PREVIOUSLY ON FRANK IEROS PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION:
DEEP IN THE BUNKER OF THE VAMPIRE-HUNTING-EXTRORDINARES WAY HOUSE, GERARD FINALLY CONFRONTED HIS PARENTS— JUST TO FIND OUT THEY WEREN'T HIS PARENTS AT ALL!! IN THE FACE OF CERTAIN DEATH FOR BOTH GEE AND MIKEY, NEWLY TURNED VAMPIRE FRANK SWOOPED IN AND SAVED EVERYONES ASSES! YAY! BUT HOW WILL MIKEY REACT WHEN HE FINDS OUT THE TRUTH— ABOUT HIS PARENTS, ABOUT HIMSELF, ABOUT HIS BOYFRIEND?? READ TO FIND OUT!
.Mikey's POV.
It was like a movie. Or, it was like one of those picture-slide goggles I'd had when I was a kid. Hazy and muted looking-- the images chasing one another in rapid fire succession.
Gerard in the weapons room. Gerard's terrified face. Gerard running off, Frank in tow. Gerard in my room. Gerard's fangs. Gerard's arms around me. Sharp, confusing pain. Blood on my fingers. Blood on my shirt. On my bed. Everywhere. Being dragged through the basement by my parents. Gerard, coming back for me, just like he said he would. Gerard's hand in mine, then— nothing. Just strange, lonely darkness. I couldn't feel any part of me anymore. The vague awareness of consciousness was the only thing indicating I was still alive.
I wasn't sure how long i'd been in this state— time wasn't a thing I could gauge in this limbo. My thoughts became less and less coherent until the only word I remembered was Gerard. The only thing I could feel was a distinct sense of guilt. I couldn't even remember why.
After a while, a new feeling started to creep up on me. I wanted to... let go. Of something. Not something physical, but something... inside me. I knew, somehow, what to do. My jumbled, frantic thoughts became quieter, and farther away. I was so close, close to... where I was supposed to go, I think. I wasn't even sure I was me anymore.
Suddenly, I felt a small tug from a different direction, a pull liked I had been hooked just below the navel. From where I'd been, I think. The sensation lasted for a moment, and then faded away.
That's when I was slammed back into my body like I had been shot out of a cannon ball. For a moment, I was hyper aware of every cell in my body. Every part of me felt like it was on fire. I wanted to run, or cry out, but not even ten seconds ago I'd forgotten I'd had a body, let alone how to work one. The fire got hotter and hotter, until I felt like all of me had been burnt to nothing but smoke. Then I was thrown into darkness again.
—
"Fuck." was the first word I remembered. My voice sounded raw, like someone had put my vocal chords through a blender. I ached all over, and my stomach twisted and swooped with every breath. I heard mumbling from somewhere to my left, but it was quickly drowned out when I started coughing and gasping. My throat felt like it was still on fire.
"Oh— oh my god. He's awake. Gerard! Mikey's awake!" A gritty, boyish sounding voice carried over my choking and hacking. I rubbed my knuckles into my eyes until i saw stars, and screwed them open. Everything was still a little fuzzy, but I could tell I wasn't in my house. It smelled different, like vanilla and acrylic paint. I was on a twin sized bed, with a fluffy grey comforter beneath me.
I groaned, trying to prop myself up on my elbows. "Mikey!" My eyes shot open again, my head still swimming. Standing above me was Gerard, paler than ever, patting my hair and making little distressed sounds as he looked me over.
"Gerard?" I croaked, my voice still hoarse. "What— where are we? Where are mom and dad? What happ—" I managed to get out before dissolving into another coughing fit. "Shh, it's okay. You're okay. You're okay. We're— were at Lindsey's house. Our neighbor?"
On the other side of the room, Lindsey Ballato sat in a desk chair, conversing somberly with Frank Iero.
"Where are... where are mom and dad? How did you escape? How am I even alive?"
One sixteen year old with a hand gun against two highly trained killers in their own base made for some pretty slim odds, supernatural being or not.
Gerard sucked in a shaky, painful looking breath through his teeth. "There'll be time to answer all those questions, Mikes. But right now... you... you need this."
Reluctantly, Gerard shifted to place something in my hand. It was room temperature, and it swished and rippled with a strange gurgling sound under my grip. My eyes trailed down to the item in my palm, and suddenly I couldn't hear anything but my ragged, panicked breathing. It was a blood bag.
"Wh- Gerard- No. I'm. What? No." I shook my head forcefully, as if denying it would eradicate the strange hunger radiating from every cell in my body as I thought about the blood in the bag. My eyes widened impossibly further, and I snaked my tongue across the top row of my teeth. Fuck. I could feel the too large canines, sharp as a knife.
"Mikey, I'm so sorry." My attention was directed back to Gerard when I heard him whisper quietly. His eyes were brimming with tears, and his lip wobbled when he spoke. "You- you were dying. I promised I would protect you, and this was the only way. I just- I couldn't just watch you die.
I understand if you- if you hate me." His voice cracked, tears trailing down his face in earnest now.
I blinked slowly, the realization hitting me. I was a vampire. A bonafide bloodsucker. I had become the creature I had been trained my whole life to kill. I heaved a shuddering sigh and closed my eyes, thinking about all that I'd been told about the creature that was now me. I didn't feel thoughtless, or violent, or like I wanted to wreak havoc on innocent people for shits and giggles. Mostly I just felt weak, and achy, and confused.
I opened my eyes again, and found Gerard's face. He looked worn down and thread bare: his skin pale and sickly, with deep, dark circles under his eyes. But his eyes— they were the soft hazel color they had always been. Big and full of concern.
I managed a small half smile, and took his hand in mine. "Thanks— for saving me, Gee." I said. He let out a breath he had been holding, and I knew he understood that what I meant was, "I was fucking horrible to you for years, and I probably deserved to be left for dead, but you didn't leave, you did the best you could, and you're a good brother."
We hadn't ever really been very talkative.
He gave me a grateful smile in return, and moved to join Frank and Lindsey's conversation, while trying to covertly wipe his eyes.
Like a magnetic pull, my attention was drawn back to the blood bag in my hands. There was an awful mixture of repulsion and a deep, powerful wanting like I hadn't ever felt before, tying and untying knots in my stomach. This want didn't even feel like a human emotion. It was ancient, and wild, and I could feel it all the way down to the marrow of my bones.
Unable to stop, even if I'd wanted to, I tore into the bag, crinkling it like an empty capri sun. Part of me wanted to gag, but fuck this stuff was good. My shoulders shuddered involuntarily, and sagged back against the headboard of the bed, already starting to feel better.
"Mikey!" a panicked sounding voice echoed through the house. My head snapped toward the doorway as a lanky, fluffy haired teen came crashing through it.
"Ray!" I was up in a second, throwing my arms around the taller boy. I felt a pair of strong arms snake around my waist and squeeze me so tight I was lifted off the ground. We both laughed, spinning in circles and staggering around the small room.
I pressed my head forward into the cradle of Rays neck and breathed in. Immediately, I felt my muscles involuntarily tense, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I jerked back to meet Ray's gaze, who's eyes were already big as saucers.
We stared at each other for a moment, silently. Neither had to answer the unspoken question that lingered in the air around us. That same ancient and deep feeling resurfaced, and I could tell we both understood perfectly.
Ray turned to Gerard, his face impossible to read. "Did you—"
"It was me, Ray. I turned him." Frank stepped forward from where he had been standing with Linsey, cutting in between Ray and Gerard in a protective manner. "It was the only way to save him."
Ray's face twitched and shifted, emotions flying across his features so quickly they were barely discernible. He looked shocked, and then almost grateful, then suspicious, then absolutely thunderous.
"Frank Anthony Iero Jr." he growled. Outright growled. I'd never seen him get that way.
"I told you that if even a hair on Mikey's head—"
"Ray... you too?" I cut him off. "How— how long?" my voice sounded muffled through the ringing in my ears.
Rays blinked, his would-be tirade dissipating into the air.
He took a deep breath, and I watched his rosy lips curl slightly in an apologetic smile. "A... a long time. 73 years, to be exact."
My eyes felt like they were in danger of popping out of my skull. I blinked several times, then pinched the bridge of my nose, eyes squeezing shut.
"Wait. Fuck. Hold on. So— I'm a vampire. Gerard's a vampire. Frank's a vampire. My boyfriend is a vampire and a fucking senior citizen—"
"Hey!" Ray protested.
"And, surely you knew??" I cut him off. "About my family? About Gerard, about me? What were you thinking?! You've been to my house! If my parents had found out—" My voice cracked. I could feel my skin getting red and blotchy, a downright murderous look on my face.
Ray stepped forward, closing the space between us again. He looped his arms around my waist. "I know. I did. That's why I came to Belleville— because of Gerard." He sighed quietly. "I'm part of a... rebellion of sorts— it's a long story— and I wanted to get Gerard away from the Ways and help him, and to see if you wanted to join." He said, turning to nod at Gerard again.
"But then I met you. And yes— I did know, about everything, about you. But I knew you weren't a bad person. I thought, y'know, maybe I could change your mind. Mostly I just... couldn't help myself." He shrugged sheepishly. "I love you, Mikeyway."
I froze, a million thoughts and emotions running through my brain. It felt like a fucking lighting storm in my head. I looked up to meet Rays eyes for a split second, and lurched forward, crashing our lips together with such force that he stumbled backwards, hands immediately coming up to either side of my neck.
Lindsey cleared her throat loudly, bringing me back to reality again. We both stepped back, looking flustered.
"You two are so sweet, I just got diabetes. But my girlfriend is currently in New York with a bunch of crazies, so maybe we can postpone this fuckfest 'til after all this is over?" She asked saccharinely, batting her eyelashes.
Frank rolled his eyes, hip checking her lightly from where he stood beside her. "C'mon Linds. Let 'em be sappy."
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"No, she's right." Ray piped up beside me, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "We won the battle, but the war's not over. Jams is alright, though." He nodded in Lindsey's direction. "Ross is keeping tabs on her from outside the coven— I meant to tell you."
At this, Lindsey breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank god." She said somberly as she turned around. She rummaged through her closet for a moment, then threw a tattered looking army bag over her shoulder. When she faced us again, she was twirling a stake in her fingers. "Alright, so now that everyone is not-quite-alive and well, I say we make a pit stop at the Way's weapon bunker, and then go kick some ass in New York."
Everyone nodded, faces set in grim determination, except for Frank, who was starting to look those dudes from that Supernatural show had just kicked his door down and made him a job offer.
I looked over the room, blinking in confusion. "Wait— what's going on?" It felt like they were all speaking a different language. I knew from hunting that vampires sometimes congregated, but my parents hadn't ever told me about hierarchies or different sects of vampires. I had a sinking feeling that maybe everything they'd told me was wrong.
Ray put a hand on my shoulder, making a small sympathetic sound. "I'm sorry Mikey, I know it's a lot all at once. I'll explain everything on the way to New York."
I searched his face, eyes wide, and nodded once.
Lindsey promptly set off, making her way out the door and down the stairs. We followed suit, Frank and Gee behind us.
Confusion and apprehension settling in my stomach, I stepped out the door just in time to hear Frank's voice carry through the house, "Fuck yeah! Road trip!"
—————————————————————
i'm aliiiiiive
sorry again for the sporadic updates :^(
I think i've got the rest of the story mapped out, in a way that I can make a sequel if I wanna sometime. but I think i've got a new story in the works, so keep an eye out for that. & as always, thanks so much for reading this lil story of mine. love you guys
xohannah