My Guardian Vampire

I shook my head.

"Not even a drink? What is with you? I'm thinking someone might like those visions..."

"No!" I said, before my tone tempered, pleading. "Please? I really don't want a drink..." I said, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. He sat up and looked at me for a moment, this time more seriously, before sighing again—this time without as much aggravation. He leaned down, kissing me on the lips softly, surprising me as my heart leaped. Once again I was disoriented from my mind scrambling to catch up to Billie.

"Fine," he said, and for a moment I was speechless from my heart's reaction. He continued, not noticing. “How about you answer any question I ask?"

I mentally shook my head of my stun, reminding myself of what he said earlier to Mike, making sure to brush off my heart’s reaction. I nodded in response—that suggestion seemed safe enough.

"Ok..." he said, and thought for a moment. He got off me, but leaned on the arm of the chair and pulled me into a hug. I had to admit; it made me smile as I laid there for a moment as he thought, listening to his heartbeat. Even if it wasn’t real, well… He could use me for a challenge, and I could use him as a small comfort for now. He did say we were both fucked up, after all.

He eventually made up his mind.

"Ok, first off, why did you run away?"

I groaned mentally.

"Um...Can I have a skip or...?"

"You can come back to it later, but you gotta answer it." I nodded.

"Fine, next."

"Ok, why did you have those bruises and cuts on you when you first came here?" he asked. I paused for a moment, silent and thinking.

"Can I get another skip...?" I asked, and he sighed, annoyed.

"Ali-"

"Fine, fine," I interrupted, sighing. I couldn't believe I was telling Billie Joe something I couldn't tell Gerard... But, I suppose, I truly had nothing to lose at this point. "Those are courtesy of my mother, a lovely lady, you should meet her sometime..." I said, trying to joke it off. I didn't like to show my weak side, especially to someone like him.

"Oh," he said simply. "She beat you up, you mean. And the scars on your back?"

"You saw those?" I asked weakly, and he nodded. "Oh..." I looked down. "Belt mostly, among other things."

I saw him cringe slightly. He began to lift up my shirt, and I pulled it back down, giving him a warning look.

"Relax," he said, putting my hand at my side. He lifted up the back of my shirt, touching the wound lightly, giving me chills from his cold hand. The cooling actually felt nice on them, as whenever I felt them before they always felt as if they were burning compared to the rest of my skin.

"It's hot," Billie Joe acknowledged, reinforcing my thoughts. I nodded slowly, still tense and sensitive to his touch. He gently pushed on me, motioning for me to sit up, and I did so with a questioning glance. Moving, he leaned over and gently placed his lips and fingers against my scars, letting the cold linger. As nice as it felt, it just… Was odd. I had to remind myself not to believe the kind action, not to believe him. He let my shirt fall back into place and pulled me back onto him, wrapping his arms around me and kissing the top of my head.

"That why you left?" he asked; now looking down at me.

"Partly..." I said, looking down.

"Ok," he nodded, and it was silent for a moment. "So, tell me about Gerard..."

I immediately tensed up.

"G-Gerard?" I stuttered, my eyes going wide. I could feel my chest tighten just at the name, and tried to stop all thoughts of him—I didn’t want to trigger another attack of those terrible thoughts. "What about him?"

"What do you care to share?"

"Nothing, really..." I muttered.

"He the other reason you left?"

I nodded, only barely enough to notice. A question then hit me. "How did you know his name?"

"Sometimes when you cried at night you said his name."

"Oh..." I trailed, embarrassed.

"Ok, next question. We ever going to do it or what?"

"What?" I coughed out with a disbelieving laugh, wide-eyed now.

"You heard me."

"Ha, yeah right," I laughed.

"So that means you're not going to go willingly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow mischievously.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head, unable to stop from smiling—he looked like a devious five year old.

"That sounds like a challenge..."

"Why? What are you going to do?" I said, my eyes going wide. He put his finger to his lips. Despite how pushy he had been, I was fairly certain he wouldn’t go that far—I did believe what he had said earlier about not being that pushy.

"Shhh, it's Billie's question time. Ok, next one. Why don't you drink beer? Will you ever?"

"I don't know. I just don't like it. I've just seen what it does to people I guess... I might drink one day, but it's going to be around people I trust..." I said, but then remembered something.

I had left home now, and all the people I had trusted.

"You don't trust me?" Billie asked. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, so I went with the truth.

"Nope."

"...Will you ever trust me?"

I paused, thinking for a moment, trying to answer truthfully.

"I don't know," I admitted, shaking my head. Unable to stop myself, my mouth twitched into a grim, mirthless smile. “I don’t know if I could ever ‘sink that low.’”

It took him a second, but his eyes went wide, before he cringed. “You heard that, huh?” I nodded, before shrugging.

“It’s whatever Billie, I get it. We’re from two very different worlds.” He put his hand on my arm.

“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry you heard that, but… I can’t show any form of weakness, not even to Mike or Tré. Not that they’d do anything, of course, but if they mentioned anything—especially bigmouth Tré—it could put you in danger. I’m not the universally beloved guy I’ve led you to believe.” He smiled softly at his small joke. I pursed my lips, still unsure.

“I’m still not sure I can trust you. Of course, I’m still not sure I can trust myself right now. But I guess… I guess we’ll see.” Billie Joe nodded grimly.

"Do you ever think..." he said, trailing off with an unsure expression on his face.

"Think what?" I egged him. He took a breath in.

"Do you ever think we'll have what you and Gerard had?"

My breath caught.

"How do you...?"

"I don't know what you and that guy had, but when you blacked out on me that night... I saw some memories, most of them I couldn't decode. But more than that were plain emotions, radiating off you like some kind of toxic material. I nearly blacked out when I first tried to read your mind myself, and you were screaming when we tried to touch you. It took all three of us to get you into the fucking room, and we tried putting you on the couch but you would never stay on it; you nearly took Tré's teeth out."

"Oh..." I said, blushing. "Sorry about that..."

"It was ok, it was worth it..." he said, lifting up my chin. “I like you a lot, Ali. And even if you don’t trust me now, well… I’m willing to do what I have to, to convince you otherwise. If it doesn’t work out, that’s okay—I do think you’re awesome, and I wouldn’t mind being friends. But I think you like me, and I like you, so I’d like to give it a shot. So, do you think...?"

"I..." I started, unable to make a comparison between how I felt then and how I felt now. I couldn't even think of what he and I had without tears welling up in my eyes. "I don't know..."

He nodded solemnly.

"Ok, that's good enough. Then I'll try. Hey kiddo, don't cry," he said, wiping at my eyes. I was speechless for a moment, unsure of what this meant.

"Try what? To have what we had?"

"Maybe..."Billie Joe said after a moment of thinking. "Maybe something more..."

"More?" I asked, stupefied. "What more?" He grinned.

"You'll see," he said, his grin now a smirk.

'Wait... When did I agree to this?'

"I will?" I asked, he nodded.

"Ok, one of the last questions. Be honest. You break up with him or him with you?" I swallowed hard.

"I broke up with him..."

He simply nodded.

"That explains some things..." he mumbled.

"What? What does it explain?" he put his finger up to his lips once again. I harrumphed in annoyance.

"Last one for now. Why did you break up with him?"

"I..." I started, my heart catching in my throat. I mean, Billie Joe did know how fucked up I was, but to say I was insane out loud, to admit it… I just couldn’t, afraid whatever semblance of sanity I had would come all crashing down. "I can't tell you."

"Final answer?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yes. I can't tell you, not yet..."

"Fine. Contract voided," he said, slipping out from underneath me.

"What?! No!" I yelled, getting up off the couch. "What do you mean 'Contract voided?' You can't void it!"

"Oh yes I can, you didn't answer every question. Therefore..." he said, going down a hall. I ran after him.

"Therefore what? I answered all those questions for nothing?!"

"Pretty much," he said, walking into a room.

I walked in after him, but he was already gone. It was simply the staircase entryway. I looked up the rows of staircases above, hearing the shutting of a door echo back at me from the top. I groaned.

"Motherfucking vampires," I cursed, and began my long climb up.