Unapologetic Apathy

Frank POV


So.

Gerard was being petty and Sam was being distant. He was still kind of ashamed of what he did when I was 'donating' my blood. Gerard was being grouchy, probably because I brought up our private life in an argument. It wasn't really an argument. He wasn't really mad at me. He was just stressed about the Blood Moon. Yeah, that was it.

I got up and stretched my legs. It wasn't good to be stressing over relationship drama when the blood moon was mere minutes away. Gerard was hunched over the book, murmuring to himself, his fingers absentmindedly fiddling with the leather binding. I walked slowly up to him, trying not to seem like I was reading over his shoulder.

"Yes, Frankie?" He sighed when I started tapping his book annoyingly for attention, like a lonely pet cat. I looke up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Did I do something to annoy you?" I asked. He bit his lip and shook his head, glancing down. He marked his place in the large block of text with a long finger.

"No, not at all," he started, "I just need to et this done. I'll have to check the stars."

Gerard snapped up to pace quickly (almost a jog) to the porch. He dramatically flung the wavy door open and leaned out to get a good look of the stars, barely visible against the light pollution. I heard him scowl.

"It will be inaccurate," he sighed, "too bad we live in such a bright place." A glance down the hill his manor was on gave you a good view of the city, lights and all, if you could see it through the thick trees. "We might as well start now,"

At that cue, Sam's head perked up from te armchair he was siting on. Gerard closed te door and sped back to the spiralling spiky symbol on the hardwood. He ran a hand over it, mumbling either to himself, or some ancient language for the ritual.

"What? Is it happening now?" Sam whisperred to me in a near panic. I could tell he was excited, yet terrified of what was going to happen. I kind myself scared for him, too. He was going first, and there was no way to tell if it was going to rebound or not.

"Yes," Gerard hissed, his voice weirdly gruff. He spat out another string of ancient words in a language that I didn't even come close to recognizing. "Please get the box of matches."

"Okay," Sam reached for it. He took one out.

"Wait for EXACT direction before doing anything," he clarified with both of us. We made grim nods. I saw Sam's eyes widen with confusion. Another string of raspy words. It sounded like a pained whisper. By the time he said, "light that candle" and pointed to the one nearest in his left, his voice was like a chanting whisper.

Neither of us spoke unless Gerard told us to. Neither of us moved an inch. I just watched Gerard leaned over this symbol, hovering his hands and chanting quietly. Sam lit the candle he was told to, and the dim lit seemed vibrant in the darkness.

"Close the curtain, Frank," he asked. Well, demanded, but I shrugged it off. I paced hesitantly over to each curtain and closed it one by one as quickly as I could. The room got darker, lit only by one flame that illuminated Gerard's face. The look on his features was that of pure concentration, glowing yellow from the glow. More chanting.

"Sam, get in the middle of the circle," he demanded, pointing, and somehow still chanting under his breath. Sam, scared and obedient, jumped where Gerard was motioning to. He stood there, and now I could see his features by candlelight. Gerard propped the book up in his hands, reading in the dimness. It couldn't e good for his eyes, but then again, he was a vampire. Maybe this ritual could only be done by vampires, then.

He started chanting louder, and motions me to light the rest of the candles in a clockwise order. I did, each one coming to life under my touch. I did it quickly, and soon the lights encircling Sam shine directly in him, illuminating his pale skin yellow.

Gerard was yelling now, and something crashed outside. I thought it was lightening, at first, but I couldn't concentrate on one sound. Gerard was pushing his hand back for me to stay out of the way. I jumped back and tried to look at the window to see what made the noise, but then it happened again in te room. The noises struck everywhere in te room, then as soon as Gerard stopped talking, there was a deadly silence.

Then the loudest crash hit where Sam was standing. He fell down, yelling in shock and confusion.

"Sam! Stay there, this is part of the plan!" He told him, and Sam swallowed his fear and waited for something to happen.



Gerard POV

This was meant to happen. Then I would blow out the candle in front of me, then Sam will be turned human.

The spell was this: I chanted to the supposed demon that caused vampirism, got them to reverse it by using different people's blood, et cetera. I didn't know vampire history at all, but the book made sense to me that it should work. Also, there were plenty of untranslatable words that described it better in ancient tongue.

I didn't hesitate to yell out the last words on the page and throw my head back, and one sudden huge crash rang out, making the floor tremble. I blew out the candle, and suddenly all the flames around it went out all at once, like an impossible force stopped them existing all together. No wind could do that that specifically, without one candle still glowing or flickering back to life. I widened my eyes in expectation.

Sam was quietly writhing on the floor. He wasn't making a sound, just curled up on a ball, hands over his eyes and clawing at his ears. He threw his head back violently every ten seconds and gasped. His legs were brought up to his chest. I held up a hand for Frank to stay back, but I knew he couldn't see. It was pitch black. Even I was having difficulties seeing, and I had very good night vision.

I saw Sam there, squirming in silent pain on the floor, and I couldn't stop it from happening. He was a young child. And I couldn't enter te circle or anything. But it was all going to plan. If anything, it looked like the reverse turning of a vampire.

Suddenly, he broke the silence and screamed, his hand flailing to his chest and rubbing at where his heart is. He kicked his legs around and made painful gasps. In the darkness, I could see tears trailing on his face, but I heard no sobs. Frank whimpered beside me in concern. I rubbed his arm to tell him it would be okay.

Sam stopped making noise, except for heavy breathing. That was a good sign.


Sam POV

Vampires didn't need to breath, that was obvious while looking at Gerard and my sister. But sometimes, old habits died hard. I breathed when I was stressed, scared, and whenever I realised I wasn breathing. I just wanted to be normal.

After all the pain in that circle, I was finally relieved to need to breath again. It hurt when u didn't breath. I felt amazing and true and pure again. Sure, my entire body hurt, but I could feel blood pumping in my veins. I felt refreshed when I took a deep breath.

"Sam, are you okay?" I heard Frank whimper. I caught my breath.

"I'm fucking fantastic!" I gasped with a huge tired, smile on my face. I heard Gerard say, "wait", then start chanting quietly again. Frank waited patiently, but as soon as he finished, he rushed towards me and pulled me out of the sigil. I was panting, hand in my chest and feeling it rise up and down.

I ran a tongue over my teeth, relived that they were full and flat, finally. I felt hungry, but not in the way I was before: that gut wrenching hunger that pulle ou the monster in you. I smiled and rolled over and took a nap, right on the floor.



I woke up to mumbling. Frank and Gerard.

"Will it work?"

"I don't know. I don't want to risk a rebound, but it definatly works. The smart way..."

"But I we do it now..."

"The smart way would e to wait six months. But I'm willing to risk..."

"It's passed midnight."

"I know."

"We could try. But I'm not certain-"

"I can wait. It won't kill me. But I am willing to risk a rebound. I've done it before."

"Worst case scenario?"

"I get hurt, have to wait until next blood moon. But it's worth a try..."

"Whatever you want. I will I help you. I lo-"

Thats when I sat up. Frank jumped back, startled, but ran to me and cuppe my face in his hands. He examined me, my eyes, my face, even my teeth. He smiled and laughed in joy and relief. I smiled back weekly.

"It worked," I said groggily. He laughed a yes. I saw tears of joy sprout in my idols eyes.

"Yes, it worked. Now we're going to try it on Gerard. If it doesn't work...."

"Then we'll wait until next moon," he interrupted. If i blinked, I could have missed the period of awkward tension. But Frank sprung up, demanded I rest, and went to help Gerard.

But it I didn't rest. I watched them.

And I watched the rebound.

Notes

Part 3 on the way