Feed the Flames

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

“For living,” he breathed, as if his lungs had been doing the talking instead of his vocal cords, “I lost the will to live a long time ago, but I feel like with you, I could be happy. I feel like I could make you happy, and that we could do great things.” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as if his words were telling me the truth; but it was the truth of what I was feeling. I slid my hands up to connect around his neck, and he tightened his hold on me so that our bodies were closer together, “I am so in love with you, Ronan, that it hurts.”

“Gerard-” this had become a constant reply within the past hour, but this time it held a different tone. My voice was full of, I don’t know, understanding. I could feel the pain that radiated off of him, and the emotional turmoil he was going through; that I was causing. I didn’t think twice before I pulled down on his neck, and the next moment, our lips pressed heavily into each other’s. I closed whatever space was between us and held him tightly as we kissed deeply. Something in my body told me that I needed this, and I felt like I was free from any emotional connection that I had with Liam. I knew this was where I would be happy – in these arms.

Relief, happiness, and peace eventually replaced the hurt that radiated from Gerard’s body. It felt as if time had stopped completely, causing me to understand what Gerard had meant when he claimed I stopped time for him.

Once we pulled away, we looked into one another’s eyes again. Neither of us had to speak – or think – it; we didn’t want to leave this spot. But no matter where we were, we would make damn sure that we would be there together.
____________

“So, tell me again why Dad took you back to Villa Satanica if you weren’t actually being held captive.” Gerard had given his late father’s house that name due to the horrible things his father did there, such as experimenting on Rogues. Chills ran through my body when the topic was brought up. Since I had become a vampire, I was able to tolerate new things, such as blood. There were still things that I didn’t want to ever have to see, however. Gerard placed his hand on my leg as we sat at the dining table to reassure me everything was okay, managing to ease my mind.

“I dunno,” Mikey said, his mouth full with the contents of his breakfast, “Maybe it was just that; he knew you would come if you thought there was any chance that I was in danger. He did take the time to lecture me, though. That’s a fucking punishment if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Lecture you on what?” I asked, now taking Gerard’s hand in mine. He began stroking the back of my hand with his thumb causing goosebumps to raise around the area.

“About trying to find a cure for vampirism, which means I’m close. A lot of ‘I’m meddling in things that don’t need to be known, there’s nothing wrong with what we are, blah blah blah,” Mikey waved his fork around as we spoke. He then noticed my hand in Gerard’s, raised a brow, and then opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but then Mason, Ray, and Cell walked over to the table, interrupting his thought.

“There’s everything wrong with what you are – you’re a normal,” Mason sneered, but in a teasing tone. Mikey’s face contorted into anger before Mason had the time to finish his sentence. He was still pissed off that Mason had killed their father, despite the fact that Donald was probably one of the most sadistic people I’d ever met.

“You mother fucker,” Mikey shot up from the table, and ran over to Mason. He brought his fist up, and a second before it was going to collide with his face, Mason disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the table. Instead, Mikey’s fist collided with Ray’s nose.

“WHAT THE FUCK, MIKEY?” Ray’s hand came up to cup his face. I could smell the blood as it came from Ray’s nose, and immediately grabbed a napkin for him.

“You fucking cunt. You should have been a blowjob,” Mikey pointed towards Mason.

“Being a dick isn’t going to make yours any bigger, Michael,” Mason replied, sitting down on the other side of the table. Cell started to make her way over to sit next to him, but Mikey stayed in the same spot. Ray had disappeared, but likely to the bathroom.

“I hope you choke on all of the shit you talk,” Mikey spat back. It was very obvious that he was not going to warm up to Mason like the rest of us were beginning to.

“Okay. Well, I’m officially cancelling this subscription. I think I’ve about had it with your issues,” Mason said coolly.

“If you were a cookie, you’d be a whoreo,” Mikey mumbled before he sat back down at the table to finish his food.

“Next week on Degrassi…” Ray said as he returned to the table. His nose was perfectly fine, but I don’t know why I expected anymore due to our unnatural ability to heal quickly. Ray shot Mikey a look with his eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth turned into a frown. “You’ll pay for that, you fucking dick,” Ray threatened. It was obvious that he didn’t like being punched in the face, but I couldn’t say that I blamed him. I’d be upset, too.

“Alright,” Gerard said a little too loudly, turning to face Mason, “Do you mind sending us all back to the school?

“Me too,” Toby walked up to the table, “I think I’m going to stick around with Mason for a while.” He pulled up a chair and placed it between Ray and I.

“I don’t do favors for normals,” Mason has his nose turned up as he looked Gerard up and down. Then, he tilted his head down to look at him as if they were equal, “But you made sure that Celine got out of that hell hole alive, and saved me, even. For that, I could never repay you enough.”

“I appreciate it,” Gerard said shortly. It was evident that Gerard didn’t really like Mason that much, but it also showed that he was beginning to warm up to him.

“Are you ready to leave now?” Mason asked, looking around at everybody.

“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here,” Gerard grumbled and Mason stood up from his seat. He skipped Cell, and tapped Mikey, who disappeared from his seat. He then tapped Ray, who also disappeared. He skipped Toby, and tapped me. The next second I was standing out in the wood line, next to Mikey and Gerard.

“Where’s Ray,” I questioned, not seeing him anywhere.

“He’s probably in his room, or just ended up in a different area at the school,” Gerard said calmly, grabbing my hand.

“Or in the middle of a desert outside of Dubai,” Mikey snickered.

“I’m sure he’d love that,” I muttered under my breath.

“Alright, so now that we’re back, I have something important to discuss with you, but we’ll have to go back to the room first,” Mikey said. Gerard and I looked at each other, and I shrugged. I was curious, so I wouldn’t mind going with them. I followed Mikey and Gerard to their room, but we had to sneak past the police who were still outside of the dorms. We weren’t gone for more than a day, and I nearly forgot about that fact that they still thought there was a homicidal maniac on the loose. Well, there was; Mason.

Bob and Frank were hanging out in the common room when we got into the room, which was questionable considering the fact that they had lived in a different dorm down the hall. However, I had to admit that I was glad to see them.

“You guys made it back,” Bob said as the two stood up from the couch. Frank immediately enveloped me into a hug, which I was glad to return. I had definitely missed him.

“Where the hell is Cell?” Frank nearly hissed into my ear, but it was silent and full of worry.

“She’s fine, and she’ll be back soon,” I promised as he pulled away.

“Alright. Also, that thing that I lent you? Yeah, I need that back before boo boo face realizes it’s missing,” he added, talking about Gerard’s journal, “Did you find what I was talking about?”

“I believe so. It worked out,” I smiled, and handed my bag to him, “Can you go place this somewhere? The journal is in there,” I thought the last part to him so the guys wouldn’t know what was up.

“Yeah, sure thing,” he took my bag and walked into Gerard’s room. I sat down on the couch as Gerard and Mikey explained everything that happened to Bob, and Frank walked back out and joined me on the couch.

“Alright, so to the thing I wanted to talk to you guys about,” Mikey said, and we all sat down around each other. He pulled some books out of his bag, which he hadn’t put away. They were old and leather bound, and were likely taken from Donald Way’s house, “As you guys know, I’ve been doing a lot of research to figure out how to reverse vampirism. Not for me, because I love it, but for Gerard,” Mikey looked at him, and Gerard smiled back. I grabbed his hand again, now finding it weird when his hand wasn’t in mine.

“Why am I not surprised that you would find answers hidden away in Don Way’s house?” Frank sneered, “How is that old asshole, by the way?”

“Dead,” Gerard answered simply. Frank’s eyes widened, but Gerard shoved it aside.

“Yeah, I looked through his library when I was there, and I think I found some answers,” he admitted. “Our blood, it’s infected. It’s horrible, disgusting, and to the point of no return, there’s no doubt about that. Guys, that’s where people have been failing. People have been trying to fix the blood that was already running through our veins, the blood that holds the vampire chromosome.”

“Or they were intercepted by Donald Way,” Frank interrupted. Mikey got a sour look on his face at this comment, still obviously unhappy about his father’s death. He was taking it a lot harder than Gerard was, which rather indicated that he might have liked his father a little bit more. Gerard avoided talking about the man all together, despite my questions.

“That too,” Mikey said shortly, unamused. Still, he continued with his explanation, “So, I had an idea. The thing is, we need a vampire volunteer, and a human volunteer. We’ll also need Cell because she can do that weird, but cool blood thing.”

“What are you getting at?” Gerard seemed like he was starting to get bored. Mikey had probably gone off on explaining his ideas in the past, all which ended up failing.

“We have to replace the blood. The blood is what makes us vampires, so replacing it is what will make a vampire human,” Mikey clarified.

“Mikey, I think you’re on to something,” Bob said, light in his eyes.

“There might be a cure after all.” Gerard’s words, while hopeful, did not hold hope. I squeezed his hand, knowing how he felt. Well, I sort of knew how he felt. I hated being a vampire, even for the short time that I was. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he felt. He wrapped his arms around me, and I lay my head on his chest, “Even if this doesn’t work,” Gerard thought to me, “The sun will still rise for me as long as you’re in my arms.”

The sun would rise for me, too, as long as he was by my side. He was my sun, my moon, and my stars. I had gotten so much out of this journey besides going to Rome, and making sure Mikey and Mason were okay. I was finally open to my feelings.

©Shannon