varicose veins

Chapter 1

It's been almost seven years since Patrick's been turned. Pete notes to himself as he twirls a pen between his pointer and middle finger, trying to distract himself from his craving. He seems to have adjusted to being turned better than I have.

Patrick's at the other end of the room, towering over an old and tattered notebook, his own pen scribbling away in the margins of a page in the middle of it. Ever since he'd been turned and escaped from prison, he had completely focused on the hunt for enemy vampires, using his knowledge and abilities against those who got in his way.

Andy and Joe are in the next room, quarreling over a bowl of chips while going over surveillance footage Pete had gathered the night before. Ever since they'd escaped with Pete and Patrick, they still kept to the hunt for enemy vampires, but Andy was also hell-bent on finding a way to turn Patrick and Pete back.

Pete had given up on extensively finding a way to cure himself of being vampire years back, though he still used Patrick's original craving-stopper recipe when the urge became too much and rat's blood wouldn't suffice. Patrick also used the same recipe, mostly out of the fact that he had tasted human blood once after he'd be turned, and it didn't end particularly well for anyone involved.

"Pete, come over here," Patrick says, looking up at him with those eyes, the ones that send shivers down Pete's spine whenever they're directed at him. "I think I might have found a new trail to follow...A new nest to strike out on."

Pete sighs and almost slides out of the chair he'd become comfortable in, making his way across the room to where Patrick stood over the notebook. If Patrick's heart still beat normally, Pete was pretty sure it'd be pounding against his ribcage in excitement.

In the page of the notebook Patrick had it opened at, there was a map of the country, dark red and black X's scattered across it. The legend at the top corner told Pete that the black X's still posed a threat to them, especially the bigger they were and the closer they were. "Which x are we looking at here, Stump?" Pete asks, trying to determine in his head the location of each bold and black X, how much gear they'd have to stuff in the van this time, and who they'd need to call to set things up for a hunt.

"You see the X here near Akron? That's where we need to go. That nest is starting to get big, collecting more members, and they're doing it in a way that's not recorded in the books, or so Ray's told me." Patrick says in response, a frown marking his face as he looks on his phone at the pictures Ray has sent him.

From what little Pete can see over Patrick's shoulder and with the glare on the screen from the desk lamp, there are pictures of guys that have solid red and black eyes and cunning grins on their faces that don't seem to go with them at all. He'd think that they were demons, but the teeth. The teeth were definitely vampire's teeth, no way around it. Sharp pointed, and an even sharper white against the mild pink of their gums and lips.Newly turned.

"What's up with the eyes? Has Ray told you?"

"He suspects that there might be a demon in cahoots with them, but not to jump to conclusions yet. He hasn't been able to send many spies out to survey the area they've been prowling around."

Pete groans, teetering back on the heels of his feet as he covers his eyes with an arm. "Fucking great."

"What's so fucking great?" Joe bursts into the conversation as he enters the room, a bag of chips in hand and a few in his mouth.

"We've got a new nest close to Akron, and it's not like any job we've had before." Patrick says, turning away from the table and notebook, phone still tight in hand.

"They might be part demon, Joe." Pete says, teeth bared as he begins to pace the room they're in.

"Well shit."

*_*

Damn you, Patrick. Pete thinks that night as he tosses and turns in the enclosed space he fondly calls his bed. Damn you for showing me those pictures. Half-demons?!?

Demons were pretty bad as it was, and they generally hated vampires on principle. But this whole supposed alliance was changing most of what Pete ever knew about them. What vampire would even want to be close enough to a demon to help turn new nest members?

Pete tries to remember the few times he had ever been in close range with a demon, only to be rattled by the first memory. It had occurred when Pete himself had been newly turned, and his mind was fuzzy around the edges from the buzz of wanting blood.

"Don't we have a pretty little vamp boy here, Indigo?"

Pete was pressed up against pavement, having been cornered on a solo mission by the two strange men he'd been sent to track. At the time, he had no idea what they really were. All he knew was that they wanted him, and probably not just to hang out at the Sonic he was currently being smashed into the ground at.

"It's too bad he's already turned, he would've been a wonderful new addition to the flock." The one Pete supposes is Indigo, purrs, moving his long (probably indigo) hair away from his face to narrow his eyes at him.

"Ain't that the truth." The first one laughs, digging his nails deeper into Pete's shoulder, letting drops of blood form around his fingers.

Pete's so hungry, even for his own blood, that he starts to tremble, and the guys guffaw at him. Pete wants to kill them so bad, and drink all the blood they have in their bodies. "Let go of me so I can kill your douche-y asses!" he screeches, writhing even against the pain in his shoulders.

"Aw, you know we'd love to, pretty boy," Indigo hums, crouching down onto the ground just far enough away that Pete can't steal a bite of his leg. "But we really can't. We're here to kill you, so you can't mess up our grand plan."

That's when their eyes flash from red to black and their Cheshire smiles grace their form-fitted faces. Then Pete blacks out.

Pete's scrabbling against the doors to his 'coffin', roughly shoving them open and crawling out fast enough that he crashes to the ground at Patrick's feet. He's breathing fast, and even as a vampire, he can feel his heart beating out of control.

"Pete, dude, are you okay?" Patrick asks, bending down to help Pete up off the ground.

"Screw you for telling me about those demon-vamps. Screw you." Pete sputters out, wrenching from Patrick's hand once he's steadier on his feet.

"Pete, seriously? What's wrong with you?" Patrick hisses, and Pete can see him start to go on the defensive. "I was just telling you the case, nothing's different about this."

"Everything is different about this, Patrick! Can't you see?"

Now Pete has Patrick thrown up against the wall, and his fangs are bared as hot anger runs through his body. Patrick looks honest to god scared now, and that's what Pete wanted in the first place.

"Oh my god, what are you talking about, Pete?"

"You've never actually hung around a demon long enough to know exactly what they're about, Patrick. They want to take over." Pete growls, holding Patrick to the wall by his upper arms, effectively stopping any attempt to move away. "Whatever these creatures are, if Ray's giving you to right information, have to be more powerful than anything we've ever gone against."

"More than that nest in New Orleans last year?" Patrick whispers, looking at Pete with wide green eyes.

"More than that nest. We're going to have to study the hell out of these guys, and make a new method of battle if we can. One of us could actually die this time."

*_*