Chapter Text
Tommy, despite what the world would perhaps like him to be, is not stealthy.
He is not violent. He is not bloodthirsty. He is not regal. He is not charismatic. He is not a trickster. He is not what the world thinks he is, and there is no question of that fact.
He is, though, dangerous. He is a threat. He is a monster. He is something that needs to be contained. That is why he is where he is.
Tommy stays completely still. He does not poke his fingers through the bars of the cage. Does not hiss, does not growl, does not make a sound. He does not move. He stays where he is and makes it easier for his crate to be moved. He is helpful, he is a monster, he is good.
He does not respond to the noises outside the cage, underneath the blanket that shields him from prying eyes, from burning rays. He keeps himself still and the blanket stays on; he does not get stared at, he does not get burned.
The crate is almost too small for him now. Tommy fuzzily remembers a time when there was enough room in it to turn around easily and sit up straight. He can’t sit up anymore, not even partly, and turning around is an uncomfortable feat that bruises his arms and shoulders when he tries. He does not complain. He will not get a new one. He is good.
He is thirsty.
He is never not thirsty. He is not allowed to be full, he is not allowed to drink as much as he wants. He will always be wanting more, because he is a monster. Monsters feed on humans. He is good, he cannot feed on humans.
Tommy drinks from what he is given, because he is good. He must be good. It does not matter that the raw meat he is given never quenches his thirst. It does not matter that his instincts scream for something better, richer, fresher. He must be better than his instincts. He is better than his instincts.
He is a monster. He is good. He is thirsty. He is better than his instincts.
He can hear loud music being played from the front of the truck, Sapnap belting out the lyrics along with the radio as Dream’s laughing can only be barely heard. They must have the windows down, it’s normally not this clear.
The truck turns, the crate slides. Tommy is good, he does not scream as the world slides with it, as his side slams into the wall of the truck bed and pain blossoms through it. He doesn’t even allow himself a yelp, he forces himself to stay quiet, stay still. He is good.
There is an odd buzzing just beneath his skin, stronger than even his thirst. His instincts are humming loudly, even as muted as he has forces them to be in order to be good. Something is happening, something is changing, something new new new. He feels it in his bones, rumbling in his chest.
He doesn’t understand it. He isn’t sure he wants to. All he knows is that something new is going to happen, and he doesn’t like new. He won’t complain, he won’t fight, he is good. He won’t like it, but he is good.
The music abruptly cuts off, and Tommy is thrust into silence. The truck shakes and coughs, as it always does, but the voices and music is gone. Not even muffled, as it would be if the windows were rolled back up. The truck turns again, and he is once again sliding along the bed of it, slamming into the other side.
He is good, he does not flinch, he does not make a sound.
The truck’s breaks squeal and lurch as it stops, and then shakes a second later as the people in the cab get out, slamming their doors behind them.
“Dream,” a woman says, from somewhere beyond the truck, sounding far off. “What’s the meaning of this? You know you aren’t welcome here anymore.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Dream says dismissively. “I have no interest in liberating you idiots anymore. Some people just can’t be helped, you know. I’m not here for that. I’m here to show you something. And you’re here to spread the word.”
“If you seriously think I’m going to spread your propagandistic bullshit, you are sorely mistaken.”
“Oh, you’ll find it isn’t bullshit.” Tommy can practically hear the smile in Dream’s voice. “Sapnap?”
The trunk bed door swings down, shaking Tommy’s cage from the force of it slamming open. He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t move, he doesn’t make a sound, he is good.
He watches as fingers poke through the blanket, grabbing at the wired walls of his crate. He does not lunge, he does not bite, he is good. He is silent as he is dragged across the truck bed and left there.
“What is that, Dream?” The woman demands, sounding cold and angry. “If you’re wasting my time—”
“I’m not. Watch.”
The blanket is yanked off, and Tommy does not flinch as the sun hits him. He merely stays as still as possible, teeth digging into the inside of his cheek as his skin starts to burn. His eyes squint as the light hits them, pupils shrinking into slits and blinking rapidly.
The woman is standing there, a good distance away from Dream, who’s standing right next to the cage and grinning. Thats good, when Dreams happy, that mean Tommys being good. He has to be good.
The woman’s eyes are wide, and blue. Not red. Not a monster. A human. Like Dream.
She’s small, and she seems kind. Her hair is almost the same shade as Tommy’s own, if only a few shades paler. She opens her mouth to speak, but is cut off by Dream.
“Do you see now?” Dream asks, stepping forward and laying a hand on top of Tommy’s crate. He didn’t move, even as his mouth watered. He was better than his thirst. He was good. “Vampires aren’t the immortal, powerful people beings you think they are. I present to you, the first of what will become many: a tame vampire.”
The woman steps forward, but her eyes never leave Tommy’s. She looks… scared. Sad, maybe. Tommy has never been good at determining human emotions, at least as far as he can remember, so he can’t be sure.
“It’s completely harmless,” Dream continues, migrating his hand down keeps it was hovering in front of Tommy’s face, fingers poking in through the bars. He keeps himself still, quiet, ignoring the thirst that only grows stronger from the proximity. He can’t tear his eyes away from them, though. “We’ve been giving it raw meat for the blood it needs, and its survived almost a year now just off of that. We’ve trained it to only move when told to, and its completely silent, all of the time.”
As if to demonstrate, the crate is smacked by Sapnap, sending the thin bars rattling. Tommy doesn’t so much as flinch.
“Don’t you see?” Dream says, stepping closer to the woman. “You, Fundy, Puffy, Ranboo, they don’t need to be under vampire control. What we can do is so much more than wards and false promises of protection. You can be free now.”
“I—“ the woman sounds disbelieving, sounds horrified. “That is a child.”
“No, it’s a vampire. A tame one. What don’t you understand about that?” The covering that had been on Tommy’s cage is thrown back over it, swaddling him in darkness. The absence of light soothes his stinging cheeks and hands, the burns still throbbing painfully in his skin.
Regardless, being in the dark is nicer than being burned. Tommy prefers the dark, whether it’s harder to fight down his instincts or not. Being in the dark is a treat. Treats are for when he’s being good. He likes being good.
“Don’t you see what this means, Niki?” Dream urges, sounding excited. “You don’t have to be underneath them anymore. No humans do. If we can tame one, we can tame all of them. You can be free, don’t you want to be free?”
“You can’t seriously think this is something good. That what you’re doing is okay,” the woman— Niki, says. “That is a child. What did you even do to him?”
Dream slams a hand into the side of Tommy’s cage, and he barely suppresses a flinch this time.
“I knew you wouldn’t get it, brainwashed like the rest of those blood-sucker worshiping fucks,” Dream hisses. He is angry. Tommy doesn’t like it when Dream is angry. Dream angry means he has been bad. Tommy doesn’t like being bad. “Have fun being the ant underneath a vampire’s boot for the rest of your pathetic little life. If you ever change your mind, choose the right side of history, let me know. In the meantime, spread the word: Vampires can be tamed.”
The silence after that is thick and tense, but Tommy doesn’t pay attention to it. He keeps himself still, and quiet, and good.
“Let’s go,” Sapnap says after a while, and then Tommy’s crate is sliding backwards, shoved from the front. The screeching sound is awful against Tommy’s sensitive ears, but he doesn’t complain; he is good.
The truck bed door closes with a slam, and footsteps slap against pavement as Dream and Sapnap presumably go back to get into the truck again.
“Wait!” Niki shouts, making both pairs of footsteps pause. “Why?”
Dream laughs, a short, humorless thing that sounds more angry than anything else. Tommy doesn’t like it when Dream is angry. “Why what?”
“Why do this to him? Why “tame” him? What’s the point?”
“What’s the point? What’s the point?” Dream shouts. “The point is I refuse to submit to a vampire. The point is I made a vampire submit to me. Just because you are content in your life of allowing those parasites to feed off of you does not mean I will do the same. Now this parasite is mine, and it won’t feed off of anyone as long as it lives. Not if I have anything to do about it.”
“You know, I’ve always considered it more akin to a symbiotic relationship,” a deep voice suddenly thunders. No footsteps accompanied this man’s sudden appearance, and Tommy doesn’t remember seeing anyone other than Dream, Sapnap, and Niki when the blanket had still been off.
His chest suddenly hurts, Tommy has to stifle down a confused, pained whimper. It’s so hard, though, harder than usually is to keep himself quiet, and still, and good. Something was different. Something was wrong.
His instincts rear up and shriek in his head, clamoring about vampires and kin and safety. It’s loud, louder than his instincts have ever been, and he can’t shut them up.
Tommy— he— he needs to do something. Call out, make noise, anything. His instincts are demanding that he do it, that he disobey Dream, that he be bad, that he let’s a vampire, this vampire, find him. But he can’t. He can’t. That would mean being bad, Tommy doesn’t like being bad.
His fangs sink into the inside of his cheek tasting the blood that sprang into his mouth as a result. It is bitter, tasteless, and his instincts recoil at the taste of it, but its the only thing keeping Tommy grounded, keeping him calm, keeping him good.
He’s trembling, so hard that he’s rattling the cage even though he doesn’t mean to. No blow comes, no one rips off the blanket to let him burn as a punishment for moving, for disobeying. He knows its coming eventually. It has to.
He’s never met another vampire before. Dream had always said its because other vampires would ruin him, would make him bad again. And Dream was right, he was always right. Not even fifteen seconds after the new person (vampire, his instincts trilled) arrived, Tommy’s already being bad.
Being silent hurts. Its physically hurting him, aching and pulling at his chest as tears prick at his eyes. It has never hurt like this before. He needs— he can’t—
“You do know what the difference is, don’t you?” The deep voice rumbles, getting closer to the bed of the truck where Tommy is. “Parasites are harmful, they hurt the relationship for their own benefit. Symbiotic relationships are mutually beneficial. I provide protection, a place to sleep, I treat them well, I help raise the children. The humans who I’ve sworn to protect allow me to drink from them only if they’re comfortable with it, and are paid quite well to do work around the estate, and are free to leave and do as they please. That does not sound like a parasitic relationship to me.”
Dream and Sapnap are silent, completely. It’s— it’s terrifying, honestly. It isn’t the first time he’s been around silence, but its the first time he’s been around both of them while they were completely silent, with the blanket over his cage. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s being bad by moving so much, are they mad yet? Are they going to hit him yet?
His instincts whine and wail and hum and tell him that the vampire nearby isn’t going to let them hit him, even though that makes no sense. Tommy’s been bad. Why would the vampire stop him from getting a punishment he deserves?
“Let me tell you how this is going to go,” the vampire hums, sounding completely at ease. “I’m going to be taking this,” a hand lays on top of his cage, and Tommy has to shred the inside of his cheek with his fangs to prevent himself from whining, from pressing his head to the roof and feeling those fingers through the thin blanket and the bars. “And you will be leaving without a fight. Is that clear?”
Silence again, complete and utter silence that was only punctuated by the faint whistling of wind outside of Tommy’s cage and his desperate attempts to hold back the noises that are threatening to burst out.
It hurts. His chest hurts so bad by not calling out to the vampire. But he can’t. He needs to be good.
“Is that clear?” the vampire repeats, a bit more of an edge to his voice now. A threat. It had to be. Even with the threat, Tommy’s instincts were practically crying in order to get his attention.
“Regardless of whether you take it or not,” Dream hisses, the anger in his voice unmistakable. “If I can tame one vampire, I can tame another. This won’t change anything. Nothing you can do will stop me, not when the proof of what I can do is sitting right there in that cage.”
“Oh I’m sure,” the vampire replies, not seeming phased. “But you’ll find that you won’t be doing any “taming” anymore.”
Two dull thuds suddenly hit Tommy’s eardrums, and then is followed by two ungraceful thumps.
The vampire sighs, his hand lifting off the top of the cage. It takes everything in Tommy’s being to not chase after it with a needy whine, instincts thrumming underneath his skin. He has to be good. He has to be good. He can’t move. He can’t make noise. He needs to be good.
“Thank you,” the vampire says. “That went surprisingly smoother than I thought it would. Thanks for volunteering to come out to meet them, Niki.”
“No problem,” Niki sniffs, seeming unbothered, almost. “What are you wanting to do with the… the hunters?”
“Leave them,” comes another male voice, one that Tommy hasn’t heard before and certainly hadn’t heard anything from beforehand. It makes him jump, rattling the cage, and then his instincts surge forward again. Another vampire, then? “They won’t be getting up for a good while, we can come back to grab them.”
Tommy’s instincts are pleading, whining, desperate and needing something. Not for blood, no, this is different. He doesn’t understand it, he doesn’t know what to do. He has to be good, he has to be quiet. But it hurts.
The blanket lifts, only slightly, but it’s enough to make Tommy brace for the burning, to prepare himself for the pain. The blanket isn’t taken off completely, though, rather just lifting one edge enough for someone to peer underneath it. For someone to peer at him.
Bright red eyes stare into his own, straight blond hair framing a round face. It is not Dream, it is not Sapnap. It is not George or Punz or any of the other humans. This is a vampire.
And the moment they make eye contact, his instincts get impossibly stronger.
They’re practically wailing at this point, loud and unceasing and clamoring about kin and covens and a nest. They’re so loud and it feels like there’s a giant gaping hole in his chest. He wants something but he doesn’t know what it is. He needs something but doesn’t know what it is. Seeing another vampire for the first time has only intensified the feeling.
“Hey mate,” the vampire says, soft and slow. Tommy tastes blood when his fangs sink into his bottom lip, just barely managing to swallow down a whine. “Let’s get you inside and then out of that dog kennel, how does that sound? Or would you rather us wrap you up and let you get out now?”
Tommy… stares at him. Halfway stuck in suppressing his instincts and confused. He isn’t allowed to get out of the cage unless Dream lets him. This vampire isn’t Dream. This vampire was giving him a choice in something, but Tommy was a monster, he doesn’t get choices. Choices are made for him.
He has to be good. He’s not allowed to answer. He’s not allowed to move. Maybe this is a test from Dream? To see how good he can really be in face of more monsters like him?
A low croon comes from the vampire’s direction, short-circuiting Tommy’s brain and instinctively making him let out a little keening noise in response. He freezes as soon as it slips out, every muscle in his body tensing and bracing for punishment.
The vampire smiles instead of getting angry, as if that’s what he wants Tommy to do. As if he wants Tommy to make noise, wants him to get in trouble.
Even despite that, his instincts hum in happiness— something about being found? Tommy doesn’t know what that means, but it makes the hole in his chest a bit shallower, a bit less painful.
It feels good. Better than being allowed to sleep, better than being released from the cage to sit in his room, better than being allowed to stay in the dark. Better than any reward has ever felt.
Maybe… maybe he should do what the vampire wants. Especially if his rewards feel this good.
No.
Tommy halts that train of thought before it can go much farther than that. This was a test. Dream was still outside the cage waiting to see if Tommy will still be good even when face-to-face with another vampire, even when his instincts are so strong.
He has to be good.
“I was worried about you there for a moment,” the vampire says with a bit of a chuckle. “Let’s get you out of there mate. Do you want to wait until we get inside or do you want to hop out now? We can give you something to coverup with so you won’t get burned.”
Tommy doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand a lot of things right now. He just blinks owlishly at the vampire, forcing himself to remain silent despite how much it hurt.
The vampire is offering him choices. But that doesn’t make any sense. He’s a monster, monsters don’t get to make choices. His own instincts are clouding his judgement, Tommy isn’t allowed to make choices, Tommy is a monster. Tommy is better than his instincts. He has to be good.
He needs to be good.
The vampire sighs, pulling back and letting the blanket fall back in place and leaving Tommy in the dark once again.
“Whatever they did, they did a lot of damage to him,” the vampire murmurs, low enough that Tommy can barely hear him. That’s probably on purpose, but Tommy can’t block his own hearing, not without moving and being bad. He doesn’t know what the vampire means by “damage”. “He’s a fledgling, can’t be more than a year since he was turned, and he’s still a kid. No older than twelve when he got bit, I’m thinking.”
“Fucking hell,” comes a third voice, also a vampire, if the way his instincts leap up again were any indication. The tiniest little sound slips out from Tommy’s lips, and he freezes again.
The vampires and Niki fall silent, obviously having heard him. Tommy, without thinking, raises his arm and sinks his fangs into it, to muffle any more noise he might make if his instincts continue to act up like this.
He’s being bad by moving without being told, but he’s being more bad by making noise. They can’t see if he's moving, at least, but he can make the noises that accidentally slip out quieter doing this. Maybe it’s for the best.
His blood is still bitter and revolting against his tongue, but he doesn’t let himself gag. The vampires are silent for a few more moments before he hears one of them continue. It’s the deep rumbly one. The first one.
“Let’s get him inside and then worry about the rest,” says the rumbly one. “It might be easier to coax him out of that dog kennel—“ the amount venom in that word makes Tommy flinch involuntarily. He digs his fangs in a little harder as a punishment. It hurts. “—if he’s not in the sun.”
“Right,” the second one, the one that Tommy has actually seen, says. “Techno, how about you carry him inside? Niki, could you go with him and get one of the spare rooms ready? Grab nesting material too, in case.”
“Got it,” Niki replies.
“Me and Wilbur will deal with the hunters,” the blond one finishes.
“What?” the third one whines. Tommy makes a muffled noise into his forearm, but the vampires and Niki didn’t react, so they must not heard it. “Why am I on “picking up unconscious assholes and taking them to the dungeon that we totally don’t have below the house” duty?”
“You get attached to fledglings too quickly,” the one with the deep voice says, a bit of a laugh in his voice. “Go on, be a good vampire and go clean up the corpses.”
“They’re not dead,” the blond one points out.
“Yet,” sniffs the third.
Tommy doesn’t understand what they’re talking about anymore. He doesn’t know what “hunters” they were referring to. Was there someone else here that they knocked unconscious?
They aren’t talking about Dream and Sapnap were they?
No, they can’t be. Dream and Sapnap weren’t hunters.
His crate slides, and Tommy almost pitches forward with it, but his free hand flies out, fingers catching on the wire bars. He moved again, he’s being bad. Why can’t he just be good? Why is he failing his test so badly?
Tommy whines into his arm, no matter how much he tries to stifle it. It’s muffled, though, maybe enough that the vampires can’t hear him. His crate shifts, and then gets turned by someone. There are indents of hands against the blanket near the bottom, almost as if—
He very nearly yelps as his crate jerks upwards, arm ripping out from his own mouth to dig his claws into metal, scrabbling for some kind of purchase on the bottom of the crate. He doesn’t find any.
There’s a sharp grunt for a moment, coming from right outside his cage and slightly above him. The blanket is smushed on one side, almost as if he’s been pressed up against something. The indents of hands are still there.
Was someone… holding him? Or the crate, really.
He doesn’t know. He isn’t sure if he wants to know either. Tommy’s being taken somewhere, but he doesn’t know where. That happens a lot though, like earlier, when he was told to get in the cage and then got put into the truck, where he was taken… here. Wherever here is.
Being taken places he without being told about it is something that happens… often. More often than Tommy cares to admit. He’s not supposed to know anyway, he doesn’t need to know. He’s a monster, after all.
But each time he’s been moved, it’s always been with Dream and Sapnap. They were always the ones giving orders. Tommy hadn’t heard them once in the conversation between the vampires and Niki. Them not speaking up, though, could also be an indication of their agreement. They will protest if something was going on that they don’t agree with.
Right?
The crate sways slightly, rocking back and forth, back and forth. Whoever’s carrying him is being a lot more careful than Dream or Sapnap have ever been. It’s almost… nice. Soothing. Tommy doesn’t get it, he doesn’t deserve that.
He’s relaxing without meaning to, his muscles loosening and eyelids drooping. He hasn’t slept in a while, he hasn’t been good enough to be allowed to. He’s not supposed to fall asleep unless he’s told he can. He’s being bad again. He just wants to be good.
A little whimpering noise peels it out from between Tommy’s lips, and immediately he stiffens again, all sleepiness that he previously had vanishing. He’s stupid, he’s stupid. He’s supposed to be good but he isn’t.
A rumble shakes the cage, coming from the chest of the person— vampire, who was holding him. It makes Tommy’s limbs turn to jelly and fall loose again, instincts cooing happily at the base of his brain despite how desperately he wishes he could just turn them off, so he can be good.
He’s been so bad. He’s being so bad. Dream was right, meeting other vampires just made him bad again, erasing all the time that had been spent to make him good. To make him better than his instincts.
“You’re okay, runt,” comes the deep voiced vampire, still rumbling quietly. “I’m just taking you inside so you don’t get burned. Niki’s gonna leave out some nesting stuff for you, we’ll grab you something to eat, all that. We really don’t want you staying in this thing, it can’t be comfortable.”
It isn’t, Tommy thinks bitterly, and then immediately silences himself. He’s being bad. Mere minutes after meeting vampires for the first time and he’s acting like this? No wonder Dream wants to have him tested by doing this, he clearly hasn’t learned much.
The rocking continues as the vampire walks along, not letting him be jostled as they go. The rumbling felt nice, making the back of his mind want to rumble right back, but he doesn’t allow it. It feels nicer than he deserves, soothing against his brain and lulling him back to sleep.
Tommy fought the sleepy feeling, though, snapping his eyes open every time they droop too much and digging his claws into one of his upper arms if he starts drifting off. He’s not allowed to sleep unless someone tells him he can. He will not fall asleep. He refuses.
Even with all of his measures to keep himself awake, he’s fighting a losing battle. The rumbling is too good, soothing his instincts and making him calm, relaxed. Tommy needs to be better than his instincts, but it’s coming to his attention rather quickly that he isn’t. Not yet.
“Wow, you got this set up fast,” the vampire holding him says, the rumble slowing to a stop and finally allowing Tommy to snap out of it. He blinks rapidly to shake off the fog.
“Well, I had some help—” Niki starts to say, before a new voice cuts her off.
“Is that the little vampire?” Asks the new voice, high-pitched and young and making Tommy’s instincts twitch and chirp. A sound that he unwillingly repeats before abruptly sinking his teeth into his forearm again to shut himself up. Another vampire. How many vampires had agreed to test Tommy like this?
“Yes,” the deep voiced vampire says, “but I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is no.”
“What? Come on!” the young vampire whines in complaint. “He’s a vampire! Like me! And Niki said he’s a kid! Like me!”
“No. You can meet him later. We’re just gonna get him settled in for now and then he can meet everyone.” The rocking stops, and Tommy felt the cage lurch slightly as the deep voiced vampire’s hands moved. “He’s… scared. Too many people might make him more scared, that’s why we’re going to do introductions slowly.”
“But please?” the young vampire pleads, sounding slightly annoyed now. “You never know, maybe he’ll be more comfortable with another kid like him around!”
“Maybe not this time, pup. You can meet him later.”
“But Techno—!”
“No buts. Go find Ranboo and bring me a blood bag or two from the cooler. He’s probably going to be hungry.”
“Okay!” The young vampire’s mood immediately switched, sounding excited again. “I can do that!”
Footsteps, loud and thunderous, echoed across what sounded like wood, before fading away.
The deep-voiced vampire, Techno, if Tommy remembers right, sighs. “Kids,” he said despairingly.
“You never win with them,” Niki sounds amused. “Especially vamp kids.”
“Especially vamp kids,” Techno agrees. The cage lurches a bit again, and Tommy digs his fangs into his arm a little harder to stop another one of those stupid sounds from coming out again.
The crate, after a moment, seems to be placed down, if the fact that the blanket is no longer smushed on one side is any indication. Whatever he’s placed down on, it’s bouncy and gives easily, as the ground sinks for a moment before leaving him still.
A few moments later, the blanket is getting yanked off, having to be pulled out from underneath the cage at one spot from how it has folded when he was put down. Tommy closes his eyes and sinks his fangs deeper in his forearm, bracing for the burning of the sunlight.
It doesn’t come.
Tommy waits a few moments, body tense and eyes screwed shut, prepared to feel like he was burning again. The pain never comes, though.
Confused, he hesitantly opens his eyes again, and is promptly blinded.