Vampire AU AU Lake Haunting

“Why couldn’t it be the Twins? Any twins? I’d settle for the Olsen twins right now?” Hiccup was so scared he’d stopped making sense. He was also soaking wet. It was real! The Doomfang was real! ‘And I’m pretty sure we pissed him or her… or hir off.’ He clung to Toothless shaking the unconscious man fervently ‘Please. Please don’t have a concussion’ that was the last thing they needed. They couldn’t even escape like this not that they’d be much better off if Noah was awake. ‘How does one escape a subterranean cavern beneath a lake?’ “Please stop this. We don’t want to hurt you.” He held out a stake in the form Toothless had taught him just in case.

         “That’s your first problem kid.” The voice came from above him “he” was there perched on the rock they’d taken cover behind “You assume I don’t want to hurt you!” he pounced in a flash the stake rolling across the ground far out of reach “Bad idea. Especially when your diner.” Hiccup schooled his face neutral “That makes you hungry. That’s got nothing to do with hurting me.” The vampire’s cold demeanor broke if only slightly as he watched the young hunter pull up his sleeve and nonchalantly slice into his forearm ‘Here’s praying Dad doesn’t decide to check my arms anytime soon the last thing I need is for him to think I’m back on that again.’

         “Go ahead.” He held it out to the vampire. Hiccup couldn’t see him, but Doomfang could see him well enough. ‘Does he have a death wish?’ He had a few vertical scars ‘Nothing immediately life threating and stupid kids do that stuff now right?’ Not that he cared he told himself. Ultimately Doomfang decided the boy was a non-threat for the moment and accepted the offered arm. It wasn’t a “PG-13” sort of affair Hiccup noted ‘Honestly this is mostly just surreal and maybe a little awkward. What does one do when having their blood sucked?’ For lack of any better ideas he sat still and tried to watch the blur in the dark he was entirely certain was Doomfang ‘For a guy with his mouth on my arm he really does just look like someone who’s eating. Relatively speaking.’ God this was weird.

         Doomfang released the wound before Hiccup even felt lightheaded “Should I get lightheaded at some point?” Doomfang cocked his head to one side, but in lieu of an answer dashed off somewhere into the darkness. ‘Awesome. Toothless is out maybe has a concussion. I have no idea where that stake went. I’m still bleeding a little and now I have no idea where Doomfang even is!’ it dark to do pretty much anything. Something landed next to the pair then the sound of a metal container being unceremoniously dropped on the ground “Normally I’d hypnotize you at this point but since you’re so cooperative.” Doomfang again and was as it Hiccup’s imagination or was that voice a hair less cold than before. After various noises Hiccup jumped as his arm was grabbed. “Ow!”

    It wasn’t that loud but Noah jumped awake at the sound of his partner in distress regardless. “Woah! Hey Toothless no it’s just…” judging by the smell “disinfectant.” He tried to hold him back but the older man wasn’t having any of it “Disinfectant?” He echoed back both accusingly and downright murderous. “I might have volunteered. No duress!” He added for emphasis. Noah was speechless, in that nothing that came out was a coherent sentence. Lots of distressed, upset, and exasperated noises. Lots of shouting and cursing and words that were trying to be a thought but got lost along the way. “Ah, so only one of you is crazy.” Doomfang said conversationally as he took hold of Hiccup’s arm again now applying some bandaging.

    “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” he’d only stopped cause he was now totally out of breathe. “So, I’m Hiccup this is Noah and you’re Doomfang right?” Silence. Then finally “You can leave here two ways: I hypnotize you or you cooperate, like good little boys.” Hiccup made to get up only to have Toothless catch him ‘Okay, maybe I am just a little lightheaded.’ “So hypnotism is really a thing?” ‘You’d think I would have heard of it by now?’ Again no answer he led them both to the water.

    When they were out in the light of the full moon they saw him for the first time not as a shape in the water or a dark cave. ‘Wasn’t one of the old Legends of the Doomfang about him being the angry spirit of an escaped slave?’ There were dozens of variations on that version alone, but at the man’s dark chocolate skin Hiccup’s mind reeled a bit. For the first time that night Doomfang laughed “That never gets old.” Both of them realized that they were staring. Apparently that happened to him a lot. “Hi my name’s-” “You said that already.” Hiccup was at a loss.

    “Since when do you know Doomfang? Doomfang hates people.” Tuffnutt had so far as Hiccup and Toothless were concerned popped out of nowhere “You still hate people right?” Ruffnutt asked. Doomfang rolled his big red eyes “Who knows maybe it’s just you?” a dry wit littered the statement. “Wait, why are you here if he doesn’t like you?” Noah wondered. “Looking for Barf and Belch.” Ruffnutt replied. Doomfang gave a look of pure murder before schooling his expression once more “Since when do we give others names to hunters?” he asked with a rhetorical venom.

    Ruff looked at him funny “Barf and Belch gave them they’re names. These guys aren’t hunters.” Doomfang’s shoulders sunk in frustration “Really I could have sworn “Toothless” here was the Night Fury!” Tuff countered, “Yeah and he hasn’t ashed anyone since Hiccup showed up and was all “Let’s be science pacifists!”” Noah knew better than to get mad at the twins weird antics “It’s not exactly what happened, but Hiccup’s never killed anyone. Yes, I am including vampires in that. Kid wants vampire/human coexistence and I don’t want to stake anyone ever again. Step 1: Dialogue.”

    Hiccup pulled out his pen and pad the water luckily hadn’t gotten to them to bad ‘Note to self: sandwich baggies?’ Doomfang counter to everything they’d seen previous gave an impish smile ‘We’re in trouble’ “Well, okay. I was born in Morocco about three centuries back. My mother was African my father held roots in “the Middle East” you call it now? He was a librarian and his brother was a locksmith. I can’t remember an ounce of my Arabic written or spoken, but I do still keep up with locks. Much easier to run without chains.” Hiccup just looked at the vampire not really sure what to think “Are… you purposefully emphasizing a possible background as a slave just to make us uncomfortable?” He was succeeding mind you, because ‘Oh god this is like the time the school got a Holocaust survivor to speak at an assembly.’ Doomfang dismissed the question outright “It gets annoying frankly. No one seems to know the difference between “to blame” and “responsible” for anymore. A good example: You are responsible for shoveling the snow or else nothing will get done. You are not to blame for it; those men are all dead, I watched them. Instead for every last ill of society you all sit around resentful, guilty, or both.”

    Toothless scoffed “Wow. Your incredibly ageist, you know that?” Doomfang answered sardonically “I do hate people, if perhaps not equally.” Ruffnutt laughed giddy to try upset the guy “You hate strangers and anyone who pisses you off!” Tuffnutt offered encouragement “Dude’s cool if he’s known him for a century or two, but he still doesn’t really like us. So maybe the opposite will to you’ll grow on him before your two are too dead for it to matter.” Doomfang offered a different scenario “Or there stupidity will get one or both of them turned and we’ll see in a few centuries. If they last that long.” As Doomfang turned to leave Noah called out a question “What do you have to do with Hookfang?” He turned back “What makes you think I have anything to do with him?”

    Hiccup looked to his partner not quite sure where he was going with this. Nonetheless he smiled and said nothing ‘He’s fishing. Fine let’s fish.’ Toothless laid it out for him “Your incredibly conspicuous nails. I can kind of count on one hand how many people I know who have nails shaped like old fashioned pen nibs.” ‘Or shaped like the “claws” on the average “yokai”-type in an anime but decent chance you don’t even know what those are.’ All the while Hiccup gaped ‘I must be blind!’ Doom did have the same ‘claws’ as Hookfang. ‘And Barf, and Belch, and Windwalker too. Way to pay attention to detail Hiccup!’ “Factionalism. Not in opposition per se, but vampires are men nonetheless. We band together. You hurt my pack and I will drown you in my goddamn lake are we clear! Do not let anyone know they have spoken to you or we have words.” Hiccup sighed, “Don’t tell me there is some vow of silence thing going on and somehow no one mentioned it?” Doomfang sighed patients fraying “All the ranting anyone your age does about your set in their ways elders and it shocks you that maybe your charming little attempt at ending centuries old conventions would be met with something other than a pat on the head and a cookie!”

    “Nice meeting you. This has actually been really enlightening.” It was true though Noah wasn’t entirely sad to see the man go. When he had the hunter turned to face Ruffnut and Tuffnutt “So why were you looking for those two here?” Ruff actually squeed a little her brother covering his ears “You have not seen adorable till you have seen those three together! Like one time they gave him this book written in squiggles and he cried and hugged them a bunch!” Noah and Hiccup’s skepticism was evident Tuffnutt clarified “He actually is a pretty different person when those two are around. A gentler person if there’s no threat and even more merciless if there is one.” Hiccup didn’t like the sound of that “Noted.” Then it occurred to him “So why were you looking for them?” Both excited Tuff answered with glee “Cause they’re awesome! Always blowing stuff up all sorts of ways!” Because that didn’t alarm the pulse having half of this conversation “How? Last I checked exploding things was not a vampire ability.” Ruff scoffed Toothless’ question “Not anymore than opening doors or putting on your shoes is a “vampire ability”. Your science guys you figure it out.”

    ‘Translation: they have no idea. Sounds like the other twins might be old school mad bombers though? Unexpected, but how the hell have they managed to hide a thing like that?’ as if on cue Toothless unknowingly supplied the answer “Safe to assume that the Zippleback Twins are why Zippleback Ridge is off limits as “unstable” I think it was.” Both twins gave an our-lips-are-sealed gesture and waved goodbye. Noah cursed, “Well at least Park Services has to be complicit in keeping a thing like that quiet.” Hiccup got a sudden feeling of dread “I’m sure your Dad has nothing to do with it. The town council doesn’t regularly mix with the rangers right?” the younger boy was still a bit tense “Yeah.” ‘No way Dad could have anything to do with…’ he sobbed a little. He may have forgiven, but that wasn’t the same as forgetting. No doubt that he’d had nothing to do with her death, but if his father had ever had dealings in his work with vampires before or after? Hiccup wasn’t even sure what to do with the idea.