Pete ran upstairs to his room. He grabbed his book from under his bed and started flipping through the pages quickly. He stopped on one specific page that had a messy illustration of a human heart and a top row of teeth, showing long pointy fangs. "Bingo!" He said in excitement.

He pulled out his computer and started to translate as many words as he could to get a brief understanding of the text.

There was a mention about sunlight, but Pete already had a basic knowledge on these monsters. Remembering some facts about these creatures of the night: they're sensitive to high exposure of sunlight, blood of a deceased human can immobilize them for a selected amount of time, and iron can burn them. Pete stopped at one word that he wasn't quite clear on.

"Cure"

"Antidote"

Pete thought back to when Mr. Armstrong gave him the book. The spell failed because he was missing a key ingredient. But what was that ingredient?

***

Frank knocked on the door of the Way household. Patrick had wanted to come along as well but he managed to convince him not to. So here he stood, a box of cookies in hand, waiting for the door to open.

The handle turned and Frank was met face to face with Gerard. "Frank,"

"Now before you continue," Frank quickly interrupted, "Patrick made cookies for Mikey and I need to check on him."

Gerard crosses his arms over his chest. "You're not going near my brother—"

"He's my best fucking friend, I need to make sure he's okay. And the sun is really bright out here, can you let me in?" Frank asked while subconsciously rolling his sleeves over his arms more.

Gerard rolled his eyes and opened the door wider, letting him in. "It already happened if that's what you're wondering."

"I already knew that it happened, there's not a single living thing in this house other than the spider hiding underneath your fridge," Frank said.

Gerard groaned, "I hate it when you do that." He has known Frank for almost as long as he's been a vampire. Obviously since Frank has been a vampire since birth, he knows how to use the abilities his curse gave him.

"Mikey!" Frank yelled, smiling when he saw Gerard flinch. "I have cookies!"

"I hate you," Gerard whispered.

Mikey got up and met Frank up at the top of the stairs. He looked down at the box in his hands and smiled. "Patrick?"

"Who else?" Frank asked.

Mikey caught sight of Gerard at the bottom of the stairs, he could tell just his brother's expression that something was wrong. He looked over at Frank who's eyes told him to drop whatever he was going to ask. He looked between the two as if he was silently interrogating them. "Okay..." Mikey turned and let his stare finally rest on Frank. "You got the homework?"

Frank held up a plastic folder, "yes, cause I know how much you love that." Mikey joked. He pulled Frank into his room and closed the door. Frank turned and saw that Mikey was not smiling like he was moments before. "You knew!" He yelled, throwing the cookies onto his bed.

Frank was still, scared that the most subtle movement would trigger Mikey to yell at him again. "What? I don't know what you're—"

Mikey cut him off fast, "you're a vampire, Frank! And you're friends with Gerard who, funnily enough, is a vampire!" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Suddenly, I know the reason why I've been sick all week and I find out that my— my best friend is a—"

"Okay, please don't be mad at me." Frank interrupted Mikey. He hated to see his friend mad at him for something he couldn't control. He just wished he could explain how it wasn't his place to tell him anything. "I found Gerard a couple years ago and helped him through everything. It's not like I didn't want to tell you, I just thought you should find out by your family."

Mikey was quiet. This wasn't how he expected to spend his birthday. He sighed, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "can you go home? I don't really think..."

"I'll go," Frank agreed easily to let his friend have some space. "If you need help with the homework or anything, Pete put his email on your math worksheet."

Mikey's heart did a flip flop. "Pete?" he clarified.

Frank nodded, "Yeah, he's in our math class and he seems to already know what we're doing so I thought that it'd be better if he'd help you instead of me just sitting here and crying at numbers."

Mikey smiled, maybe because frank was funny, or he had the cute new kids email.

***

Pete was surrounded by books and his own notes. Deciding carefully that stepping away from the subject would be a good idea.

He moves away from his desk and goes over to his bed that has his backpack. He pulled out his math book, glancing back at his desk. No, he will not... maybe a little while longer? He can't help it. The idea that he has met someone who is special like that, makes him feel closer to his old school. Maybe just a few pages more...

A quiet 'ding' came from the computer.

Pete pushed his work to the side and grabbed his laptop. He looked at the screen that read,

"1 unread email from M. Way!"

_\|/_

I've been a bit busy , trying to finish all my stories that are just chapters away from being completed. I was going to post this chapter when I had finished the rest of phase two for this book but y'know shit happens. So enjoy this chapter for the time being.