Pyre (Frerard, Rikey, Ryden, Petekey)

20: Why Not Throw In Some Gabilliam To This Train Wreck Of A Story

Gerard found himself alone for the first time all night, his brain churning rapidly as he tried his best to process everything that had occurred over such a short span of time, from growing the courage to talk to Frank, to their date, to kissing the man he couldn't get out of his head, to finding Mikey and Ray once again, to meeting Brendon and Ryan, to having a home - an actual place he could stay in for more than one night, with no chances of humans stumbling upon his hiding place, or the sun slipping in while he slept.

Gerard had been in a permanent state of shock and awe ever since Mikey had informed him that they had found the elusive coven that Gerard hadn't truly allowed himself to believe existed, and even once Mikey's words had finally sunk in, Gerard's mind was still wrapped in a cloud of protective denial, because although he knew Mikey wouldn't lie to him, this all seemed too good to be true, and Gerard had quickly learned over his short life that nothing this supposedly perfect was as wonderful as it appeared at first.

But when another vampire entered the church not long after their affectionate reunion, Gerard finally let himself believe that this wasn't some forgery made to trick Gerard into letting his guard down; this was real, this was happening, and it wasn't a dream, or a beautiful image crafted by Mikey's murmurings about how wonderful everything would be when they were able to live in peace, and that realization almost broke Gerard with the sheer intensity of it.

Once Gerard pulled himself out of his head and back to reality, even though he was still half convinced this was all one very vivid hallucination, he found that he had missed a large majority of what the young vampire who had approached them had been saying, something about rules, and how he was so glad to finally meet him, and oh - his name was Brendon by the way, and he would be more than happy to show him around the coven if Gerard was up for it.

Gerard nodded mutely, still too wonderstruck to formulate coherent words, letting Brendon speak enough for the both of them as the floppy haired vampire escorted them into the bowels of the earth where the coven was supposedly located, Mikey and Ray grinning like idiots every time they caught sight of Gerard's bewildered expression.

Brendon was an excellent tour guide, even though he kept apologizing for the fact that the coven leader was unavailable for the night, so Gerard would have to wait to be properly inundated until tomorrow, glossing over what Bert would mostly likely tell him so Gerard would be prepared.

"Oh -" Brendon had paused during a seemingly endless rant about hunting regulations, "you also can't leave the coven without explicit permission."

"What?" Gerard's head had snapped around of its own accord, a vision of Frank instantly rising to the forefront of his mind, a sad expression plastered on his face caused by Gerard's sudden disappearance. "I - I can't, I have someone...I need..." Gerard trailed off awkwardly, attempting to think of a lie since he couldn't let anyone know about his bond with Frank.

"Oh I know all about you and Frank, and don't worry, I won't stop you from seeing him, I only told you that to make sure you are careful when you sneak out - I will show you the back entrance to the coven later on when everyone else is asleep," Brendon smiled happily, either ignoring, or completely missing the incredulous look that Gerard shot his way.

"How the fuck...what -" Gerard stumbled over his words, the sentence getting tangled up in the rush of confusion caused by the fact that Brendon was somehow aware that he was interested in a human, he knew Frank's name, and not only that, the information didn't seem to bother him at all.

"I know Frank, he is my friend, and I saw you with him tonight," Brendon chuckled, shaking his head from side to side when Gerard continued to stare blankly at him.