My Guardian Vampire

“Shhh!” he hissed. He paused, unmoving—I realized he was listening, although for what I wasn’t sure. Then he leaned closer and hissed again, angry venom sliding through my ear. “Don’t you ever fucking say that again.” His hands moved and clung to my shoulders, spinning me around. “Don’t you think I care at all if you die? What does all of this mean to you?”

He was holding me tightly, his fangs extending as he gritted his teeth in anger.

‘Fuck him. I’m no longer afraid.’

“It doesn’t mean a thing. When are you going to understand that I do not fucking care?”

He look struck for a moment, his lips parting as he searched for words. “Don’t care about yourself? What about us?” he asked, his eyes searching mine out, through me, for some answer I just couldn’t give him, couldn’t understand.

“What ‘us?’” I asked, looking at the ground. This was honest to God confusing. It had only been a few days—maybe my hold on the situation was slipping along with my sanity. “You don’t even know me Billie Joe. Whatever you feel is coming from your fucking pants.” I feebly tried to get my arms free.

“I know some things,” he said, not letting me go. “I don’t know everything about you, but I know…” he trailed off, leaving me hanging in curiosity.

“Know what?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“I just know some things, ok? And… I know I like you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, right in his face.

“Like me? Billie Joe, you don’t like me. You’re horny and what you like is a fucking challenge.” He growled, startling me, although it quickly wore off.

“Jesus Ali, just shut up for once ok?” I opened my mouth to shoot back but he continued, ceasing my fire for the moment. “Look, just listen. I can prove that I like you.”

‘What?’

“Just... Shut your eyes, and try to trust me for a moment. This might hurt a little, but I promise, it’ll show you…”

I hesitantly closed my eyes, figuring I didn’t have much to lose. He let go of my arms and gently took hold of my wrist, his fingers lightly sliding over my skin. I felt him lift it up and kiss it softly once, giving me goose bumps. My mind instantly began to rise on alert, heightening every sensation.

“Ok,” he murmured, his warm breath strangely giving me chills. “Brace yourself.”

“Ow!” I said, feeling a sharp pain in my wrist, quick as a shot as I opened my eyes. I tried to move my hand, but Billie’s fingers were now creating tight shackles around my wrist, keeping it immobile.

“Wait for it,” Billie Joe said, and we both stared intently at my wrist.

My wrist began to leak blood, and a red “X” appeared slowly, the edges eventually molting and shifting until it broke and the borders collided together, forming one large blob. I was so fascinated with the whole thing, it took me a moment to realize that this was my blood spilling out of my wrist. To my horror, Billie Joe put my wrist to his mouth and began to slowly suck. I immediately began to feel weak, a flash of the past almost making me faint.

I watched his face, which while emotionless at first, began to grow strange. He closed his eyes and I felt him suck a little harder, causing my heart to jump into my throat, my eyes widening. His eyes then flashed open, setting them dead on me. I was too afraid to blink or look away.

After an eternal moment, he stopped, lowering my hand away from his mouth.
He licked his lips, my blood staining his mouth and tongue.

“See? You’re still breathing,” he grinned, taking in a sharp breath. “I promise, I’m not going to kill you, Ali. I’m not here to hurt you. And I know you still think you’re fucked up—but I’m fucked up too. Maybe… Well, we don’t know each other well, but maybe someday we could help each other out.” Unable to meet his stare, I looked at my wrist. It was completely healed and slightly tingling, though there was a small scar in the shape of the “X” that remained. I stared at it, and he laughed.

“Don’t worry about that. Come on, we should just grab a cab and go home now. I’m feeling kind of tired.” I could only nod, still digesting what had just happened. There was so much I wanted to say—‘you don’t understand, I’m insane;’ ‘thanks for trying, but I better belong on looney toons than with a bunch of vampires;’ ‘you must be as insane as I am for thinking you could help me…’ but nothing came out.

We got a cab and went back to the house, Billie Joe and I silent the entire way; me just staring at the scar, as if I looked away it would disappear, and he leaning back with his eyes closed.

I kind of liked the scar; it looked pretty cool.

We got to the house and Tré and Mike were nowhere to be seen.

"Tré? Mike?" Billie called out, walking over to the fridge. Billie Joe took out a blood pack.

"Sweet," he murmured to himself, looking at it.

"I thought Mike said you didn't have those..."

"Just got some this afternoon while we were out; we were lucky," he said, and I nodded.

'That's why they were out...'

"What, my blood not enough for you?" I said, smiling slightly. Billie Joe just smiled, opening the pack and drinking it. I winced slightly, looking away.

'It's only fruit punch, it's only fruit punch...'

Billie Joe saw my expression and spit the blood out, laughing. I almost puked at the grotesque sight of the red sprayed on the floor and dripping down his mouth.

He wiped the blood off his face, still laughing.

"Shit, you shoulda seen you're face," he said.

I was suddenly picked up and twirled around.

"Ali you're back!" Tré said, putting me down, but his vice grip holding still. I laughed, coughing out from the pressure.

"Tré, you better let go before I puke on you..." Tré nodded and let go—and then he was gone.

"What the hell?" I said, looking around. He was suddenly in front of me again.

"Hi," he said, and he was gone once again.

"I'm guessing someone let Tré into either drugs or candy..." Billie Joe said, chuckling as he finished up his blood bag. He let out some air. "Phew, now I feel better." I raised my brow.

"I made you sick?" I asked. He looked away, studying the blood bag nonchalantly before tossing it away.

"We don't get sick," he stated simply. I rolled my eyes and then yawned, putting it away as one more mystery to add to the list.

"Ok then, Ali's going to bed," I said, walking towards my couch-room.

"What are you doing?" Billie Joe asked, throwing away the empty bag.

"I'm going to bed,” I echoed, before my expression turned maliciously determined. “Barney and I have a score to settle..." I said, grinning maliciously. Billie Joe went wide-eyed, guessing my intent.

"No! Not Barney!" he yelled, and I laughed, running to the door. He flashed over to me and got me, and in the next moment we were at his bedroom. He let go of me, pushing me into the room, before shutting the door. I stumbled for a moment, jumbled from the sudden shift. "If you're gonna sleep, sleep here. You're not touchin' Barney."

He shut the door before I could respond. I tried pulling at the handle, but he held onto the other side so I couldn't open it. I sighed and gave up, too tired to really battle it out. I heard him laugh and leave, and I plopped down on the bed, closing my eyes for a moment.

I eventually sat back up and looked around the room, truly inspecting it for the first time. It wasn't suffocating messy or anything, but looked more as whoever lived here didn't really care about the room or anything in it. The lamps were turned over, drawers broken, and beer cans all over the place. There were also lots of books: books thrown on the ground, books on the shelves, books on the table and bed, random pages of books thrown around the room. It looked like something a library had thrown up during a rager and left for no one to clean it up. There were also random guitar parts scattered around the room, but nothing of real value or interest. I sighed, laying back down on the bed and under the covers. There was an AC going in the room so it was actually slightly cold—not that I minded.

'My room is pretty damn messy but this...almost looks unlived in, in some strange way...'

I closed my eyes, in a half sleep, my mind attempting to sort through the day before eventually drifting towards quiet. I was zoned out, almost asleep, when the door opened and Billie Joe silently walked in, waking me up fully as the door shut. I let my eyes get adjusted, the tiny light from the crack in the door giving shades of gray to the room. I then saw Billie Joe moving some books off the bed quietly, as if to not wake me up. He then began to change, stripping down to his boxers.

'I do not like what I see, I do not like what I see...' I thought, shutting my eyes. He finished changing, wearing some pj bottoms with no shirt on, climbing into bed next to me. I was facing the dirty wall away from Billie Joe, but I felt him turn to face my back, his breath hitting lightly against my neck.

"Psst, next time you're gonna watch me change, give me a heads up so I can wear better boxers."

'Busted.'

"Don't be so full of yourself," I sighed, trying to act nonchalant, thankful he couldn't see my face. "How did you know I was up?"

"When I started taking my clothes off, you stopped breathing."

'Damn.'

"So, I figured my body either had given you a heart attack in your sleep, or you were just trying to hide the fact you're a pervert," he said, and I moved my elbow behind me, softly hitting him in the chest.

"Oww..." he whined, but laughed. "C'mon, I feel violated and all you do is hurt me?"

"So sorry Billie Joe," I said sarcastically, laughing slightly.

"Its ok—but do I at least get a hug, to make up for it?" he said, putting his arm over mine. I sighed and scooted closer to him, allowing him to fully wrap his arm around my waist. It felt so odd and alien to be doing this again with someone—but I tried to ignore it.

"You're such a manwhore Billie Joe," I murmured tiredly, sleepiness dragging at me now that I was enveloped in his warmth. He laughed and yawned sleepily, making me chuckle softly in return. With a pang of sadness I realized that this felt nothing close to how it had felt with Gerard before—but damnit, this was as close as I had gotten to happiness. If I could find any happiness in insanity…

Well, I might as well play along and see where this goes.
Maybe Billie Joe isn't as bad as everyone says.

'Yeah... Right.'