Are you ready? I'm ready.

——

The challenge of finding where Gerard had run off to was cut short when Frank passed by Laila as he paced through the halls. The vampire stopped him briefly to tell him Gerard had stormed off into his own chambers with the door swinging shut behind him, but the clicking of the lock was an absent noise amongst all the others of a man making a scene not of strictly anger, but distress evident in the energy exuding from his stance, as Laila had said so. Frank thanked her for the guidance and continued past the steps, down the hall, standing in front of the door serving as a division between himself and Gerard.

Frank bit his lip in hesitation. The last thing he wanted was to argue with Gerard about the same thing, the tender subject of his safety and the lengths Gerard would go to in order to preserve it as smoothly as possible. Frank couldn't deny that, despite the kindness imbedded into the eyes of his vampire, the worst part of him was his selfishness, the need to keep Frank all to himself in order to assure he was safe without putting thought into the things that may have been running through Frank's mind. Frank understood his point of view, and he wanted nothing more but to prevent his vampire from feeling another agonizing experience of loss, but there were some things Frank wasn't willing to allow slip away just for the reassurance of a man he'd truly known for far less time than the other person whose life may have been at stake.

Frank pulled in a deep breath before he laid his hand over the cool brass of the doorknob. Twisting it slowly, he listened to the click of the door opening before he pushed it open and peered inside. At first glance, Frank could tell the glow inside the room was artificial, no lively beams of sunshine seeped through the windows and onto the hard wooden floors that creaked as the man inside paced slowly through the bedroom. The curtains were deep red and thick velvet as they draped over the windows and fell to the ground, like a grand red curtain as a theatre from long ago. The room different from Frank's, being bathed in the gothic shades of elegant plum and blood red, the sheets and the pillows mounted onto a bed fit for a king as it stood on golden frames and bedposts. Candles smelling of fresh pine and sweet apples spread their scent through the air, adding to the golden pouring over the dark walls and flooring from the lamp perched on a wide desk.

Inside was Gerard. Agitated, distressed, clenching his pale fist around an object Frank couldn't decipher what it was until he peered closer and realized what was hanging from his wrist was a string of crystal beads leading down to a small, golden cross-- a rosary wrapped around Gerard's wrist, clenched in his hand, and swinging back and forth like a pendulum in tune with each of his movements. Frank wasn't shocked that the vampire held the ability to hold a holy accessory in his hands, but surprised by its appearance at his arm when he'd never seen such a thing even draped around Gerard's neck. Frank was under the impression that vampires didn't harbor much faith within them when their kind seemed exiled as evil, but now as he puzzled over the rosary's ownership in the pale hands of Gerard, he could easily imagine Gerard having at least a single shred of faith left within him that had him grabbing onto a string of holy beads and clouding his mind with thoughts going unknown to Frank. He wasn't praying, however, and this was clear enough in the way he paced.

"That was quite a scene you made out there." Frank said to announce his presence. He stepped through the door, pushing it behind him until it swung shut with a gentle quick.

Gerard's pacing didn't halt, but slowed, his eyes darting over to Frank once and falling back down to the rosary in his hand. "I wasn't putting on any show as you may think I was."

Frank sighed. Looking at Gerard, anxiousness was creeping up the knobs and contours of his spine, sensing the negatively coursing through the air like a hot current of energy sparking into Frank's flesh and zapping his very core. The creaking of the floorboards did nothing to ease the atmosphere and Frank couldn't take watching Gerard walk back and forth at a slowly increasing speed that started to blur his form in a sea of black and white smudges alongside the winking light of the room's glow flashing over the crystal beads in Gerard's hand.

"Stop." Frank marched over to where Gerard was pacing. He reached into the streak of color and found himself grasping Gerard's wrist, feeling the circular crystals of the rosary digging into his palm. His vampire froze, eyes now staring down at where Frank grasped his wrist and the rosary tied around it. Frank looked down at the string of beads that continued to sway even after Gerard stopped rushing back and forth, clicking together in the softness noise that felt sacred gracing Frank's ears.

"You're supposed to use these in prayer." Frank said softly, shifting his hand to rub his thumb delicate around one of the rounded crystals, feeling the faucets cut into the shape. "To pray by the rosary, or to hold them when you're talking to God. My mother was very religious. She used to make me pray with her every night with one of these. Mine was similar, but the crystals were smaller, and the cross was silver." He remembered being a child beside his mother at night, on his knees beside the bed with a rosary clasped in his hands that were pressed palm to palm. His mother led him through prayer, taught him how to count through each of the beads, and they would take a moment of silence to pray for their own personal wishes while rubbing their thumbs delicately over the crystals and the cross. Frank never touched the cross much, feeling it was too intimate to pray to, and he only ever did when he prayed for peace in his household as his parents bickered daily.

"I prayed for peace, for my parents to be happy with each other, and that I would get out of that house one day to live my life the way I wanted to." Frank whispered.

Gerard, he was gazing at Frank like he was reciting lines from the bible itself. Such an intense look made Frank's stomach flip in a violent manner, and touching the rosary while gazing back felt like an ill-mannered thing to be doing. He slowly withdrew his hand, fixing his gaze on the dangling cross instead.

"What are you using it for?" Frank asked him to point the attention away from himself.

Gerard slowly unwrapped the rosary from his pale wrist to gather it in his palm, flipping his hand over and facing it upwards so Frank could see the abundance of glittering crystal and gold shimmering in the cradle of his hand. "If I believe anything in this wretched world, it's that my love is an angel watching down from the heavens. I called to her tonight to aid me in making a choice."

Frank looked up at Gerard through his eyelashes. His vampire was staring down at the rosary, almost with accusing eyes, and Frank knew that the spirit of Charlotte Ann Iero hadn't been delivered to him through the power of prayer. It was a delicacy he used incorrectly.

"That isn't how you summon angels." Frank said softly. "They come to you when they feel you need guidance."

Gerard's eyes snapped up, appalled. "As if I don't need guidance at this very moment?"

"What are you asking her to do for you?" Frank tried to keep the vampire as calm as possible to avoid another argument. To maintain that sort of atmosphere, he struggled to keep his tone smooth, voice low, but the turmoil inside was urging him to demand what was the matter with Gerard.

Gerard calmed down a bit and sank down on the edge of the large bed in the room with a sigh. He caressed the rosary, lifting it to his lips and shutting his eyes with ancient pain visible that made Frank's insides quiver with sympathy.

"To help me." Gerard whispered, kissing the beads and pulling them away from his mouth. "I must know if I should risk everything and take you to see if Jamia is truly alive, or if I should keep you here where nothing can ever hurt you again."

As Frank suspected, Gerard struggled between two opposite answers that shouldn't have been a battle to him in the first place. Frank was still wounded by Gerard being so careless over the matters at which Jamia's life may have been in danger if she was still breathing, but a part of his heart melted into a puddle dripping into the inner corners of his stomach as he felt the protective nature of Gerard's affection coming to envelope him. Frank knew he couldn't remain hidden away forever, there was an undeniable piece of him that longed to stay tucked under the shadow of his vampire.

"I don't think that's your decision to make." Frank stepped towards him slowly. "Or for anyone to make. There's no other option for me, Gerard. If there's a possibility that she's still alive, that I can save her, then of course I'm going to take a chance even if it means I'll get hurt."

"What does that mean for the ones who care for you? Have you put thought into how it would make them feel?" Gerard's wide eyes flickered up and captured Frank's stare, holding it steady, the pupil in the center pulsing like the drumming beat of a heart.

"What you don't understand is that Jamia is what I am to you. You're too occupied worrying about how you'll feel if anyone manages to get their hands on me." Frank touched the rosary inside of Gerard's hand, brushing over a small section of his vampire's hand until he slowly unfurled it and Frank gently grasped the beads to take the rosary into his own hands. "My best friend who is nothing but innocent in all of this. It's my fault that she might either be dead or held captive by a psychotic woman out for our throats."

Gerard chuckled dryly at the words Frank chose as he spoke. Frank found no humor in any of it, rolling the crystals from the rosary between his fingers until they warmed up after they'd been turned cold by the icy touch of Gerard's hands.

"It is far more complicated than you would ever believe, my sweet." Gerard sighed, hanging his head in between his hands. The strands of his midnight black hair slid so easily in between his fingers, like streamers of delicate silk gliding in between the cracks. Frank was, for a moment, puzzled by what Gerard meant, and a spark of irritation flushed into him.

"You always talk to me in riddles." Frank huffed, causing his vampire to look up at him in surprise from the bitterness in his tone. "Everything is always too complicated for me to understand, it makes me feel inferior to you and your kind. Well, maybe I am in the food chain part of it, but you and I both know that I've handled all of this far better than you have." Frank tossed the rosary onto the bed beside Gerard as the frustration being hidden at the back of his throat flooded out before he could help himself. He was finished with being clueless, with being treated like a fragile little thing who couldn't handle any of the chaos spinning them around in a daze when he'd broken down much less than Gerard had.

"I only keep you in the dark because I hate what all of this has done to you in such a brief time. I detest tainting you further and further with knowledge. The reason why our nature is kept a secret is because of the affect it may have on mankind if they knew about our existence." Gerard took the rosary into his shaky hands. Fixing the string, he carefully stood up until he was only a seldom few inches away from Frank, coming so close until the human out of the pair had to choke back a gasp from the strong presence and charge in the air between them when they stood as close as this. Looking into the hypnotizing eyes of his vampire, Frank found himself at a loss for words as the rosary was lifted over his head, slowly being lowered until Gerard placed it around his neck and let the string hang down his chest. Gently, Gerard's lips parted softly as he prepared to speak again, and his fingers brushed against Frank's neck as he began to tuck his chestnut colored hair away from under the necklace.

"If only I could provide you the enchanting safety that this rosary has given me through all of these years," Gerard's eyes glossed over with crystalline tenderness as he gazed down at Frank. "Then I would never need to fear that I am failing at my task."

Frank's skin prickled with the energy flowing all around them, lacing into his skin and forcing goosebumps to rise to the surface of his body as the chilling feeling of Gerard's fingertips so briefly ghosting over his neck traveled under the layers of his flesh and into the molten lava of his core. The warmth inside him could only increase with Gerard standing this close, so frustrating in its alien nature, and Frank couldn't decipher the emotions he was feeling as Gerard's fingers smoothly glided over the patch of his skin just above where the rosary rested. His touch felt more holy than the necklace ever could.

"This is yours." Frank protested weakly through the sudden haze of clouds filling up his head. He touched the cross, but his hand couldn't move any further than that when he witnessed the breathtaking, tiny smile rising to Gerard's lips so close to his own face. The tips of his fangs barely peeked out from between them, the sight making Frank's heart race.

"It was hers." Gerard whispered, and touched the beads as if it was a piece of the woman he loved. Indeed it was, his eyes shone like two faded emeralds hidden in a landscape of ruin when he looked at it. "She gave it to me before she left to be wed to her arranged husband. I've kept it with me ever since, I speak to her through it. She never replies or even shows her presence, but I whisper to the rosary and hope my words are traveling to her where she rests in heaven."

It was intimate, sacred, to have such a valuable possession around Frank's neck. He almost felt like it should have been a great offense to be wearing it, but the kiss of the crystal beads didn't burn his skin as it may have if the rosary was a preserved piece of the past. His heart swelled greatly to have it strung around his neck, after Gerard placed it there with hands gentle as white doves carrying the crystals over to him. He felt the grooves of the cross as his fingertips pressed against it, the cool gold quickly warming under his grip.

"I'll protect it." Frank wrapped his hand around it and swallowed down the emotion coursing through his very own blood. He wondered if Gerard could smell the strange sensation, if he knew the name of it, because Gerard's pupils widened in his eyes as he gazed down at him, his lips twitching, and his hand captured Frank's wrist to rub his thumb slowly over the veins showing blue through the thin skin there.

"No, it's there to protect you. If I can't, then . . . she will."

Frank looked up in astonishment, lips parting. "Are you saying--that you'll let me find Jamia?"

Gerard's eyes were deep pools of fear trembling in the midst of an unidentifiable emotion coming to shin at the center of them like clear ripples, but aside from the fear eating away at the shine inside of his eyes, he nodded. "I only want your happiness. She is your happiness."

Frank was unaware of what was coming over him, but whatever possessed him caused his hands to lift up, so astounding sure and steady in their movements, and rested against Gerard's face so sweetly, almost identical to the way his vampire touched him. Gerard's eyes widened, his posture becoming rigid for a moment until Frank stroked his thumbs over the porcelain and soft skin over the gentle curve of his jaw.

"You're part of my happiness, too, Gerard." Frank whispered, eyes tracing each of his features. "Plenty of horrible things have been going on, but you've kept me sane through it. I love how you care so much. It may cloud your judgement a lot, and sometimes it makes me angry, but no one I've met has had a heart as big as yours."

"My sweet human." Gerard laced his fingers through Frank's and slowly tugged his hands away from his face. Frank hated the loss of contact more than he should have when his heart was overflowing with affection for his vampire across from him, while only moments ago, he felt bitterness towards him. He was placed under a spell whenever he was so near to his vampire.

"I cherish your life and your sweetness, but I fear something much greater may overcome me if you continue to look at me in such a way with those words you speak." Gerard shut his eyes tightly and pulled his hands away from where his fingers had been locked with Frank's. He moved away quickly from Frank, leaving him dazed and confused, until he suddenly snapped out of the haze of something so strangely intimate that he felt cold and empty now that it passed.

Frank touched his throat and felt the blood rapidly rushing underneath it due to his racing heart. Gerard was sitting on the far side of the bed, hand over his chest, assuring that his hair curtained around his face so Frank couldn't read his expression. Had Frank's blood caused Gerard's lust for the substance to awaken? He knew he must have smelled sweet after hearing he shared the same unique blood of the woman Gerard fell in love with long ago, but he didn't think Gerard would be wavering in his control over it after so many years had passed.

"Is it my blood?" Frank asked. HIs voice was hushed from the insecurity rising within him. He couldn't conceal his own scent, not when the heightened senses of vampires were created to capture the essence of blood to hunt it down.

Gerard turned to look at him, almost offended at his question. "No, Frank, I've lived many years and have learned to control my thirst for blood until it is time for me to feed. How do you think I endure seven years of not feeding at all?"

Frank reeled back slightly from the sharpness of his tone and immediately, the vampire was ridden with guilt. Gerard bit his lip, rising from his seat and approaching Frank to cradle the side of his face with care. His eyes shone with millions of apologies.

"I apologize," He whispered. "But you must trust me when I say that this is truly something you cannot understand, because I don't understand it myself."

Frank fought not to nuzzle his cheek into the comforting, cool touch his vampire provided him. He took Gerard's words with care. "Does it feel like you're tipping back into space?"

Gerard's eyes flashed in surprise, a gleam of another emotion too quick to capture. "Sometimes."

"Me too." Frank's lips spelled out the words without a voice to make a shape out of them. Gerard read his lips, recognition falling over his features, and he slowly withdrew his hand from Frank's cheek. He was suddenly coming closer, his eyes not breaking their focus from Frank's mouth. Frank's inner muscles clenched with shock while watching the space in between them closing, but the current between them was falling around him so nicely that he found himself coming closer too, raising his hands up to curl his fingers into the silk of Gerard's hair.

Breaking them apart was the sharp cry coming from Mina downstairs, and shout of Gerard's name that had the pair springing apart in alarm. Their gazes shot towards the door, then back at each other, and fear quickly crept into Frank's blood.

Stiff and alarmed, Gerard took Frank into his arms carefully, lifting him off of his feet and pressing him against his chest to use to quickness of his legs to glide them away from the room and downstairs where the root of the noise had come from. Frank was dizzy from the flying of colors before his eyes and hadn't even realized he was being set down at the foot of the staircase until cold, strong winds soaring in through the swung open front entrance of the manor claimed all of his attention. Locks of his hair interrupted his vision, but Frank could see Mina, Marius, Laila, and Aura lined up in front of something that Gerard was slowly approaching.

Frank trembled at both the cold and the fear mixing into his blood, pushing it roughly through each of his veins, and his heartbeat seemed to give away his fear. Aura turned to look at him, her eyes wide and lips parted, as if she'd experienced something that shocked her into silence. She glided over to him in a quick stride, taking his arm as Frank started to move forward.

"You shouldn't be down here, Frank, this is something Gerard must take into his own hands." Aura insisted brusquely, gently tugging him towards the stairs.

"I want to know what's going on." Frank yanked his arm away from her gently, his eyes glued to Gerard who kneeled down on the ground frantically, and Frank could see human limbs sticking out from behind the man's figure. Alarm quickly bubbled and tugged his insides with an unpleasant shock.

"Frank, I assure you, you must keep your distance." Aura pleaded.

"I'm sick of being kept in the shadows while watching everything fall apart." Frank snapped at her, stunning the beautiful vampire. "Please, let me see."

Aura couldn't fight after what he'd told her. She returned to her place beside Marius who wearily stood by the scene, stepping forward to crouch down at the person's feet with concern etched into each of his features. Mina had her fist pressed against to her mouth and her brows were arched over her eyes in deep worry, and Laila stood back cautiously, unsure of what to do. Frank hesitantly made his way over to the scene, pressing his clammy palms against his shirt to wipe them down. He crept closer and closer until he could see Gerard was, in fact, hovering over the stranger, his arm held out over them in the strangest position.

Frank looked over Gerard's shoulder hesitantly, hands shaking at his sides. Powerful shock bloomed in the center of his chest when he drank in the sight before him, spreading to his very fingertips and resonating there. He wasn't sure if he should be afraid, but for now, he was situated in a moment of shock while watching Gerard's wrist hovering above someone's parted lips, allowing blood to seep past them in a stream until the person suddenly lunged into a sitting position and eagerly sunk their fangs into Gerard's wrist. His vampire groaned, but allowed it to happen, supporting the back of their head and barely sparing an apologetic glance to Frank.

Michael sat underneath Gerard's crouching form, pale as a sheet with the appearance of a fresh corpse, up until color slowly began to rush through his face as he hungrily consumed the blood from the wrist held out to him.

"Gerard, what the fuck is happening?" Frank shot upright, watching blood spill from the corners of Mikey's mouth.

"I don't know, but whatever happened, he has bite marks on his neck and both of his wrists." Gerard grunted as his blood continued to be drawn out of him "The scent of Lindsey is incredibly overwhelming. She must have done this."

"What should I do?" Mina touched her forehead in a sign of distress.

"Blankets, a fire, everything warm. He's cold as ice." Gerard's lashes were beginning to flutter, his posture becoming a tad more flaccid as the seconds passed, and Frank was filled with alarm as he slowly realized he was allowing his brother to drink too much. Mina, Aura, and Laila rushed off to do as told.

"That is enough out of you." Marius gripped Gerard's shoulder tightly in warning.

"He is my brother, he can have all he needs." Gerard's voice was strained and gravely.

"Unless you want to switch places with him in front of your human, than I suggest you allow me to give him some of my own blood." Marius looked him in the eye, seriousness echoing from his expression and transferring into the mind of Gerard. Gerard looked back for a solid moment, his chest beginning to heave, until he growled softly low in his throat and pulled his wrist away from Michael's mouth.

Gerard's brother gasped, licking away the blood from his lips as he slowly opened his eyes, but he was incredibly dazed. Marius dug his fangs into his own wrist and slid them across the skin to slash it open, a sight that made Frank cringe. He turned all of his attention to Gerard instead, the man who was controlling the dizziness spinning around him with his palms laid flat against the ground.

"Come on, Gee, you've gotta stand." Frank crouched down beside him, gently taking a hold of Gerard's bitten wrist and wiping the mess of blood away from it. He watched in amazement as the wound slowly began to heal, leaving nothing but a clean slate stained crimson.

Gerard cracked his eyes open and gazed at him, saddened and anxious all the same. Frank wrapped his arms around his vampire, helping him to his feet, and supported him when he swayed slightly.

"Why would you give him so much when he's done nothing but hurt you?" Frank whispered only to him, slowly walking him towards the main room where the girls were bustling around to prepare for their unexpected guest.

"Through it all, he is still my brother." Gerard leaned into Frank, nose nudging his jaw without an intention, but it still made Frank flush. "And I have hope that tonight, after what she's done, things will finally change."

"A dreamer is what you are." Frank led Gerard to the couch and flashed a strained, reassuring smile to Mina who paused in all of her movements and gasped at the state of Gerard. His vampire managed to sink down into a sitting position on his own. Before Frank could pull away, he took Frank's hands into his own, his touch colder than it had ever been before.

"Stay here." Gerard gazed up at him through eyes half-way shut, the sliver of his stare that showed glistening with a need for something Frank could easily provide with just his presence.

"You care too much about other people, and look where it gets you." Frank brought his face close as he was overcome with something so incredibly warm for his vampire, and he watched in mild surprise that quickly faded as his hand rose to brush against Gerard's forehead, pushing a lock of his hair away from his face. He sank down in the space beside him after the movement.

"It's the only thing I can do to make up for not letting my love save the person who mattered the most." Gerard whispered, before leaning his head onto Frank's shoulder and drifting into something similar to sleep, leaving the human with an aching heart at his words.

——
A/N: I told you I was cranking up the romance! And it'll only get better, I'm so excited to finally get into the image in my head that made me want to write this in the first place.

Thoughts? Opinions? Why do you think Mikey is there and what happened to him?

I had this prewritten for a while, but I didn't want to overwhelm everyone with multiple updates since I've been extremely active with most of my work that I have put up already. Which I'm happy about, I haven't felt this inspired in so long.

I hope you all have a good day!

"You were meant for this love, you're my flesh and blood."

-aprilxo