A Soul I Cannot Save...

After managing to get Bert to agree to stay in the shed while he spoke with Gerard, Frank walked over to the boys’ home. He could still feel Bert’s piercing, cold, blue eyes on him. He sighed in relief as he walked out of Bert’s range of sight.

Frank peeked into Mikey’s room to check on him but was disappointed to notice he wasn’t there. The liquor store, he though without missing a beat. Approaching Gerard’s door, he listened for sounds of movement. There was none, but upon opening his door, he also found nothing. If Gerard wasn’t sleeping, where could he have been? In the bathroom, possibly; So, Frank decided to wait.

After five minutes of anticipation-filled silence, Frank began to search for him. He asked a few of the other boys in the home, but they weren't much help. None of the were friends with Gerard and they all had a mild aversion to Frank. He did come off a bit odd, seeing as he was a grounds keeper who spent much too much time IN the house full of under-aged boys.

Frank thought about going to the liquor store the find Mikey. Maybe he would've known of any places Gerard liked to go away from home. But, he wanted to do a bit more looking for himself.

The fact that Gerard was a vampire returned to Frank along with its horrifying significance. Gerard could've killed any one of these boys by now, even his younger brother.

After checking each room to make sure every one of the boys, apart from the never-present Mikey, were safe, Frank had no idea where to look. However, on his way back to his shed, Gerard found him.

He'd snuck up behind the usually quick-witted angel with little difficulty.

"I've been looking for you." Gerard said, his tone blank and difficult to read. Frank had a hard time looking him in the eyes. They were sunken and his cheeks were hollowed out. To Frank, that certainly was not the kind of face you'd want to sneak up on someone with. He hadn't mentally prepared himself for it.

"Uh, same here. Are you...okay?" Frank asked, although he could've figured out the answer for himself.

"I don't know. I just couldn't be inside. To many people. It made me feel nauseous, or something like that. The cool air helped a bit but now I'm starting to feel bad, again. Maybe, there's something really wrong with me." But he didn't know the half, not yet, Frank thought.

"Bert wants to speak to you. He's in the shed." Frank said quickly. He needed to say something to get Gerard to stop staring him down with that sickly face.

"Why would you bring him here? Aren't you supposed to be helping me? Fix me! If you're an angel like you said you were. Fix me, or I'll...I'll-"

"You'll what? Say it. What do you feel like doing to him." Bert said. Neither of them had seen him exit the shed.

"I don't know. I just feel sick. Can one of you please just help me?" Gerard begged.

"Bite him. Do it." Bert replied.

"Wait, me? What did I do? Please don't!" To both Bert and Frank's surprise, Gerard jumped onto Frank immediately.

"What are you waiting for? Do it. He's an angel right? He'll forgive you." And he did. His unidentifiable urge was swiftly being fulfilled. As life poured back into Gerard, it quickly drained out of Frank. Frank could feel himself going home, back to God. It was bittersweet, he was excited to be returning but sad that he'd have to his father he'd failed him. He had a lot of praying to do.

But Frank never made it back home. Bert made sure Gerard didn't kill him. He let him go too long, but not long enough that Frank wouldn't be able to regenerate. Angels could do that, right?, he thought.

When Frank awoke in the morning, he was still uncomfortable about Gerard's situation but he knew by the smile on his now flushed and smiling face that his first mission was a job well done. Both Bert and Gerard were relieved, even if Bert wasn't willing to admit it. But Mikey was still nowhere to be found.

Notes

uh oh cliffhanger (does it require an interested audience to be an actual cliffhanger? i feel like it does). but yup thats it, sequal's on its way. stay tuned for that.