FicWad

Pete stood to one side of the bed as Andy wove an intricate pattern with the chains to hold Patrick down.

“I see you haven’t forgotten,” he sighed as he recalled the distant memory.

Almost finished, Andy turned a guilt-fuelled expression towards his equally angst-ridden friend. He remembered when Pete had returned to them, a vampire, after eleven long weeks under the watchful eyes of Beckett and his Coven. Understandably, none of them had been able to trust him at first. Weeks of lengthy interrogations had followed, when he had been kept chained up and closely guarded until they were satisfied that he meant them no harm and they had found a method to keep his bloodlust under control.

“It’s not something I’m proud of,” Andy replied, his voice low, almost a whisper.
“I know,” Pete nodded, with surprising sympathy. “It was necessary. I did understand, even though I didn’t say so at the time. Patrick will understand too.”
“I hope so,” Andy replied as he secured the last padlock.
“Do you mind?” Pete began. “Do you mind leaving? This is kind of, well, I don’t want people watching.”
“But you’ll do it?” Andy asked quietly.
Pete pushed his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’ll do it. I said I would, didn’t I?”
“You also said you didn’t want to,” Andy reasoned without malice.
“We don’t always get what we want, do we?” Pete replied sadly as Andy nodded and made his way from the room, leaving him alone to bring his best friend into the restrictive and terrifying confines of vampirism. What remained of Pete’s human heart was breaking.

“I want you to know, Trick, that I don’t want you to die, but I do this under duress. You’ll hate me for this, I know you will, and I don’t blame you, but we can get through this… together. Maybe I can help you for a change?”

Pete prepared himself and hoped for the best.

*

“Where are you going?” Andy asked as he saw Joe kitted out for what appeared to be a raid.
“I’m going to get Andrea out of that mansion and away from Beckett,” Joe replied, apparently surprised by the question.
“You’re leaving? Now?” Andy questioned, blocking Joe’s exit.
“Yeah,” he replied in a surly tone. “We escaped, Pete and Patrick are safe. Why can’t I save Andrea?”

Andy looked down and shook his head; he simply couldn’t believe he had heard the question.

“We have no Holy Water. Pete’s drunk human blood and, by the amount he took, I’m guessing he liked it. We have no idea how it affected him. He’s just about to turn Patrick and we have no idea if he’ll wake up good or evil or even sane! Pete doesn’t really know what he’s doing. And you’re leaving now? Leaving me here, alone, with two vampires with no way to control their bloodlust!”
“The way you say it makes me sound selfish,” Joe pouted.
“Selfish doesn’t cover it, Joe! Stop thinking with your dick and do something useful!”
“That’s not fair!” Joe snapped in retaliation. “You said yourself we’d go back for her!”
“Yeah! We would, not you would! I’m not happy she’s there either, but we can only do one thing at a time and right now, Patrick needs us!”

*

Pete sunk his fangs deep into his own wrist and pressed it to Patrick’s lips. A tense few seconds followed where nothing happened, no reaction from Patrick at all. Pete didn’t need to check if Patrick was still alive by checking for a pulse or looking to see if he was breathing; he knew, he could feel it, he could smell what was left of his blood. Chewing his lower lip, he tried hard not to think about the exquisite flavour of human blood. The rich texture, and the powerful heady sensation when he drank. It had been overwhelming. Not because he had been drained and was unnaturally hungry, but because, purely and simply, it was what he needed, what he craved, what he… he tried not to think of the words beyond being a casual turn of phrase… what he would kill for. Andy was in the next room; he had to stop thinking about it. It wasn’t an option. He really had to.

“Come on!” Pete muttered under his breath. “Trick, you have to help me out here, Andy isn’t going to believe I tried!”

The tiniest flicker of movement caught his eye as Patrick’s lips latched onto the wound and Pete began to feel the sensation of blood being pulled out of him, slowly at first then faster, much faster. Opening his eyes, Patrick strained on the chains, his hands clawing at the air as he tried to grab hold of Pete’s arm to hold it in place, apparently terrified that he may pull away at any second.

Only then did Pete realise that after he had fed Patrick, he would be hungry again. Very hungry. And Andy was only in the next room.

“Andy!” he yelled as Patrick continued to draw blood swiftly from his wrist.

Pete didn’t dare move until he knew it had worked. He didn’t know how he would know, but he recalled hearing Spencer tell a junior coven member that ‘you just felt it’. Right now, all Pete felt was returning hunger as Patrick took back his own blood, mixed with Pete’s.

“What’s wrong?” Andy asked urgently as he opened the door.
“Bring more chains,” Pete demanded.
“He’s getting loose?” Andy replied with surprise.
“No,” Pete replied through gritted teeth. “I am!”

Andy’s eyes widened at the words. It simply hadn’t occurred to any of them to be prepared for the fact that Pete’s efforts would leave him hungry, very hungry and equally dangerous. Glancing to his left, Andy took in the scene that Pete had never meant him to see. The sight of Patrick drinking Pete’s blood so eagerly with a look of urgency and need firmly fixed on his face had Andy transfixed and momentarily frozen to the spot. Pete’s next words filtered through his haze to strike a crucial chord.

“Andy!” Pete yelled irritably. “If you don’t want to be eaten, get those chains, fast!”

Nodding briefly, Andy spun on his heels and darted from the room. Only moments later, Pete felt a strange sensation that emanated from his torn wrist and spread quickly through his whole body. The tingling flooded his body and without any doubt at all, Pete knew that this was the feeling Spencer had referred to. Patrick was ready to turn.

Pulling his arm away, to Patrick’s initial distress, Pete staggered backwards, cradling his already healing arm. As he felt all sense of control and rationality slip effortlessly away, he realised why young vampires were rarely allowed to turn humans. His eyes glazed and his mind reeled from the shock as he realised to his horror, that he was no longer in control of himself.

Returning less than a minute later, Andy glanced nervously around the room as Pete was nowhere to be seen.

“Pete?” Andy called with a pronounced shake in his voice as he walked a little further into the room.
“Here!” Pete replied teasingly, dropping from the ceiling to stand behind Andy.

Turning sharply, Andy didn’t see the fist coming, but he felt it keenly. Spinning to the floor, Andy lay dazed and only semi-conscious from the blow. Reaching down and grabbing Andy’s right arm, Pete turned him onto his back.

“You just weren’t quick enough, were you?” Pete taunted. “But that’s okay, I never was one for fast food.”

To Pete’s left as he stood menacingly over Andy, Patrick lay on the bed, frightened, in pain and alone. This was the one thing, the one element that no one had ever mentioned; the excruciating part. The time when the body began the process of change.

“Pete…” Andy began as he finally managed to shake the fog from his mind. He got no further before Pete dropped to his knees and pressed a hand over Andy’s mouth, silencing him.

“Fear makes the blood taste sweeter,” he commented. “But begging for your life? I don’t know, it gets old real quick.”

From behind, a long taser baton was jammed sharply between Pete’s shoulder blades before Joe flicked the button to bring it to life.

“Beg for your own!” Joe yelled as Pete arched his back in agony, every muscle screaming for release as the tension in them spiralled out of control.

Finally pulling the taser away, Joe he watched carefully as Pete slipped silently to the floor, ending in a crumpled heap alongside Andy.

“Andy?” Joe queried as Andy lay still, his eyes closed. “Andy!”

The pair lying side by side, vampire and human, were both deeply unconscious. Joe frowned as he remembered that Pete had had his hand across Andy’s mouth when he had deployed the taser. Even though Pete pulled back almost immediately, the initial hit from the highly charged baton would have been more than enough to knock Andy out.

Looking to his left, Joe could see Patrick, apparently in the final throes of changing; confused whimpering and lost cries of pain and concern tugged at the young hunter’s heart strings. At his feet lay another vampire, his friend, yes, but hungry and with an apparently uncontrollable keenness for human blood. Beside him lay another friend, Andy; an accidental victim.

“Well, you got your wish,” Joe sighed. “It doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere.”