Death Bite (Peterick)

Part 14: Vampires are Real and the Entire World Knows It

Patrick's POV:

Screaming. That was what I woke up to. I staggered out of my bed and down the stairs. My mother was crying in my father's arms. The store was trashed. Shit. I hadn't locked up.

"Patrick, what happened?" my dad asked rather calmly.
"I-I forgot to lock the door but for good reason. A-"
"No excuses, 'Trick. No excuses will fix what happened here. Do you know how much this will cost us? We don't have the money for it."

"Dad, I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to cut it. How are we supposed to replace those books with 'I'm sorry'?"

"Well what do you want me to do then?"

"Nothing. You've done enough. Why don't you go off to college already? I've seen your bank account. You've got just about enough saved by now."

"Things are complicated in my life."
"How complicated can it be? You work at a bookstore and have three friends," he said.
"You wouldn't understand, Dad. I-I'm caught up in some things."
My mom stopped sobbing and looked at me with this expression of what did you just say?. 

She went up to me and put her hands on my cheeks, pushing them closer together until my mouth was entirely squished.

"Are you doing drugs? Is it a gang?" she asked, concern washing over her suddenly.

I slid out from under her grasp and smoothed down my day old clothes that probably smelled like Pete. To make sure I took a sniff of my shirt. Definitely smelled like Pete.

"No. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry I did this, okay? We can use a portion of the money I have saved to do some repairs."
"Patrick, we can't ask that from you. Go hang out with your friends. Your mother and I will deal with this."

"But-"

"Go," he told me.

I grabbed my coat and stormed out of the store. They were always treating me like a child, like I couldn't handle what they could. I didn't need my mom's cooking. I didn't need constant surveillance. Sure, I had screwed up a couple of times recently, but it wasn't completely on purpose or entirely my fault.

Anybody who had been caught up in the affairs of a vampire was certain to mess up along the way. Joe and Andy's apartment was close by. I decided to go there to cool off before I had some sort of melt down. Joe answered the door wearing a black trench coat with his usual wild hair tamed into a bun.

"Were you going somewhere?" I asked.
"No. Just prepping. Come in. There's something you need to see."
"What is it?"
He pulled me inside. Andy was sharpening a stake in the middle of the living room, but he stopped when he saw me. 

Their laptop was on the coffee table. Joe sat me down on the couch and clicked the video. It was from a news channel report this morning. The news anchor looked distraught, panicked almost. A mugshot flashed onto the screen. I choked on my own spit.

Last night a suspect by the name of Pete Wentz was apprehended on the murder of fourteen-year-old Tyler Joseph. Tyler's blood was drained from his body, and his neck was snapped. Pete is suspected to be responsible for the chain of similar killings around the Chicago area. What's strange about this particular case is that Pete Wentz was reported to have died in 1954 at twenty-three. Yet here he is looking not a day older. Police have transported him to a research center downtown for tests to be done on this mysterious man or should we say vampire?

Joe shut the computer and faced me.

"He's in custody. He outed his entire species. You know what this means right?" Joe said.