Vanilla Lace

"What do you mean my son is not here?" Simone's voice raised at the nurses who so timidly it their lip. The mother of Bill and Tom placed her hands on her hips as she was denied access to the private wing. Tom, who was beside his mother, held her arm like he wanted to tell her something.

"Mom-"

"You cannot go in there," one of the nurses said to Simone, shaking her head. "Your son was sent to another...another place."

The other quickly added in a bit of a fumble. "For some...some private test-"

"Mom-"

"Private test?!" Simone exclaimed wildly, her brownish red hair in a messy ponytail. Her frown grew deeper. "What private test? Why wasn't I informed? What kind of operation are you running here?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs Kaulitz, but Bill needs to undergo a few important things to aid his memory recall and-"

She waved a spirit finger in front of the nurse's face. "No, you're not telling me this. I need to see my son. Now."

"MOM!" Tom shouted almost regrettably. Simone's gaze turned to her elder son and she softened, reading Tom's face. "Listen to me!"

"What is it?" Simone questioned. "Did your brother even tell you anything about this? The hospital didn't mention anything about this whole...whole private test thing and-"

"Yes! Yes, he did, okay? Bill did call me! He called me this morning," Tom mumbled, shuffling uneasily, shifting his weight from one leg to another.

Simone's gaze narrowed skeptically at Tom. "Then why didn't you tell me about it this morning? You made me ramble like a mad woman." The woman turned to the nurses. "But I'm his mother, for God's sake. Why wasn't I informed at all? Don't I need to sign anything?" And then her gaze landed on Franz Bruckner, Bill's doctor, who came into the front area where the commotion was occurring. As if on cue, the nurses stepped back.

"Mrs. Kaulitz," Franz greeted albeit awkward. "I'm so sorry about this last-minute piece of information."

Tom exchanged looks with the doctor, his own gaze hard and cold at the old man. He remembered clearly that Bill has said something about the doctor knowing what was going on. If it wasn't a case of kidnap, and Bill was fine, what was going on? Tom couldn't stand this large missing piece of the puzzle.

"It would be very nice if you explained to me," Simone said, trying to sound patient. "I am trying not to cause any more trouble here."

"This is...this is a complimentary program offered by the hospital, Mrs. Kaulitz," Franz enlightened. His hands were held together in a very professional way. "It is a new series of activities created by our experienced research team to help aid memory loss patients to recover faster. Bill is one of our - how do you say it - lucky patients, if you allow, to be the first batch to receive this experiential aid."

"I didn't allow it," Simone replied plainly. Before Franz could think of a comeback, Tom continued.

"But Bill called me about it, so I guess that's fine," Tom said. And Franz immediately looked at Tom, an eyebrow raised in skepticism. "He told me the doctor knows what's going to happen during the process, so nothing's wrong, mommy." Each word Tom said, Franz felt the hair on the back of his neck stand some more. Did Tom know about it as well? Or maybe Bill told him. It was all so confusing to either. "It's okay," Tom continued, hugging his mother by her shoulders.

"When will he be finished with this program?" Simone queried.

Franz thought about it for a while. "It varies, really," Franz nodded. "And I regret to inform you as well that no relative contact will be accepted throughout this course to ensure optimum success."

"I don't know about such things, doctor, but I will want to speak to my son before this starts," Simone said.

Franz shook his head, giving a tight-lipped smile. "I'm sorry but it has already started." His gaze turned to briefly to Tom. Tom's frown deepened, not liking the doctor at all. He was prepared this doctor.

"Let's go, mom," Tom said. "Don't you trust me? I told you; Bill told me about it." And he leaned in to his mother's ears. "He'll call us again, I promise." Simone raised an eyebrow. "You know how stubborn he is," Tom gave a soft smirk.

"Fine," Simone said to the hospital staff. "So I have no need to come here everyday. I wish for you to update me. Reports and whatever that I need to know about how my son is doing. Is that okay?"

"That would be fine, Mrs. Kaulitz," Franz gave a wide smile and nodded. "Bill will be just fine."

* * *

"What are you going to do here?" Simone asked when Tom told her he was going to stay around in the hospital.

Tom thought about it. "To pack Bill's things," he lied. He wasn't even sure if Bill left anything. He was going to, of course, find Franz. "And I sort of met a cool girl here."

Simone rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. "Don't tell me she's a nurse," she said.

"She's...she's alright," Tom said, lying again. He hadn't met any girl at all since he came to this city. "Okay, bye, mom!" He said, letting Saki take care of Simone when they reached the ground floor.

Tom sped to the lift and pressed the button, waiting anxiously for the lift to open up. He went up to Bill's floor and where he had earlier seen the doctor. After a bit of intimidating charm worked on the nurses, Tom managed to persuade them to ask the doctor to come out.

"Bring him in instead," Franz said, staying in for lunch. There was a packed lunch of Caesar salad and a fork in his hand. Tom was led in and the door was closed. Instantly, there was a cold shiver that ran down the boy's spine. For some reason, the hatred towards this doctor grew tenfold almost immediately.

Franz gazed up at Tom quietly, not a word being exchanged the both. The teenager pulled the chair out and sat at the edge of it. He glanced around as if observing the room and its inanimate objects. The doctor pursed his lips slightly before proceeding to eat his greens.

Tom stared at the old man. "Where did you say my brother was?" He said finally, breaking the unnerving chomping sounds made by Franz.

The doctor looked up at Tom and held his fork down, resting his wrist lightly on the circumference of the table. "He's...away," the man said.

Tom was dissatisfied with the answer and his glare narrowed. "Away where?"

"I thought you said he called you about it," Franz said to the boy. He decided to grant Tom his full attention, so he put down his plastic fork and wiped his lips with a paper napkin.

"He called me, and I know it's got nothing to do with the hospital. I know you know he ran away from this place," Tom said, sharing what he knew with the doctor.

"So you do know," Franz said, frowning a bit as his pale green eyes was fixated on Tom's bright brown ones.

"I want to know everything."

Franz gave a huge sigh and rubbed his face down before looking at Tom. "Do you know about them?"

Tom frowned, confused. "Who's them?"

The doctor gave a half-smile and shook his head before sitting up straight, leaning back a bit. "You don't know that much, do you?" Tom glared at the old man. "What exactly did your brother tell you?"

"That someone's after him so he's running away from this place. So now it's your turn to tell me why is he running away from this place and who that someone is," Tom said. After a bit of thought, he continued. "I know! He doesn't want to take that stupid program and be your guinea pig, right? I just knew it!"

Franz gave a chuckle, making Tom shiver. "Silly boy," he said. "I thought you were smart enough to know; that was a lie."

"What?!" Tom exclaimed, scowling at the old man.

"We don't know where he is," Franz said. "And I know his disappearance will rake up chaos in your little media industry, so we have decided to help you out by faking his absence. I know he is on the run from them. And so is the girl. She's also one of them. And that's where I'm confused, because I don't understand why your brother would run away with one of them-"

"Who's them?!" Tom demanded to know, his head jerked forward. "You keep saying them, but who are they? And who is the girl? Why is he running away with her? What happened to him?"

Franz raised his hands to stop Tom's questions from bombarding. "Listen, kid," Franz said, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. "You may think that this is none of my problem now, but you don't know how hard it is for me to keep things neutral. Apparently, there is a lot you don't know so I am not going to tell you more than you should. If your brother decides to tell you just that, we shall keep it that way-"

"No!" Tom shouted, slamming the table and making the lighter objects shake once. "You have to tell me everything. I don't care! He's my brother, and I deserve to know everything related to him...or I swear I will tell my mother and the press about you and your schemes, you bald-headed rat!"

Tom's eyes glistened with fury and menace, and Franz swallowed a lump uneasily down his throat. "Son, listen to me-"

Without wanting to hear another useless word, Tom stood up, his chair being thrown back fiercely onto the floor as he reached over the table to grab the doctor's collar roughly. His hot breath bounced off the doctor's dry facial skin, and Franz shivered in creeping terror of the unpredictable teenager. "No, you listen to me," Tom glared at him. Slowly, he continued. "You will tell me everything I need to know...starting with them."

Franz could feel his blood pressure racing. "Please, don't do this. I'm in no position to tell you these things-"

"Say it," Tom said, not wanting Franz to beat around the bush.

"Please, boy," the doctor begged, shaking his head. "I have high blood pressure myself-"

"Say it!" Tom bellowed, shaking Franz by his collar. He was determined to get the truth out of the man.

Franz shut his eyes tight and frowned before opening up again. "You wouldn't believe me," he mumbled. "You really wouldn't."

"Stop testing my patience, old man," Tom spoke through gritted teeth, pulling the doctor tighter. "Now, say it!"

"They...they're vampires."