Echoes of Eclipsed Fears (Frerard)

28. The Devil's Got My Number

Gerard paced disgruntledly as Bert explained himself.

"There's no hard feelings," Bert had reasoned, though Gerard could feel that he was lying. "I just wanted to come and check up on you. And who is the human in the next room? I can hear their heart beating."

This was Bert's third attempt at meeting Frank; each time he tried to enter the living room, Gerard had cut him off.

"None of your concern," Gerard reiterated. "I just don't understand, you're only hurting yourself by coming here. I'm sorry, Bert. I know I did some shitty things in the past, but there's really no moving forward. It would be best if we didn't have anything to do with one another."

The other vampire huffed annoyedly.

"I know," he lied. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well, I'm doing fine," Gerard said slowly. Bert craned his neck to look beyond the taller vampire, trying to catch a glimpse of the human in the next room. He could smell him now, and he was curious as to why Gerard had some random snack sitting around in his home on Christmas day.

Gerard cocked an eyebrow at Bert, the corners of his mouth turning downwards.

"Who is he?" Bert persisted. "Did you pick up some little human pet?"

"He's my boyfriend," Gerard grunted. There was a silence, in which Bert absorbed the words that had just left Gerard's mouth. Once he'd fully registered the weight of Gerard's sentiment, Bert tipped back his head and guffawed with laughter.

"You're fucking joking!" He cackled. "Aw, man, that's unfortunate."

Gerard frowned; he wanted to knock Bert's lights out but, sadly, that wasn't possible for a vampire. He breathed slowly and deeply, listening to the part of his brain that was reminding him to remain civil. Bert continued rambling, his voice sounding light and airy.

"You, of all vampires!" Bert chuckled. "Always stressing about being immortal and losing all your loved ones, and now you're with a human." He shook his head in disbelief. His tone wasn't fooling Gerard, though; he could feel every ounce of jealousy that trickled out of Bert's aura. If it were possible for vampires to secrete such fluids, Bert would be sweating with it.

"So," Gerard said impatiently. "Have you seen enough? You've certainly said enough."

"I wanna meet him," Bert said matter-of-factly. Gerard rolled his eyes, sweeping past Bert and into the living room.

"Frank?" He edged cautiously. As he crossed the threshold to the lounge room, he picked up on Frank's emotions more clearly. The boy was worried for him, it seemed. "This is Bert," he explained. "He wants to meet you, and then he'll be on his way." Gerard reinforced the last part, hoping that Bert would get the memo.

"Hi," Frank squeaked. He sat awkwardly on the couch, his hands clasped over his knees. There was something about Bert's demeanour that he didn't like, and Frank found his mind travelling back to the nightmares he'd had recently. Had his brain been trying to foreshadow something? God, he hoped that Bert's special vampire ability wasn't mind reading, then he'd really be in for it.

As if on cue, Bert cracked a tiny smile, his lips stretching across his front teeth as if he was trying to bite back laughter. Frank bit the inside of his cheek, waiting for either of the vampires to speak up.

"Nice to meet you," Bert said, his pitch going up at the end as if he was on the verge of cracking up. Gerard sighed at the other vampire's immaturity; it was so obvious that Bert had never gotten over him, and now that he knew about Frank's existence, he'd be paying out on Gerard for it every chance he got. "How did you two meet?" Bert asked, feigning politeness. Frank looked up at Gerard, scratching the back of his neck. Gerard could feel Frank's panic crackling around the room like electricity.