vamps will never hurt u

This Broken City Sky

The sun was beginning to set. The sky gradually darkening, orange and pink bleeding into blue. Gerard had stayed longer than planned, and he knew Mikey would be finally changed soon. He'd immediately be thirsty, the slight burn coming to Gerard right now. When was the last time he fed?

Before Frank and Ray came over for the county fair, Gerard drank the last bag of animal blood he had. That was more than twenty-four hours ago. He remembers thinking to get some more when his friends leave.

Gerard absentmindedly brought a hand to his throat. Knowing exactly what that meant, Bert broke out into a grin. "Hungry?" He asked.

"No," Gerard responded quickly. If he said yes, Bert would bring out some blood, but not the kind Gerard drank. They'd tease and pressure him to drink it.

"Boys? You guys hungry?"

One said, "I could eat," and another, "I'm always thirsty."

"So it's settled," Bert grinned. "Dinner time."

Gerard sunk deeper into his seat on the couch. What--whose poor soul was sacrificed for these doofuses? Jimmy, a tall skinny guy with dark brown spiked hair, left the room, probably to get 'dinner'. The question was, will dinner be alive or dead?

Gerard prayed the latter. Perhaps he could sneak out before it's brought in. The sight alone could push him off the ledge. Just thinking about blood made Gerard's cold heart race and fingers shake.

"No thanks," Gerard muttered and crossed his arms.

"Don't worry, Gerard, I know you're vegetarian," Bert said. Gerard rolled his eyes. A commotion from another room averted everyone's attention. The large metal door on the left side of the room slid open, revealing Jimmy towing a tied and gagged man. "Unfortunately, animal blood isn't on the menu today, but this piece of shit is!"

With his heart thumping rapidly against his rib cage, Gerard yelled, "what?" The man Jimmy brought in struggled against his restraints. Jimmy found that amusing.

Bert kneeled down, "I know you think we're monsters for drinking human blood, but we wouldn't kill innocent people." Bert seemed genuinely offended. "You know what this guy did--what he almost did? What Jimmy stopped him from doing?"

"What?" Gerard couldn't help but ask, looking between Bert, Jimmy, and the wide-eyed man.

"I found him forcing himself on an intoxicated woman last night. He almost succeeded, if it weren't for me," Jimmy said.

"So you see, Gee, these people we kill, we kill for a reason. Two birds, one stone," Bert straightened up. They get to eat and there's one less bad guy out there. "So, you gonna starve or drain this guy with us?"

Gerard swallowed. If that were true, then that means the guy deserves it, right? And if they're already going to kill and drink from him, why let his blood go to waste? He'll need his strength for Mikey, of course.

Bert interpreted Gerard's silence as him being stubborn and nodded to Jimmy to slash the guy. In a second, the man was alive and the next, there was a blade to his throat. Deep red blood gushed from his wound, some even coming out in spurts.

At that moment, Gerard had made his choice. He and the other vampires lunged toward the bloody mess. Gerard had never seen so much blood in his life before. The iron and rust scent filling his nasal cavity, the image of the blood spilling from a sliced throat like a dam breaking, and the feel of the thick, warm substance on his tongue and running through his fingers went straight to Gerard's core, his pulse electric.

------

The nighttime never felt scarier than right now. Mikey, a newborn vampire, on the loose and Gerard, a guilt-stricken runaway vampire, in the wind. Monsters lurking in the dark felt more real than ever. Not that the Way brothers were monsters, but their pointed teeth said otherwise.