Chapter Text
Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.
Avid fought to open his bleary eyes. “Mmph…What…what’s happenming…?” his voice was muffled, and he realized sleepily that his mouth was covered with some sort of blanket. The loud bells that had woken him up stopped singing, but the damage had already been done.
“Aviddd…” someone moaned. “Get off.” It took a moment for Avid’s tired brain to place the voice, but he realized it was Scott. A second later, he tensed as he realized Scott’s voice was coming from right beside him. The “blanket” his face was pressed against was actually Scott’s shoulder.
“Scott!” Avid squeaked, face bright red. He raised his head, still struggling to clear his sleep-addled brain. “What’re you doing in my bed?”
There was a second of silence from the other vampire, then a muffled laugh. “What?”
Avid paused. “What do you mean, what-”
“Avid. We’re not in your bed. We fell asleep on the couch, and look, everyone else is here too.” Scott pushed himself up onto his elbows, smirking at Avid. Avid finally took a moment to look at his surroundings, the events of last night beginning to rush back to him. Shelby and Drift were asleep beside him, legs tangled up in their blankets. Pyro and Owen were each fast asleep in their chairs. Someone had at least had the foresight to put out the fire so it wasn’t dangerous, but it was surprising that they had all fallen asleep so easily.
Avid flushed an even darker red, which was impressive for such a pale vampire. He supposed he had had a full meal yesterday, so the amount of blood in his system was higher than usual. “I-uh-“ he hid his face in the actual blanket, embarrassed beyond words. At least his friends were still fast asleep, and hadn’t heard that.
He could hear Scott holding back laughter. “This never happened,” Avid insisted, glaring at Scott’s smug face. (How did he still look so perfect after sleeping on the couch like this?) Scott shrugged, sitting up fully and stretching. He still had the remnants of a smirk on his face. Avid wished he could wipe it right off. In a very normal, angry way. Yes.
Shelby stirred on the other end of the couch, and Avid gratefully turned his attention away from the very distracting vampire beside him. “Why does Oakhurst have such loud bells?” she groaned, rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Christmas morning!” Avid realized with a gasp. “That’s why the bells- oh my gosh it’s Christmas morning!!” With an excited yelp, he jumped up, tripping over the blankets on his way to the door. Scott caught him, steadying him.
Shelby squealed, gently shaking Drift awake. “Drift! Drift! It’s Christmas morning!”
Drift opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. “Shelby?” Shelby repeated their urgent message and Drift sat up, hair mussed and eyes bleary with sleep. “Yay!!” she giggled happily. Drift was slightly less energetic in the mornings than Shelby and Avid.
“Can you all keep it down!?” Owen yelled, voice muffled underneath a blanket. “This was the first good sleep I’ve gotten in a while!”
Shelby laughed, jumping up and pulling the blanket partially off of Owen, just so they could see his grumpy face. “It’s Christmas morning!” they exclaimed, patting Owen’s head fondly. Avid failed to hold back a snort.
The glare Owen gave Shelby was beyond withering, but she remained unfazed. Pyro groaned from their chair, stretching and wrapping the blankets tighter around himself. “Must we wake up this early?”
Avid frowned. “It’s Christmas!” Pyro’s exasperated look told him that they didn’t particularly like this argument.
“Cleo and Pearl will be expecting us this morning,” Scott said, standing up and letting the blankets fall around him. “We should go get ready. Bundle up; even though it’s cloudy the snow makes everything bright."
“Good luck getting those guys to come,” Avid laughed. “I’m outta here.”
Shelby squealed in outrage. “Just because I’m the only one who actually cares if everyone comes does not mean you get to leave me here!!”
Avid giggled, running after Scott before she could catch him and drag him back.
⋆꙳•❅*• •*❆ ₊⋆
At last, everyone was ready to go and out the door. Shelby had somehow managed to convince Owen and Pyro to come along, though they didn’t look happy about it.
The sun was safely hidden behind the clouds as the six vampires walked to Oakhurst. Shelby pulled a cart of presents with them through the snow, taking turns with Drift when they got tired. Snow still swirled down from the sky, but it wasn’t as aggressive about it as it was last night. Their guests had already left, staying only for a bite to eat before leaving.
Avid opened his mouth, head thrown back, trying to catch snowflakes as they walked. “I love the snow!”
“It is a lot nicer when I’m not freezing all the time,” Pyro agreed. “Oh, good, we’re almost there.” Avid looked down for a moment to see.
Oakhurst came into view ahead of them. Clearly someone had been putting up decorations, as pine garlands were draped on the walls. Avid could see lights glimmering inside them.
The vampires made their way to the town, closing the gate behind them. Hearing them arrive, Pearl poked her head out of the door of her and Cleo’s house, waving excitedly at them. “Hi, guys! Come in!”
They filed in, cramming themselves into the living room. Martyn, Ren, and Cleo were already inside. It technically wasn’t big enough for them to fit super comfortably, but Avid kind of liked the clutter. It felt more Christmas-y to have everyone in the same room.
One of Oscar’s descendents, Olive, brushed against Avid’s legs and purred, begging for attention. Avid bent down to pet the adorable kitty. When he went to sit on the couch, the cat jumped up on his lap. “Aww, what a little cutie,” Avid cooed, scratching Olive's head.
Scott, who had sat next to him, grimaced. “Ugh, cats.”
Avid looked over, surprised. “You don’t like cats?”
“Cats are evil,” Scott said, wrinkling his nose. “They don’t like me.”
Avid giggled. “Okay, big evil scary vampire.” He continued to pet Olive, cooing softly at him. “He’s so cute, how could you think he’s evil?”
“Hmph,” Scott said crossly.
Avid laughed. “What, you jealous?”
Scott scowled. “That thing is cute, but I’m evil?”
Avid paused, peering at Scott’s face. “Are you jealous?”
Scott rolled his eyes, shaking his head no, but Avid decided the evidence said otherwise. “Aw, don’t worry, you’re cute too. Even though you’re a big evil scary vampire.” Scott looked surprised, and turned a pretty shade of pink.
“Alright, everyone,” Pearl said happily, clapping her hands. “We have lots of presents to open, so let's get started!” Cleo handed out each person’s presents. Avid was given a present wrapped in red paper with snowmen printed on it. It felt squishy when he poked it.
Everyone took turns opening their presents. Avid had gotten Cleo some gardening supplies and seeds, since they’d mentioned she wanted to start a garden in the spring. When it was Avid’s turn, he ripped open the paper, squeaking in excitement when he saw turquoise knitted wool underneath. He pulled out the Christmas sweater, hugging it. “I love it!!” He took his coat off and tugged it on, putting his coat again on over it. From the other side of the room, Shelby watched her fledgling happily.
The present opening was over too soon, as always, but the joy and excitement still lingered in the air. It was Christmas, after all.
⋆꙳•❅*• •*❆ ₊⋆
Avid squinted, staring at the snowman as if it had personally offended him.
“It’s not that bad,” Drift grimaced. “Okay, maybeee it is.”
The snowman did not represent the second half of the word well. They had, however, nailed the snow part. It was mostly just a lopsided pile of snow. Drift had tried to give it shape, but had only managed to make it smaller and more lumpy. Avid, for his part, had poked two holes in the “head” and called them eyes, then drew a smile.
“It’s kind of cute,” Drift shrugged. “If we put the carrot…” she stuck a small carrot into the middle of the face. “See?”
Avid laughed. It did look quite cute, though it was less of a snowman and more of a snow blob. “I think we won.” He looked over to Scott and Shelby’s snowman, which was…
actually really good. They seemed to have struggled less with the body. It actually looked more like a classic snowman, with 3 parts and stick arms. It also had a very fashionable scarf, courtesy of Scott.
“I almost forgot, we need arms!!” Avid exclaimed, waving his own and looking around wildly at the expanse of stick-less snow around them.
Shelby, who overheard, shouted, “CHEATER!!”
“It’s not cheating!” Avid shouted back indignantly. “Your snowman has arms too!!”
“Exactly!” Shelby yelled. “You stole the idea!!”
“Arms are very common!!!!!!”
Shelby stuck out their tongue, reaching down and grabbing something. Before Avid could react, a snowball was flying directly at his face. He let out a high pitch scream, trying and failing to duck. He ended up falling backwards into snow, partially crushing their snow blob.
“You killed him!!!” Avid wailed. “Blobby noooo….”
“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry-” Shelby gasped, but was quickly interrupted by Avid’s dramatic “COME BACK TO MEEEE!!!!”
Avid took a deep breath (all for show, since he didn’t actually need it), and pretended to tear up. “I swear…. I will avenge you, Blobby.” He grabbed a piece of snow, hoping it wasn’t a part of Blobby. “I’ll make sure to kill them for you.”
Drift giggled. “Me too.” She grabbed her own snowball, then turned to face Shelby and Scott. Shelby’s eyes widened, and then she vanished. “Oh, great,” Drift rolled her eyes. “We’re bringing vampire abilities into this. That’s not very respectful to Blobby’s memory!! He wouldn’t have wanted this!”
Avid patted Blobby’s half crushed “head” and stood up. “This is gonna be an epic fight,” he informed Drift. “We gotta go prepare.”
Scott, who was still standing by his and Shelby’s snowman, coughed lightly. “Am I expected to be included in this?”
“Who else is gonna help Shelby?” Drift giggled. “Come on, pleaseee?” She directed large puppy eyes in his direction. Scott really stood no chance.
“Fine,” Scott agreed reluctantly. “I better go find her, then.” He vanished.
“Go get Owen and Pyro, maybe they can join our team,” Avid whispered to Drift.
“I heard that!!” Shelby yelled from somewhere beside them. Avid jumped.
“Fine, you can get them! We’ll take Cleo and Pearl!!” Drift grinned, dashing off to go convince the two, who were off to the side blissfully working on their own snowman.
Avid grinned at where he thought Shelby was, then vanished. Luckily, the snow had been shoveled off the pathway, so no one could see where he went unless they looked
closely. He ran out of Oakhurst, slipping to the side of the gate to wait for Drift.
She eventually exited with Cleo and Pearl following behind. Avid appeared, pulling the three to the side. “Alrighty! Who’s ready to destroy those murderers?”
“Murderers?” Pearl looked confused.
Drift shook her head. “Don’t ask. So, Avid, what’s the plan? Is this going to be our base?” She paused. “This is giving me flashbacks, actually. Except we were the ones inside Oakhurst.”
Cleo barked a laugh. “Now that you mention it, yeah,” she chuckled.
Avid grinned, lowering his voice. “Okay, so, we should make as many snowballs as we can. Shelby and Scott should be in the town, possibly Owen and Pyro too if Shelby can convince them to join. But here's the most important part: We rush them invisibly and throw as many snowballs as we can! Snowballs flying everywhere! Kaboom!” He mimicked explosions with his hands.
“Please let’s not blow up Oakhurst,” Pearl said, laughing. “Other than that, I love this plan.”
“It’s not much of a plan,” Cleo scoffed. “It does sound fun, though.”
“Alright, let’s start making snowballs!” Avid cheered. The four set to work, the pile of snowballs beside them steadily growing. When they were ready, they gathered as many snowballs in their arms as they could and snuck toward the gate.
Avid vanished and poked his head around the corner. Shelby and Scott were nowhere to be found, but voices drifted from behind Cleo and Pearl’s house. Avid recognized Pyro’s deep voice along with theirs, so it seemed Shelby had convinced at least one of them.
“Come on,” he whispered to Drift, who had come up beside him. “I think they’re behind- ACK!” Avid screeched as frozen snow hit him in the shoulder, knocking him backward. Owen’s familiar raucous laughter filled the air from somewhere close in front of them.
“GO!” Drift yelled, abandoning stealth entirely and hurling a snowball in the direction of Owen’s voice. Clearly it hit its target, as it broke apart somewhere midair, accompanied by a grunt.
Avid tried and failed to hold back giggles as the four vampires stormed Oakhurst, rushing around the house to confront Scott, Shelby, and Pyro. The three had definitely heard them coming, and were invisible, throwing snowballs as Avid’s group came around the corner.
Utter chaos ensued. Snowballs were flying in every direction, with everyone invisible, so the scene looked quite strange to any onlooker. Owen had pretty quickly rejoined the fight, so there was an even number on each team. Avid couldn’t tell friend from foe in the chaos, so he was literally just chucking snowballs and hoping for the best. Whenever someone was hit too many times, they would reappear, which quickly made them an easy target for the other team.
Half-way through the fight, this exact thing happened to Pyro, and Avid had an idea. Invisible, he ran out of Oakhurst, so no one would see where he went. Once safely out of sight, he shapeshifted, wings unfurling from his back and body morphing into something much smaller. He flapped higher, clutching a snowball in his tiny claws.
He flew to hover above Pyro’s cowering figure. They were being absolutely pelted with snowballs from Avid’s team. Avid almost felt bad.
Avid dropped the snowball, and it landed directly on Pyro’s head. Pyro jumped out of his skin, yelling and looking up in shock. Avid burst into uncontrollable giggles, wings collapsing. He fluttered down to land on Drift’s shoulder, who had appeared out of sheer surprise.
“Hey!” Pyro yelled, grabbing a snowball and throwing it at Avid. Avid quickly turned back into a human, which caused Drift to collapse with him sitting on top of her.
“Oops, sorry, Drift,” Avid apologized. He stood up and helped Drift up.
“Using your bat form is brilliant, actually,” Shelby grinned. “Thanks for the idea.”
So of course everyone had to turn into bats, and start dropping snowballs on each other. What Avid had failed to tell them was that holding a snowball as a bat wasn’t easy, and constantly swooping back down to get more snowballs was exhausting. Especially when moving lower than other people caused you to get snowballs dropped on you, which was not fun as a small and fragile bat.
Avid turned out to be a lot more successful at hitting the bats out of the air, or at least distracting them enough with dodging so they couldn’t try and drop snowballs on his team. He wasn’t that worried about hurting them since vampires healed so quickly, but he did try to lean more on the “keeping them distracted” side.
Avid was completely focused on this task when a dignified looking black bat holding a snowball zoomed toward him too fast for him to hit it. When it was right above him, it twirled, wings morphing into a cloak so fast Avid didn’t even process it was Scott before a snowball was flying towards his face. Avid squawked, getting a mouthful of snow and sitting down hard. Scott floated gracefully downwards, smirking at him.
Avid laughed through the snow still in his mouth, throwing another snowball at Scott. It landed quite to the side of the elder vampire, which wasn’t surprising since Avid could barely see through the snow in his eyes.
Scott reached down and brushed the snow out of Avid’s hair, a smirk still plastered on his face. Avid flinched and stared up at him. A snowball lay ready to be thrown beside him, but all Avid could think was that was so hot.
A yell of victory from Shelby broke Avid out of his trance. They swooped forward, dropping a snowball on Avid’s head and transforming back again. Avid couldn’t help but laugh, even though his dignity, already nonexistent, was heading into the negatives. He threw the snowball originally meant for Scott, hitting Shelby in the stomach and causing Cleo to cackle above them.
Bats began dropping from the sky as everyone realized how good Scott’s tactic was, and Avid was caught up in the chaos once more. Oakhurst’s town square was a whirl of snowballs, bats, and invisible bodies.
Eventually, everyone ran out of snowballs. There was still plenty of snow, but the break from throwing it gave everyone a chance to realize how hungry they were. Using their invisibility and bat forms so much was draining.
“Who thinks we should go eat lunch?” Pearl asked, glancing around to see if anyone argued. Shelby dropped the snowball she was half-way through making, looking relieved.
“Yes, please,” Cleo said, speaking for everyone.
“Did someone say lunch?” Martyn called from inside his and Ren’s house. “Ren and I have some ready!” He came into view, holding an armful of flasks. “We thought this would be easier, since there’s not enough room inside for everyone to eat.” He began handing out the flasks. Avid took one, readily taking a large gulp and sighing as his stomach stopped screaming in hunger.
“This is great, guys! How did you get enough blood?” Shelby asked, sipping from her own. “I understand the flasks; we do the same thing with bottles, but this is a lot to share with us.”
Ren, who had just exited laden with flasks for those who hadn’t gotten them yet, grinned. “We’re good hosts, don’tcha know? This year, we were prepared.”
Martyn smiled. “Ren wanted to make sure everyone had enough to eat, so he’s been hunting a lot this past week.”
“We could have helped with that!” Cleo exclaimed, looking worried. “You don’t have to do all that by yourself.”
“It was my Christmas present to all of you, don’tcha know.” Ren smiled reassuringly. “Don’tcha worry about me.”
Shelby ran forward and wrapped Ren into a large embrace. Her heart was always so full with love for everyone they met, and Avid knew from experience that their hugs reflected that. “Thank you,” she said. Ren patted her shoulder fondly.
The group of vampires gathered around, chatting happily over lunch. They didn’t mind eating outside, as the cold wasn’t a problem, though most chose to stay in the shadow of the houses.
⋆꙳•❅*• •*❆ ₊⋆
“I am so tired,” Owen groaned, flopping down facefirst onto the snow. Taking their chance, Shelby started pushing snow on top of them. Owen let out an exasperated growl but didn’t move.
“Me too,” Drift agreed, flopping down beside him. “Shelby, if you do that to me you’ll regret it.” Shelby laughed and patted her head.
“Can we go home?” Avid begged, turning to Scott with pleading eyes. “I want to go home.” They had spent most of the day at Oakhurst playing games, and everyone was exhausted.
Scott nodded, snorting at the two vampires at his feet, one half buried in snow. “I’m ready to go, too. We should let Cleo and Pearl have some time alone, anyway.”
Pearl laughed. “We appreciate it, guys. And thanks for coming!”
Hugs were exchanged and everyone got ready to leave, holding their presents tightly. Avid patted Olive goodbye, and after a couple minutes of pleading, convinced Scott to give him a small scratch as well. Progress. Avid would make that man love cats if it was the last thing he did.
All bundled up, the Coven set out towards the castle. It was already fairly dark since it was winter, but the snow (and vampire night vision) made everything bright. As the castle came into view, still glittering with all the lights Shelby and Drift had put up, something warm grew in Avid’s heart. This really was home, in every sense of the word.
The sky was surprisingly clear compared to earlier that day, and Avid stared up at it in wonder. “We should all sit and look at the stars,” he suggested to Shelby, who was walking beside him.
Shelby gasped. “That’s a wonderful idea! Although,” she paused, glancing behind her, “I think some of us are really tired. And I really want to read this book Sausage gave me…” she looked wistfully towards the castle.
Recognizing that Shelby didn’t want to but was hesitant to say no, Avid nudged her. “That’s okay. You should go relax. I can stargaze by myself, it’ll be peaceful.”
Shelby smiled thankfully at him. “Alright. Goodnight, merry Christmas.”
“Goodnight! Merry Christmas!” Avid hugged her. He shifted into a bat and swiftly flew up to the castle, alighting on the roof and turning back.
The stars twinkled in the sky, looking as if they were happy to see him. Avid sighed, leaning back and yawning. The moon stared down at him, an unblinking eye that watched always, even when you couldn’t watch back.
⋆꙳•❅*• •*❆ ₊⋆
“Hi.” Scott’s voice broke the silence Avid had settled deep into. He had been on the verge of sleep.
Avid jumped, letting out a squeak. “Shelby says you should come down soon,” Scott informed him.
Avid frowned. He knew Shelby. She had no reason to want him downstairs, and if she was reading like they said they would be, they would under no circumstances leave the book for any reason, even to talk to Scott.
Unless they were trying to do something. Shelby read too much fanfiction. Avid wouldn’t put it past them to send Scott up just to see what would happen, so she could write about it later, or tease them, or something. Probably just for the chaos.
It just so happened Avid liked chaos too.
“Hey, Scott?” Scott had been making to leave, but paused to look back at Avid. Avid pushed on, anxious but determined to not make Shelby’s effort in vain. “I was actually thinking about going for a walk, or maybe flying around as a bat or something. Would you want to come?”
Avid held his breath. Every second Scott hesitated felt like forever, but he eventually smiled. “Sure, if you’re willing to face Shelby’s wrath afterward.”
I doubt it, Avid thought, but decided to double check anyway. “Uh, she didn’t seem really excited about me coming down, or anything? Did they mention a specific reason?” Scott shook his head, further confirming Avid’s theory. “Okay, then I think I can handle it.”
Avid lunged down from the roof, waiting for Scott to follow before he started across the bridge. Scott walked beside him, long strides setting a brisk pace that Avid had to jog every now and again to keep up with.
The trees loomed over them in the dark, weighed down by heavy drifts of snow. It had stopped snowing by now, but it was deep enough that it was hard to walk through. On his way by, Avid brushed against a branch. Snow fell down in clumps, covering both vampires.
Avid shivered, shaking the snow out of his hair. “What if we fly instead?”
“What smart thinking,” Scott said, shaking out his cloak with a grimace. “I like the way you think.”
Avid shifted and flapped his wings, pushing himself above the trees with Scott following. He glided over the forest, feeling the wind brush through his fur and over sensitive wing membranes.
Avid had the sudden urge to flap higher, the stars taunting him from where they floated above. He fought his way upwards, giggling as he spun and tumbled through the air. The stars created a swirling blur of light around him as he flew, too fast to make them clear and sparkling like before.
Avid was nowhere near the fastest flyer of the Coven, in fact he was the opposite, but flying was still one of the best things vampirism had to offer. It had once been a far off, impossible dream, but for the past decades, it had been reality, and truly nothing compared to it.
Avid put on an extra burst of speed, adrenaline pushing him forward as he laughed in glee.
Slam.
Avid hit something solid, head immediately pounding with pain. His first, hazy thought through the fog of pain was that he had hit a tree, but he realized quickly that the thing he had hit was much too soft. And it had grunted in pain when he hit it.
Avid’s head began to clear remarkably quickly, due to the perks of being a vampire. It didn’t take him long to realize that he had crashed full speed into Scott, and they were both currently barrelling towards the ground.
Avid shrieked, desperately trying to stop their downward tumble. He only succeeded in hitting Scott in the face several times with his wings.
“Turn back!” Scott yelled, smacking Avid back. Avid was pretty sure it was out of spite, since he didn’t seem to be trying to stop their fall. “We’ll float down!”
Panicked, Avid only managed to flap harder, doing nothing to slow their fall but everything to annoy Scott more. Scott quickly morphed into his normal self, and attempted to catch Avid but ended up losing him since Scott had begun floating more slowly to the ground.
Avid plummeted downwards, trying desperately to turn back but failing. Every time he tried to picture his normal form he was distracted by the ground growing steadily closer. Scott cursed above him, and suddenly he was below Avid, lunging so fast Avid couldn’t see him. Avid was caught roughly out of the air, though he supposed he deserved it after running so hard into Scott.
Avid’s little body tried hard to replicate what it was like to be alive, his body wracked with shivers. Scott stroked his head, purring softly, which embarrassingly caused Avid to go limp and start to calm down.
As he relaxed, Avid was able to turn back to normal, meaning that Scott was now holding him in a princess carry. Scott landed gracefully in the snow below them, setting Avid down carefully.
“I am so sorry,” Avid groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I can’t believe I couldn’t turn back, I just couldn’t think straight-”
“I never think straight but I was able to turn,” Scott grinned, fangs flashing in the moonlight.
Caught off guard, Avid burst into giggles, still filled with nervous energy from the near-death experience. (Not that it would have been permanent, but “dying” in any way was never fun.) “Sorry, anyway. Also for running into you. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“It’s fine,” Scott reassured him, brushing some snow off Avid’s shoulder. “It’s really not a big deal. I saved you, anyway. Quite romantically, I might add.”
“True.” Before Avid could think better of it, he pressed a quick kiss to Scott’s lips. “Thank you, handsome.”
IjustdidthatIjustdidthatIjustdidthatIjustdidthatIjustdidthatIjustdidthat.
Scott stared down at him, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. Something unreadable flashed in his gaze, but before Avid could decide what it meant, Scott’s mask of indifference reappeared. He smirked, “You’re welcome.”
“We should get back before Shelby really has to worry,” Avid said, rushing his words a little and avoiding Scott’s gaze.
However beautiful that gaze is.
Shut up.
They were quiet on the way back, the sounds of the forest at night filling the contented silence.
⋆꙳•❅*• •*❆ ₊⋆
“You did WHAT!?”
Avid could see that Shelby was actively holding back a scream of happiness. Probably multiple, knowing her.
Avid, Shelby and Drift were gathered together on Shelby’s bed. Avid had rushed there after he and Scott returned to the castle, if only out of sheer panic.
“Mhm,” Avid groaned, voice muffled by the blankets he was pressing his face against. “I can’t believe it either.”
Drift giggled, hugging Avid tightly. “He didn’t kill you. That’s a good sign.”
“That does not help,” Avid laughed, burying his head deeper into the blankets. “Thanks a lot.”
“I can’t believe it actually WORKED!” Shelby squealed, hugging a pillow so tight Avid felt bad for it.
“Wait- what?” Drift turned her head sharply to look at Shelby. “What did your evil schemes do this time?”
Avid lifted his head, grinning. “I knew it! You sent him up there for a reason!” Shelby just grinned evilly.
Drift groaned. “You are a menace.”
“A very pretty menace, though,” Shelby giggled, poking Drift’s shoulder. Drift turned bright red.
Avid covered his face with the pillow again. “Stop being cute! I’m trying to complain about my own love life, here!”
Shelby gasped, attention immediately on Avid. “LOVE!?”
“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!” Avid tackled them, giggling. The three vampires stayed there for the rest of the night, gossiping and laughing together.