Death Bite (Peterick)

Part 9: "Friendly" Arrangements

Patrick's POV:

They woke up around the next evening in the backroom of the book store, drowsy and with little recollection of what had occurred to them the previous night. Their eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion and their voices scratchy and hoarse.

"Where are we? What happened?" Joe asked, rubbing a tender part of his head and wincing.
"Um...apparently some vampires kidnapped you that night you were defending me. A friend and I picked you up where they had dumped you guys," I explained to the pair.

"You mean Elisa came with you?" Andy inquired.

"Well no. To my knowledge she doesn't know vampires exist while you two did all along and never told me."

"Oh come on. Cut us a break. If you were to tell Elisa a gang of vamps who call themselves the Dandies attempted to kill us then she would laugh in your face. You wouldn't have believed us so we kept it to ourselves," Joe defended.

I crossed my arms and plopped down on the couch. They kind of had a point. Surely, had I not met Pete beforehand I would've thought they were yanking my chain.
"What other friends do you have besides us and El?" Joe said as he gradually rose from the ground.
Andy was still leaning against the wall trying to collect himself. 

I didn't blame him. They probably got quite a beating especially if they went down swinging.

"It doesn't matter. What I wanna know is how in the world did you guys happened upon becoming vampire hunters?!"

"Patrick, it's a very long, boring story. You wouldn't be very interested. Basically, we do what we do to keep Chicago safe and to rid this city of those vermin. We're not alone. There are thousands of us out there."

"So like a cult of people obsessed with murdering creatures?"
"No. When those things started getting dangerous we had no other choice than to tie on our boots and reach for the stakes."
Joe turned around and helped Andy to his feet. After a few seconds the unbalanced man finally came to his senses and stood firmly.

"The last thing I remember was a bunch of those...vile monsters punching me. As for Andy, well, he was throwing kicks and fists every which way. I was certain he was going to make it out."

"But I didn't. Two against almost a hundred doesn't add up no matter how many weapons you have," Andy added, "We were only trying to save you."

"I can't thank you enough, and I'm glad you're both safe. It might be a little hard for me to know that you're risking your lives everyday, but you've been doing it a lot longer than I could even imagine so maybe there isn't much to worry about," I said.
"No problem. Can we crash here for a while until sunrise? Wouldn't want to go traveling at this hour."
"Of course, Joe. Make yourselves comfy."

I headed out into the store and jogged over to the door to lock it. Then standing there in a dark hoodie was him. His lips curled into a smirk and I glanced back at my friends who were just coming out of the back room. Joe froze when he saw Pete but Pete was unfazed, still eyeing me.

"Who-who is that?" He gulped.

I poked my head out the door in one swift move and whispered, "Please go. They'll kill you in a heartbeat."
"Sounds like my kind of party. Why wasn't I invited earlier?" He entered anyway and lowered his hoodie to reveal his pale face and stained lips from a fresh kill.
His eyes were still wide and dilated but slowly returning to normal. For some reason his hair was bleached. Perhaps it was a random spur of the moment style choice which, in his case, he was able to rock it.

"Hey, boys. Name's Pete," Peter extended his hand in a friendly manner.

In response, Andy whipped out a pocket knife, swinging it about to "frighten" Pete, but it obviously didn't work, considering Pete only chuckled.

"After I aided Patrick in your rescues you treat me like this? Tsk. Tsk. Such bad manners."

"What is he talking about? Is he your friend?" Joe hastily blurted.

"Well, yeah, I would think he is."
Pete smiled at my response. Why not call the guy who saved my ass from death more times than I could count my friend? After all I didn't have many anyway.
"I don't understand. Vampires are supposed to kill us. You're- you're-"

"Different? No, not very much so. I just grow fond of certain humans. As you can tell I had a late night snack which was more of a subconscious act since I hadn't eaten in quite a while," he wiped the fresh blood from his lips in disgust.
"Are you the one who's been killing everyone around here?" Andy asked, tucking the knife back into his pocket.

     "Well not entirely. That work has been that of William. The guy used to keep a dozen or so slaves back when I was younger to avoid causing suspicion. Now he's returned to his ways maybe, to what I concluded, as a way to lure me back to the gang. For what reason? I am unsure but whatever it is it isn't good news. Anything William stirs up is never good."

"Thanks I guess for saving us. We owe you big time," Joe told Pete before taking Andy up the steps to my apartment.
I leaned against the counter and gestured to his head, raising a brow.
"Oh. This? Well I wanted to try something new. Does it look good?"
"Definitely. Did you stop by to check on me because you were worried?" I batted my lashes causing Pete to crack a grin.

If he were still human, blood would have surfaced on those cheeks of his.

"Well I have to watch out for you. If something happened I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It's happened to me in the past. Letting history repeat itself is unnecessary when you've already learned your lesson," he muttered.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I don't know how to ever repay you for the deeds you've done. It feels like I'm taking advantage of your protection," I responded.
Pete looked down at his feet a moment and then back at me.
"How about we catch a movie sometime? I need a friend to hang out with once in a while."
I nodded,"Tomorrow is fine. Come by when my shift is done."

And Pete didn't stop smiling. He nervously twiddled with his thumbs, head hanging low, to conceal his joy but I could see it.

"Great. Would you want something to eat? I could pick you up some food."

"It's alright. My mom brings me dinner. The theatre popcorn would be all I need."
"Oh, man. I wish I could taste popcorn again. I remember going to the drive-ins with my dates and snacking on a bag together."
"So this is like one of your dates, huh?"
Pete's eyes widened and he scoffed,"No, no. Just...a friendly invitation. I assure you, Patrick."
A yawn came to me and Pete took it as a sign to leave.

     "Um...goodnight. Call me if you need something."

And with that he left. He would be watching and waiting. I knew that he wouldn't really leave until sunrise which strangely comforted me. It warmed my heart thinking about how Pete cared about my well being because I cared for him too.

A/N: Wow wow. It's been a while. I had to refresh my memory by rereading some of these parts. Once I'm done writing I'll do a whole editing process to fix some sections. Right now I'm focused on just getting this book done and over with. I'm going to be adding some extra stuff into the next few parts ;) I just have to figure out how to incorporate them into the story but you'll see eventually if I don't forget to update again. Btw I deleted the pictures for each part if you haven't noticed by now because they kept failing to show up anymore so no more pictures :( One last thing (I know this is dragging on sorry) but I've been changing the cover a shit ton because I'm never satisfied with anything ever so if it changes again in the next month you know why.