“Tell Jeremy I’m going to kick his ass when I see him at Rianna’s on Friday,” Fen laid in bed dressed in last night’s clothes, trying to battle a severe hangover after an endless night and an afternoon of sleeping. On the phone, Nik started to go on about some bullshit, yet the sound of his voice was making Fen’s headache worse. “Those shrooms were laced with something and I was a fucking blobfish this morning. My mom saw me and she knew. I didn't pick my sister up from practice and she had to go instead, so I know she’s pissed. Again, I’m kicking Jeremy’s ass.”
Nik went off, agreeing with this and cursing at that, all things that Fen ignored until a noise from downstairs caught his attention.
A cry, of agony or pain.
“Hey, I’ll call you back.” He hung up without a response.
Fen got out of bed and stepped out of the room, listening to the sobbing go on. Cautiously, he moved down the hallway. “Mom? Dad?”
No answer.
“Diana?”
The sobbing only grew louder.
Fen approached the top of the stairs, looking down to see the flashing of red and blue lights outside the front door. His dad sat on the floor, his face buried into his hands as he cried, and the two officers who stood beside him simultaneously looked up at Fen.
No faces.
He swiftly backed up and the hallway lights flickered.
When he turned around he was standing in the kitchen.
“Why did your mom go to pick up Diana?”
Fen glanced over to the island counter where his dad sat; head bowed into folded hands, an untouched lit cigarette falling into ashes against the glass tray, and several empty bottles.
“She called me, said she was going and that we needed to have a talk with you later.” His dad said against the misery when he looked up.
Fen stared with wide eyes at the red tears falling down his dad's face. His gaze carried a look of hostility he’d never known the man to have, pure hatred and disgust, the look of someone who lost everything and found the one responsible.
“You were high again, weren’t you? You got high instead of going to get your sister!” His dad stood, the shadows rising against the wall behind him.
No! No! That…wasn’t…it!
“They’d still be here! You good for nothing piece of shit! They’re gone because of you!” The man roared, clawing at his face in a heady mix of bad emotions, tearing off pieces of his skin as the red streaks fell from his eyes.
I didn’t know! I didn’t know! It was an accident!
“I'll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!” A bottle was thrown at Fen, then another, each throw shedding his dad's appearance until skin hung off muscles and bone dripping with blood.
Fen backed away into something behind him.
He gasped when a beautiful man with golden hair leaned over his shoulder and smiled.
“Are you awake now?”
Fen let out a sharp cry and stumbled away from the man, falling backward.
He landed on concrete in a strange alley of an even stranger city, the air smelling like trash and smog. The sky was colorless and the four-eyed crows watched him from wires above. He looked around and stiffened when he heard footsteps.
Then a voice.
“Hey, you’re Fen, right? Leon told me you needed a place to stay.” Another faceless guy pulled him to his feet, and Fen glanced at his hand to see each finger inked with a small cross. “Was told you don’t have much money, but that’s cool, we can help each other out.”
He pushed Fen toward an open door where the shadows became various hands that reached for him, grabbing him by the arms and neck, wrapping around his legs and waist.
“No! Get off of me! Let go!” Fen struggled as the shadows began to pull in closer to the awaiting mouth that opened against the void, its tongue lashing out, its teeth ready.
“These are my friends, and we wanna ask a favor.” The faceless guy laughed as Fen was dragged into the shadows screaming.
He woke up screaming.
Maybe he’d been screaming all along.
As soon as he sat up, nausea hit him like a wall and he stumbled out of the strange bed.
Somehow, he found the bathroom and his face dropped into the toilet just as everything came out hot and fast. He could barely breathe and eventually, his throat started to burn.
When he was finished, Fen fell back into the corner of the bathroom, curling up into a ball of regret and sorrow as he sobbed uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t want it to happen…I’m sorry! Mom! Diana!”
It’d been a while—a year or so—since he’d cried for them. And after he ran out of tears, Fen used the sink to stand and looked into the mirror.
The easiest thing to do was ignore the guilt, to forget he ever had a family before falling this low, because nothing was more unbearable than the thought of what they’d think if they saw him now. Like this.
In the bathroom light, he stared at the reflection of a stranger; short dark hair dirtied with dried blood and gray eyes surrounded by dark circles and deep bruises, still wet with tears. Too-pale skin covered in those countless dark wounds, the worse being the two puncture holes in his neck, swollen and red, guarded by their own darkness. And if he hadn’t just woken up from a nightmare, he might’ve tried convincing himself that last night was nothing more than a horrible dream. Yet, here we stood, beaten and bloody, Gabriel’s marks still fresh on his skin and the blood of several people on more than just his hands.
Fen inhaled, trying to stop the oncoming panic attack as he grabbed a towel hanging by the sink and ran it under cold water. He wiped his face off, being mindful of the cuts on his lip and the split skin above his cheekbone, then hissing in pain when the cold water touched the bite on his neck. Fen rested on the towel over the wound to reduce the irritation, his eyes closing, his mind trying to go blank. Yet all his thoughts kept reverting to Gabriel and whatever the hell he was.
“I think you know the answer if you’d let yourself believe it.”
A vampire. Fen opened his eyes.
That word came to his mind too easily, like it was the only explanation in a world of other choices that should've been more logical. He was sure he was going crazy, but last night happened and all those people were dead. Gabriel tore them apart, broke them, ate them. Drank from them. So much blood, so much screaming, and it was playing over and over.
A series of knocks met the door, all coming together in a playful tune.
He hesitated, watching the door through the reflection of the mirror.
One more knock.
Fen turned around, staring at the door, his eyes narrowing. He waited until it seemed like there wouldn't be any more knocking before he stepped to the door.
Slowly, he left the bathroom, fearing the man would come out from the shadows at any second. He flicked a light switch, but nothing came on, so he used the bathroom’s cold glow to look around as best he could. It was near empty, seeming to be more of a hotel room than an apartment. The windows were sealed shut, allowing no light to seep through. He approached those windows, examining them, trying to figure out if there was a way through the handmade barrier.
“That’s not a good idea.”
The warm voice forced a cold feeling down Fen’s spine and he jumped away, hitting a nearby table as he looked to see Gabriel standing before him.
Last night might've very well been a dream because there wasn’t a misshapen thing about him. He was still as handsome as ever, still shining with that small but charming smile and those too-kind eyes. There was no blood, no hunger. Yet.
“How are you feeling?”
He said nothing, but Gabriel seemed patient and continued to speak.
“I'll have to ask for your forgiveness again concerning last night, sometimes it’s hard to control myself in such a bloodlust.”
“You’re a vampire.” He said quickly, practically interrupting the man.
He smirked.
“Vampires…aren’t real.”
“But I am very real.” Gabriel’s voice had a touch of bitterness like there was a faint irritation from being called anything other than non-fictional.
“What…are you going to do with me?” He was almost too afraid to ask.
Gabriel’s eyes softened as if he were a child who had asked something cute. “What do you think I’m going to do?”
“You said…you didn’t want to kill me.”
“I said I had other ideas and I wouldn't kill you,” Gabriel moved closer and took Fen’s hand while he was frozen in fear. “Not that I didn’t want to.”
Fen was caught in Gabriel’s eyes, unable to look away and he could’ve sworn he saw a ray of light pass through them like they were carved from jewels. A sudden longing came over him, a need to be in Gabriel’s embrace and to expose every inch of his neck for him to devour.
He tore his gaze away. What in the hell?
“Then…what will you do?”
“Exactly what you wanted me too,” Gabriel repeated, lifting Fen’s hand with a promise to kiss it, but instead, he licked the dried blood from his fingers. His tongue sliding against each trace of skin, teasingly good and dangerously close to his mouth.
A flush crept across Fen's face as he stared at the ground. His body tensed and resisted the urge to look as well as the urge to moan.
Suddenly, Gabriel grabbed his jaw and forced their eyes to meet, pointed claws digging into his bruises, but drawing no blood. Higher and higher, Fen was lifted so his toes were brushing against the carpet and his neck ached. Closer he was brought to Gabriel’s true face, that wide and pointed grin, the blue in his eyes shriveling up like burning paper, revealing the gore color behind them. “Oh, how I wanted you,” He spoke with many other voices mimicking every word. “I wanted everything you could offer when you first looked down at me from your cage; your blood, your flesh, your heart, and I wanted to feed on them all while your soul watched behind dead eyes.”
Fen made a sharp sound of pain, prompting Gabriel to leaned forward and lick the tears that threatened to fall. Every fear, every longing, every dark thought that had ever passed through his body and soul was shown back to him by that unblinking stare.
“Yet, in your desperation last night, you made me do something I haven't done in a long time,” Despite the smile, Gabriel’s voice rose, darkening with each word, seemingly more terrifying than it had ever been. "I remembered."
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