i'll never let them hurt you • petekey

five

a week later 

Mikey toys with the edge of a newspaper, sighing softly.

"Hi, I forgot my library card, but I'd like to check this book out." Someone says. The vampire looks up.

"Sure thing, do you have a phone number I can use?" He takes the book that he's handed and types in the person's number, glancing back at the newspaper's headline.

"EXTINCT WEREWOLF RETURNED? MASSIVE CANINE WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY A LOCAL HUNTER."

- - - - -

I'm in my office when Mikey gets home, talking to someone at the publishing office. I'm author, or at least I'm trying to be. I have one book out already and a second in the works. That's how I met Mikey, at the library, while I was working on my writing. He took an interest in my work and we couldn't stop talking for the rest of his shift.

I hear a gentle tap on the door, a few moments after I hang up the phone.

"Come in."

The vampire pushes open the door. My heart skips a beat.

"Hey, Mikes. How was work?"

"It was... it was good... but I need you to look at something."

My eyebrows crease in confusion, and Mikey hands me a newspaper.

I feel an empty pit opening up where my stomach once was. "Oh."

"Yeah. I guess this was from the last full moon. Did you know them?"

"Um, no, I didn't. But that's awful."

"It is. But what's more awful is that they'll be hunting for more."

I look up at Mikey.

"The next full moon isn't for three weeks. It'll die down." I shake my head, rereading the headline.

"Die down? Pete, you know they're all waiting for the next full moon. All those fucking werewolf hunters, the ones who swear you're still out here? They're going crazy over this."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do? Stay here?" I spit, my voice cracking out of fear.

"Do you have a choice?"

I take in a shaky breath.

"Mikey, I'll kill you. If I stay here, I'll kill you."

"We can chain you up. Board the door. Put wolfsbane everywhere. I can go stay somewhere else. But there's no fucking way I'm letting you out when there's a chance you'll get hunted by those horrible people. I don't even want to think about what they'll do to you if they catch you. Torture you, experiment on you, keep you in a fucking cage and show you off. I won't let them hurt you."

I release the breath I just took.

"I'll kill you. I know I will."

"We'll figure it out. I promise. But I'm not going to stand by and let you go out there just to be hunted."

"I'd rather die than kill you, Mikey! I know I will, if I stay here, he'll somehow find a way out and hunt you down. It's like I said, I'm just as attracted to you when I'm turned, but it's different. I don't want to hold you or kiss you. I want to tear you limb from limb. I have nightmares about it, when the full moon is near. Horrifying, bloody nightmares. I can still hear your screams, the sound of your bones being crushed, the sound of your glasses snapping in half. I don't trust chains or doors. I'm fucking scared of myself, Mikey."

"Hey, hey, it'll be okay." Mikey soothes, stepping towards me and wrapping me in his arms. I let him hold me, breathing in the cold scent of worn paper and pennies. "Everything will be okay, okay? We'll figure it out."

I nod, digging my fingers into the soft fabric of his jacket.

I can feel every second ticking by, pulling us closer to the full moon. A million horrible thoughts are racing through my brain. Being hunted, trapped, tested, bred, used until there's nothing left of me. Unless I stay here. I can hear the metallic snaps as the chains break around me, I can hear Mikey's screams as he desperately fights back against the one he once loved.

His hands tangle into my thick, brown fur. Pure horror is drenched in his eyes as he writhes beneath my heavy paws. His grip is tight around my throat, but my breathing remains the same. A low growl sounds from behind my bared teeth, as a syrupy droplet of hungry drool falls onto the man below me. He looks so pitiful now, so small and weak. I could snap him in half.

"Pete... please..." Mikey whimpers, the light behind his eyes slowly fading. I take one last look into the eyes I once longed for, the same eyes I always met before a kiss, the first eyes I saw each morning, the eyes I looked into as my back would arch and the room would fill with screams. I take one last look into the eyes of my dearly beloved, and bury my teeth deep into his face.

My eyes fill with tears. I hug the vampire tighter, willing my bottom lip to quit trembling.

"Pete, we're gonna be okay. Don't cry."

"How did you know I was crying?" I pull away, looking up at him. Mikey reaches a hand out, brushing away a fallen tear with his thumb.

"I can smell the salt. And your breath hitched, and then stopped, like you were scared that if you let it out then you'd start sobbing."

My bottom lip doesn't cease it's quivering. "I'm just so fucking scared. Scared of hurting you, scared of being hunted, scared that they're gonna figure out who's a werewolf and who isn't and then find me and take me away, and they'll look through the house and realize that you're a vampire and then they'll take you too, experiment on you and hurt you."

"None of that's gonna happen. I swear. I'll never let them hurt you."

"It's not them you should be worried about, Mikey. It's me."