Blood | Vows (Len x Oliver)

Chapter Three

"Oliver! Oliver! Look! Did it!" Len grinned from ear to ear, having successfully, cleanly taken the frog's heart out in their dissection class.

Oliver flashed him a convincing smile,

Ugh, why is he so annoying?

"That's great," he told him, putting a thumbs up. But really, he wasn't too excited for it, much less proud. Oliver knew he could easily, with his eyes closed, do what Len had done, and in barely half the time. Len took five minutes.

Honestly, he didn't even know why he was being nice to the new kid. For the last two months, he literally just straight up wiggled his way into his group, and started hanging around Oliver every time he had the chance.

He knew what that meant. And he knew it very well. That annoying banana-haired boy had a crush on him, and he did not like it. Not one bit.

I didn't even try to charm him, though! Oliver complained for the twenty-first time that month. Just when I have my hands full, I get someone who just—has a crush on me? How am I going to handle that?

"Oliver, Oliver!" Len called out to him again. This time, with a worried expression. Oliver plastered his smile back before asking what was wrong, to which he quickly replied with, "You've been zoning out a lot." he looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he brushed it off before taking the scalpel off of him, roughly, and worked his magic on the half-butchered frog. Within five minutes, all the organs had been plattered skilfully onto the watchglass, and the frog was still struggling, half-conscious as the inevitable slowly closed in.

Beside, Len's eyes were sparkling in awe, and had Oliver had a free pass for his action's consequences, he would punch this boy, fully on his head, for the sake of it.

"Amazing!" he cheered so childishly. Oliver eyed him with newfound envy, he let his mind wonder of how he could still be alive at this point with such a personality.

After all, his parents would certainly kill him if he acted like that. They were close enough once, when he hesitated finishing that girl off when he was twelve.

"Kill her!" Mum had commanded as Dad and Brother watched quietly, marking his every move, "It isn't hard, bare your fangs and bite her neck."

Oliver had stayed still; tears escaped his eyes as he weighed upon his choices: the girl's life, or his sanity.

Turns out, he got to keep his sanity, for when Dad had lunged to him for his pathetic, worthless inaction, a sudden surge of dark aura overcame him and he lost control. Then he watched from inside his own shell as it brutally murdered the defenseless victim, limbs torn apart and extra blood wastefully pouring down the floor after the meal.

Once he had regained control, the experience left him shaking, shivering in fear and in pain. But when he had looked up to see, he could remember, in the cloud of murk were his mother's ecstatic smile and his father's eyes of pride and hope. It was the only time they had been proud of him. So Oliver disregarded the effect it had and sought for more of it. (Though, he still kept the dirty-work to the Other.)

Then as he thought of pride, the image of his brother's soul-shackling sneer appeared again, it was glowing darkness. He truly hated him. While his demands were plenty, nothing Oliver ever did seemed to please him. Not a kill, not a gift, not even the tremendous effort Oliver invested to get him to smile for—

Len's bright face popped into sight. Oh for Count's sake. "Oliver, sure you're really okay?"

"Yes," Oliver exhaled, "you can stop worrying about me now."

That came out a bit too harsh. But maybe it's what I need to get him off my tail.

Even then it feels wrong.

"Okay." He nodded with his unfaltering smile. Then, as the teacher readied to dismiss the class, "Nee Oliver, can we, y-you know, walk to the refectory together again?"

Okay, maybe not.

"You are going to follow me anyway so..." Oliver took a deep breath, "why not."

But it looked like the reaction wasn't what Len was going for.

＊＊＊

After school, Oliver stayed late. It was 4:30, everyone else had gone home, but he was still sitting idly in-front of his locker, waiting for—

"Oliver!" A boy's voice called in something that resembled both a shout and a whisper.

But he didn't greet him as he usually did – with a cheery smile and a wave – rather, he bit his lip,

such a shame, he mentally sighed.

"You okay?" Steven asked.

Oliver simply nodded, then forced a little smile. "Let's go."

As Oliver led the boy to his trap, he let his mind roam free, what if he's with me now instead? That new kid?

For some reason that thought alone had brought his pulse to a race, of fear? Of some unknown feeling. No, not love. Oliver would know love in a heartbeat; after all, he IS able to charm people fairly easily...

Then what is it?

It was best for him to forget about it now. But keep an eye on him just in case.

Oliver's eyes suddenly widened. Half-expecting for Len to suddenly bounce in his vision and ask if he were alright. But of course, that would be stupid... Oliver looked to his present company. They'd been ignoring each other for the whole walk. To think they'd been dating for a week, and that Steven had been so looking forward to tonight... it seemed so fundamentally wrong.

And yet Oliver preferred it this way. It's much easier to get the job done when you don't feel any real connection. Easier, and less mental aftermath to deal with. Perfect.

Oliver pushed the gate open and let the boy in, gaze in amazement at the staggering construct before him—one of the largest in the world, Efex Castle.

"Come on," Oliver took the boy's hand and seductively smirked at him, dragging him into a room on the third floor. As he locked the door, he slowly unwrapped the bandages around his left eye.

Steven trudged forward, shakily, the tent between his leg growing visibly tighter with every step—and Revilo was not about to not take advantage of that.

＊＊＊

Oliver returned. Feeling full, lighter, and still somewhat guilty. He stared at the carcass and his blood-drenched hands with shivering eyes; his heart pulsed and then there was the clap and song from Darkness—Mum, Dad, and Brother, congratulating him for his sixteenth birthday—and his hundredth solo kill.