The Secrets We Hide - Oneshot.

**Gerard's P.O.V**

I don't know what's up with my baby brother. He's been agitated… scared, even, the last few days. He's also been really secretive with Ray and Frank too… I don't understand him right now. He's been so impatient and short tempered. He's been snapping at anyone over almost everyone… he's refused to go outside… for anyone or anything. I don't get it. He doesn't seem to want to talk about it either. Normally, if either of us have a problem, the two of us talk about it. He doesn't want to talk about this though, and I don't get why. We're brothers; we're normally thick as thieves. We used to be inseparable. Now he doesn't seem to want to know me. To be honest, I'm really concerned. This isn't like my baby brother Mikey. I know that something's wrong.

"You've got to try to act normal Mikes, Gerard's not stupid, he knows something's up."

My neck snaps around in the direction of the voice. That's Ray talking about me. I recognise his voice coming from Mikey's room.

"Of course Gerard knows something wrong, and I want to tell him, but there's no way that he'll understand…" I hear Mikey reply.

I hate myself for listening on my little brother, but I slowly creep closer towards the closed door of my little brother's bedroom. I have to know what's wrong. But I can't listen in on any more. I feel a hand clasp over my mouth. I feel a short, sharp knife pressed against my neck. I feel any colour drain from my face. I'm terrified. I'm shepherded out of my bedroom window, silently, and taken captive. I try to move my head, somehow signal for help, but a sucker punch then hits the side of my head and renders me unconscious.

***

The next thing I know, I am in a graveyard, something tied around my mouth as a gag, and I am sat on a gravestone. My hands are bound behind my back. I try to shake my fairly long black stands of hair out of my eyes, catching the attention of my captors. There are five of them, I now see, four males and a female. They all wear black, the female in a long black dress. All of their clothes are dirty, worn and frayed. I now see their eyes, shining blood red in the light of the full moon. Try as I might I can't convince myself that this isn't real. I'm purely and simply terrified. Even the sky scares me; it's an eerie blood red, like the eyes of the men… if they are men… that have abducted me. What is the purpose behind this? Why me? What have I done to offend them?

"You're bait." One of the captors says coldly, as though he's reading my thoughts. "It's your brother we're after, he knows what we want."

That frightens me further. What could my brother have done to upset these men?

Without warning, one of these men withdraws a knife again, pressing it to my throat.

"Michael…" he hisses quietly, "Do the right thing and come and help your brother… before I kill him…"

I gasp. What has my brother done that is worth them killing me over? And why do I have to die? I try wrestling these bonds but to no avail; they are tied far too tightly. I will die, I think quickly, because there's no way in hell that Mikey can hear them when they're hissing so quietly.  

"Mikey…" I mumble through the gag frantically, knowing that there is no way that he can hear me, "Mikey, please help me…"

"Silence, you!" the captor holding me hisses, jolting the blade of the knife closer to my throat, piercing the skin. Scarlet droplets of blood form on the tip of it.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Mikey… you know what we want…" one of the other captors hissed.

The pressure on my neck is now making it hard for me to breathe, and my face is coming paler and paler from the wound on my neck.

"Leave my brother alone." I hear muttered coldly from behind. My captors spin around, and in turn spin me around, to see my brother stood on the cemetery wall. I see him holding a small object, but I can't quite tell what.

"Michael," I hear the tallest, and I guess eldest of my captors greet with a cruel smile, a slight leer in his voice. "Come save your brother, do what we want you to, he'll walk away unharmed…"

"Unharmed my arse," Mikey hissed, his eyes somehow flaming orange, glaring coldly at my captors, "With that gash in his neck it'll be a wonder if he lives."

Thanks for that, Mikes! I think to myself, surprised at how coldly Mikey was acting and how unconcerned he appeared to be.

"You think killing my brother will convince me to help you? You're dumber than I first thought." He shrugged, jumping down from the cemetery wall.

"It's worth a try." One of my captors shrugged, and I felt the knife dig slightly further into my neck.

I'm then pulled away from them with superhuman speed, scarcely realising that I'm in Ray's arms. Once he's brought me into the bushes, he gently holds a hand over my mouth as he removes my gag, muttering so softly so that I almost didn't hear him, "Lie low and keep quiet. We'll take it from here."  

"Oh, so you brought a friend, how thoughtful…" the same captor, the leader, so I guessed, commented, "A nice touch, but he can't help you. You're still outnumbered."

"At least we're not cowards." Mikey hissed lowly, "I don't need to hide behind a mortal. I have guts enough to stand without a living shield."

The leader hissed, bearing fangs and spitting. Mikey followed suit. The two of them appeared to be confrontational about something, but I didn't quite know what. I didn't know what they wanted Mikey to do, but whatever it was, it must be bad. I could soon see all of them, hissing and spitting like cats about to fight over territory, all of them showing fangs. I didn't quite know what was going on. Were they all, like, vampires or something? To further confuse me, I saw Frank bound over the far cemetery wall that Mikey had stood on and joined Mikey and Ray, him too hissing and spitting. Without warning, my captors made the first strike. I didn't know what to do. I simply stayed hidden, scarcely breathing but bleeding profusely, watching my friends in horror and confusion. I didn't know what this fight was over, but what I did know was that I was fucking scared and that I wanted to get out of here. I was about to try to crawl my way out, when I saw one of the captors, six feet tall and supernaturally strong holding my brother in a chokehold. I felt a need to protect him, my baby brother, but found myself uncertain as for how. I felt something in the butt pocket of my torn jeans. I pulled it out. Ground Garlic… Okay, what was that doing there? It didn't matter right now. Vampires don't do garlic, as I think I remember. Even if he isn't a vampire, it would sting his eyes. I saw the guy holding my brother reversing towards me. With a sudden and very necessary kick of adrenaline, I grabbed his belt and used it to haul myself upwards, the some of the ground garlic in the palm of my hand, and straddling his back I rubbed it in his face. He cried out in pain, an angry rash covering his face, and he dropped my brother without hesitation. He bent over double, howling in pain. Some of the ground garlic I think got into his mouth; he's retching and struggling to breathe. I think he's having an allergic reaction or something. Good. He can't hurt my baby brother that way.

I feel myself ripped from my feet again, and the world is a blur as I feel myself carried at what felt like super-sonic speeds. A painful glance upwards revealed it to be my little brother, and for the first time he allowed himself to look concerned.

"Hold on Gee…" he mutters softly, and it makes me how weak I feel. Not really to my surprise, when I remember that I have a huge gash across my neck. Weakly, I turn to face the vampires, but they are nowhere to be seen. I can only guess that Ray and Frank are still fighting them. I allow myself to slump in my baby brother's arms, finally feeling safe. I pass out, from relief and weakness, knowing that my baby brother can keep me safe… somehow just knowing it.

***

I awake to sharp pains in my neck. I'm being bitten! The agony… so much that I can't imagine… I writhe about, trying to scream but no sound coming out, my eyes wide open. I feel transformation within my torso, like my intestines had transformed into snakes and were twisting, the venom making me ill… such pain in my eyes as though they had been stabbed with knives… my mouth burning as though overflowing with acid…

After several minutes of pure agony, it ends. I find myself able to sit up, and find a white sheet crumpled at my waist. I feel a tag tied around my big toe. Slowly, the cogs in my brain whirr around enough to figure out something that surprises me. I'm in a morgue. I can only guess that I've just received a vampire bite.

I feel a carrier bag full of clothing pressed into my lap, and see Mikey. He now appears weak, and he mutters hoarsely, "Put this on. I'll explain everything when we're out of here."

Now completely shocked and part of me wanting to demand the answers immediately, the rest of me screaming to do as my brother says. I pay attention to that part and obey silently, and the pair of us leaving through a window of the morgue.

***

We finally settle in the bell tower of a cathedral, where Ray and Frank are already waiting. Something tells me that they've been hiding here for a long time, as I see evidence of this – animal bones, thin blankets, that sort of thing. This explains a lot. I guess that the three of them have been vampires for a long time. Clearing my throat, I grab the attention of my band members. I have still got a lot of questions that I want answering, even though I already have some.

"Who were those people?" I babble, the first of many questions that I want answered.

Ray holds a rabbit out to me, tells me to settle down and drink, and that they'll answer questions when I do that. Nodding, suddenly realising my hunger and that this would now be the only way to quench it, I take the rabbit from him and settle down between him and my brother. I look at the creature for a moment, almost feeling guilty as I put its neck to my mouth and suck the blood from it.

"Those people were after a business opportunity," Mikey spat, explaining dutifully, as they had promised if I would feed.

"What kind of opportunity?" I splutter, my lips dripping with blood.

"I'm well known for my use of cheese wire for guitar strings." Mikey explained, "They wanted me to change to their new, rip-off crap wires, that they've got a large stock of. I said no… several times." He paused a moment, before continuing, "So they got vicious. They tried to kill me…"

"But I intervened." A female voice broke in. She had dark hair, parted into two bunches. Her eyes were deep blood red. She wore a tartan skirt, white vest-top and red waistcoat. She settled herself between me and Ray.

"This is Lyn-Z," Mikey introduced, "She's a bassist for another band that the same people tried to rip off."

"I found Mikey just as he was dying," the vampire called Lyn-Z explained, "I'd already been transformed and so turned Mikey, so that he didn't die either."

"That pissed them off." Mikey continued, "So they went after our band. Ray came next, then Frank…"

Ray and Frank both nodded grimly.

"That's why Max left." Frank interspersed, "He didn't want anything to do with this…"

I nodded, now making sense of why he'd suddenly an unexpectedly left the band, when I hadn't seen anything wrong. I quite understood that he didn't want to be next in line to be murdered and then transformed into a vampire.

"So then they went after you." Mikey finished grimly, "If they couldn't convince me by killing my brother, nothing was going to."

"So this was all business related? All these killings…" I checked, sickened.

"Purely business related." Lyn-Z confirmed darkly.

"And are they coming back?" I now check slightly fearfully.

"No." Lyn-Z replies calmly.

"No?" I question her, "I thought they sounded pretty desperate…"

"They can't now that they're dead." She explained simply.

"Dead?" I'm now completely puzzled.

"After Mikey dropped you off at a local hospital, the two of us, with Frank and Ray took down the remaining vampires. The one you rubbed garlic in the face of was already dead." She finished, "And that was a good move, by the way, well done."

"So why did you have to transform me?" I asked my little brother. He shook his head.

"You were clinically dead by the time that we had finished with them. It was the only way that I could save you…" he replied apologetically.

I nod slowly, taking this in. It all made sense now. It's only then I noticed the varied colours in my friend's eyes; Frank's were a pale yellow, Ray's were a dark orange, almost red, Lyn-Z's were blood red and Mikey's were now blood red, not the orange that they had been earlier.

"So what's with the eye colours?" I asked, trying to change the subject somewhat.

"It's to do with blood, isn't it Lyn-Z… I'm not entirely certain…" Ray looked at her, slightly puzzled.

"To do with amount of blood consumed by a vampire." Lyn-Z confirmed, "Frank's eyes are still only pale yellow, because of his former vegetarian life and that he's finding it hard to adapt. My eyes, and Mikey's eyes, are blood red, because we've killed and drunk plenty of blood, to keep ourselves healthy. It's the reason that Ray's eyes are only orange, as he hasn't drunk quite so much."

I stew over this, draining the last few drops of blood left in the rabbit. It looks strangely small now that there's no blood left in it. I'm still thirsty though. Frank doesn't hesitate in throwing me a dead grey squirrel to drink from, which I accept gratefully.

"Frank…" I then start curiously.

"Yes?" he replies.

"How can you keep so many dogs without drinking from them when you're hungry?" I as, simply out of curiosity.

"Simple," he replies, "Garlic is good for dogs. All I have to do is put a little garlic in their feed and their safe from me."

I nod, impressed with his nutritional knowledge.

"Are we safe to go back home now?" I ask in general.

"Yes," Lyn-Z replies stiffly, "I should think so."

"What's wrong?" I ask quickly, noticing her uncomfortable tone.

"My parents kicked me out when they found out that I was a vampire…" she replies sadly.

"She can move in with us, surely Mikey?" I say a little too quickly, raising the eyebrows of my little brother.

"Yeah," he replies eventually, "And she'd be safer with us…"

Lyn-Z then burst out beaming, making eye contact with me. A corner of my mouth tugged upwards into a grin. She practically skipped down the stone steps leading down from the bell tower, calling up to the two of us brothers, "What are you waiting for?"

Frank elbowed me in the ribs. "You like her…" he taunted.

"I-I..." I tried to dream up an excuse.

"Perhaps he thinks that she'll make him happier as a vampire." Ray invented for me.

I nodded quickly, grateful for Ray's quick excuse.

"Suuuure…" Frank taunted, sloping off down the steps. Ray then followed him, Mikey following Ray, beckoning me. I follow, daydreaming. I did think that Lyn-Z would make me more comfortable about being a vampire. Although I refused to admit it, I did like her… I was now completely certain that I'd be one happy vampire, if I could make her mine in the near future… and somehow, I didn't think that she'd decline. Because I think that she likes me. Here I hope that we can be happy together… one day… preferably sooner rather than later.

THE END.