Coalesce In Darkness ♡ Frerard

TWENTY ONE

Oh god, this is where it all starts, everyone. A chapter filled with what we've been waiting for. Hold on tight.
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The sound of water dripping into a tub filled with the same warm liquid should have driven a vampire to the verge of insanity. A steady rhythm broken over and over from a twin droplet being released a fraction of a second too late, breaking through the clear glass surface to form wobbling ripples leading to a pale body encased in the richness of liquid heat. Silence enveloping the quiet leak lead the atmosphere to appear ominous enough to be the true villain in the pursuit of shattering minds, the beholder of the grave truth laying ahead in only a small matter of time in the turmoil of eternity. Some were thankful no ticking clocks existed in a manor filled with dreaded time--all devices had been turned off for the sake of those counting down to a fateful encounter. 

Frank laid against the chest of his vampire in a porcelain tub containing the arch of a faucet allowing the drip to become the seldom noise in the room aside from soft breathing. He watched each droplet fall like teardrops he trapped inside him, held in to prevent himself from seeing the macabre of blood dripping from his eyes. While a beautiful and sorrowful picture for the angelic being that was Gerard, he'd find it a morbid horror if it became apparel on his own features. He counted the dripping tears of water until it edged towards the hundreds, and only then, he drew in a breath to break the silence between himself and his lover sitting steady against his back. 

"Would you have conspired against Lindsey even if we'd never met?" Frank's voice no longer faded or broke no matter how many moments he went without using it as it did when he was human. No thickness lingered in his throat, only melodic words sprinkling off of the tip of his tongue. 

Gerard's arms tightened around Frank's waist ever so slightly. A droplet of water lost its grip on a strand of his midnight toned hair, finding itself cool to the touch on Frank's shoulder. It slid a path over his flawlessly smooth skin and rejoined the body of water it originated from. 

"Yes." Gerard answered, certain in the way he upheld the strength of the word. "I would have found this coven once more sooner or later."

Frank nodded slowly. The drying tendrils of his hair stuck up above the rest clinging damp to his scalp, curling in towards the edges to tickle the sides of his neck like gracious feathers. Deep inside the whirling windmill of his thoughts, he sensed an odd numbness, fully aware that today was the day four vampires sprung from the London coven would stand against Lindsey reigning terror on every landmark she touched. Blood would be shed, and with fingers curling in tight towards his palm, he prayed for it to seep out from the body of the only vampire deserving of it. 

"She dies today. We might die, too." Frank whispered. As if the entire world listened to the breath of words pushing out from between his lips, everything stilled. The drip at the faucet ended without a lasting droplet to bid a goodbye, the breath in Gerard's chest came to a pause, and Frank's fingers twitched from the silence now beginning to plummet in his gut. 

"I know." Gerard exhaled the breath he held in shakily. The noise was a relief to Frank, his naked form relaxing in the comfort of his vampire's arms hugging him tight against his chest while a soft kiss was stamped to the side of his head. None out of the pair spoke more words in order to cling to the tenderness of love's hold, listening to the dripping of water resume, and breathing in the therapeutic curls of steam rising from the heated water wrapping around their joined forms. 

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Fear was truly the most festering disease to ever exist inside of a soul. Fear was a darkness heavy enough to shut out any bit of light, a rawness resembling cool blades of cutting steel tearing away at any solace struggling to hold itself together in situations emitting powerful fear. Frank would never admit the ill cold of it was taking over the accumulated bravery Gerard so lovingly soothed into him with soft spoken words during the hours counting down to the ball. He kept it to himself, attempting time and time again to overpower the bitterness with the nourishing warmth, an internal struggle he'd forgotten he couldn't keep entirely private anymore until he saw the understanding sadness shining in his vampire's eyes the next moment their gazes met. He refused to let it show no matter how knowledgeable Gerard was of it, squaring his jaw and continuing to dress himself into the appropriate attire for the masquerade ball.