Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time

Within the next couple days, Brendon wakes up in the middle of the night. His breath is heavy, and his palms are drenched in sweat. Emmett’s face comes back to haunt him. His lifeless eyes stare into the musician’s soul, and there’s so much blood. The last time he’d even had a nightmare was more than a month ago. It’s as though his dwelling thoughts and negative mood brought out these horrid visions. Some days he wonders if these disturbing pictures in his mind are real. They seem so vivid. There is no sense of paranoia this time, and part of him feels like that just might be a scarier notion.

It’s a Saturday morning, and Brendon’s tired body is still tucked under the covers. He’d been up for several hours just before sunrise. Usually he’d be more adamant, getting up around the time Sarah did, but today isn’t one of those days. He can feel the right side of the bed rise. He exhales deeply, hoping Sarah doesn’t suggest he wakes up. She’d been up with him most of the time after having these nightmares, yet she’d still have the energy to get up bright and early. He could never admit how truly drained he’s becoming to her… but he knows she’s concerned.

The next time Brendon opens his eyes, it’s one in the afternoon. He sighs before slowly getting out of bed. He walks into the bathroom and turns to look in the mirror. There’s dark circles under his eyes. Another deep sigh escapes his breath before he turns on the shower, slips off his boxers, and steps inside. He stands for a few minutes, letting the warm water fall down his skin. He stares at the nob and begins to turn it progressively warmer. It’s hot now, and the water practically stings his skin. He looks down at his chest and arms noting how red they’re becoming. He closes his eyes for a moment, proceeding to take long, deep breaths. Then he hears a knock on the wall of the archway connecting the bedroom to the bathroom.

“Babe, I gotta take a shower real quick before I leave.” Sarah says.

Brendon can see her figure walk closer in the room through the fogged up glass. He turns the temperature down quickly before opening the door just enough to stick his head out.

“I’ve only been in here for, like, five minutes.” Brendon guesses.

“Hand me my soaps, I’ll use the guest bathroom.”

Brendon’s chest tightens briefly, shaking his head in protest, “Nah-ah.”

“Bren, c’mon.” Sarah says, looking very unamused.

“Join me, m’lady.” Brendon says in a silly voice.

She gives him the expression of ‘Really?’ but proceeds to peel off her robe, continuing to join Brendon in the shower. They both smile towards each other and the musician pulls her in for a soft kiss. Usually she didn’t protest sharing the shower with Brendon, but he didn’t blame her for the hesitation. He knows she can tell something is off. She’d question his dreams, and he’d never tell her. It must have been frustrating, but still, his secrecy sustained his sanity.

~~~

It’s a full moon, and Jake is more than motivated to try and find Brendon. All previous attempts were unsuccessful. The black eyed demon can only assume he’d been regressing more and more into who is truly is, and he couldn’t wait to feast his eyes upon The Chosen One in all his glory.

“You actually think you’ll run into him tonight?” Kenny asks.

“He has to loop back to his local bar at some point, doesn’t he?” Jake says, fixing his hair briefly.

“Good luck…” Kenny says, almost under his breath while checking his phone.

Jake walks over with a lazy smile. He sits next to Kenny, swinging his legs across the shorter demon’s. Kenny reminds unfazed, still staring at his phone.

“You know, when I first met you, I definitely had a crush on you.”

Kenny looks over to Jake, “You’re telling me this why?”

“We’re both dead, aren’t we? Keeping secrets doesn’t matter anymore.” Jake adjusts himself so his left arm wraps behind Kenny’s shoulders.

“That’s true.” Kenny replies.

“Yeah, right when I saw you, I thought you were pretty cute. Then as soon as you said you had a girlfriend I was like ‘Fuck, he’s straight.’. But I’m glad we just remained good friends, you know? You helped me really accept myself. You showed me so much compassion. You were really there for me. Even after you killed me and sent me somewhere I thought my parents made up just to scare me… I still love you.” He wraps his right arm across Kenny’s chest, connecting his own hands.

Kenneth feels an ache in his chest; a small guilt. He hadn’t felt this much since he dragged those blades in Jake’s back. Jake then gives the shorter demon a kiss on the cheek. Kenneth can’t help but pat Jake’s arm in response.

“Be totally honest…” Jake starts, “Did it make you sad when you killed me?”

Kenneth looks the taller demon in the eyes, “Don’t you have a bar to get to?”

Jake wraps his hands around Kenny’s neck, pretending to choke him, “You totally did.”

The taller demon gets off Kenneth’s lap and Kenneth can’t help but smile a little. Of course he did, but he’ll never admit it out loud.

~~~

Jake arrives at the bar at 8 o’clock. He keeps his eyes peeled as he makes his way inside. He orders a drink and sits at the farthest end of the bar. He then proceeds to just wait around to see if Brendon finally shows up. He’d gone here every full moon from night till closing. He’d even stay after sometimes, cloaking himself in invisibility. Sadly, it was never really satisfying watching humans drink until they puke or fuck in the bathroom stalls.

Two hours pass, and the bartender occasionally gives Jake a look if he just sat there and didn’t order more than one shot. At some point, Jake glances over by the door and sees a hooded man walk in. He keeps his eyes locked on the individual. When the person finally faces in the black eyed demon’s direction, he swears he’s seen him before. Then it clicks… Brendon’s drug dealer. And if he’s here, Brendon has to be. Not even a second later, Jake hears someone laugh. It’s brief and devious. He turns his body around and sees Brendon walk out of the bathroom.

“Hey Brendon.” Jake says, in an attempted calm and seductive voice.

The being turns around and locks his eyes with the taller demon. There’s a swag in his step and smirk on his face as he walks over to Jake. He sits next to him, leaving little to no personal space as his eyes scan the area. Brendon drops his jaw, proceeding to pop it. He does the same with his neck, and those actions alone start to turn on Jake.

“I feel… so good right now.” Brendon smiles, and it turns into a very brief fit of laughter.

Jake leans in and gets his mouth close to the being’s ear, “What did you do?”

Brendon takes out a pack of cigarettes, placing three in his mouth and lighting them. He puffs out a cloud of smoke before looking at Jake, “I fed off of three men in the bathroom. My subtly lacked, I was just so hungry.” He takes another drag, “Like dominos, all three got rowdy. One was a dealer and the other two purchased from him. He had a lot of heroine. I simply persuaded them to overdose on that shit.” Brendon’s eyes fall back on the small crowd in the room, “They did.”

“That’s so fucking hot.” Jake replies, setting his hand on Brendon’s thigh.

Brendon looks back to Jake, and the taller demon attempts to close the proximity of their lips. The being grabs Jake’s chin and the electric yellow color of his irises briefly fade in and out. Jake’s skin shivers.

Brendon says, “You should check it out.”

Jake smirks, “I will.”

The black eyed demon gets up and walks over to the bathroom. He sees the three men sprawled out on the floor. Jake wonders how many others Brendon had killed between then and now. He definitely likes how creative this situation is. The power of persuasion… definitely sexy. He walks out of the bathroom and notices the now empty seat next to where Jake sat. He looks around and sees Brendon talking with his dealer. They share a very close proximity and that causes a jealous energy to build up inside the black eyed demon. He sees the drug and money being exchanged and then Brendon leaves.

This fucker, Jake thinks, taking Brendon’s company away from him. He angrily walks towards Brendon’s dealer before he can leave. He stands in front of the fairly suspicious demon.

The hooded individual says, “Excuse me.”

“No, and I know what you are.” Jake says, quickly flashing his eyes.

The other demon looks briefly surprised, quickly looking around to see if anyone could overhear, “So what?”

“How did you get acquainted with Brendon? What shit are you giving him, huh?”

“Listen, this is just a goddamn job, man. I get what he asks, he pays me. Get off my back.”

“No, I don’t think I will. There’s more than you’re letting on-” Hands grip one of Jake’s arms and he turns around to see Kenny.

Kenny looks to the hooded demon, “Sorry about that. He gets crazy when he drinks.”

“Kenny, what the fuck- I’m not done with you!” He points a finger in the demon’s direction.

Kenny manages to get Jake outside before the taller demon pulls away from his grasp, “Dude, what the hell?”

Kenny points to himself, “Me, what the hell?” He starts in a harsh, but audible whisper, “You trying to start a fight with another demon in public is a fucking stupid idea.”

“But it was Brendon’s dealer. I swear, that guy is sketchy as shit. You remember at the party, he gave everyone something. He had to have. No one noticed Brendon and, you know, I don’t remember seeing him after Brendon walked out covered in blood.”

Kenny begins to shush Jake, noticing a small group of people close to where they are.

“You can’t be that fucking blind can you?” The taller demon says in a quieter voice.

“Maybe he is.” Kenny says in a calm voice, “But here isn’t the place to talk about it, okay?”

Jake takes a breath, trying his best to calm down. “Did you drive here?”

“No.” Kenneth replies honestly.

“Your timing is pretty goddamn remarkable.” The taller demon crosses his arms.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing, alright?” There’s a certain feeling of defeat in the shorter demon’s words.

Jake crosses his arms, “I was doing fine, Brendon slowed up.” He then walks past Kenny into a nearby alley.

Well he’ll be damned, Kenneth thinks, walking around the corner and seeing Jake gone. He then also pictures home.