sometimes (vampire frerard au)

know how much I want to show you you're the only one

GERARD'S POV

On the last day of the semester, Frank and I were going to have our usual Friday sleepover, but of course, since it was the first day of summer, we had to make it a little extra special.

As we walked home, he seemed happier than usual, smiling to himself and laughing at everything I said. I was the opposite, internally of course; I didn't want him to worry about me. But I knew the change would happen soon. I could feel it getting closer every day, like a bird that's been gnawing on its enclosure for nearly two decades aching to taste freedom.

In my case, I had an ache for human blood.

I've known ever since I was little about my family's true nature, about the monster I've been damned to become. I've been cursed since infancy, destined to fully change into what I am.

Vampire children are born semi-human; their blood is potent to other vampires, so it's easy to recognize when a child is one of us. Aside from that, we are born indistinguishable from humans, only when the said child reaches a certain age do they begin to notice small changes, sort of like a second puberty.

It starts with stage one. Pain in gums, the color red makes your mouth water, and body aches are the very early signs which, for me, started at the beginning of Junior year. From the first few signs, it takes a few weeks, sometimes months, sometimes a year for the change to progress onto stage two.

Stage two lasts another few months, bringing along random episodes of constant thirst, but no matter how much you drink, it'll never cease, and you have to simply wait it out. Senses can get overstimulated often, people suddenly start to smell a whole lot better, you sleep a lot more, and there's a never-ending yearning to bite your best friend's sweet-smelling neck. But the last one might just be me.

Stage three lasts no more than 3 days, a minimum of 12 hours. It's a savage freak-out for blood. The vampire will go near crazy; they'll do anything in their power to drink as much blood as they can before passing out for the remaining time and finally waking up as a vampire.

A pretty horrible experience to constantly want to kill my best friend for nearly a whole year, even more horrible to have hidden it all from him.

As we approached my house, a chill ran down my spine. I knew that the inevitable was drawing near. I could feel a pulse throughout my body, banging loudly inside me to bite him. But it was still tame so I ignored it for now. I could keep it under control. Frank was still chatting animatedly about summer plans, unaware of my true thoughts and cravings. I chuckled along, my mind preoccupied with thoughts of how to protect him when the time came.

After dropping Frank off at his home, i walked the couple steps into my own. I dump my stuff in my room and change out of my uniform into black sweats before returning upstairs to the ground floor to find my parents.

"Mom?"

I called a couple more times before I found her in the kitchen making coffee before she left for her night shift.

"Oh Gerard your home honey, how was school?" She asks, her voice falters towards the end of her sentence. She turns around to face me, a mix of concern and confusion on her face. She inhales slightly deeper than usual and smiles in delight clasping her hands together with a slight shriek of excitement.

"It was fine..." I say giving her a skeptical look wondering why she was so excited "What's going on?"

"The second stage is very nearly done, you smell different. More vampire-ey!" She gleams with pride and even I felt a little happy. Despite fearing whatever was to come I was glad the stages were nearly over and done with.