Unholyverse

~Part 18~

Frank woke up to his cellphone chirping. He fumbled to answer it, pulling it to his ear and managing a groggy, "'Lo?"

"Frank Iero?" a weirdly familiar male voice said.

Frank rubbed a hand over his face, blinking away the creepy dream he'd had about lizards. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry to call you so early," the voice said. Frank felt too sleep-fogged to place it, but he knew he'd heard it before. "I hope I didn't disturb you, but I believe I have something that belongs to you."

In the background, a dog barked. Frank sat up so fast his head swam and clutched the phone tight. "Oh my God, you have Ella? Where did you find her? Is she okay?"

"Can you give me your address? I'll bring her right over."

Gerard was sitting up next to Frank, and he cocked his head when Frank started rattling off his address. "Good news?" he mouthed, and smiled when Frank gave him a big thumbs up.

"I'll be there right away," the dude on the phone said. It was only after he hung up that Frank realized he hadn't given his name - but then, Frank hadn't asked for it. Whatever.

"My dog!" he told Gerard, bouncing a little in place. "Someone found my dog!"

Gerard held his hand out for Frank to slap. "Finally some good news."

"Right?" Frank started moving tow ards the edge of the bed. "I gotta tell Mikey."

"He's not here." Gerard got up and helped Frank get up, then let him go slowly so Frank was standing - albeit a little unsteadily - on his own two feet. "The guys all left to get fresh clothes and stuff a little while ago. They said they'll be back soon. Plus I think Brian wanted to follow up on a lead he had about that tattoo parlor."

Frank's feet had healed enough for him to make it to the bathroom on his own - thank God, he thought fervently while he was in there. The last thing he needed was to ask Gerard to get up close and personal with Frank's bodily functions after the giant fuck-up he'd already caused last night.

"I made coffee," Gerard called from the kitchen when Frank hobbled back out to the living room and eased himself down onto the couch. "I hope that's okay."

"More than," Frank called back. "I can't believe someone found my dog! I had completely given up hope."

Gerard came out holding two mugs of coffee and wearing a giant grin. "I know! See, it just proves that you should always have faith."

Frank winced, taking one of the mugs. "It's too early for puns, man."

Gerard scoffed. "It's never too early for puns."

They were halfway through a cigarette each when Gerard said casually, "So, I stayed up last night reading about exorcisms."

Frank swallowed a mouthful of coffee and raised an eyebrow. "Holy water and yelling?"

"And a shitload of prayers, yeah." Gerard shrugged and tapped his nails against the side of his mug. "I don't know, it might be the way to go."

"Have you ever done one before?"

Gerard grimaced. "Not exactly. But I did take a course."

"A course," Frank repeated. "Man, your life is so not like mine."

"Tell me about it."

"Anyway aren't exorcisms for like, people who're possessed? I'm not possessed. No pea soup vomit on me." Frank gestured at his shirt to demonstrate.

"I know." Gerard sighed and drank some more coffee. "It was just an idea. I thought maybe in theory we could treat the curse like a demon, I mean, evil's evil, right? And Ray found some stuff about herbs we can use that are supposed to help. At this point I am open to any and all suggestions, whether Church-sanctioned or not."

Before Frank could answer, there was a knock at the door and Frank practically fell on his face trying to get up.

"Take it easy," Gerard balanced his smoke on the edge of the ashtray and put a hand on Frank's shoulder, pushing him back down to the couch. "I'll get it, man."

Frank watched him go to the door, his stomach and chest and...all his insides bubbling up with excitement and joy. He leaned forward so he could catch Ella in case she threw herself at him and ended up trampling on his feet, and moved his coffee out of harm's way.

"Hi," Gerard said enthusiastically as he opened the door. "Thank you so much for coming!"

"No problem," said that voice Frank had heard before, and then Gerard jerked forward suddenly, out of sight.

Frank heard his voice, muffled, saw his feet kicking out from behind the door. He pushed himself up off the couch, heart battering inside his chest and stomach rolling over, but before he could take a step forward Gerard slumped down onto the floor in a heap, and there was Luke, standing over him.

"Oh, God," Frank breathed.

"God's not listening to you, brother," Luke said grimly, and came towards Frank with one of his hands raised high.

Frank turned around, scrambled, felt Luke's hands yanking him back and pinning him against Luke's chest. Frank scratched and fought; he saw the coffee table overturn, heard the mugs and his ashtray smashing on the floor, and then Luke's hand clamped down over Frank's nose and mouth.

When Frank tried to breathe in his head filled with fumes that made blood-red circles spin before his eyes, and he heard Luke saying, "Easy, easy, don't fight it now," and then everything went black.