round..” Viago snuggles further into Anton’s chest.
He feels it rumbling under his cheek when Anton laughs.
“They were wasted, weren’t they?”
“Nah, the blood was not so bad, I don’t think they were going to expire soon.”
Anton chuckles and Viago would like to ask what’s so funny, but then he cards his fingers in Viago’s hair and – oh, that’s nice.
Viago feels like he could easily purr. “You’re making me sleepy, my love”, he whines, but without much heat behind it.
“You can sleep it off, if you want”, Anton tells him. “I can carry you home if it gets too late.”
Viago shakes his head - even if he can admit that the idea of Anton carrying him back home in his arms is enough to make him feel weak in the knees.
“We can go back dancing or…” he begins, shifting a bit so he can sit more comfortably in Anton’s lap. “We can make out some more. Please?”
“Like you need to ask”, Anton replies, before tilting his head back and kissing the living shit out of him – or undead, whichever you prefer.
Anton sucks his bottom lip in his mouth, tracing away the coppery taste of the blood.
He doesn’t mind much, he told Viago, when they kiss like that; despite their different natures, werewolves are predators just like vampires. They’re no strangers to blood, especially not human’s.
Viago surges forward, licking his way into his boyfriend’s mouth, and he feels the beast coiled tightly into his chest roaring in delight when Anton moans softly.
“You might want to turn the camera off. Begone! Please!”, he has the presence of mind to say, before he’s pushed with his back into the sand.
Viago really, really loves date night.
+++
“I want to clarify that we didn’t do anything improper on that beach”, Viago says primly. “Sand can get everywhere and yuck .”
“At least nothing that would get us arrested”, Anton adds, scratching the back of his head. “That wouldn’t be fun to explain to kids. Sorry guys, I was caught making out with my vampire boyfriend by the human police.”
They both chuckle.
“They’ve been very supportive of my relationship, all things considered”, Anton says pensively. “You know, being the alpha male is a little like being the single dad of a bunch of unruly children. Only that three of them are more or less your age, one is a moody teenage girl and you only get help from Stu.”
Viago nods sympathetically. “It’s not an easy job. It’s the same with Deacon and Nick, who are still very much like teenage vampires. They’re always doing something crazy or bickering over whose turn it is to get the bodies out or if the other really cheated at bat races. At least, I share custody with Vlad… when he feels like it, that is.”
“Yeah and inserting a relationship in the equation is not simple. Kids need to be reassured that you will always care about them, that they don’t need to compete for your attention and that calling your boyfriend suck-face is really not alright.”
They both grimace at that.
“To be fair, I heard Sam saying much worse to the others”, Viago adds sincerely. “She just has a colorful way to express herself.”
+++
“The fuck you’re supposed to be? Camera crew? And why the fuck should I care?”
As she speaks, the teenage girl hands over a couple of dollars to Stu who promptly dumps them in the swear jar.
“You gave me more.”
She waves him off. “It will cover the rest of this interview. Shoot, what do you want to know?”
She eyes the camera curiously, then she slumps on the couch with her legs crossed. “My name is Sam, I’m 17… yeah, I guess Anton gave his consent for filming me? He’s such a dad”, she huffs, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been a werewolf for about 6 months, so that makes me the youngest in the pack, although these assholes are a bunch of idiots, I don’t know how they survived this far. Okay, except for Stu maybe”, she adds.
“Thanks”, Stu replies dryly.
“I don’t really care about who Anton’s dating. Suck-face is a lame vampire, but he can be kind of nice, I guess?” she says, scrunching up her nose. “I mean, all boys are jerks, vampires or not. At least, he doesn’t try to meddle. Also, he likes gardening and making stuff with clay, not exactly your average confrontational type, you get me?”
“Although if his dumbass friend mentions Twilight to my fucking face again, I swear to God, I’ll rip his fucking throat out.”
Stu emits a pained noise. “Nick is my best mate.”
“Well, keep him on a leash. See how he likes it.” She lights up a cigarette. “Mind if I smoke? Anton doesn’t like it but what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him”, she shrugs.
“He’s gonna see this, you know”, Stu reminds her.
“It’s gonna be too late at that point. Post production alone takes months, am I right?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “What is going to do? Yell at me for something I did months before? C’mon, he nags but not that much”, she scoffs.
“Anton’s great guy”, Sam adds after a beat. “He’s a great leader and he really tries his best to keep the whole pack together and we’re a handful, let me tell you. Clifton can’t keep a job for a week, Nathan G and Nathan M lose a pair of tracksuits each every fucking moon and Dion has yet to understand that transforming while high is dumb as fuck. As I said, boys are idiots.”
“But they’re family”, Stu says.
Sam nods. “Anton deserves to be happy, it’s what I’m saying, even if his boyfriend is fucking leech. He adores him, God knows why. See, Stu? I’ve got the whole jar fee covered.”
+++
“Sometimes”, Stu says. “Living in a pack and having two vampires as best mates is very stressful. I don’t know how Anton does it. I mean, I love them to pieces, but I wasn’t this stressed when I was a human.”
“I appreciate you considering me your best mate”, Vlad says with a self-satisfied look on his face. “Of course, I’ve always thought my company was far superior to the other’s, but I didn’t want to mention it…”
Stu blinks. “I was talking about Nick and Deacon, actually. Not that I don’t consider you a close friend”, he hurries to add.
Vlad shrugs, as if the thing doesn’t really bother him. “It’s okay, lad, but of course Deacon cannot be taken into account.”
“Why not?”
“Well, of course, since you two are dating it would be unfair competition.”
Stu blinks, again. “Dating?”
“You’re always hanging out together”, he explains, counting on his fingers. “He knits you more sweaters than he’s ever done for me and Viago in seventy years and you’re the only person he doesn’t antagonize on purpose.”
Camera zooms on Stu’s face.
Stu stares back, a stunned look in his eyes. “Huh.”
After a beat, he adds: “I think I should have a chat with Anton, actually.”
He bolts out of the door, leaving Vladislav alone.
“As I was saying, romance is a tricky business. I mean, Deacon is still in his rebel phase and I don’t see why a nice guy like Stu would date him, but the heart wants what the heart wants.”
He taps a finger on his chin. “I don’t think I’ll need to make the talk of the shovel this time. Deacon already knows that if he hurts Stu, I will personally rip his head off and then I’ll pass his corpse to the werewolves.”
+++
“So, Anton’s already gone to sleep”, Viago tells the camera. “He has an early morning tomorrow at the store - which means that when I’m going to slumber, he will be almost ready to wake up, I think”, he smiles shyly. “I’m not sure about the hour, I can’t stick around to check.”
Of course, it’s not ideal that sometimes Anton actually needs to sleep when Viago is up. Werewolves, being nocturnal creatures, don’t have to sleep as much as regular human beings but they do need to rest and, in Viago’s personal opinion, Anton needs it more than most.
Also, he reckons that spending all free time with one’s boyfriend is not very healthy; he read somewhere that having boundaries is important in a relationship.
And after all, some nights a week won’t do as much damage as eighteen months stuck in a coffin in a cargo ship.
So, tonight, after kissing goodbye to Anton, he went out with his mates in Wellington, the camera crew trailing behind them just like old times.
“Since I can’t be there in the morning,” he explains, entering the kitchen. “I make coffee for Anton before going to slumber myself, so he can drink it first thing in the morning.”
Viago, as many other vampires, doesn’t really understand human food; he doesn’t remember how it was before he was turned, but he’s sure that he had never attempted to make anything by himself.
The basghetti, after all, are simply dumped in their victims’ plates and it’s not as if they’re going to complain about the quality of the service after they’re dead.
Luckily for him, coffee is quite easy. A box with the funny little pods is safely stored in one of the cleanest cupboards in the kitchen.
He’s done it enough times that by now he’s come to understand the coffee machine – even if he’s still wary of it and he fears one day it’ll explode in his face.
He offers a tiny smile to the camera, while he waits for the drink to brew.
He carefully takes the cup between his hands - vampires seek warmth, but after a couple of accidents, Viago has learned to wait for the cup to cool down a little - he grabs a packet of oreos and tiptoes back into their room.
Viago lays the cup on the night table and then, he sits down beside Anton’s sleeping form.
He really sleeps like the dead, Viago thinks fondly. In his sleep, Anton’s face looks younger, worry lines finally smoothed over. He’s curled over on one side, tucked in a light blanket.
Viago refrains from caressing his face and contents himself with watching him sleep for a while.
“Please”, he whispers for the benefit of the camera. “Don’t show this part to Nick, otherwise he’ll never shut up about Twilight, which offers a very incorrect portrayal of vampirism if I may say so.”
+++
“Yeah, I don’t have the heart to tell Viago that his coffee is undrinkable”, Anton admits. “It’s ice cold by the time I wake up.”
“I should probably tell him, it would be the honest thing to do.”
Anton scratches the back of his head. “But… I’ll sound stupidly cheesy, I know”, he says, pointedly not looking at the camera.
“But it’s a nice gesture, you know? He took the time to learn the coffee machine in the first place just for my benefit. Sam would say that is the bare minimum”, he mimics air quotes. “But I very much like it. It really warms my heart.”
Anton smiles. “He’s absolutely lovely. I’m a lucky man.”
+++
“So, Vladislav was telling me something very interesting about you and a certain someone”, Tilda tells him.
“Since when you and Vladislav are chummy-chummy?”
“Always, of course”, Tilda says dismissively. “We’ve known each other longer than you were alive and he always tells me news, unlike someone else…”
Viago groans. “Gossip is very bad taste, you know”, he says haughtily.
For a moment, Tilda doesn’t speak. Her face kind of freezes on the little screen of Stu’s computer with her mouth hanging open.
“Oh dear”, Viago says apologetically. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Tilda moves again on the screen. “Oh no, it’s just the connection. Human ether can be a little bit faulty”, she comments, scrunching up her nose. “Anyway… said the bat to the owl! As you didn’t like some good tea.”
“Technically”, Viago begins, taking a leaf from Deacon’s book and deciding to be contrary on purpose. “I don’t like tea and neither do you...”
Tilda hisses from behind the screen.
Viago hisses back.
“I don’t like having people speculating about my romantic life”, he pouts.
“Didn’t you have humans making a documentary about you lot?”
“... You make a good point.”
Tilda grins triumphantly.
She takes a sip from a tall glass full of blood with a little umbrella on top.
“Now, tell me: is it really a werewolf?”
“Would it be a problem if he were?”
Tilda shrugs. “Not particularly. I mean, it is a bit unusual and some of the old-fashioned will probably get their fangs in a twist, but who cares? If they bother you, just sentence them to death.”
Viago sighs in relief. “I really appreciate it. I feared Rob’s reaction, actually, I know that werewolves are a bit of a sore spot for him.”
Tilda waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. Rob said that he wants to leave the Council’s stuff behind, anyway. Broaden his horizons or something like that.”
They exchange a Look.
Some vampires, really.
“C’mon, Viago, my dear. Being the supreme leader of the International Vampiric Council is so boring sometimes”, she tells him. “It’s always sentencing this one to death, fining another one for reckless flying… give me something different for once.”
She smiles at him, genuinely interested, and Viago relents.
After all, at some point in the near future, he will have to participate at the Council reunions in person and maybe… maybe Anton would like to accompany him.
“Alright, you may ask”, he concedes.
“Let’s start from the obvious… what is his name?”
Viago smiles. “Anton. His name is Anton.”
+++
[Additional Footage]
“I think I’ve been accidentally dating Deacon”, Stu confesses bewildered.
“And have you just noticed that?” Sam replies. “Think very carefully before you answer, we have a betting pool going on.”
“What? About my love life?” Stu asks indignantly.
“Sorry, mate” Nick says. “It’s easy money, nothing personal.”
“Besides everyone’s in it”, Clifton adds. “Well, Anton refused to participate but didn’t say we couldn’t…”
“And Viago placed 20 dollars that you two would confess while listening to You Belong with Me.”
“... That explains why he bought me the album for my birthday.”
Sam shrugs. “Even some of the crew are participating, although I think it’s probably against the code of objectivity or something.”
Stu takes his head between his hands. “How did this happened?”
Nick pats him on the shoulder. “It’s on me, mate. I did introduce you two, after all. Hey, if you two get together before the end of the month, I’ll give you my share of money.”
“Don’t bribe him, snowflake! It doesn’t count if you bribe him!”
Nick hisses.
Sam growls in the back of her throat.
Stu looks at the camera as if he were in the Office.
[Footage ends.]