The World Will Stain Us

We Stitch These Wounds

Writing an album, Jake had discovered, was a pain in the ass.

They were sequestered at a cafe Andy liked purely for the aesthetic, trying to write music that actually seemed compatible with the lyrics the singer was coming up with and vice versa. As yet Ashley still hadn't returned from confronting his sire, though Jake suspected he was due back any day―he'd said he'd only be gone for a couple of weeks, and they were nearing that mark.

It had been nearly two weeks since the release of the "Knives and Pens" video, and Jake had been astounded at the amount of people that had connected to it. While the industry continued to steadfastly ignore their little band, the video had reached 145 thousand views within its first week of existence. That number had tripled in the span of another week.

Andy's expression upon checking the stats and finding the number of views so high that first time had sent an odd fluttery feeling through Jake's long-still heart. "Holy shit," the youngest vampire had whispered.

"You did this, Andy," Jinxx had told him, his soft voice just as awed as Andy's own. "You made this happen."

Jake had taken in the amazed, hopeful smile on Andy's face, his electric eyes alight with astonishment and pride, his face awash in the pale blue-white glow of the computer screen, and done his best to memorize that look, deciding he'd very much like to see it again but unsure that he ever would.

"If this is what we can do with one video," Andy had breathed, "imagine what we could do with an album."

Jake had reached for one hand the same time Jinxx had reached for the other. Andy let them both hold them without protest.

"Then we'd better get to work," Jake had murmured, and the light shining in Andy's eyes when he met Jake's gaze had given him all the confidence in the world.

Now, however, that confidence was feeling more like a joke. They'd gotten nowhere in the hour and a half they'd been here; it was starting to get annoying. Andy was being stubborn, and simply looking at the notes haphazardly scrawled on pages scattered over their table didn't seem to be helping him make sense of how he could place lyrics over them. Jake knew his handwriting wasn't the greatest, but it was legible enough that it shouldn't be this difficult.

Andy shook his head again and tapped the notes Jake was pointing at. "I don't see how any lyric I've ever come up with could fit over that bar. It wouldn't make sense."

"Then leave that part alone and fit your lyric somewhere else," Jinxx suggested.

"Where else? That's the bridge, is it not?" Andy countered.

Jake threw down his pen in frustration. "Enough," he said. "We're working with scraps here, and it's not coming together to even form the slightest semblance of a meal."

Andy, Jinxx, and Sandra all looked at him. Jake considered what he'd said, then shook his head. "Alright, bad analogy, but you know what I mean. Sitting here arguing about placement is not helping anything."

"It wasn't a bad analogy," Jinxx protested mildly. Jake waved him off.

Andy crossed his arms. "I'm well aware that we're not making any progress, Jake. What do you suggest I do to fix it?"

"We could actually, I don't know, be playing the music we're writing?" Sandra suggested. "Instead of just sitting here squabbling?"

"My melodies just don't work with the riffs you're coming up with," Andy said, ignoring her. "I know what I want them to sound like and they don't match."

"Maybe if you listened instead of just looking," Jinxx chimed in, siding with Sandra, "we wouldn't be having this problem. Looking at the notes on the sheet obviously isn't helping you, so let's play them and let you hear it."

Andy looked ready to snap back another retort, apparently determined not to listen, but Jake wasn't having it. Sandra and Jinxx had made the very point he was trying to get at; the singer was just being stubborn and not hearing them.

"Andy!" he said forcefully, and the young vampire looked at him, startled into silence. "Listen to them, please. Let's pack this up and move back to the apartment―we've still got that drumset in the basement, and Jinxx and I can bring our guitars down. We'll actually play our riffs and let you hear what they actually sound like, since looking at a mess of notes on paper isn't doing it for you. If you can hear what it's supposed to sound like, then you can determine whether your lyrics will work over it or not."

Andy blinked, then looked around at each of them, his blue eyes confused as if he'd come out of a trance. "Oh. That's what you meant."

Jake sighed, glad he'd been able to snap Andy out of his own thoughts. "Yes. That's what we meant."

"Took you long enough," Jinxx said, though he didn't sound upset―more gentle, teasing.

Andy scowled. "Sorry. I'm just not in the right state of mind right now."

Jake took his hand under the table, a gesture that was becoming increasingly more common. "We know." And we're worried about you because you haven't told us what's on your mind. Or at least I am. He smirked, betraying nothing of the thoughts in his head. "But it still took you long enough to get that we were telling you we'd be better at making music if we were, you know, actually making music."

If Andy could have blushed, Jake suspected he would have been. "Shut up." He squeezed Jake's hand gently, however, and Jake suppressed a smile.

"We will not," Jinxx said matter-of-factly.

Sandra face-palmed and muttered something about "this is why I'm lesbian" under her breath. She stood to leave, gathering her nearly-empty coffee cup from the table in front of her. "Are you idiots coming?" she asked. "Or do I have to steal your keys and make you march your sorry asses back to that apartment on foot?"

The three vampires exchanged a surprised look.

"I don't think anyone's ever called us idiots to our faces before," Andy remarked.

"Or threatened to make us walk back to our apartment," Jake added.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Jinxx shrugged.

Jake glanced at Sandra, whom he thought was giving them an impatient glare behind her sunglasses. "It probably won't be the last," he pointed out. "Come on, let's go."

The three of them stood as well, collecting the sheet music spread across the table. Andy flipped his notebook closed on his lyric drafts and warpaint designs; Jinxx helped Jake paperclip pieces back together and slide them back into their folder. Jake closed said folder once everything was inside, the glossy black surface undisturbed by anything but a white music note in the top left corner.

They headed for the door, and a minute later the three vampires and their human friend had exited the cafe. Jake had to fight back the urge to hiss at the bright sunlight that greeted them. He knew it was the middle of summer in Los Angeles, which meant inherently strong near-constant sunlight and way too many human tourists, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He'd been a vampire too long to be able to appreciate sunlight anymore; now all he wanted to do was get out of it, and quickly.

Thankfully, Jinxx's car―which was both the largest and the cleanest―was parked close to the cafe's entrance; Jake slid gratefully into the passenger seat and the safety of tinted windows so dark they were nearly black from outside view, though inside it only appeared a few shades darker. The light that filtered through, however, was significantly more dim than the high-intensity rays that would harm them if exposed for too long.

Sandra removed her sunglasses once she'd shut the driver's-side back door behind her. "Why the hell are your windows so dark?"

"Aesthetic," Jinxx replied vaguely, starting the car.

The human drummer raised a dubious eyebrow that got lost behind her bangs. Jake twisted in his seat to look at her; she looked startlingly different without the sunglasses hiding most of her face, decidedly softer and more feminine, though there was no disguising the hard edges and confident-to-the-point-of-cocky energy of an aspiring rock artist.

She saw him looking and the eyebrow went up again. "Something to say?"

Jake shook his head, stifling a grin. He was liking this human more and more the longer he knew her.

He turned back to face the road ahead of them, watching out the windshield as the familiar sights rolled by. They'd only lived in L.A. for a few months, and Jake doubted he'd seen everything the City of Angels had to offer, but the area in which they lived had become as familiar to him as the streets of his hometown. Just because they were vampires and couldn't enjoy the California sunlight like humans could didn't mean they couldn't explore the city they called home. Jake had learned Hollywood's secrets by virtue of nighttime wandering and brief sojourns into the daytime world, and though the city had not given those secrets up willingly, it had been fun discovering what went on in the shadows of this sprawling nightmare of humanity with Jinxx, Andy, and Ashley by his side.

It didn't seem like any time at all had passed before they were back at their apartment. Andy and Sandra headed immediately down to the basement; Jake and Jinxx headed up, taking the stairs at vampire speed rather than waiting for the elevator.

"Let's hope we can figure out how to put together a song now," Jake muttered as Jinxx unlocked their door. "I'm sick of being stuck."

"Me too," Jinxx agreed. "I think actually being able to hear how things sound will definitely help Andy, though. Sandra made a good call."

"She did." Jake retrieved his guitar from where it leaned against the wall of the living room, then headed down the hall to his room to select an amp. He had quite the collection already, but was always looking for new ones that he could experiment with. He selected one that looked decent, then headed back out to the living room to wait for Jinxx to return with his own amp.

He thought about their attempts, the numerous efforts they'd made to turn this band into a reality instead of just a hopeful dream. He thought they hadn't really been trying hard enough. For the last two weeks it had mostly been gathering music he and Jinxx had already written while Andy sat on the couch and tried to write lyrics. They'd had a couple of brief conversations about the makeup ideas Andy was presenting (he'd called it warpaint), but they hadn't really talked about the music itself since the release of "Knives and Pens." The past couple of days had been trying to change that, to no avail. They had to get something done today, Jake thought, or they'd never get anywhere.

Jake had been part of bands before. He'd been turned because a bandmate had gotten caught up in the moment and bitten him, after all. But this one seemed the most real, the most important. This time he had real friends in the people he was attempting this endeavor with, people who knew him and actually gave a damn what he thought, people who cared about him (he hoped) as much as he cared about them. This one seemed like it at least had a shot at becoming something great.

But only if they could learn to work together and forge that greatness themselves.

"Do you really think we have a shot at this?" Jake asked as Jinxx came back out of his room, amp in one hand and guitar slung across his back. He ignored the part of his brain that told him Jinxx looked good this way, like he belonged with an instrument in his hands.

Jinxx tilted his head. "At what, exactly?"

Jake shrugged. "This. The album. The band. Do you think we stand a chance at getting our shit together and becoming what we're trying to?"

Jinxx was quiet for a moment. He was always quiet. Jake liked that about him―never too loud, never forcing himself on someone. It made getting close to him difficult at times, but in a world where most of Jake's everyday life was lived loudly and without stillness, Jinxx's calm, quiet presence was steadying.

Eventually the older vampire said, "Yeah. I think we have a shot. It's not going to be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is―and I've been around for nearly two hundred and forty years, so believe me when I say that." He smiled, and it lit up his whole face. "But I think we can do it. Somehow, some way, this messy little clan we've created can become something bigger. We just have to be willing to make it work."

Jake took that in for a moment, then smiled back, a little distractedly. Jinxx's vote of confidence was nice to hear, but they still had a long way to go, and Jake worried that somewhere along the way one of them would break from the pressure.

"I think we'd better pray to every god we know, Jinxx," Jake said. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

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Andy was pacing when Jake and Jinxx arrived in the basement. He'd had a lot of pent-up, restless energy today, much of it spent on his anxiety about trying to sit down and make music so they could become what he wanted them to become. He missed being able to take a walk in the late afternoon sunlight to clear his head; movement had always helped him shake off the excess energy caused by his ADHD, and long walks often helped focus his mind, too. But that hadn't been possible in thirty-seven years―not during the day, anyway, which was when he generally needed to.

The moment he heard his friends' footsteps in the lobby above them, he forced himself to stop moving, looking in the direction of the staircase and trying to pretend his anxiety wasn't busy tearing at his mind. The sight of Jake and Jinxx descending the stairs relieved him more than it should have for all that the pair of guitarists had never been in any danger. Calm down, he told himself. Calm down.

Jake and Jinxx brought their guitars over to where Andy and Sandra stood near the drumset. The pair bent to connect their instruments to the amps; Andy tried not to fidget and failed, his hand reaching for the cross he wore around his neck. He turned the crucifix back and forth in his fingers, diverting his excess energy to something small.

"So how will this work?" the youngest vampire asked of his guitarists.

"Well," Jake said, bent over his amp and only half-focused on what he was saying, "I think the idea was that Jinxx and I would play some of the riffs we've come up with, and then after hearing them you'd try to work your lyrics in. Sandra, we can add in your drumming once we've figured out how the melodies fit, since the melody-riff synchronicity has been our biggest issue so far."

Sandra nodded. Andy turned that over in his head for a moment, then nodded as well. "Alright."

"Let us finish getting set up and then we can get started," Jinxx said.

Andy tried not to resume his pacing. It would do no one any good to have him spazzing and acting crazy. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. If only he knew why his ADHD was acting up so much today. If only his mind would stop whirring at fifty miles a minute.

Jake managed to figure out whatever he needed to with his amp and straightened up, guitar in hand; Jinxx followed a moment later. "Alright," said Jake. "Let's do this. If you can find the sheet music written in A Major to follow along for yourself, we can start playing whenever you're ready."

Andy bent down to find the piece Jake had mentioned amongst the papers scattered over the floor. He'd unceremoniously deposited the folder on the floor when he entered; he cursed himself now, his eyes scanning the key signatures at the tops of pages.

After a couple of minutes, he drew out two stapled-together packets of music with the key signature displaying A Major. "Which one?" he asked.

He handed the pages to Jinxx, who gave them to Jake. Jake surveyed them for a moment before handing one back to Andy. "This one."

Andy nodded and consulted the sheet music. The notes were a bit of a mess―Jake's handwriting was a little rushed, and besides that he'd never been the greatest at reading sheet music anyway. He remembered enough that he thought he could sort of follow along. "Alright," he said, a little skeptically. "Go ahead."

Jake and Jinxx exchanged a look. Andy watched the silent communication as the pair counted themselves off. He didn't know why he was so surprised when they started in tandem with a hard rhythm on their guitars; they didn't need to look at the sheet music, but then they'd written it, so presumably they already had it committed to memory.

Andy started nodding along to the beat when the pair of guitarists hit the repeat marked at the end of the first staff line. He retrieved his notebook from the floor and flipped through the lyric drafts he'd come up with. Some of them were simply choruses or the sketchy idea of a verse that could apply to something; others were full-fledged songs. Sadly he didn't have nearly enough to comprise an album―but he could always work on it. He listened with one ear to Jake and Jinxx's playing and looked over his lyrics, thinking.

The guitarists hit a riff that sounded like it would back a chorus, and Andy's eyes snagged on a particular phrase. It was part of a larger idea for a song, though he hadn't been able to figure out the first verse of it yet, and looking over the words his brain began to fit them over the riff in a way that simply looking at the lyrics and sheet music side by side hadn't done. They were right, Andy realized. This is the way to do things.

Jake and Jinxx repeated the riff that had begun the song, and this time when they switched to the chords Andy started to sing, reading the lyrics on the page before him. "Here's to your perfect weapon/Crack bones with blind aggression/Like birds whose wings are broken/You live without direction/Leave us alone/You're on your own/We are breathing/While you're sleeping, go!/And leave us alone.../The liar's cheating/Our hearts beating, go!/And now you're on your own..."

Andy stayed silent for the bridge he'd written, unsure exactly how to fit that over the guitar as of yet, but launched into his chorus again when the melody came around once more. "We are breathing/While you're sleeping, go!/And leave us alone.../The liar's cheating/Our hearts beating, go!/And now you're on your own..."

The guitarists finished with a flourish and looked at Andy. "I see you found some lyrics that would work," Jinxx said, raising an eyebrow.

Andy nodded, pointedly ignoring the bait to resume their teasing from earlier. "It's a little wrong, though. I don't know how to layer my bridge over the melodical bridge, and something about the verse threw me off."

"Do you think it was pacing?" Jake asked.

"Maybe," Andy said. "I was rushing it a little. Maybe if I draw out the words a little so it covers more of the chord..." He thought for a moment, biting his lip as he focused, not missing the look Jake and Jinxx exchanged with each other but dismissing it in favor of concentrating. "Maybe I'm missing screaming, too. A couple of those lines didn't feel right the way I sang them."

"Should we run it again?" Jinxx asked. "Let you try it out?"

Andy shook his head. "Not the entire song. I don't have a first verse yet―that was the one part I couldn't figure out. But maybe from the second riff?"

Sandra cleared her throat. Andy turned to her, startled; he'd forgotten the human was there. "I had some ideas for how to work in the drums behind the guitar stuff while listening. Can we run it from the top anyway so I can experiment too?"

Andy glanced guiltily at the guitarists. "Of course," he said. "I'm sorry―I actually forgot you were in the room."

Sandra shrugged. "I'm kinda used to it. I don't exactly talk much."

Neither does Jinxx, Andy thought, but I'm always aware of his presence.

"Alright then," the oldest vampire said. "From the top, whenever you're ready, Sandra."

"Maybe you can figure out the first verse while we play, Andy," Jake said, reaching out to squeeze Andy's hand gently.

Andy shrugged. He didn't think it worked that way, but if Jake wanted to believe that Andy wasn't going to stop him.

Sandra nodded at them once she'd gotten herself situated behind her drumset. Jake and Jinxx exchanged another impenetrable look, something that only they could read; a few seconds later Jinxx's intake of breath signaled the start of the song. Sandra started with a crash on the cymbals as Jake and Jinxx began their guitar rhythms, then hit a rhythmic beat with the bass drum. Andy simply nodded along and listened, jumping in with his vocals the first time they hit the melody.

This time seemed more cohesive than the last, probably because of Sandra's drums keeping everyone together. Andy jumped back in with the vocals once they hit the chords again, this time slowing how fast he was singing so the words lingered over the guitar. "Here's to your perfect weapon.../Crack bones with blind aggression.../Like birds whose wings are broken...!/You live without direction..."

He started to scream here, right as the guitar rhythm changed. He left a pause between sentences to accommodate the extra guitar notes and Sandra's drumming right along with it; the strategy worked well, Andy found. "LEAVE US ALONE!/YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!" He changed back to normal singing for the chorus once more.

The screaming had given him an idea for how to work his bridge in. When they hit that part, Andy let out a throat-tearing scream that started as a growl, then interspersed his lyrics with Jake and Jinxx's quick little guitar rhythms. "GOOOOO, GO!/GO!/GO!/AND NOW YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!/GO!/GO!/AND LEAVE US ALONE...!!!"

Jake launched into his guitar solo, letting Jinxx take the harmony; Andy knew they could have both easily played the solo, but Jinxx seemed content to let Jake do it. Andy wondered if there was any particular reason for that, then dismissed the thought; Jinxx had chosen to be the rhythm guitarist, and Andy wasn't going to question that decision.

They finished the song, and Andy grinned. "Hey, that actually almost sounded like a real song," he said.

"Not quite," Sandra remarked dryly. "I think I need to rearrange a couple of the rhythms I tried―it didn't quite match up correctly. And we're still gonna need Purdy's bass line."

"We can go over the song again once Ash gets back," Jake said. "In the meantime, Sandra, do you want to write in your drum part alongside our guitar stuff? We've got room on the page if you're willing to draw your own staff, or I'm sure one of us could run up and print out a staff sheet for you."

"I can draw it," Sandra told him. "Just bring me the paper and a pen."

Andy did that job since he had the sheet music in his hands.

"We probably should print out a bunch of actual staffs, though, and copy down our notes into those so it's neat and actually somewhat readable," Jinxx pointed out as Andy handed Sandra the sheet music and produced a pen from the spirals of his notebook.

"We can do that tonight," Jake said. "The hope is to be well on the way to at least a few songs by the end of the day, isn't it?"

Andy nodded; Jinxx and Sandra did the same, Sandra a bit absently as she focused on writing down her notes in the drum part.

Jake set his guitar down and knelt to look through the pile of sheet music. He apparently settled on one and came over to stand beside Andy and show him the music. "I thought this one looked really cool, too," Jake said. "See this riff here?" He pointed to one early in the page, right where Andy estimated a pre-chorus or the end of a verse could fall. The riff was small enough that it could hardly be considered a riff, more like a cluster of quick notes, but it was tucked amid a couple of less dramatic chords, backing notes that would go largely unnoticed by listeners.

Andy nodded, and Jake looked at him with his hazel eyes shining. "I'm really proud of it. A hidden bit of flash in a part no one would really pay attention to otherwise."

Andy smiled at him, feeling something flutter in the region his heart had once beat. "It's neat, Jake. And I'm sure it'll sound just as cool as you say."

Jake's smile fell as he studied Andy's face. "Are you okay? You don't look happy."

In truth, Andy was feeling rather depressed today on top of the anxiety and pent-up energy, and he didn't know why. He'd been fine for weeks now―but maybe the reality of having to work on creating this album they were all so eager for, the knowledge that it was going to be a lot harder than he'd told himself it would, was simply bearing down on him. Calm down. Calm down.

Andy forced a smile onto his face, but this one wasn't anywhere near as genuine as the one a few minutes previously when Jake had shown him the little hidden riff. "I'm alright," he said, willing his armor into place. "Just tired today."

"Does that mean you'll actually sleep through the night tonight?" Jake murmured.

Andy looked at him sharply. "How did you―"

"I don't sleep well either some nights," Jake reminded him. "I hear you tossing and turning for hours before one of us falls asleep, and then I hear you again when you wake up from a dream. I wait, and I listen for you to lay back down. Some nights you get up, grab a drink or something, return, and go back to bed. Some nights you don't lay back down at all."

Andy looked down. Nightmares had plagued him ever since his turning, but usually they weren't bad. As of late they'd been getting worse, but Andy blamed it on the stress trying to get this album together was putting him under. He hadn't known Jake listened when he woke up.

Jake reached out and laid a hand on Andy's arm, covering his Danzig tattoo. Andy raised his head again to find Jake's worried hazel eyes searching for his. "You know you can talk to us if something's bothering you, right?" he said.

Andy nodded. "I know." That doesn't mean I will.

He got the sense Jake knew what he'd left unsaid. The guitarist shook his head and stepped back, tucking his hand back into the pocket of his jeans.

"You can keep hiding behind your walls, Andy," Jake said. "But I promise one of these days I'll find a way to break them down and make you see that you're not alone anymore."

He turned away from Andy and picked up his guitar again, ready to work on their attempts at an album once more.

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They worked for hours, experimenting with guitar riffs and vocal melodies and improvised drum rhythms that Sandra scrawled into a messy staff line on their haphazard sheet music. It was organized chaos in a way, and Jinxx wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.

On the one hand, it felt familiar, messy but comforting, the chaos of four minds working at creating something that would hopefully last as long as they lived―an eternal legacy, something to bring the name "Black Veil Brides" standing in the records of musical history long after they stopped performing. On the other, Jinxx had never liked feeling this scattered―this sense of disconnection was unpleasant at best, and though he knew it was to be expected from a new band still trying to figure out how exactly they worked together, it still unnerved him.

By the time Andy called them to a halt, they had the drafts for three mostly-complete songs and a vague idea of what to do to work in Sandra's drumming and Andy's lyrics over a handful of other guitar pieces Jake and Jinxx had written. It wasn't a lot, but it was progress―and Jinxx supposed he should be grateful for that.

"So, reconvene here tomorrow afternoon?" Sandra asked as Andy and Jake went about gathering loose sheet music and lyric drafts.

Jinxx carefully disconnected his guitar's amp as he replied. "I think that'll work," he said. "Guys?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Jake agreed absently, looking around distractedly for something. "Where'd the sheet music for the first song we played end up?"

"I've got it still," Sandra said, and handed it back to the guitarist.

"We need to figure out titles for stuff too," Andy remarked. "I had a couple of ideas based on lyrics I've written, but I don't know if some of them even make sense."

"We can go over that tonight, too," Jinxx told him. "I doubt any of us will be getting much sleep." Particularly him. His nightmares had been awful the night before; Jake had reassured him and calmed him down when Jinxx jolted awake, but even with Jake beside him he hadn't had an easy time falling back asleep. Now that they'd made progress on the band, Jinxx had an excuse to keep himself awake―outside of the fact that he was a vampire and didn't actually need sleep in the first place.

"Right, well, my girlfriend's been texting me for the last half hour," Sandra said. "I'm going to go be with her for a while―she promised me dinner tonight and will freak the fuck out if I'm late."

"Go on," Andy told her. "Be with your girlfriend. We'll see you tomorrow."

Sandra nodded at him, then raised a hand in farewell at Jake and Jinxx as she headed for the stairs. A moment later, the human was gone.

Andy visibly relaxed. "Oh, that's better."

Jinxx tilted his head. "What?"

"I've had a stomachache gnawing at me for the last half hour," Andy explained. "I guess I need to feed. Once I realized that fact, her scent came into sharper focus."

Jinxx nodded, understanding. Generally he tried to feed every two-to-three days, but there had been plenty of times―especially in the first few decades after his turning, before he really settled into a rhythm―where he left it a little too long and proceeded to be driven crazy by the scent of human blood around him. It was an annoying side effect of being a vampire.

"I don't understand how sometimes you barely last two days after feeding before you need to again and sometimes you can last closer to a week," Jake said as he packed his guitar carefully back into its case. "It doesn't make sense."

Andy shrugged. "I don't know either. Regardless, I should feed when we get upstairs."

Jinxx picked up his guitar case and slung it over his shoulders, retrieving the amp from its place on the floor. "Then let's go."

The oldest vampire led the way out of the basement and back up to their apartment on the sixth floor. It wasn't coming cheap by any means, but somehow the odd jobs Jinxx and Jake worked―randomly being hired on as one-time guitarists for gigs, the shows Jinxx occasionally played with the local symphony, last-minute night shifts at gas stations or clubs―were just barely managing to pay the rent.

Hopefully that situation would change once they found a label willing to work with them and got themselves on the way to an album. Once they were making money off of record sales and hopefully ticket sales to shows, they may be able to actually comfortably afford this place―or maybe even afford to move out into a bigger space, or separate ones.

Jinxx sighed to himself as he unlocked their apartment door. He didn't mind sharing his space with the others, but the apartment was comparatively small and getting rather crowded with stuff. Since it appeared they'd be living in L.A. for a while, they'd started to accumulate possessions, things they had never really been able to have before because of their tendency to move around every five to ten years or so. It was crowding the limited space they had.

He pushed open the door and the three vampires filed in. Andy headed straight for the couch, setting down the folder full of sheet music and his own notebook on the coffee table before straightening, running a hand through his hair as he headed for the fridge. Jinxx watched him for a moment, then shook himself and followed Jake down the hall to his bedroom, which at this point had mostly become a place to store possessions―instruments, amps, folders of sheet music for the symphony, his clothes, and whatever random objects he'd accumulated in the past half a year.

Organized chaos, he thought grimly, looking around at the state his room was in. For all that he didn't usually sleep in it, the place looked like disaster―papers and folders stacked on every surface, a pile of books waiting to be read sitting at the edge of the bed, as-yet-unwashed clothes in a heap on the floor waiting to go into the washing machine. His violin―one of them anyway, the wood one he'd had since he was a child, the one that had somehow stood the test of time―stood proudly displayed on the crowded desk beside the desktop computer Jinxx hardly ever used. His guitar's spot was beside it, leaning against the desk on its own stand. His cello stood on the opposite side of the desk. His selection of amps, smaller than Jake's collection but something that was still a bit of a source of pride, stood stacked neatly by the closet doors.

Jinxx knew exactly where everything was amidst this mess, but the fact was it was still a mess. He shook his head at his disaster of a room and set his guitar down carefully in its spot. He'd get around to cleaning it. Eventually.

He gazed at his violin, reaching out to touch the gleaming mahogany of the rosewood-and-maple instrument. He kept it in pristine condition―it was a memory, a relic of a past long behind him. It had been the last gift his father had given him before he'd gone off to war and Jinxx had never seen him again. Jinxx had sworn he'd never enter the military like his father had, sworn he'd never suffer the same fate. Now, two hundred and thirty-one years later, his father was merely a concept to him―he'd been all of seven when his father had been recruited into the rebel militia and disappeared―but the vague memory of receiving this violin from him the day he went off to war had stuck with Jinxx relentlessly.

Other memories had taken root in his mind over the centuries, as well. He'd seen far too much war in his immortal life―it didn't help his nightmares any, and frequently what he dreamed of was interspersed with memories of war and death. The violence in his head rivaled the calm exterior he presented, but he'd learned how to hide the horrors of all that he'd seen and hide them well.

Jinxx stared at his violin a few moments more. The rosewood body, a little unorthodox for a violin but sturdy and beautiful nonetheless, gleamed slightly in the light spilling in from the hallway. It reminded him of home, though he hadn't had a true home in two hundred years. Not since that night, seventeen years after the war had ended.

It's dark. Her hand is in his, pulling him along; she's laughing. "It's haunted," she says, "it'll be fun." He's not so sure; he's had experience with haunted places before, after all. But he lets her lead him along, lead them all along.

They enter the ruin―a burned-out shell of a building, never fixed from the war, crumbling and ashy. Purple roses, dark but visible against what remains of the blackened frame, climb the remnants of this building; he's amazed anything can grow here at all.

She leads him along, picking her way across the ruins, laughing, so full of light.

The gleam of red behind her, eyes in the darkness, multiplying―a rush, and then she isn't laughing anymore, because these are not ghosts. They come out of shadow, appear from nothing, fangs gleaming and scarlet eyes hungry. She screams―they all scream―as the attack commences.

No, these are not ghosts. And he knows he will die tonight for being so arrogant as to think they were.

Jinxx forced himself out of the memory, falling back onto his bed, his head spinning. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He hadn't had a flashback like that while he was awake in a long time. He should have been used to reliving that moment by now, but it never failed to hurt him, to make him feel like the world was ending.

Focus, Jinxx, he scolded himself, in a voice that sounded very much like Jake's. I know it's not necessary to breathe, but let the motion soothe you anyway. You're safe. You're in your disaster of a bedroom in 2009, in the apartment you share with the three vampires that have become your closest friends in the last three decades. You're not there. It was in the past. Breathe. Focus.

Gradually, Jinxx calmed down, blinking open his eyes and taking another look around the room to ground him back in the moment. The script he'd just recited to himself was something Jake had often said when he woke from a particularly bad dream, and it never failed to work. Jinxx really was indebted to Jake for putting up with it for so long.

"I'm fine," Jinxx told himself aloud, trying to make himself believe it.

He shook himself, then stood and headed for the door. He reemerged into the living room to find Andy on the couch with a half-empty blood packet in one hand and a pen in the other, his notebook open in his lap. Jake was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd Jake go?" Jinxx asked.

"To print those staff sheets," Andy responded. "He'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh." Jinxx felt his heart sink. "Of course." He'd wanted Jake's company right now, to soothe his rattled nerves after the flashback. But he could handle it.

The young vampire looked up from his notebook to peer curiously at Jinxx with crimson eyes gleaming in the lamplight from the table beside him. Andy. It's Andy. Not them. "You don't sound so good. Did something happen?"

Jinxx mentally cursed, but said, "No. I'm fine."

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Jinxx, I've lived with you long enough to know when you're lying. You're kinda terrible at it."

That, at least, Jinxx knew was true. He'd never been a good liar, even way back when he was turned. No, he scolded himself before his thoughts could travel down flashback lane again, we're not doing that again.

Jinxx sighed and joined Andy on the couch. "I...had a flashback, while I was in my room."

Andy shifted to face him. "A flashback?" He sounded like he knew exactly what Jinxx was talking about.

Jinxx nodded. "I don't think I've ever told you, but my turning was...violent, to say the least. A lot of people died that night. I have since lived through almost every major war in American history. To say that I have PTSD is...well, a bit of an understatement. Occasionally―" More than occasionally, because nightmares exist― "I'll get flashbacks, usually back to my turning but sometimes set in the backdrop of one of the wars." Jinxx fell silent for a moment, then confided, "I haven't gotten one in years." Not while awake, anyway.

Andy's expression had softened as Jinxx spoke. He set down his pen and took Jinxx's hand; Jinxx was surprised to find that Andy's fingers were smooth, free of the calluses that came with guitar-playing, and softer than he would have imagined. The hands of a pianist, perhaps―though Jinxx wasn't sure if Andy played any instruments at all considering his love of the vocal work.

"I'm sorry," Andy said simply. "I...sort of know what you're feeling."

Jinxx studied the younger vampire, watching him bite his lip apprehensively, as if worried he'd said too much. "How so?" Jinxx asked softly.

"I...had a violent turning, too," Andy said, but there was a note of fear in his voice that made Jinxx decide to back off. Andy had never told them the details of how he'd ended up the way he was when they found him all those years ago; Jinxx wouldn't force him to, not until he was ready.

Jinxx squeezed Andy's hand gently; it appeared to bring the younger vampire back to the present. He shook himself, refocused. "Well, if you ever feel like talking about it...Jake isn't the only one you can turn to," Andy said. "I'm...I'm here for you too. If you need me."

Jinxx smiled softly at him, his mind effectively calmed from the terror of the flashback. "Thank you," he murmured.

Andy withdrew his hand and turned his attention to the blood packet, taking a long drink from it. His hair fell out of his face as he tilted his head back, and Jinxx studied the singer. It was always interesting watching another vampire feed―they each had their own style, and though certain parts of the act were the same each vampire had a unique little twist, often so subtle even they didn't notice it. Andy's was the way his tongue poked out slightly to catch whatever blood was escaping the packet as he fed. Jinxx found it rather adorable.

Stop that, he scolded himself. That's the third time you've thought of him as "adorable" in as many weeks. Enough already.

Andy apparently caught him looking. He finished the packet off, then licked the blood off his fangs―something Jinxx tried to ignore―and tilted his head, his bangs falling to the side.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Jinxx shook his head, still mentally scolding himself. "Nothing."

Andy looked a bit skeptical, but he shrugged it off and picked up his pen again.

"What are you doing?" Jinxx questioned, since it seemed like Jake wasn't planning on arriving soon.

"Trying to figure out the first verse of 'Perfect Weapon'," Andy replied, a little absently.

"'Perfect Weapon'?" Jinxx echoed.

Andy looked up again, the crimson slowly bleeding back into blue so that for a moment his eyes appeared as purple as the roses that had caught Jinxx's attention the ill-fated night of his turning. It was startling, but not bad―simply different, a look Jinxx was not used to. The expression in the singer's gaze was unreadable―amusement? Confusion? Something else entirely? He wasn't certain. He was hardly ever certain of anything around Andy, not when they were alone like this. It was something about him―an air of mystery that the young vampire kept drawn tight around himself like a shield, armor with hastily concealed cracks that always left Jinxx wondering if he'd ever be able to see more than slivers of who Andy was beneath it. He wished Andy could feel safe enough to let down his guard with him.

"The first song we practiced today," the singer explained, the rough burn of his deep voice drawing Jinxx out of his thoughts. "I took the liberty of naming it already―if that's okay?" He peered at Jinxx, his eyes once more the familiar electrifying blue that had stood out so vividly in his hunger-starved frame the lonely, freezing night they'd met.

Jinxx swallowed, caught up in that endless gaze, and nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. I'm sure Jake will agree."

Andy tilted his head. "Where is Jake, anyway? He said he'd only be a few minutes."

"Right here," Jake replied, and Jinxx was glad of the excuse to look away from Andy's penetrating eyes. The other guitarist held a stack of papers in his hands and had a scowl on his face. He rounded the couch and threw himself down beside Jinxx, though he was careful not to damage the papers. "Printer was backed up. Apparently everyone decided to print their documents to the lobby tonight."

"But you got the staffs?" Jinxx asked, and Jake nodded, pulling the top sheet off.

"Yep. Four staffs per bracket―lead, rhythm, bass, and drums," Jake explained. "We can start copying down music whenever."

Jinxx nodded. "Alright. Do you want to handle 'Perfect Weapon', or one of the others we did today?"

Jake's brow furrowed at the name, and Jinxx explained before Andy had to again. "He named the first piece we did already."

"Ah." Jake nodded, and opened the folder to find the pieces they'd worked on today. In that mix were "Perfect Weapon," a piece written in C# Major that Jake was particularly proud of, and one written in G Major that Jinxx suspected Jake held close to his heart. The slightly younger vampire looked over the selection, then said, "You can take 'Perfect Weapon.' I'll do the G Major one...Andy, do you have any interest in doing this with us?"

Andy shook his head. "I'm trying to finish some of the incomplete lyrics I've written. It'd be nice if I had actual words to put over a riff when we're practicing."

"Well, who's going to copy down the C# Major one, then?" Jinxx asked.

"I can," said a voice from behind them, and all three vampires turned to find Ashley standing in the doorway.

"Ash!" Andy exclaimed, immediately brightening. "When did you get back?"

"Just now," Ashley said. "What are we doing?"

"Copying our messy sheet music onto actual staff paper," Jake told him. "So it's more readable. We don't have bass lines figured out yet, but we got some lyrics to fit and a good deal of Sandra's drumming figured out."

Ashley shrugged. "I can copy down notes, no problem. I won't know how to read half of them since they're in different clefs, but I can copy them. Just hand me the sheet music and the blank staffs and we can get started."

Jinxx obliged, handing him the packet of sheet music that was the C# Major song and a small pile of blank staff sheets. Ashley seated himself on the floor within reach of the coffee table in case he needed more paper, borrowing Jinxx's book to use as a hard surface to write on.

"First line lead guitar, second line rhythm, third line we'll skip for now so that can be bass, fourth line drums," Jake said, and all three of them marked it in accordingly.

"'Perfect Weapon' was in 4/4, right?" Jinxx asked. "I can't tell if there's a time signature written into the sheet music."

Jake leaned over to peer at the left edge of the haphazardly scrawled staff lines. "That...is 4/4, yeah," he said after a minute. "There, see?" He pointed to a dark mess that Jinxx had mistaken for end lines, his hand brushing against Jinxx's. Now that the older vampire looked, it did sort of look like a time signature.

"Alright, thanks," he said, and bent his head to get to work.

------------------------------------------------

This wasn't working.

Andy swore under his breath and set aside his notebook. He wasn't getting a damn thing done. The other three were working diligently at transcribing notes onto the staff pages, occasionally asking each other for help deciphering a note or confirmation of a specific pattern being the desired product.

Andy simply couldn't focus. He wasn't sure why, either―it was quiet except for the scratching of pens on paper, and that should have been helping him. Instead, he felt restless―maybe too energetic from his feed earlier. Maybe residual energy from the day, though he'd managed to get most of that out by pacing around the basement while they worked.

Andy reached for his computer. He was the only one of them that owned a laptop so far, and the thing was a monstrosity―but it was portable, and it ran just the slightest bit faster than the desktop computer Jinxx had. He scrolled absently through MySpace, not entirely paying attention―at least until the words Standby Records caught his eye on one post.

Andy clicked on it and read the full post. His eyes went wide. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, startling the other three.

"What is it?" Jake asked.

Andy looked at them. "We have a record label interested in us!"

The three older vampires exchanged looks of astonishment, then set aside their transcriptions to gather around Andy's computer.

"Listen to this," Andy said. "'My teenage daughter showed me your video 'Knives and Pens' and seemed incredibly impressed. I did a bit of research and decided I would like to talk to your band myself. We make no promises, but depending on how our conversation goes we may be willing to offer a record contract. Signed, Neil Sheehan, Standby Records, Owner.'" He looked up at the faces of his friends, his eyes shining. "We got someone's attention!"

"Does anyone know anything about Standby Records?" Jake asked.

Andy clicked onto a new tab and Google-searched the name. "All it says is that it's an independent rock/metal label," he reported. "They're apparently based in Cleveland."

"That's not much to go on," Jinxx said skeptically. Of all of them, he was the most cautious around humans, the least trustful. Perhaps that made him wiser than the rest of them. Andy didn't know.

"It's the only label that's bothered to notice us," Ashley pointed out. "How many other chances are we going to get if we pass this up?"

"We're on our way to getting an album written now, too," Andy said, though they were far from a real album. "If we pass up this chance, it's likely we'll end up with an album but no one to publish it."

"Exactly," Jake agreed. "We're too inexperienced to self-produce, and it doesn't seem like the wider industry gives a damn about Black Veil Brides. This may well be our only shot."

Jinxx sighed. "I guess that makes sense. But we need to talk to this guy before we agree to anything."

"He did say it wasn't a guaranteed contract," Ashley reminded them. "We'd have to talk to him anyway."

Andy switched back to the MySpace tab. "Well," he said, "I've got a chat feature. I can contact him."

"Do it," Jake said, and Andy clicked the small icon that would bring up a chat box.

"What do I write?" the singer asked. "I want all of our voices in on this."

"Tell him we'd be interested in learning more about a contract with Standby," Jinxx instructed.

"And maybe mention that we've got an album already in the works," Jake added. "That could earn you a few points."

Andy nodded and began to type out a message. He really hoped this Neil Sheehan character was serious about giving them a chance. Andy had put a lot of faith into the idea that they really could pull themselves together into a band. This, being contacted by a record label, felt like a big step towards making that idea a reality. He didn't want to find out if that faith had been misplaced.

He hit send on the message and reread it once it had appeared in a text box on the screen. We'd be interested in learning more about your record label and the possibility of a contract. It may interest you to know that we are already in the process of writing an album, which does mean that if you decide to extend us a contract we may be able to get said album out as soon as next year. Looking forward to your communication. Sincerely, Andy Biersack, lead vocalist of Black Veil Brides.

It seemed like a solid response to Sheehan's offer. "Now all we have to do is wait for him to reply," Andy said.

"Which could take a while," Ashley said. "Industry types don't really seem like the kind of people that are willing to respond to a communiqué in any sort of timely fashion."

"I guess that means we can get back to work," Jake shrugged.

"Well, then let's do it," Jinxx said. "This record isn't going to write itself."

They resumed their original positions. Andy set aside his computer and pulled his notebook back; maybe he could draft some new lyrics, or keep cleaning up unfinished ones. The first verse of "Perfect Weapon" was still eluding him, but he'd been reading something the other night that had stuck with him and wanted to see if he could build a song off of a phrase or two from that.

He wrote down the phrases first: despair for passing seasons, souls who missed their plight, heaven's calling. He wasn't quite sure how he could build something off of that, but he was willing to try.

He started by trying to figure out how the syllables of each could fit into a verse line. Sometimes the syllable placement was just as important as the rhyming. He lost himself in the familiarity of devising lyrics, in the calm it brought him, focusing his wild attention on this task and grounding him in a way that little else could.

Andy didn't know how much time had passed when he glanced up at his computer again, but he'd managed to get the hazy idea of a verse written down and decided to forgo the line about souls, at least for this song. To his slight surprise, a message had come through from Neil Sheehan. That was quick, Andy thought to himself.

"Guys," he said. "Sheehan wrote back."

"What'd he say?" queried Ashley.

Andy read the message aloud. "'Standby Records is an individually owned and operated label working almost exclusively with young rock and metal bands such as yourself. Your 'Knives and Pens' video shows significant promise, and the fact that you're already at work on an album means you're intuitive as well. I'd like to sign you on to the label. I've attached a copy of the contract; if you and your bandmates could all sign and mail it to the address below, we will have ourselves a deal. Sincerely, Neil Sheehan, Standby Records, Owner.' Then he listed a billing address."

Jinxx, Jake, and Ashley all exchanged looks. "So does that mean we have ourselves a record label?" Jake asked.

"Let's print out and read the contract first," Jinxx cautioned. "We want to make sure we know what we're getting into."

Andy doubted any of them would understand any of the legal terminology used in the contract, but he supposed it couldn't hurt to listen to Jinxx and read through it.

"I'll send it to the printer in the morning," Andy said. "Right now I'm kind of on a roll with these lyrics I'm drafting."

"It's just as well," Jake said. "The printer's not available for use after ten p.m., and it's almost eleven now."

"Besides, I think we're all almost done copying down these notes," Ashley added. "Which means we can go to bed."

"Let's get back to work, then," Jinxx said.

Andy gazed around at the three older vampires. "We're really doing it, guys," he said. "We're really doing it."

Jake smiled at him. "Then let's make sure we keep doing it."

They turned back to their work in silence, a sense of hope permeating the room and making Andy feel lighter than he had in decades.

----------------------------------------------

It was Sandra that introduced them to the next important figure in their lives.

The four vampires had already gathered in the basement and were tuning instruments. They'd come a long way in the last month, with seven songs written and together (including "Knives and Pens," which they'd enhanced a bit from the recording used in the video) and a few more well on the way. It wouldn't be long, Jake thought, before they could reach out to Neil Sheehan again about getting themselves a recording studio and a producer to get the album finished and sold.

In the meantime, they still had a few songs to mesh together. That was what they were doing today, what they'd been working on almost every day for the last month. The rented drumset had an increasingly-becoming-permanent residence in the apartment's basement, and the people that managed the lobby had started to talk about what could possibly be happening down there every time they saw the same four men disappear downstairs, and a single woman following. Jake had heard the rumors fly and just shook his head; let the humans talk. They weren't doing anything wrong.

They'd taken great pains not to do anything wrong. In order to keep their vampirism a secret from Sandra―which had never been a spoken decision, just something the four of them had started doing so as not to scare her off―their feeding schedule had become fairly regular, which tended to drain their supply faster. Jinxx was now running out every other week to restock blood supply; before, they'd needed to resupply roughly once a month. For all intents and purposes, whenever Sandra was with them they were just four humans intent on making this rock band work. They were careful to avoid skin-to-skin contact with her as much as possible, which wasn't hard since she tended to stay behind her drumset the entire time and Andy and Ashley at least had habits of wearing gloves. While Jake knew they could explain the freezing condition of their skin off as being cold from the blasting A/C, that excuse would only work so many times―and given that they all tended to wear leather jackets, it became less plausible every time.

Aside from the predicament trying to keep their vampirism a secret had put them in, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Jake had noticed that Andy in particular still had off days, but for the most part when they ventured down to the basement to work on the record he was as focused as a young vampire with ADHD could be, and just as enthusiastic about the endeavor as he had been the night he'd first brought up the idea.

Said record was coming along nicely. The day after Ashley had returned, they'd gone over "Perfect Weapon," the C# Major song that had ended up named "All Your Hate," and the ballad-like G Major that had been named "Carolyn" at Jake's request after his late mother once again; Ashley had managed to create a bass line that fit into the songs after only a few tries. Andy had finally managed to figure out the first verse of "Perfect Weapon" about a week later, laying awake one night and turning the problem over in his head. Jake had chuckled when Andy told them that was where the line "awake at night you focus" had come from.

Since then, they'd written and named three more songs: the dark and riff-heavy "Beautiful Remains," the sweet and orchestral "The Mortician's Daughter" (Andy claimed he'd written it about a girl he'd met, though Jake and the others never saw any sign of her existence), and the storylike "Heaven's Calling." With the prewritten "Knives and Pens" (the video for which was still gathering attention at a record pace) and the three they'd worked on that first day, they had seven decent songs ready to be recorded―not quite an album, but getting there.

Jake was cautiously optimistic. As yet Standby hadn't pressured them for any content, though he knew they'd start soon if they didn't tell the label they were ready to record an album in the near future. But things seemed to be working out for the better so far.

Well―except for Ashley's current grumbling.

"Where the fuck is Sandra?" he complained for the tenth time in as many minutes. "She should have been here by now."

"You said that already," Andy grumbled. "Ten times."

"Maybe she got stuck in traffic," Jake suggested. "This is L.A. in August, after all."

"Or maybe," came the human drummer's voice from the direction of the stairs, "she was getting us a gig."

The four vampires looked over in her direction. "A gig?" Jinxx echoed.

Sandra nodded, walking into the room to join their ranks. She stood at least a head shorter than all of them, but somehow her presence seemed to fill the room, as if she made up for her height in ferocity. "My brother's art gallery, Exhibit A, is hosting an event of some sort. They need a band to play it. My friend and the art gallery's co-owner, Richard Villa III, was talking to me about it. I showed him the 'Knives and Pens' video and suggested Black Veil. I couldn't get a read on what he thought of the video, but he said he wants to meet the rest of you before he decides to hire us on."

"So you got us the possibility of a gig," Ashley said. "That's not the same as an actual gig."

"Shut up, Ashley," Jake told him.

"That's actually really great, Sandra," Andy said. "Regardless of Ashley's opinion. Did he say when he wanted to meet?"

"He said anytime later this afternoon is good," she replied. "We've just got to be mindful of the fact that they're setting up for an event."

"So we'll practice for a little while, then go over and meet him," Jinxx said. "Seems logical enough."

Jake nodded in agreement. Regardless of Ashley's bad mood, Sandra really had presented them with a golden opportunity to get noticed. Jake wasn't about to pass that up.

They got very little done in the next couple of hours, all of them anxious but excited about the prospect of a gig. Finally it seemed Andy couldn't stand it anymore.

"Okay, I hate waiting," the youngest vampire declared. "Can we go?"

"Yeah," Jinxx said. "It's not like we're getting much done here anyway."

"He knows me already," Sandra said. "So I'm not going. I'll give you directions to Exhibit A, though."

"Can we leave Ash here?" Jake asked, shooting a pointed look in the bassist's direction. His mood hadn't improved in the slightest since Sandra arrived, and Jake didn't think it was a good idea to bring him to meet this Richard Villa guy when he was like this.

Andy and Jinxx exchanged a look. "It's probably a good idea," Andy said.

Ashley shrugged. "Whatever."

"Alright, then Andy, Jinxx, and I will go meet him," Jake decided. "Hopefully everything will go well and we'll be back shortly with the gig secured."

"In that case, let's run our instruments upstairs and then go," Jinxx said. Jake nodded at him, and the pair disconnected their amps and tucked their guitars back into their cases.

"I'll come with, I've got to run my notebook and the folder of sheet music upstairs," Andy said.

"See you guys tomorrow, then," Sandra said. "Text me what Richard says."

She departed. The four vampires followed her up, Andy with the music in his hands and the rest of them carrying their instruments. They went through the lobby in silence and took the stairs at vampire speed, though as always Jake made sure he had a good hold on both his guitar (securely strapped around his shoulders) and his amp before making the run.

They didn't speak as they returned their instruments to where they belonged―Jake's went in the only corner of his room away from both a window and a vent, tucked amid his collection of amps. They murmured goodbyes to Ashley as they filed back out the door.

Jinxx drove. It wasn't a terribly long ride before the three vampires arrived at Exhibit A. It was a small establishment, tucked into a string of shops and cafes on Fairfax Avenue. The exterior was a dark gray, the sign black with a pink paint handprint and the letter A in the palm. It was relatively nondescript, but it seemed like a decent little place just from first impressions.

Jake exchanged a look with Andy and Jinxx. "Here goes nothing," he said.

Jinxx pulled open the door, and the three vampires entered the art exhibit.

Jake's first impression was of how white everything was. The interior of Exhibit A was all white―a blinding contrast to the vampires in their black clothes and makeup. None of them had nearly as much makeup on as they were planning to put into their look when the album was released, but they were wearing a bit―Andy had his stitches, and Jake and Jinxx both wore quite a bit of paint around their eyes, though it was the palest imitation of the tentative looks Andy had presented them. Jake couldn't help but get the sense that they were aliens here―and not just because he could smell the blood of every human touring the gallery.

He cast his gaze around the space. It was very open, with a doorway leading to what Jake assumed were more exhibit halls set into the far wall and natural light filtering through the large windows beside the door. The entire gallery―walls, floor, and ceiling―was white, the blankness broken only by the colorful art proudly displayed on the walls and the equally colorful people that had come to view it. It wasn't a harsh white, however; a little overwhelming at first, but not harsh now that Jake had adjusted to it. The lighting was kept low enough that the exposure wouldn't damage the art hung carefully on the walls, and the natural illumination of the California sun lent an altogether softer image to the scene. Jake imagined that it would be a nice place to be at night, with moonlight filtering through the windows and the only other illumination the comparatively dim spotlights.

It didn't seem as if the gallery was drawing too many visitors, though it was the middle of the day on a Thursday, so that was to be expected. The only other thing of note was the tables tucked against a wall and a couple of boxes almost hidden by the windows, presumably full of the decorations necessary for the event.

Jake glanced at Jinxx and Andy. He wasn't sure if they should venture farther in or just linger by the door and wait for whoever Richard Villa III was to come and find them. Gods knew he didn't entirely feel comfortable here―art had never held much of an interest for him, just music, and though there was something soft playing through hidden overhead speakers, it was the type of ambient music that Jake had never been a fan of.

It seemed Richard Villa made the decision for them. A man emerged from the doorway leading to the rest of the gallery and immediately headed in their direction. He was a young-looking man with unruly brown hair tucked under a beanie and a bit of a beard to match. Notably, he was wearing entirely black―the man's appearance immediately set Jake a little more at ease.

"You're the Black Veil Brides Sandra told me about?" the man asked as he reached them.

"Yes," said Andy.

"I'm Richard Villa III," the man introduced himself, offering Andy his hand to shake. "And the III is important, because otherwise I'll be referred to as something other than an artist, and believe it or not I'm not a second-rate stand-up comedian."

The three vampires exchanged looks. That was quite the introduction.

"I'm Andy Biersack," Andy replied, taking Richard's hand with ease. He was wearing gloves; if Richard found this odd, he didn't comment. "Lead singer."

"Jake Pitts," Jake introduced next when Richard turned to him. He was a little more hesitant reaching to shake the man's hand; he wore gloves too, but his were fingerless. "Lead guitar."

"Jinxx Ferguson," Jinxx said finally, reaching to shake Richard's hand with no hesitation even though he wasn't wearing gloves. "Rhythm guitar and violin."

Richard looked surprised. "You play the violin in a rock band?"

"I was classically trained," Jinxx replied coolly. "We have tried to find a couple of ways to include the violin in our as-yet-unfinished work, but within the context of the band I primarily play guitar."

Richard nodded as if this made perfect sense; Jake supposed it did, so he wasn't sure why he was so surprised to find that Richard knew it. "Well, come on, let's not stand in the doorway like a bunch of fools," the artist said. "I'll show you to our third gallery room. Follow me right this way, please."

Jake, Jinxx, and Andy exchanged yet another look before falling into step behind Richard. Jake couldn't help but feel like they were attracting attention from the few denizens of the gallery as they passed, as if they were the art pieces―out of place, jarring but beautiful in a melancholy way, too dark and different to be anything but a piece of art left forgotten on a wall.

The room they emerged into when they passed through the door was dimmer than the front room, probably due to a lack of windows, but it was just as white as the first room of the gallery. Richard led them through this room and to another doorway at the opposite end that apparently led into another gallery room.

Jake glanced around this third room with a little more appreciation. The art on the walls here was darker than the landscapes of the previous room and the random masterpieces of the front room. The aesthetic seemed much more Jake's speed.

There were black benches here, as well, spaced in the center of the gallery hall. It was blissfully quiet; the music playing through the overheads here was a little on the darker side, and no people milled about looking at the artwork. Perhaps Richard had specifically told no one to come back here. Perhaps it was simply that no one was interested. Either way, Jake was glad of the relative privacy.

Richard gestured to the benches. Jake and Jinxx both sat; Andy remained standing behind them, apparently too anxious to sit down. He'd begun to fidget with the cross necklace he wore, a nervous habit of his that Jake had been noticing more and more lately.

Richard faced them. "So," he said. "Sandra recommended you guys to play at the Bipolar art show opening night."

"That's what she told us, yeah," Jinxx said. "What does this entail?"

Richard explained that they needed a live band to perform a few songs to kick off the opening of the show. They'd have a DJ to cover most of the night, but to officially open the show they wanted a live band willing to do a handful of covers.

"I'm looking for something kind of your style," Richard said. "This room has been refurbished―the art you see on the walls now was not here two weeks ago. It's being considered a new exhibit, one we're opening to go along with the temporary show that'll be set up, so the theme is overall more one that fits the rock genre." He grinned. "Besides, our DJ is an ex-member of Danzig."

Andy's expression brightened at that news; Jake knew he was a fan of Danzig, even had a tattoo to prove it. "Would we be allowed to play our own song, too?" the singer questioned. "Sandra said she showed you the 'Knives and Pens' video."

"She did," Richard nodded. "I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. It looks really good for all that half the band is missing from it, and I liked the song itself too. If you want to play it to close out your set, we can arrange that―just as long as you're down with doing covers otherwise."

"It's not like we have any more music that's been released to the public yet, anyway," Jake remarked. "I don't think it'd be a problem."

"Yeah, just give us a setlist and we can teach ourselves how to cover the songs," Andy agreed.

Richard studied Andy, apparently intrigued. "You've got a lot of spirit," he said thoughtfully.

Andy lifted his chin. "I've had to. Life has not been kind to me so far."

Jake knew all too well how true that statement was. Andy had never told them much about life before his turning, but from the little Jake had gleaned it sounded like it hadn't been easy. And since becoming a vampire, Andy's life only seemed to have gotten worse. Jake just found himself hoping that it wasn't because of him, Jinxx, and Ashley.

Richard tilted his head. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen," Andy hedged. Jake exchanged a glance with Jinxx; eighteen was a bit of a stretch. The young vampire looked older than that. And why would anyone want to be eighteen again? Jake wondered. What the fuck is Andy doing?

But apparently Richard bought it with little more than a brief expression of surprise. Jake glanced at Jinxx again; this human did not by any means seem stupid, but it was definitely a bit of a stretch to legitimately think Andy was eighteen when he had the physical appearance of a man in his mid-twenties.

The artist turned his attention to Jake and Jinxx, evidently curious. "And you two?" he asked.

"Twenty-three," Jake said, which he thought may have been a bit of a stretch too; he thought he looked closer to thirty, but he was trying not to make the age gap too bad.

"Twenty-eight," Jinxx fudged, which Jake thought was a bit more appropriate since that was the age he was physically stuck at.

Richard raised an eyebrow. "How did a pair of twentysomethings end up with an eighteen-year-old lead singer?"

Andy bristled. "Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm stupid. I know what I'm doing, and this has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid. It's all I've ever wanted to do in life."

Jake glanced at Andy, a little surprised. He didn't think he'd ever heard Andy speak with quite that much fervor in his voice before.

And apparently the youngest vampire wasn't done. "I may be a teenager, but I guarantee you you'll never find a person more devoted to this industry than me. I have given every inch of my being to the idea of forming a band and making it work, ever since I was six building miniature concerts out of toys in my bedroom. Music is my life, and you don't get to look down on me just because my life hasn't been that long yet." He glared directly at Richard. "It's their life too. I was fortunate to run into these two, into our bassist Ashley Purdy, and into Sandra, because despite my age they're giving me a chance to fulfill this dream. They don't care how old I am―no one should care how old I am, because this is what I'm good at, all I've ever known. All any of us have ever known. And I could not be more grateful to them for giving me this chance, for being my friends and bandmates when it's uncertain whether this will ever go anywhere, for devoting themselves to this fragile dream because they believe in it too. So yes, I'm young, and impulsive, and I'm probably going to be an idiot about a lot of things as I dive headfirst into this industry that doesn't care who it fucks over. But this is my life, my dream, and I intend to make it a reality."

He finished, his electric eyes alight with a fire Jake had never seen before, the devotion to what he was saying clear in every line of his defiant stance. The only word Jake could think to describe it as was beautiful, like an avenging angel the likes of which Jake hadn't read about since he'd turned his back on the religious texts his aunt had forced on him, fallen from heaven to defend all that he cared about. Beautiful.

He glanced at Jinxx again to find a similar expression of shock and what looked like amazement on the oldest vampire's face. Jinxx's eyes were on the singer; Jake studied the other guitarist, and couldn't stop the unbidden thought He's beautiful, too from flickering through his mind.

Jake looked back at Andy just in time to catch the younger vampire's gaze, and caught his breath at the sight of those penetrating blue eyes. Andy didn't hold his gaze long, but it was long enough to leave Jake feeling like his soul had left his immortal body, long enough to send him reeling.

Andy looked at Richard; Jake forced himself to follow the singer's gaze, noticing Jinxx doing the same.

Jake expected Richard to be angry, or at least shocked. Instead, the man was laughing―a light chuckle of something that wasn't entirely amusement, but something else, something more meaningful than amusement.

"Well said, kid," he said. "You're hired."

Jake exchanged surprised glances with Andy and Jinxx. "Excuse me," Jinxx said, ever polite, "did you say we're hired?"

Richard nodded. "I did indeed."

"We're thrilled," Jake said. "But...why?"

"Your singer is right," Richard explained. "I highly doubt I'm ever going to meet someone else in the nightmare that is the music industry as devoted as you are. I can tell you care a lot about your craft―that all of you do. And by God, do I know what it's like to be that devoted to something you've dedicated your life to, only to get shitted on by the people who've already made it and have forgotten how hard they struggled to get there." And then, to Jake's surprise, the artist apologized. "So I'm sorry, for making that comment about you being so young, because I know damn well what it's like being scorned from what you love when you've devoted your heart and soul to it." He let his gaze travel over the three vampires. "You guys seem like a promising band, and that little speech you just gave showed me full well that you're genuine. You're enthusiastic and willing to work with me instead of being belligerent about playing your own music like some of the other people that have approached me about this gig. So you're hired."

Andy tilted his head, his bangs falling in his eyes. "Thank you. But...'by God'?"

Richard shrugged. "I guess. I've never really seen the point in religion except that they have some very interesting iconography."

"You know, me too," Andy said. "Something about the tales has always fascinated me, the theatricality of it all, the iconography that invariably accompanies faith. Particularly that of Roman Catholicism―there's something inherently violent about a lot of those stories and images."

"Exactly," Richard agreed. "I could spend hours debating the way art is used and depicted in religious stories and at holy sites and how the imagery conveys very different messages than the way the Bible's been interpreted."

Jake glanced across Andy at Jinxx, who looked back at him just as blankly. Religion of any kind held no meaning for either of them; Jake had never been faithful to begin with, and Jinxx had confided after a particularly rough nightmare about a decade before that he lost what faith he had the day he woke up a vampire to find his girlfriend at the time dead beside him.

Andy ignored the exchange of looks and studied Richard. "You're a very interesting man, Richard Villa III," he said eventually. "I think I like you."

Richard nodded. "Likewise, Andy Biersack." He reached out to shake Andy's hand again, and Jake took that as a sign that the meeting was over.

He stood, Jinxx following suit; they both shook the human's hand again, and then Andy led the way back through the first two gallery rooms and out of Exhibit A.

Jake reached for Andy's hand once the door had closed behind them. Andy didn't object to having it taken.

"Did you mean what you said in there?" he asked as they started walking back to Jinxx's car, parked a little ways down the street. "About being grateful for us?"

"Of course," Andy replied without hesitation. "Not just because you took me in when I was alone and starving with nowhere to go. But the fact that you've stayed by my side the last few decades, that you're all just as willing to throw yourselves headfirst into the abyss of the rock industry as I am―I will forever be grateful for that."

Jinxx took Andy's other hand; Jake smiled at him over the singer's shoulder. "I can't imagine being anywhere else," Jinxx told the young vampire.

"Neither can I," Jake agreed. "Whatever our immortal lives have thrown at us, whatever the universe decides to give us next, our place is here, with you, making music that will shock the world and give the outcasts a place to belong."

Andy glanced at him and smiled; the late afternoon sunlight turned his electric blue eyes into crystal. "A place to belong," he echoed, and Jake couldn't help feeling like he'd already found one with the two vampires walking beside him.

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The next few months passed in a blur. The show at the art gallery had been a success and brought them a little bit of money, enough to rent a small rehearsal lockout room at the ABC Rehearsal Studio. They began recording their first real iterations of the album there, spending hours locked in the tiny studio room recording and rerecording and finalizing small changes to the songs. They were nowhere near ready to get the album mixed, produced, officially licensed, and sold, but it was a start.

Once they started renting the lockout room, Andy had decided it was time for the five of them to officially don the makeup. Jinxx wouldn't have minded this fact so much if it didn't take him half an hour to apply it all every morning. His face, the design of which was black Joker-esque diamonds around his eyes and black lines framing his lips, was the easiest; the design he'd chosen to go with it, black and white stripes running down his chest and arms, took longer. His was hardly the most complicated warpaint design, however―the detail Andy devoted to his own warpaint was astounding.

Taking it off at the end of the day wasn't easy, either. The black acrylic paint―because it wasn't body paint, which would run and smudge and generally ruin the effect―clung to his skin long after it dried, rendering taking it off rather difficult. When the paint was fresh, it would stick to his clothes and the furniture in their apartment―Jinxx rather thought the place would end up looking like they were four fledglings fresh from a grave with all the smudges and marks.

But it was part of their look, and in a way, Jinxx supposed, it was kind of a shield, too―a shield from an industry that didn't have time for a young aspiring rock band, armor to protect against the people that would mock them for even daring to imagine that they might be able to make it in this godforsaken city. And maybe armor against something else, too―something deep and unfathomable that Jinxx didn't want to name, something that awoke whenever Jake took his hand or Andy's gaze pinned him in place.

Life continued. They managed to secure a manager as fall approached, but he was only with them for about two weeks before disappearing. The reason he'd given was that their contract with Standby was just too terrible and there was nothing he or anyone could do for them. Jinxx, Jake, and Andy―who'd been there when the manager departed―had exchanged dismayed looks; was the contract really that awful? They'd all read it, but most of it was legal jargon that Jinxx couldn't understand a word of. Apparently that had cost them.

So in late 2009, they met with Dina LaPolt, the lawyer for Mötley Crüe, who took one look at their contract and confirmed that it was indeed as awful as they'd suspected. She tried her best to explain, but Jinxx still barely understood a word of it. They walked away from that meeting with a new friend and attorney and a promise that she'd find a way to secure a smooth transition from Standby to a different label, dependent only upon their first record being released by Standby per the terms of the contract.

Things were continually looking up after that, it seemed. They landed themselves a booking agent that Andy immediately bonded with, Ash Avildsen; in turn, he introduced them to Rob "Blasko" Nicholson, a manager who'd started out playing bass guitar in a few different bands. Blasko agreed to work with them as their manager; he seemed like a nice enough guy, soft-spoken but with a reassuring sense of authority about him. Jinxx liked him.

Jinxx couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed at times, moments when the reality of what they were doing hit him. They had official behind-the-scenes management, a reliable director friend to film music videos when necessary, an artist friend enthusiastic about their chances, a ferocious attorney ready to fight for them, and of course the four vampires and Sandra themselves.

"This is really happening," Andy said repeatedly, on nights where the four vampires were all sprawled on their couch watching TV or devising last-minute changes to riffs and lyric placement long after Sandra had gone home. "We might actually make it."

By December, they were on their very first tour.

Jinxx wasn't entirely sure they could call it that, as there were only about twenty shows booked and their setlist was mostly comprised of "Knives and Pens" and covers of various Misfits, Mötley Crüe, Danzig, and other rock bands' songs. It was a rather uncomfortable experience since they didn't have a tour bus and were traveling in an SUV and a Chevy HHR. But the shows were decent and they ended up making enough money from it that Jinxx was able to start setting some aside to get his own place. He knew he'd probably be spending most of his time with the others anyway, but knowing he had his own space to return to would be refreshing after three decades living in close quarters with the three vampires he now called a clan.

Once the tour had finished with a pair of shows in Southern California that left Jinxx feeling more hopeful about their chances at success than ever before, it was back to the recording studio to finally get to work on seriously preparing the release of their album. They'd decided to title it We Stitch These Wounds, after a track they'd put together almost immediately upon playing it for the first time. Andy had the lyrics all figured out before Jinxx and Jake were even halfway through the first melody.

Andy's director friend Patrick Fogarty, whom Jinxx had only met a couple of times, offered to film another music video for them. This time they were all present and had a slightly larger budget to work with, so the video turned out quite a bit stronger than the one for "Knives and Pens." Jinxx was honestly surprised that that original song was still drawing attention, though he supposed he shouldn't be; the anti-bullying message of the video surely resonated with a lot of people. He knew it would have resonated with him when he was a teenager. Of course, Jinxx thought, when I was a teenager everyone probably would have declared the whole thing black magic and the doing of Satan-worshipers and heretics.

They chose "Perfect Weapon" as the second single; the video became a big hit among the growing fanbase caused by the millions that had viewed "Knives and Pens." Jinxx couldn't help feeling proud of that; while the number for "Knives and Pens" had been higher, it had felt less like an accomplishment to Jinxx since he hadn't been part of it. Seeing the finished product of "Perfect Weapon" getting so many views and so much positivity from fans gave him that lacking sense.

They racked up enough money eventually that they could each move out of their little apartment and into separate spaces. Jinxx found a small place for a price that still seemed ridiculously high and gratefully moved in; Ashley got his own place as well. Jake, to Jinxx's confusion, had chosen to stay with Andy and help split the cost of a tiny apartment they dubbed The Compound; Jinxx didn't question it, but he did wonder what had made Jake decide to do that. He knew he'd miss being able to sleep next to his friend and ease the nightmares―though said nightmares hadn't been happening as frequently since they'd gotten well into the recording process, so he supposed it wasn't entirely necessary anymore anyway.

And then finally, as June of 2010 arrived, it seemed like they were ready to release We Stitch These Wounds. Andy had approached Richard Villa III about designing the album cover; the human artist had gladly agreed, and Jinxx knew he'd done a good job.

"Are we ready for this?" Jake asked the day the album was set to release. The five of them had gathered at the Compound, watching Standby's website for news of when the album dropped. It would release electronically first, the hard copies on CD and vinyl to come later that afternoon everywhere rock music was sold.

"I've been ready for this since last May when I first brought up the idea," Andy said.

Jinxx chuckled. "That's fair," he replied. "And I'm ready. This is the first time I've ever professionally played music that makes me money―it's exciting."

"I'm ready too," Ashley contributed.

"Same," Sandra added.

Jake nodded. "It shouldn't be much longer now."

Indeed, almost the moment he finished speaking, a notice popped up on Andy's computer screen saying to refresh the page. Andy did, and there it was―the cover of We Stitch These Wounds, proudly displayed on the webpage with links on where to listen and the tracklist.

And there before them in writing―Black Veil Brides.

"We did it, guys," Andy said, his gaze fixed on the screen. Jinxx didn't think he was imagining the excited gleam in his crystalline eyes. "We're official. Black Veil Brides is now in the rock scene―for better or worse."

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A/N: So I'm terrible at ending things? Which is why that last line is kind of shit, but it got the point across. Anyway, now that the first album is out of the way the real fun can begin (and I can introduce CC). Hope you enjoyed this chapter, comments are appreciated :)