Roman lived in a town where practically nothing happened. He filled his time with playing with his friends and fantasizing about magical creatures.

The most interesting thing that had ever happened to him was his brother Remus disappearing for a whole night when they were ten. He came back in one piece and the only weird thing (well, weird for Remus) about him was his tendency to lock himself in his room during certain parts of the month. Perhaps Roman was imagining things, but it seemed to coincide with the phases of the moon.

Nonetheless, Roman's days were fairly boring. At sixteen, he spent most of his time outside with his close friends Patton and Logan. They would run around the town pretending to fight dragons and witches; sometimes they would fight a combination of the two! Roman dreamed of being a knight. Logan wanted to become a sorcerer. Patton just wanted to own a bakery. It was a pretty simple life. They knew their village like the back of their hands.

There was one place that they had never explored though. On the edge of the south side of the village, there was a raggedy old mansion. It was abandoned and slightly damaged. The windows were covered in heavy, ripped curtains. The dark wood and stone that was used to build it gave the whole building a haunting feeling. There were stories about what had happened to the previous inhabitants.

Roman had never been there. If he was honest, it always scared him. He always felt like he was being watched whenever he stopped in front of it.

Today, however, he was determined to go inside.

"I don't think this is a wise decision," Logan said, standing beside him and inspecting the outside of the mansion. "This building is structurally unstable. It is highly likely that we will get hurt if we go in there."

"Not to mention that there's probably ghosts and other scary stuff," Patton squeaked from his hiding place behind their logical friend.

Roman shook his head. "Clearly the building is stable enough considering it's been standing since I was little, and as for the ghosts, I highly doubt that there are any," he replied. He put his hands on his hips and smirked up at the spooky building. "I'm going in there. If I want to be a knight some day, I've got to be brave."

"You do realize that there is a very fine line between bravery and stupidity," Logan called as he headed up the steps.

He turned and scowled at him. "Are you two coming with me or are you too scared?"

"I am not afraid of such trivial things as ghosts," he said. He straightened his glasses and began climbing the stairs. "It would likely be a good idea for me to accompany you in order to prevent you from doing something increasingly stupid inside. I am not scared."

"I am!" Patton said softly. "I'm not ashamed to admit it either, I'm really scared!"

Logan looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "There is little to fear Patton. With Roman and I here, you are safe. Besides, if there were a malevolent spirit of some kind in there, it would, without a doubt, attack Roman before either of us."

"I can hear you, you know!"

"Oh, yes, I know," he retorted, smirking.

Their bickering put their friend more at ease. He let out a shaky breath and followed them up the stairs. Roman pushed the heavy double doors open.

It was dusty and dark inside, just as expected, but underneath the decrepit surface, they could make out the signs of what was once a magnificent home. They explored some of the rooms on the first floor, finding a living room with an ancient piano.

Roman made his way over to it as his friends inspected the rest of the room. He blew the dust off the keys and allowed his hand to hover over them. He wondered if it still worked or if it was even in tune. With one finger, he pressed down on a G. The sound echoed through the house in an eerily beautiful fashion.

"I'm surprised that still works," Logan said, gesturing to the instrument.

"I'm going to explore upstairs, you keep searching around down here for anything interesting," the princely boy told them. He swiftly exited the room, hearing their concerns about the staircase on his way out. "I'll be careful!"

Despite Logan's comments on the house needing to be condemned, the mansion was in fairly decent shape structure-wise. The stairs were almost entirely intact. In fact, nearly all of the interior was fine. The structural damage was limited to the exterior of the house. Still, Roman proceeded with caution up the steps.

The upstairs looked similar to the main floor. There was another sitting room, filled with sheet-covered furniture. He walked passed it without much thought. There was a corridor before him that looked far more promising.

It seemed to get darker as he walked further down the hallway. Roman felt his skin prickle with unease. He could see the door of a bedroom at the end of the hall.

A creak sounded from the door as he pushed it open. He blinked rapidly to get used to the gloom. Once his eyes adjusted, he scanned the room. His heart skipped a little as he noticed there was significantly less dust than the rest of the house. There were heavy curtains covering the windows that weren't torn like the ones on the first floor. The bed sheets on the bed looked like they had been slept in.

Roman swallowed nervously, looking around. There was a small thump from the closet at the back of the room. The sound made him jump, but he steeled himself and walked toward it. He pushed the sliding door to the side.

He froze. In the back right corner of the closet was a lump covered by a blanket and it was moving. It was trembling, more accurately. Roman's heart raced in his chest as he tried to make a decision. Clearly, whoever was under the blanket knew that people were in the house. Whoever, or whatever, was under it could possibly be dangerous, or they could be in danger. The trembling indicated that they were scared, but there was a possibility that they were luring him into a trap.

He set his jaw as he made up his mind. He was going to be a knight someday, and a knight's sole purpose was to help people. He was going to take the risk.

"Hello?" he said softly, kneeling down on the floor. The lump flinched and began to tremble more. Roman moved slowly toward it and kept his voice soft. "I'm not here to hurt you, I didn't know anyone even lived here. Are you alright?"

The lump didn't respond. Roman settled in front of it and reached out gently. He pulled the blanket away, gasping a little at the sight underneath.

There was a young boy, about his age but possibly a little younger, curled up with his knees tucked against his chest. He was crying and trembling, looking at Roman with absolute terror in his eyes.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured him, trying to smile comfortingly. The boy looked him up and down, not looking any less afraid. "Are you alright? How long have you been in this house by yourself? Do you have any family that could help?"

His eyes welled up more as he shook his head. "I- I'm- I've been in this house... for- I'm-" he tried to say, looking nervous. He looked at him like he was still afraid of him.

"Hey, it's okay! I'm not going to bite or anything," Roman tried to joke.

"Why aren't you afraid that I will?" he replied.

He blinked at the statement and scowled. He looked the boy up and down again, noticing now how pale he was. His physical appearance was striking despite his current emotional state. Finally, Roman caught a glimpse of the tiniest traces of fangs.

"Oh..." he managed, realizing the boy in front of him was, in fact, a vampire. "Um... are you going to? Bite me, I mean?"

"N-No... I don't- I mean- My name's Virgil," he said softly. "I'm actually only a half vampire... My mother was one, but my dad was human... I've- This house- I've been here for about a hundred years probably... At least, I think... I age slower than normal humans cause of the vampire blood, but I still age... I'm not sure how long it's been. I've just been hiding here since the mob killed my parents."

Roman gasped in horror. "Oh god, that's awful, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "Why have you been hiding here?"

"Well, people hate vampires, don't they? At least... that's what it was like when my mother was killed," Virgil managed, wiping his cheeks of the tear tracks. "I was considered an abomination for being half human and half vampire... I figured that was still the case..."

"I don't think that's how things are anymore, why don't you come with me and I'll show you around the village? It's changed quite a bit, I imagine," Roman said, smiling encouragingly. He offered him his hand. "My friends, Patton and Logan, would love to meet you as well. They're very nice. You could be our friend if you want."

The half-vampire looked at him with hope shimmering in his eyes. He placed his hand in Roman's with a tentative smile. "Okay."