It really was a dangerous situation they had found themselves in. Although, maybe they should have been more cautious at the very start. Maybe, if they had taken Roman seriously from the very beginning when he had said their new neighbor was a vampire, they could have put an end to all of this without much issue. But things just didn't work out that way. And now they were stuck in a perilous situation that used to only seem possible in fairy tales.
The group knew they had to be smart about this. Remus offered to just kill the vampire, however Logan pointed out that they knew nothing about real life vampires. They didn't know if something would happen to their friend and roommate, Roman, if they killed the vampire. Leave it to Roman to get involved with a vicious vampire. 
Patton tried to be optimistic. "Maybe he's a good vampire?" He had said when the situation ripped apart their realities. Janus actually popped that bubble. "But we can't be sure he is, are we really going to risk Roman's life for the chance that our blood-sucking neighbor is vegetarian?" 
In hindsight, Patton and Remus should have left Janus and Logan to make the plan considering they tended to be the level headed ones in most situations. Janus and Logan had quickly pulled together a plan after they had calmed the other two down enough to think. It would go like this: when Roman got home from play rehearsal, they would tell him they were going on a short trip. Then, they would drive to the home of Peter Vincent, the vampire expert and ask for his help. It couldn't be too hard, could it? 
--------
Roman did not expect to be bombarded when he got home late that night after play rehearsal. His roommates shoved him right back outside and into the car with the explanation that they were all going on a trip. Roman was too tired to argue that they all had school tomorrow so he just went along with it. But when he woke up the next morning to find himself in the van on the side of the road with all his roommates napping around him, he found himself doing a double take.  
He carefully climbed out of the vehicle and dialed his boyfriends' number. "Hey, Virgil?" He asked as the other picked up. "Do you think you could pick me up?" He squinted as he glanced around for any road signs but all he saw was wide open fields. "I'm somewhere outside of town, not sure where, all I see is wide open fields." 
"Turn your location on your phone and put in my address, dumbass," Virgil responded even as he nervously bit his nails. Where were Roman's roommates taking him and why? 
Roman flushed red. "Oh right." He turned his location on and returned to the call. "What would I do without you?"
"I don't know," Virgil replied. "What was that?"
Roman frowned and turned around to look for the source of the noise that his boyfriend asked about. "Oh! It's Remus! Hey! What are you-" the line went dead. 
Virgil gasped and quickly pulled his phone away to stare numbly at his phone screen. What just happened?
-----
"What was that for?!" Roman yelled as his brother yanked his phone from him and hung up before shoving it into his pocket. "I was talking to Virgil!" 
Remus shook his head. "Come on, Roman. We have to go." 
"No! I have classes. We all have classes." 
Remus growled. "No."
"No?" Roman asked in disbelief. "Why not?" 
"Because I said so." 
Roman rolled his eyes and huffed angrily. "You're not my dad! You guys can do whatever you want but I'm going home!"
Remus's eyes widened, fearful. "No! You can't!" He exclaimed. 
Roman froze at the twinge of desperation in the other's voice and looked back at his brother. "Why?" 
"We, as your friends, can not let you go back to that vampire. We are taking you to Peter Vincent so we can help you and get rid of the vampire," Logan explained as he stepped out of the van, having been raised by Remus's loud shout. 
Roman blanched. "What? You can't hurt Virgil!" 
"He's a vampire! A monster! He'll kill you!" 
"No, he won't! He loves me!" 
Janus and Patton tumbled out of the van, having been awoken by the angry voices. "What are you shouting about?" Janus asked grumpily. 
"Roman called the vampire and tried to lead it to us!" Remus yelled as he pointed an accusatory finger at his brother. 
"Virgil is not an 'it'!" Roman shouted. "Yes, he's a vampire but he has never hurt me! He doesn't kill anyone! He's not a monster!"
The others stepped back a little at Roman's outburst. He didn't often raise his voice in anger. His face had turned a little red as he got frustrated with his friends. "You didn't even listen to me the first time I said he was a vampire! You just ignored me and acted like I was a child! And now you want to rip me away from my boyfriend and my classes just because you're making assumptions about him and you can't bother to give him a chance!" 
"We're just trying to protect you, you idiot! Who do you care about more, your family or some monster you just met who will kill you at any moment?!?" Remus screamed. Why couldn't his brother understand they were doing this for his own good? 
Roman froze. He could feel his heart breaking inside his chest. He's trying to force me to choose? "I…" Roman felt his body weaken and his knees gave out beneath him. 
"Roman!" Remus exclaimed and rushed to his brother's aid.
"Roman! Are you okay?" Patton exclaimed as he stepped closer to his friend. 
Roman sat unblinking as he stared through them. "Roman?" Logan asked, concerned. His friend did not respond. 
----------------
Roman had always had a rather active imagination. Paired with his twin brother, Remus, the two had caused quite a lot of headaches for their parents. Between Remus and his interest in the dark and cryptic aspects of the world and Roman with his fanciful, romantic overlook, they had come up with many stories in which dark monsters needed to be defeated in order to save a kingdom and find the most magical thing of all, True Love. And then with the release of entertainment like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Vampire Diaries," "Twilight," and more, it only fueled their creative minds. Remus found himself pretending to be a daring and crazy vampire hunter scientist who experimented on the vampires he captured and killed. Roman found himself fantasizing about his own vampire lover, forever the romantic. Of course, they were all seniors in college now. They had outgrown their "childish" fantasies.  
The two brothers lived in a two story house in a neighborhood close to their college with three roommates; Patton, Logan, and Janus. They all got along fairly well. All were very different guys in terms of personality, likes and interests, but they were good friends. Having known each other since preschool, the five of them would say they knew each other pretty well. That's why, when Roman came running down the hall one night, loudly screaming something about a vampire next door, the other four nodded their heads and gently coaxed him back to bed as they wrote it off as some sort of dream he had. A miracle on their parts, it was hard to get Roman to calm down so quickly when he was hyper. But when the next morning brought more talk of a vampire next door, they began to get a little wary. 
-----------
"I'm telling you guys, I saw this guy carrying boxes of blood bags into the house. What more proof do you need?" Roman exclaimed. 
Remus yawned briefly. "Roman, vampires don't exist. It was probably just the beginning of a wet dream or something." 
"I'm eating!" Janus grumbled, annoyed. He glared at the twins from his spot at the table. 
Remus snorted tiredly. "Relax, I wasn't planning on going into details, it's too early." 
Roman wrinkled his nose. "It wasn't like that, Remus. I really did see it!" 
Logan sighed as he poured his third cup of coffee. "Okay, say this was true, and there really is a vampire living next door, what then?" 
Roman sighed dreamily. "He bites me and I become a vampire and we get married and live happily ever after." 
Patton smiled nervously. "Uh, isn't that a little too optimistic, kiddo? Even if there was a vampire next door-" 
"Which there's not," Logan cut in. 
"doesn't mean things are going to go well." 
"Yeah," Remus agreed. "What if he's trying to kill us all or something?" 
"He wouldn't do that," Roman replied stiffly as he crossed his arms. 
"And why is that?" Logan asked. Roman mumbled in response. 
"What was that?" Janus asked, a raised eyebrow telling Roman that he knew exactly what he had said. 
"Because he loves me okay!"
Remus, Janus, and Logan burst out laughing as Patton tried to hold back an amused smile. "But you haven't even talked to our neighbor. You don't even know his name." 
Roman opened his mouth to argue only to slam it shut again.
"See, you're being irrational, Roman," Logan said. 
"Well, he will love me, he just doesn't know it yet."
Remus rolled his eyes. "You are ridiculous! Seriously, I thought you got over your vampire phase back in high school. How did you let yourself get so desperate for a boyfriend that you began hallucinating?" 
Roman flushed red. "He really is a vampire," he replied hotly. "And I'm going to prove it!" 
Remus snorted. "Good luck with that!" He shouted as Roman stomped up the stairs, his lack of classes scheduled for the day leaving him the only of the five roommates not required to wake up at the ungodly hour of 6am. 
Patton teetered uneasily. "He sounds upset," he commented. "Maybe we shouldn't have been so harsh." 
"Trust me," Logan began. "He'll be fine. He just needs some time to himself and then he'll be back to gallivanting around the house excitedly telling us everything that happened to him that day. 
Patton bit his lip. "Well, if you're sure…" 
---------- 
Roman sulked in his room until the last of his roommates left. He stared out his bedroom window for a few moments inspecting the house next door with great interest. And I'm gonna prove it! Soon, he was jumping up and scrambling to find the perfect outfit. Cute and casual, but not too casual. He didn't know this guys type yet so he couldn't factor that in yet but cute and casual would have to work. But just to be sure, Roman pulled on a silky red dress shirt with two of the top buttons undone just a bit. Maybe the red would attract the vampire because it shared the same color as his favorite snack, blood. After getting dressed, Roman carefully applied some light red to his lips and a nice eyeliner with a wing sharp enough to draw blood. His eyelids had a nice gradient of red fading into black. Vampires liked black too. At least he hoped. 
Soon, Roman was ready. He carefully walked down the stairs so as to not mess up his outfit before the hot vamp next door could see. He left the house and walked next door with some sugar cookies they had gotten from the store last week. It would be a(n excuse to go over and see the hot vampire) housewarming gift. He was practically buzzing with excitement by the time he reached the neighbor's front door. Taking a moment to compose himself, he briefly wondered if maybe the guy he thought was his neighbor really wasn't and was one of the movers he had seen moving things in a few days ago. He shook his head, no harm in trying. He raised his hand and knocked.
When the door opened, Roman was slightly disappointed to find no one standing there until he heard a quiet voice speaking from behind the door. "Yes?" 
"Um, Hello. I'm Roman Belmonte and I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood with some homemade cookies." 
"Mm," a voice said uncertaintly from the shadows. Roman peeked in a little more, fighting against the lack of light in an attempt to see the person he was speaking with. What he was able to make out took his breath away. High cheekbones and pale skin stood out against the shadowy backdrop as dark hair hung over eyes that seemed to glitter in the darkness. Time to turn up the charm. 
"Oh who am I kidding," Roman exclaimed. "These aren't homemade cookies, they're store-bought." Roman chuckled. "I was just trying to impress you, I caught a glimpse of you when you moved in and well, what can I say, you're gorgeous." He flashed a bright, flirtatious smile. 
The person behind the door snorted. "
I don't know, I mean you're hot as hell but then I found out that you didn't even make me homemade cookies and I don't know if I'm willing to date a guy who won't even put in the effort to make homemade cookies. What, are your kisses gonna be store bought too?" the other snarked as they opened the door further motioning for Roman to step inside. 
Roman's jaw nearly dropped. Okay, not going as planned and he most certainly did not plan for the guy to look that fucking hot this early in the morning. Beautiful purple hair and stunning eyes, rich like honey stared back at him with a mischievous glint. Roman licked his lips. "A date? I don't remember mentioning anything about a date...but if you're offering." 
The other snorted. "Princey, Princey, Princey, so naive." Roman's knees felt weak. "You're gonna have to do more than flirt with me to get a date with me." 
"Is that a challenge?" Roman asked.
The other grinned. "Sure, pretty boy." 
Roman grinned. "Be prepared to go on a date with me." The other rolled his eyes. Roman handed over the cookies. "I know they're just store-bought but they're still good." Then he turned to leave. 
"Wait." Roman turned back to the other. "You don't even want to know my name? That's going into the cons."
Roman flushed at the teasing voice. "I-well-uh, what's your name?" 
"Virgil." A smirk. "Good luck on that challenge, Princey." 
Roman smirked right back and left to go and fall face first on his bed and squeal. 
----------------
Remus shared a glance with Logan, Janus, and Patton. They were on the road again. After wasting an hour over trying to get Roman to respond to them, they just gave up. They put him in the back and took off towards the home of Peter Vincent. Roman seldom blinked. As they drove, he continued staring off into space. Unbeknownst to his friends, he was reliving the memory of the day he had first met Virgil. It brought happy feelings, and the thought of losing that happiness killed him. But he also couldn't leave his family, he still cared for them.
The only way Roman could properly explain how he was feeling was to say that he was being split in half by two equally strong sides. On one hand, he could choose Virgil and hurt his family and himself. On the other, he could choose his family and hurt himself and Virgil. Where was the third option? He could prove Virgil wasn't bad. But how would that work? How could he do that when he was stuck in a van driving away from his boyfriend. He didn't know.
There was only one thing Roman was certain of: he had to prove Virgil wasn't a monster.