Feed the Flames

..::^~Ronan~^::..

It had been a couple of days since we were able to get Celine back. She kept herself distant and didn’t talk to us, so nothing had really changed. The guys rotated through sleeping in the common room of mine and Cell’s dorm just to make sure we were safe. Mason was still here and locked up in a room underneath the football field; however, the two other rogues he was with were gone and hadn’t come back. Ray was also gone, we hadn’t heard from him, and we didn’t know where was. The police were still investigating the massacre, but they declared it safe enough to start classes next week while they monitored the school. Of course Cell, the guys, and I all knew what happened, but we couldn’t just come out and say ’Oh everything’s okay guys! It was just a bunch of blood thirsty vampires, no big deal’.

I hadn’t seen Liam since he appeared in my room the night before we saved Cell, and frankly, he was all I thought about. Well, him and Gerard. The past two weeks had emotionally wrecked me, so I needed to get away for a day. So, I went to the most ‘away’ point that I could; the place where Liam and I had our first – and only – date. I lay on my back, looking at the gray and cloudy sky. One moment, it was a cloud shaped like a dragon playing the saxophone, the other, it was Frank’s head. He looked down at me with a large grin on his face, and I let out a large sigh. I had really wanted to be alone.

“Mind if I sit?” he didn’t wait for my answer, but instead sat down. As he did, I used my hands to push myself back up.

“How did you find me?” I didn’t look at him, but instead, out into the wood line. There was something mysterious about the woods surrounding the school that had drawn me in since I was turned. There was also something about the school grounds that made me feel, well, safe.

“Yeah, it’s about time we had that talk,” this time I looked at him. He had brought an acoustic guitar with him and softly strummed on it. I hadn’t known he played the guitar. Really, I was thinking about anything but the talk we were supposed to have. Every time I had talk with somebody around here, it was something about vampires, vampire hunting, curses, and it always ended up with a freaked out me.

“What, do you have some weird tracking ability?” I smirked as I looked over at him and raised a brow.

“Not exactly. I can however read your thoughts,” he said, now focusing his eyes on his hand as he strummed. I paid attention to his fret hand as his fingers moved notes from an E, to an F, to a C, and back to an E. It was obvious we were both stalling.

“So, like Ray?” I asked. The ability seemed invasive, at least with Ray he had to make skin-to-skin contact.

“No, not like Ray. I can only read your thoughts. Sort of like Mikey and Gerard, and you and Gerard, and Cell and Mason…” he said the last three words almost silently. My brows furrowed at this confession.

“Why, Gerard changed me, and you’re not my brother or dad,” I said, trying my best to keep out the tension in my voice. As I thought about it, Gerard hadn’t used the strange telepathy capability to talk to me yet.

“No, but you’re a part of my blood line,” he said after he released a sharp breath, and quickly put his guitar next to him. His hand started digging through one of his pockets.

“What do you mean?” I asked almost defensively. His hand retreated from his pocket, revealing a necklace with an intricate locket attached to the silver chain. The locket was oval and had green Celtic knotting painted on to it; it almost matched the mark on my arm. Around the oval had silver swirls coming from it to form a frame. With one hand he picked up mine, and with the other, placed the locket in my hand.

“This belonged to your great-great-great-grandmother. She died during a famine breakout in Ireland. It’s sort of a…family heirloom,” he smirked slightly.

“How did you get this?” I opened the locket, which held a four leaf clover and a very old grayscale picture of a woman.

“That’s her mother; you’re great-great-great-great-grandmother. She gave your great-great-great grandmother that clover when she was a young kid, and kept it throughout her short life,” he seemed almost sad when he said it.

“How did you get this? I repeating heavily, looking at him right in the eyes. He picked the guitar back up and placed it across his lap. He continued playing the song he had been, and a feeling of melancholy washed over Frank and I. The song died out as he stared at the grass in front of his crossed legs.

“She was my wife,” he said softly, a feeling of relief then washing over both of us.

“So what, you’re…you’re saying you’re my great-great-great-grandfather,” I looked back at the locket.

“Yeah, I’m old,” I sad smile weaved itself on his face, “I watched the family grow up from a distance, generation from generation. I was the one who slipped the Bal Voyeux pamphlet in your mailbox after your dad decided to send you to a private academy. You’d lost so many people, and I just wanted to look out for you.”

“This whole time, and you didn’t tell me?” I lay back down on the grass, and he followed.

“I mean, given the circumstances – no. I didn’t want you to become…this. I’ve managed to keep three generations of my blood line free of this nightmare. The one moment I slip, it happens to you,” I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze before I let go of it.
“So my great-great-” I began, but was cut off by Frank.

“Siobhan. Her name was Siobhan,” he said as if he was letting out a fresh breath of air.

“So, Siobhan, how could she have died from a famine? Wasn’t she a vampire?” I asked, curious now of where my family came from.

“No, she wasn’t. Neither was I, actually. We were both on our deathbed and one of the nurses changed me. Siobhan had died before I figured out what happened, and I left. I came here, to America, where I met up with Gerard, Mikey, and Ray. They’re all older than me. Bob, though, he came along last,” we both let out a deep breath, one which I didn’t know I was holding, “Our family didn’t start with this curse.”

“Families can start with the curse?” I questioned, looking over at him.

“The vampire model is sort of like a hierarchy,” Frank said as he sat up, and began to explain the history, “The curse dates back to the time when Lucifer fell from Heaven, and it started with ten families. You have the top of the hierarchy, which is made of the founding families. They’re old, powerful, and rich. Then, there are the Advisors, who work directly for and with the Founders. Next are both the Common and the Servants. The Common are the vampires who live like they’re average people. The Servants work for the Founders. They’re seen the same because Servants don’t work for the Common, therefore cannot be beneath them. Then, there are the Outcasts – us. Me, Ray, Gerard, Mikey, and Bob. At the bottom are the-”

“Rogues,” somebody cut of Frank. We both sat up and turned around to see Liam, “Addicted to blood, see themselves at the top, but are just as nasty and vile as everybody else in the vampire chain of command.” Frank sneered at his presence, and grabbed his guitar as he stood up.

“You’re a part of that chain now, Hale,” Frank emphasized Liam’s last name, causing Liam to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s a big joke. Funny,” he said, letting out a sarcastic laugh that sounded like ‘Ha. Ha. Ha.’

“I’m leaving. Will you be okay?” Frank put his hand on my shoulder and leaned in. I nodded my head in response, “If you need me, you know how to contact me.” He winked at Liam before he walked away. Liam and I stood there in silence, not sure what to say.

“Hey,” he said, breaking that silence. I didn’t know how to respond, I didn’t know what my feelings where, either. I felt like life as I knew it had ended, and tears began to well up against my will. Liam didn’t take long to notice, and soon, he wrapped his arms around me, “It’s okay,” he whispered. I knew it took a lot for him to say this, because he was less than okay. He sat down on the ground, and pulled me down so that I was sitting in between his legs with his chest to my back. He held me around my torso as I recomposed myself and leaned back into him. “I’ve been trying my best to avoid Abigail, but she’s persistent.” He tried to laugh, but I could tell he was faking it for my benefit.

“Why would you need to avoid Abigail,” I never really understood their relationship. They were really close, closer than friends, but they weren’t related, and apparently never dated.

“Because she’s like me – or, like I was before they changed me,” he explained.

“She’s a vampire hunter?” It finally clicked, “That means I’ll have to avoid her too, right?” I could feel him sigh heavily.

“I think she already knows,” he sounded as if his words were painful. I turned around in his lap so I was able to put my head against his chest.

“So wait, if you two are vampire hunters, and you knew about the guys, how come you haven’t killed them?” I hadn’t thought much about it since he told me what he was before he was turned by one of the Rogues, but now, I couldn’t stop my curiosity.

“It’s the grounds,” he said simply, “Blessed by Satan himself, so none of his creatures could be harmed here. The boundary stops in the wood line. Initially, we were enrolled here to wait for them to leave the boundary so we could attack. Soon, we grew to understand they didn’t want to harm anybody, they just wanted to live their own peaceful lives.”

“So, you’re saying we are in the most unholy area on Earth?” Honestly, I didn’t know Satan could bless anything.

“One of them. There are a few around the world, and vampires are untouchable in those areas, well, except by Rogues. They can kill anything anywhere. Luckily, there are only a few,” he explained, and tightened his arms around me, “I’m glad that they didn’t get a hold of you.”

“Me too,” I responded quietly.

“So what now?” his mouth was close to my ear, and I got goose bumps all over my body.

“I don’t know,” I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to make any decisions. I just wanted to stay here in Liam’s arms forever. That was the sick reality, though. If we wanted to do that, we could, with us being immortal. Suddenly, forever seemed like a really long time.

“Ronan,” his voice was soft, and I could feel him grow nervous, “I think I’m in love with you.” It took a moment to register what he had said. Many emotions ran through my head.

“But you left me,” I didn’t think before it came out of my mouth, but luckily I only received a sigh in response.

“I was hurt. I mean, you were turning into what I’m supposed to kill. I thought I loved you, then, too, and the last thing I ever wanted, or want, to do is hurt you. Walking away from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he whispered. Tears began to well up in my eyes again. I didn’t know if I was in love with him. Was I? We had an eternity to figure it out. No – we had longer than that.

It began to get darker outside as the sun set, but I didn’t have plans on leaving any time soon. I didn’t think Liam did, either.

“Please say something,” he begged softly.

“I want to be with you,” I said, looking him in the eyes. I knew he was disappointed because that wasn’t what he wanted to hear back. I could feel his disappointment wash over me. A sad smile made its way onto his face, however.

“Let’s run away,” he said suddenly. He stood up with me still in his arms, and then set me down on his feet.

“Uh, what?” I asked suddenly.

“Let’s run away. We can get away from everybody and just…be. We’ll only have each other, but that’s the only thing we need,” I could still feel his disappointment, but the idea had obviously excited him as well.

“Now?” Dumbfounded was the only emotion I could find. Dumfounded and surprised. He smiled and shook his head.

“No, this weekend. It will give us time to gather our things and talk to our friends one last time. Please, I don’t think I can be here anymore, but I don’t want to go without you,” he pleaded. It pulled at my heartstrings to think about being away from him.

“Okay,” I said finally. At first, he seemed shocked, but then a grin began to take up over half of his face.

“Really?” he asked with fire in his eyes.

“Really,” I smiled sweetly. He picked me up in his arms and twirled me around. I thought about Frank, and knew I would need to confront him before he told anybody else. He was my family, so he would understand. He’d experienced the same thing in Ireland where he just needed to get out. He placed me back down on the ground before he cupped my chin and brought my lips in for a deep kiss. For the first time, I felt happy, and I felt safe. His hands moved from my face to my hips. I tugged on his shirt, and he let go of me long enough to remove it. He picked me up bridal style and lay me in the grass. He met his lips with mine again. In that moment, I knew what I was feeling.

“I love you,” I breathed out.

“I love you, too.” From that point, we got lost in our love.
________________

I was surprised when I found nobody in the common room as I walked into the dorm I shared with Cell. I didn’t think much before I walked into my room to find Gerard sitting on my bed.

“You’re really leaving?” He jumped up from the bed and closed the distance between us. He was nearly yelling, but I did my best to try and ignore him. I slammed my bag down.

“Dammit, Gerard. What I do is none of your concern. Why are you here, what do you want from me? Why the hell can’t you just leave me alone? You were really good at doing that before you decided to ruin my life,” I poked him really hard in the chest with my pointer finger causing him to back off a little. He looked almost hurt for a moment, but went back to looking like his usual angry self.

“Where were you,” he growled. He knew, but for some reason, he was pretending that the connection between us didn’t exist. I was thankful.

“None of your business. Why are you in my room?” I asked again, this time blankly. It was clear I didn’t want him around.

“We were worried.” He clenched his jaw and then unclenched it, “You okay?”

“Fine,” I responded shortly, “Don’t get lost on your way out.” He stood in front of me for a moment before he brushed passed me. I could hear my front door slam as he left, and I felt relieved. Gerard’s temper was not something I was going to miss. I looked around my room, and I knew I would have to pack only enough stuff to move quickly. I had no idea where we were going, but I just wanted to get out of here.

©Shannon