Before The Sun Goes Down

Gerard's POV
A week and a half into college, and we've settled in fine, Frank hasn't done anything radical, and everybody is happy back home.
I've spoken to Frank once, but that was only because he needed a pen, so he asked me for one. He wouldn't recognize me, I've changed what I looked like from when Maude and I met him. When I'm in the dorm, I shift back, but apart from that, I stay like this.
I have dirty blonde hair, and I look nothing like I did when I came out of the coffin, all apart from my eyes. I've changed them as much as possible, but for some reason we aren't able to change them completely.
Every time he looks at me, I worry about whether he's going to recognize me from my eyes, and he never does, but the worry never quite goes.
He's still been researching, but he hasn't had any major breakthroughs with anything. His thoughts are loud and confused, though. He thinks of me all the time, like when he walks past a random guy, he compares them to me, thinking how he'll never love anybody else again because it 'isn't right'.
I don't think I feel anything close to love for him, but I care about him.. a lot. I think, that when he does come after us or something, I'd die trying to protect him. I can't let Ernest murder him, instead maybe we could turn him. I think I'd be able to do, maybe with a little help from a friend of Ernest's that's a necromancer.
Whenever I'm around him, I go quiet. I stop contributing to whatever it is I'm doing, and sit, quietly. I barely even pretend to breathe. It's like I'm shy, but I can't remember ever being that, so I have no idea if I am or not.
Maude and Blue tease me for it, though. Maude can sense my emotions and aura, so she tells Blue, and because we don't sleep as such, I get it all night from him. It shouldn't bother me, but I can't help getting defensive, and I think that if I had blood, I would blush.
I'm in a little coffee shop near to the campus, and Frank is waiting outside. He's waiting for somebody, a date I think. He's nervous, he'll think it will go terribly.
Every time he mentions this mysterious person in his thoughts, a stab of something goes through me, and I grit my teeth. I think I even hissed once, an old woman turned around and gave me a dirty look, so I reciprocated it.
Safe to say, she didn't turn around after that, I can be pretty intimidating when I have to be.
Somebody walks up to Frank, hugs him, and then drag him inside. They sit near me, Frank not even noticing me. I want to go and sit with them, making the date turn awkward so he'll leave, leaving just Frank and I, but I look outside instead. I don't have a clue what's gotten into me, I've never felt like this before.
The mystery man goes and orders their coffee, leaving Frank to sit by himself. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, looking away whenever I feel like he might notice me. He does spot me, eventually, but he does nothing.
When the man comes back- He's called Miles, as I learned from Frank's thoughts, Frank whispers in his ear. I try not to listen, and I tune into the old woman's thoughts to block them out. When I feel a tap on my shoulder, I stop listening to thoughts about great-grandchildren and turn around. Frank's stood there, with Miles, smiling slightly at me.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" I shake my head, smiling, internally cursing myself. They sit opposite me, Miles grabbing Frank's hand. Frank stiffens up, but smiles at Miles anyway. "How are you doing.. Gerald?" I nod, assuring him he has my name right. "I'm good, Frank. And you?" Miles sips his coffee, looking bored, and I internally laugh. "Oh, I'm doing... okay, I guess." I nod, not probing any further. I nod to Miles, raising my eyebrows at Frank. "Ah, yes, this is Miles... He my fri-" Miles cuts him off, finishing the sentence with the word 'boyfriend'. I narrow my eyes, feeling the hot, unwelcome emotion stab through me again. Frank blushes, shaking his head slightly. Miles hold his hand out, and I grip it, hard, causing Miles to wince. He plays it off, squeezing back while shaking it.
Compared to me, he's like a delicate little butterfly, but I can't let that show, otherwise his giant ego might run away. "Nice to meet you, Miles." He nods at me, sipping his coffee again.
"How are you finding college, Gee- I mean, Gerald.." Frank blushes again, and I hear him mentally curse himself for calling me 'Gee'.
"It's pretty easy at the minute, how about you?" Frank goes to talk, but Miles speaks instead.
"Yeah, you might say that now, but I bet once things actually get hard, you'll run back to your mother, crying. I know your sort..." I smile icily at him, and although he doesn't show it, I can smell his slight fear. "Oh, really? Well, what if I told you my mother is dead? I can't exactly go running back to her, can I?" I stare at him, eyes narrowed. He looks down in defeat, so I smile. "Anyway, did your mom ever tell you it's rude to cut over people off? I guess not, I mean your father never taught you how to decently shake somebody's hand, so I guess she didn't teach you any manners," I look at Frank, who is glancing between us warily. "Frank, carry on with what you were saying.." I smile at him, sipping my coffee. I still quite like coffee, but if I have too much of it, I get ill.
"I.. uh, forgot what I was going to say.." He looks down, closing the conversation. I sigh, looking at everybody in the cafe, reading their thoughts.
There's somebody in here that's about to meet the person they've been having an affair, to tell them that they're pregnant.
Somebody in here, a man, has pancreas cancer, and he's meeting his wife to tell her.
There are many more little things like that that are about to happen, so I think this lunchtime is going to be quite entertaining.
I look at the two sat in front of me, Miles is staring mindlessly at a painting behind me, and Frank is on his phone. The man that is meeting the woman that's pregnant just walked in, and she's stood up nervously.
He goes over to her, and she pushes a cup of tea to him, telling him to sit. She comes straight out with what she brought him here to say, and he's silent for a minute, then faints. All of the color has drained from his face, and as he goes down, he bangs his head. Blood pulses out of the wound, making my teeth sharpen.
Fuck, I need to get out of here before I uncover our secrets.
I can't seem to move, I stare transfixed at the blood. It's red and warm, pooling a little under his head. I bite my lip, my fangs slicing into the skin, but I don't feel the pain, I'm too focused on the red liquid trickling out of the wound.
Everything is travelling in slow motion, all apart from the flowing blood. Somebody put a white and grey towel over the wound, but the metallic smell is still prominent. The woman that he was having an affair with is sitting on a chair, crying, while everybody is fussing over the unconscious man.
I hear sirens, but they're still about ten miles away.
As the blood gets closer to soaking through, the smell gets stronger. I don't realize I'm gripping the table until some of it breaks off in my hands. The slight noise of it coming off snaps me out of my murderous daze.
Frank's staring at me, his eyes clouded over with fright. I suppose I look pretty damn terrifying right now, I always do before a hunt or when I've smelt blood. My eyes gets darker, I get even stronger, and my fangs aren't hidden properly.
I stand up, making the chair fall over behind me, and I run to the bathroom. I open the window, breathing in the un-soiled air. I instantly calm, my fangs get blunter, my eyes lighten up slightly.
I decide to stay in there until they've cleaned everything up. The paramedics have put him in the back of the ambulance, and one of the staff has a mop and bucket out.
I hear a small knock at the door, but I don't answer. "Gerald? It's Frank.." One more thing, human blood makes my sex-drive crazy, even the smell, so all I want to do is drag him in here and have my way with him. That's the reason why I'm not going to open the door. "Look, are you okay?" I sigh, loosening my grip on the sink.
"Yeah, I'm okay," My voice is strained and my tone is hard, so I try to relax a little. "I just don't like blood..."
"Really? I couldn't tell... You broke off, like, half the table, man!" He chuckles, but doesn't move away from the door. "So.. Did you need anything else?" I run a hand through my hair impatiently.
"Um.. Do you want to ditch Miles with me? I mean, he fucking sucks, doesn't he? I can tell you don't like him, and neither do I, I just thought I could try and get over Ger... I mean.. uh, him." I hesitate, wondering if the blood has been cleaned up.
"Is the blood gone?"
"Yeah, they even bleached the area he bled on..." I unlock the door, almost walking into Frank himself. We both awkwardly laugh, looking at anything but each other. The smell of blood still lingers in the air, but this time I can control myself enough to not want to rip the throats out of every individual in here.
We practically run out of the cafe, ducking down and hiding from Miles. Frank bursts out laughing when we get out, so I raise my eyebrows at him.
"Sorry, that was just the most fun I've had in a long while... God, I sound so sad, don't I? I'm nineteen, and running out from a shitty date is the most fun I've had in a year..." He trails off, shaking his head at himself. I put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly before letting go.
Unlike with Miles, he doesn't tense up when I touch him. "Why were you even with that dick, anyway?" He shrugs, looking down.
"I don't even know. He just asked me out, and me being little lonely Frank, said yes... Never again.." He fake shudders, smiling. I chuckle, rolling my eyes at him.
"What do you want to do?" He thinks for a second, looking upwards.
"Uh... Go and sit in another shitty cafe, and drink some more shitty coffee?" I smile, nodding. "You know me too well, Frank.." He chuckles at me, nudging me.

We do go to another shitty cafe, but at least nobody has suddenly fainted and started bleeding everywhere.. yet.
Frank ordered a plain coffee, but I ordered a black one, the bitter taste refreshing to me. Frank watches me drink it with slight disgust, so I make a big show out of enjoying it.
"How could you drink that crap? It's disgusting.." I shrug, taking another sip. "I don't know, I just like it, I guess.." He nods slightly, still looking at the cup of coffee in disgust.
We make idle chit-chat, drinking our coffees in-between conversation. A waitress walks up to us, asking, "Do you want anything else? Another drink, some food?" I shake my head instantly at the food, we can drink things but we can't eat food. Frank asks for another coffee, this time to go, and we leave after she brings us it.
We walk around the city, talking, laughing at other people, and having a good time. I haven't had any human interaction since I was alive, so it feels strange to be talking to somebody I should class as a meal.
Talking with him seems natural, like I'm used to spending hours on end with him everyday. I guess I used to be, considering we were married.
I'm not only learning things through verbal communication, this is the longest period of time I've spent with him, and his thoughts. I don't want to delve in too deeply, so I only read through the things he's thinking of a lot while we're walking. It's mostly about me, but there's some about home, and his family.
I've learned that his real parents are dead, so Donna, my mother, said she'd take care of him. I have a brother, Mikey, but my father died in a car accident. Frank only knows this through my memories that I told him, so I couldn't gather a lot of information about that.
I also used to be a substance abuser, but he doesn't really go too deeply into all of that, so I don't probe.
We end up in a park, sitting by the moonlit pond. During night time, it looks pretty scenic, but during day time, it probably looks like a load of shit.
Frank lies down, looking at the stars. He sighs, and I stop focusing on his thoughts and start focusing on him. "What's wrong? You seem sad.." I lie next to him, glancing at him.
"I'm just remembering things... Don't worry about me." We lie in silence for a while watching the starts. Frank starts to shiver, but he tries to cover it up.
"You cold?" He shakes his head, so I roll my eyes at him. I slide my jacket off, not that I needed one in the first place. "No, it's fine.. You'll be cold." I just shake my head and drape it over him, not letting him give it back. He gives a mock dirty look, but his shivering stops soon after.
"Thank you.." His voice is quiet, and he doesn't look at me while he speaks. I shift closer to him, feeling his body heat. "What for? I haven't done anything.." He shrugs, and I see him blush under the moonlight. "Well, you came with me, a total stranger, and ditched my date, then listened to me talking about random shit for hours while walking around. Then, you gave me your jacket. Nobody's been this nice to me since Gerard..." I stiffen up at the mention of me, realizing that I've been lying to him about everything. He trusts me, and everything I've told him is a lie. "It's no problem.." I force the words out, trying to relax a little.
Frank puts his head on my shoulder, and I get a better view of the tattoo on his neck. Without realizing, my fingers are brushing over it, tracing the shape of the scorpion. He flinches, making me mutter a small apology and take my hand away. "It's okay; it's just that your hands are pretty cold.. Besides, it felt nice..." He mutters the last bit, his voice going quiet as he blushes.
"Why do you have so many tattoos?" I sit up, dragging him up with me. I cross my legs, facing him. "Uh, I don't know. I just like art, I guess, and I wanted to cover my body in little pieces of it.." I nod, looking at each one on his arms and hands. "What does that mean?" I point to three words inked on his arm, I think they're in latin.
"Uh," He follows my finger, stalling when he sees the one I'm pointing at. "It means 'much in little', it's latin." I nod, not pressing the conversation any further because he's obviously uncomfortable.
"Have you got any?" I involuntarily shudder at the thought of needle, shaking my head.
"I'm, uh... terrified of needles..." I shrug, trying to cover up my embarrassment. Frank snorts at me, making me duck my head. "You're scared of needles? Really?" I nod, not looking up. "But your so strong and tough... Miles barely gets scared of anything, but one look from you, he almost runs away... And, you almost snapped the table in half," He pauses, and I look up. "So, you're scared of needles, and you can't stand the sight of blood? Anything else, like being terrified of Chihuahuas? Or a phobia of stuffed toys, or the color pink?" I laugh at him, my embarrassment going down. "Uh.. I'm gay?" He stops laughing and nods.
"So am I, if you hadn't already gathered.." We chuckle, looking at each other. He stares into my eyes, gradually getting closer to me.
I freeze, not knowing what to do. I think he's about to kiss me, but any time I've been kissed recently, I've had a ton of vodka running through my veins. It doesn't effect vampires as strongly as it does humans, so we have to drink a lot more, and the hangover in the morning literally feels like death.
He leans in farther, his lips brushing mine. He finally kisses me, but I stay frozen in my place. After a few seconds of being stuck in place, my brain takes over and I kiss back.
We kiss for a minute before I realize what we're doing, and I pull away so suddenly Frank falls onto his stomach. He looks up at me, hurt swimming in his eyes. "Oh, God, Frank, I'm so sorry, so sorry, but I can't do this.. It isn't right, I'm sorry.." I get up, running away slightly more faster than a normal person would.
I run until he can't see me, then stop.
I have to make sure he gets back to college safely. I run back to the trees near where we sat, and see Frank, sat on the grass.
I can hear muffled sobs coming from him, and sadness rips through me. He keeps cursing himself for kissing me, and after a while of him crying, he stands up.
He brushes himself off and then starts walking back to the campus. He hails a taxi, and I read the drivers thoughts, checking that Frank will be safe.
When I know he will be, I head to the nearest bar, knowing the only way to stop the confusion of feelings and emotions is to get drunk.
Half an hour later, I've downed more shots of pure vodka than even I could count. Shot glasses litter the table I'm sat at with three other people. There are two men and a woman. I have no idea what any of their names are, nor do I care.
I'm drunk out of my face, I don't know what time it is, and I really want to get laid tonight. I might even treat one of them to a little blood letting. They wouldn't even remember it in the morning, their neck would just feel slightly sore.
I choose my victim, a man who's hair could be blonde or black, I can't tell in this condition, plus, the lighting's awful. I stand up, quite steadily for how drunk I am. I grab his wrist, pulling him out of the door behind me. "Let's go to your place, okay?" I whisper in his ear, smirking when I see goosebumps. He nods, fumbling in his pocket for his keys, while trying to kiss me.
I hail a taxi, not letting him suck my face off, and get in the back, pulling him with me. "Where to?" I look at the man I'm with, and he mutters something out. The driver nods in recognition, seemingly understanding, and I have a feeling they might be well acquainted with each other, even without having to read either of their thoughts.
We pull up outside an apartment block, and the man drags me out. I mutter a thank you to the taxi driver, and follow him up the stairs. He tries to kiss me on the way up, but he keeps stumbling around, so I end up just pulling him along with me. "Which floor? Apartment?"
"Floor... Uh.. Five, apartment.. seven.." He tries to kiss me in-between words, so this time I let him, keeping a grip on his cheek and collar in case he stumbles again.
We kiss on the stairwell for a good five minutes, me not needing to breathe, and him being so drunk he forgets he actually needs to. I pull away, not wanting him to pass out before I got to have my fun.We're already on floor four, so I pull him up the last flight of stairs and fish his keys out of his pocket, making him grin. "Easy there.. Tiger.." He attempts at speaking are pitiful, but I can pretend I'm so drunk that I don't even care.
I unlock the door, telling him to go and wait in the bedroom while I get us some alcohol. I drink another bottle of vodka before going into his room, not wanting to sober up just yet. The affect of alcohol wear off real quick on creatures like me, so I have to top it off every so often.
I take in a bottle of gin, whisky, two bottle of wine, and another bottle of vodka. I knock back some gin, then take off my top, climbing onto the bed.
I kiss him, breaking it off to ask his name. "It's Marco.. Yours is Jared, right?" I roll my eyes, nodding my head. "Yeah, sure, whatever, just fucking stop talking and kiss me.."
And he does, lets just say I left the next morning very satisfied, my hunger, in almost every way, having been fulfilled.

Notes