Blood stained teeth glint in the too bright moonlight. Screams echo through the dense forest, bouncing off the trunks of maples and oaks before fading out into the quiet of the night. Bodies fall in tangled heaps as the unfair fight rages on. And th...
When Mikey ascended the stairs he found Pete awkwardly standing in the middle of the kitchen, shifting his weight from one foot to the other while he chewed at his bottom lip. When he saw Mikey he hesitantly approached his friend.
"How's Gee doin'?" he asked nodding his head towards the basement door.
Mikey sighed, "Okay now, I guess. He was really freaking out. I had to sedate him. Haven't had to do that in a while." he said, dragging a hand through his dirty hair.
"You look tired Mikes, you should go lay down. I'll keep an ear out for Gee."
"I can't. I-I'm afraid that once I close my eyes I'll see it all again. I mean, I know you didn't like them, but they were my friends and now they're all just gone. Fuck, the police are probably going to question me about them all just disappearing and I'm going to have to lie about being there. I mean how can I tell the truth? Who would believe me?"
"I would," Pete said stepping forward and pulling the youngest Way brother into a tight embrace.
The moment was shattered when a guttural scream erupted from the dining room behind them, followed by a harsh thud. In their exhausted and emotional state, the two boys had failed to notice the gentle orange glow that had begun to fill the room as the sun rose above the trees and houses on the eastern horizon.
Frank had noticed. He had felt the intense warmth spreading across his pale skin, seeping into the layers and blistering his exposed flesh. Out of instinct, his eyes had shot open in an attempt to find a safe place in the shadows to flee the burning morning sun, it had only resulted in searing his corneas.
"Shit! How could I forget, this is like the number one rule with vampires! I'm so sorry dude." Pete said as he quickly drug Frank away from the offending rays.
"It's okay, you didn't even know vampires existed twelve hours ago. Rookie mistake." Frank said clutching his blistered face.
"We need to get him downstairs Mikey. It's too open up here, we can't keep him hidden."
"No! No way, Gerard's down there, taking him down there could set him off again."
"We don't have much choice, Mikey. Gee can come upstairs if it bothers him."
"Fine, but if he freaks out again you get to stab him."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Once the temporarily blinded and blistered vampire was safely nestled on the worn basement futon Pete and Mikey found themselves sharing the only remaining piece of furniture, a plush rocking recliner. The two first tried squeezing into the seat beside one another, but eventually settled on Mikey being cradled in the older boy's lap, his long legs dangling over the overstuffed arm of the chair. The two eventually fell into an uneasy, restless, sleep.
Frank awoke several hours later cold and in pain. He opened his eyes, only to be met by dim light and blurry shapes. He was healing, but the process was slow. He hoped that by now the grotesque blisters on his face and hands had disappeared. Slowly, he lifted a hand to his own cheek to feel for the pustules. None were present.
From his blurred peripheral vision, Frank saw a bright spot of red move. He turned his head to see, albeit in fuzzy silhouette, what could only be the red-haired boy from earlier pacing back and forth in a short line.
"E-excuse me. I-uh-I don't know your name, but could you do something for me please." Frank asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
The red and black blur stopped moving. Frank could feel those too familiar hazel eyes on him.
"I'm not going to hurt you, not that I could right now even if I wanted to. It's just so cold down here and I-uh can't exactly see right now. It would be like so rad if I could get a blanket."
Gerard giggled at the word "rad" being used unironically in a sentence. It made the creature before him appear much less intimidating.
"Are you laughing at me? C'mon, how can you laugh at this. I'm a fierce predator. Grrrr."
The least threatening growl he had ever heard left Gerard consumed by side-splitting laughter. Frank smiled to himself. It had been so long since he had heard a laugh like that. The joyous sound was like music to his ears, his own private symphony.
Frank was not deluded into believing that this boy and his Arthur were one and the same. He knew that he wasn't his lover back from the dead, but when his eyes crinkled like that and his mouth drew into that same smirk it was harder to remember that fact.
"Why can't you see?" Gerard asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"The kid with the eyeliner left me in the sun, it'll heal, just makes me more of an invalid at the moment." Frank said with a huff.
Gerard retrieved a tattered quilt from his closet. What it lacked in aesthetic beauty it more than made up for in comfort and warmth. He carefully draped the loudly patterned heirloom over the vampire's small body, his fingers brushing against cold tattooed flesh as he did so. Gerard recoiled from the frigid temperature of Frank's skin, the exposed skin so cold that it almost burned. The sensation reminded him of holding onto a snowball for too long as a child.
"Thank you," Frank said, reaching up to clasp the hand of the young man who was still leaning over him.
His skin was burning hot beneath Frank's fingertips. Had he not been so physically and mentally exhausted Frank might have made some metaphorical connection between the warmth of the pale stranger's touch and his vibrant red hair. But, as it was, Frank was just left mesmerized by the other man's presence.
Normally Gerard had a great aversion to being touched, especially by strangers. He had come to accept physical contact from his mother and Mikey; he had been forced to accept it when around Pete due to his touchy-feely nature, but whenever possible he avoided being in close quarters with others. Frank was different though. Gerard didn't know anything about him other than he had an affinity for tattoos and his status as a creature of the night, but he found himself wanting to be close to him, wanting to trust him.
"I- I c- could lay with you if you want."
"I'd like that. What's your name kid?"
"Gerard, and I'm not a kid. I'm twenty-one" Gerard said quietly as he slid into the empty space beside Frank on the futon.
"No matter how old you are you're still a kid compared to me, everyone is."
Frank could feel Gerard's nervous energy radiating off of him just as much as his body heat, but he supposed this came with the act of laying next to one of the undead. He didn't press the issue. Frank leaned his forehead just a little closer to the radiant warmth of Gerard's shoulder before letting his eyes slip closed again.
