Chapter Text
Avid stumbled over his own feet as he ran, dirt staining his clothes, throat raw from yelling. The town came into view, or what was left of it at least.
Oakhurst.
The last place Elle had visited before she had come back… wrong, twisted, a monster.
"Hello?" he called out desperately "Is anyone here?". Surely there was someone, anyone. He had to find the creature that had done this to her. He had to avenge his sister.
He had to cure himself.
There are people in town. None of them were locals, which wasn't helpful to Avid, but they seemed nice enough, if skeptical of his (very warranted!) warnings. He's in the middle of a conversation with the (honestly kind of rude) doctor when a brown haired woman taps him on the shoulder. Her smile is bright, for a moment Avid is reminded of Elle, and suddenly he can't meet her eyes.
"Hi", she says, voice like honey "Can I talk to you for a second?". She pulls him aside gently when he nods, smiling at him. Her hand is on his arm, leading him a little ways away from the group. "Sorry if this is weird to say to a stranger; but it feels like I should know you" she said, searching his face.
It would be a little weird, if it weren't for the fact that Avid felt the exact same the moment he had seen her. Like remembering a classmate from your childhood, a stranger you keep seeing at the market, a face that feels like it can mean home though you've never seen it before. For a fleeting moment, Avid considered that she might be his soulmate.
Soulmates weren't common, two people who supposedly had been entwined by fate itself, sharing a mind so intimately it was hard to discern where one began and the other ended. A connection forming the moment they lock eyes. That was how it had been described to him, anyway. There were few soulmate pairs in his old town, they were intriguing, always having telepathic conversations no one was privy to.
Purple eyes met hazel properly, and Avid tries not to feel disappointed that he doesn't feel the fabled click between pairs. The disappointment in the woman's eyes tells him he may not have been alone in the feeling. But, of course, if Elle wasn't his soulmate, who could be? He can't imagine being any closer to a person than he had been with her.
The woman brushes it off, offering her hand in greeting "Hi, I'm Drift" she says "What's your name?".
"Avid" he introduces, accepting the handshake a tad awkwardly. He looks away again, eye contact has never been his strong suit, gaze jumping around, landing in shadowed corners, always alert. Drift doesn't seem to mind, carrying on the conversation casually "What are you in Oakhurst for?" she asks politely.
Avid flinches, he doesn't mean to, but he thinks Drift might notice. "Oh, you know" he says, forcefully keeping his tone level "Vampires?". He winces when it comes out as almost a question.
"Vampires?" Drift repeats "Like, blood-sucking-mythical-creature vampires?". She tilts her head, amber eyes searching. Avid vaguely feels like he's being dissected under her gaze.
"Yeah" he admits, looking away again "I'm a monster hunter, heard about vampires in the area, so…" he trailed off. Not technically a lie, just nowhere near a whole truth.
Drift looked like she was about to say something when a loud voice interrupted the conversation. "Hey!" someone called, bushy red hair popping up between them "What are you two doing here alone?". Bright amber eyes met Avid's startled purple.
"Uh- just- talking about vampires" he said awkwardly. The girl's eyes lit up.
"Vampires?" she asked excitedly "I'm looking for werewolves! And bigfoot! I'm Shelby by the way!" they prattle off, sticking out her hand to shake.
Avid accepts it, a little less clumsily this time, laughing quietly at her energy and enthusiasm, it reminds him weirdly of himself "Avid" he introduces "And this is Drift".
Shelby turns to where Avid is pointing, beaming smile at full force towards the detective "Hi! Nice to meet you!".
Drift nods, awkwardly meeting their eyes "Yeah" she says "Nice to-".
The two of them suddenly go quiet, eyes wide as they silently stare at each other. Avid is about to ask what's wrong when Shelby gasps, hands clapping over their mouth "Oh my gosh" she yelps "We're soulmates!".
Avid's eyes shot wide open, an unconscious smile pulling at his lips. Soulmates in your early twenties were rare, they were lucky to find each other so fast. He couldn't help but feel just a little disappointed, after the connection he had felt to Drift himself, but the discovery of soulmate pairs was always something to congratulate.
"No way, you too?" a voice calls, the source being a woman with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. She turns to the person beside her with fiery orange hair and a fierce expression "Those two are soulmates too!" the woman says excitedly.
"How many soulmate pairs are in this town?" a man yells incredulously, his blonde hair flops in front of confused blue eyes. Avid thinks his name might be Martyn?
"You two, and you two" he says, gesturing to Shelby and Drift and the unnamed women and the orange haired one "And then me and Specs" he finishes, pointing at himself and then the man with the confusing accent.
"Ohhh" the man named M suddenly said teasingly, elbowing Martyn in the side "So you like em older, eh?".
The nobleman frowned, red flushing to his blonde roots "No one said we were romantic soulmates" he said through gritted teeth.
"Can everyone gather here?" an authoritative voice calls, it's the doctor "I'm assuming all of us are here to stay in town for some reason or another, can we please gather around and get some introductions underway?".
Mumbled agreements go around, Shelby and Drift had started conversing, so Avid tries to help by calling out to someone with brown hair hanging around out of earshot, it looked like they were talking to a rat? As long as it doesn't bite he doesn't particularly mind. He had actually tried to keep a pet mouse once, it was a lovely little white one.
He had woken up one day to it covered in blood and Elle's pitying expression.
Introductions go as well they can. Avid fumbles his terribly (he's still hitting himself over 'vampire-murdering tree' what does that even mean??) but at least now he knows - and hopefully won't forget - the names of all the townsfolk he's unofficially protecting.
"We'll need to manage food" the orange haired one - Cleo - was saying "I'm a farmer, if you can all help me collect some seeds I can get something started. Not much, but it should sustain us".
Some townsfolk, including Avid, offered the few supplies they had picked up. Cleo wrinkled their nose at his garlic seeds but didn't comment. At the very least, he could convince people to use it as seasoning to keep away the vampires.
Martyn had sat down, leaning over the odd glass box in centre of the dilapidated room. His soulmate Ren had settled beside him, the two occasionally glancing at each other in a way that suggested they were conversing through thoughts. It was sweet, seeing a new soulmate pair get along, but Avid can't help but feel a slight ache in his chest as he thinks of his sister again, of the closest thing he had had to his own soulmate.
The doctor was talking again when Avid suddenly felt a pressure in his chest. It reminded him of the heavy blanket he had left behind back home, the one he and Elle would crawl under together when the winters were cold or when his brain got too loud. Like the grounding presence of a hug wrapping around his very soul.
The other's seemed to notice too, everyone looking around for the source. Martyn let out a yelp, watching in a mix of wonder and caution as the box he had been leaning against started to emit a warm, golden glow.
'A beacon' Avid thought in awe, not realising he had said it aloud until Drift turned to him with a curious stare. "What's a beacon?" she asked.
"It's a holy relic- I've read about these!" he explained, flapping his hands excitedly. A few of the other's turned at the sound of his voice "We can- we should be able to consecrate it, I think that's what Martyn's doing, it's supposed to be a protective ward".
The doctor raised an eyebrow at him "'Protective ward'?" he scoffed, disbelieving "That's hardly logical Avid".
Pearl shrugged, sharp blue eyes trained on the beacon "I dunno doc" she mused "Kinda hard to ignore when we can all feel the effects of that, huh?".
Despite the doctor's protests, half the town moves forward to surround the beacon. Avid feels the warmth flare up further, comfortable and serene, both from the beacon's effect and the empowering feeling of people listening to him. He's an expert here. He can help!
He won't fail anyone again.
Shelby turns to someone on the edges of the crowd, amber eyes shining brighter in the holy light "Come over here Scott!" they call to someone "Join us in consecrating!".
Avid turns to the person she's talking to; an absolutely gorgeous man stands there. He had introduced himself earlier - Scott Goldsmith, he remembers, silken tones wrapping around the name with a pleasing accent that Avid would like to hear again. He looked up at Shelby's words, bright blue eyes shining with a quiet amusement, a smirk pulling at his lips.
The nobleman walked forward, and almost immediately the light was snuffed out, warm gold dulling down to it's previous blank slate. Avid feels his heart go cold with it. He looked up, startled, the man had interrupted a consecration, he wasn't human.
"You-!" He yelled out, making eye contact with the other for the first time. Blue met purple, and something inside Avid's head snapped.
It was like the familiar click of a crossbow bolt falling into place, like the satisfying thump of pages when you close a heavy book. Like the empty space in his head was finally, finally filled, embracing him completely and wholly. Like a bear trap closing around it's victim.
It felt right. It felt terrifying.
"You're-"
"You're my soulmate?" the other demanded.
'What the hell is happening' Avid thought hysterically, hearing the same thought come through the other end of the new bond, laced with disdain.
Shelby looked between the two of them excitedly, a near manic gleam forming in her eyes "There's another soulmate pair!?" they squealed "This is just like in the fanfics!".
Drift looked at her a little weirdly but Avid didn't pay attention to them.
The universe was a damn comedian, and Avid was it's favourite joke.
His soulmate was a vampire.