Herrick Turner (14_to_life) wrote in shadowrises, @ 2015-11-20 00:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: herrick turner, character: silas copeland, status: complete, type: backdated thread |
Who: Herrick Turner and Silas Copeland
Where: 819 Irving Hill - Turner House
When: BACKDATED: November 16, after Silas' party
What: Moving in, learning the rules, throwing punches
Upon my arrival, I either learned to swim or drowned.
Silas glanced around his apartment one last time trying to figure out what else to pack. He paid the rent until the end of the month so he didn't have to get his stuff out until then. However he did want to bring some stuff over to Herrick's place because he was pretty sure the vampire would in fact burn his place down without a second thought.
There were a couple of bags of clothes already set by the door, and a couple of boxes of books and personal belongings. He was pretty sure this is what it felt like to move into a dorm for college. He was picking only the essentials. The more things he packed the more bitter be became. He wasn't sure how he was going to go from having his own place to having a room. From having his complete freedom to being claimed by Herrick Turner of all vampires.
He loaded up his crappy little '98 Toyota Corolla with his boxes and bags of clothes, it was nearly impossible to see out the back window but it didn't take all that much stuff to crowd such a small car.
With a loud sigh Silas put the car into drive and headed on his way to eight one nine Irving Hill. Pulling into the driveway of the house, he frowned. He definitely wished that Dillon was around to talk Herrick out of this stupid idea, surely Dillon wouldn't approve of this nonsense. He parked the car and made his way to the front door. He paused a moment before finally knocking on the door. He waited.
Turner house could be described in one simple word: unassuming. It didn’t look like much, a simple farmhouse with dark gray vertical siding and white trim around all the windows and doors. A path lead from the driveway up a cut lawn with modest landscaping and up onto a porch flanked by wide, square columns all the way to the front entrance. It was the kind of place someone could drive by and easily picture an old couple in a pair of rocking chairs sitting out front with a pitcher of lemonade and one thick book each. It certainly wasn’t the home of a drug running murderous vampire. It wasn’t any particular place that should be crossed out with a big black X on a map like Amos Fields always did whenever a new human came to town.
There was even a doormat that said ‘welcome’!
The door opened in short order, almost as if the owner to the house had been standing just within the foyer waiting. A week ago the place would have been filled with cobwebs, dried leaves, and the smell of rotting food but now everything had been swept up, polished, disinfected and cleaned out. It was habitable again and the inhabitant had finally sucked it up and went home. The Waverly would be quieter for it, that was for certain. “There he is.” Herrick’s irreverent smile was the same although behind his eyes relief dwelled. “Let me see it again? It’s really something special you know?” The vampire didn’t wait for Silas to produce his wrist and instead he swiped it up, holding the limb aloft between them and pushing the bracelet around with his thumb so he could read his name spelled out there.
He stared blankly at the vampire, he was such an odd ball. He was greeted by Herrick the way way he imagined being greeted by his grandmother after telling her he was getting married and she wanted to see the ring. He pulled his hand back and shook his head in disgust. “ Herrick…. can we really not play this stupid game. Show me to my room so I can unpack my car.” And hide in my room so I don’t have to spend any time with you.
He brushed his feet on the welcome mat, Herrick Turner had a bloody welcome mat. “ I don’t have all day, I have a shift at the clinic later.” He explained as he pushed past Herrick and into the house. At first glance it was a decent house, but it wasn’t his house and he didn’t want to be there.
“Forget about the clinic. “ He waved it off, forcing Silas to really, truly push in order to get all the way into the house and once he was, the vampire slung his arm around his shoulders. “We have a lot of stuff we need to figure out, a lot of rules you to understand. And I have to show you around or you’ll come stumbling in drunk after work and knock something over. Or you’ll starve to death because you won’t know where the kitchen is. Plus, you don’t want to accidentally go somewhere you shouldn’t, right? I live here, who knows what else is lurking behind all these closed doors?”
Yanking Silas down the hall, past the stairs that had to be the path to the bedrooms and the only respite Silas was likely to have in a place like this, and towards the kitchen. “I was reading back through the journals, the book’s crazy, it saves everything, and it seems to me that you’re really a lot more bitter now than you were before. What happened? Did you get dumped? Get a girl pregnant? Get ditched by all your cool vampire friends?”
“Some of us work for a living.” He wasn’t really sure what Herrick did but it couldn’t be all that time consuming, if he had so much free time on his hands to annoy the hell out of the town. The comment didn’t really bother him because he didn’t really have work, he just wanted an excuse to get the move in over and done with faster.
“ What could there possibly be to figure out. Starve to death because I can’t find the kitchen? I’m not a complete idiot.” He was pretty sure he’d be okay on the rules front, what could they possibly be. He was going to answer Herrick’s question before he decided against it. “ Well instead of asking about my love life, maybe you should get to the rules so we can get on with our lives?”
Herrick seemed to think about it, sliding his hand off Silas’ shoulder as they reached the kitchen. It was a nice sized room in white with lots of built ins and a fancy looking stove tucked against a brick backsplash and a wooden center island with a dark marble countertop. This room was Dillon’s domain because he did all the cooking and the dishes and generally enjoyed food preparation. There was only one place there that Herrick frequently used, and that was the trap door set into the smooth wooden floor that went to God knew where.
Pulling open the refrigerator he removed a bottle of wine and held it up towards him. “Do you want some? I think we should talk about your love life. Or lack thereof. You were a cold prick back then but you’re even colder and pricklier now. Who pissed in your cheerios?” Leaving the wine on the island he found two mugs in the cupboard and slid them over the dusky marble.
He took in his surroundings, it was a nice kitchen larger than the one in his apartment but he wasn’t really big on cooking. Usually he just ate a tv dinner or a sandwich. “ Herrick… wh?” He raised his hands up in the air and let them drop to his side. “ What is it that you want? Why are you trying to chit chat like we’re friends? We’re not. “ He didn’t answer any of the vampire’s questions but he did put his hand on one of the mugs claiming it as his and waiting for Herrick to fill it.
“ Vampires pissed in my cherrios, this town pissed in my cherrios, you pissed in my cherrios. Nothing good happens in Shadow Falls. When something does, vampires ruin it. Now. Can we just go over these rules?” He wondered how long it would take Herrick to get bored of him and leave him alone.
Herrick filled Silas’ mug with wine without so much as a second thought and then his own before leaving the wine in the middle of the island for refills. He didn’t know about Silas but he would definitely need another at some point. Folding an arm over the marble he smiled still at Silas. “You should really be trying to suck up to me, you know. It’ll make your life a whole lot easier here. We’re going to have to talk there’s no one else living here. And I like to talk.” Sometimes it didn’t even matter who he was speaking to.
“Rule number one,” he began, “come home every night. If you want to have a sleep over at someone else’s house you should ask first.” He didn’t think Silas would want to invite anyone over to his house. Although he wasn’t sure Silas had any real friends, either. “Are you going to spend your whole life depending on other people for your happiness?”
“ Oh I tried sucking up to you. That backfired big time.” He chuckled at his own joke, he thought it was funny. At least the memory of the look on Herrick’s face was enough to make him laugh. “ I’ve noticed, wouldn’t you rather talk to someone who wanted to listen? I’m sure there’s a ton of people who love to be held captive here and listen to you talk about yourself.” He took a sip of the wine the second it was poured into his cup.
“ What are you my father? Are we going to have the sex talk too? Don’t worry I’ve got a very good understanding of biology and stds.” He pulled the chair out and sat down, clearly they were going to be here a while. “ I was actually pretty happy before you came along. Doing my own thing. I’m pretty sure my life was pretty close to what I imagine people do outside of this shitty little town. Go to work, have a drink at the end of the day, have parties on weekends with their friends. I was lacking the whole vacation thing, but it’s a minor detail at this point. That’s just another reason vampires and Shadow Falls suck.
“Sucking up to and sucking on are entirely different scenarios, you know.” Silas had been pretty desperate to avoid being bitten in that moment, even though it was an inevitability. He must have panicked, gone temporarily out of his mind, because that was the only explanation for his actions. The pain wasn’t that awful and when he’d finally had Silas before him he’d taken it like a champ.
A lot of people would think it was a crime but after he’d taken a few sips of his wine he turned back to put his mug under the refrigerator’s ice maker and plopped a few cubes in. “Your father should have taught you how to be a man,” he suggested, watching him. “You think having to deal with me is hard? Amber Miller lived in my basement for two weeks. I think I broke her. That’s the kind of stuff that’s allowed to ruin your life in a town like this, quit being such a little bitch. Rule number two, Stay out of the basement.”
“ Well if he wasn’t killed by a vampire, he might have taught me just that.” He still had wine left in his cup but he knew already that he’d be needing more, so he added more and gulped it back. He didn’t even really like wine, it made him chatty and gave him a headache.. and apparently drop to his knees and offer to blow vampires.
“ I guess she was weak.” He added more wine to his cup even though it was only missing a few sips. “ I lasted three years in a basement, so I think I deserve to be a little bitch if I want to be.” He abandoned the mug all together even though it was still full and brought the bottle to his lips. “ How many rules are there?”
Herrick rolled his eyes and groaned as Silas insisted three weeks was a good enough excuse. Really? What had happened to him in a basement for three years that meant he was owed a lifetime of pity? He knew it was pointless to argue the point, he hadn’t met anyone under the age of thirty that didn’t believe they were entitled to something in a very long time. Except for maybe Dillon. He smiled down into his mug of wine as he thought about him. “There’s a lot of rules. I guess I never really counted them up before but we’ll come to a conclusion after this.”
He held up three fingers. “Everything you own now belongs to me.”
“ Well I hope you like biology, I have a ton of biology and chem books.” He really didn’t own much and didn’t care about owning or not owning things. The thing that annoyed him about the whole situation was the idea that someone owned him like he was a slave with no rights… which in this town he had none. “ I also have a rock collection.” He didn’t really have a rock collection but the chatty was starting to set in. He was such a light weight.
“ So no sleep overs…” He pressed his finger to his temple. “ No… basement!” He remembered. “ And no owning nice things because Herrick will take it. Good, next.”
“Next…” pushing thoughts of Dillon out of his mind he cleared his throat and shifted his weight back to lean against the counter near the sink. “The second floor is for the house humans. The third floor is for vampires. No co-mingling. So. That means I won’t go on the second floor unless there’s an emergency and you’re not allowed on the third floor for any reason.” He couldn’t imagine running into a situation in which he would need Silas’ help for anything. “If I ask you to come you have to come no matter what you’re doing. Drop it and obey. Have you been in Shadow Falls your whole life?”
“ House humans.” He snorted, it sounded like something from Harry potter. “ Master has given Dobby a sock… Dobby is free.” He muttered under his breath and laughed to himself. Wine definitely impaired his judgement. “ A whole floor, damn! I should have come here sooner.” He shifted in his seat, attempting to get comfortable the chair wasn’t all that comfortable. “ Yep, since the very first day I was born.” He replied proudly. Not that he was actually proud of that.
“ Carry on..” With the rules. He waved his hand around before he took another sip from the wine bottle and swished it around much like the night in the car.
Watching Silas with the wine brought a small smile to his face, he was really on his way to becoming a drunk. In twenty years he wouldn’t be working at the clinic he’d be passed out in the gutter somewhere and the biggest complaint he’d have to gripe about would be that the bouncer at the Lion didn’t let him in anymore because he didn’t have any money and smelled like pee. If he lived another twenty years that is. Maybe he should get him another bottle. “What number are we on? Five or six?” Not that quantifying the commandments would make a difference. He never gave any two humans the same rules to follow. “The basics. No vampires are allowed to drink your blood. If you need me to take care of someone I will. And house business stays private.”
Pushing from the counter he leaned over the fridge again to open it up to find another bottle. That was all that was in there. Just wine, not even a take out box. He pushed the bottle towards him though. It was all cheap crap, the kind with a screw cap because Herrick wasn’t one to worry about quality. “Since you won’t have any liquid assets anymore, if you need something you’ll have to tell me so I can buy it from town.”
“ No sleepovers, no basement, no stuff, no third floor, no life because chances are you’ll call on me when I’m having fun, no other vampires… which is probably the only good thing, I approve this one. And I can quit my job because I now have a sugar daddy…” He counted them on his fingers as he repeated them. “ Eight… we’re at eight. It’s a good thing I don’t need a job. It means I’ll have way more time to drink. “ He wasn’t finished the first bottle yet but his eyes did light up when he saw the fridge full of wine. He actually smiled when the second bottle was pushed towards him.
He was well on his way to being the next Mika, he wondered where Mika was suddenly. “ Say.. you haven’t seen Mika around lately have you?” It wasn’t like he was friends with the guy but he did know of him, he was generally drunk most of the time.
“You don’t worry about Mika,” Herrick waved a hand between them with a shake of his head. “You wouldn’t like Mika, trust me. I knew Mika and you wouldn’t get along at all.” This was the first time he had ever been out drank by a human. He wasn’t trying, that was true, but it was still a fact. “You know who built this house? I’m talking from the ground up? Mika did that. You see this?” A little excited now from his tone, Herrick slid his mug over the counter and went over to the other side of the island. Crouching on the floor he pulled the latch out from the trap door and lifted it up to reveal a spiral staircase that went down below the house. “That’s the wine cellar. Mika built that too.” Yes, Mika was a drunk but he was a very high functioning one. Because Herrick didn’t think he was miserable, not as miserable as Silas was. He was trapped there like everyone else but he didn’t drag his feet and sulk about it.
He left the cellar door propped open as he stood again. “Don’t go falling down there breaking your neck or anything.” Dillon had vanished, Mika was gone, Jakob had also become a statistic of the disappearances - the world of people he cared about was dwindling faster now than it ever had in his past. “Mika was an awesome human.”
He knocked against the counter as if he test it out and nodded his head. “Nice.” He hopped off the chair a little too quickly to go see what Herrick was trying to show him, and stumbled a little but caught himself on the other chair for stability. “ Ouu that’s pretty cool. If I see him again, I’ll have to get him to build me a big fancy home one day. A wine cellar and a wine fridge, not bad not bad at all… is that part of the basement?” He wondered because he wouldn’t mind taking a trip down there.
Silas completely forgot about Jakob, he was pretty sure it was at Jakob’s place that he first met Herrick. “ Mika wasn’t a vampire, I’m sure I’d like him just fine. I’m only a complaining, whiny, human being around your type. Otherwise I’m generally a happy person.” He made his way back over to the counter and leaned against it as he grabbed the wine again and continued his mission to get to the bottom of the bottle. “ Anymore rules?” He was pretty sure, he’d forget most of them.
“Mika was my very best friend.” Herrick lowered the door to the cellar before dropping it closed like the hood of a car, stepping on the handle to get it back down into place. “Well, if you don’t count Roman but Roman’s from another era entirely. So I’m guessing you wouldn’t like Mika based on that simple fact.” He’d never claimed the human himself, he didn’t think he could afford to keep him in Jack Daniels, but he would have done anything else for him. “Clean up after yourself. A girl comes by twice a week but don’t be a pig. All other rules are subject to change with or without notice.”
Reclaiming his mug he finished off the drink and wasn’t sure if he should bother trying to get the wine from Silas again. “Are you going to pass out in a pool of your own vomit on your very first night here?”
“ I don’t judge people for having bad taste in friends.” He rolled his eyes. “ I was friends with Dillon after all and he fucking married you.” He waved his hand around dismissively, the one that wasn’t wrapped around the bottle of wine. “ Don’t be a pig.” He raised an eyebrow. “ This coming from you? Did you see the state of the exam room when you left it?” He shook his head. “ And my clothes?”
He looked at the bottle of wine to see how much was left before he glanced up at Herrick. “ That’s an option. I’m pretty sure, I’m not unpacking my car tonight.” He added with a nod.
“There’s a big difference between my overindulgence and yours. Come on.” He pushed his mug towards him so Silas could fill it up for him or he’d have to end up sucking the remains off the ice cubes. “I was in perfect control one hundred percent of the time. I was messy on purpose. You get enough wine in you and your hand’s on my cock. That’s another rule, let’s add that in. No drinking to the point that I have to lock myself in the bathroom because you want to give me a blow job so damn bad.”
Drinking with Silas may become a necessity in Turner House from now on. It was the only way he knew of so far to get behind the deadpan, dead-eyed look Silas usually gave him. They were having a good conversation, “chit chatting” like friends. He didn’t particularly care if their talks were nice or cruel but the noise was a must. “So you’re alright with being a racist?”
“ Nope.. no difference.” He shook his head but cringed a little because it made him feel a little sick. “ No promises, if you keep supplying me with wine, I’m going to get the impression that is exactly what you want. And I’m suppose to obey so.” He shrugged his shoulders, his logic didn’t make much sense to anyone but himself at the moment most probably. “ I hope I remember this conversation in the morning, so I remember that if I want to scare you off all I have to do is pucker my lips at you.” He pressed his lips together in a kissy face. “ Or something along that facial expression.”
“ I’m not racist, I’m speciesist.” He corrected the vampire. “And yes I’m okay with that.I am so okay with that. I hate everything about your species.”
Herrick leaned across the counter to take the bottle of wine from him and ouring the rest into his mug with the melting ice. Maybe he should put all the wine in the cellar and lock it up If he didn’t he tough Silas might really stay home and just drink and drink and drink. He didn’t mind how personable he became but he would have to pay the cleaning girl double if she had to wipe up his cold puke when she came by. “Every single thing about every single vampire you hate, hands down, no questions asked, no room for argument at all?” It seemed like an interesting view to challenge.
He didn’t put up a fight when Herrick stole the bottle from him because he still at his mug from earlier and the second bottle. He’d be more than fine. “Yup every single thing about every single vampire. Hands down no questions asked.” That was mostly a lie because he kind of liked the Dr, he had been in love with Kota, at some put he had a crush on Q, and he still wanted to be friends with Dillon and missed him a ton. However he did his best to keep all those feelings for the vampires locked up. “ Nobody likes monsters.” He reached for the cup he had poured himself earlier. “ Oops.” He chirped as he knocked the cup and spilled some. He climbed out of the chair and made his way over to the other side of the island to find the paper towels he had spotted on the counter. “ I mean can you really argue that there’s not monsters?” He wondered as he cleaned up his mess and tossed the paper towel in the trash.
He slid the empty bottle of wine into the sink to deal with later, and to keep for the sake of figuring out how much wine Silas actually drank. If was willing to bet if the human saw him put the bottle in the sink he would too because he would figure that was just the way things were done here. “Can I really argue that I’m not a monster. Let’s see.” He pretended to think about, picking up his mug again. Remembering all the “bad” things he’d done over the years was monumentally easier than coming up with even one good thing, something he’d done purely for the sake of someone else and he found he was hard pressed to come up with even a single instance of philanthropy. “I’m definitely a monster. You know it really isn’t fair that I get to be more or less immortal since I do nothing with it and probably never will. I bet that would really piss off a lot of people if they knew.”
“But what about someone who was turned against their will? You know there are vampires out there who are changed and abandoned and they have no idea what happened or what’s going on and none of it’s their fault. Do you hate them too? Just because they’re vampires?” .
He sipped the wine from his mug, just a little slower once he noticed that the bottle was empty. However that probably wouldn’t last long. “ Trust me they don’t need to know that you’re more or less immortal and have done nothing with your life. I’m pretty sure the general population would still dislike you.”
He huffed out a breath of air as he thought about Herrick’s question. He cocked his head to the left and then to the right before drumming his fingers against his cup. “ Yes, I’d still hate them because whether or not they like it they’d still have to drink human blood to survive. “ It was simple as that, it was easier for him in his mind when it was as simple as that.
“Oh.” Silas was probably too drunk to notice that the amused edge had left Herrick’s tone when he spoke. Leaning against the counter he watched him wordlessly, running over the claim the human had made and everything he could infer from such a particular motto along with everything he’d known about Silas from before. “What about Dillon?”
“ Dillon too, I tried to be his friend… but I couldn’t do it. I can’t go around making exceptions to the rules.” He shrugged his shoulders. Completely refusing to accept the fact that he could indeed make exceptions to the rules, since they were his rules. “ He’s a vampire, he decided being a vampire was what he wanted and well he can live with that. I mean it was smart, it really is the only way to get out of this town. But personally I rather die before I’d be a vampire.” He finished his cup of wine and reached for the new bottle. He fumbled around but eventually got it open.
“Hm.” Herrick said next. “You even had a cute nickname for him. He protected you from me as you sat trembling and shaking and practically wetting yourself. He put his arm around you and defended you from me. Before I even gave a shit about him. And now you’re turning your back on him because of what he is, ignoring everything of who he is even knowing if he were here in this moment he would be taking your side over mine.” Slowly he pushed himself away from the island on his arms. “You’ll not just disregard him but despise him. If he were here right now would you tell him that? What would you say?”
“Pickles.” He murmured under his breath, the cute nickname he had for Dillon. He hadn’t thought about that in the longest time. He pressed his lips in hard straight line. He didn’t like this conversation anymore. “ I’d say…” What would he say, could he really turn his back on his friend if he needed him. But what would Dillon need him for now? “ I’d say he made his decision now he has to live with it. “ He looked down into his empty cup, he wasn’t sure he’d say that. He wasn’t sure he could completely turn his back on his friend. It would be a lot less complicated if he could. “ Anyway he’s not here, because he got out of this god awful place.” He suddenly remembered what he was doing and poured the alcohol into his cup. “ I can’t go around liking or accepting your kind. It’s just… wrong. I can’t.” He shook his head.
The cold green eyes across from Silas refused to move as he stared him down, his fingers white against the dark marble of the kitchen’s center island. Vividly he imagined grabbing that bottle out of Silas’ hand and hitting up upside the head with it so hard that he would spend the rest of his life blank faced and drooling. Of course that life would last for only the next few minutes as Herrick continued to beat him down until he was a pulpy mess on the floor that got trapped between the edges of the tile for a grizzly eternity. It would be a quick end and would satisfy him but Silas wouldn’t really get to truly experience the regret of his decisions if he took that path.
“I really want you to think about it.” He said finally. “If Dillon were right here, thinking that you were friends, that whatever bond you had formed was stronger than this and that you would never turn your back on him like everyone else in his life before you. How would you break the news? Tell me. He wouldn’t be satisfied with ‘you’ve made your choice’. Not after your history. He’s an emotional, clingy nitwit who hasn’t learned to disregard faith in humanity yet. Would you be the one to break him of that stupid habit?”
He stared back at Herrick. “ Why do you care? Why does it matter to you how I would break the news to him? He’s not here, he’s not coming back. He left us! He’s gone, he’s not coming back.” He yelled at the vampire. “ If he care about either of us, he wouldn’t have left in the first place. So why should I spend my time thinking about how I would tell him how much I hate him for leaving me in this stupid fucking town!” He tossed his hands in the air. “ We had each other, that’s all we needed. and then you came along and you ruined that. He left me. So why should I have to break it to him. When he left, he left and didn’t even tell me our friendship was over. He didn’t care about leaving me behind, so why should I care about how I would tell him.” He finally took a deep breath. “ I’d tell him he left me, so he has no right to be upset and hurt.” He sat quietly for what seemed like forever. “ It’s his fault, he left us.” He repeated once again.
It was a good thing MIka was a solid carpenter or Herrick very well may have ripped the island out as he pulled himself around it without warning (at least to the inebriated) and grabbed Silas by the front of his shirt, dragging him out of the kitchen towards the rear exit of the house. The human had little chance of remaining on his feet, Herrick wasn’t going to wait for his inferior speed and reflexes. “Look at this,” he demanded, lifting Silas by his shirt and slammed him into the wall hard enough to break through paint, plaster, and drywall. He pointed towards the dry erase board where Dillon had written that he would be back. To make sure Silas got a real good look he pulled him back and then shoved him right back into the wall again.
“I’ll tell you something while you read, Silas Copeland. Love isn’t an emotion dependant in any way shape or form on the object of your affection. It exists and grows despite everything, and I mean everything, within the one that consciously decides to protect it. It exists without reward or rightful payment or returned fervor. If you continue to piss and moan about how it’s all his fault, even if he did up and leave on his own accord, I swear to God I will bury you alive in the backyard. I dare you to test me on it.”
He saw it coming but he had no ability to move, it was so sudden and unexpected. He felt himself being lifted off the chair but he could barely get his feet underneath him as he was being dragged down the hall. He tumbled a few times and clung onto Herrick’s arm for support before he finally found his footing. His head felt like it was in a whirlwind, he couldn’t comprehend what Herrick wanted him to read at first. Until he saw it. He groaned in pain as he was slammed into the wall and held his side trying to protect it from another blow.
After he saw the note in Dillon’s hand writing he heard nothing that came out of Herrick’s mouth. He was even more lost for words then he was earlier. “ He’ll.. “ He glanced at Herrick and back at the handwriting on the whiteboard, it was definitely Dillon’s penmanship. “ Where is he? Something.. happened to him? Have you done anything to find him?? Why haven’t you found him yet!” He glared at Herrick. “ You have all this power, why haven’t you done anything with it!”
Herrick allowed Silas’ feet to touch the ground. He let him go so he could pull open the back door. “What difference does it make to you?” He went on. “You’ve written him off, he’s not apart of your life anymore. He’s a big bad vampire now so not only is your relationship over but he deserves every last horrible thing that happens to him!” Herrick returned to Silas, smiled a grin that promised only misery and yanked him forward. He shoved Silas ahead of him towards the back door and as they neared he kicked him through it and into the backyard with a foot in the small of his back.
He squeezed his eyes shut tight. It was a slip up. He hadn’t meant to show he still cared about his friend. “ I don’t care.” He shook his head. “ I don’t care, but you should be doing more. If you love him and all that.” He waved his hand dismissively at Herrick before he was suddenly being yanked around again by Herrick.
He was already tripping over his own two feet, being kicked in the back didn’t help his case at all. He fell forward on his hands and knees. Glancing over his shoulder, he knew better than to get up. He crawled away from Herrick trying to put a little distance between them as if that would really help him.
“You don’t care, you don’t care! You better start caring, Silas Copeland, because Dillon isn’t here to stop me. He isn’t here to keep me from you and there’s nothing else that will save you from this.” He stalked after Silas as he crawled away tracking him easily across the lawn. This sort of behavior was commonplace at Turner House. He lived in homes where the neighbors were far between for this very reason. “Stand up,” he told him. “Stand up, turn around, and face me. Stop running away like a coward like you run away from everything else. Tomorrow morning are you going to wake up just as miserable as you are right now and tell everyone it’s all my fault because I didn’t try hard enough to catch you?”
He pushed himself to his feet, even though his legs still felt wobbly from the fall and from the alcohol. He knew to listen, as horrible as it would be, listening made it usually a little better. He slowly turned around to face the vampire. A smirked formed on his lips. “ Do you expect me to blame myself? That I threw myself into the fucking wall? Maybe I tripped over my own two feet coming out the door?” He suddenly felt pretty damn sober. “ Run from? I don’t have anywhere to run to. This is your fault, and this is exactly the reason I hate vampires.” He winced as he rubbed his ribs, they were surely bruised. “ You’re all the same. --- even Dillon.” He didn’t believe Dillon would pick his side over Herricks in this fight, not anymore.
With a brilliant smile, Herrick waited until Silas had turned to face him, before he’d finished what he had to say, the blame passing that never seemed to have an end, spreading out from him in an array of fault finding that pointed in every other direction other than inward. Not towards the poor, victimized, innocent, cheated Silas Copeland. He waited until he’d finished talking about Dillon, not saying anything particular cruel unless one stood back and appreciated the bigger picture of betrayal. When he had finished, Herrick punched him. He wasn’t trying to break anything but if that happened it could be dealt with. Silas needed to learn a lesson and this was the best way Herrick knew to teach it.
It was true that Silas blamed everything that went wrong in his life on the vampires. At least he did outwardly, because it was easier to be angry than to be afraid and the more he verbalized his hate the easier it was to stay angry and not afraid. The more he said it, the more he believed it. “ What the fuck!” He yelped in pain as he held his face, he had no idea what the damage was at the moment, only that it really hurt. He was actually pretty surprised to still be standing on his feet. “ What the hell was that for?” It was hard to learn a lesson when he didn’t know what the lesson was. Every time he spoke to Herrick it got him in trouble, this was why he was better off one wording and giving him the deadpan look. That’s the lesson he was taking from this.
“I’m going to give you something that is genuinely the fault of a vampire wholly and completely?” Herrick promised him. “Don’t make me really hit you, Silas. Unless you’re already going to give up.” The end result would be the same either way, as far as he saw it. Silas on his back groaning and bleeding and broken. He would force his blood into him because he wasn’t ready to break his new toy just yet, not over something like this. It really was Dillon’s fight however he wanted to handle it, but he couldn’t just let Silas go. He couldn’t let Silas say whatever he wanted.
“ I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, Herrick.” He could already feel the bruise just under his eye forming. He had a feeling he was going to look a lot worse. “ I guess I am giving up, because I’m not going to fight you. I can’t win. “ He wasn’t really sure what his best bet was in this situation. He had a major headache, his body was already sore, and he still didn’t know where his room was. “ So I’m just going to go to my room.” He added finally denial worked the last time. He walked towards Herrick, and attempted to get around him. Was it the second floor or third floor that Herrick would stay clear of?
“Nope.” Herrick decided, catching Silas with a hand flat in the center of his chest and shoving him back the few steps he’d taken so they were face to face again. “You don’t want to fight because you know you can’t win?” He asked with no real curiosity. Silas admission only made it worse. It was infuriating to hear. He didn’t punch Silas this time, that was the sort of thing one made did to another so he slapped him instead. “You’re pathetic,” he told him. “Everything that happens to you you deserve not because you’re a human, not because you’re stuck here. That’s what you are. You deserve it because of who you are, a pathetic doormat. You don’t deserve freedom or even a fair chance. If you’re not willing to risk anything then just shut up, bend over, and take it.”
He was knocked back a few steps. “ Yeah, that’s what I said.” He shook his head when he was slapped.He was utterly confused as to why Herrick decided to slap him, instead of punching or kicking him. “ I’m not pathetic.” He growled. “ I’m not pathetic.” He repeated again. Being afraid, and demur was what kept him alive. It was hard not to fall back into that response when faced with this type of situation. Let’s face it Silas had no idea how to fight. He really wasn’t a fighter. “ What will pushing you.” He gave the vampire a shove. “ Get me? Or punching you.” He didn’t punch him right away, he assumed it would be predictable. He waited a second. “ Or kick you.” When he said kick, punched hoping that it might catch Herrick off guard. His punch was weak at best, and he probably did more damage to his hand than Herrick’s face. There was so much hate he felt towards Herrick, but he hated himself even more for not being able to do anything about it. For letting the vampire get under his skin with the pathetic comment, and the whole Dillon thing. Why’d he have to bring up the nickname, he had completely forgotten about it. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Get out of my way, I’m going to my room.” He tried again to get past Herrick, shoving his shoulder into him this time.
Silas’ shove didn’t amount to much against Herrick. His punch was sad but Herrick let him punch him. He wanted to smile but he didn’t, swiping his thumb along his lower lip and even rocking back a step as Silas’ collided with his shoulder. “Nope!” He said again. He pushed Silas again, shaking his head. This moment with Silas might not be one he’d get again. He might not ever be able to coax this out of Silas another time. His initial attempts at fighting back weren’t quite what he wanted from his human but it was getting close.
He could certainly tell Silas a story or two to explain the ‘why’ behind how taking on a battle you knew you wouldn’t win wasn’t just a good idea but the only option but it likely wouldn’t make a difference because Silas wouldn’t want to hear something like that from him. He wasn’t exactly concerned with enlightening Silas, either. He just couldn’t stomach that attitude. He literally had to start a fight whenever he was presented with it. It was the most miserable, deplorable and pitiful thing he could imagine. He couldn’t help but punch an idiot who rolled over that way and then had the nerve to gripe and complain about how horrible everything was.
“I can’t let you go. You’re so pathetic I feel like I should just put you down.”
It annoyed Silas that Herrick wouldn’t get out of his way. He just wanted to go to his room, to walk away from this situation. He didn’t want to fight him, because he had no clue how to fight him. He didn’t like doing things he wasn’t good at or didn’t know how to do because he took pride is how smart he was. If he tried to fight Herrick and failed, he’d feel stupid because he failed at something. He wasn’t use to failing.
“ Or you can get out of my way.” He repeated as he tried yet again to get by Herrick. “ How pathetic are you? You just want to fight me because you know you can win.” He shoved Herrick as hard as he could hoping he’d at least stumble a few feet. He slammed both his fists against the vampire’s chest over and over again, followed by another shove. He was beyond frustrated, at himself, at the situation, at Herrick. He wanted to hurt him. He just didn’t know how.
“ You’re just as pathetic as I am. You have no one left in your life that you had to claim me… why? Is it to hold on to someone that Dillon cared about? Or the fact that you have to even claim someone to get them to spend any kind of time with you?”
“That’s it, that’s definitely it! I’m so lonely that’s why I’ve claimed you and dragged you into the backyard. Can’t we just hug it out?” Herrick rolled his eyes, holding his arms up and to his sides throughout the duration of Silas’ assault. Every move he made was a move in the right direction. He didn’t just take a step or two back but every strike earned Silas one more step closer to the house. “I’ll tell you what, Silas. You hit me as hard as you can, right here,” he put a finger to his jaw, “and I’ll let you go inside.”
Silas could count on one hand how many times he threw a punch at someone, and already two have been at Herrick. There was something about the vampire that brought out the worse in him. He was never the physical type, most of the time he did pretty good talking his way out of fights or hurting people with his words but never with his fists. Between the alcohol, being called pathetic and the aches his body was starting to feel from being tossed around like a ragdoll, he just wanted Herrick out of the way. He didn’t have to asked against, he balled up his fist and punched Herrick in the jaw as hard as he possibly could. It was stronger than the first hit, but he was certain that it hurt his knuckles more than it hurt Herrick. He shook his hand and rubbed his knuckles. “ Now can you show me to my room?”
Herrick took the punch again like a champ. He turned his back on Silas, bent over at his waist for a moment as he rubbed his jaw. He smiled, that felt good. He liked that, the dull throb of pain although it was a quickly fading ache. He might have to find someone who really knew what they were doing to punch him, someone who could hit him with something that would last. Rising slowly he sighed, and tipped his head in the direction of Turner House. He’d just gotten it cleaned up but already he’d have to have someone come by and repair the drywall he’d busted. He knew Silas would cost him money he just didn’t think it would be so soon. “Second floor, Silas. You can find Dillon’s old room and have that. It’s probably still pretty nice.”