~BOOK 4/PART ONE~ Paranormal: The Battle's Only Just Begun (Multi-Bandom FanFic)

Chapter 25

Pete and Joe both glanced back over their shoulders, watching as Rachael ran out of the house. They returned their attention forward and peered into the office where both Brendon and Patrick stood, the room splattered in red and black.

"What the fuck happened while we were gone?" Pete questioned, detaching himself from Joe's side and entering the small room.

Patrick didn't even give him an answer before shaking his head and zooming past him, a door slam following immediately after.

Brendon rubbed behind his neck and took responsibility for the explanation. "Someone cast a spell on Rachael that makes her guilt actually eat her alive. As you can probably tell, she had a lot of guilt." He gazed around the room, slipping his hands into his pockets.

Joe stepped into the room and walked up to the desk, swiping his finger across the top and sticking his finger tip into his mouth, sucking the blood off of it. He raised an eyebrow and nodded his head, going in for another taste.

"What are you doing here, then?" Pete continued his interrogation, "Shouldn't you be locked up in your apartment?"

"I'm under surveillance, asshole, not lock and chain," The wizard spat, adding on softly, "Though sometimes that's what it feels like..."

The three stood there in silence for a moment before Joe inquired, "So why did the two of them storm off?"

Brendon swallowed hard and averted his gaze to his feet. "Well, um, Rachael decided she's going to do her own thing for a while and told us that she didn't want to see us unless it had to do with her daughter or dealing with this demon problem." The two vampires nodded their heads. "So, uh, I should probably be on my way, fellas. I'll see you around." He patted them both on the shoulders before picking his bag up and leaving the residence.

Pete looked to Joe once the wizard was gone and asked, "So who's going to be the one to tell Patrick that Harrison won't budge?"

"I think you should," The curly-haired vampire replied, "You're his best friend."

"What? You're his best friend too. I think you should do it. He hates me."

"Oh really, Pete? You're going to say that? You guys couldn't hate each other even if you wanted to. Sure, you guys piss each other off more times than I can count on all of our fingers, but if it wasn't for Rachael, you and him would be together."

Pete scoffed. "Um, no."

"Um, yes. Even Rach would agree with me."

The bassist rolled his eyes before leaving the office and venturing upstairs, his nerves getting worse with each step he took down the hallway, shortening the distance between him and the room where sounds of things being thrown and crashing were coming from. Pete closed his eyes and bit his lip, wrapping his hand around the doorknob and pushing the door in. He opened one eye and saw Patrick grab the armoire and yank it forward, the heavy piece of furniture collapsing to the ground with a loud thud, the wooden back splitting upon impact.

"Hey buddy," The older vampire said, attracting the younger, raging vampire's attention, "Whatcha doing?" Patrick clenched his fists by his sides, his chest rising up and down as fury boiled inside of him and his eyes glowing a bright shade of red. Pete entered the room and pushed the broken decor to the side, placing his hands on Patrick's shoulders and looking him right in the eyes. "I got some news for you." The red in the singer's eyes subsided and he eased up.

"Did Harrison agree to cut back his request? Or change it?"

"Not exactly," Pete replied honestly, a frown appearing on his face. Patrick groaned and tilted his head down, covering his face with his hands. "Hey, it's okay, man. He just wants us to pay a little money."

"A little money? Pete, he wants us to pay for all the fucking damage we caused. Do you know how much fucking damage we've caused? How much money that is?"

"It's probably nothing."

"It's not nothing, Pete! It's, like, all the money we've ever made! Ever!"

"Uh, guys?" We both looked back to see Andy standing in the doorway, a regretful expression spread across his face. "I don't have good news."

"Oh my god," Patrick mumbled, pulling himself away from me and turning around, beginning to pace back and forth, "This is great, just great! None of the fucking faction leaders want to change their fucking stupid-ass requests because they're such fucking assholes and won't change their goddamn minds about wanting stupid-ass things like fucking money or the release of a fucking harmless idiot." The other vampires stared at the youngest one, shocked by the string of swear words that slipped past his lips in the one exchange.

"You don't know, maybe Jack got Bruno to change his mind," Andy proposed.

Patrick scoffed. "Yeah, right. That bastard hates us, Andy. There's no way in hell that he's going to suddenly want us to stick around. Hell, I don't even want to stick around!"

"You don't mean that, Patrick," Pete muttered.

"No, Pete, I really do. I hate this place. It's done nothing but tear our family apart. I mean, I fucking lost my daughter and my girlfriend to this city, and I lost you too." He sat down on the edge of the unmade bed and put his head in his hands. "You know, this is all your guys' fault. If you didn't make us come to fucking New Orleans for that stupid goddamn show, we wouldn't be here right now. I would still have Rachael and Ashley wouldn't be a part of my life again."

"Dude, she's your daughter..."

"I know she's my daughter! But there's a reason she left us and told us she never wanted to see us again, which no one seems to understand." A blanket of silence and tension fell over the torn-apart bedroom the three vampires occupied. "I remember when Rachael sold me on the idea, of making sure that she never found out who we were, who she was. I thought it was stupid, but she told me she didn't want her growing up in a world where she'd be an abomination. So we cast a spell similar to the one Brendon cast on Kenya, only it was a less effective version. It erased her memory for years at a time."

"Pat, why erase Halsey's mind if she's one of us?" Pete questioned.

"Rachael and I wanted more for her, that's how it started out. The way it worked was she grew as normal then when high school came for her we just replayed those four years over and over and over again. We cast the spell so she wouldn't figure out that we were immortal, but also so she wouldn't be hunted down like we were. She'd grow up, make friends, and she'd never feel different." The vampire licked his lips and hung his head, continuing. "I don't know what happened, but one day it stopped working and...and she got so pissed off. The day she found out was the worst day of our lives..."