I never told you what I do for a living.

Gerard POV.

Days had passed. Even weeks since I walked out on Frank. The first 4 days I spent sulking on my hotel room, reflecting on what has happened. What he did that night left me very confused. I understand why he did it, even his scent was very appealing to me. But this time it was me who had everything under control. At least, that was what I was trying to tell myself.

My mind was foggy and I couldn’t think clear, the only thing I could really think of was me, laying underneath Frank with his lips connected to mine. What did it mean? Did he truly have feelings for me or was it just acting in the heat of the moment? And even if he had feelings for me, do I have feelings for him? Maybe. Yes. No. I don’t know. Me being curled up in his arms after a psychosis or vision or paranormal experience wasn’t the most romantic thing I can imagine, but still. When I looked in his hazel eyes, I had seen something so familiar but yet so unrecognizable. The look I had seen in his eyes that night had the same passion as a raging forest fire.

I started to become hungry again and I had to really do something about it before it would all fall down. Frank had taken too much blood from me, I couldn’t even stand up straight a few days after the “incident”. Maybe going out was a good plan. It was already starting to darken outside and on top of that, it was full moon again. Being thirsty explains a lot, then.

As I went outside, I took a deep breath and the fresh air filled my lungs. It had been a while since I tasted the air from the outside world, this was definitely better that the lingering, musty air in the hotel room. Since summer was coming to an end, the weather was gradually becoming cooler and the days started to shorten. For creatures like me, this was a positive thing. We had more time to do our hunting during the evening and we would usually go unnoticed.

I walked through the empty shopping streets and when I suddenly looked up, I passed the bar where I met Frank that first night. I was actually really thirsty for a few shots of whiskey. Should I go in or should I not? I decided to walk inside.

The scent was exactly the same. The smell of cheap beer, sweat and slutty girls. In instinct, I directly looked at the window where he sat. He has been here, his scent is still lingering around.

“For fucks sake, Gerard, just try to not think about him for like, 5 minutes?” I softly mumbled to myself.

I made eye contact with the girl behind the counter and I stuck up my index finger as the sign for wanting a shot of whiskey. She already knew what I wanted. Sometimes I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, since I come here very often. Her name is Hayley, she is this pretty, petit redhead with an awesome bubbly personality. I tried to make a few moves on her in the past, but it would be better if I didn’t do it again. She is way too good for this world and I don’t want her fate to be the exact same as mine.

I couldn’t help myself and I decided to sit near the window. It started to rain outside. The drops were seeping past the window, making it harder to look outside. People were running to find some shelter against the pouring rain as it started to rain very hard. My thoughts started to wander. Again. I was wondering where he would be right now. Probably at a party getting drunk as fuck. I don’t know.

“Hey there, stranger!” I heard a familiar, sweet voice. It was Hayley bringing me my beer.

“How have you been, sweetheart?” she asked kindly. That’s what I meant with being too good for this world. It didn’t matter how long she hadn’t seen a friend, she would never forget them and she would always care about the people she met.

“I have been... good, I think. I have been really busy lately.” I answered her.

“You look tired, G. You go on business trips way too much.” She said with a wink and she put down my whiskey on the table. Oh yeah, that’s right; I told her I was really busy with work-related issues so she didn’t get suspicious of me disappearing randomly.

“Well, enjoy your beer and get some rest!” she said with a smile and walked back to the bar. She was absolutely beautiful. She is the kind of girl where guys almost break their necks because of them looking at her when she’s walking down the streets.

When I was staring outside, following the patterns of the rain on the windows, I heard a lot of commotion.

A group of people came in with a lot of yelling. I decided to keep an eye on them because I didn’t trust them. The guys in their clique were making obscene gestures towards Hayley when she wasn’t looking and the girls were looking for guys to have an exciting evening with. Something wasn’t right about them. The guys looked really roughed up, really wolf-like. How they fit together in a group, they looked like a pack of wolves. It wouldn’t surprise me if they actually were a pack of werewolves, which would also explain my disliking of them. The ladies on the other hand, had something very mystical about them. Their gazes were stone-like. I really, really tried to avoid eye contact with them. They gave me the jitters.

I tried to focus on what was happening outside, but the girls were constantly trying to get my attention. It felt really uncomfortable and I shifted a little on my chair. When I broke my gaze from the outside-world, one of these girls was suddenly sitting in front of me.

“That is Frank’s spot.” I thought to myself.

I looked at her, still feeling uncomfortable. She had her gaze focussed on me as she was leaning her head on one of her hands, her free hand tapping on the table with her nails. As far as I could see, she had eyes like the colour of the sea. It wasn’t blue but it wasn’t particularly green either.

“Hey babe.” She started talking. “What’s your name?”

“I... uhm... My... uh...” I stuttered.

“No, don’t talk. I already know enough.” She smiled wide. She still had weird teeth. They weren’t vampire-like, but I didn’t really knew how to place it.

I somehow checked her teeth if she was also ‘one of us’, to call it like that. As far as I could see, nothing recognizable. She still had this weird aura hanging around her.

“Look, we are heading to beach party in a few, do you want to come?” she asked.

“A beach party? In mid-November?” She confused me.

“Yes, a beach party. Oh come on, I wasn’t born yesterday. You are a bloodsucker, you can handle low temperatures. My name is Melusine, by the way. Nice to meet you.” She smiled seductively.

“So, already decided if you want to come with us or not?” she softly scratched her nails over my free hand. Since I couldn’t bring my thoughts to any other topic than Frank, I decided it could be a good idea to go with them. You know, for distraction of my own thoughts.

As we walked out of the bar, Frank’s scent started to fade away, which kind of made me sick. I didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. It didn’t really matter. Somehow, deep down I knew I wasn’t going to see him anytime soon so I better get used to it now. I screwed up and this was the price I had to pay.

When we entered the beach, it was indeed very chilly. It didn’t really bother me anymore, since I wasn’t a living person anymore, you know.

The moon was shining bright and had the most beautiful reflection on the lake. They set up a bonfire and tents with festive lamps to lead the humans to the booze. I decided not to drink any alcohol anymore because it smelled funky. They had definitely messed with it.

There were a bunch of other people. A lot of living humans, to my surprise. I had an ominous feeling that this was the kind of party with a lot of “food”. Not the kind of party where everyone brings something with them to eat. This was the kind of party where you didn’t have to bring something to eat because the food was coming to this location out of itself. I had to admit; this was a nice coincidence for me since I was really hungry and I lost a lot of blood since Frank almost sucked me dry.

I took a deep breath in and I could smell the vicious red liquid inside of them. I heard their beating hearts and the warmth radiating from their bodies. The predator in me awakened and my pupils started to dilate. A sly grin started to form on my face.

As my vision sharpened, I set focus on my next victim. He was standing alone, looking at the partying crowd. He wasn’t really outgoing and that was exactly what I wanted. I always picked people who weren’t noticed if they were gone. It gives me more space to run and hide. It was a guy from around the age of 25. He had blond hair and brown eyes. He had a really cute tip-tilted nose and thin lips. I decided to start a little chat with him and I walked right up to him. Oh, and an important fact; he was definitely gay. I could make abuse of that perfectly.

As I came closer to him, I could smell he had already drank some beer. The same beer that smelled funky. Oh well.

We locked eyes and he smiled at me and looked shyly at his shoes. The guy liked me. Poor child.

I stood close to him. A bit too close for my liking, but he didn’t seem to mind much. He just kind of... stared and smiled at me. I decided to start a little conversation.

“Hey there.” I said, faking shyness.

“Hey.” He said softly, still smiling widely at me.

“So... are you having fun?” I asked. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I tried to talk to him and lure him in but he was too shy and I felt like a fish out of the water.

“Well, I surely am now.” He answered and he softly stroked my hand. This was my sign. I started to just go with it until I could take him for a “special walk” into the woods and eat him.

I smiled at him widely. Trying to look nonchalant, I ran my hand through my hair while I looked at my shoes.

“So, how come that you weren’t having fun earlier and you are having fun right now?” I asked while I liked up at him.

“Well, there’s a really handsome guy present at this party I haven’t seen before.” He fluttered his eyelashes at me. Ugh, Franks’ were prettier.

Shit. Focus, Gerard, focus.

“Hmm...” I sighed. “I wonder who that guy is, then.” I slyly put my hand around his waist.

“Oh, it’s just a guy.” His smile was getting wider. I could hear from his heartbeat that he really wanted me because his heartrate was getting up like a rocket.

“Just a guy, hm?” I said softly. I slowly pulled him in more closely and I brought my hand to the back of his neck.

I softly heard him whimper. This was going to be good.

His smile had faded away and made place for arousement. His heartbeat was still going up. If I continued like this, I was afraid that I would bring him into cardiac arrest.

I kissed him. Hard. He placed his one hand on my arm and his other hand on my back. As I slid with my tongue into his mouth, I felt his nails digging onto my skin.

He pulled back. “You are feeling cold. Do you want to make a walk to warm you up?” he said seductively.

This was looking more than good for me.

“Does it sound like a good idea to you?” I said seductively.

“Yeah.” And there was his smile again. Okay buddy, you chose for this to happen to you.

I took him by the hand and led him to the forest near the lake where the party was being held. Large pine trees were standing densely next to each other, there is no chance they would be discovering us here.

His breath still smelled like the funky beer. I know for sure that his blood would also taste a bit like it, but it didn’t bother me that much. I needed to drink and complement my own stock.

When we walked a bit further up where no one could see us, I didn’t hesitate to kiss him. He kissed me in return and didn’t hold back. This guy was really enthusiastic. Not that it bothered me, of course. My ego was being boosted and I liked it.

I pushed him against a tree for support, my knee between his legs. His hands were holding me tight against him and were moving all over my back. My two hands were in his neck and pushed his lips against mine. I let out a moan and he let them out in return. His dick was getting hard and I felt it pushing against my upper leg. I decided to have some fun with it and placed my hand over his hardening dick. I palmed him through his jeans and he whimpered. He let out a moan what was sounding more like a whisper. “Fuck.” He breathed.

“Having a nice time, baby?” I whispered in his ear.

“Yes... oh... –fuck- yes.” He moaned out.

I decided to push him a bit further. This was almost as fun as playing a game. Well, to me it was a game so it didn’t really compare.

I placed my hand on the buckle of his belt and swiftly opened it. I slowly opened the button on his pants, and with that same slowness I opened his fly.

“Oh my God, you are killing me. Hurry up!” he hissed under his breath.

I wriggled my hand in his pants and I started to stroke his, now hard, dick. I could feel his heartbeat under his skin

“Am I really, now?” As if he could read my mind. I smirked darkly.

I pushed kisses against his neck and he made these cute little sounds when I softly bit on it. He is really being a toy for me right now but I seriously do not care.

His brows furrowed and he leaned his head against the tree. From his panting and moaning I could make up that he was getting close. To be honest, he moaned like a total slut.

I thumbed the tip of his dick and he let out a hard moan.

“I... am... –fuck- going to… Ah!” he tried to let out.

“Are you going to cum before you had even given me some pleasure?” I whispered in his ear. I placed my mouth on his neck and started to place a hickey on it. It was almost dinner time and this was my sign that my table was taken.

“I... –ah-.” He moaned.

“Because that’s not how it’s going to happen.” I snapped at him.

He looked at me with widened eyes and a confused look on his face. “Wha... what?”

“I am going to kill you and then eat you, just so you know.” I told him calmly and grinned, showing my fangs.

His eyes pleaded me not to. He did want to live, I could see it on his face. But it was not going to happen.

After I studied his face for a bit more, I bit his neck exactly on the spot where I placed the hickey.

I was right, his blood had a bit of a weird taste. He drank just a bit too much for me not to bother the taste. He also was a smoker, he tasted like nicotine. Besides the taste, his blood filling my stomach felt really good. I could feel myself getting a bit stronger by the gulps I took. I made sure I wasn’t being messy, I still had to show my face to, you know, living people.

I sucked until there was not a drip of blood left and carried his body a bit far more up in the woods, hoping other vampires weren’t being invited to also join this party.

When I walked back to the party, my head started to ache really badly. I tried to ignore it, but I almost couldn’t manage to.

I checked my face and clothing for smears of blood for the last time but I was all good.

Suddenly there was a very familiar and warm smell hanging in the air. Was it... Frank? No, it couldn’t be. My headache was making me confused and dizzy. I still managed to get to the party.

When I arrived, I looked for that Melusine-girl. I was wondering if she could tell me what was in the beer, because I was sure that my headache rooted from that. And more importantly; asking her what I could do against it, because I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore.

When I turned around, I noticed everyone was sitting around a bonfire, with one of the shady wolf-guys on the guitar. Next to him was Melusine. When she saw me coming, she smirked at me. This was the first time when I started to get really nauseous, not only because of the side effects of that fucking beer, but I also didn’t trust her.

I placed myself in the circle the people were sitting in when Melusine stood up, telling us that she was going to sing for us. Oh god no. Please don’t let this be the kind of girl who thinks she can sing, the typical “singing-face” included while her voice sounds like a caterwaul. I have faced too many girl like that in my long, immortal life and I had enough of it. If I could have eaten every one of those kind of girls, I would have been the strongest vampire that was walking on this planet.

When she started singing, I had to admit it wasn’t that bad. It felt really soothing, actually. What the weird thing was, it also made me sleepy. When I was looking around, I could see some other people already falling asleep. When I locked eyes with her, she was smiling darkly.

Shit.

Singing. Sea-coloured eyes. Weird teeth. Beach party.

Could she be... no. No, she couldn’t. There was no fucking way she was a siren.

You can make me believe a lot, but you can’t tell me fucking mermaids do exist. Well, good guess. I was wrong.

Before I was changed, I was never really aware of the world around me. Well, I was to a certain degree, but I could have never guessed everything was true in the stories my mother read to me when I was a little boy.

I started to get really sleepy. I was fighting against it but it really wasn’t working. I slammed my hands against my head and rolled over to my side, my legs curled up against my body. Her singing transformed into screams. As hard as I tried to cover up my ears, her screams stung like a thousand needles in my ears. I was passing out. I looked up at her for a final time and her eyes had turned black. It was only now that I could see the gills form in her neck and the scales on her body.

Darkness consumed me. I fell into a deep sleep without being able to recognize it. For decades and decades I wished for my suffering to end, but when I came as close to death as this I regretted the wishes that I made.

Notes