What You Deserve

That night, I couldn't see Jamia or any of the four. Instead, I was in a dark room, and could hear growling and hissing. It didn't sound like animals, however. I wasn't really sure what it was. As I moved forward, something in my mind told me that the door was locked, and I stopped. I heard a yelp of pain, and realized that the growling was a person. No. A vampire.

I moved closer to the door, just to see it squeak open, and a woman stood in front of me.

Eve.

Her eyes seemed to glint off the light of the other room, along with her teeth, which were visible through a faint smile. Just as she took another step towards me, everything disappeared.

My eyes fluttered open, and I looked over to see Frank sitting up, staring at me. "Are you alright?" he questioned soothingly, scooting closer toward me in the bed, and wrapped his arms around me delicately. Whenever he seemed so careful, it reminded me how fragile I was, and how indestructible the vampire was. If Eve and the other vampires with her were to attack... well... I wasn't going to be the one that would be able to walk out unscathed. I would say alive, but the five men were definitely not.

"I'm fine," I assured.

No. No you're not, a voice in my head whispered quietly. You're with a blood-drinking creature of the night who has enemies that want to eat you alive.

Frank smiled faintly, and pressed his lips lightly to my forehead, sending a shiver down my spine. I was used to the warmth of the blankets, and a Popsicle called a vampire just had to touch me.

Something came to thought in my mind. A possibly touchy subject for the man. "Would you ever make me a vampire?"

This made Frank's eyes flash with worry. "What?"

"Well... I don't know," I fiddled with the blankets between a few of my fingers. "I was just thinking..."

"Did you dream about her?" Frank sighed, "no."

I shook my head at this. "What if I were dying?"

At this, he bit his lip. "I-I... I don't know," he shifted, bringing the blankets up to my chin, "sleep," he cooed. I sighed, rolling over. I wasn't a child, and would have felt better about the situation if he said he would. But... I was tired. After a short while, I managed to drift back into a fitful sleep.

Now, it was Frank's turn to wake me up. He hopped out of bed, causing me to shift, and wake. I recalled my earlier question, but bit my tongue, as I got up.

He turned and looked at me, the question seeming to still be visible in his eyes. "Did I wake you up?" he tilted his head a little, before going over to his closet.

"No," I lied, watching him. A few moments passed before I went and dug out some clothing that I had bought yesterday, and changed into them. "What do you have planned for today?"

Frank shifted a little, making his way across the room within moments, "Gerard and I have to go out," he mumbled lowly. I could see in his eyes what he meant. "We shouldn't be gone too long. Bob will keep you company," he smiled uneasily, pressing his lips to my forehead again for a moment, "you don't understand how being around you burns," he mumbled.

I gave him a confused look. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be insulted by this or not.

Seeming to understand, he shook his head quickly, "no, I don't mean it to be mean!" he quickly spoke, "I'm saying that you're warm and have blood, and I haven't had any for a while. It starts to feel a burning-stinging feeling after a while. Kind of like..." he thought, "if you have a sore throat and try to talk a lot while not drinking much."

Really, I couldn't understand what he was saying, but at the same time, I did. It was somewhat difficult.

"Will you be okay without me here?"

I nodded, and looked at him carefully. I could see that he didn't want to leave. Regardless, though, moments later, Gerard walked in, "ready to go, Frank?" he glanced at me, and a smirk twitched at his lips, "don't worry, I'll bring your Frankie back in one piece."

"You better," I shifted, a smirk on my face, "I don't think I want to see him in any more pieces than that one."

Gerard laughed at this, and Frank followed him out, casting numerous glances at me.

Instead of spending the day with Bob, I kept in Frank's room, glancing through the drawers, and making my way over to a small closet. With a glance at the door, I pulled it open, and stared vacantly at the contents. Half of the closet was full of clothes that didn't belong to Frank. Or myself. It was easy to realize the prior owner of the clothes. Her face fluttered through my mind, and I shivered away the thought. After a moment, I noticed something in the pocket of a small, black jacket, and reached for the small paper.

Once it was out, I found it was a small picture. One with Frank and Jamia, exactly as I had dreamed, with a dog. A lump in my throat formed that I couldn't seem to swallow, as I quickly returned the picture to the jacket pocket, pulling out the jacket itself, now, and looking at it. It was one of those jackets that have a little bit of fluff inside, but not too much to were if someone were to put it on, they would be sweating within minutes, or look like an unusually hairy creature from God-knows where.

A cool breeze pulled me back from examining the item, and I turned my head to see Frank looking at me, with an unusually calm look on his face. He was back much sooner than I had thought. "It's Jamia's..." he mumbled lowly.

I nodded, knowingly.

"Do you want it?"

To this, I could hear my breathing stop for a short moment, and I began shaking my head, "no! No, I don't," I finally stopped, seeing him looking into the closet.

"You can wear anything in there that's hers... she's not coming back for it..." he sighed, and made his way to wrap his arms around my waist. "Plus, she'd probably want you to have her stuff," I could feel him shrug.

I shook my head again, leaning a little out of his reach to put the jacket away, and then closed the closet, as he stared blankly at the doors, and let go of me soon after.

Gerard had walked in again, and was looking at Frank uneasily. After a second, I realized there was a small trail of blood coming down his lip. Of course, seeing this on Gerard made me shiver. "You..." his eyes seemed to narrow, as Frank turned his vacant expression on the man. "You didn't finish! What were you thinking?" I saw Gerard snap, his eyes glaring at the man behind me.

Frank held me again, as if being protective. "I told you it was too much..."

"You aren't human! You have to eat! And that person was starting to struggle! Humans can't live with us feeding from them! It's not normal!" I heard him hiss at Frank angrily, "if I weren't there, they'd be spitting blood!"

"You were thirsty enough for them too...." Frank seemed to have grown far more quiet, "I didn't want that much..." He sounded like a child.

This was an unpleasant conversation for me to be listening to. Especially with the term feeding.

Gerard was still shooting death glares, "if you ever do that again..." he began to threaten.

"Jade lived through it..." I heard him squeak uneasily. "Remember? She's alive. She's here. She's not a vampire!" With that, Frank's grip around me tightened a little.

Opening his mouth to comment, Gerard's eyes flashed to me, "Frank, you don't..." he shook his head. "You just don't get it," with that, he turned and left the room.

I heard Frank exhale loudly, and his hand brushed against my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I realized then that I didn't feel his hand pass over the bite marks that had once been on my neck.

As if understanding, Frank whispered lowly, "they're gone," he assured, and looked around, before releasing me and going to sit on the bed.

"What was that about?" I questioned, making my way slowly to the bed, and sat beside him.

Another loud exhale came from Frank's mouth, "nothing... I just... couldn't..." he shrugged barely noticeably. For a second, I saw his tongue flash across his teeth, and I realized what had happened.

"You have to... if you want to keep existing..." I scooted closer to him, until I was sitting on his lap. "Why didn't you do what you normally do?"

"Because I found out something!" It sounded like he was choking, "they can live! If you're careful, nobody dies when it happens! You didn't! You're alive! You're here!" he wrapped his arms around me, "you're the only one that I've bitten that isn't gone... you're here. I want everyone to stay," he mumbled lowly. I could hear a growl in his throat, as he pulled his face away from me. He had lied to Gerard. He was still hungry.

I shifted, an uneasy look on my face as I balanced the thoughts on my mind, and came to a conclusion. "Bite me," I shifted, staring at his expression as it flashed with alarm onto his face.

"What?" he yelped in surprise. I could almost hear everyone in the house jump. "I can't!"

I slowly brought my wrist up to his face, feeling his fingers lightly graze it as they lifted, seeming to be fighting the urge to follow instinct. "You stopped before..."

"But the guys stopped me..." Frank whined. It seemed like I could see his eyes darken a shade during one of the seconds he was blinking.

His fingers lightly gripped around my wrist.

A growl rose from outside the door, but it didn't seem to phase him. All he could do was stare at my face.

Another blink. His eyes darkened.

"Frank..." the growl grew louder.

I shut my eyes, not wanting to see how it would look as he pierced my skin. I didn't want to imagine it. But I could feel his lips gently touch my wrist, and a small pinch. It was barely noticeable.

Then, a small stinging sensation raced up my arm, causing me to let out a gasp.

"Frank! I can smell it! Stop!" the growling turned into yelling, and I felt Frank remove his lips from my arm, and a cool liquid dripped onto my arm.

"Jade..." Frank mumbled, "are you alright?" it sounded like he was completely drained of energy, as I opened my eyes. For a second, everything seemed a little fuzzy, but it cleared, and I could see the vampire slouched over my arm. One of his fingernails had a small amount of blood on it, and I could see the cut he had made with it on my arm. He hadn't really bitten me.

The growling had quieted a small amount. "Yeah..." I murmured, watching his tongue slip shamefully across his lips. "Are you?"

"Far from it," his hand had yet to release my arm, and for a moment I thought he meant that he wanted more blood. "I can't believe you had me do that..." he eyed the blood that slowly sept from the cut, and rubbed his thumb over it., as if in attempt to erase it "You should never, ever put yourself in a position where you're offering a vampire your blood...."

I bit my lip carefully, staring at him. Did he bite me? A stinging sensation still slowly pulsed through my arm, seeming to die a little. "But I did..."

He sighed, and nodded, "I know. I'm sorry I touched your cut... saliva of a vampire is the last thing you want in it unless you like pain..." he pointed out, answering the question of my throbbing arm.

Soon, the door opened, Gerard staring at Frank with wild eyes, "what are you doing in here?" he growled, "did you not understand that I didn't want people to eat her?"

Frank kept silent as Gerard kept talking, and eventually Bob came in with a cloth, and wrapped it around my arm, giving me an unpleasant look that told me that I should be yelled at just as much as Frank.

Soon, the vampire defended himself. "You don't know how it is, Gerard! Jamia's gone! You know that! I made a mistake then! If I had just done one bite, she'd still be here! I have another chance! If I can control this in little bits, how could I not save another person that may die? How can I just sit there when I could be just as good as you are with..."

Gerard's eyes widened, "enough," he interrupted, "don't even talk about that. That was a huge mistake for any vampire. If you turn her, I'll make sure that you'll burn," he snapped, turning around and walking out. "No more biting," he added, slamming the door behind him.

Silence filled the room for a moment, then I turned to Frank, and he gave me a pitiful, apologetic look, and then moved to the dresser, pulling out pajamas. "I'm going to go to sleep now..." he mumbled lowly, taking continuous glances at my arm, before changing, and getting under the covers of the bed. Without a word, he shut his eyes.

Instead of following in suit, I stood up and made my way out of the room, where I could hear a small argument in the kitchen. I only took enough steps to hear it, so that I wouldn't make them think I was eavesdropping.

"But she knew what was going to happen!" I heard Bob's voice protest.

"No! She really doesn't," Gerard growled, "nobody's turning her."

"She was the only one that could get Frank to eat," Bob added in. "Even if it was her blood, it was something. He's being careful."

Gerard still didn't seem to like this, "but he'll end up hurting her.."

"They know what they're doing," Bob assured, "Frank knows..."

Ray's voice broke in, "does he really? Does he not remember last time?"

A hand lightly grasped my shoulder, causing me to almost shriek as I spun around. I came face-to-face with Mikey, smiling at me, as he pulled me along a hallway, further away from the kitchen. I soon found myself following him through a door, and in a bedroom that had an unusually dim light in it.

"Mikey?" I looked at him nervously.

Without saying anything, he wrapped his frozen arms around me in a small hug, then released, "you know, I'm not sure if you're brave or stupid," he smiled faintly. "But it's something... that you'd do that for him, even though you know what he is and that he's capable of killing you in seconds," he shifted, looking at my wrist.

This made me uneasy, and I pulled my arm out of his view. "Okay?"

"Maybe I was wrong about you," he mumbled, stepping closer. A nervous feeling began to emerge in the pit of my stomach, as his face was only a few inches from mine.

To this, I stepped back. "Can I go back to Frank's room now?" I murmured uneasily.

"You smell like the girls," he mumbled lowly, seeming to be taken by surprise. "Jamia... Alicia," this name seemed to stick to his tongue and head into the back of his throat. "Maybe you're worth something to Frank," he finally stated, and nodded to my question, watching me hurry out of the room and to Frank's.