Fright Night For Real

“Jerry the vampire. Sounds like a bad joke.” “You know what is a bad joke? The Johnsons. They disappeared. The whole fucking family.” “Yeah, but… I kind of expected him to be called something… you know. Real. Like Vladislav, or Damon, at least.” “He is a predator. It’s a part of his camouflage,” Edward is very serious, and Adam doesn’t like it. “You wouldn’t expect a Jerry to be an ancient monster.” “I wouldn’t expect anyone to be an ancient monster,” Adam says gloomily. “What do we do? Do we go to the cops?” “Great plan, dumbass. And what do we say? Jerry Dandridge is a vampire, please, arrest him?” he snaps, and instantly regrets that. Adam just wants to find an easy way out because he is scared. Ed is scared as well but at the same time, he is excited. “Listen, I’m sorry. I’m just…” “Yeah. Should we tell Charley?” Ed doesn’t want to know what happened to Adam. The word “disappeared” is oddly comforting because it doesn’t really explain anything. But Ed has some explanations to do, and he dreads it as much as he dreads the sunsets now. Charley won’t believe him, for sure. When Edward runs into Jerry it’s not just a figure of speech. He actually runs into his chest, and it’s like running into a wall made of cold stones. The Harry Potter kid once ran into a wall at the King Cross station in the books, and now Ed knows for a fact how it felt like. Jerry doesn’t even flinch. He moves quietly and smoothly, and not a pebble under his feet shifts. His dark eyes are deep and attentive. “Shit!” Ed says, and finally, he isn’t scared. It’s sort of a relief, really. Because Adam is gone and Charley does not believe him, Eddie starts questioning his own sanity. Now Jerry is here, in the darkness, and it takes only one look to see him for what he really is. A monster. “You back the fuck up! I’m armed! I know how to use this thing!” He starts banging on the door, and Jerry says nothing. He doesn’t have to. Ed looks over his shoulder and sees the vampire avert his eyes as if something embarrassing is happening in front of him, something he doesn’t want to be a part of. He is embarrassed for me, Ed thinks and breaks into the house. He knows already he won’t be able to outplay Jerry by the way the man moves. Slowly, calmly, and there is a terrifying confidence in his silent gaze. It’s nothing like a cat playing with a mouse. It’s… graceful, beautiful almost. “No invitation, you can’t get in!” Jerry sniffs and smiles, not showing his terrible teeth, thank God. It’s the smile of a man bested by another man, and everything in Ed is longing for this smile. It’s… warm. Kind even. “Abandoned. I thought you did your homework.” Part of Eddie is fascinated by the fact that a vampire knows what homework is. The other part of him is screaming incoherently with primal terror. “You’ve been watching me,” Jerry’s hand touches the dark fabric of his T-shirt, but his eyes never leave Eddie’s face. The vampire lowers his voice intimately, as if sharing a secret, and says. “And I’ve been watching you. It seems fair.” Eddie runs, runs, runs. It’s only later, lying on Jerry’s bare chest that Eddie understands he actually invited Jerry. Try me, he said. Okay, Jerry agreed with a half-smile, and his eyes were pitch-dark, and his voice was gentle and caring. Eddie realises there’s no heartbeat under his palm but it doesn’t bother him anymore. It’s a gift, Jerry said, but Eddie disagrees. He is a gift. His smile, his touch, and the way his pale skin tastes. The way he lets out this small hiss if he is kissed two centimeters below his navel. He lets Eddie explore as much as he wants. Eddie traces the veins with his fingertips and then with his lips because he now has all the time in the world. “Lower, fledgling.” Jerry closes his dark eyes and doesn’t care if Ed is strange, unpopular, or a nerd. Jerry doesn’t care about anything at all, and that is enough for Edward Lee to stop carrying, too.